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

Chapter 662: Escaping from Qin and Entering Han and the Mud That Cannot Be Held to the Wall

On October 51, the 10st year of the Han calendar, in Chang'an City, at the Dianke Office.

Because Zhang Pijiang had stayed in Daqinzhou for more than ten years, he was more familiar with the situations of the countries in Daqinzhou. It was also he who proposed the idea of ​​a global market. He knew best how to treat these countries. Therefore, the guest Chen Zhen simply asked Zhang Pijiang to explain the changes in the Han Dynasty's policies towards them.

Zhang Pijiang saw the envoys from the countries of Daqinzhou and said slowly: "The emperor of our country intends to absorb the countries of Daqinzhou on the basis of the princes' conference and form an organization of international order that can meet the interests of all countries. In this organization, we can assist the political, economic, and military reforms of various countries to make the world more peaceful and reduce disputes."

Then Zhang Pijiang explained in detail to all the representatives present the institutions and functions of this global control organization in all aspects, such as the Han Dynasty would distribute industries, balance the resolutions of various countries, dispatch peacekeeping soldiers, eliminate military disputes among countries, etc. In short, by joining this organization, one could be protected by the Han Dynasty.

When the Greek city-states and other small countries heard this, they were overjoyed. These countries were on the verge of collapse due to the impact of the Han Dynasty's industry. If they could get support from the Han Dynasty, not only would their domestic economy be stabilized but their security would also be guaranteed.

Fabius frowned when he heard this. The Han Dynasty was going to extend its tentacles deep into Daqinzhou, but he did not dare to refute, because Rome's current strength was far inferior to that of the Han Dynasty, and Rome now needed the help of the Han Dynasty to develop industrialization.

The Carthaginian envoy Herodotus said excitedly: "My country Carthage has long wanted to become the emperor's lackey."

Zhang Pijiang said awkwardly: "It's a hawk and dog!"

Which scholar taught the Carthaginian envoys Chinese? He even taught them such colloquialisms incorrectly.

Herodotus nodded immediately and said, "Yes, everyone in our country is looking forward to becoming the emperor's lackeys, and the hope is so great that the river water is almost cut off."

These words made the envoys from various countries in Daqin Continent look down on them. After all, you are the representative of a country, but you actually did such a shameful thing.

But Herodotus noticed the contemptuous looks from these people and instead raised his head proudly.

You people want to be the lackeys of the Han Dynasty, but you can't do it. Especially you Ptolemy, the Han Dynasty has already stuffed bones into your mouths, but you spit it out. You are really ungrateful.

Among the countries in the Qin Continent, Carthage had the deepest interests with the Han Dynasty, far exceeding that of Ptolemy. It could even be said that it was a vine on the towering tree of the Han Dynasty.

The Carthaginians were originally a nation founded on commerce, and almost all of the Han’s trade in Daqinzhou was given to the Carthaginians. The Han Dynasty established more than a dozen strongholds in Yanzhou, most of which were only the size of a town, and were not well developed. The infrastructure construction, land reclamation, and product development were not very good, and even the population was not large. Only the New Jinshan City had a larger population, about 100,000 people, but most of them came here to dig for gold. Most of the Han Dynasty’s colonies in Yanzhou could not even be self-sufficient in food.

The Han Dynasty's maritime merchants would only go to New Jinshan City, the Han Dynasty's stronghold on the west coast of Yanzhou. They generally would not go there because they could not make much money and it was not cost-effective.

However, this trade route was not profitable for the Han Dynasty's maritime merchants, but it was a stable way to make money for the Carthaginians. They would take away all kinds of food, vegetables, fruits, cloth, and even tools, farm implements and laborers from the three Celtic islands, all the way along the Han Dynasty's colonies, heading south to New South Wales. In every Han Dynasty colony, the Carthaginians would leave some food, cloth, craftsmen and laborers.

Therefore, in addition to the Han people, there are also a large number of Carthaginians who are developing the Yanzhou continent. There are more than a dozen colonies in the entire Yanzhou continent, with hundreds of thousands of Carthaginian laborers. They help the Han people to open mines, open up fields, build cities, construct infrastructure and other hard and heavy physical work that the Han people are unwilling to do, which greatly enhances the Han people's development of Yanzhou.

However, the Han Dynasty also has its own concerns. The labor contracts signed with Carthaginian citizens are all 3-5 years. When the time comes, they have to return to their own country. This is also a measure taken by the Han Dynasty to prevent the Carthaginians from taking root in Yanzhou. Although the Han Dynasty has a large population and a large number of people migrate every year, most of these people go to places like Nanyang and Yinzhou where the infrastructure is relatively complete. The Han people that Yanzhou and Nanzhou want to increase are almost all criminals from the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, the Han Dynasty has been developing Yanzhou for more than 50 years, but the Han population on Yanzhou continent has not exceeded . Under such circumstances, the Han Dynasty naturally has to guard against the Carthaginians taking over the continent's territory.

Of course, the Han Dynasty did not treat the Carthaginian laborers unfairly. Their salaries generally reached more than 5000 coins, and they could earn 6 coins for their families a year. This income was relatively high in the Han Dynasty, and in Daqinzhou it was equivalent to the income of a knight's family. For Carthage, the salaries of these laborers were their most important source of foreign exchange.

The Carthaginian merchant ships would leave their goods and laborers in New Gold Mountain, and then continue to move forward from the east of the Yanzhou continent, carrying precious metals such as gold and silver, ivory, gems, dyes and other local specialties. At this time, some of their merchant ships would continue eastward to the wealthy Eastern Continent, while some would sail through the Red Sea and return to their own country.

With these two waterways and hundreds of thousands of laborers working for the Han Dynasty, the Carthaginians not only purchased a large number of industrial products and machinery from the Han Dynasty, but also earned more than a billion yuan in gold income every year. This is unique in the entire Qinzhou continent, and other countries are drooling over it. With this income, the Carthaginians can redeem their compatriots and vigorously develop the three Celtic islands.

For the Carthaginians, the thought of being able to join the Han Dynasty's system of vassal states and trade with hundreds of Han vassal states made them excited. It would guarantee their prosperous life for the next hundreds of years. Therefore, there has always been talk in Carthage of breaking away from Qin and joining Han, and such calls are not low.

Now the Han Dynasty was finally going to accept them. Herodotus was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes. The Han Dynasty had a market with hundreds of vassal states and hundreds of millions of people. If everyone earned 100 coins, the citizens of Carthage could live the same life as the Han Dynasty.

At this point, an idea suddenly struck him, and he said to himself, "When I return, I will use the slogan of living like a Han citizen as my campaign slogan when I run for consul."

With Herodotus' performance, representatives from other countries also agreed to join the international organization established by the Han Dynasty. They had long been envious of the Carthaginian representatives, but they still had the face to not show it so obviously.

Moreover, from what Zhang Pijiang said, they also believed that it would be good for them to obey this organization. At least the Han Dynasty was willing to lend them money to maintain the stability of the country. As for the fact that they would be controlled by the Han Dynasty if they obeyed the Han Dynasty, these small countries did not care at all. The Han Dynasty was thousands of miles away after all. Even if it controlled them, it would not be too much. It was better than being controlled by the Romans. They had been dealing with the Romans for hundreds of years and knew the Romans' morality very well.

In the past few years, Rome was divided into two and had no energy to interfere in other countries, but now that their civil war is over, given the character of the Romans, the next step will certainly be external expansion. Now, for small countries such as the Greek city-states, clinging to the Han Dynasty is a better choice than Rome.

After the exchange, the envoys from various countries left one after another, but the new Egyptian governor, Khnum, asked with a sad face: "Ambassador Zhang, we are old friends. Now only you can help our country of Egypt."

Zhang Pijiang saw that Knum was also lamenting the impermanence of life. Who could have thought that the sheep priest would really overthrow the Ptolemaic dynasty and establish the new Egyptian Kingdom? However, the new Egyptian Kingdom was born with congenital defects, and it was unknown how long it could survive.

The Han Dynasty paid little attention to the affairs of Daqinzhou, and Zhang Pijiang was the only official in the Han Dynasty who knew about the information of Daqinzhou. But he was also surprised by the rapid changes in the situation in Ptolemy.

Less than a year after Zhang Pijiang left Daqinzhou, the Datong Theological Society led by Knum organized three more uprisings. The scale of these uprisings became larger and larger, with more and more citizens and nobles participating. In this process, the national consciousness of the Egyptians awakened, and all classes in Egypt finally realized that they were not of the same race as the Greeks of Ptolemy VI, and that there was no hope for the Egyptians under Greek rule.

Therefore, during the last uprising in the 51st year of the Han Dynasty, the army sent by Ptolemy VI to suppress the uprising was instigated to rebel. Under the leadership of Khnum and other members of the Theological Society, these troops conquered Alexandria, drove away Ptolemy VI and other colonial rulers, and established a new Egyptian regime. The political system of this new regime was based on the Han Dynasty's system, and it also established the Society of Sages and the Han Dynasty's system of three dukes and nine ministers. However, the most critical issue was who would become the new king of Egypt.

According to the tradition of the feudal era, the new king drove out the old king, and Khnum became the new king of Egypt. However, this time the transition between the old and the new in Egypt was different from previous history. Khnum relied on instigating the rebellion of Ptolemy VI's army to overthrow the Ptolemaic State. The soldiers of those armies listened more to their generals than to Khnum. His own foundation was too shallow and his strength was too weak to suppress the other powerful people in Egypt.

At the same time, Khnum’s identity was also a huge problem. He was born into a family of priests of the Ram Temple. Although he was also considered a member of the ruling class of Egypt, his status was relatively low. The other city lords and priests in Egypt did not recognize a person of such a low status as him to become the new king of Egypt.

Finally, the transition from the old to the new in Egypt was essentially just a renewal of feudal forces. Even without Ptolemy VI, Egypt would still be a semi-feudal and semi-slave country.

Before Ptolemy VI was overthrown, the nobles and priests of Egypt could barely cooperate with Khnum's Theocratic Society. But now that Egypt has overthrown Ptolemy VI, everyone has begun to compete for the new cake. At this time, it is a little difficult for Khnum and their Theocratic Society to accept. Khnum's equal distribution of land, abolition of slavery, restriction of usury, and establishment of a modern industrial system are rebellious speeches that must be eliminated by the city lords and slave owners in various parts of Egypt. In terms of suppressing progressive ideas, there is no difference between Egypt's nobles and priests and Ptolemy VI.

Therefore, due to the opposition of many city lords and priests in Egypt, Khnum did not become the king of Egypt, but could only become the temporary archon of Egypt. The key point was that as an archon he had no power. His decrees were not listened to by many people in the whole of Egypt, not even in Alexandria.

On the contrary, in cities outside Alexandria, the city lords joined forces with local slave owners to massacre members of the Maha-Tong Theological Society and wiped out these progressive forces completely. When Ptolemy VI was alive, the Maha-Tong Theological Society still dared to promote equal distribution of land and the abolition of slavery. However, after the establishment of Egypt, such propaganda became taboos, and anyone who dared to say such words would soon disappear without a trace.

Knum helplessly discovered that he had become a puppet of Egypt. Not only could he not rule Egypt, he couldn't even protect the members of his own organization.

Knum could only concentrate all the members of the Pax Romana Theologica in Alexandria. Although he was a puppet here, at least in Alexandria, the members of the Pax Romana Theologica would not be strangled by the Egyptian slave owners.

Khnum also thought about changing his situation. Although the Egyptian upper class continued to suppress him, Khnum was the first to rise up against Ptolemy, and his prestige in the eyes of the lower-class Egyptian people was still very high. So he planned to use Alexandria as a starting point to transform Egypt bit by bit.

It cannot be said that there is something wrong with his idea. The only wealthy area in Egypt is along the Nile River, and the richest city among them is Alexandria, whose income accounts for more than 30% of Egypt. It can be said that controlling Alexandria is equivalent to controlling half of Egypt.

But he soon encountered the biggest trouble, which was the financial crisis. The Ptolemaic dynasty still had hundreds of years of prestige, and the city lords in various places would at least hand over some money to the Ptolemaic dynasty.

But now Khnum had no prestige at all. The taxes collected by the Egyptian city lords were not enough to support their own troops, so how could they have money to pay. Khnum could not even get the taxes from Alexandria. Alexandria was now controlled by four generals, who divided up all the taxes from Alexandria. This resulted in Khnum wanting to make changes but not having the money.

As the interim consul, he certainly also accepted some of the Ptolemaic legacy, which was a debt of 30 billion coins owed to major banks in the Han Dynasty. The interest on this money was not high, but Knum had to repay more than 40 coins in interest every day when he opened his eyes.

This caused Knum, the interim consul, to feel very uneasy and as if he had something stuck in his throat and was sitting on pins and needles.

So when Egypt was invited to participate in the Han Dynasty's conference of princes this year, he immediately brought his confidants to the Han Dynasty, hoping to ask for help from the Han Dynasty to improve his situation.

"How do you want me, a great man, to help you?" Zhang Pijiang looked at Knum with some disappointment.

He also studied in the Yanzhou Governor's Office for several years. Look at what he did in Egypt in the past year or so. He couldn't tell friends from enemies, the army couldn't be organized, the Datong Theological Society was not well organized, and even the fruits of the revolution were stolen by Egyptian slave owners. Knum also broadened his horizons. The Ptolemaic Empire had a revolution, but the Greek slave owners were driven away and the Egyptian slave owners became the rulers. This was worse than the result of a change of dynasty. The whole of Egypt was taking a big step backward.

Khnum didn't see Zhang Pijiang's expression and thought he supported him, so he said: "I only ask the Han Dynasty to give the customs duties of Alexandria to our Datong Theological Society, so that we can use the money to bribe the army in Alexandria. With the army commanding us, we can control Alexandria, and then use Alexandria as a starting point to completely eliminate slavery and unify the whole of Egypt."

The Han Dynasty dared to lend so much money to Ptolemy VI, naturally there was a collateral, and the collateral was the port tariff of Alexandria. Now this department is basically controlled by the Yanzhou Governor's Office. Every year, tens of billions of goods from Alexandria have to pass through this port, and now not only the tariff of this port is controlled by the Yanzhou Governor's Office, but even the management authority of the port is also controlled by the Yanzhou Governor's Office.

The reason why Ptolemy VI did this was very simple. When the port was in the hands of Ptolemy's cronies, the maximum tax revenue was 5 million coins a year, but in the hands of the governor's office, the tariff doubled. Faced with a wealth of million coins, even Ptolemy VI could only help the right people instead of his relatives and reuse the managers from the Han Dynasty.

Now Knum is relying on this money to turn the tables. As long as the Han Dynasty gives him the tariffs, he can use the money to support his troops and implement his own policies.

Zhang Pijiang said helplessly: "The army of Alexandria was originally established by slave owners. You are using the slave owners' army to destroy the slave owners. Isn't that a bit too presumptuous? You have failed so many times. You haven't thought clearly yet. You should transform the Datong Theological Society into a strict organization. You should use your own base to build an army instead of using money to buy off the warlords' army."

Knum hesitated and said, "But if we do that, it will take too long and the effect will be too slow."

Zhang Pijiang walked away with a wave of his sleeves, he was simply a hopeless case.

Outside the meeting room, Chen Zhen looked at Zhang Pijiang and asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhang Pijiang said: "Khnum is too incompetent. Don't care what he says, and don't waste the court's money. Let the local forces in Egypt compete to elect their own king."

Zhang Pijiang has been in Egypt for more than ten years and has a deep understanding of Egypt. Although he has not been in Egypt for more than a year and does not have a deep understanding of Egypt's changes in the past year, he understands from newspapers that this time the Khnum territory cannot be considered a revolution. Until now, Khnum has not mobilized Egyptian citizens, and what kind of revolution can it be without the participation of citizens? This is just a power struggle among the Egyptian high-level officials.

Khnum was just a tool launched by the Egyptian slave owners to overthrow Ptolemy VI. After Ptolemy VI was overthrown, various forces began to fight for power because they had no common target.

Egypt was now divided into reformists and conservatives. Knum, a member of the reformist faction, was too incompetent to unite the reformist faction, so that they were instead attacked by a joint attack by the conservative slave owners. The power of the Pax Romana Theologica led by Knum was gradually weakened.

Chen Zhen was surprised and said, "It seems that Knum really disappointed you."

Zhang Pijiang smiled bitterly and said, "You'd better look for other progressive forces."

(End of this chapter)