The grassland is the same as the Central Plains. After the grassland is unified by a tribe, there will be no disputes and no wars on the grassland. Then a powerful grassland empire will be formed, and the population will grow rapidly.
If this nomadic empire can still plunder supplies from outside to nourish the grassland, then the population will only grow faster.
In recent years, the Mongolian grassland has been peaceful, and with the supply of materials from the Central Plains, the population has been approaching the limit of the grassland.
One of the important reasons for Mongolia's Western Expedition was that the Mongolian grasslands were divided up by the older generation of clan kings, and the Mongols needed more living space.
The younger generation of clan kings, even Batu and Hulagu, needed to leave the Mongolian grasslands and seize land westward in order to have their own khanates and fiefdoms.
In the past, the Central Plains provided support and the grasslands were plentiful, so the crisis was not obvious.
In the past two years, Mongolia lost its Han territory and was unable to obtain food and supplies from the Central Plains. The Mongolian tribes on the grasslands soon fell into crisis.
If normal times are good, each tribe can still maintain its population through grazing, and the tribe can still survive.
If there is a natural disaster and there is no food plundered from the Central Plains to survive the winter, people will freeze to death or starve to death.
The Hetao area can be said to be the most fertile pasture in Mongolia. It could have been self-sufficient, but the arrival of Batu broke the balance of supply and demand here.
Faced with the sudden arrival of more than 30,000 Mongolian troops and more than 100,000 war horses, the Mongolian tribes in Hetao simply could not afford to support them.
As a result, the two sides had to compete for the survival resources of the Hetao, and conflicts between Batu and the local tribes inevitably broke out.
These tribes did not have enough food for themselves and were unwilling to provide military rations to Batu, and Batu naturally would not let his soldiers starve to death.
Therefore, fierce conflicts first broke out among the Mongolians in the Hetao area in order to compete for survival resources, pastures, cattle and sheep.
This kind of battle for resources can be extremely cruel. The losing tribe will be deprived of pasture, cattle and sheep, and almost face death.
Although Guyu immediately sent someone to mediate after receiving the news, the chaos continued for three months.
Three months later, the number of Mongolians in the Hetao area dropped sharply by nearly 40,000, and the unrest gradually subsided.
After Zhao Tai inspected Luoyang, he decided to adopt Wang Bin's suggestion, designate Luoyang as the capital of the king, and transferred officials to start planning and building the Luoyang palace.
Of course, Qi has just unified the north and needs a period of time to digest and recuperate.
In the short term, Zhao Tai does not plan to recruit civilians and build palaces, but rectifying roads and dredging canals, which are beneficial to people's livelihood and conducive to the construction of palaces in the future, can be done during the slack time.
After all, when the time comes to transport wood and stone, these will all be used.
After staying in Luoyang for a while, Zhao Tai led the army back to Yecheng for food to relieve the logistical pressure.
At the end of July, the civil strife among the Mongols in Hetao subsided, but this incident reminded Zhao Tai.
Yecheng, inside the palace.
Zhao Tai convened many civil and military officials to discuss Qi's future national policy.
At this time, Zhao Tai asked Wang Bin to introduce the situation of the Mongolians in the Hetao area, and then said to everyone in a deep voice: "Before, the Mongolians had food supplies from the Central Plains. They had no worries about food and drink, and their population grew rapidly. Now, Mongolia has been invaded by us. Returning to the grasslands, they cannot obtain food from the central plains, so they think that the Mongols will take action in order to survive."
After hearing his words, everyone in the hall couldn't help but talk.
Wang Wentong said: "Your Majesty, the civil strife in Mongolia in Hetao shows that Mongolia's resources are already very tight. I am worried that they will go south to plunder Daqi after autumn."
Zhao Tai nodded: "Right now, the resources of various Mongolian tribes are scarce, and the jungle has always been the strong prey on the grasslands. Before, they were able to obtain money and food from the outside, and the tribes lived in peace. Now that they have no external blood transfusions, the tribes will compete with each other for survival resources such as cattle, sheep, and pasture. Of course, it is also possible that they would gather again and plunder Daqi to obtain money and food, as Wang Xueshi said. What I mean is that this autumn and winter, we must increase our troops to defend the northern border, making it difficult for the Mongols to obtain supplies from Daqi. "
Wang Bin said: "Your Majesty is wise! If this happens, the Mongolian tribes will inevitably be in civil strife, and once they attack each other, the time will come for me, the Qi Dynasty, to destroy the Song Dynasty!"
Now Qi is geographically flanked by Mongolia and Song Dynasty. If Zhao Tai wants to unify the world, he must contain Mongolia so that Mongolia has no time to look south, so that he can safely destroy Song Dynasty.
After Zhao Tai heard that there was civil strife among the Mongols in Hetao, he had a plan in mind to deal with the Mongols.
At this time, he nodded, and then ordered: "Within Mongolia, Guyu, Batu, and Mengge were already at odds with each other. Now that Mongolia lacks resources, the rift between them will only expand further. What Gu means is , in the next few years, the grain trade with Mongolia must be strictly inspected at all border passes, and not a single grain of grain or iron is allowed to flow into Mongolia. In addition, the border troops are strictly guarded to prevent the Mongolians from raking grass and grain. This will not happen. In three years, Mongolia will inevitably fight among themselves!"
The Mongol Empire destroyed countless countries and plundered a lot of money, food and materials.
Zhao Tai felt that the Qi army blocked the border and cut off Mongolia's channels for obtaining supplies from Qi.
In less than three years, Mongolia's savings will be exhausted.
At that time, each tribe will inevitably have civil strife in order to survive.
This is the same as the late Central Plains Dynasty, when the population was large, land was annexed, the poor people launched uprisings in order to survive, and the suppressed forces rebelled in order to redistribute benefits, which eventually led to the collapse of the dynasty.
If Zhao Tai's plan can be realized, the northern Mongolian tribes will be united and may even split like the Huns and Turks.
At that time, Zhao Tai raised troops to destroy Song Dynasty, so he no longer had to worry about being attacked from both sides.
Wang Bin asked: "Does your Majesty only prohibit grain and iron from flowing into Mongolia?"
Before Zhao Tai could explain, Wang Wentong said: "The flow of food into Mongolia can help Mongolia survive famine, maintain their population, and prevent Mongolian tribes from attacking each other due to hunger. The flow of iron into Mongolia will allow Mongolia to obtain more weapons." and armor to enhance the combat effectiveness of the Mongolian army. Therefore, these two items must be banned. As for the flow of tea, porcelain, cloth and other materials into Mongolia. Although it can solve some difficulties in Mongolian life, Mongolia needs to exchange cattle and sheep, which will This will further reduce the food for the Mongols and increase their crisis. However, there is a premise for this, which is that when trading with them, we do not accept gold, silver, or copper coins, only Mongolian livestock."
After hearing this, Wang Bin and others couldn't help but nod their heads.
Zhao Tai immediately said: "Since everyone has no objection, let's implement it like this. In addition, before, Mongolia was monolithic and it was difficult for the Jin Yiwei to penetrate. Now our opportunity has come. The Jin Yiwei will take action to instigate fights among the Mongolian tribes and instigate some who failed in the struggle. The Mongolian tribes went south and joined Da Qi."
Hearing this, everyone clasped their fists and saluted, "Yes!"
