When talking about the Northeast, we have to mention the three kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla.
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Goguryeo had nearly two million households, Baekje had 700,000 to 800,000 households, and Silla had nearly one million households. It was not until the late Zhenguan period of Li Shimin that the number of households in the Tang Dynasty recovered from the original one million to more than three million.
Isn’t this data funny? There are fewer people on the entire rooster than on the rooster’s tongue and chin.
Every time a dynasty was weakened by war, it was a feast for the aristocratic families. The prosperity of the aristocratic families was actually rooted in the corpses of small farmers and absorbing nutrients. The prosperity of the Tang Dynasty was achieved by constantly attacking the aristocratic families.
The so-called Kaiyuan Prosperity was not so much the achievement of Li Longji as it was the prosperity created by the three emperors Li Shimin, Li Zhi and Wu Zetian who killed the aristocratic families.
Especially when Wu Zetian was about to kill people, she would show no mercy at all, and she also implemented a reporting mechanism. No matter if they were farmers, woodcutters, or peddlers, they could all report. As long as the facts were verified, they would be killed regardless of whether they were from aristocratic families, officials, or royal family members.
Therefore, Wu Zetian was criticized the worst, while Li Zhi was slightly better. Since Li Shimin was always engaged in external wars, he was not so harsh on the people at home, so he achieved the Zhenguan Reign.
After two years of blockade, Goguryeo, Silla, and Fuso organized an offensive against Baekje. Liu Rengui crossed the sea to support them and only defended but did not attack. After tying down the coalition forces of the three countries, Xue Rengui sent troops to destroy Goguryeo and Silla in one battle, and the Fuso army retreated to their homeland.
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When countries trade with each other, the party with higher added value will always get more advantages. After all, tariffs are a very confusing thing in this era. You say it doesn't exist, but it definitely exists. You say it does exist, but many times it doesn't.
After all, although the reputation of conquering a place is good, there is no actual benefit at all. On the contrary, by using Wang Zheng's method, not only can the losses be greatly reduced, but a little profit can also be made. Wouldn't it be better to use the saved money to build the Daming Palace to be more beautiful and grand?
After the destruction of Goguryeo and Silla, their territories were divided into 13 military governorates, 42 states, and 150 counties, and the Andong Protectorate was established in Pyongyang to govern them. Xue Rengui, the general of the Right Guard, was appointed as the Inspector of Andong Protectorate, leading 20,000 troops to garrison the area. The King of Goguryeo was captured by the Tang Dynasty, the King of Silla committed suicide, and the nobles and most of the wealthy families of the two countries were relocated to the Central Plains.
Before Wang Zheng was put under house arrest, he submitted a memorial suggesting that Li Zhi should just defend and not attack. Isn't Baekje in a weak position now, so why should it be friendly with the Tang Dynasty?
This battle completely solved the problem of the Northeast, and the remaining Baekje, Fuso and some tribes were all terrified of the Tang army.
The route that Wu You and Wang Ying took to the Northeast was the former trade route.
At that time, domestic grain prices were stable and land prices were falling. Wang Zheng was preparing to use various delicacies and daily necessities of later generations to reap a wave of wealth from aristocratic families. Although the Tang army's war situation against Goguryeo was very good at that time, the losses were also extremely heavy. Wang Zheng's proposal was adopted after Li Zhi carefully considered it.
Subsequently, various commodities from Yuzhou, such as paper, glass, bamboo furniture, brown and white sugar, sake, etc., were transported from the Yangtze River to the canal and then out to sea to reach Baekje, and finally sold to the three countries of Goguryeo, Silla and Fuso.
However, this time Li Zhi did not accept the tribute presented by Goguryeo and Silla. It was not like Li Zhi had not accepted this kind of thing before, more than once. Apart from the nice name, it was of no use.
After the Yuzhou clique voluntarily gave in, Xue Rengui rested in Chang'an for a while and then returned to Pyongyang to take charge. The arrival of the Yuzhou clique this time was also an opportunity for Xue Rengui.
The Three Small Kingdoms are not easy to defeat. When you ignore them, they will beat their brains out. Once you get involved, they will unite to deal with you. When they can't hold on, they will ask Fuso for help. In addition, the Northeast is bitterly cold, and there are many mountains and difficult roads. It is impossible to completely solve the problems of the Three Small Kingdoms.
Prices were also stable during the Wu Zetian period, and external tariffs were shrinking. However, the number of households and population in the country grew extremely fast, increasing from four million households to six million households in just a few years, and the population also grew by one third.
The consequence of this situation is that the lives of the nobles become more and more extravagant, the lives of ordinary people become more and more difficult, and the national treasury becomes increasingly empty.
Population has always been an important indicator of whether a dynasty is prosperous and powerful. Isn't the reason why the Qing Dynasty is called a prosperous era because so many people eat sweet potatoes? The fundamental reason why the Sui and Tang dynasties kept attacking Goguryeo for more than half a century was that the population of the three kingdoms of Goguryeo was too large, which posed a great threat to the Central Plains.
Less than two months after the Tang Dynasty blocked the trade routes, Goguryeo and Silla submitted their allegiance. They were originally consumables developed by Wang Zheng's acquisition of wealth. Even ordinary wealthy families in the Tang Dynasty could not afford the replacement of various daily necessities, let alone these two small countries that had to go through Baekje to get a layer of money.
The results of this approach were very good. Not only did it earn huge profits for the Tang Dynasty, but it also allowed Baekje to become as powerful as Goguryeo in just two years.
In fact, looking at the three men and three dynasties, the territory was the largest during Li Zhi's period, the victory rate in foreign expeditions was the highest, and domestic prices were the most stable.
In the past, due to the different geographical environment, many of Yuzhou's production methods could not be replicated at all. Now that the Yuzhou people are developing the four major border areas, Pyongyang, which is so close to the Northeast, will inevitably benefit from it. So when Xue Rengui learned that the Yuzhou people had arrived, he personally led people to the mouth of the Yalu River to welcome them.
Although there were only two girls, Xue Rengui did not look down on them. After all, the steward's family was small and he treated all girls equally. Judging from the relationship between these two girls and the steward, although they were not very old, since they were in charge of the Northeast and the steward and the court had no objection, their abilities could not be that bad.
After all, there is a distinction between men and women. After saying hello to Wang Ying and Wu You, leaving some trackers behind, making some promises, and saying some polite words, Xue Rengui said goodbye and left.
After Xue Rengui left, the fleet continued to head north. Wang Ying asked Wu You, "Where do you plan to choose as the initial camp?"
"It depends on how far the fleet can go. The Northeast is full of old forests. It doesn't matter where you choose. You have to cut down trees and open up the mountains to make some money before you can develop the area. Now that Datang is wealthy, many people are building houses. The good wood here should be able to sell for some money."