Rebirth of the Viking King

Chapter 568 86 The Truth (2)

In AD 738, the Tang Dynasty in the East was at the end of its prosperous Kaiyuan period, when its national power gradually reached its peak.

To the north, the Tang Dynasty defeated the Khitan and incorporated the three eastern provinces into its territory for the first time; to the west, the Tang army continued to defeat the Turks and Tibetans in battle after battle, advancing all the way to Congling.

Control most of the Silk Road in your own hands.

This is equivalent to holding a huge money tree with both hands.

During the Tianbao period, the world's population was 200 million, and the Tang Dynasty exclusively owned 100 million. The large population is only one aspect. The other aspect is that the per capita wealth of the Tang Dynasty is unusually high.

Rich countries beget rich economies. From officials to businessmen, and even shop assistants, everyone working in the fields is well clothed and well fed.

Ordinary people can afford mutton and ribs for three meals a day. This kind of life is only available in the Tang Dynasty in the world. The prosperous Tang merchants bought up almost all the cattle, horses and lambs on the East-West Continental Bridge, and the countries in the Western Regions became rich and prosperous at the same time.

In the vast territory of the Tang Dynasty, there were countless elite soldiers and generals under the command of various military governors.

According to common sense, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty would never set his sights on a foreign general far away in the border areas.

Therefore, this incident immediately aroused the vigilance of the current right minister Zhang Jiuling.

When later generations talk about Zhang Jiuling, they always label him with praises such as "loyal and conscientious", "fair-minded", "outspoken and dare to advise", "selecting talents and appointing talents", and Zhang Jiuling is indeed a great leader. Tang Rising made important contributions.

All this stems from the fact that beneath his gentle appearance, he hides an extremely keen judgment on "danger".

Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty seemingly mentioned An Lushan's name inadvertently. It was this "pretend" that aroused Zhang Jiuling's suspicion.

The emperor lived in the prosperous city of Chang'an, and what he saw every day was a mess of his brains, and he was loyal to his country.

The Hu ministers spared no effort to show off their achievements, just to get a few words of praise from the Tang emperor.

Anyone who soaks in this kind of honeypot will inevitably lose himself in the flattery.

But Zhang Jiuling is different.

Every five or six years, he would visit the border in person. He has seen what these "loyal ministers and good generals" look like in the local area. How can there be so many people who are "loyal to the country" and "disloyal to the country". They are all just trying to get as much benefit for themselves as possible from the huge Dongtu Tang Dynasty.

The lighter ones slaughtered civilians in the Western Region after the battle, then stuffed tattered weapons into their hands, pretending to be soldiers and claiming credit.

In serious cases, they may simply have an affair with a foreigner. He used the army of the Tang Dynasty in the East to support his Pao brothers to defeat their political opponents.

In the name of "expanding territory", what they do is contrary to their own will.

Zhang Jiuling has always been extremely strict with this group of generals from the Western Regions who surrendered. When he learned that Li Longji wanted to let the defeated general go in the name of "his meritorious service," he wrote without hesitation: "The Lushan wolf is ambitious and has a rebellious face. I ask that he be killed for his crimes to prevent future troubles." .

Zhang Jiuling is famous, but he is not an astrologer of the Yin and Yang school.

Of course, he could not predict that An Lushan would cause a bloody storm 17 years later. The so-called "reverse appearance" is just an excuse for him to kill him.

The position of right minister requires handling nearly 100 pieces of work every day. Zhang Jiuling thought that An Lushan would inevitably die if he submitted such a letter, so he stopped paying attention to the matter.

What he never expected was that Tang Xuanzong, who always listened to all his opinions, would eventually let An Lushan go.

By the time he found out about this, he had already returned to the Western Regions for a long time.

At that time, the emperor paid attention to a Hu general for no reason, and even ignored the prime minister's advice and insisted on letting him go. This is already a huge question in the eyes of Legalist teachers.

But when An Lushan returned to the Western Regions, his behavior brought more doubts.

**

Before he was defeated and entered Luoyang, An Lushan was a brave Hu general.

He has excellent fighting ability and is naive. Because he was used to a hard life when he was young, he also has some business spirit in his bones that belongs to a commoner.

If you have money, you'll drink and solicit prostitutes. If you don't have money, you'll go to war with a knife. Just live one day at a time, never thinking about what will happen tomorrow.

After escaping from death row, this man seemed to have transformed into a sophisticated politician overnight.

He is well versed in the art of conversation, hiding all his shrewdness in a seemingly honest and warm-blooded appearance.

Internally, he used his talking skills to win over all the Hu generals in Youzhou and unite them all.

An Lushan made it clear to these Hu generals that in the eyes of Tang officials, they were just a group of lackeys who could be abandoned at any time.

They are like rootless duckweeds. If they make any mistakes at work, they will be severely punished.

In the eyes of the scattered Hu subordinate officers, An Lushan, who was personally pardoned by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, was like their god.

An Lushan began to gather a group of dead soldiers who were truly loyal to him, and he did not always have to go into battle personally in external wars. The barbarian generals under his command will fight bravely for him.

And he never covets the credit of his subordinates. On the contrary, he will distribute all the real spoils to his generals.

In Youzhou, his troops were almost unbeatable.

Externally, he spared no effort to bribe every supervisor from the Eastern Tang Dynasty.

No matter how big or small the official position was, they were from the eastern capital of Luoyang or the imperial city of Chang'an. From the imperial envoys to the charioteers and servants, as long as they were officials traveling from the east to the west, An Lushan bribed them all with sufficient gold and silver.

He spends money so generously that he doesn't even ask officials to do anything for him.

If you think highly of me, just say a few good words for me in front of the emperor.

If you don’t like me, that’s okay!

Anyway, what I got in my hands were ill-gotten gains from the demonic people of the Western Region. I would like to express my filial piety to you Han people of noble blood. I should like to thank you for your important guidance for the happy life of our people in the Western Regions.

It is conceivable what kind of image An Lushan looked like in the eyes of officials of all sizes in the imperial court at this time.

For corrupt officials, An Lushan is their shining golden apple. Going on a mission to the Western Regions in the wind and sand is a dirty and tiring job. No one wants to leave the picturesque south of the Yangtze River to eat sand in the Western Regions.

But since An Lushan began to rise, officials have flocked to it, spurring many new policies on the Silk Road in disguise.

For Qingliu, Anlushan conquered cities and territories for the imperial court and was victorious in every battle.

What's even more valuable is that he leads an army of barbarians, using people from other races to kill foreigners and open up territory for the empire.

There is simply no better thing in the world than this.

Even Li Linfu, the left prime minister of the dynasty, praised An Lushan as an important minister of the imperial court.

At this point, An Lushan's rise has been unstoppable.