Chapter 520 Winter in the Grassland

"What are you two looking at so sneakily? This is a memorial from Dengzhou Navy, and it was forwarded directly to the imperial court."

Li Xiang took the memorial directly. The Dengzhou Navy now has forty-six warships, large and small, and is considered the most powerful navy in the nearby area. They hope that next spring, Li Xiang can go there for a good inspection. one time.

"Your Highness, this navy warship is usually of no use. You work hard for them. The training cost alone is 80,000 yuan every month, and part of it is paid for by yourself. You have to take it with you. What are they going to do?"

Niu Jinda was a little confused. You must know that they were stationed on the Turkic prairie, and everything was transported from the rear. Their monthly expenses were only 110,000 yuan. Compared with the Dengzhou Navy, Speaking of which, we have a little less money here. As long as those guys fire, all their money will be lost, which is more than what we spend here.

Li Xiang knew that in the eyes of these generals, he seemed to be not doing his job properly. He should practice his cavalry and ballistae vigorously, and should not spend money to take care of those naval warships, because in recent days, the naval warships have been He didn't accomplish anything, but spent money to outdo anyone else.

According to what they think, if they use the money to build ships, they will be able to buy many great horses. As long as our cavalry is strong enough, they can kill them directly on land. What's the point of going by ship? Besides, could those places we went by boat be the Central Plains? They are all barbarians from all directions. Even if we occupy their land, what use will it be? It is said that there is nothing in that place.

Li Xiang doesn't know how to explain to these two people now. Not only the two of them, but also General Li Jing, don't like naval warships very much. As far as their usefulness is concerned, apart from threatening the two countries south of Goguryeo, they have not achieved any results so far.

"I have told you before that this world is very big, and our Tang Dynasty is not the center of this world. There are many useful lands around it. If you only think about being on land, you have already lost half the battle. Only by winning on the ocean can we gain a firm foothold in this world."

Li Xiang has said similar words countless times. Whenever he said this, the two people curled their lips and then ended the conversation with Li Xiang. They had no idea about the world Li Xiang mentioned. Know.

"Your Highness, due to the snowstorm, there have been people freezing to death on the grassland. There have been more and more people begging for food in the past few days. Do we need to open a warehouse to stock up on food?"

After more than ten days, it has already reached minus ten degrees Celsius, and violent snowstorms have already started flying on the grassland. During such a festival, many people will freeze to death on the grassland, because everyone on the grassland is Living in a tent, if you have reserves, you can survive this winter, but if you have few reserves, your life will probably be lost here.

"This is a critical time. We can't just play the game without giving sweets. You pass my order to help some people on the grassland, but you can't give too much. You can only give them enough to eat. We can’t keep them full, but at the same time we have to convey to them that the food is squeezed out of our mouths.”

Li Xiang thought for a while and said, the young general below also understood what it meant and immediately arranged for people to do it. The people on the grassland lived in poverty.

In the past, when winter came, at least five percent of the people would freeze to death. These people didn't even have a tent, let alone enough to eat.

Now that Li Xiang's army is stationed on the grassland, this matter must be changed. If the Tang Dynasty's army comes and freezes people to death, and the number of people freezes to death is even greater, then the Tang Dynasty will remain What's the point here? Li Xiang wanted to let the people on the grassland know through this incident that no one will care about you unless you follow the Tang Dynasty.

"When we come back, our people must hand over the gratuities to the herdsmen in person, and we don't have to give them too much. We only need to give them food for a few days. When they don't have enough, they can go to us to get it. If If we give too much, then they will know that we have storage. In addition, we must also tell them that if the leaders of each tribe dare to rob their food, they can go to Donghu Mansion to complain, and Datang will give them a conclusion. .”

Li Xiang thought for a while and said, these tribal leaders on the grassland are not good people. They are also a little short of supplies in winter. If the supplies are given to them for distribution, some people will just put them in their own warehouses. No, they don't care how those people below live. As long as they are nourished by their own lives, even if there are frozen bones everywhere on the grassland, it doesn't matter to them. The wild wolves on the grassland will eat all these things.

In the next ten days, the Tang army overcame various difficulties and delivered some food to the herdsmen. Many herdsmen were moved to tears on the spot. In previous years, when winter came, they could only Choose to let the older people in the family go hungry and let the younger people eat. Only in this way can you survive. As for the older people, it depends on God.

If the food is divided equally, then the whole family may starve to death. This is also the custom on the grassland. They do not have enough food and cannot slaughter cattle and sheep, because these cattle and sheep belong to the leader. Only cattle and sheep that have frozen to death can be eaten by them.

At the beginning, the tribal leaders were also very happy. At least his men were saved and would not die in the blizzard this winter. If they died in the blizzard, then no one would work for him as herdsmen next year.

But soon these nobles discovered that something was wrong. The Tang army was trying to win people's hearts. In the past, when there were snowstorms, everyone had no choice but to wait for death. But now that the Tang Dynasty has shipped so much food, then It makes them feel that there is another government, which is a disguised way of saying that we couldn't do it before!

But even if they understand this truth, they can't change it now. Asking them to take things out from their warehouses is really looking down on them. Even if they are killed, they will not do such a thing. In their impression Here, those untouchables are not worthy.