Nowadays, there are many countries that trade with the Tang Dynasty. The East and West Turks, the Shannan Kingdom, and several small countries on the East China Sea have all perished, leaving only Silla and Ryukyu.
The Ryukyu envoy arrived in Tang Dynasty in March, which was a long time coming.
They were mainly watching the war between Tang Dynasty and Goguryeo, and decided who to lean towards based on the outcome. In fact, they had no idea in mind.
The Tang Dynasty and Goguryeo were both giants to them. No matter who lost or won, there was no chance for you, the little Ryukyu, to take sides.
Moreover, the Tang Dynasty had already destroyed the Japanese kingdom, and it was only a few feet away from the Ryukyu Islands. If you had arrived a step too late, the Tang Dynasty's warships might have sailed to the edge of the Ryukyu Islands.
However, it is understandable that small island countries with few people are like toads in a well, with little knowledge. They only remember that the Central Plains people came to attack them back then, and they still bear grudges.
Therefore, they were more inclined to form an alliance with Goguryeo, which had no grievances or enmities. During the years of civil strife in the Central Plains, they did exactly this, bypassing the Japanese country and going to flatter the Goguryeo people.
Several times, I asked Goguryeo to send troops to teach the Japanese a lesson so that they would stop coming to Ryukyu every now and then to harass their fishing boats.
When the Tang Dynasty destroyed Goguryeo, the news spread to Ryukyu. The King of Ryukyu no longer had to hesitate and immediately sent people to the Tang Dynasty's Donghai Protectorate to seek an audience with Tang officials.
By the time they arrived in Chang'an, they had already arrived in March of the seventh year of Yuanzhen's reign in the Tang Dynasty.
Li Po was too lazy to meet them and left them all to Honglu Temple. This was actually what he said before to separate the countries that interacted with the Tang Dynasty. There were only tens of thousands of Ryukyu residents and they occupied some islands in the East China Sea.
, is a small country that belongs to the lowest level.
Even if we regard it as a country and praise it, it can only be regarded as an island alliance. It is difficult to say where the people on the island are from, and it is difficult to give birth to indigenous people on it. They are probably outsiders, and they are not close to the nearest Japanese country.
He Zhongyuan is the first choice.
This issue has been debated endlessly for many years, and the ownership rights are even more fiercely contested. During the Tang Dynasty, there was no need to take matters seriously.
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In the seventh year of Yuan Zhen, the imperial court intended to rectify trade matters and determine tax laws and the qualifications that people traveling on the trade road must have. For example, they must have customs clearance documents issued by their own country, and even tax certificates from their own country, etc.
These things must be negotiated with the trading countries before they can be implemented. According to estimates, this matter will take two or three years. Now, except for the East and West Turks, Silla is still the same, and everything else is primitive and backward.
If you discuss with them the regulation of trade matters, it is purely a matter of talking to a cow, so you have to teach them step by step, which is a bit laborious.
In fact, this was all preparation for trade with the Western Regions, Southeast Asia or the South Asian subcontinent. Even Li Po himself was not sure what the outcome would be, how much profits the merchants could make, and how much benefit it would bring to the Tang Dynasty.
However, the Tang Dynasty wanted to spread its influence, and trade was a good way. War methods were effective, but very crude. Compared with trade, each had its own advantages and disadvantages, and of course they could compensate for each other.
The farther the Tang Dynasty's caravans travel, the more they can expand the boundaries of the Tang Dynasty's influence. After all, the Tang Dynasty cannot be inferior to the Han Dynasty seven or eight hundred years ago, right?
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The April court meeting will focus on these two things. The rest of the major issues have been agreed upon in the past few months, so there is no need to fuss over them at the court meeting.
One day later, Li Po went out of the city to preside over the Spring Festival Ceremony.
The Spring Festival is held every year. It doesn’t need to be elaborated, but this year it is mixed with the East China Sea Army’s troops, which means to announce to the heaven and the earth, so it is more grand and solemn than in previous years.
Before and after the Spring Festival, spring plowing has already begun. Even though last winter was a bit colder, the weather is still very warm at the beginning of spring this year. Only on the ground in Kansai, a few spring rains have fallen, and the earth has revived and is full of vitality.
At the end of March, spring plowing begins.
Officials from Sinong Temple and the Ministry of Revenue went to various provinces in the north to urge officials in various places not to miss the farming season. Spring came early in the south, and some places even harvested twice a year, which was the focus of the court's attention.
It is said that a year's plan begins in spring. The basic construction of Datang started in March. The dredging work of several canals was basically completed last autumn. This year's work is to consolidate the embankments along the canals.
In addition, the dams along the Yellow River are also being reinforced. The Yellow River is the most untamed river and has to have fun from time to time. Last year, there was abundant rain in the north. The Yellow River burst its banks in several places, flooding large areas of land.
What's a bit amusing is that due to the war in the north and the massive population reduction, no one was flooded where the dike burst, not to mention the destruction of fertile farmland.
After the river water receded, it left a large amount of silt, which also increased the fertility of the soil. How would you describe this?
Floods in the Yellow River have been a problem that has been difficult to solve for thousands of years. However, places with serious floods such as Shandong and Henan have always been famous for their fertile land. Isn't that because they are often flooded?
This may be a typical example of a blessing in disguise.
It's just that every flood in the Yellow River is accompanied by a mess. If caught right, it can even severely damage the ruling foundation of the Central Plains dynasty. This was the case with the floods in Shandong at the end of the Great Cause, and the severe drought in Jin that year, which made the local officials
The prestige is gone.
The wars in the late Sui Dynasty were caused by man-made disasters, but natural disasters obviously also played a role in fueling the flames.
In the seventh year of Yuan Zhen, the Tang Dynasty court was finally free to regulate the Yellow River.
It's just that the Tang Dynasty can't devote much manpower and material resources to carry out all-round management. At most, it can dredge the Yellow River channel, strengthen the dams, repair some old places, etc.
In addition, Li Po plans to build a Chi Road leading to Yulin this year, and an official road leading to Liangzhou is also on this year's project list. These are all things that have been thought of before.
This year, with the addition of the Japanese and Goguryeo people, the number of people coming to work in the Tang Dynasty can quickly approach one million people. The sudden increase in the population will definitely make food tighter. We cannot feed them in vain. They must contribute to the Tang Dynasty when they come.
offset costs.
Therefore, these larger projects will spare no effort in manpower. In other words, they do not care about casualties, just to complete them as soon as possible.
After these roads have been repaired, the road construction project in central Sichuan can be started. Sichuan is known as the land of abundance, but the road to Sichuan is so difficult that it is difficult to reach the sky. Transporting grain out of Sichuan will cause extremely shocking losses, so the road
Construction must begin.
The imperial court estimated these things. If the manpower is sufficient, it can be completed in three to five years, and other places can be repaired. It does not require so much manpower and material resources.
By then, Li Po felt that Datang's national power would rise to a new stage, and if the manpower was sufficient, the Hexi Corridor could be completely opened up as expected.
A Chi Road extending from Chang'an to Qiuci...well, it has some appearance.
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Projects, like government affairs, are never finished. In ten or twenty years, using low labor costs, people can say that all roads lead to Chang'an, which can be regarded as a great achievement made by Li Po during his reign.
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Look at the hardships, the manpower, material resources and years spent. All roads lead to Rome? Those people have the nerve to say it.
The former Sui Dynasty, with a population of 50 to 60 million people, built two big cities and several canals, but half of its national power was depleted, causing complaints in the country. Rome? Where are the roads they built? How can they withstand the test of the world? Just blow it.
Their republic and Caesar?
An empire does not have many details of its rule to support it. It is either a fairy tale or a nonsense.
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Li Po became busy again. There was indeed a lot of things going on this year, and all kinds of things came together. Not only the emperor, but also the whole court was very busy.
Li Po was so busy that he almost forgot that the end of April was the day when the course would start.
Until Li Gang, the Minister of Rites, came to see him and told him about the preparations for the opening of the school this year, Li Po also rubbed his temples, remembering that the country's talent promotion ceremony was right in front of him.
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"Time flies like water. It's already summer in a flash. Since the Ministry of Rites has prepared so well, I won't say anything more. It's still the same as before. I checked in advance to see if there is any leakage of the exam questions. This has been delayed for several years.
No result...
Again, I don't blame you, there are always some rats who want to confuse the public and do things like picking millet from the fire, so just be more careful.
But having said that, if you can be a thief for a thousand days, how can you guard against a thief for a thousand days? The Ministry of Rites should not just sit back and wait, and send people to various departments to check. After three years, those people may have had some relations with the local officials.
Gou Lian.
Especially those who are recommended by the county, the Ministry of Rites carefully checks them every year to see where they come from and whether there is any malpractice for personal gain."
Li Gang nodded, knowing that the emperor had always been worried about this, but after thinking about it, he sighed in his heart, it was a bit difficult for the Ministry of Rites to do these things.
"What your Majesty said is true. I also want to retaliate to Your Majesty. Can you talk to the Inspector Temple and let the Ministry of Rites and the Inspector Temple investigate the matter together?"
Li Po agreed, "You have thought carefully. Each department has the responsibility of supervision. It is indeed better to let them handle it than the Ministry of Rites.
How many abuses did they report last year?"
Li Gang replied: "It's thirty-six."
Li Po smiled, "It's quite an auspicious number..."
Li Gang didn't think there was anything funny about this. It was not a trivial matter to get people to report to the court. Things like writing cheat sheets would be dealt with immediately.
These thirty-six cases of cheating on scientific examinations have all implicated local officials, some of whom were of high rank, and half of them leaked examination questions without permission.
It's just that no matter what official position you hold or what your family background is, it is a crime punishable by death. Officials and candidates will lose their heads.
All their family members were indiscriminately married, and the imperial court would not be too heavy-handed, otherwise it would be difficult to deter this very bad trend.
The rest are all bad things that were given and accepted privately. Those people actually just didn't understand that the new dynasty has been established and they still follow the practices of the old dynasty. Do you think it can be good?