Chapter 224 Neighboring forces, the Silk Road is blocked
Ezhe took his sister's letter and met his father Khan.
"Father, Naren gave birth to a son. This is really good news.
King Qin invites us to attend Su Meng’s full moon banquet, shall we go?”
Lindan Batur carefully reads the letter from his daughter.
"I'm too old and can't stand the trouble.
We annexed most of the lands of the Ordos tribe and the Urad tribe.
There are many things that cannot be done without me, and I must guard the Chahar tribe.
On my behalf, I went to Hanzhong to attend Meng'er's full moon banquet.
Our tribe now relies too heavily on the Han people.
Without what the Han brought, the entire tribe would fall apart.
We must show our attitude and firmly support King Qin."
Lindan Batur has lost his previous ambition.
He had seen the power of the Qin Army, especially its machine guns and rifles.
As long as they can't produce it themselves, this extremely powerful weapon.
Resisting the King of Qin now will only bring destruction to the Chahar tribe.
Lindan Batur took out a map and handed it to Ezhe: "This is where other tribes come to do business with us.
I met with these businessmen, asked about the surrounding forces, and drew a distribution map of the forces.
Erut and Eastern Chagatai also sent envoys to communicate. I recorded some important news on several pieces of parchment.
You need to memorize the content above. I think King Qin really wants to know the situation of the surrounding forces.
The people sent by the Tangnu Ulianghai tribe have not left yet. Go and ask them in person to learn about the situation of the tribes in the west.
The King of Qin will definitely ask you something in person, and if you can't tell him, it won't be good."
Ezhe followed his father Khan's instructions and found a large number of envoys and merchants to learn about the situation of the surrounding forces from their mouths.
When he was ready, he set off from the Chahar tribe.
They came to Baotou and took a carriage. The carriage walked on the cement road and arrived at Hanzhong City smoothly.
Not long after Ezhe moved into the inn, he met an official from the second rank to receive him.
E Zhe saw a short middle-aged man who was not even as tall as his shoulders and led someone into his room.
Using the Han etiquette he had learned, he raised his hands to the official and said, "I am Ren Fei's brother Ezhe. I have met you, sir."
Ezhe is very humble. He knows the current situation of the Chahar tribe.
If it weren't for his sister, the Chahar tribe would probably have disappeared, just like many extinct tribes on the grassland.
"Mr. Ezhe, you're welcome. You are Concubine Ren's brother. Just call me Lao Song."
Song Kangnian, the Minister of Rites, said with a smile.
He explained Ezhe's itinerary for the past few days and left the inn.
Song Kangnian took advantage of the King of Qin's opportunity to adjust the yamen related to the Qin Palace, and he was promoted from the Minister of Taichang Temple to the Minister of Rites.
The second-in-command in the Ministry of Rites, responsible for religious and diplomatic matters.
This time he obeyed King Qin's order and was responsible for receiving Ezhe and others.
Cabinet Minister Li Zhisheng, after entering the cabinet, he has always wanted to fulfill his previously unfulfilled wishes.
The Ministry of Industry and Accounts Department and other government offices were re-annexed to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Taxation Bureau and other government offices.
After Li Zhisheng's efforts, King Su He of Qin agreed to adjust the functions of the cabinet and the six ministries.
The sea ban was officially lifted, and external exchanges increased. The imperial examinations were stabilized, and new universities were built. It was also necessary to readjust the management departments.
The Ministry of Education was renamed the Ministry of Rites, responsible for managing primary schools, universities, imperial examinations, diplomacy, religion and other matters.
The Ministry of Health only changed its name and became the Ministry of Medicine, and other functions remained unchanged.
The functions of the other four departments in the Sixth Department have also been adjusted accordingly.
Institutions such as the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Patent Office, and the Grain Reserves Bureau were not integrated into the Sixth Ministry, but were directly managed by the cabinet.
The only non-military departments under the direct jurisdiction of the King of Qin were the Dali Temple, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Shaofu, the State Administration of Taxation, and banks.
Song Kangnian admired Qin King Su He very much. He always had military power firmly in his hand. This was the Dinghai Shenzhen.
Regarding the government, King Su He of Qin never relaxed criminal laws and financial rights except for the personnel power that he always held in hand.
Song Kangnian had a long history of learning from ancient times to the present. He knew that if a minister did not have financial power and could not control the Dali Temple and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, there would never be a powerful minister.
Even if he is a cabinet minister and a minister of the Six Ministries, a censor from the Metropolitan Procuratorate can overthrow him.
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Song Kangnian accompanied E Zhe to attend the full moon banquet held by King Su He of Qin for his third son Su Meng.
In order to wait for Ezhe's arrival, Su Meng's full moon time had already passed, but no one cared.
Su He looked at Su Meng who was either sleeping or crying.
This child will be the bridge connecting the Han and Mongolian ethnic groups.
Mongolians are spread all over the country and the population is too large.
To assimilate them, we must also pay attention to methods and try to use the method with the least resistance among them. Only in this way can we assimilate most people at a low cost.
During the Full Moon Banquet, the protagonist cried out because of hunger within a few minutes of his appearance, and was taken away by his mother.
After the banquet, it has become a place for people participating in the banquet to get to know each other and communicate.
Song Kangnian brought Ezhe to pay homage to the King of Qin.
When E Zhe saw Su He, he wanted to kneel down and salute.
When Su He saw E Zhe's actions, he quickly stopped him and said:
"Ezhe, you don't have to kneel down, we don't do it here.
You are Naren's brother, then you will be my brother from now on, don't be too reserved here."
When E Zhe heard what Su He said, he bowed ninety degrees to Su He according to the Han etiquette he had learned.
They briefly communicated for a while, and Su He learned the information brought by E Zhe.
"Ezhe, Naren hasn't seen you for a long time, go and stay with her.
Someone will take you to Lingyun Palace in a moment."
Ezhe was taken to Naren's palace by the female guard group.
Su He told Song Kangnian: "If Guangdong ports are closed to sea, a large number of Xiyi people will arrive.
You go to Guangzhou Port as soon as possible and establish diplomatic ties with the Xiyi people on our behalf."
Song Kangnian quickly bowed and said: "Your Majesty, what is the standard of communication among us Xiyi people?"
Su He called Song Kangnian aside and specifically told him what he should do.
What things can be done and what things cannot be agreed to.
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E Zhe came to Lingyun Palace under the leadership of the female guard group.
He chatted with his sister for two hours and found that her sister was living a happy life here, which made him completely relieved.
The Prince of Qin's palace was not what he thought. There were occasional frictions in his sister's life, but the palace battles were not intense.
He walked into Lingyun Hall and saw that in addition to King Su He of Qin, there were many high officials here.
Su He saw that Ezhe was a little nervous, and he asked directly: "Ezhe, you said that you brought the power map around us.
We don’t know much about the surrounding forces, please introduce them to us.”
Because the lack of information was so serious, he didn't know much about the surrounding forces.
They are relatively familiar with Monan Mongolia and don't even know much about the Mongolian tribes in Qinghai.
When E Zhe heard that Su He asked him to do this, he felt relieved and took out the map to explain to King Qin and others.
A large map three meters long and two meters wide was hung on the wall.
Everyone looked at the power map. The picture was not very accurate, but they could have a general understanding of the surrounding power.
Ezhe pointed at the map and introduced it to everyone:
"There are currently seven non-Han forces surrounding King Qin.
I don’t need to introduce Houjin, everyone knows it.
The Monan Mongolian region was originally controlled by the Ordos tribe, and then the Horqin tribe rose to prominence with the support of Hou Jin.
Now our Chahar tribe and Horqin tribe are beginning to compete for control of the Monan Mongolian region.
Horqin should belong to the forces of Hou Jin, and they have completely surrendered to Hou Jin.
The northern part of Monan Mongolia all the way to the vicinity of the North Sea (Lake Baikal) belongs to Transkarkha.
They are composed of Zakarkha tribes and Buryat tribes near the North Sea.
The Qinghai area is Heshuote, which is a fusion of Tumut, Ordos and other Mongolian tribes.
Heshuote now occupies a large area in the northern part of the original Uzang.
To the south of Heshuote are the tribes of Wusi Zang.
Wu Si Zang's current power is not strong and he has no ambition to expand his power outwards.
The people who hold real power are living Buddhas and lamas, and tribal leaders have little power.
A large area to the west of Jiayuguan, west of Heshuote, and north of Wusizang, Gansu.
Belonging to Eastern Chagatai, the Great Khan of Turpan defeated the Yarkand tribe and became the Great Khan of Eastern Chagatai.
To the north of Gansu, to the north of Chagatai in the east, and to the west of Transkarkha is Erut, the largest Mongolian power.
They are composed of the Junggar tribe near Ili, the Wulianghai tribe in the north, the Brut tribe near Kazakhstan, and many other tribes.
The Erut tribe was very ambitious before and continued to expand its power.
However, it has been under great threat recently and its power has been shrinking.
Among them, one of the three tribes of Ulianghai, Tangnu Ulianghai tribe, has already contacted us.
There they encountered an invasion of cavalry claiming to be Cossacks. These nomadic tribes carried matchlocks and fought extremely bravely.
According to what I heard from businessmen in these tribes, behind the Cossacks, there was a huge force called Tsarist Russia.
Erut Khan mobilized the cavalry of many tribes to support the Ulianghai tribe.
Foreign enemies invaded, leaving them without the ability to expand their power."
Su He and the senior civil and military officials listened to E Zhe's story.
They clearly understand the forces around them and are no longer confused.
Su He looked at this map and found some impressive forces.
For example, he had an impression of the names of Wusi Zang and Junggar.
He also remembered the name Tangnu Wulianghai very clearly.
In the next few hundred years, these tribes in Outer Mongolia would be continuously annexed by Tsarist Russia.
The remote and remote areas support the power of a puppet state, and the best places are annexed by themselves.
Suhe is now constantly attracting Mongolian cavalry, and one of its important goals is also for these ancient lands.
The Qin army is now strong, and sooner or later these lands will be controlled.
Su He saw that E Zhe had finished speaking and was drinking tea next to him.
After he finished drinking his tea, Su He asked him: "The forces around us can be clearly seen through this map.
Ezhe, do you know the situation of the forces further west?"
Su He hoped to get some information to corroborate his memory.
Ezhe shook his head and said: "King Qin, I know that all this information was obtained through doing business with the Mongolian tribes.
We resell large amounts of tea and medicinal materials to the Mongolian tribes.
Some Mongolian businessmen also came to our Chahar tribe to purchase supplies.
As economic exchanges increase, only through these merchants can we learn news about nearby forces.
As the strength of the Chahar tribe increased, some other forces sent envoys to us.
There are no merchants coming to our tribe to do business in the west, and I don’t know the situation in the west.”
When Li Zhisheng heard E Zhe talking about businessmen, he hurriedly asked: "E Zhe, there are no businessmen coming from the west. Can we take the initiative to do business further west?"
He heard King Qin Shuhe explain to him the role of the Silk Road.
Li Zhisheng has always been obsessed with the Silk Road.
The King of Qin said that if you want to open up the Silk Road on land, you must have a strong army and conquer all the forces along the way. Only then can you have hope of opening up the Silk Road.
E Zhe looked at Li Zhisheng and asked, "You want to ask if you can open up the Silk Road?"
When he saw the surprised look on Li Zhisheng's face, he knew that his sister had guessed correctly.
He didn't know what these civil servants were thinking about all day long.
His sister had just told him that someone would ask this question, so he had to do his homework in advance.
E Zhe said calmly: "Unless the Qin army has the strength to defeat all the forces in the west.
Otherwise, these chaotic tribes would definitely rob the merchants along the way.
For example, our Chahar tribe welcomes merchants and will not rob merchants.
But the Urad tribe has been defeated by us and fled in embarrassment.
If they see a group of traveling traders along the way, they will definitely take action to swallow up this caravan.
A young wolf on the grassland may be domesticated if you feed it regularly every day.
The lone wolf that was expelled from the group on the grassland jumped on it and killed it when it saw humans. There is no possibility of domestication.
This is because a young wolf has a long life and he has to think about the future.
The old wolf may die at any time and just wants to have a full meal.
We are stable forces, just like the cubs. The tribe has a future and will not sacrifice the credibility of the tribe.
In the western part of the Erut tribe, there is no large force to lead the tribe, and there are alliances of small tribes everywhere.
This kind of small tribe that can be wiped out at any time has no credibility at all. They are always thinking of taking any profits and strengthening their own tribe.
A caravan that is not protected by a large army will definitely be eaten by these tribes."
After E Zhe finished speaking, Li Zhisheng, Wang Zhongce and others were silent.
They also understood what Ezhe said. The road to the west was full of wars.
No matter how capable the caravan is, it will not be able to pass through a place that has been war-torn for a long time.
Ezhe continued: "Based on the information I got from the east Chagatai envoy, you can get through these small tribes in the west.
Even that could not open up the Silk Road. Farther west, there was an empire almost as huge as the Ming Dynasty.
He directly blocked the Silk Road, which required an expedition of hundreds of thousands of troops to open the Silk Road."
When Su He listened to E Zhe's introduction, he immediately remembered the identity of this empire.
Even if there were not these small tribes in western Asia who are constantly fighting wars, the Silk Road would not be able to open up.
Now is the peak period of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, a great empire spanning the two continents of Asia and Europe.
This large empire encompassed most of Arabia and part of Eastern Europe.
It has been suppressing Europe and is very powerful.
The Silk Road was blocked by the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and Europe only wanted to trade through the ocean.
They wanted to go to India and trade in China, but they found America, the chosen land. This ushered in the Age of Discovery.
The current Ottoman Turkish Empire is not the husky among dogs of later generations.
In the Crimea region, there has been a war with Tsarist Russia for hundreds of years.
In Europe, the land of Eastern Europe is constantly being plundered.
With this huge empire cutting off the Silk Road, there is no hope of opening up the overland Silk Road for the time being.
Suhe can now only devote all its efforts to developing maritime trade and operating the Maritime Silk Road.
Ezhe also introduced the development of the Chahar tribe to the civil and military ministers of the Qin Palace after the Chahar tribe became attached to the Qin King.