Established a millennium family since King Wu defeated Zhou

Chapter 981 Localism, various countries attack Tang!
In the Yan army, the Yan nobles are carrying out the final mobilization for war.

The reason why they fought their way from Kharakhorin to the Central Plains was not just because of so-called ambition, but because of real dissatisfaction in their hearts.

"Men from Great Yan, in Chang'an, obey our orders. The King of Yan is unworthy of being the descendant of King Wu of Yan. He humiliated himself by submitting to the court of the Central Plains, and disregarded the lives and well-being of the people of Great Yan.

Are there people in this world who are born to live in darkness?
Is it possible that some people in this world are born to live in hardship?

The Supreme King of Su teaches us that he loves everyone in this world equally, whether in the Central Plains or on the grasslands.

Why do we have to survive on the cold grassland?
Why should we watch helplessly young children die in the cold wind?

Why do we have to guard the border?
This is not fair! "

The cry from the deepest heart echoed on the Wei River north of Chang'an. The cavalry from the State of Yan neighed thousands of horses and raised thousands of swords.

"The emperor of Luoyang abandoned us. He only became the emperor of the people of the Central Plains, but left us to fend for ourselves on the grassland.

Two hundred and seventy years!
We can't tolerate it any longer.

Patience will only lead to longer oppression. Our ancestors have suffered so much. If we don’t resist, our descendants will still have to endure the wind, frost and snow on the grassland in the future.

We are the people of Zhu Xia. We went to the Western Regions to open up Zhu Xia. We fought on the grasslands for peace in the Central Plains, but in the end, what did we get?
We saw natural disasters and death on the grassland.

Are you willing? "

Countless voices echoed, "No!"

"I don't want to!"

The emotional mobilization is about to reach a critical point.

“I have been thinking about a question.

The people of Central Plains enjoy peace and well-being in Central Plains.

The Great Wall has not been repaired for many years, not because the Central Plains no longer needs it, but because we use our flesh and blood to build a new Great Wall.

Why?

why!
Are people in Chang'an born noble?
Are people in Luoyang born noble?
Since we are all born between heaven and earth, why can people in the Central Plains live in prosperous cities and enjoy the goods from all over the world? They even have lantern festivals to enjoy at night.

They live in beautiful houses.

They had exquisite academies, and even in a county there were places for studying.

Their cities are full of medical clinics.

Their medicines are cheap and effective.

And us?

We live near water and grass, using the sky as our blanket and the ground as our bed.

I am a duke of the imperial court, but my knowledge is not as good as that of the wealthy men in the Central Plains.

As an ordinary citizen of Yan State, I have nothing to say. I just feel ashamed.

The saints said that those who can endure suffering will always suffer, and those who can endure will always be oppressed.

I don't want to be such a person anymore, and I don't want my sons to be such people.

Now that we have entered the Central Plains, we must let this Central Plains see the power of our grasslands."

The most frightening thing about some things is comparison. The living standards in the grassland must be lower than those in the Central Plains. Even for ordinary people, the living standards in the Central Plains must be higher.

There is no need to even provoke the confrontation between the grassland and the Central Plains. All one needs to do is put the gaps in food, clothing, housing, transportation, medicine, education, and culture in front of the people of Yan, and they will naturally become extremely angry.

It is extremely terrifying for a group of people who feel they have suffered injustice to gather together. What is even more terrifying is that these people also possess top-notch combat power in this era of cold weapons!
They have the power to seize better living conditions.

And these people have a leader, so the result is what we have now.

"I heard a line of poetry a few days ago and I liked it very much. Now I am sending it to the young men of Yan State.

When autumn comes on September 8th, my flower will bloom and all other flowers will die. The fragrance will reach the sky and penetrate the capital, and the whole city will be covered with golden armor!
It’s a pity that the poet was just a scholar and could not live up to the lofty words in the poem.

September 8th has arrived. We will first attack Chang'an City and establish a new empire in Guanzhong. Then we will attack eastwards to Luoyang and let the people of the world see the bravery of the men of Yan.

I promise that all the people in the entire Yan State can live a life like the people in Chang'an and Luoyang."

The Yan noble who proclaimed himself the Duke of Yan was not making a random wish, he would really do it. It was not a difficult thing to do. The entire Yan State had a population of only five million. With such a small population, once it was dispersed in several large cities in the Central Plains, it would be broken into pieces.

In other words, it may not be possible to make all these five million people become upper-class people, but it is very easy to make them typical citizens of the Tang Dynasty.

The Central Plains was a huge collection of wealth, and the State of Yan was too poor. Just by stealing a little from the Central Plains, it would be enough to fill a large bowl of food.

This is a bit like the annual tribute paid by the Song Dynasty to the Liao Kingdom. This was essentially a shameful thing, but in reality, it was a drop in the bucket for the Song Dynasty. The amount of money embezzled by officials every year was much more than this. It was completely different from the reparations paid by the Qing Dynasty, which turned the country into a semi-colony.

"Charge into Chang'an!"

"Charge into Luoyang!"

……

The rule of the Tang Empire west of the Pamir Mountains was relatively complex. There was no absolute power here, but rather the divine power of the Xuanmen, the royal power of the kings and dukes of various countries, and the jurisdiction of the governors and envoys of the Tang Empire were intertwined.

But in general, this is an absolute tributary rule, and the main means by which the empire influences this place is through stationing troops in key locations, winning over allies, and finally using economic means to control it.

Persia was one of the important allies of the Tang Empire in the far west.

In the ruling system of the Tang Empire, there were many countries composed of purely foreign races, and Persia was one of them.

There is a saying among the people that those who are not of our race must have different hearts, but in fact, there is a law in politics that goes against common sense, that is, people of the same race repel each other, while people of different races get along with each other.

That is, two political forces from the same ethnic group will always embark on the path of fighting each other, while political forces from different ethnic groups, in the absence of deep hatred, will instead embark on the path of forming an alliance with each other.

Especially when one of the parties is extremely powerful, such as the Tang Empire.

When the empire is looking for allies, it will pay more attention to choosing those allies who can only exist by relying on the empire. Persia is such a country.

To the west of the Pamir Mountains and to the east of Europe, that is, the land of Central Asia and West Asia, there are numerous kingdoms and principalities established by the Han people or jointly by the Han and non-Han peoples. This is the result of a hundred years of westward expeditions. In such an environment, a country composed purely of Persians is very conspicuous.

The Persians' former beliefs have disappeared completely in the past hundred years, and now the whole country believes in the Su King, but this does not allow the Persians to completely integrate because they look different.

This became an excellent ally of the court. Since the restoration of Persia, there have been nobles from the Persian royal family in almost every imperial meeting of every emperor. There have also been Persian princesses among the concubines of every emperor. For more than a hundred years, except for very rare cases, there has been no interruption.

After the news of the sudden outbreak of civil war in the Tang Dynasty spread all the way westward, the Persians' first reaction was to form a large army and march eastward to save the Tang Dynasty.

But when the Persian king looked at the vassal states of the Tang Dynasty that blocked his way, he felt a little powerless. It was simply not something that Persia could defeat all of them.

The Persian king sat on a throne covered with gems, holding a golden scepter in his hand. He sighed deeply, and then asked helplessly: "My ministers, may I ask you, what should I do in the current situation?"

A minister with curly hair, black eyes, and slightly Western features, wearing silk from the East, said loudly: "King, I was once a Roman. It was also a great empire that was once destroyed. I deeply understand how the people of a great empire would think.

Countless Romans came one after another to revive.

The Tang Dynasty ruled the world for three hundred years. A great empire always makes people lose their hearts. In this world, there are countless people who do not want to see the destruction of the empire.

Those who rebel will not last long.

They will be put to the sword and their heads will be chopped off, so that everyone can see the fate of traitors.

King, please send letters to the kings of all countries, and send greetings to the Holy Throne of Xuanmen, calling on all the righteous men who care about the Tang Dynasty to form a sacred alliance, march eastward, and save the empire that may be destroyed! "

These words made the Persian king's heart surge, "Yes, the great empire will never be destroyed by the hands of villains, the Su King will protect the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and the empire will last for thousands of years until the end of time.

Go and call on the warriors in the country, tell all the people that the Tang Dynasty is calling us, prepare your horses and scimitars, bring dry food and drinking water, and wait for the king's order to serve you. "

"As you command, my king!"

……

The situation of these vassal states west of the Pamir Mountains is different from that of Yan State. Among the many vassal states, Yan State is the most dissatisfied with the Central Plains. The reason is very simple. The land of Yan State is the most bitter and cold. Even in Ji Zhao's modern future, it is a deserted place and not many people are willing to go there, let alone now.

The most comfortable places among the vassal states of the Tang Dynasty used to be Penglai and Jizi Peninsula. Later, Penglai and Jizi were transformed into prefectures and counties and became the direct jurisdiction of the Tang emperor. The most comfortable place among the vassal states changed.

It's not that the two places, Tianzhu and Central and South, have extremely high grain production. The climate in these two places is actually not particularly good, mainly because it's too hot. The tropics will affect people's personality. Even if people from the Central Plains went there, they would become a little lazy after hundreds of years.

It's hot and I don't want to work, which is reasonable.

The most comfortable places are the Central Asian and West Asian countries west of the Pamir Mountains. Although they are also grasslands, the grasslands here are much better than the Mobei grasslands. The living environment here is not harsh at all, and farming can also be done here, which makes them much better than the Yan State.

Therefore, when the State of Yan realized the internal weakness of the Tang Dynasty, it immediately rose up in rebellion, but the other vassal states did not do so. This is because the economic foundation determines military actions.

Within the ruling area of ​​the Tang Empire, Yan State belonged to the upper circle in military and the bottom circle in economy, so Yan State had the greatest dissatisfaction.

When the news of civil unrest broke out in the Tang Dynasty, some countries wanted to support the Tang Dynasty, and then the Tang Dynasty issued an imperial decree to support the king.

The four towns of Anxi, Beiting, Hexi and Longyou were all required to return to defend Guanzhong. Among them, the Longyou Jiedushi had actually betrayed. This edict was issued to other people under Li Maozhen. Whoever killed Li Maozhen and commanded the Longyou army would be rewarded heavily.

After receiving the imperial edict, the other three military governors, Anxi and Beiting, immediately led nearly 50,000 elite troops from north and south of the Tianshan Mountains in the Western Regions back to the Central Plains. Most of them were cavalry and mounted infantry. The two military governors crossed the border into Hexi and joined forces with Hexi military governor Zhu Wen.

Zhu Wen was also a very unusual person. He could be said to be both civil and military. He started as a low-ranking military officer and worked his way up to his current position as a county duke and a military governor of a town. He first suppressed two uprisings in Shandong, and later suppressed two rebellions by vassal states and tribes. He relied on his military achievements to get to where he is today.

The court transferred him to Hexi, a region with a tough folk culture since ancient times. The army led by the Hexi Jiedushi had to guard against enemies from all directions. Since he took office as the Hexi Jiedushi, he had done a good job. But Zhu Wen was not satisfied, because he could see that his career had basically reached its peak and it was basically impossible for him to rise any further.

If a military governor of a town wanted to move up to the next level, he would have to serve as a prime minister, or become a general of the third rank and a close minister of the emperor. However, Zhu Wen did not have such connections, and he had always been commanding troops outside, so how could he become a prime minister?

For a person like Zhu Wen, it is terrifying to realize this, but this is the reality. What the Tang Dynasty lacks the least is capable people. Not to mention Zhu Wen, even among the sons of the Luo family, the most powerful noble family in the Tang Dynasty and the one with all-powerful connections, there were people who served as officials outside the court all their lives and never entered the court.

Later, Zhu Wen realized that the situation in the Tang Dynasty was not very good, because the court had been cutting the number of troops for many years, which was obviously a bad financial situation. Zhu Wen knew that this must be due to natural disasters, which caused a large amount of grain from the court to be used for disaster relief.

As unproductive soldiers, the imperial court was unable to support them and could only temporarily lay them off. However, Zhu Wen did not do so. In the land of Hexi, the Jiedushi Yamen was undoubtedly the most powerful department.

Zhu Wen believed that maintaining troops was the most important thing. In the current situation, if there were any changes in the future, he would not be able to do without troops.

Under this guiding idea, the lives of the people in Hexi were naturally worse than those in other places, and more people died, but Zhu Wen did not care. He had an extremely traditional feudal warlord mentality. Especially when the Longyou Jiedushi Li Maozhen next to him did the same thing, he didn't think it was a big deal.

Li Maozhen's territory was closer to Luoyang, so even if something happened, it would be Li Maozhen who would get into trouble first. Moreover, he had built Hexi like an iron barrel, and everyone from top to bottom had benefited, so it was impossible for the court to know what was happening here.

When the order to support the emperor from Luoyang arrived in Hexi, Zhu Wen let out a long breath and actually smiled. Although he was not very well-educated, he knew that in history, when an order to support the emperor was issued, it was basically because the imperial court could no longer hold on.

The ministers who accepted the imperial edict to serve the king basically became high-ranking officials in the future.

"After waiting for so many years, I finally got this opportunity. I know that no one can survive continuous natural disasters. Although the Tang Dynasty is strong, it will still collapse after so many years of natural disasters."

Zhu Wen's wife, Zhang, was a smart and virtuous woman. She once took part in the imperial examination and even passed it. However, due to the reform of the imperial examination system, the subject she was best at was no longer included in the examination, so she never took the examination again.

Hearing Zhu Wen's sigh, she was deeply worried and said, "The Tang Dynasty has nurtured scholars for three hundred years, and all the previous emperors have been kind to them. There are countless people in the world who are willing to go through fire and water for the Tang Dynasty. If you raise the banner of rebellion now, I'm afraid you will only make things easier for others."

Zhu Wen smiled and said, "I am not going to raise the banner of rebellion. Wouldn't it be foolish to go against the court now?
The only purpose was to seize the opportunity to seize the military power of Anxi and Beiting armies, and then take the opportunity to attack Li Maozhen in Longyou.

My husband's children and relatives are a good excuse. When I fight with Li Maozhen, I will delay the march eastward and see what the court will do."

Zhang was full of confusion, "My husband, you are only the governor of Hexi. How can you seize the military power of Anxi and Beiting?"

Zhu Wen said proudly: "The Anxi Army and the Beiting Army have entered my Hexi territory. They have no defense against me. It is easy to kill a few people. Then I will put the blame on the vassal state in Qinghai.

These people were my army. I led my army eastward, but Li Maozhen tried to stop me. Li Maozhen and I had a fierce battle, and the fight lasted for three to five years, or even ten to eight years. We had wins and losses, but we failed. Who could I blame?
If the imperial court sent someone and he was killed in the chaos, it would be normal.

I, Zhu Quanzhong, am loyal to the Tang Dynasty.

As for the fact that there are many people in the world who are loyal to the Tang Dynasty, it is indeed true, but there are also many people in the world who have long been dissatisfied with the Tang Dynasty.

A counselor had long told me that there are too many scholars in the Central Plains, and among them there are even more powerful families. They have richer educational resources, especially in a few economically developed cities such as Luoyang, Chang'an, Yangzhou, and Suzhou. Almost all the candidates for the imperial examinations come from these places.

Over the past hundred years, as many people as held high positions in the Central Plains as there were frustrated scholars who ran to the shogunate of various military governors, provincial governors, and those of vassal states.

There are prefectures and counties inside, and fiefdoms outside.

Focus on the inside rather than the outside.

In recent years, harsh taxes have been levied on grain-producing areas, causing dissatisfaction.

If the bureaucratic system of the imperial court had not been able to function normally, there would have been rebellions everywhere.

There are many crises in this world, and they must be not small. Now the State of Yan has invaded and occupied half of Guanzhong. You see, soon the anti-Tang wave will surge in the world.

Not only the vassal states, but also those places far away from the emperor, such as Penglai and Jizi, would seek independence.

Moreover, the current imperial court depends on the states of Chu and Song for its survival. Once the vassal states of India and Central and Southern China rebel, within three months, the land east of the Yellow River and north of the Huai River will be filled with flames. The people who have no food to eat will not care about the Tang Dynasty in order to survive.

Popular support.

Hey. "

Zhu Wen sneered, "I understand all this too well. The people's hearts mean having enough food. The Tang Dynasty can win the people's hearts because it can still feed them. When the Tang Dynasty lets them starve, everything that the emperor has worked hard to maintain will be shattered."

This was the first time that Zhang heard these words from Zhu Wen's mouth. This was a Zhu Wen she had never seen before. He could see far and see things very clearly. Perhaps it was because he could see so clearly that he made the decision he had now.

“Husband, where is Luo?
When you were doing things, didn’t you think about Luo Shi?
Since ancient times, the fall of dynasties has inevitably been accompanied by incompetent rulers and treacherous ministers. Otherwise, the power of the court would be more than enough to suppress those rebellions. Although the current emperor cannot be considered a sage monarch, he is also an average monarch, and it is impossible for the Luo family to have treacherous ministers.

The Tang Dynasty has been around for 270 years, but it is still as powerful as it is now, which is inseparable from the Luo family.

If it weren't for the natural disaster, the Tang Dynasty might have prospered for another three hundred years.

With Luo's presence, the court will not have such stupid things. "

Zhu Wen finally frowned deeply, and it took a long time before he relaxed his brows. "Luo family is not the best in the world after all, there are still royal families above us. As long as you are a minister, you will eventually fail.

Moreover, if the Luo family was truly invincible, there wouldn’t still be so many corrupt officials and so many unreasonable things in the Tang Dynasty.

After all, the world is not decided by Luo family alone."

This conversation between husband and wife ended in silence. Zhu Wen prepared to carry out the crucial task with a hint of worry in his heart.

……

The Yan army took over Chang'an and then carried out a wealth distribution in Chang'an.

The steps were simple. First, the wealth of the people in Chang'an was collected and then equally distributed to the soldiers of the State of Yan, with the wealthy families among them being given special attention.

Of course, the most important thing is food. When Li Maozhen left, he deliberately left food for the Yan army.

Li Maozhen’s idea was very simple. The Yan army was about to clash with the Hedong army, and they could not survive without food.

As Li Keyong's mortal enemy, if the Yan army was defeated by Li Keyong, it would be more painful than killing Li Maozhen.

He would rather see the Yan army attack Luoyang than see Li Keyong achieve great success.

The Yan army understood everything after seeing the food and the people left behind by Li Maozhen. Although the Yan nobles despised Li Maozhen, a coward who was greedy for life and afraid of death, they were naturally quite welcoming on the surface.

After all, after entering the Central Plains, one would be surrounded and suppressed if one is not careful. Now that one side of the threat can be eliminated, if it is only facing the Hedong Army, then the Yan State is really not afraid.

……

It is well known that the State of Yan was clearly against the Tang Dynasty.

When the ship flying the Song flag appeared on the sea, the world was shocked again!

The State of Song also rebelled!
Calling it the State of Song is just like calling it the State of Chu. It is just a general term for the original fiefdom. The imperial court divided the State of Chu into five parts, and of course the same was true for the State of Song.

After all, Southeast Asia is a very large territory, and it also controls the waterway from the imperial court to India. Everyone knows the importance of the Strait of Malacca. In the Tang Dynasty, where the ocean is becoming more and more important, how can one country be assured of handing over such an important territory to one country?

But times have changed after all. In the era of complete feudal system, this kind of division of the country was very effective, but in the land of Song Dynasty, this effect was much weaker.

They may have their own disputes, but they share the same attitude towards the Tang Dynasty.

The white silver floated on the ocean and finally flowed into the treasury of the Tang Dynasty, and the abundant grain harvested went into the treasury of the Central Plains.

This struggle for interests left the local factions with only one attitude when facing the Tang Dynasty, which was to resist.

Moreover, there will never be a shortage of localists, and they will never be killed off.

In the past, because the pro-Tang faction had strong backing, the more powerful local faction could only keep a low profile. But now it is different. The Tang Dynasty can hardly protect itself and has no ability to launch a long-distance expedition. The doomsday of the pro-Tang faction has come.

Moreover, some of the so-called pro-Tang faction were pro-Tang because of their own interests. These people soon became guides and began to slaughter their former allies.

The State of Song not only rebelled, but also issued a letter to the people of the world.

The book is full of indignation, and the intensity of the emotions is definitely no less than that of the State of Yan.

"More than a thousand years ago, the people of Chu said: In the past, our ancestor, Xiong Yi, lived in Jingshan, and made his way through the wilderness with great difficulty, and traveled through the mountains and forests to serve the emperor, and he only had a peach bow and a thorny arrow to help him with the king's affairs.

A thousand years later, our ancestors of the Song State, under the order of Emperor Gaozong, traveled through mountains and rivers for more than two hundred years and finally transformed the once barren land of Song State into the fertile land it is today.

How many hardships have we experienced over the past two hundred years?
How many people have been buried in the wilderness and mountains over the past two hundred years?
Every inch of this land is stained with the blood and tears of my ancestors.

but.

Such a piece of land has now suffered such cruel treatment. The people in Song State are actually starving. In this chosen land with three harvests a year, they can't even fill their stomachs.

Even if you don't farm and go to the forest to pick fruits, it won't be like this!
Why is this so?

Because the officials of the Emperor of the Central Plains pressed us, and because the grain that our Song State had worked so hard to grow was all taken away by the Central Plains!

Now we are going to ask the emperor in person why he treats the people of Song State in this way. Are the people of vassal states inferior to those of the Central Plains?

If not, may I ask why the emperor did this?

If so, then there is nothing to say, it is just a fight for life. "

The Tang navy set sail to meet the Song navy. The news traveled along the canal and reached Luoyang in just one day.

Luoyang is shocked!

The court was shocked!

----

In this wave of opposition to the central rule of the Tang Empire, whether it was the State of Yan, the State of Song, or other regions or vassal states, they almost unanimously used localism and strong regionalism to mobilize the emotions of the people under their rule.

Once localism develops further, it will evolve into nationalism, which will completely split the empire's thinking and cause an irreparable split in the empire. If nationalism is generated before industrialization, it will be an extremely terrible future. - "The Rise and Fall of the Tang Empire"

(End of this chapter)