"The Great Han actually entered the Western Regions at this time. Not a good sign! ”

Behind the scenes of the palace, Hu Yongmu, the king of Qiuci, said to Qiuzixiang.

"Yes! The lord of the kingdom formed an alliance with the king of Dawan and the king of Kangju. Taking advantage of the end of the civil strife in Guishan, Dawan and Kangju were freed from the fetters of the Guishan Kingdom. It was a critical moment, but the Han Dynasty entered the Western Regions. ”

Guizi sighed.

Bondage, that is, the meaning of vassals.

The Kushan Kingdom was one of the four great powers of Eurasia in the early A.D.

The four great powers were the Han Empire, the Roman Empire, the Kushan Kingdom, and the Parthian Kingdom. The Han Dynasty is the starting point of the Silk Road, the Kushan and the rest of the Silk Road, and Rome is the end of the Silk Road.

All four great powers have religious beliefs and a clear system of agriculture, handicrafts, animal husbandry, economy, culture, politics, and military. and land area, population. all to a certain extent. It has a great influence on Europe, Asia and Africa.

The registered population of the Han Empire in 157 AD was 5,070,000 (excluding the black households hiding in the mountains). After the dark politics of the Huan Ling period, and the frequent natural disasters of this era, as well as the Yellow Turban Uprising. The population of Dahan has plummeted.

This is just the beginning of a sharp decline in the population of Dahan. For the time has not yet come when the princes will fight against each other.

"The head is hung in front of the horse, and the woman is carried in the back of the car", "The white bones are exposed in the wild, there is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles, there are more than 100 people, and the thought breaks people's intestines".

After the Red Cliff War, it may be an exaggeration to have more than 100 people, but it is definitely not one in ten.

The population of the Roman Empire at the time of Augustus (c. 1st century AD) was estimated at 54 million.

After that, the Roman Empire developed in a relatively stable situation. Although there were frequent rebellions and attacks by strong neighbors, there was also prosperity.

Especially in the pre-modern era, the era of the Five Wise Emperors of the Empire, this is a very prosperous era, and the population will definitely have a new height.

However, the situation in Rome at this time was not much better than that of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

After the death of the great philosopher Macrollo, his son Commodus succeeded him (180 AD) as the sole emperor of Rome.

Commodus was a tyrant, perverse, tolerated by the Senate, and was often assassinated. Brought the Roman Empire to a pulp.

The Age of the Five Wise Monarchs of the Empire was the most glorious era of the Roman Empire, and Commodus took over this prosperity and put an end to the prosperity of the Five Wise Emperors of the Empire.

According to the trend of history, four years later, Commodus was assassinated.

A long period of chaos followed.

The Kushan kingdom was located in the immediate vicinity of the Western Regions, reaching its peak during the reign of the monarch Kasega I (c. 1st century AD). It has a population of 5 million and 200,000 soldiers.

Kaseksha I, the monarch of the Kushan Empire in its heyday, was not only a military strategist and statesman, but also a protector and promoter of Buddhism. Among the famous protectors of Buddhism, his role is second only to Ashoka. He is also the founder of Mahayana Buddhism.

As soon as Mahayana Buddhism came out, all other Buddhisms were relegated to Hinayana Buddhism. Not into the stream.

The geographical location of the Kushan Empire has created his prosperity.

A unified system, occupying Kushan, his prosperity is inevitable.

A political strategist once said that whoever controls the center of the Eurasian continent, the "island of the world," controls the world's exchanges.

This may not be appropriate for the post-Age of Discovery, but it was very true in the days of the Kushan Empire. The Kushan Empire choked the middle section of the Silk Road, and it had close contacts and cooperation with many great powers in the East and the West at that time, from the Eastern Han Empire in the east to the Roman Empire in the west.

The Empire of Sabbath was sandwiched between the Roman Empire and the Kushan Empire.

Since the third century B.C., the Empire of Anxib has continued to expand and consolidate, reaching as far north as the Euphrates River and directly approaching the Roman Empire, where it is the old enemy of Rome and is often at war. East to the Amu Darya. In its heyday, the land area was as large as the five states of Dahanqing, Xu, You, and Hebei. It was an extremely powerful cavalry power in West Asia.

In the 100th year of the A.D. Assasis dynasty, the population reached 8.4 million.

The Empire of Rest was the only way to pass through the Silk Road. This represents an economy that will bring prosperity to the rest of the dynasties.

The Romans liked to defend dignity and took it very seriously. The Sabbatarian Empire liked to provoke Roman vassals. Despite many meetings and peace talks, the two sides are only separated by the two river basins, and the two sides have been fighting on the border from time to time in modern times.

In particular, in recent years, the country has no longer returned to its heyday, and its national strength and territory are gradually weakening.

"Although Guishan was in turmoil, it was still not weaker than the powerful country of the Han Dynasty. It is very likely that we will set ourselves on fire if we help King Dawan and King Kangju. The arrival of the Han is not a good thing. ”

Hu Yongmu was scheming and told the calculations in his heart.

In fact, Hu Yongmu also has bitter words in his heart.

Being the largest country ruler of the 36 countries in the Western Regions does not mean that you can be lawless.

The Xiongnu and the Han took turns to control the Western Regions. finally survived until the two forces declined, and Guishuang came to intervene again.

Therefore, they must help the great powers of Dawan and Kangju to free themselves from the control of the Kushan Empire.

In B.C., Guishan was founded by the Yueshi (zhī) people, who were originally nomadic herders in the western part of the Hexi Corridor in the Zhangye and Dunhuang areas. It was the fierce enemy of the Xiongnu tribe at that time.

When Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions, he went to the Yue clan and established diplomatic relations with him.

Later, because he could not defeat the Xiongnu, he was forced to send west to the Amu Darya area in Central Asia. And defeat the state established by the Greeks and unify the Amu Darya and Syr Darya valleys.

At that time, the Yueshi country was divided into five marquis. Guishan is one of them.

Subsequently, the Yueshi defeated the Bactrian and conquered the Bactrian people. Officially became the master of Central Asia.

In the middle of the first century A.D., the Kushan tribe Xihouqiu unified the five tribes and established the Kushan Empire. Later, the southern expedition laid the foundation of Kushan.

Later, the Kushan monarchs expanded to the surrounding areas, and only then did they have such a huge territory as they are now.

As early as the 70s, during the reign of the unnamed king Sauter Mags (meaning the Great Savior), the Kushan expanded westward to Herat and controlled the entire Transriver region.

The Nameless King took control of Guishan and pushed it to a higher level.

It was during this period that the nameless king bound Kangju and Dawan, and after that, Dawan had to pay tribute to Guishan every year.

In the second century, Yan succeeded to the throne and conquered the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent again, annexing Khorezm and Sistan.

It formed a vast empire that stretched from Patna in the east, Dakhkat in the west, the Nabada River in the south, and the Aral Sea in the north.

The Kangju Kingdom and the Dawan Kingdom were even more unable to get rid of the Kushan Empire during that period.

During the period before and after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Kushan Empire underwent a mutation, and the two kings stood side by side.

There is no room for two tigers on one mountain, and conflicts are bound to occur.

Hubishega II defeated Kasserga II and became the sole king of Kushan. Chalcegas II reigned only for four years.

During the reign of the two Kushan kings, the shift of the center of power to the south represented a weakening of control over the north and northwest.

Historically, during this time, Kangju and Dawan got rid of their fetters. Khorasan and Khorezm also broke away from Kushan rule.

(End of chapter)