Chapter 423 Everyone Knows
In the Purple Palace, Li Chengqian invited Liu Renyuan and Shangguan Yi to sit down and ordered people to serve tea.
"This is the new tribute tea this year. How does the tea taste?" Li Chengqian said.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the tea." Liu Renyuan thanked, took a sip of the tea and said, "This is really good tea. Even I, who don't drink tea much, think it tastes good."
"If you like it, take some home and brew it. You can drink it yourself when you have nothing to do. Even if you have guests, it will be decent to use this tea to entertain them." Li Chengqian said.
"Thank you, Your Majesty! Such good tea, a gift from the emperor, I can't just use it to entertain guests. If I use it to entertain guests, I'm afraid it will be gone in less than a day!" "
I have to keep this treasure for myself to drink slowly. When guests come, it's good enough to give them a bowl of boiled water! Can they refuse it? Haha!" Liu Renyuan laughed.
"You! Don't be petty, it's just some tea leaves, not worth much money. If you really like it, I will ask the Shaofu to buy some for you later." Li Chengqian laughed.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Liu Renyuan saluted with his arms crossed.
"Now let's talk about the problem you just mentioned. Liuzhou has indeed rebelled, and I have sent people to suppress it!" Li Chengqian said.
"I wonder who your majesty sent to suppress the rebellion, and whether the rebellion has been quelled?" Liu Renyuan asked.
"The commander of the Jinyiwei, Long Zhi, has completely quelled the rebellion." Li Chengqian said.
"The Liuzhou barbarians have always been submissive to the Tang Dynasty, why did they raise the entire tribe to rebel against the Tang Dynasty this time? Wu Junjie is not a foolish person, why did he do such an unwise thing this time?" Liu Renyuan said.
"This is the victory report sent back by the commander of the Jinyiwei, Long Zhi, you will understand after you read it!" Li Chengqian handed a victory report to Liu Renyuan, and Liu Renyuan hurriedly stood up to take it.
Liu Renyuan opened the victory report, which detailed the process of suppressing the rebellion and the Liuzhou barbarian rebellion. It also contained Long Zhi's analysis of the reasons for the Liuzhou barbarian rebellion.
"The victory report said that the Liuzhou barbarian rebellion was very likely related to Tubo. Tubo's prime minister Lu Dongzan was currently leading troops to fight Tuyuhun. How could he be distracted to stir up trouble?" Liu Renyuan was a little skeptical.
What good would it do for Tubo to stir up trouble everywhere?
"Why? You don't believe this is possible?" Li Chengqian said.
"I just don't quite understand. What good will this do for Tubo? Now, Lu Dongzan has been fighting fiercely in Tuyuhun for several years, but still can't do anything to Tuyuhun. Shouldn't we focus all our energy on dealing with Tuyuhun?" Liu Renyuan said.
What can Tubo gain by causing trouble for the Tang Dynasty? After all, we are "relatives". If you don't wish me good things, you won't get any benefits.
"Tuoba is a buffer zone between Tubo and Tang Dynasty, but it is also an indispensable part of Tubo's development."
"As long as Tubo seizes Tubo, Tubo can get a lot of resources. In the long run, Tubo has a good geographical environment. There is no place better than Tubo in the entire northwest."
"This is why Tubo must fight Tubo to the death. Although Tubo has fought fiercely for several years, it is still determined to capture Tubo."
"Once Tubo falls into the hands of Tubo, Tubo will be able to pose a direct threat to our Tang Dynasty, especially the Western Regions." "
Seizing Tubo means that Tubo has completely opened up the Western Regions, and the four towns of Anxi in the Western Regions of Tang Dynasty will be completely exposed to Tubo."
"In order to prevent Tubo from becoming too powerful, I left three armies for Tuyuhun to contain Tubo, which ensured that Tuyuhun could hold out for such a long time."
"In order to allow me to transfer these three armies away from Tuyuhun, Tuyuhun not only extended its hands to Liuzhou, but also continued to fight in Mobei."
"The court is now exhausted, which is one of the reasons why I am in a hurry to destroy Goguryeo." Li Chengqian said.
What he can do now is to solve the problem of peace and tranquility in the Liaodong border as soon as possible, and then withdraw troops to the north to quell the rebellion in Mobei first, and then send troops to drive Ludongzan back to Tubo.
Lu Dongzan obviously realized this, so he sent people to infiltrate various places to sow discord between various tribes and the Tang Dynasty, so that some tribes agreed to rebel together.
The purpose was to make the Tang Dynasty exhausted and finally had to withdraw the Tang army in Tuyuhun to put out the fire.
Lu Dongzan had received reliable information from the Tuyuhun criminal Su Hegui that the current Tuyuhun was just strong on the outside but weak on the inside.
If there was no obstruction from the Tang army, Tuyuhun would have been in the hands of Tubo. Therefore, Lu Dongzan, at the suggestion of Lun Qinling, sent people to sow discord everywhere and sow discord between the Tang Dynasty and other surrounding tribes.
"Then why doesn't Your Majesty issue an edict to withdraw the troops from Tuyuhun to quell the rebellion? In this way, we don't have to worry about having no troops to quell the rebellion." Liu Renyuan said.
"No, the current Tuyuhun has actually been empty internally, and its strength is not much. Once our army withdraws from Tuyuhun, Tubo will be able to easily capture Tuyuhun in a snap."
"By then, the border of our Tang Dynasty will have to face the threat of Tubo. Without Tuyuhun to block it, Tubo will pose a greater threat to the Tang Dynasty."
"The entire Western Regions will never have peace. Tubo's wolfish ambitions are obvious to everyone."
"Therefore, no matter how difficult it is, the court must not withdraw the army in Tuyuhun. In order to facilitate their resistance to Tubo, I also plan to grant them the power of autocracy."
"They can recruit soldiers and raise food and wages on their own." Li Chengqian said.
"Your Majesty! You must not do that! Once they have these powers, they will eventually become too powerful to be controlled and will become self-reliant."
"The northwest will see separatist regimes. If they do not obey orders and are not subject to the control of the court, they will eventually become a new hidden danger for the Tang Dynasty. Your Majesty, please think twice." Shangguan Yi was shocked after hearing this and hurriedly stood up and saluted.
Since ancient times, the emperor and the court have been afraid of generals who have been self-reliant outside the court, which will threaten the consolidation of imperial power and the prestige of the court.
In order to solve this problem, successive dynasties have been racking their brains and coming up with various systems to restrict the occurrence of this phenomenon.
The Tang Dynasty's equal-field system plus the fubing system just solved this problem.
The characteristic of the Fubing system is the integration of soldiers and farmers. Fubing are farmers who cultivate the land in peacetime. They are trained during the off-season and join the army to fight in wartime.
Fubing has their own weapons and horses for war. There is a Zhechongfu in the whole Tang Dynasty that is responsible for the selection and training of Fubing.
Fubing is led by the generals of the twelve guards and has no real command power. In wartime, the emperor temporarily appoints the general manager of the army as the highest commander of Fubing to exercise command power.