There are two eminent monks in Funan, one of whom is from Tianzhu and the other is his disciple.
These two people were more respected in Funan than the King of Funan. They wanted to go north to Datang to teach the Dharma. Unfortunately, they were too old and could not withstand the bumpy journey.
Tianzhu is the birthplace of Buddhism. Buddhists spread the Dharma everywhere, and their footprints are almost all over the Asian continent. Tianzhu has always been famous for the prosperity of Buddhism in the Central Plains.
In fact, it is also very famous in Tianzhu and the Central Plains, and is an important destination in the spread of Buddhism. It has not even been mentioned one by one.
In fact, the Tang Dynasty didn't have to go through all the troubles to obtain the true scriptures. It sent a team of iron cavalry, and the Tianzhu monks were willing to come back with you to teach the Dharma. Well, Tathagata Buddha is just hypocritical.
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That is to say, because it is too far away and Tianzhu's military power is not high, the monks cannot reach the Central Plains safely. Otherwise, Tianzhu monks would have appeared here in groups long ago.
So the nobles of Buyeo gave the two eminent monks an idea: If I can't go and live with you, then you can come and live with me.
Therefore, the envoy sent by King Funan wanted to ask His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty to send people to Tianzhu to study Buddhism and then bring the proceeds back to the Tang Dynasty so that everyone could bathe in the light of Buddha and become one family.
What he was thinking was that it was so beautiful. Li Po really wanted to tell those two idiots that according to what the Buddha said, if you don’t go through nine or eighty-one hardships, your heart will be dishonest. Otherwise, you should get a monkey to play with first.
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However, we can make use of this by sending people to stay in Funan to see the local customs and customs in Funan. If the people who go there are effective, they may also be able to influence the politics and military of Funan.
The option of attacking Funan is also included, but Funan is not Linyi. The territory is much larger than Linyi. There is Zhenla next to it, and there are many islands in the south. In addition, it is densely covered with mountains and forests. It is really difficult to send troops to force it, so
Say war is the last option.
As for what kind of Buddhist teachings to learn, forget it. There are already enough monks and believers in the Central Plains. What's the point of letting them collude with the monks from Tianzhu?
At this time, Li Po couldn't help but think of Cheng Zhijie and his party. Previously, Liangzhou reported that Cheng Zhijie and others had passed the Jishi Pass and entered the highlands.
After that, no news came back. I wonder if the guy is still alive?
The Tang Dynasty was flourishing in all aspects of diplomacy and had been busy for several years.
There are actually a lot of achievements.
Defeated the Tubo invasion in the northwest and planned to intervene in the Tubo civil strife.
Then the Western Turks sent envoys to the DPRK to reiterate their friendly intentions.
The most important point is that the Tuyuhun and Qiang tribes that lived in the highlands disappeared all year round. They were either conquered by the Tubo people or absorbed by the Tang Dynasty, and could no longer have much influence on the situation in the northwest.
The demise of Tuyuhun and the Qiang tribes, as well as the civil strife in Tubo, completely stabilized the northwest frontier of the Tang Dynasty. This was of self-evident benefit to the Tang Dynasty.
In the north, they expelled the Turkic invaders and withstood some offensives by the Turks in the early days of the founding of the country. Now they have finally made an alliance with the Turks.
The northeast direction even made Ashina Duowen turn to Liaodong, causing some trouble for the Turkic Khanate. Although it seemed that they didn't care too much, it achieved the strategic purpose of the Tang Dynasty after all.
Dongbang defeated the Japanese fleet at sea and had real contacts with the Silla people. No matter what else happened, Goguryeo was in trouble now.
In the south, the small country of Linyi was destroyed, Jiaozhi and other counties were recovered, and Funan was forced to send envoys to the court.
Listed in this way, it can be clearly seen that the Tang Dynasty gradually stabilized the surrounding territory in two or three years, and has generally eliminated the negative impact of the war in the late Sui Dynasty, and its territory has been expanding.
From another perspective, Datang has basically passed the difficult stage in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
These wars in the early years of the Tang Dynasty can all be said to be the battles for the founding of the country. The blood was not shed in vain, and the achievements of the Tang Dynasty in bringing peace to the world were guaranteed.
Throughout history, the establishment of any dynasty has to go through such a process, almost without exception.
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After meeting the Funan envoy, Li Po looked through some previous case files.
After the household registration inventory was completed, the progress of land division, tax collection, imperial examination, establishment of Zhechong government, etc. accelerated at once.
The land division will probably be completed next year. This year it will be mainly implemented in the north. The south will be more complicated, so it will have to wait until next year.
From the current point of view, there is not much resistance. The trouble still lies in the issue of returning the land. The common people can talk about it, but it mainly lies with the nobles in various places.
Some people go to the local government with various land deeds. This is okay and can be dealt with as appropriate. It will not be like in Jinyang, where a certain amount of land in the former Sui Dynasty was simply abolished in order to ensure the supply of military supplies and appease the people.
To prove it, some people were killed for this purpose.
Now the government is not so unreasonable and can return part of the property to the nobles.
But the problem doesn't stop there. There are also people who come to ask for lost items just by opening their mouths, and there are even people who want to use this to manipulate others or make trouble.
It has also become an obstacle to the implementation of the land policy, which needs to be resolutely suppressed. This kind of thing cannot be entangled and delayed, and there is no need to worry about it. It is just killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.
Just catch a few typical examples of this kind of thing and deal with it sternly.
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They all fall into the category where everything is difficult at the beginning, and there are always some people who pretend to be smart and try their own methods.
The same is true for the imperial examination. It will be much better once inertia is formed.
Regarding taxes, taxes and services will be restored after two years. The feudal dynasty cannot always be exempted from civil service. As long as a certain transition period is set aside and no harsh punishments are used to force the people to rebel, everyone will be able to live in peace.
As for the tax law, the Tang Dynasty implemented the two-tax law, which included the nobles into the scope of the tax law. It seemed that the nobles paid taxes, but in fact it still failed to satisfy Li Po.
Nobles are generally wealthy and powerful, but no matter how prosperous the population is, it is still out of proportion to the resources they occupy. The little tax they collect can only be said to be better than nothing.
If you want to take action from them, you must also focus on controlling the size of the nobles' property, such as finding ways to separate the nobles' families, or limiting the number of properties owned by the nobles, etc.
There are many methods, but in terms of the current social environment, the effects are unsatisfactory, and it is difficult to grasp the appropriateness among them.
For example, the Tang Dynasty recognized some of the titles awarded by the previous dynasty and Li Yuan and Xiao Xian, but would not pay them wages according to their titles. This is a method that everyone can accept, and it is just right.
Some people will say that you can simply reduce your title, but what will happen?
In fact, quick and easy tactics may seem refreshing, but they can easily arouse sharp conflicts. The most important quality of a political person is actually knowing how to compromise, rather than having the courage to go for the tiger in the mountain, knowing that there are tigers in the mountains.
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When Li Po briefly browsed through the case files, he and his wife had the same feeling. There may be many more people killed this year, and many people have already lost their heads before this.
The feudal officials everywhere are people who have come from wars and have no taboo against killing people. If you commit crimes in their hands, if your official position is slightly smaller, you will become the ghost of their swords.
Those who can report to the imperial court are either high-ranking officials or children of famous families.
Li Po was very "pleased". Looking at their messy crimes, he felt that high-ranking officials and nobles were the easiest to kill, which made people happy and enlightened.
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Time gradually came to the end of September, and when there were two heavy snowfalls, the court immediately stopped serving, political affairs dropped sharply, and Li Po became "relaxed".
At this time, Du Fuwei's good news finally reached Chang'an.
The great victory at sea severely damaged the Japanese state, completely annihilating Baekje's navy, and after landing, Baekje was wiped out.
The outcome of the battle was so impressive that Li Po felt a little unsure after hearing it. Could it be that Du Fuwei had let himself go and lied about the military situation? But he also came with the credentials handwritten by the leader of Silla, so that shouldn't be the case.
There is a holiday.
Li Po couldn't help but imagine the scene of ten thousand soldiers going out, fighting continuously, and attacking the royal city of Baekje. He didn't know if the Baekje people were too weak, or if Du Fuwei was just unlucky, or if the Tang army was too capable.
Fighting?
Who knows, judging from the description of the victory report, it is simply devastating.
Especially in the battle of Sixi City, the Tang army of less than 2,000 people, led by Du Fuwei, actually defeated the Baekje army of 100,000 people.
Li Po felt that it must be an exaggeration, or else the Baekje leader stepped on a rock, fell off his horse and died. Otherwise, the peasant army would not be so fragile.
No matter how you say it, the results of the battle were brilliant, and it immediately outshone Li Daozong's contribution to leading the army to destroy Lin Yi.
Even though Li Po was a little suspicious, he was overjoyed. He carefully read the letter written by King Jindeman of Silla. At the beginning of the letter, he was called His Majesty Emperor Seungdeok. Li Po couldn't help but nod in his heart, he was very knowledgeable and knowledgeable.
It was just that the characters were hard to read. The people of Silla used Chinese characters, mostly ancient scripts such as Xiaozhuan. This made him, who was not very well-educated in literature, immediately blinded.
He had to ask Yan Shigu to read it to him.
I was thinking in my heart that it is still necessary to unify the font, especially for these foreigners, there are more and more people coming and going, so it is proper for them to learn Chinese characters.
On the contrary, it is also necessary for scholars to learn foreign languages and writings...
This time, the people of Silla seriously planned to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. They asked him to send envoys to grant the title and send troops to garrison. There was no need to think twice about joining the Tang Dynasty. This was what they asked for.
The article also apologized deeply for not being able to offer a generous gift to His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty due to the haste, winter, and the long distance. It was truly rude. Someone would be sent here again early next year to receive the envoys of the Tang Dynasty.
Crossed eastward to Silla.
Full of sincerity, Li Po finally felt a little like the coming of all nations.
I just don’t know if the Silla people and the Goguryeo people had such interactions. Thinking of this, Li Po’s interest dropped slightly, and then thinking of the poor performance of the descendants of Silla, he suddenly regained the high ground with reason...