Diqin Designer

Chapter 529 You Want It, I Want It Too
For example, Persian women would smear cow urine on the floor, making the house stink...

As a result, the Macedonian soldiers were extremely dissatisfied with the Persian women that Alexander had given them, and they clamored to exchange the Persian women for Greek female slaves.

The mission has now received these female slaves and does not want them to use cow urine to clean the floor. Since these female slaves were given to them by Euthydemus I, they should be dealt with according to the rules of the Great Qin.

If these people cannot be changed and their original lifestyles, beliefs, and customs are to be maintained, the mission will naturally not leave them behind.

Of course, these female slaves were different from the Persian women that Alexander gave to his soldiers.

The difference is that the Persian women Alexander gave to the Macedonian soldiers were not female slaves, but noblewomen from the Persian Empire.

At that time, Alexander wanted to stabilize the newly conquered Persian Empire through marriage alliances. After all, he only had tens of thousands of soldiers, and without the help of the local nobles of the Persian Empire, he would not have been able to stabilize the empire.

Alexander's strategy was not flawed in its intentions, but he acted too hastily, lacked sufficient understanding of the Persian Empire, and failed to properly prepare the Macedonian soldiers. Ultimately, the joyous occasion of the marriage alliance between the two countries turned into a farce.

He failed to understand the significant differences between the Persians and the Persians in terms of lifestyle, beliefs, and customs. Forcing a reconciliation would only backfire, making the situation far more serious than the debate over whether tofu should be sweet or savory.

It's likely that Alexander himself didn't expect to conquer the Persian Empire so easily. Such a large country was so weak and easily defeated. By the time he realized what had happened, he had already destroyed the Persian Empire.

Therefore, Alexander had no time to think deeply about how to govern the newly conquered Persian Empire. He could only hastily come up with an idea: "Hey, marriage alliance! My soldiers will marry women from the Persian Empire. This will unite the nation, make everyone one family, and naturally stabilize the country."

However, his approach pleased neither side, leaving both the Macedonian soldiers and the Persians dissatisfied.

Macedonian soldiers felt that Alexander had changed, no longer befriending them, but instead becoming close to the Persians they had conquered; the Persians, on the other hand, felt that Alexander had ill intentions, that the marriage alliance was a pretense, and that his true purpose was to annex them.

When the Qin Dynasty governed its colonies, the method of marriage alliances could be used, as it was indeed a quick way to establish relatively stable relationships. However, the foreign women who married into the Qin Dynasty had to abide by the Qin's rules.

Lian Yue's words were translated and relayed to the group of female slaves. Upon hearing that the Qin people wanted them to change their lifestyle and religious customs, some of the female slaves were naturally unhappy, but they only dared to be unhappy in their hearts and dared not show it.

They were female slaves, not the Persian noblewomen who were given to Macedonian soldiers by Alexander.

Seeing that no female slaves objected, Lian Yue continued, "In the future, you will also have to learn the language and script of my Great Qin."

These words surprised the female slaves. The Qin envoy wanted to teach them the Qin script.

The people of Qin truly loved reading and writing; no wonder the Qin emperor wanted everyone in Qin to become a scholar.

Lian Yue glanced at the female slaves again, said "Stay put," and then turned and left.

This puzzled the female slaves. Why were the Qin envoys just leaving them to their own devices? Why weren't they allowed to drink with them or serve them in bed?
Long after Lian Yue left, the female slaves in the courtyard finally stood up. One of them lowered her head and asked in a low voice, "Does this mean we can no longer pray to the God King?"

None of the other female slaves in the courtyard answered. Judging from what the Qin envoy had just said, it wasn't just that they couldn't believe in Zeus, but there were many other things they couldn't do either.

However, although the Qin envoys made many demands, they might also offer them considerable benefits. Some clever female slaves had already realized that they might be taken to the legendary "Qin Kingdom".

The Qin envoys asked them to change their original lifestyles and beliefs, but in reality, they were trying to help them adapt to Qin.

The Qin state is likely a more powerful and wealthy nation than their own. If they could live in such a country... even if they were still slaves there, it would be better to be a female slave in Qin than in their own country.

If we could find a high-ranking official in Qin to be our new master, that would be even better, as a high-ranking official in Qin would certainly be of higher status than one in the country.

Thinking about these things, some female slaves couldn't help but feel hopeful, thinking that being a female slave also required ambition.

Meanwhile, in the palace, King Euthydemus I was summoning several high-ranking officials to admire the many treasures brought by the Qin delegation, mainly the dressing mirror.

Mirrors are commonplace in later generations, and almost no one would consider them precious. A mirror is just glass, what's so precious about it?

But for people in this era, a full-length mirror is an absolute treasure, a game-changer.

Euthydemus I and several others took turns standing in front of the mirror to look at their reflections.

This treasure is truly amazing. It reflects every detail clearly: beard, scars and blemishes on the face, and even the smallest stain on the clothes, as if there were another identical version of oneself in the mirror.

This precious mirror far surpasses the mirrors they had used before; the images reflected in those mirrors were dim and blurry, unlike the bright and clear reflections in this precious mirror.

Unfortunately, this precious mirror was a gift from the Qin people to Baseles. If they wanted to obtain it, they would have to wait until they started trading with the Qin people. But even if they sent people to Qin, it would probably be difficult for them to buy such a large mirror.

After one of the ministers looked in the mirror, Euthydemus I stood before the mirror, adjusted his clothes, and then asked, "What are your opinions of the Qin people now?"

One minister said, "The Qin people seem polite and courteous, but in reality they are quite arrogant."

The Qin people faced them today with composure and without the slightest fear. They spoke with Baseles as if they were two equal friends, completely disregarding the fact that Baseles was the ruler of a nation.

Another minister said, "Their arrogance stems from their deep belief in the strength of their nation, which gives them confidence and composure, making them feel capable of facing any country."

Unfortunately, the Qin people actually had a powerful state behind them that could protect them.

Although we do not know the exact extent of Qin's strength, based on what we have seen and heard from the Qin envoy today, Qin should be much stronger than Bactria.

Perhaps only Macedonia under the rule of the great Alexander the Great a little over a hundred years ago can be compared to it.

But Alexander was dead, Macedonia had collapsed, and none of these countries could compare to the Qin state, whether it was Bactria, Seleucus, or Ptolemy.

Another minister said, "The Qin people are not only confident in their military strength, but also quite confident in their gods and their knowledge!"

Recalling what the Qin envoy had said about the gods they worshipped, those words immediately surfaced in the minister's mind. Although he didn't want to admit it, the Qin envoy's words had somewhat shaken his faith in Zeus.

The Qin people's gods were clearly superior and more like gods than their own, such as the creator of the world, the one who was born before heaven and earth, full of divinity. But looking at the gods they worshipped, were they really gods? "How could the Qin people have so many sages? More than a hundred schools of thought, each with its own sages, this must be the Qin people trying to show off to us, deliberately exaggerating."

Another minister said, "I don't think it's necessarily an exaggeration. If it were an exaggeration to show off to us, wouldn't the lie be exposed as soon as we send someone to Qin?"

Upon hearing the minister mention sending envoys to Qin, Euthydemus I said, "I promised the Qin envoys that I would send scholars to Qin to translate our works for them. Now it seems that even if not for that purpose, I must send scholars to Qin. If I were ten years younger, I would like to go to Qin myself."

A relatively young minister said, "I am willing to go to Qin for Baseles!"

Euthydemus I shook his head and laughed, “No, I have many things I need you to do, you can’t go. The person sent to Qin must be carefully selected. He must be knowledgeable, young and loyal, so that he won’t be turned by the Qin people once he arrives.”

“If the Qin state is truly stronger than us, and their culture and knowledge are more advanced than ours, I worry that those who go there will not want to return, and may even be turned against us by the Qin people.”

After careful consideration, the ministers realized that such a thing could indeed very well happen.

One minister asked in bewilderment, "If the people of Qin are truly far more knowledgeable than us, why would they request to copy our works?"

That doesn't make sense. If the Qin people's knowledge and craftsmanship were superior to theirs, why would they learn from them? The advanced learn from the backward, and the strong learn from the weak?
Another minister said, "Perhaps they are not here to learn from us, but rather because they find our writings different from theirs and want to copy them back to preserve as artifacts. The Qin envoys are going west, and they will make the same request when they reach other countries."

It turns out that the purpose wasn't to learn from them at all, but to take their works back as a collection. This left Euthydemus I with mixed feelings, as if he had been looked down upon.

The minister added, "Furthermore, the Qin people may also want to learn about our country from our writings. Therefore, we must not let the Qin people see those writings that record the actual situation in our country."

Euthydemus I nodded; he had kept these ministers behind to discuss these matters.

Euthydemus I then said, "Two days from now, the Qin people will be holding a martial arts demonstration in the stadium. What do you all think?"

One minister said, "The Qin people merely want to use this opportunity to demonstrate their military strength. We can also have people perform martial arts in the stadium."

The Qin people made no attempt to hide their true intentions; it was all too obvious. They came to show off their military might and to demonstrate the superiority of Qin's armor and weapons, hoping to persuade them to make purchases.

"We could even arrange a competition with the Qin people!"

If the Qin people wanted to demonstrate their military strength, they could do the same to the Qin people, letting them know that they were very powerful.

The best option is to compete directly with the Qin people. The Qin people didn't bring the legendary cannons this time, so they might not be unable to win.

They all used swords, spears, shields, and swords, and they were not necessarily weaker than the Qin people. They had many tactics left by the great Alexander the Great, such as the invincible Macedonian phalanx.

The Macedonian phalanx was very strong, but it was not suitable for use in a contest against the Qin people.

To demonstrate the power of the Macedonian phalanx, real combat was necessary, but real combat would result in bloodshed and even death.

The only competitions with the Qin people could be archery, fencing, and running.

Euthydemus I said, "Then let us arrange for people to compete with the Qin people and show them our martial prowess! How wonderful it would be if we could have a real battle with the Qin people."

Unfortunately, the Qin people were visiting foreign guests who had given him many precious treasures, so it was not appropriate to have a real fight with them.

Euthydemus I added, "The scholars who will communicate with the Qin people should also be selected as soon as possible, choosing those who are both learned and loyal..."

At this point, Euthydemus I paused and looked at a minister: "Ocochatos, go and select scholars. Make it clear to them that they are going to exchange ideas with scholars from Qin. During the exchange, they should showcase the wisdom of our scholars, but they should not reveal too much about our country to the Qin people."

That might not be easy to do, and what kind of people are those scholars?
Knowing that they would be exchanging ideas with Qin people from a foreign land, they would be extremely excited and forget all their instructions, engaging in enthusiastic exchanges with Qin scholars and saying everything that should and shouldn't be said.

Occiatos said, "Great Barthelus, I will do my best to fulfill your request."

Euthydemus I nodded and said, "We must let the Qin people know that we are no less capable than them."

It's all about saving face. Like some dynasties, even though they weren't wealthy, they would tighten their belts and put on a show of wealth whenever foreign envoys came, just to make the envoys think they were rich and powerful.

Euthydemus I and others belong to this category. Their thinking is simple: they absolutely cannot allow the Qin envoy to look down on them.

After several ministers left, Euthydemus I was still admiring the gifts the delegation had given him, holding a glass goblet in his hand and playing with it.

"What a wonderful treasure! I really wish I could build a palace out of it. I wonder how beautiful it would be. Could it be that the Emperor of Qin lived in such a palace?"

As he spoke, he couldn't help but envy the Qin emperor, who possessed a vast quantity of this precious jade called "Qiulin," and could live in palaces built of this jade and sleep on beds made of this jade.

If the First Emperor knew that a foreign monarch would envy him for such a thing, he would surely laugh in exasperation.

"I've heard that the Qin emperor was called 'Emperor' because he conquered six states. The title 'King' was no longer sufficient to describe his achievements; he was the king above kings, hence the title 'Emperor.' Can I also be called 'Emperor'?"

He also harbored ambitions to be the king above kings; the word "emperor" sounded more prestigious and superior than "king."

This was not only because Euthydemus I felt that the word "emperor" was more prestigious, but also because when he heard that the king of Qin was called "emperor," he felt as if he were inferior to the emperor of Qin.

The emperor of Qin was the king above kings, and he was just a king. He felt that he was being taken advantage of by the emperor of Qin because their status was not equal.

"What kind of country was Qin?" Standing in front of the dressing mirror, Euthydemus I looked eastward.

Although they had heard some news about the Qin state from those who came from the east, and even had an introduction from a Qin envoy, the Qin state was still an extremely mysterious country to them.

(End of this chapter)