Xu Rui glanced at the horsewhip that was thrown aside by Emperor Hongwei, and said in a deep voice: "The Holy Lord thinks that the grassland is the disease of scabies of my Great Wei, but does the Holy Lord know the real relationship between the nomadic tribes of the grassland and the farming countries of the Central Plains?" ”

Emperor Hongwei rolled his eyes and said angrily: "Who knows those crooked heresies in your heart? If you have any fart, let it go! ”

Xu Rui said: "In the earliest days, the grassland tribes were no different from the countries of the Central Plains, they were all tribal, but the grassland was nomadic, living by water and grass, and the Central Plains was semi-farming, semi-nomadic, and the place of residence was relatively fixed.

But the sudden rise of the Han Dynasty changed all this, and the social, cultural and productive forces of the Central Plains grew explosively, completely entering the agricultural era, forming a complete and self-sufficient industrial chain, and it was from then on that the two rivals became a pair of twins. ”

"Twins?"

Emperor Hongwei frowned.

Xu Rui continued: "Due to the special situation of the grassland tribes, they only rely on grazing for their livelihood, and have no industries necessary for survival, such as textiles, smelting, farming, etc., so they not only live a hard life, but also have a very poor ability to resist risks.

In the event of a wind disaster, a white plague, or even a slightly larger tribal war, their survival will be seriously affected, even if the wind and rain are good, they must exchange cattle, sheep and horses to the Central Plains for necessary iron, silk, dried vegetables and other things.

But it is precisely because of the special existence situation of the grassland tribes that all the people in the grassland are soldiers, and the combat power is strong, and the grassland cavalry with one person and four horses, or even one person and six horses comes and goes like the wind, and even the elite of the Southern Dynasty is much inferior.

Whenever they needed iron and silk and could not exchange them, or there were no cattle, sheep and horses to exchange, the army of the steppe that could not survive would raid the Central Plains like locusts. ”

Emperor Hongwei nodded: "Yes, it is true that as you said, the grassland needs the Central Plains to survive, but the Central Plains does not need the grassland, how can you say that this is a pair of twins?" ”

Xu Rui said: "So throughout history, you will find a very interesting thing, I don't know if the saint found it, the heyday of the Han Dynasty is also the golden age of the unification of the grassland tribes." ”

Emperor Hongwei thought for a while, it was indeed the heyday of the Han Dynasty, and the grassland had also entered the era of the Great Unification Tian Khan at the same time, and he couldn't help but nodded.

Xu Rui asked again: "More than 500 years ago, the Han Dynasty fell apart and became dozens of weakened small countries, what happened to the grasslands?" ”

Emperor Hongwei said without hesitation: "The last Heavenly Khan took advantage of the collapse of the Central Plains to invade the Central Plains in an all-round way, and once occupied most of the northern country, but it is a pity that although those savages fought bravely, they knew nothing about governing the country.

Just two years later, the people in the fallen places were not able to make a living, the people rose up, and many small countries took the opportunity to restore the country and beat the Tian Khan back to Tianqi Pass, and my ancestors of the Great Wei Dynasty also made their fortune from that war, and finally established the supreme status of the northern country.

After the defeat, the steppe empire rebelled, and the dynasty turned from victory to decline, and fell into hundreds of small tribes, which was only thirty years after the fall of the Han Dynasty. ”

Xu Rui nodded: "Since then, the countries of my Central Plains have been strong and weak, divided and merged, and the grasslands have also been dispersed with the division and merger of the Central Plains, and the difference between the two is not more than ten years at most." ”

As soon as Xu Rui said it, Emperor Hongwei was stunned: "It seems to be really as you said, what's going on?" ”

Xu Rui said with a smile: "Actually, it's very simple, the grassland must be robbed by the Central Plains Dynasty to survive, and when the Central Plains Dynasty is unified, they must be unified to have the ability to rob, and the pressure of survival will form a huge cohesion to promote the unification of the grassland."

After the split of the Central Plains Dynasty, any relatively powerful tribe could rob alone, and the cohesion that contributed to their unity would gradually disintegrate, causing them to fall into division.

That's why the minister said that the grassland and the Central Plains are a pair of twins. ”

Emperor Hongwei frowned: "Even so, isn't the grassland a disease of scabies?" ”

Xu Rui shook his head: "Now it may be a disease of scabies, but five years from now, ten years from now?" Has the saint forgotten that two years ago the grassland was still a plate of scattered sand, but now there is a bold Uliji Khan?

Now he dares to ask you for Qingwu, if we fight with the Southern Dynasty until we run out of ammunition and food, and the countries fall into chaos, Uliji Khan, who is far away in the sky, how far will his ambitions swell? ”

These words seemed to be a slap in the face, which made Emperor Hongwei shocked.

Without waiting for Emperor Hongwei to react, Xu Rui said again: "Whether the Southern Dynasty destroyed the Northern Dynasty, or the Northern Dynasty destroyed the Southern Dynasty, the Central Plains is the world of my Han family, the Central Plains of the Central Plains, and once we fight to the death with the Southern Dynasty, Wu Liji takes the opportunity to lead troops to break through, and the world will become the world of the grassland people!" ”

Emperor Hongwei's face changed slightly, but he only calmed down in an instant, and looked at Xu Rui suspiciously: "I'm afraid your words are a bit alarmist, even if those mud legs enter the customs, how can they be the opponents of the Central Plains countries?" ”

Xu Rui sighed in his heart, because of the existence of Zhu Zhen, a traverser, the Han Dynasty directly entered the heyday of feudal dynasty from the tribal era.

Sheltered by the rest of the shade, the countries of the Central Plains are all strong and perverted, and they are rarely attacked by the deadly tribes of the grasslands, and it is difficult to put away the consistent prejudice and contempt for the grasslands.

But there is always a day when Yu Yin runs out, Xu Rui has read the history books of the earth, such as the tragic lessons of "Five Hu Chaohua", and every time it is a disaster for Chinese civilization.

Even after the great Qin, Han and Tang dynasties, there were dark ages such as the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, which were constantly invaded by the northern nomadic tribes, not to mention the complete extinction of the Han regimes of the Yuan and Qing dynasties, and the national culture suffered unprecedented distortion and destruction.

And the current world is the beginning of the gradual disappearance of the remnants of the Han Dynasty and the complete rise of the grassland civilization, and the evil wolves on the grassland are about to show their fangs and claws.

Xu Rui pondered for a moment and said, "Saint Shang, how is the victory or defeat of my Central Plains Dynasty against the grassland tribe?" ”

Emperor Hongwei thought for a while and said: "There are many losses and few wins in small battles, except for the big battles when the Han Dynasty has just collapsed, but the big battles have never been lost. ”

Xu Rui nodded: "There are many losses and few wins in small battles, which shows that the combat power of the grassland cavalry is actually above the Central Plains; The fact that the great battle has never been lost shows that the steppe tribes are not far behind us in terms of organization, materials and tactics.

But the Central Plains Dynasty has won victories in all major wars, why has it been unable to eliminate the grassland tribes? ”

Emperor Hongwei said: "The grassland is vast and sparsely populated, even if they are defeated, they will immediately escape into the grassland, and the Central Plains army can't find anyone at all, how can they be wiped out?" ”

Xu Rui shook his head and said: "Otherwise, the most fundamental problem is that no matter whether the grassland and the Central Plains fight win or lose, they can often have a lot of gains, so they are endless, and they never get tired of it."

The Central Plains fought against the grasslands, not only did they mobilize a lot of labor and spend a lot of money, but even if they won the war, they would not make any money in the face of the vast grasslands that could not be turned into fertile land.

There are even small countries that have been wiped out by other Central Plains countries because they have spent their national strength in fighting with the grasslands, so that they have won the war but lost the country.

Therefore, since the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty has mostly taken a defensive position in the face of the grassland, and most of the battles won are defensive battles, but the saint has thought about it, if the Central Plains Dynasty really loses a big war, we have no grassland to escape, the grassland can afford to lose, we can't afford to lose. ”

Emperor Hongwei sneered and said: "This is all the prejudice of you, a profiteer, not to mention even so, why can other dynasties win, but I can't win?" ”

Xu Rui said: "Because artillery has appeared now, once the artillery appears, the balance between attack and defense will be completely broken, and the side defending the city will fall into an absolute disadvantage."

The minister knew that His Majesty wanted to say that artillery was a sharp weapon of our army, and the grassland people could not make it, but no matter how careful the secret was, it would always leak out. ”

Hearing this, Emperor Hongwei finally suddenly changed color and stood up with a "poof".

If the steppe people get the artillery technology, plus the cavalry that comes and goes without a trace, I am afraid that the general trend of strength and weakness in the world will really be reversed.

What's more, even if the strength of the steppe people is not enough to annex the entire Central Plains, but the Great Wei that directly borders it is the first to bear the brunt, under the constant nuisance, the strength of the Great Wei will shrink rapidly, until the destruction of the country, how can this not make the far-sighted Hongwei Emperor frightened?

Xu Rui saw that Emperor Hongwei had realized the seriousness of the problem, and hurriedly hit the railway while it was hot: "Holy Lord, we can only avoid this crisis by using thunder to disperse the grassland forces again while the artillery advantage still exists." ”

Emperor Hongwei shook his head: "As you said, even if we win this battle, we can't completely eradicate the grassland people, at most we just buy some time, and when they recover, don't we have to be disturbed by it?" ”

Hearing this, Xu Rui suddenly sneered: "The saint doesn't have to worry, what the ministers want is this little time, when they recover, they will find that the whole world has become completely different, not to mention that others can't make money on the grassland, but if the minister goes out, it may not be!" ”

Emperor Hongwei was stunned: "You have a clever plan?" ”