I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 383 Isn’t this still a filial son?

Han Ling and Han Zeng both stayed in the army.

Liu Ju asked Han Zeng to temporarily take charge of the Sima affairs, so naturally he had to stay in the Jianzhang camp. However, this was just Liu Ju's idea, not Liu Che's appointment, so it was only a nominal position for the time being, and at best he was Liu Ju's personal adviser.

Han Ling was temporarily arranged to be in the marriage team and stay with Liu Xijun.

After all, Liu Ju was on this trip to be independent, and he brought a female family member with him, and placed her in a military camp full of men. Not only did this cause many inconveniences, but it also had a bad impact.

The current Liu Ju is different from the time when he just wanted to be deposed. He still needs to set an example in order to win the support of the people.

As for the bridal chamber.

It’s not that Liu Ju didn’t want to, but he felt that the time was not right yet.

Although Han Ling would not mind, Liu Ju still felt that she should be given a formal marriage and status, rather than an unclear affair. After all, in this era, people still valued legitimacy. Otherwise, it might become a black history for her and the Han family that would be criticized in the future.

However, Sima Qian, who learned of this, did not think so.

He regarded this incident as a beautiful story and was determined to record it and write about it in the history book he would compile in the future. He even planned to write another biography called "Biographies of Heroic Women".

She traveled four thousand miles to find her husband, shared life and death, and fell in love on the battlefield.

What a beautiful story this is!

If possible, he also hopes to know more about the past of the two, at least starting from the time when Liu Che granted the marriage, and gradually analyze the mental journey of the two, and by the way, add some elements of family and country feelings based on his own understanding, so that this story can completely transcend the secular realm of love between men and women, and perhaps it can be sung for thousands of years.

History books don't necessarily need to be too rigorous, they can also take artistry into account.

No matter what others think, Sima Qian insisted that his talent for rhetoric was more outstanding and he must not waste his artistic talent.

As for his father Sima Tan's strict requirements, they often restricted his performance.

This was also the reason why Sima Qian did not start writing, because some of the content he had compiled before had all been burned by Sima Tan, who also scolded him for not respecting facts and insulting the promising profession of historian.

But Sima Qian insisted that it was his father Sima Tan who did not understand the romance unique to historians.

In the pre-Qin period, there were many historians and history books that only focused on recording facts. Apart from the history books of the Six Kingdoms that were burned by Qin Shihuang, how many of them have been passed down through the ages and sung by people, or how many historians left their names behind?

History books that cannot be sung by people and are not popular among the people will eventually be forgotten by people and will not be able to survive for long.

Only historical books that have undergone a certain degree of artistic processing are what people love to read, have the widest audience, and are likely to be passed on by word of mouth and talked about with relish. By the way, people will also remember the real history that existed in between, remember the history book, and remember the author who compiled the history book.

If Liu Ju knew that Sima Qian had this idea, he might have marveled at Sima Qian's extraordinary insight, and that he had realized the "charm of journalism" so early.

So Sima Qian knew.

The time when he could really compile history books without being affected should be after his father Sima Tan passed away. Otherwise, Sima Tan would burn as much as he wrote, which was just a waste of energy, ink and bamboo slips...

This is not unfilial, it's just that we have different ideas and don't agree with each other.

He had not openly disobeyed his father, and he would not compromise on the lavish burial and mourning in the future. Moreover, everything he did was to bring honor to his family.

Isn’t this a filial son?

……

A few days later, the army successfully arrived at Yumen Pass.

The soldiers first rested at Yumen Pass for a few days to arrange the expedition and deal with the supply of food and grass. Especially the supply of food and grass, after all, even the nearest country Loulan is 1,600 miles away from Yumen Pass, and most of the way is desolate and arid uninhabited areas, so supply is the top priority.

According to Wang Hui, they will also pass through an area called Bailongdui during this trip.

Not only is there no one here, but there are no birds flying above and no animals running below. Looking around, there are only dead bodies and skeletons marking this despairing place. It is common for entire caravans of hundreds of people to die on the way because they get lost or their supplies are cut off.

Over the years, these caravans have reached a consensus.

If someone is unfortunately in trouble, he will try his best to lie down in the right direction before death, so that his body can point the way for those who come after him. When those who come after him see such a body, they don't have to bury it, they just need to perform rituals and worship to express their respect.

Fortunately, Wang Hui has rich experience.

He has successfully crossed the White Dragon Pile many times.

Many methods were proposed, such as using camels to find oases, wrapping horse hooves with cowhide to prevent burns when marching in the scorching sun, and traveling at night while hiding during the day. In addition, the "compass" invented by Liu Ju not long ago also reduced the possibility of getting lost during the march to a minimum.

As for the method of attacking Loulan.

Zhao Po Nu put forward his own opinion. Based on Wang Hui's description that the city of Loulan was not big, the walls were not high, there were less than a thousand royal family members and nobles in the city, and most of the residents, troops and merchants were outside the city, using stone towers as their homes to protect the city. He thought that they could launch a surprise attack with a small number of light cavalry, just like Huo Qubing's previous surprise attack on the Xiongnu royal court, to catch Loulan off guard.

This is exactly the tactic used by Zhao Po Nu in history.

That time he led only 700 light cavalry to raid Loulan and won the battle. He captured the King of Loulan and escorted him back to Chang'an.

However, Liu Che only let the King of Loulan experience the power of the Han Dynasty in Chang'an with his own eyes, and then ordered him to send a prince as a hostage and released him.

The King of Loulan did surrender, and the prince was indeed sent back, but later he broke the law in Chang'an and was castrated by Emperor Liu Che.

But the King of Loulan did another thing after he returned.

While sending one prince to Chang'an as a hostage, he also immediately sent another prince to the Xiongnu as a hostage to express his loyalty to the Xiongnu...From this we can see that although the Han Dynasty demonstrated abundant martial virtues in the Western Regions in this battle, it did not truly achieve its strategic goals and still failed to make Loulan truly surrender. It was still two-faced and even somewhat thankless.

After the death of the current King of Loulan, these two princes did become troublesome to the Han Dynasty again, affecting the Han Dynasty's plan for the Western Regions...

But since Liu Ju is here.

We will not let things develop in this direction again. Otherwise, how can we be worthy of the heroes who died on the battlefield?

Liu Ju remembered.

The Han Dynasty established the Protectorate of the Western Regions in the Western Regions. Although everyone from the translator, region chief, king, supervisor, clerk, great official, centurion, thousand chief, commander, commander, head of the army, general, prime minister, and even marquis and king, all wore the seals and ribbons of the Han Dynasty and were all Han subjects.

But in reality, what was implemented was the indirect ruling method of "one country, two policies", and the kings of various countries were always agents of the Han Dynasty, which enabled these small countries to have the best of both worlds.

By the time the Tang Dynasty came to power, the Anxi Protectorate was established.

Although these small countries were still ruled indirectly, the kings of these small countries were no longer used as agents, so the rule was more stable until the decline of the Tang Dynasty.

That is to say, these small countries in the Western Regions can be ruled without the help of a king, or at least it is not as difficult as imagined.

So Liu Ju pondered for a moment.

He asked the generals present a question:
"What do you think the 'great unification' that my father has in mind should look like?"

(End of this chapter)