Chapter 124: Little Heaven Khan Li Xiang
Regarding how to better strengthen control over vassal states, Li Xiang believed there were two major ways.

The first is visible and tangible, using a powerful army for physical deterrence to force the vassal states to be under control.

This approach is certainly necessary, but it is not the only one.

If we only use threats of force, as the saying goes, "power cannot last long", the Central Plains dynasty cannot maintain a strong army forever. Once it is weakened, it will inevitably cause the alienation of the vassal states.

Therefore, we have to adopt the second method, which is to control through invisible means, such as culture, economy, etc.

In fact, the Tang Dynasty did a very good job. Even though the Central Plains dynasty encountered unprecedented fission, the vassal states remained loyal to the Tang Dynasty and helped the Tang Dynasty to quell the Anshi Rebellion.

As for attributing the An Lushan Rebellion simply to the "unreliable Hu people", that is simply blaming the earth for having no gravity.

The An Lushan Rebellion was not a conflict between the Hu and Han peoples, but a conflict between the central government and the Hebei region. If you simply compare the composition of the Tang Dynasty's army and the Hebei rebels, you will find that the ethnic composition of the court army is much more complicated than that of the Hebei rebels.

Li Xiang prefers to use visible hand and invisible hand to describe these two methods. He prefers to grab with both hands and make both hands strong.

Of course, this invisible hand is not the same as Adam Smith’s theory.

"Everyone——"

"This king has something to say, please listen carefully."

Li Xiang stood up and spoke to the leaders of the vassal states.

The banquet, which was originally a bit noisy, suddenly became quiet.

After all, Li Xiang is the grandson of Tian Khan, and Tian Khan is sitting behind him. No matter what, he should give this grandson of the emperor some face for the sake of Tian Khan.

"Now that all tribes have met and united under the banner of the Heavenly Khan, I am concerned that when you want to exchange your tribe's furs and other items for supplies, you will suffer from the hardships of traveling, and the prices will vary. Therefore, I want to form a caravan to sell cloth, silk, spices, and tea to all tribes in exchange for your furs, cattle, sheep, and horses. It will also be more convenient to unify the prices of the goods in the trade. What do you think?"

"If the prince says so, I will be the first to agree!" Tumidu immediately stood up to express his loyalty.

After all, he is currently the most loyal younger brother of Datang, so Tumidu will definitely be the first to stand up and support him.

What's more, in his eyes, Li Xiang vaguely had the feeling of Xiaotian Khan.

Once there is a first, there will be a second. The Khitan leader Daha Kuge also stood up to express his support for Li Xiang's proposal.

"If the prince can really guarantee that there will be no middlemen making a profit from the price difference and that all tribes are treated equally, we will follow him!"

It's not that they are simply playing supporting roles, but the caravan is indeed related to their vital interests.

Tribes like the Khitan and Uighur often had unsold cattle, sheep or furs. If they were taken to border areas, there would often be profiteers controlled by aristocratic families who would buy them at extremely low prices, and then sell them at high prices after returning to the heartland of the Tang Dynasty. The difference was entirely made by the middlemen.

Don't want to sell? If you don't, there are plenty of people who will!

The unscrupulous businessmen used this sentence to bluff the grassland people and bought their products at extremely low prices, but they were helpless.

This is not a good thing for the Tang Dynasty either.

After all, it was the Tang Dynasty's army that provided protection for these profiteers. Now they are being protected for free by the profiteers, but they can't get a penny from it, and it's even damaging the Tang Dynasty's reputation.

The Tang Dynasty is a parasite.

This is no longer just ordinary unscrupulous behavior, we must take strong action!

"Please rest assured, I established this caravan to do only three things!"

Li Xiang stretched out three fingers, looked at the leaders calmly, and spoke in a loud voice.

"Fair! Fair! Still, fair!"

"Okay!" Tumidu immediately joined in, patting his chest and saying, "We Huihe have joined!"

"We Khitans too!" "We Tongluos too!" "We Pugu want to join too!"

Not only these small tribes, but even the Xueyantuo were very interested in the trade.

Not to mention them, even Tubo was tempted. They wondered if they should learn from the tribes on the grassland and take Tubo's barley, yaks and antelopes and exchange them with the Tang Dynasty for some good things that Tubo did not have.

However, the one who led the Tibetan army this time was Lu Dongzan's son Lun Qinling, who did not have the ability to make decisions.

Li Xiang smiled and said, "Of course, everyone can join, but I have a prerequisite, that is, when the caravan arrives at your territory, you must send troops to escort it."

"No problem!" Everyone said, it's nothing more than sending soldiers to escort and send some people, it's no big deal!
As for the demand for trade between the grasslands and the Central Plains, it seems that both sides have had this demand since the beginning of historical records. The Central Plains needs the grasslands' good horses and cheap beef and mutton; while the grasslands need the Central Plains' tea, cloth, medicinal materials and other necessities.

Now that Li Xiang has proposed a mobile caravan, how can they not support it?

"I have one more thing to add." Li Shimin said at the right time: "I plan to open fixed trading locations in Shuozhou and Youzhou, and the Prince of Hengshan will be responsible for unified management. You can rest assured about the prices. If there is an urgent need, you can go to Shuozhou or Youzhou nearby to conduct trade before the caravan reaches your territory."

"Your Majesty the Khan is wise!" everyone responded immediately.

If there is a fixed location, it would be much better than waiting for a mobile caravan.

Li Xiang signaled Fubao with his eyes, and Fubao immediately understood. He took out a bunch of tokens and handed them to the leaders, giving each of them several.

"When you go to Shuozhou or Youzhou for trade, you must be careful to identify the shops with this kind of token on the plaque. Only those with this kind of token are my shops." Li Xiang said with a smile.

In order to prevent the grassland people from being illiterate, Li Xiang specially made such a simple and easy to recognize thing.

"Thank you, Prince!" The leaders immediately thanked him and praised Li Xiang for his thoughtfulness.

Li Shimin nodded and said, "If that's the case, then this matter is settled. In addition, at 9:00 p.m. tomorrow, we will offer sacrifices to the heavens at the hunting ground!"

"Yes!"

After everyone had dispersed, Li Shimin waved at Li Xiang, motioning him to come to him.

Li Xiang slid over and asked with a smile, "What's the matter, Aung?"

"Nothing," Li Shimin said with a smile, "I have the letter your father gave you."

When Li Xiang heard the letter from Li Chengqian, his scalp went numb.

Why isn’t my dad so mushy at other times? As soon as we separated, the father-son affection suddenly came up.

Letters were delivered almost every two days, and the frequency was very high. Occasionally, there were Su Yi's words of concern and Li Jue's words that he missed him.

Li Xiang always felt that Li Jue was not thinking about him, but about the stories he told...

Besides, how come this letter was given to me by Aung? He scratched his head in confusion.

What Li Xiang didn't know was that during his time in Shuozhou, Li Shimin wrote many letters to Li Chengqian, even more frequently than he wrote to Li Tai, and the relationship between the father and son was getting better and better.

Without the son, the father will not know the son, and without the father, the son will not know the son. Li Chengqian is now extremely confident.

Now, whenever he has nothing to do, he would grab Li Tai and Li Zhi to go to the East Palace to play football, under the pretext of exercising, but actually he did it to make trouble for Li Tai.

Of course...it's not the kind of bad punishment, but a prank in the sense of a joke.

Moreover, when playing football, Li Chengqian always irritated Li Tai by showing off how many letters Li Shimin had sent him. At first, Li Tai could show off in return, but suddenly one day he found that his father sent more letters to Li Chengqian than to him, so he was not happy at all.

Li Chengqian was even more arrogant. He put one hand on his waist and one foot on the ball. He pointed at Li Tai arrogantly and laughed at him loudly, saying that his father loved him more than he loved him.

After hearing this, Li Tai always got angry and rushed forward to steal the ball from Li Chengqian, but he was always slipped away by the opponent.

After a few days, Li Tai became thinner and more agile when running. Occasionally, he could even steal the ball from Li Chengqian when he wasn't paying attention.

The three brothers are having fun here, and naturally a few princesses will not be missing.

Li Mingda often went to the East Palace with Li Lizhi, Princess Chengyang and Princess Xincheng to watch his three brothers play football, so he was not lonely on weekdays.

But she was always thinking about Li Xiang in her heart, and only when she received a reply from Li Xiang would she smile sincerely.

Princess Gaoyang would occasionally come over to play, but more often she would help Li Xiang keep things in the restaurant.

Now, with Li Xiang's intentional or unintentional training, Li Shu has become somewhat of a big sister.

Early the next morning, Li Xiang was woken up by Xue Rengui.

"Old Xue, why are you calling me so early?" Li Xiang rubbed his eyes. He really wanted to sleep until he woke up naturally.

"Don't make a fuss, Prince. We still have to offer sacrifices to the heavens soon." Xue Rengui persuaded him kindly.

"Sacrifice to the heaven, ah..." Li Xiang yawned and looked up, it was still dark.

He tightly wrapped himself in the quilt. Winter is really hard to endure...

Now there are no quilts, so sleeping in winter is really hard. Fortunately, it is not the ice age now, so the Central Plains is not too cold.

Li Xiang was also thinking about whether he should improve his living environment after returning.
After all, the brazier is not safe. We should think of something safer and more reliable.

From today on, the official alliance begins... and of course, it also ends.

Li Xiang quickly ate two mouthfuls of food and drank some hot water to warm his body. Only then did he feel alive again.

Ah, quilt, I really want to have a never-ending conversation with you...

He stretched himself, took Xue Rengui out of the temporary residence and headed to where Old Li was.

Of course Li Shimin got up early and was chatting with Li Ji.

When Li Xiang arrived, the Tang army officially set out for the hunting ground.

Everyone finally understood the purpose of the high earthen platform in the center of the hunting ground.

It is used for offering sacrifices to the heavens...

The Tang army was still the last to arrive. The leaders of other troops of the vassal tribes had already arrived at the hunting ground for the sacrifice to the sky.

The sacrifice to heaven had little to do with Li Xiang, and the entire process was presided over by temporary ritual officials Li Ji and Li Shimin.

After the announcement, Li Shimin stepped forward, took the document he had written yesterday and placed it in front of the tripod.

The document contains the content of the alliance and the names of the people participating in the alliance.

The auspicious time had arrived, and after Li Ji's announcement, Li Shimin threw the document into the cauldron and burned it.

Li Shimin bowed respectfully to the sky, and the others immediately dismounted and knelt on the ground.

The ancients had deep respect for the gods and ghosts of heaven and earth. Since they had already burned the documents and handed them over to heaven, they would naturally not break their oaths.

Especially for the people of the grassland, Buddhism has not yet spread very deeply in the grassland, and heaven and earth are their main beliefs.

Until this point, the alliance was officially completed.

"In this way, we are brothers." The Uighur leader Tumidu looked at the Khitan leader Daha Kuge beside him with a happy tone.

"Huh, yeah." Daha Kugo narrowed his eyes and looked at Tumidu, with a wary look in his eyes.

It’s not that Daha Kuge had any deep hatred for Tumidu, nor was there any irreconcilable contradiction between the Uighurs and the Khitans. The main reason was that Daha Kuge disliked him very much.

The reason is very simple. Tumidu now regards himself as the most loyal henchman of His Majesty the Khan, which makes Daha Kugo feel a sense of crisis.

Damn it, I am obviously the most loyal henchman of His Majesty the Khan!

Of course, Tumidu knew that Dahe Kuge was unhappy with him, but what could he do? Could he really give him the title of loyal dog?
That is absolutely not possible!
Li Xiang walked down from the platform and came to the two of them.

"Two leaders." Li Xiang greeted with a smile.

"Prince!" Both of them touched their chests in greeting.

"Both leaders are my Aweng's most loyal warriors."

As soon as Li Xiang finished speaking, the two of them immediately responded.

"The prince is right. I am the most loyal warrior of His Majesty the Khan!"

"What are you talking about? I am obviously the most loyal one!"

Li Xiang smiled and stopped the two from talking: "Both of you, please don't hurt the brotherhood."

The two of them then looked at each other and snorted in disgust.

"Regarding the issue of the caravan, I'll need your help. I plan to send the caravan off to the grassland for trade after the beginning of next spring." Li Xiang said with a smile.

Tumidu immediately said, "Don't worry, Prince. Anyone who dares to have any intentions towards the caravan will be against the Huihe people!"

"Me too!" Daha Kugo also responded.

Li Xiang nodded with a smile. Huihe and Khitan were the two most powerful forces besides Xueyantuo. It was a good thing to have their full support.

As for who dares to rob...

Behind the caravan are millions of Tang troops. Who the hell has twisted it?

Considering that it was winter now, Li Shimin did not keep the leaders of the various tribes, but sent them back to their homes and gave them some cattle and sheep.

Anyway, the wool comes from the sheep. Yinan took the cattle and sheep that were snatched from the Xueyantuo and given by Li Shimin. He had no choice but to thank Li Shimin.

Thus there remained 30,000 cattle, 150,000 sheep, and 50,000 horses.

This is a considerable number. After a stroll around Shuozhou and a picnic, it would be worth it even if we only got 50,000 horses.

On the day the meeting ended, the leaders of various tribes left with their people, and Li Shimin also returned to the court with his troops.

(I'll continue coding! There will be more later)

(End of this chapter)