After an afternoon of tossing and turning, the senior officials on the Turkic steppe were convinced. No matter whether they believed it or not, and no matter what they thought in their hearts, this afternoon made them understand that we are simply not comparable to the Tang Dynasty's army. If we live honestly in the future, we can still have the food we want, but if we have any other ideas, the Tang Dynasty army will kill us without mercy.
"When these guys returned, they all spoke privately with our generals, expressing their loyalty to us in varying degrees. They also reported a number of people with ill intentions. Guess what? I listed these people, and I found that among all the tribal leaders, only a few had not been reported. The rest had various problems."
After everyone left, Niu Jinda began to report to Li Xiang about the afternoon's farce. These tribal leaders not only expressed their loyalty, but also had to expose some people around them to show their loyalty.
Some people told the truth and could find evidence, but some people were just talking nonsense. They were afraid that they would not have a say in front of the Tang general, so they fabricated some news for no reason just to establish a good personal relationship with the Tang general. I really don’t know what’s going on in these people’s minds. For the sake of such a relationship, they betrayed people who were usually brothers to them.
"Don't believe all their lies. We won't take action against them for the time being. Just convey to them that we won't hold past events accountable. Starting today, we'll deal with every case we discover. Anyone who dares to spread ideas against the Tang Dynasty, or who is preparing to do so, will have their tribe split up and distributed among other obedient tribes."
Due to the terrain, it is impossible to implement the county system on the grassland, so we can only implement the tribal system. However, the tribal system has its disadvantages, that is, they will often wander to other places, and we have little control over them.
"Please rest assured, Your Highness. Even if we were to launch an expedition against the Xueyantuo, I believe they wouldn't dare cause trouble in our rear. I just don't know how long this situation can last. These people on the grasslands are easily treacherous. They might soon turn against us, for example, if we suffer a setback in our war against the Xueyantuo..."
Niu Jinda knew that it was unlucky to say this before the war, but as a relatively rational general, he had to think of all the bad things before the war started, so that we could establish various contingency plans. Once the war really broke out, we would not have to worry about a setback in the rear.
"You're right. Therefore, these 15,000 cavalry must be settled. We cannot attack the Xueyantuo until they are settled. The Xueyantuo stretches for thousands of miles across the Mobei region. If we rush in without adequate preparation, we will suffer. They have experience living there, but we don't. Furthermore, the climate there is cold. If we were to attack, we would only have two or three months. Once the cold weather arrives, we might all freeze to death."
Li Xiang is very familiar with the situation in the north of the prairie. The temperature here starts to drop slowly after September every year. Now we have lost the best time to attack. If we want to attack, we have to wait until this winter is over.
"So we're just going to wait here?"
Su Dingfang said somewhat unwillingly that the last time they rescued His Royal Highness the King of Wu, most of the people they killed were Turkic soldiers. The Xueyantuo people ran faster, so not many of them were killed.
"Of course not. They are just like the Turks. They usually eat beef and mutton, so their stomachs are full of fat and water. They must have some tea. We just need to control the trade routes. Whether it is tea or salt, we can't let them go. Then we will see what they do."
Looking at the history of Li Xiang's rise, there was no example of direct combat. Most of the time, he weakened the opponent for a long time and waited until the last moment to take over. Only with Tuyuhun did he fight directly.
"Your Highness is right. In previous years, many Xueyantuo merchants came to our area to do business. This year, we have blocked their trade routes. If they were to go around the Western Regions, they would be very brave. The journey would be at least four or five thousand miles longer in vain. I wonder how much higher the cost would be after returning."
The Western Regions have not yet belonged to the Tang Dynasty. It is still in a state of war and merchants are unwilling to go there. There are many countries going there, and the tax rates between each country are different. You pay taxes here and you have to pay taxes there. Often, a very cheap thing will become priceless after going through a circle in the Western Regions.
After the Xueyantuo's trade route was blocked, they could only go to the Western Regions. Although they could still ship goods back from there, the price would increase by more than ten times. This was still relatively optimistic. If they were more pessimistic, the price might increase by dozens of times.
After hearing what Li Xiang said, the two immediately ordered their men to block the border and find some checkpoints that are easier to control. We can't block all the border lines, we just need to seal these checkpoints. Even if the remaining people take the risk to bring them over from the mountains, the number will be a drop in the bucket and cannot save the entire Xueyantuo. In this winter, they will definitely not have enough tea and salt.
"Send a message to the person in charge of the Zhidaobao area, asking him to collect more tea and salt and follow my orders."
After the two men left, Li Xiang gave orders to Hou San, asking him to convey the order to the business personnel in the area. After Xueyantuo experienced a price increase of tea and salt, we have to go there to make money. While serving the country, we cannot delay making money for ourselves.
During the previous conflicts, Li Xiang had already seen that capital was a giant beast no matter what kind of country it was in, and it could change the fate of many people. Now that he had no way to compete with Li Shimin openly, he could only rely on the power of capital. Li Xiang had invested a lot during this period, and he didn't have much liquid funds. So this was a good opportunity to get some money from the Xueyantuo. If there was any conflict between the grandfather and grandson again, we could still rely on the power of capital...
