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

Chapter 939: The Construction of the Trade System between the Tang Dynasty and the Grassland
The fights between the grassland tribes did not involve complicated scheming or strategies. They were all fought with violence, with the strong swallowing up the weak and then splitting up, over and over again. There was almost endless hatred and conflict between the tribes.

It is so simple that even a eunuch in the palace of the Central Plains Dynasty can be regarded as a wise man here. With the little tricks he has summarized from competing with his colleagues, he can easily help the leader to quickly expand his strength and even become a Khan-level figure.

Therefore, Li Yan can handle everything planned by the top management alone, and he still has plenty of time to enjoy life.

But the problem is that the force formed in this way is like a big snowball, rather than concrete filled with steel bars and stones.

It's a complete mess, with no cohesion at all.

It looked huge and scary, but it could only be powerful for a short time. Any disturbance would cause chaos, and the time would be so short that there would not even be enough time to move the army to the border of the Central Plains, and civil strife would occur.

Li Yan has a true eye, which allows him to quickly spot dissidents and deal with them in a timely manner, eliminating internal strife in the bud. This is how he can barely maintain a huge whole.

This is cheating and cannot be replicated.

A smart person here can succeed quickly or fail quickly. No matter how hard he tries, it is almost all in vain.

Therefore, since ancient times, there have been many talented people in the Central Plains, but no one is willing to go to the grassland, because no one wants to waste their efforts in the end.

Li Yan certainly knew that, let alone top strategists like Fang Xuanling, even the most ordinary scholars in the Central Plains looked down on the grasslands. But if they were to just abandon them and let them fend for themselves without paying any attention, who knows when the grassland nomads would deliver a fatal blow to the Central Plains.

Li Yan thought about it and felt that if we analyze the problems in this world as symptoms.

The problem of grassland nomadism is like cancer, silent and invisible. When it is not present, you cannot feel its existence at all. People usually cannot spend a lot of time and energy to pay attention to it, and some people will never encounter it in their lifetime.

But when it appears, it is often too late, and it will take you with it in a way that both parties will perish.

Li Yan sighed helplessly.
Next, after consultation, the two decided to open four important towns along the long border line in the northern part of the Tang Dynasty as trading locations.

They are Fengzhou and Shengzhou in Guannei Road, Mayi in Datong Road, and Yingzhou in Hebei Road. They are almost evenly distributed in the northern part of the Tang Dynasty, stretching from east to west.

Originally, Li Yan had envisioned eight locations, including two in Hexi and two in the Western Regions. However, now that the Tang Dynasty’s forces have withdrawn, it can no longer take charge of affairs in the west.

There is no army at each trade site, only a small number of market management members deployed to maintain market rules and order.

When Fang Xuanling saw that the discussion was getting to the specific details, he interrupted and said, "Right Wise King, in fact, such a trade fair was already established in the Han Dynasty. However, the Central Plains is vast and rich in resources, with a wide variety of goods such as grain, silk, cloth, lacquerware, ceramics, salt, iron, sugar, and hemp."

"Only the grasslands have livestock such as cattle, sheep, and horses, as well as some herbs and wild animal fur."

"I have read the records of foreign trade in the Han Dynasty and found that the reason why such a market cannot be maintained for a long time is that the grasslands have a huge demand for Central Plains materials, while the Central Plains have a limited demand for grasslands."

"Take cattle, sheep and horses, which can be traded in large quantities. In peacetime, the Central Plains dynasty does not need so many war horses and livestock. Once a war breaks out, most of the grasslands will invade the Central Plains, and they will prohibit the flow of such materials into the Central Plains."

“So there are fewer goods to trade.”

"Moreover, the goods from the grasslands are simple, crude products with low prices, while the goods from the Central Plains are sophisticated and expensive. A long-term and huge trade gap will soon drain the resources of the grassland people, and they will no longer be able to continue trading."

Li Yan understood it as soon as he heard it. Even though he was not a talent in economics, he knew that this was the so-called trade imbalance, which resulted in a serious trade surplus.

And the Turks are the trade deficit.

This meant that the Tang Dynasty stood at the middle and high end of the industrial chain and dumped its products on the grassland. However, under the primitive and single economy of the grassland, it soon went bankrupt and had to pick up swords and guns to rob the rich Central Plains.

In fact, such a problem is very easy to solve. The Tang Dynasty, in the name of the court, forcibly set protective prices for commodities to maintain market stability, protect the income of grassland people, and avoid the bankruptcy of nomadic peoples' animal husbandry industry, thereby preventing a large influx of banditry.

This made the grassland people powerful and eventually threatened the stability of the Central Plains.

Secondly, with the imperial treasury as a guarantee, a large number of consumable daily necessities such as cattle, sheep, and horses were purchased every year to ensure that the grassland people had enough "foreign exchange" to buy daily necessities such as grain and cloth from the Central Plains to maintain the most basic living security.

So as not to join the industry of vagrants and bandits.

The Tang Dynasty can also influence the enemy through the economy, so that the enemy can maintain the most basic living security but not be strong enough to threaten the Central Plains Dynasty. These consumptions can in turn prosper the Tang Dynasty's business, increase employment and tax revenue, and bring a better life to the people. Most importantly, spending some money can "solve" a potential unconquerable enemy, so why not do it?

You have to know that the grassland people could not survive and invaded the south, which brought huge economic losses to the Central Plains dynasty every time. In addition to money, cities were destroyed, lives were lost, and the entire dynasty might be overthrown.

Not worth it
Throughout history, even in later generations, the imperial court would not dare to deprive the people under its rule of the most basic guarantees of survival. If the people did not even have food to eat, the only way left was to rebel.

Relatively speaking, the grassland people are actually equivalent to a part of the wild people who are not under the jurisdiction of the Central Plains dynasty. The court also has to solve the survival problems of these people. As long as the problem is solved, these people can win without fighting.

But all dynasties wanted to drive these people out and ignored them.

Without a livelihood, wouldn't these people have to find ways to rob people in the Central Plains to survive?
As long as these people were given some food, the tribal leaders, big and small, would help the court manage the herdsmen under their jurisdiction, even if they became village heads or county magistrates.

If the profits from war are far lower than normal transactions, who would still want to go to war?

So Li Yan explained the mystery in detail to Li Shimin and his ministers, and then said: "In fact, the grassland is vast and boundless, and the nomadic people live by following the water and grass. Just like the people in the Central Plains, as long as they can have enough food, who would be willing to abandon their homes and careers and go to the battlefield with their heads on their shoulders?"

"Food is the most important thing for the people. As long as the Tang Dynasty can take care of the grassland people's stomachs, the grassland will win without a fight."

"Otherwise, no matter how powerful the Tang Dynasty is and how many soldiers it can send out, it will never be able to kill all the grassland people. As long as there are grasslands, there will be cattle, sheep and horses. As long as there are cattle, sheep and horses, there will be a steady supply of cavalry."

"You can't kill them all, you can't eliminate them all."

These words made Li Shimin thoughtful, and even Fang Xuanling and Li Jing were speechless. However, after thinking about it, it made sense.

Whether in the Central Plains or the grasslands, the real battlefield is never about soldiers and guns, but about food and survival.

Li Shimin felt that he had heard the truth that Li Yan said before. He thought about it carefully and said with a look of reminiscence on his face: "I also heard a young man say this a few years ago. It seems that you all have a deep understanding of the grassland and have reached the same conclusion."

Li Yan's face froze, but luckily he was wearing a mask so the other party couldn't see his expression.

Isn't it? That's what I said myself.
Li Yan had tried his best to change the way he spoke, and told it from a completely different angle, but the principle was the same, no wonder Li Shimin felt familiar with it. However, this little bit of similarity was not enough to make him doubt his identity.

Li Yan couldn't help but clench the hand in his sleeve, pretending to be curious: "Oh, who is he, has he been to the grassland too?"

Li Shimin's face was heavy and he was in low spirits. He shook his head and said, "He was five or six years younger than you. Unfortunately, he has been dead for a long time."

This was the first time Fang Xuanling and Li Jing had heard this logic. Li Yan interpreted the interdependence between the two major nations, and the war and peace derived from this basis, in a unique way from an economic perspective.

The two seemed to see the deep-seated reasons for the conflict, and they both fell into deep thought, frowning for a while, and then looking excited.

This unique perspective seemed to have opened the shackles in the mind of Fang Xuanling, the chief architect of the Tang Dynasty, and his vision suddenly became unprecedentedly broad.

In the past, he had always thought about governing the country and resisting powerful enemies in terms of the army and war, believing that if he had the military power, he would own the world. Now that he thought about it, war was nothing more than the inevitable product of the accumulation of social contradictions that had reached an irreconcilable level.

The fundamental cause of the war lies in people's livelihood and survival.

Fang Xuanling felt that his ideas had been almost completely overturned. Various thoughts emerged like a volcanic eruption, as if he had grasped the core of social development. Fang Xuanling's face flushed with excitement, and his chest heaved violently.

After a long time, everyone calmed down.

Fang Xuanling straightened his clothes, then bowed respectfully to Li Yan, his waist almost reaching the ground.

He stood up and said solemnly: "The sage said, if you hear the truth in the morning, you can die in the evening. I have benefited a lot from listening to your words today. Thank you for your teachings."

Li Shimin was slightly surprised, but Li Jing smiled slightly. He seemed to have just experienced a storm of thoughts and understood this very well. Although he was not as formal as Fang Xuanling, he also bowed to Li Yan to show that he had learned something.

Li Yan sat there without moving his buttocks. Advanced ideas often bring great progress to society. Li Yan could accept this gift calmly. It was not because of his ability, but because he was bearing it for the people who worked hard for social development in the future.

(End of this chapter)