Killing is never the best way to solve problems.
Because with the current national strength of the Tang Dynasty, they simply couldn't kill them all...
Li Jue could easily have destroyed the Xueyantuo, but as a person from later generations, he knew that it was not the Xueyantuo that dealt a heavy blow to the Tang Dynasty, but the Uyghurs, who were still being suppressed by the Xueyantuo, and the Tubo, who could rival the Uyghurs.
Therefore, the choice is either to kill all these potential enemies or to keep the Xueyantuo in power to continue exploiting the Uyghurs, ensuring they never become a threat.
Of course, Tibet also had to find ways to weaken it.
However, given Li Er's current physical condition, he will most likely leave this matter to Li Jue to handle.
Li Jue boasted to Li Er and Li Jing for a while, leaving the two of them completely stunned.
"Grandson, do you mean to control the Western Regions through economic means?"
"yes!"
"The reason why the Western Regions are difficult to govern is mainly due to the differences between the agricultural culture of the Central Plains and the pastoral culture of the Western Regions."
"The income from herding is far less stable than that from farming, so they often encounter natural disasters and thus frequently raid the Central Plains."
"If we rely on our powerful military force and our superior economic position to turn the entire Western Regions into an integral part of the Tang Dynasty's industry, then the Western Regions will forever remain our bulwark!"
"However, before we can accomplish this, we need to sort out the Western Regions."
"For example, we could register them as commoners..."
Li Jing and Li Shimin burst into laughter upon hearing this.
"Silly child, do you think registering people as citizens is that simple!"
"The reason why Goguryeo was able to register households was because of the foundation laid by several generations of Goguryeo kings. Even so, the number of households reported by Goguryeo was mostly inaccurate, and at least half of the population was concealed."
"Grandson of the Emperor, the nomadic people of the grasslands have no fixed abode. Getting them to register as ordinary citizens is harder than climbing to heaven, hahaha!"
Undeterred by this, Li Jue directly brought up the Sixteen Guards system of the Tang Dynasty.
“Grandpa, I want to reform the Sixteen Guards system and include the people from the Western Regions in the Sixteen Guards.”
"oh?"
Li Shimin was stunned upon hearing this, then listened intently with a serious expression. Li Jing stopped mocking him, sat up straight, and gave the historian a wink, signaling him to record everything that followed.
"Grandpa, this is what I think!"
"Let's put aside the problem with our Sixteen Guards system. Anyway, if you don't reform the Sixteen Guards, I'll have to reform them when I become emperor!"
Li Shimin and Li Jing nodded in unison upon hearing this. Both of them knew about the problems with the Sixteen Guards, but they were both old and powerless to change them even if they knew, so they could only leave things as they were.
However, both of them were very curious about how Li Jue would reform the Sixteen Guards system.
"Crown Prince, let's put the Western Regions aside for now. Tell me and His Majesty how you plan to reform the Sixteen Guards?"
Li Shimin nodded in agreement upon hearing this.
"right!"
"Auntie is also very curious about how you plan to reform the Sixteen Guards."
“Grandpa, the problems with the Sixteen Guards are huge.”
“At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there were enough battles to fight, so the Sixteen Guards had plenty of opportunities to make contributions.”
"But now that the Tang Dynasty is in a period of peace and prosperity, the Sixteen Guards have neither military pay nor extra land to reward them, so it is difficult to guarantee their fighting capacity."
"Therefore, I want to redefine the number of the sixteen guards and then provide them with a certain amount of rice and money every month in the form of military pay, so that they can become a professional army!"
Li Jing listened to these words with a hint of amusement.
"These are the Wei Wu soldiers, I thought they were some kind of exotic contingent..."
The first professional army in Chinese history was the Wei Wuzu during the Warring States period.
Once recruited as a Wei elite soldier, one would receive various benefits such as land, military pay, food, and housing.
Therefore, everyone in the Wei Kingdom took pride in becoming a Wei Wu Zu (a type of elite infantry).
In fact, the Wei Wuzu (a type of infantry unit) did make a significant contribution to Wei's struggle for hegemony.
The Wei state was able to sweep across the world in the early Warring States period almost entirely due to the bravery of its elite infantry.
Li Jing was well-versed in military texts from various dynasties and was naturally familiar with the Wei Wuzu (a type of infantry unit). He knew what this bastard was up to as soon as he heard Li Jue's opening remarks.
Li Jue never expected that the idea he thought was so advanced was already being used by people as early as the Warring States period.
However, Li Jue got used to it. He found that no matter how smart people in later generations were, they were no better than their ancestors in terms of intelligence.
The reason our ancestors didn't do certain things wasn't because they couldn't think of them, but because the conditions they had at the time didn't allow it.
When Li Jing mentioned "Wei Wu Zu", Li Shimin quickly realized what he meant and looked at Li Jue with a mocking expression.
"Grandson, do you think I don't want this?"
Upon hearing this, Li Jue tilted his head and looked at Li Shimin.
"Grandpa, professionalizing the military isn't difficult, is it? It's just a matter of paying military salaries and stuff, right?"
Li Shimin sneered upon hearing this.
"Pay military pay?"
"You think paying soldiers is easy?!"
"Where does the military pay come from? Is it to be collected by officials from the people?"
Li Jue nodded upon hearing this.
"Yes!"
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin asked again.
How will the military pay be distributed?
"Should the money be distributed down through the ranks of officials?"
Li Jue nodded again upon hearing this, thinking to himself, "Isn't this just obvious, like lice on a bald man? Why does this old man Li Er have to single it out?"
However, Li Er suddenly changed the subject and burst into laughter.
"I have one last question for you!"
"You're asking how much loss there is after so many changes of ownership?"
"this……"
Li Jue was stumped by Li Er's question and didn't know how to answer it for a moment.
Upon hearing this, Li Jing chuckled and then introduced the characters to Li Jue, counting on his fingers.
"Your Highness, the Crown Prince, may not know this, but when lower-level officials collect taxes and corvée labor, they have all sorts of ways to make money."
"For example, kicking the bucket and kicking the dipper!"
"It means that after the people have filled the scoop with grain, they will kick it hard to kick the grain out of the scoop as a loss."
"In this way, the government collects less, the people pay more, and they earn more."
"There were also problems with the distribution of food and wages."
"Let alone distributing rations and pay to ordinary soldiers, even when distributing grain and salaries to officials, these officials would still rig things up, deliberately providing stale grain or grain mixed with sand to pass off as superior grain..."
"In this way, the losses from the two trips in and out are enough to support hundreds of thousands of troops."
"Therefore, the soldiers of our Great Tang Dynasty do not receive salaries, but the families of those who serve as soldiers are exempt from all taxes and corvée labor..."
Upon hearing this, Li Jue suddenly understood. He finally realized why the people were so eager to join the army even though the Tang Dynasty didn't provide food and pay.
At the same time, he also understood another issue: the reason why the Tang Dynasty did not use a conscription system in its early period was not because they did not want to, but because they did not want to waste the money.
Because wasted money will only become a burden for ordinary people!
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