Chapter 139 Arrived just in time

"Let's go and report the good news to the emperor!" Fang Xuanling wiped away his frown, put a few memorials in his pocket, and went to the Chongwen Hall of the Eastern Palace with the eunuchs.

At the beginning of the Zhenguan period, the retired emperor lived in the Taiji Palace, the Tian Khan discussed government affairs in the Xiande Hall of the Eastern Palace, and lived in the Lizheng Hall with Empress Zhangsun.

In the third year of Zhenguan, the retired emperor moved to Da'an Palace, the Heavenly Khan moved into Taiji Palace, and he and Empress Zhangsun lived in Lizheng Palace.

Because Da'an Palace was small and stuffy, the Daming Palace was built for the retired emperor in the northeast corner of Xuanwu Gate. However, the retired emperor passed away before the Daming Palace was completed.

It was the autumn of the second year of Zhenguan, and Tian Khan was handling official business in Chongwen Hall.

The Heavenly Khan was reading the secret report from Wei Shutong and Li Boyan. The barbarians in Lingnan Road refused to submit to the rule of law, which had always been a headache.

At present, his main focus is on the northern Turks, and he does not have much energy to pay attention to the barbarians.

The barbarians have submitted to the Central Plains for thousands of years. Although they would occasionally make trouble, they were mostly unable to cause any trouble. There were so many ethnic groups in the Baiyue Kingdom that it was difficult for them to unite as one.

However, they often make trouble, which is annoying even if it does not cause any serious harm. Therefore, the special envoys are sent there mainly to appease, educate, and divide the barbarians.

Wei Shutong and Li Boyan had only been gone for a month or so, but they had received a secret report so soon. The Khan of Heaven opened it hastily, thinking that the situation there was serious.

After watching it, I breathed a sigh of relief and even felt in a good mood. Wuzhou in Lingnan Road had made such a fuss, attracting the Li people to learn advanced technology together and making the barbarians feel a sense of belonging recognized by the Tang Dynasty.

It’s just the beginning and we don’t know how effective it will be yet, but this is indeed a very special idea and strategy.

Tian Khan paced back and forth in his study, digesting the good news.

He wanted to wash away the shame of the Wei River Alliance. The Turks were a fierce tiger on the side of the Tang Dynasty and had to be divided, disintegrated and destroyed as soon as possible.

Wuzhou's method of winning over the barbarians is not only applicable to the barbarians, but also to the surrendered Turks.

In June of the ninth year of Wude, the Xuanwu Gate Incident occurred. On the ninth day of the eighth month, Tian Khan officially ascended the throne in the Xiande Hall of the Eastern Palace. On the twenty-eighth day of the eighth month, Jie Li Khan and Tuli Khan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate led an army of 200,000 and attacked the banks of the Wei River, which was less than 40 miles outside Chang'an.

Tian Khan led Gao Shilian and Fang Xuanling to the Wei River in person. On August 30th, they signed the Wei River Alliance with Jie Li Khan.

Speaking of the Weishui Alliance, we have to mention Princess Yicheng of the Sui Dynasty.

Princess Yicheng was the sister of Emperor Yang of Sui. She married Qimin Khan to the Turks.

After Qimin Khan died, she became the wife of his son Shilibi Khan.

After Shilibi Khan died, she became the wife of Shilibi Khan's younger brother Choro Khan.

After Choro Khan died, she became the wife of his younger brother Jie Li Khan.

Princess Yicheng lived through four generations of Turkic Khans and had a certain political influence within the Eastern Turks.

Because Li Tang overthrew the Sui Dynasty and had a blood feud with Princess Yicheng, he instigated the Eastern Turks to take advantage of the chaos to attack Li Tang.

Tian Khan, who had just ascended the throne, was trapped by internal and external difficulties and had no choice but to sign the Weishui Alliance.

The Eastern Turks offered 3,000 horses and 10,000 sheep as gifts, but the Heavenly Khan refused them in exchange for the lives of the soldiers captured by the Eastern Turks.

This period of history has never mentioned how much compensation the Tang Dynasty paid to the Eastern Turks, but it can be seen that the Tang Dynasty was at a clear disadvantage at the time, so much so that history books could not bear to record it.

This was a huge humiliation for the brave and warlike Tian Khan, who always wanted to destroy the Eastern Turks to avenge his previous humiliation.

In the past two years, after a series of wars, the situation of the Eastern Turks changed drastically. The defeated Eastern Turks were divided into four parts. Some fled far to the west, some fled to the north, and some led their troops to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.

Today's Khan is ambitious. On the one hand, he pursues the remaining forces of the Eastern Turks relentlessly, and on the other hand, he opens his arms to accommodate the surrendered Turkic tribes.

Although only a few individual tribes have surrendered now, the Heavenly Khan wants the world to know the broad-mindedness of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, I feel that Wuzhou's method is very satisfactory and can be used on the surrendered Turkic tribes.

Just when he was feeling full of confidence, a eunuch came to report that the Minister of the Central Secretariat Fang Xuanling wanted to see him.

"Please come in quickly!" Tian Khan was also looking for someone to share his joy.

"Greetings, Your Majesty!" Fang Xuanling bowed.

"My dear, please excuse me!" Tian Khan saw Fang Xuanling's smile, a rare expression of joy on his face. "My dear, why do you ask to see me so late at night? What's the good news?"

"Your Majesty, this is a memorial from Henan and Hebei Provinces!" Fang Xuanling handed over the memorial.

Tian Khan opened the memorial with a smile, and looked at it slowly, his expression gradually becoming solemn.

After reading it, he didn't speak for a long time, rubbing his temples.

There was a severe drought and locust plague in Guanzhong, and the capital was not spared. The war in the north was intense, and it was a critical moment to pursue the Eastern Turks.

By mobilizing the entire country's strength, we can still deal with disasters in the interior and the capital.

Henan and Hebei provinces have suffered large-scale frost disasters again, and grain production will be greatly reduced next year. How should we deal with it?

"My dear minister, what good ideas do you have?" The little joy in Lingnan Province was washed away by the frost disaster in Henan and Hebei Provinces, and Tian Khan was feeling depressed.

"Your Majesty, here is another memorial!" Fang Xuanling handed over another memorial.

Tian Khan stared at Fang Xuanling in amazement. What did he mean? Was the key point this memorial?

Then he remembered that Fang Xuanling was smiling when he came in. Anything that could make the experienced and steady Minister of the Central Secretariat happy must be no simple matter.

Tian Khan took the memorial and was stunned again. Why was it Lingnan again? Could it be because of the barbarians' enlightenment as well?

"Your Majesty, please take a look first!" Fang Xuanling urged with a smile when he saw that Tian Khan did not move.

Tian Khan opened the memorial and read it carefully. He was indifferent, then attracted, and then shocked. He stood up unconsciously.

"Wonderful! There is such an exquisite thing! This Feng Xu finally did not let me down!" He picked up the Jiangdong plow drawing and looked at it up and down, left and right.

Feng Xu wrote about the functions of each component in great detail, and Tian Khan understood it at a glance. He naturally knew how important it was to the farmers and what it meant to the development of the Tang Dynasty.

"My dear minister, please promote the Jiangdong plow as soon as possible and strive to use it in all places by the beginning of spring!" said Tian Khan.

"Yes!" Fang Xuanling said slowly.

Tian Khan stared at Fang Xuanling. No, why wasn't this Minister of the Central Secretariat as excited as he had imagined?

Anything else?

"Your Majesty, you haven't finished reading the memorial!" Fang Xuanling reminded.

"What else?" Tian Khan picked up the memorial again and found that there was a lot of content at the back. He calmed down and read it slowly.

"Bang!" Tian Khan slammed his palm on the table and sighed, "God bless the people of the Tang Dynasty!"

Food made from grass roots, tree roots, and poisons is easy to store and transport, and these materials can be found everywhere in the mountains.

In this way, the people will have more food to fill their stomachs, preventing the wealthy and powerful families from taking advantage of the opportunity to drive up food prices and reap profits.

"My dear, have you ever seen these foods?" Tian Khan was filled with joy from the bottom of his heart.

As long as there is enough food, the world will be stable. As long as the people are not hungry, the world will be peaceful.

"Your Majesty, please look!" Fang Xuanling signaled the eunuch to bring it in.

Tian Khan picked up the vermicelli and examined it carefully. "Is this really made from grass roots? And this snow-white thing is actually konjac powder!"

There are several kinds of vermicelli in different colors. No one can imagine that they are made from humble things. They are said to be extremely delicious and can be used as cooking or food.

Who invented this? It's just in time!