My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 335 Western Region!

"Your Majesty has already hinted earlier that you want to move the King of Jiangdu to Henan."

"Now, Henan has been owned by our Han family, and we will soon establish two more counties, Shuofang and Wuyuan."

"I'm afraid that the matter of moving Jiangdu to King Caoyuan will be..."

In the second year of Emperor Rong Xinyuan’s reign, it was November of winter.

Shuofang County, Bowang City.

When Liu Rong was in Chang'an weighing the pros and cons of enfeoffment as grassland king, the two generals Han Tuidang and Luan Bu, who were far away in Hetao, also thought of this matter tacitly.

Of course, unlike Liu Rong's thinking of "whether to appoint kings across the grassland to maintain animal husbandry as the main industry in Hetao and surrounding areas, rather than returning grassland to farming and turning grassland into farmland", Han Tuidang and Luan Bu's focus was mainly on Liu Fei, the King of Jiangdu, who was likely to be moved to the Hetao area.

As for why the two of them paid attention to this matter that seemed to have nothing to do with military generals, it was not difficult to see something from Han Tuidang's expression when he said this, as well as his excited tone that could hardly be suppressed.

As for what Han Tuidang was thinking, his old friend Luan Bu knew it all.

But compared to Han Tuidang's joyful expression, Luan Bu still maintained the calmness and composure that a veteran should have.

But he did not forget to echo in an intriguing way: "Early before this battle, Your Majesty had intended to move his fief to Jiangdu and rule Henan."

"Today, Henan has been completely divided into two counties, Shuofang and Wuyuan."

"——There is no place in Henan today that can be used as a new fief for the King of Jiangdu."

"But since your majesty was appointed as the crown prince, you have never gone back on your words, failed to act on your words, or failed to deliver on your actions."

"As the saying goes: A gentleman never jokes;"

"Your Majesty threatened to move Jiangdu to the grassland, so he will definitely move it."

"Since there is no more land in Henan to be granted to Jiangdu..."

As they said this, Luan Bu and Han Tuidang, the two old friends, looked at each other for a moment, and then burst into sneer.

This is the reason why the two of them were so concerned about the matter of King Jiangdu Liu Fei being moved from the southeast coast to the grassland.

King Jiangdu Liu Fei will definitely move to the grassland!

However, in the Hetao region, no new vassal territory was reserved for Liu Fei!

Combining these two known conditions, it is not difficult to draw the conclusion: Liu Fei’s new territory on the grassland is either north of Hetao, that is, the river, or north of Gaoque on the other side of the river - that is, the Munan area!

Or, it is the Hexi area west of the Hetao!

Considering the difficulty of capturing Qin Pass Gaoque and how important the Munan area behind Gaoque was to the Xiongnu, especially the Xiongnu Chanyu Ting who had already lost Hetao, the answer to this question immediately surfaced.

——Hexi!
The next step of the Han Dynasty's overall strategy in the north must be to take advantage of the momentum of seizing the Hetao area and further seize the Hexi area before the Xiongnu people can stabilize their position!

If in a few years, Hexi really belongs to the Han Dynasty, then the corridor between the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions will be completely opened up.

Whether it was private smugglers, or envoys, visiting delegations, or even merchant groups sent by the central government of Chang'an, they did not need to travel thousands of miles across the grasslands controlled by the Xiongnu after leaving the frontier.

Instead, they could go west from the north and Longyou, pass through the Hetao area to Hexi, and then go through the Hexi Corridor controlled by the Han Dynasty to safely reach the Western Regions.

Today's Han people don't know much about the Western Regions.

Most people, even the officials in the court and the most important people in the decision-making layer, only know that there is an area divided by several mountain ranges in the northwest of Beidi and Longyou.
Since this area is roughly located in the northwest of the Han Dynasty's territory and in the southwest of the Xiongnu's territory - generally on the west side, it is now called the Western Regions by both the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu.

——An area in the west.

According to the Han Dynasty's current understanding of the Western Regions, this area is just like the Central Plains of China hundreds of years ago, with as many as thirty-six kingdoms and khanates of various sizes.

Moreover, these thirty-six kingdoms and khanates were neither purely agricultural civilizations like the Han people, nor purely nomadic civilizations like the Xiongnu people.

——Among the 36 states in the Western Regions, some were nomadic peoples and regimes whose territories were located on the grasslands, and some were agricultural civilizations whose territories were located on the plains and basins;
More often than not, there were small regimes that had both animal husbandry and farming, as well as industry and commerce.

Therefore, even though the Han Dynasty has limited knowledge about the Thirty-Six Kingdoms in the Western Regions, it still has a natural liking and closeness towards them.

——After all, we are farmers too!
Since they farm, they are definitely not like the Huns, barbarians and savages who only know how to eat raw meat and drink blood, with their hair loose and their clothes lapel on the left.

To put it more bluntly, in the Han Dynasty today, and even in the vast majority of the history of Chinese civilization, the Chinese people firmly believed that farming is equal to civilization;
Farmers are the "people" in the embrace of civilization, not the "Di" swept away by barbarism like nomads;
A nation that masters agricultural techniques must be different from uncivilized barbarians and savages.

What's more, in addition to farming, the most basic civilization technology tree, the Thirty-Six Kingdoms in the Western Regions have even developed social factors such as handicrafts and commerce that are only available in the advanced stage of civilization!

Therefore, the Han Dynasty's overall impression of the Thirty-Six Kingdoms in the Western Regions is still very good.

——Know how to farm, make tools, smelt metals, and engage in business and trade;
This is definitely the second civilization in the entire known world, besides the Han Dynasty and China!
However, this civilization still seems to be thousands of years behind the Chinese civilization—it has only just reached the stage of disputes among nations;

Let alone a unified dynasty or regime, there wasn't even a loosely unified regime like the Zhou Dynasty!

The civilization process is so backward, but it is a backward civilization with the characteristics of agricultural civilization...

It is time to be integrated into the embrace of our country!
Similar ideas existed in the minds of the vast majority of Han court officials and even scholars who knew of the existence of the Western Regions and had a certain understanding of the countries in the Western Regions.

But no matter what, the Western Regions are thousands of miles away;

The mainstream Han intellectual community's view of the Western Regions remained at the level of "an extremely distant and possibly even far-flung divided civilization."

The same was true for Han Tuidang and Luan Bu.

Before last year, if they heard someone say "We, the Han family, should make plans for the Western Regions", Han Tuidang and Luan Bu would probably just laugh it off.

Then I would complain privately: Young people don’t know their place. They don’t even understand the Huns right in front of them, and yet they want to mess with the Western Regions thousands of miles away?
It's really a fantasy~
Even a month or so ago, when they heard someone talking about the Western Regions, they would probably smile bitterly and shake their heads, secretly thinking: We have just conquered the Hetao area, and we have not even started to explore Hexi yet;

Instead of thinking about unrealistic things, it is better to think carefully about how the Han Dynasty should respond when the Huns launch a counterattack on Hetao in the early spring of next year.

But now, their views on the Western Regions have undergone tremendous changes.

——Hetao, it already exists!

From Liu Rong's arrangement for his fifth brother, King Jiangdu Liu Rong, the two could also infer that the Han family would soon launch a plan for the Hexi region.

The Hetao area was now in existence. The Han people not only had an excellent piece of land for horse breeding, but also a bridgehead on the grassland.
Hexi is in sight - the passage from the Central Plains to the Western Regions, and even further to the Far West, is likely to be opened in the next few years!
If they don't show some longing for the Western Regions, Han and Luan will be unworthy of being generals and ministers of the Han Dynasty.

What is a Han general?

——Chen Tang said: Anyone who openly offends the mighty Han will be punished, even though they are far away!

——Huo Qubing said: How can I have a home if the Xiongnu is not destroyed? !

What is a Han minister? -- Fu Jiezi said: The Han army is coming, do not move, or the country will be destroyed!

——Ban Chao said: Worrying about the country and forgetting about the family, sacrificing one's life to save the country in times of trouble, this is the ambition of a loyal minister!

It was with such character and courage that the Han Dynasty became so great that later historians said: All dynasties were destroyed because of weakness, but the Han Dynasty was destroyed because of its strength.

As generals of the powerful Han Dynasty, especially the elderly veterans, although Han Tuidang and Luan Bu did not have the heroism of Chen Tang and Huo Qubing, or the ambitions of Fu Jiezi and Ban Gu, they still had the most basic ambitions of a Han general.

Of course, the ambition here is not to dominate the world;
Instead, it is to strive for more benefits for the Han Dynasty and the other Xia people, create a better strategic situation, and seek stronger support for development.

Therefore, the two of them quickly reached an agreement: try their best to find out any news about the Western Regions!

But after further understanding, Han and Luan both frowned at the same time...

"To the west of Han there is a country called Dayuan, which is more than ten thousand miles away from Han territory.

"The people live in towns and villages, growing rice and wheat for food..."

When they saw that the parchment scroll they had bought from a certain Hu merchant at a high price stated that this country called "Dayuan" was thousands of miles away from the Han Dynasty, Han and Luan were somewhat silent.

Thousands of miles away!

You must know that the straight-line distance between Bowang City in Shuofang County where Han and Luan were at the time and Chang'an was only more than 2,000 miles!
The distance from Bowang City, the northernmost city in the current Han Dynasty territory, to Panyu in Nanyue, the southernmost city in the Han Dynasty territory, is only 6,500 miles!

It was really hard for the two of them to imagine how far this distance of thousands of miles was;

And which countries and regions are there in this distance of ten thousand miles - from Hetao to the Western Regions.

Hexi?

Just Hexi?

Or……

"To the north of Dayuan, there is a country called Kangju;"

"To the west are the ancient enemies of the Xiongnu: the Yuezhi!"

"The southwest is called Daxia;"

"To the northeast is Wusun."

···
"In the east, there are 牜(yū)罙(shēn) and 于窴(tián)..."

"In Yu'an, the Buddha, a monk from the far west, is regarded as a god. The king and the people all pray and offer sacrifices to him in the morning. The surname of the country is Yuchi..."

As they watched, Han and Luan discovered that the Western Regions were not as simple as the Han Dynasty currently believed.

The more they read, the more they felt that the situation in the Western Regions was even more complicated than the Warring States Period hundreds of years ago when there were hundreds of schools of thought and nations fighting each other...

"Wusun is located more than 2,000 miles northeast of Dayuan. Its people are nomads, just like the Xiongnu."

"There are tens of thousands of valiant and skilled archers who regard the Xiongnu as their suzerain and pay tribute every year."

···
"Kangju is located more than 2,000 miles northwest of Dayuan. Its people do not settle there, and their customs are similar to those of the Yuezhi."

"He has 100,000 skilled archers and cavalrymen, but his country is small and his territory is narrow

"The people in the south serve the Yuezhi, and the people in the north serve the Xiongnu."

···
"Yan Cai is located more than 2,000 miles northwest of Kangju..."

"The customs are similar to Kangju..."

"We have obtained over 100,000 skilled archers and cavalrymen..."

···
"The Yue clan is located three thousand miles west of Dayuan..."

"In the south is Daxia, in the north is Kangju, and in the west is a country called Anxi..."

"Their customs are no different from those of the Xiongnu. They roam freely without settling in a fixed place, and they use cavalry as their army."

"Although we were defeated by the Xiongnu in Hexi, we still have nearly 200,000 elite cavalrymen!"

"After the defeat, he moved westwards through Dayuan and attacked Daxia, seized its land and established his own court."

"——The Yuezhi were defeated and moved westwards, and those who re-established their kingdom in Daxia were all called the Great Yuezhi;"

"Those who surrendered after being defeated in battle, or stayed in Hexi and Munan and became bandits, were called Xiaoyuezhi..."

Seeing this, Han Tuidang's expression became solemn and his breathing became heavier.

Although Luan Bu felt a little better, he still frowned and no longer had the natural closeness and friendliness towards the Western Regions as before.

——From what we have just seen, with 'Dayuan' thousands of miles away as the center, the area of ​​thousands of miles in all directions is almost all inhabited by 'hundreds of thousands of soldiers', 'nomadic people' and 'customs similar to the Huns'!
In other words: Even if the above-mentioned countries were placed around the Han Dynasty today, they would all be considered as powerful countries with considerable power, and they would be more likely to dominate the Western Regions. Without exception, they are all nomadic regimes like the Huns!

As for the remaining Loufan, Shanshan, Shule, Pishan, or Qiuci, Wensu, Yuli, Cheshi, etc. - most of them either surrendered to the Xiongnu or were directly nomadic people, sharing the same ancestry as the Xiongnu.

Even the few small countries that had the rudiments of agricultural civilization or relied on agriculture as their profession were all dependent on the Huns, either actively or passively.

In other words: The Western Regions countries, which were once mistakenly believed by the Han people to be a "semi-agricultural and semi-nomadic civilization" and "different from barbarians", were actually the back garden of the Xiongnu with a stance highly biased towards them!
In the Western Regions, the Xiongnu may be unpopular and may cause resentment from various countries;

But at least on the surface, most countries in the Western Regions accepted the rule of the Xiongnu and basically took whatever they asked of them.

Marriage and tribute are still minor matters...

"This information must be delivered to His Majesty!"

"Your Majesty must be made to understand as soon as possible: the Western Regions are not something that the Han Dynasty can control, but rather something that the Xiongnu have long possessed and have been exploiting for decades!"

Han Tuidang spoke with a serious expression, and Luan Bu immediately nodded in agreement.

Soon, this "intelligence" recording the general situation of the Western Regions was sent from Bowang City to Chang'an at an express speed of 800 miles.

What surprised both Han and Luan was that after this important information reached Chang'an, there was not even the slightest discussion about the Western Regions, either inside or outside the court or in rumors among the people.

Even the current Liu Rong, who was certain to have received this information, never mentioned the word "Western Regions" even once in front of others.

It is just like for Liu Rong, the Western Regions is a mysterious forbidden area that cannot be mentioned at all, let alone let people know of its existence?

(End of this chapter)