On the 16th day of the first lunar month, it started to snow lightly in Chang'an, and it didn't stop here and there.
Li Po deceived his mother-in-law on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month and had a pleasant night. In the morning, he called Luo Shixin to the Wude Hall to have sex with her.
In the fourth year of Yuanzhen, there was a new year and a new atmosphere. Although there were many things to do, the sixteenth day of the first lunar month was still a relatively leisurely time in the court.
At the end of last winter, we had "effective" consultations with the courtiers on the revision of the Sui History. It was probably finalized at the beginning of this year. The general direction was to praise Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty and demote Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. The details were changed again and again.
Li Po couldn't care less.
He was exhausted physically and mentally by arguing with those learned people word for word. After the new year, he was not going to be so serious anymore. It was just making himself uncomfortable.
During his last revision a year ago, he agreed to the request of his ministers and listed the history of the Sui Dynasty as one of the histories of the Five Dynasties, and once again ordered Wen Yanhong, Yu Shinan, Du Zhengzang and others to preside over the revision of the history of the Five Dynasties.
This matter should have come to an end, and Li Po breathed a sigh of relief.
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Li Po is already over thirty, and his energy is definitely not as good as when he was in his twenties, but this is also the golden age for men, and Li Po is always ready to create greater glory.
It's just that when he was in his twenties, he focused on various wars and could often be found in battle. When he ascended to the throne in his thirties, he ruled the world.
The focus of consideration shifted to governance, of which military was only one aspect. How to enhance the national power of the Tang Dynasty became the top priority.
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As the saying goes, the emperor can't take any time off.
When he walked to the Tai Chi Hall to go to work, a pile of memorials had been placed there. Li Po took a look at it and sighed pretentiously in his heart. The life of a diligent emperor is so boring.
After sitting down, looking at the memorials, the one at the top was the report from the Ministry of War.
If the Ministry of War wants to make a difference this year, the focus will definitely be on the establishment of Zhechong Prefecture. After nearly two years of preparation and trial implementation, this year it will be extended to all counties across the country.
The Ministry of War is waiting for the Ministry of Household Affairs to confirm the household registration. The establishment of Zhechong Prefecture and household registration are closely related, so they asked the province to urge the Ministry of Household Affairs to quickly check the household registration, otherwise the Ministry of War's strategy will not be implemented.
Li Po took a quick look and found that it was indeed reasonable and well-founded. He had to call Su Yuanzai to knock on a few sticks, otherwise the guy would drag his feet and not know when he would be able to complete the task.
There are so many things waiting for the household registration to be finalized, but you keep putting it off. You are really incompetent...
Below the report from the Ministry of War was the military report sent by Fan Wenjin, the general manager of Liangzhou, and Zhang Lun, the general of Zuo Yiwei. This attracted Li Po's attention.
The Tubo people sent envoys to Guzang in winter?
Li Po really wanted to meet them and see what the legendary Tubo people looked like. As the ancestors of the plateau tribes, were the Tubo people similar in appearance to the later plateau people?
What are their cultural customs? What stage has their civilization reached?
It was a pity that the two local emperors in the northwest did not know his intentions at all and killed them all, which made Li Po a little annoyed.
He felt that Fan Wenjin and Zhang Lun were a bit murderous. Now the Tang Dynasty was in urgent need of population replenishment. Prisoners of war were the best source of population. How could they be so wasteful?
Of course, this is just a trivial matter. The important thing is that the Tubo people have shrunk their heads and do not seem to be planning to go to the high ground in the short term.
The war in the northwest has the potential to prolong a long-term stalemate, which is definitely not in line with Li Po's strategic vision.
Could it be that when young Songtsan ascended the throne of Tubo, Princess Wencheng would come out to marry her? Li Po cursed in his heart, just dream.
What is the situation in Tubo now?
Li Po thought about it carefully, but couldn't find any useful information in his empty brain. He couldn't help but rub his temples, feeling that he had let down the good times and turned into an illiterate...
"Fan Wenjin, as requested by Zhang Lun, can set up Liangzhou Racecourse in the West Sea, recruit people from all ethnic groups in the northwest to join the army as soon as possible, and fight on the high ground, so that they can continue to carefully explore everything in the Tubo country. If they get a chance to fight, they can do it easily."
"Another order was issued to Xu Shiji, and Zhang Shigui led his troops back to Diaoyin County, preparing to join forces with Xue Wanche, the general manager of Lingzhou, to eliminate the banditry in Shuofang and restore Yulin this year."
The war cannot stop here. It is the responsibility that the Tang Dynasty must bear to gradually recover the territory lost by the Sui Dynasty while its troops and horses are strong.
The most important and powerful opponent is actually the Turks. As long as the Turks are still around, they are the most direct threat to the Tang Dynasty.
The alliance with the Turkic Khan has reached the next stage. The envoys are expected to come back twice in the spring and summer. If this matter continues to be delayed, can we wait for the Tang Dynasty to find an opportunity to start a war?
?
Li Po frowned and thought about it. He had never seen Ashina Mudan since he returned to Chang'an from the Turks. Everything was only discussed by the officials of Honglu Temple.
No matter what level he talks about, he is always paying attention.
The location of the alliance has been decided, just outside the Great Wall. It used to be under the jurisdiction of Dingxiang County in the former Sui Dynasty, but now it can barely be regarded as the territory of the Turks.
After the Turkic Khan Ashina Yanghuan moved the Turkic Khan's tent back to Mobei, he left Dali Bian Ashina Luoheng in Dali City, which became a place of exchange between the two countries the year before last.
In fact, the Turks made certain concessions, and nominally the place became a joint venture between the two countries.
At that time, all Li Po could think about was the ghost place where he chased and fought with those prairie savages when he returned south. If he returns to the old place as the emperor of the Tang Dynasty many years later...well, there will be nothing to remember.
The grassland was desolate and empty. If there weren't those wild people causing trouble, he could actually live a good life there. Now that he has reached this point, it's all because of people. He didn't have so many ambitions at the beginning.
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Now the Turks seem to be a little smarter. Ashina Mudan came back from the Turk royal court, and there was an additional deputy envoy by his side. I heard that it was difficult to deal with him.
The man's name was Zheng Yuanxuan, a former Sui Dynasty minister and the unworthy son of the Zheng family in Xingyang. His father was very famous and he was a close friend of Emperor Wen Yang Jian, Zheng Yi.
Zheng Yi was Yang Jian's classmate in the Imperial College. He was considered a powerful person when Yang Jian ascended the throne, but later his official position was not prominent. He often complained that Yang Jian was too soft on him. Most of the ministers at that time had this kind of character, not only
Zheng translated one person.
Later, Yang Jian recruited him back to the court several times and demoted him several times. Yang Jian once told people that Zheng Yi's corruption and perversion of the law filled my ears. I should have killed him, but thinking about the old relationship, I couldn't bear to harm each other, so
Zheng Yi served as the governor of Qizhou until his death, unable to make any further progress.
However, his son Zheng Yuanxuan benefited from his father's honor. When he entered the officialdom, he worshiped General Yitong, attacked Duke Pei of Jue, and later became General Youwu Houwei.
In the early years of Daye, he was demoted as the prefect of Wencheng County because he was a member of the Gaoxi Party. After he took refuge with Li Yuan, he was restored to the rank of General Zuowu Houwei.
When Li Yuan ascended the throne, he was assigned to protect Dugu Huaien, Chen Shuda and others on their mission to the Turks.
Needless to say, Dugu Huaien was deceived by Ashina Yang Huan, sold all the others, and returned to Chang'an alone.
As the deputy envoy, Chen Shuda was so courageous that he dared to get involved in the struggle for the Turkic Khanate. Therefore, his nose and ears were cut off by Ashina Yang Huan and he was given to Li Po.
Zheng Yuanzhen was also detained in the Turkic Royal Court, but he did not have a dark history like Chen Shuda. His father Zheng Yi was also a friend of Emperor Wen Yang Jian, and had some connections with the Yang family, so Ashina Yang Huan did not pay much attention to him.
, stay with you and listen.
Now, as a Turk envoy to his homeland... Well, Li Po admires Ashina Yang Huan's courage and is not afraid of people running away.
However, it is obvious that Zheng Yuanxuan is different from Xie Zheng back then. He has no intention of going back and forth. He argued with others in Honglu Temple and fought with each other without losing the slightest advantage. In addition, he knew the situation in the south, which made it even more difficult to deal with.
It can be said that he has the demeanor of an envoy.
According to later standards, this man must have been a hard-core traitor and had disgraced the Zheng family in Xingyang.
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Thinking of this, Li Po ordered his people to look through the memorials and found the routine memorials from Honglu Temple and read them.
Not much progress has been made. The two sides are discussing how many people should be brought when they meet. To show their sincerity, no large groups of people should be allowed to spy within a certain distance. In what way the two sides will meet, and who can accompany them when they meet.
Furthermore, both sides said that in order to avoid being too boring during the alliance meeting, they had to prepare some programs and have a "friendly exchange", so they each had their own opinions and fell into a new round of quarrel.
Years ago, Li Po also instructed Honglu Temple to add new conditions, saying that he wanted to meet the Turkic Turks Tuli Khan and Jieli Khan, which obviously had bad intentions. This made Ashina Mudan very angry, and she asked Honglu
Officials from Lu Temple told Li Po that they wanted to see him.
Li Po ignored him. He was competing with Wen Yanhong and others at that time, so how could he care about such a "little thing"?
Negotiation is just a process in which you come and go and test each other's bottom line. If you don't make excessive demands, is it still called negotiation?
Li Po believed that it wouldn't be long before the Turkic envoys would mention the conditions for becoming a vassal, and they would talk to the Tang Dynasty based on their strength and position.
At that time, Datang will also express its tough stance and let them know that they think too much.
Li Po pondered for a long time, feeling that Li Zirou, the young minister of Honglu Temple, was a little alone, because he mentioned Zheng Yuanxuan many times, and seemed to admire his talent and eloquence.
This is not okay. A confrontation between two countries is not a place for you to make friends. It also shows that Li Zirou is at a disadvantage.
Gao Biaoren and Liu Shanyin both went on missions to the Turks, so Honglu Temple was led by Li Zirou, the young minister of Honglu Temple.
Li Po thought for a moment and then said: "Xie Zheng, a doctor in the Ministry of War and the young minister of Honglu Temple, together with Li Zirou, discussed the alliance with the Turkic envoys."
Xie Zheng is now in charge of the Military Intelligence Department after Zhang Liang. He is the second intelligence chief of the Tang Dynasty. He is a descendant of the Turks and a descendant of the Xie family. He is a perfect match for Zheng Yuanxuan...