It was noon, and there was still no news from the Prime Minister's office, so Xu Shilang asked Xiaozao to carefully make a few Beijing-style foods and send them over, such as braised Luo fish, yellow chopped chicken, garlic meat and small oil cakes with green onions...... There is also a small half table. But there was no wine. There is food but no liquor, which makes Xu Shilang feel very unhappy. He apologized to Shang Cheng and explained that because the princess might summon two people into the imperial city at any time, he could not drink alcohol; Therefore, he did not let the stove prepare several famous local brews.

Shang Cheng didn't care. He tasted several kinds of wine in Beijing last time he came, all of them were fruit wines, and the degree was also very low, simply put, it was just alcoholic juice. The only thing that has a little impression is a kind of wine that imitates the Tang Dynasty Sanle pulp, poured in the pot and is full of greenery, looking very unusually sold, but unfortunately the taste is sour, just like the oligohydration mixed with alcohol and then dripping with vinegar. He only drank one cup and said nothing after that. Who will drink "vinegar" every day without any problems? He told Xu Shilang that he didn't care if there was wine at the table. He also smiled and dragged a sentence and said, "It's okay." Let's replace wine with tea, aren't we happy? ”

While eating, Shang Cheng suddenly remembered something. When he chatted with Zhang Shao and them before, he once heard them mention that after the foundation of the Great Zhao Dynasty gradually stabilized, during the Kaiping period of Taizong, he once took the general Wang Zhen as the commander and sent 470,000 soldiers and horses from all over the world to cut down the grassland in four ways. This war lasted from the ninth year of Kaiping to the sixth year of Jingkuang, a total of 14 years, and more than one million men and horses were involved on both sides, and there were five large-scale battles in which more than 100,000 people participated; In the end, both sides were exhausted, and neither of them was able to bargain too much, so they had to withdraw their troops and rest on the front lines at that time. When Gaozong reigned, from the third year of Taijia to the thirteenth year of Taijia, the Tuqi people had five large-scale southward movements, of which the fifth southward movement once broke through the Shizhou Fenzhou defense line and approached the Yellow River. Gaozong also died that year. Until now, there is still a theory that Emperor Gaozong unfortunately collapsed in the prime of life because of excessive anxiety and anger at that time. In the autumn of the thirteenth year of Taijia, Xianzong succeeded to the throne, and then in the spring of the following year, that is, the first year of Xiande, he sent 200,000 troops to avenge Emperor Gaozong, but accidentally encountered an ambush at the northern foot of Yinshan Mountain, and 80,000 elites did not survive, and two Shangzhu Guo, three Zhuguo, and eleven Sipin generals were also martyred. That defeat had a great impact on the military development of the later Great Zhao. Since then, Da Zhao's strategic guidance has gradually shifted from active offensive to passive defense, and at that time, the northern three guards spent an unknown amount of manpower and material resources to establish a defense-in-depth system along several main routes for the southward movement of the Tu Tu people. It was not until the year before last that Da Zhao took the initiative to attack the grassland on a large scale for the first time after a lapse of sixty-seven years. Sadly, that brave attempt ended in failure......

Shang Cheng didn't want to discuss the failure the year before with Xu Shilang. What he wanted to ask was the crusade that lasted for more than ten years during the Taizong period, as well as the five southward movements of the Tujici during the reign of Gaozong, and the military defeat during the Xianzong period, what was the military strength of the Tujici.

He had asked many people about it. Zhang Shao said that Tu Quanci was a million armor, Li Shen said that it was 800,000, and Ximen Sheng said that there were at least 780,000; At the wine table a few days ago, Xiao Jian said that it was 500,000 upwards. Wang Yi said that the number of troops invested in these periods varied, from about 600,000 in Taizong to 400,000 in Xianzong; In addition to the participation of the two wings of the east and west Lugu Wangsuo, the four major departments of the royal court of the Tukuti Dynasty, the annoyance, the extravagance, the ant map extension and the Khan banner of the Thu Tarthris also appeared successively, especially the fourth and fifth southward marches, because it was the personal expedition of the king of the Thurci Khan, so each time the army should be more than 700,000. But he couldn't say too much about the numbers.

Wang Yi is the sixth grandson of Wang Zhen, the marshal of the Northern Expedition during the reign of Taizong, and the Wang family is a famous family of generals in Dazhao, and he has never been absent from any large-scale war in various periods of Dazhao, so in Shang Cheng's view, Wang Yi's words should be the most credible. But that's not to say he believes the data Wang Yi said. "Soldiers are not tired of cheating" has always been one of the key tenets of soldiers; The "fraud" in this is not only external deception, but also internal deception, the difference is only in the internal is good intentions and external intentions are ill-intentioned. In addition, the need for public opinion propaganda, the need to build momentum for strategic guidance and change, and the need to create conditions for the recovery and development of domestic people's livelihood...... And so on, so what Wang Yi said is very doubtful. In particular, Wang Yi said that the number of troops in each of the five trips south exceeded 700,000, and he could not believe it in any way. If it is said that Taizong fought for more than ten years and exhausted the treasury and dragged down the national strength, as a result, Gaozong's strength could not resist the enemy's southward movement, which he believed; But the Turks have also fought for more than ten years, can they fight more and more, fight more and more, get richer, and become stronger and stronger? How can it be? What he couldn't figure out the most was that at that time, the Turks were also facing serious problems in restoring national strength and accumulating strength, so why would they go south one after another? Even if the Khan of Tukuci wanted to use all his troops, the tribes would not be able to agree. But this is something that could never have happened, and it just happened......

The second question he wanted to ask Xu Shilang was this: What was the real reason that prompted the Tuqi people to go south frantically at that time?

Xu Shilang has been working in the military department for a long time, and he has come into contact with countless dusty archives and files, and he knows more about many things that are secret to others. Originally, these things couldn't be spread casually. But he thought that these were all old yellow calendars from decades ago, and even if they were said to have nothing to do with Shang Cheng's listening. Besides, Shang Cheng is different from others, even if he doesn't say it now, he will be able to find out sooner or later. simply use it as a conversation at the dinner table, and it can be regarded as a small favor.

He answered Shang Cheng's first question first.

His statement is similar to Xiao Jian's, but there are also discrepancies. He said that according to the Taizong period, the number of troops invested in the Tuqi was about 500,000, but there were only about 300,000 on the front line of confrontation with Great Zhao, and another 200,000 were not invested in the direct battlefield with Great Zhao, but were placed west of the Tianshan Mountains and fought with Zhuhu in the Western Regions......

Shang Cheng hurriedly interrupted him: "Is it west of the Tianshan Mountains?" "He's a little confused. Why did the war between Da Zhao and Tu Ji actually get involved in the Tianshan Mountains? "To the west of the Tianshan Mountains, it should be Central Asia...... Now rest in peace or Persia? ”

Xu Shilang was a little surprised. Could it be that Shang Cheng still doesn't know where the Tianshan Mountain is? He walked to the wall to a large geographical map depicting Dazhao and the surrounding countries, pointed to the map and said, "It's here, also called Qilian Mountain." Han and Han both called it Tianshan before, when the Xiongnu had an elegy 'lost my Qilian Mountain', which was what it said; in the Tang Dynasty, it was sometimes called Tianshan, sometimes it was called Qilian Mountain, and some were called Yinshan. After the founding of our dynasty, it was named Tianshan. ”

Shang Cheng nodded. So that he understood. Zhao succeeded to the Tang Dynasty, when the Great Zhao was established, the prestige of the prosperity of the previous dynasty was still lingering in the memory of the small countries in the Western Regions. In the end, the result was a draw between Da Zhao and Tu Jici. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the defeat of the Great Zhao was a military defeat, but a diplomatic defeat, allowing the Turks to take the opportunity to extend their tentacles into the Western Regions......

Something suddenly occurred to him. But the several wars between Da Zhao and Tu Ji Ci had been circling in his mind, and the thought was flashing again, and he didn't have time to react at all.

Doesn't seem like a big deal? Confused, he searched his mind for vanishing fragments. But it certainly has nothing to do with the war, and it has nothing to do with the history of both countries......

But he also felt that the idea was important. A momentary instinct told him that it was even more important than the war between Da Zhao and Tujitz.

What is it exactly?

"During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, the people of Koubian were exhausted, and the largest number of troops was the second southward march. At that time, there were wars from Bohai to Longxi, and the largest group numbered more than 200,000. Later, the imperial court estimated that the total number of troops in the Turks may have reached 700,000. Xu Shilang said, "Although the scale of the other four times is not small, it is far from being comparable to the second southward trip." Even the fourth and fifth times when King Tukutsikhan personally led the army were far less than half of the second. ”

Shang Cheng pursued the broken thoughts, and asked thoughtfully: "I want to know, did the imperial court analyze and judge at that time, why did the Turks go south one after another at that time?" He no longer asked about the battle of Qilian Mountain during the Xianzong period. Whether it is militarily or politically, there is only one consequence of the Battle of Qilian Mountain: after this battle, the Great Zhao court admitted defeat and accepted defeat, militarily took a defensive position against the Tuqici, diplomatically withdrew from the Western Regions and did not compete with the Tulianci, politically pursued internal stability, and began to embark on a long road of accumulating strength......

"I found out later. It was about ten years after Xianzong Xiande, and after more than thirty years, a caravan of rest came to Shangjing, which also brought some news about the people of Tuji. It was also at that time that the imperial court learned that during the reign of Gaozong, there was a great famine for several years, either strong winds or heavy snow, and then a great drought. The imperial court judged that the main purpose of the five gatherings of the Turks was to plunder the population, grain, and cloth. Xu Shilang lowered his gaze and said.

"Or maybe it's more appropriate for them to want to enter the Central Plains." Shang Cheng unceremoniously exposed the "lies" of his predecessors who deceived themselves.

Xu Shilang also agreed with Shang Cheng's opinion. If it weren't for the fact that the Turgishites had not reaped enough fruitful results in their five expeditions to the south, and had suffered losses each time, they would have not hesitated to begin their sixth, seventh, or even countless southward journeys; Maybe you can see their pastures on the outskirts of Shangjing right now.

"Then at that time, I didn't think about taking advantage of the disaster of the Tuqi people to solve this trouble in one fell swoop?"

Xu Shilang said: "How can you not want to? "It's one thing to have an idea, it's another thing to actually do it. In the twelfth and fourteenth years of Xiande, he suffered a small loss in two successive sorties on the grassland, and after that, whether it was the imperial court or the generals in the army, whoever mentioned that he wanted to fight north was naturally a little timid. In addition, the news soon came that Gumaung, the third largest country in the Western Regions, was wiped out by 100,000 iron cavalry in one fell swoop, and no one mentioned the northern expedition again......

Shang Cheng thought for a while and said, "Old Xu, there is something that I have never been able to figure out. It is estimated that there were 40,000 Great Tent soldiers and 100,000 tribal soldiers on the right flank, and 60,000 Great Tent soldiers and 170,000 tribal soldiers on the left flank, which together was less than 400,000 people, less than half of the strength of Gaozong's reign. Even if the population of the Turks has not increased in the past few decades, there should still be three or four hundred thousand soldiers left. Where have these people gone? ”

Xu Shilang shook his head and said he didn't know. He himself pondered this matter and discussed it with others many times, but because for a long time, Great Zhao had very little contact with the countries of the Western Regions, and the only countries that traded with him were those small countries that were close to Great Zhao, and there was a lack of information and evidence in this regard, so there was never a convincing result. He laughed at himself and said sarcastically, maybe those hundreds of thousands of horses were nesting in the depths of the desert to raise cattle and sheep.

Shang Cheng raised his face and laughed.

Hundreds of thousands of troops to engage in production? Ha, that's an acceptable explanation!

At this time, the prime minister's office came, and asked them to go over immediately, and several prime ministers and deputy ministers were anxious to see Shang Cheng.

When he and Xu Shilang rushed to the imperial city in a carriage, Shang Cheng finally remembered what he felt at that moment just now:

After the people of Gaozong entered the Western Regions, they must have taken a series of actions to cut off the trade between Dazhao and the Western Regions; At the same time, it also cut off the Silk Road that connected the trade between the East and the West since the Han and Tang dynasties. In this case, although the silk, porcelain, tea and other items produced by Dazhao could not be produced, the luxury consumption of Western countries such as Persia and the Mediterranean region must have also been hit hard. With the saturation of the internal market on the one hand, and the extreme scarcity of goods on the other, brave merchants and adventurers abandoned the overland Silk Road and began to search the ocean for the golden ******......

However, where is the importance that he just felt?

He took the matter around in his head, didn't see what it really was, and tossed it aside. Compared with the death knell of the Turpents, what a great voyage and what ****** are not worth mentioning! They're not even trivial!

What he needs to think about now is how to impress the Prime Minister's Mansion and get them to support him in another Autumn Grassland Campaign.