At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

No wonder Rome did not hesitate to wage war and die in peace.

The consumption of successive wars is not as expensive as being monopolized by Anxi.

It's not kind.

That being the case, can the Maritime Silk Road be arranged?

If it is possible, how many middlemen can be saved, and how much profit can be eaten...

Nautical technology in this age...

When Guo thought of this, he felt a headache again.

Not to mention sailing technology, shipbuilding technology is also a problem. The technical requirements for long-distance sailing large ships are very high, and various dangers are not small.

It is really a question whether the shipbuilding technology and navigation technology mastered by the current Wei Empire can successfully reach the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East and come into contact with the Roman Empire.

Is it too late to start developing the ocean-going shipping industry?

Forget it, whether it's too late or not, even if I can't see it when I'm alive, I can leave it to Guo Jin or Guo Jin's son.

After all, it's going to be done.

Arrange it and send someone to try and explore.

But this part belongs to the profit that can be seen but not eaten, so we can’t spend a lot of energy on it. What we need to do now is to eat the part that can be seen and eaten.

Thinking about it this way, someone like Guo wants to quickly annex the eighteen countries in the Western Regions, occupy the entire Western Regions, and eliminate this group of middlemen in the first stage.

I can't wait.

Somebody Guo felt that it was necessary for him to deploy in the Western Regions in advance and make some preliminary preparations so that Cao Ren would lead the Northwest Corps in the Western Regions to wipe out the eighteen countries in the Western Regions in one wave.

render them incapable of effective resistance.

With this in mind, someone from Guo began to ask Ma Yuan about the situation of the countries in the Western Regions.

Chapter 1024 A successful diplomatic experiment

Someone Guo wanted to fully understand the current situation of the countries in the Western Regions, and see if there was a chance to do something.

Think of a way, find an opportunity, even if you can't win now, it's good to weaken their strength.

We can't let them really become rich and powerful by being middlemen and second-hand dealers.

"Ayuan, let alone Guishuang Kingdom, how is the situation in the Western Regions?"

When Guo Peng asked such a question, Ma Yuan spoke a little more.

"It's similar to what is recorded in the ancient books of the Han Dynasty. Most of the countries in the Western Regions are small and weak. They are not as big as our county in Wei, and the population is small, so there are not many soldiers. Basically, every adult man can As a soldier, his strength is weak, and he is not an enemy in World War I.

Except for Wusun, only a few countries have a population of over [-], and there are more than [-]. If they are fully mobilized, they will have soldiers ranging from [-] to [-]. As for those who have more country, I haven't seen it. "

Guo Peng nodded silently.

"In your opinion, not counting Wusun, how many troops are needed to wipe out the rest of the Western Regions? Is Zixiao's [-] Northwest Army enough? Do we need more troops?"

"Enough, definitely enough, as long as His Majesty orders, General Cao will definitely be able to wipe out the rest of the Western Regions for His Majesty."

Ma Yuan said confidently: "First of all, not all the countries in the Western Regions belong to each other. There are also relatives and estrangements among them, and there are also feuds against each other. It is impossible to gather all the troops together to resist our army.

Even if they know that our army is attacking other countries, they may not think that our army must attack them. They will be lucky and will not cooperate with each other. Therefore, as long as our army defeats each of them, we can definitely wipe out all the countries in the Western Regions in one fell swoop. . "

Guo Peng frowned.

"You just said that not all belong to each other, which means that there are still countries that belong to each other?"

"Yes."

Ma Yuan continued to nod: "It has been more than 20 years since the former Han and the Huns withdrew from the Western Regions, and it has been more than ten years since Xianbei withdrew from the Western Regions. The countries in the Western Regions have not been affected by the outside world for a while, and there have been new changes among each other. It is normal for a small country to depend on a big country.”

"What do you know?"

"I don't know much at the moment. I know that Dawan Kingdom is attached to Shache Kingdom, and some countries have formed alliances, and the relationship between them is relatively close, such as Kucha Kingdom and Gumo Kingdom. The relationship is more complicated and chaotic, and it is not absolute. , and there are gaps that can be drilled.”

Ma Yuan replied like this.

Guo Peng nodded.

"It looks interesting. It's not difficult to swallow it all in one go, but it may consume a lot of food and fodder. Judging from the current situation of the four counties in Hexi, it may not be able to support the army to conquer the Western Regions in two or three years.

Before that, maybe we can use some means to let them fight themselves, consume their national strength, and make our march more convenient in the future. Where should we start?A Yuan, do you have any suggestions?I want to hear your advice. "

When Guo Peng said this, Ma Yuan thought about it seriously for a while.

"If you want to talk about suggestions, Your Majesty, I suggest that you can address the problems between the big and small Kunmi of Wusun Kingdom and the front and rear Cheshi, and open up the situation from these two places, especially Wusun, which has a large population and the army There are many, it is not a small threat."

"Tell me, what's the matter?"

Guo Peng asked Ma Yuan to continue.

"The relationship between the big and small Kunmi in Wusun country is quite tense. When I took a caravan to trade in Wusun country, Big Kunmi asked me to take a caravan to trade with them on the grounds that he has Han blood. , instead of going to Xiao Kunmi's territory.

Then little Kunmi came to see me in person and asked me to take the caravan to their territory for mutual trading. He said that the big Kunmi territory was sparsely populated and not suitable for trade, and he also admired China very much. Although he did not have the blood of the Han family, But there is a sincere heart.

Big Kunmi learned that he directly brought troops over, and little Kunmi also dispatched troops, not to be outdone, and the two sides were about to fight. I hurriedly dissuaded them, divided the caravan into two, and traded with them separately. Let them not fight. "

Ma Yuan explained the cause and effect: "The situation is the same between the front and rear car divisions. The conflicts between the two sides are not small. It's okay without external forces. If there is a little instigation by external forces, accidents will happen, and it's not just that. I will inquire further. up.

The big Kunmi of this generation has not been on the throne for a long time, and is not as prestigious as the young Kunmi. It is said that when the big Kunmi came to the throne, the little Kunmi even cheated and deceived the population of a thousand households of the big Kunmi, which almost caused a lot of trouble. After the civil war, the relationship between the big and small Kunmi was very tense. "

Guo Peng stroked the beard on his chin and nodded slowly.

The dispute between the big and small Kunmi in Wusun Kingdom is quite interesting, and it sounds like a workable excuse.

This matter still has to start from the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty.

In order to fight against the Xiongnu, seize the influence of the Xiongnu in the Western Regions, and further attack and isolate the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty tried to unite with the relatively powerful Wusun Kingdom in the Western Regions to fight against the Xiongnu.

So Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty first married Princess Xijun to Wusun Kunmi, the head of Wusun, in an attempt to unite Wusun, but Princess Xijun died soon, and Emperor Wu of the Han asked Princess Jieyou, the daughter of King Chu, to marry Wusun.

The Princess Jieyou in the Western Han Dynasty is a legendary woman.

She lived far longer than Princess Xijun, and had a great influence on Wusun.

She once contributed to the fact that Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty sent 15 troops to attack the Huns to rescue Wusun, and also contributed to the alliance between Han and Wusun, and made immortal contributions to Han's expulsion of the Xiongnu's power in the Western Regions.

The alliance between Han and Wusun became a vassal relationship with each other's power changes, and Wusun surrendered to the Han Empire.

After the death of old Wusun Kunmi, the Han Empire tried to support the son of Princess Jieyou as the new Wusun Kunmi, but the people in Wusun supported another person to be Kunmi.

In desperation, the Han had no choice but to resort to other means. Relying on his strong national power and the influence of Princess Jieyou, he forcibly divided Wusun into two, the big Kunmi tribe and the small Kunmi tribe.

Da Kunmi is the son of Princess Jieyou. Because of his superior status and the support of the Han Empire, he has a population of [-] households.

Little Kunmi is the lord of Wusun whom Wusun people truly recognize, but without the support of the Han Empire, he can only lead [-] households.

This is the result of the Han Empire's abrupt intervention in Wusun's internal affairs.

In Guo's opinion, this was also a relatively successful diplomatic experiment of the Han Empire.

The Han Empire successfully used its influence to intervene in the internal affairs of Wusun, a great country in the Western Regions, and successfully split Wusun.

This brought a lot of convenience to someone Guo.

Since then, the two Wusun tribes have been unable to recognize and belong to each other. Although there are a lot of unificationists inside, they can only constantly rub against each other and fight each other.

After all, none of the ruling classes on both sides is willing to give up their status, and no one is willing to submit to others. The friction has been going on until now, and the bloodlines have been changed.

But there is no doubt that the influence of the Han Empire in Wusun has not faded.

Wusun Da Kunmi is still talking about the matter of Princess Jieyou, claiming to have the blood of the Han family, which is enough to prove that the influence of the Han Empire on Wusun is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and has formed a tradition.

This terrible inertia.

A little use is enough to cause a civil war in Wusun and damage Wusun's national power.

This is the same as the front and rear Cheshi countries, but the front and rear Cheshi countries cannot be compared with Wusun in terms of population or national strength. If they want to fight, it will be much easier.

But with a population of hundreds of thousands, Wusun could pull out tens of thousands of troops, so it would be quite troublesome to fight.

If they don't let them fight a civil war to consume their respective forces, Guo is really hard to talk about.

chapter 1025 one thousand and thirty-five

It is true that the four counties in Hexi cannot provide much support to Cao Ren's Northwest Corps right now.

It does take time to develop itself. Food can be transferred, but roads really need time to repair. If the roads are not completed, the logistical difficulties will not improve.

The logistics of the [-] troops is still a heavy burden.

Therefore, the Northwest Corps has no way to fight, but can only assist in road construction.

According to the budget, it will take at least one and a half years for the transportation routes in the Western Regions to initially take shape and achieve a certain effect.

But you can't do nothing during this time.

In vain, let these countries rely on Mr. Guo's Silk Road plan to accumulate financial resources and expand their power. When the time comes, the country will really be rich and the military will be strong, and it will be even more troublesome to fight.

"Ayuan, tell me, how do you want to provoke a civil war in Wusun?"

Guo Peng intends to listen carefully to Ma Yuan's plan.

Ma Yuan chuckled, and said, "It's actually very simple. You only need some rumors. You can send people to Da Kunmi's territory to declare that Xiao Kunmi intends to come to Luoyang to propose marriage to His Majesty and marry the princess. The Kunmi Territory claims that Da Kunmi intends to come to Luoyang to propose marriage to His Majesty."

Guo Peng blinked, suddenly dumbfounded.

"My oldest daughter is only nine years old, and she hasn't been named a princess yet. Right now, I don't have a princess in Wei, so even if she were to be named, she would definitely not be my daughter."

"Your Majesty, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether there is a princess or not. It's not true anyway. It's just a rumor, but this rumor is very important to Wusun and Kunmi."

Ma Yuan said slowly: "Before they fought for the mutual market, it can be seen that the relationship between the two parties is very bad. If a little rumor spreads, they will definitely think that once His Majesty agrees to one of the parties and let the princess get married, the other party will be miserable.

I, Wei, must support one side, and the other side will not get any support. After a long time, the power will weaken.They will inevitably scramble to send people to Luoyang to propose marriage. "

Guo Peng frowned.

"In this way, don't I want to respond positively to this matter? Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty let the princess get married in order to deal with the Xiongnu. I don't need Wusun to do anything for me. How could he allow the marriage?

On the contrary, what I was thinking about was how to destroy them. When things started to escalate, the turmoil became huge, and the rest of the nations knew about it.

In addition to the countries in the Western Regions, we must also be careful of domestic public opinion. Some people are afraid that the world will not be chaotic, that nothing will happen here, and they will be used by a group of people to talk about it... so inappropriate. "

Someone Guo shook his head again and again, saying that such a situation cannot be accepted.

"They can't come to Luoyang."

Ma Yuan narrowed his eyes: "Your Majesty can ask General Cao Wenlie to cooperate in the Western Regions, send people to act secretly, intercept and kill the teams of both sides on the way, and then let a few people go. In this way, the civil war in Wusun will definitely break out!"

Guo Peng's eyes lit up.

"This is a bit interesting. Once they learn that the person is dead, they will definitely think that this is the other party's obstruction of action, and then blame each other, quarrel with each other, quarrel, and maybe...they will really fight."

"As long as they can fight, it means that the plan is successful. By provoking their civil war, reducing their military strength, and causing Wusun to lose population, soldiers and horses, isn't this the purpose of His Majesty?"

Ma Yuan said so.

"They fight on their own, it really makes people speechless and feasible."

Someone Guo nodded happily: "But if you just fight each other over this matter, it may not be a real fight, and it will not achieve the purpose of greatly reducing Wusun's strength. This is not enough.

Afterwards, if the winner came to Luoyang to raise this matter with me, should I agree or not?And will this prompt Wusun to achieve unification?Even superficially, it would be difficult for me. "

Someone Guo raised his own question for Ma Yuan to discuss.

Ma Yuan thought about it seriously.

"What Your Majesty said may not have a solution."

Ma Yuan pursed his lips: "It's just that there may be some problems with the method, it's not that kind."

"You said."

Guo Peng allowed Ma Yuan to continue.

"Your Majesty, what you want is not just the great loss of Wusun's strength, right? Although the strength of the northern countries is not as strong as that of Wusun, there are not a few of them with [-] to [-] troops at every turn, and only one Wusun will be weakened." ,I am afraid……"