Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 5058: Survival of the Clan
The next morning, after Pei Xingjian finished his official duties, he ordered his personal soldiers to assemble, prepare food and fodder, and horses, and then cross the Qilian Mountains from the Dadouba Valley and drive straight to Fuxi City.

He did not stay to ask Cheng Yaojin whether he planned to lead his troops back to Beijing, nor would he try to keep him. The entire "Tibetan Strategy" was under his control. Whether it succeeded or failed, he had to operate and bear the consequences alone.

It didn't matter whether Cheng Yaojin went or stayed, because the moment Lu Dongzan gathered the Tibetan troops from various tribes to break out of the Daduba Valley and enter Hexi, the entire strategy had failed.

The contract between the Tang Dynasty and the Gar tribe was completely broken, and the Gar tribe was doomed to be destroyed. Lun Qinling could not get any help from the Tang Dynasty and could only die in Zishankou. After eliminating the external threat, the Lhasa city reunited and, under the leadership of Songtsen Gampo, turned from defense to offense and used war to further bring the various tribes together. Tubo became unprecedentedly united and powerful.

This is absolutely unacceptable to the Tang Dynasty.

The powerful and warlike Tubo would constantly invade Hexi, the Western Regions, and even the entire Longyou Road, thereby drawing Tang's military forces there, constantly consuming Tang's food, supplies, and military equipment, and interrupting Tang's strategy of outward expansion.

The most important thing is that once there is turmoil in Hexi, those meritorious officials, princes and nobles who have been suppressed during the Zhenguan period will take the opportunity to jump out and refute the national policies currently being implemented one by one until the political structure of the early Zhenguan period is completely restored.

The years of hard work of the Xinxing Group will be in vain.

……

Although the Gar tribe was poor, every grain of food and every war horse was sent to Zishankou, and the tribesmen tightened their belts to support Lun Qinling's battle. However, with the assistance of the Tang Dynasty, Fuxi City was being built and decorated day by day, and had already regained its heyday's strength, or even surpassed it.

However, Lu Dongzan was unwilling to stay in the beautifully decorated residence. He would take some time every day to come to the shore of Qinghai Lake with his servants. He would lie on the grass by the lake, enjoying the breeze and looking at the blue sky and white clouds reflected in the lake. He would feel open-minded and relaxed.

The Tibetan warriors were supposed to gallop across this vast world, braving wind, frost, snow and rain, overcoming rough terrain, sharpening their bodies like steel knives. They were like Songtsen Gampo, hiding in a prosperous palace, where their tenacity and ambition were worn away day by day. They faced conspiracies and plots from their tribesmen and allies, and trembled in fear before powerful enemies. What future did they have?
Following the servant's finger, Lu Dongzan saw a group of cavalrymen galloping over the grass from the north. He drank a sip of barley wine leisurely, then narrowed his eyes, not caring at all.

Pei Xingjian hadn't ridden his horse so fast for a long time. He felt that the grass under his feet seemed to be a huge green carpet spreading out to the horizon. The Qinghai Lake in the distance was like jade and vast as a mirror. When he got closer, he saw the breeze blowing across the lake, rippling the blue waves, sparkling water, seagulls flying and fish diving in the water, and the slightly salty wind blowing across the water towards him, making him feel relaxed and happy.

The several teams of roaming guards did not stop them and allowed Pei Xingjian and his party to go straight to the lake, stop not far from Lu Dongzan, and jump off their horses.

"I haven't seen you for a while. You look energetic and in high spirits. You seem to be in a good mood."

Pei Xingjian threw the horsewhip to his personal soldier, took off his cloak, strode forward, glanced at Lu Dongzan who was sitting cross-legged and motionless, and sat casually on the grass.

Lu Dongzan then opened his eyes and looked at Pei Xingjian with a smile: "I have been defending Fuxi City and I am very depressed. How can I be in a good mood? On the contrary, the Grand Protector, who should be a heroic and high-spirited age, has a face full of bitterness and hatred, and is full of worries. Could it be that he has encountered some difficulties?"

Pei Xingjian took the wine bag handed to him by the servant, raised his head and took a sip. He wiped the wine stains from his beard and asked, "If I really have difficulties, can Dalun help me solve them?"

Lu Dongzan seemed to be unaware, his skinny body hunched over, with a small smile on his face: "The Grand Protector has outstanding talents and a bright future. Now he is in charge of a territory larger than Tubo, which is a height that I can't reach. Even if you can't solve the trouble, I can't do anything about it either."

"Your humble character is something I admire."

Pei Xingjian praised insincerely, said no more, drank another sip of wine, looked at the seagulls flying over the lake, and said: "These seagulls come from the South China Sea, crossed Tianzhu and the Great Snow Mountain, stopped here for a while, and then continued to go north to the Far North to reproduce, and returned to the South China Sea along the original route before winter comes, so they will stop here twice a year. Birds are just fearless of wind and rain, and travel thousands of miles, just to reproduce. Birds have such ambitions, let alone humans?"

As if he did not understand what Pei Xingjian meant, Lu Dongzan asked in surprise: "How does the Grand Protector know that these birds come from the South China Sea? If so, the journey is long, but the Great Snow Mountain stretches from east to west, towering into the clouds. Even if you have wings, it would not be easy to climb over it."

"I didn't know this before, but some students in the academy became interested in the swallows that migrate from winter to spring, so they started to study them. Then they learned that many birds have this habit, so they called them 'migratory birds', meaning birds that migrate according to climate change... Seagulls are one of them."

Lu Dongzan was more and more surprised: "Is there anyone studying this?"

"Why is this so?"

The tension between the two seemed to have disappeared, and they started talking as if they were old friends. "Students from the academy looked up documents and archives and found that when astronomical phenomena were recorded in the past, there were deviations in the time of occurrence in different places. The farther the distance between two places, the greater the deviation. So someone proposed the hypothesis of 'time difference'..."

"jet lag?"

"The difference in time, for example, if you set up a sundial here, the measured time would be noon, but if you set up a sundial in Luoyang at the same time, the measured time might be chenshi. If the sundial is set up in Japan, it might even be midnight..."

If someone else heard this, they would probably think he was talking in his sleep, but Lu Dongzan only thought about it for a moment, then clapped his hands and exclaimed: "The sun is moving across the sky, and some places are ahead of others, and some are earlier and some are later. If we measure time by the shadow of the sun, there must be a difference! However, it is not difficult to find the time difference, and we have overlooked it in the past. But how do we measure the time difference?"

"It's very simple. Starting from Chang'an, we will go all the way west. We will set up an observatory every 300 miles and place a clock that the academy has just developed, so that we can observe the sun's shadow at the same time."

"..."

How easy is that?!

The corner of Lu Dongzan's mouth twitched. He understood the significance of this move, but he also understood how shocking the time, money and manpower involved in this activity would be.

He sighed and said, "In the whole world, only the Tang Dynasty can accomplish such a feat."

Zhenguan Academy has been well-known for a long time, but I have never had the chance to take a look inside it. What a magical place it is?

Why did such a fantastic idea come about?
I really want to go and have a look...

"Da Lun, do you want to go to the academy?"

Pei Xingjian seemed to be able to see through Lu Dongzan's inner thoughts. His eyes were burning: "With Dalun's intelligence and talent, he is more than qualified to be a doctor in the academy."

Lu Dongzan raised his head and looked at Pei Xingjian: "What can I teach there? Although I never underestimate myself and think highly of myself, I don't know anything about the things in the academy, whether it's mathematics, physics, astronomy... "

Pei Xingjian laughed and said, "The academy gathers the wisdom of the world. If there is nothing to teach, then why not just be a student?"

If you can’t teach, you can learn.

Lu Dongzan looked at the seagulls flying over the water, hope and yearning in his eyes, then he laughed, shook his head and sighed: "I also planned to sacrifice everything to become a Tang person, so that future generations would not have to live a hard life in this highland wilderness, to see the prosperity of Chang'an and Luoyang, to build a courtyard in one of the 108 neighborhoods, and to live in peace and happiness for generations... but you didn't allow it."

I want to put aside everything and become a part of you, but you don't want to. Then I can only risk my life to save a life for my family and descendants. Whether I succeed or not is up to God.

Pei Xingjian also laughed: "Da Lun was praised by Emperor Taizong as 'the wisest man in Tubo'. In my opinion, there are only a handful of people in the Tang Dynasty who can compare with Da Lun in wisdom. But how can they not understand the Tang Dynasty? Do you think that any Hu people can get the household registration of the Tang Dynasty? Go and see who has been registered as a household in the Tang Dynasty. Which one of them has not made outstanding contributions to the long-term stability of the Tang Dynasty? Some Hu people who have lived in the Tang Dynasty for decades, except for their appearance, their speech, clothing, and customs are no different from those of the Tang people, but they are not allowed to be naturalized."

You packed up your belongings with your clansmen and descendants and ran to Chang'an to live a rich and peaceful life, but you directly exposed the border of the Tang Dynasty to Tubo, putting the Tang Dynasty and Tubo in danger of war breaking out at any time... What a good thing!

Lu Dongzan looked at Pei Xingjian and said, "So the Gar tribe has to stay in Fushi City for generations to come, blocking the Tibetan cavalry for the Tang Dynasty? That's not fair! If that's the case, I'd rather take the entire Gar tribe with me and perish together than suffer in the flames of war for generations until the tribe is exterminated."

"There are actually not so many reasons to talk about in this world. From the moment everyone is born, has there ever been fairness? Your descendants are born as the leaders of the Gar tribe, enjoying the offerings of thousands of people, but why do those serfs have to be enslaved like livestock from birth? People can refuse to accept their fate, but they must recognize the situation, the times, luck, and national situation. I have the advantage, so I can change my fate. If I don't have the advantage, I have to hide and endure, and plan for the future."

Lu Dongzan was silent for a while, then slowly said: "Allow my son to become a Tang citizen and live in Chang'an. He cannot be regarded as a foreigner."

Pei Xingjian pondered, was this Lu Dongzan’s real intention?
Just to naturalize a son and continue the bloodline?
After a while, he nodded and said, "Yes! I will write to His Majesty as soon as I return to Hexi. I think His Majesty will certainly agree to it based on the contribution of the Gar family to the Tang Dynasty, and there will be no opposition in the court. The Tang Dynasty is tolerant and clear about gratitude and resentment. I can even recommend them to a rank and receive a salary from the Tang Dynasty."