Chapter 1630: We Want to Be Dogs of Great Tang!! (5/5, please subscribe)

No race is willing to be treated as a beast that drinks blood and eats raw flesh.

The Turks were unwilling, and so were the Uyghurs!

Every people yearns to be respected.

And this kind of thing, since antiquity, only Li Shimin has achieved it.

In terms of military force, he conquered the four barbarians.

In terms of policy, the four barbarians submitted.

Heavenly Khaghan was absolutely the highest praise the surrounding peoples of Great Tang could bestow upon Li Shimin.

Standing from the perspective of later ages, there are always people who feel that Li Tang's policies had problems, that they fattened up the alien races and caused the turmoil of later generations.

This is actually a bit of nonsense.

The policies toward the four barbarians actually had their historical roots.

Employing the four barbarians brought Li Tang enormous benefits.

First, it could check and balance the great clans.

Before Huang Chao, even with the imperial examination system, the selection of talent was still controlled by the Five Great Clans and Seven Great Families; at times, nearly seventy to eighty percent of officials across the realm were people connected to the Five Great Clans and Seven Great Families.

Under such circumstances, how could Li Shimin not want to find ways to check and balance the great clans?

Distributing official posts to the alien races was, at the time, a solution that wasn't really a solution.

After all, although the alien races were harmful, the harm was far less than letting the Five Great Clans and Seven Great Families ruin the state affairs.

Moreover, because of Li Shimin's grace, the alien races, once given official posts, became extremely loyal.

Second, to annihilate a people—setting aside talk of offending Heaven and such—just speaking of economics, it simply wasn't cost-effective.

The Great Tang dynasty had just been established, with everything waiting to be rebuilt.

The national treasury didn't have much money or grain, and the population wasn't large either; once a true war of national extermination was launched, Great Tang might not be able to withstand the strain at all.

Did you not see how great a price Han Wu Emperor Liu Che paid to annihilate the Xiongnu?

The day the Xiongnu were crippled was also the moment Great Han was on its last breath.

The lesson of the fallen cart was still fresh; Li Shimin could not have failed to see it.

Moreover, during Li Shimin's reign, the national strength was not necessarily richer than during Han Wu's reign.

Waging a war of national extermination would simply be courting destruction.

Under such circumstances, subduing the various peoples became the best approach.

To subdue the enemy's troops without fighting—the supreme strategy of all.

Third, the submission of the four barbarians had another benefit: economy.

With the alien races' troops, whether attacking the Western Regions or other places, Great Tang's interior didn't need to send many people at all—just one imperial decree would suffice.

This was also extremely good for the common people of Great Tang.

The battlefield, with its murderous dangers, is no gentle place.

Letting the people of the Central Plains avoid experiencing so much war and fire was itself a form of protection, allowing the populace to rest and recover.

As for saying it fattened up the alien races and brought disaster upon later generations (dadg).

This is rather strange.

Before Li Shimin, no one was fattening up the alien races either; whether the Five Barbarians' Uprising or the Xiongnu, weren't they also terrifyingly strong, giving the Central Plains dynasties massive headaches?

If later generations are unfilial, they blame the previous dynasty?

As for the leakage of technology, that indeed has some issues.

But no matter how brilliant Li Shimin was, could he possibly expect the horse to run without letting it eat grass?

When the various peoples fought bravely, the rewards and benefits they deserved certainly could not be skimped on.

And not to speak of ancient times—even in modern times, with all kinds of encryption technology highly developed, blocking technology is still a very difficult thing.

Unless one completely seals off the country.