Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 610 Layout of Tubo
The height of 200 meters is enough for the people in the hanging basket to look down on the entire Chang'an city. Of course, not all the people in the hanging basket have the mood and courage to lean over to see the scenery. Looking at the ground from a distance is completely different from the feeling of seeing the ground on the cliffs of the Tubo Plateau. If you can't step on the ground, you always feel weak.

Li Chengqian glanced at the night view of Chang'an City with admiration on his face, and said to the two brothers Zan Xiruo anxiously in his heart, "I have summoned you today, and I want to say three things."

"His Royal Highness, please speak." Seeing Li Chengqian getting to the point, Zan Xiruo hurriedly wiped the cold sweat off his forehead with his sleeve, suppressing the uncomfortable feeling in his heart and continued.

"Our Tang Dynasty can satisfy your request here, give you [-] sets of Confucian classics, and even send some people to Tubo to teach your people the contents of these classics and help your people improve their wisdom.

However, you Tibetans must first recognize our status as the suzerain of the Tang Dynasty. Zanpu's succession must be canonized by the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. The permission order strictly prohibits going out of Tubo territory and going to the territory of any other country. "Li Chengqian, who is not very strong, said quite imposingly.

"Okay, on behalf of Zanpu, I can agree to the three conditions of His Royal Highness." Zan Xiruo replied without thinking about it.

Hearing Zan Xiruo's answer, Li Chengqian sneered and said, "Just say you Tubo people are not smart enough, you should study more! What Gu just said is just the first condition."

When Zan Xiruo heard this, his face was slightly embarrassed, he thought he had taken advantage of something!Because for him, the few questions Li Chengqian said just now are actually just one question, and he should listen to Datang for everything.

And he agreed so quickly because Tubo didn't care about this problem at all, as long as they got what they wanted, they wouldn't care what agreement they signed with Datang!Be honest and trustworthy, that is the rule you Han people teach, but the Tubo people don’t have this rule. When it’s time to come down to hunt grass valleys, they will still come down from the plateau and die in battle during the plundering process, which is better than starving to death.

"His Royal Highness, please continue." Zan Xiruo, who was not afraid of Li Chengqian's similar conditions, ignored Li Chengqian's sarcasm, and clapped his hands again.

Li Chengqian maintained his aura and said, "The second rule is that you must allow my merchants from the Tang Dynasty to enter your Tubo Plateau to do business. Apart from providing them with road guidance and necessary protection, you are not allowed to collect any taxes."

"His Royal Highness, this seems to be a bit too much! You merchants in Tang Dynasty are treacherous. You only use a small amount of silk, cloth, or spirits to exchange the cattle, sheep and horses that we depend on for survival. If you don't charge heavy taxes, we The people of Tubo may become more and more impoverished, so that’s not acceptable.” Regarding this point, Qin Ling, who was younger, retorted without saying a word of praise.

"You don't understand this. It is precisely because you have imposed heavy taxes that when the people in your country buy these items with their own output, the prices are high. Don't even think about it. Merchants sell goods to your Tubo Plateau , itself took a great risk, and the goods have not been sold yet! You have to pay high taxes to you first. In this way, nine of the ten merchants are unwilling to do business in your Tubo Plateau, and the rest Since it is an exclusive business, the price is of course as high as it is.

And if your officials are willing to come out to lead the way for merchants, ensure their safety, and not collect any taxes, I think that merchants in Datang will definitely be willing to go to your Tubo Plateau to do business. In this way, more goods will go up, and the price will be natural It also came down.

Many dare not say, as long as you agree to this, the goods delivered to your Tubo Plateau every year will increase by at least ten times, and the price will decrease by at least five times. There must be a lot of food for you to survive the cold winter. Do you think it is more cost-effective to collect such a little tax, or is it more cost-effective to buy more than five times the scarce supplies at the same price? "

Zan Xiruo and Qin Ling were not stupid, and what Li Chengqian said was easy to understand. After hearing what he said, the eyes of the two brothers suddenly lit up, and Li Chengqian knew that they had realized it.

Why does the Tubo Plateau continue to plunder outwards?
The reason is the same as the previous Turks, their output is too little, especially in terms of food and clothing.

Although the plateau is large, there are only a few valleys suitable for planting highland barley and wheat. Without using warm sheds to solve the problem of wintering cattle and sheep like the Turkic people, every winter is a test of their survival. Therefore, when the population After developing to a certain scale, there will inevitably be problems with the supply of resources. Even if the ruler is unwilling to fight, he will fight. It is still the same sentence, come out to rob and be killed by others, it is better than starving to death on the plateau.

Talking about market economic regulation with a backward civilization, they usually treat it as if they are listening to the scriptures. Fortunately, Li Chengqian's speech is relatively shallow, and the two brothers began to sum up in Tibetan.

The reason why they want to add up is because this one is not like the previous one, which is just for fun. They can not accept the account after they take the book and go to the plateau. This one is real and will be done soon, and , It involves the issue of opening up the territory to the outside world, and the reason why the two brothers decided to agree to Li Chengqian is also very simple. There are too few Han people who can withstand altitude sickness, so what if the passages for entry and exit are opened to them?They can only have a small number of people who can go up, and it is impossible to organize a large-scale army to go up.

In the end, Zan Xiruo replied to Li Chengqian, "His Royal Highness, I can agree to this condition on behalf of Zanpu."

Li Chengqian nodded with a smile, his aura was more serious, "Very well, then, next, I will tell you about the third condition.

My Tang Dynasty has no interest in your cattle, sheep, and horses on the Tubo Plateau, because we have northern pastures, overseas, and Australian pastures. In the future, our beef and mutton will be so much that we can’t finish it. .

Therefore, you need to bring some other things to pay tribute to my Tang Dynasty, such as herbs that can cure diseases, or rare minerals. Every year, you can use one hundred camels of medicinal materials designated by us and two hundred camels of rare minerals as tributes!

Of course, we will not take your medicinal materials and minerals in vain, and we will give you food and cloth, which you urgently need, in multiples in return.If you have extra output in these areas, I believe that the merchants of Datang will also be willing to pay for the acquisition. "

After Li Chengqian's third condition was finished, Zan Xiruo and Qin Ling felt that they had taken advantage of it.

First of all, the Tubo people do not know how to concoct medicinal materials, and the smelting technology is also very backward. They use these things that cannot be eaten or worn, or provide help for survival, in exchange for multiples of food and cloth. From the perspective of Tubo, these are strategic materials. They thought it was a good deal, and they even thought it was a way for Tang to save face, because paying tribute every year was an act of respect in the Central Plains culture.

Moreover, a camel is only four hundred catties, and a hundred camels of medicinal materials are only forty thousand catties, which is not too much.

Two hundred camel mines are even easier, because the thing is heavy, and a random pile can hold two hundred camels. If you use it to exchange for four hundred camels of cloth, the value will be considerable.

"His Royal Highness, I can agree to you on behalf of Zanpu on behalf of Zanpu, but can you also agree to one condition." Zan Xiruo said again without showing the joy of taking advantage.

"You probably want me to release your father and a bunch of Tubo generals! This is not impossible, but we need to wait for this kind of trade and tribute to be carried out stably for three years. If three years later, trade, or If there is any change in the tribute aspect, we can discuss it again. At that time, no matter whether the discussion is successful or not, we will release them. If you Tubo people repent and cause something to happen during these three years, then their heads, It will land immediately."

The aura shown by Li Chengqian's words was completely irresistible, and the Zan Xiruo brothers were instantly stunned. They didn't know that Li Chengqian was not only a prince, but also a very high-level actor.

After the two brothers Zan Xiruo looked at each other, they finally nodded and agreed with a bitter face. Now Lu Dongzan is too important to their Gar family. Without his prestige, the slave leaders of his vassals would not be able to do so at all. According to their two brothers, even if they agree to the conditions proposed by Li Chengqian, Tubo's interests may be damaged, but for the benefit of their Gar family, they still need to compromise with Li Chengqian to ensure the safety of Ludongzan.

Because, as the most powerful family in Tubo, there is also a problem of interest distribution between them and Zanpu Songtsen Gampo. In their eyes, Lu Dongzan's life must be higher than the interests of Songtsan Gampo Yes, they were not as harmonious as they appeared on the surface. Qinling died decades later at the hands of Songtsan Gampo's great-grandson Qi Nu Xilong.

After the matter was settled, Li Chengqian's focus immediately shifted to play. The reason why he waited for more than half a month to deal with the matter of Tubo was naturally because he wrote to ask Sun Xiangfu. During the rest of the tour, Li Chengqian also chatted with Zan Xiruo brothers a lot of things that seemed to help them develop, but in fact it was to realize Datang's long-term layout for Tubo.

For example, Li Chengqian asked their brothers to open guest houses for rest and provide some board and lodging services on several roads to Tibet. In this way, they can earn money from passing merchants in the Tang Dynasty. Doing what Li Chengqian said will indeed bring certain benefits to their own family. However, with this convenient service, more merchants will be allowed to enter the plateau. Who will benefit in the end? It's hard to say, at least in the short term, Datang can get more of what he wants from the plateau.

Moreover, over time, this situation will eventually turn the Tubo plateau into a place where merchants who lost the Tang Dynasty will be in chaos in an instant, and finally achieve the goal of letting the Tang Dynasty rule the plateau.

It is not difficult to do this. For example, the Tibetan medicine that is rich in Tubo is what the Tang Dynasty lacked. According to the statistics of later generations, there are more than 3000 kinds of Tibetan medicine in my country. Among them, the common medicine with a large output is There are more than 360 kinds of medicines, and the efficacy and value of these medicines are relatively high, such as safflower, comfrey, rhubarb, codonopsis, fennel, anisodamine, etc., which can be seen almost everywhere on the plateau in this era.

Just imagine, when their people know that a catty of these inedible things can be exchanged for several catties of grain in Datang, how can they not collect them frantically and exchange them with merchants?
Of course, they would not let go of a good thing like Cordyceps that can be exchanged for a hundred catties of grain. However, one day, because of the bad relationship between Tubo Zanpu and Datang, everyone When there is no way to use these things to exchange food with the merchants of Datang, they only need a little provocation, and they will probably rise up.

Cutting off people's money is like killing their parents, and cutting off the food that people depend on for survival is a sworn enemy. At that time, they will listen to whoever can fill their stomachs.

Sun Xiangfu didn't know that Li Chengqian had already completed the task according to the strategy he had discussed with Changsun Wuji. Now, he was a little depressed by a letter.

This letter was forwarded from Lingnan, and the person who sent this letter was Sinkney, the prince of the Warnabi Kingdom, that is, the Indian brother-in-law bought by Mr. Xi. The content of the letter was naturally a plea for help, because his The father, who is Xi Junmai's father-in-law, Shansi, was robbed by people on his way back home after participating in the Dingxiang sports meeting. Those people now want to overthrow the regime of the Kingdom of Varnabi.

The Kingdom of Varnabi, which has less than [-] troops, can't resist [-] to [-] motley troops from various countries. Relying on the warships supported by Lingnan and the constant consumption of soldiers' lives, they can persist at most one or two Because, before that, all their fortifications were used to resist the land attack from the north of Tianzhu, but these robbers have quite good water combat capabilities.

No need to think too much, Sun Xiangfu also guessed that this miscellaneous army was Wang Hao's remnant forces. When Feng An passed the letter to Sun Xiangfu, he had already sent his subordinate navy army to the expedition.

However, Li Shimin's newly built navy is not under his control, so what he can mobilize are only his original warships and more than 3 sailors currently in Lingnan. Li Shimin's attitude towards this motley army Under the ambiguous circumstances, Feng An, who supported Sun Xiangfu's proposition, did not report the matter to the imperial court in advance. First, because reporting back and forth may delay the rescue time, and second, because Li Shimin refused his request to send troops. The odds could be greater.

After reading the letter, Sun Xiangfu didn't think too much, so he summoned Zhang Ke and said, "Use the fastest speed to catch up with Zhao Long, and tell him to send Wang Hao to Wang Hao in the country of Wa, Yizhou Island. All the remnants of Luzon Island will be wiped out, and the logistics supply of those miscellaneous troops will be cut off."

Overseas exploration ships are all big Baotou steel ships, equipped with paramilitary-level equipment, and have very strong foreign combat capabilities. More than four months should be enough for Zhao Long and the others to travel all the way from the Japanese sea to the coast of India.

And this is also an opportunity to wipe out Wang Hao's remnant forces, lest Feng An be blamed by Li Shimin for this matter in the future. After all, it is impossible to hide the mobilization of tens of thousands of troops in Lingnan from Li Shimin.

(End of this chapter)