Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 457 The Threat of the Empire

Wang Fusheng acknowledged and turned to leave. A moment later, Peroz and Xue Niang followed him in.

Li Zhi briefly introduced the identities of the two men.

Over the past year, with Mojiaxuan as their base, the Inner Court allocated them a considerable amount of funds, allowing them to interact with a large number of people from the Western Regions.

Firstly, they were planning the restoration of Tokharistan, and secondly, they were gathering information about the Abbasid Caliphate.

Peroz was originally a Persian prince and knew the Arabs very well.

Now, through the development of informants in the Western Regions, they have a thorough understanding of the situation within the Abbasid Caliphate.

Li Zhi said, "My lord, please tell the two generals about the current situation of the Abbasid Caliphate."

Peroz acknowledged and said, "The Abbasid Caliphate has just finished a civil war, and now Mu'awiya has succeeded to the throne. He was originally a prince of the Quraysh tribe..."

With Peroz's explanation, Li Ji and Xue Rengui gradually came to understand the entire history of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Before the establishment of the Arab world, there were many tribes in the Arab region, similar to the Warring States period in the Central Plains.

The only difference is that each tribe in the Arab region is a religious tribe, worshipping different gods.

Because of their dispersed and weak state, they were long subservient to the Sasanian dynasty established by the Persians.

Later, Muhammad unified religions and tribes by spreading Abbasid Caliphate, united various tribes, defeated the Sasanian dynasty, and established the Abbasid Caliphate.

In order to spread their religion, the Arabs actively expanded their territory, which soon surpassed that of the original Sasanian dynasty.

To them, all infidels are enemies, and their goal is to make all countries in the world convert to the Abbasid Caliphate and merge into the Abbasid Caliphate.

Upon hearing this, Li Ji finally understood why Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi) was so wary of the Arabs.

These are not neighbors who can get along peacefully at all. They are not attacking the Tang Dynasty right now only because the Tang Dynasty is too powerful and too far away.

It is foreseeable that once they become powerful, they will continue to expand eastward and will eventually spread the Abbasid Caliphate religion in the Tang Dynasty.

If the Tang Dynasty does not allow it, then war is the only option.

Next, Peroz introduced the new ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate, Mu'awiyah.

After listening, a glint flashed in Li Ji's eyes.

Mu'awiyah was originally from a noble family in the Arab region, called the Umayyad family, similar to the aristocratic families of the Tang Dynasty.

Initially, he strongly opposed Muhammad and the Abbasid Caliphate, and even wanted to kill Muhammad. However, after his defeat in battle, he converted to the Abbasid Caliphate.

As a result, after several generations, the power of the Abbasid Caliphate fell back into the hands of this defeated man.

This kid is a complete traitor!
After seizing power, he heavily supported his family and cronies. Although he was ostensibly a follower of the Abbasid Caliphate, he still expanded his influence with his family at the core.

He seized power in the Abbasid Caliphate by virtue of his family's influence. After becoming king, he implemented a series of reforms that transformed the purely religious Abbasid Caliphate into an empire similar to the Tang Dynasty!

This shows that there must be major hidden dangers within the Abbasid Caliphate, and to deal with them, we can start from this point.

Xue Rengui was different from Li Ji.

He was a professional soldier, without many ulterior motives, and simply wanted to defeat the Abbasid army.

"General Bei, how many troops does the Abbasid Caliphate have, and how many cavalry and armored soldiers?" he asked.

Peroz said, “They don’t have many horses, and their cavalry is less than 100,000. However, they have inherited the metallurgical technology of my Sasanian dynasty, and they have more than 300,000 armored soldiers. Their armor is sturdy, their weapons are sharp, and their military equipment is not inferior to that of the Tang Dynasty.”

Xue Rengui asked, "What about the number of troops?"

Peroz said with a solemn expression, "Their national policy is missionary work, so they are always at war, and their standing army is at least one million strong."

After hearing this, Xue Rengui simply nodded, without showing much expression.

Li Zhi suddenly said, "My lord, could you also tell me about the situation around the Abbasid Caliphate?"

Peroz nodded and said, "Because the Abbasid Caliphate is expanding everywhere, there are many countries bordering them, but there are only three countries that can truly stand against them."

"Which three?" Li Ji asked.

Peroz said, “One is the Khazars Khanate in the north of the Abbasid Caliphate. They are a nomadic people with a powerful cavalry that is no weaker than the Turks. The other is the Byzantine Empire in the northwest.”

When the "Byzantine Empire" was mentioned, his expression became somewhat complicated, because the Byzantine Empire had always been the nemesis of the Sasanian dynasty.

Who could have imagined that the once-powerful Sasanian Empire, which did not lose to the Byzantine Empire, would be destroyed by a group of Arabs who had ruled under its rule for many years?

Li Ji stroked his beard and said, "The last one, isn't it my Great Tang Dynasty?"

"exactly."

At this moment, a palace attendant quietly entered the hall and whispered something to Wang Fusheng. Upon hearing this, Wang Fusheng showed a surprised expression.

Li Zhi happened to see this and asked, "Fu Sheng, what's wrong?"

Wang Fusheng said, "Your Majesty, the Arabs have sent envoys again."

Since Li Zhi came to power, the Arabs have sent envoys twice.

The first exchange was merely a tentative and friendly one, while the second involved sending an important figure, Ibn, who sought to share Tibet with the Tang Dynasty.

This time is the third time.

Unlike the previous two times, this time it was not an envoy delegation, but a messenger sent by the new Abbasid king, Mu'awiyah.

He wrote a letter to Li Zhi.

This letter was written two months ago, but it was only delivered today because of the great distance between the two countries.

Judging from the timeline, Mu'awiya must have just quelled the internal strife before writing this letter to Li Zhi.

The letter was fairly friendly.

He decided to hold a grand ceremony in Damascus, the capital of the Arab world, to celebrate his accession to the throne.

Inside the Abbasid Caliphate, he had already completed his coronation ceremony, which was open to the public.

He wanted all the kings of the world to know that he, Mu'awiyah, was now the new king of the Abbasid Caliphate!
The Abbasid Caliphate has sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty twice and is quite familiar with the situation there.

Li Zhi's current understanding of the Abbasid Caliphate comes from Peroz, whose country was destroyed by the Abbasids, so his views may not be objective.

Therefore, Li Zhi was also thinking of sending someone to the Abbasid Caliphate to find out the situation, but he was having trouble deciding on the choice of envoy.

Sending civil officials might not demonstrate the majesty of the Tang Dynasty, while sending military generals might cause trouble, as Tang generals are known for their arrogance when dealing with non-Han peoples.

Zhang Jianzhi was a good candidate, but he held two positions and was very busy. This trip would last for more than half a year, which would greatly delay his official duties.

Just as Li Zhi was considering the candidates, the Ministry of War reported that Pei Xingjian, the Protector-General of Anxi, had submitted a memorial.

Pei Xingjian's memorial was precisely to Li Zhi (Emperor Gaozong of Tang) describe the situation of the Arab ceremony.

When the Arab envoys passed through Anxi, Pei Xingjian sent people to investigate the matter and managed to find out the truth in time so that Li Zhi could know.

According to Pei Xingjian, the Arabs' grand ceremony was called the "Ceremony of Revelation," and they invited almost all the surrounding countries. Mu'awiya's letter to Li Zhi was friendly, but that was because he knew of the Tang Dynasty's strength, hence his polite language.

However, the letters to other countries were far less polite, almost entirely consisting of threats.

If any country fails to go, it will become the target of the Arab Empire's sword.

In fact, during the internal war in the Abbasid Caliphate, the Central Asian countries were very nervous and hoped that the Abbasid Caliphate would suffer heavy losses or even split apart as a result.

During this period, both the Khazars Khanate and the Byzantine Empire sent troops to launch surprise attacks, but unfortunately they were still defeated by the Arabs, who were embroiled in internal strife.

Now that the Arabs have ended their internal strife, they have begun to actively expand their military.

The Central Asian countries were all terrified, knowing that the Arabs would definitely target one of them and fearing that the spearhead would be turned against them.

Only Pei Xingjian dared to plan to take advantage of the Arabs' unification to attack the Tokharistan region, attract the Arabs to come to their aid, and then fight them head-on.

Of course, Pei Xingjian's plan was put on hold because the Tang army attacked Goguryeo.

So the current situation is that the Arabs have resolved their internal problems and are about to take action against external threats.

No one wanted to be the first target, so they all sent envoys to Damascus to congratulate Mu'awiya on his accession to the throne.

Even the Byzantine Empire and the Khazars were no exception.

Seeing this situation, Mu'awiyah decided to hold a grand assembly of all nations similar to that of the Tang Dynasty, and also sent people to Chang'an to invite Tang envoys to participate.

Only in this way can his authority in the country reach its peak.

After learning about these circumstances, Li Zhi quickly came up with an idea.

Although he wanted to learn about the situation in the Abbasid Caliphate, he could not be used by Mu'awiyah or flatter him.

Envoys can be sent, but their official positions must be low, and they should not be given too much face by the Arabs.

He ordered someone to summon Gao Youdao and said to him, "Gao Qing, have you heard about the Arabs sending envoys to Chang'an?"

Gao Youdao cupped his hands and said, "I have heard about it."

Li Zhi said, "That's good. I hope you will go on a mission to the Abbasid Caliphate to investigate their strengths and weaknesses. The journey is long and may take more than half a year to go. Are you willing?"

Gao Youdao's eyes gleamed as he cupped his hands and said, "Your subject is willing to represent the Great Tang Dynasty as an envoy to the Abbasid Caliphate!"

Li Zhi said, “Very good. Mu Aweiye wants to borrow the power of the Tang Dynasty, but I will not let him. Therefore, this envoy team will not be very large, and I will not give you a high official position.”

Gao Youdao replied, "Your subject understands."

Li Zhi said, "You can raise any opinions you may have, such as who you would like to be your deputy envoy. As compensation, I will grant your request."

Gao Youdao thought for a moment and said, "I would like to ask Du Yijian to be my deputy envoy, but I am afraid that the Eastern Terrace will not have enough manpower."

"That's easy. I'll arrange for someone to take your place. You can go on your mission with peace of mind. I'll give you three days to prepare. You don't need to go to the government office during these three days. Set off after three days."

Gao Youdao received the imperial decree and took his leave.

After leaving the main hall, Gao Youdao returned to the East Terrace of the Secretariat.

Du Yijian and Lu Zhaolin immediately asked why the emperor had summoned him.

Gao Youdao smiled but did not answer.

"Let's get down to business first. I'll talk to you after I leave the office."

The more he acted this way, the more it indicated that the emperor's summons must have been for something important.

Du Yijian was anxious to know the situation and was on pins and needles. He waited until the drum sounded to signal the end of the day and asked the question before even leaving the palace.

"Old Gao, you can tell me now."

Gao Youdao then told him about the emperor's appointment of him as an envoy to the Abbasid Caliphate.

"Sigh, last time His Majesty sent you to Anxi to investigate, and this time he's sending you as an envoy to the Abbasid Caliphate. He really trusts you." Du Yijian said with envy.

Lu Zhaolin laughed and said, "I heard that many high-ranking officials have requested permission to go on a mission to the Abbasid Caliphate, but His Majesty has refused to let them go and has instead sent you. This shows that your status in His Majesty's heart has surpassed that of those people."

Gao Youdao hurriedly said, "Don't talk nonsense. His Majesty sent me for another reason."

When Lu Zhaolin asked why, he did not answer, but smiled and said, "Brother Lu, Brother Du and I are about to embark on a long journey. Would you like to treat us to this farewell drink?"

"Of course... Oh, you mean Brother Du is also going on a long journey?"

Du Yijian looked at Gao Youdao with a surprised expression and pointed to himself.

"Brother Gao, you wouldn't have recommended me to His Majesty, would you?"

Gao Youdao laughed and said, "The journey is long and there may be dangers. You won't blame me, will you?"

Du Yijian was overjoyed, gesturing wildly and bursting into laughter.

"I'm afraid my son might not have the chance to serve the country, so what's there to fear about danger? Haha, I knew Brother Gao was a righteous man who wouldn't forget his friends!"

Gao Youdao said, "His Majesty has given us three days' leave. Get ready, we'll be setting off in three days!"

Du Yijian said happily, "I understand!"

Soon, three days had passed. The journey westward was not safe, so Li Zhi specially ordered Wang Jishan to send more than a dozen imperial guards to protect Gao Youdao and his companion.

Besides that, there were only three horse-drawn carriages.

One of the carriages contained gifts from Li Zhi to Mu'awiya: a dozen or so ordinary cans of tea, not even tribute tea.

Li Zhi was deliberately snubbing Mu'awiyah to damage his reputation in the country.

The Tang Dynasty and the Abbasid Caliphate were bound to clash sooner or later. Li Zhi had already resolved the Liaodong issue and was preparing for war, so there was no need to be polite to them anymore.

And so, Gao Youdao and Du Yijian left the capital through the Golden Gate and embarked on their journey to the Abbasid Caliphate together with the Abbasid envoys.

At this time, the countries invited by Mu'awiyah were also making preparations for their missions to the Abbasid Caliphate.

Although they are close to the Arab world and can depart a little later, they must be very careful in choosing gifts.

They certainly wouldn't dare to do what the Tang emperor did, deliberately sending meager gifts to attack Mu'awiya.

If the gift is not delivered properly, they will face the might of the Arab Empire's million-strong army and the destruction of their country!

Therefore, the monarchs of each country had to start preparing gifts several months in advance.

Some small kingdoms even held court assemblies, where ministers discussed and mobilized the entire nation's resources to prepare for this gift.

In this dog-eat-dog world, strength is everything.

When an ambitious and powerful empire emerges, every small country will face an existential crisis, and the people will face the ravages of war.

Only by living in a powerful country can one live a stable life.

(End of this chapter)