Chapter 934: Qi State is established, Fusang is in danger
The atmosphere after the victory was very relaxed and carefree. Wei Wang Li Tai only felt that the slightly noisy wind was also full of poetic and picturesque atmosphere.
His chubby face was filled with a smile, "Of course it's easy..."
Um?
His voice stopped abruptly.
The smile on his face froze almost instantly.
The muscles that have already produced a smile have not yet recovered, but the brain is already frantically reminding it: Stop smiling!
He raised his fat head and looked at his father who was looking at him with a faint smile, but he no longer had the pride of being favored in the past, and only felt a chill.
What a scary smile.
Father, what does that mean?
He didn't want to think about the worst answer.
But how could he not think about it?
His eldest brother, Li Chengqian, had just been enfeoffed to the State of Qin, and his other half-brother, the Prince of Yan, was still on the Yalu River.
From the time the crown prince's position has been vacant to now, a year has passed, and his father has no intention of making him the crown prince.
He had previously thought that this was the final test. After all, was there anyone more suitable for the position of crown prince than himself?
there is none left!
Could it be that he wanted his ninth brother, Prince of Jin Li Zhi, who was still a young boy?
When Li Tai thought of Li Zhi, he suddenly stopped and felt as if he was in a glacier that had existed for thousands of years.
It seems that my father has asked Prince of Jin, Li Zhi, to be regent.
Really?
In just a short moment, countless thoughts flashed through Li Tai's mind. These complicated thoughts kept popping up, and then there was no order, like an untied ball of thread, entangled in his thinking, creating chaos.
The ministers following behind Li Shimin naturally heard what Li Shimin said. Each of them was as if struck by lightning. They could hardly believe what they heard. Almost all of them were dumbfounded. Silence with an uneasy atmosphere instantly enveloped everyone, and the joy of victory just disappeared.
How can the mere matter of conquering Liaodong Kingdom be as important as the position of Crown Prince of Central Plains?
Li Shimin knew that his clever son had guessed it. He slowly put away the smile on his face and asked again earnestly, "Blue Bird, what is nature?"
There are some things you can't ask.
If you ask, it's intentional.
The emperor's repeated questioning actually made the ministers feel relieved. His Majesty was really asking about the King of Wei!
Your Majesty is truly not planning to make the King of Wei the Crown Prince.
No one knows why His Majesty suddenly had such a big change in attitude, and no one knows what happened in the end.
Li Tai felt as if suddenly a huge dark cloud enveloped his heart. He didn't know why this happened suddenly, and he didn't know what was wrong.
"son……
son."
Li Tai's brain was working rapidly. With his last hope, he whispered, "My son is somewhat confident, but he still wants to learn from his father for a while, so as to avoid being incompetent in the future when he devotes himself to the Tang Dynasty."
Father, are you really going to confine me to this desolate place?
Please take this step and let me go back to Chang'an with you, and let's pretend that this conversation today never took place.
But Li Shimin had made up his mind. He said calmly, "Bluebird, you are one of my most outstanding sons, and you are also the oldest among my many sons. Your eldest brother was conferred the title of King of Qin and went to Chang'an, 5,000 miles away, to establish a country. Your third brother was conferred the title of King of Yan, and was conferred the title of King of Yan, 3,000 miles away in Mobei.
You also have to shoulder the responsibilities that a descendant of the royal family should shoulder.
At the beginning, King Su enfeoffed his brothers, sons and others to places far away from the royal capital to serve as vassal states of the Zhou royal family.
This time when I conquered Liaodong, I saw high mountains and steep cliffs and barren land. I then understood why the Han Dynasty established the Liaodong Protectorate but eventually collapsed.
Because the itinerant officials cannot govern here.
Fortunately, our Tang Dynasty has newly established the six kingdoms system, which can solve this problem.
I will establish the Andong Protectorate to the east of the Greater Khingan Range in Liaodong, to the west of the Changbai Mountains, and to the north of the Yalu River, and it will be listed as one of the four major protectorates along with Anxi, Anbei, and the future Annan.
Later, the State of Qi was established on the peninsula south of the Yalu River and in Fusang across the sea.
The capital does not have to be built in Jizi City. To the south, there is a river called Han River. You can build a new city north of the Han River and call it Tang City, as the capital of Qi State. "
Every word and sentence of Li Shimin struck Wei Wang Li Tai's heart. His cheeks were extremely pale without a trace of blood. Every word of Li Shimin seemed like a mockery and judgment of him.
Everything he did and said in the past was like a clown.
Li Shimin was the only one speaking in the room. Almost everyone was silent, not daring to make any unusual movement.
Li Tai just felt that everyone was mocking him. It was so sudden that he couldn't accept it.
"Father, why?"
He was probably too shocked and asked this question in a trance.
Li Shimin felt a hidden pain in his heart, but he knew that not only Li Tai wanted the answer to this question, but the ministers also wanted to know why.
He said earnestly: "Your brother, the former crown prince and now the King of Qin, has been exiled to become a vassal. You should also be exiled to become a vassal. This is what is called fairness."
I see!
Li Tai, who was always smart, smiled miserably. He didn't even have the intention to speak. He was too clever and ended up trapping himself.
He thought of his younger brother who had always been a coward.
Those who are ambitious for the throne cannot get it, but those who never thought about it can get it.
What a joke!
When the ministers around heard these words, they lowered their heads deeply. This matter was definitely not something they could interfere with. Whoever touched it would die.
Even the King of Wei, no, now he should be called the King of Qi, who was the most favored by the emperor, was exiled to this desolate place just because he coveted the throne.
Li Tai's fat face regained some color, "I will do my best to be loyal to Your Majesty and to be a vassal of the Tang Dynasty."
He couldn't help but try his best. Among the fiefdoms of the Tang Dynasty, only the Qin State of King Qin had no countermeasures because it was too biased.
The rest of the countries were all under the coverage of the Four Protectorates, which were responsible for suppressing the other countries for the central court.
The Andong Protectorate was established between the Yan and Qi kingdoms in order to suppress these two kingdoms, develop prefectures and counties, and suppress local resistance forces.
There are still endless Hu people in Liaodong, even the Luo family cannot count their number, and no one knows which mountain they are hiding in.
In order to prevent Qi from rebelling, it was necessary to demolish those mountain cities that were easy to defend and difficult to attack, and to move Qi's capital south to prevent Qi's power from being deployed into the territory of the Tang Dynasty.
This was Li Shimin's warning to Li Tai, a prince who tried to covet the throne, telling him not to have any extra thoughts in the future. This was my last act of mercy as a father.
The Son of Heaven, the invincible Son of Heaven.
In the Tang Dynasty, no one could challenge Li Shimin's authority.
The more I come into contact with the emperor, the more I feel that he is invincible and can sweep away all enemies.
It has always been like this, it will always be like this, and it will always be like this.
…
The army continued to move forward and entered the not-so-grand palace of the King of Liaodong. When Li Tai thought that this would be his kingdom in the future, which was just like the countryside, he felt like crying.
"Right here."
Li Tai's heart skipped a beat.
"King Qi."
"I am here."
Although he was extremely reluctant, the situation had developed to the point where Li Tai could no longer control it, so he responded numbly.
“Although the land I grant you is not as large as that of Yan and Qin, both the Liaodong Peninsula and Fusang across the sea have a large amount of cultivated land that has been reclaimed for farming. It is not as dangerous and desolate as Yan and Qin.
Moreover, the Liaodong Peninsula and Fuso have been influenced by the Central Plains for many years and are relatively easy to deal with.
In the next ten years, I will migrate 100,000 households to Qi State, and after you enter Fusang, more than 500,000 households will be migrated from Central Plains.
What you have to do is to attack forward, handle local government affairs, integrate the Han people and the foreign people who migrated later, and completely sinicize them in terms of language, culture, architecture, system, etc. You have talent in literature and art, so I will hand over the State of Qi to you.
Can you do that?"
The territories of Qin and Yan were indeed large, but they were not as good as Liaodong, especially since Liaodong was closer to the Central Plains, and these two places had a large number of secondary cultures that were absorbed from the Central Plains.
But what Li Shimin said still shocked everyone in the hall. "Your Majesty, how can we relocate a population of 600,000 households, and how can we relocate so many people?"
Six hundred thousand households means at least three million people, which is too many even for the Central Plains.
Migrating these people will require a lot of manpower and material resources. Most importantly, the people may not be willing to do so. Who wants to leave the Tang Dynasty?
But Li Shimin said firmly: "Relocating the population is a major event that will bear pressure in the short term and will be beneficial to the future.
Of course I know what you are thinking. Large-scale population migration will increase the strength of the Liaodong Peninsula and Fuso Island.
But what I do now is not only to consider the Tang Dynasty, but also to consider the future, to prevent the situation after the decline of the Tang Dynasty.
I relocated 600,000 households because there are more than 600,000 households in Fusang and Liaodong. If the Han people are less than half, how can we quickly change the local customs?"
Seeing that everyone still didn't understand, they just felt that your majesty's actions today were somewhat different from his previous attitude towards the Hu people. Li Shimin said again in a deep voice: "Xiangdong is an island country, different from the Western Regions, King Qi, you have to cheer up.
I have already discussed with the imperial teacher and have conferred upon Luo Xuanxing the title of Duke of Liao, and named Liaozhou (Liaodong City) his principality. He will be the next Grand Protector of the Andong Protectorate, and will also lead the Tang navy to be stationed in Beisha City (Lushun).
I will let the Duke of Liao come to assist you in attacking Fusang. What I want is to quickly capture Fusang without increasing the court's expenses!"
You want the horse to run but don't give it grass to eat. This is what Li Shimin asked Li Tai to do.
Apart from helping Li Tai gain a foothold on the peninsula in the early stages and providing naval assistance, the Central Plains will not provide him with much more help.
Again, the purpose of enfeoffment was not only to expand the living space, but also to save military expenses for the Central Plains court. Now, conquering Liaodong Kingdom is already a considerable expense. If we attack Fuso again, it will drag down the Tang Dynasty.
From Li Shimin's perspective, if peaceful evolution fails and war breaks out in the future against the Jizi Peninsula and the Fuso Islands, it will most likely be a security war, and the government soldiers cannot fight a security war. What is needed to fight a security war is the Tang Auxiliary Army.
The emperor's attitude is so resolute and terrifying!
Now everyone felt Li Shimin's determination to take over Fuso. Although he didn't know the reason, Li Tai came back to his senses from his numbness.
Although it is a very sad thing that he cannot become the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, it may not be a bad thing if he can really become the lord of Fuso.
Three million people were relocated. Fuso originally had a population of two to three million, and a population of six million. This was already quite terrifying, and the taxes that could be provided were extremely considerable.
Fusang did not have magnificent palaces, but they could bring their own craftsmen to build them. They did not have books, but they could get them from the Central Plains. Since they had printing technology, they could take as much as they wanted.
He was on Fuso Island, he could do whatever he wanted, and no one could control him.
Li Tai's artist's heart suddenly started beating violently.
He suddenly realized that Fuso was like a blank sheet of paper. What its future would look like was entirely up to him. If he could conquer Fuso, it would be very interesting to build everything from scratch.
and.
In the future, the capital of Qi State can be moved to Fusang Island, and the navy can be trained. It is entirely possible to establish oneself as emperor on Fusang Island. It is really hard to say whether the Central Plains can control itself in the future!
Being granted a fiefdom in a foreign country has its advantages. Although it is not as good as being the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, it is the best choice. At least there is one thing the emperor said that is true, that is, the initial environment of Qi is much better than that of Yan and Qin.
Needless to say, as for the State of Yan, no one would want to go there in a thousand or ten thousand years because of its climate and land. Therefore, the Central Plains was most cautious about Mobei, because everyone from top to bottom believed that the State of Yan in Mobei would never be willing to stay in that desolate place.
Qin was too far away and was the only one that did not require guarding against, because the cost of running all the way back to seize power could bring a country down.
Only Qi State, although its land is not fertile, can at least be used for farming. Its climate is similar to that of the Central Plains, it has a large population, and it can trade smoothly with the Central Plains. According to historical experience, it will definitely be a wealthy vassal state in the future.
The Fuso people don’t know yet that Li Tai, their ancestor who was extremely cruel even to his own brothers, is about to bring the Tang Dynasty’s heavenly soldiers to the island.
Of course, the lower-class Fuso people would probably welcome the royal army. After all, although the powerful people in the Tang Dynasty were cruel, they were like living Bodhisattvas compared to the Fuso nobles who were still in the early days of slavery.
After King Li Tai of Wei was renamed King of Qi and guarded the Jizi Peninsula, the emperor made another appointment that was enough to shock everyone, which was to confer the title of Duke of Liao to Luo Xuanxing.
And it was not just about conferring the title of Duke. The most important thing was the second half of the emperor's words, which turned Liaozhou (Liaodong City) into a principality, making him a real duke like the ancient Zhou Dynasty.
In fact, as early as the beginning of Zhenguan period, Li Shimin had thought about enfeoffing meritorious officials and royal family members in various places, making them hereditary provincial governors, and achieving actual enfeoffment, but was stopped in the end.
It now seems that although this is not done in the Central Plains, the emperor still has such considerations when he is in the border areas.
Liaodong City became Liaozhou, and Gaimu City became Gaizhou. The emperor did this in order to implement the prefecture-county system on the land of Liaodong, and then use the military control of the Military Governor's Office and the Protectorate to control the area.
It is very likely that the person who is enthroned as the Duke of Liao now will not be the last one, and it is very likely that some trustworthy meritorious officials and royal family members will continue to be enfeoffed in other places that the empire cannot control.
Of course, it would not be a division like the six kingdoms, but it is very possible to divide a city into fiefdoms like the Duke of Liao. Moreover, this kind of division is not a big deal for the empire and will not affect the central power of the empire. It is very suitable for the current empire.
————
The Tang Empire's real overseas expansion began with Yingzhou (formerly Fuso Island). During the expansion of Yingzhou, there is no need to elaborate on the gains in terms of land, population, and resources. The most valuable experience and gains were actually the development of technology.
In the process of the imperial navy shifting from rivers to the sea, after experiencing several shipwrecks, the imperial ships widely absorbed technologies from various coastal countries and improved them, and the shipbuilding technology was greatly enhanced.
According to historical records, in just the first hundred years of the empire, the tonnage of the empire's ships increased fivefold on average, and various tools that facilitated sailing at sea, such as stern rudders and sailboat rigging, ushered in a period of rapid development.
At the same time, due to the huge demand for sea navigation, especially the continuous requirements for the accuracy of compasses, astrolabes and maps, the empire's mathematics, astronomy, etc. ushered in a great boom. Driven by huge interests, among the nobles, it even surpassed the exploration of Confucian classics.
For an empire as inclusive and expansionist as the Tang Dynasty, what could be more important than conquering the ocean?
The ocean is money, and nothing is more important to the nobles than getting more money. Around the ocean, this vast empire has aroused power struggles and fighting, and everything is shrouded in blood.
But no one could stop it, and the great empire's great voyages set sail from here. ——"Global History: Ocean World"
(End of this chapter)
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