What Ma Lu said was the news he received from Chang'an before coming here.

Li Yu was made the crown prince, which was naturally still the result of Zhang Xun's edict, but he also participated in the opinion, which was decided at the time of the Lanzhou meeting, and Zhang Xun only made an announcement recently.

The daughter Cui became the crown princess, and Mrs. Han naturally would no longer drive a carriage in Chang'an City as before, and pull it into the carriage when she met a young child she liked. However, because of her daughter, Yang Jiashu fell apart, but the turmoil could not affect her for the time being.

Of course, it is determined that Li Yu is the crown prince, but it has nothing to do with Mrs. Han, but it is another matter.

"That's fine, that's fine." Du Huan said in a low voice, obviously relieved.

Mrs. Han is the eldest sister among the ladies of the Yang family, and she is in her early forties, Yu Duhuan is naturally not a good match, Du Huan is just one of the many Chang'an children who have been brought into the carriage by her. Even if the Yang family has fallen now, she can't look down on Du Huan, a small county uncle, not to mention that she is also the prince's mother-in-law. This is just a bad relationship, and it is simply impossible between the two.

But such things could not be said in the first place. There are many people who are infatuated with love, and there are many people in the world, and they can't persuade such people. Ma Lan, as the main general, didn't bother to tell Du Huan this, this kid is not for Mrs. Korea, but because of this woman, he has become a unique taste, and he only likes women who are round and jade, and there is no need to persuade him.

casually said that Du Huan should marry a wife, and after Du Huan shirked the past, Ma Lan stopped continuing the topic and began to ask about the current situation in Qiangtang.

"Since the capture of Rakhar, the situation has become much calmer. Those Qiang tribes are nominally seeking revenge against each other. In fact, they all have plans to occupy the city of Rally. After all, Qiangtang is a bitter and cold place. The valley of the Luo River is too rare for them, and now that the city of Luo is occupied by Gong Ren, they do not have the courage to fight against Gong Ren - after all, he is a descendant of Lu Dongzan, and he still has prestige on the Qiang Tang - there is no possibility of unifying the Luo River Valley, and the middle is separated by the Longyou army led by Gong Ren, and the big battles are gradually becoming less and less. ”

"However, the Qiang people have indeed died enough in recent years, the population has dropped by half, and the Tubo people do not have a tradition of slaughtering women and children when they fight each other. Most of the dead are men, so in fact, the loss of Qiang people's strength is actually far more than half. In the previous battles, some tribes had already sent women to battle......"

"The general said that it can be called a women's country, which is good. In the past, the Zhangxiong area was called the women's country, in fact, it was just a false rumor, in the melee in the past few years, because we are stationed here, and the valley is much higher than the Luo, and there is no tribe to attack up, except for the battle when Li Gongbu hit the Zanpu mausoleum in Jiangnan. The Zhangxiong people did not participate in other wars, so the losses of the Zhangxiong men were minimal. And the other tribes involved in this melee. Everyone can be said to be a women's country......"

"Originally, from Qiangtang to Longyou, and even near Shuzhong, there were Qiang tribe branches, all of which were involved in this melee, at first according to the original rules of three households and one ding, and later they all became one household and one ding. The Tubo people originally had a lot of remnants, and now most of the Qiang tribes can be said to be remnants, in fact, they have almost fought, even if Gongren does not occupy some of the Luo, those tribes probably do not have much strength to continue to fight. The money has been drained like blood from us and Gong Ren, and the people in the clan are hungry, and some cities have fought for it, and it is already dilapidated, and it doesn't look like it......"

"The Potala Palace? That's naturally gone, the city has changed hands dozens of times in the past few years, where will there be a Potala Palace! …… The loss must be close to 1.5 million, and the existing ones are less than 1.5 million, and among these 1.5 million, children and the elderly can have 40 percent, and they are basically unable to work, and among the remaining people, adult women can account for 70 percent, and men can only account for about 30 percent......

"200,000 men...... The general felt that it was impossible to have so many, but in fact there were only so many, and it was absolutely impossible to exceed 250,000 people...... The women on the Qiangtang are hard-working, and it is not impossible to live without men, they work more than men on weekdays, and the men are mainly responsible for fighting...... However, most of the livestock has already been exchanged for ordnance, and we and Gongren's side mainly sell ordnance, and we are only willing to sell a little with food...... The blood of the Qiang people has been drained by the Tang Dynasty, and this winter will definitely be more sad, people are starving to death everywhere, in fact, the first two winters are the same...... Those who can survive are the strongest, but these Qiang tribes actually have no way out......

“…… On Gongren brought less than 30,000 Longyou soldiers, why he was able to capture some cities and not leave, it was because the Qiang people had no strength. After fighting each other over the years, the Qiang people have fewer and fewer soldiers to fight, and the 30,000 Longyou soldiers are already the unshakable strength of the Qiang people! Think about the heyday of Tibet a few years ago, it was really this time and that time...... However, the first merit is naturally the general's, if the general hadn't killed Tubo Zampu, the current situation would not have occurred...... Now, even if the Qiang people are left to fend for themselves, hundreds of thousands of old and weak people will die this winter, and there will be no livestock, and we will not sell them to grain, and the same is true on the Gongren side...... There is no doubt about this guy's loyalty......"

“…… Even if there is no longer fighting, the Qiang people will be like this. Some people starved to death, and the remaining Dingkou was about one million, and the number of adult males could not be increased in a short period of time...... On Zhangxiong's side, there are indeed many people who are extremely hot at the valley of the Luo, and persuade Li Gongbu to send troops to seize some territory, but Li Gongbu is a person, and he did not come to ask us, so he directly refuted it. He is actually ambitious, but he also knows his duty, and understands that one of the purposes of our garrison here is to watch him not act rashly. He knows that we will not allow a new Tubo to appear, and Zhangxiong is already a dominant company in Qiangtang, so we will definitely not allow him to expand in Qiangtang...... It's a pity that it's dead, but there is a discussion among the tribal leaders again, and it is also a rehash of the old thing, and someone has also come to the two of us, and we don't agree, they are quite unconvinced...... They are all people who don't know how many pounds and taels they have, and when Dorje succeeds to the throne this time, he will definitely mention this matter, and the general should also be prepared......"

“…………”

Ma Lan asked the questions in detail, and the two answered them one by one. Regarding the current situation above Qiangtang, Ma Lan also got a real understanding.

A question that he had been ignoring gradually became apparent in front of his eyes. The originally powerful Tubo Empire was enough to compete with the Tang Dynasty, but now all the Qiang tribes on the Qiangtang are combined, and there are only about 200,000 adult males left!

200,000 is actually a lot, but compared to the number of men when the population of Tibet was two or three million, it is really too much of a loss!

Obviously, the intensity of the fighting on the plateau in the past few years has far exceeded his expectations. Today's entire Qiangtang, except for Xiangxiong, is full of women and men, and it can really be regarded as a daughter country.

This is actually a predictable thing, because the Qiang people have always been men fighting, and when things develop to the point that even women have to go to the battlefield, the extent of the war is already conceivable.

The Qiang people have always been extremely brave in fighting, the front team died and the rear team went up, and Tubo and the Tang Dynasty competed for a hundred years in the source of the river, and bravery was the biggest reliance. These people fought bravely against the Tang Dynasty, and the same was true when they fought infighting. It has been several years since the destruction of the country in Tubo, and the war on Qiangtang has not been extinguished, and all tribes have continued to get support from the Tang Dynasty.

When he was approaching the plateau, Ma Lu was still worried about the number of remaining Qiang people, but by this time, his worries were swept away. Du Huan and Cen Shen did not report the fact that there were very few remaining males in the Qiang people, but they couldn't be blamed for this, because this was an obvious thing, but Ma Lan himself didn't think of it.

More than 200,000 men, 7.8 million women, 4.5 million old and weak, and a few remaining livestock, Datang blockaded the periphery...... After this cold winter, these people don't know how much is left.

The winter of this era is longer than that of later generations, and due to the need to deal with the affairs of Xihai City after the year, Ma Lan originally hoped that the cold time would not be too long, but now he hopes that this winter will be as long as possible.

Without food, it is not only the elderly and children who cannot survive, but also adult men and women. The people here can endure the hardships of the bitter cold and the lack of enough food, but no one can resist hunger for a long time.

For Ma Lan, this thing that should have been thought of was a complete surprise. And for the Qiang, their suffering is far from over. For them, the battle continued, after all, the blood feud had been settled, so each tribe had people with the last of their wealth and the last of their livestock to the surrendered city to buy weapons and food from the Tang people. For them, the biggest enemy is still the nearby tribes, not this winter, the war is not over, so they have to prepare for battle.

Therefore, the mutual consumption of the Qiang people will continue at a lower intensity. Even to survive this winter, they have to plunder each other, and there is no other choice.

For Ma Lan, such a situation is exactly what he wants to see.

As for the idea of the leader of the Zhangxiong tribe, it is only a minor problem. It is also normal for people to covet some river valleys, after all, it is the fattest piece of land on the Qiangtang, but since it has been occupied by the Tang Dynasty, the Xiangxiong people cannot fight this idea.

If they want to expand, they can only cross the mountains to the south, and there is a large amount of fertile land in the land of Wutianzhu, but they don't know it. Of course, this is the only option, and the Zhangxiong people are not allowed to oppose it. If they oppose it, then they will end up in the same situation as those Qiang people who fought for the valley of the Rakhe. (To be continued......)