After the war in the East China Sea ended, Datang was trying to turn the East China Sea and the South China Sea into its own inland seas, and its tentacles would soon extend to Southeast Asia and South Asia.
It is not known whether maritime trade will make the Tang Dynasty more prosperous, but it can exert a wider influence on places that were previously beyond its reach.
All the dynasties of the Central Plains were continental countries. No matter how hard they tried to stretch their limbs, they would be blocked by dense mountains and forests and barren desert areas.
The sea is a way to break through the constraints of this geographical environment, and this requires strong national power to support it, because the sea is not a smooth road.
If you cannot get enough benefits at sea, you will have to return to the road sooner or later.
Therefore, the Tang Dynasty is still in the preparation stage, accumulating national strength, building more ships, promoting the development of navigation skills, and cultivating more talents.
This was not something that could be accomplished in a short time. The Tang Dynasty had made a lot of efforts for this since the sixth year of Yuanzhen, but navigation was only in its infancy.
At the beginning of the eighth year of Yuan Zhen, Li Po issued an edict to set up maritime academies in coastal areas and the Huaihe River to expand the scale of the Tang Dynasty navy, and to give preferential treatment to fishermen of all ethnic groups along the coast who had previously had low social status to improve their social status.
In addition, shipbuilding craftsmen and seamen were recruited from peninsulas and island vassal states such as Silla and Ryukyu to come to the Tang Dynasty to enrich the Tang navy and shipbuilding docks everywhere.
As a result, water transportation took the lead in flourishing. Most of the Japanese ships captured from the sea were attributed to water transportation, allowing the canal system built by the former Sui Dynasty to be fully utilized.
This will greatly enhance Datang's national power and military mobilization capabilities in the future, especially the canal connecting Luoyang to Hebei, allowing Datang to effectively control the situation in Hebei.
Don't take this for granted. Without the canal, northern Hebei has always been regarded as a bitter and cold place that is difficult to control. Most of the so-called tragic people of Yan and Zhaokang were actually border residents.
If national strength did not allow it, Li Po would be happy to build a few more canals and add a few more blood transfusion arteries to the Tang Dynasty, which would be very beneficial to the centralized imperial rule.
At this point, the former Sui Dynasty did have achievements that cannot be erased, but they spent all their money on the project and caused anger and resentment, so the achievements became decorations or even crimes, which is what this wise man would not do.
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At the beginning of the eighth year of Yuanzhen, the number of government orders issued by the court was no less than that of the seventh year of Yuanzhen. The court's interest in the Western Regions was not as strong as it was shown, and it was still mainly focused on internal affairs.
Chu Suiliang discussed some important political matters with Changsun Wuji. Changsun Wuji listened with great interest and toasted to Chu Suiliang repeatedly.
They all believed that the Tang Dynasty was changing with each passing day and that the current reigning Majesty had shown himself to be a wise king comparable to Emperor Wen Yang Jian.
The mess left after the war is being managed in an orderly manner, and the national strength is recovering very quickly. If he had been in office longer...haha...
Naturally, they did not dare to say this.
After three rounds of drinking, both of them were a little tipsy, so they entered the next stage. Taking advantage of the wine, they could use poetry to express their ambitions and flatter the emperor at the same time.
They are all people who can face the emperor. Maybe one day they will be able to talk about today's events in front of the emperor.
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They were drunk here, and Xu Jingzong was entertaining Queen Yuwen Yubo of Gaochang on the other side.
The two of them were barely old acquaintances.
In the great cause, Xu Jingzong served at the audience table, dedicated to delivering documents, sending envoys to comfort, observing discipline, redressing grievances and memorials, etc. His position was not very high, but he was able to participate in many political affairs.
For example, King Qu Boya of Gaochang came to court and stayed in the Sui Dynasty for three years. Well, he was a good king. Seeing how prosperous the Sui Dynasty was, he stayed there and enjoyed a few years of happiness in Luoyang.
When he left, he also kidnapped a noble lady from the Sui Dynasty. She even took food and took it with her without seeing anyone else.
Xu Jingzong met Yuwen Yubo there, but he remembered him, but Yuwen Yubo definitely didn't remember the small official who could walk in the palace back then.
Xu Jingzong didn't care either. It was not that he specially entertained Queen Gaochang today, and it was not that he wanted to establish friendship, but Yuwen Yubo took the initiative to meet her, so there was no one else waiting during the dinner.
Xu Jingzong was naturally extra cautious. It was definitely against the rules to meet foreign visitors privately. At least there had to be someone from Honglu Temple nearby to bear witness.
Xu Jingzong originally wanted to invite Changsun Wuji over, because Changsun Wuji was an envoy appointed by the imperial court, but Yu Wen Yubo stopped him. Xu Jingzong was helpless, but he could only hold a banquet to welcome him.
Yuwen Yubo really didn't remember him. After sitting down for a while, the food and wine were not served yet, he asked directly: "I heard from the eldest grandson that your father is Xu Shanxin?"
Xu Shanxin was a great figure in the literary circles of the Sui Dynasty. He wrote many works, and his literary reputation was spread all over the world. After his death, people said that his integrity was better than his articles. Later, his posthumous title was also Wen Jie, which was a tribute to his life.
It can even be said to be a generalization.
What is even more surprising to the world is that Xu Shanxin lost his father when he was young and was raised by his mother Fan. When Xu Shanxin was killed by Yu Wenhua, his mother was already ninety-two.
When she saw her son's body, she patted the coffin and cried: "My son died for the sake of the country. He died a worthy death, and I am honored for it."
In pain, Fan went on a hunger strike for several days and returned home with his son. This was a righteous act. Unfortunately, the world was in chaos and people's minds changed at that time, so their story was not spread.
What's more, Xu Jingzong, a tiger father and a dog son, begged and begged in the Jiangdu Palace and finally survived, but he ruined my reputation quite a lot.
Therefore, Xu Jingzong has never taken the initiative to mention his father and grandmother in front of others.
Yu Wenyubo's meaningless words hit Xu Jingzong in the waist and eyes. Xu Jingzong was very angry, but he couldn't get angry. He squeezed out a smile and replied: "Your Highness Princess..."
Yuwen Yubo frowned, "What's not a princess? Can a princess from the previous dynasty also be called a princess?"
Xu Jingzong finally felt like his eldest grandson Wuji. He really wanted to go up and give her a few blows. He nodded with a slightly twisted smile, "Your Highness said that I made a mistake. The son never told the father, and a certain person is a descendant of the Xu family.
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Yuwen Yubo: "Then you are not talking to the wrong person. I have been in Gaochang for a long time and have been cut off from contact with each other for many years. Please tell me, the Sui Dynasty was still fine when I left...how did it die in just a few years?"
Xu Jingzong couldn't take a breath and almost fainted. He didn't care about being rude and picked up the tea soup next to him and took a sip to calm down his shock.
He looked at the dumbfounded young man in front of him and asked tentatively: "When His Highness left, how old was Daye?"
Yuwen Yubo thought for a while and said: "It was eight years since Daye, right? I can't remember clearly. I just remember that the Supreme Leader led his troops to fight against Goguryeo, but I didn't get any favors. I went to Gaochang not long after returning to the army."