Prince of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 629 Corn and Potatoes
Just when Gao Ming enjoyed his first potato stew after coming to Datang, Li Shimin had already called Cheng Yaojin, Li Ji, Tang Jian, Su Dingfang and others to the imperial study room, and began to discuss the plan to send troops to Byzantium. thing.

For military generals, the most persistent pursuit is to expand the territory and seal the wolves into the Xuxu, but there are very few people who can do it, and there have been three in the past few hundred years.

The first one is Huo Qubing in the Western Han Dynasty. Chasing out the Huns is like chasing out a dog. The idiom of sealing a wolf and living in Xu began with him.

The second is Dou Xian of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He defeated the Northern Xiongnu in Jiluo Mountain, and imitated Huo Qubing to carve stones on Yanran Mountain to record his achievements, which is known as Yanran Le Stone in history.

Another one is Li Jing. When he defeated Jieli Khan before, although he didn't engrave letters to worship heaven, he also ran from the foot of Langxu Mountain, so he can be counted as one.

But the others were gone, so they were all suffocating in their stomachs.

Now the opportunity finally came, that barbarian named Byzantine had just stopped the steamboat sent by the prince, and Li Shimin's former personal eunuch was sitting on the boat.

What is this behavior?
This is slapping the Tang royal family in the face, it is slapping Datang in the face, and it is slapping the faces of their generals!
As the old saying goes, "the emperor humiliates his ministers to death", although military generals do not have as many books as literati, and some even have little education, they are not lacking in loyalty.

So after hearing what Li Shimin said about this matter, a group of people didn't even sleep, they discussed in the imperial study all night, and by the time it dawned, they had already formulated several sets of offensive plans, and even quarreled fiercely for the title of coach. open hand.

From their point of view, fighting Byzantium is nothing but taking credit for it. As for how big Byzantium is, how strong it is, and how many troops it has, these are not important.

In fact, it is no wonder that the generals think so, because they are comparing the Great Food Kingdom with Byzantium.

In their images, the Great Food Kingdom is a group of guys riding camels and wearing white cloths, who come to Datang eagerly every winter to make offerings.

Moreover, since the last time when Gao Ming led his troops to destroy the 36 countries in the Western Regions, he even reached the border of the Great Food Kingdom. The sound of the cannons scared the opponent's camel cavalry to flee in all directions, which left a deep impression on them.

So when they heard that Byzantium, which intercepted the steamship of the Tang Dynasty, had fought against the Great Food Kingdom for many years, they immediately looked down upon Byzantium.

No matter how strong a country can be, how strong can it be with a country like the Great Food Kingdom?
At that time, when the artillery bombards, the Xuanjia cavalry rushes, and the coach sits in the steam tank and runs over directly.

It's like an adult beating a child, there is no suspense at all, this is called one force and ten meetings.

With this in mind, Cheng Yaojin was the first to stand up when he went to court, and bowed his hands towards Li Shimin who was standing above.

"Your Majesty, the Byzantine barbarians in the west intercept our steamship of the Tang Dynasty and despise our Tianwei of the Tang Dynasty. I am willing to lead a hundred thousand troops to destroy it!"

Gao Ming: "(⊙o⊙)..."

10 people beat Byzantium?
It was one of the world's three most powerful empires in the seventh century, with a population of tens of millions, about the same as that of the Tang Dynasty. If you send 10 people to fight, don't you want to lose face?
And it's an expedition across the Arabian Empire, aren't you kidding me?

What surprised Gao Ming the most was that Li Shimin, who was sitting above him, was still smiling when he heard Cheng Yaojin's words, as if he had the winning ticket in his hands.

After Cheng Yaojin finished speaking, he smiled slightly at Gao Ming.

"Gao Ming, what do you think?"

"..."

Look at the wool, I'm afraid you two have discussed it long ago, right?I know you are very happy, but you can't do it like this?
At this moment, Gao Ming only felt that more than 1 grass-mud horses were rushing through his heart, and he couldn't help but twitched the corners of his mouth.

But he understood Li Shimin's temper, so he didn't object immediately, but thought for a while before opening his mouth.

"I think Lu Guogong is right, this Byzantium must be fought!"

As soon as Gao Ming's words came out, the hearts of the civil servants in the court suddenly tugged.

Because in their view, even if Byzantium was defeated, there was a big food kingdom in the middle, and the Tang Dynasty could not reach it, and there was no way to rule if it was defeated. A war like this just to consume the national power in one breath was useless.

And just when they were about to persuade, Gao Ming spoke again.

"Although we will fight, it will have to be postponed for five or six years!"

"Oh?" Hearing Gao Ming's words, Li Shimin immediately showed curiosity, "Why?"

"because this!"

As he spoke, Gao Ming took out a corn and a potato from his bosom, "Planting these two things all over the Tang Dynasty is more important than fighting Byzantium!"

"This is……"

Seeing what Gao Ming took out, Li Shimin frowned immediately.

"Isn't this what you asked Liu Bing to bring back from that America? Although it is rare, the taste is really ordinary, and it is not as sweet as rice. Why do you plant it all over the Tang Dynasty?"

"Uh……"

Upon hearing Li Shimin's words, Gao Ming immediately understood that he must have called the generals to prepare for the battle as soon as he heard that Byzantium had intercepted Liu Bing's steamship, and he did not ask Liu Bing about the two things at all.

To put it bluntly, he has an impulsive temper and great success!

Thinking of this, he sighed helplessly again, and then cupped his hands towards Li Shimin.

"Father, the reason why I sent Liu Bing to search for these two things across the ocean is not because of their rarity, but because of their output!"

Having said that, he raised the corn and potatoes in his hand.

"The thing in my left hand is called corn. I can get at least seven dans for rough tilling an acre, and more than ten tans for an intensive plowing. The thing in my right hand is called potatoes. I can get 22 tans for a rough plowing. If you do it intensively... Liu Bing personally Planted [-] loads..."

"What? 22 Dan?"

Hearing Gao Ming's words, Li Shimin immediately stood up with a "shua", and then walked in front of Gao Ming in three steps, and grabbed the potatoes in his hand.

"You said this thing... was planted by Liu Bing? You can get 22 dans per mu!"

"Yes, 22 dans. He also planted [-] dans of corn. He dare not lie about this!"

"This... this is unbelievable!" Li Shimin was a little confused.

Seeing this scene, Gao Ming laughed again.

"Of course, planting by hand is actually management. Farmers in Lingnan may still be helping in planting. This time, he brought back [-] tans of corn and potatoes each to Chang'an, and there are hundreds of tans left in Lingnan!"

"Hiss... there is such a thing?"

Hearing Gao Ming's words, Li Shimin immediately gasped, and then his eyes widened.

"This old dog, why didn't he tell me about such an important matter when he saw me yesterday, it's really hateful!"

clever:"……"

Have you given people a chance to tell?Now it's someone else's fault, it really is a companion like a tiger!

Although Gao Ming didn't speak, his helpless expression revealed his inner thoughts.

Seeing his expression, Li Shimin also reacted, a blush suddenly appeared on his dark and fat face, then he turned around and waved his hand towards Cheng Yaojin.

"Okay, let's talk about the Byzantine matter later, Cheng Yaojin, I order you to lead three thousand soldiers and horses to go to Lingnan with Liu Bing immediately, and bring back my potatoes and corn..."

Having said that, he seemed to think of something, and then added another sentence.

"Thirty percent of the money will come back, and the remaining seventy percent will be handed over to the governor of Lingnan Province, Zhao Zhi. Tell him that next year I will see two thousand shi of potatoes and one thousand shi of corn.

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)