Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 409: The Han Envoy Returns to the West Sea
When Liu Bei heard the voice, he temporarily put down the documents in his hand and looked in the direction of the voice with curiosity. Seeing the two people's clothes, he immediately recognized who was Gan Ning and who was Fu Gan.

So he waved his hand to make the two men stand up, and then he walked to the map of the Han Dynasty, looking at the copied states of the world and the large missing territory in the northwest.

Liu Bei turned around and chuckled, "Xingba, Yancai, do you know why I specially summoned you here?"

"Could it be..." Fu Gan followed the emperor's gaze and looked at Yongzhou and Liangzhou in the direction of the map. He bowed and guessed, "Your Majesty wants to send an envoy to Yongzhou to deliver an imperial edict to find the King of Donglai and order Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang to return to the Han Dynasty?"

Fu Gan was the son of Fu Xie, the governor of Hanyang, and grew up in Liangzhou. He was very familiar with Yongliang. He thought that the emperor must have asked him to inquire about the affairs of the four counties in Hexi.

However, Gan Ning beside Fu Gan seemed to be hesitant to speak. He was not taken seriously in Huang Zu's army before. When he heard that Nanyang Prefect Zhang Yide wanted to take Jiangxia County, he simply surrendered the county and made military achievements since then.

When Zhou Gongjin took over as the prefect of Jiangxia, he heard that he was good at naval warfare, so he incorporated the navy of Jingzhou into him and instructed him to reorganize and train the navy well. In the future, whether he went up the river to attack Yizhou and Bashu, or went downstream to take the four counties of Jiangdong, he would need the help of the navy.

If he could make great contributions, being promoted to a general and granted a title of nobility would be a piece of cake. Zhou Yu's words undoubtedly made him overjoyed.

However, man proposes, God disposes. Within only half a year, Cao Mengde, who occupied Jiangdong, opened up the key water and land routes, allowing the navy of Jingzhou to march straight into Yuzhang County.

However, Gan Ning could not help but sigh and had to turn his attention to the familiar Bashu. This time, with him leading the way, they would be able to quickly capture Ba County and leave Liu Jiyu with no way to escape.

As a result, they waited until the governor of Ba County came on the orders of Liu Zhang to invite the Han army to station in Yizhou.

Upon hearing this, Gan Ning was so anxious that his tongue almost got tied and his brows were furrowed into the shape of a "川" (river). In an instant, the east and west areas were leveled, and his months of training of the navy had been in vain.

We work tirelessly every day, getting up early and going to bed late, isn't it just to defeat the enemy and make achievements?
Now that the enemy troops are gone, where can we go to make achievements? We can't sail to Jiaozhou, right?
Let’s not talk about whether the river channel in Jingzhou can directly connect to Jiaozhou, just talk about the deadly things such as miasma, poisonous insects, plague and malaria.

Even if he took Jiaozhou, he might not be lucky enough to be appointed as a general and be granted a title of nobility.

Fortunately, the open-minded Zhou Gongjin saw that he was unhappy all day long, so he talked with him all night. After learning that he was the envoy ordered to go to Daqin and a distant relative of Gan Ying, he suddenly thought of the emperor's intention to send envoys to the Western Regions.

That night he wrote a letter directly to the emperor to recommend Gan Ning, which moved Gan Ning to tears and he was filled with gratitude.

After Zhou Yu's letter was ready, Gan Ning could not help but kneel down and express his gratitude: "I am grateful to the governor for recommending me to the emperor. If I can achieve great success in the future, I will definitely repay the governor generously."

Zhou Yu smiled and shook his head when he heard this. He put down his brush on the table, helped Gan Ning up with his hand, and said, "I know that Xing Ba wants to make great achievements. A real man should have ambitions to be a noble and get a title based on his achievements. How can he live out his life in seclusion?"

"I had previously wanted to lead the navy with Gan Jun to defeat Cao Mengde, Liu Jiyu and other stubborn resistance, but unfortunately, things did not go as planned, and the opportunity to make a contribution was lost within a few months."

"Zhou Yu is only 23 years old, but he is highly regarded by the emperor and has been promoted to a rank of 2,000-stone official in the Han Dynasty. If he is still like this, why should I ask for more?"

"I am willing to recommend talented people for the country, and also to repay the emperor's kindness. If Xingba can be used by the Han Dynasty and make contributions to the Western Regions, this will be a repayment for Zhou Yu's recommendation. How dare I have other hopes?"

Because Zhou Yu had talked with Gan Ning about the affairs of the Western Regions in Jiangxia, and the emperor actually summoned him to Chang'an, it was obvious that the Han Dynasty planned to reopen the Western Regions.

Seeing that His Majesty had a question, Gan Ning pondered for a while, and finally decided not to agree with Fu Gan's words. He bowed respectfully and said, "Please forgive Gan Ning for being so bold. Your Majesty not only summoned us to the palace for the four counties of Hexi, but also summoned us to open up the Western Regions and re-establish the Protectorate."

Gan Ning's blunt words made Fu Gan stunned on the spot. Now that the Yongliang rebellion has not been resolved, the Han Dynasty is already turning its attention back to the countries in the Western Regions and sending Han envoys to the Western Regions?

No wonder they specially asked him to come here. It turned out that it was not because of his grandfather, the former governor of Hanyang, but because their ancestor, Marquis Yi Yang, once killed the King of Loulan and the Huns' envoy!
Fu Gan's eyes widened, a little confused. Thinking of Gan Ning's self-name as Gan, he must be related to Gan Ying. Except for the descendants of Marquis Bowang and Marquis Dingyuan who did not come due to decline, the other famous descendants of the Han envoys were summoned to Yunyang Palace on the second day of his accession to the throne. Could it be that he wanted him and Gan Ning to follow the example of their ancestors and lead dozens of people to conquer the Western Regions?

Calculated in this way, the cost of recovery for the Han Dynasty was indeed not high, but at this moment there had been no troops stationed in the Western Regions for decades. Even if the three counties of Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang were all returned, the risk of the first batch of Han envoys leaving Yumen Pass would be too great.

If he is not careful, the heroic feat of his ancestor, Marquis Yi Yang, in beheading the King of Loulan will be shattered by Fu Gan.

Death on a diplomatic mission is a small matter, but bringing shame to the Han family is a big matter.

Fu Gan was just about to advise the emperor whether he should take a long-term view on the matter of leaving the Western Regions, but he didn't expect Gan Ning beside him to kneel down and ask for permission: "Your Majesty, although I am not talented, I am quite capable and have some intelligence. I am willing to serve the Han Dynasty and travel thousands of miles to open up the Western Regions. A real man will have no complaints even if he dies on the roadside and is buried in the weeds!"

This made Fu Gan swallow everything he wanted to say.

It is suspected that the descendants of Gan Ying have requested permission to leave the Western Regions again. As the descendant of Fu Jiezi, Marquis of Yi Yang, how could he bring shame to his ancestor and be willing to be the last?
He immediately knelt on the ground, bowed his head and said: "Although I am not very talented and well-educated, I am willing to follow the example of my ancestors and reopen the Western Regions for the Han Dynasty so that all countries can pay homage to Chang'an."

Liu Bei smiled when he saw this, and asked them to stand up and talk without frequent greetings. He explained, "Don't worry, my lords. I can afford to send a Han envoy to the Western Regions, even if it's only two or three hundred people."

"The key is that the Han Dynasty must open up the Hexi Corridor which is blocked by the Qiang and Hu tribes. Only in this way can the trade route be unblocked, and our Han silk, tea, refined salt and other products can be sold to the Great Yuezhi, the Parthian Empire, and even as far as Western Qin."

"Connecting to the Western Regions will facilitate trade. The imperial court can increase commercial taxes in Yong, Liang and Guanzhong and reduce the land tax for the people in order to restore the livelihood of the people in Guanxi."

"The second is to search the West Sea to find various plants to introduce to the Han Dynasty so as to resist natural disasters. I accidentally learned from an ancient book of the Zhou Dynasty that there is a thin and fluffy plant 20,000 miles away that can be planted near the Yangtze River and other large rivers. Its fruit is like silk, but it is as warm as fur. I opened up the Western Regions to find this plant."

"The third is the matter of the Han people compiling the 'Han Ji'. Everything in the world is included in it. However, wherever the sun and moon reach and wherever the rivers shine, they are all subjects of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, it is necessary to compile the actual history of all countries west of Yumen Pass into a book to fill the Western Barbarians volume of the 'Han Ji'."

"The Western Barbarian countries have no history books, and most of them were destroyed by foreign races. I am afraid that they will make up stories later. The Han Dynasty is the common ruler of the world, so I will record them and pass them on to future generations."

"When Gan Ying, an envoy of the Qin Dynasty, arrived at Tiaozhi, he wanted to cross the sea. The boatman of the Anxi said: The sea is vast, and it will take three months of good wind to cross. So Gan Ying turned back and returned to Han."

"In the ninth year of Emperor Huan's reign, it was said that envoys from Western Qin came by boat, offering only ivory and rhino horns, and nothing precious. Just from this, it is hard to tell that the power of the Qin Empire can compare with that of the Han Empire."

"If you can get through to Western Qin, you should enter their capital, collect their tribute for us, record all the events, big and small, and return, so that the Han people will know everything about Western Qin."

Liu Bei looked at Fu Gan and Gan Ning and said solemnly.

Later generations have been arguing about where the Tiaozhi Kingdom that Gan Ying arrived at was. According to records, the city of Tiaozhi was on a mountain, with a circumference of more than 40 miles, close to the West Sea. The sea water curved around its south and northeast, and there were no roads on three sides, only a land route to the northwest.

The country of Anxi is 25,000 miles away from Luoyang. It takes more than 60 days of riding to reach Anxi from Tiaozhi. There is only one reason why Western Qin is not visible after such a long journey...

When Liu Bei thought about the clue here, he couldn't help laughing.

"Let the Han envoys see for themselves whether Western Qin is strong or not. I hope you won't disappoint me."

(End of this chapter)