Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

After solving the biggest problem of population migration, Li Shimin felt relieved.

His eyes swept across the important officials on both sides of the hall, he nodded slightly, and then spoke loudly.

"My dear ministers, let's discuss the second question now. How should we use the captured livestock?"

The livestock Li Shimin mentioned mainly refers to oxen for draft, followed by horses.

Tang Jian, the Minister of Finance, was the first to speak: "Your Majesty, I think that oxen can be given to the migrating people for farming. If there are not enough oxen, some war horses with worn horseshoes can be used."

"According to the Ministry of Revenue's inventory, a total of 128642 war horses were seized, of which 41662 had worn-out horseshoes, and nearly 1 were incompetent horses."

"Including the 11394 horses we wore out ourselves, there are more than 6 horses in total that can be awarded to soldiers or distributed to the people."

Horses with worn hooves and short and incompetent horses are basically not suitable for use as war horses.

These horses can neither carry heavy loads nor be ridden, and they are even worse than oxen at plowing the soil.

For the imperial court, these useless horses were completely useless and would be a pity to abandon them.

Hou Junji sighed and said, "In every battle, tens of thousands of horses were lost due to worn-out horseshoes. What a pity!"

"If there is a way to repair worn horseshoes, it can save our treasury a lot of money!"

Hou Junji now served as Shangshu You Pushe, and began to worry about the court's financial expenditures.

Therefore, when Tang Jian mentioned the horses with worn horseshoes, he expressed such emotion.

Li Ji also nodded and said, "War horses are used too frequently, often running hundreds of miles, plus there are a lot of gravels on the official road over there, so it is unavoidable that the horseshoes will wear out."

"But the damage to the horseshoe is irreversible and cannot be cured!"

When a large army goes to war, in addition to food and fodder and the bounties of the soldiers, the loss of war horses is also a major expense.

Because each war horse was extremely expensive, costing more than ten strings of coins, and some generals' majestic war horses cost as much as a hundred strings of coins.

For example, the white warhorse of King Yuanfen seized by Xue Rengui is probably worth thousands of strings of cash.

There have been people who specialize in treating horses in every dynasty, but no one has ever been able to cure worn-out horse hooves.

When Du He heard Hou Junji and Li Ji mention the wear and tear of horseshoes, his expression froze.

"Why didn't I think of getting the horseshoe out!"

Making horseshoes is not a particularly difficult process. As long as there is a reference template, an ordinary blacksmith can make one.

Thinking of this, Du He pinched his chin and thought secretly in his heart.

"It's a great achievement to get the horseshoe out!"

"We can also make a curved plow!"

He is now in charge of the Ministry of Works, responsible for the system of civil engineering construction, the method of using tools, the method of dredging canals and dams, the method of military farming, and the system of providing for mausoleums.

These involve the manufacture of tools, and are all the work of the Ministry of Industry.

Thinking of the two major things he could do as the Minister of Works, Du He's mood instantly became cheerful.

Just as Li Shimin and a group of ministers were lamenting the wear and tear of their war horses, he leisurely poured himself a cup of tea and sipped it leisurely.

When Li Chengqian saw Du He's expression, he knew that he might have some good ideas in his mind.

So he spoke again: "Du He, do you have any idea about the solution to the problem of horseshoe wear?"

"If you have a good idea, don't hide it. Come up with it right away. It can help save the national treasury from a lot of losses!"

puff...

Du He almost couldn't help spitting out the hot tea in his mouth.

Why is this unlucky kid Li Chengqian always staring at him?

Couldn't he wait for him to make the horseshoes in secret and then surprise Li Shimin and his ministers?

Du He quickly waved his hands and said, "Your Highness, this is a problem that has not been solved for thousands of years. How can I have any idea about it?"

"But I am now the Minister of Industry, so I can try to solve this eternal problem."

He had just been promoted to the Minister of Works, and he did not receive much reward for proposing a solution to the problem of horseshoe wear on this occasion.

He could neither be promoted to a higher position nor to a higher title.

Rewards of gold, silver or silk cloth were of no use to him.

It would be better to give the credit to the third brother Du Aitong. With the killer weapon of arithmetic, it would be enough to promote Du Aitong two or three levels.

Li Chengqian curled his lips.

Du He never does anything without confidence. Since he is willing to try to solve the problem, he must have a solution in mind.

However, since Du He was unwilling to say, he did not continue to ask.

Li Shimin smiled and said, "Du He, if you can solve the problem of horseshoe wear, I will give you a great achievement!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

Du He stood up and responded.

This is right!

Good things cannot be brought out immediately. If they are too easy to solve, they may be considered to have no technical content and will not receive better rewards.

Only by saving it and taking it out at the critical moment can we ensure maximum benefits.

After this little episode, everyone got the topic back on track.

Fang Xuanling, Gao Shilian and others put forward their own opinions on the disposal of livestock.

They all agreed that the oxen would be given to the migrating people, the horses that were intact would be returned to the court, and the horses with worn shoes would be rewarded to the soldiers and the people.

Li Shimin said to Tang Jian, "Tang Jian, the way to deal with the livestock will be in accordance with what the ministers said. Go back and prepare a detailed memorial and submit it to me."

"As ordered!"

Tang Jian responded with a relaxed look.

Li Shimin nodded, frowned slightly and said, "My dear ministers, how should we place the children brought back from Baekje?"

Although the ship sank due to storms at sea and nearly 5 Baekje children were buried in the sea, 3 people were still brought back.

It is more difficult to accommodate so many young children than to accommodate millions of livestock.

Faced with this thorny problem, all the ministers lowered their heads and began to think.

Du He was afraid that Li Chengqian would continue to trick him, so he didn't dare to taste the tea. Instead, he followed the other ministers and pretended to think with his head down.

The Liangyi Hall also fell into silence for a long time.

After a long time.

Fang Xuanling frowned and said, "Your Majesty, why not place the children of Baekje in Jiaozhou and have the court pay for their upbringing, and then open up the wasteland of Annan when they grow up?"

During the Sui Dynasty, Jiaozhou was ruled by Li Fuzi, so Emperor Wen of Sui sent General Liu Fang to the south to conquer and recapture Nanyue.

Later, the world was in chaos and Jiaozhou was occupied by Xiao Xin's forces.

After the fall of the Sui Dynasty, Li Jing led his troops to annihilate Xiao Xin's forces entrenched in Jiaozhou and set up the Annan Protectorate there.

From then on, Nanyue was incorporated into the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

Hearing Fang Xuanling's arrangement, Du He shook his head slightly and complained in his heart.

"Raising a tiger is a disaster!"

Although the territory of Nanyue was under the control of the Tang Dynasty, there were hundreds of thousands of Nanyue people living in that territory, and they were not of the same mind as the Han people.

If we move these young children from Baekje there now, wouldn't that be like nurturing a tiger to cause trouble?