In the 24th year of Zhenguan, the Tubo king Songtsen Gampo died of depression. At that time, Tubo was surrounded by the Tang Dynasty from northeast and west, and the south was facing the threat of Tianzhu. It can be said that the entire Tubo could no longer expand. If it were not for the Tang Dynasty and Tianzhu, Tubo would have been destroyed by them long ago.

However, although Tubo was not destroyed, life became very difficult under the squeeze of the two empires. Especially the Tang Dynasty and Tianzhu eroded Tubo's territory from all directions. Although the land was not lost a lot every year, it was enough to make Songtsen Gampo vomit blood. It was precisely because of this that in the last few years of his life, Songtsen Gampo also lived a very frustrated life. Some people even later believed that the most important reason why Songtsen Gampo died in his prime was his depression and unsuccessfulness in the next few years.

After Songtsen Gampo's death, his young grandson Mang Songmangzan succeeded Zanpu as the throne, assisted by the great prime minister Lu Dongzan. In fact, because the king was young, the power of Tubo was completely in the hands of Lu Dongzan. This old acquaintance of Li Yan finally made a breakthrough and held the power of a country, which also made him feel a little confident and prepared to use his own strength to lead Tubo through the predicament that he appeared.

In fact, Lu Dongzan did a good job. He changed Songtsen Gampo's previous conservative strategy and began to actively learn from the Tang Dynasty and develop his own industry and commerce. At the same time, he actively contacted the Tang Dynasty and Tianzhu, strengthened exchanges between the two empires, increased the understanding of Tubo in the two empires, and reduced the hostility between the three countries.

Lu Dongzan's series of measures did greatly improve the situation in Tubo. A group of people who became rich due to industry and commerce also appeared in Tubo, and the lives of the people were also improved well. Even the attitudes of the Tang Dynasty and Tianzhu towards Tubo changed, and the troops garrisoned on the border of the Three Kingdoms decreased year by year. Everything seemed to be developing in a very beautiful direction.

However, as Mang Song and Mangzan grew up, this situation finally changed. As the king of the country, Mang Song and Mangzan naturally wanted to regain power from Lu Dongzan. In addition, Mang Song and Mangzan were young and energetic. He had long been disgusted with the arrogant aura of the Tang Dynasty and the Tianzhu, and was naturally very disgusted with Lu Dongzan's actions of making friends with the Tang Dynasty and the Tianzhu.

So in this situation, Mang Song Mangzan was secretly preparing for a long time, and finally launched a coup at a court meeting, killing Lu Dongzan and his two sons in one fell swoop. Then Mang Song Mangzan quickly took control of the power of Tubo and slaughtered the Lu Dongzan family.

After Mang Song and Mang Zan took power, he immediately reversed Lu Dongzan's previous practice of actively making friends with the Tang Dynasty and Tianzhu, and began to actively prepare for war. Moreover, he had provoked several times on the border, which made him feel like a "newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger."

The Tang Dynasty and Tianzhu naturally could not tolerate the provocation of the small Tubo. Therefore, in the tenth year of Li Zhi ascended the throne, he and Li Yun and Li Zhen of Tianzhu jointly sent troops to attack from both north and south. As a result, under the crushing of 300,000 coalition forces, the Tubo army organized by Mang Song and Mangzan was simply vulnerable and was defeated in just one month.

After the demise of Tubo, the territory was divided by the Tang Dynasty and Tianzhu, but in this way, the borders between the two countries were bordered. At the beginning, this situation also promoted exchanges between the two countries to a certain extent. The southern part of the Tang Dynasty could directly reach Tianzhu. Although the road to the Tubo Plateau was difficult to walk, it was much closer than the sea route.

However, with the increase of this kind of exchange, there were often some conflicts and disputes on the border between the Tang Dynasty and Tianzhu. At first, it was just some civil disputes. But later it slowly turned into a confrontation between small armies, and even a conflict between the army broke out later, which made the top leaders of the Tang Dynasty and Tianzhu very embarrassed. Later, the two countries resolved the conflict after many negotiations. However, with this precedent, the conflicts on the border between the Tang Dynasty and Tianzhu began to increase.

The above are the contradictions and conflicts between the Tang Dynasty and the Tianzhu. Similarly, there are the same problems between the Tang Dynasty and the Great Qi, the Great Qi Dynasty and the Tianzhu, and even the Tang Dynasty and the Mediterranean Empire.

For example, with the rise of the Tang Dynasty navy in recent years, it has gradually strengthened its defense on its coastline. At the same time, the Tang Dynasty also needs to expand its maritime power, which will inevitably have an impact on the maritime hegemony of the Da Qi. Therefore, the two countries have had considerable conflicts in the south of the east of the Tang Dynasty.

It is also because of the sea area problem that the expansion of the Tianzhu Navy also violated the interests of the Daqi. Therefore, some frictions between the two countries often occur in the Tianzhu waters, and even such frictions have had a certain impact on the security of the Tianzhu waters.

The contradiction between the Tang Dynasty and the Mediterranean Empire mainly comes from the territorial dispute between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The Black Sea was the traditional sphere of influence of the Roman Empire. Therefore, in the view of the Mediterranean Empire, the land around the Black Sea also belongs to them. However, after the Tang Dynasty conquered the Caspian Sea, it believed that the land around the Caspian Sea belongs to them. As a result, the land ranges on the two sides just coincided, and a battle for land began.

The two countries first held negotiations, but in the end they could not reach an agreement. Both countries refused to give up their ownership of this land. After all, if this land was lost, Li Ke's Black Sea and Li Zhi's Caspian Sea would become very unsafe. As a result, the land between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea became a communist area between the two countries, where both countries had troops stationed, and conflicts and conflicts would break out from time to time.

Most of the above mentioned conflicts were territorial or territorial waters, and there were also problems in business, population, economy, etc., which also plagued the five brothers of the four empires. Even the problems with these countries' relations have affected their relationships. For example, because of the southern border, Li Zhi had a big fight with Li Zhen. Later, although after mediation by Li Yan and Li Yun, both nodded and admitted their mistakes, their relationships were much more unfamiliar than before.

In the palace in Keelung, Taiwan, Li Yan sat behind the desk, and his right finger tapped gently on the table, as if he was thinking about something? Now Li Yan is over forty years old, with three short whiskers under his jaw, which looks more mature and steady than before. However, he has not been dragged down by those heavy government affairs in recent years, and has been properly maintained, so he now looks like a young man in his early thirties.

Wang An, who was over 60 years old, sat on the sofa next to him, with his eyes closed and as if he was asleep. According to the law of Daqi, the prime minister can only be re-elected for two terms, each term for four years. Wang An had been re-elected for eight years in the third year of Yongwei, so he could no longer serve as prime minister. So Liu Rengui, who performed outstandingly in political achievements, was nominated by Li Yan. As a result, more than half of the officials agreed, so he became the second prime minister of the Tang Dynasty.

Although Wang An had already stepped down as prime minister a few years ago and is now serving as Li Yan's personal advisor, he still has a strong influence in Daqi. Moreover, he is still the teacher of the princes and princesses of Daqi, and he is in the high position of the Grand Tutor. Sometimes his words may change one of Li Yan's decisions.

Beside Wang An, there was Liu Rengui, the second prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. Compared to Wang An's age, Liu Rengui is just fifty years old. This age is still quite young for the position of prime minister. In addition, Liu Rengui is a civil and military genius, and he brought the first firearm unit under Li Yan. Later, the Great Qi stipulated that civil and military personnel would not be subordinate to each other, so Liu Rengui completely gave up his military position and became a complete civil servant.

Speaking of Liu Rengui's character, and because he had led soldiers before, he was very tough in power. Sometimes he didn't even give Li Yan a face. The two often quarreled in the court because of disagreement. One time, Li Yan was so angry that he was going to remove Liu Rengui's Prime Minister and then questioned him. But unexpectedly, although Liu Rengui's character was old-fashioned, it did not mean he was stupid. After receiving the news, he immediately published an article in the newspaper, comparing himself to Wei Zheng, and never retreated in the face of imperial power. It is correct to stick to his own point of view!

When Li Yan saw this article, he first scolded Liu Rengui for being treacherous, then raised his head and laughed a few times in the hall, and exposed the matter. He never caused trouble for Liu Rengui again. After all, people have compared himself to Wei Zheng. If Li Yan dared to offend him, wouldn’t it be obvious that he, a son, could not compare with his demeanor to me, Li Shimin?

Although Liu Rengui has a bad temper, his style of doing things is very suitable for Li Yan's appetite, especially his military style, which is more suitable for the current situation of An Dynasty.

For example, in the past few years, the Japanese on the island of Honzhou had a riot because they were jealous of the wealth of the Han people. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese people participated. Fortunately, the army responded quickly, so there was no large casualties. Later, Liu Rengui personally ordered that all the Japanese who participated in the riots be hung on both sides of the road. As a result, decades later, several mummies could be seen floating on both sides of some roads in Wazhou. With such bloody examples in front of him, all Japanese people became honest. No Japanese dared to have any dissatisfaction with the government for hundreds of years.

In addition, when Liu Rengui expanded to the outside world, he became more tough in his methods. He organized those who surrendered to the army and then used these people to open up American colonies. All Americans who were unwilling to surrender would be ruthlessly attacked. Men were arrested and miners were miners, and women's situation was even more miserable.

It was Liu Rengui's iron-blooded style that reminded Li Yan of the later German Iron-blooded Prime Minister Bismarck. Therefore, at a court meeting, he personally called Liu Rengui the Iron-blooded Prime Minister. As a result, this title was spread by the newspaper. For a time, Liu Rengui's name was spread throughout the world.
Chapter completed!