sweeping the world

Chapter 705 The Power of a Word

Longxi County and the passes to the east, such as Hangu Pass in the past, and Tongguan Pass, Hulao Pass, Lantian Pass, and Aoguan Pass, are all gateways to Guanzhong.

Compared with the pass built on the basis of mountains and rivers to the east of Guanzhong, the west and northwest of Guanzhong are almost flat, and it is difficult to have any dangerous terrain.

The regime that established the capital in Chang'an attaches the most importance to the safety of the east, because the east is the Central Plains.The Central Plains has always been densely populated and well-constructed. No matter what the pass is, those passes are the barriers of the capital, preventing the Central Plains from entering the pass quickly after the chaos, without giving the capital time to prepare.

After the annexation of Yiqu in the pre-Qin period, there were few factors that could lead to chaos in the northwest of Guanzhong. It was only after the Qiang people descended from the plateau to occupy the northwest that new threats appeared to the west of Chang'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The Qiang Rebellion plagued the Eastern Han Dynasty for more than 100 years. The Qiang people surrendered and rebelled again and again. For a certain period of time, the Northwest was a quagmire. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Eastern Han Dynasty was dragged down by the Qiang Rebellion. .

Why didn't the Eastern Han Dynasty build the Great Wall as a guardrail like defending the grassland nomads?That's because the prefectures and counties where the Qiang Rebellion broke out belonged to the territory of the Han Dynasty. There is no reason to build the Great Wall and abandon its own territory. Furthermore, the finances of the Eastern Han Dynasty have not been very good. Even if they are willing to abandon the territory, they do not have the financial resources to build the Great Wall.

Longxi County was originally the frontier of the Han family, and to the west was a basin with a wide range.In fact, that basin was also in the hands of the Han family, but the control time was not long.To the west of the basin is the plateau, which is absolutely unfamiliar to the Han family. Since the beginning of the Xia Dynasty, until the fall of the first Han family, basically no one from the Han family has set foot on the plateau.

There are foreign races in the basin, which are classified as Qiang. The real meaning of Qiang is a group of shepherds. The reason why they became a nation is the definition given by Zhu Xia, who has the right to name the nation and record the history.

It is not wrong to say that Zhuxia has the right to name the nation, because the Central Plains dynasty is strong, the strong can name the weak, and say who is what tribe, even if the tribe does not recognize it, it will be recognized or directly destroyed. Let's draw a conclusion.

In terms of historical record rights, there are quite a lot of ethnic groups in the forest of ethnic groups in the world, but few of them use words to record their own or other ethnic groups' histories like Zhu Xia.The long river of history is so long that it is difficult for anyone to see the end. Whoever recorded the history in words, I don’t know how long later generations will see it. I am afraid that they can only see what happened in ancient times with their own eyes if they build a time machine. You have to believe what the ancestors recorded, and there is simply no way to verify the historical records.

"The Qiang people have harmed the Han family for hundreds of years, and there are still disasters to this day." Liu Yan is one of those who think that the Eastern Han Dynasty was dragged down by the Qiang rebellion, not to mention that he also knows what role the Qiang people played during the Five Husbands.He was riding on a steed, surrounded by ministers or generals, and envoys from foreign countries, and said in a cold voice: "Don't make it come back."

Xie An had no choice but to dismount from his horse, respectfully saluted and promised: "I will surely put an end to this disaster!"

Longxi County is very large, basically a flat grassland, and it has been one of the breeding places for herding military horses since ancient times.

In the pre-Qin period in ancient times, Daqin built a horse farm in the Longxi Plain to ensure that chariots had majestic horses to pull chariots, knights rode on horses, and even logistics supplies were not short of animal power, and even the people could have enough horses. to pull the plow.

Did the pre-Qin use horses to pull plows?This is not a joke. There are quite a lot of documents. It is recorded that horse-drawn plows are commonly used in various countries in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Cattle are not the only livestock used in farming.

There are far more nations and countries that use horses as the main animal power for farming than cattle, especially the stronger the empire, the more common it is for them to use war horses for farming.This is a very simple reason. The cavalry of cold weapons is equivalent to modern armored forces. Even the civilians have enough horses for farming. How can the army lack horses.

Nowadays, there are many countries that use horses as the main animal power for farming, especially the most powerful countries, all of which use plows as the main force.Like Rome, which did not value cavalry itself, the Romans mainly relied on horses in terms of animal power for farming.It is also like the Persians who are entrenched in Central Asia as the overlord. Whether it is the powerful Parthia or the current Sassanid Dynasty, as long as you look through the agricultural records, you will basically see the horse-drawn plow.

Of course, in terms of the use of horses as the main animal power for farming, it does not mean that there are many horses so that they can be used that way. In fact, it is related to the geological features and the type of food planted.

For example, horses are of course more suitable in most areas of the Central Plains, but it is not suitable after reaching the south of the Yangtze River, because cattle are more suitable for farming in mud than horses, and the consideration is not speed, but animal power durability and strength.

It is obviously inappropriate to use horses as the main agricultural animal power in the Indochina Peninsula. The legs and hooves of animals are destined to be more suitable for any environment, and it will only suffer if they are forced to reverse.

In today's Han Dynasty, horses are mostly used as the main animal power for farming in the north, while cattle are used in the south, which is a geographical limitation.

The Han Kingdom does not lack pastures. The grasslands to the north of Yanmen County are all under the control of the Han people. The north of Bohai County has also been a breeding ground for horses since ancient times. There is also Longxi County, a grassland that has been used by the Xia for a long time. The Han people have Too many places to graze.

Xie An said that he wanted to wipe out the remaining Qiang and Di people within his responsibilities, referring to those who were still resisting, not targeting other places.

The population of the Han Kingdom is now close to 800 million. In fact, not all of them are authentic Zhuxia Miao descendants. Many of them are actually Sinicized Hu people, or Hu people who worked hard to be Han people in order to survive.

In the country of Han, you can’t really be Han if you say you are Han. Living habits are one aspect, and language is another big test. It is a system of mutual supervision, which leads to the development of time, even if you are not Han. They are also Han Chinese.

There is clear data that since the Hu people wiped out the Western Jin Dynasty, the real Han people in the north of the Yangtze River have been decreasing again and again. Before Liu Yan wiped out the Shijie Zhao Kingdom, the official population registration of the Shijie Zhao Kingdom was only about 310 million.This population figure is actually quite unreliable.

The population registration of Zhao State in Shijie is based on major cities, and people outside the cities must not be registered, which means that the vast majority of people do not appear on the official population registration.

Every time the Han State conquered a land and stabilized a little bit, the first thing it did was to register the population. After the Han State destroyed the Shijie Zhao State, a series of censuses and registrations were carried out. The population at the beginning was 700 million about.

Of the 700 million people who are actually Han Chinese, no more than 300 million people, that is to say, 400 million people think that they are Han Chinese on the premise that they refuse to be Han Chinese and will be killed.The Han state has an indulgent attitude towards the phenomenon of impersonation. As long as the blood of the Han people is not stained on the hands, it is welcome to be a Han person if you are willing to do so.

Compared with other Hu people, the Qiang people and Di people were more sinicized. Before the Shijie Zhao State was destroyed, quite a few Qiang people and Di people were actually more like Han people than Han people, because they thought that the Han civilization was very high. , big, high school, and feel that I want to be a little self-restraint after being rich, I am demanding myself with the etiquette and values ​​of Chinese civilization.

Liu Yan is not against Hu people thinking that he is a Han. If he hadn't intervened, quite a few Hu people would have sinicized themselves during the Five Husbands and Chaos China, and they would really have become Han people later on.The main reason for his non-interference is that there are only so many Han people left in the Central Plains. Counting the 500 million under the rule of the small court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (540 million according to historical records), there are only so many Han Chinese who are fully occupied. It is really going to become There are fewer than 1 ethnic group.

The current state of Han is in the process of integration, resulting in almost all the skills it possesses, and it has become the national characteristic of the ancient pre-Qin period who mastered both farming and herding. Skills are lost.

Another thing that must be admitted is that precisely because they are all called Han people but their composition is complex, a large part of them are not familiar with farming at all. In addition to herding, joining the army has become a single option for many people, which maintains the Han people. army supplement.

"The widow does not want to hear the news of dissatisfaction in this place next year."

"promise!"

The country wants to enrich Guanzhong. According to Ji Chang's plan, the first stage is that Guanzhong must have a population of at least 200 million. The people who migrated will not all be resettled in Chang'an, or they will be diverted to various counties.

In Ji Chang's migration plan, the people's migration to a certain place opened a door of restriction, that is, the distribution of land.

The Han Dynasty was already making preparations for the abolition of the poll tax. While no longer collecting the poll tax, it would fully adopt the production tax method.

The abolition of the poll tax is of course Liu Yan's idea. He is always looking forward to a larger number of Han Chinese. It is best to have hundreds of millions or even billions of Han Chinese in the blink of an eye, but that is impossible.The abolition of the poll tax will definitely make the population increase faster. He knows that it is the product of the "one whip method", but he has no intention to learn from it.

The use of Longxi County by the Han Dynasty is almost non-existent. That is, there are not many people in Longxi County itself. It needs to be put on the agenda to use it.

The army has a tendency to supply supplies nearby, and the closer the supply base is, the better. The convenience of food, fodder, ordnance and other systems naturally does not matter when Liu Yan is still alive, but the military needs horses. Is it north of Yanmen County or east of Shanxi?In this way, the pastures in Longxi County are very important for the Han army to enter the Western Regions.

Xie An is naturally under pressure to defeat the enemy within a year, and it is more of a motivation.He is still General Zhengxi Zhonglang now. Although he is only one level away from General Zhengxi, this level is undoubtedly a natural moat.

In fact, Xie An has fully understood that there must be a reason for the king to give the time limit. To wipe out the nearby enemies and re-use Longxi County, everything is a prelude to marching into the Western Regions, which means that he is about to touch the seal of General Zhengxi. closer.

Of course Liu Yan wanted to enter the Western Regions. He knew a little better than anyone in the Han Dynasty. Whether the Western Regions were brought back into his control was definitely a watershed for the Central Plains Dynasty. A Central Plains Dynasty that did not control the Western Regions was not an empire. , Only when the Western Regions are included in the rule is an empire in the true sense.

The significance of controlling the Western Regions is very complicated. It is not only a question of soldiers, but also the key to the influence of the Central Plains Dynasty on the outside.A powerful country is definitely not a country that thinks it is a strong country behind closed doors. It should be able to influence the will of neighboring countries and spread its influence as far as possible. trembling.Furthermore, whether the people of the Celestial Dynasty are willing or not, they all evaluate whether they can control the distant Western Regions. If they can control the Western Regions, they will have strong self-confidence. If they cannot control the Western Regions, they will not think that they are A strong country and a people.

Liu Yanhui asked Xie An to set a deadline, which was a kind of self-esteem on his part.When he communicated with Kianush Arta Ardashir, he was stimulated by a sentence.

Kianush Arta Ardashir certainly did not dare to be presumptuous towards Liu Yan, and he did not even dare to show any disrespectful behavior. A slight mistake would be the beginning of a war between the two countries.He asked some questions during the conversation at that time, and said in a confused tone, "I have already sent troops, I didn't expect...it turns out that the Han Empire has not taken back the Western Regions", that's all.

What is "original", and what is "take back", is it not that the Han Dynasty has been controlling the Western Regions since the defeat of the Huns, even Cao Wei who was in a divided state also had control over the Western Regions, that is, before the Sima family lost the Central Plains It also controls the Western Regions, but now this awesome Han country has not regained the Western Regions! ?

What is the intention of Chianoush Arta Ardashir? Let’s not speculate, but that sentence really embarrassed Liu Yan. Everything is still because Liu Yan knows that the Western Regions are a facade, not just the facade of Zhuxia Miao. , It is also the basis for the countries in the distance to judge whether the Central Plains dynasty is really strong.

Of course, Liu Yan will not attack the Western Regions just because of a word. Governing the country has never been based on emotions to formulate national policies. There are other factors. It is the countries in the Western Region that are forming an alliance to resist the comeback of the Han people.

After all, the current Han country has just stabilized not long ago. It is impossible to say that the people’s hearts are fully subordinated. Besides, there are too many fake Han people. Some enemies have nothing to do, those people who are dormant should do things.Facing a large area of ​​natural disasters, the Han Dynasty could not stand the toss, and it was difficult to raise the butcher's knife internally to say "I would rather kill three thousand by mistake than let one person go." Then the only way to raise the sword was to face a clear enemy.

(End of this chapter)