The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 395: Khitan Household Registration
The Khitan's dual-core system was neither good nor bad. Simply put, it was between centralization and aristocratic democracy.

In terms of centralization, there are two people in charge.

As for aristocratic democracy, it was because the Khitan Khan and tribal leaders were elected by hereditary rather than hereditary.

It is a hereditary system, and the leader can remain in power forever and designate a successor.

The Khitan hereditary election system was to hold elections within the family every three years, with the leaders taking turns to be the banker.

Under the productivity conditions at that time, such a system would have been difficult to challenge the Central Plains dynasty.

The reason why Khitan was able to become the Great Liao later was due to the gradual evolution of the system and the emergence of a powerful figure like Yelu Abaoji.

Yelu Abaoji was born in the Diela tribe. He followed the power struggles of his predecessors and rose from being the commander of the Khan's personal guards to gradually becoming the Khan. He controlled the Diela tribe and the North and South Courts at the same time.

After Yelu Abaoji became Khan, he suppressed the "Rebellion of Brothers" three times and, at the suggestion of his wife, held the Hongmen Banquet and dealt with the leaders of the other seven tribes. Only then did he secure his position.

If Li Heng wanted to deal with the Khitan, in terms of political approach, the first thing he had to do was to prevent the emergence of people like Yelu Abaoji. In simple terms, he couldn't let the people of the Diela tribe control the North and South Courts. The second thing he had to do was to take advantage of their election to add fuel to the fire.

The specific ways of adding fuel to the fire can be divided into two levels.

The first level is the election of the leader of the Diela tribe.

Yelu Neri is old and has been bedridden. This year, he will choose one of his sons to be the leader of the Dila tribe. Yelu Neri prefers his eldest son, Yelu Pidie.

Historically, because Yelu Neri was too powerful and the Tang Dynasty was in a civil war, the election of the Diela tribe was just a formality, and Yelu Neri smoothly handed over power to Yelu Pidie. But now Li Heng certainly cannot allow Yelu Neri to be so "dictatorial". He must make the election of the Diela tribe "democratic" and give Yelu Pidie's brothers a chance.

The second level is in the other seven parts.

The Yaonian clan is the only one in power, and the other seven clans have long been unhappy about it. They want to take back the power they had before, but they lack the strength.

Li Heng was responsible for strengthening the other seven departments.

Yan Zhenqing received Li Heng's imperial order and followed it, sending weapons and food to Yelu Pidie's two younger brothers and seven other tribes.

With the support of the Tang Dynasty, Yelu Bidie's two younger brothers joined the game to compete for the leader of the Diela tribe.

Among them, Yan Zhenqing strongly supported Yelu Bidie's second brother, Yelu Geming.

Yelu Geming had soldiers under his command, and he led them directly to remonstrate with Yelu Neri.

At the same time, when the Diela tribe was in civil strife, the other seven Khitan tribes forced Li Huaixiu to abdicate and re-proposed the "Eight Tribes' Political Discussion".

At this point, no matter who wins or loses within the Khitan, the overall strength will be greatly weakened.

Datang waited for the result quietly.

By early December, the outcome of the Khitan civil war came out. Without the support of the Diela tribe, Li Huaixiu was forced to agree to the proposal of the other seven tribes, and the North and South Houses were changed to eight tribes for deliberation.

The Eight Ministries' Deliberation on State Affairs was originally the political model before the Khitans. Restoring the ancestral system can also be considered legal.

But for a country, this model means that each country fights on its own.

However, Yelu Geming, with the support of the Tang Dynasty, was defeated by Yelu Pidie and fled to the Tang Dynasty.

It has to be said that Yelu Pidie was a heroic ruler. If he had not met Li Heng, he could have laid the foundation for Yelu Abaoji's monarchy.

But unfortunately, he met Li Ying.

Yelu Geming fled to Chang'an, and Li Heng not only accepted him, but also appointed him as the General of the Left Guard.

This time we can’t deal with the Khitan.

Because Li Heng conferred the title of General of the Left Guard on the Khitan Khan, this traitor who ran over was instead given the title of General of the Left Guard, which was equivalent to the Deputy Khan of the Khitan.

When Yelu Bidie learned about this, he sent an envoy to the Tang Dynasty overnight, asking Li Heng to either hand Yelu Geming over to them or kill him.

Of course Li Heng did not agree.

Yelu Bidie was furious and accused Li Heng of "making a false statement to the world". Then he organized his army and prepared for war while sending people to Chang'an to assassinate Yelu Geming.

As soon as Yelu Bidie's assassins arrived in Chang'an, Cen Shen discovered their tracks and reported it to Li Heng.

Li Heng asked Cen Shen to keep his troops in place and rescue Yelu Geming at the critical moment.

A few days later, Yelu Bidie's killer attacked Yelu Nieming in Honghua Tower controlled by Hongyue. Cen Shen led people to rescue Yelu Geming and captured Yelu Bidie's killer alive.

The twenty-sixth day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Ji De.

Li Ying showed the ministers the memorial submitted by Cen Shen, which stated that Yelu Pi had sent people to Chang'an to assassinate him.

When all the ministers saw this, they were very angry.

How could a small border country actually send people to kill people at the feet of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty?

Gao Xianzhi, who was in charge of the Ministry of War, and other military generals such as Feng Changqing all strongly advised against sending troops.

Li Heng then asked Liu Yan if he had any money to fight the war.

Liu Yan said that after the implementation of the Two Tax System and the salt monopoly, the tax revenue in the three years of Ji De had exceeded that of the heyday of Tianbao, so there should be no problem in defeating the Khitan.

With money and soldiers, Li Heng had no reason to hesitate. He let Yan Zhenqing lead the soldiers of Fan Yang and Ping Lu to fully lead the war against the Khitan.

At the same time, he ordered the Bohai Kingdom and Shiwei to send troops for support.

The current king of Bohai Kingdom is Daqinmao. His father Dawuyi fought several battles with the Tang Dynasty during the Kaiyuan period, and the two sides ended in a draw. However, although the war was a draw, the national strength was very different. The Tang Dynasty could still fight again, but the Bohai Kingdom was hollowed out.

So Da Wuyi wrote a letter requesting submission and paying tribute.

Li Longji agreed.

After Da Wuyi's death, Da Qinmao came to power and began to focus on domestic affairs and to make peace with the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, when Li Heng asked Bohai to send troops to fight Khitan, Daqinmao did not refuse, but only sent two thousand people as a show.

However, the Shiwei not only did not send troops to support the Tang Dynasty, but instead supported the Khitan.

Because when An Lushan rebelled, both Khitan and Shiwei contributed. Shiwei felt that Li Heng was seeking revenge for personal gain. If Khitan was dealt with, Shiwei would not be able to escape.

However, the Shiwei had many tribes within them and their opinions were not unified. Secondly, they had not yet developed and did not have many troops to aid the Khitan. They only gathered 3,000 people to help.

In February of the fourth year of Ji De, Yan Zhenqing led 50,000 soldiers from Fan Yang and Ping Lu, with Dong Qin as deputy general, Tian Shengong, Hou Xiyi and others as deputy generals, and sent troops to attack the Khitan.

The Khitan now had eight tribes discussing politics, and several of them were unwilling to fight. In addition, they had just experienced internal conflicts and were no match for the Tang army. After several battles, the Tang army killed 10,000 enemies and captured Yelu Pidie. Yelu Pidie's son, Yelu Yanling, fled to the Uighurs.

Yan Zhenqing personally sent Yelu Bidie to Chang'an. Li Heng did not kill Yelu Bidie, but only exiled him to Lingnan.

Then, let Yelu Geming go back and lead the Khitan.

Yelu Geming was also very tactful. He asked Li Heng to abolish the Songmo Military Governor's Office, set up prefectures and counties, and register the Khitan as an equal citizen.

During the prosperous Tang Dynasty, martial virtues were abundant, and the border forces had completely different attitudes towards the Tang and Song dynasties.

As for the Tang Dynasty, many border forces had actively requested to be incorporated into the Tang Dynasty's household registration since the time of Li Shimin. However, Li Shimin looked down on those remote corners and felt that they were troublesome to manage and would be better off dividing and governing them, so he did not agree.

By the time of the Song Dynasty, the forces on the border had grown in strength. The Song Dynasty wanted to register all the people, but the forces on the border not only disagreed, they also wanted to fight the Song Dynasty.

Moreover, the Khitan people had a high degree of identification with the Tang Dynasty during the Tang Dynasty. During the Yingzhou Rebellion during Wu Zetian's reign, Li Jinzhong rebelled, and their slogan was "Why don't you return to me, the King of Luling!"

Prince Luling was Li Xian. In other words, the Khitan rebellion was not based on the slogan of national independence, but on the slogan of "reviving the Li family".

In the late Tang Dynasty, Yelu Abaoji and Li Keyong held an alliance and prepared to fight Zhu Wen. Li Keyong said that although he was a Shatuo, he was loyal to the Tang Dynasty and his greatest wish in this life was to revive the Tang Dynasty.

When Yelu Abaoji heard this, he became unhappy and said that you, Li Keyong, are the King of Jin of the Tang Dynasty, but I, Abaoji, am not an outsider. I am the second in command of the "Feng Tang Khitan". You have the responsibility to revive the Tang Dynasty, and I cannot shirk my responsibility either.

Although the two had their own ulterior motives, they both chose the Tang Dynasty without hesitation in terms of legal legitimacy.

From this we can see that the Khitans never considered themselves to be foreigners in legal terms.

Li Heng had already thought carefully about the policy for the Northeast, so he agreed to Yelu Geming's proposal without hesitation to register the Khitans as ordinary citizens.

Of course, registering all citizens is only the first step.

The second step is to promote farming.

The old Khitan tribes who were registered as common people still endured it, but promoting farming was different from the original way of life of the Khitans, so the Yishi and Wuwei tribes among the eight tribes directly rebelled.

Tian Shengong had already received Li Heng's order that if anyone was dissatisfied, he could fight first and report later.

Therefore, Tian Shengong was well prepared, and when the Yishi and Wuwei tribes rebelled, he directly sent troops to suppress them.

The Yishi and Wuwei tribes were defeated. Yishi led his people to flee westward and live as a nomad in the grasslands, while the Wuwei tribe fled northward and continued to live a life of fishing and hunting in the mountains and forests.

The promotion of farming cannot be accomplished in a short period of time, so it will take some time to stabilize the original Khitan territory. During this period, it would be dangerous for the Tang Dynasty to take the initiative to cross the Khitan and continue military operations against Shiwei, so the Northeast is temporarily peaceful.

……

In the first half of the fourth year of Ji De, nothing major happened elsewhere except in Khitan.

It was not until June that Li Ying received the new tea presented by Lu Yu.

When Li Ying saw the pattern of the new tea, he knew it was made by Li Tengkong.

Li Ying asked someone to make a cup of tea, took two sips, and fell into deep thought.

Seeing Li Heng's expression, Yang Yuhuan said with a smile, "My dear, you are drinking tea and thinking about someone. If you want to see her, just send someone to call her into the palace."

Li Ying came back to his senses and said, "I'm not thinking about people, I'm thinking about food."

"What food?" Yang Yuhuan asked curiously.

"I drank and tasted tea made by Lu Yu in this way a long time ago..." Li Ying smiled and recalled the scene when he first met Yang Yuhuan.

He still remembered that at that time he thought Yang Yuhuan was like French fries.

French fries are certainly not a precious food in modern times, but in the Tang Dynasty, they were more precious than anything else.

Because there were no potatoes in the Tang Dynasty.

Potatoes were one of Li Heng’s favorite foods in his previous life, but after arriving in the Tang Dynasty, he never ate them again.

Yang Yuhuan asked curiously, "What did you eat?"

Li Ying said, "It's a common food, but one that I really like. I hope I can eat it again in my lifetime."

Yang Yuhuan became even more curious and asked, "The whole world belongs to you, my dear. Is there anything you want to eat but can't have?"

Li Heng thought about it, asked someone to bring paper and pen, drew the outline of a world map, pointed to the Andes Mountains in South America and said: "I said that the food is in this place. To get to this place, you need a strong sea fleet. By the way, fleet means a fleet of ships."

Yang Yuhuan saw a world map for the first time and didn’t know how big the earth was. She asked curiously, “The Tang Dynasty’s fleet is also the strongest. Can’t they go here?”

Li Heng outlined the area of ​​Datang on the map and said, "This is Datang. To get to the Andes from Datang, you either have to go west, across the Atlantic Ocean, or east, across the Pacific Ocean."

Yang Yuhuan looked at the Tang Dynasty that Li Ying had circled and was shocked: "The Tang Dynasty is only this big?"

Li Ying said: "Yes."

Yang Yuhuan was shocked for a while, then she began to wonder about another thing, "How did you know all this?"

Li Heng was not able to explain, so he made up a story: "When I was young, I liked to hunt for strange things, and I often sought out strange people to communicate with. However, after I grew up, I never saw them again."

Yang Yuhuan was skeptical and said, "Maybe they are gods."

Li Ying said, "I don't know about that."

Yang Yuhuan carefully looked at the map for a long time and said, "What are other places like outside? I really want to go and see them."

Li Heng looked at Yang Yuhuan and said, "Do you believe what I say?"

Yang Yuhuan said: "Of course, if I don't believe what my husband says, who can I believe?"

Li Ying smiled knowingly.

Yang Yuhuan said: "My dear, you can pass this map on so that everyone can learn more."

Yang Yuhuan's suggestion reminded Li Ying of the "Kunyu World Map".

Li Heng thought for a moment and said, "That's a good idea. I'll perfect the map and then hand it over to the Secretariat."

When it comes to improving the map, Li Heng discovered the difficulty and said, "But I don't know exactly what the current situation of these places is. I only know a rough idea."

Yang Yuhuan said: "It's enough to know the general situation. Of course, we need someone to investigate the specific situation."

"That's right." Li Ying nodded.

In the next few days, Li Heng began to draw with all his strength.

Li Heng had learned geography well in his previous life and had a basic understanding of the world's general topography, so he first described the topography and then added the specific customs and practices.

Although it is said to be specific local customs and culture, it is actually just a rough outline.

In the farming era, the most important thing was where was suitable for farming.

Li Heng marked five places.

The first place is the Tang Dynasty itself.

The second place is India, which was called Tianzhu in the Tang Dynasty.

The third place is the central part of North America. When mentioning North America, Li Heng also specifically wrote that the southeastern part of North America is actually okay for farming, but the rivers are short and there are too many swamps.

The fourth place is the southeastern plains of South America.

The fifth place is the Black Sea coastal plain in Eastern Europe.

Finally, Li Heng also drew the routes from the Tang Dynasty to these places.

Li Heng's map is not accurate enough, but the general direction and location are basically correct.

After finishing the drawing, Li Heng gave the map to Liu Yan.

Liu Yan looked at the map for a long time. He did not question Li Heng, nor did he ask how Li Heng knew this. Instead, he asked, "Your Majesty, do we have to fight all these places?"

(End of this chapter)