Fu Tang

Take Khitan without bloodshed?

For a moment, Shi Xueting felt unbelievable. If someone else said that, he would probably laugh it off and ignore it, but if it was Li Congjia's, he had to ask, because he really wanted to know what Li Congjia thought of .

Li Congjia said: "Do you still remember when we were in the Western Regions, we would have some woolen clothes in winter?"

Shi Xueting nodded. When they were in the Western Regions, this kind of clothes were cheap and warm. They wore a lot of them, but after returning to the Central Plains, they seldom wore woolen clothes. After all, there are furs that are warmer and more valuable than woolen clothes. clothing options are available.Wool products are rough and unsightly, so naturally they are not within the scope of choice.

Li Congjia said: "I now find that if ordinary people have woolen clothes, they may be able to survive the winter better without worrying about freezing to death."

No way, the origin of cotton is in India and Arabia, and it has not been spread to the Tang Dynasty. Li Congjia had to send people to the sea if he wanted it, but he went to the sea to find seeds, and then brought them back to cultivate. I don’t know how long it will take to popularize. wool textile technology.

In fact, the wool weaving in the Central Plains did start relatively late, but woolen products have long been used as clothing to keep warm in the grasslands, and even wool weaving technology is also spreading to the Central Plains, but the speed of transmission is too slow.

Shi Xueting shook his head and said: "This is impossible, the Central Plains is not suitable."

Li Congjia asked: "Why is the Central Plains not suitable?"

Shi Xueting said: "There are many people in the Central Plains, but few sheep."

Li Congjia nodded. Yes, this is one of the reasons for restricting the spread of wool textiles in the Central Plains. People with flat land prefer farming. Who would graze cattle?

Li Congjia stretched out his hand and drew a circle in Khitan and even Mongolia: "So I want to make Khitan our pasture and wool supply place."

Shi Xueting was taken aback and quickly said: "How can this work? If the Khitans don't agree, that's fine. If they agree, the wool supply of the entire Central Plains depends on the Khitans. If they want to do something, the Tang Dynasty is not under the control of others?"

Li Congjia laughed and said, "What can they do? Break up the contract? Will he be willing to wait until one day wool income accounts for most of Khitan's income and most of their citizens rely on this industry?"

Shi Xueting asked: "Yeluxian is not Yelujing, you can think of it, can't he think of it?"

Li Congjia stroked his chin and said, "If there is no warning to buy a large amount of wool, he will definitely feel suspicious, but if he finds a good excuse, there will be no problem. As for the follow-up...it depends on luck."

Shi Xueting instantly understood Li Congjia's thoughts: "You want to make peace with Khitan while taking advantage of the opportunity to fight Korea?"

Li Congjia scratched his head: "If you have this idea, let's go back and discuss it with the cabinet."

Shi Xueting doesn't know much about economics, but he also knows that once successful, even if Khitan does not surrender, it will become under the control of Datang.

After all, the wool needed in the Central Plains will increase as the number of people increases. Wool is not the same as sheep. It can be regenerated. At that time, will the Khitan herdsmen raise more sheep in order to make money?Should the barren land in Khitan, where no food can be grown, be used as pasture for grazing?

Once Khitan entered the stage of raising sheep for the whole people, the plan was basically successful.

Li Congjia only had a preliminary plan before, but after talking to Shi Xueting, he realized that it was not safe to just import wool, and he had to work hard to consume Khitan's mutton, so that Khitan would fall into his trap more quickly.

After returning to Chang'an, Li Congjia first visited the cabinet ministers, looked at Li Zhongyu, and finally went straight to the Privy Council.

The bigwigs in the Privy Council all knew that Li Congjia was going to see the ship this time, and he would definitely have a meeting when he came back, so they waited in the Privy Council early.

After Li Congjia came, he was not polite, and said directly: "We can prepare for the Eastern Expedition."

Li Hongji and the others took a breath, and then began to get excited. These people didn't look so excited when they attacked Shandong before, but think about it, even if they put down Shandong, they have credit, but how can they open up their own territory? Excited?

Li Congjia talked about the warship in detail, and then said: "Because this is a naval battle, it is quite special, so I plan to let the king of Shu be the commander of the march."

Li Hongji immediately said: "The minister will not disgrace the mission!"

Li Jingda looked at Li Hongji with some envy, but he also knew that he was old, and he might be fine on land, and it was obviously not suitable to go to sea to fight for his life. It's a pity that none of his sons inherited his talent for fighting, otherwise this I also go there once, and I have a future when I come back.

It's just that Li Jingda recognizes the old, and there are always people who don't recognize the old. Zhao Kuangyin came up and said: "Your Majesty, why don't you let me go with you, I haven't fought a naval battle yet!"

Li Congjia looked at Zhao Kuangyin angrily and said, "Do you think naval battles are easy? The most important thing is what if you get seasick? Don't make trouble!"

At Zhao Kuangyin's level, if he followed Li Hongji, he would at least be a deputy, but if this deputy didn't play its due role, wouldn't it be cheating?Li Congjia would rather use someone who is familiar with ships and the sea, even if that person's official position is not very high.

Zhao Kuangyin rubbed his hands together and said, "I don't want to be in command, can I just go and feel it? Just let me get on the boat."

Li Congjia looked at him jokingly: "Just get on the boat? Then let you take care of the food, will you do it?"

Zhao Kuangyin said with a serious face: "The three armies go ahead without using food and grass. This is the most important thing. Why not do it?"

Li Congjia was overwhelmed at the time, thinking... It is not surprising that Zhao Kuangyin succeeded in history, but with such a thick skin, it is no wonder that he failed.

Li Congjia had no choice but to say: "It's over, it's over, why should I go?"

Zhao Kuangyin was a little disappointed, he really wanted to go and have a look, now Chang'an is really meaningless, and the Privy Council's affairs are not too much, if he doesn't play again, he will feel like he's going to get rusty.

After Li Congjia left the Privy Council, he went to the cabinet again. Fan Zhi was a little surprised when he saw him. After all, he had already reported the most basic work when he just picked up the driver outside the city. The rest will wait for Li Congjia to rest for two days and then make more changes. Detailed reporting.

Now their emperor is... Can't wait?It shouldn't be, they haven't had a big deal recently.

Just when several old ministers were puzzled, Li Congjia said at the beginning: "When I came back this time, I visited various places by the way, and found that I was confused by the wealth and wealth of Chang'an before, and now there are still many places where I can't get enough to eat and wear warm... No, don't apologize, I don't want to blame anyone, the world has only been peaceful for a few years, and it is unrealistic to ask everyone to become rich and well-off immediately, but this winter is really hard to endure. When I was in the Western Regions, I remember someone used Wool is woven into clothing to keep warm, and we can develop this as well, after all, it is much cheaper than fur and the like, and it is more suitable for ordinary people.”

Fan Zhi looked at Li Congjia's expression of concern for the country and the people, and his first reaction was that the emperor was going to be a demon again. He has learned to be smart now. If Li Congjia directly said something, then his focus would be on the matter itself. If Li Congjia talked about this matter in a detour, then it is definitely a ulterior motive.

Li Congjia saw that everyone looked on guard, so he couldn't help knocking on the case and said: "Let's talk about it, this year is so cold, we must find a way for the common people to survive."

Zhao Pu couldn't help complaining, "It's already winter, and it's too late to do it now."

Li Congjia coughed lightly: "This year is too late and next year, will the next winter be over?"

Fan Zhi looked at Li Congjia sincerely and said, "Your Majesty, just say what you want."

Li Congjia had no choice but to rub his hands together and said, "This...is just my idea, if it's okay, you can discuss it, it's up to you."

Seeing that everyone was listening attentively, Li Congjia explained his thoughts, and then waited for other people's reactions.

After everyone was silent for a while, Wei Renpu broke the silence and said: "This is a good method, and if it is used well, it may be able to split Khitan. Wool is a net in our hands!"

Li Congjia looked at Wei Renpu inexplicably, wondering why he said that Khitan could be split.

As a result, Wang Pu also smiled and said: "That's right, I hope that Ye Luxian will reject our order, and then send people to other tribes in Khitan to spread the word. The royal family of Khitan is very rich, but the tribes of Khitan are poor." There are definitely more poor people than in the Tang Dynasty. If the royal family rejects us, it means rejecting money. From the perspective of these tribes, they just don’t care about their life and death. When we make a little promise to them, we can let them come to the Central Plains or go to the Western Regions , and it’s not impossible for them to defect to us with the pasture.”

Li Congjia: =口=!

His previous idea was very simple, which was to stabilize the Khitan, and then try not to let the Khitan develop agricultural industry, let their development be limited to animal husbandry, and then rely on Datang's orders, so that if the Khitan has any unruly intentions, Datang only needs to cut off the Khitan. The order is enough for Khitan to accept.

Zhao Pu also took over the words and said: "If it is really possible, the demand for wool in the Central Plains will increase, and it is also a good way to strengthen control over the various tribes in the Western Regions."

Li Congjia leaned back and said lazily: "Okay, since everyone thinks this method is good, let's start implementing it. The war with Korea is about to start, but this is also a war. The Tang Dynasty has both civil and military methods. I don't believe it. Khitan and Goryeo can really stand it!"

Li Congjia was trying to appease the civil servants. After all, the military generals went to expand the territory again. Task, if this thing can be done, people may not think it is a big deal in contemporary times. When future generations look at history, they will know how powerful these civil servants are, playing tricks on neighboring countries and the small people in their own country.

Li Congjia has always proposed a general direction by himself, and then left the rest of the work to others. I have to say that this kind of decentralization is more conducive to the development of Datang. He knows that he is not good at many things, so he avoids giving orders randomly. This kind of thing happened, and the minister also felt that Li Congjia trusted them, so he worked harder. Of course, this move is only suitable for a relatively strong monarch. Li Congjia himself is not strong, but the army in his hand is very strong. real.

When Li Congjia returned to Zichen Palace, he saw that Shi Xueting was already waiting for him. Seeing him coming, Shi Xueting helped him take off the outer sable fur and asked, "How is it?"

After Li Congjia narrated to him the words of the cabinet ministers, he couldn't help but said: "They thought much better than I thought, and you can tell Ah Rong later that they have collected more wool recently, and it is best to collect more goat hair."

Shi Xueting was a little surprised: "Shouldn't it be sheep's wool?"

Grassland herdsmen prefer to use sheep wool to weave clothes. Goat hair is short and scarce, which is completely incomparable with sheep wool.

Li Congjia waved his hand and said, "Sheep wool is for ordinary people. Don't rob it if it's the business of the imperial court. We only want goat hair, because goat hair has more precious things."

Shi Xueting asked: "What do you know?"

Li Congjia laughed and said: "The value of goat hair is not the outer layer of wool, but the thin fine fleece hidden at the root of the goat hair. It grows in winter and falls off in spring. This thing is very warm, and it is soft and suitable for making. It is very good anyway, but the output is too low, so we can only take the high-end route.”

As soon as Shi Xueting heard the last few words, he knew that Li Congjia was playing tricks on the rich again, but it didn't matter, it was business anyway, as long as there was a market, why not do it?

Shi Xueting asked again: "This thing...does anyone use it now?"

Li Congjia really didn't know if the herdsmen had discovered that cashmere was very useful, but he hadn't discovered it when he was in the Western Regions, so he said, "No one should know."

Shi Xueting raised his eyebrows: "So...the cashmere textile city cloth needs to be researched by ourselves?"

Li Congjia said quickly: "No, no, don't weave cashmere, it's better to weave cashmere thread first, and then process the cashmere thread into clothes. It's not for research."

Shi Xueting agreed without saying a word, Li Congjia heaved a sigh of relief, he felt that his vision was really good, otherwise where would he find such a knowledgeable and interesting partner?

There are too many secrets about him, and he knows many things that should be known and should not be known. Sometimes Li Congjia also knows that it is not good for him to tell him, and it will only make people doubt himself, but if he does not tell it, he feels that he has passed through for nothing. This time, I didn't contribute anything, and if I didn't get out what I knew while I still had my memory, wouldn't it be too late to cry if I didn't remember it in the future?

And Shi Xueting never asked him how he knew these things, he would just do it silently.

After Li Congjia hugged Shi Xueting and rubbed his face against him, he said: "You are tired after running with me for so long this time, do you want to give you two days off?"

Shi Xueting kissed Li Congjia's forehead and said: "I don't have anything to do, every day is a holiday, so why do I need a special holiday?"

Li Congjia shook his head and said: "After the cabinet has worked out a plan, I am afraid that the intelligence department will not be able to sit idle, divide the Khitan, and win over the tribes that are dissatisfied with the Khitan. At that time, you may have to come and ask. I am afraid of you. exhausted."

Shi Xueting said: "I'm afraid this matter can't be rushed. We can take advantage of this time to sign a paperwork contract with Khitan, but the specific use should be done slowly. The cloth woven by the herdsmen is too rough, which does not meet the aesthetics of the Han people."

Li Congjia sighed and said: "It is not enough to import wool, but to import a few looms, but it doesn't need to be too much. This thing has no technical content. It's best to throw it back at the academy and let the academy improve it. It can be woven faster and better, so that wool products can be popularized quickly.”

Shi Xueting pressed Li Congjia's shoulder and said: "The early stage is bound to be a process of losing money. Haste makes waste. Don't put too much pressure on you. Since everyone thinks this method is good, it means that this method is right. Those who can split Khitan without bloodshed, the money to buy loom wool is always much less than the money used to fight, not to mention that we don’t get nothing.”

Li Congjia couldn't help laughing and said: "What you say makes me feel that Fan Lao and the others will agree to it as long as I don't propose any particularly excessive measures in order to prevent me from sending troops to attack Khitan."

Shi Xueting was helpless: "This is a good thing that benefits the country and the people. Speaking of benefiting the country and the people, I just received news from Lingnan that the city has almost been built. Dali has been very honest recently. Look at the prison Did the criminals and criminals get some to farm in Lingnan?"

Li Congjia sighed and said: "The cabinet asked about the progress of Lingnan before, but I told them not to worry before the city was built. According to the Ministry of Punishment, they were ready to exile prisoners to Lingnan, but Lingnan There has been no news, they are almost unable to support these people."

Li Congjia wanted to laugh while talking. If Lingnan didn’t need people, these people would have been in jail long ago, and those who should have been exiled. , The development has already started over there, and it has been removed from the place of exile. Now the place where Datang exiles prisoners is either in the Western Regions or simply overseas. They are directly given to a small sampan and released to the far sea to fend for themselves.

For such behavior, Li Congjia felt that it was too wasteful, why should he be exiled?Can't afford to go to jail?Let them go to reform through labor and go farming.

Even in the future, some implicated female relatives will not be demoted to slaves or brought into the teaching workshop, but let them work, what to do?For textiles, Tang’s silk fabrics are affected by raw materials, so they don’t need so many people to weave, but wool is different, especially sheep wool, if it is raised on a large scale, the output is still very high.

However, Li Congjia knew that since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, criminals were allowed to do these things due to insufficient manpower. When the Tang Dynasty develops faster and faster, these industries will gradually become privatized. At that time, this is a job. And the court doesn't need so many criminals to do these things.

In fact, the cabinet still has objections to criminals doing these jobs, especially those who have committed serious crimes and are not qualified to beheaded. In their view, such people have flawed morals, and the food they grow is not suitable for gentlemen to eat.

Li Congjia said that this is all a habitual problem. It is really to the point where there is no food to eat. Some rice grains are good, but he is still entangled in who grows these grains?

When Shi Xueting heard that the prisoners were all ready, he said: "You can let the Ministry of Criminal Justice take you over there. The preparations are pretty much over there, and we'll wait for them to go and reclaim the wasteland."

Li Congjia thought for a while and said: "In order to avoid accidents, let Zhu Yuan find someone to go."

The Criminal Department is all about arresting heads. What they do is to solve cases or hunt down criminals. To be honest, Li Congjia always feels that the Criminal Department should also be incorporated into the Privy Council, but he thinks it is not appropriate, and the cabinet probably will disagree. So I didn't mention it.

Shi Xueting said: "That's good too, so that these people don't run away halfway."

Many of these people are vicious and vicious, and those headhunters may not be enough.

Just two days after Shi Xueting asked the Criminal Ministry to move the criminals to Lingnan bit by bit, Lingnan sent the planning map to the imperial court. Those drawn paddy fields made the cabinet very happy, after all, the area is really not small.

However, the first reaction after reading the Minister of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs was: "It is probably not enough to send the prisoners to open up such a large area of ​​wasteland."

Li Congjia glanced at the picture and said, "Take your time, someone is lobbying the local natives."

If there were a lot of people in Guanzhong, Li Congjia could definitely order the people from Guanzhong to go to Lingnan to reclaim wasteland, and he would give them very favorable policies, but now there are not so many people in Guanzhong who can go there, and who wants to leave their hometown if they have land at home?

Seeing that Li Congjia was lamenting that the natives were stupid and didn't know how to take advantage of such a good natural condition, Fan Zhi couldn't help saying: "Your Majesty, actually...we are not without people, as long as you give an order, at least thousands of Tens of thousands of people will go back to help develop Lingnan, and what you need to worry about at that time is that there are not enough cities in Lingnan, or that there are not enough land in Lingnan, not that there are not enough people."

Li Congjia looked at Fan Zhi in a daze: "Where did they come from? Are you talking about Koreans?"

Fan Zhi smiled and shook his head: "Of course not."

Just as Li Congjia wanted to continue asking, he heard Wei Renpu say: "I know, it's so good! It can be called a virtuous government!"

Wang Pu also clapped his hands and said, "Not bad."

Even Zhao Pu said with a smile: "Fan Xiang is still experienced, why didn't I think of it before?"

Li Congjia stared at the four of them playing riddles, and wanted to ask: What the hell are you talking about?