Diqin Designer

Chapter 343: Liu Ji's Mission to Wusun, Buzi of the Western Regions
Of course, Touman wanted the Qin army to arrive when the time came, and not to fail to arrive when the time came. He wanted them to help them in an orderly and peaceful manner, but he couldn't say that.

Seeing that Chen Ping kicked the question back, Touman fell into thought again.

We cannot let the Qin army send troops too early, because if it does, it will not only consume more of their food and supplies, but also make them worried. After all, there are 60,000 Qin troops stationed in their Xiongnu, and they are the Qin troops led by Wang Ben. How can they not be worried?

But it is also impossible for the Qin Dynasty to send troops too late. First, if the Qin Dynasty sends troops too late, if the Donghu and Yuezhi suddenly attack them, they may not be able to provide timely support.

Secondly, it will make Big Brother Qin feel that they are not sincere. They want Big Brother’s help, but are so wary of him?
After a while, Touman looked at Chen Ping and replied, "We can send troops to Xiazhong. General Wang Ben will lead the army here. We will supply all the food and supplies. What do you think, Special Envoy?"

Chen Ping nodded and said, "We will follow Chanyu's wishes, but this matter is not something I can make a final decision on. I will report this to His Majesty the Emperor and inform General Wang Ben."

Touman said: "Then I'll have to trouble the special envoy!"

After attending the banquet specially held by Touman, it was not yet dark when Chen Ping followed Jiao Li back to the Qin Embassy in the Xiongnu. On the way, he saw a group of Xiongnu people gathered somewhere, and among the crowd there seemed to be several Qin people.

Chen Ping asked curiously, "What's going on here? Why are there so many Huns gathered here?"

Jiao Li took a look and said with a smile, "Those are merchants from Daqin who want to hire helpers, and these Xiongnu people are here to be selected."

Before Chen Ping could ask again, Jiao Li said, "They work hard and are not paid much, so merchants from Daqin like to hire them. Some small Xiongnu tribal leaders even send their people and slaves to be hired!"

After hearing this, Chen Ping thought about it for a moment and immediately understood: "Are they trying to earn money from the Qin Dynasty in this way?"

"That's right. Some tribes are too small and have a small population. They can't make money like Touman and the leaders of the big tribes. But they covet the various goods of the Qin Dynasty. They want to earn money from the Qin Dynasty to buy the goods of the Qin Dynasty. The only way is to hire people."

Daqin and the Xiongnu formally established diplomatic relations, set up a trading city, and allowed merchants from both sides to trade. This seemed fair and beneficial to the Xiongnu, but in fact it was extremely unfair.

Because the two sides had different production capacities, the types and qualities of goods they possessed were also different, and the trade was unequal, the wealth of the Huns was reaped by the Qin Dynasty.

This unequal trade had a great impact and damage on the Xiongnu, and the bulk of the profits from trade with the Qin Dynasty were taken by the Touman and the leaders of the large tribes, resulting in the small tribes only being able to get a little bit of the spoils, while the civilians and slaves got nothing.

As a result, the headmen and leaders of large tribes lived a life of luxury, while the small tribes and civilians still lived a hard life, even worse than before.

Seeing that the big shots all used Daqin's things, and that Daqin's things were indeed good, how could the small tribes and civilians of the Xiongnu not be tempted and envious?

However, the main channels for making money from the Qin Dynasty were controlled by the Touman and the large tribes. How could they make money from the Qin Dynasty and then buy the Qin goods they wanted?

They had no choice but to accept employment from the Qin merchants, work for them and get paid.

Chen Ping remained silent as he looked at the group of Huns that had gathered. Jiao Li continued, "At the beginning of this year, a tribal leader proposed a very interesting idea: he wanted to rent 2,000 Huns to Daqin to help."

Chen Ping understood what this idea was as soon as he thought about it, and his expression became strange. Sending these two thousand Huns to Daqin was definitely to go to Daqin to work as helpers and earn some money. Then the money earned would go into the pockets of the tribal leaders and become the money for the tribal leaders to buy Daqin goods and enjoy themselves.

Chen Ping said: "This proposal was not passed?"

Jiao Li smiled and said, "On the surface, it didn't pass, but secretly, someone would always secretly send people to Daqin. After all, this way of making money by just sending people will definitely make some people tempted!"

Chen Ping said: "No wonder I found that the number of Xiongnu in Xianyang has increased recently, not only in Xianyang, but also in the towns near Xianyang! But if they do this, the Xiongnu will definitely have serious problems..."

There will be many problems: like the unequal trade between Daqin and the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu was actually the party that suffered losses, while Touman and others did not suffer any losses, and instead seemed to have made a profit. So who did the damaged interests pass on to?

People like Touman control the bulk of the profits from trade with the Qin Dynasty. Those small tribes and Xiongnu civilians will gradually accumulate dissatisfaction. Why can they easily earn a lot of money from the Qin people and buy the Qin people's goods to enjoy, while they have to work hard for a long time to be able to afford one?
For example, sending the Huns to Daqin to work and earn wages is easy, but will the Huns who come to Daqin want to go back?

The ones sent here are Xiongnu civilians and slaves. As the lower class, their lives in Xiongnu are not very good. If they feel that they are living well in Daqin and feel the light of Daqin's beacon...

It was Li Nian who proposed that the Qin and Xiongnu establish diplomatic relations, and it was Li Nian who suggested that the Qin and Xiongnu trade and set up a trading city. Chen Ping thought to himself: "My lord, you have a good method. You don't conquer them directly through military means, but you disintegrate the Xiongnu from other aspects, making them meat in the mouth of the Qin!"

Although only a year has passed, the Xiongnu are already changing into the shape of Daqin. This is like raising fruits, which will be picked by Daqin after they mature automatically. What seems to be assistance to the Xiongnu today will be returned to Daqin tomorrow.

This method would not cause the Huns to rebel violently. Instead, it would make them feel a sense of identity when they were conquered by the Qin Dynasty again. They would think that being annexed by the Qin Dynasty was a good thing, as they were all brothers and family after all.

When Chen Ping went on a diplomatic mission to the Xiongnu again, there were also envoys from the Qin Dynasty on a diplomatic mission in the Western Regions. The envoys were from the Wusun Kingdom, which had sent envoys to celebrate the New Year for the First Emperor. The envoys were Liu Ji, Zhou Bo and others.

After a year of observation, the First Emperor released Liu Ji because he felt that instead of letting him govern the local area, it would be better to let him travel around as an envoy, so that Liu Ji's greatest strengths could be brought into play.

This mission to the Wusun Kingdom was to send Liu Ji to test the waters and see how good his diplomatic abilities were. If Liu Ji did a really good job, perhaps the title of the Qin Dynasty's first Protector General of the Western Regions would fall on Liu Ji.

When the First Emperor told Li Nian about this idea, Li Nian thought about it and understood the First Emperor's idea: I will make sure that your Han Dynasty will never appear again, and you, Liu Ji, will never become an emperor in this life, so I will give you the title of the first Protector General of the Western Regions of the Qin Dynasty, and your name will be recorded in history!
In essence, the First Emperor felt that he had taken away Liu Ji's future, so he wanted to compensate him a little from other places.

Led by the Wusun envoy, Liu Ji and others have arrived at the Wusun royal court. Because the Wusun people are nomadic and live by following water and grass, this place is not a city, but a large settlement formed by a number of very distinctive felt tents.

Liu Ji had traveled abroad in his early years and had a lot of knowledge, but he had never seen this style of yurts here. This gave Liu Ji a new and novel feeling, as well as excitement.

Liu Ji was sent to a foreign country as an envoy of Qin. This was hard to imagine more than a year ago. Moreover, he was the leader of the delegation. Before approaching the settlement, Liu Ji saw a group of people waiting on horseback.

As they got closer, Liu Ji saw that the faces of these people had the same features as the Wusun envoys, and the clothes they wore were also of the same style, but more gorgeous, especially the middle-aged man in the lead, who was adorned with gold, silver and jewels.

Liu Ji judged in his heart: This should be the king of Wusun, but this king of Wusun is not very good. He uses pearls, jade, gold and silver to show off his own nobility. Not only does it fail to show the king's demeanor, but it makes him look vulgar.

But this is not surprising. How could Wusun, a small country in the Western Regions, understand these things?
When Liu Ji and others walked to a certain distance, the middle-aged man who should be the King of Wusun came up with other people and said something with a smile.

Liu Ji and his companions stopped their horses and looked at the envoy of Wusun. The envoy said, "The king said that everyone from Daqin is welcome to Wusun!"

The Wusun King had already approached, and Liu Ji rode up to meet him, shouting, "I, the Qin man, Liu Ji, am here on a mission to your country under the order of the Great Qin Emperor!"

This sentence was translated to the Wusun King, who smiled even more. He pointed to the settlement not far away and said another sentence. The Wusun envoy translated: "The King is inviting everyone!"

Liu Ji nodded, and Zhou Bo and several other core members of the delegation followed him and went to the settlement with the King of Wusun and others.

As they walked, the King of Wusun was talking to Liu Ji and others. The Wusun envoy translated: The King of Wusun is introducing himself to them!

Soon, they approached the settlement and saw the scene in the settlement. This was not a city, so naturally there were no streets or shops. It was full of the atmosphere of grassland nomadic tribes. Many Wusun people were looking at them curiously from all directions.

The "royal palace" of the Wusun king was in the center of the settlement, and his reception area was a large felt tent.

After the host and the guests sat down, the King of Wusun said: "Welcome everyone from Daqin to Wusun. Wusun is simple and cannot compare to your country's wealth. I hope you can forgive me!"

Liu Ji shook his head and smiled, "Ah, Your Majesty, you are wrong. I have heard a saying from Master Li Nian: 'A mountain is not famous for its height, but for the immortals living there; a river is not famous for its depth, but for the dragons living there.' The same is true for residences and living quarters. Whether they are simple or not depends on the people, not on the things. Your Majesty is so sincere in welcoming us, how can it be called simple?"

After the translation and understanding of what Liu Ji said, the King of Wusun looked at Liu Ji with even more kindness and cordiality.

The envoy from the Great Qin was not at all arrogant. Not only did he not look down on them, he actually praised them with these words, which gave him a lot of face. It was comfortable, really comfortable!

The leaders of the Wusun tribes also looked at Liu Ji with friendly eyes. He was worthy of being the envoy of the Qin Dynasty. He knew how to talk. He was nothing like the Yuezhi people. Every time they sent envoys, they were arrogant and asked for this and that. If they didn't give it, they would directly threaten them.

One important reason why the Wusun people sent envoys to Daqin was that they could not stand the Yuezhi and wanted to see if the rumored Eastern big country had any chance to help them.

Indeed, they had no right to be unbearable, because in history, a few years later, their king was attacked and killed by the Yuezhi. However, Maodun adopted the son of the Wusun king, raised him to adulthood, and revived the Wusun.

Although the Yuezhi were nothing compared to the Qin, Han and Xiongnu after Maodun's rule, and were beaten by the Xiongnu and forced to leave their homes and migrate westward, this does not mean that the Yuezhi were weak, but that the opponents they encountered were strong.

The Wusun were once defeated by the Yuezhi, and their king was killed by them. After being beaten by the Xiongnu and forced to move westward, the Yuezhi destroyed the Kingdom of Bactria, established the Kushan Empire, and dominated Central Asia and South Asia, even beating ancient India.

But even such Yuezhi people were still nothing to the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu beat the Yuezhi people and forced them to migrate. The Han Dynasty during the Eastern Han Dynasty also beat the Kushan Empire in the Western Regions.

As for the conflict between Wusun and Yuezhi, it was inevitable. The two nomadic tribes were adjacent to each other, and friction was bound to occur over the competition for water and grass. Wusun had always been the weaker party.

Seeing how polite Liu Ji was, the King of Wusun and the leaders of the various Wusun tribes found Liu Ji more and more friendly and pleasing to the eye, and the more they thought about it, the more hateful they found the Yuezhi.

What level are you, the Yuezhi, and what level is the Qin? The envoys of the Qin were polite to us, but you, the Yuezhi, are so arrogant?

If only the Qin could help them and deal with the Yuezhi people!
The King of Wusun was hinting: "The envoy is indeed from a great country, he is extraordinary, unlike some people who are obviously not very powerful but are very domineering and arrogant."

Liu Ji was moved and asked with a smile: "What do you mean by 'some'?"

The King of Wusun did not answer this question, but said: "Let's not talk about this, let's not talk about this, so as not to spoil the interest of our distinguished guests."

It is still uncertain what Daqin's attitude towards them is. What if Daqin favors the Yuezhi people? Wouldn't it be asking for trouble if he complained to the Daqin envoy and spoke ill of the Yuezhi?
Even if the Qin Empire did not favor the Yuezhi people, it was far away from them while the Yuezhi were close to them. If the Yuezhi people attacked them, the Qin Empire might not be able to provide timely assistance.

Moreover, Daqin was very powerful in the rumors, but they had never seen it with their own eyes, so who knew if it was true or not? What if Daqin was actually a fool!

It is better to find out what the Qin people are thinking first and understand their strength before making any plans. If the Qin people are really strong and willing to help them deal with the Yuezhi, they will not mind joining the Qin and becoming its younger brother in the Western Regions.

Seeing that the King of Wusun did not say anything, Liu Ji did not continue to ask, but nodded and smiled: "Your Majesty is right, today is a happy event, we should celebrate and not talk about things that spoil the fun."

The King of Wusun said, "Your Excellency, is the Emperor of your country well?"

Hearing the question from the King of Wusun, Liu Ji straightened his expression and replied seriously: "His Majesty the Emperor has been well. Before he set out, His Majesty specifically asked me to send his regards to the King on his behalf!"

The King of Wusun immediately pretended to be excited and surprised and said, "Your Majesty the Emperor of your country actually remembered me? Thank you, Your Majesty the Emperor of Great Qin!"

If what the Qin envoy said was true, the fact that the Great Qin Emperor specifically asked the Qin envoy to greet him before departure showed that the Great Qin Emperor should have a good impression of him and Wusun.

This is a very good signal!
(End of this chapter)