Zhu Qizhen knew the reason very well, but Li Zhen and Chen Ying were full of doubts.

Both of them are from a family of meritorious deeds and highly praised Emperor Taizong.

Hearing Yu Qian's words seemed reasonable, but...

Zhu Qizhen also noticed that the expressions of these two people were not right, so he said, "Master Xiangcheng, Marquis Taining, say whatever you have any ideas!"

Li Zhen frowned and said, "Mr. Yu's words do make sense, but, but..."

Seeing his hesitant look, Yu Qian said directly: "Marquis of Xiangcheng, do you want to ask why Emperor Taizong did not do this when he attacked Mobei?"

Li Zhen scratched his head without saying a word.

He had questions, but his identity did not allow him to question Emperor Taizong's decision.

Yu Qian looked indifferent and said, "Actually, the problem we have to face is exactly the same as before, that is, the land in the north of the desert is barren and not suitable for cultivation."

"Whether it was the Oirat or the Tatar, their foundation was not actually riding and shooting, but because they were too poor. When they were put into the millstone, they could not even squeeze out an oil star. If they launched a war against them, it would be useless to fight. It was useless to waste national strength and people's strength and waste countless money and food!"

"If a country suddenly appears in the wealthy land of Jiangnan, I can guarantee that the civil and military officials of the court will go crazy tomorrow as if they are going to destroy the country in this country."

"But the Mobei is different. Since the Han Dynasty, General Wei Qing and Huo Qubing have fled the Huns on the grassland. However, the occupied land is not worth a fortune. Even if the people are migrated, they cannot grow food and eventually have to move back to the pass. Whether it is the Huns, the later Khitans, Jurchens, and Mongols, new nomadic peoples have been rising in the desert and plaguing the Central Plains, which is very annoying."

Li Zhen suddenly realized and said, "So, the key to the matter is to plant food in the desert. Once the food is planted, the people can settle down. Is that what it means?"

Yu Qian nodded and said, "That's exactly what it means."

Chen Ying then asked: "Although the northern desert is barren and not suitable for growing grain, we can follow the example of the Mongolians to grazle. They can grazle here, why can't we?"

Yu Qian shook his head and said, "The so-called grazing is not just about just wrapping a piece of land. If the cattle and sheep want to raise fat, they must have sufficient forage. Once the water and grass are eaten up, they have to go to the next place. Therefore, the Mongolians are grazing and wandering around."

"If the Han people follow the example of the Mongols, live and wander around, then once they encounter attacks on the Oirats, they will die without a burial place. The Oirats hope that we Han people will leave the pass and grazing like this, so that they can come to plunder."

After hearing this, Li Zhen and Chen Ying were silent.

They finally understood why the emperor valued humility so much. People really understood it a lot.

And he looks at the problem very thoroughly, and every word he says is on the point.

Yu Qian continued: "Even if we kill Yexian, Mobei will always be the territory of the Mongols. It won't take long to see a new leader appear. This person will conquer all directions, reunify Mongolia, and then gather troops to move south. Therefore, what we need to consider now is not how to defeat Yexian, but how to occupy the desert."

"Weichen suggested that the Ministry of Revenue should take the lead in searching for cold-resistant crops all over the world and arrange for people to come outside the pass to try planting. If we can successfully plant food, we can feed more and more people. When we get together, we can form a city block. The city blocks are connected to each other, and they are mutually supportive and echo each other. The land we occupy will not be taken away by the Oirats."

"Every inch of land I occupied in the Ming Dynasty, the Oirats would have less space to survive. What followed was the reduction of cattle and sheep production and the decrease of population. In the end, they could only choose to surrender and learn to settle and farm like us. Perhaps after three or five generations, they would no longer be different from the Han people. At this point, the problems in the northern desert can be completely eliminated."

"Well said!"

Zhu Qizhen was very excited, and slapped the table suddenly and stood up.

"Next, let's do what you said, take every step and take steady steps. I will completely eliminate the dangers of the northern desert!"

Yu Qian said truthfully: "What I am worried about now is whether the Central Plains crops can survive in the northern desert. If the cultivation problem cannot be solved, everything is just empty talk. I suggest trying highland barley, which is widely distributed in the northwest region and may be successful."

Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about growing grain, I'll find a way!"

Isn’t it just growing grain in Mobei? It’s a little bit!

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, rye...

They are all cold-resistant crops and are very high-yield, so there is no problem in promoting them in northern Mobei.

After the meeting, Zhu Qizhen immediately wrote a letter and handed it to Yuan Bin, asking him to send a quick horse back to the capital.

Wang Zuo, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, received an urgent report and thought that the front line was not enough food. When he opened it, he was confused.

Sweet potatoes, potatoes, what are these?

Haven't heard of it before...

In desperation, he called the ministers of the left and right guards, and then... he was confused.

"The emperor said that it is of great importance and we must find it with all our might. We will quickly think of a solution!"

"Mr. Wang, I have never heard of it. Can be beans grow in this soil?"

"Yes, Xia Guan is alive at this age, and I don't know what these sweet potatoes and potatoes are."

Wang Zuo thought for a while and said, "Let me do this, I'll go find other ministries and ask them to help you think of a solution. You will continue to give me instructions, everyone will stop working and make every effort to inquire about the news about sweet potatoes and potatoes. This is an imperial edict. If it misses the imperial edict, no one can afford it. Do you understand?"

"yes!"

Immediately afterwards, the entire Ministry of Revenue Department began to look for sweet potatoes and potatoes, and if they couldn't find them, they mobilized their family and friends. Wang Zuo even issued a reward. Within three days, people in the capital were asking what sweet potatoes and potatoes were?

Finally, someone provided a clue.

The Ministry of Justice was locked up with a smuggler named Wu Canghai. When he happened to hear the jailer talking about sweet potatoes and potatoes, he asked a few questions.

The jailer was also smart. Thinking that Wu Canghai had many years of experience in sea smuggling and had a lot of knowledge, he might have seen it, so he told him the whole story.

Wu Canghai then said that when he was sailing overseas, he had seen a kind of grain from foreigners, called potatoes, and I don’t know if it has anything to do with sweet potatoes and potatoes.

The prison guard just heard that he didn't know what sweet potatoes and potatoes looked like, so he reported what Wu Canghai said to his superiors truthfully.

However, his superiors didn't understand, so they continued to report to the higher authorities.
Chapter completed!