The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 424: War for resources, money and food!

The era of cold weapons is over.

Now it's the world of firearms and artillery!
Tang Hao spoke in a deep voice.

"They don't want to obey, but they find they can't beat them!"

"Back to the topic just now, Mongolian civilians and slaves don't want to fight. Winning the war will not benefit them in any way. If they lose the war, they will lose their families and their lives will become more difficult. If they have a better life, a stronger support, and more chances to survive, will they still obey those Mongolian nobles?"

"They watched helplessly as the rest of the people lived a good life. With the support of the Ming Dynasty, they were well fed and clothed. They no longer had to suffer from hunger and cold, and they no longer had to worry about being robbed or killed. That was real life!"

"My Great Ming does not need to go deep into the grasslands to fight. What we need is to incite the Mongolian civilians to rebel and accept them. Through means such as mutual trade and rewards, we can win the support of the Mongolian civilians, fix them in the border areas, and slowly infiltrate and assimilate them until they become part of my Great Ming!"

"At that time, even if there is any disturbance in the grassland, these Mongolian civilians densely distributed outside the Great Wall can also become our Ming Dynasty's intelligence network or the first line of defense against the enemy. In this way, why should we be afraid of the danger from the grassland?"

After a pause, Tang Hao chuckled and said, "War does not necessarily have to be resolved only through force."

“Money wars and resource wars can also achieve political goals.”

"We, the Ming Dynasty, only need to pay some money and food resources to defeat the enemy without fighting. Why not do it?"

"This is the real war!"

The room fell into deathly silence again!

There is no need to conquer by force, but through resource wars!

But the resources that need to be invested are a bit too much!
And it goes without saying that if the Ming Dynasty wants to achieve the step of "assimilation" and "liberation", it will take a long time, at least dozens or even hundreds of years!

So An Guo asked: "General, what if we invest a huge amount of resources, but those Mongolian civilians rebel again? What if they take our benefits, but choose to rebel again under the threat and coercion of the Mongolian nobles?"

"I have made it very clear just now whether these civilians will rebel repeatedly. You may not know how miserable the lives of those Mongolian civilians are. Once they see the prosperity of our Ming Dynasty and personally feel the welfare benefits of our Ming Dynasty, we will not be able to drive them away even if we drive them away!"

Tang Hao said in a deep voice: "As for how the Mongolian nobles will react, that is even less of a matter. We can incite the tribal civilians on the grassland to rebel and turn them into a war barrier. Even if the Tatar and Wala armies attack, so what? The first ones to die will be the grassland barbarians!"

After hearing this, everyone felt a chill suddenly rising from the bottom of their hearts.

Yes, the ones who died were the Mongolian Tartars, what does it have to do with them?
As long as the dead are not Han people, the Ming Dynasty will suffer no loss at all!
On the contrary, if this situation really occurred, those Mongolian civilians would only be more loyal to the Ming Dynasty and full of hatred towards the Mongolian nobles!

However, this strategy is too cruel and insidious, and is not in line with the Confucian concept of benevolent government.

An Guo's eyes suddenly lit up, and he finally figured out one thing. No wonder Duke Xin wanted to leave the three Tumed tribes to graze in Hetao, he actually had such an idea in mind.

With the three Tumed tribes as a war barrier, even if the Mongolian left wing attacks again, the first to die will be the three Tumed tribes. With them as a buffer, the Ming Dynasty can also respond in time!

"Besides, the Mongolian nobles may not object."

"Do you remember what I just said? Through some specific trade methods, we can change the grazing habits of the Mongolian barbarians and make these tribal nobles on the grassland feel that raising cattle and sheep is more profitable than raising horses. Driven by profit, they will gradually expand the scale of cattle and sheep breeding and reduce the scale of unprofitable horse breeding."

"Why is it more profitable to raise cattle and sheep? Because the Ming Dynasty can raise the prices of cattle and sheep in the trade, and even devalue the prices of war horses. We can tell the Mongolian barbarians that we are too lazy to ask for horses when there is no war. The war horses from Jeju Island in Korea are enough to maintain basic needs. What we need now is livestock power such as cattle and sheep. The more the better!"

"The Ming Dynasty buys cattle and sheep at high prices, whether it's wool, cowhide, or beef and mutton. They want as much as they can get, even raising the price to two or three times the market price, to induce the grassland tribes to increase their efforts in raising cattle and sheep, because they can see clear benefits and can exchange cattle and sheep for more things in the trade!"

"Once the Ming Dynasty buys cattle and sheep at a premium, the fascinating benefits will be placed in front of them. The grassland nobles will definitely flock to it and force the lower-class common people to raise cattle and sheep for profit, which will naturally reduce the number of war horses raised accordingly!"

After hearing this, An Guo understood it instantly.

Tang Hao's method is to use benefits to lure the Mongolian Tartars to raise sheep!
Although the grassland is large, the pasture is limited.

As the number of cattle and sheep increases, the number of war horses will naturally decrease, especially the horses which are the most numerous on the grassland!

The grassland tribes that lacked horses or even had no horses posed no threat at all to the Ming Dynasty!

"The Ming Dynasty distributed farming tools to these Mongolian civilian slaves, taught them how to grow potatoes, and provided strong guarantees for their personal safety. Then they no longer had to hunt or plunder, but only needed to farm honestly, and they would be well fed and clothed. This was simply the dream life for Mongolian civilians and slaves!"

“As for the Mongolian nobles, by raising a large number of cattle and sheep, they can also exchange enough daily necessities from the trade, including expensive items such as salt, iron and tea. In addition, the Ming army’s combat effectiveness is so strong that anyone who dares to cause trouble or plunder will be slaughtered. Under the deterrence of such powerful military force, the Mongolian noble lords will naturally lose their warlike spirit and begin to succumb to the Ming Dynasty’s trade control model!”

"After all, everyone got what they wanted. Whether it was the Mongolian nobles or the Mongolian commoners, they were all satisfied with their stable and prosperous lives. So who would be willing to risk their lives to rob and harass and provoke the Ming army?"

Tang Hao expressed everything that was in his mind, hoping that An Guo would remember it.

“In addition, these Mongolian people themselves don’t know that as they work hard to cultivate the grassland, they will occupy more and more grassland fields, and our Ming Dynasty will help them build houses free of charge. In this way, the living space of the nomadic people will be greatly compressed until they completely lose control of the grassland. Even if other barbarian tribes migrate here at that time, the first to suffer will be these naturalized Mongolian barbarians, and they will become a buffer barrier between the Ming Dynasty and the grassland, which will be enough for the Ming Dynasty’s royal army to respond in time and then send troops to annihilate these outsiders!”

"What you need to do is to assimilate the three Tumed tribes into farming tribes. Nomadic life cannot guarantee that they can have enough food and clothing every day. As long as you do this, it will be difficult for the three Tumed tribes to leave the Ming Dynasty!"

"Just imagine what would happen if the Ming Dynasty closed the trade?"

A picture emerged in the minds of the generals.

The three Tumed tribes, which had gradually become mainly engaged in farming, suddenly lost the support of the Ming Dynasty. They could not even get the most basic farming tools and seeds. I’m afraid they would... collapse in an instant!
(End of this chapter)