Chastity Layman

  Chapter 1051 Two birds with one stone

Now, when Li Shimin ended the prince's fight for the crown prince and reestablished his status as the successor, Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng were temporarily kicked out of the political affairs hall, and Qin Lang, the representative of the Shandong Haoqiang Group, who started his own core team, was reused. Although Ma Zhou was a poor man Zi Ke also has a close relationship with Qin Lang. Li Daliang was born in Guanlong, but he also went to Wagang, and he has partnered with Qin Lang for many years, so they are actually political allies with Qin Lang.

  Changsun Wuji was born in Guanlong. The four prime ministers, Li Shimin, were carefully selected, and they were all capable and clearly supported the prince's succession.

   But Li Shimin had to consider another issue, that is, among the four prime ministers, Qin Lang had a good relationship with the other three, especially Ma Zhou and Li Daliang, which made the emperor have to consider this point.

  Whether the emperor is guarding against him, Qin Lang is not sure, but this is logical, so he has no intention of competing with Changsun Wuji for power.

  Anyway, this is at best an exercise for the prince to be in power, so there is nothing to argue about.

Changsun Wuji is rebuilding a Guanlong Group. To be precise, he wants to re-establish a Chinese crony from Guanlong. It is definitely not the same as the Guanlong Group back then. After all, in the Sui Dynasty, the Guanlong Group can be said to have lost After destroying their roots, Yang Jian reformed the government soldier system, and the soldiers were no longer for generals. After the powerful gentry could no longer own the town soldiers, the Guanlong Group lost their biggest political capital. In the following decades, they were completely It's just eating its laurels.

   Today's Guanlong Group, after the continuous suppression of the Sui and Tang dynasties, is no longer what it used to be. However, relying on the advantages of political capital resources in these years, it is still possible to raise another mountain in the court.

   "Duke Wei?"

   Chengqian was very dissatisfied when his uncle and grandson Wuji insisted on opposing him. He looked at Qin Lang, hoping to get Qin Lang's support.

"Your Highness, Zhongshu Menxia recently received a report from Hou Junji from Xizhou, saying that Gaochang King Ju Wentai has been acting too much recently, and Turkic Yugushe often indulges his subordinates to plunder the Silk Road. My lord The garrison and immigrants in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, and the conflicts between Gaochang and Yugu's troops are intensifying, and there is a danger of losing control at any time."

   "Not long ago, Yugu commanded the Shatuo Department of the Moon to attack a city in Yanqi..."

  “Silk Road is under serious threat now!”

   Chengqian frowned when he heard the name Hou Junji, and he doesn't even want to hear this name now.

   "Could it be that Hou Junji intentionally created border quarrels in order to seek credit?"

"Your Highness, I thought that Hou Junji wasn't so bold, besides, Zhongshumen also received reports from Zhenxi Dadu Protectorate, Zhenfu Division and other departments, which all confirmed that Hou Junji did not make false reports about the military. "

   "Where did King Gaochang and Yugu set up the courage?" Cheng Qian asked.

"The prosperity of the world is all for profit, and the world is full of prosperity for profit. In fact, it is a word of profit. Gaochang guards the throat of the Western Regions, and its geographical location is important. This is also the place where the Silk Road used to pass. , Gaochang is a small country with few people, so it can occupy this important road, and rely on the benefits of doing business and trade along the Silk Road, and thus become a powerful country in the Western Regions..."

The problem lies on the Silk Road. Although Gaochang is said to be a powerful country in the Western Regions and guards its throat, it is still a small country compared with the Tang Dynasty. They remained relatively independent, and they were all willing to submit. Anyway, they paid tribute in exchange for continuing to live a prosperous life and continue to occupy the benefits of the Silk Road trade.

  It was the same before with Datang, they took the initiative to submit and surrender, very obedient.

But what Gaochang didn't expect was that Datang was far stronger than they expected. Not only did they send troops to defeat the Western Turks, but they never left after they came. Dunshubao Tunzhuang, these can barely bear.

   But after Datang defeated Tuyuhun again and again, Datang expanded the Silk Road, not only the original Hexi Road became busier, but also Qinghai Road was restored.

In the past, the Qinghai Road through Tuyuhun went directly to Qiemo and Shanshan, but it still had to detour through Gaochang State first, so it had no impact. However, in recent years, Datang has directly opened a new passage in the desert, and the Qinghai Silk Road arrived After Qiemo and Shanshan no longer transited to Gaochang State in the northeast, they arrived directly from the desert to Yanqi State. As a result, the trade volume of Gaochang State was greatly reduced.

  Especially after Tuyuhun was completely destroyed, Qinghai Road became more and more busy, and the volume of caravan goods increased greatly. As a result, Gaochang's trade volume decreased again.

  Gaochang is originally an oasis city-state, and the place is so big. Although it also has a good agricultural economy, the main economy still depends on the Silk Road trade, especially the transit trade.

  Now that the caravans do not pass through Gaochang, the trade volume has shrunk, the tax revenue has also been greatly reduced, and even the handicraft workshops of the country are also affected. For such a small country with a population of hundreds of thousands, it is simply about to collapse and perish.

   Seeing fewer and fewer transit caravans and shrinking trade volume, King Gaochang couldn't sit still. What's more, the Tang Dynasty has continuously increased its troops and emigrated in the Western Regions in recent years. The momentum is very obvious. Once it comes, it will not leave. This is completely different from the previous policy of the Central Plains Dynasty.

  Datang’s Xizhou and Yizhou are next to Gaochang. Xizhou is very close to the capital of Gaochang, and the already shrinking trade volume will be taken away by Xizhou.

And Yugushe, who just moved from the East Turks and settled near Gaochang, has not been going well in the past few years. There are too many rules in the Tang Dynasty, and they are given boundaries to resettle. Counties, canonization of the heads of various ministries, conscripting children and others to enter the court, guards, and Guozijian, etc., also pay taxes.

  Anyway, they are not as free as before, and they are not allowed to rob. They robbed other people's tribes and were complained to the court. When Heavenly Khan sent envoys, they had to double the compensation.

   Who deserves this.

Anyway, the reason why Gaochang and Yugushe are becoming more and more dissatisfied with Datang is that Datang's actual control over the Western Regions is becoming stronger and stronger. The Silk Road is just a fuse. They are all worried that if this continues, it will not be long. , Datang may take advantage of the trend to annex Gaochang, and thinks this is inevitable.

  Gaochang has been passed down for hundreds of years, who wants to be destroyed?

  Thus, although Datang is strong, Gao Chang is not reconciled. In the past two years, he has been making small moves, but he just couldn't hold back.

"Hou Junji reported that Ju Wentai, the king of Gaochang, was conspiring with Yugu to launch a larger-scale invasion of Yanqi. Yanqi had already sent envoys to the court to ask for help. This behavior is intolerable and must be stopped immediately."

   Chengqian was stunned for a moment, he was just about to launch a northern expedition against Xue Yantuo in Mobei, but unexpectedly something happened in the Western Regions.

   "Northern Expedition or Western Expedition?"

"Your Highness, I think that matters should be prioritized. Although Xue Yantuo in Mobei is rebellious and rebellious, but as Changsun Gong said, the court is not in a hurry to send troops to attack. Huihe, Khitan and others can send troops first, or Let Qin Guozhong and Li Simo send Turkic soldiers to contain it, but the Western Regions should pay attention to it, if this chaos continues, the Silk Road will be blocked, the trade loss will not be small, and more importantly, it will affect the layout of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions."

"Of course, I actually have another plan, which can kill two birds with one stone. The imperial court issued an edict to reprimand Gao Chang for his crimes, and then sent troops to the west to conscript Xue Yantuo, Huihe, Khitan, Eastern Turks, and Yugushe and Qibi in the Western Regions. The Ministry sends troops to cooperate."

   Chengqian is thoughtful.

   "Xue Yantuo is like this now, maybe he will obey the imperial edict?"

   "It doesn't matter if you don't follow the imperial edict. At that time, the Turkic tribes, Huihe, Khitan and other tribes will gather westward in the name of responding to the imperial edict and cooperating with the Western Expedition. Let's take a false route to attack Guo."

   "But if Xue Yantuo is prepared?"

   "It doesn't matter if you are prepared, at least it can ensure that the Xue Yantuo people will not be able to invade the country when we go west to attack Gaochang."

  As for Yugushe, don’t target him first, but only issue an edict to attack Gaochang. You can paralyze him first, even if you can’t deceive him, there is no loss. Anyway, first attack Gaochang, and then attack Yugushe.

Yugu She was originally the son of Shibi Khan. He once guarded Mobei with Chuluo Khan's son Ashinasheer. After being defeated by the Tiele people, he went away to the Western Regions and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, he was placed near Gaochang. .

  After the Siyehu Khan of the Western Regions was beheaded by the Tang crusade, the Tang Dynasty canonized Li Shimin's brother Nishi as the Khan.

  Niyu also agreed to cede the Yanqi kingdoms in the south of the Tianshan Mountains to the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty, and returned to Suiyechuan and Qianquan Mountain to stand in the Khan Court.

  Ni Shu was still very respectful to the Tang Dynasty when he was in power, but Ni Shu died of illness in the eighth year of Zhenguan, and he left a table asking to make his younger brother Tong Russia the Great Khan.

  Li Shimin respected his request, established Tongru as the Great Khan of the Western Turks, and bestowed the title of Lishi Khan.

   It's just that compared to his elder brother Nishi, Tongrus is not capable and more brutal, and he has scattered people's hearts within a few years, especially when he treats Yugushe, the tribes that came from Eastern Turks, he is even more harsh.

   This also led to the idea that Yugu wanted to replace it. He formed an alliance with Gaochang and fought against Russia several times. Yugushe asked Datang for support several times, and even wanted to ask for a marriage, hoping to become the Great Khan of the Western Turks.

But after all, he came from East Turkic, and Datang had no reason to support him as the Great Khan of Western Turkic, and the various tribes of Western Turkic refused to accept it. In the end, he refused, and Yu Gushe turned to resent Datang, and began to plunder silk. Road, attacking Yanqi and other countries that belonged to the Tang Dynasty, if you don't support me as a great khan, I will stand as a khan on my own.

  Although he hasn’t openly rebelled and made himself a Khan yet, sooner or later.

  Qin Lang meant to calm down the chaos as early as possible, Gao Chang and Yu Gu set it up together.

  Datang’s policy towards the Western Regions does not only require surrender, but actual control step by step. Therefore, this behavior of Gaochang must not be tolerated. It must be done, and it must be beaten to death with a stick.

  As for the wish valley design, it is a matter of hugging grass and beating rabbits.

  Whoever dares to provoke Datang will be punished no matter how far away.

  (end of this chapter)