Ji Tang

Chapter 981 Despair and Hope

The logic is at the highest point.

"Zamp!"

When Lu Dongzan came here, he saw Songtsen Gampo, who had been so high-spirited just now, with his back turned to him. Just when he was surprised, he suddenly coughed violently.

"Zamp."

Lu Dongzan was stunned and quickly stepped forward to support Songtsan Gampo. When he lowered his head and looked down, he saw a little bright red appear in his hand.

Songtsen Gampo coughed up blood?

"Teacher, don't be nervous, and don't make any noise!"

Songtsen Gampo stopped Lu Dongtsen from going out. He knew that the teacher was going to find those old things.

"Zanpu, what is going on? The old minister was fine when he left. What are you doing now?"

Lu Dongzan was furious, and the murderous intention in his body filled the sky. He wanted to kill people now, and he wanted to kill people on a large scale.

Songtsen Gampo smiled bitterly and said: "It's late, it's already late. Aren't they just waiting for this day after all their hard work? My day and night defense fell into their trap. Who would have thought that they would actually tamper with me?"

"Is she Princess Chizun of Yangshuvamo?"

Lu Dongzan opened his eyes wide and said in disbelief.

Seeing Songtsen Gampo nodding, Lu Dongtsen regretted it even more.

In the southwest of Tubo, south of Hotan, there was the Xiangxiong Kingdom, which had a marriage alliance with Tubo during the reign of Nangri Songtsan.

After successfully quelling the rebellion, Songtsen Gampo personally conquered Zhang Hung. Zhang Hung was defeated and surrendered to Tibet again.

In order to control Xiangxiong, Songtsen Gampo even married his sister Saimaga to King Xiangxiong as his concubine to win over him.

In the 12th year of Zhenguan, when Songtsen Gampo attacked Tuyuhun and marched to the Tang border, Zhang Xiong also sent troops to accompany him, but due to various reasons, the fight did not start. At that time, Zhang Xiong also met with the Tubo envoys before the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

But King Xiangxiong was unwilling to do so. He was deeply resentful of the conscription of property and belongings to Tubo, and secretly initiated conflicts with Tubo many times.

For this reason, King Shang Hung gradually distanced himself from Sai Magar and doted on his original princess. Sai Ma was resentful and determined to eliminate King Shang Hung.In the 18th year of Zhenguan, Songtsen Gampo sent troops to invade Zhangxiong. King Xiangxiong was defeated and was killed immediately. All Xiangxiong's tribe surrendered to Tubo and became civilians.

In this way, Songtsen Gampo completed the unification of the plateau.Later, the relationship between Xiangzhong and Tubo became closer, and they gradually merged to form a unified state, which led to the development of Tubo's western frontier.

After moving the capital to Luoche, the Niboluo Kingdom at the southern foot of the mountain also began to communicate with Tubo.

Niboluo already had considerable strength at that time. King Yangshu Fama began to act as regent in the fourth year of Zhenguan, implemented a mercantile policy, and vigorously developed foreign trade.

Niboluo's handicrafts are extremely exquisite, and their sculptures, paintings, architecture, etc. have reached a very high level. In order to promote handicrafts to Tubo and conduct trade with Tubo, they took the initiative to send envoys to Tubo to recruit them.

In order to build the capital, Songtsen Gampo needed the help of the Nipolo people, so he immediately accepted the offer.

When building the Red Palace on the top of Potala Mountain, many Niboluo craftsmen were recruited.In the 12th year of Zhenguan, Songtsen Gampo proposed to Niboluo.

In the 13th year of Zhenguan, King Yangshuvarmo married his daughter Princess Chizun to Songtsen Gampo.In the same year, Songtsen Gampo sent Ludongtsen, Tunmi and others to Nipolo to marry Princess Chizun.

When Princess Chizun entered Tibet, she brought with her a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha, a glazed bowl, a precious silk ribbon, male and female servants, etc.Princess Chizun's entry into Tibet made the relationship between Tubo and Nipola even closer.

After Songtsan Gampo destroyed these two kingdoms, he not only eliminated the threats from the west and north, but also facilitated the replenishment of Tibetan soldiers, military supplies and horses, giving it an army with strong combat effectiveness, which provided Tibet with a powerful force. Development and strength provide material security.

It can be said that the marriage with Niboluo was a big advantage for Tubo. Lu Dongzan tried his best to promote it at the beginning, but now it seems that the old guys of Bon Religion have already had a conspiracy, and the executor of this conspiracy is Chi Zun. Princess.

"I didn't feel anything in the past few years, but since last year my health has gotten worse and worse, until I started coughing up blood half a year ago. This is why I am anxious to get you back."

He seemed a little difficult to speak, and he was completely different from the one outside just now, which made Lu Dongzan, who regarded him as the hope for the rise of Tubo, extremely sad.

"Teacher, Gongri left me early, and I have no brothers. Now only Gongri's son Mangsong is left. He is too young, only more than ten years old. After I leave, I am afraid that only the teacher can control those people. people."

He looked at his former teacher pleadingly and begged: "Teacher, please teach Mansong well. This is my last hope."

Lu Dongzan didn't know how he got out of the Red Palace. When he looked up, his face turned red when he saw the Tubo people kneeling devoutly to those holy men outside.

But thinking of Songtsen Gampo's request to him, he could only endure it.But he swore that one day he would make these bastards pay the price!

The Tubo people revere the gods the most. They have a god of highland barley when planting highland barley, a water god when drinking water, and a mountain god in the mountains. Everything they can see is divine. Every year, they sacrifice endless amounts of food, livestock, and materials to various places. Road gods, but those messengers of high gods enjoy privileges.

Bon religion originated from the ancient Shangshung Kingdom, which is now the country where King Shangshung, who was defeated by Tibet, lived. Later, it spread widely to the entire plateau area from west to east along the Yarlung Zangbo River.

As early as ancient times, there were more than 30 immature primitive Bon religions such as "Magic Benz", "Zan Benz", "Lucky Benz", "Divination Benz" and "Long Benz".

Shang Shung led the whole country to believe in Bon religion, and Songtsen Gampo destroyed Shang Shung's kingdom. This simply made all Bon believers furious.But Songtsen Gampo was at the height of his power at this time, and they did not dare to force themselves even if they had resentment.

Songtsen Gampo introduced Buddhism from Nibala and Tang Dynasty, and imported Buddhist statues, Buddhist scriptures, religious objects, etc. to Tubo.

When Tunmi Sambuza returned to China, he also brought several Buddhist classics, which were later translated into Tibetan. From then on, Buddhism began to be introduced into Tibet.

Songtsen Gampo established the Jokhang and Ramocha temples and 12 Buddhist temples in Tubo to fight against the Bon religion, which he had already endured to the limit.

However, at that time, the vast majority of the Tubo people believed in the Bon religion, which is the so-called "good at swearing and flattering ghosts and gods", and not many people had become monks.

Songtsen Gampo's behavior was completely offended by the Bon Religion, which was mainly the senior Bon Religion leaders.They have ruled the Tibetan people for a long time and enjoy the privilege of being superior to others. How can they tolerate their status being criticized?
But Songtsan Gampo is worthy of being the greatest monarch in the history of Tibet. In order to facilitate production and prosper the economy, Songtsan Gampo was inspired by the land equalization system of the Tang Dynasty. He implemented a relatively special system based on local realities. Equal field system.

Based on the important position of the common people in Tubo, he ordered that the royal fields and part of the national property (such as livestock) should first be distributed to the poor free people. "Open up wasteland, divide fertile farmland and pasture", develop agriculture and animal husbandry according to local conditions, and formulate a "green book" to register civilians' household registration and cultivated land area, and fix taxes according to the land.

This is a type of land-based taxation, which is similar to the taxation method.

Such reforms greatly touched the old forces, especially those represented by the Bon religion.In order to consolidate their own privileges, they incited the herdsmen to rebel, and even Shang Hung became their victim.

It’s not like Songtsen Gampo never thought about completely eradicating Bon religion, but that couldn’t be accomplished in a short time.Just like the aristocratic families in the Central Plains, they have been passed down for thousands of years. Behind their heritage, there is a large group of supporters below. Even the talented and powerful Li Shimin can only slowly weaken, but cannot do his full work.

In addition, in addition to the land distribution law, Songtsan Gampo also implemented it among slaves. Each slave who cultivated the king's land could be allocated a piece of land according to the amount of labor. A special household registration register was also established, and stipulated that The land used and the rent and labor borne.

In the animal husbandry industry, the livestock raised are mainly yaks, horses, and sheep, with pigs, dogs and other livestock also mixed in.

In spring and summer, they live by water and grass, and in autumn and winter, they have fixed pastures.

"Cattle and sheep are well fed, and the roads are full." The "cow leg tax" levied by Tubo also reflects the degree of development of animal husbandry; in agriculture, there was a relatively high level of production at this time, and new varieties were cultivated and introduced. , the main crops are highland barley, wheat, buckwheat and beans.

In terms of farming technology, the "two oxen carrying" type of plowing is generally used. The farmlands are connected. The people use "the highlands to store water as pools, and the lowlands to divert water from the river for irrigation... to open up streets" and "open acres of fields, build water conservancy projects, and ditches." Zongheng.”

These have greatly improved the people's livelihood in Tubo and promoted the development of Tubo.

Commerce and handicrafts have also been developed. The mastery of quenching and sharpening technology and the improvement of the metallurgical industry have provided enough armor, swords and arrows for thousands of troops to fight and gallop on the battlefield.

The Tibetan caravans traveled all over Central Asia and created unprecedented miracles on the plateau.

In terms of the military system, Songtsan Gampo combined local power with military organization and divided the whole country of Tubo into four areas: Wuru (middle wing), which governed the area north of the Brahmaputra River centered on Luoche.

Yuoru (right wing) governs the Jiangnan area centered on the Yalong Valley.

Yeru (left wing) governs the north and south areas of the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra River.

Laru (rear wing) governs the north and south areas of the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra River.After conquering Subi, another grandson named Boru was established.

For example: the meaning of flag and wings.

Each ru is divided into two upper and lower fenru, a total of eight fenru. Each fenru has four thousand-household residences, and each ru has one lower thousand-household residence. There are 32 thousand-household residences and four thousand-household residences in four ru. There are thousands of households in each house.

In addition, there are four Forbidden Army branches with thousands of households in Suru.Each division has a marshal, a lieutenant, and a judge.For example, there are different colors on the flags and horses as a distinction.

The army is organized in units of more than one hundred people, with a centurion.One centurion commanded five centurions, and a thousand commander commanded two centurions. In fact, each centurion commanded about ten thousand people, and commanded twenty five centurions. They were later called Wanhufu or Wanfu. long.

Each thousand household was not only a military general, but also a local ruler, and it was also the original aristocratic territory.

Officials at all levels below generals are held by local nobles, big and small, and their positions are hereditary, but they must be appointed by the royal court.All soldiers were registered and controlled by the imperial court. The national army was commanded by the Marshal of the Military and Horse Department, and the deployment was based on the golden arrow of Zanpu.

It can be said that Songtsen Gampo single-handedly made Tibet, which was still semi-ignorant, successfully enter the feudal era.

How could the Bon religion, which ruled Tubo with ignorance, not hate him to the core?It's simply a stalemate.

In order to further free the Tibetan people from the control of the Bon religion, the most praised are the creation of writing, sending Tubo children to study in Chang'an and worship Buddhism.

You must know that in the past, Tubo did not have writing, "its officials governed... by knotting ropes, teeth, and wood."

In other words, they are still at the stage of tying strings to record events, which shows their ignorance.

In order to civilize the upper aristocracy and make them abandon Bon religion and help themselves, Songtsen Gampo also selected a group of aristocratic children who were proficient in Tibetan to go to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, to study "Poetry" and "Shu" at Taixue, and let them Accept a large amount of the advanced culture of the Tang Dynasty, thereby combating the influence of Bon religion on the upper class nobility.

This move can be described as a stroke of genius, and it also shows the wisdom of Songtsan Gampo, who used all available means to attack his enemies.

Facts have also proved that he was right. The thriving Tubo, its national power is getting stronger and stronger, the continuous victorious wars, and the increasingly united Tubo people have laid a solid foundation for Tubo's cohesion.

"It's a pity!"

Lu Dongzan thought back on everything he had done over the years. They seemed to have succeeded, but they seemed not to have succeeded.

The reason for success is that Tubo is no longer the disorganized Tubo it once was. Even the Tang Dynasty cannot underestimate them.But they are powerless against their enemies, the Bon religion.

They appear to be obedient on the surface, but secretly they don’t know how much they are doing.King Shang Hung's rebellion made him and Songtsen Gampo extremely angry.

Originally, the purpose of marrying Niboluo was to attract them as allies. After all, the Bon religion did not have much influence in Niboluo.But he still miscalculated. Princess Chizun, the queen who was Zanpu's favorite at the beginning, turned out to be the accomplice of those people. Although it may not be out of intention, it turned out to be a fact after all.

They didn’t know what they had done to Princess Chizun. Princess Chizun’s health had been deteriorating since last year. At first, Songtsen Gampo didn’t pay much attention to it, but when he also gave birth to the same child as Princess Chizun, After getting sick, he realized that he had fallen into those people's scheme.

But this was already over. Countless doctors and wizards were secretly summoned for diagnosis and treatment, but none of them had any effect. This made Songtsen Gampo completely desperate, so he urgently recalled Ludongtsen, just to prevent the Bon religion from counterattacking. thing.

Originally, marrying the princess of Tang Dynasty and making peace with Tang Dynasty was a clever move. It would not only make those people surrender to Tang Dynasty, but also consolidate the power of the Tubo royal family in Tubo.

How can you not be interested in such a good thing?After all, once the princess gets married, Tubo will be able to make a lot of money based on the generosity of the Tang Dynasty in the past.

But they miscalculated. No one expected that due to the involvement of Duke Nian, his multiple proposals for Zanpu would be rejected by the Tang Dynasty, which made him extremely resentful.

Thinking of the bastard he saw in the inn, he was helpless.

Who is so powerful that with a single word, he can reduce the food trade in his territory thousands of miles away by [-]%. Such a method is simply appalling.

Suddenly, he looked at the embassy where the Tang Dynasty mission lived. If he remembered correctly, Ji Song also had an extremely skilled doctor.

What about his disciples?

is not it.
Thinking of this, his eyes lit up, he couldn't sit still anymore, and hurriedly trotted towards the embassy.The guards and attendants along the way were astonished. What could have caused this steady Prime Minister to lose his composure?
(End of this chapter)