Wentang

Chapter 738 Lu Dongzan's Dilemma
Did the Tubo envoys come to Chang'an to meet the emperor?Still seeking peace?Still want to pay tribute?

Hearing this news, Yue Shan was surprised and felt that it should be taken for granted. This is the inevitable result of the gap in overall national strength.

In the previous Tang Dynasty, the focus had always been on the grasslands, Goguryeo, and the Western Regions. He didn't pay much attention to the southwestern plateau area, and let Tubo unify the plateau.

When Tubo wiped out all opponents to unify the plateau and began to try to interfere in the world structure, it was too late to contain it.

Facing the natural dangers of the plateau, all Tang can do is defend, and basically has no ability to take the initiative to attack.

Even though Datang had repeatedly defeated Tubo in local wars, it had no choice but to "approximately a country of brothers" with the other party.It was even the first time to marry a princess with a princess, which opened the precedent of a marriage in the Tang Dynasty.

You must know that the Khan of Xue Yantuo and the Khan of Western Turks had always wanted to marry the princess of the Tang Dynasty, but they were all rejected by Li Shimin.

If there is no way to take Tubo, Li Shimin will never marry the princess.

No matter how the history of later generations whitewashed it, for the monarchs and ministers of the Tang Dynasty at that time, this marriage was a complete humiliation.

The situation in this life is different, and the national power of Datang is even stronger.

Yue Shan also labeled Songtsen Gampo as the "Son of Destiny", who was sent by heaven to compete with Li Shimin for the position of co-lord of the world.

Datang began to pay attention to the situation in Tubo more than ten years in advance, and Li Shimin even investigated the eighteen generations of Songtsan Gampo's ancestors.

The deeper the understanding of Songtsan Gampo's deeds, the more people will think that he is the son of destiny.There is no way, this person is really taking the script of the protagonist.

Li Shimin, who is also the protagonist, naturally regards him as the enemy, and started the layout more than ten years in advance.

First, the population who migrated to Qinghai Province year after year to adapt to the local climate, and then recruit troops adapted to the plateau from this group.

When Tubo began to unify the plateau, they supported Baoji and Xiangxiong, two powers that were also big countries on the plateau, at all costs, and even directly sent troops to help.

Here we have to praise Songtsan Gampo's great talent and strategy. Even with the support of Datang, Baoji and Xiangxiong are still at a disadvantage.

Even when Datang directly dispatched an army of ten thousand people, it was barely able to bring the situation to a stalemate, and it was difficult to achieve a decisive victory.

Then Datang changed his mind. Since you can't be defeated through war, then you can be defeated in terms of national strength.

A large amount of material resources were continuously delivered to Baoji and Zhang Zhung countries, food, weapons and equipment, etc., were all free of charge.

The condition is to promote the benevolence and righteousness of the Tang Dynasty in your country, tell your citizens that the Tang Dynasty is your suzerain country, and take the book "Chinese Civilization" as a must-read book for officials and scholars.

For Baoji and Zhangzhung, two countries that are facing extinction at any time, these are not problems.

What?You say culture invasion?

Our two countries have no cultural background at all, so how can we talk about invasion.

The Tang Dynasty is a kingdom of heaven, and the Chinese civilization actually said that we are all descendants of the Chinese people like the Tang people—is there such a good thing?

From now on, I will be a glorious descendant of China.

So Datang sent money and food, Baoji and Zhangxiong sent people, and a protracted war of attrition against Tubo began.

As the old saying goes, if you kill one thousand enemies, you will lose eight hundred. Datang's consumption ratio in this war has reached the level of killing eight hundred enemies and losing one thousand or even two thousand.

According to a very accurate statistics, in ancient times, military food was transported for more than 90.00 miles, and the loss reached [-]%, most of which were eaten by people who transported the food.

That is to say, if one hundred catties of grain were transported from Datang to Baoji and Xiangxiong, only ten catties or even less would be left.

It doesn't matter, the Tang family can afford it.

Not to mention the Lingnan granary, a few glass bottles, a horse of beautiful silk, and a luxurious clock studded with jewels in those small countries in the south of Nanyue can easily be exchanged for a boatload of grain.

Although the taste of Zhancheng rice in Sancha is not good, it is good for Baoji and Xiangxiong, who cares whether it is good or not.

Besides, no matter how bad the taste of rice is, it is still rice, which tastes much better than miscellaneous grains.

When Baoji and Zhangxiong saw that more than half of the food sent by Datang was rice instead of other miscellaneous grains, they immediately felt the sincerity of Datang.

Nice guy.

Then he became more active and brave when fighting Tubo.

It was by relying on this extravagant war of attrition that Datang dragged down Tubo alive.It is said that all industries in Tubo are in decline, and even the main army on the front line has begun to reduce their rations.

If it went on like this, he would collapse without hitting him.

These things Yue Shan learned from Li Shimin.Although he has resigned, his status is still there, and he can get access to all kinds of confidential information, and sometimes Li Shimin even asks for his opinions.

This time Tubo sought peace with Li Shimin, but he did not ask for his opinion, and Yue Shan was not interested in asking.

The reason why he paid attention to this matter was entirely because of one person, Lu Dongzan.This 'old friend' of the people of the Tang Dynasty, the man who took the princess of the Tang Dynasty away.

Yue Shan didn't have any objections to him, on the contrary, he still admired this person very much.Regardless of his identity, this is also an outstanding talent, the most important comrade-in-arms and courtier of Songtsan Gampo.

At the same time, he was also the successor of Songtsan Gampo's will. After the death of Songtsen Gampo, he continued to stabilize the Tubo regime and attacked the nobles to strengthen the royal power.

If the father and son did not have exclusive power in the later stage, it would be a perfect character design, but it is a pity that there is no if.

But what Yue Shan didn't expect was that Lu Dongzan was very interested in him when he was not interested in paying attention to the affairs of the Tubo envoys, and even proposed to visit him.

"Gal Dongzan wants to see me? Why do you want to see me? Could it be that he admires my knowledge and wants to study in the Academy?" Yue Shan jokingly said.

Zhao Meng also smiled and said: "I really let you guess, that's what he said, and I want to ask you for advice."

"Forget it, I'm an idler and I'm not interested in getting involved in these things. If he really wants to go to school, he can come to me when he doesn't become an official. The door of the academy is open to him at any time." Yue Shan said.

"Hey, Yue Gong is too modest. Who doesn't know that you are the most trusted person of the sage, the prime minister who is not in the court, and the mainstay of the Tang Dynasty." Zhao Meng boasted.

"Okay, okay, we are not outsiders, Lao Zhao, you don't need to come here." Yue Shan said.

The phrase "Old Zhao" made Zhao Meng smile a lot, and said happily: "My old Zhao said all the words of conscience. I didn't say these words, and the government and the public think so."

Yue Shan didn't quarrel with him on this issue, instead he asked: "Sage asked you to come here, surely it's not just about this matter, right?"

Zhao Meng put away his smile and said seriously: "The sage asked me to come and ask you, what do you think of this matter of Tubo?"

"A wild dog with a broken leg, the sage can do whatever he wants, I have no opinion." Yue Shan said casually.

"This... I'm going to reply to the saint like this?" Zhao Meng asked hesitantly.

"Whatever... Forget it, I won't embarrass you, just say so." Yue Shan said.

"Okay, I will definitely relay your words to the saint verbatim." Zhao Meng heaved a sigh of relief and smiled.

Yue Shan dared to say something like a wild dog with a broken leg, he didn't dare, and he had to be careful when repeating it.Now Yue Shan said that if he replied like this, it would be fine.

Moreover, he didn't dare to stay here for a long time at Yueshan, and he didn't even dare to gossip after asking about the matter, because it was a crime to stay here for too long.

Since the imperial court began to use state laws to manage internal servants a few years ago, life for these fighters and court ladies has been difficult.You must be careful and careful, and you must not leave any handles.

As long as they are caught, a group of foreign ministers will swarm up and deal with them.

In the past, a great eunuch like Zhao Meng would not flatter him, even if he hated the appearance of the servant, he would give him face. Now more and more powerful people are not even willing to maintain this face.

The simplest example, in the past, when the internal servants and foreign ministers had conflicts, they could go to the emperor and cry for support.Now that there is a conflict between the two sides, a large group of foreign ministers will bring the law to the emperor to seek justice.

So after asking about things and chatting for a few more words, Zhao Meng hurriedly got up and left.After returning to the palace, he repeated Yue Shan's words verbatim.

"Yue Cuilan said Tubo was a 'wild dog with a broken leg'?" Li Shimin asked thoughtfully.

Zhao Meng lowered his head and said, "That's exactly what Xia Guogong said, and he asked my minister to recite it to you verbatim."

Li Shimin nodded, showing a clear expression, and said: "I understand. Order Honglu Temple to lift the restrictions on the Tubo envoys and let them act freely."

"Here." Zhao Meng responded quickly.

At the same time, he was also filled with emotion, these big men were so scheming, and every word they said was full of mystery.

What I thought was just belittling Tubo contained important information, but I, the person who sent the message, didn't hear it at all, but the sage could understand it immediately.

In the future, I still have to be a man with my tail between my legs.When working for a sage, you can't say a single extra word, or else you may fall into a sentence.

After the Tubo envoys entered Chang'an, they were trapped in the Fanbangyuan of Honglu Temple. Let alone seeing Li Shimin, they couldn't even go out.

Lu Dongzan tried all means, bribed heavily, pretended to be sick, etc., but he couldn't take a step out of the door.

Asking to see Yue Shan under the guise of studying is also one of the methods that came to mind when he went to the doctor in a hurry, and he didn't have much hope.

What he didn't expect was that just after reporting this idea in the morning, the guards at the gate withdrew in the afternoon, leaving only a few guards behind.

He went to inquire about the situation, but no one answered him.Trying to go out, I have stepped out of the gate without encountering any obstacles.You must know that before they got close to the gate, they were shouted back by the guards.

He came to a conclusion that made him very excited, they were free for the time being, and Datang lifted the personal restrictions on them.

I don't know why, but it's always a good sign.

So he went to visit the dignitaries of Datang as planned, and offered gold and silver beauties as bribes, but the result of the lobbying made him feel mixed.

All the important ministers of the Privy Council refused his visit, and they didn't even meet each other.Zaifu from the civil service department met Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Ma Zhou and others, but they all talked about him and didn't mention the truce at all.

Qingliu and Yushi, on the other hand, were moved by the talk.Especially when it comes to the amount of money and food that the Tang Dynasty paid for this war, many people stated on the spot that as long as Tubo surrendered and paid tribute, they would write a letter to cease the war.

But Lu Dongzan is very clear that it is not the middle and low-level officials who occupy the majority, but the small group of people at the top who really play a decisive role.

For example, Xia Guogong Yueshan, who is at home at home, can support half of the court with his own opinion, and it can even be said that he can influence the emperor's thoughts.

Naturally, Lu Dongzan also visited Yueshan, but he was ignored at all, and all the greetings were ignored.

In order to express his sincerity, he even went alone to block the door for three days, and finally got only one reply:
Don't ask him about the affairs of the court. If you really want to study, come here when you resign. The door of the academy will always be open for you.

He knew that it was useless for him to wait any longer, so he had to give up this idea and go to lobby other dignitaries instead.

With the lobbying of the Tubo envoys, rumors gradually arose in Beijing that it was not worthwhile for the imperial court to spend a lot of money to fight Tubo.

The terrain over there is so high that it was difficult for people in the Central Plains to even breathe, let alone survive.And there are high mountains and cliffs everywhere, and you can't even see a piece of flat land. What's the use of fighting it down? In the end, you can only cheapen the two countries of Baoji and Zhangxiong.

Besides, Tubo is also a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty, and has never violated the interests of the Tang Dynasty, so it is not moral to beat others like this.

This message quickly reached Lu Dongzan's ears, which made him very happy, which showed that those who were moved by him started to act.

However, he was still a little worried about whether the Tang court would take coercive measures to quell the rumors.After a long time, the court did not take any action, as if they had not heard the rumor.

Lu Dongzan suddenly figured out a truth, the Emperor Tang seemed to want to end this war.However, being coerced by the main combat faction, he did not dare to express his position easily, letting go of the rumors in order to find an excuse for a truce.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he had touched the truth of the matter.So he quietly added fuel to the flames behind his back, spreading the rumors wider.

But what he didn't know was that it was just when he was fanning the flames behind his back.The envoys of Baoji and Xiangxiong who Li Shimin met said that you have seen the situation, and the people in the country will not let us fight.

In the past, we did not dare to tell them how much food they consumed. Most people believed that the main force in the war against Tubo was your two countries, and we just waved our flags in the past.So the people did not object.

Now the cunning Tibetans have revealed this secret, so as to fan the flames behind their backs to confuse the people. We really have no choice.

You can see that there are thousands of books on impeachment, and we really have nothing to do.

The envoys of Baoji and Zhangxiong were taken aback. Without Tang's support, they would definitely not be able to defeat Tubo, so they should not be allowed to withdraw.Just begged to state the serious relationship.

Li Shimin took advantage of the situation to say the ultimate goal, it is okay to continue fighting, but he has to give an explanation to the officials, and the material support will be reduced in the future.

Even though the envoys of Baoji Xiangxiong and the two countries were unwilling, they had to accept this reality.But they also breathed a sigh of relief deep in their hearts, less is better than no support.

After sending them away, under the "persuasion" of his ministers, Li Shimin "reluctantly" received the Tubo envoys.

After several arduous negotiations, a consensus was reached to cease the war.

(End of this chapter)