The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 786 The Great Emperor of Yuezhi

In the Gobi Desert, where yellow and gray are intertwined, a group of people are moving slowly forward.

The setting sun in the distance shines a unique red light, accompanied by the sunset glow, which is quite lonely and sad.

Zhuge Xu rode a fine horse and walked in the middle of the team.

They had been away from Luoyang for a long time and had just arrived in Dunhuang County.

It was the first time for Zhuge Xu to walk such a long distance.

But the journey was not even half completed.

There were quite a few people in their group, and including the knights who protected him, there were more than two thousand people.

What made Zhuge Xu most curious were the Buddhist monks who were accompanying him.

In the past, there were many monks in Yongzhou, but their influence was limited to the upper class.

Some celebrities are fond of Buddhism and like to hold banquets and invite monks to preach to them.

Of course, there are so many gods that people can believe in at this moment.

In the early Han Dynasty, in addition to the Five Emperors, there were more than 683 local gods. By the time of Emperor Cheng, there were official temples, excluding folk gods. By the time of Wang Mang, the number of official gods had reached , and in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the number was countless.

The Wei and Jin dynasties were influenced by metaphysics, and various gods emerged one after another, and official sacrifices were carried out all year round.

But Buddhism and Taoism chose different paths.

Buddhism chose the upper-class route. They would take the initiative to contact those famous clan figures, lecture to them, translate scriptures, and then use the influence of these celebrities and officials to strengthen themselves.

As for Taoism, in the era of alchemists, they also took the upper-class route, but because they were repeatedly attacked, they gradually began to take the lower-class route, and even had the ability to organize the people to launch a rebellion that could destroy a country. No, it was an uprising.

But in Liangzhou, Shazhou and other places.

Buddha's influence is already very strong.

Especially in Shazhou.

Several kings of the great powers in Shazhou were Buddhists, and they often forced the people in their country to build pagodas.

In those cities, the only building that could maintain the same height as the palace was the pagoda.

Even many pagodas in cities are built in the most central location of the city, and roads spread out in all directions with the pagoda as the center.

Zhuge Xu was walking on the road with these monks who served as guides. The closer they got to Shazhou, the better the treatment these monks received.

Liu Song, the governor of Shazhou, personally led people to welcome Zhuge Xu and others.

Although Zhuge Xu was punished by the emperor and his official position and title were not high now, he had a glorious past and a great reputation after all. He came here with an imperial seal, so no one dared to be rude to him along the way.

Zhuge Xu and Liu Song had no friendship.

The two had never met before, and they were both a little restrained when they met for the first time.

Liu Song held a banquet to entertain Zhuge Xu.

Zhuge Xu looked at the many officials at the banquet and couldn't help but ask, "Lord Liu, after entering Shazhou, there are no other carriages on the road. Sometimes we walk for days without encountering a post station. Is this not the case for the rest of the road ahead?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Song fell silent.

Actually, this is still considered good. If you go further, you may not see anyone for half a month.

But he couldn't say that, so he could only console him: "Shazhou is new, and the roads are still under construction. Maybe when you return, it won't be like this anymore."

When Zhuge Xu heard this, he immediately understood what the road ahead would be like.

It definitely won’t be an easy walk.

Zhuge Xu was unwilling to say anything more, and the banquet ended hastily. However, after that, Liu Song invited Zhuge Xu to his study.

Although Zhuge Xu was surprised, he still followed the other party into the study.

After both parties took their seats, Liu Song sighed.

"Mr. Zhuge, this supervisory work is truly not easy. You've served as a provincial governor before, so could I ask you for some advice?"

Zhuge Xu looked at Liu Song, who was not very old, in front of him.

He knew in his heart that since this man could serve as a governor at his current age, he would definitely be given important positions in the future, or at least one of the six ministers.

But he asked for advice. Zhuge Xu shook his head, "I'm not even a qualified provincial governor myself. I made a serious mistake and was punished by Your Majesty. How can I dare to teach others?"

Liu Song suddenly didn't know what to say.

Zhuge Xu added, "However, if Lord Liu wants to discuss matters concerning his jurisdiction with me, I am willing to listen."

Liu Song also took the opportunity to talk about what he wanted to ask for advice.

Liu Song himself was a very strict person, and his law enforcement was strict and fair, which made everyone shocked and frightened.

But at this moment, he encountered a group of powerful subordinates.

Cao Mao attached great importance to Shazhou, so the local officials he sent were all extremely capable and powerful people.

Although Liu Song was superior to them in terms of official position, his age and qualifications were somewhat behind. It might be okay if he was placed in other states, but when he was placed in this place where talented people gathered, many problems were revealed.

This was not the most troubling thing for Liu Song. What Liu Song found most difficult to resolve were the matters that were not to be seen in public.

Liu Song has always been a very fair person, but now he has to face the conspiracy raised by some of his subordinates.

For example, the current Chief Secretary Liu Shi was planning to provoke a conflict between the Kingdom of Kucha and the Kingdom of Yanqi, and then take the opportunity to take actual control of these two small countries.

There have always been conflicts between the two countries.

If he could get them to fight each other, Liu Shi would have a legitimate reason to take their royal seals, or make them agree to send the prime minister to them.

But in Liu Song's opinion, this matter was a bit inappropriate.

If you said you wanted to provoke a fight with foreign enemies like Kangju or Xianbei, Liu Song would definitely not say much, but these two countries are now under the jurisdiction of Shazhou, and have been paying tribute to them for a long time over the years, with no intention of disobeying them. Doing so always feels like it will make the court lose the support of the people in Shazhou.

Zhuge Xu listened to Liu Song's troubles very carefully.

He asked suspiciously, "Why not ask His Majesty directly?"

Liu Song sighed and said, "I reported this to His Majesty, but His Majesty didn't tell me what to do. He just told me to keep an eye on it."

"Officials from all regions felt that since His Majesty had not objected, he had agreed to their demands, and they all felt that they could proceed."

"What on earth am I supposed to do?"

Zhuge Xu understood now, and he said seriously, "Your Majesty has said many times that the Inspector General does not manage internal affairs, but is only responsible for supervision. There is no need for you to interfere in this matter. You only need to keep informing Your Majesty of the situation of this official, the situation of various countries, and even your own thoughts."

"Your Majesty dislikes provincial governors interfering in local affairs. You should not regard yourself as a former provincial governor. Simply monitor the behavior of the people."

"However, regarding what you just mentioned, I think it is unlikely that Liu Shi and others can accomplish it."

"His Majesty sent us to the Yuezhi people, and he also planned to conduct large-scale trade in the future. How could he allow war to break out in Shazhou?"

"Kucha is a big country. If there is unrest, half of Shazhou will be affected."

"At least in the next few years, the Chief Secretary will not act rashly."

Liu Song nodded and agreed.

After a while of chatting, Zhuge Xu had a better impression of the young man in front of him.

This guy has the hope of becoming a Shangshu before he turns fifty!

Zhuge Xu silently made an evaluation in his heart.

Liu Song also informed Zhuge Xu of some of the situation.

"I often have monks from the Yuezhi here."

“I learned a lot from them.”

Liu Song said, "In the past, they had a king named Bo Diao."

"In the second year of Taihe, this man, Bo Diao, sent envoys to the Wei Dynasty to pay tribute and offer sacrifices, and was named the pro-Wei King of the Great Yuezhi."

"The Central Plains knows very little about this man, but I have heard a lot. It is said that he is wise and brave, inherited the throne at a young age, and made great contributions. All the countries regard him as the leader and the King of Kushan."

"And we, the Great Wei, use the name from the Han Dynasty and call him the King of the Great Yuezhi."

"However, after he grew old, he committed many atrocities, favored villains, ignored talented people, and killed members of the royal family indiscriminately. Therefore, after his death, the Great Yuezhi Kingdom began to decline. It is said that they are now bullied by powerful enemies, have lost a lot of land, and dare not fight against the enemy."

Zhuge Xu was stunned when he heard this.

He ascended the throne as a teenager, was wise and brave, defeated powerful enemies, but in his old age he began to kill people indiscriminately, became incompetent and unjust, and bowed his head to the Wei Dynasty and was crowned king. Why does this sound so familiar?

I always feel like I've seen it somewhere.

At this moment, Liu Song talked about the powerful enemy of the Yuezhi people, the Parthians.

But Liu Song didn't know much about Parthia and couldn't say anything.

He only knew that this country was extremely powerful, had taken away a large amount of territory from the Yuezhi people, was eyeing the surrounding areas covetously, and was extremely powerful.

Obviously, Liu Song and others did not know that Parthia was not the same as today's Sassanid Empire.

In fact, it was not the Parthian Empire but the Sassanid Empire that was now bullying the Kushan Empire.

Just like the Kushan Empire has now become the Vasudeva Dynasty
Zhuge Xu was still very grateful to Liu Song. At least he now had a vague impression of the Dayuezhi people.

According to Liu Song's description, the current situation of the Great Yuezhi is very difficult. They have lost their southern territory. There are now many countries in the south, and they have been beaten by the enemy in the north. They are huddled together and trembling. They have reached the brink of destruction.

Of course, Zhuge Xu still had to go there to find out the real situation.

Zhuge Xu rested there for two days and then set off again.

After actually entering Shazhou, Zhuge Xu finally realized that the roads in Dunhuang were quite good and there were quite a lot of people. No wonder Liu Song was so hesitant.

But the environment here is quite good, with fertile farmland, grasslands and lakes everywhere.

It seems that the environment here is even better than Dunhuang, with much less wind and sand, but I heard that the situation will be different in the south.

Zhuge Xu could only groan inwardly and continue on his way.

(End of this chapter)