A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

However, Rome at this time had just gone through a period of turmoil and military reforms.

It would be difficult to spare a large amount of resources to launch an attack on another massive empire in a short period of time.

"Let's take a detour through the southern part of the Parthian Empire first. Once the empire has recovered, we'll wage war against it!"

Lucius gritted his teeth and said.

So this envoy, carrying a large number of elite troops and a large amount of gold and silver, once again headed to Wulei City.

His goal this time is to buy as much silk as possible.

On the other side, in the Western Regions, at Wulei City.

Wei Qi also wrote to Chang'an, informing Emperor Zhao of Han of the alliance signed with Rome, and at the same time, he allocated more silk to the Western Regions.

Emperor Zhao of Han waved his hand and approved the order without even asking about the specifics.

Because he had already received the message from his spies among the various schools of thought and the soldiers.

The last time, the plan to use hemp clothing to lure the people of the Western Regions went very smoothly.

The people of the Western Regions now have a very high level of recognition of the Han Dynasty.

These are all his achievements.

Given the current population and speed of the Han Dynasty's advance, it is virtually impossible for him to surpass his father in terms of warfare.

With such a great emperor preceding him, even if his actions surpass those of most emperors in history, he will only be remembered in history books as a mediocre ruler who maintains the status quo.

To earn the title of a wise ruler in history, he had to do exceptionally well.

Having lost hope in war and territorial expansion, he could only pin his hopes on education.

If we could assimilate the entire Western Regions and completely transform them into the Han Chinese of the same ancestry.

This will definitely add a lot to his posthumous reputation.

Therefore, Emperor Zhao of Han took whatever he wanted from the Western Regions.

Our goal is singular: to completely civilize the Western Regions!

As for that so-called alliance, it was the most ordinary kind.

There is no mention of silk above.

Therefore, Emperor Zhao of Han did not connect the two events.

Emperor Zhao of Han had little interest in a country thousands of miles away from the Han Empire.

It's too far; we can't possibly fight our way there!

At the residence of the Marquis of Yan.

Wei Zhong also received a letter from Wei Qi.

Upon reading the letter's description of the Romans' obsession with silk, Wei Zhong couldn't help but gasp.

This price is outrageous.

This is money we shouldn't miss out on!

Moreover, it can stimulate the development of the textile industry among ordinary people, allowing them to have more income.

This is great news.

Wei Zhong began writing letters to various factions within the Wei family, instructing them to collect high-quality silk from the common people at prices higher than the market rate.

Then they established workshops in various places, recruited skilled local weavers, and spun high-quality silk.

It wasn't that they didn't want the people to weave silk, but rather that high-quality silk was extremely difficult to weave.

It takes at least 10 skilled weavers, along with professional equipment, and a long time to weave a single piece.

This cost is too high for ordinary people.

Planting mulberry trees and using mulberry leaves to raise silkworms is a low-cost option for ordinary people, and can be done by one person in their spare time.

If you have time, you can do more; if you don't have time, you can do less.

More suitable.

It took another year for a large quantity of silk to be transported to the Western Regions.

By this time, the Western Regions had basically achieved standardization of writing, speech, names of objects, and currency.

All that's left is to let them ferment slowly, and then we can fully integrate them into the Western Regions' plans.

Taking advantage of the New Year holiday, Wei Qi once again summoned the kings of the Western Regions to a gathering.

It's called celebrating the New Year.

He also instructed Han Chinese merchants stranded in the Western Regions to organize a discount promotion.

Then, the troops in various regions were instructed to prepare drums, firecrackers, and other items for the New Year.

This allowed ordinary people in the Western Regions to experience the atmosphere of the Han Dynasty's New Year celebrations.

Gradually, the Western Regions also accepted the Spring Festival.

After celebrating the New Year with the kings of the Western Regions, Wei Qi held a special banquet.

He made his third request to the many kings of the Western Regions.

"Uniform gauge for carts and standard for weights and measures."

"The meaning of 'uniform gauge for carts' is that the distance between the two wheels of all horse-drawn carriages must be exactly the same."

They brought out a standard ruler and distributed one to each of the kings.

"From now on, all wheels must be this width."

What was the Han Dynasty trying to do? Why would they care about such a trivial matter?

Indeed, this is a trivial matter for the kings.

Unlike anything before, changing the wheels doesn't change anything.

It's just that everyone's wheels are now spaced the same.

However, there were some kings who were already very familiar with Han Dynasty culture, such as the King of Loulan.

They realized what the Han Dynasty wanted to do.

He knew which story the phrase "carts with the same gauge" came from.

This was one of the points proposed by Qin Shi Huang after he unified the country, in order to develop his theory of unification.

The same rule applies to previous books with the same text.

At the time, it was just this one point, plus Wei Qi used a different version of the story, so he didn't realize it.

Now that both conditions are met, the Han Dynasty's purpose is obvious.

The goal was to maintain the unity of the Western Regions and the Han Dynasty through institutional reforms.

Would the Han Dynasty completely annex the Western Regions and make them part of the Han Dynasty?

The King of Loulan had to consider this.

He somewhat regretted standing up last time, even though he sided with the Western Regions.

The kingdoms of the Western Regions also found it difficult to accept him.

Traitors are often the most hateful.

Moreover, if he dares to side with the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty's executioner's blade will fall immediately.

As one of the countries closest to the Han Dynasty, he was very familiar with the Han Dynasty's practices.

I just hope the Han Dynasty didn't think that way, after all, this place is too far away from the Han Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty's rule is extremely difficult.

"The standardization of weights and measures" refers to the unification of weights and measures.

"A new problem has arisen when countries conduct trade: the units of length, weight, and space are all different."

"The difference in the volume of a bushel between some countries and those between other countries can be as much as double."

"From now on, the length, volume, and weight of each country must follow the standards of the Han Dynasty."

"We will send you standard length, volume, and weight measurements."

"You have three months to create the same standard device and then roll it out nationwide."

Wei Qi still used trade as an excuse, making his point clear and justified. On the surface, he wanted to make trade between the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions, as well as between the Western Regions themselves, smoother.

These explanations are somewhat plausible, but the last one completely reveals their true intentions.

Therefore, the principle of "moral conduct and ethics" was placed last.

Once this is released, it will surely encounter the fiercest resistance from the Western Regions.

As long as this one is not released, even if the various countries in the Western Regions discover something, out of a desire for appeasement, they will only hope that the Han Dynasty will not do so.

A pure ostrich mentality.

Releasing this last has another advantage: since the previous steps have already been completed, it won't affect the progress of the other steps.

Moreover, it will allow the countries of the Western Regions to gradually accept it. Not to mention the royal families of the Western Regions, the people of these countries will become more accepting of the same ethics.