Li Shimin put away the world map drawn by Xia Hongsheng, then turned to Xia Hongsheng and said, "In this case, how is Xia Qing going to operate these envoys to the Tang Dynasty?" ”

"The purpose of sending Tang envoys to Datang is to learn things. Then let's let them learn and arrange local learning for them. However, when we arrange the place, we must be particular. First of all, it is necessary to separate these envoys from their entourage and prevent them from conveying information through the hands of their entourage. Xia Hongsheng said to Li Shimin: "Secondly, when arranging these envoys to the Tang Dynasty, understand what they are good at in advance, and then avoid those they are good at arranging." Thirdly, all the envoys who were assigned to study should arrange for a spy officer to pretend to be an attendant and monitor them at all times to prevent them from learning anything really useful. In addition, all the envoys sent to Tang should arrange for them to study ideological and political education! ”

"These are the same as I think." Li Shimin nodded and said: "I will ask about the situation, and those who want to learn the culture of my Tang Dynasty will be allowed to be sent to the Guozi Prison, so that they can learn the Four Books and Five Classics, and learn to compose poems and lyrics." ”

"Your Majesty greets!" Xia Hongsheng laughed and said, "Not only that, Your Majesty, these envoys to the Tang Dynasty, we have good food and drink, how to be extravagant." What you want to learn from irrelevant things, but the technology can't be given to him, so that it is loose on the outside and tight on the inside. Why can't those Tang envoys stay in our Datang for a few years? In the past few years, they have all become accustomed to the life of fine clothes and food. When they return, let's plant spies, and second, send things, all kinds of gifts! Doesn't he like Buddhist scriptures? Okay, send a boat and let them see enough! Let's take our liquor, tea, and glass...... In short, all kinds of eating, drinking, and pleasure things, as well as those luxuries, send! Send it all! If you give a lot, it is better for the lord and the main ministers to indulge in it and develop a habit of luxury. He can't make those things, and the things sent to them always have to be shared, but their habit of arrogant comparison has been formed, so they can only ask our Datang again. The first time was a gift for our return visit, and in the future, it can't be given in vain. It's all commodity, you have to buy it! In this way, the wealth of the Wa Kingdom will be in the hands of our Datang. Luxury goods are very expensive, and the more you buy, the more the people of the Japanese country will be looted, and the more they will be centrifuged up and down. At this time, our spies began to operate, instigating the people of the Japanese Kingdom to revolt and rebel, causing the Japanese Kingdom to fall into civil strife. ”

Li Shimin listened to Xia Hongsheng's method, and couldn't help laughing: "Xia Qing's economic warfare is really familiar, so he gave birth to a Japanese country, and he was stirred up into a muddy water by Xia Qing so effortlessly. ”

"Hehe, Your Majesty, it's not over yet!" Xia Hongsheng smiled and continued: "There is turmoil in the Wa Kingdom, and we are not in a hurry at this time. The various forces within the Japanese Kingdom are vying for the world, and there must be constant scuffles, and our Datang can just make a lot of war money. In the event of civil strife, there will certainly be people who will seek support from the outside. The ability of the three kingdoms of Goguryeo could not really help them, so they had to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty in order to gain the support of the Tang Dynasty. Next, we can treat Xue Yantuo and the Turks just like we did with Xue Yantuo and the Turks, let's sell weapons! The Wa Kingdom is very backward, and there is little iron ore in its country, only the nobles can have iron weapons, and most of the soldiers are still made of wood! If our Datang 100 refining steel—not to mention 100 refinements, 50 refining is enough—sells these weapons, then the person who gets these weapons will inevitably be invincible. When others look at it, they must be red-eyed! So I also bought it from our Datang. And so on and so forth. As a result, those turbulent forces in the country rushed to buy weapons from our Datang, which in turn caused them to fall into an arms race. On the one hand, our Datang has gained great wealth, on the other hand, the arms race has dragged down and weakened the power of the turbulent separatist forces of the Japanese State. At that time, only my Tang Navy Division used the civil strife of pacifying the vassal country as an excuse, and a few ships passed over, and this Japanese country was taken without bloodshed. ”

Li Shimin nodded and said, "Since the battle to destroy the Turks, I have understood the power of economic warfare. The Turks were controlled by our Datang grain and grass, and when it froze to death countless cattle and sheep, as soon as our Datang cut off its grain business, the Turks immediately went hungry and had no combat effectiveness. I thought that maybe one day in the future, my Datang would be able to bring it to its knees with the economy alone. ”

Hearing Li Shimin's conversation, Xia Hongsheng rolled his eyes and immediately said, "What Your Majesty said is true. There were once two small city-states in the West, one of which was rich because of its gold deposits, and the other was so poor that its people were hired to work in the other country and earn their lives for their lives. The poor country was naturally greedy, so it decided to send troops to attack the rich country. So the lord of the rich nation ordered that the people of another country should work there, and expelled them all. Most of the people of a poor country rely on working in a rich country to have food to survive, and when they hear that because their country is attacking a rich country, the rich country will no longer allow them to work, and this will cut off their way of life! So these people rebelled and overthrew the lord of the poor country, preventing him from attacking the rich one. Then they will be able to work again and be fed. Your Majesty, the rich nation has defeated the poor without much effort. Your Majesty, when our Datang's economy is strong enough and its influence is huge enough, what Your Majesty said will definitely come true. ”

"Not bad." Li Shimin nodded, his eyes were firm, he took a deep breath, and said in a deep voice: "Ten years, ten years at most!" I must make the Tang Dynasty rich enough, the people have their own land, no longer worry about food and drink, the army can move at any time, and no longer have to be limited by food and salary! ”

Xia Hongsheng sighed in his heart - Li Shimin's concept still needs to be changed.

Listening to what he said, it can be seen that in Li Shimin's concept, wealth is still limited to grain and land. Even if it is said that Li Shimin's concept is still at the stage of "farming," it is still a small-scale peasant economy. I haven't realized that what can really bring prosperity to this country is "business"!

However, Li Shimin has realized the importance of the economy, which is still a big progress. As for his economic concept, it can only be slowly reversed in the future. (To be continued.) )