My younger brother Zhuge Liang

(New book uploaded) Free extra chapter 7 The greatest achievement in history, it all depends on whether Your Majesty is willing to do it
After Zhao Yun captured Xu Huang, there was nothing more worth mentioning about the war in the Western Regions.

Although the subsequent conquest of southern Xinjiang and even the Pamir Mountains will take another one or two years, it will be a land-grabbing operation without any confrontation.

Most of the local Hu troops had been exhausted in the repeated tug-of-war with Cao's family. Liu Bei's army came and took advantage of the situation, taking over all the scattered territory after Cao Zhang's death.

The war in the Western Regions finally ended in the tenth year of Zhangwu, and the western border of the Han Dynasty finally ended up directly bordering the Parthian Empire and the Kushan Empire.

The Parthians and Kushans were also quite nervous because they did not expect that the Han Dynasty's direct troops would come to such a far place.

Zhao Yun was a cautious man. After finding out the size and strength of Parthia and Kushan, he knew that these two were also huge countries and it was unrealistic for the Han Dynasty to cross the desert and Pamir Mountains for an expedition of thousands of miles. So he asked the court for permission and asked Liu Bei to send civil servants to negotiate.

Finally, the Han Dynasty, Parthia and Kushan signed equal boundary treaties during the 11th and 12th years of Zhangwu and stopped offending each other.

The scattered Hu tribes among the three empires, whose originally unclear spheres of influence were also clarified in this treaty, and most of them were included in the sphere of influence of the Han Dynasty.

In other words, from now on there will be no more vacuum zones in Central Asia where no one is in charge. All chieftaincy tribes must be clearly under the jurisdiction of one of the three major empires, or at least must submit to one of the empires in name. There will no longer be completely independent small countries or tribes.

In this way, the order of the Central Asian steppes was stabilized, and the subsequent trade development also had a stable soil. If something happened in the future, at least we knew how to pay respects and who to find. I believe that in the next few hundred years, the land-based Silk Road trade will also develop further.

The Han people will have a more complete understanding and knowledge of the Western Regions and Western countries. They will no longer be completely in the dark as in history, only knowing that they are the Celestial Empire.

This can be considered as a way of opening one's eyes to the world. Even though the Han Dynasty was the most civilized and technologically advanced country on earth at that time, it is always a good thing to be able to see the world and broaden the horizons of the people and scholars.

……

Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

The affairs of the Western Regions dragged on for several years. While the Western Regions were steadily expanding their territory and establishing order, the restoration and construction of the Central Plains were not left behind.

With the assistance of the civil service group headed by the Zhuge brothers, the Han Dynasty under Liu Bei's rule achieved an average annual population growth recovery of 3% in the first ten years of the Zhangwu period.

Taking into account the "compound interest" effect, after ten years of Zhang Wu, the national population has once again approached the 30 million mark.

A large number of people were moved to the northeast to open up wasteland, and Lingnan, southern Kuaiji, and central Fujian in the south also achieved rapid development.

During the Han Dynasty, the level of development in the south was still relatively low. According to the original historical development trajectory, it was not until the demise of the Western Jin Dynasty and the Yongjia Rebellion that the people moved south, and the south became so crowded with people and land that it had to be fully developed.

In this life, because Liu Bei started his career in the south, the southern states had already developed well for more than ten years before unification. Therefore, by the time of unification, the south's population, farmland area, grain output and other indicators had already reached the level of the early years of the Yongjia Southern Migration in a parallel universe.

Now, after another ten years of planned construction, the level of development in the south has reached the level of the middle period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties in history.

Especially because of the development of navigation technology, the Fujian area, which was originally regarded as useless in time and space, and even the Zhangzhou and Chaozhou areas in Lingnan, have been relatively well developed in this life. However, looking at the development level of these pieces of land, it can even reach the level of the Tang Dynasty in history.

Because before the advent of excellent seagoing ships, the small river valley plains surrounded by mountains in central Fujian were difficult to develop and difficult to enter and exit.

However, with the advent of convenient sea transportation, the situation was reversed. Many places built by Hu in later generations were difficult to access by land, but very convenient to access by sea.

In just ten years, tens of millions of acres of fertile land were reclaimed, a large number of mineral deposits were discovered, and towns and cities sprang up to provide tools and farm implements for the people who reclaimed the land. Supporting industries and commerce also sprang up.

After the court rulers discovered the value of navigation and ship technology in the construction of the southern coast, they received positive feedback incentives and became more willing to continue investing in shipbuilding technology, forming a very virtuous circle.

Within ten years, the shipbuilding industry of the Han Dynasty had made great progress compared to when the world was just unified.

Moreover, these advances were achieved spontaneously without the intervention of the Zhuge brothers, which means that there was no need for Zhuge Jin to personally draw the blueprints, instruct the craftsmen, and teach them the specific direction in which to design the ship.

The Han Dynasty had already cultivated a preliminary maritime culture and tradition, and the people had the soil for spontaneous progress. Because the population had recovered and was growing at a fast rate, coupled with the popularization of woodblock printing and printed books, there were more and more people who could understand the court's propaganda and had a long-term vision.

In recent years, the imperial court, under the leadership of the Zhuge brothers, has been constantly promoting the idea that "the reason why the world was in chaos before was because the population grew but the farmland did not increase, so there were too many people and too little land, and the poor had no place to live." After the people understood this logic, the wealthy businessmen and knowledgeable people in the society also saw the great value of navigation.
Because they knew that only by sailing could they find new fertile lands to be cultivated. These lands might have been blocked by mountains or straits, and land transportation between them and the Central Plains was inconvenient, but as long as there were sea vessels to communicate, transportation costs could be greatly reduced.

These new fertile lands, which can be reached relatively easily by sea, are the key to the long-term stability of the Han Dynasty and to breaking out of the cycle of order and chaos caused by population explosion every two hundred years.

With the advancement of navigation and shipbuilding technology, the Han Dynasty naturally developed Yizhou and Zhuyazhou further while developing central Fujian.

Although local tropical diseases were terrible, many difficulties were overcome one by one thanks to the Fengyoujing invented by Zhuge Jin, as well as the medical and drug research on tropical diseases by Hua Tuo and his disciples. Even the coastal areas of Vietnam and Cambodia in Southeast Asia were developed one after another by Bu Zhi, Lu Yi and others.

To the north, the Korean Peninsula and the Fuso Islands were also gradually conquered by the Han Dynasty's voyages.

The territory of the entire Han Dynasty has not only expanded several times more than the previous peak period, but the pioneering atmosphere among the people is also unprecedentedly high. The beauty of customs and the broadness of horizons are incomparable to previous generations.

In the eighth year of Zhangwu, Zhuyazhou was completely naturalized by the Han Dynasty. In the tenth year of Zhangwu, the western coastal plains of Yizhou also fell into the actual control of the court.

By the 12th year of the Zhangwu reign, the imperial court's military farms had extended from what would later become Cambodia in the south to what would later become central Jilin in the north, from Kyushu Island in Fuso in the east to the Pamir Mountains and the Kazakh steppes in the west.

The first year of Zhangwu is equivalent to the 224th year of Jian'an in the original history. Therefore, the th year of Zhangwu is only equivalent to the four years after Liu Bei ascended the throne in the original time and space, AD.

(Note: In history, the Jian'an era name was used for 24 years, and the next year Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty, and the year after that Liu Bei became emperor, so the Zhangwu era name in the book was used eight years earlier than the same period in history.)
In the original history, Liu Bei had actually passed away in 224. But in this life, everything went smoothly for him, and he did not suffer the psychological blow of defeat, so his health was still good. However, people's age and life span have a certain inertia after all. So Liu Bei, who lived to nearly years old, still got a serious illness this year, but he recovered in the end.

After he recovered from his illness, Liu Bei restrained himself in his enjoyment and no longer indulged in "playing music and dancing" without restraint. Instead, for the first time, he seriously considered what would happen after his death.

Zhuge Jin is fifteen years younger than him, and Zhuge Liang is twenty-one years younger than him. So Zhuge Jin is about to turn fifty this year, and Zhuge Liang is also forty-three years old.

Liu Bei had no doubts about passing the throne to the crown prince. His crown prince was born not long after the Battle of Guandu, and he was almost 25 years old now, so he would be the right person to take over in a few years.

In ancient times, a prince was considered to be at a golden age if he could ascend the throne at the age of 30. Generally, if other emperors who lived particularly long lives appointed their eldest sons as princes, many of them would not live long enough to succeed the throne because the age difference between the eldest son and his father was too small.

For example, the crown prince of Emperor Liu Che died because Emperor Liu Che lived too long and his mind was not clear in the later period, and he was finally killed by witchcraft. In later generations, the crown prince, the eldest son of any old emperor who lived to the age of 70 or 80, rarely succeeded to the throne smoothly.

Liu Bei had a son late in life. His children died or were lost during his early years of wandering. It was only after he settled down that he had a son who was old enough to be raised. Now it seems to have turned out to be a good thing.

Because this would at least ensure that there was a forty-year age difference between Liu Bei and the crown prince, while other emperors often had only a twenty-year age difference between themselves and their eldest sons.

Although Liu Bei had no doubts about passing on the throne, after he recovered from his illness, he still found Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang and discussed the issue privately.

Liu Bei had no worries about the future arrangements for assisting the government. He knew that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were his peers, and that military generals suffered more injuries when they were young, unlike the longevity of civil officials who took good care of their health, so in the future, both civil and military affairs would be handed over to the Zhuge brothers for assistance.

So he took this opportunity to roughly outline possible personnel arrangements for the future.

"Ziyu, Kongming, I have seen through many things during this serious illness. I said that after Ziyu, the court would no longer have three officials, so a hundred years from now, the civil service in the court will be officially headed by the Shangshu Ling. These related reforms have been gradually implemented over the years, and I have nothing to worry about.

I have been considering recently that I don't want to establish the position of general in the future. After the unification of the world, I let Yunchang serve as the general, but Yunchang's health is not as good as mine. I am not at ease letting an outsider serve as the general in the future. After several generations, it is easy for him to become a tool for the foreign relatives to monopolize power.

So, when that day comes, I will transfer you, Ziyu, to the position of general in my will, and you two brothers, one civil and one military, will support the entire court. Now the world is peaceful, and the general is in charge of the world's troops. We only need to maintain stability, and there is no need for expeditions. Ziyu, who is good at planning and strategizing, is just right. Are you willing to obey my order?"

Zhuge Jin had no objection to being transferred from Minister of Civil Affairs to General in the future. He could not help but recall that in history, Zhuge Jin also became a General under Sun Quan.

I don’t know if this can be considered as historical inertia.

Because Cao Cao's decision to abolish the three highest officials and establish a prime minister was considered absolutely politically incorrect in this life, it was impossible for Liu Bei's court to establish a prime minister. In the end, Zhuge Jin embarked on a path of becoming a general and a prime minister in this life.

He is the last of the Three Dukes and the last general of the Han Dynasty. After him, these positions will be sealed and no longer used. It can be considered a special honor, no worse than being the prime minister.

The second brother, Zhuge Liang, symbolizes the beginning of a new era. Although Zhuge Liang was only the Minister of Chancellery, he was the first Minister of Chancellery after the position officially became the head of the court, which also had pioneering and epoch-making significance.

Therefore, Zhuge Jin certainly did not object, but respectfully accepted Liu Bei's kindness: "Your Majesty has this intention, how dare I not follow it? I will do my best to be the last Three Dukes and the last Great General of the Han Dynasty."

Liu Bei nodded: "Ziyu, do you have anything else to say about the future? For example, how to ensure a safe transfer of the throne to the crown prince? This serious illness has made me figure out a lot of things, alas."

Zhuge Jin certainly had some ideas in his mind, which were closely related to his humanistic concerns as a modern man and his historical knowledge, which was more than a thousand years older than his contemporaries. But he didn't dare to say it directly, because it would definitely be taboo to say it directly -

And only when Liu Bei was lying across from him did Zhuge Jin consider modifying his words. If it was another emperor who was a little bit more brutal, Zhuge Jin would definitely keep silent and say nothing.

Zhuge Jin thought for a long time before speaking: "Your Majesty... some of the things I said are really treasonous. But I am doing this for the sake of the Han Dynasty and the stability of the world. I will make this suggestion later. Please forgive me for being innocent."

When Liu Bei heard Zhuge Jin's serious tone, he also became serious for a moment.

Since the unification of the country, although the government affairs have been complicated in recent years, there have been no major decisions or responsibilities that are related to the rise and fall of the country, so Liu Bei has not seen Zhuge Jin so serious for many years.

"You and I have known each other for decades. Even Emperor Gaozu, Prime Minister Xiao, and Marquis Liu cannot be compared. Is there anything you dare not say? Just say it."

Liu Bei was very clear that he had an advantage over Emperor Gao in terms of being lenient and kind to his subordinates. Although Liu Bang was also respectful to the wise and humble, Zhang Liang had to hide in his later years, and Xiao He had to throw dirty water on himself.

Whenever Liu Bei thought of these historical materials, he felt deeply sad.

He has reflected on this many times over the years, and finally came to the conclusion that it was because Emperor Gaozu was of humble origin, and people in the world at that time were not accustomed to having the surname Liu as emperor, and they did not know whether the surname Liu could last for several generations, so Emperor Gaozu was so suspicious.

I am now in the era of revival, the Han Dynasty has existed for four to five hundred years, it is the destiny of the country and people's hearts are stable, why shouldn't I be more open-minded?

So he very frankly hoped that Zhuge Jin would tell him everything he knew without reservation and without any worries or burdens.

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PS: The new book has been uploaded and passed the review.

It’s called “I Am the Emperor of Song Dynasty”, you can search for it, or click on my personal page to see it…

Nothing more to say, let it be.

(End of this chapter)