Shelong controlled himself not to pay attention to Lin Shiling's substantive eyes, which made him disgusted and frightened in his heart. A pair of turbid old eyes stared straight at a palace maid not far ahead, until the corner of his eye swept over Lin Shiling and Quan Yi after they left. , Shelong's stiff and tense body was obviously able to relax.
"Your Highness, since there are still distinguished guests from the Tang Dynasty here, why not let the dog Xinuluo go to greet him? Otherwise, it will appear that Liuzhao is ignorant of etiquette and has no sincerity because of this matter." Shelong was talking. , the frequency of movement of the beard seems to Li Hong to be more than that of his mouth.
"No need, they are not important officials of the imperial court. There is no need to greet them with a big fanfare, lest the thoughtful and solemn etiquette spoils them and makes it difficult to control them in the future." Li Hong motioned to Shelong to continue drinking tea, and then he picked up the teacup and relaxed Savor it.
Shelong looked at the unclear smile on Li Hong's face, and his heart was shaking for no reason. He came here today just to find out directly what the purpose of the Tang Crown Prince came to stay in Nanzhao.
But so far he has found nothing, still no clear answer.
Fortunately, from reading between the lines of the conversation with the prince, he still learned some information, that is, the Tang Dynasty was very dissatisfied with the current Liuzhao, colluding with Princess Fangling of Jiannan Road, and cheating on Zhenla secretly Trade exchanges and even Tibetan affairs have been brought to the surface by the prince.
He didn't want to believe what His Highness the Crown Prince told him. He planned to use the 5,000 troops stationed in Taihe City to have a showdown with them, but His Highness the Crown Prince didn't mention anything else or how to deal with it. He only mentioned these evidences of Nanzhao's crimes.
This made him feel more and more panicked in his heart, and he couldn't help but start to think about the worst-case scenario, which was to imitate the Tubo and use the Tang people to take charge and govern the Liuzhao.
Shelong held the teacup to his lips, looked at the leisurely and contented Crown Prince Li Hong, shook his head and sighed, took a sip of tea, and couldn't help but began to say: "Your Highness, since you sent troops here a few years ago, the land of Liuzhao has always been... I, the Tang Dynasty, have followed my lead. Although I have occasionally gone out of my way in recent years, I can assure you, old minister, that my loyalty to the Tang Dynasty will remain the same no matter whether it is the Meng She Zhao, Shi Lang Zhao or Yue Ji Zhao..."
"I believe it in the past. When you were under Mengshe's imperial edict, I was quite relieved about this area of Lingnan Road. But after you passed the throne to Xinuluo, I couldn't believe that this area was important to the Tang Dynasty. of loyalty.”
"Don't worry, Your Highness. No matter you are an old minister or Xinuluo, your loyalty to the Tang Dynasty can be learned from heaven and earth. There is no second-guessing. As the minister said just now, the Liuzhao sent troops here from you a few years ago. After that, Liuzhao began to be proud of themselves as Tang people. Whether faced with the temptation of Zhenla or the temptation of Tubo, Liuzhao was always unmoved. They only knew that they were from Tang Dynasty, not from the Nanzhao Kingdom. Shelong put down his cup, looked at Li Hong and said solemnly.
"That's what I say, but the imperial court has never had any rights over this..."
When She Long heard what Li Hong said, his heart trembled again. Regardless of the disrespect, he interrupted Li Hong and said: "Your Highness, whether you are here or other officials of the imperial court are here, Liu Zhao always treats you as a superior official and treats you As a king, I never dare to disobey or look down upon any official of the Tang Dynasty."
"But imperial officials who come here never end well. They are either transferred back for making mistakes within three years, or they die of inexplicable infections. In the past two years, whether it was the land of Liuzhao or the land of Jiannan Road, , Rangers are everywhere, diseases are rampant, and the imperial court has inexplicably lost thirty-seven officials in Chengdu and the land of Liuzhao. Couldn't these be coincidences?" Li Hong put down his cup and his eyes became serious. , said looking at Shelong’s old face.
Shelong moved his lips, but in the end he did not choose to argue.
Of course he knew what happened to those court officials who violated regulations or died of illness.
Since he passed the throne to Xi Nuluo, all this has happened several times every year, and officials have disappeared silently, or they have gathered several people to write tens of thousands of words "crying out grievances", thus making the officials in the imperial court disappear. People here were deposed for violating the rules, or were killed by rangers. All this in Chengdu and Liuzhao has become their tried and tested method of dealing with officials sent by the imperial court.
"The tax system, military service, household registration, mulberry fields, etc. of the Tang Dynasty have never touched the land of the Liuzhao. The appointment and dismissal of officials are inaccessible due to natural and man-made disasters, official illness, and official violation of regulations. Do you think the imperial court will rest assured about this? Is this place independent of the legal system of the Tang Dynasty?" Hai Dongqing was sent out by Li Hong to "go to work" before the feathers that were damaged in Chengdu Mansion grew and returned to their original glory.
He took the envelope from Hai Dongqing's legs as tough as steel bars, patted Hai Dongqing's head, and watched Hai Dongqing scream twice as if in protest at She Long before reluctantly flying away. .
Li Hong turned around and looked at the secret letter in his hand, while continuing to say calmly: "Since the Liuzhao surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court has provided a large amount of funding here every year, whether it is money or food and grass, but has the imperial court ever received tax revenue? In other aspects, have you received a penny of money from Nanzhao? If you add in the grain and grass smuggled here from Jiannan Road, I made a rough estimate, plus the grain and grass produced in Liuzhao, the grain and grass recorded in the record now is All the people in Liuzhao can survive for five or six years without eating or drinking! But... Xinuluo told me that Nanzhao is short of food and the people are hungry and have no clothes to wear. Why is this?"
"Then what does His Highness mean?" Surprisingly, Shelong did not argue again, but asked with a lot of helplessness in his tone.
"It's very simple. You have always been close to Tibet and are close neighbors. Now Tibet has been under the rule of the Tang Dynasty for more than ten years. Its people cannot live and work in peace and contentment. However, hunger, food, and clothing are history. Everything relies on the efforts of Pei Xingjian, Ma Zai, and the two people you just met. Is it the king's land in the world, or the king's ministers on the shore of the land? If a small Liuzhao has always been free from the rule of law in the Tang Dynasty. Besides, is this... the territory of our Tang Dynasty? Are these people... the people of our Tang Dynasty? "
Li Hong looked at the shocked Shelong with satisfaction and took the initiative to pour tea into Shelong's empty cup again. This time, Li Hong even poured the tea evenly with the rim of the cup.
If Shelong wanted to pick up the tea and drink it without spilling a drop of the tea poured by the prince himself, he had to bend down and drink the tea from the rim of the cup until he could pick it up.
Shelong's eyes slowly moved from Li Hong's face to the tea cup that was about to overflow. He moved his lips, and instead of thanking Li Hong again, he murmured: "In this case, how will His Highness deal with the old minister?" Waiting for someone else? I believe that Your Highness is not a ruthless monarch, and the Six Zhaos are managed by officials of the Tang Dynasty. I guess we and others will still be reused by Your Highness, right?"
"Then it depends on how the Liuzhao issue is solved. If it can be solved without using any soldiers, as the Liuzhao nobles, the court will naturally not forget your contribution. There are not many nobles and wealthy families in the Tang Dynasty. There are thousands of households, do you care about a few more?" Li Hong still looked at Shelong's cup and made a gesture of invitation.
"Your Highness, do you plan to bring about earth-shaking changes in Liuzhao with these five thousand soldiers and horses? Although the soldiers are strong but few, I am afraid that Xinuluo will not agree easily." Shelong looked at the palace with some reluctance. , this was originally the place where he, Xi Nuluo and Sheng Luoyan lived, but since the prince arrived, it has become his mansion. His three grandparents and grandchildren have been kicked out of the palace by him.
"Back then, when I conquered Tibet, I only had ten thousand people, but I killed everyone who came in and out of Tibet until I lived in the white palace. Now I have lived in the palace. Xinuluo robbed me again last night. The three princes of Zhenla Kingdom, this is ironclad evidence of collusion with the Tuban, no matter what, I have a reason to govern the Liuzhao, unless you, Lao Shelong, don’t recognize the Liuzhao now? This is my territory of the Tang Dynasty. In this case, I will have to spend a lot of effort with my small army." Li Hong sneered, and then watched She Long lower his head and drink tea until the tea was gone. It would spill out when it was picked up, so it was picked up slowly.
"I can't guarantee anything. Although I voluntarily passed the throne to Xi Nuluo back then, if he hadn't forced me, I wouldn't have passed the throne to him so quickly. Although the veteran is old, his body has always been strong and strong. Even if Now, it won't be a big problem to conquer all directions." Lao Shelong drank all the tea in his hand, then put down the cup and stood up, saluted Li Hong solemnly, looked at the main hall of the palace, and then left. .
Li Hong did not get up, but watched as Lao Shelong's pace suddenly became much more vigorous, and he quickly walked out of the palace. It was not until his back disappeared for a long time that he slowly stood up and walked to the door.
Lin Shiling and Quan Yi, at this time, had hurried to the palace from outside with Yang Sijian and others.
Although Quan Yi only brought two thousand people with him this time, Li Hong was satisfied that among the two thousand soldiers, there were not only Tang people, but also about 30% of Tubo people and other herders. Soldiers, for Li Hong, made him much happier than an army composed entirely of Tang people.
"Your Highness, Quan Yi and Lin Shiling, have met." The two of them once again saluted Li Hong, who was still standing at the door.
Li Hong waved his hand casually, and then slowly walked up to Yang Sijian: "Whether you were involved in the rebellion of Yang Zhirou and Li Jingye or not, I will not pursue it anymore. The purpose of coming here must have been on you along the way. You guessed it, Pei Xingjian and Ma Zai were able to perform great feats in Tubo that greatly promoted the Tang Dynasty. You must be able to perform political achievements that are no less than his. I will help you go to the land of Liuzhao. No worries, I will give you a place to display your talents, but... if you, Yang Sijian, can't give me the results I want, you can just deal with it yourself."
"I... I will live up to His Highness's trust!" Yang Sijian made a plop, knelt on the ground and said plausibly.
(End of chapter)