Li Shimin was silent, sighing in his heart for a long time, and suddenly said: "But walking on one foot is not as stable as walking on two feet. You can use the Turks, Tubo, and Tuyuhun people to help you find the way from the Western Regions to the West.
Then who do you ask to help you explore the way to the west from the west of Mengshezhao and the west of Linyi?
You can’t possibly put your hopes in Mengshe and Linyi people, right?”
The Linyi people mentioned by Li Shimin are easy to understand, while the Mengshe people are referring to the Nanzhao people in the late Tang and early Song Dynasties, which were later Dali people.
The historical Nanzhao Kingdom was established by the Mengshe people.
Later, the palace on Nanzhao Island in the Erhai Lake of Dali was built by the Nanzhao people.
Now they have not established Nanzhao, so people in the Tang Dynasty call them Mengshe people, and the forces they gather together are called Mengshe Zhao.
Although Li Shimin did not say it explicitly, his meaning was made very clear.
That is, the people of Mengshe and Linyi are unreliable and cannot handle important tasks.
It is better to count on them to help the Tang Dynasty open up the road to the west than to count on the barbarians who have already attached themselves to the Tang Dynasty.
Although this is a bit arrogant, it also means looking down on others.
However, today's Datang does have this qualification.
Today's Datang is the most powerful country on this land and the only overlord on this land. Looking at other forces is like looking at a herd of wild beasts running around outside your own pasture.
You can hunt whoever you want, and look down on whom you want.
After all, you can't expect a person whose national power, military power, and other abilities are dozens or even a hundred times stronger than yours to treat you as a similar person.
"I know that the Mengshe and Linyi people are unreliable, so I am going to let others help us open up these two roads."
Li Yuanji said frankly.
Li Shimin asked curiously: "Who? Who else has this ability?"
Even the local aborigines couldn't accomplish this. If Datang didn't do it himself, Li Shimin didn't think anyone else could help Datang accomplish it.
Li Yuanji smiled and said: "Merchant..."
Li Shimin stared blankly and said: "Merchant?"
are you kidding me?
Li Shimin's face was full of disbelief.
Li Yuanji smiled and continued: "Yes, they are merchants. Don't underestimate them. If there is anyone in the world besides the army who is best suited to open up roads, then it must be merchants.
As long as they are profitable, they will become the most powerful group of people in the world and can accomplish things that many people, many forces, and even many dynasties cannot accomplish."
Li Shimin shouted without hesitation: "This is impossible!"
Li Yuanji smiled and said: "The reason why you say that is because you don't understand merchants, and also because merchants have been suppressed since Lu Buwei's Qi Hua Ke Hao, and they have never shown their true strength.
If you understand merchants and know clearly what kind of strength merchants can unleash, then you wouldn't say that."
Li Shimin snorted coldly and said: "You also know the allusion that rare goods can be lived in, then you should understand how much trouble merchants will have when they become big. It's not that I don't understand merchants, nor do I not know what kind of strength merchants can unleash.
I am well aware of the harm that can happen to merchants when they become big.
I advise you to also remember the harmful effects of merchants becoming powerful.
You must not think about supporting merchants to become powerful, otherwise you will be destroying yourself.
I don’t want my emperor of the Tang Dynasty to be sold around one day.”
Hearing Li Shimin's words, Li Yuanji let out a long sigh.
Lu Buwei is really harmful to people.
It was because of such a scourge as Lu Buwei that merchants suffered for more than a thousand years.
From the Han Dynasty to the middle of the Song Dynasty, merchants were required to fight in battles, and every time they were recruited, they did the hardest and most tiring work. In every battle, merchants had to rush to the front with weapons.
Serve as cannon fodder.
After the defeat, if someone needs to take responsibility, the merchants will be killed first.
The person with the same treatment is the son-in-law.
This is also the reason why the adopted son-in-law has always been looked down upon and bullied by others.
Because you are a person who can die anytime, anywhere, and be drafted into the battlefield anytime, anywhere, and the probability of living to old age and death is extremely low, so when people bully you, they are not afraid that you will take revenge when you grow old.
Moreover, if people of the same clan live together and bully you, a person with a foreign surname, you can't even get revenge.
Therefore, in ancient times, not only was it difficult for merchants to cook, but soft rice was also not delicious.
Li Shimin had such a strong opinion of merchants. This was no longer a prejudice, but an inherent mindset that had been formed over hundreds of years.
Not only did he think so, but ninety-nine percent of the people in the Tang Dynasty, except merchants, also thought so.
So if you want to use merchants to do things, in this era, you can only do it, not talk about it.
"What the second brother said is that I don't want the emperor of the Tang Dynasty to be sold back and forth, so I just want the merchants to help us open the way, and I don't want to support them to become powerful.
Besides, today's merchants are completely different from those in the past.
Today's businessmen are vicious dogs in the hands of the rich and powerful.
The reins are held by the powerful.
Even if I give them a chance, they can't escape the control of powerful people, let alone become powerful."
Li Yuanji followed Li Shimin's words and said.
If it is wrong to criticize Li Shimin's statement, then help the merchants clear their names and fight for fair and just treatment.
Then it is undoubtedly going against the mainstream thinking of this era.
This is not advisable.
He just wants to do things through merchants, and he is not a merchant himself. He wants to fight for his own rights, so there is no need to say anything nice to the merchants.
When Li Shimin heard this, he said with a stern face: "The powerful people are colluding with the businessmen, which is even more hateful and harmful."
Just being a simple powerful person or a simple businessman is already a danger to the ruler.
It is reasonable to say that the powerful and the businessmen are colluding, causing greater harm.
But just because they do more harm than good, you don’t need to use them.
In history, I have never heard of a dynasty that did not use dignitaries and merchants.
"So, we have to lure them out and let them cause harm to others, instead of leaving them in our Datang and letting them cause harm to our Datang."
Li Yuanji said with emotion.
Li Shimin snorted coldly: "They went out and made money, so they have to come back. When the time comes, they will have more money in their hands, they will be stronger, and the disaster they will bring to the Tang Dynasty will be even more severe."
Li Yuanji shook his head and said with a smile: "Then you are wrong. After they left the Tang Dynasty, the only one who can support them to establish a foothold outside and seek wealth outside is the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, they will stand unswervingly on our side of Datang and support us with all their strength."
If merchants are allowed to go out to do business on their own, they will definitely be targeted and plundered in various ways.
But if the army of the Tang Dynasty took them out to do business, they would target others and plunder others.
Merchants can still tell the difference between what is light and what is important.
Merchants also know which way is more enjoyable to do business.
Therefore, when going out, as long as the Tang Dynasty's army does not eat and occupy them all, the merchants will definitely stand unswervingly on the side of the Tang Dynasty, and will spare no effort to provide all kinds of help to the Tang Dynasty's army when necessary.
.
As for making money outside, he came back to bring trouble to the Tang Dynasty.
There is a possibility, but more merchants will bring all the resources from the outside back to the Tang Dynasty to make the Tang Dynasty stronger, so that their descendants can continue to do business with the army of the Tang Dynasty.
After all, the merchants followed the army of the Tang Dynasty to drink human blood outside, and they were all full from drinking. How could they have the leisure to return to the Tang Dynasty, brave the various beheading laws of the Tang Dynasty, and bring disaster to the Tang Dynasty.
Moreover, when they see the cruelty outside, they will realize how good a stable and peaceful Datang is, so they will try their best to maintain this pure land called Datang in their hearts.
Only a handful of people who are deeply involved with the powerful, or even powerful themselves, will return to the Tang Dynasty after making money outside and use the money to seek a higher status, greater authority, and more words.
right.
Only they can bring disaster to the Tang Dynasty and become the disaster of the Tang Dynasty.
But in Li Yuanji's opinion, this disaster can be solved.
Whoever causes trouble can be separated from the Tang Dynasty and the whole family can be moved outside the territory.
If you like status, authority, and the right to speak, you can do whatever you want outside the territory. Even if you establish a country outside the territory, you can do it anywhere.
As long as you can pay a large amount of filial piety and pay tribute every year, the Tang Dynasty canonizes you as king and recognizes the existence of your kingdom.
"What if it was in my country, the Tang Dynasty? They wouldn't stand so firmly on the side of my Li family and support my Li family with everything they had, right?"
Li Shimin asked with a sneer.
Li Yuanji laughed and said: "I allow them to establish borders outside the territory and establish a country outside the territory. How can they have the leisure to stir up trouble in our Tang Dynasty?
If there are still people who covet the foundation of my Li family, then I will separate them and move them to a place tens of thousands of miles away from the Central Plains.
I don’t believe they still have the energy to return to the Central Plains after traveling thousands of miles across mountains and rivers.”
Li Shimin was stunned for a moment, then curled his lips and said, "That's impossible to say..."
Li Yuanji was cheerful
Laughed.
If that happens one day, he will wake up laughing from his dreams.
What if one day Li Tang dies?
If someone can fight back to the Central Plains from a place thousands of miles away from the Central Plains and unite the fertile soil of the Central Plains, it means that his footsteps can already touch many places on the Eurasian continent.
How could he only covet the Central Plains?
He will covet more.
The Han people will be able to reach more places and cover more places.
By that time, what he pursues will be realized, and even if Li Tang dies, he will not have any regrets.
"One day, if there really is such a person, even if he digs me out of the soil, I will kowtow to him."