Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 415 King of Dayuan: I won’t give you the Pegasus!

The man rode his horse into the city, shouting all the way, and then climbed to the top of the city wall. He took off his sword and handed it to the soldiers. He held high a scroll of silk book in his hand and handed it to the county official for verification first.

The military officer wearing a military cap had an ordinary face. The only thing that caught his attention was the thick and coarse beard on his cheeks and chin.

He stepped forward and bowed to Zhang Gongxing, saying, "Lord Zhang, the King of Shanshan and the King of the Frontal Cheshi wish to send a delegation of more than 300 people to Luoyang to pay homage to the Emperor of Han and offer gold, jade, rock honey, incense, borax, and other items, as well as two fine horses with the bloodline of Dayuan celestial horses... We only wish to ask the Emperor to grant us a tortoise ribbon."

After these words were spoken, Zhang Gong's hand that was stroking his beard froze, revealing a look of astonishment.

No, what kind of hysteria did the kings of the Western Regions have? They have been trading with the Xianbei tribe for so long. Don’t they know that the Han Dynasty has been struggling since the Yellow Turban Rebellion?
Dong Zhuo also burned Luoyang, destroyed the ancestral temple, and dug up the emperor's tomb. Now that the emperor had come to the Hexi Corridor, he still wanted to go to Luoyang to pay homage and meet the emperor, hoping to be granted a tortoise-shaped ribbon and the title of king.

I hope that your Han grandfather will send troops to rescue you from the hooves of the Xianbei people. I am afraid that this is just a dream, and before you wake up, the Han dynasty in the Central Plains is already crumbling, so how can it have the energy to help the Western Regions?

In the sixth year of Xiping, Xia Yu, Tian Yan, and Zang Bing each led 10,000 cavalrymen to go out of the border for more than 2,000 miles to fight against the Xianbei. As a result, all their baggage was lost and they returned with heavy casualties. From then on, the Han Dynasty was no longer able to contain the Xianbei, let alone at this critical moment.

The military officer wearing a military cap looked at the silk book with a half-believing look when he saw Zhang Gong.

He gritted his teeth and bowed his hands, saying, "Your Excellency Mr. Zhang, I have come here at full speed from Yumen Pass. In addition to the messenger from Shanshan who came to deliver the message, there is also a team of one hundred Hu merchants who came with me."

"I have sent people who are fluent in many foreign languages. I happened to hear from the foreign merchants that half a year ago, the emperor of the Han dynasty ascended the throne. Budugen, the grandson of Tan Shihuai of the Xianbei tribe, wanted to congratulate the emperor on his ascension and apologize to the Han dynasty for his crime of carrying a thorn stick on his back. He therefore sent a Xianbei envoy to ride west to Dayuan to ask for the celestial horse from the king of Dayuan."

"I didn't expect that Dayuan would reject the offer outright, as Wusun was its frontier. Some ministers even joked, 'Shi Huai Chanyu is dead, Budugen's name is unknown, how can his army intimidate Dayuan?' Budugen was furious when he heard this, and ordered the tribal leaders to cross Wusun to the west and attack Dayuan."

"Before the Xianbei troops arrived, the Western Regions were all privately rumored to have heard that the Han Dynasty had an emperor who would take over the throne. I'm afraid it's true."

The military officer's words were full of information, which made Zhang Gong's eyes widen. He stopped looking at the silk book in his hand, immediately raised his head and looked at the other party. He was speechless for a moment.

I think the King of Dayuan is as bold as ever. The Xianbei people asked for horses in order to pay tribute to the Han emperor. How dare you, a tiny country like you, refuse them with such a small population?

Have you forgotten how Marquis Dingyuan traveled across the Western Regions in the past?
It has only been a short time since the Han Dynasty withdrew the Protectorate, but they have so quickly forgotten the hundreds of years of deterrence from the Han Aung.

Didn't he see that the Xianbei leader Budugen also had to apologize to the emperor? He actually dared to rely on the fact that he was thousands of miles away from the Han Dynasty and directly refused the emperor's tribute without even asking.

If the new emperor was as interested in controlling the countries in the Western Regions as Emperor Xiaowu, whoever was appointed as the Protector-General and heard about this would be eager to punish Dayuan. On the surface, he would reject the Xianbei leader, but secretly he would be offending the Han emperor.

"Have you heard clearly who the Emperor of Luoyang is?" Zhang Gong suddenly thought of an important thing. This means that it is not certain that the Yuan family, with three generations of officials in four generations, will win the world. It is very likely that a member of the royal family will rise up and follow the example of Emperor Guangwu to revive the Han Dynasty again.

No wonder the Liangzhou bandits took the prince Liu Xie and fled to Hexi. The Han army had already entered Guanzhong. I'm afraid that Yuan Benchu, Gongsun Bogui and other princes entrenched in Hebei would have been completely defeated and destroyed?
Which Liu clan member is this? Is it Liu Yu, Liu Dai, or Liu Yan, the governor of Yizhou?
The damn Qiang Hu tribes and Liangzhou bandits blocked the road, causing Dunhuang County to unexpectedly learn from the Hu merchants that there had been earth-shaking changes in Guandong.

Damn it! The Luoyang court was just established, but I didn't send anyone to offer tribute and congratulations. Even the Putao wine that I had treasured for many years, a rare item in the Central Plains, was not used. Otherwise, I would have been loved by the emperor.

Zhang Gong thought that his position as prefect at that time was recommended by the nobles of Dunhuang, which not only violated the Han law but also did not have the permission of the court.

If he didn't find a way to make meritorious deeds to atone for his sins, it would be difficult to deal with the Han envoys who arrived in Hexi. "I don't know which royal family the emperor is from, I only know that he was once the King of Han, and the whole world persuaded him to ascend the throne..."

The military officer with a thick and rough beard recalled for a moment and then bowed and said.

There is no way. I don’t know how many people have spread this news. From Dunhuang County to Luoyang City, it is 5,500 miles, and that’s if you take a straight line. If you take the actual detour into account, it will be even farther.

If the two neighboring countries in the Western Regions had not heard the news and prepared to arrange a delegation of ministers and send a princess across the Hexi Corridor, they might not have known about such an important matter.

"The Xianbei people are really tight-lipped. Fortunately, Dunhuang bought horses from them. They even concealed such a thing. The Hu people are really untrustworthy."

Zhang Gong couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

He saw in the silk book that the two countries, Shanshan and Cheshi, would send Princess Kehan ​​and the minister Alana to meet the emperor on behalf of the two countries' kings, so that they could become vassal states of the Han Dynasty again and pay tribute continuously year after year in the future.

We request that Dunhuang send troops to escort the envoys so that they can safely pass through areas where there are many bandits. The kings of various countries will certainly be grateful.

When they saw that there were monks in the delegation, these Buddhists probably planned to bring Western Buddhist scriptures into the Han Dynasty and introduce Theravada Buddhism to Luoyang again.

"I wonder if the White Horse Temple in Kyoto has been rebuilt. Will the officials in the court still favor the Indian Buddha?"

Zhang Gong looked towards the east, as if he wanted to see Luoyang through the mountains and ridges.

Unfortunately, all that meets the eye is the sky full of yellow sand, with strong wind whimpering through the fine sand. The world is so vast, and it is so difficult to see the rich Central Plains from afar.

"I only hope that the emperor will have the heart to open up the Western Regions, and send the Han army to suppress the Qiang and Hu threats in Yong and Liang, so that carriages and camels can travel back and forth again, and show the prosperity of the Han Dynasty."

Zhang Gong came to his senses, folded the silk letter written by the king of the Western Regions, and put it into his sleeve. He was grateful that the letter arrived in time, which enabled him to make up his mind to unite with local nobles to capture Jiuquan County, pickled Guo Si's head, and sent it to Luoyang as a tribute to the emperor.

The only tricky thing is how to rescue the Prince of Chenliu and the Queen safely.

Since the emperor has inherited the ancestral temple, in order to show your benevolence, Your Majesty will certainly treat Liu Xie leniently and not let him suffer the slightest mistake.

Therefore, each noble family must not only make achievements, but also make them beautiful so that the officials cannot find fault with them...

"Left and right chiefs, immediately write letters and send them to all the great families in Dunhuang, inviting them to come here to discuss their special merits and achievements!"

Zhang Gong narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke in a sonorous and powerful voice.

(End of this chapter)