Chapter 63 1. Zhang Qian: Dream of the Western Regions

Over the years, Zhang Qian never gave up his dream.This dream is to enter the Western Regions again. At that time, Zhang Qian returned from the Western Regions, theoretically, he outlined a feasible way to Liu Che: open up the Shu Road and copy the Western Regions.However, among the vast mountains and the deep Shu Road, which one is the main road leading to the Western Regions? If you want to know how far imagination is from reality, the only way is to explore the way. So, with the support of Liu Che, Zhang Qian formed four expeditions to explore westward in four directions.The four teams set off from today's Chengdu and Yibin respectively, and after traveling one or two thousand miles each, they were unable to move forward and had to withdraw.

At that time, although Zhang Qian failed to find the road to the Western Regions, he brought back an unexpected surprise for Emperor Liu Che.The surprise is that they discovered a country of elephants that had been forgotten by the Central Plains. The so-called Elephant Country, hence the name Dianyue, is today's Yunnan Province.When the envoys of the Han Dynasty went to see the king of Dianyue on festivals, the leader of the country whose eyes were obscured by the mountains asked a strange question: Compared with the Dian Kingdom and the Han Dynasty, whose territory is larger? Yelang is arrogant, it seems that it is not a scoop.The expedition team members of the Han Dynasty had no choice but to explain to each other with a lot of saliva.In the end, the king of Dianyue believed that there really existed a miracle in this world where there are mountains beyond the mountains and heaven beyond the sky.

The development of Southwest Yi by the Han Dynasty began in Tang Meng, but it was Zhang Qian who made a perfect summary for Liu Che.However, this is far from enough. No one knew what kind of dream was still burning in his heart.If Zhang Qian wants to realize that great dream, he can only wait. In 115 BC, Zhang Qian had the opportunity to make a comeback. We know that Zhang Qian was sent by Liu Che to follow Wei Qing to fight against Hungary because of his familiarity with geography.Zhang Qian gave full play to his professional advantages in geography, successfully guided Wei Qing, and was granted the title of Marquis of Bowang.Later, he cooperated with Li Guang to fight against the Hungarians, but failed to keep up with General Li, which made a big mistake.As a result, the Marquis lost and almost lost his life.

War, Zhang Qian came and left; he got it, but lost it all.The war also taught Zhang Qian that war requires adventure, and he is eager for adventure, but he is not suitable for war.His dream is in the desolate distance, in the distant sky. Zhang Qian seemed to hear the call from the distance again, and he seemed to see the distance again in his dream.To fall in war does not necessarily mean to rise in war.In this life, if he wants to stand up, he must do another great time travel. So Zhang Qian asked Liu Che that he wanted to go out again. Where to go, how to go, Zhang Qian already has a perfect plan in mind.Zhang Qian drew up a preliminary plan, roughly as follows:

First of all, Zhang Qian believes that in the past, the Xiongnu controlled the pass and the Western Regions were blocked, but now this problem does not exist.The Han Dynasty held the Huns in Mobei, and King Hunxie of the Huns surrendered, which happened to give the Han Dynasty a road to the Western Regions.As long as you give me a pair of shoes and a road, I can reach the Western Regions again smoothly.This is one of them. Second, where to go.Zhang Qian preliminarily established several goals, with the focus on Wusun Kingdom. King Wusun, whose name is Kunmo.At that time, the Wusun Kingdom was destroyed by the Dayue Clan, and all Wusun people fled to the Xiongnu.At that time, Kunmo was just born, and he was carried to the Huns to feed him.Years passed in a flash, and Kunmo became a brave warrior.Kunmo begged Shanyu the Xiongnu to avenge his father by killing the enemy.The Xiongnu Chanyu agreed.So, Kunmo led a group of brothers to attack the Da Yue clan westward and regained his own land.

Unexpectedly, when Kunmo returned to his motherland, he would not obey the orders of the Huns, nor would he be a vassal to the Huns.There was no way, the Huns had no choice but to send troops to teach him a lesson.Unexpectedly, the man was not caught, but he was taught a lesson by Kunmo and went back in despair.Later, the war between the Huns and the Han Dynasty became more and more tense, and the Huns had to give up King Wusun and leave it alone. Summarizing the above history, Zhang Qian believes that the Wusun Kingdom is far away from the Han Dynasty, and it would be very troublesome to use force to take him down.The best way is to extend an olive branch to them and lure them to come and surrender to the Han Dynasty.

Attachment is not impossible, as long as there are enough chips.Zhang Qian also believed that the barbarians were always greedy for their homeland, and greedy for property from the Han Dynasty, and bribed him with money to persuade him to move, he might be tempted. If King Wusun is willing to come, Zhang Qian has already thought of a good place for him - the old place of King Hunxie. The old land of King Hunxie is now called the Hexi Corridor. In fact, it was once the site where the Wusun Kingdom was founded.Since the surrender of King Hunxie, a large area of ​​land has been vacated in the Hexi Corridor.Anyway, idleness is idleness, why not return this large idle land to the Wusun Kingdom.Then ally with it.Then, this is tantamount to creating a strong enemy for the Huns, no less than cutting off the right arm of the Huns.If the Huns with missing arms and legs still wanted to harass the Han Dynasty, they had no choice but to ask them to come and carry them away.

On the optimistic side, if Wusun is dealt with, then the ethnic minority brothers in the Western Regions will be easy to bribe.With such concocting, the countries in the Western Regions are settled and made vassals, and the whole world belongs to the Han Dynasty. Sincerity, righteousness, self-cultivation, family harmony, state governance, and world peace.This was the dream of Confucius all his life.It is also the common dream of Confucianism in later generations.And Zhang Qian wants to tell the world that China's world is not only achieved by fighting, but also by walking out. Go out, this is the most powerful voice in the era of strong men.This voice resounded through the sky and infected the earth.At that moment, Liu Che's heart was moved.

It is better to act than to be moved.Liu Che, a giant sponsor, was once again persuaded by Zhang Qian.Immediately, Liu Che worshiped Zhang Qian as Zhonglang General and led a delegation to set off. This mission has 300 entourages and several deputy envoys.Manpower allocation is just a trivial matter, and what makes people drool even more is the gift of Liu Che sponsoring Zhang Qian to lead the Western Regions. In order to satisfy the curiosity of some people, I announced the properties sponsored by Liu Che: 600 horses, 300 for the entourage, two for each person; tens of thousands of cattle and sheep; gold, coins, silk and satin, worth tens of millions.

The road is tortuous, and the future may not be bright.However, there must be a brighter future on the road with alluring money.After a long journey, they finally came to the first stop of money research - Wusun country. The capital of Wusun State, Chigu City, is 8,900 miles away from Chang'an, the capital of the Han Dynasty.According to Mr. Ban Gu's statistics, the population of the country is about 630,000, and the army has 188,800 people. It is also said that the living customs of the Wusun Kingdom and the Huns are basically the same.They all follow the animals to chase water and grass. Wherever the cattle and sheep eat, they will go there.Wherever people go, they stay there.As the saying goes, the vast grasslands are home to the four fields.

It stands to reason that it is a joy to have friends coming from afar.However, this Wusun King Kunmo was not only unhappy, but rather proud.Once a person is proud, he becomes ignorant.If you are ignorant, you will be rude to Zhang Qian.The so-called rudeness refers to the fact that King Wusun met Zhang Qian in accordance with the Xiongnu Shanyu's model of receiving guests. However, Zhang Qian believed that the standards of Wusun Kingdom's hospitality for them were too low and did not meet the requirements of the Han Dynasty at all. You know, the so-called diplomatic ceremony must be proportional to the power of the country.Shanyu the Xiongnu was at best a big leader on the grassland; King Wusun was just the leader of a population of 630,000; Regardless of the Xiongnu or Wusun, compared with the Han Dynasty, it is not a heavyweight at all.Today, Zhang Qian came to see the king on behalf of the emperor.That being the case, the King of Wusun must receive foreign guests differently from country to country. Immediately, Zhang Qian expressed dissatisfaction with King Wusun.He said a sentence, the original words are as follows: The emperor bestows gifts, and if the king does not worship, he will return them. The translation of this sentence is, I am here to reward you on behalf of the emperor, if you do not meet me according to the ritual of the Han Dynasty, please return our reward to me. You see, this is the charm of money and national power.If you want to get money, you have to be obedient.Otherwise, you can never expect to get a dime.However, for the sake of money, King Wusun did not refuse and bowed to Zhang Qian as required. After worshiping, Zhang Qian and King Wusun immediately entered the second procedure, negotiation. Zhang Qian's condition for King Wusun was: the Han Dynasty returned the Hexi Corridor to King Wusun, as long as King Wusun moved his country eastward.The Han Dynasty is willing to give you Wusun King a princess and become a brother.Since then, the two countries have rejected the Xiongnu.When the Huns bully you, they bully me, and if they bully me, they bully you.As long as we form an alliance, if the Huns want to mess with you and me, there will be no way. To be honest, Zhang Qian's condition is really harsh.Cattle, sheep, gold, silk, and princesses are all precious, but it is really difficult to teach King Wusun to move his country's 630,000 people. Therefore, King Wusun immediately rejected Zhang Qian's proposal.The reasons are as follows: First, to say how powerful the Han Dynasty was, that is just your personal opinion, Zhang Qian.No one in Wusun Kingdom has ever been to the Han Dynasty, and they don’t know how big the Han Dynasty is. If you are deceived, wouldn’t it be a big loss? Second, the location of the move is indeed an ominous place.The old land of King Hunxie of the Huns, even though it is the ancestral land where we stayed.But that ghostly place is close to the Xiongnu Shanyu. If the Huns don’t like me, they will kill me with a wave of a saber. Now Shanyu the Huns, why don't they dare to make trouble with King Wusun? That's because the place where they live is far away from them, so they dare not act rashly.In the words of Jianghu, safety first.In contrast, it is still safe to stay on your own territory. In fact, the above two points are not a big problem.Now, the biggest problem facing King Wusun is that if he wants to move, he cannot decide alone. The reason why King Wusun can't decide alone is not for other reasons.Only because Wusun Kingdom has been divided into three parts, not all under his rule. The reason why Wusun Kingdom became like this was not his personal idea, it was completely forced by the situation. Originally, Kunmo had a dozen sons. According to the rules, the eldest son was established as the prince.The eldest son of Kunmo died early, and before he died, he said to his father: After I die, please make my son Cen Zou the crown prince. Kunmo is still alive, and the prince is dead. According to the rules, he must be selected from other children.However, Kunmo felt that the eldest son died early, and he was quite pitiful, so let his wish come true.Therefore, he really made his grandson Cen Zou the crown prince. Once Kunmo established a new crown prince, some people refused to admit it.The one who didn't admit it was Kunmo's neutron Dalu.Among all Kunmo's sons, Dalu is the best. Since there is a cow, there is the capital of a cow.Dalu himself is capable of fighting and fighting, and has tens of thousands of cavalry under his command. He is not afraid of the sky and the earth.So when he heard that Cen Zou had robbed him of the possible benefits, he immediately sent troops to rebel and attacked Cen Zou. For Kunmo, the palms and backs of his hands are full of flesh.There was no other way, for Cen Zou's personal safety, he had to distribute tens of thousands of cavalry to him, and kept tens of thousands for self-defense.In this way, the Wusun Kingdom is in harmony with its appearance, and under the watermelon knife, there are three forces. As a king, his words are not very effective. Based on the above three points, King Wusun made a final decision: the transaction failed. So what to do?Of course Zhang Qian can't mix it cold.The east is not bright, the west is bright.There is no Wusun Kingdom, but there are Dawan, Kangju, Yuezhi, Daxia and other countries.Therefore, Zhang Qian sent envoys to the above-mentioned countries and continued to spend money. Soon, Zhang Qian returned home.A year later, Zhang Qian passed away. There is no book about Zhang Qian's great achievements.Here, I don't want to waste too much saliva.If I want to give this great man a concluding remark, I can only paraphrase what Armstrong, the Apollo moon lander, once said: Zhang Qian, every small step in life towards the Western Regions is a giant leap for the Chinese nation. I broke through my mother's womb with my steps, and came to this world crying; I stepped through iron shoes with my steps, and measured the world; with my steps, I climbed into the gorgeous starry sky that belongs to me. Boom when I come, boom when I go.Enough!