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

Chapter 252 Li Er's difficult and happy choice, the fundamental reason for the restoration of people's livelihood
Although Li Er made arrangements, the heaviness in his heart did not diminish.

All the deployments he made now were extremely passive and were forced choices. Li Yuanji made the deployments before him, and if he was slow, he would only be slow at every step.

No matter which side, especially India in the west, the journey is long and it will take many years to go back and forth. It is still unknown whether these deployments can be effective.

Thinking about Li Yuanji's fiefdom now, Li Er felt a headache. Li Yuanji's fiefdom had grown so large without him noticing. If it continued to develop like this, it would be even larger than the territory of his Tang Dynasty.

The surrounding small countries that no one had paid attention to in the past were now connected by Li Yuanji, and they realized that the threat was so great.

The truth came too suddenly, catching him and his ministers off guard for a moment.

Suddenly, the palace door was pushed open and Li Junxian hurried in.

"Your Majesty, urgent news has arrived from the North!"

Li Er's pupils shrank. Urgent news from the north? Could it be that Jie Li was going to go back on his word and tear up the treaty?

Fang Xuanling and others below were also shocked. The urgent news from the north did not seem to be good news at all.

Li Er took a look at the urgent report, and the heaviness on his face gradually disappeared, and a smile gradually took over.

"Haha! Okay, okay!"

Li Er's loud laughter immediately attracted everyone. Fang Xuanling and others looked at Li Er in amazement. Seeing Li Er's look, they immediately felt relieved. This at least meant that the news reported in the emergency report was good news.

But no one could figure out what the good news was.

Li Er laughed heartily. It had been a long time. It had been almost a year since he ascended the throne, and he hadn't been in such a good mood for a long time. Today, there was finally some news that made him extremely happy.

After a moment, Li Er stopped laughing and turned to look at Fang Xuanling and others.

"Everyone, I just received news that the Xueyantuo, Huihe, Bayegu and other tribes that were formerly subject to Jie Li have risen up in rebellion against the Turks. There are conflicts within the Turks!

In addition, Jie Li sent Tuli to suppress the rebellion, but Tuli was defeated and fled back in a panic. Not only was he whipped by Jie Li, he was also placed under house arrest for more than ten days. He also asked Tuli to recruit soldiers but was refused.

This is enough to show that Tuli must be dissatisfied with Jie Li, but Tuli is definitely not Jie Li's opponent. In order to restrain Jie Li, Tuli will definitely come to me.

Now is our chance!"

Li Er's face was full of relief. He remembered clearly the humiliating treaty signed by the Wei River. The hatred he felt for Li Yuanji was even stronger than his hatred for him.

As for Li Yuanji, it was an internal matter of the Tang Dynasty no matter what. However, the Turks were a foreign race, and he was forced to sign a humiliating treaty after becoming the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Li Er did not dare to do so and could not forget this humiliation.

And now, internal strife broke out in the Turks so quickly, how could Li Er not be happy? He was determined to get back his position, and the more chaotic the Turks were, the happier he was.

The chaos among the Turks meant that his chances of revenge were greater, and most importantly, he didn't have to wait that long.

Li Er knew very well what kind of combat power the peak Turks had. The 18 Turkic tribes were closely united, with an army of 200,000 to 300,000, and most of them were cavalry. With this kind of strength, Li Er could not underestimate it, let alone now in the early days of Zhenguan, even more than ten years after Zhenguan.

Fang Xuanling and others below were also excited after hearing this. This was really rare good news since their successful mutiny.

Thinking about what they had faced before, everyone felt that things were not easy at this moment. Li Yuanji was aggressive and covetous, and there were the Turks and Tuyuhun in the north. There was no peace in the entire Tang Dynasty.

Originally, no one cared about the east and south, but Li Yuanji integrated all these small countries, coupled with his powerful smelting and manufacturing capabilities, as well as advanced large ships, which made all of them extremely depressed. Now they finally have an outlet to vent.

The civil strife among the Turks not only gave them the possibility to take revenge more quickly, but also provided an opportunity for the Tang Dynasty to escape from the encirclement of Li Yuanji.

As long as the Turks can be dealt with, the Tang army in the north will be liberated. At least 100,000 or 200,000 troops can be deployed to other battlefields to deal with the powerful Li Yuanji.

After a moment of excitement, Du Ruhui was the first to step forward and speak.

"Your Majesty, the Turks are now in civil strife. We must seize this opportunity. We can contact the Huihe, Xueyantuo, Bayegu and other tribes, especially Tuli. Since he has this idea, we can send someone to lobby him.

We can provide them with military support, open up trade with them, and obtain the war horses we need.

The money obtained will be used to form cavalry for subsequent use against the Turks!
At the same time, we should select the elite from the army and start training from now on to prepare for the later expedition to attack Jie Li. By then, with the cooperation of Tuli and Xueyantuo and other tribes, after destroying Jie Li, we will support the tribes close to the Tang Dynasty to come to power and control the Turks.

Then, using this advantage, they expanded to the surrounding areas. Now that the King of Qi's fiefdom was becoming more and more prosperous, the Tang Dynasty had to expand its territory.

The direction of expansion is westward, expanding the influence of the Tang Dynasty to Tianzhu and other places, curbing the development of the King of Qi and gradually compressing it! "

As soon as Du Ruhui finished speaking, Changsun Wuji also stood up.

“Your Majesty, I agree with what Keming said, but the trade with the Turks should not be too large. We cannot destroy Jie Li and then another Tuli or others will appear. We must let the Turkic tribes fight each other first.

We can make promises to the Tuli and other tribes and give them absolute support, allowing them to exchange money, supplies, and war horses. In short, we can exchange what we need for what they need. These are all the support given to them by the Tang Dynasty.

I think the method proposed by the King of Qi is appropriate. The Tang Dynasty should not send troops, but let them fight on their own. The Tang Dynasty will then send troops. By then, it will be feasible to support close people or directly incorporate the Turkic land into the Tang Dynasty.

But the premise is that we must suppress the Turkic strength. If they are too strong, they will inevitably have thoughts that they shouldn’t have over time. We must be on guard against it!"

As soon as Changsun Wuji finished speaking, Fang Xuanling also spoke.

"Your Majesty, I think the same thing. During this period, I think we should first attack Tuyuhun. Tuyuhun is adjacent to Suobei, which was destroyed by Tubo. Your Majesty can contact Suobei's orphan and let him return to Suobei to start an uprising.

At the same time, conquering Tuyuhun was to better support Subi's rebellion against Tubo. As long as the Tang Dynasty occupied the land of Tuyuhun, the King of Qi's plan in Tubo would inevitably fail.

After the autumn harvest next year, people's livelihood will be able to recover to a large extent, and there will be enough food for the army to fight.

After destroying Tuyuhun, he turned back and destroyed Jie Li.

Tuyuhun involved the most important area for the Tang Dynasty's outward expansion, while Jie Li only wanted to eliminate the threat from the northern border and avenge the humiliation.

Your Majesty, please distinguish the priorities. It is inevitable to wash away the shame, but the expansion of the King of Qi must be stopped. The Turks are only a minor problem, and the King of Qi is the major problem. "The restoration of many people's livelihoods next year mentioned by Fang Xuanling is related to the system implemented by the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty now implements the equal-field system, which is to actively grant land to the people of the world.

Young and strong men who are 18 years old or above will receive 80 mu of land for each household and 20 mu of permanent land. Old men and disabled people will receive 40 mu of land for each household. If they are the heads of households, they will also receive 20 mu of permanent land and 30 mu of land for each household.

The Tang Dynasty also used the system of rent, labor service and tax for tax collection.

It was precisely because of this system that people’s livelihood recovered extremely quickly in the early Tang Dynasty. As long as there were no major natural disasters and as long as taxes were collected strictly in accordance with this system, people’s livelihood could almost be recovered within two years.

In particular, the Tang Dynasty migrated nearly two million people to Lingnan. The reduction in population made it possible to better implement the equal-field system because there was enough land to distribute.

As for whether the equal-field system has disadvantages, of course there are, and these disadvantages are definitely not small.

The equal-field system was the most important reason why the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty did not last long.

Although the people's livelihood in the Tang Dynasty was able to recover quickly because of the equal-field system and the rent and labor service system used in conjunction with the equal-field system, it collapsed just as quickly as it came. The most fundamental reason was that the number of fields was limited and the total number basically did not change much.

But the population is increasing every year. The cake is so big and the shares have been determined. However, there are more and more people to share the cake. How can there be enough people to share with just one cake?

This was also something that gradually became apparent in the middle and late Zhenguan period, that is, the amount of land granted was actually not full at all. For example, an eighteen-year-old man should have received eighty mu of household land and twenty mu of permanent land, but he actually only received forty or fifty mu in total.

However, taxes are paid based on a total of one hundred acres of land and according to the recorded amount of land granted.

However, this is still one of the problems. The most important problem is the annexation of land by wealthy families and landlords, which has caused more and more people to become refugees.

This is also the fundamental reason why the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty came and went quickly. Taxes could not be collected from the land and the people were displaced. The salt tax exemption established by Yang Jian lasted until the Kaiyuan period, when the court had to levy salt taxes to make up for the deficit in the treasury.

From the equal-field system to the later two-tax system, why did we seek change? Why did we implement the two-tax system?
This was because the equal-field system was no longer usable. If it continued to be used, the Tang Dynasty would be doomed, so it had to be changed.

It is precisely because of the special nature of the equal-field system that the implementation of the military system was possible, as soldiers could bring their own food and fodder and could afford it.

This cheating system for restoring people's livelihood is so outrageous. Once it is implemented, no one will be willing to change it, because this system will make the Tang Dynasty more and more prosperous. Therefore, even if many people can see the shortcomings of this system in the future, they will not point it out, and Li Er will not change it.

Once the change occurs, it will be a reform. The unknown nature of the reform will impact his status and will also lead the prosperous Tang Dynasty to an unknown path. Until that point, there will be no change.

It’s like you have made huge profits and achieved financial freedom through a certain method, and now someone comes to tell you that your method is wrong and you must change it, otherwise you will lose everything in the future.

Once you change, you don't know whether you will have a rich life now, and this thunder may not explode even if you die. Will you change? Will you resist the temptation to earn more and live a better life and change?
Fang Xuanling was so confident because the equal-field system could be fully utilized as the population of the Tang Dynasty was small. As long as the autumn harvest next year was not too bad, the Tang Dynasty would suddenly have sufficient food.

Li Er frowned. What Fang Xuanling and the others said were almost the same. That was to make the Turks more chaotic, and then they would use Li Yuanji's method to make a fortune while controlling the Turks.

The biggest difference between Fang Xuanling's words and those of Du Ruhui and Zhangsun Wuji is that they should attack Tuyuhun first and then deal with the Turks.

Li Er was extremely unwilling to do this, because now that he had enough food, he should fight the Turks first and avenge the humiliation first. He would not sleep well until this humiliation was avenged.

But Li Yuanji, whom Fang Xuanling mentioned, was also a pain in his heart and the person he considered to be his real opponent.

No matter how powerful the Turks were, they could not threaten his position as emperor and would only humiliate him. However, Li Yuanji was different. Li Yuanji was the one who could really threaten his position as emperor directly.

Li Shimin knew very well how he came to this position. When dealing with the Turks, everyone in the Tang Dynasty could still be open to the outside world, but it was different for Li Yuanji. There was no psychological burden in surrendering to Li Yuanji.

They were both sons of Li Yuan, but they were just fighting for the position of emperor. It was an internal conflict and had a completely different meaning from the Turks.

However, even defeating Tuyuhun was not so easy. Tuyuhun's strength was not that bad, which made Li Er very conflicted.

After a while, Li Er looked at Fang Xuanling and others.

"You go down first to implement the decision. As for whether to attack Tuyuhun first or the Turks first, I will think about it later."

Fang Xuanling and his companions did not urge them. They knew very well that this decision was not an easy one to make as it involved the strategic priorities of the Tang Dynasty.

After several people left, Li Er sat directly on the chair and kept thinking about the pros and cons of this matter.

After a while, Li Er opened his eyes.

"Someone, go and invite Li Jing into the palace. I have something important to discuss with you."

Whether to attack Tuyuhun first or to destroy the Turks first, the most important thing is how long it will take to defeat Tuyuhun and whether it can be defeated. Therefore, the opinion of the leader is particularly important.

As for why he was called Li Jing, in Li Er's mind, whether it was to fight Tuyuhun or to destroy the Turks, Li Jing was the only choice in his mind.

As time passed, Li Jing slowly stepped into the hall with steady steps.

"See Your Majesty."

"Pharmacist, please get up and sit down."

Li Er looked at Li Jing and spoke quickly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Li Jing clasped his fists and bowed again before sitting on the chair in the hall.

Looking at Li Jing, Li Er did not try to test him and directly told Li Jing the matter.

"Pharmacist, if I ask you to lead the army to conquer Tuyuhun, how many troops would you need? How long would it take to conquer it?"

Li Er looked at Li Jing seriously. What Li Jing said next would be an important reference for whether to destroy the Turks or Tuyuhun first. Li Er had to be cautious.

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(End of this chapter)