Chapter 398 Two Adults and One Child Share Life and Death
In the Manna Hall, Li Shimin didn't know whether to cry or laugh for a moment.
The good news is that this year happens to be the fifth year of Zhenguan. Knowing in advance that there will be no disasters this year and next year can let him and his ministers breathe a sigh of relief in advance.
The bad news is that there have been more than 20 consecutive years of disaster since the seventh year of Zhenguan.
The two emotions collided in Li Shimin's heart. In the end, the worry about the future disaster years prevailed, making him let out a long sigh without realizing it.
Fortunately, this is the beginning of the fifth year of Zhenguan, and there are still two years of peace before these twenty-six consecutive years of disaster.
Du Ruhui was relieved when he knew in advance that there would be no disasters this year. After all, on the one hand, he needed to support Li Jing on the front line in fighting Tuyuhun. If there was another natural disaster in the rear, he would probably be busy this year.
This news at least means that this year, we no longer have to worry about the whole big job of fearing God. Therefore, seeing His Majesty's expression, Du Ruhui smiled and said with relief:
"Everyone, at least we have time this year and next to protect the forest and stabilize the soil. This may help to eliminate many natural disasters in advance."
Du Ruhui's statement made Li Shimin slowly shake his head:
"Disasters do not come from heaven and earth, but are caused by man himself."
To be honest, what later generations said is not a great truth.
Everyone understands that there are tall trees and no forest.
Even a child with a yellow mouth knows that a thousand-foot embankment is broken by the nests of ants.
Everyone has seen that during heavy rains, mountains and forests are difficult to collapse, and flat fields are easily destroyed by waterlogging.
But in the end, no one could notice it when it really set its sights on the mountains and forests.
Cutting down forests and cultivating fields can relieve one day's worries, destroy a century's worth of work, and cause thousands of years of disaster, leaving a legacy that will last for generations to come and bring disaster to future generations.
Keeping this incident in mind, he looked at Fang Du's written records again. The fishy taste of locusts seemed to be faintly filling his mouth again. This made Li Shimin quickly shake his head, and then he saw something more interesting. content:
"This Beijing should be the Beijing of the Ming Dynasty...and where is it?"
During the Zhou Dynasty, Luoyang had the title of the Eastern Capital. Therefore, after hearing about the events of the Middle and Late Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin took Luoyang as the Eastern Capital for granted.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Chang'an also had the title of the Western Capital, so Li Shimin could accept Xi'an's name in later generations.
In addition, we also know from later generations' casual talks about the Three Kingdoms that Jinling later became Nanjing. Considering that it controlled the river and connected the southeast, it was reasonable.
But there is still a place in the north that can be used as the capital and be used by the republic in later generations?
Li Shimin expressed surprise at the former, but was slightly dissatisfied and curious about the latter from the perspective of a Chang'an person.
What advantages does the capital city of Beijing have that will make it favored by future generations?
Moreover, Chengdu is magnificent and Xi'an is magnificent, so how grand should this city of Beijing be?
Naturally, no one could answer this question. Finally, standing in the Manlu Hall, Li Shimin sighed sincerely:
"What a pity that we can't see it in person for future generations!"
…
Regarding what happened to the Tang Dynasty, the reaction of the people in Han Chang'an was very straightforward.
"What a vicious God!" Ma Chao exclaimed.
"What an admirable Zhenguan monarch!" Kong Ming sighed sincerely.
Then, without any accident, Ma Chao was flicked on the head by Zhang Fei. He hurriedly covered his mouth and squatted down to raise his head, fearing that the light curtain would flash twice and go out after hearing this, which would be a huge sin.
Liu Bei, who had given up treatment, also understood what Kong Ming was thinking.
After all, looking at it this way, in the early Tang Dynasty, despite natural disasters, it was able to manage both internal and external affairs without any chaos, and both the monarch and his ministers could be said to be capable.
"This Tang Dynasty is really lively."
After playing Ma Chao with just one finger, Zhang Fei was in high spirits:
“Outside there is an open side that never stops, but inside there is a disaster that is flat.”
"In the past, there was the rebellion of the prince, and in the later, the empress entered the palace."
Liu Bei couldn't help but imitate Zhang Fei, and flicked his head with his finger:
"You are full of parallel poems, do you want to take the Ph.D. exam?"
Everyone in the hall burst into laughter. Pang Tong, who had worked with Zhang Fei for the longest time, immediately joined Kong Ming in lamenting that he shared his firepower:
"I don't know whether I should say that the climate in the early Tang Dynasty was too good, or whether I should praise the monarchs and ministers in the early Tang Dynasty who were so impressive."
The others nodded together, and Jian Yong also sighed:
"However, his ability to care about the people and swallow locusts in his mouth in anger is the best in ancient times."
In fact, the light curtain did not say much about the emperor who was once praised as the emperor of the ages.
To bring peace to the world is mentioned in one stroke, and to govern the world is also to talk about the merits of generals and capable ministers.
But in fact, thinking about being able to control so many talents is a better indication of his ability.
And this act of swallowing locusts out of concern for people's livelihood is also unprecedented in ancient times.
Zhang Fei on the side felt that what Jian Yong said was very reasonable, and at the same time his eyes were full of thought:
When it comes to caring about people's livelihood, my brother can never lose!
[If the time point is pushed back along the early Tang Dynasty, the Anshi Rebellion also has a relatively obvious shadow of climate change.
Looking at the period from the beginning of the Tang Dynasty to the end of the Tang Dynasty, it is obvious that the entire northern nomads were driven by climate.
Looking back at the temperature change map of ancient China, the first obvious climate change during the Sui and Tang Dynasties was during the reign of Kaihuang.
During this period, a major event occurred in the northern Turks: Turkic civil strife.
With Jinshan as the boundary, the Turks split into two parts: the Eastern and Western Turks.
Looking back at history, civil strife among nomadic peoples has actually been common. However, it is relatively rare for nomads to still maintain strong strength after civil strife and not move south in a big way. From this, it can also be seen that the climate in the north did not allow nomads to feel alive at that time. pressure, and therefore no motivation to move south.
The DTZ that split off during this period was quite powerful. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the separatist forces in the north had more or less dealt with the Turks, either seeking their protection or support, such as Liu Wuzhou, Guo Zihe, Dou Jiande, Xue Ju, Li Yuan, etc.
However, with the end of the civil strife in the Central Plains, the emperor of the Central Plains finally began to face up to the threat of the DTZ. During the Zhenguan period, Li Jing and Li 𪟝were ordered by Li Shimin to successively destroy the DTZ and Xueyantuo.
At that time, the climate in the north was pleasant. For the Hu people, it was nothing more than a change of boss, and life went on as usual. Therefore, the north was generally stable during the first hundred years of the Tang Dynasty.
The Anshi Rebellion was a critical point in the climate change of the Tang Dynasty. From around 740 to around 820, the overall temperature was in a situation of first rising slightly and then falling sharply.
As reflected in history, the drop in temperature caused troubles in the north. The Turks and the later Turks rebelled one after another. The Uighurs joined forces with the Tang Dynasty to destroy the Turks again. Later, the Uighurs became the de facto leader of the northern nomadic peoples.
But the subsequent rise in temperature allowed the Uighurs to maintain stability in the north again. Without the pressure of survival, they maintained a relatively stable relationship with the Tang Dynasty and established the Uighur Khanate.
The period of slight warming was also a period of revival for Tubo. Taking advantage of the An-Shi Rebellion, they invaded the territory of the Tang Dynasty and eventually formed a behemoth dominating the plateau and spanning the Hexi, Yunnan, and Sichuan regions.
Some scholars also believe that the slight rise in temperature is one of the reasons why the An-Shi Rebellion did not end in a short time.
But such a temperature rise is ultimately just an illusion. In the early ninth century, with the official end of the warm period of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Uighur Khanate and the Tubo Kingdom also came to an end.
Since the beginning of the 9th century, there have been heavy snows in the Huihe territory for many years, which has led to famine and epidemics, and many sheep and horses died. The Huihe declined. Twenty years later, the Huihe Khanate was defeated by its subordinate tribe, the Kyrgyz. Most of the Huihe nobles moved south and integrated into the Han area. The Huihe Khanate was destroyed in 840.
Tubo was not immune. The drastic climate change caused rebellions in Tubo. Zhang Yichao launched an uprising and returned to the Tang Dynasty, which caused Hexi and Longyou to be out of Tubo's control. At the same time, the weakening of national strength caused civil wars in the upper class for many years, which triggered a large-scale slave uprising in the country. Around 877, the Tubo Dynasty collapsed.
The Tang Dynasty did not completely end after the Anshi Rebellion, and even continued to hold on for more than a hundred years. This was largely due to the temperature in the middle and late periods.
The Huang Chao Uprising broke out in the Tang Dynasty the year after the collapse of the Tubo Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty was almost dead in name only.
Therefore, it is not wrong to say that Tubo and the Tang Dynasty lived and died together.
It was Zhu Wen who finally put the seal on the demise of the Tang Dynasty.
In 907, Emperor Ai of Tang abdicated to Zhu Wen, who then poisoned him to death, and the Tang Dynasty officially came to an end. 】