The Moon in the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 491 An unexpected gain

Feng Chenghui immediately realized the importance of this, and he became even more excited. Isn't this a God-given credit?
The purpose of occupying the Hexi Corridor was to manage the Western Regions, do good business with the West, build a golden road to wealth, and then slowly erode the Western Regions and expand the territory.

We are now so busy building the city that we haven't had time to communicate with the countries in the Western Regions, nor have we had time to manage it.

I never expected it! It came to my door.

Moreover, all the countries are so respectful and take the initiative to pay homage to the king. Although the countries are small, they are numerous!

And all the people from the entire Western Region came, without any one left out.

More than sixty countries came to pay homage to the King. What a grand event!

This is my first stop facing the Western Regions. Isn’t this a gift from heaven?

Feng Chenghui couldn't help but feel emotional, the king is worthy of being the king!

I originally thought that attacking Dayuezhi with such fanfare was an exaggeration, but I never expected that the decisive battle would yield such a rich harvest and make a huge profit.

And there’s this added bonus.

The barbarians really fear power rather than virtue. After wiping out the Dayuezhi in one fell swoop, all the countries came to pay tribute.

This can be said to have greatly reduced the difficulties in future management of the Western Regions, and it can even be said to have paved the way.

Feng Chenghui was extremely concerned and immediately ordered people to entertain the envoys well and sent 500 elite cavalry to escort them to Xianyang. He also sent the news back to Xianyang over a thousand miles in an urgent manner to congratulate Ying Zheng.

What do you call this? This is the coming of all nations to pay tribute to us. This is a great event, and we should celebrate it!

When Ying Zheng received the letter, he was also delighted.

In any case, the Qin Dynasty dominated the world and many foreign nations came to pay homage and pay tribute. This was indeed a proud thing. Although they were all small countries, it was indeed a glorious thing and worthy of being recorded in history books.

Of course, in addition to saving face, there are more benefits inside. Killing can solve many problems, but killing is not the goal.

The purpose is to rule, and to rule is to rule over people, not to rule over a land filled with dead bodies.

The land cannot speak, cannot do things, cannot grow cities on its own, cannot produce on its own, and will not pay taxes or serve me on its own.

The world today is too big, but there are too few people.

The current population of China is no more than 30 million, distributed over thousands of miles of land. The land is vast and sparsely populated. Except for the densely populated Central Plains, there are not many other places.

The areas close to the Central Plains are still sparsely populated, but further away, in the southeast, northeast, and especially in the southwest, they are completely wild lands with extremely limited development and an even sparse population.

True rule has never been about how big the land is in name only, but about truly being able to control a place, and all this requires people.

It is easy to kill a person, but it takes time and energy to allow a person to grow up and become a qualified labor force.

There is no need to kill them as long as they are obedient, although killing them first is necessary to make them obedient.

But killing was never the goal.

The purpose is to make them work well.

The original purpose of governing the Western Regions was to gradually erode away at it and gain real control over it. It was not because they could not defeat it with their hard power, but mainly because they had no one.

In this case, we should nibble away at them gradually. Before that, we should do business with them, make money from them, and then gradually assimilate and absorb them, and then slowly swallow them up later.

But we cannot underestimate the benefits brought by the Silk Road in the Western Regions. After being beaten so badly by the two powers of the empire, the Huns were able to confront the Han Dynasty for so many years, all thanks to the blood supply from the Western Regions.

This Silk Road passes through the Hexi Corridor and can be divided into two routes after passing Yumen Pass or Yangguan Pass. The southern route goes west along the northern foot of Kunlun Mountain, and the northern route goes west along the southern foot of Tianshan Mountain, eventually reaching Central Asia, West Asia and even further to Europe.

The benefits brought by this trade and cultural channel connecting the East and the West are unimaginable.

Although Rome at this time was still in the Roman Republic period and had not yet reached its peak and was still in a state of underdevelopment, it did not mean that there were no powerful forces and civilizations to the west of the Qin Dynasty.

Daxia in western Central Asia is a force, but its military strength is weak and not a cause for concern.

However, the powerful Maurya Empire and Seleucid Empire (Tiaozhi) were no weaker on paper than the unified Qin Dynasty. The Seleucid Empire was even larger. Although both countries are not at their strongest now, they are still large and prosperous enough.

Given the reality of the Qin Dynasty, or even the Central Plains after its unification, it would be basically impossible to expand its influence west of Central Asia within two or three hundred years.

Therefore, there is no conflict of interest at present, and there will be no military conflict. As for the future, even if the power really develops to these places, they will basically not confront them, because there is not much hope for these two powerful dynasties.

Before productivity and social civilization develop to a certain level, an empire that is too large is often prone to division and collapse.

But now, it is a good place to do business. After opening up this trade route, the benefits brought are extremely considerable and absolutely cannot be ignored.

Not to mention that the direct trade wealth centered on the Shaofu is already enviable, there are also tariffs and commercial taxes, as well as economic structure optimization, commercial development, agricultural development, including technology introduction and innovation, all kinds of direct or indirect benefits that absolutely cannot be given up.

The Hexi Corridor is the only way, and the Western Regions is the best window. Originally, Daqin had to take the initiative to contact them, but now they were scared to death. Killing the monkey to scare the chickens naturally scared these little chickens.

Now they are taking the initiative to come and pay homage to Daqin, which is completely different from Daqin taking the initiative to contact them.

Ying Zheng could guess roughly what the countries in the Western Regions were thinking and why they were like that.

There was a tiger lying next to a group of rabbits, and this tiger had just killed a wolf, so naturally everyone was afraid.

If I don't try to understand the tiger's intention, I won't be able to sleep peacefully, for I'm afraid that one day when I'm sleeping, a large army will suddenly attack me! Then I won't be able to escape.

They still have a glimmer of hope now, that is, the area is far away and the Qin Dynasty will not swallow up such a distant and barren land.

They also came here with the intention of testing the waters. No matter how powerful the Qin State appears to be, most of them have never seen it with their own eyes, nor have they dealt with it. After all, seeing is believing.

Now that they have been scared enough, it is time to calm their hearts, be gentle for now, boil the frog in warm water, gradually assimilate, deeply control them, until they are completely swallowed.

This is simple. Anyway, Daqin only wants to do business at the moment. As for the future, if you beg to bask in the glory of Daqin, it will be difficult for Daqin to refuse you.

If you don't want it, that would be too barbaric. Such barbarians are not allowed to exist in places where the Qin cavalry can reach.

Now that we know the other party's purpose, it's easy to deal with. It's just a matter of prescribing the right medicine.

If you are worried about being destroyed, then treat them gently and appease them.

If you want to test their strength, then let them see the power of the Qin Dynasty. Use both kindness and force, as well as cultural education and economic control. Today, the Qin Dynasty is a beacon for the whole world, and it will have no problem conquering a group of loose tribes and backward civilizations.

Let them be loyal to Daqin, so that it will save more effort to swallow them up completely in the future.

Ying Zheng thought to himself that it seemed like it was time to establish the Qin Western Regions Protectorate.

This chain reaction was truly amazing. The countries in the Western Regions took the initiative to come to the court, which greatly advanced the progress.

After convening a high-level meeting to discuss the matter, Ying Zheng solemnly instructed Ran Hong that the two goals must be achieved by using both kindness and force.

It is a proud thing to have all nations come to pay tribute, and all the important officials in the court are also honored to do so, but to be honest, they do not take it too seriously.

They are just a group of small barbarians, and few people look up to them. As for the Silk Road that Ying Zheng attaches great importance to, although they also value it, they have not truly witnessed the wealth that this Silk Road can bring, and it is indeed difficult for them to truly realize its importance now.

There is no way. Today's Central Plains is the place with the highest human civilization, at least in Asia. People outside the Central Plains, even Confucians, do not treat them as human beings.

Don't think that Confucianists won't call us "barbarians".

Even the Mohists did not take these completely foreign barbarians seriously.

Especially since Meng Wu completely destroyed the most powerful Yuezhi in the Western Regions in one battle, they looked down on these barbarians even more.

It's just a cold and backward place.

Among the many important civil and military officials, only Ran Hong was extremely happy and in high spirits.

It’s not that he values ​​this group of people that much, it’s purely for political achievements.

Although Ran Hong is one of the Nine Ministers and a Dian Ke, it is all in vain!
The size of power is never a false name, but is determined by how many resources and people one can control and how much influence one can have. That is the real power.

Today, the Qin Dynasty dominates the world and his role is not shown at all, especially when it comes to maneuvering among the nations. That is the job of Lu Buwei, Zhong Cang, and Wei Liao. With this situation, his role is even less evident.

They can only do some reception affairs, some superficial etiquette order and information communication, etc.

As the greatest Confucian master in the world today and a role model for Confucian scholars all over the world, Ran Hong would never be content to do just this little bit of work.

Cultivate oneself, manage one's family, govern the country and bring peace to the world.

We have already reached the stage of governing the country, but it is absolutely not enough to just do this little bit of work.

It’s a pity that in today’s Qin Dynasty, there are countless top talents and masters from hundreds of schools.

Being one of the Nine Ministers is extremely rare.

Ran Hong's dream is to enter the cabinet. Only by doing so can he truly assist the king in realizing his ambitions and leave his name in history.

By the way, the family will be rich for generations.

Only by entering the cabinet can one truly govern the country and bring peace to the world!

It’s a pity that the competition is too fierce nowadays. Even with the support of Prime Minister Lu, with the current job, the chances of entering the cabinet are still slim.

(End of this chapter)