At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Li Fan Yuan is located in the northeast corner of Luoyang City, some distance from Luoyang Chengdong City.

This is the "embassy" that Guo Peng specially prepared for the envoys of the vassal states and allied states when he ordered Zaoyi and Xun You to build the new Luoyang city.

The location is relatively secluded and closed, and there are a few limited passages leading to various parts of Luoyang City. It is quite easy to guard and block them.

The Lifan Courtyard covers a large area and has many buildings. At that time, Xun You thought it was a royal courtyard prepared by Guo Peng for the Supreme Emperor Guo Dan, or a royal courtyard for himself.

However, I saw that the building specifications and requirements were not high, and it didn't look like it was used by the royal family. After asking, I found out that it was prepared for vassal states and diplomatic relations.

At that time, Xun You felt that it was too early to plan for a rainy day, and tried to persuade Guo Peng to take it easy and not to worry so much.

However, Guo Peng believes that diplomatic activities will be carried out in just a few years, so it should be built.

The building of Li Fan Yuan was completed in the middle of the second year of Yande.

At that time, the officials of the imperial court felt that it was meaningless for the emperor to do this. As a result, in just over a year, countries in the Western Regions moved eastward to pay homage to their long-lost father.

Li Fanyuan came in handy.

Xin Pi led his subordinates to the Li Fan Yuan, which had not been used since it was completed, inspected around to see the infrastructure and so on, and made a purchase list of basic living facilities and sent it to the Ministry of Finance.

Wang Can, Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance, had received Guo Peng's instructions and gave the green light to allocate the funds. Simpi personally sent people to purchase basic living facilities according to uniform standards, and then hired people to clean and decorate in an all-round way.

It took more than a month to arrange the courtyards where the envoys of the eighteen Western Region countries who will arrive in Luoyang City to worship Emperor Wei will live.

On the third day after the arrangement was made, the envoys of Shanshan Kingdom arrived in Luoyang.

According to their standards, there was no need for Simpi to greet them in person. After all, Simpi was a high-ranking official at the ministerial level.

However, Simpi was really bored and had nothing to do, so he decided to go down to meet the envoys of the small country by himself to show the atmosphere of the kingdom of heaven.

The envoy of Shanshan Kingdom is the younger brother of the king of Shanshan, and he has a little understanding of the affairs in China. After learning the status of Simpi who came to welcome them, he was quite excited.

They still don't know the official names and scope of authority of the Wei Empire, but they know the grades of officials, such as one thousand stones and two thousand stones, they are clear, because they were also used in the Han Dynasty for 400 years.

The Protectorate of the Western Regions set up by the Han government to manage the countries in the Western Regions is at the level of two thousand stones, which is equivalent to the level of a county within the Han Empire, but the scope of power is much larger than that of other inland counties.

The head of the Duhu Mansion, the Xiyu Duhu, is also an official at the level of two thousand stones, which is equivalent to saying that the Han government regards the Western Regions as its own county, and it does not feel difficult to manage.

In terms of population, this is indeed the case. The total population of the Western Regions may not be larger than that of a county in the Central Plains, but the territory of the Western Regions is also a bit too large, larger than Kuaiji County.

The countries in the Western Regions don't know how many officials there are in the Central Plains Empire, but they know that the officials with two thousand shi are the highest-level Chinese officials they can contact.

Therefore, the envoys of the Shanshan Kingdom were quite excited about the [-] stone level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Shangshu Xinpi.

High enough official rank means that the Wei Empire paid more attention to them, so their purpose here can be well realized without worrying about not being able to fulfill the tasks entrusted to them by the king.

Establish a relationship with the Wei Empire, become a vassal state of the Wei Empire, receive preferential treatment from the Wei Empire, and realize comprehensive trade.

They all knew that if they wanted to be rich, they had to do business with the Central Plains Empire, and then they could make money.

Although the Central Plains Empire also intervened in their internal affairs, for example, Wusun's big and small Kunmi was caused by the Western Han government, but it is different from the pure oppression and oppression of the Huns back then.

The Jimi rule of the Han Empire was much milder. It was not purely oppressive, but it could also bring them benefits.

The Xiongnu dealt with the countries of the Western Regions by doing their best to squeeze their war potential and economic potential, enslave their population, and force them to send troops to fight with the Huns, which is quite barbaric.

However, the Han Empire treated them with a stick to give a sweet date. Although the stick hurts, at least there is a sweet date that can be eaten.

Comparing the two, we can draw the conclusion that the Han Empire is better than the Xiongnu Empire.

So after Wang Mang was overthrown, at the beginning of the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the countries in the Western Regions were overwhelmed by the Huns, and they collectively went to Luoyang to meet Liu Xiu and asked Liu Xiu to rebuild the Protectorate of the Western Regions to protect the countries in the Western Regions.

It's a pity that Liu Xiu was facing internal and external troubles at that time, so he really didn't have the energy to accept his younger brother.

Guo Peng is different from Liu Xiu. He has basically resolved the domestic war, flattened all the warlord forces who opposed him, unified the country, and focused on development internally, so he naturally sought to expand his influence externally.

This is the same as the demands of the countries in the Western Regions.

The two sides naturally hit it off.

Without the oppression of the Huns and Xianbei, the countries in the Western Regions were free for a while, but they soon realized that cutting off communication with China is not a wonderful thing.

Without official permission and protection, although trade can still be carried out, the difficulty will become infinitely greater, and the casualties will also increase infinitely.

The great decline in the quality of life made them naturally pursue business with China, and some of them even longed for China to return to the Western Regions, so that they could lead them to live a good life.

The starting point of the Silk Road was Chang'an in the Western Han Dynasty, Luoyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the final destination was the Roman Empire on the European continent.

This super-distant trade route not only contributed to some kind of connection between the Roman Empire and the Han Empire, but actually made the countries along the way rich.

The business travelers of the Han Empire were often unable to actually go to the Roman Empire to do business in person. Basically, they completed foreign trade in the countries of the Western Regions, and the next things were taken over by the countries of the Western Regions.

The countries in the Western Regions were responsible for completing the second section of the Silk Road, connecting commodities and trade routes to the Parthia Empire and the Guishuang Empire.

Then, these merchants in Central Asia took over again, transporting Chinese goods to the territory of the Roman Empire, completing this commercial trade that was thousands of miles away.

The silk, porcelain, and various specialties of the Han Empire were deeply welcomed by Roman nobles, who were willing to pay high prices for these products.

As a result, silk has completed its own three-level rise in price comparable to gold.

And the middlemen have also completed their tasks one after another, earning a high price difference.

Because there are really many wealthy people on the Silk Road, and there are indeed many people supported by this road.

However, due to geographical and population factors, the small countries in the Western Regions who ate this part of the price difference could not use this money to complete any important reform tasks, and this important price difference was used for their enjoyment.

Their wealth and luxury brought many beautiful fantasies to the later people, and contributed to the birth of some folk legends, which made tomb robbers flock to them.

Everyone believes that there are endless treasures buried underground in the ancient countries of the Western Regions.

Someone in Guo felt that it didn’t matter whether they were rich or not. The important thing was whether the wealth they accumulated could become their own, and whether they could play a good service role on the Silk Road and serve the commercial teams of the Central Plains Empire. Ensure that they are safely sent to Central Asia.

This section of the journey is really far away, without sufficient protection, the safety of business travelers will be very problematic.

If a stable and safe road cannot be created, then the open source significance of the Silk Road will decline, and Guo will be unhappy.

So someone Guo thinks it makes sense to keep these countries in a short period of time.

But after a long time, after finding out a safe and reliable route, there is no need to take them to share the cake.

It is very uncomfortable that a group of middlemen have appeared to divide the profits for no reason.

It is not yet sure whether they will go all out to make the difference and damage the profits that the Wei Empire can get.

Mr. Guo managed to temporarily suppress the middlemen in the country, but a group of middlemen also appeared in the Western Regions and wanted to share the cake with him.

accurate.

Very upset.

Chapter 955 .960 Five Only a big country is worthy of playing games with a big country

According to Guo's judgment, relying on the foundation laid by the Han Empire in the Western Regions for hundreds of years, as long as the traffic problem is improved, he can completely control the Western Regions at a relatively small cost.

Then set up prefectures and counties to rule, thus completely controlling the Silk Road.

Mr. Guo wants to obtain the profits from trade with the Parthian Empire, the Guishuang Empire, and the Roman Empire.

Since ancient times, it has to be confirmed, and the facts should not be given, so as not to cause trouble to future generations.

Forget about Anxi and Guishuang, he doesn't want to have any disputes with these two countries in his lifetime.

It is too far away from the core of the empire, before the construction of mature and smooth roads is completed, and before the scope of the empire's extreme wall expands, it is unrealistic to engage in confrontation with the two powers in Central Asia.

As long as they can cooperate to make money, it doesn't matter if they are middlemen. What you get from killing them may be much less than what you get from doing business together, and you have to pay a lot more to operate and manage.

Across the vast desert and the Pamir Plateau, it is superhumanly difficult for Guo to truly manage the Central Asian region in this era, and it is simply unrealistic.

So from the very beginning, Mr. Guo had no plans to expand to Central Asia.

But the little ones in the Western Regions really need to clean up, this part of the profit Guo wants to monopolize, and he is absolutely unwilling to share it with the small countries in the Western Regions.

The countries in the Western Regions will never realize that Emperor Wei has such bad intentions.

Accepting them is just to fully understand and grasp the internal intelligence of their countries, understand their combat readiness and reserve forces, in order to complete a wave of overthrow at a certain point in the future.

They will never know.

They will only know that Wei State is really strong and rich, and that it is worthy of their father's country to follow.

This was discovered after they left Liangzhou and entered Guanzhong.

The Wei Empire's construction in Liangzhou lagged behind Guanzhong, especially Chang'an. As the capital of Yongzhou, the "Xijing" of the Wei Empire and the location of the strategic general logistics base in the Northwest Region, Chang'an received special attention from Guo.

When Chang'an City was built, it was completely in line with New Luoyang.

The various architectural indicators of Chang'an City are only slightly behind New Luoyang City, and cities of the same level are quite limited in Wei State.

Except for Chang'an, only Yecheng and Linzi have the same architectural treatment as Chang'an, and the capitals of other states are slightly inferior.

So Chang'an is one of the best giant cities in this era.

The population in Chang'an City has exceeded 40. The population of the Wei Empire who moved to the Kansai area to reclaim wasteland and restore construction was mainly spread out around Chang'an.

A single city can exceed the population of more than half of the Western Regions. A city of this size has never been seen by this generation of envoys from the Western Regions.

Perhaps their predecessors have seen it before, seen the brilliant Chang'an and Luoyang decades ago.

However, since the Qiang Rebellion and the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the political communication between the Central Plains and the Western Regions has been cut off, and official envoys have never set foot in the Central Plains.

Decades have passed, and the group of envoys who had seen the prosperity of the Central Plains are dead, and the new generation of people obviously have never seen it with their own eyes.

At most, I have heard such descriptions from seniors or business travelers.

Knowing that the Central Plains Empire in the east is huge to the point of boundlessness, knowing that they have a super large population and huge wealth, and they have built a huge city that they can't even imagine.

That kind of feeling is like living in a fairyland. I have never seen so many people walking past me, so many shops, so many hawkers, and there are workshops, residential areas, and so on. There are elite soldiers patrolling the streets.

They had heard of it, but they had never seen it, so after they arrived in Chang'an, they asked to go to Chang'an city to see, take a look, and understand what kind of country their suzerain country was.

The entourage sent by Cao Ren agreed to their request.

He took them to wander around Chang'an City for three days, finished visiting Chang'an City, and then took them, who were still dizzy, to the road to the core of the Wei Empire.

How can the gap between a big country with hundreds of millions of souls, and a small country with few people be apparent in just three days?

Fortunately, they have a lot of time to watch slowly.

From Chang'an to Luoyang, there is a well-developed transportation network that has been repaired and completed, and it is a straight road built completely in line with the road construction technology of Qin Zhidao.

The completion of these straight roads has greatly increased the speed from Luoyang to Chang'an. It is an important measure for the Wei Empire to rebuild Kansai and revive Kansai. The business travelers, official motorcades, and Li Shu people who come and go on Wei Zhidao every day never stop.

From the opening of the gates of the major cities one after another in the morning, until the sunset on the western mountain, there can be seen an endless stream of people coming and going on this road.

Because of the huge population flow in Wei Zhidao, in addition to the official post stations for official pedestrians, there are also private merchants opening near the post stations. Non-governmental hotels provide rest and eating services for a large number of pedestrians, as well as livestock. The service of providing forage.

These well-developed transportation networks can often also drive the development of surrounding areas, and gradually take shape, very prosperous. When the emissaries of Shanshan Kingdom walked on the straight road, seeing such a prosperous scene of people coming and going, they were constantly refreshed. their worldview.

They passed Tongguan, entered the Gyeonggi area, then passed Hongnong County, and finally came to Luoyang.

When they saw the extremely majestic Luoyang City, which was the only one in the entire Wei Empire, they were completely speechless in shock.

Compared with Chang'an City, Luoyang City is more majestic, taller, and the moat is wider. From a distance, it looks like a giant beast entrenched on this land, constantly swallowing and swallowing the people living in this world, determining their everything of.

This is a city beyond their imagination.

Of course, it wasn't just them, the people of the Wei Empire who saw Luoyang City for the first time would also have such thoughts.

Because the newly built Luoyang City is indeed very large, so large that it has not been fully completed so far. Some parts of the city walls of Luoyang City are still being repaired, because Guo Peng has high requirements for the defensive function of the Luoyang Outer City.

Looking at Luoyang City from the outside, you can't see the whole picture of the city. When they decided to go further, they met the team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led by Simpi.

The envoy of the Shanshan Kingdom is the younger brother of the king of the Shanshan Kingdom. He can speak Chinese and can communicate with Simpi without a translator, which saves a lot of trouble.

Simpi was very interested in these Chinese-speaking people from outside Wei's territory, so he had a conversation with him.

The conversation was naturally about some news about Shanshan, such as how big the country is, how many people, how many soldiers, how many products and so on.

The Shanshan envoy rolled his eyes, and slightly overreported the population of his own country.

Simpi also asked about the population and products of other countries in the Western Regions that he knew, and he also answered, of course, the corresponding reduction.

Perhaps he thought that Simpi's question was to determine whether their country was eligible to become a vassal state of the Wei Empire or a commercial and trade object, so he had selfishness when answering.

Simpi found that the number told to him by the envoy was not much different from the number he got from the old materials of the former Han Dynasty.

Their population doesn't seem to have changed much over the years.

The population of the Wei Empire has entered a period of steady and high-speed growth, and the growth rate and number are gratifying. Compared with the Wei Empire, these small countries are as if they do not exist.

That's right, Guo Peng once said to Simpi that these small countries should not be regarded as formal diplomatic targets, because their population and development potential are not good enough. After fooling them and finding out their details, they can prepare to enter the Western Regions.