With a smell of alcohol on his body, Li Chao was taken to Ziwei Palace by eunuch Wang. Li Shimin was drinking tea, and he brewed it himself, and he was very good.

Purple clay teapot, small stove.

Look at the tea leaves, they are tea cakes.

"This is the tea that Mengshezhao paid tribute, and the tea that Mengshezhao gave."

After Li Chao saluted, he also sat down next to him, and he looked at the cup of tea in front of him.

The tea soup is thick orange and yellow, with a long-lasting aroma and a unique fragrance.

I picked it up and took a sip, and the taste was very rich.

Li Chao, who likes to drink tea, drank it all at once, and this is ordinary bait.

Of course, this was the first time that Li Chao drank common bait in the Tang Dynasty. There was no common bait in this era. Li Shimin called Mengcha, and it was not wrong to say that it was from Mengshe's imperial edict.

"This tea is a good tea. The tea tree is tall and can reach several feet high. The tea leaves are large, the tender branches have tiny hairs, and the top buds have white and soft hairs. Tea emphasizes brewing techniques and drinking art. It has rich drinking methods, which can be drunk easily or mixed."

"Sun green tea is the raw material and is fermented into loose tea and pressed tea. Your Majesty's tea should be a pressed tea made by natural fermentation. This tea is a top-quality tea. However, the processing method is still a bit lacking."

Li Shimin laughed.

"I have forgotten that your Bashang plum is the ancestor of tea selling. Now more than half of the share in the tea market belongs to your family. The classification of various teas, as well as the processing and drinking methods of various teas, are all fried by your family. I still want to talk about tea in front of you, it's really a show of my skills."

Speaking of tea, no one has more say than Li Chao than the Li family.

"You are the one who wrote a book called "Tea Sutra"." Li Shimin smiled and shook his head, putting down the teapot. "But to be honest, the tea from Mengshezhao Gong is indeed delicious. Your Li family can consider sending someone to collect the tea and process the tea well, and don't waste it."

Li Chao held the teacup and thought.

He didn't think the emperor came to him just to talk about tea.

Li Chao is now a little confused about Li Shimin, and feels that Li Shimin is no longer as outgoing as before and has become more restrained. It is difficult to guess his ideas.

"Since Wen Yuan can understand Mengcha so well, he must also know Mengshezhao?" Li Shimin asked.

Li Chao nodded, and of course he knew about Mengshezhao.

Mengshezhao was a small country in the Erhai area. At the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, there were many small countries in the Erhai Lake area in Yunnan and were not in charge of each other. Among them, there were six small countries with strong strength, called Liuzhao.

Among them, Mengshezhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhazhaz

Moreover, Nanzhao is more civilized than other countries and has accepted Han culture.

In the past, the imperial edicts often invaded Shuzhong, and sometimes they also robbed Dongnu and other countries.

After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, its control over Shuzhong was strengthened and its defense was also strengthened. The eastern and western countries such as Dongnu also surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and became vassal states of the Tang Dynasty.

In the past, the Dongnu Kingdom was mortal enemy of the Zhuzhao and often fought. However, in the past two years, the Silk Tea Road in the southwest was opened, and the trade between the Dongnu Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty greatly increased. They especially purchased a lot of weapons from the Tang Dynasty and received officers sent by the Tang Dynasty to help them train their troops. This greatly enhanced the strength of the Dongnu Kingdom and the Eight Kingdoms of the West Mountains. The Zhao Zhao plundered several times as in previous years, and they all returned in a desperate situation.

After seeing this change, Nanzhao also learned that all this was the Tang Dynasty. He did not continue to live his previous life like other imperial edicts, but began to take the initiative to trade with the Tang Dynasty. Recently, he even sent envoys to Xiangyang to pay tribute with tribute.

"Your Majesty, this Nanzhao must have some intentions. Is it that I want to use the power of the Tang Dynasty to annex other imperial edicts?"

"The envoys of Nanzhao said they admired the Tang Dynasty and yearned for it." Li Shimin was still very happy with the tribute from the small country in the far southwest. He felt that the Tang Dynasty had such great influence and was very proud.

But Li Chao had another idea.

Nanzhao, this is not as simple as a small tribe in the southwest. In the middle Tang Dynasty, Nanzhao established the country, annexed the Zhao, and even later unified the land of Yunnan, and began to confront the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains. It was between the two super strong men of the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, but Nanzhao swayed left and right, causing the Tang Dynasty to suffer a lot.

In the end of the Tang Dynasty, this small country was unable to be destroyed, but was invaded by Nanzhao many times.

Later, during the Five Dynasties, Nanzhao destroyed the country, but it was not destroyed by the Central Plains dynasty, but was usurped by a powerful Han official. But shortly after that, the Dali Kingdom was established and replaced Nanzhao to continue to fight against the Central Plains. Dali was even longer than the Song Dynasty.

However, if you trace back to a long time, this area of ​​Yunnan was a region controlled by the Central Plains dynasty during the Qin and Han Dynasties.

The imperial edict of Meng Zhu, the imperial edict of Yue Xi, the imperial edict of Lang Qiong, the imperial edict of Zhu Zhu, the imperial edict of Lang, and the imperial edict of Mengshe.

There are many barbarians in the southwest, and the tribes are in harmony, and the chaos is endless. In addition, the remote and remote places make the Central Plains insufficient control. However, Li Chao did not want to have an additional vassal state in the southwest that confronted the Central Plains, and he was even more unwilling to integrate and unify the southwest.

Mengshezhao was south of Erhai Lake. They were originally the Shelong clan among the Ailao royal family, and moved to Xielong for refuge. Xielong was originally the territory of the Ailao Kingdom and was located in Weishan, Yunnan in later generations.

During the Han Dynasty, it was forcibly set up as Xielong County and was under the jurisdiction of Yizhou County. The Later Han Dynasty was weak, and the Han Dynasty's power was occupied by the rich chiefs after withdrawing. The Shelong clan arrived and received the support of the Ailao clan. The power continued to expand and grow, and gradually formed a tribal alliance centered on the Shelong clan.

This alliance began to be called Shemmonshelong. In order to win over the Shelong clan, the rich chief Zhang Lejin married his daughter to Shelong's son Xinuluo.

This time, the mission to the Tang Dynasty was Xinuluo's idea.

After marrying the daughter of the Han chief, this Xiaonuluo also increased his knowledge and learned the strength of the Han people. His meaning was to rely on the Tang Dynasty, and then, like the Eastern Nv Kingdom, trade with the Tang Dynasty, buy armies from the Tang Dynasty, ask the Tang Dynasty officers to help them train their troops, and then they annex the other five surrounding edicts and more small countries.

"Since Nanzhao comes to pay tribute and seek help, isn't this an opportunity? The Tang Dynasty took advantage of the opportunity to support Nanzhao and began to enter this area, get familiar with it, and then interfere."

Li Shimin was not a simple person. Although he was proud of Nanzhao's tribute, he was not only satisfied with this. Nanzhao wanted to annex Liuzhao and unify the surrounding areas, but Li Shimin also had his own plans, and he planned to take the opportunity to intervene.

This is indeed Li Shimin's style.

"Your Majesty, as far as I know, there are five larger tribes around Erhai Lake, namely the Langqiong Draft, the Zhuihuang Draft, the Shilang Draft, the Yuexi Draft, and the Ailao Man Mengli Draft, the west of Erhai Lake."

These five edicts were actually established by the three tribes, the He barbarians, the Masians and the Ailao people.

As for the Six Divines, it was established by the Shelong clan with the support of Ailao people.

Therefore, it can be said that the situation in Liuzhao is quite complicated.

If you add the countless small countries around you, it will be a mess.

The Six Divines are equivalent to six tribal alliances, and there are more small tribes around them. These tribes are mostly called the Yao people in the Central Plains.

The so-called Liao is the small tribes of various ethnic groups, which are much more humble than the barbarian Rongdi.

Among the Yao people, there are many more, such as Ge Liao, Lie Liao, etc.

Ge Liao also refers to those fishing and hunting tribes, and hunting tribes are tribes with headhunting customs. Headhunting refers specifically to hunters' heads.

In the eyes of the Han people in the Central Plains, the yaku people, especially the many hunting yakus, were simply barbaric like beasts.

However, it is precisely because it is too far away and the numerous small tribes are in the middle of the Central Plains that it is difficult for the Central Plains to reach there. Especially during the Central Plains, which had just experienced hundreds of years of Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Central Plains was busy with civil strife and war, so there was no time to care about the Yao people far away in the southwest.

"The different species of Liao, the southern barbarians, have been found in Hanzhong between Qiongzuo and Chuan Cave. There are many species, scattered in the valleys, with little difference between clans and names. The men and women born in the same order as the elders and young people..." Li Shimin slowly recited.

"I intend to educate the world and let the Tang Dynasty unify the world. In the past, civil strife in the Central Plains had no time to take care of the barbarians in the southwest, but now, if you have the opportunity, you still cannot miss it."

Li Chao sat there listening.

He knew that the emperor was an independent person and he wanted to hear what he meant.

"Didn't Nanzhao send envoys to pay tribute? They want to trade with the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, they hope that the Tang Dynasty can send officers to help them train their troops, sell them armies, etc. I think it's OK."

Li Chao nodded.

"I have decided to grant Shelong the title of Prince of Nanzhao, and to define the Erbian area into Nanzhao District, and to establish a prefecture and county under it. At the same time, I plan to build a road from Yizhou to Nanzhao, and set up a border city on the border to trade with them."

"I plan to send Hou Junji to Nanzhao and serve as the vassal of Zhennan Protectorate."

Hearing this, Li Chao suddenly realized.

It turned out that Li Shimin had been talking for a long time and still wanted Baohou Junji to play.

It is indeed no problem to support Nanzhao. It is normal to trade with them, sell arms, build roads, set up border cities, etc.

Even if a Zhennan Protectorate was established, there would be nothing wrong with it. However, if Hou Junji was allowed to serve as Zhennan Protectorate, there would be some problems.

Hou Junji is still suing Cheng Yaojin.

But anyone could see that Hou Junji ignored him. As long as he was investigated, Hou Junji would definitely not be able to take advantage of him. A deputy general was suing the chief general, and how could he win if he abandoned the chief general and fled before he was the first to win.

Now Li Shimin sent Hou Junji to Zhennan Protectorate to be the arch-level procuratorate, and he wanted to turn big things into small things.

"Your Majesty, there is nothing wrong with everything else, but I think it's a bit inappropriate for Hou Junji to be the guardian of the south of the town. The matter between him and Cheng Yaojin has not yet come to an end."

Li Shimin sighed.

"Hou Junji did a lot of things this time, but he has been with me for many years and I am a little reluctant to leave. Just give him a chance and send him to Zhennan."

"If Your Majesty wants to forgive him, it will be fine if you spare him once. But I think that if you want to leave him alone, you must first find out the matter this time first, and then you will condemn whatever crime you should be. In the end, Your Majesty can specifically order him to pardon him, which is fine. But, things must be explained first, and you must just forget it."

Li Chao had no good feelings for Hou Junji, so of course he was unwilling to let him go.

The emperor wants to protect him, yes, but let the matter be explained clearly first.

When Hou Junji was in Tubo, he explained everything he had made and did. Then, what he should be guilty of was what he should be. In short, everyone in the world would know.

As for the end, the emperor wanted to use his privileges to pardon Hou Junji, which was the emperor's business.
Chapter completed!