Established a millennium family since King Wu defeated Zhou

Chapter 962 Qin State
On the Eurasian continent, due to the different dimensions, the temperature is generally lower as you go north. Also, because of the obstruction of mountains, the Atlantic warm currents fall differently on the continent, resulting in different amounts of precipitation.

Humanity is so insignificant in the face of global climate.

Eurasia is actually a continent called the World Island. On this land, from north to south, there are different types of land.

The Central Plains has always been strong, but it is difficult to control Mobei and the lands further north. Naturally, the people of the Central Plains are not weak. The reason lies in the climate and distance.

The earth is a ball. Since it is a ball, the farther north it becomes, the smaller it will become. Finally, it will become a point at the North Pole. This is well known.

When drawing a map, north is exaggerated because the earth is flattened, so Siberia looks so vast, but this is a typical visual problem.

In fact, the distance from Jicheng in the Central Plains to Harala and Lin is not necessarily as far as the Qin State from the Yan State. In other words, for Li Ke, the distance between the Tang Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty is actually farther.

And there is another place that is very unfavorable to the Central Plains. There is a desert zone around the Central Plains, extending from the Hanhai Desert to the Western Region and the lands further west.

The southern end of the desert is the Central Plains, and the northern end is a grassland area from east to west. This grassland starts from Hulunbuir in the east, passes through the Mobei Yan Kingdom grassland, and then extends all the way to the Western Regions, then reaches Central Asia, and the westernmost end touches Iran.

This is the east of the Ural Mountains of the World Island, that is, Asia. From north to south, there are permafrost, grassland, desert, grassland, and cultivated land. The desert separates the north and the south, forming the farming culture dominated by the Zhuxia culture. A nomadic empire dominated by ethnic groups and steppe empires.

Nomads can move freely in this grassland belt without worrying about supplies. However, for the Central Plains, if they want to enter this grassland belt, they have to pay a huge price to cross the desert.

When Yan Guo was asked to control the north, Li Shimin knew that Yan Guo would definitely escape control. At that time, he thought that the meat would rot in the pot, and Luo Su wanted to have a back-up plan against Yan Guo, not just in the Western Regions. As well as Liaodong and Qin.

Why did King Yan Li Ke not dare to go south? Because the current Yan State is different from the nomadic past. He was blocked both east and west, and the Qin State also blocked his way to the west. It was different from those who had disputes in the Central Plains. It is different for the nomads who failed in the war. The Qin State cut off the retreat of the Yan State. Once he failed, it can be said that it would be difficult to escape unless he begged the King of Qin for mercy.

Under such circumstances, Li Ke wrote to Li Chengqian with complicated thoughts in his heart that are difficult to explain.

……

The capital of Qin State.

In this royal capital, you can see all kinds of races. During the late Zhenguan and Li Zhi periods, the Central Plains sent a large number of Han armed groups to the Qin State.

During this process, of course, there were suggestions that the imperial court was preparing to stop the out-migration of these people.

After all, this is a typical move to harm the central government and enhance local strength.

But in the thirteenth year of Li Zhi's accession to the throne, King Li Tai of Qi had not yet passed away. During a major court meeting, envoys from the kings attacked the court, saying that there were treacherous officials in the court, and it was the national policy of the Tang Dynasty to move to the Xia Dynasty to expand the foundation. , but now there are people in the court who object and ask Li Zhi to kill the people who made these suggestions.

That was a sight Li Zhi had never seen before.

For feudal princes, population migration in the imperial court was one of the most important things to stabilize their rule.

Moreover, in this era, population is wealth and strength. Bringing a large number of Han people into the rule can increase taxes, which is equivalent to increasing wages in disguise.

In the end, the matter ended with the court's concession. In the following years, the court moved all the unstable elements out, and most of them were divided between Yan and Qin.

After abandoning the forests of Siberia, Li Chengqian and others headed west and occupied this black land that was far warmer than Liaodong. Today, in the Qin State, there are 120,000 Han households, and the remaining 180,000 households have been gathered along the way. With a total population of 300,000 households, it is a powerful country on the Eastern European plains west of the Ural Mountains.

On the Eastern European plains, the Qin State built cities and reclaimed land. Although it was colder than the Central Plains, it was much stronger than Liaodong. People could survive. The key was that the soil here was more fertile than the Central Plains.

After Li Chengqian, Luo Juncheng and others came here, in just a few years, they knew that this would be the foundation of the future kings and hegemons, and that they could create a great empire here.

Li Jing died in the tenth year after he followed Li Chengqian in his Western Expedition. His family is one of the six major princely families in the Qin State, and is a high-class noble after the royal family and the royal family of Zhou County.

In this kind of development process, in order to quickly conquer the land, it is inevitable to use the land to motivate the heroes. And because there are not a large number of mature bureaucrats, it is normal to enter the aristocratic politics.

In the palace, Li Chengqian, who was already quite old, could hardly hold a letter in his hands. His face was full of wrinkles, but he was in good spirits.

The vastness of the world can heal the narrowness of people's hearts. Li Chengqian is not a very open-minded person. He was so angry that he vomited blood twice because of Li Tai's incident. But after leaving Chang'an City and coming to the grassland he dreamed of, His whole person changed, and he was galloping freely on the grassland.

"A Cheng, look at this letter. It's from King Yan. There will be a female emperor in the Tang Dynasty."

Li Chengqian, whose eyesight was a bit dim, read the letter and handed it to Luo Juncheng. Luo Juncheng, who was able to ride a horse and raise a gun, could now only play chess with Li Chengqian in the palace.

He felt that he could still fight, but Li Chengqian no longer allowed him to fight, and only asked his younger generation to conquer those who disobeyed Qin in all directions.

After Luo Juncheng read the letter, his face was full of emotion, "The changes in the imperial court are so great. I really don't know you at all anymore. King Qin, King Yan wants to test your tone and see how much you think about the imperial court." What is the attitude of establishing an imperial concubine?"

Li Chengqian grinned, his face full of indifference, "It's really boring. I don't want to play these games of fighting for power and profit with them. Our country, Qin, will always be loyal to the Emperor of the Central Plains."

Luo Juncheng smiled heartily when he heard this, "I will always be loyal to the Holy Emperor, whoever the Emperor is loyal to."

The two looked at each other and laughed loudly at the same time. Li Chengqian patted the throne hard, "Our Qin country is far away. Even if the war horses run to death in the Central Plains, they can't come here. We can develop here with peace of mind. The land under our feet is not indifferent." Barren land like the North can support millions of households. When there are millions of households in the future, then the world will be really interesting.

If it is not as good as the Central Plains War, it will affect the population growth of our Qin State. In recent years, the number of people sent has been somewhat small. In this way, when my niece ascends to the throne of the emperor, can she send congratulatory gifts and return tribute gifts in the future? Replace it with population.

In recent years, the Central Plains has more people and less land. I heard that many people have no land to farm. Our country of Qin has few people and lots of land. The uncultivated wasteland under our feet is all good black soil. This cannot be wasted, so let me The State of Qin came to help the court solve some difficulties. My father must have had this idea when he asked us to come out to explore.

I wrote back to King Yan and said that my niece was legitimately chosen as the heir, and I, the State of Qin, recognized it.

In addition, send people out to find some principalities and follow our Qin envoy to Luoyang to tell Luoyang that there are several more vassal states in the Tang Dynasty. This gift is not unimportant. "

The Qin State is really a place where the sky is high and the emperor is far away. No matter what he does here, the imperial court basically doesn’t know about it, and all the wealth he acquires belongs to the royal court. When he first came here a few years ago, Li Chengqian might not be very familiar with it. Wealthy, but decades later, Li Chengqian had already become extremely rich.

As for the aristocratic officials of the Qin State, they had long forgotten about the Tang Dynasty, especially as the first generation gradually withered away, and the second generation grew up in the Qin State.

You must know that other princely states, because they are close to the Central Plains, will return to the Central Plains to serve as officials. However, the Qin State is really isolated from the world and has no intention of in-depth contact with the Tang Dynasty. It is quite unique.

Maybe the only thought he has is - "Surge into Luoyang City and win the bird position."

"I, the King of Qin, may not be able to be the Son of Heaven."

After replying to the letter from Prince Yan, Li Chengqian used his already vague memory to recall what else happened.

As people get older, their thinking becomes more divergent.

As he thought about it, he thought of his childhood and youth. That was the happiest time for him, even happier than he is now.

"Ah Cheng, where do you think we will be buried in the future?"

When Luo Juncheng heard this, he knew that Li Chengqian was thinking about the past again, and said warmly: "Of course he is buried in this land full of our sweat, blood and tears, right here, not Chang'an."

Li Chengqian suddenly thought: "How about I go back to Luoyang to congratulate my niece when she succeeds to the throne."

When Luo Juncheng heard this, his scalp exploded. He was not going to congratulate him, but to make trouble. However, he also knew that Li Chengqian was just talking. So many big things happened in the past, but he didn't go back. How could he go back now? .

Before Luo Juncheng could speak, Li Chengqian had already turned the page because he thought of something new, "A Cheng, when will we attack the Western Regions? There are many Xia people in the Western Regions. If we can accommodate all the people from the Western Regions, The population of our country of Qin will soon exceed several million. "

Importing people from the Western Regions was something I joked about before, but in fact it was basically impossible. Attacking the Western Regions not only had to face the Western Regions, but also the Central Plains and the Yan Kingdom. None of these three forces would let the Western Regions be invaded.

Moreover, the Qin State has not yet reached the stage of the Eastern Expedition. Even the Ural region has not yet been completely conquered. There are many tribes living here, the majority of which are Ural people. After calculations, if it can completely conquer this vast plain, the Qin State will The population will expand to more than 600,000 households, and may even reach 800,000 households.

If Han people with the same population can be obtained from the Central Plains or other regions, then Qin can really build a large empire on its own. The Tang Dynasty may not even be able to grasp the suzerainty of Qin. This is the goal of the Qin aristocracy. , after all, no one wants to be a second-class noble forever, and my Qin sword is not inferior to the sword of the Tang Dynasty.

Luo Juncheng quickly calmed down Li Chengqian's thoughts. When he wanted to speak again, he found that Li Chengqian had fallen asleep. He stepped forward and covered Li Chengqian with a blanket, then quietly left the palace and asked the maid to go in and wait.

He was no longer surprised by Li Chengqian's performance. Li Chengqian's body was actually quite healthy. He was simply getting older, so he was becoming more and more lethargic. Not only Li Chengqian, but Luo Juncheng also felt that his health was not as good as before. In order to open up the Qin Kingdom, he was on the front line and took the lead in almost every battle. He suffered serious internal injuries, which seriously affected his life span.

Luo Juncheng actually began to prepare for death. People always die. Of the three legitimate sons of Li Shimin, only Li Chengqian is now alive. This is already quite lucky. In recent years, more and more nobles of the Qin Dynasty have After death, the second generation came on stage one after another. He, the King of Zhou County, was bound to die sooner or later.

After Luo Juncheng returned to the mansion, his wife Princess Changle had also just returned to the mansion. Following Luo Juncheng here, he was probably the one who changed the most. When he came out to open up, the men all went to the battlefield to fight, but after all, they had to People are responsible for controlling internal affairs.

In this case, no one who is literate can be spared, let alone someone like Princess Changle, who has been smart since she was a child and understands the operation of politics. She must be entrusted with an important task.

Princess Changle is the legitimate daughter of Emperor Taizong, the wife of Prince Zhou, the eldest princess with the highest title in the empire, and the younger sister of King Qin. There is no one with more status than her in this kingdom. There are many tall women, including Princess Qin.

After the maid brought the food, Luo Juncheng and Princess Changle chatted while eating, talking about the letter from King Yan and the current internal problems of the Tang Dynasty. Li Lizhi suddenly said: "Husband, you said that there are so many scholars in the Tang Dynasty, but most of the official positions are occupied by powerful people. Is it possible that a large number of talents are backlogged at the bottom with no way to rise?

wrong.

This problem will definitely arise, and this is our opportunity. "

Li Lizhi's eyes lit up, and Luo Juncheng also slowed down his chopsticks to listen to Li Lizhi's words, "Now these scholars may be very angry, but they still have hope for the court, but in fact, even if this issue is the father's The emperor couldn't solve it even while he was alive.

There are only so many official positions. It is impossible to give them all to officials just to prevent the scholars from causing trouble. The court will collapse soon.

In this case, can we attract those people to our Qin State? Our Qin State is a blank sheet of paper, and there is enough space for them to gallop here.

Talent is power. "

After hearing this, Luo Juncheng frowned slightly, and then said slowly: "The powerful people in the Tang Dynasty control official positions. This is also the case in the Qin State, even more serious than the Tang Dynasty. What should we do?"

Li Lizhi immediately shook her head and said solemnly: "This is completely different. Although the territory of the Tang Dynasty is larger than that of Qin, there are too many criss-crossed interest groups, and the interior of the Tang Dynasty is a plate that cannot be expanded. Many official positions have been counted dead.

But our country of Qin is different. Although the power is now seriously controlled by the powerful, in fact, this is precisely because there are few capable scholars. Our country of Qin has few people, and with fewer people, there are fewer geniuses. It should be noted that since ancient times, the defeat of the poor scholars by the high sects has been based on numbers. advantages, and then form a crushing trend in quality.

What is limiting the development speed of our Qin State now is that there are too few officials, which hinders our Qin State from organizing households and integrating the people in the newly conquered land. Without household registration and integrating the people, it will be difficult to collect taxes. We can only package taxes, and we cannot control them in a precise manner. , it is difficult to say that it is the territory of our Qin State.

If our Qin State has 5,000 or 10,000 more scholars, the population controlled by our Qin State can be doubled. If there are 100,000 scholars, then our Qin State will not worry about lack of management before annexing the entire plain. officials, and can use the fastest speed to sinicize the local indigenous people, change their language, and modify their culture. "

Li Lizhi's voice was sonorous and powerful. That's what people do when they do what they love. Li Lizhi is an expert in this aspect. Luo Juncheng knew that Li Lizhi's move was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment idea. I'm afraid he had already thought about it before. These things are just that I happened to talk about the Central Plains today, so I expressed my relatively complete thoughts.

"Madam, what you said makes sense, but this matter needs to be discussed in the long term. You should write a specific charter first. Then, at the imperial meeting, you will tell the King of Qin about this matter. This matter must have the approval of the King of Qin. Only by order can it be carried out in the kingdom.”

Li Lizhi nodded, "However, once this matter spreads, the nobles in the kingdom may be dissatisfied. We must think of how to prevent this."

Although it is often said that people never learn lessons from history, in fact, people still attract experience from history.

The experience of our predecessors has been accumulated from generation to generation, and this is the precious wisdom left to future generations. Answers to many problems can be found from history.

For example, the current situation within the Tang Dynasty is dominated by powerful people, and the situation within the Qin State is somewhat similar to that of the Zhou Dynasty.

Many years ago, these problems had not been solved, so they stumped countless people. They could only be pushed forward bit by bit by social changes. In the process, countless blood was shed and trials and errors were experienced again and again.

But for people living in the Tang Dynasty, the answer lies there. The nobles in the Qin Kingdom all know what the final outcome will be. This is different from the past. For people in this era, the nobles owning land is not It is only natural that everything should return to the king.

Perhaps the only good thing for the nobles of the Qin State is that the King of Qin is also a member of the princes, and he is also a subject of the emperor. So from this point of view, the political foundation of the Qin State is to split the earth and seal the king.

Luo Juncheng thought for a while and then said: "The dissatisfaction of the nobles is destined, but there has never been a lack of opponents in history, but in the end it is not the nobles who win. We are on the side of the winner, that's it."

……

There were many vassal states in the Tang Dynasty, and those registered in the Lifan Yuan far exceeded those of the Han Dynasty. Of course, they were far inferior to countries with feudal systems such as the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

These countries have chaotic systems and chaotic hierarchies. They can be roughly divided into several categories, but with the development of these years, it has gradually become unclear.

This is a very complex issue.

The first batch of vassal states in the Tang Dynasty were in the early years of Zhenguan. After defeating the Dong Turks, many countries gave Li Shimin the title of Khan of Heaven.

It is difficult to define the nature of this group of vassal states. Since the title of Tian Khan is used, it stands to reason that it should be regarded as a foreign vassal, and is also privately called Hu Fan. However, in fact, the identity of this group of vassal states is They are very different. Xiyan and Gaochang are both serious Han states.

That's right, we don't even need to extend it to the Xia Kingdom. In these two countries, the kings are the descendants of the Han people. The entire country is Han culture. From blood to culture, it is quite pure. But this is also the case of Tian Khan. It is difficult to evaluate a country with a systematic system.

From that time on, it was already a bit blurry. When the Tang Dynasty expanded rapidly, the six kingdoms system was proposed, the southwestern princes were enfeoffed, and the Lingnan princes were enfeoffed, it was completely chaotic. The Lifan Yuan is now even It is difficult to distinguish between the outer vassal and the inner vassal.

During the Zhou Dynasty, the princes within the territory who were granted the title of "inner vassal" were the inner vassals, and the princes who were granted the title of "outer vassal" were the outer vassals.

But if calculated in this way, many tribal vassal states, such as the vassal states under the command of the Andong Protectorate, have become internal vassals, and Qin, Yan, and Qi, these serious Taizong states Instead, the country became a foreign vassal.

Isn’t this going against Tiangang?
The emperor is not willing to do so. Doesn't it mean that foreign vassals have independent legal principles? This is something that the court cannot tolerate.

There are also those duchy states that are theoretically awarded golden titles by the emperor, but when they are there, they have to communicate with the local indigenous people and the kings of the six kingdoms, so the situation in the country has changed.

After decades of development, the current kingdom of princes can be said to be a mess. Every time the Lifanyuan issues an edict, it has to issue several letters and stack up beds and build houses, nothing more than that.

Wu Zhao and Luo Junwei focus on internal affairs, that is, the development of prefectures and counties, and the reform of the government and military. For these external institutions, if they only focus on one and it can still operate, then don't touch it.

After Li Zhi's death, Wu Zhao had no intention of competing with the Western Regions and Mobei for supremacy. She spent more energy on establishing the imperial examination system, attacking the gentry, and clarifying finances.

Therefore, these princely states were allowed to develop on their own, as long as they paid tribute on time. Under this guiding ideology of strong trunks and weak branches, the central court was very powerful, but the entire vassal-state system became a system that could not be casually Touch the machine.

The Queen of Heaven has established an imperial daughter, and in the future the Tang Dynasty will welcome a female emperor. When this news reaches the ears of different princes, the reactions will naturally be different.

The reactions of King Yan and King Qin were different. One was concerned about the matter and the other was worried that his son would do something wrong. But fundamentally, neither of them objected to the Crown Princess. Any ideas for extra play.

Most of the other princes were just like the King of Qin. They were just surprised when the emperor abdicated and the princess was canonized, and then they went about their own business. No matter who was the emperor, it had nothing to do with them.

The people who really have complicated moods are Li Xian and Li Xian.

Taiping's two elder brothers were the two people who should have benefited from the storm of Li Dan's abdication.

Li Xian was a little better. He had lost the qualification to inherit the throne many years ago. Over the years, he worked hard to build his Weiguo on Penglai Island. In the Weiguo, he followed the pattern of Chang'an City. The palace city was built, and almost the entire Penglai Island was built according to his ideas.

Staying on Penglai Island is like staying in the Central Plains. In addition, Penglai is close to the Central Plains and large numbers of Han people have entered Penglai. Now even if he is asked to go to other parts of the Central Plains to become a vassal, he is unwilling.

Since he can't be the emperor, he will develop slowly on Penglai Island.

The one who was really angry was Li Xian. Among Wu Zhao's four sons, Li Hong and Li Xian were both capable, but one was in poor health and the other had an impatient temper and easily listened to rumors, which resulted in the mother and son becoming enemies.

The remaining Li Xian and Li Dan had little ability, but Li Dan was a good man, very self-aware and not greedy for power, so he was able to give up the throne decisively.

But this is not the case with Li Xian. He has little ability, but he does not know it. Instead, he thinks he is very smart, and then often does things that make Wu Zhao laugh. His political methods are so clumsy that even the teenage Wu Zhao Even worse.

Li Xian is also mean and ungrateful. This is not a particularly bad shortcoming, but if someone who is unable to control the situation is still mean and ungrateful, then he can neither control people nor win people's hearts.

So Wu Zhao directly excluded Li Xian.

Li Xian broke his guard at that time and said some unpleasant words. If he were not Wu Zhao's biological son, he would have stepped into hell by now.

Therefore, after Li Dan abdicated, Wu Zhao did not comment on Li Xian, but said that Li Xian "the king of Wei is frivolous and cannot rule the world." One can imagine Wu Zhao's disgust for Li Xian.

After Li Xian learned that Princess Taiping had been named the Crown Princess, he was so angry that he vomited blood. Before he fell into coma, he asked unwillingly: "Am I not as good as a daughter of Taiping?

Is Taiping a genius comparable to his mother?
This king is not convinced!

The queen mother is very biased and peaceful. "

After saying that, he passed out immediately, and his words became a joke among the people.

----

Regarding the development of the Tang Empire's enfeoffment policy during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, the author believes that there is only one word to describe it - "barbaric growth."

The complicated and bizarre power struggle within the empire, as well as the ruling philosophy of Empress Wu Zhao of "emphasis on internal affairs over external affairs, and strengthening cadres to build the foundation", made the Tang court focus on solving the internal problems of the empire, and did not conduct an overall review of the entire development and enfeoffment. planning, which can be seen from the only one alliance.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, the imperial court issued as many as 73 edicts related to encouraging teachers to teach farmers and mulberry trees, and issued as many as 54 edicts to rectify the administration of officials. However, there were only five edicts regarding external guidance. This absolute disparity in numbers proves the bias of the central court.

Later historical facts proved that the decrees implemented by Queen Wu Zhao at this stage greatly reduced the conflicts that should have grown within the empire, significantly restored the efficiency of the empire's operations, and laid a solid foundation for the subsequent empire. ——"The Rise and Fall of the Tang Empire"

(End of this chapter)