Chapter 2885 Envoys from other countries
Then His Majesty Li Er talked about how prosperous the Tang Dynasty is now. The warehouses are full of rice and millet, and the ropes stringing copper coins in the treasury are almost rotten. The people live and work in peace and contentment, and the army is invincible. He is filled with emotion and his face is red. .
A prosperous age that had not been seen in a thousand years was created by his hands, and hundreds of millions of people benefited from it. Naturally, it is inevitable to receive praise from history. As an emperor, how can he be dissatisfied with such an achievement?
Naturally, the ministers sang their praises again. Although they were inevitably flattering, they were not outrageous. Political correctness has always existed throughout the ages.
It would be really uncomfortable if I had to speak uprightly, speak out and give advice, and fill in the gaps for His Majesty Li Er in these days.
Wei Zheng is dead. Apart from him, there is no such strong person in the court...
His Majesty Li Er liked the Zhengdan Dynasty Meeting the most, where foreign countries competed to sing their praises. He was heartbroken when he saw the foreign envoys kneeling on the ground in front of him shouting "Khan of Heaven" with awe on his face and a flood of flattery. Erli feels that everything in the world is the land of the king, and the shore of the land is the king's ministers' sense of accomplishment.
As for these ministers, each of them claims to have a distinguished family and a heirloom of poetry and etiquette. Even though they are absolutely convinced in their hearts, they rarely say such disgusting words. Only Fang Jun does not want to from time to time. I flattered myself shamelessly, but I always felt that this guy was mocking me...
Foreign envoys traveled thousands of miles to Chang'an, bringing their own blessings and various congratulatory gifts. His Majesty Li Er accepted all the blessings and congratulatory gifts, and naturally he also wanted to return the gifts.
In the past, His Majesty Li Er felt that the Tang Dynasty was rich and prosperous and that he was the master of the world. How could he be stingy when people came thousands of miles away? Therefore, the rewards are generous. This has been a consistent rule since the Han Dynasty. Generous rewards were used to demonstrate the orthodox status and prosperity of the Central Plains dynasty.
As a result, he was despised by Fang Jun in the past two years. He said that "it claims to be the country of the suzerain and uses its people to show its personal merits." He also said that "the country is small and the people are few. There are many imposters in the country." I don’t even know who the envoy is, but they just come to pay tribute in this name in order to get rich rewards. If things go on like this, the world will follow suit, and they will follow suit and regard us as the Tang Dynasty as their money bag"...
But His Majesty Li Er was very angry.
However, after thinking about it carefully after getting angry, he had to admit that Fang Junzhi's words were indeed reasonable. The Tang Dynasty did not lack so much reward money and goods. The problem was that although it could get a sense of accomplishment recognized by other countries, if these barbarians really pretended to be fake, in fact, their country had never sent them to Chang'an to congratulate them. Then go back Afterwards, the Tang people will surely be laughed at for their stupidity, which is absolutely unacceptable to His Majesty Li Er.
As a result, Honglu Temple was ordered to lower the previous reward standard by more than one step, which was only about double the value of tribute from other countries.
Transportation in this era was very inconvenient, especially the small countries in the Western Region and Northern Xinjiang. It was extremely difficult to travel thousands of miles to Chang'an. People came to Chang'an excitedly with local specialties from all over the country. They originally expected to make a fortune, but in the end they only got double the reward. Calculate the cost of purchasing "tributes", plus the extravagant expenses along the way. , maybe you have to lose money...
As a result, the number of small foreign countries that came to Chang'an to pay tribute during the holidays was suddenly cut in half, not even half of the usual...
The embarrassment must be very embarrassing. Once upon a time, His Majesty Li Er thought that hundreds of countries in the world all welcomed the Tang Dynasty as their suzerain and called the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty the "Khan of Heaven". His achievements were far superior to those of Emperor Qin and Han Wu. Now I suddenly discovered that there are still many people who are just pretending to be fake.
However, because of this, the people who pay tribute to Chang'an all year round are all actual vassal states of the Tang Dynasty, which allows the foreign policy of the Tang Dynasty to be targeted and not be led astray.
His Majesty Li Er is sitting on the throne with an elegant posture and a warm smile, but he still maintains the majesty of the "Khan of Heaven" of the Celestial Kingdom and accepts the tribute from the envoys of the foreign countries.
While enjoying this noble and supreme glory, I was suddenly awakened by a burst of crying...
Among the envoys from foreign countries, another envoy wearing a white coat and white robe knelt in the middle of the crowd and cried loudly.
All the officials in the palace were shocked.
Today is the beginning of the new year and it is a festive season. You, an envoy from a foreign country, came to the Tai Chi Hall to mourn. Don’t you want to live anymore?
The ministers were still reserved and did not say anything to stop them. They wanted to see what was going on with this man, but the chamberlains standing on both sides of the court couldn't help it. Wang De immediately shouted: "What kind of envoy is actually crying in Tai Chi?" In the palace, he misbehaved in front of the king. Someone came and kicked him out and handed him over to Honglu Temple for thorough investigation. "
Two tall chamberlains rushed over.
The man struggled to free himself from the hand of the chamberlain, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the Emperor, I am an envoy from the Kingdom of Dashi. The country fell and the Lord was in trouble. He had to cross the ocean to come to the Tang Dynasty. I beg the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty to maintain diplomatic relations between the two countries." , send troops to help our Lord restore his country!”
At this time, Fang Jun hurriedly stood up, first stopped the two chamberlains, and then saluted His Majesty Li Er and said: "Your Majesty clearly knows that this is Gadir, the envoy of the Great Food Kingdom, and his master is the Caliph of the Great Food Country. Previously, Wei Chen used to do business with them, and obtained high-quality war horses from the trade with the Great Food Kingdom. Now his owner was massacred by Wei Chen. , died accidentally, and the country was stolen by traitors. In desperation, he had no choice but to come to the Tang Dynasty to ask for help. He had previously submitted the credentials of his young master to Honglu Temple. He must have seen Tianyan today, and he couldn't control it for a while. I have lost control of my emotions, so I have behaved inappropriately before you, and I beg your Majesty to forgive me.”
He had already agreed with Gadil in advance that he would look for a suitable opportunity to advise His Majesty Li Er on this matter, but he did not expect that this man was eager to be the savior and actually burst into tears in the Tai Chi Hall to attract His Majesty Li Er’s attention...
His Majesty Li Er was suddenly moved. Instead of blaming Gadir for his misconduct, he asked gently: "In the country of Dashi, there are traitors who behave so wildly? It is really unforgivable! Today's meeting of the imperial court cannot discuss the details. , after the court meeting, I will convene the ministers to discuss carefully, and I will give you a satisfactory answer."
For the emperor, all human feelings, morality, right and wrong, and goodness can be thrown away, and the only thing he cares about is the word "Zhengshuo".
Generally speaking, as long as it is not a hostile country, if there is a traitor in one of the countries who rebels and threatens the throne, the other country will send troops to help and eliminate the rebellion.
The reason for this is because of the two characters "Zhengshuo".
It doesn't matter whether we fight life or death. If I die, my son will take the throne. If you die, your son will take the throne. The throne of the emperor will always be passed down among our blood. It doesn't matter who lives and who dies.
However, if you, the orthodox emperor, are overthrown, it means that the rebels can successfully seek the throne of the emperor. This may give those people in the country with ulterior motives a daydream, and they may start an army and rebel to imitate him...< br>
Since everyone is the emperor, the most important thing to do is to let those traitors understand that committing rebellion will only lead to death and there is no possibility of success!
Therefore, generally as long as another country's "Zhengshuo" is threatened and makes a request, the other country will probably come to help.
Today I am helping others, but in fact I may be helping myself...
Of course, Gadil understood that this was not the time for him to talk too much. The reason why he cried on the spot was because he was afraid that the Tang Dynasty court would not take him seriously, so he took the risk. When he heard His Majesty Li Er's words, he immediately shed tears of gratitude and nodded repeatedly. : "The foreign minister is shameless and has offended His Majesty the Emperor. He deserves death! In this case, the foreign minister will wait for now. The descendants of the prophet will never forget the deep friendship of the Tang Dynasty!"
Then he stood up and stood aside with his hands tied respectfully.
His Majesty Li Er heard the words and said a few words of condolence. When he saw Fang Jun, he also returned to his train and signaled that the court meeting would continue.
A middle-aged man with a bun, a short figure and a wretched appearance was wearing a large robe. His thin body made the robe sway. He stepped forward, knelt down in front of His Majesty Li Er, and said respectfully: " I am Soga Hyuga, the Japanese envoy. This trip brought the Emperor to prepare for His Majesty the Emperor. This is a congratulatory gift, wishing His Majesty the Emperor long life and prosperity of the Tang Empire! At the same time, on behalf of the Emperor of Japan, I implore the Tang Dynasty to send troops to garrison the Japanese country, help the Japanese country to suppress the rebellion, and unify the border. If the Japanese country is willing to cede Zhuzi Island and intermarry with the Tang Dynasty, Forever a vassal! ”
As soon as these words came out, there was a sudden silence in the hall.
Fang Jun narrowed his eyes slightly, glanced at Souga Hinata, and felt suspicious in his heart... What on earth was Liu Renyuan doing at Asuka Jing? (End of chapter)