Chapter 417: Elegant Appearance
Holding the information handed over by Du Ruhui in his hand, Li Shimin thought about it for a moment and then ordered:
"Summon Pei Shiqing.
The arrival of the Japanese envoy was a bit unexpected for Li Shimin.
After all, in the current planning, defeating Tuyuhun to open up the Hexi Corridor and remotely managing the Western Regions to restore the prosperity of the Han Dynasty are the top priorities.
The Korean Peninsula, the Japanese Islands, the South China Sea Islands, and the islands further away can be called a heavenly treasure house.
The prerequisite for managing it is to have a mighty naval force.
But the current navy of the Tang Dynasty... with the support of Lingnan Dao and Jiangnan Dao, it is still quite difficult to conquer Yizhou Island, and they cannot hope to go to sea to frighten the Yi Di in the East China Sea.
Therefore, Li Shimin has also postponed his plans for now.
On the one hand, an arithmetic pavilion should be established in Chang'an. In addition to studying the classics of arithmetic, we should also explore its application in government affairs and maritime affairs.
On the other hand, they recalled a group of naval generals and mixed them with young generals headed by Liu Rengui to study together in Chang'an for a short period of time. They learned about the sea and barbarians, learned about the sea conditions, learned sailing skills, and learned about the wind. After half a year of studying, they would return to China. The maritime territories of the Tang Dynasty were jointly in charge of the navy.
In the end, Ruhou Jun gathered, led by Lu Guogong, summoned a fleet, sailed new ships, tried new methods, summed up the gains and losses, and finally used them for the navy.
As for the Japanese envoys, this was indeed not in Li Shimin's plan, and he was even quite surprised.
After the agreed-upon Battle of Baijiangkou, it took several more years before the Japanese government sent an envoy to the Tang Dynasty?
So after thinking about it for a while, Li Shimin sent Du Ruhui away first and asked him to sort out the situation of this Japanese envoy in detail.
On the other hand, Pei Shiqing, the "Japanese country master", was summoned.
After all, in the Tang Dynasty at this time, if we talk about the understanding of the past of the Japanese country, we should first recommend this "envoy to the Japanese" of the former Sui Dynasty.
After Wei Zheng learned about this person's past, Li Shimin promoted him from a noble and leisurely doctor in the driving department to a secretary supervisor who was convenient for work.
Later, he personally summoned him to inquire about the customs and customs of the Japanese country, and ordered him to write a book to record his experiences in the Japanese country.
Now, it was the first time since the founding of the Tang Dynasty that Li Shimin had received news of an envoy from Japan. So after careful consideration, Li Shimin chose the simplest option: summon Pei Shiqing.
And soon, the quick-moving chamberlain invited Pei Shiqing over.
Although this was the second time he saw this minister who had accomplished the feat of being an envoy to Japan, Li Shimin had to sigh from the bottom of his heart when he saw it with his own eyes:
But he is a good person.
As an envoy, his appearance must be up to standard, and Pei Shiqing can be said to be very outstanding in this aspect.
Even though he is nearly 50 years old, he still has a manly demeanor when he stands there. He is not angry and proud, which is heart-breaking.
However, this magnanimity was shattered when he met Li Shimin. He bowed and saluted:
"His Majesty."
Li Shimin didn't talk nonsense and said concisely and concisely:
"The Japanese envoy has arrived at Hebei Province. What do you think we should do?"
Although he had returned from the East China Sea for many years, after being re-elected and promoted by Li Shimin, Pei Shiqing also knew exactly what he needed to do, so he said without hesitation almost immediately:
"The Japanese people must have come here to seek our Chinese culture."
"After His Majesty summoned the ministers, I visited in my spare time and learned that in the sixth year of Taketoku, some of the monks who had accompanied the Japanese envoys to China during the Sui Dynasty had bid farewell to the temple and returned home."
"It was eight years ago now. These Japanese monks must have returned home to praise our reputation in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, they wanted to do great things in the past, admired my Chinese etiquette, and sent envoys to learn from it."
"In the past, I traveled to the Japanese slave country. Its people were barbaric and ignorant of etiquette, and its king was vulgar and ignorant of shame. He called himself the Emperor of the Place Where the Sun Rises, but he was arrogant and arrogant."
"Now that your Majesty is vindicating the people and conquering crimes, capturing Jie, it will benefit His Highness, and the power of the Tang Dynasty will be spread in Monan and spread to Liaodong. The Japanese will definitely be fighting against each other and will not be able to inherit His Majesty's power. It is appropriate for Your Majesty to make a decision."
Listening to Pei Shiqing's talk about his confident attitude, when he heard the words "shameless", Li Shimin was a little distracted for a while looking at this handsome face.
After learning about Pei Shiqing, Li Shimin also ordered Baiqisi to search for other members of the mission who had gone to sea with Pei Shiqing.
It's not that I don't believe this minister, but the information pieced together from everyone's mouth can finally be more comprehensive.
It's just that it's been a long time, and the other members of the mission didn't find many of them at the time. On the contrary, the people from Baiqisi brought back a piece of gossip:
It is said that when the former Sui envoys arrived in Japan, because the Japanese were generally less than five feet tall, they saw that the Han envoys all had seven-foot tall bodies and thought they were gods.
The Japanese queen even sent her biological daughter to the Sui embassy to preserve her bloodline.
Li Shimin just thought it was absurd before, but now that he knows the behavior of this Japanese royal family, and looking at Pei Shiqing's majestic appearance, it doesn't seem so...
"His Majesty?"
"Ahem!"
After Pei Shiqing didn't see Li Shimin's response, he called out. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, who had been interrupted from his reverie, came back to his senses.
He coughed twice to hide his embarrassment and nodded slowly in approval.
The two of them just stood in the Manna Hall. Li Shimin pondered for a while and then asked directly:
"If you want to permanently control the Japanese kingdom, how do you think we should control it?"
Pei Shiqing was a little surprised by these confusing words:
"His Majesty."
After organizing his words, Pei Shiqing organized his words and said:
"Japanese people are despicable, and they are definitely incapable of doing this."
Of course, Pei Shiqing's opinion cannot be wrong. After all, he has seen it with his own eyes, and his judgment is indeed reasonable.
It can only be said that after the tempering of what he saw and heard in later generations, Li Shimin has learned to look at the problem from another angle.
It is not difficult to solve the Japanese threat alone. Build the Tang Dynasty's naval army, seal the country's gates and cut off its sea routes, so that the people are ignorant and unaware, and then secretly support the Japanese to punish the Japanese king, so that the islands and cities on this side will fight each other forever, and there will be no peace for hundreds of years.
But at this time, knowing the importance of the ocean, Li Shimin naturally knew the value of this long and narrow island.
If China can eventually settle down and set up a naval army in this archipelago, it can make the East China Sea become an inland sea like the Roman Mediterranean, keep the enemy out of the country, and guard the peace of the sea border.
Not to mention that the Japanese island also has a silver mountain that can provide 30% of the world's silver. Although its land is not as rich as the island, it is still better considering its geographical location.
Although it is not clear whether Liu Rengui can lead his army to the Japanese island during the Zhenguan period, Li Shimin thinks that it is better to make plans early for such a hundred-year plan, just like now.
Pei Shiqing argued with reason, but then he felt that such a strong rebuttal was not good, so he tried to make up for it.
But when he looked up, he saw that His Majesty had turned his back and stood with his hands behind his back.
At the same time, Pei Shiqing noticed that the decorations in the Ganlu Hall were all new and strange, especially the huge map on the right side of the hall, which instantly captured Pei Shiqing's attention, and he noticed the word Chang'an marked on the map at the first time.
Is this a map? But how could it be like this...
Pei Shiqing couldn't describe it, but his experience of drawing sea maps when he was on a mission to the East China Sea to fight the wind and waves told him that the map of the Liaodong Sea area was roughly the same!
But if it is true, it is too shocking...
At this time, Li Shimin's faint voice sounded:
"My dear, do you know that the vast ocean occupies 70% of this world. If you want to survive in the future, you must first defend the sea?"
"My dear, do you know that we are the people living on the earth, and there are also barbarians among the stars who want to invade the earth?"
"My dear, do you know that if you want the four seas to be tamed, you have to defend the sea?"
The faint voice gradually became excited, and the eyes staring at Pei Shiqing gradually became hot.
Intellectually, this handsome old man should shout for the imperial physician at this moment, but emotionally, he felt that His Majesty's words must be targeted.
After a difficult decision, Pei Shiqing finally said word by word:
"Your Majesty, is there anything..."
"Sit down!" Li Shimin said concisely and asked Pei Shiqing to sit down, and then recalled:
"This matter happened a long time ago."
Just when the class in Ganlu Hall started, Yan Lide, the chief of the generals, looked at the cracked base in front of him with regret:
"Is the difference between volcanic ash and slag really so big?"
The junior supervisor next to him was a little curious:
"What is volcanic ash?"
He and Yan Lide were quite familiar with each other, because at the beginning of last year, they were both junior supervisors of the generals, but later Yan Lide was favored by Li Shimin and was promoted, and the word "junior" was successfully removed.
But after being promoted, Yan Lide never forgot his original colleagues every time he had "new ideas", and the relationship became more harmonious. At this moment, listening to Yan Lide talking to himself, he was also curious.
At this moment, hearing the young supervisor's question, the left schoolmaster, the official, the craftsman, etc. beside him also looked up curiously, wanting to learn more about the "cement" called by the supervisor.
"Volcanic ash is produced from volcanoes."
Yan Lide said as a matter of course, and this answer made the people in the supervisor more confused:
What is the volcano?
Yan Lide naturally didn't know, but he chose to clap his hands and said:
"Okay, since this doesn't work, then re-adjust the ratio of soil, slag and lime and try again!"
Following the order, the people present also put away their curiosity and took action.
Yan Lide stood in place, picked up the iron rod and chopped along the cracks of the cement base, smashed it open, and carefully observed the cracks inside.
Just feeling the pain of the cement rebound on his hand, Yan Lide also initially understood why this cement was favored by later generations and called it "black technology".
I think this means better technology.
The young supervisor next to him also came to help, and also found an iron rod to pry the cement open so that Yan Lide could observe it.
With a grateful smile, Yan Lide felt the inside of the cement and fell into deep thought.
The cement formula required several things in Chang'an, and with the efforts of the general supervisors, they soon tried out a good cement ratio.
But the problem of lumps and cracks after drying has been bothering Yan Lide ever since.
At this time, the young supervisor looked at Yan Lide's thoughtful look and said casually:
"Maybe this thing is missing rafters?"