After the long night of farce ended, I regained the smile on my face: "Envoys, I just said that Da Qin has always been kind and friendly to its friends. Envoys, please don't worry too much. Please continue."
After hearing this, everyone continued to present their credentials and gifts, but no clown like Wusun appeared again.
After everyone had finished their contributions, I said: "I am very grateful for the goodwill your country has shown to Da Qin. Da Qin hopes to become friends with you, trade with each other, and forever be friends."
As for them coming to Da Qin in such a hurry, I already had a guess in my mind that it must be because of the Xiongnu. However, if I bring it up first, it will make them think that the Qin Dynasty is also afraid of the Huns, which is not conducive to my taking the initiative.
Sure enough, after I finished speaking, Kaqu, the envoy from Kucha, stood up and said respectfully: "Emperor Qin, I heard that Da Qin fought a great battle with the Huns last spring. Although they won, they failed to completely eliminate the Huns, and even made Beihu powerful. . Now our Tianshan countries are also suffering from it. Not only are Hujie and the Xiongnu eyeing us, but the Wusun you just scolded is also coveting the Tianshan countries."
Kaqu saw that my still majestic expression had not wavered at all, and felt a little disappointed, so he continued: "So, King Qiuci hopes that the Emperor of Qin can cooperate with the countries in the Western Regions, and become friends and help each other as the Emperor of Qin said. , jointly resist the threat of the Xiongnu. I wonder what the Emperor of Qin thinks?"
I smiled slightly: "Messenger Qiuci, the Xiongnu have been driven to Beihai by Da Qin. Although Beihu occupied the Xiongnu's grassland, because Beihu froze to death countless cattle and sheep last winter, Da Qin helped them, so before you come, Beihu has officially exchanged trade with Daqin. Now that the two countries are in peace and have established diplomatic relations, Daqin no longer faces the threat of the Xiongnu. So I am not very interested in this matter."
Kaqu did not expect that the relationship between Beihu and Daqin had developed into diplomatic relations, and they were already doing business with each other. He was caught off guard and did not know how to persuade them.
For me, I certainly don't care about the threat of the Huns. As long as the nomads are not completely wiped out, they will develop again sooner or later, but they will appear under different names.
For example, in history, after Donghu was annexed by the Xiongnu, it was divided into Wuhuan and Xianbei. Xianbei evolved into Tyuhun and Rouran. The last remaining tribe of Rouran became the Khitan... It was the same group of people over and over again.
But I cannot easily agree to the request of the Western Regions, because I already have a way to incorporate the Western Regions into the territory of Daqin without any bloodshed: driving away tigers and devouring wolves.
Seeing that I rejected Kaqu's request, Que Dun, the envoy of Yanqi, immediately continued: "Emperor Qin, since we have become a state, how can you watch the state being annexed? Now we can get many benefits from mutual trade. Once the Tianshan Mountains If the countries were annexed by the Wusun or the Xiongnu, who would the Emperor of Qin trade with? Isn't this also a great loss for the Emperor of Qin?"
A series of questions did not shake me. I will not be kidnapped by morality easily. It has nothing to do with you. I even want to beat gongs and drums because I am a fisherman...
However, I still had to do my best, so I pretended to be embarrassed and sighed: "It's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that Da Qin is thousands of miles away from the Western Regions. Although Dunhuang County has been established east of Youze, But it is only used as a post station on the trade route. If the Qin Dynasty sends troops to help you, I am afraid that the soldiers of the Qin Dynasty will be exhausted and unable to fight before they reach the Western Regions."
Now the entire Hexi Corridor, including Dada's Qiang soldiers, has at least 30,000 cavalry and nearly 50,000 infantry, which is not a small number of troops. But again, I naturally can't do loss-making trading.
At this time, the more than twenty envoys were stunned. They didn't expect that my refusal would be so reasonable. Indeed, if troops were sent from Da Qin, the consumption of food and grass along the way would be an astronomical figure. If it were them, they would not choose to send troops.
The Six Kingdoms of Shanbei and the Six Kingdoms of Cheshi are the most anxious.
Strictly speaking, the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions are just city-states. They are called countries because the emperor of the Han Dynasty was named Bang. To avoid taboos, they are collectively called countries. Among them, there are no more than ten countries with city walls. Because they have oases, they mainly focus on farming. The countries in the Congling (Pamir Plateau) to the south do not even have city walls. The climate there is humid, the water and grass are fertile, and they are suitable for grazing. Therefore, Shanbei and Cheshi refer to it as twelve kingdoms, but in fact they are twelve small cities.
Now they are surrounded by enemies on three sides: Hujie in the north, Xiongnu in the east, and Wusun in the west. In addition to paying tribute every year, they also have to worry about whether they will be annexed. Now Wusun is getting more and more rampant. Once Yanqi and Qiuci cannot resist it, they will have no choice but to wait for their demise.
Shanbei and Cheshi each sent a representative and said hurriedly: "When we entered the city, we saw that Da Qin's weapons were extremely sharp. If Da Qin is unwilling to send troops, can you give us the iron weapons? We can exchange any jewelry!"
Kaqu was anxious and said quickly: "Please ask the Emperor of Qin to reconsider and send troops to help!"
He cursed the Shanbei envoy secretly in his heart: 'Stupid! We should desperately ask Da Qin to send troops. After our sincere request, if the Emperor of Qin still refuses to agree, and then offers to provide food, grass and weapons, the Emperor of Qin may not have the heart to refuse. You gave up asking Da Qin to send troops so easily. You are so stupid! '
Although I don’t know what Kaqu is thinking, but even if it is what he thinks, I will not agree. Compared with the current iron weapons and bronze weapons of Da Qin, the gap is no less than that of rifled guns and flintlock guns. How could I give them such an important weapon of the country so easily?
I had already sternly warned Wu Jian and the Qin army who were already equipped with fine iron weapons, including saddles, horseshoes, sabers, etc. Even if the Qin army was defeated, they should try their best to ensure that these things were not left on the battlefield. If the enemy is able to get away, it is likely to be imitated by the enemy, and the advantage of advanced weapons will be lost.
Que Dun also said angrily: "Wusun didn't take Da Qin seriously just now. As a kingdom in heaven, how could Da Qin allow them to be so humiliated! I feel angry for Da Qin!"
I sneered in my heart, it’s both moral kidnapping and provocation. You don’t have to show your shame in front of me with your modest behavior.
He seemed to be persuaded by them, pretending to be embarrassed and said: "The Qin Dynasty is really powerless, but it can't bear to see you being annexed by the Xiongnu. Let's go back to the post house to rest first. I want to discuss it with my ministers. , I’ll tell you the results tomorrow.”
Everyone thought there was a show and quickly expressed gratitude: "Thank you, Emperor Qin!"
I saw that Chen Qing had not returned yet, so I ordered: "Baichong, go find Chen Qing and arrange for someone to take the envoys to visit Xianyang City and entertain them."
Baichong said yes and led the envoys out.
