The Moon in the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 196: Qiang Tribute
Li Wu even requested not to have a position, and only wanted to serve Ying Zheng as usual.

Ying Zheng hesitated for a while, but finally agreed. He decided to just go on as usual before getting pregnant, which wouldn't be a big deal.

Speaking of it, Meng Ao swept across the Qiang people and killed a large number of them. The effect was indeed remarkable. Several large Qiang tribes were trembling in fear and united to pay tribute to the Qin Dynasty.

They have no choice but to accept this. If the Qin Dynasty doesn't accept it, I'm afraid they won't be able to sleep well.

The tribute delegation arrived in Xianyang only today because the tribute was too much. The barbarians were afraid of power but not virtue, so they killed a lot of people in exchange for submission and tribute.

There are five thousand fine horses and ten thousand cattle and sheep. I don’t know how many more people will starve to death this winter because these tribes have squeezed out so many livestock.

But this is not important to Daqin. On the contrary, the more barbarians die, the better.

Don't worry about hatred, because the barbarians themselves don't care about it. Whether there is gratitude or hatred, they will invade when they should invade and surrender when they should surrender. This is the cruel law of life on the grassland.

In addition, the Qiang people also presented ten carefully selected beauties as tribute.

The current Qin Dianke is Ran Hong. He is dissatisfied with Meng Ao's behavior on the grassland, but since this is Ying Zheng's order, he dare not say much.

And now the tribute from the Qiang people has truly refreshed his understanding of the barbarians. This group of people really only remember to be beaten and not to be fed, and they fear power but not virtue.

After a round of killing, they became more obedient and honest.

Since Ying Zheng ascended the throne, the Qiang people had been making more and more small moves in recent years, and had been continuously trying to expand eastward. Although they were still nominally submissive, because the King of Qin was still young and adopted a policy of appeasement and economic control, they could not understand the tactics of economic control. In their view, this was a sign of weakness of the Qin Dynasty, and they had begun to look down on it.

Ying Zheng was also keenly aware of the changes in the Qiang people, so he took the opportunity of planning to unify the world and ordered Meng Ao to take advantage of the opportunity to warn the Qiang people, so as not to delay the process of unifying the world for at least a dozen years.

That’s not all. We will have to kill them again in a few years. Without frequent fighting and bloodshed, these beasts will not surrender.

After this incident, Ran Hong felt deeply moved.

However, he still actively dealt with the issue of the Qiang people's tribute. He still hoped to cause less killing and not affect the interests of the Qin Dynasty. The less unnecessary killing, the better.

Relying on killing to make barbarians submit and starting wars without provocation is not in line with Confucian values.

Ran Hong was extremely satisfied with the many livestock offered as tribute by the Qiang people, as they were all useful to Daqin. However, he was extremely unhappy that the Qiang people also offered beauties as tribute.

The king is the son of destiny, the holy king favored by heaven! He is the future master of the world and the emperor. Ran Hong firmly believes this.

How could a group of barbarians be so beautiful and fit to be in the king's harem? It was simply a disgrace to the royal bloodline.

But after seeing these beauties presented to him, Ran Hong hesitated.

There really are beauties among the barbarians, and they are quite exotic.

Ran Hong has great respect for the king in every aspect, but when it comes to women, Ran Hong can only say that food, sex and nature are the same.

Should this be sent to the king?

Moreover, if we really do not accept them, these barbarians will be uneasy. If they harbor evil intentions due to the unrest, although the Great Qin is not afraid, it seems unnecessary to create a war and commit murder in vain.

Finally, he asked Lu Buwei for instructions. After all, the affairs of the Qiang people had always been controlled by Lu Buwei.

Lu Buwei looked at Ran Hong and felt helpless. Confucianists were sometimes lacking in pragmatism and politics.

Is there any need to think about this? The king should have the final say over any beauty presented to him. Even if the king doesn't like her, as long as he doesn't ask to return her, even if he keeps her in the palace, it is not the minister's turn to decide.

Besides, this is not without benefits. The Qiang people have surrendered now, but they are not Qin people after all. Now the focus is only on unifying the world and there is no time to completely resolve the hidden dangers. After the world is unified, the surrounding barbarians must also be dealt with thoroughly.

We have already said how to deal with it. The people in the Central Plains will definitely not be willing to settle in the barbarian lands. At most, they can be repopulated on a small scale. For these barbarian lands, it is most appropriate to temporarily adopt the method of enfeoffment.

If we want to handle it better, the prince with Qiang blood is the most suitable one.

When the time comes, we will defeat them, kill a large number of them, and appoint the princes to be kings. Within three generations, all the land will belong to the Qin people.

Even now, these Qiang beauties all come from large tribes. This is to stabilize these barbarians and make them obey the Qin Dynasty temporarily. In addition, using these beauties from different tribes can also instigate internal strife among the Qiang people.

These tribes had no unity at all and they fought fiercely on weekdays. After all, they would never dare to invade the Qin Dynasty, and for the limited resources, they could only fight among themselves.

In the name of these beauties, troops can be sent in at any time, and some supplies can be given to certain tribes to keep their combat power at a similar level. As long as the barbarians cannot be unified, there will be no threat.

These women will be taken regardless of whether they are pretty or not.

Lu Buwei had no school or sect, but was a unique person who always believed in pragmatism.

Confucianism was not strong in the Qin Dynasty. Although it had the support of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, it had improved a lot in recent years and many Confucian scholars had entered the Qin Dynasty, but it was still not powerful.

Lu Buwei's political ideas were not much different from those of Ying Zheng. He also hoped to conquer through wars other than unjust ones. He also wanted to pull the reins of the Qin chariot that was galloping forward, as the Qin laws were too harsh.

Lu Buwei agreed with many of the Confucianist propositions and hoped to use Confucianism to regulate Legalism. Therefore, Lu Buwei has always been very close to Confucianism.

Today, Ran Hong is also a leading figure in Confucianism throughout the world, and is undoubtedly the number one Confucian in Qin.

Similarly, the world has not yet been unified, so we cannot abandon our military strength. The Qin laws can be repaired but not drastically changed, and we must not give the other Hundred Families the illusion that the Qin is changing its national policy.

So Ran Hong is now appointed as Dianke.

Of course, he also participated in the repair of Qin Law and the daily management of Xianyang Academy and the training of talents. Lü Buwei explained to Ran Hong in detail how to deal with this matter, and Ran Hong suddenly realized it.

Dealing with barbarians is very different from dealing with the six kingdoms, and I do seem to be overstepping my authority. Regardless of whether it is for the king's sake or not, I cannot make decisions for the king. I can only give suggestions.

Only the king can make the decision!

Ran Hong felt a surge of fear, it almost affected his career!

Nowadays, there is no one who does not want to work in the Regent Council. A minister who does not want to join the cabinet is not a good prime minister.

He is still young, but there are already three old people in the cabinet. It can be said that countless people are watching him.

Positions of power become less and less the higher you go.

It is extremely difficult to move up one step. The most important thing is that someone must make room for you before you can move up.

The cabinet ministers who are about to step down are all well aware of this, and in order to prevent their factions from being liquidated or declining, or their political stances from being changed, they are actively cultivating successors to their factions.

As a minister in the king's secret residence, a loyal and confidant of the king, and a representative of the Confucian school of the Qin Dynasty, and now an important official of the Qin Dynasty, it can be said that as long as the cabinet ministers go down, he will definitely have a great hope of getting in.

Moreover, he is close to Prime Minister Lu and has the support of Prime Minister Lu.

But the final decision still lies in the hands of the king.

And he was not Prime Minister Lu's only choice.

If you delay even one opportunity due to stupidity, you may end up wasting ten more years.

Ran Hong was even more grateful to Lu Buwei, as he really taught him something.

It’s also because things have been going too smoothly in the past few years that I have lost my vigilance about many things. This incident is also a reminder that the higher you are in the position, the more careful you have to be.

This matter is not a big deal, but it is not a small matter either. If someone makes a big deal out of it, I will probably have a hard time.

After all, there are too many people staring at me.

In recent years, after Ying Zheng completely grasped power, he also promoted his confidants.

The relationship between these people was good before they came to power, but after they came to power, they started fighting each other.

Sure enough, in the face of power and interests, a little bit of friendship between colleagues is really not worth mentioning.

Ying Zheng expressed that he was very relieved about this situation.

After receiving the tribute from the Qiang people, Ying Zheng also appeased them a bit and gave them back some inferior ironware and some flashy things. It was still necessary to provide them with some weapons to help the surrendered tribal leaders maintain their rule.

The matter of the Qiang people can be put aside for the time being. At least this group of people will be honest before unification. After unification, it will not be their turn to be dishonest. The Qin Dynasty will first bring them civilization and help them build a kingdom of peace and prosperity.

As for the beauties presented by the Qiang people, Ying Zheng originally had no interest in them, but it was also a fact that these women were useful.

It would not be appropriate not to accept them. Anyway, it would just be a few more mouths to feed in the palace, so they were all appointed as junior emissaries.

Being a monarch is so difficult because you always have to do things you don't want to do.

Ying Zheng originally thought that these Qiang people were not that beautiful. Now these barbarians were no different from wild people.

It wasn't until I met him that I realized it was too early to draw the conclusion, and it really happened.

Although she is not as good as Mi Yun and Jing Niu, she is not much different from the most beautiful one among them and can be called the most beautiful one in the world.

Moreover, it really has an exotic feel.

The hair colors include gold, silver, red, blue, etc., and the eye colors include gold, green, blue, indigo, etc. Some people even have different colored pupils. Their faces are also slightly different from the beauties in the Central Plains.

Come to think of it, it would be strange if there was no beauty among a million.

The Qiang people are not stupid. They have just been brutally slaughtered. If they still dare to mess around, they are simply seeking death.

Add to that the four Qin beauties who are about to enter the palace. Oh, it's not easy for the king! He is too busy to handle it all.

Ying Zheng also took the time to try out this exotic custom. It must be said that women who grew up in an environment where the strong prey on the weak are the most admiring and submissive. They may not have any feelings, but they are definitely submissive, well-behaved, and enthusiastic and open-minded, unlike women from the Central Plains. Even if women from the Central Plains are enthusiastic and cheerful, they are still reserved when it comes to matters between men and women.

The Qiang woman's service could indeed be described as meticulous and attentive. She was extremely docile and took the king's happiness as her highest principle. As for being shy and reserved, there was basically no such thing. The main thing was to be obedient.

And there's another surprise: these Qiang women can speak Qin language. Although the pronunciation is still a little strange, there is no problem in daily communication.

The Qiang people did put in some effort, but think about it, the Qiang people now live in the sphere of influence of the Qin Dynasty, and the Qin Dynasty has an overwhelming advantage over them. The barbarians admire the strong, and in order to live a better life, it is impossible for them not to learn the Qin language.

But I can only speak it, I can't write or recognize words.

Ying Zheng arranged them all in one palace and sent an old nanny to teach them the rules of the palace. He also had maids to serve them. With a good training, it could become a good place for fun.

(End of this chapter)