Actun opened his mouth, but in the end he remained silent. His right hand subconsciously touched the leopard skin bow bag on his waist. He would do this every time he was depressed. Wang Pu saw this and knew that his friend was thinking again. After returning home, he sighed and said: "We are now the master's personal soldiers, and our status is very different. Moreover, this is not Baekje, Liaodong. There are some things you can't say. For example, you just compared the master to Liu Bei, but Liu Bei later became Emperor, if others hear this, they will think that the master has treasonous intentions, and if he accidentally leaks it to us, he will be killed!"
"Yeah! I understand!" Akdon nodded angrily: "It's really troublesome here, but the people in Liaodong are better, they don't have so many evil thoughts!"
"I don't know what kind of people are good, but the place we are going to is a good place!" Wang Pu said with a smile: "Since ancient times, Shu has been called the land of abundance!"
"The Land of Abundance? Is it just mountains that can't be seen at a glance?" Acton laughed: "And it's stuffy and hot, making people want to peel off a layer of their skin."
"Just listen to the guide and say that you can just climb over this mountain! Don't you like clothes made of Sichuan brocade the most? That thing is made here!"
No matter how doubtful Acton was about his classmate's words, the facts before him gradually proved that Wang Pu was not lying. After five days of rugged mountain roads, a broad and fertile wilderness gradually appeared in front of them. When the sun rose, the birds that had been silent all night began to chirp and flutter up and down.
Although there was still a thin veil floating on the sky and the mist on the field was still misty, a bright red morning glow suddenly bloomed in the depths of the dawn. It is like brocade flying out of the Weaver Girl's loom, constantly emerging and accumulating, casting its bright brilliance to the sky, to the earth, to the towns and villages where smoke is everywhere. As a result, the lush groves, the fields full of ears of grain, the battlements on the city walls, and the tile roofs on the roofs all shone with colorful light. There is something refreshing and refreshing in the cool morning air.
The river pier beside the road is filled with all kinds of boats, including small sampans with one pole and one oar, speedboats with two oars, and magnificent cruise ships with double eaves and rowing boats. They are all arranged elegantly and neatly. The hull is painted with colorful patterns. The most elegant ones also have lily shells embedded in the windows and various furnishings displayed in the cabins.
There were men holding poles and oars, as well as many young women. Their hair was combed into sleek buns, their faces were lightly covered with powder, their temples were adorned with pearls, and their snow-white wrists were adorned with dazzling bracelets. They were standing gracefully on the bow of the boat. Whenever merchants came ashore, they would greet each other in the local dialect. Although neither Acton nor Wang Pu could understand what was being said, they still felt that it was not pleasant to say.
"These women are so white! They are also small. Compared with the women in our village, they are as small as children!" Acton couldn't keep his eyes away from the boat girls: "Wang Pu, do you understand what they are saying? ?"
"I don't understand! He must be soliciting business, right?" Wang Pu guessed.
"Soliciting business? What kind of business are you soliciting? I see that their boat is empty, and there seems to be nothing there?" Acton looked at the boat at the pier doubtfully. He had very good eyesight. Although it was forty or fifty steps away, there was nothing there. He could still clearly see that apart from people and furnishings, there was nothing for sale on the ship.
"Then I don't know!" Wang Pu shook his head: "But look at the people who got on the boat. They were all smiling happily. They couldn't be forced to get on the boat!"
"That's true!" When Actun said this, he suddenly laughed and said: "Wang Pu, you are right. Over this mountain, Shu is a good place. It is much better than ours. Villages are next to each other, everywhere. It's all farmland, mulberry forests, and orchards, and the people here are neatly dressed, talking and laughing. Unlike my hometown, where one village is hundreds of miles away from the other, and you can only see large areas. In the wild forests, swamps, and wilderness, even if there are fields, the crops don’t grow as well as here. No wonder this place is called the Land of Abundance!”
"Yes!" Wang Pu said with a smile: "The Lord comes to Shuzhong to serve as an official this time, and we can also benefit from it!"
Different from the excitement of Actun and Wang Pu, Wang Wenzuo had much more complicated things in his heart at this time. The more prosperous and rich the scene before him was, the more worried he was about the future war. Before the journey, he once set off from Chengdu and took a bus to Jiuzhaigou. He was deeply impressed by the fact that within two hours of leaving Chengdu, the landscape outside the window changed from the densely populated plains of western Sichuan to rugged mountains. He got off the car to eat. After lunch, the window outside the window turned into desolate and cold alpine meadows and plateaus in the afternoon. The topography changed so quickly that it was staggering. At that time, his driving speed was only about 100 kilometers per hour. In other words, if the countless Qiang and Hu tribes living in the plateau and mountains could travel 30 kilometers a day, it would only take six or seven days to reach Chengdu. (Interested friends can use Baidu Map to take a look. Songpan Ancient City, Jinchuan and Jinchuan are actually very close to Chengdu in a straight line. Once they fall into the hands of plateau tribes, not only the road from Sichuan to Gansu will be cut off, but also the entire Sichuan There is absolutely no danger in the basin, so we can only fight to defend Chengdu.) And as far as the eye can see here, is there any sign of preparation for war? He is actually the last line of defense in Songzhou. If he retreats, he will only be able to defend Chengdu.
"Send the order and speed up!" Wang Wenzuo said in a deep voice: "The sooner we arrive in Chengdu and see the envoy Wang, the sooner we can understand the situation in Songzhou and have a head start!"
Chengdu, Jiannan Branch Du Yingtian handles military affairs and horse management, and the envoy's office.
Li Jin is sixty-seven years old this year. When he was demoted from Chang'an to Chengdu as an official eight years ago, he already knew that his good luck in this life had been exhausted. He had long seen that although the newly enthroned emperor looked kind and generous on the surface, he was completely opposite to the late emperor's inner self-confidence and magnanimity. Many of the meritorious officials who followed the late emperor had served the enemy, but the late emperor treated them with sincerity. They fought to the death on the battlefield the day before yesterday. After returning today, they drank together in the tent, and tomorrow they will be on the battlefield to support each other in life and death. There are meritorious officials. When someone reported him for accepting bribes, the late emperor did not punish him. Instead, he asked himself whether he had treated the other party poorly, so that the other party was short of money so he accepted the bribe. He immediately gave him a large sum of money and told him that if he was short of money, he could ask for it from himself, and there was no need to ask for a bribe. Infamy festival; even Hou Junji and Zhang Liang, who had more concrete evidence of rebellion, did not remove their portraits from Lingyan Pavilion. An old man like me who was left behind by the late emperor, who was so kind and wanted to be a good old man in everything, would never be favored by the emperor.
In the second year of Xianqing (657), because he said a few more words about the construction of Luoyang Palace City, he offended the emperor and was ordered to "remove his post pending investigation". In the end, he was reduced from his position and returned to his hometown. Although he was appointed again a few years later, Li Jin knew in his heart that it was simply because the court could not find an experienced old bureaucrat to take charge of the bad reputation of squeezing local wealth that he was asked to take the blame. As long as one day the court finds someone who can replace him, he will let himself go home.
Fortunately, the blood in Li Jin's chest had already turned cold at this time, and he had developed a character of optimism and understanding of fate. With the purpose of being a monk and hitting the clock every day, he still perfunctoryly dealt with all aspects. However, he has not lost the instinct to protect himself. Like most old bureaucrats who are sliding down the slope of status and power, he often has a kind of estrangement and wariness towards his colleagues in the officialdom and people from Chang'an and Luoyang. The mind is like an old cat that moves slowly but still feels awake, always on guard against the grimaces and calculations of its kind.
"Mr. Li!" A scribe came in: "Wang Wenzuo, the governor of Songzhou Governor's Mansion, has arrived and is asking for an audience outside the mansion!"
"Wang Wenzuo has arrived? It's so fast!" Li Jin was surprised: "How many people does he have with him?"
"Only a hundred people!"
"More than a hundred people? That's too few, isn't it? Does he still have people outside the city?"
"I've never heard of it, probably not!"
"This is a bit troublesome!" Li Jin sighed: "Invite him in! Be respectful, don't be rude when you go!"
As soon as the scribe left, Li Jin moved his fat body, got off the bed with some difficulty, and came to the front steps of the house. This was the greatest courtesy his status allowed. Although he has regressed step by step in his official career in the past few years, he is quite skilled in Yi Ya Dao. He could not help but eat too much, and he became like this now. Looking at his belly that was as bulging as a ball, it turned out that The courage couldn't help but disappear.
"I'd like to see you, Commander Li!" Wang Wenzuo bowed down and bowed.
"I've heard of your reputation before, it's really amazing!" Li Jin stretched out his hand and said, "Come in and talk!"
Wang Wenzuo entered the door and sat down with Li Jin as guest and host. Li Jin coughed and said, "Did you come with troops and horses when you came this time?"
"Xiaguan received the Holy Order when he was visiting his hometown for relatives! Then he rushed to Luoyang to meet the Holy One. Only then did he learn that he had been appointed as the Governor of the Songzhou Governor's Mansion. Then he entered Sichuan directly from Jianmen without having time to mobilize troops! "Wang Wenzuo sighed: "However, I have also prayed to the Holy One to mobilize two thousand Bubu from Liaodong, and also recruited one thousand Xuanrun crossbowmen and one thousand Danyang sword players. However, these soldiers and horses are still on the way, so there is no need to say more. It won’t arrive until two months later!”
"Xuanrun crossbowman and sword player? Yes, yes! Governor Wang is indeed an old soldier. It is indeed appropriate!" Li Jin showed a relieved smile when he heard this: "Although it will take another two months, it will always be It’s better than nothing! As long as I can survive this autumn, I’ll be fine!”
Wang Wenzuo heard that the tone of the words was wrong and asked quickly: "What does the envoy mean -?"
"That's what happened!" Li Jin coughed twice and explained: "The Songzhou Governor's Mansion was built in the second year of Zhenguan (628). It has jurisdiction over Lao, Yi, Cuo, Kuo, Lin, Ya, Cong, There are a total of twenty-five Jizhou prefectures, including Ke, Yuan, Feng, Yan, Nuo, E, Peng, Gui, Gai, Zhi, Si, Wei, Yu, Zhang, Youtai, Qiao, Xu, etc. The royal governor should also know these. The so-called Jizhou Prefecture is actually very different from the prefectures and counties in the mainland. They were originally Dengzhi, Tuyuhun, Di, Bailan, Dangxiang and other Qianghu tribes. In the early years of Zhenguan, the Tang Dynasty was prosperous, and these Qianghu tribes They surrendered one after another. However, starting from the eighth year of Zhenguan, the situation began to change. The Tubo people gradually became more powerful and began to expand southward. During this period, although they had several wars with the Tang Dynasty, they were still the country of their nephew and uncle, but Its momentum of annexing Qiang and Hu tribes has never changed!"
"Then the Tang Dynasty didn't find a way to check and balance?"
"Yes!" Li Jin sighed: "There have been several confrontations, but we have never obtained any benefits. The main method is to move the Qiang and Hu tribes to the interior!"
Wang Wenzuo nodded but did not speak. As Li Jin said, although in the Battle of Songpan in the tenth year of Zhenguan, the Tang army was defeated first and then won, and achieved victory. But this victory was not decisive. Both Tang and Tubo realized at that time that the enemy in front of them was not easy to deal with, and peace was a more beneficial option for both parties. So not long after, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty adopted a distant clan member as his adopted daughter and married Songtsen Gampo, the then King of Tubo. The relationship between the two empires entered a short honeymoon period.
During the lifetime of Emperor Taizong, Tubo was active on the historical stage as a vassal of the Tang Dynasty. It not only sent envoys many times to present gifts, but also sent troops to assist the Tang army in its military operations in the Western Regions and even India. The Tubo also gained considerable benefits from this alliance. They introduced advanced production technology and culture from the Tang Empire, strengthened their centralization, established a unique military and political system, and completed the transition from a tribal alliance to a feudal state. Transformations of military empires. When Emperor Taizong died and Emperor Gaozong ascended the throne, the Tubo people actually no longer recognized themselves as vassals of the Tang Dynasty, but they still retained the original nephew-uncle relationship.
With the growth of Tubo's strength and Tang's control of the Western Regions, Qinghai and other places, the relationship between the two powers has undergone subtle changes. Although there has been no direct military conflict for a long time, Tubo's military But the actions became more and more aggressive: Tubo did not listen to Tang Gaozong's edict, destroyed Tuyuhun in the second year of Longshuo (663), and took control of the Hehuang area of Qinghai. In the second year of Longshuo (662), Tubo and the Gongyue tribe of the Western Turks attacked Qiuci, the following year they attacked Shule, and in the second year of Linde (665), they attacked Khotan, which was pro-Tang Dynasty. Ashina Buzhen, the successor khan of the Western Turks who was granted the title of Tang Dynasty, falsely accused the Xingxi dead khan Ashnamishe of treason to Su Haizheng, the governor of Anxi, and Mishe was killed. The Turks turned away from the Tang Dynasty. In the second year of Qianfeng's reign (667), Ashina Duzhi and Li Zhepu led the Western Turks to surrender to Tubo. Tubo temporarily controlled the Wakhan Corridor.
If the Tibetan military operations in the Western Regions and Qinghai were like swallowing, then their operations in northwest Sichuan were like cannibalization.
(End of chapter)
