After the issuance of banknotes, the Great Jin Dynasty finally stabilized after a period of 'turmoil', in addition to the weakening of the power of merchants, some of the court officials who were "colluded with officials and businessmen" were severely cleaned up by Sima Shu. After this turmoil, the connection between the capital represented by the merchants and the power represented by the officials was not as close as before.

Although Sima Shu knew that it was impossible to completely sever the connection between the two, he still wanted to keep capital away from power as much as possible. His thinking coincides with the family's 'light business' doctrine, which is also the main reason for the cooperation between the two sides.

Of course, Sima Shu will not destroy the Great Wall, he really doesn't want the merchant power to be too strong, but he definitely doesn't mean to 'destroy the merchant'. This time, it was mainly some big merchant groups that 'stepped on the line' that were hit hard, and some other businessmen who 'kept to themselves' were not implicated, but were taken to the palace by Sima Shu to personally appease them.

Just when Sima Shu was settling down, after a few months of hard work, Hormizd III had already gained a foothold in northern Persia, where there were just some primitive tribes, how could he be the opponent of Hormizd III's army, and in just half a month he swept through the region of Khwarizm that had been subjugated to Persia.

Khorezm region, located in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya Delta, the "mother river" of Central Asia, is one of the earliest regions in the development of Central Asian civilization. Having stabilized the northern region of Khormizm, Hormizd III set his sights on the Khorasan region.

The Khorasan region was an important area for the Persian Empire to defend against the Tocharian garrisons of the Great Jin Dynasty in the northeast, and the two sides were bounded by the Amu Darya River. If the region fell into the hands of Hormizd III, he would be able to easily accept aid from the Great Jin Dynasty with his back to Tocharo, and then confidently invade the Persian hinterland westward.

In the fourteenth year of Hongwu, in September, Hormizd III used an army of 30,000 to officially kick off the southern expedition. As soon as he appeared, he was given a sword, and when Hormizd III appeared, the nobles of Persia knew that the time of judgment had come.

Originally, the Persians who were still dealing with the Great Jin or conquering Arabia first. A quick agreement was reached: to destroy the Hormizd rebels in the north with all their might! Persia sent an army of 50,000 to meet the Hormizd rebels in Khoresan. The two sides fought several games without a win.

As soon as Sima Shu arrived at the imperial study on this day, he turned to think of something, only to see him beckoning to the little Deng Zi beside him and said: "You go to the Privy Council to see, there is no latest information about Persia, if there is any, let them send someone to send me over." ”

Little Deng Zi hurriedly ran out. Soon after, little Deng Zi came back. But he didn't come back alone. Zu Ti also came along.

"Oh, Shizhi is also here, come on. Come, sit, Xiao Dengzi will go and serve Shizhi a cup of tea. Sima Shu was very happy to see his confidant, thanks to Zu Ti's help all these years.

"Your Majesty, the minister knows that His Majesty cares about the situation in West Asia, so he has to come over and report to His Majesty in person." Zu Ti took the tea handed over by Xiao Dengzi and put it aside, he reported the work first, "I just received the news from the captain of Beigong, and there is already a fight over there." ”

After listening to Zu Qi's words, Sima Shu's face that was still smiling just now suddenly became serious: "If it is really the news over there, we really have to deal with it carefully." ”

The "over there" in the mouths of the two actually refers to the Persian prince Hormizd III, the supreme commander of the Thorn Zim at this time, and after Hormizd III arrived in Central Asia in May, he immediately gained a firm foothold in the Thorn Zm with the secret support of the Great Jin.

It was at this time in history that Persia rose to glory, and under the leadership of Shapur II, the Persian Empire regained many areas of the western and eastern borders of Persia that had been lost by its predecessors through many wars. Persia also declared war on the separate Kushan princes, eventually conquering each other and making them allies in future foreign wars, establishing the hegemony of the Persian Empire in Asia.

Growing up under Shapur II, Persia fought many wars with the Roman Empire in the mid-to-late fourth century AD, but on the whole Persia had the upper hand.

It's just that in this life, Sima Shu's unexpected arrival led to the re-emergence of the Great Jin Empire. At this time, Shapur II was still a little child, which means that Persia was beaten by Sima Shu before it developed. In particular, Hormizd III, who was unknown in history, became the largest leader of the Persian rebels.

This civil war completely interrupted the strategy of the Persian Empire to recuperate, causing serious losses to the Persian Empire, coupled with the fact that Persia also fought a major war with Rome before, and the Persian economy basically collapsed due to years of war, the grain production fell sharply, and countless soldiers and civilians were killed and wounded.

"Your Majesty, since Holmizd III publicly raised the flag, Persia has fallen into chaos, after all, not long after the death of the previous emperor, coupled with the recent policy mistakes of Persidore, there are now many people in Persia who hope that Holmizd III can return to the country to inherit the throne."

"Humph! Is Pceidor so willing to hand over power? ”

"Of course not, in order to wipe out the rebels in the north in one fell swoop, Pusedor concentrated 50,000 troops to conquer Huathornzim. The northern tribes finally took advantage of the weakness of Persia to gain independence, but they were destroyed by Hormizd III. ”

"Well, the more intense they fight, the better it will be for us!"

Sima Shu was very happy, others may not know, but Sima Shu from later generations knew that there were rich mineral and oil resources under the vast regions of Central Asia and West Asia. In the previous life, Huaxia missed the opportunity to completely incorporate the region into the Chinese territory for various reasons, but in this life, Sima Shu did not want Huaxia to miss such an opportunity.

Sima Shu hoped to take advantage of the fact that Islam had not yet risen to completely bring Central Asia and West Asia into the Chinese territory through religious (Lingbaojiao), economic, cultural, political, and military means, and even if he could not effectively rule West Asia, he would have to completely control Central Asia in his own hands.

Sima Shu believed that as long as he did this and achieved this grand goal, then in the future, no matter whether the Sima family still existed or not, as long as Huaxia reached the top again, the Central Plains Emperor would definitely learn from him to Xuanwei in Central Asia and West Asia. Sima Shu really understood the comparison psychology of the Chinese emperor too well, just like after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty opened up the Western Regions, as long as the Central Plains Dynasty was capable, all the Central Plains dynasties took the conquest of the Western Regions as a symbol of their great martial arts.

If you want to weaken Persia and prevent the rise of Persia, you must keep the other side in a civil war, just as the British, American, and Japanese powers in history did against China. This required Hormizd III to hold out in the northern region for a longer period of time and not be defeated by the main Persian forces early, so it was necessary to give Hormizd III more support.

Fortunately, at this time, the Great Jin Dynasty had already controlled Tochar, so they could trade directly with Hormizd III, and with this secret trade route, all kinds of materials, including weapons and food, could be obtained from Tocharian by the rebels under the command of Hormizd III.

At the same time that Sima Shu was calculating the Persians, Hormizd III, who was far away in Huazhuzim, was also fighting the idea of the Great Jin. The battle of Khorasan had sobered up Hormizd III a lot, and Persia was not as weakened as he had previously thought.

Although the national strength of the Persian Empire has declined a lot, the Persian military strength is not weak due to the years of war. Moreover, they also had experience in using firearms and dealing with firearms, so the Persian army, after encountering the rebels of Hormizd III, still relied on their numerical superiority to block the opponent's attack.

The battle was a major setback to Holmizd III's ambitions, and according to his plan, it should not take long to pacify Persia, after which Persia should begin to recuperate and develop industry and commerce. Then after several years of development, by the time the Great Jin Dynasty advanced westward, the Persian Empire could not become the world's leading power, but it still had the strength to fight with the Great Jin.

But the reality made Hormizd III feel a chill, the Persian throne is not easy to seize, plus there is such a powerful and domineering neighbor by his side, the future of Persia is obscure!

In the eyes of Hormizd III, Rome was far more lovely than the Great Jin, at least Rome did not have the strength to annex Persia. The Great Jin is different, after taking the Hanzhong region, the Great Jin Empire is equivalent to having a bridgehead to attack the Persian hinterland. As long as the Great Jin digested the Transoxiana region, their next target would inevitably be Persia.

"Prince, what are we going to do next? Do you want to continue the offensive on Khorasan? Arkhand asked, standing beside Hormizd III.

"No, for the time being, withdraw the troops in front of us, we all underestimate the strength of our opponents. It is also a country that can fight against the Roman Empire for a hundred years, how can it lose so easily? Taking advantage of the fact that the Great Jin still needs us, continue to ask the Great Jin for help, and the more supplies we want, the better, and this prince is afraid that the materials will not be easy to ask for after a while. ”

"What? Is Dajin going to abandon us? Besides, we didn't lose the battle of Khorasan, but we only drew with the Persians. Arhan was shocked.

"Although the Great Jin will not abandon us, they will not let us develop and grow, it is best for us and Psidore to confront each other, so that it is most beneficial to the Great Jin."

At this time, Hormizd III was still very weak, and it was impossible to oppose the Great Jin as openly as Persia and Rome, but he still had his own plan for his rising, that is, to rely on the military assistance of the Great Jin to achieve the purpose of arming himself, and then take the opportunity to destroy Persia. (To be continued......)