Chapter 908: The Ninth Year of Zhenguan, Wu Zhao

In the ninth year of Zhenguan, unlike other powerful officials in Chang'an of the Tang Dynasty, Prince Zhou Luo Xuanye showed his divine power twice and walked out from behind Crown Prince Li Chengqian, allowing everyone to see him.

According to rumors from court ladies who attended the celebration banquet, the Queen was laughing and talking at the banquet that day, and looked a little sick at first, but later she looked full of energy.

In the ninth year of Zhenguan, the Tang Dynasty eliminated the threat from Western Yan, and the Hexi Corridor and Guanzhong were completely free from the danger of being at the sword's point of attack.

In the ninth year of Zhenguan, Crown Prince Li Chengqian married a woman from a noble family in the south of the Yangtze River.

This was Li Shimin's political habit. His sister and daughter were all married to aristocratic families, meritorious officials, and foreign vassals of noble birth like Qibi Heli.

His sons also married people from prominent families, including Shandong gentry, Guanlong gentry, and Jiangnan gentry.

Li Shimin was unwilling to use violence to get rid of these people, so he could only form an alliance through marriage and tie them to the chariot of the Tang Dynasty.

One month after Li Chengqian's marriage, the marriage that had been delayed due to the death of Princess Pingyang Zhao was restarted, and Luo Juncheng and Princess Changle Li Lizhi got married.

Luo Juncheng was promoted to the position of Prince's Left Guard, responsible for managing half of the military forces of the Prince's Palace. His future was the brightest among all the Luo family members of his generation.

The ninth year of Zhenguan was brilliant and full of joy.

After the cheers, there was silence. Li Yuan lived too long and gave birth to many brothers and sisters for Li Shimin in the Wude Hall. After the father and son reconciled in the fourth year of Zhenguan, Li Yuan finally reached the end of his life.

He died in Wude Hall.

When the news of Li Yuan's death reached Taiji Palace, Li Shimin was stunned for a long time. When he came to his senses, he found himself in tears.

Endless desolation and loneliness enveloped him, and now he was a real loner.

The news of Li Yuan's death spread to counties and prefectures in all directions, but did not cause much stir. It was almost ten years since the Wude period.

Only those old subordinates of Li Yuan who had been working outside and had never returned to the central government in Chang'an were extremely sad.

For example, Duke Ying Wu Shigui was sent to govern the local areas after the Xuanwu Gate Incident. He was promoted to high-ranking officials and noble titles along the way, but he never returned to Chang'an.

He heard that Li Yuan had passed away, and he also died in the ninth year of Zhenguan.

Li Yuan's funeral was grand and magnificent, and he was buried as Emperor Gaozu Wu.

With his passing, an era was completely turned over, and the last remnants of the old era also dissipated in the billowing dust of paper money.

…

The birthplace of the Tang Dynasty, formerly known as Jinyang, is now called Bingzhou. Wu Shigui's hometown is here, so he was naturally buried here.

Wu Zhao, who was only eleven years old, came to Bingzhou from Luoyang with her mother, sister and half-brother who did not treat her very well. She was very unfamiliar with the place and felt desolate and confused.

When the carriage approached the residence of Wu family in Bingzhou, she saw autumn leaves flying in the wind and mourning clothes hanging on both sides of the road.

The paper money floating in the sky was like snowflakes and yellow leaves, falling to the ground one after another, and crows were crying.

Sometimes she couldn't even tell whether it was paper money or a crow with a broken wing falling down.

Unlike her crying mother and sister, Wu Zhao also felt deeply sad, but she knew more clearly that her carefree life in the past was about to end.

Wu Zhao's mother was born into a prominent family. She inherited her mother's beauty and had an extraordinary natural gift. She was taught by her mother since childhood. Not only was she beautiful and well-mannered, but she was also "outstanding among others" in terms of talent and learning. She was praised as "If you are a man, you will surely be able to build a family."

She was extremely good at judging people, seeing through problems, and had a strong and courageous character. When she was a child, she once encountered danger and hid for several hours without making any sound, but she finally escaped.

After the funeral, Yang's mother and daughter were left alone to face the Wu family's gang of wolves, and endure bullying and exclusion.

Looking at the young Wu Shun and Wu Zhao, Yang finally decided to leave Wu and go to Chang'an to join her old friends.

After all, Wu Shigui still has some old friendship with him. Even though Xiao Yu and others may look down on Wu Shigui who comes from a humble background, they will still give him some help.

After all, Wu Shigui was the retired emperor's follower, and the Tang court would not let his wife and daughter live on the streets.

Even though Wu Shigui's sons were dissatisfied with her, she was not a concubine after all, but the legitimate mistress of the house. The Yingguo Mansion in Chang'an City would always welcome her.

Wu Zhao once again went to Chang'an with her mother and sister, the city she knew only in her father's memories.

When she left Bingzhou, she turned around and took a look at this place. In just a short time here, she understood what it meant to be a fickle person in the world. She didn't say anything because she believed in strength. People without power should endure.

The scenery along the way has not changed much. From Bingzhou to Chang'an, the scenes of past wars have gradually disappeared with the wind and rain. There are piles of earth on both sides of the straight road, and on the earth are weeds and fallen leaves that have been blown away by the autumn rain.

What will Chang'an look like?

She had countless fantasies in her mind.

All her fantasies came to an abrupt end when Chang'an suddenly appeared in front of her, because her imagination could not describe the shock she felt at the moment.

Chang'an, the most prosperous city within ten thousand miles from east to west, north to south, a well-deserved world city, a city of one million people, in this classical era, no matter how high the words of praise are, they are just not enough.

So this is Chang'an!

The little Wu Zhao only felt her heart beating rapidly, and her beautiful face, which was once praised by a fortune teller as "dragon eyes and phoenix neck", was shining brightly.

At this moment, her heart was filled with longing for this pearl city of the Tang Dynasty. She wanted to stay here and make a difference.

…

The entire Tang Dynasty was thriving. From the late Wude period to the Zhenguan period, the war was basically over, and people began to resume production and have children. The court re-measured the land, checked the hidden households, and after defeating the Winter Turks and Western Yan, the population that surrendered to the court, the registered population of the court was approaching 6.8 million households.

This number is naturally not as high as that during the heyday of the Han Dynasty, but after Yang Guang's incredible operations, it was able to quickly recover to this level, which was the result of the unremitting efforts of the Tang Dynasty's monarchs and ministers.

With a base of more than 30 million people, under the clear and bright political governance of the Zhenguan Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty had an extremely solid foundation. As Li Shimin said, "Although the Turks and Western Yan were strong in the winter, I sent a small army to defeat them."

Among all the enemies around the Tang Dynasty, the Winter Turks could march straight to the city of Chang'an, and the enemies on the plateau could also reach Chang'an directly.

The city of Chang'an has no defense capabilities.

This unprecedentedly large city requires more than 200,000 troops to defend.

Therefore, the walls of Chang'an are useless. The surrounding passes are the walls of Chang'an.

The Dong Turks and the countries on the plateau were able to directly avoid the four barriers, so as soon as the Tang Dynasty freed up its hands, it immediately attacked and destroyed these two countries.

Among the remaining three regional regimes, Tubo was specifically mentioned by the national teacher Luo Su, but the Tang Dynasty's attack on Western Yan was already quite troublesome.

Going further in would cost too much, and Li Shimin thought it was unnecessary.

As a cavalry emperor, he was not very interested in military exploits. What he liked most was Emperor Wen of Han, who was committed to civil governance and improved people's lives.

Therefore, supporting the Murong family in the old territory of Western Yan Kingdom and establishing the Snow Region Protectorate are the only things that can be done against Tubo at present.

As for the Western Turks, they have not yet escaped from the suppression of the Tang Dynasty. Moreover, they are too far away. To attack Guanzhong, one must pass at least two passes. They are the target of the later stage of the Tang Dynasty's strategy.

After counting and counting, there is only one country that poses a great threat to the Central Plains, is close to the Central Plains, and has always been ready to make moves, and that is the Liaodong Kingdom.

The Tang Dynasty's rulers and ministers were deeply wary of the Liaodong Kingdom, which dragged the Sui Dynasty into the abyss and led to its destruction.

The Liaodong Kingdom must be destroyed. Among the five surrounding countries, only the Liaodong Kingdom must not exist. This is the consensus of the emperor and his ministers of the Tang Dynasty.

They had a population of over three million, combining farming and nomadism, and they also continuously recruited Hu people from Liaodong to enhance their combat effectiveness.

This is--

The only country that has the strength to compete with the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty for the throne of the Xia Dynasty.

Li Shimin would never allow it to exist.

The Tang Dynasty's rulers and ministers have always wanted to destroy the Liaodong Kingdom, but it has been put on hold until now.

Because it's too difficult.

The internal strife in Liaodong State has been going on since the previous King of Liaodong was assassinated until now. The traditional Han faction is fighting against the Xia faction, and the Hu faction is fighting against the Xia faction. However, this internal strife has not been serious enough to cause the country to be destroyed.

If the Tang Dynasty attacked Liaodong, it would have to face the Liaodong mountain city, which was fully armed to the teeth.

Luo Xuanye once personally told a group of generals and Li Shimin about this mountain city that Luo's family had renovated. Li Shimin felt a chill in his back after hearing this. "No wonder Emperor Yang of Sui failed to conquer it three times. Even if I or Duke Weiguo went there, there would be no other way."

Li Shimin and Li Jing were both good at field battles, or in other words, all famous generals were good at field battles. So Li Jing was very good at fighting the Winter Turks and Western Yan. After all, these two countries had no cities to defend.

But when attacking a city, no matter which city has high walls and thick moats, as long as the defenders are not too bad and there is no shortage of food and grass, it will not be a problem to defend it for a year or two. Even if Han Wumu were alive, there would be no way he could do anything.

Even Luo Su's advice to Liaodong State was to wait until the internal strife in Liaodong State became intense, or a natural disaster occurred. In short, military means should be used as a last resort, and they had to wait until Liaodong State itself encountered problems.

Compared with the Liaodong Kingdom, Luo Su instead mentioned to Li Shimin a small tribe that had once surrendered to the Dong Turks, that is, the Xueyantuo. Their strength was growing too fast. If this continued, Mobei would soon be out of control again, and the Tian Khan system would be destroyed.

But Li Shimin had no choice. Mobei was too far away and the Anbei Protectorate did not have enough staff.

At this time, Luo Su made a suggestion to Li Shimin, "Have you ever thought about sending a prince to rule Karakorum, just like Hejian Prince Li Xiaogong ruled the Parthian Protectorate?"

Li Shimin remained silent because the political status of Mobei and the Western Regions were completely different.

Simply put, Li Xiaogong was in the Western Regions, and Li Shimin was not afraid of Li Xiaogong's rebellion.

But if Li Xiaogong was placed in Mobei, he would not be able to sleep well. This is the biggest difference.

(End of this chapter)