History books record many prosperous times and how rich the people were.
But is it really so?
You must know that people in ancient times were easily satisfied. As long as they had food to eat, clothes to wear, and no wars, they would be in peace and prosperity.
Many people do not have a clear idea of the life of ancient people, but you will know it if you look at the life in rural areas before the reform and opening up.
You must know that the grain output in later generations was much higher than that in the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty did not have the high-yielding grains in later generations.
Many people may think that the population at that time was so large, dozens of times more than that of the Tang Dynasty, and the land per capita cultivated was much less than that of the Tang Dynasty.
The common people of the Tang Dynasty cultivated dozens or even hundreds of acres of land at every turn, which was simply incomparable.
But things don’t look like that. When the Tang Dynasty was first established, a large number of ownerless fields were distributed to the people.
An adult man can be allocated dozens of acres of land. If in future generations, would one person be able to cultivate dozens of acres of land?
There were no machines in ancient times, so everything relied on oxen, horses and mules.
In fact, the so-called prosperous age in ancient times was not as beautiful as imagined, but the people at that time were easily satisfied.
Lin Xuan likes a sentence in "Shanshan Sheep·Tong Cares about Ancient Times".
When it prospers, the people suffer; when it dies, the people suffer.
He decided to do this in order to employ more people and give those people other ways to make money.
Lin Xuan has been thinking hard these days about what he should do if he travels through time.
He has no shortage of glory and wealth, but he doesn't care about rights.
Later, Lin Xuan finally figured it out. He wanted to make Datang stronger and make the people richer.
Although there are many shortcomings in the history of the Tang Dynasty, it is undeniable that the Tang Dynasty was the most inclusive dynasty in history.
Historically, dynasties have been constantly at war with the surrounding foreign races.
Only the Tang Dynasty integrated those ethnic groups into the Tang Dynasty.
Seriously speaking, Changsun Wuji and Yuchi Gong are all foreigners.
Among the generals in the court, there are more foreigners.
War is never the best way to solve alien races, integration is.
Lin Xuan planned to develop industry in Datang on the one hand and make the people of Tang Dynasty more prosperous.
On the one hand, he assisted Li Shimin in annexing the countries surrounding Datang and completing the great national integration.
Producing pancreas is the first step.
Lin Xuan is not worried that ordinary people will be reluctant to buy soap.
After all, they usually wash clothes by pounding them, which is too damaging to the clothes, but soap only costs two pennies, and it will be clean just by rubbing it, which will cause less damage to the clothes and can be worn longer.
Calculated this way, it is still profitable for the people.
When Cheng Chumo and others heard Lin Xuan say that there was an enhanced version, their confusion completely dissipated.
A few people started discussing while drinking.
…
"Didn't I say that we are not allowed to plunder the Tang Dynasty?" Nishu looked angrily at the leaders of the various ministries in the big account.
"Great Khan, the snow is too heavy this year. Many cattle and sheep have frozen to death. If we don't plunder, many people in our various ministries will starve to death."
"Great Khan, we did not attack the city of the Tang Dynasty, we only plundered some villages. It is impossible for the Tang Dynasty to launch troops against us because of this. There is nothing to worry about."
"yes."
For nomadic people, cattle and sheep are their food.
In winter, cattle and sheep are very thin due to lack of fodder. For them, it means less food. Therefore, every winter, nomadic people will come to the Central Plains Dynasty to plunder.
"Didn't I give you some food? Now our target is Xue Yantuo. You are looting the Tang Dynasty. With Li Shimin's character, how can he swallow his anger?" Nishu said with a livid face.
His goal was to annex Xue Yantuo, and he did not want to cause any complications.
He knew that all the ministries would face food shortages in the winter, so he specially distributed the food that had been traded with the Tang Dynasty to each ministry. Unexpectedly, they still sent people to the Tang Dynasty to plunder.
"Khan, under normal circumstances, the food you distributed would be enough for us to survive the winter, but this year the situation is different."
This year is colder than usual, and many of their cattle and sheep died from the cold.
Although the weather is cold, the meat will not spoil and is completely edible.
But they usually eat adult cattle and sheep. The smaller ones have less meat and will be kept for grazing next year.
The cattle and sheep that freeze to death don't matter their size, so they need to kill more adult cattle and sheep.
In order to maintain sufficient cattle and sheep breeding, they had no choice but to raid the Tang Dynasty.
Although Nishu had told them before that they were not allowed to go to the Tang Dynasty to plunder this year, who could care about that at this time.
The Western Turks have a tribal system. The leaders of each tribe have complete authority over their own tribes. They do not need Nishu’s consent to send troops. By the time Nishu finds out, it is too late to stop him.
"If you don't go to the Tang Dynasty to plunder, will you starve to death?" Nishu sneered.
He naturally knew that he needed to keep some cattle and sheep as ‘seeds’.
But as the Great Khan of the Western Turks, he also had his own tribe, so he naturally knew the situation.
Although a lot of cattle and sheep were frozen to death this year, with the food he distributed, life will be tighter next year at best.
It's just that they were used to plundering the Tang Dynasty and living a luxurious life.
"Great Khan, the Tang Dynasty sold so much food to us, but now there is no food at all. Even if we are angry, we can't send out troops. What are we afraid of?"
The leaders of various ministries felt that Nishu was making a fuss out of a molehill.
Didn't they do this before?
Datang could only guard and did not retaliate against them.
As for the Tang Dynasty's destruction of the East Turks, it was because the people of the East Turks were exhausted and their animals were thin due to successive battles and natural disasters such as frost and drought. Many sheep and horses froze to death and starved to death;
They also took the opportunity to rebel and promoted Yi Nan, the leader of Xue Yantuo, as Zhenzhu Khan and accepted the canonization of the Tang Dynasty.
The Eastern Turkic Khan Tuli Khan had been suppressed and marginalized by Jieli Khan for a long time, so he secretly contacted the Tang Dynasty and expressed his willingness to surrender.
Because of these internal and external troubles, the Tang Dynasty was able to destroy the Eastern Turks.
In recent years, the Tang Dynasty has only launched troops against Gaochang, but how many people did Gaochang have?
Therefore, they are not afraid of Datang at all.
Seeing that the others were disdainful of Datang, Ni Shu cursed in his heart: "A bunch of idiots."
He is not afraid of Datang, but now his main target is Xue Yantuo. At this time, he is provoking Datang, who is stationing troops on the border. How can he free his hands and feet to fight Xue Yantuo?
He knew that the Tang Dynasty had at least 600,000 to 700,000 troops and stationed more than 100,000 troops on the border. He would definitely leave some of his troops to defend the Tang Dynasty.
When Xue Yantuo is annexed, even if these people don't take action, he will take the initiative to plunder the Tang Dynasty.
Why exchange cattle and sheep for Datang when you can rob them?
But these premises are after the annexation of Xue Yantuo, not now.
"Let me tell you, if anyone goes to the Tang Dynasty to plunder, then no one will have a share in those places with lush water and grass after Xue Yantuo is destroyed." Nishu said.
Since it doesn't make sense, we can only induce him with benefits.
Although each ministry has a high degree of autonomy, as Khan, after annexing Xueyantuo, he still has to rely on him to divide the territory.
"Khan, don't worry, we won't go to Datang to plunder again this year."
"Yes, we must obey the Khan's instructions."
The heads of various ministries quickly expressed their stance.
Nishuo didn't take the lead, so they fought independently and couldn't break through the Tang Dynasty's city. They could only plunder some villages, but couldn't grab anything at all.
It's not as important as getting a land with lush water and grass.
Nishu sneered, if you had really followed my order, what happened before would not have happened.
But now is not the time to argue with these people, as long as they don't provoke Datang.