When Fan Wen became the general manager of Jinliangzhou, he used Jishi Town as an outpost to explore the movements of the highlands, and continued to inquire about the situation of the highland tribes.
Before the Tubo people appeared, Liangzhou and even Chang'an had received a steady stream of news about this emerging force that had risen in the southern part of the plateau and soon expanded its sphere of influence to the highlands.
Because the Tubo people had invaded the Tuyuhun, Qiang and other highland tribes over the years, they gradually spread to the Hexi area, adding fuel to the war here.
When they rode plateau horses, wore dirty leather robes, and wore their braids across Jishi Mountain and entered the Heyuan area, it meant that they had finally completely conquered Bailan and Dangxiang, which are located at the southern foot of Jishi Mountain in the Qilian Mountains.
and other tribes unified the entire plateau area.
The current leader of Tubo, or one can already call him a king, is Langri Songtsan, who is said to be the 32nd generation leader of a tribe in Shannan.
He led his tribe to defeat their old enemies and quickly unified all the tribes in Shannan. With Luoxe City as their capital, they expanded violently, crossed Tangsunboru, marched northeastward, and gradually came into contact with the tribes in the Hexi region.
Of course, this kind of contact is not a good one. The Tubo people have been a very aggressive tribe since the founding of the country. Wherever their influence reaches, there will be wars.
There seems to be no such thing as peace in their concept. Either become their slaves or die. Their merchants travel around with the army and do not do business with others.
Instead, like vultures, they clung to their warriors, exchanging the plundering proceeds from the soldiers and transporting them back to Luoxue City for sale. Gradually, Luoxue City became the most prosperous city in Shannan.
According to the understanding of the Central Plains people, they were more like the later Mongolian cavalry, raging like locusts, conquering and killing everywhere, and snatching anything they could see.
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Because of Li Po's attention, Fan Wenjin and other Liangzhou governors learned more and more about Tubo. The impression of an emerging dynasty like Rouran and Turks had been formed in their minds, making them very vigilant.
Moreover, the Tibetans continued to bring trouble to the Liangzhou area. When the Tibetans appeared in Jishi Town in person with their slaves, Fan Wenjin had already received the news almost two days later.
Not many Tubo people came, only more than 3,000 people, and some of them were subordinates, more like the vanguard of the Tubo people.
Fan Wenjin ordered Pang Yu, the general of Zuojianmen, to personally lead his troops to greet the Tubo people, and at the same time he immediately compiled a book and reported it to Chang'an.
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Fan Wenjin's urgent report came to Chang'an. At this time, Chang'an had entered the midsummer season, and the DPRK and the Central Committee were discussing major political affairs in full swing, preparing to start a new situation.
Measures such as the imperial examination and talent selection, the land tax system, the military system, and even criminal law, etiquette, etc. are all being discussed. The more discussions there are, the more heated the temper will inevitably be. Coupled with the hot weather, there are constant quarrels.
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It's just that when the new dynasty was first established, the ministers were still relatively restrained.
The ministers appointed by the emperor were old and new, and most of them could be relied upon, and there was no such thing as a dispute over the throne, so the signs of political strife were not very obvious.
Moreover, the ministers were so preoccupied with other matters that they did not bother to criticize each other. They were all busy with their own affairs.
Officials from various places felt that the peaceful season was coming, and most of them stopped half-heartedly and began to clamp down on bandits and pacify the people. Officials from various places were dismissed from their posts and investigated, and even lost their heads, which made them very vigilant.
Henan, Shandong, Hebei and other places are all launching production and self-rescue operations. After many years of neglect, the fertile land has finally been reclaimed and seedlings can be planted in the spring.
In addition to suppressing bandits, various places are also working hard to appease the refugees in the mountains and let them return to their homes.
But having said that, war is like a fire, a spark can set off a prairie fire, and recovery is slow and steady, and it is difficult to see obvious results in a short period of time.
There is no such thing as vitality, only post-war reconstruction and rebuilding homes on top of the ruins. One can imagine the difficulty involved.
Just like when the Turkic army went south to Yanmen, Yanmen County was almost completely destroyed. Chen Xiaoyi, Li Bi, Wang Zhibian, Yu Wenxin, etc. successively took charge of the reconstruction. Li Po also filled Yanmen and Mayi counties with people from Youzhou.
, after so many years, I have regained my old outlook.
By the end of May, the imperial court successively issued many preferential policies for Henan and other places to encourage people to have children and farm. Large tracts of land were awarded to meritorious soldiers, which could be used as land to be passed down to their descendants.
At the same time, he began to call on the people who fled westward to return to their homeland and stop competing with the Kansai natives for space. It would be great to go home, but you can't take it away from them.
The nobles had the keenest sense of smell. The Luoyang dignitaries who fled to Chang'an finally cheered up, and the land around Luoyang gradually became more popular.
Many people, like the nobles of Jinyang back then, took out the land deeds from the pre-Sui Dynasty and wanted to take back their "ancestral property". Su Quan, the Minister of Household Affairs, thought about it and dealt with it according to the old Jinyang system.
It is impossible to send back farmland and forests. After so many years, can the former Sui Dynasty's certificates be used to count against the Tang Dynasty? There may be people farming on your farmland. Can you drive them away and return it to your hands?
If you have the time, why not go back and take a look? There is so much desolate land there, why worry about the ancestral business not flourishing?
In general, in the second half of the third year of Yuanzhen's reign in the Tang Dynasty, the entire Tang Dynasty was in the midst of a vigorous reconstruction process, and there were inevitably some discordant notes mixed in.
For example, the alliance with the Turks, where the rebellion occurred, and Fan Wenjin’s report...
In fact, Li Po already had plans for the northwest, but he wanted to wait until next year for various reasons.
First, he wanted to sort out government affairs this year, set some long-term goals, and then talk about other things.
Secondly, there was always something going on with the neighbor to the north. Once the two families came to blows, all other things had to be put aside. They had to fight the Turks first, so he felt that the army could not move lightly yet.
However, since Tubo has taken the lead, there is nothing to say. The target of the first foreign war since the founding of the Tang Dynasty has been selected as early as the beginning of the year.
In the Tai Chi Hall, Li Po looked at Fan Wenjin's memorial and asked, "Go to the Ministry of War and ask where Zhang Lun and the others are?"
The troops used this time will be led by General Zhang Lun of Zuo Yiwei, supplemented by General Pang Yu of Zuo Prison Gate Guard, General Zhang Shigui of Zuo Xiaowei, and General Xue Wanche of Right Wuwei.
It can be seen from this configuration that it is definitely not enough to drive the Tubo people back to the highlands...