Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 176 Envoys from Four Countries, Li Yuanji Wants to Cause Trouble

After making arrangements for Wang Xuance, Li Yuanji returned to his former calmness, but this calmness was accompanied by unrest.

"Your Majesty, I only went to Chang'an once, and you started to fight everywhere, and you didn't even let me go out to lead the troops. Since I followed Your Majesty, I have made no contributions, but I have worked hard. You didn't even let me drink the soup for the credit of destroying the country.

Your Majesty, let's attack other small countries next. Let me go. I will definitely conquer them. You see, the islands next to Ryukyu are occupied by Wa (Japan called itself Yamato at that time. During the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, Wa was renamed Japan with the consent of Empress Wu Zetian). The King of Baekje, Buyeo Jang, is attacking Silla.

Moreover, Buyeo Zhang is close to Goguryeo and Japan, but obviously not so close to the Tang Dynasty. These people attacked us on their own and did not take the Tang Dynasty seriously at all. As the King of Qi of the Tang Dynasty, does Your Majesty have to send troops to destroy them?
Especially the Japanese, knowing that Ryukyu has become the king's fiefdom, he still occupies the islands next to Ryukyu. I ask to send troops to destroy the Japanese! And then destroy Baekje!"

Su Dingfang's face was filled with murderous intent. He was really suffocated this time. Going to Chang'an was nothing, and it was not hard at all, but after coming back, he found that the situation here had changed so much, and some new people had emerged. Su Dingfang could not bear it any longer.

In the battle between the three armies, he didn't get any advantage. Since he followed Li Yuanji, he hasn't performed well. Now that this place is gradually developing and the army is increasing, he also wants to go out and show his abilities.

What he said now was almost all complaints, just to make sure that he could lead his troops to fight wherever Li Yuanji needed them next time.

Li Yuanji felt a headache when he heard Su Dingfang's words. What the hell was going on? Now he was still using troops against Linyi and teasing people, and Su Dingfang had the nerve to bring this up?

He also wanted to fight against Japan, but he couldn't do it now. He couldn't even sustain his food and grass after fighting against Linyi. Why would he fight against Japan? And destroy Baekje at the same time? What was he thinking? Could it be that when these small countries in the world fight in the future, they will have to ask Li Yuanji about it.

If he didn't agree, would these people still dare to fight just because their country was destroyed?
It's just something to think about. Li Yuanji doesn't have that much power, at least not now.

Then Li Yuanji thought of something and understood it immediately.

"Dingfang, there is nothing we can do about this. You were not there at the time. If you were there, how could I stop you from leading the troops?

Now that we are running low on food and grass, you also know that we must rest well. The reason we attacked Linyi is because Fan Fanzhi was too arrogant and looked down on everyone. He even dared to attack us, so we sent troops.

But don't worry, if we need to send troops to other places later, you will be allowed to go, okay?"

Li Yuanji coaxed Su Dingfang patiently. He could understand Su Dingfang's urgency because these people had hardly made any military achievements since they followed him. In addition, everyone knew that the focus here was development, so as long as there was a war, everyone wanted to go.

After all, if we miss this opportunity, no one knows when we will be able to use troops next time.

After pacifying Su Dingfang, Su Dingfang honestly admitted his mistake and went down happily. After Su Dingfang left, Li Yuanji's expression suddenly changed and he immediately looked at Xie Shufang.

"Shufang, you are getting more and more powerful. You even teamed up with Dingfang to force me to continue to send troops. You are really capable. Don't you know what the situation is here now?"

Li Yuanji looked at Xie Shufang with an unfriendly face. Li Yuanji knew very well that this man must have been talking nonsense to Su Dingfang while drinking, otherwise how could Su Dingfang, a good person, become like this?
Xie Shufang looked at Li Yuanji's expression and this time did not make any jokes.

"Your Majesty, I guarantee with my life that I have never said anything nonsense to Ding Fang. When we were drinking together, I told him about the current military campaign. Then I also told him that there would be another big war in the future and you asked me to lead the troops to fight. This should have irritated Ding Fang."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuanji looked at Xie Shufang as if he were an idiot. He wondered if this man was sick? Why did he bring up all that? What he said to Xie Shufang was just to comfort him. He didn't know when the next fight would be, and as a result, Su Dingfang was directly provoked.

"Xie Shufang, ah Xie Shufang, you are really amazing. Don't you know that Dingfang is eager to make achievements and has been looking forward to fighting? You are so brainless when you speak? I don't even know when the next battle will be, and you say that now?
You're really making me angry. From now on, you are not allowed to drink for one month, no, three months. If I find out that you dare to drink within three months, I will show you how I will deal with you.

Get out of here now, you're an eyesore."

Xie Shufang did not refute at all and slipped away immediately.

Li Yuanji smiled bitterly. It was a good thing that his generals had such intentions, but his actual situation could not support such a thing. There was not enough food to eat, so how could he go to war? If he fought for the sake of fighting, he might lose himself one day.

Fortunately, this incident has passed and Su Dingfang never mentioned it again. Li Yuanji asked him to form another 5,000 new troops. Now he is busy training the new troops all day and has no time to think about anything else.

One day, Xie Shufang walked in hurriedly.

"Your Majesty, the envoys from Linyi and Funan have arrived. There is also news that Zhenla and Tangming (Tangming Kingdom, the name of the Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of Sun Quan, was destroyed during the reign of Li Zhi and became part of Wendan Kingdom and Zhenla. Zhenla is also divided into the south and the north, the north is Lu Zhenla and the south is Shui Zhenla. Lu Zhenla is also Wendan Kingdom) have also sent envoys and will arrive in two days."

Li Yuanji was stunned. Linyi sent an envoy. He could probably guess the reason, because Xi Junmai and Liu Rengui were attacking Linyi, and Fan Fanzhi must have been unable to defeat them, so he could not help but sent an envoy.

As for Funan, Zhenla, and Tang Ming, Li Yuanji really did not expect that these countries did not have deep exchanges with the Tang Dynasty. Except for Tang Ming, there was some communication, but not much. Not to mention Zhenla and Funan, perhaps because the Tang Dynasty had not yet become strong.

But why did these three kingdoms send envoys to him? Shouldn't they go to Chang'an?

Li Yuanji, who was confused, stopped thinking about it and looked at Xie Shufang.

"Tell Jingren about this and let him go to meet them first and find out their intentions. Then I will decide whether to meet them or not."

Li Yuanji became interested. Normally no one came, but now, envoys from four countries came directly. Although there were four countries, but in Li Yuanji's eyes, they were actually three countries, because he did not regard Linyi as a country at all. After all, it was soon to become his fiefdom and his Yuezhou Prefecture.

Li Yuanji waited quietly in the palace until Cen Wenben arrived later.

"Jingren, do you know why they are here?"

Cen Wenben smiled, and Li Yuanji was relieved after seeing this. It seemed like a good thing. "Your Majesty, I have understood that the purpose of the people from Linyi coming here is to ask Your Majesty to stop attacking Linyi. Fan Fanzhi is willing to pay any price to ask Your Majesty to withdraw his troops. In addition, Fan Fanzhi has also sent envoys to Chang'an.

The envoys of Funan came this time to ask for help. The King of Zhenla, Bafavarman, also known as Manman, was the son of the previous King of Funan, but he had married a Zhenla princess earlier. After the death of the previous King of Zhenla, Manman became the new King of Zhenla.

The new king of Zhenla had always been eyeing Funan and wanted to consolidate his royal power. He had thought of using military force against Funan several times, and wanted to use the army to intimidate Funan and force Funan King Stone to pass the throne to Mann. Stone was now old and did not have much time left, but he refused Mann's request.

Mann was preparing to use military force against Funan. Before, Stone and Fan Fanzhi had agreed that if Funan was attacked by Zhenla, Fan Fanzhi would send troops to help Funan. But now Fan Fanzhi himself could not protect himself, and Funan sent people here in the hope of getting help from the king.

As for the reason why they did not go to Chang'an, it was because Chang'an was too far away and they were afraid that they would not have enough time to go there. They learned that Lingnan was the king's fiefdom and Linyi was about to be destroyed by the king, so they came to ask the king for help. "

After listening to this, Li Yuanji fell into deep thought. If the envoy from Funan had not come, how would he have known what Cen Wenben said? It can also be seen from this that the Tang Dynasty still has too little external communication.

Moreover, it can be seen from these things that the Tang Dynasty’s influence on the surrounding countries is not very great. To be precise, it is not very small, but a bit weak.

You must know that during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, the four protectorates of Anxi, Annan, Andong and Anbei were established. No matter what the surrounding countries did, the first thing they had to do was to obtain the consent of the Tang Dynasty. Whether it was a conquest or the establishment of a new king, they had to send envoys to the Tang Dynasty. Only after obtaining approval could they recognize the new kings established by the surrounding countries.

Just like Baekje, King Uija of Baekje, who succeeded to the throne after the death of the current King Mu of Baekje, Buyeo Uija, refused to listen to the call of the Tang Dynasty and refused to stop the conquest of Silla. Then, after Li Zhi issued an edict, he was destroyed by Su Dingfang who led an army of 130,000. Liu Rengui's famous battle also took place in this war.

But now, changes are happening in the surrounding areas. No matter whether it is war or the ascension of a new king, no one cares about the Tang Dynasty, the ancestral country and the superior country, because the influence of the Tang Dynasty is really low at this time.

Li Yuanji could already guess that Funan sent people here simply because they saw that he was going to destroy Linyi and his army had demonstrated strong combat effectiveness, so they wanted to rely on him.

Thinking of this, Li Yuanji suddenly laughed. He was worrying about how to expand his influence, and now someone gave him a pillow just when he was sleepy. Through the Funan incident, and the upcoming occupation of Linyi, also known as Yuezhou Prefecture, this small piece of land in Southeast Asia, wouldn't he have the say in the end?
This time, he took this opportunity to extend his reach into the Southeast Asian countries.

Li Yuanji thought for a while before speaking with a smile.

“There’s no need to meet the envoy from Linyi. Just go and tell him that there will be no Linyi anymore. It will be called Yuezhou Prefecture, which is one of the prefectures in my fiefdom.

As for the envoy from Funan, let him hang out for a while. There are also envoys from Zhenla and Tang Ming who will arrive in two days. During these two days, take the envoy from Funan for a walk and let him see how mighty my army is.

I will see him again after he has seen it all.

Remember, when you take him to see things, don't let him see the curved plow or waterwheel. As long as he sees these, he can make them, and then they will be given to others for free.

Those that are difficult to manufacture, even if they are seen, they cannot be made without knowing the essentials, so let him see them, especially the new sailing ship, let him see it and give him a little shock, then we can negotiate terms with Funan."

Li Yuanji had a smile on his face, but this smile looked a little malicious.

After hearing this, Cen Wenben thought for a moment and immediately looked at Li Yuanji.

"Your Majesty, are you going to intervene in the relationship between those countries because of this matter? However, this method is very good. When I learned about it, the Funan envoy was also full of amazement and curiosity about this place. It can be seen that even now, the envoy has been shocked and witnessed the extraordinaryness of this place."

Li Yuanji also laughed after hearing this. The two discussed for a while, and then Cen Wenben went down.

After learning of Li Yuanji's attitude, the Linyi envoy was filled with despair, and then surrendered on the spot, expressing his willingness to work under Li Yuanji. This surprised Cen Wenben, and he immediately agreed.

In the next two days, Cen Wenben had someone take the Funan envoy around to get to know the place. After getting to know it, the Funan envoy was extremely amazed. In the end, he could only be amazed, because although he saw it, he still didn't know how it was done.

When the Funan envoy saw Li Yuanji's army and sailboats, he became even more excited and wanted to see Li Yuanji, but was always refused by Li Yuanji on the pretext that he was busy.

Now Li Yuanji is sitting on the Diaoyutai, not in a hurry at all, which makes the Funan envoy anxious and unsure of Li Yuanji's attitude.

Two days later, envoys from Zhenla and Tang Ming arrived. When the envoy from Funan found out "accidentally", he became even more panicked. He had clearly arrived first, but had not yet had the opportunity to meet Li Yuanji. Now the envoys from Zhenla and Tang Ming had arrived.

The Funan envoy had no choice but to go find Cen Wenben. He was almost crying. Finally, Cen Wenben had no choice but to agree to let him go find Li Yuanji again.

"Your Majesty, the Funan envoy couldn't help himself, especially after knowing that the Zhenla envoy had arrived, he couldn't sit still at all. Now, does Your Majesty want to meet him?"

Li Yuanji was very relaxed at the moment and smiled as he listened to Cen Wenben's words.

"Jingren has been pestered by him for a long time, right? Now he is almost out of the question, it is time to meet him. If you want me to protect Funan, it depends on what price he can offer.

Bring him here in an hour. Also, let the Zhenla envoy know about this incident accidentally and see how he reacts. At the same time, go and find out what the Zhenla and Tangming envoys are talking about so we can make preparations."

Li Yuanji was all smiles. This time, he was finally going to step out of Lingnan. He wanted to see what these small countries were like.

Upon hearing this, Cen Wenben stepped back and began to deal with these matters.

On the other side, Wei Ting became a little restless for a moment when he learned that a foreign envoy was coming.

(End of this chapter)