Liu Yu was not very fond of the kind of tributary relationship in which all nations came to court and then collected a bunch of subordinate vassal states, and the subordinates paid some worthless and rare tributes.
This is not to say that this tributary relationship is not good, but that Liu Yu knew that the tributary relationship was unstable.
The influence of the Central Plains Dynasty was not affected by its own initiative at all, but by the initiative of the younger brothers of the vassal state.
If the younger brothers of these vassal states do not want to promote sinicization, then they can continue to maintain the barbarian characteristics of their vassal states. The Central Plains Dynasty does not care much about their sinicization process, as long as they are obedient little brothers.
As for how to be a younger brother, no one cares too much.
But Liu Yu was different.
What he wanted was for the Central Plains Dynasty to establish a solid defensive circle.
This defensive circle is not only military, but also political and cultural.
Among them, Liu Yu has always paid the most attention to the Near East, which will be the largest source of religious export in the world in the future.
To install a vassal state under Huan Wen was not simply to recruit a younger brother, but to establish a vanguard fortress of Han culture in the Central Plains locally.
"Send this military report to the three Taiwan and six provinces again, and ask them to give me a plan on how to support Huan Wen as soon as possible!"
Liu thought about it and asked his attendants to show Huan Wen's report to his ministers.
After all, Huan Wen's Pingnan vassal state was thousands of miles away. If he wanted to provide support, it was not a simple matter of saying a word. He had to try his best to regulate the energy of each department.
No matter what, Liu Yu has made up his mind to support Huan Wen, and all financial and material resources, as well as manpower, must be arranged as much as possible.
Before Huan Wen's affairs could be settled, Liu Yu encountered something that made him unable to resist another move.
The Han Dynasty set up a municipal shipping department in Jiaozhou to report that the merchant ships of the Han Dynasty were attacked by local barbarians in Choluo in the west.
Although there were not many crew members or sailors killed or injured, a large number of spices, jewelry, rice and other goods purchased by the Han people were looted and burned.
"The Shipping Secretary of Jiaozhou City said that the Zhuluo Kingdom is full of cruel people. They have repeatedly stolen goods hoarded by merchant ships of the Han Dynasty. After repeated bans, they have now become even more serious. I would like to ask Your Majesty to allow the Shipping Secretary of Jiaozhou City to peacefully seize the southwest ocean. Rebellious military power!"
Xi Jian, who had just taken over as Minister of War, said to Liu Yu.
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, Zhao's Nanyue has sent ships from Lingnan to sail along the coast to trade with the city-states in Indochina.
After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty pacified South Vietnam, the merchant ships of the Han Dynasty continued to sail forward, reaching as far as the Southeast Asian city-states on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Occasionally, sporadic ships reached as far as the southeast of the Tianzhu Peninsula.
After Liu Yu conquered the Jiaozhou area, he was not in a hurry to expand southward on land, but started by sea.
First, a municipal shipping department was set up in Jiaozhou, which specialized in collecting taxes on maritime trade, and also organized a fleet to explore trade in the Indian Ocean.
In the past two years, we have finally figured out the sea transportation and started trade with Choluo and other countries in the southeast of Tianzhu Peninsula.
"How strong is the Zhu Luo Kingdom?" Liu Yu asked with a frown.
Although they are on the same continent of Tianzhu, the Gupta Dynasty in the north and the Chola Kingdom in the south have no connection or any serious relationship. They are completely unfamiliar to the Han Dynasty.
"Reporting to your majesty, the Zhuluo Kingdom has a land area of about two to three thousand miles, and the population is unknown. People from Bosi in Jiaozhou City once said that its population is more prosperous than Jiaozhou, and it is probably similar to Jiangdong." Xi Jian said.
The southeastern part of the Tianzhu Peninsula is mostly mountainous, and its fertile land cannot be compared with northern Tianzhu, which occupies the plains of two large rivers. However, it has fewer powerful enemies to invade, and the local population is relatively large.
"In that case, a Jiaozhou Shipping Department can't deal with them at all." Liu Yu said.
Hearing Liu Yu's words, Xi Jian was stunned for a moment. He did not expect that the emperor just wanted to take revenge specifically on the Zhu Luo Kingdom.
"Your Majesty, the Shipping Department of Jiaozhou City has requested a maritime expedition. The purpose is to obtain more military personnel and more new-style ships. I am afraid that I have never thought about actually taking revenge on the Zhuluo Kingdom."
When Liu Yu heard this, he shook his head.
"There is revenge, there is grudge. This small Zhula barbarian country dares to harass our fleet, and burns and plunders the Han's goods. How can we not teach them a lesson? As Chen Tang said back then, those who openly offend the powerful Han will be killed no matter how far away they are. Zhu, how can you forget it so easily?"
When Xi Jian heard this, he suddenly felt dizzy.
Over the years, Emperor Liu Yu has used more and more national power in remote areas. Although he has occupied more and more land, the manpower and material resources consumed have become increasingly stressful.
Xi Jian was really afraid that one day the national power that the big man had finally accumulated would be exhausted.
"Your Majesty, after all, the Zhuluo Kingdom is thousands of miles away, and it is different from Nanzhong. It needs to pass through the unpredictable sea. With only dozens of boats from the Jiaozhou Shipping Department, it is probably impossible to conquer it. "
According to Xi Jian's assessment, all the ships of the Jiaozhou Shipping Department were filled with soldiers, and they could only carry 10,000 or 20,000 people. This did not include the baggage, weapons, war horses and other items that needed to be carried.
If these are included, the number of troops that the Jiaozhou Ship Division can transport will probably be even less.
I am afraid that not even five or six thousand people can be transported by then. With such a small force, a cross-sea expedition to a country with a radius of two to three thousand miles is definitely a piece of cake.
"If a shipping company in Jiaozhou City is not enough, then there is a navy from Yangzhou!" Liu Yu said.
"Yangzhou navy?" Xi Jian felt confused again when he heard this.
Regarding the Yangzhou navy that Liu Yu mentioned, Xi Jian knew what kind of people they were.
Most of these people are coastal people in the Wuyue area. Many of them are northerners who went south as early as the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Many of them are even descendants of the remnants of the Yellow Turbans.
These people now believe in the Five Pecks of Rice Tao or the Heavenly Master Tao, and the various Taoist leaders have greater influence than the government.
After Liu Yu conquered the land of Wuyue, he repeatedly ordered the resettlement of these coastal people, but he always suffered setbacks.
These coastal residents who were armed by Taoism were determined not to leave until they died.
One of the most important reasons is that these people have already been armed with Taoism and formed a powerful pirate and maritime merchant group.
Later in history, during the Sun Enlu Xun Rebellion, many people were descendants of these coastal refugees.
Liu Yu had just ordered them all to be organized into naval forces not long ago, intending to retain their organization and then let them explore Yizhou Island in the southeast.
Now, as soon as the Han Dynasty started his sea journey, he encountered a Zhu Luo Kingdom who slapped him crazily in the face. If he didn't come back with revenge, I'm afraid there would be more imitators in the future.
In this way, these pirate fishermen combinations along the Yangzhou coast will have a place to use.
However, it is still very unrealistic for these reckless pirates to cross the sea to conquer a country thousands of miles away.
"I intend to give these righteous navy troops in Yangzhou the right to expand territory and defend themselves." Liu Yu said.
"Your Majesty, what do you mean by expanding the territory to defend yourself?" Xi Jian asked.
"To expand the land and defend it yourself means to let them develop the land themselves, and then they can each defend their own land. The officials of the imperial court will not interfere with all the affairs on their land, as long as they are loyal to the imperial court." Liu Yu said.
"What your Majesty means, isn't it just to split the earth and divide the land into enfeoffments?" Xi Jian couldn't help but frown.
Since the unification of Emperor Qin, the general trend of the world should be to merge into one place, but Liu Yu has always been trying to come up with some tricks of enfeoffment recently, which really makes Xi Jian a little scared.
He was afraid that the civil strife among the kings of the Sima family would happen again in the future.
"No, no, the expansion of land and self-defense that I am talking about is not the same as the splitting of the soil. The splitting of the soil is to seal off one's own land, and this time I plan to let these refugees and pirates from Yangzhou open up those areas. Land that the imperial court is unwilling to operate.”
"The land you are unwilling to operate? Where is your Majesty referring to?"
Xi Jian asked.
According to Liu Yu's temperament, whether it is Nanzhong in the Gobi desert or Heishuibaishan in the deep mountains and old forests, they are all useful places. How can there be any land that he is unwilling to operate?
"This is what I'm talking about!"
Liu Yu did not answer directly, but stood up and pointed at the map on the wall.
Xi took a quick look and recognized it immediately.
"Your Majesty, are you referring to Nichinan County?"
Rinan County belongs to Jiaozhou, and is in the south of Jiaozhi County. According to the location of later generations, it is in the central area of Vietnam.
"The governor of Jiaozhou reported before that the people in Rinan County are sparse, and coupled with the miasma and heat, 90% of the people who migrate there often flee north, making it impossible to operate at all." Liu Yu shook his head and said.
According to the level at this time, dealing with infectious diseases and land reclamation work in tropical areas were extremely difficult. Even without the pressure of taxes and corvees, the development of Nichinan County was extremely unsuccessful.
The local indigenous tribes quickly acquired the land and houses left behind after the Han immigrants left.
The Han Dynasty worked hard to relocate the people, but most of them benefited from these native barbarians.
However, Liu Yu didn't have any good ideas. Now he just wanted to assign Rinan County to the Taiping Road refugees in Yangzhou.
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"Rinan County has fertile fields, cities, and houses. Apart from being a bit hotter, it has almost no shortcomings. It would be most suitable to use these to provide homes for the Taiping Road refugees in Yangzhou." Xi Jian nodded.
Naturally, this benefit is not given in vain.
"These Taiping Road refugees in Yangzhou all call Zhouchuan Island their home. Even if they go to Rinan County, they will definitely bring boats with them. When they move to Rinan County, they can free up some large boats to cooperate with Jiaozhou City's ships. The Secretary is planning to attack the Chola Kingdom."
These earliest pirate groups had almost thousands of ships.
If they were allowed to cross the sea all the way from Yangzhou to Rinan County, it would basically be a rehearsal for a cross-sea expedition.
But these are Liu Yu's ideas. If the refugees on Taiping Road in Yangzhou are really to agree to this arrangement, a capable candidate must be arranged.
For the Taiping Road refugees in Yangzhou, it is no longer possible for them to leave their boats and go inland to become common people.
In order to make things go smoothly, Liu Yu specially assigned a descendant of an aristocratic family to Yangzhou.
The descendant of this aristocratic family is Lu Chen.
He was born in the Lu family of Fanyang, a descendant of Lu Zhi, a great scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the nephew of Liu Kun of Zhongshan County. It can be said that his family is in the prime of life.
Sun Qiao, the leader of Yangzhou's refugee pirate group, was quite friendly with Lu Chen.
Sun Qiao was born in the Sun family of Langya, and his uncle Sun Xiu was a confidant of Sima Lun, King of Zhao in the Jin Dynasty. He had a good relationship with Liu Kun, who was also a confidant of Sima Lun.
Later, Sima Lun rebelled and was executed, and Sun Xiu and others were also executed, but the Liu Kun brothers escaped unscathed by relying on their family reputation.
Sun Xiu's family had to cross the Yangtze River south to avoid disaster. In order to make a living, the Sun family of Langya, who lost their official status, used their ability to master Taiping Road to recruit people as followers in Yangzhou.
In just over ten years, Sun Qiao already had tens of thousands of followers, covering the sky with one hand on the coastal islands.
The elders Lu Chen and Sun Qiao had been friends in the trenches. Coupled with Lu Chen's dignified appearance and assurance, Sun Qiao and others immediately agreed to their request as soon as they arrived in Yangzhou.
"Brother Lu Xian, there is no bitter cold in winter in Rinan County. It is spring and summer all year round?"
Sun Qiao and other refugee leaders gathered around Lu Chen.
"Yes, His Majesty once ordered someone to publish a detailed explanation of the territory of the Han Dynasty. It included descriptions of Rinan County and Jiaozhi County. Brother Sun, after you arrive at Rinan County, you only need to open up wasteland for farming. You don't have to worry about the cold at all."
When Lu Chen came to this small island in Yangzhou, he was immediately shocked by the scale of refugees living on these remote islands.
The residents of these small islands are all Taiping Dao believers, and there are almost a thousand people there every fifth day during the sermon.
Sun Qiao and others discussed in low voices for a while, then Sun Qiao withdrew and asked alone.
"The thousands of miles of sea route from Yangzhou to Rinan County is probably too dangerous. Why don't we go back and report to His Majesty that we can go a little closer, such as Yizhou Island."
Faced with the retreat of Sun Qiao and others, Lu Chen refused without even thinking.
"Your Majesty allows you to expand territory in Rinan County and defend yourself. That means you are the king of various feudal states. How can you deal with Yizhou Island, which is isolated overseas." Lu Chen said with great disdain.
"Brother Sun, as far as I know, barbarians are rampant on Yizhou Island, plague is everywhere, and it is far away from the sea. It is difficult to get support from the Fujian and Yue areas."
"But Rinan County is different. Not only is waterway support available at any time, but there are also a large number of Han troops and civilians in the area from Jiaozhou to Jiuzhen in the north. There is no need to worry about encountering large groups of indigenous attacks."
"Not only that, although the natives of Rinan County are unskilled, they are still quite gentle. As long as Brother Sun educates them properly, they can not only get a large number of civilian soldiers, but also a large number of believers!"
As soon as Sun Qiao heard these words, he immediately fell into deep thought.
Regarding Taiping Dao, Sun Qiao himself is not simply knowledgeable, but should be said to be proficient in it, and he firmly believes in it.
If we could convert a group of barbarians into Taiping Dao believers in the city, that would be a great achievement.
