Wu Huaiyu wears the Diao Chan Three-Liang Jinxian crown given by the emperor, a purple silk robe with a large kettle pattern with double peacock ribbons, a gold belt with ten thousand nails and a gold fish bag on his waist. He has just left the Yiguo Duke's mansion.
In the evening, there were still people waiting there.
The key is that this person surprised people from the beginning.
Wu Huaiyu's brother-in-law, Qiu Shenji, was dressed very showily today, acting as Wu Huaiyu's personal attendant. He also wanted to take advantage of his brother-in-law, but when he saw the excitement of the palace banquet, he was startled by this guy.
"Who are you?"
"Pang Xiaotai, the governor of Baizhou,"
Wu Huaiyu couldn't help but be even more surprised when he heard that this black bear-like guy actually claimed to be the governor of Yizhou. Since they were all the governors of Yizhou, even if they were from Xiazhou, they were at least the fourth rank. How could anyone call himself so humble?
It belongs to Xiao Pang, the lackey under the sect.
"Baizhou, but Lingnan Baizhou?"
"Sure enough, Duke Yi Guo learned a lot and remembered that Baizhou is located in Lingnan."
Huaiyu looked at this guy. Baizhou seemed to be the area around Bobai, Guangxi in later generations. Li Jingping, the queen of Lingnan, took over the system and granted titles. All the large and small forces in the Lingnan separatist regime at that time were awarded officials and titles according to the imperial decree.
Moreover, ninety-six prefectures were established in Lingnan at that time. Basically, at the end of the Sui Dynasty, all the separatist forces, even the local raccoon barbarians, who designated themselves kings and claimed to be prefects of prefectures, were recognized first, so
That’s why the ninety-six states in Lingnan came into being.
However, there are more than 600,000 households in the ninety-six prefectures in Lingnan, and the average number per prefecture is only a few thousand.
Many prefectures used to be simply counties, or in other words, they were just Xidian controlled by barbarians.
The self-proclaimed lackey named Pang Xiaotai, now the governor of Baizhou, is very young, even a little too young. Wu Huaiyu originally thought that he looked like a black bear, tall, burly and rugged, so he thought he must be in his thirties or forties.
It turned out that he was only in his twenties.
But he has been the governor for many years.
This guy is a barbarian chief of Baizhou. His family has been a tribal leader for generations. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, he took the opportunity to establish himself as the king and established his own Xidong in Nanzhou.
The Pang family had attached to the Ning family, the Feng family, the Xian family, and the Tan family. They even attached to Lin Shihong, the rebel king of Jiangnan in the late Sui Dynasty, Xiao Xian of Nanliang, and Guizhou.
Li Xizhi and Qiu He of Jiaozhi, the little barbarian chieftains anyway, have no position, and they will rely on whoever is stronger.
When Li Jingping came to Lingnan, his father also joined the Tang Dynasty and was appointed the governor of Nanzhou. Soon after his father died of illness, the court asked him to serve as the governor of Nanzhou. In the sixth year of Wude, the court began to slowly adjust Lingnan and take back power.
.
Many local barbarians in Lingnan were dissatisfied. Feng Xuan of the Feng family, Ning Daoming of the Ning family and others raised their flags of rebellion. Young Pang Xiaotai also immediately raised his troops to respond. However, although the rebellion started quickly, even the powerful powers in Lingnan were not unified within themselves.
, Feng An from the Feng family, Ning Chun from the Ning family, etc. refused to rebel, and even recruited troops to fight with them.
There was a chaotic battle among all parties in Lingnan, and Pang Xiaotai, the weakest among the rebels, was defeated first. He charged at the front line, but Tan Dian, another barbarian chief, took the opportunity to raid his hometown. There was a fire in the backyard, and the fortified city in front was difficult to move, and there was not enough food and grass.
, the imperial reinforcements arrived again,
Pang Xiaotai was surrounded and finally had to surrender.
The imperial court mobilized troops to help take back Nanzhou, which was renamed Baizhou, and Pang Xiaotai was still appointed as the governor.
After suffering a big loss, Pang Xiaotai no longer trusted Feng Xuan, Tan Dian, Ning Daoming, Ning Changzhen and others, so like Feng An, Ning Chun and others, he devoted himself to raising the banner of loyalty to the court in order to protect himself.
From the beginning of the Lingnan Rebellion in the sixth year of Wude to the eighth year of Wude, Ning Changzhen, the head of the Ning family, the largest powerful family in west Lingnan, officially raised his troops to join the rebellion. The war lasted until the summer of the ninth year of Wude, when Ning Daoming and Ning Changzhen died successively.
The palace also surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.
But the great chaos in Lingnan was not over. Tan Dian took the opportunity to seize many of the Ning family's territories, and then joined forces with Feng Xuan to fight against Feng Xuan's younger brother Feng An.
Pang Xiaotai's Baizhou was caught in the middle, which was also very uncomfortable.
The Chang'an imperial court has long been dissatisfied with the chaos in Lingnan. Previously, the imperial court could not free its hands and had no time to send troops to Lingnan. Now it is finally able to free its hands and has the strength.
Therefore, many officials said that Feng An, Feng Xuan, Tandian and others were self-respecting and separatist rebels, and wanted the court to send troops to quell them.
As soon as the news came out, the local emperors in Lingnan were also frightened. They sent envoys to Beijing to explain and sent gifts to the dignitaries in Chang'an, hoping that someone could help speak up.
I think that the rebellion in the sixth year of Wude began because Ning Changzhen, the governor of Qinzhou, paid tribute to the emperor Chang'an as usual, and the governors of other states also paid tribute to special products such as tube cloth.
This was also the previous practice. These Lingnan powerful people paid tribute to the central court with some local specialties to show their loyalty to the emperor. Then the central court stopped interfering with them and allowed them to be local emperors without levying taxes from them.
, regardless of their status and population, even the recruitment and garrison of the army, the appointment and dismissal of officials, etc., they all have the final say.
To put it nicely, Lingnan is the territory of the imperial court, but in fact, even during the Southern Dynasties, the core areas of Guangzhou, Jiaozhou, and Guizhou were directly controlled by the imperial court. The rest of the places were basically occupied by Feng Ning, Chen, and others who migrated south in the early years.
Powerful and autonomous, or led by the Li Liao barbarian chiefs.
Li Yuan refused the tribute from Ning Changzhen and others on the grounds that it was too far away to work. In fact, Li Yuan was not satisfied with this nominal surrender and did not want Lingnan to become an independent kingdom like the Nanzhong region.
The emperor did not want tribute, he wanted taxes, and he wanted real power to govern.
However, Ning Feng and other powerful local emperors were accustomed to acting like a wild horse, especially at the end of the Sui Dynasty.
It's just that these powerful people in Lingnan are not united, and each has his own plan. Although the imperial court has no time to directly send troops to conquer, it can use the central authority to divide and win over, and make wishes for enfeoffment, which still incites them to fight among themselves.
Now there are rumors that the emperor will send 100,000 troops to wipe out Lingnan. It is even rumored that the general commanding the army may be Li Jing, or it may be Wu Huaiyu, a disciple of Li Jing.
No matter who came, these local emperors in Lingnan were very panicked. They were not only afraid of the reputation of Li Jing and Wu Huaiyu, but also feared the hundreds of thousands of heavenly soldiers.
Feng Ang sent his son to Chang'an and brought many Lingnan treasures with him.
Pang Xiaotai even came to Chang'an to attend the gathering in person.
When he arrived in Chang'an, he brought many gifts, but he couldn't deliver them.
Carrying the pig's head, I couldn't find the mountain gate.
When people heard that he was the governor of a barbarian chief from Lingnan, they immediately turned him away in disgust. Whether it was pearls from Hepu, ivory from Jiaozhi, or gold and silver from Lingnan, they were not interested and rejected him directly.
Pang Xiaotai went to find Li Jing again. When Li Jing comforted Lingnan, Pang Xiaotai and his father also visited Li Jing. However, Li Jing was very cautious now. When he heard that Lingnan was coming, he didn't see him at all.
He went to Qiu He, who told him that he was too old to be involved in political affairs. He went to Li Xizhi, who was the Prime Minister of Shi'an County at the time. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, he spent his family wealth to recruit 3,000 soldiers to guard Guilin.
He led his troops to withstand successive attacks by Xiao Xian, Lin Shihong, Cao Wuche and others, and guarded the northwest gate of Lingnan.
Although he eventually attached himself to Xiao Mian, he later took the initiative to join the Tang Dynasty and became the general manager of Guizhou. After entering the court, he participated in the Pingfu Gong'er rebellion and other wars, and is now the governor of Jiangzhou.
There were rumors that the imperial court was going to send Li Xinzhi to serve as the governor of Guizhou again. Pang Xiaotai went to visit Li's family, but Li Xinzhi did not see him and did not accept gifts.
Pang Xiaotai was depressed, desperate and frightened.
He has never been to Chang'an before.
Now that I have arrived in Chang'an, I have discovered that the city of Chang'an is so big, and the powerful people are so arrogant. They are still powerful in Lingnan. But when I arrived in Chang'an, even the street vendor Wuhou dared to reprimand him, and the concierge of a powerful family dared to insult him.
Although Pang Xiaotai is young, he is very brave, but he does not know much about socializing and socializing. Now he is like a fool in Chang'an, and is even ridiculed as a bumpkin from Lingnan.
Later he met Feng An's son Feng Zhidai, and they went north together. Feng Zhidai was Feng An's second son and was appointed the governor of Chunzhou. This guy was very familiar with the Central Plains.
His father, Feng An, served in the court during the Sui Dynasty. Later, Feng An and his son recruited a troop of troops from Lingnan to fight for the Sui Dynasty. Feng Zhidai led them and waited for Yu Wenhua and Jiangdu to kill Yang Guang. Feng Zhidai led his troops to flee south.
Fighting and walking along the way, he suddenly fought his way from Jiangdu to Gaoliang, Lingnan, to join forces with his father, and fought thousands of miles, which was very impressive.
Feng Ang later led more than 20 states to return to the Tang Dynasty, and was granted the title of Duke of Geng by the imperial court, and concurrently served as the governor of eight states. His disciples were also awarded the title of governor.
Feng Zhidai came to Chang'an for his father's activities, and was also sent as a hostage. He was said to serve the emperor.
Seeing Pang Xiaotai being ridiculed by Chang'an, he felt uncomfortable, so he gave Pang Xiaotai a way to find Xu Jingzong.
Many princes and dignitaries in Chang'an did not see the bumpkin from Lingnan when they heard about it. However, Xu Jingzong has been very close to Feng Zhidai recently. He is one of the rare people who does not reject the bumpkin from Lingnan, or even ridicules and insults him.
Although Xu Jingzong's courtesy was obtained by Feng Zhidai giving him a large number of financial gifts and beauties, Feng Zhidai still felt that it was worth it.
Of course, Xu Jingzong now works as a minister and studies national history. He holds an important position. With his help, Feng Zhidai has now found a way. For example, he successfully followed Yi Guogong's house and followed Yi.
The Duke went to Li Jing's house, and although he didn't get any promises, at least Wu Huaiyu and Li Jing were willing to sit down and listen to him talk about the current situation in Lingnan.
Feng Zhidai showed Pang Xiaotai a way, and Pang Xiaotai immediately went to visit Xu Jingzong.
As expected, Xu Jingzong accepted a large number of gifts from him and said that he would introduce him to Duke Yi. Originally, he had agreed to bring him here today, but the emperor summoned Xu Jingzong at short notice, so Pang Xiaotai had to come by himself.
He kept a very low profile, not only did he bring many gifts, but he was also very humble in his greetings when meeting, claiming to be Mr. Pang, his lackey.
Anyway, after Xu Jingzong received his money, he told him that if he could get help from Duke Yi, then all his problems would not be a problem.
Pang Xiaotai thought about it and felt that he still had to lower his attitude.
Anyway, he is a Lingnan native barbarian chieftain, and he is willing to be the lackey of the emperor of Chang'an, so there is no shame in it.
Things had to be done, and if they couldn't be done well, it would be difficult for him to continue to return to Lingnan and be a bumpkin.
Wu Huaiyu was very surprised after listening to this guy's kneeling and licking.
"Did Bachelor Xu introduce you?"
"Yes, originally Bachelor Xu said that we would come together to pick up Duke Yi, but His Majesty summoned him at short notice,"
Since it was Xu Jingzong who introduced him, Wu Huaiyu asked him to get on his carriage, "Let's have a chat in the car. You should be going to the palace for the banquet, right?"
Pang Xiaotai nodded and quickly got in the car.
Xu Jingzong had introduced Feng Zhidai to meet him before. It is said that Xu Jingzong and Feng Zhidai hit it off and fell in love with each other. Of course, Wu Huaiyu knew Xu Jingzong's character. His greed for money and lust was his weakness, so Feng Zhidai sent Xu Jingzong to him.
Ten beauties also gave him ten carts of money. How could Xu Jingzong withstand such a generous act?
Wu Huaiyu had also heard of Feng Ang for a long time. He was called the Lingnan Emperor. Although the territory he actually controlled only accounted for a small part of Guangdong and Guangxi, the Feng family and the Xian family would be very powerful. Hainan Island
and the Leizhou Peninsula belong to them, not to mention that the Feng family itself and the Ning family and the Chen family have always been related by marriage, and they have a complicated relationship.
The imperial court is now shouting about fighting and killing Lingnan, but the important ministers who are actually making the decision are not making decisions easily. After all, if there is a war, troops must be mobilized, food and grass must be allocated, and people may even die. It is more likely that Lingnan will not be able to be pacified for a while, and it will cause even greater disasters in Lingnan.
of turmoil.
Politics is not about fighting and killing. You still have to compromise when it's time to compromise.
Feng Ang Tandian, Feng Xuan and others were just attacking each other. After all, they no longer raised the banner of anti-Tang Dynasty, and the court had to be cautious. Wu Huaiyu was also an important member of the court now, and of course he was willing to listen to the explanations from Lingnan people in person if he had the chance.
On the way to the palace, the two of them were chatting in the carriage.
This Pang Xiaotai is only in his twenties, but he has been the governor for eight years, and rebelled for more than a year in the middle. He has been following his father and leading his troops in battles since he was a teenager in the late Sui Dynasty. He is very tough.
This guy said he had a lot of drums.
The native tribes in Lingnan all like to cast bronze drums, cover them with cowhide, and draw thunder and lightning and frog patterns as totems. Pang Xiaotai's drum is not a cowhide drum, but a drum made of the skins of the enemies he killed. Although this kind of drum is not as good as the cowhide bronze drum.
So exciting, but also quite special.
It's a pity that his tribe is a bit small after all. He can really dominate in Baizhou, but looking at the entire Lingnan, it's not worth mentioning. It's not easy to survive in the cracks. In the past, he was just a warrior in the tribe. He only charged and killed others.
So I don't think anything about it.
However, the difficult maintenance in the past few years also made him very clear that it is not easy to maintain the family business.
"Our family has been inherited in Baizhou for so many generations. I can't let it be broken in my hands. I must protect the village and land passed down by my ancestors. I must protect these tribal people and cannot be captured by other tribes or powerful chiefs.
Take away.”
Wu Huaiyu smiled.
"The only way you can keep the foundation of your family tribe is to be loyal to the court, follow the court with one heart, and always serve the court."
"My Pang family is willing to be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty and to the Imperial Court of the Tang Dynasty for generations to come. We also ask Duke Yi to help."
Pang Xiaotai's help was in the hope of retaining the position of governor of Baizhou and also the territory of Baizhou.
"This is no problem, but there is a prerequisite. You must take the initiative to report to the imperial court, open caves to attract rabbits, lead the rabbits under your rule to organize households and integrate the people, divide counties and townships, implement the central government's land equalization system, government military system, etc., and request the imperial court to send troops.
Officials assist in governance,"
Everything Wu Huaiyu said was like a knife piercing Pang Xiaotai's heart, but Pang Xiaotai also understood now that it was no longer the Wude Year, let alone the Daye Year, and it was impossible to separate one side behind closed doors.
Already.
Sooner or later, the imperial court will take back its governing power, collect taxes, garrison troops, and dispatch officials. These are all inevitable, it's just a matter of time.
"You don't have to worry. Even if Baizhou is made up of all households, the main population of Baizhou will still be your Lihu tribe for at least a hundred years. In addition to paying taxes and serving in the military, there won't be much change."
Huaiyu was telling the truth. Even if the imperial court stationed troops in the fields and immigrated to the fields, it would still take time. It would definitely give priority to important places such as Guangzhou, Guizhou, and Jiaozhou. Baizhou, which is a remote mountainous area, would definitely be the last one.
As for the garrison and immigration, in order to reach a scale that can surpass the local natives, not to mention a hundred years, not even a few decades will be enough.
Those things will happen a long time ago. The most important thing is to worry about what to do now, cooperate with the court to continue to stabilize his position as governor, and maintain the stability of Baizhou.
"Thank you Duke Yi for your advice." Pang Xiaotai finally figured it out.
"If you really understand, remember to do one thing when you go back. Learn from Feng Ang and send more of your clan members to Chang'an to study in the Imperial Academy or serve in the Forbidden Army.
In fact, you can also come to Beijing to serve the Emperor, even if you are no longer in Baizhou, but as long as you can be remembered and even appreciated by the Emperor, then you don't have to worry about your Baizhou people at all."
