Li Fan Yuan is located in the northeast corner of Luoyang City, some distance from Luoyang Chengdong City.

This is the "embassy" specially prepared for the envoys of vassal states and diplomatic relations when Guo Peng ordered Zao Yi and Xun You to build a new Luoyang City.

The geographical location is relatively secluded and closed, with a limited number of passages leading to all parts of Luoyang City, and it is quite easy to watch over and block it.

At that time, Xun You thought that this was the royal palace prepared by Guo Peng for the Emperor Guo Dan, or the royal palace prepared for himself.

However, when I saw that the building specifications and requirements were not high, it did not look like it was used by the royal family, and after inquiring, I learned that it was prepared for vassal states and diplomatic countries.

At that time, Xun You felt that this kind of precautionary measures were a bit too early, and tried to persuade Guo Peng to slow down and not be in such a hurry.

However, Guo Peng believes that diplomatic activities will be carried out in just a few years, so it should be built.

The construction of the Rihowon-in Temple was completed in the middle of the second year of Yeondeok.

At that time, the court officials felt that it was not interesting for the emperor to do this, and as a result, in just over a year, the countries of the Western Regions marched eastward and came to worship their long-lost father.

The Rifan Yuan came in handy.

Xinbi and his subordinates went to the Lifan Yuan, which had not been used since it was built, and inspected the infrastructure and everything, and made a list of basic living facilities to be purchased and sent to the Ministry of Finance.

Wang Cang, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, had already received Guo Peng's instructions to give the green light to allocate the money, and Xin Bi personally sent people to purchase basic living facilities according to unified standards, and then hired people to clean and decorate them in an all-round way.

It took more than a month to arrange the courtyards where the envoys of the eighteen Western Regions countries who had arrived in Luoyang City to worship Wei Tianzi were to live.

On the third day after the arrangement, the envoy of Shanshan arrived in Luoyang.

With their specifications, naturally there is no need for Xin Bi to greet him personally, Xin Bi is a ministerial-level high-ranking official after all.

However, Xin Bi was really idle, and there was nothing to do, so he decided to go to the honorable to greet the envoys of the small country to show the atmosphere of the Heavenly Empire.

The envoys of Shanshan were the younger brothers of King Shanshan, and they knew a little about Chinese affairs, and they were quite excited to learn about the status of Xinbi who came to greet them.

They still don't know the names and terms of reference of the officials of the Wei Empire, but they know the rank of the officials, one thousand stone and two thousand stones, and so on, because they are also in use for four hundred years in the Han Dynasty.

The Han government set up a government to manage the Western Regions Protectorate of the Western Regions at the level of 2,000 stones, which is equivalent to the level of a county within the Han Empire, that is, the scope of authority is much larger than that of other inland counties.

The head of the Metropolitan Protectorate, the Western Regions Metropolitan Protector, is also a 2,000-stone level official, which is equivalent to saying that the Han government regards the Western Regions as its own county, and it is not difficult to manage it.

In terms of population, it is true that the total population of the Western Regions may not be larger than that of a county in the Central Plains, but the territory of the Western Regions is inevitably too large, larger than Huiji County.

The Western Regions didn't know how many other official ranks there were within the Central Plains Empire, but they knew that the official of Two Thousand Stone was the highest-ranking Chinese official they could contact.

Therefore, for the 2,500 stone level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Shangshu Xinbi, the envoy of Shanshan State was quite excited.

If the rank of the officials is high enough, it means that the Wei Empire attaches more importance to them, so that their purpose here can be well achieved, without worrying about not being able to achieve the tasks entrusted to them by the king.

Establish relations with the Wei Empire, become a vassal state of the Wei Empire, receive preferential treatment from the Wei Empire, and achieve full trade.

They all knew that if they wanted to be rich, they had to trade with the Central Plains Empire before they could make money.

Although the Central Plains Empire also intervened in their internal affairs, such as the large and small Kunmi of Wusun, which was caused by the Western Han government, it was different from the pure oppression and oppression of the Xiongnu back then.

The fetters of the Han Empire were much more gentle, not pure oppression, but also brought them benefits.

The Xiongnu dealt with the countries of the Western Regions by doing their best to squeeze them, squeeze their war potential and economic potential, enslave their population, and force them to send troops to fight with the Huns, which was quite barbaric.

And the Han Empire's fetters and rulers treated them by beating a stick to give a sweet date, although the stick hurts, but at least there is a sweet date to eat.

A comparison between the two can lead to the conclusion that the Han Empire is better than the Xiongnu Empire.

Therefore, after Wang Mang was overthrown, at the beginning of the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the countries of the Western Regions could not bear the oppression of the Xiongnu, so they collectively took the initiative to go to Luoyang to meet Liu Xiu, and asked Liu Xiu to rebuild the capital of the Western Regions to protect the countries of the Western Regions.

It's a pity that Liu Xiu was facing a situation of internal and external troubles at that time, and he really didn't have the energy to accept his younger brother.

Guo Peng is different from Liu Xiu, he has basically solved the domestic war, leveled all the warlord forces that are working against him, unified the whole country, and takes development as the main theme internally, so it is natural to seek external expansion and influence actions.

This is the same as the demands of the countries of the Western Regions.

The two sides naturally hit it off.

Without the oppression of the Xiongnu and Xianbei, the Western Regions were free for a while, but they soon realized that it was not a wonderful thing to be cut off from China.

Without official permission and protection, trade can still be carried out, but the difficulty will become infinite, and the casualties will increase indefinitely.

The deterioration in their quality of life has made them naturally pursue trade with China, and some of them are even eager to return China to the Western Regions so that they can live a better life.

The starting point of the Silk Road was Chang'an in the Western Han Dynasty, Luoyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the final destination was in the Roman Empire on the European continent.

This super-distant trade route not only led to some kind of contact between the Roman and Han Empires, but actually contributed to the prosperity of these countries along the way.

The merchants of the Han Empire were often unable to really go to the Roman Empire to do business in person, and basically completed foreign trade in the Western Regions, and the rest was taken over by the Western Regions.

The Western Regions were responsible for completing the second leg of the Silk Road, connecting goods and trade routes to the Sabbatical and Kushan Empires.

Then, these merchants from Central Asia took over again and transported Chinese goods to the Roman Empire, completing the commercial trade that had been thousands of miles away.

The silks, porcelain, and various specialties of the Han Empire were deeply popular with the Roman aristocracy, who were willing to pay exorbitant prices for these products.

In this way, silk has completed its own three-level climb in the price comparable to gold.

And the middlemen have also completed their tasks and earned a high price difference.

Because there are really a lot of rich people on the Silk Road, and there are indeed a lot of people fed by this road.

However, due to geographical and demographic factors, the small countries in the Western Regions that ate this part of the price difference could not use this money to accomplish any important reform tasks, and this important price difference was used by them to enjoy.

Their wealth and extravagance brought many beautiful fantasies to later generations, and led to the birth of certain folklore, which made tomb robbers flock to them.

Everyone believes that there are endless treasures buried beneath the ancient kingdom of the Western Regions.

Guo felt that it didn't matter whether they had money or not, what mattered was whether the wealth they had accumulated could become their own, and whether they could play a good role as a service on the Silk Road, serving the merchant contingent of the Central Plains Empire and ensuring that they could be safely sent to Central Asia.

This is a really long way, and without adequate protection, the safety of business travelers will be very problematic.

If we can't build a stable and safe road, then the open source significance of the Silk Road will decline, and Guo will be unhappy.

So Guo thinks it makes sense to keep these countries for a short period of time.

But after a long time, after a safe and reliable route has been figured out, there is no need to share the cake with them.

It is very unpleasant that there is an extra group of middlemen to divide the profits for no reason.

It's hard to know if they'll be tossing and turning from it to desperately make the difference and damage the profits that the Wei Empire can get.

Guo finally temporarily suppressed the domestic middlemen, and as a result, a group of middlemen also emerged in the Western Regions to share the cake with him.

Accurate.

Very unpleasant.