On the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Luoyang was in the coldest time of the year, so cold that the air almost solidified. There is still smoke and fire among the people, but in the imperial city, although the beautiful buildings and jade buildings are decorated with flying snow, they give people a chill that can penetrate people's hearts.
In the Chui Gong Hall, the old emperor was staying with his young grandson, sitting casually by the fire, playing with a puzzle. Accompanying Emperor Liu was Liu Wenji, the second son of the crown prince. Since Liu Wenhuan returned to Beijing from a business trip to Anxi, he has received more attention than before. He is also busy studying for further studies. Naturally, there are fewer opportunities to enter the palace, so this part of the time is temporarily It was filled by Liu Wenji.
On the ground is a set of drawing boards newly produced by the Shaofu. The content is about the countries and forces in Anxi, Tubo, Nanyang and other regions. As the influence of the Han Dynasty expands in depth, the maps produced become clearer and more detailed.
Take the Tubo region as an example. In the past, in addition to that large general area, there were only a few cities, fortresses, and strongholds marked on the maps in Luolex, Pipbo, the border between Han and Tibet, and the Tea Horse Passage. Nowadays, It's more comprehensive.
The Tubo Conference was successfully held in early July this year and came to a perfect conclusion. On behalf of Emperor Liu, King Liu Xi of the Jin Dynasty went to Luoche to preside over the conference in person. He reached a consensus with the Tubo kings, religions, nobles and leaders, and was recognized as "the minister stationed in Tubo". " was formally established, and Liu Xi settled in Luoche City on behalf of the imperial court.
Of course, these are only official notifications. In fact, Emperor Liu still took it for granted when it came to the imperial military and political agencies settling in Luoche City. Judging from the current results, the goal was achieved, but the process was not so harmonious and smooth, and immediately afterwards, fierce resistance occurred.
The anti-Han forces in Tubo resurfaced after this conference, or in other words, some Tubo tribal forces changed their attitude and stance towards the Han. In the past, they did not resist, and even severely suppressed and massacred those tribes that resisted the Han Dynasty, in order to consolidate their rule, expand their strength, and obtain benefits from the Han Dynasty.
After the collapse of the Tubo Dynasty, which was once prosperous, although it was divided into four parts and there were many tribal forces, it was generally divided into four royal families. And this time, the one who stood up and raised the banner of anti-Han was the Bu of the Ali family. The King of Rang is the King of Yaze who is related to the King of Yaze.
The Han Dynasty's policy towards Tibet has always been to use both kindness and power, suppression and appeasement. However, in the past ten years, it has changed to focus on appeasement and economic development. The tea-horse trade was also one of the most important means by which the imperial court exerted influence on Tibet. Since it strengthened the connection between Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Tibet, the benefits generated also benefited relevant groups.
However, for the various forces in Tubo, the benefits of the tea-horse trade were not equally distributed. Most of them were obtained by the tribes in the central and southeastern Tibet represented by King Luoxue and King Yalong. Of these two royal families, one was the political, economic, and military center after the unification of Tibet, and the other was a traditional agricultural and animal husbandry production treasure land. The innate conditions were much superior, and the Han caravans naturally had a tendency to choose trade objects accordingly.
For example, the Ngari and Yaze areas, despite their remote location and poor output, were naturally not favored by Han merchants. Even though the tea-horse trade spread to the local area many years later, during the transaction process, it was still affected by the eastern kings, For tribal oppression, "protection fees" must always be paid.
Against this background, as time went by and the disparity in interests further widened, the attitudes of Eastern and Western Tibet toward the Han Dynasty became more tit-for-tat, and their internal divisions became more and more severe.
However, the imperial court's appeasement policy was unwilling to make great efforts to favor the Tibetan forces in Ali and Yaze. The Han Dynasty under the rule of Emperor Liu was the most stingy central dynasty in history. It did not have the generosity and boldness of the Celestial Kingdom at all. If they were given some benefits, they would have to make up for it in other ways.
Perhaps in Emperor Liu's view, it was already a great grace that the Tubo tribes were not allowed to make offerings year after year. Not enjoying many benefits, the Tubo forces in the southwest would naturally not be close to the Han court.
The so-called imperial court betrayed its alliance and broke the contract, and the troops were stationed there for reasons. This was just an introduction. The real reason was still a matter of interests. And raising the flag to fight against the Han may not be the goal, but just a means.
Therefore, the first thing Liu Xi did after settling in Luoxe City and establishing the ministerial office in Tubo was to rush to put down the backlash from various forces in Tubo. There was no need to worry about boring life in Tubo.
Not only the two kings Burang and Yaze, but also the two kings Luozhe and Yalong must be appeased. After all, they may not be happy with Liu Xi's entry, especially King Luozhe. This is his territory, and he will be the most affected. . In fact, the news of Tubo's chaos was reported to the court together with the information on Tubo's national conditions collected and reported by Liu Xi.
The largest rebellion in Tubo since its attachment to the Han Dynasty occurred, but the response from the imperial court was a bit strange. There were many suggestions and suggestions, but in Emperor Liu's view, every one of those "loyal suggestions" contained a hint of ridicule towards him. , many people are even just watching the joke.
Those people seemed to be saying, Your Majesty, you are determined to have your own way, and you want to station the Tibetan ministers. As a result, you have caused such a big chaos, and even the southwest has been stabilized. With the rebellion, the people of dozens of prefectures in the southwest have no peace. Putting His Highness the King of Jin in danger.
Tubo is in chaos, which threatens the safety of the southwestern hinterland. Can the war in Nanyang be stopped? The support from Anxi should be reduced or reduced as appropriate. The advancement of enfeoffment can be postponed. The noble disciples don't have to rush to sea.
When Emperor Liu had such a mentality, his reaction was naturally extreme. He directly issued an edict to severely suppress and kill all the Tibetan rebels who raised flags to oppose the Han, no matter who they were.
The entire southwest, including Shannan, Jiannan, and Yunnan, is under martial law in the border states. The border troops are strictly preparing for war and are ready to march westward to support counterinsurgency at any time. Of course, given Tubo's special geographical and human conditions, it was impossible to mobilize troops on a large scale, and the logistics simply could not support it.
If you want to solve the problem of Tubo rebellion, it is best to solve it from within the plateau. This is also the suggestion given by Liu Xi. He intends to fight against the rebellion by convening the tribes from the Han Dynasty and at the same time carry out divided attacks on the rebels. After all, not all anti-Han people are on the plateau, there are also a lot of "leading parties" who are attached to the Han.
Considering that Liu Xi only had the "three thousand" guards in his hands and was weak, he still mobilized 10,000 troops from Jiannan Bianzhou to march westward. Moreover, Emperor Liu also sent a secret order to Shangguan Zheng, who was the commander of Jiannan Road at the time, to ensure that the King of Jin returned safely if the Tubo situation failed.
Obviously, the death of the eleventh prince Liu Xiao still gave Emperor Liu a lot of thinking. At least he began to actually consider the situation of his descendants in difficult or even dangerous areas and care about their safety.
However, Emperor Liu was still barely able to deal with Liu Xi's situation, and believed that with Liu Xi's cleverness, even if he could not handle the rebellion, he would still have no problem escaping. Taking ten thousand steps back, even if things get worse and worse, those Tubo forces should not dare to harm Liu Xi if he is caught in it.
Looking at the picture of Tubo, Emperor Liu's thoughts were naturally placed there, on his third son. However, when he received the report that Prince Liu Yang and Prime Minister Zhao Pu jointly visited him, Emperor Liu's heart twitched before they even entered the palace, and seeing the two men's faces as sinking as water, his mood became even worse. Falling.
"There won't be any bad news!" Looking at the serious looks of the two of them, Emperor Liu forced a smile and said lightly.
This is really bad news! Liu Yang couldn't help but look at each other with Zhao Pu, and their eyes exchanged rapidly in the air. In fact, before coming to Chui Gong Hall, the two of them had already discussed the circumstances of Liu Xu's death. The key issue was how to report to Emperor Liu.
I just don’t dare, this is the eldest son of King Qin and Emperor Liu of the Han Dynasty. Compared with Liu Xiao, he is not on the same level at all, and his influence is even different. However, I dare not not repay it.
After discussing for a while, we decided to come together to meet him, so that no one would be left behind. Having learned from Liu Xiao's incident, Liu Yang did not dare to report Liu Xu's incident to him anymore. At this time, facing the old emperor's question, it was old Zhao Pu who hunched over his waist and said almost word by word: "Your Majesty, Anton, I would like to express my condolences. Your Highness, King Qin, has passed away."
After saying that, he stood over there and pretended to be dead together with Liu Yang.
The atmosphere in the Chui Gong Hall was completely frozen. Emperor Liu heard it really. The bad news came quickly and suddenly. It was not like a thunderbolt. It was plain but hit people's hearts directly. It tore Emperor Liu's steel heart full of scars. A gash was opened, and it was bloody.
He didn't ask whether it was true or not, and he didn't ask the reason. After a brief trance, Emperor Liu burst into tears. With trembling hands, he pointed at Liu Yang and said, "In this case, you can feel at ease."
