Wang Zhen took out a brocade handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped his mouth, Zhao Yan, who was not far away, vaguely smelled a scent of smoke, it seemed that the eunuchs had the smell of urine because of their physical defects, and in order to cover up that smell, they would try to cover it up with other smells.

After Wang Zhen wiped his mouth, he asked casually: "Listening to what Zhao Gongzi said, it seems that he knows a lot about things on the grassland. Emperor Taizongwen's six divisions have come out repeatedly, and the dust in Mobei is clear, so there have been decades of peace in the Central Plains, but now there seems to be a resurgence in the north, what is Zhao Gongzi's opinion on this? ”

At this time, Wang Lin was playing with the words he heard from Zhao Yan by chance, and suddenly interjected: "Then don't you need to say it, life and death are downlooked, and if you don't accept it, you will do it." ”

Wang Zhen was stunned for a moment, and then glanced at Wang Lin with a smile, but turned his gaze to Zhao Yan.

glared at Wang Lin fiercely, and then Zhao Yan said thoughtfully: "The younger generation is just a student, how dare you talk about national affairs." ”

Your son Zhu Zhen said with a smile: "Zhao Gongzi is young, why is he so conservative? We are just talking about things, how can it be called arrogant, Zhao Gongzi said that it is okay. ”

Zhang Wenyuan also echoed: "Yes, Brother Zhao, I didn't know that Brother Zhao knew so much about the situation in the grassland, and I also wanted to hear Brother Zhao's high opinion at this time." ”

Zhao Yan said helplessly: "Taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall, Qin, Han, Tang, and Song are actually the same as our country's dynasties, and they all need to face the invasion of northern nomads. Qin II died, I won't talk about it, let's talk about the Han and Tang dynasties first, these two dynasties are actually the same strategy for the nomads, that is, soft and hard, divide and pull together.

In the Han Dynasty, the nomads of the Xiongnu, Wuhuan, Xianbei and so on were relatively strong, and the national strength of the early Han Dynasty was not strong, so they showed weakness to the Xiongnu, and then made great efforts, and finally drove the Xiongnu to the remote places in the west during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. During this period, the Han Dynasty did not maintain a strong attack on the Xiongnu throughout the whole process, but always swayed between peace and war, attacking when its national strength was relatively strong, and making peace and rewarding when it was weaker.

In addition, the Tang Dynasty faced four main nomadic peoples, the Eastern Turkic Khanate of the Turkic people, the Xueyantuo Khanate and the Later Turkic Khanate of the Tiele people, the Uighur Khanate of the Uighur people, and the Uighur Khanate of the Hugsi people. Before the Tang Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty mainly used the strategy of differentiation and co-optation, which led to the Eastern and Western Turks, and the Tang Dynasty also fully continued this, but the Tang Dynasty knew better than the Sui Dynasty the principle of making the best use of things, and various means emerged in an endless stream, with a stick in one hand and a carrot in the other, playing with various nomads between applause, but it was too out of line in the later period, and it was exploited by others.

As for the Song Dynasty, because of the loss of the Great Wall, a powerful barrier, the means to deal with the enemy are somewhat lacking, the early military strength is strong, and the Liao army is still offensive and defensive, and then it can only rely on money to buy peace, I will guard the country tomorrow, naturally disdain it, not to say it. ”

Zhao Yan stopped talking, but a few people around him listened a little unsatisfied, Zhu Zhen smiled: "Zhao Gongzi only said some well-known things about the past dynasty, but at this time and that time, now there is a warat in the north that is ready to move, but I don't know how to deal with it?" ”

Zhao Yan wanted to say a few words casually to get by, but at this time, Zhu Zhen, who was suspected of being Emperor Zhu Qizhen, asked again, Zhao Yan knew that he couldn't cope with it without taking out some dry goods, so he said with a straight face: "If it is the period of Emperor Taizu Gao and Emperor Taizongwen, it is naturally a strong attack, but it is just ......."

Zhao Yan was muttering about the words of the organization, and Wang Zhen, the old man who suspected Wang Zhen at the next table, was suddenly displeased: "Just how? Could it be that Zhao Gongzi also thinks that there are traitors rampant in the court now, and it is not suitable to go on an expedition? ”

Of course, Zhao Yan wouldn't admit it, he just thought of the change in the civil fort not long after, and suddenly wanted to try to prevent that incident from happening.

"Mr. Wang is too careful. What the younger generation wants to say is that the remnants of the Yuan have been wiped out, and at this time, whether it is Varat or Tatar, although they are nominally in the name of restoring the glory of the tyrant among the tribes of the steppe, in fact they have degenerated into ordinary and ignorant barbarians, and they do not even have a unified regime, so they cannot succeed. However, the nomads on the grassland are strong, which is really unfavorable for my Ming Dynasty, if I move my army north, maybe I can exchange for a moment of peace, but it is not a cure for the symptoms, and the labor expedition, labor and money, is really the next policy. ”

Wang Zhen's face was still uncertain, and he said lightly: "Since there is a strategy, there must be a good strategy and a middle policy. ”

Your son, Zhu Zhen, looked at the sky outside and said, "Sir, if it's still early today, Zhao Gongzi's words sound very novel, although it is a little pedantic, but you might as well listen to his best and middle strategies." The implication is that if you are idle anyway, you should listen to books to relieve your boredom.

Zhao Yan smiled bitterly in his heart, what he said later, Zhu Zhen and Wang Zhen didn't know if they could listen to it, but they had to try.

Why did Temujin unify the steppe, and the previous situation of the Huns, Xianbei, Rouran, and Turks disappeared? Because Temujin unified them, broke up the original tribal system, and created a unified national concept of "Mongols" with a simple grassroots organization of thousands of households.

The original Kereh tribe, Wangu tribe, etc., have disappeared since then, although they may have been ravaged and enslaved non-Mongols a hundred years ago, whether it was Chahar (cowardice), the direct guard of the Mongol Great Khan on the steppe, or the mercenary Asut (Asu army) captured from Persia, or the Dzungar, Dulbert, Heshute, Turghut of the four tribes of Warat, or Buriati in the north, they had only one name after the Yuan Dynasty - Mongols.

Li Wenzhong, Fu Youde, Lan Yu, Zhu Di, in the early Ming Dynasty sixty years in turn, but after being cut down, the grassland with two feet to walk is still called Mongolians, the chief of the Duoyan Department in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Lin Dan Khan of the last Mongolia, nicknamed the Han Hudun Rabbit, they are still called Mongolians, wild boar skin is so awesome, the people of the Four Khans of Outer Mongolia and the Six Leagues of Inner Mongolia are still called Mongolians.

Time has changed, Zhao Yan felt that after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the enemy on the grassland has changed, although it is still arrogant, but it is more civilized than the previous nomads, if you can learn the practice of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in later generations, maybe you can take Mongolia for your own use, and even gradually assimilate.

"There's no upper or middle policy, just a few of my own thoughts. Warat may soon be on the side, but in the next thought that Warat Taishi also hoped to seek peace by war, through war to force my Ming to communicate with them and tributary trade, only in this way, but also to maintain a strong grassland tribal alliance, once Warat can not communicate with my Ming Dynasty, cut off by my Ming, then Warat will decline faster. ”

Wang Zhen nodded, he heard that there is a shortage of grass and livestock on the grassland, and even the iron pot is a treasure on the grassland, and an iron pot can sometimes be exchanged for a good horse, so Warat wants to exchange markets with Daming to ensure the basic life of various tribes, which is understandable.

Zhao Yan said: "The first way is to clear the wilderness, and resolutely do not exchange markets and pay tribute to Wara, so as to cut off the interaction with the grassland tribes across the board, but the rabbit is anxious and bites, if so, maybe the Warat dog jumps over the wall in a hurry, which is even more detrimental to the stability of the border between China and the DPRK. ”

"Zhao Gongzi, please continue." The noble son Zhu Zhen said with interest.

Zhao Yan took a sip of tea and continued: "The second method is to divide and win over, but it is slightly different from the predecessors. Now for the nomadic tribes on the grassland, the remnants of our dynasty Taizu Taizong are still there, and there is also a large army at the border as a deterrent, and then our dynasty can open a mutual market with the grassland tribes, and not only open one, but set up a few more mutual market locations, as long as the fair trade, there must be many nomadic tribes who come to trade. The nomadic tribes who honestly participate in the mutual market can get the friendship of my Ming Dynasty, if it is a tribe with bad intentions in the mutual market, the imperial court can send troops to crusade, and other tribes will definitely not help the crusaded tribe to fight against our army in order to obtain the qualification to exchange market with my Ming Dynasty.

Most of the grassland tribes are very ignorant, on the occasion of the mutual market, the imperial court can put forward several requirements, for example, the tribe that wants to exchange the market needs to send young children to my Ming Dynasty to study, and after the completion of the study, you can send the young children who are close to my Ming Dynasty back to their original tribe, as for the young children who do not listen to the education can be killed or imprisoned, and for example, when the exchange of markets, all the documents and contracts that need written records, etc., must use Chinese characters......

At the same time, the imperial court could find monks from the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet and send them to the steppe to preach. The Gelug sect wears a yellow monk's hat, so it is also called the Yellow Religion, its teachings are quite negative, but it is very in line with the appetite of the people of the various tribes of the steppe, after a long time of believing in the Yellow Religion, it can make the Mongols aggressive and murderous, and like to move the belligerent wind instead.

As long as we persist in mutual trading and missionary work, in a hundred or two hundred years, perhaps most of the people of the grassland tribes will be assimilated by our Ming Dynasty or lose their sharpness, and then the border troubles will naturally disappear. If you look at it from below, this can be called the best policy. ”

Wang Zhen heard the contempt in this, and although the noble son Zhu Zhen was noncommittal to Zhao Yan's words in his heart, he still asked: "At this time, the remnant yuan is divided into two divisions, Warat and Tatar, each of which has its own leader, once the market is exchanged, what should happen to the leaders of these two departments?" ”

"Without him, just find a few tribal leaders who are close to my Daming, and seal a few more princes, as long as they maintain continuous restraint and differentiation, it will be difficult for these tribal leaders to succeed." After Zhao Yan finished speaking, he sighed in his heart, he felt that he was thinking too simply, and what he said was too taken for granted, and it seemed difficult to accept the universal view of the Ming Dynasty at this time.