According to the rules, the people of Gaochang State knelt to see Li You off, which was understandable. After all, they were already vassal states of the Tang Dynasty. Not to mention the prince of the Tang Dynasty, even a protector general like Lord Zhao had to kneel to greet and see him off.
But now the countries in the Western Regions are still independent countries in name. It is quite good that they can bow to you. You should know that they are not ordinary people, they are ministers of various countries, and you are not their suzerain country. Why should they kneel to you?
"The Prince of the Great Tang has arrived in person, and envoys from various countries are kneeling to welcome him."
Just when these people were lined up, Niu Jinda moved the sword at his waist, and immediately a messenger came on horseback and announced the order to them loudly. This made those present stunned. You didn't say this when you came to announce the order yesterday. How can you make us kneel down to greet you now?
If it were just some small matter, and the Tang army was already at the gates of the city, they could have tolerated it. But now, asking us envoys from various countries to kneel to welcome them is a bit too much. If you had communicated with us in advance, it would be understandable, but suddenly asking us to do something like singing the national anthem, everyone was a little panicked for a while.
"The Prince of the Tang Dynasty has arrived in person..."
Seeing that no one present took any action, the messenger shouted again and walked around them to make sure that most people heard it. If anyone said they didn't hear it now, or used this excuse to fool Niu Jinda, then I'd just say I'm sorry.
Everyone looked at the envoy of Western Turkestan. After all, he was the largest country in the Western Regions.
Although he was the second son of the Khan of Western Turkic Khaganate, after all, the person coming this time was a prince of the Tang Dynasty, so the envoys sent to welcome him had to be of equal status. If they just sent anyone, the Tang Dynasty might use this as a reason to start a war.
Western Turkic is the core of the coalition forces, and now all the envoys are looking at him.
"Please come forward, General Niu, and speak."
The second prince Lai Du rode out on his horse.
Niu Jinda knew that there would definitely be trouble with this matter. When he sent people out just now, he knew that the people on the other side would not kneel down obediently. This represents the national dignity of a country. If it were that simple, then they would not bother.
According to the thinking of the countries in the Western Regions, if it was Li Shimin or Li Chengqian who came today, it would be normal for them to kneel down to greet them. Even someone like Li Xiang could do it, after all, he is the current or future emperor of the Tang Dynasty. But Li You is just an ordinary prince. There are dozens of people like him in the Tang Dynasty. If even such a person has to kneel down to greet him, then do we still have status?
Niu Jinda nodded to the eunuch Han next to him, asking him to pay attention to protecting Li You's safety, and then he went over with several cavalrymen beside him. The whole team just stopped. Li You's face looked a little ugly. As a prince of the Tang Dynasty, can't I even ask you guys to kneel down?
"General Niu, I am Laidu, the second prince of the Western Turkic region..."
"I don't care who you are. You should have heard the order of our Highness. I'll give you a cup of tea to think about it. Either kneel down to greet him, or you can go your way and we'll go ours."
Niu Jinda didn't care who the other person was, but interrupted him rudely. You have to know that he is the second prince of Western Turkestan, and the current status of Western Turkestan is equal to that of the Tang Dynasty. You are just a general of the Tang Dynasty. Why do you interrupt him?
"Isn't that too rude, General?"
The second prince also has a temper. Although the comprehensive national strength of Western Turkestan is not as good as that of the Tang Dynasty, he has never been treated like this since he was born.
"Who has the final say on what's right and what's wrong? These days, there are all kinds of countries. Some stand tall and proud like our Great Tang, while others may only have one or two cities and can't even muster tens of thousands of troops. If all countries are equal, wouldn't that be terribly unfair to our Great Tang?"
Niu Jinda raised his head and said that the surrounding cavalrymen also meant the same thing. Now the people of the Tang Dynasty have very high self-esteem, not to mention the generals of the Tang Dynasty.
In fact, the Second Prince also agreed with Niu Jinda's theory. After all, among the countries in the Western Regions, the status of the Western Turks was higher than others. When they initially thought that their ministers went to other countries, other countries also gave them a very high-level reception. But now there is a person who is more powerful than them, and makes the Western Turks kneel down to greet them. This guy is unhappy.
"Let's just discuss the matter at hand and not waste any more nonsense. I can ask people from some small countries to kneel to welcome you, but my Western Turkic Empire is a great power in the Western Regions and will never do such a thing."
The second prince felt that he was much nobler than Niu Jinda, and he didn't want to waste time talking to Niu Jinda. In his eyes, Niu Jinda was just a warrior and had no qualifications to talk to him. The fact that he could say so much to him showed that he respected him very much.
"Your Highness, you have misunderstood. Didn't you hear our message clearly? I, the Prince of the Great Tang, personally request that everyone kneel to welcome me."
Niu Jinda snorted coldly. "You Western Turks do have privileges in front of other small nations, but where does your sense of superiority come from in front of the Tang Dynasty?" "You all originally split from the Turkic Empire, but that was defeated by our General Li Jing. A while ago, the remaining people tried to rebel, but your Highness easily wiped them out. Do you still have anything to be proud of?"
Although the Tang Dynasty did not have a war with the Western Turks, everyone knows that the overall national strength of the Western Turks is not that good. Compared with the period when you Turks were strong, you are now like a child. You still want privileges from our Tang Dynasty. Do you deserve it?
"General Niu, don't go to extremes. You have to know that this is the Western Regions. We, the Western Turks, are the leading power in the Western Regions, with 200,000 combat-ready soldiers..."
"Speaking of our wealth? If we are to talk about our wealth, you are far behind us. I don't even need to explain it myself. You should also know the strength of our Tang Dynasty."
Niu Jinda still had that cynical look on his face, not taking the guy's words to heart at all. If you Western Turks were really powerful, would General Kang Ying agree to let our prince go to the Western Regions? You refused at that time.