At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 534: The Rise of Civilization and the Uncrowned King Hu Hai
The war failed, and the Huns naturally wanted to investigate the reasons. They soon found out that it was Liu Bang who caused their defeat. After all, Liu Bang was too high-profile. It was difficult for a Han vassal to hide the news after two years of eating, drinking and having fun in the Parthian Empire.

At the beginning, the Huns did not care. They did not think that an old Han noble would cause much damage to them.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bang provided the Parthians with artillery, and the most advanced artillery of the Han Dynasty. Liu Bang's artillery could fire farther and had greater power than theirs, which led to their defeat.

The dissatisfied military officials filed a complaint with Xu Fan, saying that Liu Bang, as a vassal of the Han Dynasty, failed to distinguish between internal and external affairs, helped foreign races, and attacked the vassal states of the Han Dynasty, and even asked the emperor to make decisions for the Xiongnu Kingdom.

Xu Fan still needed the Xiongnu Kingdom to crush these Western civilizations, and naturally did not want to see the Xiongnu Kingdom fail, so he sent someone to order Liu Bang not to go to Parthia to cause trouble, and at the same time sent 50 new artillery pieces to appease the military officials.

Because of Liu Bang, Xu Fan began to pay attention to the intelligence of the World Island Center. He was amazed at the resilience of the Parthian Empire. Although it was one of the four great empires, the Parthian Empire was obviously not as famous as Rome. Originally, Xu Fan only knew the name of this country, and knew nothing else. He thought that the Xiongnu Kingdom could easily crush this so-called one of the four ancient civilizations.

After all, the Xiongnu State had been strengthened by him, and its weapons and equipment had been strengthened to the level of the Liao and Song dynasties. Soldiers' equipment was generally iron and heavy, and there were a few firearms. At the same time, the Xiongnu people were also in a prosperous period. They were full of expansionist ambitions from top to bottom. Whether in terms of organization or combat effectiveness, the Xiongnu people at this time should not be much worse than the Mongols. The Whip of God should have struck these Qin people two thousand years in advance.

But the reality is that the Huns attacked the Parthian Empire for ten years. Although they were able to suppress the Parthian Empire, the Parthian Empire also showed its strong vitality as one of the four ancient countries. Even now, it is not without the power to resist.

The most important thing is that the invasion of the Huns caused panic among all the powerful countries in the region. These countries all supported the Parthian Empire, which allowed the Parthian Empire to quickly recover every time it was beaten by the Huns.

It can only be said that the enemies encountered by the Xiongnu were far more powerful than the Mongols. This area was actually full of powerful countries, and these powerful countries were all in a period of rising national strength. The unformed Roman Empire, the Greek city-state alliance, the Segovia Empire, and the Parthian Empire were all in their heyday. At this time, the center of the world island was bursting with vitality, and the major powers were competing hard. Various civilizations were communicating here. If the cheating Han Dynasty was excluded, it would not be too much to say that this area was the center of civilization. This was completely different from Xu Fan's backward and conservative stereotype.

At this time, Xu Fan finally understood why people in later generations selected the four ancient civilizations during this period. This was indeed a peak period in the development of world civilization.

This discovery further strengthened Xu Fan's national policy, which was to only engage in trade in the areas west of the Western Regions, not to participate in any disputes between powerful countries, to strengthen the Huns as thugs, and to focus the Han Dynasty's main energy on digesting the territory of the New World.

Not only will these rising civilizations fail to absorb their land, but they may also be more likely to learn the Han Dynasty's weapons system and create more powerful enemies for the Han Dynasty itself. This is too much of a loss.

Because of Xu Fan's order, Liu Bang and Zhang Pijiang had to return to the Han Dynasty.

Zhang Pijiang wrote his experiences into "Journey to the West", which was warmly welcomed by the entire Han Dynasty. At that time, the Han Dynasty was in a period of comprehensive expansion, and the people there were more tolerant and open. They were very curious about foreign civilized countries and wanted to know information about these civilizations.

Zhang Pijiang had this experience and was hired by Mozi Academy as a geography teacher. He specifically told the students of the Han Dynasty about what happened in the civilization of the world's central island and the various military and political systems of these countries.

Zhang Pijiang looked at Xu Aimin and smiled, "I am following in my father's footsteps."

Then the two hugged each other.

The two found a quiet pavilion to sit together, and Xu Aimin first talked about his experiences in the New World over the past few years.

The Maya, a group of modern primitive people, also aroused Zhang Pijiang's great interest. The towering pyramids, bloody sacrifices, and rich mineral resources could even cause the price of silver in the Han Dynasty to plummet. However, it was difficult for him to understand how a civilization without cars, bronze and iron tools could develop a population of millions. This was simply unscientific.

Zhang Pijiang thought for a moment and said, "Civilization can only flourish if there is communication. The New World is isolated from the outside world, and the Mayans have no way to communicate with the outside world, so their civilization has been stagnant."

He could only make such a guess. He had traveled tens of thousands of miles and met dozens of countries and civilizations. He found that the civilizations were very different. Civilizations like the Han Dynasty, which had entered industrialization, could almost be said to dominate the world. However, there were also some civilizations like India, which were under theocracy and had incredibly weak military power. It turned out that these charlatans did not know how to govern the country. (Based on what Zhang Pijiang saw, theocracy was indeed the weakest during this period. Of course, it turned around thousands of years later. It can only be said that no one could have imagined the development of history.)
The city-state civilization and aristocratic civilization are at the center of the world island. They are relatively more organized and have stronger combat capabilities. All the major powers are crowded in this area, so he made such a guess that communication is the reason for the prosperity of a civilization.

"The civilization in the center of the World Island is different. Although they are not as powerful as the Han Dynasty, and many city-states are still in a state of slavery, I can feel the prosperity of these civilizations. Those scholars are curious about exploring this unknown world. Their Senate and aristocratic system are full of martial virtues. I heard that in Rome, which is further west, there is also a national assembly, and even the Zhaogong and peace system from hundreds of years ago. Various systems are like a hundred flowers blooming. To be honest, the degree of prosperity of the civilization in the center of the World Island is beyond my imagination. They are the Han Dynasty decades ago."

Xu Aimin was a little surprised and asked, "Is the civilization in the center of the World Island really so prosperous?"

It's no wonder that he was skeptical. The first civilization discovered by the Han Dynasty was the Indian civilization, which was so weak that it was unbelievable that a trading company could conquer this civilization, not to mention the Mayan civilization that came later. In other words, the Han Dynasty's vision expanded outward by tens of thousands of miles, but it did not discover many powerful civilizations.

Zhang Pijiang nodded and said, "The center of the World Island is just like the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period of our Han Dynasty. Any powerful country can mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops. Any powerful country there can beat those chaotic countries in Tianzhu. Our ancestors were foresighted and eliminated these charlatans thousands of years ago, so that they could not interfere with the development of the world. I dare not imagine that the Han Dynasty will become like Tianzhu. What a terrible scene that would be."

Xu Aimin said: "The court should really pay attention to these countries. As far as the current situation is concerned, these countries can pose a certain threat to the Han Dynasty."

"No wonder my father has always emphasized that the Han Dynasty should pay attention to the development of the New World. Compared with the powerful country in the center of the World Island, Maya poses no threat to the Han Dynasty. Once the Han Dynasty has completely developed the New World and occupied the vast land of India, even if the powerful countries in the center of the World Island are unified, they will not be able to be the opponent of the Han Dynasty."

Speaking of Tianzhu, Zhang Pijiang thought for a moment and said, "The court should still pay more attention to the Tianzhu Trading Company and Hu Hai. We can no longer allow them to expand their influence in Tianzhu."

"Hu Hai?" Xu Aimin was stunned. The last time he heard Hu Hai's name was when he went to the New World. At that time, Hu Hai's reputation was already notorious because of the labor trade. Could such a person also have an impact on the Han Dynasty?

Zhang Pijiang smiled bitterly and said, "Although Hu Hai's reputation in the Han Dynasty is terrible, he is a figure that even children dare not cry at night in India. In the past ten years, Hu Hai has destroyed five countries in India. After that, he purged the monks and Kshatriya nobles in India. The population for the labor trade was obtained in this way."

If Zhang Pijiang had not been to India himself, he would not have believed that Hu Hai had such a great reputation in India. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was the uncrowned king.

Xu Aimin was puzzled and asked, "Since the Tianzhu Trading Company exploits the Tianzhu people so much, how can they pose a threat to the Han Dynasty?"

Xu Aiming also knew about what Hu Hai and his men had done in India. These were even more outrageous than what the princes in the New World had done. No one supported him, so how could he cause harm to the court?

Zhang Pijiang smiled bitterly and said, "Hu Hai purged all the nobles. Although he did not win the hearts of the Brahman and Kshatriya nobles, the lower classes of India liked Hu Hai very much."

Then Zhang Pijiang introduced to Xu Aimin the war between Hu Hai and the Indian nobles, or the war between the Han Dynasty merchants and the Indian nobles. Unlike other outsiders, they did not need to rule India in the traditional sense, but only needed the Indian market. This led to the Han Dynasty merchants' purge of Brahmin monks and Kshatriya nobles. On the one hand, these people occupied most of India's wealth. If merchants like Hu Hai wanted to make money in India, they would inevitably conflict with the local tyrants. This was an irreconcilable contradiction between the two sides.

The most important thing is that the military strength of the Han Dynasty was too strong, and the resistance of the Brahman monks and the Kshatriya nobles was almost negligible to the Han Dynasty. When these people were not even worthy of being dogs, they were naturally eaten up by the merchants of the Han Dynasty.

Merchants always bully the weak and fear the strong. They can sell silk, tea, porcelain and other goods with peace of mind in the center of the World Island, but robbing is more efficient in India. The Kshatriya nobles' corruption is their biggest original sin.

Second, Hu Hai's core interest is the financial industry. He may not care about other properties of India, even luxury goods such as gold and gems, but he must spread Fei Hai Money House all over India. The financial industry of India has always been controlled by the Brahmins in the temple. This makes it impossible to reconcile the conflicts between Hu Hai and these monks. It has directly reached the point of life and death. Only when one side is completely destroyed can the war stop.

Hu Hai became the initiator of the anti-Buddhist movement in India. He united India's small opposition religions and launched a devastating attack on India's largest religion, Brahmanism and Buddhism, completely destroying India's temple financial system.

Now Hu Hai's reputation in India is that of a demon king who destroys Buddhism, like Mara. If this were made into a TV series in the future, Hu Hai would be the enemy of the Buddha and the biggest boss behind the scenes.

Hu Hai's anti-Buddhist movement resulted in him suffering more than a dozen assassination attempts in India, so that when he was in India he wore both inner and outer armor and had dozens of guards to protect him.

But the effect was also extremely significant. The entire Indian financial system was controlled by his Feihai Money House. Now if other money houses in the Han Dynasty wanted to enter India, they could only rely on Hu Hai's leftovers.

The third is the inevitable turmoil caused by India's industrial upgrading. The Han Dynasty is too large, and if India bleeds for a few more years, this ancient country with thousands of years of civilization will not be able to withstand it.

In the first few years, because the Indian trading company exchanged a large amount of gold and silver back to the Han Dynasty, the economy of India collapsed directly. The Brahmins and Kshatriyas launched the first war to encircle and suppress the Indian trading company. Of course, they were defeated.

Although the Han Dynasty was successful in terms of military force, facing a group of poor people, the Han Dynasty's maritime merchants could not find anyone to buy their goods.

Hu Hai and his people were shocked to find that they had to make the Indians rich first before they could buy Han luxury goods such as silk, tea, porcelain, glass, etc.

They had to make India rich first so that their business could continue. Reality taught them what balanced trade was. If they only sold without buying, even a mountain of gold would not be able to sustain the business and trade would not be able to continue.

After much deliberation, Hu Hai and his men discovered that the Indians had a tradition of growing cotton, so they made the cotton industry the pillar industry of India and used cotton to balance the trade deficit between the two sides.

But cotton is not so easy to grow. It has a low yield. Half of the weight of a cotton flower is cotton seeds. The labor required to grow cotton is several times higher than that of grain.

This led to the fact that people like Hu Hai needed labor and land, but India was in a slavery period at that time, which was extremely unfriendly to Hu Hai and his people.

There were only serfs here, no farmers. The land in India belonged to either Brahmin monks or Kshatriya nobles. Ordinary Indians had almost no private land.

India at that time was a bit like the Spring and Autumn Period of the Han Dynasty. All the land belonged to the country. Brahmin monks got a piece, Kshatriya nobles got a piece, and then the smaller nobles and village elders got a piece. In short, they worked together and harvested together. Most of the harvest was handed over to the nobles, and the lowest-level serfs got a portion of food that was not enough to fill them up but not enough to kill them.

But it was impossible to grow cash crops in this situation. Hu Hai and his people had neither farmers nor enough land to grow cotton.

The land and serfs were in the hands of the Brahmin monks and Kshatriya nobles. If one wanted to grow cotton, one had to first take the land and population from these nobles. So the Indian Trading Company destroyed India and other two countries with relatively large populations and territories. Each of the Han Dynasty's maritime merchants was allocated more than 100,000 acres of land in India and planted cotton. Only then could India's trade continue to operate healthily.

Zhang Pijiang shook his head and said, "Hu Hai distributed land equally in Tianzhu, which made him very prestigious among the lower-class people in Tianzhu. In recent years, Tianzhu trading companies have vigorously developed cotton fields. Now there are more than 200 million acres of cotton fields in Tianzhu. Tianzhu's largest trade commodity is cotton. Tianzhu can import 100 million tons of cotton to the Han Dynasty every year, which is worth more than billion yuan. Now the owners of major trading companies in Tianzhu are trying to find ways to develop cotton fields in Tianzhu, and all of this is presided over by Hu Hai. In addition, he has monopolized the entire Tianzhu money market. It is not an exaggeration to say that Hu Hai is the current king of Tianzhu."

Xu Aimin couldn't believe it and said, "If the situation in Tianzhu is really so serious, how come the court doesn't know about it? Didn't my father send officials to monitor the Tianzhu Trading Company?"

Zhang Pijiang said: "I don't know either, but I know that we can't let Hu Hai continue to expand his power in Tianzhu, otherwise the Qin Dynasty may really be restored in Tianzhu."

Xu Aimin's face became solemn. Although Xu Fan attached great importance to his education, the environment he was in was still semi-feudal and semi-industrialized. He could not be as free and easy as Xu Fan.

To him, Hu Hai was a relic of the previous era. The Han Dynasty could spare their lives and even let them live a wealthy life, but it would never allow them any chance to revive the tyrannical Qin Dynasty that had already ended.

But for Xu Fan, if Hu Hai really established the Qin Dynasty in Tianzhu, then let him establish the Qin Dynasty. Anyway, it would not have much impact on the Han Dynasty. If Hu Hai really created a tyrannical Qin Dynasty in Tianzhu, Xu Fan would respectfully call him the Great Emperor of All Ages, and the First Emperor would be demoted in his heart.

Moreover, the actions of Hu Hai and others were also beneficial to the Han Dynasty. For the Han Dynasty, which was in the process of industrialization transformation, the most urgent things were commodity markets and raw material production areas.

What are the Brahmin and Kshatriya nobles playing? It's still the previous version of slavery. Tens of millions of Indians are slaves with nothing, and only a few hundred thousand Brahmin monks and Kshatriya nobles can be considered human beings. What market can this small population bring to the Han Dynasty?

But what Hu Hai did was different. After all, he was playing with capitalization, which is considered the most advanced version at present. If it were fully promoted in India, India's tens of millions of people would be involved in the Han market, and these tens of millions of people would serve the Han's industrialization.

People like Hu Hai are advanced in this regard. For the sake of profit, they will be more active than slave owners and feudal aristocrats in transforming the world and making it a unified large market.

This is also the reason why capital in later generations began to actively eliminate slavery when it developed to a certain level. It was not because they were kind-hearted, but because they discovered that slavery was not in their interests.

Therefore, slave owners like Niu Niu, who made their fortunes by selling slaves, gradually eliminated the slave trade in the 19th century. Other major industrial countries also went through this process.

Countries that are reluctant to give up this profit will eventually be abandoned by the times and become so-called Latin American countries.

(End of this chapter)