In fact, not only Li Tai thought this way, but almost everyone in the Tang Dynasty did not regard people outside the Tang Dynasty as human beings.

However, Li Tai broke through this barrier, intending to fundamentally establish the rule of "not being human".

Of course, his original intention was simply to reduce the expenses of the Tang Dynasty and decrease the indiscriminate distribution of titles.

Li Shimin was generally satisfied with Li Tai's suggestions. Even if he had some reservations, they were only about the proportion of battle losses.

He felt that the Tang Dynasty's garrison could withstand a higher casualty ratio, for example, one against ten, and so on, one against five, one against three, and so on.

Li Shimin had fought wars all over the world his entire life, so he knew all too well what level these foreign tribes were at. Apart from Goguryeo, which had tens of thousands of sets of armor and equipment sent by Yang Guang, the "money-giving boy," along with tens of thousands of skilled craftsmen, it was a case of overtaking on a curve and reaching the same level of weaponry and armor as the Tang Dynasty.

Besides, looking at the entire Western Regions and Southwest region, they probably couldn't even gather a thousand sets of decent armor. Many foreign tribes even used stone or bone to make their arrowheads.

If the elite Tang Dynasty soldiers could not fight against these backward and barbaric foreign tribes, it would be a disservice to their highly protective armor and their various weapons made entirely of wrought iron, such as Tang swords, long swords, broadswords, short swords, and Mo swords.

However, Li Shimin did not rush to express his opinion, but instead planned to observe the reactions of the other generals first.

After all, this move concerns the interests of the military group. If Li Tai's suggestion is implemented, the difficulty for the military group to gain merit will increase exponentially.

To Li Shimin's slight disappointment, none of his generals seemed willing to express their opinions.

There was no other way, so Li Shimin had to call out names one by one.

"Li Shiji, what do you think of what Qingque said?"

Upon hearing this, Li Shiji broke out in a cold sweat. His military had been used to racking up military merits for years, and now that the difficulty had suddenly increased several times over, wouldn't the officers below them collectively rebel?

Faced with Li Shimin's question, he had no choice but to speak, and could only stammer and give a forced reply.

"Your Majesty, I feel... I feel that the Prince of Wei thinks too highly of our Tang soldiers..."

"Our Tang soldiers are already doing well fighting three against one, let alone five?"

Li Shimin was very dissatisfied with Li Shiji's words and bypassed him, directly naming Zhang Liang.

"Zhang Liang, you tell us!"

Zhang Liang was not actually a military officer in the strict sense. His official position in the Tang Dynasty was Minister of Justice, not something like the Left or Right General of the Guards.

Therefore, upon hearing Li Shimin's question, Zhang Liang directly refused to answer, citing his lack of military knowledge.

Just kidding, who would dare answer such a potentially fatal question?

If they agree with Li Tai's words, it would be tantamount to cutting off the path for military children to earn military merits. They would be ambushed in the middle of the night!

"Your Majesty, I have been busy with the affairs of the Ministry of Justice recently and do not know much about the matters concerning the Imperial Guards..."

Li Shimin frowned slightly upon hearing this. He realized that his generals were used to earning military merits by lying down, and now they were unwilling to sit up and fight!

"You...you all, you have truly disappointed me!"

"The armor of my Great Tang soldiers is sturdy, their weapons are excellent, and they are well-trained. They cannot even take on ten or a hundred barbarians. What use are they to me?"

"I will disband the army tomorrow!"

"ah?"

Li Shimin's words caused an uproar throughout the hall.

Li Yuan once carried out a military downsizing, which directly affected the vital arteries of the army. As a result, when the Turks invaded, the Tang Dynasty had to recruit new soldiers.

Now His Majesty wants to reduce the army again. Is he disappointed with the Fubing (府兵)?

"Your Majesty, you mustn't!"

"The Tang Dynasty's military force is already small. If it is rashly reduced, it will surely cause turmoil in the surrounding areas and stir up rebellious thoughts among the barbarians!"

"Your Majesty, it's not that I disagree with the Prince of Wei's suggestion, but... could you perhaps lower the standards a bit?"

Li Shimin snorted coldly upon hearing this.

"impossible!"

"I believe that the Prince of Wei's standards are not only not high, but rather too low!"

"If I were to set the standards, the first to go into battle must be able to fight ten against one, the middle to fight at least five against one, and as for the last to go into battle... anything below the standard of fighting three against one will not be considered meritorious!"

"this……"

Upon hearing this, everyone broke out in a cold sweat. They were filled with regret. If they had known His Majesty thought this way, they would have readily agreed to the Prince of Wei's suggestion.

"Your Majesty, if we rashly implement the new policies, I fear the lower-ranking soldiers will become disloyal!"

Centrifugation?

Other emperors might have been afraid of this, but Li Shimin was an emperor who rose to power through conquest. Why would he be afraid of his subordinates becoming disloyal?

"I am not afraid!"

"Those who object, let them retire from their military posts and go back to farming!"

"this……"

Seeing that His Majesty's attitude was so resolute, Li Shiji and the others could only retreat dejectedly.

"Your Majesty, we shall take our leave..."

"Get out!"

"Get the hell out of my sight!"

After all the ministers had left, Li Tai frowned and offered his advice.

"Father, aren't you being too impatient?"

Li Shimin was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, and after thinking to himself, he realized that he did seem to be a bit impatient.

However, he quickly realized that it must be a consequence of his expelling his eldest grandson.

"well!"

"You don't understand..."

"Oh right, you just said that Li Jue mentioned this to you?"

Li Tai smiled bitterly upon hearing this.

"It's not just that he mentioned it... In fact, the suggestions my son has were all written by Li Jue himself. My son is just reading from the script!"

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