Such an order has not appeared on the grassland for a long time. Now that such an order has appeared, it means that they have absolute dominance on the grassland. Li Xiang does not have many soldiers under his command, but these soldiers have amazing attack power.
For example, a large tribe with three or four thousand people should be very strong, but facing Li Xiang's cavalry of 500 people, such a large tribe has no ability to resist at all. This cavalry of 500 people set up artillery in the distance and bombarded the tribe. When the whole tribe was in chaos, the cavalry came directly from the outside, and the whole tribe was finished in less than half an hour.
Such examples are happening all over the Turkic steppe, and many unbelieving tribes have been dealt with, so now the steppe is full of legends about Li Xiang. If you don't obey, then watch your tribe disappear on the steppe.
After receiving the order, the heads of each tribe immediately mounted their war horses and galloped towards Li Xiang at the fastest speed. They did not dare to stop even at night. Seven days was a long time for some nearby tribes, but for some distant tribes, they had to travel day and night. If they did not hurry, they would not be able to arrive on time.
What others call slaughtering everyone is just talk at best. It is impossible to really kill all the people in a tribe. But it is different for the butcher Li Xiang. He has really done such a thing before.
At that time, the entire tribe betrayed the Tang Dynasty and brought huge casualties to the Tang Dynasty. There was no need for such a tribe to survive, so Li Xiang made the tribe disappear. This matter also spread throughout the grassland. If you want to test whether the knives of Li Xiang's men are sharp enough, then don't come within seven days.
“What should we do when these tribal leaders arrive?”
In Li Xiang's tent, Niu Jinda didn't quite understand Li Xiang's plan. Why had he summoned all these people? Was it just for a meeting? That would be a huge waste of manpower and resources. According to Niu Jinda, we should attack north now.
"As usual, we'll bring his most important relatives to Chang'an. This way, he'll be more cautious in what he does. He may not necessarily obey us completely, but it won't be the same as before. We'll also have to relocate them. Each tribe will have to exchange water and pasture land. Their strength will be greatly reduced in the new location. This will make it easier for us to manage them. We'll establish a Turkic Protectorate to manage everything on the Turkic steppe."
Li Xiang drew lines on the map and said that these two people did not understand the use of these lines. Li Xiang used these lines to divide the entire grassland. Then he would let these people report to the Protectorate regularly. If someone did not come, we would be able to detect their movements in advance, and then we could take action in advance.
Li Xiang also required each tribe to contribute a portion of its soldiers to form a coalition force under the Protectorate.
Half of the Protectorate's army is made up of the Tang army, and the other half is soldiers from various tribes. Whenever something happens, the court will order them to attack first. Although the tribes are connected, there is also a lot of hatred between them. As long as the Protectorate can use this hatred reasonably, we will be able to manage the Turkic steppe well.
"I was wondering why Tuyuhun was so well-governed. When I heard the news in Liaodong, I thought it was a little impossible. I didn't expect that Your Highness would have so many ideas. If those people on the Tuyuhun grasslands could break these things, they would be really lucky."
Su Dingfang really admired Li Xiang. When it came to managing vassal states, no one was more capable than Li Xiang.
Although there were various systems before the Tang Dynasty, these systems were all continuations of the previous dynasty. In this situation, the systems may no longer be suitable, and we must strengthen management.
Everything must be persisted in. At the beginning of each dynasty, the management of vassal states was very strict, but it would be relaxed after a period of time. It was during this period of relaxation that rebellions broke out in various places.
"Just learn this, kid. You'll all be the ones expanding territory for the Tang Dynasty in the future, and these things will be useful. We can still fight side by side now, but if I don't go out with you in the future, you'll have to use this set on the new lands too. It will keep you safe for a hundred years."
There was something hidden in what Li Xiang said, and Su Dingfang and Niu Jinda immediately became interested. They believed that there was no danger around the Tang Dynasty now, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince kept talking about conquering overseas. What was it like overseas?
Now that they say they won't fight together, that means His Highness will stay in Chang'an. Does this officially sound the clarion call for the fight for the throne? However, when they thought of this, they shook their heads again. It seemed that none of the princes and grandchildren in Chang'an City could be His Highness's opponent. There was no need to fight at all.
"You always talk about expanding the territory for the Tang Dynasty, but now we've almost conquered all the places around us. Where can we attack next?"
Niu Jinda was a straightforward person and he didn't want to guess, so he just asked directly: Do we want to conquer all the areas around the Tang Dynasty?
"You asked a good question. This time we are heading north, to the area where the Xueyantuo are located, but that is not our destination. We must continue north and stop only when we reach the sea there. From then on, all the way north will be our territory."
Li Xiang took out another map. This map was a rough sketch of Asia by Li Xiang. It did not exist in that era. Although the appearance might be different, the general direction was correct.
"Isn't the northernmost point the North Sea? That's where Su Wu grazed his sheep?"
Su Dingfang thought of an anecdote and immediately felt his body ablaze. It was said that this place was the Xiongnu's base camp and their northernmost point. If we could capture it, how vast would the territory of our Tang Dynasty be? According to some of the elders in the barracks, the distance from Beihai to Chang'an City was tens of thousands of miles. I wonder if that's true, but if the Tang Empire was that vast, just thinking about it was exciting.
"That's not the North Sea, but let's call it the North Sea for now. It's not our destination. Our destination is further north, to a place called the Arctic Ocean."
Li Xiang wrote the words "Arctic Ocean" at the top of the map...