Established a millennium family since King Wu defeated Zhou

Chapter 971: There is only one ruler in the world

Illinois.

In the world of Tang Dynasty poets, this place represents the Western Regions.

In the world of Western poets, this place represents the Central Plains.

Dust was rising all over the sky, and smoke signals were seen rising from the earthen city walls. Anyone entering the city had to undergo strict inspection, and all caravans were required to be inspected. Countless soldiers from the Anxi Protectorate were searching for all suspicious people and things within a radius of 200 miles.

The alert level here has been raised to an unprecedented high level.

Because the Xuanmen Holy Throne is about to come here.

Because the supreme prince of the Tang Dynasty, the husband of the emperor, is about to come here.

If anything happens to anyone, it will be a completely violent storm that destroys everything.

Against the backdrop of the red sunset in the desert, countless priests in red came from the distant desert Gobi, surrounding the holy chariot. The sky was filled with the sound of musical instruments and the tunes of praise to the Lord, solemn and dignified. Luo Qianshen sat upright on the chariot, maintaining a majestic and sacred appearance. Countless people prostrated themselves towards him on the road.

In the east of Yizhou, Luo Qianqiu was dressed in military uniform, accompanied by the most elite imperial guards of the Tang Dynasty. Behind him, the army was also galloping, raising dust. They had come all the way from Luoyang and had hardly had a good rest. Even the elite troops of the Tang Dynasty were a little tired.

Luo Qianqiu arrived in Yizhou first, and then saw Luo Qianshen's lineup. There was only relief in his eyes. It was really incredible. No wonder the family's reputation in the Western Regions had reached the point where it was feared by all the people in the world. Now it seemed that the family's reputation in the Western Regions would be almost unparalleled in the world if there were two more generations of saints.

The two brothers who had never seen each other since birth met at this moment. When they looked at each other, they felt both strange and familiar.

"Brother!"

"A Shen!"

When Luo Qianshen stepped down from the carriage, Luo Qianqiu dismounted and ran in front of him. The two held each other's arms and talked. All the strangeness disappeared in an instant, and what remained was the joy of not seeing each other for many years.

They were obviously two people who came here to negotiate and discuss interests, but at this moment, who still had those things in mind.

"A Shen, your sister-in-law has prepared gifts for you. You haven't been back to Central Plains since you were born, so this time your brothers and sisters have prepared some gifts for you."

No matter where people are, family is always family. Luo Qianshen has been alone in the Western Regions since his father passed away, and he is quite excited at this moment.

This scene naturally stunned the people behind the two of them.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, and then followed the two brothers into the city in silence.

After entering the city, Luo Qianshen directly asked everyone from Xuanmen to go and rest, "You all go and rest first. I want to have a long talk with my brother."

Luo Qianqiu also drove everyone away, leaving only the two brothers here. The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.

"It seems that the elder brother knows what his younger brother is thinking."

Luo Qianqiu said with a smile on his face: "A Shen, since you are willing to come, I know what you are thinking. You understand the pros and cons."

Luo Qianshen took a deep breath. Of course he understood the pros and cons. He agreed with what Luo Qianqiu said in the letter, so he came here today.

"Brother, although I agree with your idea, the countries in the Western Regions may not necessarily obey my orders. If their interests are greatly damaged, resistance will be inevitable."

Interests are always the most core issue in this world, between people, groups, and countries.

The integration of the Western Regions and the Central Plains is indeed the general trend, which is better for the Chinese as a whole. However, in this process, there will always be people who benefit and people who suffer. If the Western Regions are damaged and the Central Plains are abandoned, the Western Regions will be unwilling.

When the conflict of interests is irreconcilable, war must be launched, and the losing party must unconditionally accept the deprivation of interests by the victor.

In the Western world, there is a way of ruling called united rule, which actually means that two places respect the same monarch. This is fundamentally different from great unification.

There was no communication between the nobles of the two places, and there was no loss of mutual interests.

It is not that one ruling group is superior to another, but that the two ruling groups still exist in parallel.

Luo Qianqiu did not answer directly, but poured a cup of tea for Luo Qianshen first, and then slowly said: "This time I came here to discuss a way of ruling that can be accepted by the Western Regions, to break the independent consciousness that is gradually emerging in the Western Regions, and then completely integrate them into the Tang Dynasty.

What I mean is to make the Tang Dynasty completely transformed into prefectures and counties, and those rulers will continue to lead their local tribes, which is a form of tributary control, but it should be higher than tributary control. Strengthen the central government's control over the Western Regions, that is, let the Anxi Grand Protectorate fully operate and become the only arbitrator. This piece of land is really too important."

Luo Qianshen frowned slightly and thought. The highest political institution in the Western Regions now is the Anxi Protectorate, which is theoretically responsible for governing the vassal states of the entire Western Regions. Under the Anxi Protectorate are small countries all over the place.

Later, these small countries, under the leadership of the Western Turks, turned to Xuanmen, and the power and responsibilities of the Anxi Protectorate were gradually hollowed out. The purpose of this negotiation between the two sides was that the Tang Dynasty wanted to take back the power of Anxi, and wanted Xuanmen to withdraw from the struggle for political power and instead focus on the spiritual world.

Luo Qianshen thought for a long time before slowly shaking his head and saying, "Brother, this is difficult. This concession is too big. Not only does it have to return to Anxi's jurisdiction, but it also has to be transformed into a prefecture or county. This is a big step. Whether it is the Xuanmen or the rulers of the various countries, it may be difficult for them to recognize this level of concession. If it must be implemented, it will only cause war."

Luo Qianqiu said in a deep voice: "War is bound to happen, there will definitely be people who are dissatisfied and deliberately instigate it. I have never thought that the problem of the Western Regions can be solved without bloodshed.

Take a look at this. This is a conversation between me and His Majesty, regarding the future job placement in the Western Regions."

Luo Qianqiu handed a piece of paper to Luo Qianshen, who took it and read it. The letter was very detailed, "In the future Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, in addition to the Anxi Grand Protector who will be appointed by the court, the Anxi Grand Protector will be selected from Western Region nobles and recommended by Xuanmen, and more than half of the officials in the Anxi Protectorate will be from Western Regions.

The Tang Dynasty implements the basic management principle of autonomy in the Western Regions. In addition to cooperating with the Tang Dynasty in major aspects, such as military affairs, and obeying orders in foreign affairs, the Western Regions still maintain a high degree of autonomy in economic aspects, such as taxation. The Tang Dynasty will set up special laws and regulations for the Western Regions, and will make certain modifications to the specific regulations based on the customs of the Western Regions. "

This was somewhat beyond Luo Qianshen's expectations. The Tang Dynasty was really sincere this time. This agreement gave the Western Regions a great deal of autonomy. Compared with now, the gap was not particularly large.

When Luo Qianqiu saw Luo Qianshen finish reading, he explained: "In fact, the problem that the court wants to solve from the beginning to the end is only one, that is to establish the highest ruler of the Western Regions, there is only one, that is the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Xuanmen can no longer be the master of the Western Regions, and you, the Holy Throne, can no longer be the master of the Western Regions.

In the future, the Holy Throne of the Western Region Xuanmen must cooperate with the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. At least in the hearts of the people of the Western Region, there cannot be two centers, and there cannot be two suns in the sky, otherwise there will inevitably be disasters.

Although doing so may cause some losses to our Luo family, it will be beneficial to the world without any harm."

Luo Qianshen understood what Luo Qianqiu meant. The higher the prestige of his Holy See, the greater the threat to the imperial court.

For the people of the Western Regions, having a Holy Throne with such a high prestige will make them think that they only know the Holy Throne but not the Son of Heaven.

This kind of thinking will last for a long time.

That would create a centrifugal tendency.

Once this tendency arises, it cannot be reversed by Xuanmen. It will take a longer time, and require one or two generations, or even two or three generations, to re-educate before it can be changed.

If you want to change this reality, the best way is for Xuanmen to take the initiative to give in.

If anyone else were the Holy See, that would definitely not work. After all, asking people to give up power is equivalent to giving up everything. But if the Holy See is Luo Qianshen, then this method has a great chance of success.

"Ah Shen, I am not worried about you. If you have any difficulties or problems that you cannot solve, just tell me and I will solve them for you."

Luo Qianshen naturally doesn't care about power. He can easily throw away those things that you can't bring with you when you are born and can't take with you when you die.

but.

“Brother, even though I am the high priest of Xuanmen, Xuanmen does not belong to me alone. If you follow your method, Xuanmen will inevitably fall into division, and the Western Region will experience continuous wars, and the people of the Western Region may not be willing.

Although I have the highest prestige, there are also some people with high prestige in Xuanmen.

My brother came to the Western Regions to unite the Western Regions and fight against Tubo together. In fact, there is no need to go through so much trouble. "

Luo Qianshen said in a deep voice: "I have a new idea.

I can call on the entire Western Regions to launch a holy war, saying that Tubo does not follow the teachings of the King Su, so that I can call on the countries in the Western Regions to send troops.

After conquering Tubo, I can still use this change to call on the Western Regions to march westward. Xuanmen will migrate westward in this process, Shenlin City will remain in the Western Regions, and my holy chariot will go all the way west, bringing the temple army and Xuanmen's priests.

Once we have a firm foothold in the west, the Western Region can enter the next round, which will be much easier to handle than it is now."

As the saying goes, lure the tiger away from the mountain, Luo Qianshen’s method now is to take the initiative to transfer Xuanmen out. The Western Regions countries without the support of Xuanmen are not qualified to resist the Tang Dynasty.

This is equivalent to exchanging land further west for land in the Western Regions.

After all, under such circumstances, the Western Regions would certainly not be able to obtain the conditions promised just now. It is possible that the Western Regions would really become a prefecture-county system ruled by itinerant officials. But by that time, it would have nothing to do with Luo Qianshen anymore.

He has gone to lands further west to compete for faith.

Now Xinyue's power is expanding rapidly, and Luo Qianshen has been ready to make a move.

Luo Qianshen’s words made Luo Qianqiu fall into deep thought.

In Luo Qianqiu's plan, with the cooperation of Luo Qianshen, there are roughly three wars. The first war is to deal with the most hardline oppositions, the second is to deal with the separatists in Xuanmen, and the third is to deal with a group of mobs who are unwilling to fail.

After these three wars are over, and with the help of the Xuanmen who obey the central government, the Western Regions will surrender.

However, after three wars, production in the Western Regions was bound to be destroyed. But in order to unify the Western Regions and eliminate divisions, some things had to be done.

Now Luo Qianshen proposed a better solution. Luo Qianqiu hesitated and said, "This solution does sound better, but how long will it take? The court needs to deal with more than just the Western Regions. The kingdoms outside the court need to be deterred by war, especially the Yan Kingdom, which has been restless. The Western Regions must be controlled by the court as soon as possible."

Luo Qianshen smiled and said, "The success of this method depends on how long it takes to defeat Tubo. As long as Tubo is defeated and the Temple Army returns to the Western Regions, I can immediately organize the Xuanmen Western Expedition Army again and head west.

Besides, if you are really worried about Yan, you should not go to war with the Western Regions. If Yan gets involved in the war between the Central Plains and the Western Regions, it will be a continuous war. "

Luo Qianqiu certainly had records of Yan's involvement in the Central Plains' suppression of the rebellion in the Western Regions. The Duke of Liao was still stationed in Liaodong, and the troops of the brave warriors and the Andong Protectorate were all in Liaodong.

As long as the State of Yan dared to advance westward, the army of the Andong Protectorate would immediately rush into the Modong grassland, and then raid Karakorum, and together with the Tang army, attack the State of Yan from both sides.

The reason why the court sent Luo Qianqiu in person was because they were worried about encountering this kind of situation, so they needed someone who could make the final decision.

After Luo Qianqiu thought for a moment, he finally nodded slowly and said, "Just do as you said, A Shen, step by step."

Luo Qianshen showed a hearty smile on his face, "Brother, from now on, we brothers will need to put on a show."

……

The next day, the formal talks between the Tang Dynasty delegation and the Xuanmen delegation began.

Luo Qianqiu said passionately at the meeting: "I came to the Western Regions this time and I have something to say to you all.

There is only one king in the world.

That is the Emperor of the Great Tang, the supreme being who receives the mandate from the King of Heaven.

It is time to clarify who is the true king of all the peoples of Xia."

When Luo Qianqiu opened the sect and built the mountain, it made the people in the Xuanmen speechless. Of course, the Western Regions belonged to the Chinese, and this was acknowledged by everyone.

Now Luo Qianqiu directly used Zhuxia Emperor to put pressure on them, leaving them at a loss as to how to respond.

The Holy See is naturally supreme in the Western Regions, but in other regions of the Chinese, it is naturally not recognized. In other words, the Holy See is naturally not as famous as the title of the Son of Heaven in the entire Chinese.

Now the emperor asked openly whether the Western Region still recognized the emperor. No one could say no, as the Western Region was not so centrifugal at the moment. So everyone in Xuanmen, as well as some of the country leaders who followed him, turned their eyes to Luo Qianshen to see what the Holy See would say.

"When all of China is unified, the emperor is the king of all the people in China. This is naturally correct, but there is only one master of all the people in China, and that is Su Wang Shang Huang Tian!"

Luo Qianshen's voice sounded at the right time.

"color!"

Everyone in Xuanmen cheered loudly at once.

They thought Luo Qianshen's answer was very appropriate, but they didn't know that this answer was a trap. It was impossible for King Su to come down to earth to govern the world. Both the emperor and the high priest had divinity, but this sentence directly recognized the legitimacy of the emperor's rule. He was the king of all the people of Xia, which meant he was the king of everyone in the Western Regions.

“Since the Holy See is willing to acknowledge that the Son of Heaven is the king of all the people in the Western Regions, then things will be easy.

I, the Emperor of the Great Tang, have always known that the people of the Western Regions revere the Holy See, just as they worship their parents.

The Holy See spreads the glory of the King and takes it as its own responsibility.

Today, Tubo lives in the plateau, isolated from the other kingdoms. It is a rare barbarian people in the world today. It uses traditional pagan religions and does not follow the bright teachings of the Su Wang. It neither respects the Su Wang nor the Emperor. It must be disrespectful to the Holy See. Is such an existence worthy of living in this world?

The emperor issued an edict, making his voice heard to his subjects everywhere.

Conquer Tubo.

This king came to the Western Regions to ask His Majesty whether he is willing to accept the emperor's order and recruit troops in the name of the Tang Dynasty to attack Tubo. "

The people in the Xuanmen felt that something was wrong, but everything was normal. The accompanying king also felt that something was strange and normal. The Anxi Protectorate had mobilized their troops to quell the rebellion, but they didn't think there was anything wrong.

But this was the first time that the Lord of Xuanmen accepted the emperor's transfer order, which made people feel a little uncomfortable.

"The king's orders must be obeyed.

The enemies of the various states should naturally be conquered.

The enemies of paganism should naturally be judged.

High Priest of Xuanmen, this is my responsibility."

Luo Qianshen took the imperial edict calmly. His every word fell into the ears of others, and everyone lowered their heads. Yes, this is a natural thing, isn't it?

Do we really have to go to war with the Tang Dynasty court?
Most normal people know that it is really not the case.

As long as the Tang Dynasty does not further infringe upon the interests of the Western Regions, let's just leave it at that and send troops.

……

"A Shen, I'll leave the affairs of the Western Region to you. I have to return to Luoyang to recruit the best troops of the Tang Dynasty. We must make full preparations this time, and the family will have to make great efforts."

When Luo Qianshen heard that the family was going to make a great contribution, he immediately felt a chill in his heart, and then slowly nodded and said: "Brother, don't worry, the three thousand temple troops and the seven thousand elite troops from various countries will definitely be sent to Qinghai."

"Ah Shen, let's say goodbye now. We will meet again someday."

On the hills of the grassland, Luo Qianqiu was riding on a horse and Luo Qianshen was sitting on a carriage, saying goodbye to each other.

Luo Qianqiu rode away on his horse. Luo Qianshen looked at Luo Qianqiu's receding figure and said, "The family will make great efforts. It seems that this time we really have to accomplish everything in one go."

Luo Qianqiu kept thinking in his mind that this expedition to the Snowy Plateau was a matter of great importance. Too many troops would be a burden when marching on such a plateau. After all, once entering the Snowy Plateau, don't expect food and grass to be delivered on time every time. That is impossible.

From the beginning of the war, Luo Qianqiu had been prepared to eat snow and grass roots, so those who went to the snowy plateau this time were the elite among the elite.

Three thousand temple soldiers.

Three thousand brave warriors.

They were carefully selected by the countries in the Western Regions, from tribes living on the Pamir Plateau and soldiers with rich experience stationed in the snow-capped mountains. Out of so many people in the entire Western Regions, only a few thousand were selected.

Then, two thousand armored men were selected from the snowy tribes of Liaodong. These people had a strong endurance for cold and pain. As long as they were well disciplined, they would become a first-class strong army. It just so happened that after the Tang Dynasty's army gathered, they would train in Qinghai.

In addition to these people, another 10,000 men must be selected from the Tang army, and another 5,000 men must be selected from the army already living in plateau areas such as Qinghai, for a total of 30,000 men.

Thirty thousand people and two hundred thousand horses, which are used as mounts and also as food when necessary. There are also yaks and sheep from the snow-covered areas. It is like a nomadic herd, eating as they go.

That's right.

Luo Qianqiu will use these 30,000 men this time to accomplish the great task of destroying Tubo. These 30,000 elite soldiers are the strongest army in history. Any 3,000 of them are enough to dominate the world in troubled times.

In terms of combat power alone, it is no exaggeration to say that these 30,000 people are enough to confront the 200,000-strong Tubo army head-on.

The only real threat to this army is the weakened combat effectiveness and morale caused by the snowy plateau environment, as well as the fact that food and grass cannot be delivered in time, which puts them in a desperate situation.

As long as they could find any trace of the Tibetan army, the balance of victory would fall on the side of the Tang Dynasty.

To achieve this, relying on luck on the plateau is obviously not enough. Luo Qianqiu absolutely cannot accept any failure.

Tibet.

It was nothing more than a worthless obstacle to the unification of the Tang Dynasty and the rule of the Chinese people over the world.

That snowy plateau could only bring negative things to the Tang Dynasty, hindering its path to the west and south.

But that land still has strong power.

This has to be said to be the balance of the world.

The powerful Tang Dynasty, the invincible Tang Dynasty, conquered the grasslands that had been the enemy of the Central Plains countless times, and conquered all enemies in the known world. It was invincible in the world.

An empire-level regime actually emerged in that snowy area that has never been suitable for human survival.

What's even more ridiculous is that it only appeared during the Tang Dynasty. It rose when the Tang Dynasty was established. After the decline of the Tang Dynasty, the entire snowy region declined again and never became a land suitable for human survival again.

Isn't this a curse?

The Tang Dynasty was too powerful, and the world was trying to balance it, confining it to this land.

The Luo family went in all directions, but they never had any need for the plateau.

For the Snowy Plateau, Luo's only goal is to make this land, which is destined to meet its end, reach that step ahead of time.

Luo Qianqiu will personally lead this war, and he will take the Luo family's artifact to the snowy plateau.

In the history books, no fog of war can block his eyes.

There are other magical artifacts. When the Luo family was at its most declining, these magical artifacts were difficult to use due to the lack of luck points.

But the Luo family is different now.

When Wu Zhao conferred the title of Duke of Luo on Luo Junwei, she received a large number of luck points. When the Luo family's reputation increased significantly again, she also gave a large number of luck points.

But the most points of luck came after Taiping became the emperor, when Luo Qianqiu became the King of Luo, when Li Shengyi became the crown prince, and Luo Shengxi became the heir to the King of Luo.

An enormous amount of luck points were infused into the Luo family, and it continued to increase every year, Li and Luo became one.

Li Luo is one.

No matter what they will face in the future, standing with the royal family will bring too many benefits to the Luo family. As one of the shareholders of an imperial dynasty, the luck points brought by it far exceed those of the Han Dynasty and are not inferior to those of the Bang Zhou period.

You have to know that during the Bang Zhou period, even after using so many, there were still more than 15 million luck points in the end.

The Luo family began to integrate into the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Li Yuan, and have now been completely successful. After generations of intermarriage, the relationship between the Luo and Li families is now much closer.

It is conceivable that in the years to come, they may become even closer, and perhaps differences will not arise until a tyrant appears.

Luo Qianqiu led the delegation back to Luoyang to discuss the next steps with Taiping. Naturally, what he discussed with Luo Qianshen could not be discussed with the prime ministers. If it was leaked, it would be bad.

Especially when the war against Tubo has not yet ended, this matter cannot be leaked.

After Luo Qianshen left Yizhou and returned to Shenlin City, he immediately began to summon the Temple Army in the capacity of Luo.

Most of the Temple Army was with him, but some were stationed outside.

At the same time, he immediately convened the Council of Cardinals and informed everyone that he was going to launch a holy war.

“The Emperor Su Wang has sent down a divine oracle, asking us to rescue the people who have fallen under the control of the evil gods, and to spread light to the people who are in the dark.

Snowland is such a land.

The kings there are still worshipping those traditional religions and using blood and bones to demonstrate the mystery, and they must be eliminated.

The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty had the same idea.

I will obey the orders of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, recruit those pious people, and launch a holy war."

News has been received from the Xuanmen delegation’s negotiations in Izhou, and no one is surprised by the Holy See’s choice.

"Holy See, after launching the holy war, will it only target Tibet?"

Everyone turned their eyes to Luo Qianshen. From what they heard in his words, it didn't seem to be the case.

Luo Qianshen's expression remained calm, "Tubbo is only the first one. In the west, Xinyue has become increasingly powerful in recent years, and it seems that it wants to infiltrate the land where King Su is looking down. This is an intolerable provocation.

Once we defeat Tubo, the Tang Dynasty will send troops to help us defeat the New Moon followers. Whether as a member of the Chinese nation or as a member of the Xuan Sect, this will be our future!"

"Obey the decree!"

The cardinal priests said in unison.

----

There was only one theme in the early period of Kaiyuan, and that was a new round of unification wars, the struggle for sovereignty over the Western Regions, and the promotion of sovereignty over the Snow Region. The Tang Empire was doing its utmost to maintain the unity of its territory and opposed any form of division. A series of effective counter-insurgency wars effectively safeguarded its territorial integrity.

In the sixth year of Kaiyuan, the Tibetan king launched a rebellion against the Tang Empire. The imperial center responded quickly and strongly suppressed the minority of separatists. With the support of the vast majority of people who supported unification, the Snowland remained safely within the territory of the empire. ——"The Rise and Fall of the Tang Empire"

(End of this chapter)