I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 253 Trading at a Loss
The so-called acceptance is one of the forms of tribute. So for the Han Dynasty, which only wanted to ensure that the Western Region did not fall into the hands of the enemy, it was not a bad idea to turn a blind eye.

In Liu Bian's impression, the later central tribute system must return rewards worth several times higher to small countries that came to pay tribute. At present, there is no saying that they must return heavy gifts. From the perspective of tribute and rewards alone, There is no loss, but this does not mean that the court's expenses are low.

The bulk of it is not the reward, but the reception fee.

When envoys from various countries enter the Han Dynasty, their number of personnel will not be too small, and they will stay in places such as inns. The expenses must be paid by the court or the local government.

There are so many large and small countries in the Western Region, and the cost of traveling back and forth adds up to a lot of money.

A place like Jiuquan County, which is a must-pass road but doesn't get much of the Silk Road dividends, is just hoping no one will pay tribute.

This is also one of the reasons why Dunhuang County could become the bridgehead for dealing with issues in the Western Regions, and why the Dunhuang Governor and the Liangzhou Governor could lead the Western Region Chiefs and Wuji Colonels - envoys from various countries should not go to Luoyang if they can.

Obviously, Han Rong saw Liu Bian's strong interest in the Western Regions. He was worried that Liu Bian would go to the Western Regions early for the sake of meritorious service, so he emphatically raised the issue of raising money with Liu Bian and gave covert advice.

However, Han Rong is obviously overthinking, not to mention that the four counties in Hexi are not completely under control now. Even if the local barbarians are completely surrendered, Liu Bian will still adopt Jia Xu's strategy and try to engage in prostitution for free. The goal is to stop it It would be good for Xianbei in the west to connect with other countries in the Western Regions.

In the days that followed, Liu Bian learned more information from various places.

Some Han people stayed and settled down, and relying on the guidance of the local Han people, Hu Zhen found Haitou City where the remaining garrison soldiers gathered, which was closer to Yangguan in Dunhuang County.

Fortunately, the Western Regions had lost contact with the imperial court for only about seven years, and the Han Dynasty's remaining power was still there. If it weren't for some shabby armor, these troops would be almost the same as ordinary people.

Hu Zhen did not come back alone. He also brought several troops from garrison cities in the Western Regions on his own initiative.

Seeing this, Hu Zhen simply went with him.

However, when they arrived at Loulan City, they discovered that Loulan City had been regained control by the Shanshan Kingdom. Because Shanshan was very close to Dunhuang, and because he was afraid that the Han people would come back one day, the king did not dare to attack the Han army in the field. It was just that it was impossible to maintain the establishment of the field army in Loulan City.

It turned out that after Hu Zhen revealed his identity to the rich people in Dunhuang, the local rich people respected him even more. In order to show their respect for his request, they simply asked Suo Zhan to take people to Loulan City in Shanshan Kingdom.

Hu Zhen was just Dong Zhuo's old subordinate. Dong Zhuo could use him as a court lieutenant, and even Li Ru was still serving as his doctor in Taixue.

He was only slightly surprised that Hu Zhen went to the Western Regions as Huangfu Song's envoy, but he didn't pay much attention.

It’s better not to make something “unnecessary”! Moreover, this general who had followed Dong Zhuo to cause trouble in history had great achievements in his trip.

Along with Hu Zhen and Suo Zhan, the news that the road leading to Luoyang's tribute was passable spread to all directions together with the news of the acquisition of Bai Diazi seeds. Among them, the first big country in the Western Region to react was Shanshan Kingdom.

In short, after the news came, Shanshan, Qiuci, and Khotan, the three major countries in the Western Region, heard that the road was passable, and they all sent envoys to follow Hu Zhen who needed to bring the Baidiezi seeds back to Luoyang.

After Hu Zhen explained the dangers of the road, he just let it go. Anyway, he did not pretend to be a Han envoy, so this matter cannot be said to be a great achievement. As for the Cheshi Kingdom, which was closer to Khotan than Qiuci, it probably did not respond because it was close to the north and connected with Xianbei in the west. It is reasonable for countries further away such as Shule and Wusun to have no reaction.

The return journey for Hu Zhen and his party was much smoother than before, because at this time Huangfu Song had led an army composed of Han Qiang to defeat the three major Qiang tribes in Wuwei County. The troops had entered Zhangye County and were still fighting against the former. Lu Shuihu, who had robbed Hu Zhen, fought against him once and won the battle. However, Lu Shuihu ran fast and did not gain much.

Among the four counties in Hexi, the power of Wu has been leveled, and Zhangye is just around the corner, with only one Jiuquan left.

The wealthy people in Dunhuang became even more excited when they heard the news.

It is said that Dunhuang County benefited from direct exchanges with the Western Regions. It was originally the richest among the four counties in Hexi, and it was also the most stable among the counties after losing contact with the imperial court. Among them, there were more high-ranking wealthy families than in Jiuquan and Zhangye combined. Hu Zhen had to help them along the way and work together. The local wealthy families in Jiuquan and Zhangye sandwiched in the middle knew that it was the general trend for the Han Dynasty to resume control of Hexi.

Even the Huang family of Jiuquan, who had caused a lot of trouble to Hu Zhen, could only come to Hu Zhen to carefully apologize with gifts accompanied by other wealthy families in Jiuquan.

Historically, more than twenty years later, Cao Zhen defeated several rebellious Hu tribes in Zhangye. A few months later, countries from the Western Regions came to pay tribute.

Only with the help of the Dunhuang clan and the envoys from Shanshan, Qiuci, and Khotan following Hu Zhen could they pass through the two most chaotic counties. However, no one was willing to pay for the expenses along the way for the envoys from the three kingdoms.

This is probably the reason why those small countries in the Western Region did not participate in the tribute. It's just that the roads are still dangerous, and they have to pay for the travel expenses themselves.

In order to maintain their dignity, the Han Dynasty must treat these envoys who still took risks and came from afar after the news was cut off for several years. The rewards for their tribute should be relatively generous, and their expenses in Hexi should also be used. Make up for it in the form of rewards.

When Liu Bian learned this from Han Rong, he could only agree with heartache. After all, the greatest strength of the Han Dynasty in the Western Regions was face, otherwise what else could he do.

In addition, those garrison soldiers who defended Haitou City also had to show their actions.

Not only that, as Huangfu Song continued to lead his troops deep into Liangzhou, although Huangfu Song had been very restrained, military expenses were still rising.

According to the data given by Yuan Pang, from the time when troops were dispatched last year to more than a year now, including rewards and pensions, as well as the military expenditures that should have been provided to the Northern Army and the Xiyuan Army, the total expenditures of the national treasury and Xiyuan Army have been It has exceeded Duan Jiong's average annual income of 400 million.

Of course, compared with the earlier average of nearly one billion a year, it still saves a lot.

The good thing is that the farmland of Sanfu and Hanyang, especially the grain income of Sanfu included in the national treasury, made up for the shortfall in the national treasury. Otherwise, Liu Bian would have emptied Xiyuan's family fortune.

Therefore, after learning that Khotan had paid tribute to an elephant this time, Liu Bian was already thinking about whether the elephant could be sold.

Although the tribute system itself is not for making money, it can't all be a loss-making business!

(End of this chapter)