Li Shimin forced himself to call Lin Xuan back immediately and asked what the cause of the loud noise was.
After reading the good news carefully, Li Shimin was anxious for the ministers to discuss the matter.
After everyone had arrived, Li Shimin said in a deep voice: "You should all know the news of the great victory on the grassland, right? In this battle, our soldiers of the Tang Dynasty killed 100,000 enemies, captured 50,000, and suffered only more than 20,000 casualties."
"What?"
"How is that possible?"
Everyone present was a little unbelievable. They naturally knew the news of Datang's victory.
However, the postman only shouted the number of enemies killed and captured, and did not mention the casualties on the Tang Dynasty's side.
Many people are speculating that if the army achieves such a result, it will suffer about 40% to 60% casualties.
After all, the military strength of the two sides is almost the same. The Western Turks still have the home field advantage, and more than half of the Tang army is infantry.
Fighting in the Central Plains was hampered by mountains and rivers and defended by cities and fortresses. This gave the infantry the possibility to defeat the cavalry.
Even when the Tang Dynasty dealt with the Mo Dao Army, the ace unit of the cavalry, they had to wait for the cavalry to charge before they could pose a threat to the cavalry.
There is no other way, you can't let Mo Daojun carry weapons weighing dozens of kilograms and chase cavalry on war horses on two legs.
This is also the reason why Li Shimin did not send the Modao Army to the grassland this time.
Throughout history, there are many classic battles involving infantry fighting cavalry.
But if you think carefully about the places where the battles took place, most of them took place in the Central Plains.
Because the Central Plains Dynasty had a large number of cities, the cities would not move regardless of whether they were attacking or defending. In this way, the battlefield could be limited to a rough range.
In addition, there are various terrains in the Central Plains that can be exploited, which provides a way to deal with the cavalry.
However, this move is not suitable in grasslands. Grasslands are basically flat land. Even if there are some hillsides, they are not very high and will not have much impact on the cavalry charge.
Secondly, nomadic peoples live in grass and grass. If the situation is not right, they can move with their tribes and will not fight to the death with the enemy.
If you want to fight the nomads on the grasslands, you still have to rely on cavalry.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was able to destroy the Xiongnu because several generations of emperors vigorously raised horses.
The reason why the Tang Dynasty was finally able to pacify the Eastern and Western Turks was because the Tang Dynasty had just unified the world, and its soldiers were all elites who had experienced war.
On the other hand, stirrups had already appeared in the Tang Dynasty. After the invention of the stirrups, the hands of the cavalry were liberated, and the combat effectiveness of the cavalry was unprecedentedly improved. The Tang Dynasty attached great importance to the construction of cavalry, and the combat effectiveness of the Tang army's cavalry was also extremely powerful.
This long-distance attack on the Turks laid a solid foundation.
In addition to its own strength, another reason why the Tang Dynasty was able to defeat the Turks was because of the civil strife of the Turks.
The Turks split into two countries, the East and the West, just a few decades after their establishment. After the split, the East and West Turks still had internal conflicts. The Turkic nobles often fled to the Tang Dynasty due to failed internal fights. This made the Turkic ins and outs known to the Tang army, and
Many of these Turkic nobles eventually became the pioneers of the Tang army and actively participated in the Tang Dynasty's war against the Turks.
Throughout the war between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks, there were countless high-ranking Turkic nobles who surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. It was with the help of these "Turkish traitors" that the Tang Dynasty successfully eliminated this arrogant steppe empire.
No dynasty has ever relied on infantry to invade the grasslands.
Although the Tang Dynasty sent 100,000 cavalry this time, the Turks had 200,000 cavalry.
This is also the reason why everyone thinks that their side will suffer more than half of the damage.
Li Shimin saw that the ministers did not believe him, so he told the story of the war.
The ministers had no choice but to believe it after hearing it, and Li Shimin would not lie to them with such a thing.
"Congratulations to Your Majesty, the Tang Dynasty is victorious!" All the ministers shouted in unison.
"Haha!" Li Shimin smiled cheerfully and said: "I called you here to discuss the matter of the prisoners. In addition, such a great victory must be rewarded. I want to send someone to announce rewards on my behalf in the army and reward the soldiers!"
Generally, wars are fought with rewards based on merit, but those are wars that can be ended in a short time.
Although the war on the grassland was a great victory, it could not end in a short time. The rewards now can greatly stimulate the fighting spirit of the soldiers.
"Your Majesty, the northern border is close to the Turks and the population is sparse. It is very suitable to place the captives in a city near the border. However, the hatred between the northern people and the Turks is too deep. If they are placed there, I am afraid it will cause a lot of trouble."
"The Turkic people are very different from our Central Plains people in terms of habits and customs, so it would not be appropriate to arrange them elsewhere." Fang Xuanling said with some embarrassment.
The Turks invaded the borders every year. Many of the people in the border cities had their parents and brothers killed at the hands of the Turks. How could they live in peace with the Turks?
The Turks are inherently aggressive, and they will definitely be in trouble.
On the other hand, the Turks had many customs that the people of the Tang Dynasty simply could not accept.
Apart from anything else, the people of the Tang Dynasty could not accept the idea that a son would inherit his father's property after his father's death and a woman other than his biological mother.
This problem is due to the differences between the two cultures and is difficult to solve perfectly.
This was also a headache for Li Shimin, so he summoned all ministers to discuss it.
"What the Prime Minister said is right. In addition, the Turks have not yet been destroyed. The families of those soldiers are still in the Turks, and they must be loyal to the Turks. If they are placed in a border city, it will also be a big hidden danger." Wei Zheng said.
"Your Majesty, I have a plan that can solve this problem in a short time." Changsun Wuji said.
"Oh?" Li Shimin's eyes lit up and he said, "What's the trick for the auxiliary machine?"
"Your Majesty, the Turks are all natural cavalry, not to mention that these people are still soldiers. If tens of thousands of them are selected to form a cavalry, it will not only greatly increase the strength of our army, but also reduce our casualties." Changsun
Wuji said.
"What Duke Zhao Guo said is wrong. It seems to have many benefits, but if the Turkic soldiers defect on the battlefield, wouldn't it cause catastrophe to our army?" Wei Zheng retorted.
The method proposed by Changsun Wuji seems to be very good, but it has a fatal flaw, that is, the Turks have not perished.
Compared to the Tang Dynasty, they naturally had deeper feelings for their tribal countries.
At that time, as long as someone incites it, it is likely to rebel at a critical moment.
Fortresses are easiest to breach from the inside.
Although Wei Zheng didn't know this sentence, he understood the truth.
The Tang army had strong combat effectiveness and excellent equipment, but once a rebellion broke out, it would cause great chaos.
In ancient times, communications were backward, and the large number of people fighting in large corps made it impossible to command in time. Once chaos occurred, it was likely to cause a rout.
Historically, there have been many battles in which a small number defeated a large number. Various methods were used to cause confusion in the enemy, and then troops were sent to attack, without giving the enemy generals time to stabilize their morale, thus leading to a rout.
A defeat is like a mountain falling, nothing more than that.