I can sign in in Datang

Chapter 803 Argument
Li Shimin suppressed the urge to immediately call Lin Xuan back and ask what was causing the loud noise.

After reading the victory report carefully, Li Shimin was anxious for the ministers to discuss matters.

After everyone arrived, Li Shimin said in a deep voice: "You should all know the news of the great victory in the grassland, right? In this battle, my Tang soldiers killed 2 enemies, captured [-] prisoners, and only had more than [-] casualties."

"what?"

"how is this possible?"

The people present couldn't believe it. They naturally knew about the news of Datang's victory.

However, the postmen shouted only the number of enemies killed and the number of captured enemies, and did not mention the casualties of the Tang side.

Many people are guessing that if the army has achieved such a result, it will have about [-]% to [-]% casualties.

After all, the strength of the two sides is almost the same, and the Western Turkic side still has the home court advantage, and more than half of Datang's army is infantry.

Fighting in the Central Plains, there are mountains, rivers, and city defenses, which make it possible for the infantry to defeat the cavalry.

Even if Datang was dealing with the Modao Army, the trump card of the cavalry, he had to wait for the cavalry to charge before they could pose a threat to the cavalry.

There is no way, you can't let the Modao army carry weapons weighing dozens of kilograms, and chase the cavalry on horses with their two legs.

This is also the reason why Li Shimin did not send the Modao army to use troops on the grassland this time.

Throughout history, there are many classic examples of infantry fighting cavalry.

But if you think about those battles carefully, most of them took place in the Central Plains.

Because the Central Plains Dynasty has a large number of cities, no matter whether it is attacking or defending, the cities will not move. In this way, the battlefield can be limited to a general range.

In addition, various terrains in the Central Plains can be used, which provides a way to deal with cavalry.

But this trick is not suitable for the grasslands. The 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's charge.

Secondly, the nomads already live by grass. If the situation is not right, they can completely migrate with the tribe, and they will not fight the enemy to the death.

If you want to fight nomads on the grasslands, you still have to rely on cavalry.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was able to destroy the Xiongnu, relying on several generations of emperors to raise horses vigorously.

The reason why the Tang Dynasty was able to pacify the Eastern and Western Turks in the end was because the Tang Dynasty had just unified the world, and the soldiers were all elites who had experienced wars.

On the other hand, the stirrup had already appeared in the Tang Dynasty. After the invention of the stirrup, the cavalry's hands were freed, 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 cavalry of the Tang army was also extremely powerful, which laid a solid foundation for the long-distance raid on the Turks.

In addition to its own strength, another reason why the Tang Dynasty was able to defeat the Turks was due to the civil strife in the Turks.

Only a few decades after the establishment of Turkic, Turkic split into two countries, East and West, and after the split, the East and West Turks still did not stop. Turkic nobles often fled to the Tang Dynasty because of failures in internal struggles.This made the details of the Turks known to the Tang army, and many of the 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 as many high-level Turkic aristocrats who descended to the Tang Dynasty, and it was with the help of these "surprise traitors" that the Tang Dynasty successfully wiped out this mighty grassland empire.

There has never been a dynasty that relied on infantry to break into the grassland.

Although Datang sent 20 cavalry this time, the Turks had [-] cavalry.

This is also the reason why everyone feels that their own side will lose more than half.

Li Shimin saw that the officials didn't believe him, so he told the story of the battle.

All the ministers had to believe it after hearing it, and Li Shimin would not deceive them with this kind of thing.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty, the Great Tang Dynasty is victorious!" All the officials shouted in unison.

"Haha!" Li Shimin smiled happily and said, "I called you here to discuss the matter of the prisoners. In addition, such a big victory has to be rewarded. I want to send someone to announce the rewards in the army on my behalf, and reward the soldiers!"

Generally, wars are rewarded based on meritorious service after the war is over, but those are wars that can end in a short time.

Although the battle on the grassland has achieved a great victory, it will not end in a short time. The reward 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 appropriate to place the captives in a city near the border. However, the people in the north and the Turks have too much hatred. If they are placed there, it may cause great chaos."

"The Turkic people are very different from my people in the Central Plains in terms of habits and habits, and it is not appropriate to arrange them in other places." Fang Xuanling said with some embarrassment.

The Turks invaded the border every year, and the people in the border cities, many of their parents and brothers died at the hands of the Turks. How could they live in peace with the Turks?
The Turkic people are aggressive, and they will definitely be in trouble.

On the other hand, there are many customs of the Turkic people, which the people of the Tang Dynasty could not accept at all.

Among other things, the people of Datang couldn't accept the fact that after the father died, the son inherited his father's property, and there were women other than the biological mother.

This kind of problem is the difference between the two cultures, and it is difficult to solve it perfectly.

This is also a headache for Li Shimin, so he summoned all the ministers to discuss.

"Mr. Fang is right. In addition, the Turks have not yet perished, and those soldiers' family members are still in the Turks. They must have a heart for the Turks. If they are placed in a border city, it will be a big hidden danger." Wei Zheng said.

"Your Majesty, I have a plan to 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 Turkic people 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 the casualties of our army." Wuji said.

"Zhao Guogong's words are wrong. This seems to have a lot of benefits, but if the Turkic soldiers defected on the battlefield, wouldn't it be a disaster for 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 did not perish.

Compared with Datang, they naturally have deeper feelings for their tribal country.

At that time, as long as someone instigates 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 has strong combat effectiveness and excellent equipment, but once a rebellion occurs, it will cause great chaos.

In ancient times, the communication was backward, coupled with the large number of soldiers in the army, there was no way to command in time. Once chaos occurred, it was likely to cause a rout.

There are many examples of wars in history where one wins more with less, using various methods to cause confusion among the enemy, and then send troops to attack, without giving the enemy general time to stabilize the morale of the army, leading to defeat.

The defeat of the army is like a mountain, but that is the case.

(End of this chapter)