Chapter 312 The Whip of God

Author: Gongsun Wujiu

Chapter 312 The Whip of God

What he saw and heard in King Wensu's palace reminded Du Ling of Zhang Yue's words he heard when he first came to the Western Regions in the first year of Houyuan.

"If you want to destroy your country, you must first destroy its history; if you want to destroy your clan, you must first destroy its culture!"

"If the Han Dynasty wants to rule the Western Regions for a long time, it must use both soft and hard tactics!"

"On the one hand, we must maintain strong military force, and on the other hand, we must replace the original culture, language and habits of the countries in the Western Regions with Han culture!"

Based on what he saw and heard along the way, Du Ling couldn't help but admire Zhang Yue's foresight in his heart.

In just over ten years, the Western Region has become completely Han style.

If this continues, when people in the Western Regions grow old, who will remember their original culture?

By that time, the Western Regions and the Han Dynasty would truly become one family.

Du Ling sighed in his heart as he followed Lord Wensu into the hall.

At this time, the hall was filled with all kinds of delicacies. Du Ling looked carefully and found that the tableware on which the food was placed was all in Han style.

"Your Majesty, you have taken the trouble!" Du Ling thanked him

Kong Liang was delighted when he heard this and said, "As long as Mr. Ming likes it!"

In order to entertain Du Ling and his party, Lord Wensu summoned the nobles of the country to hold a banquet that night.

Although Wensu is a small country, it has also benefited a lot from the prosperity of Silk Road trade.

Therefore, the quality of the banquet is no worse than that of Qiuci and Gumo.

"The method implemented by the king is very good... I hope you will not hesitate to teach me!"

After the banquet, Du Ling asked Kong Liang, the leader of Wensu Kingdom, for advice.

Kong Liang was surprised when he heard this and said, "Wen Su's strategies were all guided by the Marquis of Xinyang... Since Duke Ming wants to go west, it would be better to go to Shule and ask Marquis Liu for advice face to face."

Du Ling said, "It is so, but Wensu also has merits, and Ling should learn from it."

Kong Liang was delighted when he heard this, and immediately talked non-stop with Du Ling about road construction and the use of slaves.

Du Ling was also very interested in the origin of the slaves. Upon seeing this, Kong Liang told in detail the origin of the Cypriot people and the situation of the Cypriot countries in the north.

"The poisonous land, with its rich land and large population, is truly a land given by God... I, the great man, must take it in the future!"

During the conversation, Kong Liang completely regarded himself as a Han Chinese.

Even though he called me a big man, the Wensu nobles and attendants around him didn't take it seriously.

While people complimented Du Ling and his entourage, they couldn't help but reveal their longing for Chang'an.

This made Du Ling once again lament the power of Zhang Yue's cultural strategy in the Western Regions.

…

After Du Ling traveled a lot, he felt the power of culture more and more in his heart.

At this time, he had already begun to think about the cultural and educational issues of the Han Dynasty.

In Du Ling's view, today's Han Dynasty is already very powerful in terms of military power, but it is not even the slightest bit behind in terms of culture and education.

In his opinion, the Han Dynasty has never been able to truly rule the Qiang people, and the only thing that is lacking is the cultural and educational policy implemented by Zhang Yue in the Western Regions.

By extension, if the Han Dynasty wanted to be prosperous and prosperous, culture and education were indispensable.

After constant thinking, Du Ling believed that the biggest obstacle hindering the development of the Han Dynasty today is the monopoly of virtuous literature on culture.

When Du Ling arrived in Shule and had some exchanges with Liu Yi, his understanding of this aspect was strengthened.

"The monopoly of book culture by virtuous literature will be a fatal threat to the Han Dynasty!"

In an exchange with Liu Yi, Du Ling even publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the monopoly of books and culture by virtuous literature.

Liu Yi also supported, "What Du Gong said is true. I also believe that if the Han Dynasty wants to continue to develop and realize the rule of three generations, it must break the cultural monopoly!"

Du Ling immediately asked, "How do Liu Junhou think we can break the monopoly of virtuous literature on culture!"

Liu Yi bowed in the direction of Dongfang Luntai and said, "I think that Marquis Yunyang's method should be imitated!"

Du Ling was stunned when he heard this, and then asked, "What method did Marquis Yunyang do?"

Liu Yi was surprised and asked, "When Du Gong was in Luntai, didn't he go to Luntai to study as an official?"

Du Ling felt ashamed and said, "A certain official in Luntai only studied briefly and did not take a closer look!"

Liu Yi shook his head and said, "If Duke Du is free, he can stay at Luntai Official School for some time!"

Du Ling nodded and said, "After this trip, Ling will go to Luntai to study for half a year!"

Having said this, he continued to ask, "I wonder what Marquis Yunyang did in Luntai Official School to break the monopoly of virtuous literature on culture?"

Liu Yidao, "The first condition for virtuous literature to monopolize literature and education is to monopolize books."

"But Marquis Yunyang has made all the books in his mansion public. Luntai Official School students and even ordinary people can go to Luntai Official School to borrow and copy books at will!"

Du Ling was shocked when he heard this. No wonder he was like this.

At this time, books were extremely rare for the Han Dynasty, and it was very difficult to obtain any books.

Even the emperor found it difficult to obtain new books.

Emperor Xiaohui abolished the law of narrow calligraphy and spent a lot of money to buy a collection of books, but he still couldn't get it.

During the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, Su Lao presented a book. At that time, a volume of "The Analects" was worth five hundred gold.

For books on the Spring and Autumn Period (history), art of war, etc., one volume can even cost a thousand gold.

Although the price of books has dropped a bit nowadays, it still costs at least dozens of gold to copy a volume of books.

This is only limited to ordinary books. If it is the Spring and Autumn Period, the Art of War or other strange books, it is even more difficult to find.

In the past, many students came to Du Ling to borrow and copy books.

Du Ling also had to check whether the visitor was pious, and at the same time, the money he should collect was also indispensable.

Now that I think about it, what I did in the past was actually a monopoly on book culture.

Although Du Ling didn't know how many books Zhang Yue had released, he thought they were quite a lot.

Not to mention anything else, the money lost is not a small amount.

Du Ling sighed and said, "Marquis Yunyang is a role model for us, Ling should also imitate him!"

When Du Ling said this, he had a feeling of "I feel that what is true now is not what yesterday was"!

Liu Yi also agreed, "Now among the Han Dynasties, only Marquis Yunyang has such courage. If Du Gong wants to imitate him, he will be a blessing to the world."

Du Ling shook his head and said, "Ling is just the tail wing of Marquis Yunyang!"

…

While Du Ling was discussing cultural and educational matters with Liu Yi in Shule, Zhang Yue finally issued an order to reform the Ding tax in the Western Regions.

The Western Region Protectorate finally implemented a new tax reform based on 600,000 Dingkou (men aged 15-60 years old).

After the order was issued, people started talking about it under the bulletin boards at various barriers.

Most people can't believe that the Ding tax, which has been in place for so long, was abolished right away.

"There will really be no Ding tax in the future?" a naturalized Han man asked in disbelief under the notice board at the east gate of Luntai.

A middle-aged man on the side sighed, "How can this be false? It has the seal of the Protector of the Western Regions on it!"

He pointed to the red seal on the notice.

At this time, a businessman dressed as a Yuezhi said, "The Ding tax is not abolished, but the Ding tax is included in the commercial tax and land tax. The Ding tax is actually still collected!"

A man on the side who looked like a veteran said,

"What is the difference between using 600,000 Dingkou as the basis and abolishing the Ding tax.

"Ten years ago, the number of households in the Duhu Prefecture was only 30,000. How many are there now, and how many will they be in ten years?"

"The king's move is really beneficial to the country and the people!"

As he spoke, the veteran bowed deeply in the direction of Yunyang Houfu.

A Sogdian businessman also said, "Although the Ding tax is included in the business tax and land tax, what is it worth if it is worth one per hundred?"

"The benefits of the Silk Road are a hundred times this. After the abolition of the Ding tax, people can choose their own careers. From a certain perspective, business in the Western Regions will also flourish!"

At this time, a warrior heard this and said, "If business is booming, how can the Han Dynasty maintain a strong military force?"

A person next to him said, "As long as the big man can guarantee training twice a year and control the pavilion, there is no need to worry about the weakening of the army!"

The warrior nodded when he heard this and said, "That's right, that's right, but it's all unfounded!"

Everyone was talking a lot. Although some people were opposed to the unification of Ding and Ding taxes, most people still supported it.

Some relatively far-sighted big businessmen even judged that there should be further action in the future.
To be continued...