The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 814: Tang Dynasty High-level Central Meeting
"Yes, Your Majesty."

Tang Jian is nearly sixty years old and has an old face. He is from the same period as Xiao Yu. He is only four years younger than Xiao Yu, but looks even more haggard than Xiao Yu.

Although Xiao Yu was old, he came from a noble family and spent all day in charge of government affairs at the central government. Under the nourishment of the gorgeous literary style of Chang'an, the old man seemed to be stronger with age. In addition, he was a straightforward person and would not tolerate any injustice. From time to time, he would quarrel with Li Shimin.

However, Tang Jian was in charge of the work of the Honglu Temple all year round and dealt with various forces in the surrounding areas.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Turks in the north and the countries in the Western Regions had destroyed his body prematurely due to years of traveling, the sandstorms outside the Great Wall, the bitter cold in the Western Regions, and the petty disputes over the interests of the dynasty.

Tang Jian stood up tremblingly, coughed lightly twice, and then bowed to Li Shimin.

He nodded to his ministers and said, "As everyone knows, the Great Turkic Khanate, originally ruled by Jie Li, imitated the administrative governance model of the Central Plains and established officials and subordinates at all levels in order to concentrate the power of the Yazhang and strengthen Jie Li's rule."

"The advantage of doing this is that with a central administrative agency, Jie Li can rule the entire grassland from his tent."

"But the disadvantages are also obvious. While increasing stability, power is dispersed and checks and balances increase."

"It's possible to implement this system under the Central Plains farming method, but the grassland is a nomadic grazing model. Even if the Turks have simplified the management system on a large scale, the remaining driving structure will still restrict the grassland."

"The overall strength of the Turks has been greatly weakened, which is equivalent to replacing part of their combat effectiveness with the pursuit of stability."

"Everyone present here is a veteran with rich governance experience. I believe everyone understands this principle."

"Five years ago at the Dingxiang meeting, we took advantage of the internal contradictions and constraints brought about by Jie Li's ruling style, instigated the rebellion of the second Khan Tuli, Xueyantuo and Bibi, and finally defeated the Great Turks in one fell swoop."

"But in fact, the strength of our Tang Dynasty was not very strong at that time. The cavalry and infantry only had 300,000. On the battlefield, one Turkic cavalryman was comparable to three of our soldiers. With this calculation, in fact, the overall combat power of the Turkic people at that time was not very strong."

"It was precisely because of the ruling and management style adopted by Jie Li that the conflicts among the leaders of the various tribes intensified, the relationships became bad, and the mobilization capacity was insufficient. As a result, when we fought a great war, Jie Li had to work very hard to organize 300,000 cavalrymen."

"Add to that the rebellion of various tribes. Jie Li is using the power of the Ashina clan to fight a decisive battle with us. At the same time, he also has to deal with the backstabs of Yi Nan, Bi Biheli and others."

"It's not because the entire grassland is weak."

After Tang Jian introduced the basic situation, seeing that no one had any objection, they all nodded silently in agreement with his analysis.

Then he continued, "Five years ago, after we defeated Jie Li, we formally broke up the grassland tribes that had gathered together because of Jie Li. The advantage is that each tribe is scattered and cannot form a joint force to target our Tang Dynasty."

"But the downside is that the tribes on the grasslands have also abandoned the previous redundant, complicated, multi-level, and inefficient Khanate-style centralized power, and have begun to adopt a tribal-style management method that controls a small area but can quickly gather strength and exert strength."

"Although this method cannot unify the power of the entire grassland, it can greatly unleash the strength of the tribe. In fact, although the power of the grassland is now dispersed, it is much stronger than before when Jie Li was in unified control."

"During the five years when our Tang Dynasty vigorously reformed its internal affairs, Jie Li brought all the tribes of the entire eastern grassland under his command and rebuilt a new Turkic Khanate. Now the area of ​​the eastern grassland under Jie Li's rule is no less than the geographical scope of the Tang Dynasty Central Plains excluding the grassland."

"Because of the reduction in territory, Jie Li also gave up the original management structure."

"Perhaps because Jie Li was too concerned about his reputation, the original Khanate structure and official positions were still maintained, but they were only superficial and in name only. In fact, Jie Li adopted a more practical and cohesive tribal form."

"In addition to the original positions of Yehu, Quluchu, Shilifa, Shijin, and Dagan, we added the left and right wise kings in imitation of the ancient Xiongnu system. We divided the major tribes in the entire territory into two major divisions for management."

"In this way, his available military forces and overall strength were released."

"Although it is now in a remote corner with only half of its former territory, its national strength is not weaker than it was five years ago during the Battle of Dingxiang. On the contrary, without the constraints of internal personnel like Tuli Yinan, Jie Li's power will be even stronger than before."

"Wait a minute!"

Li Shimin stretched out his hand to interrupt Tang Jian and waved to Wang De beside him: "Wang De, bring up the map of Mobei."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Wang De responded, and hurriedly called two young eunuchs and walked quickly into Li Shimin's inner study.

He brought up a detailed and large military map of the desert and carefully placed it in the center of the hall.

"Tang Jian, tell me the details." Li Shimin looked solemn. He stood up with everyone and came to the map. Now he had a more thorough understanding.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Tang Jian stood in front of the map, pointed to a red mark in the vast area east of the northern part of the Tang Dynasty and said, "This is Urge, the center of the central grassland, where the current headquarters of Jie Li is located. It is 3,000 miles due north of Chang'an."

"All the areas east of Urge are under the influence of Jie Li, and the area west of Hengling, 500 miles west of Urge, is under the jurisdiction of the Anbei Military Governor's Office of the Tang Dynasty, Bi Heli."

"Jie Li divided the entire central and eastern grassland into two major regions. The best area of ​​the central grassland where the Yazhang was located was under the jurisdiction of Zuo Xian Wang, who managed the two major ethnic groups in the central region, the Huihe and Tiele. The nearby Duolangge, Adie, Hehun, Pugu, Tongluo and other tribes were also included in it."

"But the Zuoxian King's tribe is not adjacent to our southern desert. There is a vast Mandar Gobi Desert between us. Even if we cross the Gobi Desert, we still have the Tuli tribe as a buffer. They basically pose no threat to our Tang Dynasty."

At this time, Tang Jian moved his finger 2,000 miles eastward from Urge, pointed to a lake in the middle of a large grassland and said, "This is Hulun Lake, the location of the Right Wise King's tent. The entire Right Division is under the jurisdiction of the Right Wise King."

"Manage the three major ethnic groups of Shiwei, Mohe and Khitan, as well as the Sumo, Boduo, Anchegu, Funie, Haoshi, Heishui, Baishan, Shenmoda, Boshiwei and other tribes near the eastern sea."

After saying this, Tang Jian stretched out his hand and drew a big circle, covering a large area in the east by the sea, and then struck hard, landing on the Liaodong area that was formerly Youzhou of the Tang Dynasty: "The territory of Zuo Xianwang is vast, but most of it is barren land with poor forests and mountains, so it is not a big concern."

"But the Wuhu and Limo tribes to the southeast are in Liaodong, bordering Yingzhou and Goguryeo in the northeast of our Tang Dynasty. The jurisdiction of the Grand Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Desert does not cover this area."

"This is the only place where Jie Li's troops directly border our Great Tang. If we send troops from here, there is no buffer at all and we can directly enter the land of Youzhou and Hebei."

"So, I think that if Jie Li invades our Tang Dynasty again, it will not be from the Guannei Road, but from the northeast. I suggest that we shift our focus eastward and strengthen the forces of Youzhou and Yingzhou to defend against possible threats."

At this time, Xiao Yu was a little confused by what Tang Jian said. He frowned and said, "There are countless tribes on the grassland. We have no idea about the specific strength and territory represented by the names of these tribes. Some tribes are inconspicuous and do not occupy a large area, but they can mobilize tens of thousands of troops."

"Some of them seem to occupy the area of ​​several roads in our Central Plains, but in fact they can't even mobilize a few thousand troops. It's really impossible to judge intuitively, right?"

Hearing this, Hou Junji looked at Tang Jian with some doubts, and complained: "Hey Mao Yue, don't talk so much nonsense, just tell me how many troops they have and how much of a threat they pose to our Tang Dynasty."

Tang Jian smiled. Things on the grassland were indeed complicated. Often, one surname represented a tribe. There were thousands of tribes, large and small, on the entire grassland. The ministers in the Central Plains really couldn't figure it out. Even though he often stayed on the grassland, he didn't dare to say that he knew everything.

Tang Jian explained: "It's not difficult, in fact. Generally speaking, there are six major ethnic groups in the grassland after the Rouran, namely Ashina, Huihe, Tiele, Mohe, Shiwei, and Khitan, all of which are called Turks."

"The core tribe of the Turks is the Ashina tribe. The main branches now are represented by the Jieli and Tuli tribes of the Ashina clan, which are the strongest."

"The Huihe and Tiele have a deep entanglement. You are in me and I am in you. From a broad perspective, they are one branch. Now they are divided into two branches. One is led by Yi Nan in the west, and the other is led by Zuo Xian Wang under Jie Li. They occupy the central part of the grassland."

"The strength of these two tribes is in the second tier, second only to the Ashina tribe."

"The other three tribes, Mohe, Shiwei, and Khitan, are concentrated in the easternmost part of the grassland, north of Liaodong. Their territory is vast, but their tribes are scattered, resources are scarce, and their numbers are small. The combined strength of the three tribes also ranks last, and they are led by the Right Wise King."

"Eighty percent of the larger tribes on the grassland belong to these six major ethnic groups, but the sphere of influence is not divided by ethnic group. Each tribe has its own power and living area."

"In short, the current Turkic Khanate, under the command of Zuo Xian Wang, mainly governs the Huihe and Tiele tribes in the central grassland. It is the core force of Jie Li and has 100,000 cavalry."

"The Right Wise King has only 50,000 cavalrymen under his command, half of the Left Wise King's. Most of the territory under his jurisdiction is desolate and remote primeval forest areas. Most tribes live in the mountains and forests, living a life of eating raw meat and drinking blood, and digging caves in the mountains."

“Only a small number of southeastern tribes along the edge of the mountain range are considered civilized tribes.”

(End of this chapter)