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How powerful are the feudal states?

This question may be answered after opening history books.

Unfortunately, Guo Ziyi was not a historian before traveling through time, so he could not answer this question for a while.

Fortunately, Li Boran did not intend to let him answer, but sighed on his own, and then the governor's father-in-law began to explain in detail to him.

"Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, our Tang Dynasty has experienced three generations of pioneering kings, Gaozu Li Yuan, who rose to the point of being left behind in Taiyuan. At first, he was the main one of the Turks. He borrowed troops from Zhuolu Central Plains. Sixteen rebellions in the world were eliminated and wiped out one by one. It was the battle of founding the country and the battle of pioneering."

"After that, His Majesty Taizong and Li Shimin were wise and powerful, and were enterprising. They were able to conquer generals who were good at fighting, and had plans for civil officials. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Turks in the north and shook the countries in the west. All the nations around the Central Plains were called Tian Khan."

"After that, Emperor Gaozong and Li Zhi, the world is ignorant and often makes ridicule, believing that this Majesty is indecisive and has extremely soft ears. But they never think about this Majesty's civil and military skills..."

"Goguryeo is known as a powerful country in Liaodong. Even His Majesty Taizong has suffered defeats. He even pushed forward a dynasty. Emperor Yang of Sui was destruction because of the three campaigns of Goryeo."

"This Liaodong power has always been the couch-hu in the Central Plains, but it was eventually destroyed by His Majesty Gaozong."

"And the Tang Dynasty during the Emperor Gaozong era completely swept across the world, with a large territory and a wide area. From the northern desert to the southern desert, from the Liaodong to the western regions, the vast territory was the largest in the world."

"Such a large area is certainly honorable, but it is a headache to manage it, because the border is too far from the Central Plains."

When Li Boran said this, he glanced at Guo Ziyi and asked with a deep meaning: "Can you guess why I said this? It sounds like something that is not related to the vassal state?"

Guo Ziyi wandered around and asked tentatively: "Because this matter actually has something to do with the vassal states, right?"

Li Boran was very pleased and smiled and said, "No, good, it seems that Linglong is right to force you to study, and reckless men also have the possibility of growth and progress."

Guo Ziyi's face was pretending to be disappointed.

After Li Boran quipped, he continued to start the topic just now: "The territory of the Tang Dynasty is too vast, which makes it very troublesome to govern. In order to strengthen the court's rule over the border and shock and govern the alien races of small countries around him, when the imperial power was passed down to our Majesty, His Majesty decided to set up a military town on the border of the Tang Dynasty..."

"It was the tenth year of Kaiyuan, and His Majesty was the most wise and powerful age, so even if the Bing Town was established, no one thought that Bing Town dared to insult power."

"A total of ten military towns were established in the entire frontier of the Tang Dynasty."

Ten military towns?

Guo Ziyi was slightly stunned and couldn't help but say, "How could it be ten military towns? There are obviously nine, right? Father-in-law, have you remembered it wrong? Now there are nine major vassal states in the Tang Dynasty."

Li Boran looked at him and shook his head slightly, "I remember correctly, there are ten military towns. Nowadays, whenever people mention vassal states, they will immediately think of the nine major military governors of the Tang Dynasty, but few people will realize that there is actually a military town in the Tang Dynasty..."

He said for a while, and said in a solemn tone: "Your Majesty has established a total of ten military towns, appointing nine military governors and one strategic envoy to manage it. This is the separatist rule of the vassal states of our Tang Dynasty, and there are a total of ten separatist forces in the entire frontier."

Separatist forces!

Guo Ziyi accurately grasped this word.

Then he moved slightly in his heart, and couldn't help but speak softly: "Nine Great Jiedus, a Strategic Commander? I have heard of all the Nine Great Jiedus, but I don't know where that Strategic Commander is?"

But Li Boran raised his hand, pointed gently to the south, and said, "Lingnan, five prefectures, so the full name of this wise envoy is called the wise envoy of the Five Prefectures of Lingnan..."

"But don't think that there are very few five palaces, it sounds like the five palaces you are about to guard,

In fact, there is too much difference. One prefecture in Lingnan is equivalent to four or five prefectures in the Central Plains."

"Even the three southernmost prefectures have all the small countries in the Annan area. They are nominally prefectures, but actually seven or eight small countries."

"So the power of this wise commander is extremely huge, almost covering the entire southern border of the Tang Dynasty. If the power of this wise commander is compared with the nine major military governors, then the position of this wise commander can be roughly ranked in the top five."

Top five?

It's only ranked in the top five?

And after Li Boran's tone of speaking, the top five is likely to be fifth.

Guo Ziyi's heart was shocked and her face was filled with shock.

Li Boran looked at him with a smile and asked, "Did you feel very surprised? Such a large force is not the best."

Guo Ziyi nodded, took a deep breath, and said, "I seem to understand a little. You are explaining the pattern of the vassal state to me in a comparative way, right?"

As he said that, he said in a deep voice: "The power of the five Lingnan prefectures is so great, but he can only enter the top five, which means that there are at least four vassal states that are stronger than him in the Tang Dynasty."

Li Boran and Zheng pointed at it and said, "That's right, that's it."

"Since His Majesty established the Ten Bing Towns, it has indeed been much more convenient for the management of the border, but as time goes by, the disadvantages of the Bing Town have also begun to appear."

"The rights of these military towns are really too great."

"The area under his charge is really amazing."

"For example, the weakest military town among the ten major military towns, Jiannan Jiedushi, whose name is Jiannan, is also Jiannan. The entire 44 prefectures and counties in Jiannan Road are all under the jurisdiction of this military town."

"If you only manage the military, then the disadvantages of Bing Town are not serious. But His Majesty broke into the Mihu at the beginning of its establishment, and actually gave Bing Town too many privileges."

Li Boran sighed and said slowly: "The first official position of these military town leaders is the military governor, but in addition to military governors, they also take on many responsibilities."

"For example, the censor, the appeaser, the supporter..."

"The censor can govern officials, the appeasement can conquer the people, and the subsidy can set taxes. How much will the rights obtained from this? "

Guo Ziyi took a deep breath again and said, "This is to hold all the powers of administration, finance, people's household registration, land taxation and other powers under the jurisdiction of the governor. No wonder they are called vassal states, which is no different from the vassal kings and princes."

Li Boran nodded and said, "Although your statement is novel, it is very consistent with the truth. It is not bad. The vassal states are almost all princes."

"They have a military town and are in charge of all the official positions, which makes it impossible for the governors of all the states and counties to exercise their power and have to rest obediently. Since ancient times, the officialdom has always been in a state of strength, and what officials are best at is holding their thighs."

"Whoever holds his thigh will become his faction. After becoming a faction, he will inevitably contribute to the faction. As time goes by, the forces of the vassal states finally become out of control."

"They decide the taxes themselves."

"Officials, they take care of themselves."

"Although the army is said to be the end of the imperial court, they are actually recruiting them at will. The number of people is no longer controlled, and they can recruit as much as they want..."

When Li Boran said this, he slowly turned around and looked at Guo Ziyi and said solemnly: "I have told you so much that I can only make you mentally prepare in advance. Now I really tell you how powerful the vassal states of the Tang Dynasty are."

"The nine major military governors, plus a five-department governor in Lingnan, had a total force of 500,000 three years ago. This is just the number reported to the court on the surface." [The data comes from "New Book of Tang", very detailed and very real]

500,000 troops?

This number really shocked Guo Ziyi very much.

However, he did not expect that Li Boran spoke again and said, "Do you think the 500,000 troops are scary? I want to tell you that this is the tip of the iceberg. There are already 500,000 reported on the open. How many are hidden in private?"

Guo Ziyi's heart moved and suddenly remembered the bandits killed in Anyang County not long ago. It was an army hidden by An Lushan, but it would never be the only one hidden army.

Li Boran slowly walked to the door, looked at a crabapple in the yard with his hands behind his back. It was March, and the crabapple tree had already had buds. Li Boran slowly let out a breath and began to report a set of numbers in a heavy voice.

"Fan Yang Jiedushi, An Lushan, has 50,000 troops and 80,000 troops under his command, so his total strength has actually reached 120,000."

"The governor of Anxi has 40,000 troops and 70,000 troops and 110,000 troops and 110,000 troops. This is the news discovered last year, and the force this year is likely to reach 120,000."

"The Jiedushi of Pinglu, served as An Lushan's confidant, has 20,000 troops under his command, and the hidden troops overlap with Fan Yang."

"The Hedong Jiedushi is still served as the confidant of An Lushan. He has 40,000 troops under his command, and the hidden troops and Fan Yang also overlap."

"Hexi Jiedushi..."

"Beiting Jiedushi..."

"Anxi Jiedushi..."

As Li Boran pronounced his names one by one, the soldiers of major separatist forces in the border town surfaced, Guo Ziyi became more and more shocked as he heard it. Finally, he knew why the Anshi Rebellion in history made the Tang Dynasty cholera.

An Lushan alone had a force of up to 120,000. At this time, he was not the governor of the three towns, and the other two towns were confidants. If the other two towns were included, the total force would directly reach a height of 180,000.

The most important thing is that although this number is huge and scary, it is not necessarily the most accurate number, because Li Boran just said that this is the news that was found secretly.

Since it is a secret investigation, there are omissions, so An Lushan's real military strength is likely to be higher, at least higher than the 180,000 we already know now.

Guo Ziyi subconsciously clenched her fists and couldn't help but exhale a heavy breath.

Instead, Li Boran slowly turned around, quipped calmly, and asked, "I feel very stressed, and even feel very frightened, right?"

Guo Ziyi nodded with difficulty and said bluntly: "At first glance, I was frightened. I really didn't expect that the power of the vassal states was so huge... No, it was too large to describe it. Their power was simply scary, no wonder it made the world worry."

As he stopped, he sighed and said, "At the end of the martial arts, the emperor appointed me as the general. When Li Guangbi's father explained the strength of the sixteen guards of the court, I was shocked by the extremely powerful force controlled by the court. For example, the weakest elite soldiers of the guards of the guards had at least 5,000 soldiers and horses, while the powerful Qianniu Guard or Yulin Guard had more than 10,000 or even 20,000..."

"At that time, when I heard that the 16 guards were as high as 180,000 horses, I felt that the Tang Dynasty was actually very shocking and powerful. But now after learning about the troops of the vassal states, I finally knew why Zhang Jiuling was hostile to the vassal states' Jiedushi."

When Guo Ziyi said this, she suddenly smiled bitterly and said, "The ridiculous thing is that I was a little complacent at that time, and felt that I had become a general. Your Majesty allowed me to recruit troops."

"At that time, my thoughts were very simple. I thought that recruiting 5,000 soldiers would be competent. If I worked hard and put my number of soldiers to 20,000 or 30,000, I would be among the strong, and even on an equal footing with the governors..."

"It's great now, a basin of cold water is poured on your head."

"Twenty or three thousand soldiers are nothing. What qualifications are there to wrestle with the governor? uu reads books www.uukanshu.com Their troops are only 80,000,000, but I even have the goal of 5,000 soldiers and horses."

Guo Ziyi's words were indeed inspired. Although he was deliberately pretending to be vulgar, he was indeed shocked.

Li Boran's face was calm and listened to Guo Ziyi's complaints quietly. It was not until Guo Ziyi stopped talking again that the governor's father-in-law smiled slightly.

Then, he waved to Guo Ziyi and said, "Come with me, I will take you to see someone."

Meet someone?

Guo Ziyi was slightly stunned and subconsciously said, "Who? Is it very important?"

Li Boran, his tone was alert, and said, "If you want to rise early and have the strength to wrestle the arm of the military governor, then you should be more respectful, the sweeter your mouth when you meet, the better. If you please the old man, you will avoid detours for at least five years."

Guo Ziyi's heart moved and couldn't help but say, "Is this old man Linglong's grandmother? I heard that she was the leader of the Tang Dynasty Green Forest before. It's amazing, female bandit."

Li Boran glared at him and said, "Please pay attention to the words, isn't Linglong grandma your grandma?"

Guo Ziyi nodded quickly and said, "Yes, yes, yes, it's also my grandma."

Ever since you met Linglong, you have been busy with your own affairs, working in wineries and building Lanling. It seems like a grand plan, but you have taken a detour."
Chapter completed!