sweeping the world

Chapter 662 Why must there be war?

How could Ah San's upper caste be so ignorant about a country that considers itself to have a rich history, especially a group of nobles who claim to be superior?

Ah San has not risen many times in history, but the cultural background is really not bad at all. They once established a powerful country, and once almost unified the territory west of the Himalayas, but they have been repeatedly invaded by foreign enemies since the Maurya Dynasty. , and after the Dayue clan came, they fell under the rule of foreign races.

The Gupta Dynasty was built on the ruins of the Guishuang Empire. At that time, the Guishuang Empire was divided into north and south.

During the 370-year-long Kushan Empire period, although Asan was conquered by the Da Yuezhi people, to be honest, he may not be truly convinced. Some conflicts often broke out between the north and the south. The number of times that the Ganges River is used as a boundary is not rare. Usually, the Da Yuezhi aristocratic group in the north can thoroughly teach the Asan indigenous group how to behave.

Ah San may not be good at fighting, but they are very good at practicing religion and enjoying themselves. They can't defeat the Dayue people with force, but they use religion to drag the Dayue people into a big pit. In the end, because of Dayue The Kushan people fought back and really started the North-South War. Asan, who had been losing for most of his life, won once in that war, and the Kushan Empire came to an end.

"There are many records about the Han Dynasty in the historical records of the Yuezhi people."

"Yes, yes, they are ashamed and we are gloating."

For a period of time, the Guishuang Empire was also a hooligan who collected tolls on the Silk Road. The real conflict with the former Han was because the Han army entered the Western Regions again. In fact, the two sides did not dispatch a large number of their own troops to fight. proxy war.

Later, the Guishuang Empire didn't want to continue the war because of the troubles of Asan in the south. Considering the restoration of the relationship, they thought of marriage, and sent people to the Western Regions to hand over the credentials, but they didn't understand the importance of the princess of the Han Dynasty, and they didn't understand. It is clear that the Han Dynasty was no longer a country that needed to marry princesses to seek development time.They were not even the Xiongnu who were in great power for a while, and of course they were severely taught. At that time, the Han Dynasty only dispatched the garrison of the Western Regions Protectorate and mobilized the servants of the Western Regions.

The defeat of the Dayuezhi people in the Western Regions was indeed regarded as a joke by the Asan natives in the south. It was precisely because the Dayuezhi people were defeated at the hands of the Han Dynasty, whose main force was the servant army, that they gave the Asan natives a greater chance. The courage to engage in independence one after another.Therefore, serious calculation shows that the collapse of the Kushan Empire was partly due to the Han Dynasty, and the other driving force was the Sassanid Dynasty after the restoration of the Persians.

"Whether it is the man who appeared in 'Our Sea' is currently unknown." Katruk Karp shook the glass in his hand, which contained wine from the Western Regions, and smiled at the corner of his mouth: "They are in' Our sea' attack ships because we can't know what's more. We should pay attention to the safety of the sea lanes, so our fleet is acting. But those are secondary..."

The lord of a city is still a Brahmin. Katruk Karp should not be too small when traveling. There are strong men holding a machete in the front of the team, and warriors holding shields and spears on both sides. Several large carriages are surrounded by a The cavalry in gorgeous armor must have some people carrying flags, the most important thing is the number of accompanying servants, and there must be several carts full of pleasure items.

Of course, there are also detained Han Chinese in this team. They are locked in iron cages. From the outside, they have not been abused for the time being, and their spirits do not seem to be depressed.

It takes hundreds of miles to walk from Cuttack to Fahrenheit City, passing through many cities, not to mention many towns and villages.During this thirteen-day journey, Li Ming at least saw part of the Gupta Dynasty with his own eyes, and the rumors about the developed farming here were absolutely true.

Li Ming was of course a Han soldier and the one with the highest position among the captured people.Because of his status, he enjoyed much better treatment than his colleagues. He could ride in a fairly comfortable carriage and was even served by two dark-skinned Asans.

Arranging servants to take care of prisoners is an exaggeration?Let's talk about Asan's social culture. Katruk Karp learned from the translator that Li Ming was a noble (actually a second-level superior), and he was given necessary respect according to Asan's social tradition. Li Ming It is clear that those colleagues who do not have a title do not receive this treatment.

The Gupta Dynasty is located in East India. At the current stage, it has already occupied North India. It is more or less a rising regional power.They are relatively peaceful with the surrounding countries, and the only ones that don’t deal with it are the Vagathaka in the southwest and the strong and rising Sasanian Dynasty. However, there are still several countries separated from the Sasanian Dynasty and the Gupta Dynasty. The border of Vagadaka.

Occupying the golden area of ​​the Ganges River Basin, the Gupta Dynasty had a natural advantage in agricultural development, and because the country was relatively stable, what Li Ming saw was a peaceful scene, but some things were not so clear.

What Li Ming doesn't understand is how can there be so many races in a country. The whiter the skin, the more noble the status in the Gupta Dynasty, and the darker the skin, the lower it is.What he usually sees is that people who work in the countryside are dark-skinned. Those people usually look extremely thin, and they are also very poor in terms of clothing.More than once, he has seen dark-skinned pariahs need to make way for people more noble than himself, and there will be situations where pariahs kneel on the ground and kiss the land in front of the feet of nobles.

Social phenomena can often directly explain the status quo of a country. People in different regions have their own social rules. What Li Ming doesn't understand is what method the upper echelons of the Gupta Dynasty used to teach them, so that those who were defined as untouchables The group is as docile as lambs, and even the untouchables feel that everything is so natural.

If it is said that Li Ming couldn't understand the social phenomena he saw, the monks he could see anytime and anywhere, and the cows that could run around at will, these two seemed to have a status that he couldn't understand on Ah San's side.

The monks that Li Ming saw were divided into two types. One kind of monks looked extravagant at first glance, and the other kind of monks were in a state of self-torture all the time, but both were highly respected.

Once when he stopped in a city, Li Ming was invited to a party because of his status as a noble.

It was a kind of debate held in an open-air venue. No one was the moderator. The groups that could participate were clearly defined by class. Anyway, there would be no untouchables.The people who participated were also of all kinds, some had prepared everything they could enjoy, and some were just sitting there.He didn't understand Sanskrit, and he only knew what it was about debating after the translator's explanation. From this, he also knew that Ah San was obsessed with religion. He would talk about what a certain god did for several days and nights. No one can be convinced in the end.

Zhuxia in history actually had the habit of holding gatherings in the open air, but it was hosted by the villagers, talking about the year of the village, usually related to farming, how to seek favorable policies from the government, It is also a folk eating and drinking culture.Under normal circumstances, this kind of gathering is quite effective. At least the grassroots government cannot ignore it, and it can play the role of the people's voice to the central government.

If Li Ming had discovered anything else, it would be seeing Ah San's holdings of gold. People with a little bit of status never lacked all kinds of gold jewelry, and even those so-called untouchables would try their best to collect gold.He didn't need to deliberately calculate, just from the popularity of gold he saw, it can be seen that Ah San's holdings are really amazing.

Li Ming's "sightseeing tour" this time arrived at the destination with his arrival in Fahrenheit City. After nearly two months of study, he has learned some basic Sanskrit. Residence and servants, I really don't know what kind of mood it should be.

When he arrived at Fahrenheit City, Li Ming was treated differently again. He was even taken into Asan's palace and placed in a place with a very good environment, where he could still travel to a limited extent.

Fahrenheit City is located in the lower reaches of the Ganges River, about in the vicinity of Patna, Bihar State, today's Asan.It is called Balianfoyi in "Buddha 1 Kingdom", and it is called Bozalizi in "Da Tang Western Regions".Whether it was the period of the Guishuang Empire or the period of Asan's independence, it has always been one of the largest and most prosperous cities in ancient Asan.The reason why it has such a heritage is because the capital of Ah San's "great unification" Maurya Dynasty was here.

Li Ming moved into Ah San's Miyagi, but the first person to welcome him was Kapil Malik who had met many times on the road.

"Our contact will end with our separation." Kapil Malik was still a big man in Cuttack, but he became an insignificant little role in Fahrenheit City.He came to Li Ming with only one purpose, to make a final attempt: "I thought that if you spread the news, your people would come to rescue you after a two-month journey, but it didn't happen. It seems that you are not important People, as can be seen from the intensification of attacks at sea."

"Kshatriyas are your warrior class, right?" Li Mingchao discovered that the Asan in front of him had some purpose, and he also intended to make contact. However, it was difficult to communicate between two people because of the language barrier. He was waiting to master it. He could only communicate in Sanskrit stumblingly: "I am also of a similar class to you. Although I don't understand your customs, people like me do not appear to be too noble among the Han people. They only have the privileges consistent with the title, but they are not There are so many privileges like your Kshatriya."

"Oh, you finally said something about the country." Kapil Malik seemed to like talking with a shrug?He spread his hands and said, "Can you tell me why you are here?" Seeing that Li Ming was indifferent, he continued to shrug and said, "There is always a purpose, isn't it? Maybe what you want is not necessary. In the form of a military confrontation.”

Li Ming is not sure if what he heard is what he understands, but he heard some key points. For example, Kapil Malik doesn't care how much damage the big man caused to the Gupta Dynasty. What Kapil Malik wants is to gain Benefit.

"We are a rich country, and everything comes from prosperous trade." Kapil Malik was somewhat proud when he said this, but then he made a mocking expression and said: "Maybe you don't Understand what the prosperous maritime trade represents, that is, once we get serious, there will be overwhelming warships filling 'our sea', and you will never be able to achieve what you want by force."

Li Ming was completely unaware of the recent developments, so he was silent for a while and asked, "Do you know the big man?"

"Of course." Kapil Malik raised his neck and said proudly, "The surname Malik has a history of more than 400 years."

Li Ming also wanted to say that the surname Li has a history of thousands of years, but he was unwilling to talk about it, and then asked: "Then what is the big man you know?"

"A long history? Have you ever defeated the powerful Huns? Can you despise the Yuezhi people?" Kapil Malik shook his head and said with a smile: "Those are not important to us. Your land force is powerful, but it cannot threaten us. "

The cognition of the Gupta Dynasty was not wrong, and they themselves could not cross the Himalayas.And even if the Han Kingdom re-entered the Western Regions, the Han army would still have to defeat the Hunnites and many ethnic groups, and it was more likely that they would directly fight with the Persian Sassanid.

maritime?The Gupta Dynasty, which inherited the sea power of the Guishuang Empire, built their trade based on the use of the sea. Not to mention maintaining hundreds of warships for a long time, wars can break out at any time, because the development of maritime trade has not yet There is a shortage of soldiers who are familiar with the sea.In this case, their confidence in their maritime power does not stem from arrogance.

Li Ming's knowledge base was limited, and he didn't even know that the Han Dynasty had taught the Kushan Empire a lesson. He also knew that if he could invade Asan from land, he would not go for sea invasion, which he was not good at.

"What impresses me the most is the silk, the kind of silk that only you can make." Kapil Malik clapped his palms, and an Ah San who had been standing by the side lifted the cover of the plate in his hand, revealing A transparent cloth: "We can spin yarn, but we can't make silk. We need silk, the Persians need silk, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Greeks... there is no one who doesn't like silk."

Regarding raw silk, only the Chinese civilization currently has control over it. Other civilizations have always wanted to explore this secret. Ah San even studied using spider silk to make silk.

"Do you understand what I mean?" Kapil Malik showed obvious puzzlement: "Perhaps you Han Chinese defeated the nomads and rose again, but there is no reason to travel thousands of miles to start a war about land ownership. So we There must be something you want. If you don't want land and water, you can get all the exchangeable goods by providing silk."

(End of this chapter)