People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1810: Silla is just a "tribe" of the Tang Dynasty

On the Yellow River, a four-masted ship was anchored beside the city of Shanzhou.

More boats sailed towards the Wei River from the side of the big ship.

Li Xuan sat in the third-floor attic, his eyes passing through the window.

Except for his imperial ship which will make a brief stop in Shanzhou, half of the ships will completely enter the Weishui River before dark tonight and then return to Chang'an City.

"Your Majesty, the common people of Goryeo, Baekje, and Silla actually have no written language." Shatuo Zhongyi was sitting next to him, looking at Li Xuan, and said with emotion: "They only communicate using the spoken language that has been passed down for thousands of years. The three countries are also very different from each other. As for the written language, those are things that only the nobles understand. They are all Tang characters, but they are pronounced in Dongdao dialect."

"Tang Wen, use Dongdao accent." Li Xuan nodded slightly. This was actually normal.

In essence, in the three kingdoms of Goryeo, Baekje and Silla, except for the local indigenous people, the real upper class all migrated from the Central Plains.

They brought writing and knowledge, but they also stole the rights of these three countries into their own hands.

Writing and knowledge are products monopolized by the aristocracy.

"The so-called Dongdao dialect." Li Xuan raised his head, looked at Shatuo Zhongyi, and said, "Duke Ningguo, is it originally the language of the pre-Qin period? After thousands of years of development, it has gradually changed into what it is now."

Shatuo Zhongyi was slightly stunned, looked at Li Xuan and said, "Your Majesty, I have never heard of this statement before."

Li Xuan waved his hand and said while thinking: "You know, in many fields and villages in the Tang Dynasty, the accents are different every three miles and every five miles. In many places, there are two completely different accents just across a river. But if you use text, you can read it smoothly with your own accent and the meaning is the same."

"Your Majesty, what you mean is..." An idea flashed through Shatuo Zhongyi's mind, but he didn't know how to express it.

"Whether it's Goguryeo, Baekje, or Silla, in the final analysis, they are just a 'tribe' of the Tang Dynasty." Li Xuan raised his head and said with emotion: "During the Western Han Dynasty, weren't Xuantu County and Liaodong County located in that area?

And there is also Goguryeo. Before Goguryeo was established, the name of that place was Xuantu Commandery Goguryeo County. "

Shatuo Zhongyi nodded slowly and said, "That is true, but Your Majesty, later on, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla were established, and the people there had already forgotten the Han Dynasty. Even though Emperor Gaozong destroyed Goguryeo and Baekje, in the end, they still came under the rule of Silla."

"I understand." Li Xuan waved his hand gently and said, "I am just tracing back to the roots. As far as the language is concerned, the tones that were still intelligible during the Qin and Han dynasties have evolved over a thousand years and are no longer understandable to each other.

If this is the case in Dongdao, how can it not be the case in Tang Dynasty?"

"Your Majesty is absolutely right." Shatuo Zhongyi nodded in agreement.

"My thoughts and tone are my own, but I still hope that more Silla people can learn Chinese characters." Li Xuan expressed his ambition in one sentence.

Shatuo Zhongyi was silent for a while, and finally said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, although Silla is using Chinese characters, in fact, many years later, for the sake of convenience, Silla people often only use half of the Chinese characters, and even omit and distort many of them according to their own writing habits."

"This is the so-called Silla language. I understand." Li Xuan nodded slightly.

In fact, it is not just Silla, the same is true for Japan.

They used Chinese characters in the beginning, but the intonation began to change due to regional isolation. Later, they began to cut corners even with Chinese characters, and even deliberately distorted them to distinguish them from Chinese characters.

Wakoku was actually relatively okay, but Silla, in later times, distorted its writing to a greater extent, and its tone is more like Chinese characters to some extent.

Of course, because he is closer to the Central Plains, his tone is more similar.

Because Japan is far away, the changes to the writing are relatively small, but on the contrary, because of the long distance, the tone of voice has changed a lot.

Li Xuan pondered for a moment and continued, "Let's start by preaching. Find some monks to spread the teachings to Silla. Then I will order the king of Silla to build Buddhist temples in the country. Buddhists will bring a large number of Buddhist scriptures to the east, and then gradually convert the people of Silla... Buddhist scriptures are always easy to chant. Then let the people recognize more Tang characters, and abolish the language and characters of the upper class from the lower class."

"Your Majesty, this may take time." Shatuo Zhongyi looked up cautiously.

Li Xuan waved his hand slightly and said, "I am not in a hurry. Duke Ning should remember that if there had not been problems with Goguryeo and Baekje, the Tang would not have sent troops. So I will wait patiently, unless there is a problem in Silla itself. Otherwise, I would rather wait for its self-evolution slowly. Otherwise, everything will be handed over to the crown prince."

"Your Majesty is wise." Shatuo Zhongyi kowtowed solemnly.

The reason why Li Zhi launched a war to annihilate Goguryeo was because Goguryeo's Prime Minister Quan Gaesomun died, and there was a problem with the subsequent power succession.

So much so that Quan Gaisuwen's son actually ran to the Tang Dynasty for help, because at that time the power of Goguryeo was stolen by Quan Gaisuwen's younger brother.

The Tang Dynasty took advantage of the situation and sent troops to destroy Goguryeo in one last effort.

The events of Baekje happened earlier, but it was because of Baekje's conquest of Silla that Silla finally surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. In the end, Silla held Baekje back from the front, while the Tang Dynasty struck hard from behind and later directly destroyed Baekje.

Before and after, there were problems within these countries, which was why the Tang Dynasty took the opportunity to destroy Baekje and Goguryeo.

Now Li Xuan treats Silla the same way. If there is no problem inside Silla, Li Xuan will not attack. As for the time when something goes wrong inside Silla, Li Xuan believes it will not be too late.

As soon as the King of Silla ascended the throne, his father-in-law rebelled. After suppressing his father-in-law, the King of Silla also killed all his queen and princes.

During these few years, the King of Silla continued to treat the Silla nobles harshly, and even became more and more excessive. Li Xuan believed that the day when the two sides would completely turn against each other would not be far away.

Therefore, even if Li Xuan wanted to destroy Silla, he had to do so with justification; otherwise, even his own people would not be convinced.

……

"Duke Ningguo, please return to Luoyang and go to the newly established Hanlin Academy. First, outline all the important transportation routes from Goguryeo and Baekje to Silla. I want to know how many stages the war needs to be divided into, how many obstacles there are in each stage, which routes to take, and how long it will take?" Li Xuan said solemnly, "First, make a rough version of the specific battle strategy, and then adjust it according to the generals and time."

"Yes!" Shatuo Zhongyi breathed a sigh of relief and said, "In that case, I will take my leave."

"Go slowly, Duke, and take care of yourself. I will have many things to consult you about in the future." Li Xuan stood up and watched Shatuo Zhongyi leave.

"Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty." Shatuo Zhongyi bowed again before turning around and leaving.

Looking at Shatuo Zhongyi's leaving back, Li Xuan could understand the complex emotions in his heart.

The Tang Dynasty is going to use troops on Dongdao Island again.

Another emperor who wanted to mobilize troops against the Tang Dynasty, just like since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there has been no emperor who did not mobilize troops against Dongdao. Even Emperor Gaozu also mobilized troops against Goguryeo, but the situation at that time was completely different from the later war of annihilation of the country.

However, the meaning revealed in Li Xuan's words today was very clear. He wanted Dongdao to completely submit to the Tang Dynasty. No longer following the policy of controlling Mizhou during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, he wanted to completely change the writing and language of the Silla people and allow Silla to completely integrate into the Tang Dynasty. This was another matter.

This may mean that Shatuo Zhongyi and his people are essentially real citizens of the Tang Dynasty.

……

Li Xuan was not worried about Shatuo Zhongyi's thoughts.

Shatuo Zhongyi has been integrated into the Tang Dynasty for many years, and he is also a surrendered general of Baekje. There is absolutely an irreconcilable hatred between him and Silla.

If Li Xuan wants to conquer Silla, he needs Shatuo Zhongyi and other surrendered generals who originally came from Goguryeo and Silla. Otherwise, the terrain, environment, and language will be a big problem.

At this moment, a light sound of footsteps was heard outside the door: "Your Majesty, Yang Zaisi and Yang Zhirou want to see you."

Li Xuan's expression suddenly became solemn, and he raised his head calmly and said, "Let them come in."

"Yes!" With a response, Yang Zaisi and Yang Zhirou, dressed in gray and linen clothes and with gray hair on their temples, walked in from outside the door.

The two did not dare to look up. As soon as they entered the room, they bowed their heads solemnly and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. May your Majesty live a long and healthy life."

Li Xuan looked at the two men in silence. Since the fall of Shanzhou, the two had been captured. However, compared to Yang Xuanjian, they were merely dismissed from office and exiled.

"I never thought that I would be able to see you again in my lifetime." Li Xuan looked at the two people with a complicated tone.

"My crime is unforgivable." Yang Zaisi and Yang Zhirou kowtowed solemnly.

Li Xuan sighed and said, "I have examined all your sins. You two may have done some wrong things in the past, but you are unaware of many things. You are not even the Queen's confidants at all. It was only later that you were won over by her because of your blood relationship."

"Yes, I am guilty!" Yang Zaisi and Yang Zhirou showed a trace of pain on their faces.

During the Sisheng Rebellion, Yang Zaisi was not in Luoyang at all. Although Yang Zhirou was in Luoyang, he used to be Li Xuan's deputy and had a good relationship with Li Xuan. How could Wu Zetian dare to trust him easily?

Therefore, both of them were won over by Empress Wu only after the fact.

"Of course, the two of you taking up arms against me is an unforgivable crime." Li Xuan looked at the two people with cold eyes.

When Li Xuan led troops to quell the rebellion, two people, one was the Minister of War and the other was the Junior Secretary of the Imperial Guards, who led troops to garrison Shanzhou to resist Li Xuan.

But unfortunately, the two men were not familiar with military affairs and were easily defeated by Li Xuan.

"I am guilty." Yang Zaisi and Yang Zhirou kowtowed again.

Li Xuan's eyes finally relaxed a little.

(End of this chapter)