Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 562 Ban Chao and Gan Ying

On the way to Yumen Pass,
Gan Ying told Ban Chao, her former superior who had left her to roam the far side of the continent, about her experience on this westward journey.

He first arrived in the State of Qi and saw the situation there.

Ban Chao interjected, "In recent years, the State of Qi has been unable to advance eastward into the State of Sui, so it has been expanding vigorously to the north and west."

“Some countries in the Western Regions have complained to me many times before, and I am very worried about the influence of the Qi Kingdom on the Western Regions in the future.”

Ban Chao was renowned for his martial prowess, and his fame spread throughout the Western Regions.

Once, when a caravan he arranged passed through the Western Sea, it was invaded and robbed by the local warlords. Ban Chao was so angry that he sent troops to the Western Sea and taught those ignorant guys a good lesson.

Witnessing the might of the Han army, the Qi Kingdom in the middle slowed down its infiltration into the Western Regions, focusing instead on digesting the lands west of the Caspian Sea and the Central Plains.

but now,

Ban Chao retired and returned to his hometown.

Can the Western Regions stop the Qi Kingdom from touching him?
Having been stationed in the Western Regions for so many years

Ban Chao was aware of the decline of the Han army's strength.

First, the country has enjoyed peace for a long time.
No matter how well the weapons are maintained and the swords are sharpened, it is impossible to restore the prosperous and auspicious fortune of the founding of the nation.

Secondly, the Western Regions, under the guidance and instruction of the virtuous men of the Xia Dynasty for hundreds of years, have become incredibly obedient.

This led to a relaxation of the imperial court's control over the area.

This can be clearly seen from the fact that Ban Chao's position in the Western Regions remained unchallenged for decades.

Although his achievements were indeed extraordinary, and the emperor truly respected this minister, granting him the privilege of sole control over the Western Regions,
But human nature is inherently greedy.
If the Western Regions Protectorate was truly in a prime location, how could it not attract attention and prompt people to try to curry favor with it?

"Actually, I really wanted to find capable younger generations to continue guarding the Western Regions for the Han Dynasty, but alas..."

At this point, Ban Chao let out a heavy sigh.

Fortunately, Gan Ying comforted him, saying:
"The Mandate of Heaven for the Great Han is like the sun hanging in the sky, which will always shine upon the whole land. Your Majesty need not worry."

"Moreover, I heard in the State of Qi that their monarch is currently only thinking about acquiring land from the west and creating a country that encompasses the Western Sea, extends east to Xindu, and west to the sea."

King Qi was a scholar of history.
Therefore, he knew the reason why armor was essential for attending banquets.

They also knew about the ancient Persian kingdom, which was destroyed by the Qin dynasty hundreds of years ago.

Although he was recognized by the emperor as a member of the Xia people, he could not allow himself to degenerate and associate with barbarians.
But this did not prevent the rulers and ministers of the State of Qi from planning their own future based on the map of ancient Persia.

After all, the Sui Kingdom in the east was too difficult to conquer, so they could only try to take a bite out of the west.

It's a coincidence,

The land west of the ancient Persian Plateau was a vast and sparsely populated region where the locals had a pastoral tradition, which was a perfect match for the Qi Kingdom, which had separated from the Xiongnu system.

Although the people of Qi now wear their hair in a topknot and their robes fastened on the right, they have not lost their herding skills.

The counties and prefectures along the Xindu River in the south largely adopted the Han system, with agriculture as the primary occupation.

Some counties in the northern part of the Transoxiana region have also preserved some nomadic customs according to local conditions.

more importantly,
King Qi believed:
The ancient Persians could have made their fortunes on the highlands, and they could have stationed their tax collectors as far as the Indus River.
Why can't they do the same thing?

It does not seek to be like the Central Plains, where local officials are appointed and dismissed at will, and power is concentrated as easily as the arm or finger.

It can expand territory, increase population and tax revenue, and it is also a wonderful thing to obtain a superior temple name and posthumous title after death and leave a name in history!
Moreover, the Qin Dynasty and the former Xia Dynasty had sworn brotherhood and made a vow to help each other.

Now that the Qin Dynasty has collapsed and its people are suffering, the State of Qi, as the successor of the State of Xia, should also lend a hand!

For this,

Neither Ban Chao nor Gan Ying objected.

As long as they don't try to provoke the Central Kingdom or encroach on the interests of the Han Dynasty, they won't pay too much attention to conflicts outside the region.

Since the Western Sea is in such a mess that no dominant force has emerged yet, it's not appropriate to ask the Emperor of the Great Han or the emperors of all the Xia kingdoms to help them in the same way they helped the Xin Xia people back then.

No barbarians will appear on the grand stage of the Western Sea battle!

Subsequently,

Gan Ying then brought up the matter of the Western Sea.

"The State of Jin has recently encountered another setback. The fact that it was able to pass through the Western Sea safely and reach the State of Rome this time was also thanks to the newly appointed Duke of Song in that country."

The Western Sea is often ravaged by war.
As a result, land trade routes were blocked, and Gan Ying's first trip to Rome ended in a return journey.

He then made two more diplomatic missions.

One journey took them by boat through Guazhou in the State of Qi, all the way to Rome.

On one occasion, he passed through the State of Jin and received help from Zhao Yu, the Duke of Song.

For the Han Dynasty

We cannot be inferior to other countries in any aspect.

Roman envoys came twice, both times by ship.

So they went by sea once and by land once, and they overtook Rome by a great margin!
And to reciprocate kindness
Gan Ying also had a good impression of Zhao Yu, who helped her, and praised him highly in front of Ban Chao.

Ban Chao sighed, "If this man hadn't died so young, I imagine the Western Sea would have been able to regain peace under his rule."

Over the years,
The Western Sea has not been without people of great talent and ambition.

It's just that either one is bright at first but dim later, gaining something and losing it at the same time;
Or they would die young, filled with resentment.

Even Ban Chao, an outsider, couldn't help but sigh at the turbulent West Sea after years of wandering.

"How is Rome doing lately?"

As they drew closer to Yumen Pass, Gan Ying finished recounting the events of the Western Sea, and Ban Chao inquired about the ultimate goal of his mission.

Gan Ying told him, "Rome is a great Western country with a vast territory. The current ruler can be considered a wise and benevolent monarch. In recent years, there has been no sign of decline."

"If we're talking about the problem—"

"One reason is that there are still people in Rome who admire the past and want to restore the republican system of a hundred years ago, and they often criticize the monarch."

Ban Chao replied nonchalantly, "The idea of ​​respecting the past has always existed, as long as we don't mess things up recklessly."

The Confucian scholars of the Han Dynasty, whenever they mentioned "governance," would immediately quote Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang.
When talking about "prosperous times", we turn to the ancient Three Dynasties.

Before Ban Chao abandoned his pen for the sword, he had thought of loading those bookish Confucian scholars onto a ship and sending them to Yinzhou across the sea, so that they could personally experience the simple and unpretentious flavor of ancient times.

In the end, I was too kind-hearted and didn't actually take action.

Gan Ying continued, "Secondly, it was the expansion of the Western vassal states into the Germanic regions."

For a seedling to grow into a large tree,

Time is always the best nourishment.

Three generations had passed since the virtuous men of the Xia dynasty established their state in the west.

The education has achieved sufficient results.

The population has also grown sufficiently.

The territory of the various states, along the east bank of the Reine River, was gradually expanding from small dots into a distinct region that Rome could no longer ignore.

The Rierman tribes were originally in a loose tribal alliance state.
Those who were able to escape the savages, learn to write, and understand how to communicate have always been very rare.

Therefore, they lacked a deep understanding of the conquest of civilizations.

They might be angry about the expansion of the various Xia states, but they wouldn't hesitate to flee if they couldn't win. After all, they really didn't have the concept of "being attached to one's homeland."

A leader who can lead his tribe out to seize a large territory can be considered a barbarian overlord.

The virtuous men of the Xia dynasty understood this point, and their attitude towards the barbarians was not entirely one of rejection.

They absorbed these barbarian tribes who resembled savages, walking the path of "Xia rulers and barbarian peoples" established by the sages in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Just like the Liang state, which was working hard to whitewash itself in the Rongzhou highlands, they found all sorts of plausible reasons that could be accepted by the barbarian people under their rule, and instilled the seeds of the Xia people into them.

Gentlemen don't believe it.
Even after injecting it into several generations, it still won't make the hair of future generations straight and smooth, or their eyebrows and eyes peaceful and gentle.

But this behavior seriously provoked Rome.

You're saying all my words and doing all my work!

Germania? Rome was here first!

It was Rome that first began to civilize those barbarians!

You newcomers, how dare you try to take it from me!

no,

Having learned from the example of the Western Qin dynasty, Rome could no longer allow these Xia people to continue to grow stronger!
these years,

Rome also extensively developed and expanded the Gaul region west of the Reina River.
The civilization known as "Rome" is gradually penetrating this land and becoming its master.

Therefore,
Compared to the era of Alexius, who knew that the Xia people had established a state in Greater Germania, but was constrained by the need to guard Gaul and Iberia, assimilate them, and incidentally try to seize the city of Jade Wall, this contrasts sharply with the time when...
Under Constantineus's rule, there is now a sufficient number of legions to be deployed to the front lines without fear of large-scale mutinies or rebellions in the rear.

The expansion of the Chinese in the West must be contained!
Even God couldn't stop it!

that's it,
When Gan Ying, after reflecting on the famous historical sites of the ancient Qin Dynasty's Jade Wall City (now Constantinople), sailed to Rome, the capital of Rome...

This coincided with the opportune time when the two great civilizations were at war on the banks of the Reina River.

Through alliances and the matchmaking efforts of the Taiping Dao (Way of Great Peace), the Western lords accomplished what the established lords of the Central Plains had failed to do centuries earlier—

They achieved the "vertical alliance" that Su Qin had always talked about, and used this united force to fight against foreign armies and defend the territory of the various Xia states.
Su Qin was so moved by this that he wept tears of joy in the underworld. His old lover, the mother of King Yi of Yan, was also heartbroken and wiped his tears away.

Yan Yi Wang, who happened to be passing by the ancestral home and came in to visit his mother and stepfather, looked disgusted. He slapped himself twice on the spot, then cleared his memory and left.

When news of Rome's defeat reached them...
Gan Ying, the Han envoy, was thus targeted with resentment.

The residents of Rome launched a demonstration, demanding that the monarch order the punishment of this envoy from the East, who shared the same origins as the enemy in the North.

Augustus also felt the same anger, so he detained Gan Ying.

Fortunately, the anger subsided and reason regained its footing. Augustus released Gan Ying and restored the treatment he deserved as an envoy of a great power.

The Han people valued face.

Rome has its pride too!
Influenced by the Chinese civilization, Rome also has many historical records.

If Roman envoys were treated well in the Han Dynasty, while Han envoys were imprisoned in Rome, wouldn't it damage national dignity and invite ridicule when historians from both countries later compared their accounts?
Subsequently,

Augustus also sincerely consulted Gan Ying about the history of the various Xia states, hoping to find a way to break this unity by looking at past examples.

Although Tacitus had returned from his studies in the Central Plains, bringing back many classic texts and articles,
The Qin people who migrated to Rome also submitted written suggestions to Augustus, using abundant historical materials to demonstrate the Qin dynasty's experience in dealing with the "Vertical Alliance."

But Augustus still wanted to hear the opinion of Gan Ying, the "angel".

What advice could Gan Ying possibly have?
Rome was a country that paid tribute to the emperor.
The vassal states of the West were also countries that had paid tribute to the emperor.
Both the palm and the back of the hand are flesh and blood.
He was an outsider; how could he possibly handle such a complex problem?

So Gan Ying recited two lines of poetry on the spot:
"The flowers of the perennial iris are so bright and beautiful. Among all people today, none are like brothers."

This poem is from the Book of Songs, intended to express the deep affection between brothers and subtly conveying to Augustus that he would not help Rome attack the Chinese states.

then,

Gan Ying urged Augustus to find someone more capable.

The latter was somewhat prepared for this and did not make things difficult for him.

He then went to meet with some Qin people and talked to them about the story of "strategy".

"Judging from what you're saying, things are going to get really lively in the West from now on!"

After listening to Gan Ying's experiences in Rome, Ban Chao understood why the mission this time would take longer than the last. He then stroked his beard and smiled.

Gan Ying laughed along, "It's such a far place, it'll never be as lively as the Central Plains!"

Let them be!

The chat ended.
The carriages and horses also crossed the Jade Gate Pass and set foot on the Hexi Corridor.

Once you pass through this narrow passage, you'll reach the Central Plains.

When they passed through the four prefectures of Hexi and saw some herders grazing cattle and sheep along the border of the Han Dynasty,
Ban Chao suddenly remembered something.

"Did you not encounter any Xiongnu people on your journey westward this time?"

When Ban Chao first sent Gan Ying as an envoy to the Western Sea, he harbored the idea of ​​finding the Northern Xiongnu who had migrated westward.

Unfortunately, Gan Ying returned empty-handed, which left him quite disappointed.

"still none."

Gan Ying told him, "I only heard from the people of Qi and Jin that the Northern Xiongnu traveled along a more northerly route, presumably to avoid obstacles from others."

The migration of the Northern Xiongnu was always forced.

They were defeated, and then, like the cattle and sheep around them, marched westward under the threat of the whip.

And with the dejection of defeat, and the loss of members of the tribe in the war,
They naturally dared not head straight west.

Western Qin was indeed completely destroyed.

But martial virtue, far from diminishing over the years of fighting, has become even more abundant.

They wouldn't mind having a little more barbarian blood on their hands.

Humph,
The Xiongnu people
This was Qin's old adversary.

I will make sure you never return!
then,

Knowing that the road ahead was difficult, the Xiongnu could only proceed along the route further north of the Caspian Sea.

Traveling in this way,

This caused the State of Qi to lose track of them.

The State of Jin, located in the Mesopotamian region, naturally did not know much about it either.

After all, everyone has their own things to do and no one has time to deal with a loser.

Do you think it's possible that the Xiongnu people could have traveled all the way to the west?

I won't speculate on that.

Gan Ying said, "People and things change too quickly on the grasslands, and the grasslands outside the borders are even more desolate than the northern desert."

"The Xiongnu people may have gone to the west, or they may have scattered along the way and merged into other tribes... These are all uncertain."

Ban Chao continued with a laugh, "That's absolutely right!"

"I just thought that if the Huns could escape to the west, it might make the original situation look better."

Again,
Anyway, it won't affect my own family.

Why don't they watch something even more entertaining?

(End of this chapter)