The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 827 Tibetan Strategy
Upon returning to the government office, Chen Zhenhai immediately dispatched five or six squads of imperial guards to the surrounding rural areas to search for the Qiang merchants who had purchased ironware at high prices.

Under the regulations governing pig iron in the Sui Dynasty, Han Chinese could buy and sell ironware normally, while Qiang people were subject to restrictions on their use of ironware. They could only purchase ironware from the government, and the ironware was numbered and registered. If they wanted to buy farm tools, they had to return the old farm tools.

As for the countries in the Western Regions and the nomadic tribes of the grasslands, the export of ironware was strictly prohibited, and overseas countries also prohibited the export of ironware.

Therefore, when Qiang people came to buy old ironware from Han people, they were exploiting a loophole, which was a very serious matter.

The following afternoon, on the official road heading west, several mules were slowly pulling carts laden with wheat straw.

Several merchants dressed as Qiang people followed on horseback. At this moment, dust billowed up behind them as a cavalry force of over a hundred men galloped up, instantly surrounding the five merchants and pointing their spears at them.

The leading Qiang man feigned composure and said, "We are merchants from Yazhou, operating legally. Why are you stopping us?"

The Imperial Guard Captain sneered and used his spear to poke at the straw on the mule cart. The straw was parted to reveal a cart full of iron farm tools.

"Is this your legal business operation? Take them away!"

The guards worked together to tie the five men's hands behind their backs, gag them with rags, cover their heads with black bags, and stuff them into several large carts. They then took them back to the government office along with five mule carts.

Inside an inn outside the city, two hundred imperial guards surrounded the inn. With a wave of their hand, the imperial guards rushed in and soon brought out more than a dozen Qiang merchants. They quickly seized a large number of old farm tools from the warehouse they had temporarily rented.

Chen Zhenhai dispatched a total of six internal guard teams, which successively captured four groups of Qiang merchants, totaling more than 30 people, and seized thousands of old ironware items.

The Imperial Guards conducted the interrogation overnight, and just before dawn, the Imperial Guard official in charge of the interrogation hurriedly found Chen Zhenhai.

"General, they are not Qiang people, they are Tibetans!"

Chen Zhenhai was startled and quickly asked, "How did you find out?"

“Most of them don’t speak Qiang language at all. When they communicate with each other, our translator can tell that it’s Tibetan. When we interrogate them individually, they all admit that they are Tibetan merchants who have been ordered to buy ironware. They have already bought more than 6,000 pieces, but they just don’t have time to transport them away.”

Chen Zhenhai's expression turned serious, and he asked, "Give me a copy of the interrogation record!"

He immediately wrote a report and sent someone to Luoyang to deliver the message via the fastest possible courier service.

Five days later, Shi Xiaozhen received an urgent message from Bashu and immediately came to request an audience with the emperor.

Xiao Xia was truly astonished by this discovery by the Bashu Inner Guard. He had never thought about the Tubo problem from beginning to end. The reason was simple: without the marriage alliance between Princess Wencheng and Princess Jincheng, how could Tubo rise to power?
In recent years, the Sui Dynasty has maintained extremely strict control over various strategic materials and technologies in order to prevent the tragedy of the Tang Dynasty in history from repeating itself.

Tibet has actually started demanding pig iron; there's a lot going on behind this!

Xiao Xia had realized that this was by no means the first time Tibet had dealt in pig iron. It was probably because normal trade was not available that they started to resort to various illegal means and exploit loopholes in the law.

There are indeed loopholes. Since they can't get pig iron through official channels, they resort to personal means, which is equivalent to buying iron indirectly. The amount may seem small, but if this continues, it will eventually accumulate and become a great river.

Xiao Xia immediately said to Chu Suiliang, "Notify the five prime ministers of the Council of State Affairs to come to my study!" Since the emperor wanted to speak with the prime ministers and censors, Shi Xiaozhen tactfully bowed and took his leave. Xiao Xia instructed him, "Please wait outside for a moment; there may be arrangements to be made!"

Before long, five prime ministers rushed over. Xiao Xia invited them to sit in the staff room, which contained various maps. Xiao Xia ordered his attendants to hang up the maps of Bashu and Longyou.

"Take a look at this report first!"

Xiao Xia handed the report written by Chen Zhenhai to the prime ministers for review.

After reading the report quickly, everyone looked at each other in surprise. The Tibetans, who had always been unknown, had suddenly emerged.

Xiao Xia slowly addressed the crowd: "A few days ago, I met with Wu Lian, the Inspector of Longyou Circuit. He was originally the Governor of Heyuan Prefecture. After the governorship was abolished, he was reassigned as the Prefect. He served in Longyou for ten years and has a deep understanding of the changes in Longyou. He told me that he had never seen Tibetans before the tenth year of the Daye era, but after the tenth year of the Daye era, Tibetans began to appear in large numbers, mainly merchants."

In addition, he told me that there used to be a lot of permafrost between the West Sea and the Qilian Mountains, but after the tenth year of the Daye era, the permafrost gradually disappeared and has now turned into grassland. The same is true for Heyuan County, where it starts to snow in October and does not completely melt until April of the following year. In the last two years, it has started to snow in Heyuan County in November, but melts in March of the following year. Therefore, wheat can now be planted on a large scale in Heyuan County.

What do I mean by saying this? The climate is starting to warm up. In the past, the roads were blocked by ice and snow, and the Tibetans couldn't get out. Now, the snow is melting over a large area of ​​the Tibetan Plateau, and they can grow wheat. But they need iron farm tools, so they are trying every means to buy them from our farmers.

They even used the pretext of buying iron farm tools to make weapons.

But my concern is not simply that Tibet wants to buy pig iron; rather, it is that Tibet has already developed an awareness of the need to expand beyond the plateau.

"Is Your Majesty worried that Tibet will invade the Sui Dynasty?"

Xiao Xia shook his head. "It's not that I'm worried. The Tibetans will definitely invade Heyuan County and Xihai County. More importantly, the Tibetans are not under our control. We know nothing about them. They may suddenly attack one day, slaughter our people, plunder our property, and then return to the plateau. We will be helpless against them. This is like giving us a bleeding wound that will seriously damage the body of the Great Sui."

Xiao Xia couldn't explain the history he knew. He pondered for a moment and then said, "One of the biggest characteristics of our Han Chinese dynasties is that we like to use morality to bind ourselves. We always think that if we treat others with sincerity, they will treat us with sincerity in return. But that's not the case at all. We have the mentality of a great power, but small countries are not like that. Small countries have always feared power but not morality. They fear the bullies in the village. If one day the bully treats them even a little bit better, they will be grateful to tears."

Therefore, when dealing with small countries, I always use force to establish my authority first, and then show them some kindness. They will then completely submit. Tibet is the same.

"Does Your Majesty have a plan to deal with Tibet?"

Xiao Xia slowly said, "Now we need to understand the current situation in Tibet. I am considering sending an envoy to Tibet to discuss the establishment of a border trade market. I do not have a suitable candidate in mind. Does anyone have a candidate they can recommend?"

Pei Ju said, "Your humble servant recommends Qifu Hui, the governor of Xiping County, as the envoy. He has been to Tibet before and is able to adapt to the long journeys on the plateau."

"Have we had contact with Tibet?" Xiao Xia frowned.

Pei Ju shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, Qifu Hui was on his way to Supi when he passed through Tibet. At that time, Supi was already in danger of being annexed by Tibet, so he came to the Sui Dynasty for help. Since the Sui Dynasty could not save them at that time, they agreed to let them migrate north, and that's how Northern Supi came to be."

Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "It's September now, it's a bit late to go on a mission to Tibet. Summon Qifu Hui to the capital, I'll talk to him. Also, I plan to strengthen the control over strategic materials in the border areas. In the future, farmers in Sichuan and Chongqing will need to exchange old agricultural tools for new ones, we need to close the loophole that allows people to buy pig iron at will."

After a pause, Xiao Xia continued, "Issue an imperial edict to the local governments in Sichuan and Longyou, strictly prohibiting Tibetan merchants from entering the Sui Dynasty."

(End of this chapter)