Tibet.

Chapter 1433 Zhenla Agreement
There was a slender object hanging on the wall, less than six feet long, with a copper tube in the front and a long branch carved out of wood at the back, which was very convenient for lifting.

Duan Xueshi took the weapon from the wall and said with a smile: "This thing is called a gun, or more precisely, a matchlock gun. It has a range of 200 steps and will be used to replace the bow and crossbow in the future. Its biggest advantage is its low cost. It shoots a small iron ball, which is much cheaper than an arrow."

“Can you equip the army?”

Duan Xiushi shook his head. "Compared to the bow and crossbow, it is much more inconvenient to use, and the range is about the same. We will not equip the army with it for the time being. Once we continue to develop and improve it, and once the flintlock rifle is developed, we can equip the army on a small scale. There is really no need for it now. The crossbow is very powerful."

"Since it is not as good as the crossbow, why develop it?" Ma Lin asked frankly.

Duan Xiushi smiled slightly, "The crossbow has reached its peak, but the musket is just the beginning. There are many technologies involved. I am afraid it will take several generations of efforts to make it more and more powerful, more convenient and faster."

Three days later, Emperor Li Ye formally appointed Ma Lin as the Marshal of the Northern Expedition, and ordered him to lead an army of 100,000 and 50,000 supply camels to Liaodong.

In the blink of an eye, it was the first day of November, and a grand wedding was held in the Daming Palace. This was because the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty married the Princess of the Shi Kingdom. It was a marriage between the Tang Dynasty and the countries in Hezhong, and it had far-reaching political significance.

The wedding was held at Chengtian Gate, which was nominally a gate but was actually very wide. The tower above was a palace. A large number of guests were invited, including officials of the fifth rank and above in Chang'an, all foreign envoys stationed in Chang'an, famous Sogdian merchants, and so on.

The retired emperor and the empress dowager personally arranged marriages for them.

In a warm and solemn atmosphere, the Tang Emperor Li Ye formally married Princess Shi Qianquan of the Shi Kingdom as his concubine and named her Li Fei.

The Sogdians in Chang'an were jubilant, celebrating the marriage between the Tang Dynasty and Sogdians and becoming one family.

At night, a small family entry ceremony was held in Penglai Palace, presided over by Queen Dugu Xinyue. Shi Qianquan served tea to the queen and officially became a member of the family.

The new house is in the Zhujing Hall, which is also Shi Qianquan's palace. It has been redecorated in the Sogdian style and is quite exotic.

At night, everyone left, and only two people were left in the bedroom. Li Ye lifted Shi Qianquan's chin, pulled her into his arms and kissed her gently, then lifted her legs and entered the dim bed in the big tent.
Under the light of wedding candles, the most beautiful princess from the Stone Kingdom began a new journey in life.

Shortly after marrying Shi Qianquan, on the ninth day of the eleventh month, a light snow fell. Led by Queen Dugu Xinyue, Li Ye and his family set out for Huaqing Palace to spend the winter.

Li Ye did not go to Huaqing Palace for the time being. He was very busy these days. The King of Tuyuhun, Sijie Khan, the Queen of Zhenla, and the Prince of Srivijaya all gathered in Chang'an during these days. Of course, it was just a coincidence and they did not make an appointment to come together.

In the morning, in the imperial study, Wei Jiansu reported the situation of the Queen of Zhenla to Li Ye.

Among all the visiting guests, Li Ye was most concerned about Sijie Khan and the Queen of Zhenla. Sijie Khan's visit was related to the plan of joint attack on Shiwei, while the arrival of the Queen of Zhenla was related to the gains and losses of the Mekong Delta.

Before this, Li Ye had received Du Huan's detailed report. Du Huan's brilliant idea of ​​land exchange really impressed Li Ye.

Li Ye certainly did not want the Linyi Kingdom. The Linyi Kingdom was basically mountainous, with only a few narrow plains along the coast and not much arable land. This was the fundamental reason why the Linyi Kingdom was determined to occupy the Zhenla River estuary in the south. Moreover, the people were generally ungrateful and remembered grudges but not kindness. Li Ye did not want such people.

He ordered the occupation of Linyi Kingdom only to use it as a springboard to facilitate the Tang Dynasty to obtain food from the Mekong Delta.

Now that Du Huan had exchanged the land of Linyi Kingdom for the Mekong Delta, Li Ye was extremely happy. He praised Du Huan highly and issued an edict to grant him a purple gold fish bag and a five-acre house in Chang'an as a reward.

The key point is that Du Huan replaced the Mekong Delta in a reasonable and legal way, so future generations can stand up straight and say it has existed since ancient times.

Therefore, legal principles are very important. If it is possible to annex Bukhara reasonably and legally, he will never send troops to occupy it by force.

"What is the attitude of the Queen of Zhenla?" Li Ye asked again. "Your Majesty, the Queen of Zhenla approved the replacement plan, but she also made several requests. One is to borrow the road. Zhenla officials need to borrow the road to Linyi, and the transportation of goods also needs to borrow the road. She hopes that the Tang Dynasty can allow them to pass smoothly. This is not a big problem. I agree.

The second request is to hope that the Tang Dynasty will negotiate with Lu Zhenla, demanding that Lu Zhenla withdraw northward and return the population and land of Water Zhenla. "

Li Ye nodded and said, "The second request can be granted. The court will send envoys to Lu Zhenla. If they refuse to agree, the Tang army will destroy them directly."

Wei Jiansu continued, "It's just that the third condition is a little difficult to handle. They want Champa Port."

Li Ye frowned, he had his eyes on Champa Port for a long time. It was more than 3,000 miles from Jiaozhou to the Mekong Delta, and it was unrealistic to travel by horse or car. Transporting by land was even more of a nightmare. Of course, the choice was to go by sea, but more than 3,000 miles by sea was still a little far, and a supply port was needed in the middle. Champa Port was the most suitable, a natural and excellent port.

"The third condition cannot be agreed to. Champa Port is crucial for us to control the mouth of the Zhenla River. Prime Minister Wei should negotiate with them and use other conditions in exchange for allowing them to use Champa Port normally."

Wei Jiansu nodded and said, "I will negotiate with them for the second time this afternoon."

In the afternoon, in the Council Hall, Wei Jiansu and Du Huan continued talks with the Queen of Zhenla on behalf of the Tang Dynasty to discuss land exchange between the two countries.

In fact, they had discussed many details before, including boundary demarcation, distribution of people's stay or departure, subordinate relationship between the two countries, etc. These have all been made clear. The key is the third item in Zhenla's demands. The two sides have differences on the ownership of Champa Port.

Wei Jiansu said slowly, "I need to make one fact clear. Champa Port is not actually a legal name. We never called it Champa Port. It was called Rinan Bay during the Han Dynasty and belonged to the Rinan County of the Han Dynasty. Later, it belonged to the Annan Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty. More than a decade ago, a war broke out in the Tang Dynasty and Annan was not taken care of. Rinan Bay was occupied by the pirates of the Chola Kingdom. Our seizure of Rinan Bay is not called occupation, but recovery of homeland."

Queen Elaine of Zhenla sighed and said, "What Prime Minister Wei meant is that the Tang Dynasty clearly cannot hand over Champa Bay to us?"

Wei Jiansu nodded, "Zhenla can use it, no problem. In addition, Datang can give Zhenla some help in other aspects."

At this time, Du Huan also smiled and said, "Your Highness, I would also like to add one point. Rinan Bay is located in the northernmost part of Linyi State, which is very far away from the water Zhenla. It is closer to the land Zhenla, but it is not very meaningful because there are many mountains between them. If Zhenla wants to manage the people of Champa, it can completely move the people of Champa south. I suggest that Zhenla should raze Champa to the ground and completely erase the traces of Linyi State."

"Okay! Let's talk it over."

This time, Queen Elaine came to the Tang Dynasty with Right Prime Minister Sha Weng. When they returned to the lounge, Queen Elaine sighed and said, "As we expected, the Tang Dynasty was unwilling to give us Champa Bay."

Prime Minister Sha Weng smiled and said, "There are many seaports in the south. Cam Ranh Bay is very good. It's no problem to give them Champa Bay. The key is to obtain the shipbuilding technology of the Tang Dynasty, otherwise we will always have only small boats. In addition, Envoy Du reminded me that we should move all the people in Champa City to the south and raze Champa City to the ground. Champa will never be able to restore its country again."

Elaine nodded, "That's the only way!"

The two returned to the negotiation site, and Elaine put forward her own conditions, "We can give up Champa Bay. In exchange, we hope that the Tang Dynasty will teach us the technology to build large ships."

Wei Jiansu smiled slightly, "Of course you can, but let me make one thing clear. The Tang Dynasty has a clear regulation that the maximum amount of shipbuilding technology to be taught to foreign countries cannot exceed 3,000 dan. We can only give Zhenla the shipbuilding technology of 3,000 dan ships."

Elaine sighed and said, "Three thousand stones is already a very large ship for us."

After several rounds of negotiations, the two sides formally reached an exchange agreement, whereby Zhenla exchanged the Zhenla River Delta for the land of Linyi Kingdom, and the exchange also included population.

As the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Ye signed the exchange agreement. He officially renamed the Zhenla River Delta to the Zhongnan Delta, set up the Zhongnan Prefecture, changed the Annan Protectorate to the Annan Road, including Jiaozhou Prefecture and Zhongnan Prefecture, and Du Huan became the first governor of Zhongnan Prefecture.

At the same time, Lingnan Road was changed to Guangnan East Road and Guangnan West Road. The next step was to relocate some Han people to Zhongnan Prefecture and fully develop Jiaozhou Prefecture and Zhongnan Prefecture.

(End of this chapter)