"Now you should rest assured. As long as you don't wait until the baby is born before coming here, you will definitely be able to catch up." Lin Xuan said with a smile.
This was a joke. Even if Cheng Chumo went back, he would only be able to see his wife once at most. It was not a big delay, he still had this priority.
Even if he didn't know the importance, Cheng Yaojin would remind him.
"Haha, it doesn't matter if you wait until the baby is born before coming here." Yuchi Baolin laughed and said.
When everyone heard his words, they also laughed.
"When I go back this time, I have something else for you to do." Lin Xuan said, putting away the smile on his face.
"General, just give me your orders." Cheng Chumo said solemnly.
"Don't worry, it's not a big deal. I'm just asking your Majesty to ask if you can leave us 10,000 sheep to improve our food." Lin Xuan said.
The imperial court will definitely send people to receive the cattle, sheep and horses sent by Xue Yantuo. It is okay for Lin Xuan to intercept some of them, but he will not do something that is obviously taboo.
"Is this too much?" Cheng Chumo asked.
Meat was scarce in ancient times, although humans had learned to raise animals in captivity in ancient times.
But people in the Tang Dynasty rarely raised chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep.
After all, it is a problem for people to have enough food, so there is no extra food to raise poultry.
When soldiers go to war, what they usually eat is flour cakes. Even when the soldiers are rewarded, it would be nice if everyone can get one or two pieces of meat to taste.
Lin Xuan said it was ten thousand, but you should know that there were only ten thousand in total.
An adult sheep weighs dozens of kilograms no matter how much. On average, a person can eat one kilogram a day for more than a month.
He felt that it was impossible for Li Shimin to agree.
Even if he opened his mouth deliberately to get Li Shimin to give him more, it was probably too big.
As for asking for a thousand yuan, Cheng Chumo thought it was possible.
Lin Xuan smiled and said: "There is also a skill in getting things. When we go deep into the grassland, we can't rely on Datang to transport grain and grass there, right? By then, these sheep will be our food."
Why was Genghis Khan able to conquer Europe?
In addition to the fact that the Mongolian cavalry was really powerful at that time, another reason was that they had no supply problems.
It is very convenient to drive cattle and sheep together during war.
No matter how powerful the Central Plains dynasty was, it was impossible to do this.
Just the long supply line can bring down the imperial court.
Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty conquered Goguryeo three times, recruiting as many as one million civilians alone.
Although the conscripted civilian men did not need to spend any money, the imperial court had to pay for the food and drink of these civilian men.
Most of the civilians who were drafted to transport grain were young and strong. Together with the imperial troops and horses, it meant that the Sui Dynasty at that time had to bear the food and drink of about two million people.
These are not the most important. At that time, the population of the Sui Dynasty was about 50 million.
Excluding the old, weak, women and children, how many young people are left in this population?
Most of the young men either went to serve as soldiers or were drafted to transport grain, which resulted in a large number of fields being left barren and uncultivated.
In addition, the previous construction of the Grand Canal completely consumed the Sui Dynasty's heritage.
If the Sui Dynasty had won the war, it might have lasted a few more years.
The failure of the three expeditions to Goguryeo caused all the conflicts that had accumulated before to explode. This was the reason for the demise of the Sui Dynasty.
It's a bit far-fetched to say this, but Lin Xuan led his troops deep into the grassland. In order to supply food and grass, the imperial court naturally needed to recruit civilians to transport food.
Although they only have 10,000 people, they need to mobilize tens of thousands of people to supply them with food and grass.
Due to the influence of the Turks, the people's livelihood on the northern border has been declining and the population is sparse. If civilians are to be recruited, they can only be recruited from other places.
Of course, these are not issues that Lin Xuan should consider, but there is a very serious problem in doing so, which is that the supply line will be exposed in front of Xue Yantuo.
Although it is unlikely that Xue Yantuo will take action against them, what if it happens?
So Lin Xuan was going to bring some sheep to solve this problem.
"We go to help them fight, won't Xue Yantuo even provide food and grass?" Yuchi Baolin said with an unhappy face.
"Of course they will provide it. Even if they don't provide it, I will go to them to ask for it. But just because they provide it, we can't stop bringing food and grass. What should we do if they have some idea and cut off our food and grass?" Lin Xuan asked back.
road.
It is impossible for him to put his lifeline in the hands of others.
Most of the wars in history where a small number defeated a large number were related to food and grass.
In the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao was almost forced into a desperate situation.
If not for the internal fighting among Yuan Shao's men, which forced Xu You to seek refuge with Cao Cao and exposed the place where Yuan Shao stored his grain, the history of the Three Kingdoms might have been rewritten.
As for Guo Jiati's theory of ten victories and ten defeats, it seems very reasonable. In fact, it was because Cao Cao lacked confidence in defeating Yuan Shao and was used to strengthen Cao Cao's confidence.
Soldiers in ancient times didn't have any beliefs. They said they were noble in defending their homeland, but they actually just wanted to make a living.
There are very few armies in later generations that can fight even when they are hungry, not to mention in history, even in the world.
"General, I understand. When I meet with Your Majesty, I will definitely tell Your Majesty exactly what the General said." Cheng Chumo said.
Although Cheng Chumo said so, Lin Xuan still wrote down the negotiation process and results with Xue Yantuo, including his plans in detail in the memorial, and gave it to Cheng Chumo to send to Chang'an.
Just when Cheng Chumo set off for Chang'an, Suolangelai also returned to Xue Yantuo.
Yi Nan was under great pressure. Although the Tang Dynasty was more likely to send troops, he still felt uneasy without getting a definite answer.
Upon learning that Solange was coming back, Yi Nan summoned him immediately.
"How's it going? Has Datang agreed to send troops? How many troops will be sent? When can we send troops?" Yi Nan didn't wait for Solange to come and salute, and then asked a series of questions, which showed that he was very confused inside.
Because he could not stand the oppression of the Eastern Turks, Yi Nan contacted other tribes and secretly contacted the Tang Dynasty, and destroyed the Eastern Turks in one fell swoop. He was considered a figure.
It's just that external and internal pressures left him mentally and physically exhausted and in chaos.
"Back to the Great Khan, the Tang Dynasty has agreed to send troops, but..." At this point, Solange felt a little embarrassed.
After all, what he promised Lin Xuan was more than what he and Yi Nan had discussed. He didn't know if Yi Nan would get angry after saying it.
"Just what? Could it be that Datang had other conditions?" Yi Nan asked.
Solange sighed and told the conditions between him and Lin Xuan.
After hearing Lin Xuan's request, Yi Nan angrily kicked down the desk in front of him and said with a gloomy face: "It's really too much to bully someone. You only sent 10,000 people here, but you want so many cattle, sheep and horses from me."
"Khan, I have already agreed."
Yi Nan turned his head and looked at Solange, and said coldly: "You agreed? Do you know what this means to Ben Khan? If Ben Khan really gave it to them, Xue Yantuo would have been destroyed without the Western Turks coming.
Already."
Other tribes will definitely not produce these things, only he can produce them.
He simply couldn't produce that much, so he could only exploit the herdsmen of his own tribe.