Princess Pingyang couldn't help but blush when she heard her father ask her why she came out, she couldn't say that it was because she was in a bad mood, so Li Xiu invited herself to go out for a walk, this was a direct admission of the relationship between them, although she knew that her father knew everything, but she was still shy to say it. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Your Majesty, Weichen has developed a delicacy called canned food, so I specially invited the princess to come and taste it!" Li Xiu also saw Princess Pingyang's shyness at this time, and immediately explained it for her.

"Oh? Just one kind of food to invite Pingyang to come, is Li Saijiu a little fuss? Li Yuan glanced at Li Xiu with his eyes at this time and said, originally after seeing Li Xiu last time, his impression of Li Xiu had also changed greatly, but later he learned that Li Xiu actually had some unclear relationship with his favorite daughter, which made him have some prejudices against Li Xiu again.

Since Li Yuan came in, he has been a little targeted at him, which made Li Xiu also a little annoyed, at this time, Princess Pingyang wanted to explain for him, but before she could speak, she was preemptively said by Li Xiu: "Maybe in the eyes of Your Majesty, canned food is just an ordinary food, but in the eyes of Weichen, this kind of canned food is comparable to my Tang Dynasty's million-strong army!" ”

"Humph! Don't be too big in the tone of the young man, do you know how many people are in the army of millions? Even if you add up all the regular troops of my Datang, I'm afraid it will only be a million, do you think that just one kind of food can compare to all the troops of my Datang? When Li Yuan heard this, he snorted coldly again, and he even felt a little funny about Li Xiu's words.

"Is there a lot of millions? Then I would like to ask Your Majesty, if you are given a million troops, without considering the problems of supplies, weapons, etc., can you pacify the steppe in one fell swoop? Li Xiu showed a confident smile at this time and said, since he dared to say so, he naturally had his own reasoning.

"Don't think that the Turks on the steppe are invincible, let alone a million army, even if it is a 500,000 army, I have the confidence to level the steppe in one fell swoop!" Li Yuan was also full of pride at this time.

As a founding king, he never thought that he had been living in the shadow of the Turks, but unfortunately the reality was that the national strength of the Tang Dynasty was too weak, even if there were enough troops, there would not be enough financial and material resources to launch such a big war.

"Hehe, Your Majesty may have misunderstood what Weichen meant, what Weichen just said is to pacify the grassland, and still want to let the grassland be under the rule of my Tang Dynasty for a long time, Your Majesty thinks a million army can do it?" Li Xiu smiled again and said, pacifying the grassland and leveling the grassland are two different things, and the difficulty is even more in the sky and on the ground.

"This ......" Li Yuan couldn't help but be a little speechless when he heard this, and then said with some annoyance, "It is impossible to completely pacify the grassland, the people on the grassland are fierce and lawless, and conflicts may break out if they disagree, even if my Datang can temporarily conquer there, but it is impossible to garrison the grassland for a long time, as long as my Datang's troops retreat, there will definitely be disputes on the grassland again, and it is very likely that other tribes will rise up after destroying a Turk, and it will definitely clash with my Datang in the future!" ”

As the saying goes, it is easy to fight the country and it is difficult to defend the country, Li Yuan knows this better than anyone else, and the same is true on the grassland, as long as there are enough troops, it is not difficult to destroy the forces on the grassland, but how to rule after destroying it is a big problem, after all, the area of the grassland is too large, if you want to completely incorporate the grassland into the rule of the Tang Dynasty, let alone a million army, even if it is not enough for tens of millions of troops, and it is necessary to have the national strength to feed so many troops.

"Hehe, Your Majesty is right, the grassland people are fierce, even if they are afraid to kill them temporarily, but as long as it is a while, they will form an army to plunder the south again, Your Majesty knows why?" Li Xiu asked rhetorically.

"Hmph, who doesn't know this truth, the reason why the grassland people go south to loot from time to time is mainly because life on the grassland is difficult, and a heavy snowstorm may make all the cattle and sheep of a tribe freeze to death, so every spring and autumn, it is the time when the grassland people are most likely to go south, and at that time, the soldiers of my Datang frontier will also have to wait for the day to prevent the grassland people from killing them!" Li Yuan snorted coldly again, the grassland people are equivalent to a bad neighbor in the Central Plains, and even in his opinion, unless all the grassland people are killed, this problem cannot be solved at all.

"Your Majesty's words can be described as hitting the nail on the head, the reason why the grassland people go south from time to time is mainly because of the lack of food on the grassland, to put it bluntly, it is actually a poverty, for this situation, even if you invest more troops, it is useless, but it is not without a solution, this is like domesticating a wild horse, in addition to using sticks, you must also tempt it with delicious food, one hand is soft and the other is hard, it is possible to tame this wild horse!"

When he said this, he saw Li Xiu pause for a moment and then said: "The hard side naturally doesn't need to be said by Weichen, if they don't accept it, then use the army to fight until they are served, but in addition to war, they must also strengthen trade with the grassland, control their salt industry, iron smelting, commerce, etc., and when the grassland people want to rebel again, they will find that there is no salt in the food they eat, the weapons in their hands cannot be repaired after they are damaged, and the cattle and sheep raised cannot be exchanged for anything they need, what do you say their rebellion can be?" ”

"It's easy to say, even if the grassland people are more ignorant, but it's not easy to control their commerce, salt and iron, for example, the grassland is desperately poor, and the only goods that can be obtained are probably all kinds of cattle and sheepskins, and only this single goods can't attract many businessmen, and if the businessmen don't go, what can they do to control all walks of life on the grassland?" Li Yuan is angry again, everyone understands the truth, but whether he can do it is another matter.

When he said this, Li Yuan suddenly found that he was led astray by Li Xiu, and immediately glared at him and said: "What does the matter on the grassland have to do with your cans, do you think that this little can can help me pacify the grassland?" ”

"Hehe, Your Majesty is really right, if it is used properly, it is really possible to help me calm the grassland in the Tang Dynasty!"

When Li Xiu said this, he picked up the canned food and showed it to Li Yuan and said again: "Your Majesty, please look, here is the staple mutton on the grassland, put it in canned food, it can be kept for at least half a year or even a year, and not only mutton, almost all food can be preserved with canned food, if you send someone to buy beef and mutton on the grassland to make canned food, it will make the grassland have one more kind of goods in demand, and let the people of the Central Plains eat meat." ”

"What do you say, this can actually store meat for half a year to a year?" Li Yuan couldn't help but exclaim in shock when he heard this, but after all, he was the king of a country, and his reaction was better than that of Princess Pingyang.

"Yes, if you want to make canned food, you need to establish a canning workshop, and you need a lot of fuel, if you build a canning workshop on the grassland, you can recruit some Han people or grassland people to work in the workshop or even settle nearby, as for the fuel, you can also use charcoal, as far as I know, the reserves of charcoal on the grassland are very amazing, and many of them are open-air, more convenient to mine, in addition, the use of charcoal is not only for heating, the coke can also be used to make iron, but not all charcoal is suitable for coking, It just so happens that the quality of the carbonite on the grassland is very high, and it should be possible to find carboniferous ore suitable for coking, which are all strategic resources, and the imperial court must not miss them......

Li Xiu said that the development of industry and commerce on the grassland is also very excited, as the so-called one industry is prosperous, one hundred industries are prosperous, only one or two industries are needed as the leader, then it will drive the development of the entire grassland, and with the development of industry and commerce, it will definitely attract more and more Han people to live on the grassland, and at the same time drive more grassland people to settle down, and under the control of the imperial court, it will slowly grasp the economic lifeline of the grassland, even if some grassland people want to rebel, I am afraid that they are powerless.

"Of course, the process I mentioned above cannot be completed in a short period of time, and it will even take tens or hundreds of years, but as long as it can reach the level I said, the grassland will be firmly in the hands of the imperial court, so as to completely solve the problem of the northern grassland, and may even promote the economic development of the Central Plains, which can be said to be counted in one fell swoop!" Li Xiu finally concluded that pacifying the grassland is a hundred-year plan, and it may be a bit early to say this, but the imperial court must have this awareness and plan!

Li Yuan couldn't help but show a contemplative expression after listening to it, he knew that there were some exaggerated elements in Li Xiu's words, especially just relying on a can, it was difficult to reach the level of mastering the grassland as Li Xiu said, but Li Xiu could make a can today, God knows what new things he would make tomorrow? It doesn't even take much, only three or five things like canned food, then what Li Xiu said is very likely to become a reality.

Thinking of the above, Li Yuan couldn't help but look at Li Xiu again, he used to just think that Li Xiu was just a young man with some talent, and even had a history of "seducing" his daughter, but when he carefully recalled Li Xiu's deeds from beginning to end, Li Yuan suddenly found that from greenhouses, waterwheels, and charcoal, to reading glasses that he couldn't live without, bean sprouts that he often eats in winter, etc., all came from the hands of this radiant young man in front of him, it is no exaggeration to say, Li Xiu seems to be slowly changing the livelihood of the entire Datang.

"Li Jing gave birth to a good son, no wonder King Qin values you so much!" Li Yuan suddenly praised Li Xiu without a beginning or end at this time, then stood up and looked at Li Xiu, and then turned his head to look at his favorite daughter Pingyang, but his eyes were full of complicated looks! (To be continued.) )