Chapter 354 Linyi Kingdom
In March of the fourth year of Yonghui, Li Chengqian issued an imperial decree to promulgate the Five Classics Explanation, "The Five Classics Correct Meaning", compiled by Kong Yingda and others under imperial order.
From now on, the annual Mingjing examination must be based on this standard, and the candidates for the imperial examination must also answer the questions according to this standard, and free play is not allowed.
After Li Chengqian left the court, when he was returning to the office area, he passed by a place and suddenly heard a burst of elephant calls.
"Stop!" Li Chengqian called for a stop, and the eunuchs who were holding the walking guards hurriedly stopped. Li Chengqian tilted his ear and really heard the sound of elephants.
"Wang Quan, did you hear any sound?" Li Chengqian asked, thinking he was hallucinating.
There were no elephants in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, let alone the sound of elephants in the palace.
"I report to you all! I heard the sound of an animal indeed." Wang Quan said.
Wang Quan's answer confirmed that it was not his hallucination. Li Chengqian asked, "Why is there such an animal sound in the palace? Why have I never heard it before?"
"Everyone, this is a trained elephant as one of the tributes from the Linyi Kingdom." Wang Quan said.
"Didn't I hand over the Linyi Kingdom's tribute to the Dianke Office for processing? Why did this trained elephant appear in the palace?" Li Chengqian asked.
He remembered that when he met with the envoy of the Linyi Kingdom and accepted the tribute, he handed it over to the Dianke Office. Shouldn't a creature like an elephant be in the Dianke Office! How could it appear in the palace?
"Everyone, you forgot that you said you had never really seen a trained elephant, and you wanted to see it, so you let someone temporarily keep it in the palace." Wang Quan said.
"Now that you mention it, I remember it! It's true. Let's go! Go to the Liangyi Hall." Li Chengqian said.
The eunuch then carried Li Chengqian to the Liangyi Hall.
Li Chengqian summoned Li Yan to discuss military and national affairs, the current situation, and future strategies for the various ethnic groups around the Tang Dynasty.
"Sikong! Where is the Linyi Kingdom located?" As he spoke, Li Chengqian asked about the Linyi Kingdom.
He knew that this Linyi Kingdom was a place in Vietnam, but he was not sure where it was. The only thing he knew was a sentence.
From the south of Linyi, all have curly hair and black bodies, and are collectively called "Kunlun".
"The Linyi Kingdom is located in the south of the Central Plains. During the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty destroyed the Nanyue Kingdom and established nine counties in the old land of the Nanyue Kingdom, one of which was the Rinan County."
"The Linyi Kingdom was located in the original Rinan County Xianglin County, also known as Xianglinyi. Later, the word Xiang was omitted, so it was also called Linyi." Li Yan said.
"So, the Linyi Kingdom should be located in the south of Jiaozhou." Li
Chengqian said. "That's right! The Linyi Kingdom originally belonged to the land of Rinan Xianglin in the Western Han Dynasty, more than a thousand miles south of Jiaozhou, and its territory was several thousand miles." Li Yan said.
"Since the Linyi Kingdom was originally the territory of the Han people, why did it break away from the rule of the Central Plains and set up its own family?" Li Chengqian asked.
He really didn't know much about this period of history, even when Linyi became a country.
"This story starts from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty
, the world was in chaos. A Cham man named Qu Lian killed the county magistrate at the time and proclaimed himself the King of Linyi." "Later, at the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Linyi no longer paid tribute to the Central Plains. Liu Yu, Emperor Wu of the Southern Dynasty, sent Du Huidu, the governor of Jiaozhou, to the south
to attack Linyi. Linyi surrendered and paid tribute to Liu Song." "During the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty sent Liu Fang, a Sui general, to attack Linyi and set up Linyi County." "After
the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Linyi paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty again. The soldiers of Linyi used rattan as armor, bamboo as bows, and rode elephants to fight." Li Yan said.
This is the origin of Linyi. This small country can be said to have a long history.
"Since the Linyi Kingdom originally belonged to the county of our Central Plains Dynasty, and Emperor Yang of Sui had sent troops to attack it and set up a county there, our Tang Dynasty should recover it."
"Since Sikong thinks it is appropriate for me to send troops to attack the Linyi Kingdom?" Li Chengqian asked.
Since it belongs to us, we naturally have to take it back. How can we let it continue to belong to others?
"Linyi is just a small country, why should your majesty worry about it? Now the world is peaceful, but it is surrounded by powerful enemies. If we send troops to seize the Linyi Kingdom, we have no reason to do so." Li Yan said. He felt that it was not worth sending troops at all, and Linyi Kingdom was a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, there was no need to seize the Linyi Kingdom.
Li Chengqian did not dwell too much on this topic. After the two chatted about something else, Li Yan left the Liangyi Hall.
However, Li Chengqian took note of Linyi Kingdom in his heart, which gave him a reason to send troops south later.
In the fourth year of Yonghui, droughts occurred in many places, even the Guanzhong area was affected, and floods occurred in the Huainan area.
In April, due to the drought investigation and recording of prisoners' crimes, Li Chengqian sent envoys to adjudicate crimes across the country, and issued an edict to reduce horse feed in the Palace and the Imperial Household Department, and ordered civil and military officials to discuss political affairs.
At the same time, people were asked to pay attention to whether there would be a locust plague, and how to deal with it if it occurred.
This year was another eventful year.
Li Chengqian also ordered that the palace began to cut back on clothing and diet, and even his meals were reduced again and again, with only a bowl of porridge and a few steamed buns every day.
"Everyone! The governor of Tongzhou sent a memorial." Wang Quan hurried in and handed a memorial to Li Chengqian.
Li Chengqian took it and saw that it was a memorial sent by the governor of Tongzhou. The memorial said that a meteorite fell from the sky to Fengyi, Tongzhou, with a total of 18 meteorites. The governor of Tongzhou was reporting the good news to the emperor.
It claimed that this was an auspicious sign from heaven, and that God would bless the Tang Dynasty, etc. Li Chengqian threw it aside before he finished reading it.
The disasters in various places have made him feel overwhelmed! Now these guys still have time to do these useless things.
"In the future, if you have such memorials, just throw them away. You don't need to present them to me again. It's annoying to see them." Li Chengqian said without raising his head.
"Yes!" Wang Quan accepted the order.
"What is the current situation of Zhang Xingcheng, the Right Minister of the Ministry of Shangshu and the Duke of Beiping?" Li Chengqian asked.
"The Duke of Beiping is still ill in bed. I heard that the situation is not optimistic. I'm afraid he won't survive!" Wang Quan said.
Birth, aging, illness and death are just the normal state of life. There is nothing wrong with it. Zhang Xingcheng is so old, and it is normal for him to die.
"Who is in charge of the Shangshu Province now?" Li Chengqian asked.
"It is Chu Suiliang who is in charge of the Shangshu Province." Wang Quan said.
In the past, when Zhang Xingcheng was still able to walk, the affairs of the Shangshu Province were handled by Zhang Xingcheng and Chu Suiliang. Now that Zhang Xingcheng is gone, Chu Suiliang is in charge of all matters of the Shangshu Province.
Li Chengqian would not let Chu Suiliang become so powerful without doing anything.
"Report to everyone! The commander of the Jinyiwei has reported!" An eunuch came in and reported, handing a memorial to Li Chengqian.