Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 490: Will the Qiang people never pay taxes?

Between the Jiannan Circuit of the Tang Dynasty and the Kunzang Protectorate, there were more than forty tributary prefectures.

Since Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi) reformed the policy of indirect rule, the title of "indirect prefecture" has been abolished, but this particular indirect prefecture remains unchanged.

The reason is simple: all these prefectures were inhabited by Qiang tribes.

The Qiang people helped the Tang Dynasty defeat the Tibetans and establish the Kunlun Protectorate.

Because of the Qiang people's contributions, the Tang Dynasty did not extend the reforms to this area, nor did it levy taxes on them.

During Li Zhi's reforms, the Songzhou Governor's Office, in order to cooperate with the court's policies, also secretly exerted pressure on the Qiang people, hoping that they would pay taxes voluntarily, but this was met with united opposition from the Qiang tribes.

These Qiang people were called governors, but in reality they were still tribal chiefs.

Each of the tributary states also paid taxes, and in some cases, the tax burden was even heavier than that of the Tang Dynasty. However, all the tax revenue ended up in the hands of these chieftains.

Paying taxes to the Tang Dynasty court would have no impact on ordinary people; it would simply mean handing over their wealth to the court.

They naturally refused to agree.

Over the years, a saying has circulated in the Qiang region: "The Qiang people will never be slaves, and the Qiang people will never pay taxes."

This was a deliberate act by the Qiang leaders to incite discontent among the ordinary Qiang people towards the Tang people, in order to maintain their own rule.

Ordinary Qiang people naturally wouldn't understand that paying taxes to the imperial court was no different from paying taxes to the chieftain; they simply thought the Tang people wanted to oppress them, so they naturally resisted paying taxes.

Fortunately, the Tang Dynasty did not force them to pay taxes and basically stopped interfering with them, allowing them to govern themselves.

The tribal leaders were naturally overjoyed.

This is equivalent to continuing to be your own tribal chief, free and unrestrained, while still having the great Tang Dynasty as your free protection.

However, their good fortune did not last long. Without the Tang Dynasty to restrain them, internal strife broke out among the Qiang people.

Small tribes were swallowed up by medium-sized tribes, and medium-sized tribes were swallowed up by large tribes. The entire region was thus returned to the primitive law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak.

A tribal chief went to the Songzhou Governor's Office to file a complaint, but the Songzhou Governor's Office ignored it completely, saying that it was an internal matter of the Qiang people.

Unless the Qiang people rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, or an external force attacked them, the Tang Dynasty would not interfere.

These Qiang chieftains finally began to regret their actions; if they had honestly paid their taxes, they might have been able to continue serving as governors.

Now that the tribe has been annexed by others, they can't even save their own lives, let alone the governor.

There seems to be an unspoken rule among the Qiang people: large tribes do not harm each other, but only annex small and medium-sized tribes.

While the Tang Dynasty was busy annihilating Goguryeo and conquering the Arabs, the Qiang people had already undergone tremendous changes.

Although there are still more than forty provinces under the jurisdiction of the Jimi State, they have been divided into major forces.

Many prefectural governors have been replaced and are now subordinate to a powerful force.

The most powerful of them was naturally the Tuyuhun.

They have already annexed more than twenty tributary prefectures, and the prefectural governors are all appointed by Murong Zhonglie, the King of Tuyuhun, who only needs to report to the Songzhou Governor's Office.

The other major powers were the Eastern Women's Tribe, the Dangxiang Tribe, the Bailan Tribe, and the Tuoba Tribe (a branch of the Dangxiang Tribe), each of which annexed several small and medium-sized tribes.

The chaos doesn't end when smaller factions are absorbed. The real struggle has only just begun.

Not long ago, Tuyuhun swiftly and decisively annihilated the Tuoba tribe in less than a month, annexing all of its territory.

The other three departments then realized the situation was dire and hurriedly sent people to the Songzhou Governor's Office, hoping that Governor Han Boyu of Songzhou would intervene to mediate.

Han Boyu gave the same reply: the Governor's Office would not interfere in matters concerning the Qiang people.

Even when Empress Li Binjiu, the deputy governor of the Eastern Kingdom, personally pleaded for Han Boyu's life, he remained unmoved.

The three departments also realized at this time that the Tang Dynasty was very dissatisfied with the Qiang people because they were unwilling to pay taxes, and therefore they were unwilling to deal with their affairs.

The three departments are now faced with only two choices.

They either submit to the Tang Dynasty, change the prefecture from a tributary state to a regular state, and pay taxes to the court.

Either the three tribes unite to fight against Tuyuhun.

After deliberation, the three chieftains chose the latter outcome. They seemed unwilling to relinquish their share of the taxes to the imperial court until the very last moment.

The three tribes decided to strike first, agreed on a time, and launched a simultaneous attack on Tuyuhun from three directions, forcing Tuyuhun to be overwhelmed.

Defeating Tuyuhun will allow us to maintain the current balance.

Unfortunately, they suffered a major defeat.

Dongnv Prefecture is the only prefecture named after a tribe. This is because the Eastern Queen made the greatest contribution in the fight against the Tubo Kingdom, and the emperor specially issued an edict in her honor.

Inside the governor's mansion of Dongnu Prefecture, Dongnu Queen Li Bin rested her chin on one hand, leaning against an ivory chair with one foot crossed over the other, her face as cold as iron.

Before her, a fair-skinned, handsome man knelt, his hands pressed to the ground, trembling.

This was a man from the Tang Dynasty named Chen Zijun. Although he was originally an actor, he was handsome and skilled in music, so Li Bin took him as his consort.

The tradition of the Eastern Women's Kingdom is that the Queen is in charge of politics and the King's Consort is in charge of leading troops into battle. Although it has now become the Eastern Women's State, the tradition remains unchanged.

Seeing how skilled the Tang Dynasty was in battle, Li Bin had high hopes for Chen Zijun, a man from the Tang Dynasty. Despite the opposition of many, he insisted on appointing him, a man with no experience in leading troops, as the commander-in-chief.

As a result, the battle was a complete defeat, severely damaging the strength of Dongnu Prefecture.

"Raise your head!" Li Bin shouted.

Chen Zijun trembled when he heard her cold voice. He knew very well how ruthless this queen wife was. There was a general who had been defeated in battle and was killed by her order to have his head smashed with an iron hammer.

Chen Zijun hurriedly kowtowed and said, "Madam, spare my life! Please don't kill me!"

Li Bin frowned, stretched out his foot to block his chin, and forced him to raise his head.

Look at me when you speak!

Chen Zijun said in a trembling voice, "Yes, yes!"

Li Bin asked, "How exactly did you lose this battle? I entrusted 30,000 soldiers to you, and in just a few days, you've only brought back a little over 10,000!" Chen Zijun, with a mournful face, replied, "It's not my fault! Those Tuyuhun people don't follow the rules. They raided our camp under cover of night before we even set up our formation!"

Li Bin was stunned and asked, "Formation?"

Chen Zijun muttered, "Before a major battle, shouldn't both sides set up their formations and then engage in combat? That's how it's always written in plays!"

Li Bin rubbed his forehead and sighed, "How could I have fallen for such a pretty face? Get out of here!"

Chen Zijun felt as if he had been granted a pardon and scrambled down the stairs.

At this moment, a female official came to Li Binjiu's side and said, "Your Majesty, the chieftains of the Tangut and Bailan tribes have arrived and are waiting for you in the outer hall."

Li Bin said, "I understand. Tell them I'll change my clothes and then go."

Li Bin loved Tang Dynasty clothing and usually wore Tang Dynasty attire, but for formal occasions, he had to change into Qiang ethnic clothing.

After changing into Qiang clothing, she went to the outer hall, where she saw two people sitting inside. One of them was a man in his forties with eagle-like eyes; he was the chief of the Dangxiang tribe.

The other man was in his early thirties, tall and muscular, and was the chief of the Bailan clan.

Both men looked grim, for they too had been defeated by Tuyuhun.

Now the three tribes are facing a life-or-death situation. If they are not careful, they may follow in the footsteps of the Tuoba tribe and be swallowed up by the Tuyuhun.

"Governor Li, why did you send an actor to fight in the war?" Chief Bai Lan immediately began to interrogate him.

Li Bin walked to the head of the table and sat down. He glanced at him and said indifferently, "Is Chief Bai Lan questioning this governor?"

Chief Bailan snorted when she saw her using her official position to intimidate others, and said, "If your king's husband hadn't been defeated so quickly, Chief Dangxiang and I wouldn't have suffered such a crushing defeat."

It turns out that in order to deal with the three families joining forces, Tuyuhun had no choice but to divide its forces to fight against them.

The Dangxiang and Bailan were locked in a fierce battle with the Tuyuhun, while the Dongnu tribe suffered a crushing defeat. This allowed the Tuyuhun's southwestern forces to reinforce the other two routes, ultimately leading to victory.

Li Bin coldly replied, "If you've come to discuss dealing with Tuyuhun, I welcome you. But if you've come to unreasonably criticize my husband, then please go back."

Chief Bailan glared at him, about to retort again, but Chief Dangxiang quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

"Alright, Chief Bailan, our enemy now is Tuyuhun. Let's not start trouble ourselves, or we'll make a fool of ourselves in front of Murong Zhonglie!"

Chief Bailan snorted and fell silent.

The Dangxiang chieftain slowly said, "Tuyuhun has recovered its strength in recent years and now has more than 100,000 troops. I'm afraid we alone are no match for Tuyuhun."

Li Bin guessed that they came to him because they wanted the Tang Dynasty to help them, since he had the closest relationship with the Tang Dynasty.

“Back then, you insisted on saying ‘Qiang people will never be slaves, never pay taxes,’ which angered the Tang people. Now, if you want the Songzhou Governor’s Office to mediate, I’m afraid that’s impossible.” She shook her head.

Chief Bailan couldn't help but say, "Vice Governor Li, you're making sarcastic remarks. You haven't paid taxes to the Tang Dynasty either."

Li Bin then said, “If I were to pay taxes separately, you would surely hate me, and I fear that my Dongnu Qiang people would also be ostracized by the Qiang tribe.”

The Dangxiang chieftain raised his hand and said, "Let's not dwell on what happened back then. Now we are both facing a life-or-death situation. The Tuoba tribe was no weaker than us, yet they were wiped out by the Tuyuhun in just one month, and the Tuoba chieftain was also killed. We should hurry and ask the Tang Dynasty for help!"

The Tuoba tribe originally belonged to the Dangxiang tribe and was known as one of the eight Dangxiang tribes.

Because the Xifeng tribe was the first to submit to the Tang Dynasty, and with the support of the Tang people, the Xifeng clan became the chieftains of the Dangxiang. The Tuoba clan was dissatisfied and therefore established their own independent state.

Li Bin then said, "I'll say it again: if you and I don't become the governors of Zhengzhou in the Tang Dynasty and pay taxes to the court, the court will never help us."

The Tangut chieftain said in a deep voice, "Then let it become a legitimate prefecture and pay taxes to the imperial court. As long as our tribe can be preserved, that's fine."

Li Bin looked at the Bai Lan clan chief and, seeing that he did not speak, said indifferently, "It's a pity that there are still people who disagree."

Chief Bailan glared and said, "We've come this far, I'm not stupid enough to disagree, but there's a standard for paying taxes! Should we pay like the Kunzang Protectorate, or like the Jiannan Circuit? There's a big difference between the two!"

Because of the large number of ethnic groups, complex terrain, and many unstable factors within the Kun-Tsang Protectorate, the tax standard for each prefecture was very low, only about half that of the prefectures and counties in Jiannan Circuit.

If the Qiang people could pay less, these chieftains could keep more.

Li Bin then said, "I will personally go to Chang'an to try my best to reduce the taxes that everyone has to pay."

Chief Bailan said happily, "That's wonderful. We'll leave everything to Vice Governor Li."

The Dangxiang chieftain advised, "It would be best to go to the Songzhou Protectorate first and tell Governor Han that we are willing to pay taxes. Otherwise, if the Tuyuhun take the opportunity to attack, neither of us will be spared."

Li Bin nodded and said, "The Dangxiang chieftain is absolutely right. The two of you should rest for a day, and tomorrow we will go to Songzhou together to find Governor Han."

The next day, Li Bin and his two companions went straight to Songzhou with their entourage and told Han Boyu about the three tribes' willingness to pay taxes.

Han Boyu was Han Wei's nephew. When Songtsen Gampo attacked Songzhou, he served as an officer in the Songzhou Governor's Office and followed Han Wei to fight against the Tibetans.

Later, he followed Xue Rengui in the campaign against the Tubo, and he also led the Songzhou troops in the battle, making many contributions. He was extremely good at fighting and was recommended by Xue Rengui to be the governor of Songzhou.

After Songtsen Gampo defeated Han Wei, all the Qiang people in Jimi Prefecture surrendered to Songtsen Gampo. Because of this, Han Boyu never liked the Qiang people.

Therefore, he deliberately made the three of them wait for an hour before meeting them, and he did not give them a friendly look.

"I am busy with official duties. May I ask what business you three have with me?"

Li Bin stepped forward and explained that the three tribes were willing to pay taxes to the Tang Dynasty, and also expressed his intention to go to Chang'an in person.

Han Boyu's expression softened a bit, and he said, "If that's the case, then that's for the best. You can just go to Chang'an."

Li Bin then said, "I'm afraid that Tuyuhun will take advantage of my absence and attack our three prefectures again, just like they did with the Tuoba tribe."

"He dares!"

Han Boyu said coldly, "Don't worry, I will write a letter to rebuke Murong Zhonglie. If he dares to make any more rash moves, the Tang army of Songzhou Prefecture will be mobilized."

Han Boyu was a Tang general who had risen through the ranks of the battlefield, and he possessed an inherent air of authority. The chieftains of the various Qiang tribes held him in great awe.

Hearing his assurance, Li Binton and the other two were immediately relieved and took their leave.

After returning to Dongnv Prefecture, Li Bin gave some instructions and, with his entourage, set off for Chang'an.

(End of this chapter)