The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 812 The End of the Four Empires

Of the four great empires, the Parthian Empire has been reduced to dust, while the newly born Parthia is at its peak.

The Eastern Han Empire has been completely replaced, and only those bamboo slips and people's conversations can still show its past appearance.

The Roman Empire was in shambles, with administrative power paralyzed, internal rebellions, and external enemies raging. It had officially entered a period of three-way conflict. Huh? Why does this sound familiar?

In short, the only empire still lingering on is the Kushan Empire.

But the Kushan Empire today is no longer the ambitious empire that dominated India, monopolized Afghanistan, and occupied trade routes.

It is not even worthy of being called an empire now. Their control in the south has disappeared, and in the north, they were beaten in disguise by the successors of the Parthian Empire. They lost a lot of territory and were driven to the royal city several times, forcing them to bow their heads and submit.

The army is filled with incompetent nobles, officials have lost their fighting spirit, indulged in alcohol and sex, and madly exploited the people, while the privileges of the nobles continue to increase. Huh? Why does this sound a little familiar?

The current Kushan king is Kanishka III.

This king is an unlucky man.

His father Vaisheka handed over a country with internal and external troubles to him, and asked him to fulfill the wishes of his ancestors and restore the previous hegemony.

However, his father himself was a notorious tyrant who ruled the country for ten years. Not only did he fail to solve the past problems, but he also exacerbated domestic conflicts.

After the new king came to power, he tried to repair the current Kushan Empire through various means, but things had come to this point. The local nobles only submitted to the king in name only and did not obey him completely.

The treasury was empty, and even the money to maintain the army needed help from the nobles.

The more anxious he was to do things, the more negative the consequences would be.

He once wanted to reform the monetary system and take back the nobles' right to mint coins. As a result, the national currency lost its credibility and the finances collapsed further. In the end, he had to make a compromise in a hurry to maintain the country.

This king has been ruling for ten years now.

He ascended the throne one year later than Cao Mao.

However, he was much older than Cao Mao, and was on the verge of death, with almost no hope for the future.

When he learned that there was a messenger from the East, the old king immediately stood up and ordered the officials around him to prepare to welcome the angel.

He personally set up a ceremonial guard in front of the city gate, which included more than 300 musicians and various elephants. The scale was extremely grand.

Zhuge Xu came to Lan City accompanied by several nobles, and what he saw was this extraordinary welcome ceremony.

The several nobles who were following Zhuge Xu at this moment couldn't help but look at each other when they saw the situation in front of them.

The Kushans practiced a centralized system.

The king directly sent officials to govern the country, and the regional administrative divisions within Kushan were divided into provinces and villages.

The king would send a governor and a marshal to each province, one in charge of government affairs and the other in charge of military affairs.

Later, in order to facilitate the efficiency of warfare, the position of governor-general or grand marshal was introduced to determine the superior-subordinate relationship between the two.

But now, the power of the court has been challenged. Local governors and generals have gradually become a threat to the court. They often collude and oppose the king's orders. The king cannot even remove these people. Some governors and generals have become hereditary.
Zhuge Xu also noticed something during the conversation.

There is a huge wooden platform inside the city gate, and this platform is carried by many slaves. The Kushan King is not only the "King of Men", he is also the "Son of Heaven". He is the highest leader of domestic politics and religion. Therefore, after the Kushan King walks out of the palace, he cannot go down to the ground easily. There must be a high platform to separate him from the ground. This is more like a ceremony, and it is a different matter during a war.

Zhuge Xu led the crowd forward and bowed to the king.

The Kushan King looked at Zhuge Xu in front of him with some excitement in his eyes, but when he saw the governors and marshals following not far away, the smile on his face disappeared a little.

Although the governors-general disobeyed orders, this was not the biggest threat to the Kushans. The biggest threat to the Kushans was the Persians.

During the reign of the previous king, the Kushans became a vassal of the Persians and sent a large number of slaves every year.

Now that this king has come to power, Persia has experienced a brief period of chaos due to the young emperor taking the throne. The Kushans took the opportunity to break free from control, but they were still cautious, fearing that the enemy would cause trouble for them.

"Guests from the East"

The Kushan king spoke, and an interpreter stood beside him, translating his words into elegant language.

The translator was an elderly monk.

In fact, these monks have made great contributions to promoting cultural exchanges among different places.

There are many monks from Kushan in the Wei Dynasty. They are not only familiar with the language, but also can debate the classics!

And these monks are really good at debating.

There are also many eminent monks under the Kushan King. These people have been to the Wei Dynasty and are very familiar with that place.

Therefore, there will be no language difficulties at all.

Similarly, Zhuge Xu also brought a lot of monks as his translators this time.

The Kushan King invited Zhuge Xu to the high platform, took his hand cordially, and followed him to the palace. Lan City was exceptionally majestic and tall, its architectural style completely different from that of the Central Plains, yet it was uniquely spectacular.

The two returned to the palace together.

The Kushan king sat on the upper throne, and Zhuge Xu made an exception and sat next to him.

The Kushan King looked at the governors and marshals sitting on both sides in the distance and asked with a smile, "It's been a long time since you have been here. Does this place look unfamiliar to you?"

Ever since the previous king was defeated and surrendered to the Persians, the Kushan royal family lost its ruling prestige.

The local governors and marshals were not afraid of the Kushan king at all.

There was a vague sense of separatism, and they also held "meetings" in private, which were translated by later generations as "city committees". They decided some major issues together, almost skipping the king to govern the local area.

It is no wonder that the Kushan Empire later completely split into dozens of small countries. Many people believe that the Kushan Empire was destroyed by the Hephthalites. In fact, before that, the Kushan Empire had already turned into remnants, with each tribe being independent and no longer having the posture of a unified country.

The governors, facing the Kushan king's questioning, simply replied perfunctorily, "Your Majesty, with the current chaos and the enemy pressing in, we simply cannot abandon our duties and come here. We hope Your Majesty will forgive us."

They dared to come here and were not afraid of the punishment of the Kushan King at all.

The Kushan king did not even dare to detain these people. The country had finally stabilized. If he dared to detain these people, I am afraid that a civil war would break out tomorrow.

He could only suppress the anger in his heart and look at Zhuge Xu beside him.

"As they said, we have internal and external troubles. We haven't sent anyone to Wei in many years. I wonder if His Majesty the Emperor is doing well?"

Zhuge Xu was stunned. It depends on which emperor you are asking.

If you ask the emperor who paid tribute at the time, well, the Ming emperor had passed away many years ago.

He cleared his throat and said, "Your Majesty is the heir of the former Ming Emperor. He is in the prime of his life. He is grateful for the obedience shown to the Prince of Wei and has specially sent me here to inquire about the situation, with the intention of resuming exchanges between the two countries."

"Just like the Kushan Empire, the Great Wei also suffered a lot of troubles. Now, under your Majesty's rule, it has finally achieved prosperity."

In fact, there was no need for Zhuge Xu to say much, the Kushan King knew a lot about the situation in the Central Plains.

The monks who had been there often brought news from there. The news they initially brought was negative, saying that their civil war was even more serious than here, and that their emperor was being sidelined.

But in recent years, the feedback we've received has been mostly positive.

They said that the Wei Dynasty had eliminated its internal enemies and had recovered Shazhou.

The reason why the Kushan King respected Zhuge Xu so much was because of this information.

The other nobles probably also knew the situation over there.

The two chatted for a few minutes, and everyone listened attentively.

Zhuge Xu came here mainly for trade matters.

There are many good things in Kushan, and these good things are what the Central Plains needs. Of course, there are also many good things in the Central Plains that people here dream of.

Silk, tea, porcelain, etc.

These are all good things and are very popular in the West.

At one point, China was even referred to by these terms.

In the past, when the Kushan Empire was still very powerful, trade between the two sides was very frequent. The Kushan king knew the other party's intentions and was particularly happy about it.

Not only him, but also the governors of the country were very much looking forward to it. Who wouldn't want a silk coat from China? Even Caesar wanted it.

These luxuries are still very important to the upper class.

The Kushan king did not even think of opposing it. He was very supportive. In terms of specific implementation, Zhuge Xu proposed to set up a duty-free market in Shazhou, where merchants from both countries could trade in Shazhou, share what they have and actively communicate.

The Kushan king also strongly supported this.

To come to Kushan from Wei, there is no need to cross the Himalayas, because many of Kushan's territories are in Central Asia, directly bordering Shazhou.

The two sides discussed many matters and had a very pleasant chat.

As soon as they met, Zhuge Xu had almost completed his work. The Kushan King fully agreed with his ideas and there was no need to spend time persuading him. But then, the Kushan King brought up some other things.

"You've come so far, and you probably don't know. The Sassanid barbarians are very ferocious. They've besieged us several times, plundering our people and property. Their cavalry is stationed all around us, and we're worried that this trade route will be plundered by them!"

"If the Great Wei can help us fight this powerful enemy, we would be extremely grateful!"

The Kushan king spoke very sincerely.

Zhuge Xu immediately thought it was impossible. He had led his people from the Central Plains to here without encountering any battles along the way, and the casualties were already so severe. If he were to send people to join the battle and fight against the Sassanids, it would be impossible.
The government cannot afford their expenses alone.

(End of this chapter)