Going out with a large army will naturally not be as simple as Lin Xuan going out with 10,000 people.
The ones Li Shimin read were all generals who commanded the army. It was decided at this time that they would summon the soldiers who were taking turns to reorganize their armaments, and some generals would be added in the future.
Dai Zhou, the Minister of Household Affairs, came out of the queue, bowed and said, "May I ask how many troops your Majesty is planning to send this time?"
The Ministry of Revenue needs to supply food and grass to the army. Currently, Datang's food and grass are not particularly sufficient. Dai Zhou needs to confirm the number of people so that he can allocate food and grass in advance.
Li Shimin pondered for a while and said: "I am planning to mobilize 100,000 cavalry this time, and 100,000 other troops, for a total of 200,000 troops."
The total number of soldiers and horses in the Tang Dynasty is about 800,000. Excluding those county soldiers and some border garrisons, the number of soldiers and horses that can be mobilized is only about 30,000 or 400,000. With 200,000 troops dispatched, the number of soldiers and horses that can be mobilized has already been occupied.
Half of it.
"Your Majesty, with so many troops and horses, the Ministry of Revenue has no ability to supply them," Dai Zhou said.
Many people may think that whether fighting or not fighting, soldiers should consume the same amount of food and grass.
In fact, during a war, the consumption of food and grass is several times higher than when there is no war.
The Tang Dynasty adopted the imperial military system. When there was no war, the soldiers took turns to rest. During the turns, they did not need to be supported by the court at all. This could greatly reduce the pressure on the court.
When there is a war, these soldiers and horses need to be supported by the court.
As the saying goes, the emperor is not short of hungry soldiers.
During the war, in order to ensure that the soldiers have sufficient physical strength, each soldier's ration will be much higher than usual.
Not to mention, these 200,000 troops and 100,000 cavalry.
Horses are just like people. Normally, they may only feed on some grass, supplemented by a certain amount of refined grains. However, during a war, in order to ensure that the horses have enough physical strength to run, they must mainly feed on refined grains.
The so-called refined grains include millet, soybeans, sorghum, bean cakes, and wheat bran, and salt is added to the water they drink. It can be said that what horses eat is not much different from what humans eat.
But in the Tang Dynasty, the emergence of a kind of coarse grain greatly reduced the amount of food for war horses, and that was alfalfa. Alfalfa is a green-purple plant with a stem that is as long as one meter long, and people mainly eat its leaves.
, you only need to blanch the leaves in boiling water, then take them out and stir-fry them with salt and oil, and they will become a delicious dish on the table.
Some people discovered that horses like to eat alfalfa very much, so they began to plant it in a large area to provide food for the horses. After the alfalfa is eaten by the horses, it is more filling and more nutritious than ordinary grass, and the cost of planting is not high.
It is precisely because of the emergence of this thing that it has alleviated the problem of war horses eating food to a certain extent. With this, the consumption of food will be reduced.
But horses can eat more than people. Even if it is reduced, the food consumed is still more than what is needed to feed a few soldiers.
Normally, the cost of supporting ten infantrymen is about the same as that of one cavalryman.
In ancient times, the Central Plains dynasty had relatively few cavalry, not just because the grasslands specifically blocked horses, but because the Central Plains dynasty simply could not afford to support so many cavalry.
Although the Tang Dynasty consumed less money in supporting cavalry than in previous dynasties due to the emergence of alfalfa, supporting one cavalry was equivalent to supporting five or six infantry.
One hundred thousand cavalry plus one hundred thousand other troops consume a lot of food and grass every day.
In addition, tens of thousands of people were needed to transport food, and the food and drink of these people were also borne by the imperial court.
In the Tang Dynasty, there have been constant natural disasters in recent years, and there is not much food at all.
Anyone familiar with the history of the early Tang Dynasty should know that ten years before Zhenguan, the Tang Dynasty rarely launched wars with foreign countries except for the war to destroy the Eastern Turks.
Whether it was the battle to destroy Gaochang or the war with Tubo, including Li Shimin's personal conquest of Goguryeo, they all took place more than ten years after Zhenguan.
It's not that Li Shimin didn't want to fight, he was short of food without him.
Ten years before Zhenguan, there were natural disasters almost every year in the Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin was forced to reduce the expenses of the palace several times, so how could he have the ability to attack others.
Although Lin Xuan's time travel changed some things, it could not change the weather.
If it hadn't been for Lin Xuan's previous idea to let Li Shimin get some grain from the noble family, Dai Zhou might have jumped out and objected when he mentioned that he wanted to send troops to the grassland.
"Tubo has withdrawn its troops, and I have allowed Hou Jun to gather his troops and return to the court. In this way, the pressure on the Ministry of Revenue will be much less," Li Shimin said.
"Your Majesty, Duke Lu only has 20,000 soldiers and horses. Even if the army returns to the court, it will not save much food." Dai Zhou said with a wry smile.
It is the cavalry that really consumes the most food, and Hou Junji did not bring many cavalry. The return of the 20,000 people will indeed save some food and grass, but compared with the gap, it is nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
"Just tell me, how long can the Ministry of Revenue's food and grass supply an army of 200,000?" Li Shimin asked.
During the Sui Dynasty, the Turks were a serious concern, and Li Yuan's garrison in Taiyuan was actually to guard against the Turks.
In order to stabilize the Turks, the Sui Dynasty made peace with the Eastern and Western Turks many times. Even so, the Turks still plundered the border people every year.
Li Shimin had felt the threat of the Turks since he was a child. In addition, when he ascended the throne, the Eastern Turks invaded Chang'an, which made him determined to attack the grasslands like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Even if he could not destroy the Turks, he would still try his best to defeat them.
It greatly consumed the Turks' strength and allowed the Tang Dynasty's border to be stable for a hundred years.
Now that he had the opportunity to weaken the Turks' strength and even wipe out the grasslands in one fell swoop, Li Shimin was naturally unwilling to give up.
Dai Zhou pondered for a while and said: "Without using the emergency granaries in various places, we can provide food for up to two months."
Two months may seem like a long time, but in many wars it is normal for the fight to last for several months.
Li Shimin was silent. He knew the consequences of using emergency granaries from various places.
Since he came to the throne, natural disasters have continued every year. Those people are too hungry to eat, so they will naturally rebel.
The reason why there are not many records in the history books is because the imperial court sent troops to suppress it in time and the disaster relief was timely, so the scale of the rebellion was not large.
The people have nothing to eat, but no matter whether you are a wise or foolish king, it is better to be killed for rebelling than to starve to death.
Once the emergency granary is used, if a natural disaster occurs and the court cannot provide food relief, it will definitely lead to chaos.
In addition, there is another solution, which is to raise taxes.
But now the people of the Tang Dynasty are not wealthy at all. Even if taxes are increased, the people will not be able to pay.
Li Shimin was silent for a long time and said: "If we use the three floors of emergency granaries in various places, how long can we supply?"
"Your Majesty, you must not do it. The emergency granary is related to the foundation of the Tang Dynasty and cannot be used." When Wei Zheng heard that Li Shimin was going to use the emergency granary, he didn't even bother to salute and hurriedly stepped out and said.
Li Shimin did not blame Wei Zheng, but said softly: "I do not have to use the emergency granary. Now I am just preparing to send troops. When to send troops depends on the changes in the grassland situation. If it is delayed longer, after the autumn harvest,