A few Shule officials were not surprised, although they were not nomadic regimes, they knew the way of life of the nomadic tribes very well. There is no envy for the so-called heyday of the Turgish, only sympathy. Why do you want to transfer 3,000 miles? Because the population is prosperous, there are herds of cattle and sheep, and even the pastures cannot afford it. Hundreds of thousands of livestock crossed the border, and within a few days, hundreds of miles of pastures were gnawed clean. Turning around 100 times a year, without respite, this is simply a sin, what is the joy of being born?

Li Siye pondered for a moment, but came to the conclusion that this was simply an ultra-low military cost, and an expedition was only equivalent to a year's transfer.

The military costs of the agrarian nation include mobilization, mobilization of grain and grass, conscription of soldiers, selection of generals, training in battle, and then there are endless arguments in the court, and the use of taxes from the national treasury for half a year, a war is enough to break the bones of a weak country.

Perhaps the ultimate goal of being a general is not just to achieve victory, but to minimize the cost of war.

Just like in the early Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu went south to plunder, the people of Chang'an were panicked, the ministers were restless, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made several northern expeditions to the Xiongnu with the strength of the country. However, in the late Western Han Dynasty, the two border generals Chen Tang and Gan Yanshou were able to wage war against the Xiongnu without going through the emperor. By the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty, foreign wars had basically been maintained within the scope of states and counties. This is not only due to the decline of the Xiongnu power, but also the deeper reason is that the military system of the Han Dynasty has been maintained to a very low level after a hundred years of development.

The low-cost military system also means that the stronger the tolerance to war, and the strength of the army has little to do with the cost. Throughout the ages, the side with low-cost military organizations has usually taken the initiative, has also had a psychological advantage, and there will never be a situation where "you can't afford to lose".

Cao Wei's tuntian system and Zhu Yuanzhang's guard system in the Ming Dynasty were both efforts to reduce military costs, and for a certain period of time, they played a great role.

The early Tang Dynasty was the peak of the military system, from the beginning of the Western Wei Dynasty to the Taizong period, it was quite mature, and the military cost reached the lowest.

Although it is now in the transition period from the government military system to the conscription system, the Anxi Army only controls the vast land of the Western Regions with 24,000 men, which can be regarded as a representative of low-cost military forces.

Li Siye believes that on the premise of improving combat effectiveness, he can also reduce costs, and in the future, he will have to explore ways to use the low cost of Anxi Tingting to counter the high cost of the three towns in Pinglu, Fanyang, and Hedong.

"Envoy Li, envoy Lee." Pei Guoliang's words interrupted his musings.

"How?"

Pei Guoliang asked again: "You have an idea, how to plan?"

Li Siye nodded and said: "I agree with Jie Biluo's statement, setting up the military and pastoral area in the lower reaches of the Green Ridge to the lower reaches of the Xiduo River is just a transfer of four or five hundred miles, if you can't even accept this distance, how can you talk about fighting." In addition to ensuring the delivery of materials, post transmission, and military orders, all the horses in the army will be transferred to the alpine pastures of the Green Mountains from the spring of next year, down the river, and in the autumn and winter they have been transferred to the vicinity of Shule Town. ”

"What about the herdsmen in my Shule?"

"I suggest that all states form a unified grazing settlement, and along the southern vein of the Tianshan Mountains and the Geluo Mountains, the four-season pastures are planned according to the height. Of course, this is just my opinion, and in the end, it is up to you, the governor, to make a decision, and the Sima organizations of each state will discuss it, and you will decide what the result is. But there is one prohibition that must be enforced, and that is that herdsmen are strictly prohibited from grazing in military pastures!"

Pei Guoliang nodded his head, and the officials were silent.

Everyone led their horses and prepared to go down the mountain, and on the way, Li Siye looked at the undulating ice and snow line of the mountains in the distance, and suddenly said: "Actually, there is an ultimate question."

"What the ultimate question." Pei Guoliang asked next.

"No matter how you plan it, how to expand the pastures, and in the end, the pastures will still be overwhelmed by the expansion of herders and livestock, and how can the ultimate problem be solved?"

The crowd was silent, bowing their heads in thought as they marched.

At this time, a herd of thousands of antelopes was migrating at the foot of the mountain, which was a rare sight in the Shule region, and their queues were more than 100 zhang long, with adult rams on the periphery of the queue and female antelopes and young in the center of the queue, and it is said that the destination of these antelopes was the Indian plain south of the Hindu Kulun Mountains. It is only in the undulating mountains of the west of the moraine that you can see this spectacular wonder of life.

Jiebiluo seemed to feel something, pointed to the antelopes and said, "Did the general see it?" There are hundreds of thousands of these antelopes in the hills and grasslands east and west of the Shiba River, and like us, they depend on this vast grassland for their livelihood, but I have never heard of antelopes that can bring disaster to the grasslands, why is that?"

Li Siye didn't speak, thinking that you should continue to popularize science, after all, the food chain thing is too low to come out of my mouth.

Because Tengger is in control of all this, he created antelopes for the pastures and wolves to control the number of antelopes, so that the grasslands can grow in spring, summer, autumn and winter. But as the delicate sons of Tengger, we are above these, the grassland has a boundary, and reproduction has no boundary, we must take the responsibility given to us by Tengger, take the initiative to control the number of livestock, do not exceed the limit of the grassland can bear. ”

He then added: "But this is very difficult to do, people have greed, and they will never be satisfied."

Li Siye nodded first, and then said: "In fact, it can be done, and it needs power outside of interests to interfere and suppress."

Jie Biluo squeezed out a smile and asked, "What does Li Zhenenvoy mean is that the Tang Dynasty and the Anxi Protectorate will act as the arbiters on the grassland?" It's a pity that Datang only takes his own majesty and interests as the benchmark, and they won't take such a detailed place into account. ”

Pei Guoliang and the people of the Governor's Mansion all frowned, this leader of the Tuqi Shi tribe is really bold, he dares to say anything, Datang and the Governor's Mansion are also what you can evaluate as a small nomadic leader? Pei Dudu glanced at Li Siye and was relieved to see that he didn't react.

"That's how the plan was set, and then the strict demarcation point sent people to nail the boundary pillars and signs, and we went back."

The group turned over their horses and walked along the banks of the Red River in the direction of Shule City.

After returning to Shule City, Jiebiluo immediately asked Li Siye to go back, and Li Zhen granted his request and sent Feng Changqing to see him off.

On the morning of the second day, Li Siye rarely had a leisure, and visited the inner courtyard and alchemy room built by Zhao Zhengyi, which stood alone on the flat ground in the southeast of the city, helpless on all sides, and looked a little lonely.

Walking into the yard, it looked very deserted, and the old Taoist had transplanted a cypress tree from nowhere, and was patting soil for it in a circle. The location of this tree is quiet and pleasant, and it really brings a bit of artistic conception to this yard, but the transplanting season is not right, and it is rare for this tree to survive.

Lao Dao saw Li Siye enter the door, hurriedly put down the wooden shovel, and stepped forward: "General Li is busy with official business, and he has every opportunity, and he can still find time to visit the Thunder Temple, and the poor Dao is inexplicably grateful."

Li Siye smiled, but suddenly asked him, "Did you get the Dan furnace?"

"No," Zhao Zhengyi replied truthfully: "The west of the city is too far away from the Central Plains to be difficult to raise and transport, so Poor Dao plans to cast one himself."

"You can also cast iron?" Li Siye raised his eyebrows and asked.

"Actually, it's not iron, it's bronze, and it can't be completely bronze, bronze is not fire-resistant, and there should be a layer of clay in it to insulate it. The method of the poor road is to first fire a clay stove, and then use sand as a mold on the outer layer of the clay oven to cast a bronze shell. Only the furnace is still not enough, and the mercury extractor is needed on it to separate the sulfur and mercury in the dansha. ”

Li Siye didn't have the patience to listen to him explain this, waved his hand and said, "When are you going to collect raw materials?"

"Come on, wait until I finish refining the Dan furnace."