「…… I will explain this to my mother and Brother Wang." Zhao Mu said with some embarrassment, according to the customs of the Central Plains, the words of the parents, and the appointment of the matchmaker.

The father is absent, but the eldest brother is like a father.

Without the consent of his mother and brother, he married privately in the Peacock Empire, which is indeed not in accordance with the etiquette law.

But the situation was special at that time, and if he didn't agree, it was impossible for Ashoka to let Aliva come to Zhao with him.

Meng Wei didn't say much, no matter who Zhao Mu married as his wife, this matter was a family matter, and he couldn't say anything as an outsider.

"Mong has seen the messenger...... and Madame." Meng Fu bowed to Ashande and Aliva.

Ah Shande and Aliva also returned the salute according to the Zhao etiquette taught to them by Zhao Mu.

Due to the language barrier, the two sides did not communicate much, and they just met and separated.

Aliva followed Zhao Mu to stay in the tent of Zhao's military camp, while Ashande returned to the messenger's procession, and the two teams slowly marched eastward.

"The county guard of Zhao is a military general of the transcendent realm." On the way, the chief of the guard whispered to Ashande.

Ah Shande was not surprised, Zhao Guo is also an incomparably powerful country, it is normal to have a transcendent realm, and it will only make people feel strange if there is no transcendent realm general.

For a country of the level of the Zhao State and the Peacock Dynasty, a transcendent realm has no effect, and more of a look is at the overall wisdom and strength.

For example, the vastness of the country, the size of the population, the number of top wise men and warriors, the wisdom of the king, and so on.

"How are the other soldiers?" Ashander asked, he didn't know much about military affairs, but the chief of the guard beside him was a famous general of the Mauryan Dynasty, who had followed his brother Ashoka for many years, whether it was to lead the battle or train the troops, he had his own set of opinions.

Emperor Ashoka sent him as an envoy, in addition to protecting his brother, and another reason was to probe the military strength of Zhao.

"The soldiers are average, although they have a murderous aura, their momentum is a little scattered, they have combat experience, but they are not veterans of a hundred battles, and they should be about the same level as our country's regular soldiers." The chief of the guard said.

His eyes are indeed vicious, and he can see the strength of Zhao Jun with just one face, but what he doesn't know is that what he sees is not the pawn of Zhao State.

The real pawns of the Zhao State are not comparable to those pawns of the Peacock Dynasty who have only fought two battles not long after being recruited from the fields.

In terms of overall strength, in fact, there is still a big gap between the Zhao State and the Peacock Dynasty, but the military strength is not at all false to the Mauryan Dynasty.

"It seems that Zhao has developed commerce and trade, gold everywhere, and its military strength is relatively average." Ah Shande guessed in his heart, but what he saw was only a county in Zhao State, and the specific situation would have to wait until he went deep into the hinterland of Zhao State and understood enough before making a decision.

He sent an envoy to Zhao on behalf of the Mauryan Empire, not only for the friendship between the two countries, but more importantly, to explore the real distance between the two countries, and whether the true strength of Zhao would pose a threat to the Mauryan Empire.

The affluence of the Zhao kingdom impressed Ashoka.

Fine silk, paper for easy writing, gorgeous glass, everything is priceless.

If Zhao and the Peacock Dynasty were not out of reach, and at the same time their strength was not as good as the Peacock Dynasty, he would not mind sending troops to the Zhao State.

Of course, if the Zhao state is very powerful, or if the two countries are far away enough not to cause any conflict, Ashoka will choose to be a peace-loving monarch.

Everything depends on the outcome of this mission.

Entering the Hexi Corridor, the envoys of the Mauryan Dynasty saw an incomparably prosperous scene, with an endless stream of merchants and travelers, and a famous farmer carrying tools and building roads in full swing.

In the Peacock Dynasty, this kind of large-scale labor must have been mournful, and the people were angry, but the faces of the people of Zhao State were not unhappy at all, but they looked very happy.

"They are not servants, they work for the court, and the court gives them money." Zhao Mu explained.

"Why do you have to give money when you can force ordinary people to work? Could it be that Zhao Guo's money is too much to spend?

Ashander asked curiously, in his opinion, even if there is too much money to spend, there is no need to give it to these untouchables.

"Brother Wang's order." Zhao Mu was too lazy to explain, the values of both sides were different, and the explanation couldn't be explained, so it was better to push it on Zhao Kuo.

"Is this the most prosperous place in Zhao Kingdom?" Ashande asked.

"No, this is the most remote place in the Zhao Kingdom, and it hasn't really developed yet." Zhao Mu shook his head.

Ashande was even more frightened, and at the same time a little incredulous. The most remote places in the Zhao Kingdom have developed like this, so what kind of prosperity will the core area become?

After passing through the Hexi Corridor, Zhao Mu did not lead the Qin envoys to continue eastward, taking the Qin State into the Zhao State. Instead, it turns northeast, then north, into the Loop. Along the river, take the official road from Yunzhong County to Wuyang, and take a boat all the way south to Handan.

Although it is closer to Qin, it is an enemy country after all, and it is difficult to deal with it if there is an accident.

This gave the envoys of the Peacock Dynasty an illusion that the territory of the Zhao Kingdom was no less than that of the Peacock Dynasty!

"How long are these roads?"

"All the counties of Zhao have them."

"How many such library pavilions and academies are there in Zhao Kingdom?"

"All the counties and counties of Zhao have them, and some towns also have them."

"Can anyone go in and learn?"

"You must have a household registration in Zhao State."

"Then how many scholars does Zhao Guo have!"

"I don't know, I haven't counted it."

……

Ashande walked all the way, asking all the way, and the more he looked, the more frightened he became.

The official roads in the Zhao State were opened, and all the counties along the way were paved with official roads. At the same time, Zhao Guo also built a college to develop education, so that low-level civilians could also have the opportunity to read and write.

This made Ashande, who was accustomed to the caste system, find it hard to believe.

Zhao is also commercially developed, with cars and horses like dragons, patches of fertile land, people living and working in peace and contentment, and chickens and dogs smell each other.

Everyone did not have a hostile attitude towards the government, but supported it very much.

Ah Shande suddenly felt that Zhao was a more powerful country than the Mauryan Dynasty, which was undoubtedly a huge blow to Ah Shande, who had always been very proud in his heart.

If this matter can be reluctantly accepted, then there are still six powerful countries like Zhao in the Central Plains, and Ah Shande can't accept it anyway.

Before that, he had always thought that the Mauryan Empire was the most powerful country in the world, and although the West and the Seleucid Empire were also strong, the Seleucid Empire had been going downhill, while the Mauryan Empire was thriving.

Asander did not feel that the Seleucid Empire would pose a threat to the Mauryan Empire.

As a result, he was now told that the Mauryan Empire was not the most powerful country, and in the far east, there were seven more such countries!

How could Ashander accept it.

But reason told him that Zhao Mu was not lying, and he had asked many businessmen in private, and everyone said the same, so it was impossible for Ah Shande not to believe it.

"Zhao is really a great country." Ashande said to Zhao Mu seriously.

"I think so, too." Zhao Mu said with a smile.

Handan City towered high in front of them, giving a huge sense of impact to Ah Shande and the others.

Although their national capital is also very tall, compared with Handan, it is like a county seat, and it is not at the same level at all.

After entering the city, Ah Shande felt the prosperity and strength of Zhao even more, with the merchants coming and going, the scholars talking, the hawkers selling in the distance, and the teahouses and restaurants on the roadside...... It was several times more prosperous than the capital of the Mauryan Empire.

The streets are clean and tidy, and although there are people and carriages everywhere, there is no cow dung or horse manure to be seen, and there is no smell of any stench. With a faint smile on their faces, even if they saw the envoy of the Mauryan Empire, they were not surprised.

This shows that it is not surprising that people here are accustomed to seeing Gentiles on a regular basis.

Along the way, they looked around and kept asking about new things.

But Zhao Mu has been

He didn't have the heart to explain to them, and finally returned to Handan, where he had to go back to the palace to meet his mother and brother.

Zhao Mu did not take the envoys of the Mauryan Dynasty to see Zhao Kuo, but took them to Taichang Mansion, where Taichang taught them some etiquette and precautions.

After leaving Taichang Mansion, Zhao Mu took Aliwa to meet her mother and Zhao Kuo.

Although Zhao's mother was a little dissatisfied with her son taking a foreigner as his wife, after all, she hadn't seen her son for two and a half years, and she was reluctant to scold, but praised Aliva for her beauty.

"Tell me about the Mauryan Empire." After a while, Zhao Kuo took Zhao Mu aside.

"The strength of the Mauryan Empire is very strong, and the monarch Ashoka is a rare male lord in a century, not only laying a land comparable to the entire Central Plains, but also implementing reforms, pushing the strength of the Mauryan Empire to a peak. However, the Mauryan Empire has two huge hidden dangers. If any of them are not resolved, they may lead to the destruction of the country."

"One is that the religious power is very strong, it permeates all aspects, even Ashoka believes in Buddhism, and there is the caste system of Brahmanism. The second is that the cultural and ethnic conflicts of the Mauryan Empire were very serious, unlike the Central Plains, even if they were divided into multiple countries, they still had a cultural identity and believed that they were of the same roots. Every invasion of outsiders in the history of the Mauryan Empire brought with them a new race, as well as a new culture. So far, it has not been able to integrate well, and conflicts often break out." Zhao Mu said.

"......" Zhao Kuo was silent, not to mention the two problems of India now, that is, no one can solve them after more than 2,000 years.

Although the Central Plains Dynasty fought for thousands of years, it also experienced the destruction of the Shang Dynasty, the destruction of the Shang Dynasty, and the fall of the Zhou Dynasty, but in the final analysis, it was still that group of people who were fighting, and everyone had a common ancestor and blood heritage.

But the Mauryan Empire was different, the Aryans, Persians, Macedonians, plus the local natives, all flourished and branched out on this land.

In particular, the Aryan caste system penetrated into all aspects of the Mauryan Dynasty, and even Ashoka had to compromise for it, and could only suppress Brahmanism by supporting Buddhism, slowly weakening its power, but unfortunately it failed in the end.

Historically, Ashoka has not been able to solve the problem of religion or cultural and ethnic conflicts.

Of course, it's not that Ashoka can't do it, it's that this problem is unsolvable.

Unless the Mauryan Empire had five or six successive monarchs like Ashoka, and all of them were determined to weaken Brahmanism, it might be solved in the end, but it was also possible to prop Buddhism up into another giant.

Historically, after the death of Emperor Ashoka, the mighty Mauryan Empire, like the Qin Dynasty in China, collapsed.

However, due to the difference in systems, although the Mauryan Dynasty collapsed, it did not die like the Qin Dynasty, and still retained its basic plate.

This also made it impossible for the Mauryan Dynasty to have such a great dynasty as the Han Dynasty after it.

It is difficult to unify the world, but it is even more difficult to make the world one.

Historically, the unification of China was completed by Qin Shi Huang, but it was completed by the Han Dynasty. But there was another Han dynasty that could appear later.

This is the only one, and there is no semicolon.

The etiquette and music education of the Zhou Dynasty, the first emperor who unified the world, and the Han Dynasty that was set in one, made the Chinese nation firmly condensed into a whole, and if there was one less, perhaps China was divided.

China is still so difficult, let alone India, which is not even unified by race.

The history of India is a history of constant conquest, and as time went on, the races not only did not decrease, but increased, and the conflicts never stopped.

The most basic requirement to solve this problem is to overthrow India's caste system and get Indians to 'stand up'. "

And to overthrow the caste system in India means to work against the whole country, not to mention whether there is such power or not, as a ruler, instead of taking such a big risk, it is better to join the Brahmanism and eat the world together, isn't it beautiful!

Moreover, what the rulers have never sought was to get everyone to 'stand up,' but

Stability, as long as the society is stable, his throne will be stable, and Brahmanism is definitely the strongest in the world in terms of stability, and those scum untouchables don't want to threaten a little imperial power.

It's a pity that the inside is not the outside, and the outside will only kneel fast.

"What is Ashoka's attitude towards my Zhao Kingdom?" Zhao Kuo asked.

"Very well, otherwise I wouldn't have married my daughter to me, but I always felt something else in it." Zhao Mu said.

"After all, Ashoka is the king of a country, and the long-term relationship between children is not as important as military affairs, but the Mauryan Dynasty and my Zhao Kingdom are far away, and there will be no conflict in the short term. Maintaining good trade with the Mauryan Dynasty will be of great benefit to my Zhao Kingdom." Zhao Kuo said.

The grain, cotton, spices, precious stones, etc. of the Mauryan Dynasty were all needed by the Zhao State, and the silk, porcelain, and paper of the Zhao Kingdom could also be sold at a high price in the Mauryan Dynasty.

The countries of the Central Plains have always been troubled by grain, and the Mauryan Empire is in the tropics, with at least two crops a year, and even three crops in fertile soil, so they will never worry about food.

If a large amount of grain and grass can be purchased from the Mauryan Dynasty, it will be a huge help to the development of the Zhao Kingdom.

"Brother Chen also thinks so, at least before my Zhao State unifies the Central Plains, I must make friends with the Peacock Dynasty." Zhao Mu said, "When does Brother Wang plan to receive the envoy of the Peacock Dynasty?"

"Tomorrow." Zhao Kuo said to Liu Ping, "By the way, send someone to keep an eye on them, some things can be generously shown to them, but some things still have to be kept secret."