Man Tanghong

Chapter 964 The Attraction of Grass Fields
Li Shimin said in a deep voice: "If you don't build the Protectorate, where will the dozen or so troops you set up be stationed? On the border? The transportation of luggage alone is enough to drag us down."

Li Yuanji said frankly: "You can let them eat the enemy..."

"Ha ha……"

Li Shimin sneered and sneered, "It's easy to say that you just feed on the enemy. If it's easy to eat on the enemy, we don't need to bring so much food and grass."

Eating food on the battlefield does not mean that you can find food, you just have to see the food, you have to be able to grab it.

As for wars, no one can guarantee victory in every battle, so if you just feed on the enemy, once you lose more times than you win, you will definitely run out of food.

Once the food is cut off, the army not only has to stop attacking, but also prepares to be starved to death.

This is not the most important thing, the most important thing is that the enemy is likely to seize the opportunity of you running out of food and counterattack.

At that time, you will be exhausted and unable to fight at all.

So eating from the enemy does not mean that you can do it if you want to.

You have to be ready for total annihilation and the determination to pay the price of total annihilation in order to do this.

Li Yuanji nodded and said, "I know it's not easy to feed on the enemy, but we let the Turkic people eat on the enemy, not ourselves..."

So even if the entire army is wiped out, it will be the Turkic people, not the Tang people.

Although this move is suspected of disregarding human life, Datang will not have some holy mother jumping out to help the Turkic people.

"Besides, with my Tang Dynasty providing armaments for the Turkic people, with the bravery of the Turkic people, there are really few forces on the grassland that can be their opponents. So once they embark on the journey, the possibility of being eaten by the enemy is still very high big."

Li Yuanji continued.

Li Shimin just let out a half-smile, and then fell silent.

He could see that Li Yuanji just didn't care about the life and death of the Turkic people, so he let the Turkic people go and feed on the enemy.

Li Yuanji obviously didn't consider how much the Turks would pay in the process of feeding on the enemy.

And he naturally wouldn't think about it.

He is not the royal family of the Turks, and the death of the Turks has nothing to do with him.

It is impossible to expect him to show mercy to the Turks.

He has no compassion for anyone who is of no value to Datang or himself.

Seeing that Li Shimin stopped talking, Li Yuanji continued: "Do you have any suggestions for my thoughts, or other opinions?"

Li Shimin said indifferently: "My suggestion is to build a capital protection mansion. If you don't want to build a capital protection mansion, then I have no suggestion."

It can be heard that Li Shimin is very persistent in establishing the Duhufu.

This is not to say that he firmly believed that establishing the Protectorate on the grassland was the best way to rule the grassland, but that there were precedents in this regard during the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms.

During the Western Han Dynasty and the Cao Wei period, the Protectorate of the Western Regions established in the Western Regions ruled the Western Regions very well.

It is also because of this that Li Shimin wants to imitate cats and tigers.

Whether other methods can effectively rule the grassland, there are no examples in history to learn from, and it is risky for Li Shimin, a pure Tang man.

And in order to avoid unknown risks, that's why he appears a little conservative.

In fact, not only Li Shimin, but the vast majority of people in power in history are like this in terms of governance. They all like to be conservative, especially in areas where there are no other precedents, and they all like to govern according to precedents.

The reason why they do this is not because they have no pioneering spirit, nor does it mean that they don't like innovation, but because they don't like to take risks.

For many people in power, movement is worse than silence.

Innovation is worse than old-fashioned.

This is also the reason why all dynasties have been relatively conservative and solidified.

Even if there are some innovations, they will only be innovated slowly after the various decrees of the previous generation have been used for a long period of time.

So Li Yuanji can understand Li Shimin's thoughts, but it doesn't mean he should listen to Li Shimin.

He has knowledge and knowledge far beyond Li Shimin's, and his ideas and strategies are naturally higher than Li Shimin's.

As long as Li Shimin doesn't have too many opinions on his ideas and strategies, it means that his ideas and strategies are feasible and in line with this era, then he can do it.

"Since the second brother has no other opinions or suggestions, then it is so decided. I will immediately send an order to each army, asking them to find a suitable place to house the newly rescued civilians, and at the same time ask them to send all those who surrendered and those who were captured as soon as possible. The Turkic people, separate them into different classes, and disperse them as soon as possible according to my ideas."

Li Yuanji said slowly.

Li Shimin didn't say anything, just sat there with a straight face.

Li Yuanji called Zhao Chengyong, and after giving his order, he stared at Li Shimin and continued: "Let's talk about how to deal with all the cattle, sheep and horses.

After the millions have been separated from the settlements, there are still millions to dispose of.

In terms of cattle and sheep, I mean that part of it will be rewarded to meritorious soldiers, and part of it will be distributed to places with more slaves.

The rest will be handed over to those tribesmen of the Turkic nobles who are willing to be loyal to the Tang Dynasty and who are willing to surrender.

Where to stock them will be discussed after the leaders of the Turkic tribes such as Ashina Simo arrive.

As for the horses, the horses that are not suitable for use as war horses are selected, and some of them are rewarded to meritorious soldiers, and the other part is sent to various places to be sold at low prices to the people who need labor. "

In the case of insufficient manpower, livestock is one of the most important labor forces.

At present, the livestock that provide labor for the people of the Tang Dynasty mainly include cattle, mules, and donkeys.

Although there are horses, but not many.

Because the vast majority of horses are used as war horses, and most of the rest are also used as means of transportation, so the value of horses is so high that ordinary people can't afford them, let alone buy a horse to serve as a labor force. .

Therefore, if a large number of horses seized this time are put into the market and let them become the labor force of the common people, it can effectively alleviate the shortage of labor force in Datang, and at the same time increase the grain output of Datang.

Although a large number of horses were put into the market in one go, the imperial court would suffer a lot and buy a lot less money.

But compared to the improvement of Datang's national strength and the improvement of Datang's labor force, this loss, this little money, is nothing at all.

Datang is not short of money now, what it lacks is labor force and comprehensive national strength.

Therefore, in these two aspects, no matter how much money is invested or how much money is lost, it is not considered a loss.

As long as Datang's labor force and comprehensive national strength increase, Datang will get more.

But now the national strength of Datang can't support the soldiers of Datang to exert their full strength, nor can it support the ambitions of those in power in Datang.

Therefore, it is necessary to increase investment in the two aspects of strengthening the labor force and enhancing national strength.

Li Shimin was obviously aware of this, so he didn't have any complaints about his handling of this aspect. He just asked, "What about the remaining horses? We don't care if they are Turkic people or not. We can't use so many horses."

After the Turkic old and weak women and children were excluded from the battle sequence, and the Turkic nobles were eliminated or moved to the interior of the Tang Dynasty, there were many horses vacant.

Excluding the bad horses that were going to be distributed to the people, there are still many good horses, even top-grade horses.

As for these horses, the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty could not finish riding them, nor could the dozen or so corps formed by the Turkic people.

It is pure waste to leave it unused, or keep it for cubs, so it must be used.

Li Yuanji replied: "I plan to distribute some of the remaining horses to various gathering places, so that the horses can continue to breed horses, and the other part will be sold to all the nobles."

"Sale?"

Li Shimin was stunned for a moment, and said with a sneer: "The nobles are all waiting to get a bargain now, who would spend a lot of money to buy these horses?"

Which of the nobles is not a human being?
In the case that Datang captured a lot of money, it is very likely that they will get a share of it with the smallest price, and they can even get a huge reward without paying any price.

Why do they spend money if they don't take advantage of it?
Therefore, it is unlikely that the nobles will spend money on horses directly.

Li Yuanji smiled and said: "I know that nobles are waiting to pick up bargains, so if I ask them to spend money to buy horses, they will definitely not do it. So I plan to build a horse farm here that belongs to my royal family alone, and I will use it during the war. Then there is a horse race.

The winner can get a piece of grassland that is not lost to the Royal Racecourse, and can also get [-] top-quality horses. "

Li Shimin squinted his eyes, looking like 'that's it'.

Li Yuanji continued to laugh and said: "Uncles, cousins, sisters, sisters, cousins, don't you all want to make money? As long as they spend money on horses, I will allocate pastures for them.

How many horses to buy and how much pasture to allocate.

If anyone can buy tens of thousands of horses at one go, I will allocate a piece of pasture for them that is not inferior to my Datang Yizhou (small state). "

Li Shimin's eyes widened all of a sudden, and he stood up abruptly.

How is this different from allocating fiefdoms to all the royal relatives and relatives in Turkic?

Although the Turks were far less prosperous than the Tang Dynasty, for the relatives of the emperor, the attraction of the fiefdom was too great.

Except for a very few who can win the throne, they don't like fiefdoms in remote places, and they don't want to go to remote places. For the rest, even if you give him a stone, he will hold it tightly.

In this case, if you buy a horse and give it to the pasture, those relatives of the royal family must go crazy?

They already have horse farms around Chang'an City, and they also like to raise horses, race horses, and even compete with horses. Polo is a popular entertainment in Chang'an City.

Now it's just expanding their horse farm many times, turning their plaything into a business that not only allows them to play, but also brings them profits. How could they not want to.

They don't need to take care of these horse farms themselves, they only need to send a confidant in the house with a group of servants, and buy some slaves to take care of them.

But now Datang has captured hundreds of thousands of slaves from Turks, and it is too easy for them to buy slaves.

It can be said that the imperial court has paved all the roads for them. They only need to pay a little money and a little manpower to get a large pasture and a sustainable business.

As long as they are not stupid, they will jump in.

(End of this chapter)