This round of successful return to the Western Regions made Liu Bei completely sure that under his painstaking efforts, the strength of the Third Empire of the Han Dynasty had far exceeded the scope of its current territory and was enough to exert a strong influence on more distant areas.
The strength of the Third Reich has overflowed on a large scale, and it cannot only be satisfied with the existing territory. If it is only satisfied with the existing territory, then the existence of a powerful army will be meaningless.
The value of the 300,000 elite Han troops is not just to control the current territory. According to the calculations and planning of the Privy Council, if it is just to defend the current territory, an army of 150,000 to 180,000 is enough.
But the number of Han troops now exceeds 300,000.
What should we do with the extra hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers and generals?
Are you free to farm in your hometown?
That's such a waste.
Because of this, Liu Bei was even more certain that the future of the Third Empire of the Han Dynasty would not be limited to the land of China, but should move forward to more distant places and sail to the sea of stars.
In the subsequent management of the Western Regions, considering various circumstances and the governance of four newly established counties, Liu Bei not only allocated a large number of skilled officials to serve in the four counties of the Western Regions, but also conducted garrisons in the Western Regions Military Region.
A new wave of allocations.
Considering the need for strategic defense, Liu Bei decided to place the headquarters of the Western Regions Protectorate in Dawan County. Zhang Fei, the Western Regions Protectorate, led two armies to garrison Dawan County to strengthen the management of Dawan County and be careful.
Guard against the external Kangju Kingdom and Kushan Empire.
On the other side, in the Kingdom of Qiuci, a second station of the Western Regions Protectorate was established in the former station of the Western Regions Protectorate. Zhao Yun, the chief historian of the Western Regions, was stationed here to provide support to Zhang Fei.
There are currently six armies in the Western Region Military Region. Except for two armies, which are arranged in Dawan County, the rest are stationed in Sha County and Shule County. Kucha County and Yuli County share one army garrison, leaving one army.
The army stayed in Dunhuang County.
After this arrangement, Liu Bei decided to implement the construction plan of the coalition forces of various countries in the Western Regions out of consideration of longer-term goals.
He made demands on all countries, requiring each country to devote part of its military to the construction of the Western Region Protectorate, and to set up a Western Region Allied Forces garrison base in Qiuci State, with Zhao Yun responsible for managing it and training the Western Region Allied Forces.
Due to various considerations, Liu Bei believed that only 60,000 troops were sufficient to guard the Western Region. However, if he fought with the Kushan Empire, Parthian Empire and Kangju State in the future and wanted to dominate Central Asia, it would obviously not be enough.
use.
The countries in the Western Regions have already surrendered, and some countries also have good military strength, such as Wusun, so leaving all the population and military potential to themselves is not good for the Han Empire's rule in the Western Regions.
The Han Empire not only needed a nominal claim to the Western Regions, but also actually strengthened its further control over the Western Regions. However, it was not enough to exert a certain political and economic influence, and its influence on the military also needed to be strengthened.
Liu Bei thought that in the future, he would build the Western Region into the hinterland, so he must start preparations in advance. The governance of the new four counties was considered administrative preparations, and military preparations must also be carried out.
Therefore, he proposed the plan of the Western Region Allied Forces, requiring all countries to send part of their troops to Qiuci State according to the proportion of population and soldiers, and receive training and preparation from Zhao Yun to enhance their combat effectiveness in preparation for the future war with Kangju and Kushan.
of war.
Liu Bei also had good reasons for this.
First of all, he is the emperor of everyone's suzerainty, and there is no problem in fully exercising his suzerainty. Everyone is nominally his ministers, and he thinks it is okay to mobilize the armies of his ministers to serve him.
Secondly, he believed that in this Dawan War, the performance of the armies of various countries in the Western Regions was not very good.
For example, the army of Kucha Kingdom.
During the siege, the Qiuci army performed very well, and they also performed very well in the street battles that followed. Although they took the lead in attacking, they were pushed back by the Dawan palace guards. They suffered serious losses and were not fully equipped.
Give full play to combat advantages.
The will and action ability shown by the armies of various countries in marching and combat operations all lagged behind the Han army in all aspects. This is a bad situation. If there are coordinated operations in the future, it will inevitably hinder the Han army.
The Han Empire did not want such abundant military resources to be wasted.
Therefore, Liu Bei decided to provide "military training" to the armies of various countries in the Western Regions to enhance their combat strength.
Give them a good boost to prevent them from holding back the Han army in future battles.
And this is a mandatory requirement. No joke. Every country must send enough troops to participate in military training.
For example, although the Wusun Kingdom has lost a lot of population as a whole, it can still provide 50,000 to 60,000 combat personnel, so at least 20,000 troops must be sent to the Kucha Kingdom to participate in military training.
The same is true for the Qiuci Kingdom itself. Based on its population size, it was also required to dispatch at least 15,000 troops to receive special training from Zhao Yun.
The remaining small countries in the Western Regions were required to dispatch 500, 1,000, or 2,000 soldiers to participate in special training based on their actual conditions and receive training in the Han army's advanced military system.
To be honest, regarding this "military training", the attitudes of various countries in the Western Region are relatively complicated.
First of all, they really admire the powerful combat effectiveness of the Han army. In joint operations, the leaders of various countries in the Western Regions can see that the Han army's combat capabilities and combat will absolutely surpass theirs, as well as its extremely powerful logistics support system.
.
But after all, there is no precedent for this kind of thing, and they don't know if Liu Bei has some other intentions behind doing this. If his country's army is handed over to the suzerain for training, there really won't be any meat buns that will never come back.
happens?
But in the end, the countries in the Western Regions accepted the request of the Han Empire and the suzerain country, sent many troops to the Kucha Kingdom to participate in training, and each provided a part of the rations and training funds as required.
After the Han Dynasty returned to the Western Regions, it was the first time that it made such a request to the countries in the Western Regions. If they did not comply, they would most likely be defined as rebels. By then, it would be difficult for their countries to escape being turned into "counties" by the Han army.
.
This is the fate of the seven destroyed countries and their leaders.
Under strong deterrence, the military training of the Western Region Allied Forces began in the winter of the fourth year of Zhenguan, and the estimated time was two years. In order to better train them, Liu Bei directly arranged for the military training to send Gao Shun to dispatch experienced training personnel from the training office.
Kucha State helped Zhao Yun conduct military training.
Of course, this military training is definitely not just about increasing the combat capabilities of the armies of various countries in the Western Region, and Liu Bei will not do such a simple "good thing".
He wanted to use the guise of special military training to exert political and cultural ideological influence, and train and educate the soldiers sent by these countries according to the Han military system, so that they would unknowingly gravitate towards the Han Empire, respect the Han Empire, and become accustomed to it.
Yu accepted the military command of the Han Empire system and completed the reform of the Han Empire's military system from top to bottom.
Before training, they were the primitive armies of various countries in the Western Regions.
After training, they will be a Han-style army full of concepts of the Han Empire's military system.
It should be noted that the Han military training system includes a large number of training in non-military subjects, including Chinese character reading and writing, book reading, obedience to Chinese military regulations and disciplines, and the teaching of the traditional concept of a universal family.
Liu Bei attached great importance to the ideological and cultural work of the army. In addition to technical and tactical training, the daily life of Han soldiers was full of ideological and cultural content.
Traditional excellent concepts such as loyalty, filial piety, justice, and justice were not eliminated because of the collapse of the ideological environment dominated by Confucianism. The concept of family and country as a cosmopolitan family was also reinterpreted by Liu Bei and added to the ideological education of the army.
This new set of ideological education has achieved great success in the army, so it was even used by Liu Bei in the teaching system of government-run schools to replace the ideological vacuum after the collapse of Confucian hegemony.
Among them, the promotion of Liu Bei's military and political achievements is also a top priority.
Liu Bei can fully believe that after two years of military training, these primitive armies will become advanced armies that are incompatible with the actual conditions of their country. Their too advanced behavior will be difficult to adapt to the low-level environment of their country, and they will involuntarily miss and yearn for the Han Dynasty.
Imperial life.
Moreover, he aspires to become a true army of the Han Empire and a citizen of the Han Empire.
The highest level of military training is to use food and soldiers from other countries to train your own army.
Liu Bei was still very satisfied with this point.
Starting from the end of the fourth year of Zhenguan, this special military training began.
At the same time, the kings of the Western Regions and their entourage also arrived in Luoyang one after another, accepted Liu Bei's summons and canonization, and each of them officially received the "King Certificate" given to them by the Emperor of the Han Empire.
From then on, the inheritance of their power required the canonization of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. Only the canonization of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty could make them legitimate local rulers and maintain their rule. Without the canonization of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, their rule would become unjust.
The words are not smooth.
This is the most critical point in the relationship between the suzerain state and the vassal state.
status.
It can be said that no ruler in ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, is completely indifferent to this. No matter how strong your personal strength is, you must always clarify the legal principles of your rule while ruling, and obtain widespread recognition. If you cannot
Based on this legal principle of rule, your rule is rootless duckweed.
When the army is strong, you can use the army to enforce a stable rule, but your army cannot be strong forever, and your descendants cannot be strong forever. If you are not careful, you will die and your family will be destroyed.
This time the Luoyang Assembly was to allow these countries in the Western Regions to surrender their legal rights to rule, and to transfer all these legal rights to the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, who would inherit everything, own everything, and allow and oppose everything.
At the same time, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty will also assume a series of responsibilities. If the monarchs of these countries act rebelliously and do wrong things, making the people dissatisfied, then a considerable part of this dissatisfaction will be invested in the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, damaging the honor of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty.
.
In essence, if the suzerain-vassal relationship is clear and stable enough, like the one between Daimyeong and Joseon, then it is a suzerain-vassal relationship in terms of ruling power. The weak will find a backer for themselves. If they are submissive enough, then if someone with power appears,
Challengers can find the sect leader to help solve problems.
Therefore, relatively weak and small countries do not have too many entanglements in this kind of matter, and it is not difficult at all to achieve suzerain-vassal relations.
The same is true for the small countries in the Western Regions.
They rushed to pay tribute to Liu Bei, obtained the title of sect-vassal relationship, and obeyed the Emperor of Han as the only emperor, and they were all ministers of the Emperor of Han.
They can only be "kings", and only the Emperor of Han can be the only "emperor".
Liu Bei's requirements for them were not just these.
Liu Bei also asked them to fully adopt the reign name of the Han Empire, that is, use the Zhenguan reign name as the year name of their own country. From then on, regardless of the private sector, the Zhenguan reign name must be used officially to mark the year.
At the end of the fourth year of Zhenguan, these sectarian-vassal relations were fully concluded. The Third Han Empire officially inherited some of the relations with the Western Regions that had existed since the Western Han and Eastern Han Dynasties, and carried forward the past, promoting the further development of this relationship to a greater extent.
Then at the New Year's meeting in the fifth year of Zhenguan, Liu Bei officially announced the news to the outside world, and held a grand ceremony in the main hall of the palace to welcome the kings of these vassal states in public and in the presence of officials from the entire Luoyang court.
Under the watchful eye, they entered the palace one after another and paid tribute to Liu Bei.
Basically, the pursuits of many emperors of the Central Plains Empire ended here.
Not only the emperor, but also some officials are proud of their reputation and reputation. They feel that their country has a high status and great reputation, that's all. There are actually many places where these small countries can really use it.
not much.
But this time, the Third Reich's needs for these small countries were not that simple.
On the first day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Zhenguan, Liu Bei held a banquet in the main hall of the palace to entertain the kings of various small countries. He entertained them with the most popular dishes and drinks in the palace. They were stunned for a while, and they all said that they had never eaten before.
Such beautifully seasoned food has everyone raving about it.
After the banquet, several kings expressed to Liu Bei that they wanted to know how such delicious food was made. They were very interested in it and wanted to eat such delicious food after leaving Luoyang - in this way.
Missing their supreme King of Kings, His Majesty Liu Bei.
It's not because I'm greedy, I'm definitely not attracted by the delicious taste, I just want to see things and think about people.
To be fair, this is not a big deal, but Liu Bei has already planned to fully promote the "luxury" Han palace lifestyle among them, so he introduced his entire life team to these kings and looked at their eager eyes.
, Liu Bei was very satisfied.
For the kings of these small countries, they are definitely not short of money. Regardless of the size of the country, rich or poor, they are the type of people who will not be short of money. They usually do not have too many pursuits, except for power, that is,
In pursuit of a more extreme life, they are always the first to try any good or new things.
This time, it's the same.
Liu Bei then arranged for Zhang Rang to take these kings to visit the daily life of the Han court.