"Zanpu, this transaction with Datang is quite strange."
The distant country of Tubo was the farthest away from the Tang Dynasty, and the two countries had always had good relations.
Therefore, unlike other countries around the Tang Dynasty, this time the Tang Dynasty directly paid part of the transaction items to the envoys to take back to Tibet slowly.
On the other side, what the Tang Dynasty needed was sent back to Tibet through carrier pigeons, so that they could bring the trading items to the Tang Dynasty.
In addition to the good relations between the two countries, it was also because Tubo was far away from the Tang Dynasty. If the envoys had to wait until the envoys returned to Tubo before preparing things to send to the Tang Dynasty, it would be too late.
"Oh? Dongzan, tell me, what's wrong?" The man who asked the question was very young, but he looked smart and capable.
He has a name that even Tang Ping knows—Songtsen Gampo!
"Because according to the spies' reports, although there seems to be a lot of things traded between the Tang Dynasty and other countries, there is only one thing - they did not use any food as trading goods!"
Ludongzan's words made Songtsen Gampo deep in thought. Normally, the transactions between Tang Dynasty and Tubo were mainly about exchanging tea for cattle and sheep. The same was true this time, except that the transaction volume was a little larger and the rush was a little more urgent. Look, No difference.
But according to past intelligence, the transactions between Datang and other countries would involve some amount of food.
This time, the Tang Dynasty traded so many things with surrounding countries at the same time, most of which were grain, but they did not take out a grain of grain. The meaning of this is a bit deep.
"Could it be because the Tang Dynasty happened to have a war with the Turks?"
"Probably not. Although Chang'an was once short of food due to the Turkic siege, due to the adjustment of the Tang Dynasty, the food price in Chang'an City has now returned to the pre-war level."
"Then Dongzan thinks..."
"Either the Tang Dynasty is storing food and preparing to start a war, or something will happen and the Tang Dynasty will be short of food!"
It has to be said that there are smart people everywhere, and Lu Dongzan is one of the smart people of this era.
Songtsen Gampo looked at the map behind him: "Is the Tang Dynasty going to attack the Turks?"
The countries surrounding the Tang Dynasty, except for the Turks, all trade with the Tang Dynasty this time. To fight against these countries, firstly, it is unknown, and secondly, everyone maintains a delicate balance. The possibility is too small.
If there is to be a war, the most likely possibility is to attack the Turks who surrounded Chang'an some time ago.
Lu Dongzan shook his head: "But now that the Turks have been divided into two parts since the death of Jili Khan, it is the moment of tension. Now the attack is likely to be self-defeating, causing the two originally facing each other to join forces to defend themselves against foreign enemies."
He didn't believe that the emperors and ministers of the Tang Dynasty could not understand such a simple truth. The most correct way for the Tang Dynasty now was not to attack the Turks, but to secretly support the weaker side and intensify their internal fighting.
"But if it wasn't for the purpose of starting a war..." The two looked at each other and said in unison: "Did the Tang Dynasty know that there would be a big disaster this year?"
After all, grain storage is a big problem in this era. Although every country has granaries, there is not much grain stored.
First of all, there is only so much productivity, and it is not allowed to fill up the capacity.
Secondly, if you save too much, the natural depletion will become a large amount over time.
Therefore, there were only two possibilities for Datang to buy so much grain at one time.
Fighting means fighting for money and food. Whether it is fighting locally or going abroad, the country's productivity will inevitably be greatly affected.
But now after analysis, it is found that Datang does not have the conditions to start a foreign war, so there may be only one thing left - Datang will have a disaster year.
"There was a severe drought in Guanzhong this year, but the Tang Dynasty government promoted Tang plows and keel waterwheels. Although the drought affected spring plowing, it was not fatal!"
You must know that although Tubo does not know exactly how much wealth the Tang Dynasty has, based on the information gathered by their spies from the missions of various countries, there is definitely a lot of things that the Tang Dynasty will trade this time.
It's just that the drought at the beginning of the year definitely didn't have to go to this extent.
"Could it be..."
"Locust plague!"
In ancient times, there were three major natural disasters: floods, droughts, and locusts.
When it comes to the C position, it must be the locust plague!
After all, droughts rarely occur when the ground is thousands of miles away. There are places with severe water shortages and places with abundant water resources. In addition, humans use various tools such as keel waterwheels.
There are always ways to reduce the damage caused by drought.
Moreover, according to historical records, droughts occur more and more frequently as time goes by.
In the Tang Dynasty, although droughts occurred from time to time, they rarely caused a devastating blow to a country.
The same is true for flood disasters. Various methods such as strengthening river embankments and dredging river channels can reduce flood disasters.
Only the locust plague, in this era, there is really no good way to fight against it.
Once a locust plague occurs, the overwhelming locusts will eat all the plants they can see. This is also the natural disaster that all rulers fear most.
Soon, based on the climate characteristics of the Tang Dynasty this year, Songtsen Gampo and Ludongzan made the same judgment as the emperors and ministers of the Tang Dynasty. There was likely to be a major locust plague this year.
It makes sense why the Tang Dynasty was eager to trade so many supplies with various countries, most of which were grain.
Songtsen Gampo's hands trembled slightly and he looked at Lu Dongtsen excitedly.
Of course Lu Dongzan also knew why he became excited, although it seemed that Tubo and Tang Dynasty had always been on good terms.
But Tubo is located on a bitterly cold plateau, and Tang Dynasty occupies the richest place in the Central Plains. How could they not be jealous?
It is said that there is no eternal friendship between countries, only eternal interests.
In Songtsan Gampo's view, the best opportunity has come now.
At the beginning of the year, the Turks attacked the Tang Dynasty. Although the Turks were defeated and returned with the death of Jili Khan, he did not believe that the Tang Dynasty was not damaged.
Coupled with the upcoming locust plague, if Datang successfully completes transactions with various countries, it should indeed be able to overcome this difficulty. But what if the transaction goes awry?
If the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty didn't even have food to eat, would they still have the strength to lift their swords?
Not to mention that Songtsan Gampo is not yet the son-in-law of the Tang Dynasty. Even if he is really the son-in-law of the Tang Dynasty, if he encounters this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he will still fight when he should.
So now a difficult multiple-choice question appeared in front of Songtsan Gampo, that is, whether to interfere with it and sabotage this transaction, betting that the Tang Dynasty would not be able to survive this disaster, and then Tubo would take over the Central Plains.
Needless to say, the bet was won, and Tubo's power increased greatly after taking control of the Central Plains.
But if the bet fails, not only will the good relationship with Datang be destroyed, but the two countries will immediately fall into a situation where they are at war with each other.
