Chapter 465: Detaining Ye Haya

The night quietly enveloped the Daming Palace. It had been a long time since the retreat was gone, but in the night, several carriages came to the Daming Palace again under the escort of the servants. Then orange-red lanterns appeared in the Daming Palace. The figures of the prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty appeared again. Pei You, Cui Yu, Han Huan, Chu Xingshui, Yuan Zai, Zhang Potian, and Yang Yan all came one after another, with serious expressions. It was obvious that they were temporarily summoned to the Daming Palace. The soldiers on duty silently looked at the hurriedly distant figures of the prime ministers. Many people felt that something must have happened to the Tang Dynasty again.

In the Zichen Hall, seven prime ministers whispered and talked a lot. No one knew what had happened. The court was very peaceful these days, and nothing major happened. At this time, Cui Yu suddenly saw his grandson sitting at the corner of the hall. He was chatting with Han Yu, the Zhongshu Sitan who was on duty today. Cui Yu couldn't help but be stunned, "Yoer, when did you come back, what are you doing here?"

Cui Yao hurriedly stepped forward to salute the second grandfather and said, "Report to the second grandfather, my grandson just arrived in Chang'an at noon this afternoon. His Majesty summoned me and ordered me to attend to tonight's meeting."

"So that's it. I understand the intention of Your Majesty asking us to come." Chu Xingshui laughed loudly, and he turned to the prime ministers and states: "I heard that the Prime Minister of Dashi has come to my Tang Dynasty, and Yao'er is here again. Needless to say, Your Majesty must have summoned us to come for the sake of Dashi."

Everyone suddenly realized that Chu Xingshui was right. At this time, the guards shouted loudly from the hall: "Your Majesty is here!"

The seven prime ministers immediately calmed down, and Han Yu and Cui Yao behind them also stood up. After a moment, Zhang Huan quickly walked into the hall. He was wearing an ordinary regular suit and could tell that he was in a good mood. Zhang Huan glanced at everyone, nodded and smiled, "All my dear friends have arrived, but I am late."

"I will meet your Majesty!" Everyone bowed and bowed.

"All my dear friends are exempt from courtesy." Zhang Huan sat down, and waved his hand and said, "My dear friends, please sit down. Now it's time to go to court. You can be more casual and don't be too polite."

Everyone sat in their seats one by one, and Han Yu sat at the recording table, unfolded the plain paper, picked up the pen to prepare for the record. More than a dozen eunuchs lit up the lights, and the hall became brightly lit, just like daytime.

Zhang Huan pondered for a while and said slowly: "Today I have a major national policy to discuss with you. Today I have received a handwritten letter from the Dashi Caliph."

As soon as Zhang Huan finished speaking, several people turned to Cui Yao and when Zhang Huan saw it, he smiled slightly and said, "Yes, this handwritten letter was brought by Cui Yao from thousands of miles away. It was written by Dashiwen. Now let Cui Yao read it to everyone first."

Cui Yao immediately stood up, he picked up the letter from the plate brought by the eunuch, and read it nervously, "To His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, I am the fifth caliph of the Abbasid Empire, Harun Rashid, to establish a long-term equal relationship of mutual trust and mutual benefit between the two countries, I specially wrote to His Majesty the Emperor..."

Cui Yao read very slowly. He read a letter of about two thousand words for almost a quarter of an hour. Han Yu wrote quickly and recorded Rashid's letter. The seven ministers were listening to Cui Yao's reading from beginning to end. No one felt incredible. They knew that this was not a joke, and it would be a major decision of the Tang Dynasty.

After Cui Yaonian finished, he retreated silently. Zhang Huan glanced at everyone and said first: "I have been thinking about this matter for an entire afternoon. A profound conflict occurred between the Lord and Prime Minister of the Great Food. In order to regain his own power, the Caliph hopes to get our assistance. In return, he promised that the Great Food would give up its support for the Uighurs. My original intention was to agree to this plan, but it was of great importance. I specially summoned you to discuss the matter again, and hoped that you could put forward your own opinions."

This matter came in a hurry, and everyone was not prepared. The hall was silent for a while, and Zhang Huan did not urge him. He knew that everyone needed time to think about it.

"Your Majesty, I'll say a few words first." The Minister of War Yuan Zai who stood up was Yuan Zai. He nodded to everyone and said slowly: "Five years ago, I was entrusted by His Majesty to deal with the Khitan problem. After breaking up the Khitans, I placed them in fifteen prefectures in Hebei and Hedong. Now, five years have passed. At the beginning of the year, I made a special trip to check the effect of the resettlement. The result really surprised me. In just five years, most of the Khitans and Han people have been integrated. They intermarried with each other, wore the same clothes, spoke the same dialect, and paid the same farming taxes. Especially for young people, you can't even think that they were Khitans. I have asked many people, and they don't care whether they are Khitans or Han people. The key is to let them eat and wear warm clothes and have their own land. From this matter, I understand that they actually opposed the Khitans' migration to the south.

People are their nobles, some people who have lost their vested interests, the truly poor Khitans do not care who they are. They live in our culture and will take the initiative to adjust and adapt to my culture. Over time, this sense of cultural identity will melt them. If we turn around, if we accommodate them everywhere, give them money and rice, and give them preferential treatment, in the end they will be arrogant and give them a sense of inequality. If they are not satisfied, they will revolt and independent. They will think that preferential treatment to them is a kind of discrimination. Therefore, His Majesty used tough means to kill their nobles, forcibly break up their tribes and place them in separate places, and treat them equally with the Han people. Although they will be a little dissatisfied at the beginning, as time goes by, they will gradually integrate into the Han civilization and completely eliminate the threat of the Khitans."

Yuan Zai said this in one breath. He found that he was off topic, so he smiled apologetically and said, "Why do I say this? Because I thought of the Uighurs, their population is actually not large, at most one million people. Not only them, the Huns and Turks, these nomadic peoples in the northern part of the desert have always been a major concern in our Central Plains. They have never stopped invading the Central Plains for more than a thousand years, but our dynasties have never been able to solve the threat from the north. I think the most critical point is that we have never included the northern part of our territory. If we can take this opportunity to purge the Uighurs in one fell swoop, I hope the Tang Dynasty will continue to advance northward, build the "Tang Straight Road", immigrate to the north in the form of military towns, move the Uighurs south into the Central Plains, break up and resettle, and completely solve the threat of the northern nomadic people to Han civilization."

Yuan Zai said it passionately. This was a plan he had been thinking about for three years and had not had the right opportunity to propose it. Today, he finally found the best time to put forward his own opinions.

Perhaps due to the influence of Yuan Zai, the atmosphere in the hall began to become active. Pei You and Cui Yu both said that the Tang Dynasty had been weak for a long time, and a battle of Shaye has exhausted a little of its national strength that had just been restored. It would take at least thirty years to accumulate the Tang Dynasty to restore its strength in Kaiyuan. It should work hard to manage and do a good job in internal affairs. Large-scale wars should not be carried out within twenty years. The areas west of Tochar and Yaoshahe cannot be compared with Shayeye. It is not worthy of the core interests of the Tang Dynasty. It is not worth pursuing their national strength and fighting for Dashi. It should be concluded with Dashi. However, the Uighurs have always been a sword hanging above the head of the Tang Dynasty. This internal strife in the Uighurs is a great opportunity. If you miss this opportunity, the Tang Dynasty will pay a heavy price to attack it again in the future.

Zhang Huan smiled and said nothing about Pei and Cui. This did not represent his point of view. Although Tochar and Yaoshahe and Kangguo, Anguo and other places west of the Tang Dynasty cannot be seized for the time being, it does not mean that they have to give up. There will be no eternal friends and eternal enemies between countries, but only national interests. The Tang Dynasty and Dashi may have a peace treaty now, but who can predict the future?

Zhang Huan didn't say anything and kept listening to everyone's speeches silently. He found that Chu Xingshui wanted to speak a few times but stopped, so he smiled and said, "If you have anything, please say it directly. I need to listen to everyone's opinions."

Chu Xingshui was the only living person among the seven major families in the previous generation. He was the oldest in the prime minister. He was in his sixties and was almost the age to retire from office. When he saw Zhang Huan ask him, Chu Xingshui stood up and smiled and said, "I have the same view as everyone. Big food is too far away from us. Even if I conquered it, I cannot govern it. I agree with destroying the Uighurs first. However, I have another idea, that is, the Tang Dynasty should maintain a good relationship with the Byzantine Empire at the same time. The best medium for this relationship is trade. The court should vigorously encourage the merchants of the Tang Dynasty to go abroad to trade in the West, not just Hu merchants to come to the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, they should also expand sea trade, and use Yangzhou and Guangzhou as seaports to release private merchants to go to the West to obtain profits. A large amount of overseas trade can not only bring about the prosperity of handicrafts, but also bring new income channels to the court's finances...."

The meeting lasted until early morning of the next day. Everyone spoke freely and finally formed a complete national strategic plan, including the basic national policies of Dashi, Byzantine, Uighurs and Tubo. The main focus of Dashi and Byzantine was on harmony, and the two sides established good trade relations, vigorously encouraged East-West trade to promote better development of the Tang Dynasty's economy and culture. Tubo's unique geographical environment made the Tang army unable to enter, so suppression was first, and the materials from the Central Plains were strictly prohibited from flowing into Tubo, and the internal strife in Tubo should be maintained as much as possible, so that Tubo could gradually weaken and disappear in the internal strife. On the Uighurs, we reached an agreement that the Tang Dynasty should completely destroy this grassland nation within two or three years, expand the territory of the Tang Dynasty to the north, and connect the northern desert with the Central Plains by military towns, immigration, and straight roads.

Just as dawn, an emergency order was sent from Chang'an to Lingzhou.

Lingzhou is the former Lingwu County, where the Shuofang Jiedushi was located. It commanded the ruler, Feng'an and Dingyuan, and the three surrendered cities, and the three prefectures of Ling, Xia and Feng. It was originally stationed 64,700 soldiers. As Tubo gradually declined, the defense focus of the Tang Dynasty began to shift westward and northward, and the status of the Shuofang Jiedushi gradually increased. During the military adjustment at the beginning of the year, the Western Regions Protectorate became the first important place for the Tang Dynasty to station, with a total of 120,000 soldiers stationed, and four major governors were established under it. The second was the Shuofang Jiedushi, with 100,000 soldiers stationed, becoming the second largest military governor in the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, the troops of Longyou, Hexi, Hedong and Fanyang were reduced.

In order to prevent the formation of new powers of the governors, the court took three powerful measures. First, the military expenditure and food of each governor are borne by the court (except for the military farming system of the Western Regions Protectorate), and the military is strictly prohibited from seeking profits from the various garrisons without authorization; second, the Censorate regularly dispatches military supervisors to monitor possible illegal actions by the army; third, the implementation of the rotation system of the governors, with the sixteen generals of the central court taking turns to serve as governors in various places, and the four governors under the Western Regions Protectorate, each term of four years.

The current Shuofang Jiedushi is Li Shuangyu, the left-level guard general. Zhang Huan's old subordinate has always been known for his loyalty and caution. At noon that day, he received an 800-li emergency express from Chang'an, which was a hand-in-hand mandate from Zhang Huan, ordering him to detain the envoy of the Great Food Ye Haya on the spot.

This news should be said to be very timely. Ye Haya had arrived in Dingyuan City a hundred miles away. Li Shuangyu was preparing to lead the army to lead them across the Yellow River. Ye Haya brought three thousand guards, which violated the Tang Dynasty's regulations that foreign envoys could enter the country that cannot exceed a thousand. After repeated negotiations, Li Shuangyu agreed to cut Ye Haya's guards in two steps. The first step was to reduce 1,000 people in Jiuyuan, and the second step was to reduce 1,000 more people in Lingzhou, and the Tang army was responsible for the safety along the way.

In order not to arouse the other party's suspicion, Li Panyu made two arrangements. He deployed 10,000 troops on the east bank of the Yellow River, while he himself led a thousand light cavalry across the river to welcome the arrival of the Prime Minister of Dashi.

After Ye Haya set out from Hanerdo Bali, he first arrived at Jiuyuan. There were two roads to go from Jiuyuan to Chang'an. One was to travel south along the original "Qinzhi Road", which was the most convenient road. The cavalry could even reach Chang'an in just half a month, and the other was to go south along the Yellow River and cross the river in Lingzhou. The road was much longer because Ye Haya was guarded by the army, so the Tang army did not allow them to walk the "Qinzhi Road" and could only go south along the Yellow River.

They walked for nearly half a month before finally reaching Lingzhou. In late August, Lingzhou was already full of autumn. The strong north wind swept across the Loess Plateau, often blew up the dust in the sky, and the sky was always a little dim.

In the carriage, Ye Haya looked at the scenery outside the car window with interest. On the left were low hills, and the thick loess was ravines, as if traces were cut by a knife. A few miles away was the Tang people's mother river - the Yellow River. From the winding circle, you can accidentally see her figure, majestic, solemn, and rushing thousands of miles. On the right, you can see the towering mountains in the distance, where is Helan Mountain.

"His Highness Vizier, walk twenty miles ahead to the Lingzhou Ferry, where we will cross the Yellow River."

The translation for Ye Haya was a Sogdian merchant in his fifties. He had been between Dashi and the Tang Dynasty for many years and could speak fluent Chinese. Ye Haya specially brought it from Baghdad. He worked as a trader for 30 years and went to many places in the Tang Dynasty. When Tubo occupied Anxi, the Silk Road changed to the Uighurs, and many merchants entered the hinterland of the Tang Dynasty from this road.

Seeing Ye Haya very excited, he smiled and introduced: "The vegetation here is sparse, and a large amount of loess is swept into the river, making the river water appear turbid yellow, so it is called the Yellow River. However, when we go south, we will be Longyou, where the Tang Dynasty has developed agriculture and dense population. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty started his business here."

"Have you ever seen their emperor?" Ye Haya smiled gently.

The businessman shook his head, "I only heard that he is more concerned about the sufferings of the people and often goes to the public for inspection, but I have never seen him."

"This time I have a conversation with him, and you need to be the translator, and you will be able to see him at that time."

As soon as Ye Haya finished speaking, someone suddenly pointed at the front and shouted, "Sir, look, it's Tang Jun coming."

Ye Haya looked forward and saw yellow dust flying in front of him. An army was rushing towards him quickly. Ye Haya smiled and said, "Don't worry, this is the Tang army who is here to lead us across the river."

Soon, the Tang army drove in, Li Shuangyu turned over and dismounted, strode forward and saluted, "In Xiashuofang Jiedushi Li Shuangyu, on the order of His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, came to lead the distinguished guests across the river."

The translator whispered a few words to Ye Haya, and Ye Haya nodded and smiled, "It turns out it's General Li. Thank you for your hard work. I am the Great Food Country, Vizier Ye Haya."

The translator translated Ye Haya's words into Chinese and pointed out to him that Weizier meant the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. Li Panyu clasped his fists and said, "We should prepare the ships and ask the Prime Minister to follow me to cross the river."

The Tang army led the way forward, and the group continued to move forward in a mighty manner. One hour later, a large group of people arrived at the Huangsha Ferry in Lingzhou. This was the most important crossing in Lingzhou. The river surface was wide and more than 20 miles wide. It was the main section of the Yellow River water transport. At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan ordered the establishment of the Yellow River water transport here to prevent the Turkic invasion. Now it has become the most important dock for the Yellow River water transport, and a large amount of grain came from the east of the river and walked through the Yellow River waterway.

Two large ships have been parked at the ferry, which can transport more than 300 people at a time. Li Panyu apologized: "Please forgive me, our ships have all gone to transport grain, and only two ships are available. We can only send the army across the Yellow River in a few times."

This was a bit beyond Ye Haya's expectations. He pondered for a moment and said, "Okay! The guest will follow the host and do what General Li said."

He got off the carriage and got on one of the big ships surrounded by two hundred guards. More than a dozen Tang soldiers followed as guides. The big ship finally staggered away from the turbid Yellow River water and slowly sailed to the distant opposite bank. Li Shuangyu kept watching the big ship disappear, and a hint of undetectable sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.
Chapter completed!