Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 560: Solve the Problems

As the Lantern Festival approaches, the city of Chang'an gradually becomes prosperous.

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, Yan Chunqing walked into a Taoist temple in Daozhengfang.

The Taoist temple does not occupy a large area and is very quiet inside, making it difficult for others to guess that the person living here is Li Xiazhou, who now has a very distinguished status.

When Yan Chunqing arrived, Li Xiazhou was reading a book.

Seeing the cover of the book, Yan Chunqing couldn't help but ask, "A Taoist priest like you is actually reading Buddhist scriptures?"

"How come you, a Confucian scholar, come to my Taoist temple?" Li Xiazhou asked back.

Yan Chunqing stroked his beard and smiled: "I came to see an old friend."

"Then I will make some good tea for you."

The two had dealt with each other a lot when they were in Yanshi County, and their interactions were simple and natural. They quickly set out the tea sets and started to boil water.

Yan Chunqing looked at Li Xiazhou's smooth movements, picked up the tea cake on the table and smelled it, and was greatly surprised.

"It's the middle of winter, and you actually got some good tea?"

"Some time ago, Li Qiwu came to visit me and gave me a lot of precious medicinal materials, as well as these boxes of tea balls. What's even more rare is that there was a very peculiar young man with him."

As he spoke, Li Xiazhou paused for a moment and thought for a moment about how to evaluate the other party.

"That young man, although not good-looking and stuttering, is so charming that one can forget his appearance. He is eloquent, witty, and intelligent. It's wonderful, it's wonderful. What's more, he understands tea, water, and Buddhism."

Yan Chunqing then asked, "What is the name of this person?"

"Lu Yu."

“I’ve never heard of it.”

Li Xiazhou said: "He was an orphan, probably abandoned by his parents because of his ugly appearance. The abbot of Longgai Temple in Jingling, Master Zhiji, found him by the lake outside the west gate of the city and raised him. He did not want to convert to Buddhism, but became an actor. He acted very well, so he was appreciated by Li Qiwu."

Yan Chunqing nodded, pointed to the Buddhist scriptures beside him, and said, "You are worried that you will lose the next time you discuss Buddhism with him, so you are hiding here to study hard today."

"Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you fight a hundred battles without getting tired." Li Xiazhou smiled.

At this point, the conversation got to the point. Yan Chunqing's face became a little more serious, and he asked, "You didn't tell His Highness about the idea you gave him. Could it be that Lu Yu changed your mind about Buddhism?"

"It has nothing to do with this." Li Xiazhou said, "It's just that the season has not come yet. After all, this year is still the second year of Shangyuan."

What he meant was that although Xue Bai was acting as regent, he still used Li Cong's reign title and had not really ascended the throne to take power. Since his position was not stable, it was not appropriate for him to speak out his idea.

~~
Shaoyangyuan.

"Li Xiazhou probably wants to persuade me to suppress Buddhism."

Xue Bai did not leave Shaoyang Courtyard today. He was flipping through the land booklet and suddenly said this to Li Tengkong who was helping him sort out documents.

Li Tengkong was slightly stunned, then shook his head and said, "How can this be?"

She herself was a Taoist priest, but she had never thought of excluding other religions. Therefore, she inevitably had some resentment towards Li Xiazhou. She tactfully reminded Xue Bai that Li Xiazhou was doing the Xingyang Centipede Bag again and wanted to suppress Buddhism, so he was probably not a serious Taoist priest.

Xue Bai couldn't help but laugh and teased Li Tengkong, "What about you? Are you a serious Taoist priest?"

"Hate it, I won't pay attention to you anymore."

Li Tengkong turned his back.

Xue Bai had no choice but to pull her back and said, "Okay, we are serious."

"I am worried about you. Your position is already unstable. How can you do something so offensive that everyone would point fingers at you?"

"The reason I'm considering this matter is not because I'm confused by Taoism." Xue Bai said: "It has little to do with the dispute between Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The only reason that I can't get rid of is... land and population."

Li Tengkong was the daughter of the prime minister, so she understood as soon as she heard it, and the worry in her eyes became even stronger.

She chose her words carefully and said, "I am a member of the royal family and a Taoist priest. I feel uncomfortable hearing this. Even if nothing else, I am worried about retribution. What's more, they are your enemies. They will not think that you are thinking about the country, but will use this matter to deal with you."

It is difficult for Xue Bai to explain his thoughts on this matter even to his closest people.

He was also conflicted and hesitant because the situation he was facing now was very different from the original historical situation where Emperor Wuzong destroyed Buddhism.

The difference is that, firstly, the Anshi Rebellion was put down in advance, and the Tang Dynasty had not yet experienced years of wars to conquer the local governors, so the financial resources and population of the Tang Dynasty had not suffered such serious losses; secondly, the Tang Dynasty had not experienced the subsequent emperors' worship of Buddhism, such as holding activities to welcome the Buddha's bones, so Buddhism had not yet expanded so extremely.

But on the other hand, the land and population occupied by Buddhist temples today cannot be underestimated.

After the Northern Zhou Dynasty destroyed Buddhism, Buddhism began to develop again due to the promotion of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian; although Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan, claimed to be a descendant of Laozi, he was also quite a believer in Buddhism; Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was worried about his life in his later years, so he promoted Buddhism and ordered the ordination of nearly 20,000 monks and nuns; during the reigns of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian, Buddhism was vigorously promoted, and Buddha statues were built everywhere. The temples were extremely luxurious, comparable to the palaces.

With the destruction of the rent and labor system, inevitably, a large number of farmers not only joined the aristocratic families, but also became monks, or became temple residents or tenants. The temples hired the escaped farmers to farm the land and did not pay rent and taxes to the court. They then annexed more land and absorbed more people.

During the past two or three years, the imperial court was stretched to the limit, the treasury was empty, and the economy was in decline. However, the Buddhist sect expanded its manors, kept slaves, and colluded with wealthy families and local officials to help each other, ordain monks privately, evade taxes, mint private money, or lend money at high interest rates to make profits, and then occupied the fields of ordinary farmers.

If it is not curbed, it will only snowball.

Xue Bai wanted to bring about reform and solve the stubborn problem of land annexation, but he couldn't start by attacking the aristocratic families and local warlords. In comparison, Buddhism was a slightly softer target.

This can be considered a good starting point for his governance.

Of course, given Xue Bai's current situation, it is not appropriate to make such a big move. He is not yet the emperor, and there will be many constraints. If he acts rashly, it will have the opposite effect and even increase the resistance to everything.

The best thing is to remain unchanged in the face of ever-changing circumstances, continue to accumulate strength, and endure until Li Longji and Li Cong are dead and all internal obstacles are removed, and then take drastic measures.

Finally, Xue Bai closed the land book on the table and said, "Don't worry. Since Li Xiazhou didn't advise me in person, I know the time is not right. It's just a chat."

He temporarily suppressed the impulse in his heart and told himself again that he was still young and had a long way to go, so there was no need to rush.

After a while, a palace servant came to report that Du Wulang requested an audience, and the Du sisters also came to visit the Crown Princess.

After Xue Bai became regent, he still attached great importance to the acquisition of intelligence, and Du Jin was the person who gathered civilian intelligence for him.

Because Du Jin went to Shaoyang Court too frequently, she sometimes came under the name of Du Wulang.

This time, she did not bother to talk to Xue Bai first, but with a serious look in her eyes, she said straight to the point: "I got a piece of news that Guo Ziyi secretly sent someone to Chang'an, and it seems that he is secretly contacting Li Longji."

"Is this true?"

"We are still investigating." Du Jin said, "But there is more than just this one incident about him."

Xue Bai asked: "What else?"

"There are rumors that Guo Ziyi privately discussed peace talks with the Tibetan commander Dazalugong."

Du Jin also knew that this was no small matter, so she lowered her voice and continued, "It is said that Guo Ziyi's nephew Guo Xin was ordered to go to Anxi as governor, and now he is surrounded by Tubo. In order to protect his nephew's life, Guo Ziyi had a messenger exchange with Dazha Lugong."

Xue Bai asked in confusion: "Is he inclined to negotiate just because of his nephew?"

"Guo Ziyi's younger brother, Guo Ziyun, died in battle at an early age, leaving Guo Xin as his only child. Therefore, Guo Ziyi treated him more dearly than his own son."

"Where did the news come from?"

Du Jin said: "A merchant from Tubo learned about this and let it slip while drinking."

Xue Bai pondered and said, "That's too detailed."

Du Jin asked, "Are you saying that someone might have deliberately released the news?"

"Don't jump to conclusions, check the source of the news."

~~
A few days later, before Du Jin found the source of the news, Xue Bai received a memorial from Guo Ziyi.

Guo Ziyi said in his memorial that Tubo wanted to negotiate peace with the Tang Dynasty and wanted to send envoys to Chang'an to discuss the matter.

Along with the memorial, a letter from Tubo was also submitted, which was written by Dazalugong himself.

Dazalugong said that Tubo, like the Tang Dynasty, had experienced turmoil. Their king Chidai Zhudan passed away two years ago. The current king is still young and admires the Tang Dynasty. He hopes to renew relations with the Tang Dynasty and ask for a Tang princess for Trisong Detsen to marry.

In addition, Guo Ziyi also attached a letter analyzing the situation.

He first directly stated that Tubo did not really want peace, but just wanted to paralyze the Tang Dynasty. Slowly digesting the land that has been occupied, it will sooner or later go back on its word, and there may even be a fraud in this peace negotiation.

On the other hand, the Tang Dynasty had just experienced war and did not have the strength to fight against Tubo for a long time. It would be better to agree first and try to take back Shazhou, Suzhou and other places to open up the connection with Anxi. He said in the letter that Dazha Lugong sent an envoy to tell him that as long as the Tang court was willing to negotiate peace, the Tubo army was willing to withdraw from Hexi, showing great sincerity.

Finally, Guo Ziyi said that although he had doubts and was worried that it was a trick, the situation was such that he had to report it to the court and ask for the court's decision.

Xue Bai frowned and thought, looking at the map from time to time.

This situation was different from the historical situation, because the Anshi Rebellion was quelled early, and the Tubo did not invade Guanzhong and march straight into Chang'an. On the other hand, the Tubo army also concentrated its strength and occupied many prominent places on its western front, separating Anxi from the heartland of the Tang Dynasty.

If the Hexi Corridor cannot be reopened, the Tang Dynasty will not only lose its vast territory, but the Silk Road will also be blocked, which Xue Bai will never allow.

But if the Tang Dynasty were to send troops, not to mention the question of whether it could win the battle, it would inevitably fall into a vortex of the two great powers consuming each other's national strength. By then, it would not be able to stop at any time.

Since they were not going to fight for the time being, it seemed that peace talks were a good solution. However, things might not be that simple. Guo Ziyi had said that the barbarians were cunning and that the proposal of peace talks was probably a trick.

Xue Bai was undecided for a moment, so he summoned all the ministers to discuss the matter again and handed them the letter from Tubo.

Among the prime ministers, Yan Zhenqing and Li Mi knew Tubo best.

"It is impossible to take back the Hexi states by just negotiating." Yan Zhenqing said, "If Dazha Lugong made such a promise to Lord Guo, it must be a fraud." Li Mi said, "Lord Guo is not someone who is easily fooled. Since he has this plan, Dazha Lugong must have shown great sincerity."

"Why?"

"Yes." Li Mi also thought, "What's the purpose of throwing such a big bait?"

The two men discussed and believed that Dazalugong's promise would not bring peace, but would instead make the Tang Dynasty relax its vigilance, leading to a large army entering the country next year.

The matter had been discussed for several days without any result. However, Li Guangbi, who was stationed in Jiannan to fight against Tubo, submitted a memorial stating that Songzhou, Weizhou, Baozhou and other places in the northwest of Shu County were surrounded by Tubo troops. It was obvious that the Tubo troops had no sincerity and firmly opposed peace talks with Tubo.

~~
As the war was undecided, Xue Bai wrote a letter to Wang Nandai, who was now in charge of the military settlement in Puzhou, asking for his opinion.

Wang Nandi actually sent a fast horse to request to go to the court to report on his work. Xue Bai agreed, so within a few days, Wang Nandi rushed back to Chang'an in a dusty manner.

Everyone in the Xuanzheng Hall was driven away.

"Your Highness, have you ever thought of taking this opportunity to dismiss Guo Ziyi?" Wang Nanyi pondered and said slowly.

Xue Bai did not respond immediately after hearing this. Instead, he looked thoughtful. After a while, he said, "Tell me more carefully."

"Guo Ziyi is an old and famous general. He should be idle and recuperating. When needed, he can be sent out. This will be enough to deter foreign enemies. There is no need to let him stay at the front line all the time."

Xue Bai understood what this meant. The biggest card did not have to be played. It was enough to keep it as a deterrent.

Wang Nan said, "More importantly, Guo Ziyi is not your Highness's man. Dazha Lugong seems to want to negotiate peace, but sooner or later he will raise a large army to attack. If Guo Ziyi leads the three armies at that time, if he has other intentions, he can enter Chang'an at any time and depose the emperor. Even if he doesn't do this, with such concerns, how can we mobilize troops?"

Xue Bai nodded and added: "Also, Pugu Huai'en who is now in Lingwu is an old subordinate of Guo Ziyi. Pugu Huai'en and I have no friendship. Once Guo Ziyi is dissatisfied with me, Pugu Huai'en will raise an army to help him."

"That's right." Wang Nan said, "The important areas west of Guanzhong cannot be completely handed over to Guo Ziyi. In the worst case, he will unite with Pugu Huai'en, Tubo, and Huihe to overthrow you."

Xue Bai said: "This time Guo Ziyi negotiated peace with Dazalugong without authorization, which is an opportunity to transfer him. Moreover, Li Guangbi disagrees with him. It is certain that the two will not collude, so it is basically safe to transfer him."

Wang Nandai said, "It's still early in the summer and autumn, so it's better to transfer him now than to change the commander in the middle of a battle."

Xue Bai reached out his hand, patted Wang Nande's shoulder, and said, "If I transfer Guo Ziyi away, I believe you will be able to resist the Tubo invasion."

"Although I am not completely sure, I only have my head left here. If I cannot stop the enemy, Your Highness, just kill me!"

"The treasury is empty, the soldiers are tired and the people are exhausted. If we don't increase taxes, we won't be able to deploy more troops on the northwest defense line. The barbarians are all soldiers, and we can easily gather 200,000 people..."

Xue Bai paused here.

The current Tang Dynasty was an era where famous generals emerged in large numbers. In addition to Guo Ziyi, there were many other famous generals who could fight against the foreign troops.

But Guo Ziyi had an advantage that no one else had, that is, he had his own prestige and had stopped the invasion of the foreign army twice, so Dazhalugong was afraid of him.

Just this word "fear" might be able to save the Tang Dynasty hundreds of thousands of strings of money and grain.

Thinking of this, Xue Bai suddenly had an idea and it occurred to him.

"This time, Dazalugong invited Guo Ziyi to negotiate peace. If Guo Ziyi directly refused, it would be a presumptuous decision on state affairs, and if the court wanted to negotiate peace, he would be punished. Therefore, Guo Ziyi could only test Dazalugong's attitude and then report it to the court. But when he reported it, he was naturally suspected. As long as the foreign troops deliberately put pressure on the Tang Dynasty in Shu County, Li Guangbi, with his strong character, would definitely oppose the peace talks."

At this point, the king finally reacted and said, "Your Highness, do you think that all this is Dazalugong's plan to sow discord?"

Xue Bai said: "I guess so."

He spread out the map and continued to deduce: "If we remove Guo Ziyi, Dazalugong can take the opportunity to incite Pugu Huai'en's dissatisfaction. When you take office in Jingyuan, he suddenly leads a large army to attack. At that time, you are not yet firmly established, the soldiers do not know the generals, and the generals do not know the soldiers. How can you respond? And once you are defeated, I will not be able to control the situation in Chang'an."

Wang Nande suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

"Dazalugong, a barbarian, how could he be so scheming?"

"Don't underestimate him."

~~
"Your Highness, Li Qiwu has requested to see you. He said he has something very important to report to Your Highness."

Xue Bai remembered Li Qiwu, who was also an important official of the Tang Dynasty royal family and had been Yang Yuyao's neighbor.

Li Qiwu was also a very ambitious person. When he saw Xue Bai, he saluted very solemnly, which was also a way of showing loyalty.

"I heard that you have given Li Xiazhou a lot of gifts recently, and he said a lot of good things about you to me." Xue Bai said.

Li Qiwu was surprised and said quickly, "I have something very important to report to Your Highness, but I have no chance to see you, so I have to ask Taoist Li to introduce me."

"Go ahead."

"Here."

Li Qiwu first glanced around and saw that there was no one else in the hall, then he said, "Guo Ziyi once sent someone back to Chang'an to secretly visit me and inquire about the saint's recent situation."

As he spoke, his voice gradually became softer and more mysterious.

Xue Bai asked, "Who did he send to see you?"

"Your Highness, it was a general from Jingzhou named Gao Hui, who was under the command of Guo Ziyi."

"Where are people?"

"I don't know, I only know that he seemed to have met with quite a few members of the royal family, such as Li Zhen, the heir of Qi, and Li Qi, the heir of Wu." Li Qiwu said, "In his words, he was even more..."

He paused for a moment, waiting for Xue Bai to ask, before continuing: "It also revealed that Guo Ziyi intended to borrow troops from Tubo to purge the emperor."

However, after he finished speaking, Xue Bai did not react as expected, but seemed quite calm.

"I know. Li Zhen has already told me."

Li Qiwu was stunned and couldn't help but glance at Xue Bai. When he saw those unfathomable eyes, he was suddenly frightened.

If it were Li Longji, Li Cong, Li Heng and others, they would have been suspicious when encountering this incident. But this time, Xue Bai was different. He paced back and forth in deep thought, and became more and more certain that this was a plot to sow discord.

"Dazarugong, you have done something wrong."

He deliberately murmured something in a low voice to see if Li Qiwu could react.

Li Qiwu was not stupid. He trembled, widened his eyes, and said, "Your Highness, could this be Dazalugong's plan to alienate people? If so, I am ashamed!"

"Get up."

In any case, Li Qiwu took the opportunity to express his loyalty to Xue Bai, and Xue Bai asked for his advice on the matter.

"I believe that Your Highness has seen through Dazalugong's conspiracy."

"I'm afraid it's an open conspiracy."

"Yes, yes." Li Qiwu licked his lips and said thoughtfully, "Since it is a plot to sow discord, in addition to deliberately spreading rumors in Chang'an, he must have also instigated Guo Ziyi. This is an open plot."

"How do you think we can crack it?"

"It's not appropriate to replace Guo Ziyi right now, but it's also not appropriate not to replace him." Li Qiwu thought about it and soon came up with an idea. He said, "Why not send a military supervisor to Guo Ziyi's army to take charge?"

"Go away." Xue Bai was too lazy to talk to him any more and waved his hand.

But he actually didn't have any better solution. He just wrote a personal letter to Guo Ziyi, expressing his trust sincerely.

However, this cannot solve the fundamental problem. The threat from the Tibetan commander Dazalugong still exists.

After becoming regent, Xue Bai often felt troubled and was not as bold and daring as before.

State affairs are often interconnected, so whenever he wanted to solve a problem, he would find that there were too many issues involved, preventing him from acting rashly.

~~
The next day, important ministers discussed state affairs in Xuanzheng Hall again.

Some of the prime ministers were indeed more capable than Li Qiwu. In just a few days, except for Du Youlin, they all saw through Dazhalugong's plan to sow discord.

"I am willing to go to Jingyuan and negotiate peace with Tubo on behalf of the imperial court."

The first person to propose a solution was Wei Jiansu.

Although Wei Jiansu did not support Xue Bai before, he was still very concerned about state affairs. If he went there as prime minister, he could appease Guo Ziyi and eliminate the influence of the alienation plan, and he would also be qualified enough to talk to Dazha Lugong.

But Xue Bai actually didn't want to talk. He was thinking that since Dazalugong was plotting this time, was there any other way to retaliate?

While the prime ministers were discussing this, he was thinking about the matter and suddenly realized that the relationship between Dazalugong and the Tibetan King Trisong Detsen was like the relationship between Guo Ziyi and himself.

Xue Bai then asked Yan Zhenqing: "Did Dazha Lugong and Trisong Detsen have no conflicts?"

"Of course there is."

In those days, Xue Bai had captured the Tibetan princess, Nalanzhen, the elder sister of Trisong Detsen, in Nanzhao. It was Yan Zhenqing who escorted her back to Tibet, so he knew the most about these things.

"After Chidai Zhudan died, Dazha Lugong eliminated the Tibetan traitors and joined forces with Maxiang to seize power in Tibet. Dazha Lugong fought outside while Maxiang took power inside, claiming that Chidai Zhudan died because of his belief in Buddhism."

"Buddhism?" Xue Bai thought of something when he heard this.

"Yes, Dazha Lugong and Maxiang both believe in Bonpo religion, while Chidai Zhudan believes in Buddhism." Yan Zhenqing continued: "Trisong Detsen ascended the throne at a young age, and the government was controlled by foreign officials. Naturally, he was dissatisfied..."

Xue Bai suddenly asked: "The Tubo wants to send an envoy. Is there anyone from Trisong Detsen?"

He thought that these two problems, which were closely related to each other, might be solved together.

(End of this chapter)