Li Shimin's expression became much more relaxed. This time may not be long or short, but he is confident that within ten years he will defeat the powerful enemies around him and open the way to the Western Regions.
He didn't completely believe Chen Jingke's words, but there was no need to raise these questions in person. He could just have someone investigate them afterwards.
There are many Hu merchants from the Western Regions in Chang'an City, and it is easy to find out about the affairs of the Sasanians and Arabs.
He was more concerned about Chen Jingke's origins than these. He didn't ask directly out of tacit understanding before, but now that he has dropped the topic, he no longer has those worries.
"Who are you? What is your purpose?"
Chen Jingke had also been mentally prepared for a long time. Hearing this, he said: "Before I say this, let me tell your Majesty about the outside world. You will understand after listening to it."
Li Shimin said: "Okay, you say."
Chen Jingke said: "The more you know about the outside world, the more you understand a truth."
"How much respect you can gain from outsiders does not depend on how strong your own abilities are, but on how strong your civilization and country are."
"If the Tang Dynasty randomly sends an envoy to a vassal country, their kings will pay respects to him. And when their ministers arrive in the Tang Dynasty, they may be made things difficult for them by the petty officials of Honglu Temple."
"Why? Because the Tang Dynasty is powerful enough, even one of our petty officials can embarrass their prime minister."
Li Shimin nodded with deep understanding, feeling very proud in his heart.
I, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
Chen Jingke continued: "This principle is equally applicable to the outside world. We only need to tell them that we are from the Han Dynasty and are Han people, and they will always be looked down upon."
Li Shimin couldn't help but said: "One day the Tang Dynasty will be able to do the same, and everyone who goes to the outside world will be respected because of their identity as Tang people."
Chen Jingke said with certainty: "I have no doubt about this, and this is why I came back."
"This world is a dark forest, and every civilization that exists in the world is a hunter with a sword."
"They not only have to fight ferocious beasts, but they also have to be careful of attacks from other hunters... The winner takes all, the loser loses some, and even the traces of their existence will be erased."
"There have been five hunters born in this world so far, China, Tianzhu, Babylon, Greece and Egypt."
"Babylon was destroyed two thousand years ago, and almost all traces of their language, history, culture, etc. were wiped out."
"Greece was also destroyed. Rome selectively inherited their culture, but would not inherit their history, let alone praise and commemorate their heroes."
"Egypt was first conquered by the Romans, who forced them to Romanize and speak the Roman language. A large number of literary works and historical documents were destroyed."
"Later, the Romans established Christianity as the state religion and forced them to convert to Christianity, further destroying Egyptian civilization."
"The part that finally survived is also being attacked by the Arabs, and the country will be completely lost in two or three years at most."
"The Arabs have carried out a civilization genocide plan on that land, destroying all written and historical records, and forcing the local people to believe in Islam. It won't be long before the Egyptian civilization will completely disappear."
"The ancient Tianzhu civilization was destroyed once as early as 800 years ago. The new dynasty rebuilt the civilization on the ruins, but there was a gap with the previous one."
"And now that they have developed, they are on the verge of collapse again, and it will not take many years for a second demise to occur."
"No matter how powerful they were, what a splendid civilization they created, how wise their monarchs were, and how many heroes they produced, it's all useless."
"All history has been destroyed, and the glorious past has almost disappeared. We can only rely on poems and stories passed down orally to find some clues."
Li Shimin was shocked and in a daze, and subconsciously began to think:
If Chinese civilization is destroyed and our history is destroyed, then who will remember us? What is the meaning of everything I do now?
"Out of the five major civilizations in the past, only China is still prosperous, and will usher in new glory and reach new heights."
"But..." Chen Jingke changed the topic and said, "Who can guarantee that we can prosper forever?"
"In other words, without knowing the outside world and civilized wars, can our Chinese civilization always maintain its enterprising spirit?"
"Everyone thinks of himself as the celestial dynasty, he is complacent, he sits on a well and looks at the sky. This kind of ideological atmosphere is very strong."
It is difficult for Li Shimin to refute this sentence, because he himself also has such thoughts, and he has always been skeptical of Chen Jingke's above words:
"You came back just to tell me about the outside world? If so, there's no need to go through so much trouble. You can tell me when we first meet."
Chen Jingke brought out the answer he had prepared long ago and said: "I have two purposes for coming back. One is to return my leaves to my roots. I am the few remaining leaves of the Chen family. I hope to fall under the roots of my homeland."
"The second is to tell the monarch of the Central Plains about the outside world and remind him to be more vigilant and not to follow in the footsteps of the other four civilizations."
"The reason why I didn't tell His Majesty directly is because I need to know what kind of person you are and whether you are worthy of my loyalty."
"After such a long period of observation, I am finally convinced that you are my heroic master of China and someone worthy of my allegiance, so I will tell you this without reservation."
Hearing this, Li Shimin was very proud, but he still said unsatisfied: "You are not sincere enough if you want to return to your hometown."
Chen Jingke sighed: "It's not that our sincerity is not enough, but that apart from this knowledge, we actually have nothing left."
"Exploring the unknown world, digging out the hidden historical truth, and dealing with all kinds of people are all done with life, and the money spent is incalculable."
"Our lineage has paid a huge price for this, and countless lives have been lost. Your Majesty, how many people do you think our lineage will have left after all this has been accomplished?"
Li Shimin was stunned for a moment. He really hadn't thought about this, but he knew the dangers involved just by thinking about it.
Chen Jingke continued: "There are now less than five members of our clan left, and we are unable to carry out exploration work. After discussion, we decided to divide the remaining wealth and live in seclusion."
"I was young and suffered from a serious illness. I was taken care of by everyone and returned to my homeland in the Central Plains. At the same time, I also brought the outside world back to tell the monarchs of the Central Plains. Others dispersed to various places and remained anonymous."
"In order to prevent anyone from discovering the secret and taking advantage of us, we cut off all contact with each other and have no contact with each other since."
"This is where I come from. I will accept whatever your Majesty wants to do with me."
"If you want to know where they went, I can only say that I don't know. Even if you don't believe me, you should believe that no one would put their life in the hands of others."
