Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 361: Pacification of Tubo (Special thanks to book friend 2022…2990 for 2 monthly tickets!)

Chai Zongxun smiled and said:
"Don't worry, mother. Over the years, I have improved the military system, including the military supervision system and the military police system, to ensure that military power is firmly in the hands of future emperors.

As for Zhou'er, I have ordered the families of my eldest uncle and younger uncle to guard the border states for generations to prevent divination. The mutual protection between the inside and the outside is safe enough.

In this case, why would we need to rely on the power of foreign relatives? We must know that there is gain and loss, and everything has a price.

Does the Queen Mother hope that in the future Zhou'er and Yu'er will be restricted by their in-laws in everything they do?"

Empress Dowager Fu's thinking was influenced by the inertia of the upbringing she had received since childhood. She hoped that she would have a powerful family of relatives to take care of Guo Jizhuo and Chai Jiyu, just as she took care of Chai Zongxun when he was young. This would make her and Chai Zongxun feel more at ease.

After hearing what Chai Zongxun said, he thought that if Zhou'er had to listen to the princess's family in everything, this would be something that Empress Dowager Fu would never want.

Queen Mother Fu sighed:
"My son is wise and brave. After hearing what you said, your mother also feels that it is true.

Since the prince is a wise man, then the queen mother doesn't need to worry about this matter anymore."

The 9th Corps of the Longxiang Army, Gao Hua's Division, and the 10th Corps, Ma Zhijie's Division, set out on an expedition in February of the 25th year of Kaixi. After they subdued the king Alizhan of the Yalongjue'a tribe in the Qingtang area, it became much easier for them to conquer the Tibetan tribes.

At this time, Tibet was no longer the unified empire that could compete with the Tang Dynasty. In the mid-ninth century, it had split into hundreds of small separatist regimes.

Under the powerful military force of the two elite corps of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the strong persuasion of King Yalongjue'a's army, the Tibetan tribes were no match for the enemy and had no choice but to believe that Emperor Chai Zongxun of the Great Zhou Empire would treat them with benevolence and righteousness. Most of the separatist regimes, which had only tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people, chose to surrender within a few days after the Great Zhou army arrived.

There were also a few who fiercely resisted the Great Zhou, accounting for about 30% of all Tibetan tribes, mainly the descendants of the "Four Royal Families" who were the most powerful in various places.

These Tibetan tribes originally wanted to rely on the dangerous terrain to defend the city, delay time, and use the harsh climate of the plateau to force the Zhou army to retreat.

Unexpectedly, the Zhou army did not send any troops to attack the city, but instead brought out many strange iron weapons from the military camp that the Tibetans had never seen before. After the Zhou army soldiers fiddled with them for a while, they lit the fuse with fire. There was a sound like thunder, and in an instant hundreds of black projectiles flew over the city wall, and wherever they hit, stone chips flew everywhere.

The Tubo land was originally a plateau, with thin air and limited physical strength of the people. Compared with the cities built by the Han people in the Central Plains, which are good at building cities, the cities they built were originally low and weak.

The Zhou army fired only a dozen rounds of "Yansu Cannon" before huge cracks appeared in the Tibetan city walls, and the Zhou army usually captured the city on the same day.

After several battles, the Tibetan tribes realized that the gap in combat power between themselves and the Great Zhou army was so huge that they were no longer comparable to those of the Tang Dynasty.

After more than two years of conquest, Gao Hua led the Ninth Corps in August of the 27th year of Kaixi and captured the city of Lhasa, which was defended by the three major Tibetan royal families, marking the final pacification of all of Tibet.

After waiting for about three months, when the officials and garrisons sent by the court to take over arrived in various Tibetan states, Gao Hua and Ma Zhijie immediately led the 9th and 10th Corps to rush to Bianliang.

During the pacification of Tubo, more than 210,000 enemy troops and mobs were annihilated, while the loss of the Longxiang Army was about 30,000, 90% of whom died of injuries and illnesses due to the harsh climate on the plateau.

At this time, the Tibetan tribes had an area of ​​approximately 3.2 million square kilometers, slightly smaller than the 4 million square kilometers of territory at its peak in the seventh century.

The total population is about five million.

After being incorporated into the Great Zhou, the population of the Great Zhou Empire exceeded 70 million, and the national territory exceeded 30 million square kilometers.

In late January of the 28th year of Kaixi, the 9th and 10th Corps that were sent to conquer Tubo returned to Bianliang.

Chai Zongxun welcomed the triumphant army at the Sheji Altar and rewarded the three armies.

Soldiers who went to war were rewarded with 50 taels of silver each, and their ranks were promoted three levels. Soldiers who died for their country were given a pension of 400 taels of silver each.

Gao Hua and Ma Zhijie were both promoted to marquis, and their fiefs were increased to 8,000 households.

After the Imperial Household Chief Tang Qi read out the imperial edict, Chai Zongxun said:

"Tibet and the Tang Dynasty have been fighting for supremacy for two hundred years, and now they have finally come under the rule of our Great Zhou!
The soldiers, unafraid of the harsh climate on the plateau, pacified Tubo in two years and made great contributions to the country.

The entire army will be given a month's leave. Once the Ministry of War has prepared sufficient military supplies, they will go to Central Asia with the First, Second, and Sixth Corps to fight against the Star Religion countries!"

The soldiers of the whole army roared like thunder, saying:

"Your Majesty has been so kind to us that we swear to destroy all the countries of the Star Sect and conquer West Asia for Your Majesty!"

The next day, on January 26th, the emperor and his ministers discussed strategies for ruling Tubo.

The Deputy Minister and Minister of Personnel Li Hang came out and said:

“Your Majesty, since the unification of Tibet by Songtsen Gampo, the Tibetans have implemented a household registration system that separates military households from civilian households. The household registration book that records the information of the tribesmen is called the Red Book, which is a red wooden tablet.

The red book records detailed information, including the clan and name of each household head, his wife, children, family property, fields and number of slaves.

Land tax, livestock and commodity tax were levied on farmers and herdsmen in the territory, and the tax rate often reached 60% to 70%, and corvee labor was also heavy.

The types of taxes levied by Tubo include ox-leg rent, which is a tax levied on the number of yaks owned by herders; farmland tribute; the main tax item of Tubo, which is the conscription of household members for food, fodder and labor; other tax items, such as supply tax, checkpoint tax, gold tax, grass tax, horse feed, and tax on households directly under the palace.

Since it split into hundreds of tribes more than a hundred years ago, the people have been exploited even more severely by the tribal leaders and nobles, and the population has decreased instead of increased, from tens of millions at its peak to more than five million today.

The local economy is backward, and the people can only barely survive and have no purchasing power.

In my opinion, if we want to make Tubo a great country for the Zhou Dynasty, we should implement the policy of exempting people from military service and reducing taxes, and emphasizing industry and commerce as set by Your Majesty. "

Chai Zongxun and almost all the court officials agreed with this proposal.

Minister of Revenue Wang Dan came out and said:
“Your Majesty, more than half of the Tibetan population are serfs without personal freedom. If serfdom is not abolished, the conditions of the local people cannot be truly improved. Moreover, the people are controlled by the noble serf owners, which is ultimately a major hidden danger to the country.

I think that for Tubo, it would be better to follow the example of Liugufan and Goryeo and completely abolish the local serfdom and aristocracy system!"

Chai Zongxun pondered for a long time and said:
“What Wang Aiqing said is correct.

If we want to permanently incorporate Tibet into the territory of our Great Zhou, we must abolish serfdom so that the people can live and work in peace.

I sent a large army to conquer Tubo, but did not affect the fundamental interests of the local nobles. They simply changed from being the people of Tubo to being the people of my Great Zhou. A military victory was enough, and the nobles from all over the country were willing to be ruled.

If serfdom were abolished now, it would mean completely depriving the Tibetan nobles of their privileges and fundamental interests, and it would certainly be like what happened in the past in Liugufan and Goryeo, with nobles everywhere rising up in rebellion.

The most important thing for the country now is to win the war with the Star Religion country, but this is not the right time to abolish serfdom and trigger rebellions in all Tibetan states."

(End of this chapter)