The two measures proposed by Lu Pheasant were actually appeasement measures during a time of recuperation. Seeing that everyone readily accepted the first plan, her confidence doubled and she said loudly,
"My first strategy is to establish a solid border with the enemy to prevent small groups of Huns from plundering.
The second strategy was to open and close the market in order to delay the large number of Xiongnu troops from going south and buy time for our country. "
Guanshi, that is, the "city" set up under the "guan" of the city, has a long history, and most of you are familiar with it.
It can be recalled that during the Spring and Autumn Period, Ji Ran, a well-traveled and all-knowing counselor, once accepted the doctor Fan Li as his disciple by chance and taught him the famous "Seven Strategies of Ji Ran".
According to legend, Fan Li only used five of the seven strategies of Ji Ran to successfully help King Gou Jian of Yue to gather together for ten years, increase his national power, and finally destroy Wu Xingyue and regain the humiliation of Kuaiji.
After Fan Li resigned from office and went into seclusion, he also used the remaining two of the seven strategies, the third to obtain a thousand pieces of gold, and became a model of a good death who retreated bravely from the rapids and achieved success and fame.
There are different opinions among the people about what Fan Li's two strategies were, and among the five strategies he successfully implemented, there was one of "Benefiting both the farmers and the poor, and there will be no shortage of markets", which was intended to persuade Gou Jian to pay attention to commerce and trade and include it in under the unified management of the imperial court.
At present, Queen Lu Pheasant's proposal goes a step further on the basis of the traditional customs. It actually intends to carry out trade with foreign countries for mutual benefit.
"You mean, open the door to do business with those Huns?" Liu Ji's eyes widened.
***
Cross-border trade is something that people will take for granted nine hundred years later.
Lu Fei clearly remembered that in her previous life, when she was seventy-eight years old, she finally completely annihilated the Western Turkic Kingdom, and all the ten Turkic tribes were under control. She unified the Western Regions and established the Beiting Capital in Tingzhou, the original base camp of the Western Turks. Protect the mansion.
Tingzhou is really a good place. It sleeps on the Tianshan Mountains in the south, looks at the grassland in the north, goes directly to Tuqishi Yazhang in the west, crosses the Tianshan Mountains in the south, and is connected to Gaochang, Yanqi and other countries. To the north, you can reach Jinshan, the center of the grassland people. , and to the east you can directly reach the territory of the Mobei Uighur Khan.
The road is full of obstacles. Ever since she sent 20,000 troops to guard Tingzhou, which shocked all parties, the remaining Turkic forces also collapsed. The countries in the Western Regions north and south of the Tianshan Mountains broke away from the rule of the Turks for hundreds of years. The trade road from Chang'an to the Western Regions has restored peace. , smooth traffic and hustle and bustle.
In my impression, it was a thoroughfare full of silk, fine wine and fragrance. There was a constant flow of camel caravans of Sogdians and Persians, envoys and proton groups from various countries, and monks and entertainers drifting in all directions. moon.
I remember that at that time, she saw a strange flower called tulip for the first time in her life, which was brought as tribute from the distant western kingdom of Kapi. The branches and leaves of the flower were plump, like Ophiopogon japonicus, and the flowers were shaped like hibiscus. Purple with green, dignified and full, it is really cute.
Later, she repeatedly tried transplantation in the palace garden, but always ended in failure and resentment, which can be regarded as a slight regret in daily life.
There are also those large colorful parrots from Persia, with bright feathers and a wingspan of four feet. They fly like neon lights and are dazzling. They can even be sold for 30,000 yuan each in the West Market of Chang'an.
I wonder if those Kapi people and Persians are already living in the Western Region at this time. If so, she also wants to see the tulips coming from afar through Tingzhou and the colorful flying wings again in the newly built Chang'an City in the future. Parrot.
However, no one in front of her knew the existence of Tingzhou except her. To them, it was just an unheard place name hidden outside the layers of isolation of the Huns.
Therefore, the prerequisite for achieving all this is to completely subdue the Huns and make them obediently give up control of the grassland.
To subdue them requires strategy and long-term patience. She suddenly came back to her senses and secretly warned herself that at present, external and internal troubles coexist, haste makes waste, and she must not underestimate the difficulty of this.
The Han Dynasty in history only gained the confidence to fight the Xiongnu decisively after seventy years of keeping a low profile. Although it was reincarnated, it could not be too hasty.
***
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the exchange of official trade with the Kapi people or the Huns was an unprecedented initiative. Although there were others later, it was truly unprecedented.
"According to what I have seen and heard, Daijun, Changshanjun and Yanmen are often smuggled by border merchants because they are close to the Xiongnu territory.
When the world was uncertain, the defense against the Huns was relatively lax. Businessmen from the two countries would gather around Daidi every few months, forming a self-contained city.
From this point of view, doing business with the Huns is not unreasonable. "
Zhang Cang was a Northern County governor. In his opinion, the queen's suggestion sounded whimsical at first, but it made sense after careful consideration.
Xiao He also came back to his senses, his eyes suddenly lit up,
"Exactly, businessmen are only interested in profit. Since they gather regularly, it shows that both Han and Hungarian parties have their own needs.
Instead of allowing merchants to make huge profits from it, it would be better for the imperial court to run the market, which could not only ensure safety, properly manage merchants of all ethnic groups, but also draw some taxes from it to contribute to the national treasury. "
"So, your second strategy is to prevent the Xiongnu army from going south to plunder at the source?"
Liu Ji turned his head and looked directly at Lu Pheasant, with a cloudy expression on his face, which seemed to be approval, but also hinted at a little awe, and perhaps, there was also a hint of unnoticeable fear.
Lu Pheasant had no time to respond, but he heard Liu Jing praise,
"The Queen's plan is very clever.
The Huns were not good at farming, did not know how to smelt iron or weave, did not know how to make wine, and had no raw materials. Even a copper needle and a piece of linen cloth were rare, let alone our rice and silk.
The Han local products on which they relied for their daily lives were either purchased from border merchants or relied on robbery. The leader who could lead them to rob the most property was a good leader.
Therefore, those who could gather large groups of troops to harass the border were mostly Xiongnu leaders with higher status. "
Everyone is an entrepreneurial minister who came out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. It is self-evident to capture the thief first.
Since it is impossible to compete with force in a short period of time, then simply open the market in Guangzhou, the border town, half-sell and half-give away the supplies they need at a reasonable price, and bribe the leaders with more luxurious things from the Han Dynasty, so as to eliminate their motivation to lead the army south. .
"At the very least, let them stop coming a few times before we can get our troops ready."
Lu Pheasant said conclusively, with no reluctance in his tone, only an extraordinary calmness.
Before you have the ability to fight a big victory, you can only endure, like breaking your teeth and swallowing blood in the dark, accumulating strength and waiting for the opportunity.
The taste of bearing the humiliation and burden was indeed difficult to swallow. The whole house was silent. Everyone silently digested the feeling of humiliation. Their hearts were filled with excitement but they could not find an outlet.
It was the emperor who broke the terrible silence first,
"By the way, it's useless to have an agreement here. We need to find someone who can speak well. We need to go to the Huns and talk to Modun Chanyu face to face."
