Established a millennium family since King Wu defeated Zhou

Chapter 970 Luo Qianshen

Anyone who pays attention can feel that the world is not peaceful right now.

Duke Luo Qianqiu of Luo was conferred the title of super-rank King Luo, and the emperor's second son Luo Shengxi was conferred the title of heir King Luo, a first-rank prince. Some rumors circulated among the people.

These rumors were spread by some ambitious people.

The goal is naturally to discredit the Luo family.

The Luo family enjoys a high reputation in the hearts of the people and righteous people, but where there is good, there is evil. Those who have ulterior motives naturally wish that the Luo family would be destroyed as soon as possible.

After all, the Luo family was too noble. They never went along with the corrupt people and never oppressed the good people.

Such a Luo family really makes many people feel uneasy.

Some of the Li clan princes who were confused also began to stir.

Moreover, it was not just the princes of the Li clan who were ready to make moves. There were also instigators among the ministers under these princes.

Some of them have mental problems. Since ancient times, most of the rich and powerful children are useless, and the Tang Dynasty is no exception.

Others have deeper intentions, and their goal is to overthrow the princes and seize power, especially the six kingdoms that are far away from the imperial court.

In a sense, it is like an independent kingdom, which naturally has its own set of political operating rules.

The imperial court originally thought that the first country to launch an attack would be Yan State, but unexpectedly, the first country to change would be Chu State.

The State of Chu suffered a devastating disaster.

Among the six kingdoms, Chu was the weakest. After all, Chu was congenitally deficient. It neither received a large amount of subsidies from the Central Plains like the other countries, nor did it collude with a large number of Central Plains nobles like Song.

The State of Chu truly started from scratch and had nothing. It had the support of Tubo, the mortal enemy of the Tang Dynasty, and faced an Indian environment that it was completely unfamiliar with.

Tubo had always been wary of the Chu State that had circled behind it, and finally seized the opportunity, united with some small countries, and launched a war against the Chu State.

Under such circumstances, the State of Chu had no choice but to send envoys to ask for help from the Tang Dynasty.

After Taiping convened a military meeting, the prime ministers and generals had only one idea in the face of Tubo's behavior, which was to fight.

"Under the sun, no one can challenge the majesty of the Tang Dynasty. Anyone who violates this rule will die."

"That's right. If we don't teach Tubo a lesson, it will really think it is invincible."

The prime minister and generals were talking in the hall, but no one backed down. The powerful Tang Dynasty and the full treasury were enough to deal with all enemies.

"It's time to spread the glory of the Su Wang to the plateau."

Taiping was deeply influenced by Wu Zhao and Luo Junwei since childhood, and was also a fanatical believer. At this moment, his face was full of solemnity, and this emotion affected the ministers in the palace.

"Please respectfully ask for your judgment."

All the ministers bowed their heads and said solemnly.

"But why did Tubo suddenly attack Chu at this time?"

Since we have decided to teach Tubo a lesson, we need to understand why Tubo attacked Chu at this time. Knowing ourselves and the enemy, we can win every battle.

"Your Majesty, according to the information sent back from the front, the internal strife in the Tubo Kingdom is very fierce. In order to consolidate his position, the new Tubo Prime Minister decided to create some achievements, just like the Lu Dongzan family did in the past.

Also, because the imperial court's defense in Qinghai was too tight, there was no opportunity to find any.

As for the Western Regions, because Tubo was unwilling to actively push the Western Regions to the Tang Dynasty, it ultimately chose to attack the vassal state of Chu. "

This explanation is quite reasonable.

In ancient times, most of the wars in the world were not caused by the accumulation of contradictions to an irreconcilable level. On the contrary, most of the wars broke out because of the personal greed of the rulers.

That is why this kind of war can start quickly and end quickly, because it has no foundation.

Those wars that are truly caused by irreconcilable contradictions are almost impossible to stop. They are only over when both sides fight to the death and the party that caused the conflict disappears completely.

Luo Qianqiu rarely spoke, but at this moment, he opened his mouth and said, "There is a split within Tubo. This is our chance, a chance to completely defeat Tubo.

However, if you want to attack Tubo, the most important thing you need to overcome is the discomfort on the plateau. I suggest that you mobilize the elite troops from all over the Tang Dynasty to go to the snowy plateau, go deep into the hinterland, and attack Tubo.

It is better to let these elite troops live in Qinghai for a while and adapt to the local climate than to transfer them directly from the Central Plains."

Mobilizing elite troops and heading to the snowy plateau is a rather risky move.

“Most of the warriors of the Luo family live in Liao. I can write a letter to the Duke of Liao and ask him to lead the warriors here.

Then he issued an edict to select the most elite armored soldiers.

The most crucial one is the Xuanmen Temple Army in the Western Regions.

To attack Tubo, we must have the Xuanmen Temple Army from the Western Regions, otherwise it will be difficult to succeed."

Western Region Temple Army!
"Lord Luo, as far as I know, the Western Region Temple Army only has 3,000 soldiers. Even if they are elite, can they play any role on the snowy plateau?

It's not like we don't have elite troops in the Tang Dynasty, we are just worried about plateau syndrome."

Taiping's idea was the same as everyone else's. The Temple Army was indeed famous and was the strongest army in the world, but based on actual combat, even though it was stronger than most armies, it was not strong enough to be invincible.

Luo Qianqiu took a deep breath and said slowly and loudly: "Your Majesty, gentlemen, this is what you don't know.

The Xuanmen Temple Army is not an ordinary army. It is indeed similar to most armies at normal times, but it is different at critical moments.

The Temple Army is fearless and can fight to the last soldier. They have greater endurance than ordinary soldiers. Whether they are in the water, on the plateau, or in the forest, whether they are injured or tortured, they can maintain their combat effectiveness.

The Temple Army will not suffer from any discomfort on the plateau, and they can walk on any terrain as if it were flat ground.

In the mountains, they are the strongest mountain soldiers; in the snowy areas, they are the strongest plateau warriors; on the grasslands, they are the strongest cavalrymen; and when they dismount, they are the strongest infantrymen.

Even the Warriors cannot compare to them. After all, the Warriors are still mortal, while the Temple Army has transcended this scope.

Without the participation of the Temple Army, this war will never be safe for me."

Most people in the hall were stunned by Luo Qianqiu's words, as if they were listening to a myth.

If Luo Qianqiu had simply said those things mentioned above, they would still be skeptical, but what did King Luo say at the end? He personally said that even the brave warriors were not as good as the Temple Army. This statement was not made casually.

That's a brave warrior.

The brave warriors composed of the descendants of the Luo family have never had any rivals since the moment they were established.

As long as the Daring Warriors appear, it represents victory. Unlike those elite troops that disappeared in the long river of history, the Daring Warriors have been passed down for more than a thousand years. Whenever people think that the Daring Warriors are no longer as brave as they used to be, the Daring Warriors will use a shocking record to tell everyone that the Daring Warriors are still there.

Luo Qianqiu is the head of the Luo family. Since he said that his family's ace army is not as good as the temple army, then it is really not as good.

[Xuan Tier·Heavenly Soldiers (Not created by humans, but created by nature): The user can select 3,000 people to become heavenly soldiers. After a month of training, they can obtain a corps that is disciplined, fearless, strong, proficient in weapons, warfare, and horsemanship on the battlefield.]

Luo Qianqiu knew this attribute very well. No matter how strong a warrior was, he could not reach this level.

"Your Highness Prince Luo, but the Temple Army is the elite of the Western Regions. Will they be sent out for the war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo?"

This question is the most critical one.

The relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Regions is very delicate. The Western Regions are the type that only obey orders and not announcements. When the Tang Dynasty speaks, the Western Regions may not necessarily respond, especially when it comes to sending their most elite troops out to fight.

If you ask yourself, it is very likely that you will not agree.

Taiping also set his eyes on Luo Qianqiu, "Lord Luo, what you said makes some sense. Since I ascended the throne, the relationship with the Western Regions has not changed much. I am not sure whether I can ask Xuanmen to take action."

Luo Qianqiu looked around at everyone in the hall and said slowly and solemnly: "Your Majesty, it is time to resolve this issue between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Regions. The war with Tubo cannot be ended in a day or two.

Let the State of Chu try its best to hold on first. In other words, if the State of Chu cannot hold on, it is okay to abandon it directly. As long as Tubo can be destroyed in the future, it will be worth it. After destroying Tubo, you can re-establish the State of Chu.

The most important thing for the Tang Dynasty to do now is to resolve the relationship with the Western Regions. Leave this matter to me. Eight years before the Kaiyuan period, I did my best to resolve the issue of the Western Regions. "

Resolve the issue in the Western Regions!

This is definitely the most difficult issue at the moment. For the Tang Dynasty, there is nothing more worrying than the Western Regions.

If we can truly take control of the Western Regions, then the westward expansion of both the Yan State and the Tang Dynasty can be truly put on the agenda.

Now that King Luo would actually take the responsibility for this matter, it was undoubtedly somewhat unexpected to everyone. Even though the current High Priest of the Western Regions is a member of the Luo family, being in that position, there are some things that are beyond one's control.

Because the high priest represents not only him, especially with a system like Xuanmen, even if the high priest wants to take the lead in surrendering, it is impossible.

……

What the Tang Dynasty and the Western Regions were fighting for was not worldly power, but the spiritual world.

In the spiritual world of the Xia people, the highest one is naturally the Su Wang. So the question is, should we accept the orders of the Su Wang from the emperor or the high priest?

This is an irreconcilable problem. The reason why this problem was covered up before was that there were still many practical problems within the Tang Dynasty that needed to be solved.

However, after the three dynasties of Li Shimin, Li Zhi and Wu Zhao, the internal structure of the Tang Dynasty had been completely integrated, and centrifugal tendencies had emerged in the border areas.

It is acceptable for the consciousness of people from the Western Regions to emerge, but people from the Western Regions can only be a regional concept, just like regional concepts such as Hebei people, Jiangnan people, and Guanzhong people.

The people of the Western Regions cannot be superior to the Han and Tang people, and they cannot even be equal to them.

When speaking to outsiders, we can only say that they are Tang people or Han people.

Luo Qianqiu could not allow such wrong ideas to appear and spread. If someone refused to repent, he would not mind striking hard and letting them feel what the military iron fist of the Tang Dynasty was.

……

The Western Regions, which is quite far away from Luoyang, received an imperial edict from the sacred capital Luoyang, which was an edict ordering the children of the Western Regions to go to Luoyang to study.

All children of school age in the Western Regions had to go to Luoyang to study and then take part in the imperial examinations. After passing the examinations, they could stay in the Central Plains to serve as officials. The tribes or princes' sons who were able to stay in the Central Plains to serve as officials and their countries would receive rewards from the imperial court.

The next time resource allocation is adjusted, you will get more places, such as more pasture.

At the same time, an opposite decree was also issued in the Central Plains, that is, scholars who went to the Western Regions to serve as officials could be directly promoted three levels after staying in the Western Regions for five years. Moreover, they would be given priority in the promotion of government officials such as county magistrates. Officials over the age of 50 and below, who took the initiative to go to the Western Regions, would be allowed by the court to choose one of their sons to get an official position.

To allow young scholars to go, they must be given enough benefits. There has always been a lack of young people going to the frontiers to seek great achievements. Now the court wants to turn this into tangible benefits. Having ideals is a good thing, and it is even better to allow these young people with ideals and courage to be rewarded.

The fifth rank is already an absolutely high-ranking official in the court. You should know that a fourth rank official can become a prime minister.

Officials below that level basically have no chance of being promoted through imperial favors, and retirement has become a mature practice in the Tang Dynasty. Except for special cases like Di Renjie, most officials would retire when they reach a certain age. Now, using this method to promote through imperial favors is a way to reuse retired officials.

This edict was not only sent to the Western Regions, but also to Yan, Wei, and Song. With what happened in Song, it naturally did not want to have too much contact with the Central Plains. The same was true for Yan. The Yan King's family possessed powerful strength and had the ambition to ascend to the throne, so they had been actively or passively cutting off contact with the Central Plains. As for the three Penglai Islands, let alone mentioning them, they vigorously developed their navy and were ready to turn against the Tang Dynasty at any time.

The reason they are not turning against each other now is simply because no one wants to be the first to be offended. After all, with the current strength of the Tang Dynasty, it would be no problem to crush any kingdom. The size of the Tang Dynasty is by no means something they can contend with. After all, the three kingdoms all have natural flaws.

Yan State did not have the Western Regions and Liaodong, Wei State did not have the Jizi Peninsula and Qi State, and Song State's lifeline was still held by the Central Plains. They would only have a chance when the Central Plains declined.

Luo Qianqiu's goal was very simple, which was to use the court's natural advantageous position to vigorously promote exchanges between various countries and the Central Plains so that the cultures of various countries would tend to be unified.

In addition to these large kingdoms, other small princely states had a lot of exchanges with the Tang Dynasty, and their children also served as officials in the Tang Dynasty. The main reason was that they were too close to the Tang Dynasty. Even if they were like counties and kingdoms in the Han Dynasty, they lived within the territory of the Tang Dynasty, unlike the other kingdoms which were far away from the emperor.

However, over the years, the princes and nobles in the southwest have also begun to build forts and towers among the mountains, which is chilling. Luo Qianqiu has already ordered them to be banned from construction. Anyone who dares to build a tower among the mountains will be treated as a treasonous person.

Luo Qianqiu certainly would not place all his hopes on cultural exchanges, as culture is something that comes after politics and economy.

If I give an example to illustrate.

When the emperor of Zhou Dynasty was strong, the culture of all countries in the world was unified. Later, the central government weakened and the culture of all countries gradually developed their own characteristics. Later, Qin and Han dynasties unified the world again politically, and the culture of the world was unified again.

As long as there is no political unity, cultural division is inevitable.

For example, the Qin State would inevitably develop its own culture as it moved away from the Central Plains, leading the Chinese nation onto another path.

Can the Central Plains court accomplish the task of political reunification?
Luo Qianqiu was not sure. After all, the original division was made because the empire's ruling core was too broad and it was a helpless choice that could not be taken into account.

From this point of view, political division is a matter of sooner or later. This is also the reason why Luo Su said that the world will eventually fall into endless war.

Political differences ultimately lead to war.

If reason can't convince people, then we can only convince them physically.

The imperial edict from the court silenced the Western Regions.

The Western Regions is the most special region so far. It is also the most independent region among the forces surrounding the Tang Dynasty.

You should know that during the reign of Emperor Taizong, places such as Mobei and Penglai were all obedient to the Tang Dynasty, while the Western Regions only began to pay tribute in the late Zhenguan period, the last two years of Emperor Taizong's life. At that time, it was only a superficial submission, and the two sides began to trade.

Although the Western Regions had no independent legal basis, the Tang Dynasty also had no legal basis to annex them, which made the situation much better than that of several other kingdoms.

But from another perspective, the six kingdoms were all legitimate vassal kingdoms, possessing great autonomy, authority, the power to initiate wars, military power, and political power. Because they had a core, they had increasingly shown the trend of becoming independent kingdoms in recent years.

But this is not the case in the Western Regions.

The Western Regions is a politically fragmented place. Due to its unique desert oasis terrain, there are small countries everywhere, especially in the southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains.

The unification of the Western Regions was due to the great prestige of Luo Xuanzang, the first leader of Xuanmen, and the cooperation of the Western Turkic Khan and other rulers, but the Western Regions have changed now.

The new Lord of Xuanmen does not have such great prestige. After all, people like Luo Xuanzang are rare, and there is no opportunity like the Wuzhe Conference to brush up his reputation. The new Lord of Xuanmen’s main prestige comes from the legal system, that is, tradition.

This is the situation that every future king will have to face, that is, even if they have the ability, their abilities cannot be demonstrated at all.

In the politically fragmented Western Region, it is obviously unrealistic to expect every generation of rulers and every heir to a country to be normal people.

There are many stupid people in this world, the kind that are so stupid that you don't even know why they do what they do.

When such people appear in the political arena, terrible consequences will occur. The situation in the Western Regions began to become chaotic. Some people wanted to rebel against the Tang Dynasty, some wanted to challenge the Xuanmen, and some wanted to become the overlord of the Western Regions again.

Under such circumstances, the imperial edict from the Tang Dynasty was like a stone that caused a thousand ripples and broke the undercurrents lurking beneath the calm surface of the lake.

To ordinary people, sending children to Luoyang to study seems to be like being a hostage, but combined with the subsequent policies, the court's goal is to strengthen exchanges between the Western Regions and the Central Plains.

The message we can get from this is that the imperial court was dissatisfied with the current situation in the Western Regions and believed that the Western Regions were getting further and further away from the imperial court, so it used this soft knife to cut them.

How should the Western Regions react?
Everyone has different ideas, and everyone knows that this is only the first step of the court, and the final problem will definitely fall on Xuanmen.

What did the high priest think?

Countless people have turned their eyes to Shenlin City. How will the Holy Throne, who stands at the pinnacle of the Western Regions, deal with this matter?
In an unknown temple, the high priest of Xuanmen was unfolding a letter and reading it, while the saint of Xuanmen, who was also Princess Anding of the Tang Dynasty, was leaning beside him.

This letter was naturally sent by Luo Qianqiu.

The close relationship between the Luo family members is still incomprehensible to the world.

Although the high priest and Luo Qianqiu have never met since birth, it does not prevent their souls from interacting for a long time and having a deep relationship.

Perhaps sometimes Luo's people will stand in different camps due to different concepts or personal choices.

But Luo's position is always consistent.

For example, when Li Shimin and Dou Jiande were fighting for the world, Luo chose different camps, but their stance of unifying the country and rebuilding the world was the same, they just chose different people.

It would be a good thing if the war ended soon, but Luo had his own judgment.

In the world where Ji Zhao lives, there is a question that is often used to criticize Liu Bei: "Why didn't Liu Bei surrender to Cao Cao? In this way, the world would be unified and there would be no more wars. Liu Bei divided the world and caused constant wars for his own selfish interests. Isn't this a hypocrite?"

Many people will be confused by this question.

But if you think about it carefully, what kind of person is Cao Cao to Liu Bei?

Basically, it is not an exaggeration to attribute all the bad words to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao massacred cities more than once.

It would be a joke to hand over the world to such a tyrant who has no mercy on the people and basically no personal moral character.

Moreover, even if Cao Cao was not that bad, who can guarantee that he would not become worse in the future? Aren’t there many monarchs in history who were wise at first but became foolish later?
People like Liu Bei who have accomplished great things will never give their hopes to others, but will hold them in their own hands. They always have a belief in their hearts, "Only I can make the people of the world live and work in peace and contentment, and I can control myself, and I will never change."

Coincidentally, all the Luo family members have this belief.

So the Luoshizi often separate, but as mentioned before, the Luoshizi's position will not change.

The descendants of the Luo family, who are from the Western Regions, guard the Western Regions and maintain a close but distant relationship with the Tang Dynasty. Naturally, they have their own persistence, which is that when the Tang Dynasty collapses and when the Tang Dynasty can no longer shoulder the heavy responsibility, the Western Regions will be able to step up.

This is the same as other Luo family members in the Central Plains, except that they are in different camps.

Luo Qianqiu understood all this, so of course he would not use his status as the head of the family to force the high priest Luo Qianshen to do anything. He would present facts and reason to make Luo Qianshen stand on his side and implement the reform of the Western Region.

Seeing Luo Qianshen in deep thought after reading the letter, Princess Anding immediately asked, "What did my brother say in the letter?"

Luo Qianshen weighed the letter in his hand and said slowly: "In the letter, my brother described in detail the current relationship between the Central Plains and the Western Regions, as well as the current state of the Western Regions, which is unfavorable to the situation of the entire Zhuxia.

The current Western Regions even hinder the expansion of the Xia people, which want to expand their living space."

Is it so serious?

Princess Anding quickly took the letter and said, "The Western Region is the center of the world. Although Xuanmen supports the expansion of the Tang Dynasty, the fragmented Western Region and the political disunity prevent the Tang Dynasty from continuing to expand westward. The huge manpower and material resources of the Tang Dynasty can only be wasted in the Central Plains. The stalemate between Yan State and the Central Plains has given Yan State political ambitions.

The fragmentation of the Western Regions also made it difficult to encircle Tubo and open the passage to the Chu State.

Be careful.

All signs indicate that the Western Regions have now become an obstacle. This is not only the need of the Tang Dynasty, but also the need of the world.

Now that Li Luoheyi has reached the end, the family's cause has also entered a deeper level.

The existence of Tubo is an obstacle to our great cause. It is time to get rid of it.

If you have any ideas, please write to me. It is time for you and I to meet and have a good talk about things concerning the Western Regions and the Central Plains.

The situation cannot be allowed to deteriorate any further.”

hiss.

Even if Princess Anding's political talent was poor, she would not fail to understand what Luo Qianqiu wrote so clearly. "Husband, what did my brother say?"

Luo Qianshen nodded solemnly, "Brother, what you said makes sense. The situation is indeed different now."

Princess Anding had a hunch that Luo Qianshen's attitude had a lot to do with her sister, the Emperor, or in other words, with the Crown Prince and King Luo.

The final step of the integration of Li and Luo.

She just saw this sentence. The close relationship between the Li and Luo families must have influenced Luo Qianshen's decision.

I should be one of them, Princess Anding thought as she looked at Luo Qianshen's cheek.

"So do you want to meet your brother?"

Princess Anding knew that such matters could not be discussed bit by bit through letters. The time it took to send letters back and forth would be too long for the opportunity to get cold. They would definitely have to meet in person to discuss the matter.

But this matter still depends on Luo Qianshen's opinion. He is the Holy Seat of Xuanmen. If he wants to meet the husband of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he must notify the Cardinals.

This will be a meeting no less important than a state meeting and will attract the attention of many people.

"See."

Luo Qianshen nodded without hesitation, "As for the location, let's choose Yizhou."

The western capital of the Tang Dynasty.

It is also one of the major cities in the Western Regions, and it is the most suitable place for talks.

Luo Qianshen quickly wrote back to Luo Qianqiu and made an appointment to meet in Yizhou. After the letter was sent, Luo Qianshen began to notify the cardinal in Shenlin City and those who were outside.

Time passed quickly and Luo Qianshen started to move.

Whenever the Xuanmen Holy Throne travels, there is a grand procession, with countless priests wearing Xuanmen costumes and fully armed temple guards by his side.

Luo Qianqiu also left Luoyang. Protected by the Tang Dynasty Imperial Guards, he traveled thousands of miles to the headquarters of the Anxi Protectorate, the Western Capital Yizhou.

(End of this chapter)