In the meeting hall of the Jiang tribe, the atmosphere suddenly became tense. Everyone, including the Jiangzhou Provincial Governor, was shocked by Jiang Laoqi's words. They didn't believe the outsider surnamed Duan at first, but now they believed him very much. They felt that what Duan said was very likely to be true. The Tang dynasty was really going to take action.
Because the others had arrived earlier, they knew a lot about the situation. However, Jiang Laoqi had just arrived, and Si Lang didn't say it clearly, so he didn't know the specific situation. Therefore, he was the most confused and couldn't make sense of it for a while.
"The Tang dynasty's troops have arrived so soon. It seems that Brother Duan is telling the truth!"
"If Dongnu Province can be changed into a province or county, our autonomy will definitely be taken back by the imperial court. In this way, we can't live a good life."
"I heard that the people in Central Sichuan didn't pay the rent on time and their whole families were beheaded."
"With our little harvest, it's definitely not enough to pay the rent! Even if we all starve to death, we can't afford to pay the rent! "
"If we're unlucky and encounter unreasonable provincial or county officials, they'll simply exploit us layer by layer. The people won't be able to live a good life."
"Are we worrying too much? Brother Duan's words may not be all true."
"Yes! Over the years, I've been to many provinces and counties in Central Sichuan. The people there live a better life than us. They are very rich. I don't see anyone living a bad life! "
"Brother Duan said that those people are living a good life. In the countryside outside the province or county, the people don't have enough to eat. It's just that you haven't seen it."
"Stop arguing. No matter what, we're living a good life now. Every year, we offer the local specialties in the mountains to the imperial court and get a lot of rewards. There's no one to take care of us every day. Isn't that great?"
"Yes, we're living a good life now. We like the way we are now."
A group of minor tribal chiefs said.
These guys were obviously used to being free and unfettered. They all wanted to continue to be their own local emperors, but they didn't want to be completely under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. That would be very unfree. The outsider surnamed Duan took advantage of their feelings and persuaded them, describing the Tang dynasty as terrible. For many minor tribal chiefs who had never been to the Tang dynasty, they believed it after hearing it. For some people who had been to the Tang Dynasty and seen the prosperity of the Tang dynasty, their voices were too weak and they didn't dare to oppose most people.... In addition, they were very clear that they were semi-independent and had vested....
If the Tang dynasty really sent officials to rule here, many people might benefit, but the interests of these tribal chiefs would definitely suffer. Because of their status, they could do whatever they wanted here and reasonably exploit their clansmen. But if the foreign officials came in, these interests might have to be surrendered. Their losses would undoubtedly be the greatest. Therefore, even if they knew that Duan was talking nonsense, they wouldn't expose him. As long as they all united, they could protect their vested interests.
When Duan came to tell them this before, they thought it was fake. But now, Jiang Laoqi came and reported that a troop of the Tang dynasty had arrived in their territory. In this way, this matter was confirmed, and they had to believe it was true.
Although the imperial court's attitude toward them had not changed, nor did it ask them to do anything, Dongnu Province had always been an affiliated country, and its relationship with the Tang dynasty was not as close as theirs. In other words, it was precisely because Dongnu Province was an affiliated country that these small tribes sandwiched between Dongnu Province and the Tang dynasty could become Jiimeng Province. If they were bigger, they could also become affiliated countries. But because they were too small, it was not suitable for them to establish a country, so they became Jiimeng Province of the Tang dynasty. Now, if the affiliated countries outside them became the real territory of the Tang dynasty and changed into the same provinces and prefectures as the interior of the Tang dynasty, then their Jiimeng Province sandwiched in the middle would be somewhat incongruous. It seemed to be a matter of time before they were transformed, which naturally made them quite nervous.
No one was willing to give up their interests, and the leaders of these Jiimeng Province were no exception. They were more concerned about their own interests. In today's world, there was nothing more comfortable than being a local emperor. No one was willing to give up the opportunity to be a local emperor.
"What did I say? The Tang dynasty is really going to march into Dongnu Province. As long as Dongnu Province becomes an ordinary province and county of the Tang dynasty, your Jiimeng Province will also be transformed. At that time, your life will definitely not be as good as it is now. If you want to avoid this situation, you must first prevent Dongnu Province from becoming a province and county of the Tang dynasty. As long as Dongnu Province is still Dongnu Province, your life will not change."
Just as they were arguing, Duan came in and said with a smile.
Jiang Laoqi was angry and said, "Patriarch, what's going on? How can there be an outsider in our Jiang family's meeting room?"
The other minor patriarchs also looked unhappy. No matter what, no matter who Duan was, he should not have appeared in their family's meeting room. This was a matter of the dignity of the tribe. How could they allow others to trample on it? They all felt that their patriarch had done something wrong.
In addition, because they were all members of the same family, they felt somewhat unbalanced. They were all descendants of the Jiang family. Why should the eldest branch always be the patriarch and occupy the best territory, while the rest of the families were all minor patriarchs who were distributed in the relatively barren land around them? Naturally, they felt a little angry. Therefore, as long as the patriarch's branch did something that they should not do, they would immediately jump out to correct it and express their dissatisfaction.
At this time, the patriarch was an old man in his seventies. He looked very old, which was also the reason why many minor patriarchs were angry. They felt that the patriarch was too old and could not hold on anymore. He even lost the most basic principles. However, they were wrong. Although the patriarch was very old, his spirit was not bad. His deep-set eyes looked very energetic, and his brain did not seem to be muddled. Logically speaking, he would not do anything stupid.
"Brother Duan is our friend, not an outsider. You have to treat your friends with sincerity. You have to be more courteous to Brother Duan. After all, Brother Duan came all the way from the East Woman Kingdom and worked hard for our benefit.
The patriarch said.
Jiang Laoqi said, "Brother Duan, you are really kind! We don't know each other. If you don't benefit from it, how can Brother Duan be so kind? "
This brother surnamed Duan was actually Duan Jianhan, the brother of the big boss of Nanzhao, Duan Jianwei. He was a middle-aged man. This time, he was ordered by his elder brother to come to the border area of the Tang Dynasty to rope in as many allies as possible to prevent Dongnu Province from fully submitting to the Tang Dynasty. Although the strength of these tribes was not very good, mosquito meat was still meat. It was better to have one more ally than no ally. Nanzhao did not dare to fight against the Tang Dynasty, but they did not want Dongnu Province to completely submit to the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, they had to take this kind of secret method to prevent this from happening by roping in allies everywhere to hinder the Tang Dynasty.
Duan Jianhan was not angry when he heard this. He was here to rope in allies, not to make enemies. Therefore, no matter what the other party said, he could not be angry. He wanted to use his silver tongue to conquer these rude little patriarchs. In the case that the patriarch had been persuaded by him, he only needed to persuade the little patriarchs. Then, everything would be easy. He was full of confidence in himself and felt that he could do it.
"Haha! Brother, you are right. How can I be so kind as to come here to help you? As I said before, my family's business is in Dongnu Province. If Dongnu Province is completely submitted to the Tang Dynasty, my family's business will be ruined. In addition, some of my friends strongly oppose the complete conversion of Dongnu Province into a province or county of the Tang Dynasty. Because of their special status, it is not convenient for them to stand out and oppose. Therefore, they specially asked me to come here to ally with you. As long as we are united, we can stop this from happening. "
Duan Jianhan said.
"Oh, it turns out that you don't get up early without benefits! I thought it was really out of kindness. "
Jiang Laoqi said with dissatisfaction.
The old patriarch was angry and scolded, "Laoqi, how can you talk to Brother Duan like that? He is our friend. His friends are high-level officials in Dongnu Province. They don't want Dongnu Province to become a province or county of the Tang Dynasty. The current situation in Dongnu Province is also forced by the Tang Dynasty. If we don't do something, we will be insecure!"
Jiang Laoqi said, "Uncle patriarch, we only have so few people. Do we dare to fight against the imperial court? I don't think it's reliable. Besides, how come I don't know how the Tang Dynasty forced Dongnu Province?"
Duan Jianhan said with a smile, "Haha, those who don't know can't be blamed. Everyone knows that there was a natural disaster in Dongnu Province, which led to a poor harvest. A large number of people had no food to eat. Queen Dongnu had no choice but to completely submit to the Tang Dynasty. But what you see is just the surface. There are many inside stories."
"Inside stories? What inside stories?"
Jiang Laoqi asked curiously.
Duan Jianhan said, "Maybe you don't know. In order to force Dongnu Province to completely submit to the imperial court, the imperial court asked Dongnu Province to pay tribute to the jade in the mountains. In order to collect the jade, they had to dig up the mountains. If it was an ordinary mountain, it would be fine. But the one that produced the jade was the sacred mountain in Dongnu Province. There was a mountain god in it. In order to collect the jade and hand it over to the imperial court, Dongnu Province offended the mountain god. The mountain god was angry and sent a natural disaster to Dongnu Province. That's why the people in Dongnu Province had no food to eat and thieves ran rampant in the country! The source of all this was the imperial court's mischief. If the imperial court didn't ask for the jade, Dongnu Province wouldn't have to take the risk of offending the mountain god by opening up the mountains. Then the natural disaster wouldn't have happened and the people wouldn't have to starve. All these were the imperial court's means. The imperial court asked Dongnu Province to mine the jade to destroy the Dragon Vein of Dongnu Province. If you don't unite, the imperial court's next step will be to deal with you. "
This was obviously made up by Duan Jianhan, but it sounded very credible. After all, the East Woman Kingdom did produce jade. Among them, the best quality jade was indeed sent to the imperial court. This story was made up quite well. At least part of it was true. It was made up on the basis of facts, so it was easier for people to believe it. It was also more confusing.
Duan Jianhan's purpose of making up this story was to confuse the public and instigate these tribes to fight against the imperial court of the Tang dynasty. He wanted to prevent the imperial court of the Tang dynasty from completely integrating Dongnu Province into a province and county.
Hearing this, Jiang Laoqi said with satisfaction and concern, "We don't have any jade here. What's there to be afraid of?"
Duan Jianhan said with a smile, "There is indeed no jade here. But as long as Dongnu Province is integrated into a province and county of the Tang dynasty, the Tang dynasty will definitely build a road to Dongnu Province. This road will inevitably pass through here. At that time, many mountains will be leveled, and a lot of land used for planting crops will be turned into roads. There will be more and more caravans coming and going. At that time, you won't be able to live in peace anymore!"
These words were very lethal, it was very lethal for these small patriarchs. When they thought of the area they lived in becoming chaotic, they felt very nervous. This meant that it would be difficult for them to maintain their privileges. Their free and unrestrained life in the paradise was about to come to an end, and they obviously didn't want this kind of free life to end.
These small tribal chiefs didn't know much about the road construction of the Tang dynasty. They only knew that the road construction ability of the Tang dynasty was very powerful. If the mountains they lived in were leveled, they would offend these Mountain Gods. At that time, they might also encounter terrible natural disasters. This was something they didn't want to bear.
"Building a road requires leveling a mountain. How big is this mountain? How can it be leveled? "
Jiang Laoqi said.
Duan Jianhan said, "As long as there are enough people, there is nothing that can't be done. Don't you have people in your tribes? When the time comes, the imperial court will summon all of you, men and women, old and young, to go up the mountain to clear the road. Do you dare to refuse? You have more than a dozen tribes with tens of thousands of people. The Tang dynasty also has a lot of machines. So, no matter what kind of mountain is leveled, these mountains are the homes of the Mountain Gods! Offending the Mountain Gods is a terrible thing. "
The Mountain Gods didn't exist, but the ignorant people always believed in the existence of the Mountain Gods. They were always full of fear of nature and believed in these things that didn't exist.
"Building a road is not necessarily a bad thing. If the road is built, it will be convenient to go to Central Sichuan in the future. We can save a lot of transportation fees. Business will be better! "
Jiang Laoer said. He was a businessman. In the whole Jiang tribe, only the second branch was doing business. Of course, a part of the profits would be shared with the eldest branch. The other branches could also share some of the profits. Therefore, he didn't oppose the road construction.
Hearing this, Duan Jianhan said to scare him, "Second Tribal Chief, you are too naive. If the road is built, it won't be just for you. All the caravans can use it. When the caravans from Central Sichuan come here, how can your business continue? There will be no profit at all."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
