North and South groceries

In the early spring of the 14th year of Zhenguan, the atmosphere in Chang'an City was also a bit delicate.

Earlier, the sage said that he was going to send troops to the Gaochang Kingdom, but the army did not move. The Prince Gaochang led dozens of entourages and rode all the way to Chang'an City. He said that the Gaochang Kingdom had been controlled by the Turks. I came here to ask for help, and I hope Tang Jun can break the siege of Gaochang.

It was not Gaochang's intention to offend them a lot earlier, Wangtian Khan Haihan, this time they specially brought the national treasure of their Gaochang Kingdom and dedicated it to Tian Khan, Wangtian Khan can forgive their sins.

Nowadays, most of the common people have believed that the Gaochang Kingdom is innocent, but the ministers in the court may not.

Besides, whether you are innocent or not is not the most important thing in the first place. The important thing is that since you, Gaochang State, have no clear connection with the Turkic people, Tang Jun is going to beat you.

In the future, if other small countries in the Western Regions want to abandon the Tang Dynasty and join the Turks, they must first think about the consequences and look at the lessons learned by the people of Gaochang.

It’s just that public opinion has formed among the people now, especially since Gaochang Kingdom is a Buddhist country, and Buddhism is also flourishing in Chang’an City, and those Buddhists have stood up to speak for Gaochang Kingdom one by one. people's hearts.

Li Shimin was clearly in a bad mood these past few days, Qu Zhisheng said that he would present a treasure to him, but he didn't see him, and just left him there, ignoring him.

What a drag on the front of the Gaochang Kingdom. Earlier, people from the Yanqi Kingdom came to Chang’an City to complain, saying that the Gaochang Kingdom prevented their envoys from entering Beijing. Li Shimin sent envoys to Gaochang at that time, one, two, three, four to the Gaochang King Qu Wen Tai listed several demands, but Qu Wentai refused all of them, so the Central Plains court said that they would send troops to fight him. Seeing that the army was about to go to war, he rushed to offer some treasures. Is this a joke?

Hou Junji was also very annoyed the past few days, he had planned to let him go to fight Gaochang, but the army was about to go to war, yet such an accident happened again.

Qu Wentai of Gaochang Kingdom actually wanted to ask Tang for help, asking the Tang army to help them fight the Turks.

Originally, Hou Junji had a good idea. He drove the army over, wiped out the Gaochang Kingdom three times and two times, and then wrote it down in the history books to destroy a country and open up the territory of the Tang Dynasty. How big is this? A military exploit.

As for where the Gaochang country is, how big the country is, and how many troops it has, who cares? How many ordinary people can figure it out clearly?

Now if you want to tell him to fight Turkic, Turkic is a tough bone, not to mention three times, even if he, Hou Junji, spends his whole life, he will definitely not be able to destroy it.

What was originally a good military achievement is about to turn into such a thankless job, so why is Hou Junji willing to do it?In the past few days, he has been in the palace to meet Li Shimin several times, and every time he said that Gaochang is going to fight, Qu Wentai, Qu Zhisheng and his son are not good birds, even if you help them now, they will have to turn around and bite back .

Those ministers in the court, some said to fight and some said not to fight, some said to fight Gaochang and some said to fight Turks. The morning court these days is also noisy.

At this time, Tang Jian sent someone to Chang'an City from the Hexi Corridor. In addition, there was an official document.

This thing is a compass produced in Changle County, a small disc, it looks like a small box, only the size of the palm of your hand, it is made of wood, and the surface is polished very smooth.

According to the official document, with a slight swipe of your finger, the cover on the compass will be slid open. It was originally to connect a point on the round cover with the box below, and you only need to push and slide with your finger to open and close it. , it's a bit delicate.

Looking at the inside of the box, there must be a pointer in the middle. This pointer is pointed at both ends, pointing in two directions respectively, and engraved with the words "North and South". Rotate, but still point in the original direction!

On this day, the emperor had a discussion with several ministers, and after he finished talking about the topic, he asked people to take out the compass and have a closer look with the ministers.

"Could it be that this thing...is Si Nan?" These ministers in the court are also very knowledgeable people in this era, and some people soon identified the purpose of this thing.

"Tang Jian wrote a letter saying that it can be mass-produced and the cost is low." The emperor said.

In fact, Tang Jian also included an instruction manual in this letter, stating that the emperor has ordered people to do it now, but it has not been completed yet, but this matter can be left for later.

"This Sinan is really light." A minister played with the small wooden tray in his hand, loving it.

If you look closely, the disk is divided into upper and lower parts. The hollow space below is dug out of a whole piece of wood. The material of this piece of wood is also good, and the workmanship is also exquisite.

In order to distinguish the upper and lower parts, the lower part only has patterns around it. The bottom is flat and there is no sculpture. What, slide open the lid gently with your fingers, there is another universe inside, it is really exquisite!

Such a lightweight object is cheap to manufacture and can point people in the direction. If it is really mass-produced...

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid this thing cannot be easily shown to others." Someone immediately objected.

"This is a sharp weapon!"

"Sinan is a thing that has existed since ancient times. It has been used by princes and ministers. How can such a sharp weapon flow into the people?"

"..."

After hearing this, the emperor didn't say anything, but took out Tang Jian's document and showed it to them.

What is written in Tang Jian's document is a bit complicated.

Mr. Tang was not idle in the Hexi Corridor during this period. He often traveled between Dunhuang City and Changle County, tried to talk to Hu people and some local people of insight, and took a lot of ready-made from Luo Yong. The organization becomes such a document.

This document is not so much a document as it is a thesis.

The article involves the countries of the Western Regions and their current situation, including all aspects of politics, economy and culture, and even drew a few simple pictures.

However, the focus of this document is on religion, among which Buddhism and Islam are the main ones.

Most of the countries in the Western Regions believe in Buddhism, and the Buddha country is thousands of miles away, and the Buddhist style is strong.Although there are many other religions, the Buddhism of the Tang Dynasty, the Buddhism of the Western Regions, and the Buddhism of Tianzhu are connected together to form a large Buddhist circle. This is an invisible religious and cultural defense circle, invisible to the naked eye. But extremely important.

In the distant Western Regions, there is also Islam. In recent years, the Arabian Peninsula has been unified, and it is now expanding to surrounding areas. Islam is a religion with unclear political power and teachings. It is very aggressive and exclusive. Now, their country is in a stage of continuous expansion and growth, and they have to guard against it.

Finally, Tang Jian said, regardless of whether there is Islam or not, Tang, as a country with prosperous Buddhism, should strive to occupy the religious high ground when Buddhism is flourishing everywhere, so that this religious force can become a powerful force. Possess Tang power.

Looking at the current situation, there is the rising empire of Dashi in the west, and Tubo in the south. Songtsan Gampo has already achieved something at such a young age.There is Turkic Xueyantuo Goguryeo in the north, and those are hard bones that are not easy to chew.

Under such a big situation, what's the point of a small Gaochang country?

Right now is the time to win over Buddhist forces, and there is no need to create a gap between the Tang regime and many Buddhists for the sake of the Gaochang Kingdom.

Such a paper with a broad view of the world directly stunned some ministers.

I can't help but sigh in my heart, Tang Jian's mind and vision are indeed beyond the reach of ordinary people.

According to Tang Jian's words, the Gaochang Kingdom does not have to fight at all. It just so happens that Qu Zhisheng is now in Chang'an City, and he talks about offering treasures to Tian Khan all day long, otherwise...

"In my opinion, even if the Gaochang Kingdom is defeated, it doesn't make much sense." A minister said at this time.

From the Hexi Corridor to Gaochang Kingdom, there is still a large barren beach. If the national power of Tang is strong, he, a small country of Gaochang, naturally dare not make mistakes. Can't help it, even if civil servants and military generals are sent to that place, in the end these people are very likely to occupy the land and become kings on their own. After a few years, there will be a new regime.

For such a country, is it worth spending so much food and military pay, and spending the lives of so many soldiers from the Great Tang Dynasty to pay for it?

But even if they don't fight Gaochang, the Turks will definitely still fight. Now that Gaochang Kingdom intends to surrender to Tang, let's accept it, and then join forces with Gaochang Kingdom to fight the Turks.

After much deliberation, this approach is still the most beneficial to the country.

After the ministers had dispersed, Li Shimin was not in a hurry to leave, but sat still where he was, holding up Tang Jian's document and reading it carefully.

Tang Jian is indeed talented. Looking at the whole court, I am afraid that there is no second person who can write such a document. Although there are many talents, they all have their own strengths. Some are good at fighting, and some are good at governing the country. Dao, there are indeed very few who can really look at the world.

The emperor of the Tang Dynasty, who was later famous for thousands of years, didn't care much about the affairs of Gaochang country at this time. Dead knocking, it seems that he is not kind enough, but also that he is not magnanimous enough.

Since Gaochang wanted to descend to the Tang Dynasty, let’s accept it. Instead, he could take this opportunity to beat up those Turkic people. This would not only destroy the power of the Turkic people, but also let the small countries in the Western Regions see the strength of the Tang Dynasty.