After Zhang Liang, the assassin of Liangzhou, took office with the secret mission assigned by Sima Shu and left, Sima Shu did not let go of his concern for the west, and every once in a while he had to summon Zhou into the palace to play the right game! After many in-depth conversations, he had a glimmer of insight into the situation in all of Central Asia and to the west, and that the once glorious Sabbatical Empire had vanished and been replaced by the Sassanid Empire!

"Your Majesty, according to the merchants who traveled to and from Liangzhou, it is Nars who now rules the Sassanid Empire, and he succeeded the short-lived Bahram III in the third year of Yuankang (293 AD), after which Nars once again went to war with the Romans."

Speaking of this, Zhou asked with some puzzlement: "Your Majesty, is this...... What country is this Roman? Why hasn't Lao Chen heard of it? ”

"Hehe, Aiqing, the Romans are the country of Great Qin that appears in the history books of the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, and in Western countries, they call it the Roman Empire." Of course, Sima Shu knew the details of the Roman Empire, and the Roman Empire, as a representative of Western agricultural civilization, was not in a better situation than the Great Jin.

Far from ending the strife in Rome, the system of co-governance of the Four Emperors caused internal war and great loss of strength. Sima Shu smashed the corner of his mouth and said secretly: Emperor Constantine should be on the scene, right?

There have been countless outstanding emperors in human history, such as Alexander the Great, Qin Shi Huang, Attila, Charlemagne, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, etc., but they may have been more than destroyed and underbuilt, or the empires they established were too short-lived, or the impact of their exploits was limited to a few countries and regions, and could not have a long-lasting and universal influence like Constantine.

"Because the Sassanids were so powerful, the Kushan Empire, Turan and Mokran all submitted to them. Even the countries of the Western Regions are deeply affected by it, and if the imperial court moves westward in the future, it will inevitably have a fierce conflict with each other. Sassanid is too powerful, with more than 10 million people, and can raise hundreds of thousands of troops, which will bring great difficulties to our dynasty in managing the Western Regions in the future. Zhou reminded with some worry.

"Well, Aiqing is right, I will not blindly go west, now the imperial court is building the main artery of the east-west highway, as long as this cement road is completed, the logistics problem that has long plagued the stability of the northwest frontier will be completely solved." Sima Shu has high hopes for the artery from Liangzhou to Qingzhou.

Growing up reading the stories of China's General History, Sima Shu has always felt that since Zhang Qian's passage to the Western Regions in the Western Han Dynasty, the rule of the central power in China over the Western Regions has been intermittent, but in general it has always been in a dominant position in political control.

Therefore, to a certain extent, Sima Shu directly believes that Chinese civilization is bound to occupy a dominant position in its culture, because according to historical common sense, the cultural situation of a country should be determined by its political status. But after coming, he found out after a lot of understanding.

The reason why the central government of China operated the Western Regions and ruled the region was not its direct purpose, but its ultimate purpose was to defend against the invasion of the Central Plains by the northern captives. This is also the most direct reason why all dynasties attach importance to the Western Regions, and few dynasties realize that there are huge economic interests hidden in it.

"Your Majesty, the minister has been obsessed with the Western Regions recently, do you really plan to include the Western Regions in the scope of our dynasty's rule?"

"Well, yes, I've always wanted to make the Western Regions our true land. Although the two Han Dynasty have always had the so-called capital protector and Changshi as their subordinates and governors, the two Han Dynasty did not go deep into the actual rule in politics. Previously, the central power in the Western Regions and China had been nominally subordinate, but I intend to go further. ”

"If our dynasty can realize its dream of occupying the Western Regions, it will not only be able to threaten the grassland peoples from the west, but also ensure the communication between the Central Plains and the countries west of the Green Mountains. Once the trade between the East and the West develops, the economic benefits contained in it will be too great. ”

"But...... However, Your Majesty, the prospects you mentioned are very good, but has Your Majesty ever thought that the reason why the countries of the Western Regions were willing to submit to the Central Plains Dynasty in the past was because the Central Plains Dynasty rarely imposed heavy taxes on the ethnic groups in the region, and did not interfere in the local rule? If I were to change all of this, would it cause a strong backlash? ”

Zhou had been in Liangzhou for several years and had a good understanding of the Western Regions, but he was worried that the imperial court's policies would be too radical and cause dissatisfaction among the locals. You must know that Huaxia is not the only one with ambitions in the Western Regions, but also the Sassanid Empire, the Kushan Empire, the Dayue Clan, Xianbei, Rouran and other forces are also eyeing it.

"Of course it will, that's why I need to learn more about the situation of the countries in the Western Regions, and if we want to realize the inclusion of the Western Regions in our territory, it is not possible to do it in a day or two, and we don't want to see results without twenty years of hard work. Forget it, let's not talk about these for now, Aiqing will continue to introduce the situation of the Sassanid Dynasty! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the Sassanid Empire, led by Nars, launched a war against the Roman Empire five years ago and defeated the Roman Emperor Galerius near Kalinigum on the Euphrates. This war lasted until Weichen left Liangzhou and didn't hear about the end, I don't know what the final result was! Zhou went on to talk about the information he had gathered about the Sassanid Empire.

Sima Shu scratched his head a little when he heard this, he didn't know much about Western history at this time, the only thing he knew was that neither the Sassanid Empire nor the Roman Empire had fallen during this time, that is, it was very likely that a long-lasting war broke out between the two sides. After a moment of contemplation, he continued:

"Aiqing, do you know anything about the Roman Emperor Galerius?"

"Your Majesty, Weichen doesn't know him too well, but he was introduced by some Kangju people who fled from the Kangju country, this Galerius is one of the four Roman emperors who control the Illyria and Danube valleys of the Roman Empire. This is also where Weichen is quite puzzled, I don't understand why there were four emperors in the Roman Empire? ”

"Hehe, Aiqing doesn't know, the territory of the Roman Empire is too huge, and the local forces are growing, so they have to divide and manage." Sima Shu knew that the Roman Empire at this time, like the Great Jin Empire, was also in internal and external troubles.

"I see, the minister kind of understood! In addition to the overlord of the Sassanid Dynasty, there are weak and small countries such as Kangju, Dayueshi, and Kushan in the west and south; In the east and north directions, there are also Xianbei and Jiankun tribes and other forces. ”

"Is Guishan weak now? If I'm not mistaken, this Kushan Empire seemed to be very powerful in the past! I remember that there was a little conflict with this country in the Later Han Dynasty! Sima Shu seemed to be very interested in Guishuang, and grabbed Zhou and asked a very crucial question.

"Well, Your Majesty remembers correctly. It happened in the second year of the Later Han Dynasty and Emperor Yongyuan, when the Kushan Empire sought the Han princess but could not, so it extorted 70,000 troops to invade the Western Regions. The capital of the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty gathered the soldiers and horses of all the vassal states of the Western Regions to lure the enemy into the depths to besiege the Guishan [***] team and force them to send envoys to surrender. Without spending a single soldier in the central court of the imperial court, a disaster in the countries of the Western Regions was easily resolved. ”

"Strong, Dingyuanhou! Majestic Dingyuan Marquis! ”

Hearing this, even Sima Shu couldn't help but praise loudly, and every time he heard Ban Chao's story, his blood boiled. It can be said that Ban Chao is one of the greatest diplomats in the history of China.

He was one of the world's earliest pioneers, and he was an expert at raising war with war.

He was the originator of the policy of razing and razing, and he was probably the most hated historical figure by the separatists in Xinjiang Province.

He is Ban Chao. He has his place in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty.

He is in a legendary family. He rarely has the ambition to write from Rong.

He once leveled the Western Regions with thirty-six horses.

He is the silhouette of an era.

For a long time, the monarch and the minister did not speak, as if they both remembered the Ban Dingyuan who threw his pen from Rong, and as if they saw him alone in the Western Regions without dishonoring the national prestige.

"Your Majesty!" After a long while, Zhou interrupted the two of them in their musings, and he continued: "There is a reason for the decline of this Kushan Empire, since this Kushan Empire was defeated by the Yuan Marquis of Han Dingyuan, this Kushan Empire has been expanding to the south, and has wiped out several countries in the Indus Valley, and the country's strength has risen dramatically! ”

"However, in recent years, with the rise of the Sassanid Dynasty on the outside, and the White Huns on the inside, how could the Kushan Empire not decline under internal and external troubles?" Speaking of this, Zhou couldn't help but glance up at Sima Shu, and couldn't help but rejoice for the Great Jin Dynasty, fortunately the Great Jin Dynasty had such a wise and martial heir as Sima Shu, otherwise the outcome of the Great Jin Dynasty under internal and external troubles may not be much better than that of the Kushan Kingdom!

"Oh, by the way, Your Majesty, the minister almost forgot again, this time Weichen also heard the news of the remnants of the Northern Huns in Liangzhou!"

"What?! Are you right? Tell me in detail! Sima Shu sat up suddenly when he heard this, and he was taken aback by the revelation from Zhou, although he also wanted to pursue the news of the westward migration of the Huns, but it was only possible after he gained a firm foothold in the Western Regions. What he didn't expect was that Zhou Chu would bring him such shocking news.

"Your Majesty, don't be in a hurry, and listen to Weichen slowly. According to the information obtained by the ministers, these Xiongnu remnants were descendants of the Northern Xiongnu who were defeated by the Later Han general Dou Xian and moved west to the western part of the Western Regions. Some Kangju merchants also told their ministers that their Kangju country has been attacked and harassed by the Huns over the years! ”

"Aiqing, did these Kangju people say where the Huns are?"

"No, every time the Huns came from the northwest, and after plundering, they retreated to the cold land in the northwest again. The specific location of the merchant is not clear, since then Weichen has inquired in many ways, but because there is no more source, so far I have not figured out where the remnants of this group of Huns are hidden! ”

Hearing this, Sima Shu was thoughtful, and said in his heart: I am afraid that this group of Huns who migrated westward have already reached the Don River Valley, of course you don't know where the other party is!

PS: Thank you LMXY for the big monthly pass! (To be continued.) )