Chapter 76: The grand occasion is unprecedented

In mid-July, the war in Songzhou had basically ended, and the glory of this battle was beyond anyone's surprise.

Most of the nearly 300,000 Tubo troops that invaded our border were annihilated or captured by our army, and only a few fled back to the country of Tubo.

The 250,000 troops who were personally led by Zanpu of Tubo and abandoned Zong Nongzan, who attacked Songzhou City were almost all wiped out. Due to the obstruction of the Minjiang River, there were almost no such troops except for a defeated group that fled back to Tubo.

In the military newspaper sent back by Hou Junji, a total of more than 70,000 Tubo troops were annihilated in the narrow mountainous area outside Songzhou City, more than 160,000 were captured, countless cattle, sheep and livestock were seized, while our army suffered only more than 10,000 casualties.

Several other directions attacked our border. According to Qi Zong Nongzan's arrangement, the Tubo army was used as a support and to attract our army's attention. After hearing that Qi Zong Nongzan was killed by our army and all the men and horses led were annihilated, they had no intention of fighting and retreating quickly. The defenders of our border prefectures did not miss the opportunity and immediately went out of the city to pursue. Under the pursuit of our border prefectures, these tens of thousands of Tubo people could not eliminate the bad luck, and most of them were annihilated.

This was a completely asymmetric war, just like an elite army massacred the unarmed people. When the news came back, when Li Shimin summoned all the ministers to announce the situation, all the civil and military officials were shocked. The victory of the court was even greater than the previous battles, which made many court officials feel proud. There was chaos in the court, and some officials were impeached by the Censor for being rude.

However, Emperor Li Shimin did not punish the few officials for their misconduct. He ignored the court officials' misconduct at the court meeting on the grounds that our army had achieved great victory and the world should celebrate together.

At the same time, Li Shimin imposed the news of the great victory of Songzhou to the world, and also pardoned the world with the great victory of the war, and announced the exemption of taxes from Songzhou, Diezhou, Wenzhou and other prefectures and counties that had experienced the war for three years to celebrate.

Wang Yi, who failed to go to the army, was very happy after hearing the news of such a huge victory, but was also very disappointed. He regretted that he failed to show any performance in this battle. He also thought that if he could go to the army this time, he would definitely make military achievements and be rewarded by Li Shimin. Although Wang Yi had resigned from the position of Assistant Minister of the Ministry of War of the Procuratorate, as a passionate man, he still hoped to become famous in the battle.

Wang Yi thought that not only him, but also the other generals who failed to go out of the war, would regret not only him, but also as much as him, regret not going out of the war with the army to make the military achievements that could easily be obtained in order to get the emperor's reward.

In early September, the army that went on the expedition returned to Beijing in triumphantly. Li Shimin led the monarch and his ministers to welcome the Chang'an City for twenty miles to show their praise for the generals who went on the expedition. The generals such as Hou Junji and Su Dingfang, who led the army to the expedition, Zhishili, Niu Jinda and Songzhou Governor Han Wei, were treated as a hero and were watched and guided by thousands of Chang'an people.

Nearly 200,000 Tubo prisoners were also escorted back to Beijing, and they will be split and resettled. Like previous prisoners, they will accept the punishment from the Tang Dynasty court and carry out labor reforms, which will contribute to the basic suggestions of the Tang Dynasty.

In recent years, the Tang Dynasty has more basic suggestions, most of which are roads, rivers, water conservancy and other suggestions for people's livelihood. These projects have a long construction cycle, a large amount of labor, and a large number of migrant workers needing to be collected, which will affect farming. With so many prisoners escorted over, it can solve the problem of migrant workers to a large extent.

Because of the lack of so many young and middle-aged laborers in Tubo, its national strength has been greatly damaged. At least for twenty years, it is no longer able to threaten the borders of our Tang Dynasty. The total number of Tubo's territory was only one or two million. Apart from the elderly, weak, sick and disabled and women, only one-third of the total population can be launched. Nowadays, most of these populations have been captured by our Tang Dynasty. Even if our Tang Dynasty leaves it alone, the number of soldiers that can mobilize in Tubo is pitifully small.

Due to his great military achievements, Hou Junji, the Minister of War, was appointed as the Minister of Personnel, the head of the six ministries after returning to Beijing.

Because Su Dingfang was promoted to the position of General of the Left Guard and was awarded the title of Duke of Weinan County, Zhi Shili was transferred to the title of General of the Left Guard. Another meritorious official who made great achievements was Niu Jinda, was awarded the position of General of the Left Guard. Other meritorious generals all received rewards to varying degrees.

During the war, the Tubo generals and leaders who led their troops to surrender were pardoned by Li Shimin, leniently dealt with, and rewarded. They strongly opposed Qi Zong Nongzan's attack on our Tang Dynasty, and when our army attacked, they first surrendered Tubo's short speech Nangzan was commissioned by Li Shimin as the new Tubo State's new Zanpu, and were preparing to send troops to escort him back to the country and take charge of Tubo.

The number of Tubo-sized and captive people surrendered and captured was astonishing, with hundreds of people. Li Shimin sent someone to conduct a detailed investigation of these people and decided based on the investigation results whether to let them return to China with Nengzan or stay in Chang'an for retirement.

Nangzan is still aware of the current affairs. After receiving very good treatment from Li Shimin in Chang'an and being entrusted with the new Tubo Zanpu, he also showed kindness to our Tang Dynasty with great sincerity. After discussing with those "newly appointed" Tubo officials for many days, he made a decision to exclude the domestic attachment before they returned to China.

The experience of killing the tribesmen of Murong Shun, who were almost rebellious in the Tuyuhun Kingdom, taught them a lesson. The many things they learned in Chang'an also made them understand the true intentions of the Tang Dynasty court, and their best choice was in addition to the domestic ones.

At the end of September, Li Shimin issued an edict to accept the request of the new Tubo Zanpu Nangzan who was still in Chang'an. In addition to the Tubo Kingdom, the Great Protectorate of Xizhou was established in the Tubo area, and the Lusie City was changed to Xizhou. As the capital of the Great Protectorate of Xizhou, the former Tubo Geru was changed to the prefecture, and the Nangzan was appointed as the King of Xihai County. Other surrendered Tubo heads were appointed as the governors of each state, and all of them were granted titles.

In addition to the more than 15,000 Tang army generals who escorted Nangzan back to Xizhou, the Tang Dynasty did not send officials to Xizhou for the time being. The affairs of the Great Protectorate of Xizhou were still under the responsibility of the former Tubo leaders, and they were subject to custody and punished.

When the court discussed how to deal with the Tubo area, the debate in the court was quite fierce, and the differences among the court officials were quite large. Many court officials suggested military occupation of the Tubo plateau. Like the Eastern Turks and Qinghai, our Han officials were officials at all levels to manage Tubo affairs. However, many people suggested giving up the Tubo area, believing that the high and cold land of Tubo was a burden, with no output, and could not add wealth to our Tang Dynasty, and would also drag down our Tang Dynasty. Of course, there were also many court officials, such as Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, etc., who suggested that they be governed by the Tubo heads, and through the influence over the years, the Tubo people finally recognized the rule of our Tang Dynasty. In the end, Li Shimin adopted this opinion.

Although the main army of Tubo was annihilated, there were still many remnants of Tubo. If the officials of the Xizhou Protectorate newly appointed by the Tang Dynasty would not go smoothly if they wanted to return to Xizhou City, and there would be wars. Even if they returned to Xizhou and took over the governance of the original Tubo area, rebellions would occur in the tribes under their rule.

Because when Nangzan returned to Xizhou, there were only more than a thousand guards around him, and it was impossible for him to organize military forces soon after returning to Xizhou. They must rely on the 15,000 Tang troops they escorted to maintain stability and suppress the rebels.

However, when Nangzan was escorted by the Tang army, he encountered fewer difficulties and resistance than they thought. Because Qi Zong Nongzan died, the news came back to China, and the struggle between the tribes immediately occurred. In order to win pasture, as well as livestock and population, larger tribes used force to solve these problems. After Nangzan returned to Xizhou, these left-behind tribe leaders were supported by Nangzan and the Tang army behind him, and rushed to support him.

After the chaos, the sphere of influence of each tribe must be redistributed. No matter which tribe leader understands that it is impossible to fight against the actual support of the Tang army alone with their strength. Only by showing goodwill can you get more benefits.

The tribe leaders who did not understand this truth chose to confront Nangzan with the support of the Tang army and the Tang army. Their ending was to be wiped out or go away. Near the richest Xizhou City on the former Tubo Plateau was soon opened by Nangzan. Although the territory of the Great Protectorate of Xizhou was not calm and civil strife was everywhere, under the deterrence of more than 10,000 Tang troops, they had gradually developed in a better direction.

Hundreds of thousands of Tubo troops were annihilated, and the Tang Dynasty changed the Tubo area to the Great Protectorate of Xizhou. Nangzan, who was pro-Tang, was entrusted to the Great Protectorate of Xizhou. More than 15,000 Tang troops entered Xizhou to suppress the rebellion, which greatly shocked the tribes and countries around the former Tubo area.

The Tang army had 50,000 soldiers wiped out nearly 300,000 Tubo troops, and its combat effectiveness reached an astonishing level. No one dared to underestimate the 5,000 Tang troops entering the Tubo area. These countries and tribes responded quickly. They immediately sent envoys to show their kindness to our Tang Dynasty, and expressed their willingness to pay tribute to our Tang Dynasty every year. The Nibharati and the Southern Barbarians sent envoys to Chang'an to show their kindness to our Tang Dynasty, and expressed their willingness to respect our Tang Dynasty as the sect leader country, and some small countries such as Kang State and Zhu Bo requested them to submit.

Li Shimin accepted the favors of these tribes and countries one by one, and granted the heads of each tribe the official positions of the Tang Dynasty, and sent envoys to the rich commandments, so that these small countries and tribes could carry out the Tang Dynasty's calendar, and the prestige of the Tang Dynasty reached an unprecedented level based on our Han customs.

In recent years, because the rice and wheat reseeding technology has been promoted most comprehensively, almost all land in the Tang Dynasty adopted such farming technology, and the population has been recovered rapidly, the number of newly cultivated land has increased year by year, and some new agricultural tools such as curved plows, ploughs, and trolleys have been promoted and utilized. There are many water conservancy facilities built and renovated in the world. The world has been harvesting year by year, and grain output has maintained a high growth rate every year. Grain silos in various places have been built and rebuilt, but still cannot meet the storage of grain. Many people are also worried about the inability to eat up food. The official warehouse has abundant grain storage and the national treasury is rich. Even if a large-scale war occurs, it has basically no major impact on people's livelihood, and the people's taxes will not increase.

The world of the Tang Dynasty showed a grand occasion that only appeared at its peak, but there were also hidden worries behind the prosperity...

Chapter 76: The grand occasion is unprecedented
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