Chapter Five Hundred and Seventy Five: Four Years Later
The flood in Luoyang destroyed countless houses and palaces in Luoyang. More than 6,000 people died in the flood, and countless properties were lost.
Fortunately, the Tang Dynasty is now rich and has enough food to provide relief to the victims.
They handled the subsequent disaster relief work very well and did not cause subsequent incidents for the victims.
After handling the flood incident, Li Tai returned to Chang'an to resume his duties.
At this time, Li Tai felt extremely complicated and anxious.
After entering the palace, Li Tai came to the imperial study.
"My son, please see your father!"
Seeing Li Tai, Li Shimin suddenly became furious!
"Bastard! Didn't I send someone to urge Luoyang officials to carry out flood control? What did you do? Did you take my words to heart?"
Li Tai knelt on the ground and said shamefully: "I am wrong, I am ashamed of my father!"
Li Shimin stood up suddenly, walked over and kicked Li Tai to the ground.
He said angrily: "You are guilty! But, are you only ashamed of your father? What you are ashamed of is the people of Luoyang!"
"I trust you, so I sent you to do this errand, but how did you do it? Huh! You go back and spend half a year in isolation!"
"Yes, thank you father!"
Li Tai resigned and left the palace in despair.
Soon, the news spread like wildfire that King Wei was beaten and ordered to spend six months in seclusion.
Unexpectedly, the most favored prince has now fallen out of favor.
After Prince Li Chengqian heard the news, he couldn't help laughing.
…
Time flies by like a fleeting moment, turning around and passing by.
Unknowingly, four years passed in a flash.
In four years, it can be said that Datang has undergone earth-shaking changes.
First of all, because of the comprehensive promotion of several new crops in Datang, the problem of food and clothing has basically been solved in the entire Datang.
The Yizhou Scientific Research Institute and the imperial scientific research department have developed many new farming equipment in the past four years.
In four years, steam engine technology became more mature.
They developed a cheaper, more flexible steam plow.
There are also advanced farming equipment such as seeders and harvesters.
With these instruments, people can cultivate more land and harvest more food.
Moreover, the scientific research institute continues to research and promote new seeds.
New seeds can make agricultural products more productive.
Now, people in many areas have a surplus of harvested grain.
People's lives have undergone earth-shaking changes compared to four years ago.
Of course, in fact, the people are still not rich, they just have enough food and clothing.
Because with the bumper harvest of grain, the price of grain has dropped significantly.
Although the grain harvested by the common people was enough to feed themselves, and there was certainly a surplus, it was simply impossible to make a lot of money.
In four years, the handicrafts of the Tang Dynasty became even richer.
Capitalism has quietly begun to sprout.
At the same time, the main railway lines from Chang'an to the Governor's Palace in Anxi and from Chang'an to the Governor's Palace in Raole have been fully opened to traffic.
The successful construction of the four main lines has accelerated the overall speed of material transportation throughout Datang.
Make traveling in Datang faster.
Currently, Datang is planning to build more railway lines.
Compared with railways, highway construction has also accelerated much faster.
Now, every state has built interstate highways.
Each state is also constantly building roads according to its own conditions.
The idea of building roads first if you want to get rich has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
For example, in Jiannan Road, the entire highway construction in Jiannan Road has been extended to the county and township level.
Every county and every township has smooth roads.
In the next step, even the village is preparing to lay roads.
In some villages, such as Xiaohe Village, the whole village is very rich, and the people in the village have paved the roads themselves.
In other states, even if it is not possible, they have also laid it out at the county level.
Now, steam buses have become popular throughout the Tang Dynasty.
There are buses that can pass from the county seat to the prefecture and between prefectures.
Areas that previously took months, even half a year, to reach.
Now it only takes three to five days, or at most ten or eight days to arrive.
The business of China Express has spread throughout the Tang Dynasty.
Nowadays, express delivery has become deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In addition to the elderly, the younger generation also likes the convenience of express delivery.
The industry and commerce of the Tang Dynasty were prosperous.
Because of the development of science and technology and the progress of the times, established families such as Wu Xing Qi Wang have been greatly impacted.
Well, it should be called Liu Wang now, because the Lu family has been completely eliminated.
Nowadays, industry and commerce are developing rapidly and updating quickly. Those small businesses can make adjustments at any time according to the development of science and technology.
However, since the four surnames and Liuwang have a large family and a large business, it is not so easy to adjust.
Now, although they are still giants, they are much worse than before.
They are gradually declining.
This also made Tang Emperor Li Shimin see it and feel happy in his heart.
After getting rid of the Lu family, Li Shimin was tempted to continue to influence the other four surnames and Liu Wang.
But now it seems that it is no longer needed.
Because Li Shimin actually knew very well that the aristocratic family could never be completely eradicated.
The emerging vested interests will give rise to new aristocratic families over time.
Li Shimin never thought about eradicating all the aristocratic families.
What he needs is just to keep the family from becoming too powerful.
If it's so big that it can shake the foundation of the country, that's fine.
Now it seems that there is no need for him to take action at all. The old aristocratic families such as Si Surname and Liu Wang are gradually declining.
Yizhou New City has been expanded repeatedly and has now become the largest city in the entire Tang Dynasty, surpassing Chang'an and Luoyang.
Not only was it the largest, it was also the economic and cultural center of the Tang Dynasty.
Many things also happened around Li Min, the king of Shu.
The first thing is that Li Min, the king of Shu, married Xue Xiaoxiao, Wu Meiniang, and Xu Hui back home.
As for Cui Shiniang, who has been renamed Cui Yingying, Li Min cannot give her a title for the time being.
The second thing is that Qin Mengxin, Xue Xiaoxiao, and Wu Meiniang are all pregnant.
Now, she is pregnant with Liujia.
Now, Wu Meiniang's position as CEO has been temporarily deprived of her position by Li Min.
Wu Meiniang has been taken to the Jiedushi Mansion by Li Min and taken care of with several other ladies.
All business matters are left to the people below.
Only when important decisions are made will Wu Meiniang be consulted.
In fact, according to Li Min's original intention, he still wanted to wait and get them pregnant.
This year, Li Min was 19 years old, and his daughters were all in their late teens.
The best age for women to have children is between twenty-three and thirty years old.
Their current age is actually a bit younger.
But he wasn't in a hurry, everyone else was.
Li Shimin, Concubine Yang, and even the people around Li Min were worried about Li Min.
They all thought that there must be something wrong with King Shu's health.
Otherwise, they have been married for such a long time, how come none of the ladies is pregnant?
Could it be because King Shu had a bad game when he was young?
Even Concubine Yang asked the miracle doctor Sun Simiao to treat Li Min.
Moreover, Li Min discovered that women such as Qin Mengxin often had a look of resentment in their eyes.
With such an environment, Li Min was really helpless.
Therefore, several women became pregnant one after another.
As for the little maid Liu Zhi, due to identity issues, even though she was close to Li Min, Li Min could not give her a wedding.
The reason why she is not pregnant yet is not because Li Min did not take her in.
It was purely because Willow Branch needed to take care of several ladies, and she did this on purpose.
As for Xu Hui, it is probably because of her physical weakness that she is not pregnant yet.
And Li Min, because all three ladies are pregnant.
Therefore, Li Min delegated most of his work to Shangguan Yi.
Li Min spent most of his time at home with his wives.
On this day, Li Min was at home, relaxing in the back garden with the three ladies.
It's now May and the weather is getting hotter.
Li Min and the three ladies played in the garden for a while and saw that the three ladies were a little tired.
He ordered some wicker chairs to be set up in the shade of the trees for the three ladies to sit down and rest.
There is a case in front with fruit snacks.
Princess Qin Mengxin just picked up a bunch of grapes and didn't have time to eat them.
Suddenly he said in surprise: "Wow, it's moving, it's moving, the little guy is moving!"
Li Min quickly looked at her belly, and sure enough, he saw her belly bulging from east to west.
Li Min couldn't help but laugh, couldn't help but walk up to him, squat down and put his ear against Qin Mengxin's abdomen to feel the fetal movement.
"Wow, the little guy still has strength!"
Next to him, Xue Xiaoxiao also said in surprise: "I'm moving here too!"
Wu Meiniang couldn't help but said: "I'm also moving here!"
Huo!
The three little guys seemed to have agreed upon it.
If you want to move, let’s move together.
The corners of Li Minle's mouth almost reached to the base of his ears. He listened here and touched there, feeling extremely happy.
At this moment, Li Min suddenly heard the voice of a little girl outside.
"Panpan, let's go!"
Immediately afterwards, I saw an incredibly cute little girl wearing a long skirt and pink makeup, riding Panpan over.
This little girl is naturally Shangguan Wan'er, who is over five years old this year.
Shangguan Wan'er seemed very happy to see Li Min.
He couldn't help but stretched out his arms and said: "Big brother, hug me!"
Li Min was also very curious about this little girl and couldn't help but stretched out his arms to pick up Shangguan Wan'er.
Then he stretched out his hand, scraped Shangguan Wan'er's nose and said, "Little guy, haven't I told you a long time ago that you can't call me big brother anymore?"
"I am the same generation as your grandfather, but you are two generations behind me!"
Hearing Li Min's words, Shangguan Wan'er pouted and said unhappily: "No, no, Wan'er will call you big brother!"
Li Min really couldn't resist this ridiculously cute little guy.
She couldn't help but laugh and said: "Okay, Wan'er can be called whatever she wants! As long as you are happy, that's fine!"
After hearing this, Shangguan Wan'er's face put on a smile again.
Shangguan Wan'er's big, watery eyes glanced at the stomachs of Qin Mengxin and the other three girls, and couldn't help but ask: "Brother, what delicious food do these sisters eat? How do you make your stomach so spicy?"
After hearing Shangguan Wan'er's words, the girls and Li Min burst out laughing.
Shangguan Wan'er is so cute, and all the girls like her very much.
As for Shangguan Wan'er, she ran to the Jiedushi's mansion whenever she had nothing to do.
I actually spend 364 days a year here.
Li Min couldn't help but explain to her: "You sisters, they don't eat to make their bellies bloated! Their bellies are bloated because they have babies in their bellies!"
Hearing this, Shangguan Wan'er's big eyes widened and she couldn't help but ask: "Brother, how did the baby get into their stomachs?"
this--
Li Min laughed, and then said: "Wan'er, my brother made a toy. I don't know if you like it. Do you want me to show it to you?"
Shangguan Wan'er couldn't help but clapped her hands and said in surprise: "I like it, I like it, big brother, show it to Wan'er quickly!"
Li Min couldn't help wiping his sweat, Huo finally covered up the matter about the child.
…
In this year, Xue Yantuo, a grassland people in Mobei, gradually developed and grew.
Xueyantuo was originally a vassal state of the Turks and treated the Turks with great respect.
The Turks also implemented brutal and barbaric methods of rule against Xue Yantuo.
Xue Yantuo always dared to be angry but dared not speak out, so he could only bear it silently.
However, the Turks have not been able to relax after recent repeated suppression by the Tang Dynasty.
Xue Yantuo, on the other hand, continues to grow and develop.
At present, the combat strength has reached as many as 200,000.
Xue Yantuo decided to take revenge.
Therefore, Xue Yantuo Zhenzhu Khan sent several of his troops with 200,000 troops and began to cross the desert to invade the Turks.
The Turks were not good at it either, and began to rise up to resist.
But helpless, Xue Yantuo is really strong.
The Turks' combat effectiveness has declined.
The current Turks are no match for Xue Yantuo.
In desperation, the Turkic Qilibi Khan had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat to Shuozhou.
Then, the Turks sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty to seek help from the Tang Dynasty.
After receiving help from the Turks, Li Shimin and his ministers discussed and decided to send troops to help the Turks and attack Xue Yantuo.
After all, the Turks were Datang's old rival.
At present, Datang has been frightened, and there is no way to make any waves.
But Xue Yantuo is different. This is a newly rising tribe in Mobei.
This is the case with grassland tribes. Old tribes seek stability and their combat effectiveness will gradually decline.
The new tribe is like a wolf, which will continue to attack and attack, making it more harmful.
More importantly, if the Tang Dynasty did not send troops to help the Turks.
It is very likely that the Turks will be destroyed by Xue Yantuo.
In this case, Xue Yantuo will become even more powerful.
The Tang Dynasty was not willing to sit back and watch Xue Yantuo become so powerful that it brought huge pressure to the borders of the Tang Dynasty.
Since he chose to send troops to help Xue Yantuo, he had to send troops and generals next.
At this time, the Tang Dynasty had many generals who were good at fighting.
It can be said that Li Shimin was able to dispatch many generals.
Almost anyone you pick at random can lead troops to fight.
However, in the end, Li Shimin chose the most incredible person.
Li Shimin suddenly appointed Li Min, the king of Shu, as the general, commanding five armies and sending troops to rescue the Turks.
How could it be Li Min, the king of Shu?
The King of Shu is now the governor of the entire Jiannan Road. If he makes a great contribution this time, his contribution will be too great.
Does the emperor have any special intention in doing this?
But soon someone remembered what happened four years ago.
Four years ago, because of the incident of Cui Shiniang being kidnapped, the emperor once doubted the king of Shu.
They even sent Wei Wang Li Tai as an imperial envoy and Hou Junji as a general to lead 3,000 soldiers and horses to search the Jiedushi Palace of the King of Shu.
However, Li Shimin discovered it later.
This matter was not done by the King of Shu at all.
It was Lu Yong of the Lu family who oversaw the robbery, and then framed the King of Shu.
This incident caused a rift between Li Shimin and the father and son of the King of Shu.
During these four years, the King of Shu did not show any ambition.
I return to Chang'an every year to report on my work.
This makes many people worry that the King of Shu may support his troops and stand on his own and listen to the instructions but not the propaganda. The situation is completely different.
If the King of Shu really supported his own army, it would be really difficult for Li Shimin to handle it with the military power of Jiannan Road.
Because in the Tang Dynasty, the prestige of the King of Shu was too high.
If Li Shimin dared to send troops to conquer, it would probably cause the entire Tang Dynasty to fall apart.
The King of Shu has the ability and strength to do this.
But the King of Shu did not choose this principle.
This is enough to prove that the King of Shu has no different intentions at all.
And this time, the reason why the emperor appointed the King of Shu as the commander-in-chief was probably a kind of compensation to the King of Shu.
This time, one of the five groups of troops was the 50,000-strong army on the Yizhou New City side.
Now, there are already 100,000 troops stationed in the entire Jiannan Road.
In fact, with the current strength of Jiannan Road, they can recruit more troops.
However, Li Min believed that soldiers are more important than large numbers, so he did not recruit so many soldiers and horses.
But this time, Li Min did not ask Xue Rengui and Xi Jun to hire two veteran generals to lead the army.
Instead, he directly asked Wang Fangyi to lead his troops there.
This 50,000-strong army has 30,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry.
Now the Tang Dynasty's army pays equal attention to cavalry and chariot formations.
Steam locomotives became an important part of the Tang Dynasty.
Of course, cavalry is equally important.
Because based on the current road conditions, steam locomotives are still not of use in many places.
In this case, cavalry is needed.
The road conditions on the Turkic and Xueyantuo side are definitely not as good as those on the Tang side.
Therefore, steam locomotives cannot be used.
They can only use cavalry to fight the enemy.
Road conditions severely restricted the combat effectiveness of steam locomotives.
Li Min estimated that for a long time, the battle will still be dominated by cavalry.
The other four teams are all selected veterans.
Cheng Yaojin, Yuchi Gong, Qin Qiong, and Li Daozong, the four veterans, can finally enjoy themselves this time.
You know, these four people were cut off several times by Li Min, the king of Shu.
Several times, they were about to set off.
But before they set off, King Shu had already settled everything.
This time, they were finally able to enjoy themselves happily.
(Today’s chapter is about five thousand, let Yanyu sort out her thoughts)
