Fu Tang

Li Congjia fixedly looked at Shi Xueting and asked, "Three Buddhas?"

Shi Xueting smiled and said, "I knew you would guess them, no."

Li Congjia was a little surprised: "It's not? Then someone in Funan who opposed the surrender?"

Shi Xueting shook his head: "No."

Li Congjia said decisively: "You should just say it directly."

It was only then that Shi Xueting revealed the mystery: "This matter was written by the Queen's Kingdom."

Li Congjia laughed immediately after hearing this: "This Funan...how is it so messed up? There are people from Srivijaya and people from the Queen's Kingdom in China. The most important thing is that people from these two countries can still influence Funan. Decision-making, that's great."

Shi Xueting said: "I thought you would want to know why the Queen Kingdom would do this."

Li Congjia got up and stretched his body before he said: "What's so hard to guess? Before Datang conquered Dali, it was already bordering on the Queen's Kingdom, and on the other side bordering on the Queen's Kingdom is Funan. If Funan also surrenders, it will become Dali. Tang's land, then the Queen's Kingdom is equivalent to being surrounded by the Tang Dynasty, leaving only one side facing the sea, can they be in a hurry?"

After all, the Queen's Kingdom is not the Vatican, and it is impossible to be a country within a country. Even if Datang doesn't seem to want to beat them, they still have to worry about it. It's better to let Funan continue to fight with Datang, at least it can delay it for a while .

Shi Xueting continued: "That's true. However, the Queen's Kingdom has also been making frequent moves recently. Apart from piling up most of its troops on the border, it also has close contacts with San Buddha Qi."

Li Congjia chuckled: "Is this planning to rely on Sanfoqi? How can we have the confidence to think that Sanfoqi is our opponent?"

But Shi Xueting said: "Not necessarily not."

"Huh?" Li Congjia was surprised: "What do you mean? Could it be that Srivijaya has some secret weapon?"

Shi Xueting thought about it for a while and said: "I don't know if it's a secret weapon, but it's true that the people there are tough, and it's not that they haven't had friction with other countries, but those countries can't defeat San Buddha Qi. The main thing is that their people are not afraid of death."

Li Congjia smiled slightly: "If you are not afraid of death, you will not die. No matter how tough the people are, what is the use of firearms?"

"This is what I find strange. It is said that Srivijaya has a drug that can make people invulnerable. They rely on this drug to run amok."

Li Congjia was shocked when he heard this: "Isn't it? Is it true? How could there be such a drug?"

Shi Xueting said: "I did see some invulnerable people, but I don't know if it was made by practicing kung fu, or if there is really this kind of drug, but I have to guard against it."

Invulnerable?Li Congjia rubbed his chin, this is a bit difficult, but he is not worried at all, it is just invulnerable, he is really in a hurry, throw some powerful bombs on the islands, after the explosion, those islands will probably die. There are not many left, even if these people can be invulnerable, can they still be invulnerable?

Of course, this kind of practice is too wicked, Li Congjia will not use it unless it is a last resort, and now it is only a prince of Srivijaya who is bothering Datang, and no one knows what the king of Srivijaya thinks.

Li Congjia pondered for a while and said: "Is there any absolute evidence that the prince is not good for Datang?"

Shi Xueting said: "Of course there is, otherwise I wouldn't come back so soon just based on speculation, why? You want to use this evidence?"

Li Congjia said: "Yes, this is a good opportunity to test Sanfoqi. If Sanfoqi has no intention of becoming an enemy of Datang, then this evidence is enough to make that prince lose his competitiveness for the throne. King Qi still wants this prince to be his heir after knowing about it, so is there any need to talk about his attitude?"

Shi Xueting nodded and said, "We still need to inform the cabinet about this matter."

Li Congjia rubbed his temples: "Don't mention the cabinet, it gave me a headache, where can I find a minister to put in the cabinet now? And among the remaining three people, who can be the chief minister?"

"I think Wang Pu and Wei Renpu are both good. Zhao Pu is capable, but he is too young. If he is appointed as the chief assistant, he may become a super powerful minister in many years. If he does not die early, the crown prince may not be able to check and balance. killed him."

Li Congjia nodded in agreement. What Shi Xueting said made sense, but he only commented on who among the cabinet members was suitable to be the chief assistant, and he did not give an exact candidate. As for the position of the remaining second assistant , let alone say anything.

He was a little helpless about this, knowing that Shi Xueting was still avoiding suspicion, after recalling all the resumes of all the five departments, he suddenly felt that Shangshu Hubu was actually a very good candidate.

Hubu Shangshu Jichun also served as the governor outside for a period of time before, and after he came back, he almost took turns in the five divisions and nine ministers. Except for the Honglu Temple, he stayed in other places for a while, so he can be regarded as a generalist. People are enough to enter the cabinet.

Of course, what makes Li Congjia most satisfied is that Ji Chun is smooth and not rigid, but he still has his own bottom line, and he has not lost his heart in such a position as the household department. , what can be accepted and what cannot be accepted.

Li Congjia felt that the new assistant candidate had been selected, but before that...he didn't want to announce the answer too soon.

First of all, he agreed to Fan Zhi's application to beg for bones, but he didn't let Fan Zhi idle. Fan Zhi's retirement was entirely to make room for others, and he was also protecting Li Congjia from his own point of view.

From this point of view, even though Fan Zhi can be regarded as the prince's teacher, Fan Zhi still took care of Li Congjia more in the end.

It was impossible for Li Congjia to let such a capable person go home to plant flowers and grass, so Fan Zhi returned to the academy after wandering around the cabinet.

Originally, he wanted Fan Zhi to be the head of the college. He has high qualifications and rich experience. Compared with Liu Yi, who can hold the position, some students with good family background will secretly bully Liu Yi. After all, although Liu Yi is the current college The management staff, but after all, he is not the head of the mountain, and his official position is not high enough, so it is okay to bully him.

Li Congjia couldn't support Liu Yi all the time, and he didn't deserve the name of the mountain leader, after all, he didn't have much time to manage it.

It was just right for Fan Zhi to come, but Fan Zhi disagreed with his life and death. He said directly: "Even if Your Majesty has no time to manage, these people can still claim to be disciples of the Son of Heaven after they leave.

Son of Heaven student?Li Congjia was stunned for a moment. Basically, this concept would not be clear until the Ming Dynasty. After all, the relationship between teachers and students in the court during the Ming Dynasty was intricate, and the disciples of the son of heaven were proposed by the emperor to deal with this intricate relationship.

But now Li Congjia didn't think it was very useful, but if Fan Zhi refused, he couldn't force it, so he had to give Fan Zhi the position of deputy mountain chief, which was almost the same.

After listening to Li Congjia's arrangement, Shi Xueting couldn't help laughing and said, "It's a good thing that a chief assistant will be exploited by you after retirement, and you will be sent to school and town house. You really don't waste your talent."

Li Congjia looked at him seriously and said: "Don't tell me, this man has to be busy. Mr. Fan is not young this year, but he still looks relatively young. Let him go home to take care of his old age. Believe it or not, you will show your old age in a short time?"

This Shi Xueting really believed it, isn't the most typical example his master Shi Qingsong?

Back then when Shi Qingsong had goals and pursuits, even though he was already old, he was still in good condition, but after the founding of the Tang Dynasty, he stopped thinking about it, and now he is just an ordinary old monk.

Li Congjia not only found a job for Fan Zhi, but also gave him an honor. At the same time, he did not remove the position of prince and grand teacher, and let Fan Zhi continue to be the prince and grand teacher.

Fan Zhi's retirement had a big impact on the imperial court, but it was not that great. After all, he was not a minister of power, and he had never formed a party. What's more, the battle in the court had not yet reached a fever pitch. There was competition among them, but they would not fight It's up to you.

Fan Zhi's retirement did not cause much shock, but after his retirement, the imperial court began to be active.

The four assistant ministers in the cabinet have almost become a rule, and now there is a vacancy suddenly. The ministers who are a bit pursuing and feel that they have similar qualifications are all trying to join the cabinet, while the three assistant ministers in the cabinet are more than enough. He wanted to be the chief assistant.

Although they are all assistant ministers, the first assistant sounds better. Zhao Pu's mood is the most contradictory here. He himself feels that he may not have the opportunity to be the first assistant. After all, he is not as good as the first two in terms of qualifications and experience, but he still Can't help but look forward to it, what if?

But Li Congjia just refused to announce the answer, which made everyone scratch their heads and feel uncomfortable, but they didn't dare to ask Li Congjia, for fear that a question would annoy Li Congjia, make him unhappy, and the chance of joining the cabinet would disappear.

Some people also went to Fan Zhi to inquire, and those who wanted to join the cabinet even asked other secondary assistants, but they found nothing, Fan Zhi sent the word directly: "I have retired, I don't know anything, Your Majesty Shengming Zhuzhao, he knows it well."

This made many people feel depressed. It is normal for His Majesty to know what to do, and they also want to know, at least they can know where they are working hard!

But since there is no strategy, you can only do your job well, you can't delay, you must work hard.

It has to be said that the goal of being promoted whipped these people, and the entire Tang court was running very fast for a while, and even some troublesome things were shortened.

What touched Li Congjia the most was the prince's wedding ceremony and some constitutions and regulations of the federal monarchy.

Si Tianjian calculated the timing of the prince's wedding ceremony slowly. There are three auspicious times in total. One is the beginning of spring next year, the other is the summer solstice, and the last one is late autumn.

Li Congjia decisively ruled out the first two. Time is too tight in spring. After all, except for the bride and groom's clothes, they have almost not done a good job. The most important thing is that Li Congjia has to help Li Zhongyu repair the East Palace. After all If it's a marriage, the young couple should always live in a new house.

As for summer, do you want to be hot to death when you get married at this time?After all, when summer comes, Li Congjia will go out to escape the heat. It is impossible to stay in Chang'an, and he will come back to hold a wedding at that time?It's not as good as late autumn, the time is just right, the temperature should be about the same, it's perfect.

It’s just that because there is enough time, the Ministry of Rites has been discussing various ordinances in a tepid manner. Their meaning is basically the same as that of Li Hongji, that is, some ritual systems of the former Tang Dynasty can be continued, but they cannot be completely copied. It can fully reflect the characteristics of this dynasty.

Li Congjia simply let them do it, basically ten days and a half months ago, they couldn't discuss a single thing, and even discussed how many tables the princess's natal family would hold for a long time.

As a result, when there was a vacancy in the cabinet, the minister of the Ministry of Rites also beat the people below to discuss things, and presented the entire process in one go.

When Li Congjia saw the memorial, he said to Shi Xueting, dumbfounded: "These bastards, if there is no benefit for them, they will be passive and sabotage."

But Shi Xueting said: "It's human nature, anyway, it's still early to take your time, things that are rushed out will always have something unsatisfactory."

Li Congjia directly handed the memorial to him, and said confidently: "Anyway, you read more books than me, so you can take a look. If there is anything wrong, let them correct it!"

Shi Xueting took it and asked: "There is no special news from Funan recently, anyway, they have some doubts about the federal monarchy system."

Li Congjia didn't bother to entangle in this matter and said directly: "It doesn't matter, we have many ways to surrender for them to choose, whether to directly become part of the territory of the Tang Dynasty, or to be an autonomous region, or an independent country with some political power, let them surrender." They choose for themselves."

Shi Xueting teased him and asked, "What if they don't choose?"

Li Congjia raised his head: "If they don't vote, I will let Yang Ye go."

Shi Xueting laughed instantly. The reason why Li Congjia said that was mainly because Yang Ye fought too hard in Funan before, which left a very deep impression on the people of Funan. If he didn't pay attention, he was beaten to the capital by Yang Ye.

He couldn't help but said: "It's best to settle this matter before the new year, or else how to arrange the envoys of Funan, the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple will have a hard time making a decision. Well, let Yang Shilang go to the south for a while. Maybe it can bring some pressure to King Funan."

Li Congjia's eyes lit up after hearing this, yes, who said that Yang Ye had to fight in the past?Couldn't he just go and visit a relative or something?

What?You said Yang Ye has no relatives over there?

Tsk, is it not a matter of the emperor's word to have relatives?

Li Congjia decisively called Yang Ye over and asked him to go on a tour at public expense, and Yang Ye was also quite interested in this task.

It has to be said that Yang Ye's re-emergence really frightened Funan, who happily agreed to join the federation, but there were still some details to argue about, but from then on, there was no problem in recognizing Datang as the suzerain.

The cabinet teamed up with the five ministries to start bargaining with Funan at full speed, but it was only because of the prestige of victory that Funan was not their opponent at all.

However, the economic field and the cultural field are all easy to talk about. The most difficult thing to solve is the issue of military power. What Li Congjia means is that since it is a federal system, the local area can have some independent military power, but the suzerain country must control more than 60.00% of the country’s military power.

As the saying goes, a prisoner who does not want to rebel is not a good king. Even if the King of Funan surrenders now, he may not have the idea of ​​finding an opportunity to rebel in the future. If Datang really controls more than 60.00% of the country's military strength at once, Then he is still a fart!

It's a pity that the arms can't twist the thighs. Once Funan showed his intention to resist, Yang Ye would take a walk to the border with his soldiers, which made the King of Funan anxious and worried all over the place.

In the end, in order to save his own hairline, the King of Funan could only agree with Datang to control 60.00% of the military power in Funan.

After the general framework is here, the rest is the details, such as currency in circulation, measurement units and other complicated things. Of course, these must be based on the standards of Datang, which can be regarded as a wave of cultural export.

During this process, Li Congjia has been paying attention to Sanfoqi. He always felt that the other party must make trouble, but unexpectedly, Sanfoqi kept quiet. The things sent, I think Sanfoqi should not want to be an enemy of Datang in the short term.

There is no other trouble, just a queen country who is eager to make a move, but is closely monitored by Datang and dare not disturb it. The process of Funan's joining the federation can be regarded as smooth.

After the details were basically negotiated, Funan people who had been resisting this matter before found that the benefits of joining the federation felt more than the disadvantages.

First of all, all kinds of silk fabrics and porcelain from Datang are cheaper. After all, even a federal system can be regarded as a country. There are no customs duties, and taxes are based on the taxes formulated by Datang.

And Datang's taxation can be said to be the most friendly tax policy for farmers in the world in this era. Although the commercial tax is relatively high, many businessmen have lowered the purchase price because the goods imported from Datang have less tariffs. Not that obvious either.

Compared with the unhappiness of the royal family in Funan, the ordinary people in Funan feel that their lives are gradually getting better, which is very good.

And Datang can also benefit from it. Before the main grain output of Datang, apart from Kaifeng in the south of Lingnan, it was the two lakes and two provinces.

It's just that Guangdong and Guangxi are still under development, the two lakes are not so mature, and the development of Lingnan is not long, and Funan has a good climate and ready-made land, which can greatly alleviate the food crisis in Datang.

After the people of Funan had tasted the sweetness, they no longer felt so resistant to the large number of people coming from Datang. The most important thing is that these people brought a lot of wealth!

The only thing I am not used to is probably the currency, but there is nothing wrong with this flaw.

However, the biggest benefit of becoming a citizen of the Tang Dynasty may only be felt by those businessmen who have traveled all the year round. They used to go to Tubo or other countries, saying that they were Funan people, and the treatment they received was very ordinary. After all, the country is weak and small. If you go out now and say that you are from Tang Dynasty, it will definitely be different from before!

Funan's resistance is gradually weakening, and it is easier for Datang to control Funan. Only the king of Funan saw that Li Congjia was more loved by Funan people than him in a short period of time, and the envy, jealousy and hatred in his heart were all gone. There is no way to say.

Especially when he thought of going to Chang'an to salute Li Congjia as a courtier during the New Year, he was even more distressed.

However, if his heartache is known to others, I am afraid he will feel that he is not blessed in the blessings. It is very lucky that he can become a courtier of the Tang Dynasty and retain the throne. None of the kings of Khotan received such treatment.

And there are even some people who want to become the courtiers of the Tang Dynasty, but there are not a few people who have such a goal. At least there are a few small tribes in Tubo that are about to be annexed by the big tribes, and they have this idea.

At their level, after being annexed by a large tribe, the tribe may disappear from then on. The young and middle-aged in the tribe will be slaughtered, the old and the weak will be slaughtered, and only women and children will be left. The crueler ones may not even keep children. Only property cattle, sheep and women are left.

And if they surrendered to Datang, they might just move out of their original place and find a place assigned to them by Datang to continue living, which is much better than being annexed.

So after these small tribes learned about the Federation, several of them wrote a letter to join the Federation.

Regarding this, Li Congjia was really dumbfounded. To join the federation, one must have sufficient status and strength. Strictly speaking, the federation is the United States. method.

Sooner or later, these small tribes will be in Datang's pocket, so why bother?

Li Congjia ignored these small tribes, but turned around and announced the latest personnel appointments. This time the court can be said to be a big change. Many people in the six departments and nine ministers have been rotated. The chief assistant fell to Wei Renpu, and Ji Chun also entered up the cabinet.

After these two personnel appointments were implemented, the entire court entered a relatively quiet period. After all, there were no competing targets.

As a result, at this time, Yang Xin, who had just become Minister of Honglu Temple, brought a message: "Your Majesty, another country has sent a letter of credence to join the Federation!"