Song Gexing

Chapter 255: Shock among the Tubo tribes

"Declaration! Confer Lieutenant General Liu Changzuo and elevate him to the title of Marquis of Suzhou... Brigadier General Wang Zhongzheng, grant the title of Baron to Bangong..."

The imperial edict of rewards was issued quickly. For the first time, the ministers were so active. Regardless of the fact that they were on vacation during the Chinese New Year, they took the initiative to open their Yamen to go to work.

Zhao Fang was naturally happy to see it, but he was not a harsh person, so he immediately announced that after finishing the matter, the holiday would be postponed and this year's annual leave would be made up.

As a result, everyone became more active, and within a few days they reached an agreement and calculated the rewards for those who had made meritorious services.

Zhao Fang went on a special mission and announced that he would only rely on the reports of criminal offenders to make calculations. As for the review, he would wait until after the holidays and then send someone to review. If there was any fraud, he would have to bear the responsibility himself.

The imperial court is celebrating the Chinese New Year this time and will give you convenience, but if you dare to commit fraud, you will still be punished in the future.

There is no objection to the reward for military merit this time, but there is a small twist. It is the reward for the Shanqiang tribe and the various Tibetan tribes that actively surrendered.

Fortunately, there was not much disagreement, and an agreement was quickly reached. Seven tribes of Shanqiang and seventeen tribes of Tubo, a total of 24 tribal leaders, were granted titles.

Among them, one viscount, four barons, eight thousand households, eleven hundred households, and 24 tribes, a total of [-] young and strong men were recruited into the imperial army.

At this time, the Tubo tribes did not have professional armies. Just like the nomads, they were gathered together temporarily during war and disbanded after the battle.

But since they have submitted to the imperial court, they naturally have to bear their due obligations. On average, there are about a hundred people in each tribe, and the imperial court obviously has no intention of weakening them.

When the imperial edict arrived in Tubo, it immediately caused a chain reaction. Tubo had more than seventeen tribes. Tubo, a vast territory, encompassed more than Tibet in later generations.

Their main living area is actually Qinghai. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau includes Tibet, Qinghai and part of Gansu. Sichuan and the Garze area are also their nomadic lands.

Tubo is a semi-agrarian society. They were not called Tubo people at first, but Qiang people. However, this Qiang people are not Western Qiang or Eastern Qiang, they are called Ruoqiang.

The Qiang people in ancient China have long been integrated into various ethnic groups, and the Qiang people in later generations are not the original Qiang people, but transformed from Xirong.

Most of the ancient Qiang people became Han people, and a small part integrated into Xirong. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Qiang and Hu people were described as nomadic people living in the Qingtang area.

These people are the descendants of the Xirong who were conquered by the Qin State during the Warring States Period. During the Han Dynasty, they merged with the Huns to become the Qianghu. The Huns are considered to be the descendants of the real Qiang people and have the same origin as the Han nationality.

As for why the Han people are Qiang people, it is because Yanhuang is actually the ancient Qiang people. Of course, this is inferred based on geographical location, but Dayu is a confirmed Qiang person.

In other words, the ancient Qiang people merged with the ethnic groups in the Central Plains during the Yan and Huang Dynasties, giving birth to the Chinese nation.

The branch that stayed in the northwest was still engaged in nomadic activities. Later, it merged with other Zahu and became the Huns. The Huns also claimed to be descendants of Emperor Yan.

After the defeat, some of the Xiongnu fled west and disappeared from history. The remaining people merged with the remnants of the Xirong and became the Qiang and Hu during the Han Dynasty, Wei and Jin Dynasties.

If the blood relationship between the Qiang and them is very weak, there should be no direct inheritance relationship. It is just because they live near them and they are classified as Qiang and Hu by the Han people.

But during the Tubo period, the Qiang Hu and Ruo Qiang were also integrated, and a large number of Han people were added to them. Therefore, the Tibetan people in later generations are related by blood to the Han people.

To put it bluntly, it is because the ancient northwest was a war-torn place. They attacked each other all the year round, and they also merged with each other.The Tubo people did not go deep into Tibet in the early days, but lived in the Qinghai area because the water and grass there were rich and conducive to grazing cattle and sheep.

Jishi Mountain, where the fiercest competition between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo was located in southern Qinghai and Gansu, shows that at that time, Tubo's focus was still on the northwest.

The reason is very simple. The northwest can expand outward. It was a pastoral area until the Western Regions. In ancient times, Xinjiang was not thousands of miles away from the desert. That was after the Yuan Dynasty.

To be precise, it should be caused by the Little Ice Age of the Ming Dynasty. Before this, Xinjiang was also full of oases, otherwise there would not be a wealthy kingdom like Loulan.

Going southwest was obviously not a good idea. At that time, the southwest had high mountains and dense forests, which was not only unsuitable for grazing, but also unsuitable for farming.

Poisonous insects were everywhere and miasma was rampant. The Tubo people were naturally unwilling to go there to open up wasteland. In addition, the border between Tibet and Yunnan had complicated terrain that could not be crossed by human power at that time.

There is only one way out of Sichuan, but Sichuan has been ruled by the Central Plains Dynasty for a long time. As long as there are plains, there are Han forces there, and they are all powerful in defense.

Therefore, Tubo stopped in the Gannan region and could not continue to the east. After the collapse of the Tubo dynasty, due to geographical reasons, hundreds of small forces formed their own affairs.

After years of annexation by Zusiluo, almost all the richest areas in Qingtang were conquered by him. Who knows that he is a descendant of Songtsen Gampo.

The Tubo people also pay attention to the noble blood. It is normal for Zongsiluo to have this innate advantage, but at this time Tubo has not yet formed the Lamaism that combines politics and religion.

Buddhism was also introduced to Tubo very early and formed a unique Tibetan Buddhism. However, it had not yet reached its peak and was not canonized by the court. There was no living Buddha at all.

Therefore, Buddhism could not influence the thoughts of the Tubo nobles. When the news spread that the Tubo nobles had surrendered to the Song Dynasty, it caused shock to other tribes.

This time, 24 tribes were surrendered at once and were canonized by the court. Now everyone could not sit still and sent people to Qingtang to understand the actual situation.

Many people were moved when they saw the mansion of the county prince, and then they looked at the canonized families, who were building beautiful manors one by one, and they were even more moved now.

But when they knew that the imperial court was not oppressing the tribes, many people began to wonder whether they would also join the imperial court, but another piece of news made most of them hesitate.

That is to change the land and return it to the tribe. The tribe is no longer the private property of the leader. The tribal people do not allow the leader to take or take away. They also enjoy the rights of civilians.

The Song Dynasty began to divide regions and establish the jurisdiction of states and counties. If you want to be an official, you must pass an assessment. The only good news is that the assessment of the Tubo nobles was conducted separately.

But this is not the norm, but a temporary measure for now. After all, it is unfair to ask them to take exams on the same stage as Han people at this time.

Of course, Zhao Fang will not be one-size-fits-all. In addition to giving the nobles a life to enjoy, he also wants to give them political rights to a certain extent.

It's just that these must be within the rules. The original tribal leader's power over the life and death of his people has been deprived, and other political rights must be supplemented.

Experience tells him that stability and unity are what the country needs most. Otherwise, our own people will kill themselves without the invasion of foreign enemies.

(End of this chapter)