Chapter 1692 The Spice Road Memorial of the King of Wei
The Chongzheng Palace is extremely quiet. Exquisite palace lanterns are placed everywhere, emitting a soft light, and the air is filled with a little refreshing incense. The main raw materials come from Nanyang and are carefully prepared by the palace incense master.
The incense culture of the Han Dynasty has a long history and has entered a mature stage in the contemporary era. It embodies the connotation of a country of etiquette and the market is quite prosperous.
The spices of the Han Dynasty, except for musk produced locally, basically came from outside the region. In the past, they were mainly imported through the Silk Road trade route in the Western Regions. During the ten years of peace between Han and Heilongjiang, a large amount of spices poured in, which was a challenge to those who operated this route. I mean, it was a golden period.
Spices are also one of the few goods that the Han Dynasty needs to obtain from the outside. Due to scarcity, the benefits are naturally considerable. Incense made from spices is a necessity for the palace, nobility, bureaucracy, religion, and sacrifice, and has always been a must. Luxury.
At the same time, some spices also have medical and edible values, which are complementary to the Han Dynasty's food culture. With a wide range of uses, the market naturally grew. At one time, the supply exceeded demand, and the price was quite high.
The most significant symbol of the great prosperity of the Han Dynasty spice market was the development of Nanyang. A large number of various spices produced in Nanyang were discovered by the colonial merchants who went south and then imported into the country.
This greatly enriched the types and quantities of spices in the Han Dynasty, and the market also ushered in a big explosion. At that time, Tao Gu compiled a "Qing Yi Lu", which was an encyclopedia of the Han Dynasty. In subsequent supplements, he added There were fifty-six kinds of various spices, and by the 21st year of Kaibao, there were seventy-two kinds.
Cloves, nutmeg, pepper and other Nanyang specialties have also begun to be integrated into the spices and food culture of the Han Dynasty. Some rare spices are even sought after by the upper-class mainstream society.
With the import of a large amount of Nanyang spices, the Han Dynasty's past hunger for spices has been alleviated, but at the same time it has completely stimulated the entire market and stimulated the consumption of spices by the Han people. Subsequent development has made demand and supply consistent. An upward spiral state.
In the past few years, the price of spices has even risen instead of falling. Various fragrance products have begun to enter thousands of households in the Han Dynasty, and their use is no longer limited to aristocrats, bureaucrats, wealthy businessmen, and even ordinary people can keep their wallets tight. , you can also use things that dignitaries enjoy, even if there is a difference in quality.
In the prosperous overseas trade, spices are one of the most important commodities. It is not a big problem to say that the Nanyang route is the spice route. The sea breeze cannot blow away the fragrance floating on the ocean.
There are hundreds of spice ships traveling between Dahan and Nanyang every year, but even so, Dahan's demand for spices is still growing every year.
Most of the groups that use spices are in cities and towns. In the past thirty years, the urbanization of Han Dynasty has progressed very rapidly. It will obviously take time to completely fill this market.
An entire industrial chain has been formed around spices, and has gradually expanded. A large number of merchants and merchants are involved in the spice trade, as well as spice workshops that have sprung up. In the past ten years, a number of spice workshops have even sprung up in various places. Skilled incense masters, those who became famous went to the capital and were sought after by the upper class.
The palace has always been a large consumer of spices, and has very high standards and quality requirements. A large amount of the palace's annual expenditure is spent on this matter.
Since Emperor Liu was very light, the incense made in the court was also in line with Emperor Liu's preference, which also triggered a trend of freshness.
At this time, the fragrance lingering in the nose becomes fresh and elegant, refreshing and refreshing.
In the palace, Emperor Liu was sitting at the royal desk, holding a memorial in his hand and immersed himself in reading it for a while. Prince Liu Yang was standing by him respectfully as usual.
After a while, Emperor Liu put down the memorial, raised his head, and said thoughtfully, "What do you think of Liu Min's memorial?"
In the war in the Western Region, as Yang Yanzhao advanced into Shule and easily captured it, it basically entered a truce period. Liu Min took the initiative to stop the pace of the Western Expedition and suppressed the voice of continuing the attack.
At this point, it has been almost three months. Although some Black Khans went south to harass them, it was nothing. Under Liu Min's defense, the Black Khans' attacks were blocked.
In addition, after being invaded by the war, the area east of Kucha was in a state of devastation. Even if the Black Khans harassed them, they did not have many valuable targets for attack. If they go deep, they may end up with no return.
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During this period, Liu Min's main energy was focused on appeasing the morale of the military, the people, and organizing the restoration of production. He built fortresses, repaired cities, reclaimed acres of land, divided pastures, and the Uighurs and Moman tribes were all forcibly included.
Under the rule of the Han army, Liu Min also achieved considerable results based on limited civilian power.
However, a few months later, a bottleneck was reached: the territory was too large, the population was too small, the means of production were insufficient, and organizational capabilities were insufficient, especially the lack of officials.
Regarding the long-lasting strategy of the Western Expedition, Liu Min had already presented it before. After discussion in the court, it was approved and approved. It would be good to slow it down for a while, especially for some ministers who did not agree with the crusade against the Black Khanate. If it could end here
In the war, it would be better if Heihan recognized the current journey and results.
And Liu Min can take the initiative to consider the country's consumption and the court's difficulties, which is even more recognized. Many ministers are praising that the King of Wei has the country in mind and the overall situation.
As for Liu Min's memorial, in addition to systematically and in detail explaining the situation in the Western Regions and his strategy of consolidating the territory, the purpose was very simple: to seek help from the imperial court.
However, it is no longer the military supplies for the army. With the full supply transfer and battlefield seizures in the past few months, plus Yang Yanzhao extorting a sum of grain from the Khotan Kingdom, the reserves of the Western Expedition Army are enough for them to survive the entire year.
From the perspective of the basic demand for food alone, the current Western Expedition camp is not under great pressure. However, looking at the entire Anxi, it will be difficult to complete those operating reserves, and it will also take time to meet the new reclamation and development areas.
Come and harvest.
There are three main things Liu Min asked the court for this time: First, various means of production, mainly agricultural tools, iron tools, and seeds, and livestock and other things are secondary. Everything is lacking in the Western Regions, and animal power is still developed.
The second is the grassroots officials. Along with it, there is a construction zoning plan for the newly occupied land by Liu Min, which requires many officials to fill in to complete the imperial court's local governance system.
The third is population, which is the most scarce in the Western Region. The land is thousands of miles from Yizhou to Shule, and the population is less than one million. Even though there is a lot of desert quicksand, the elite areas are still vast and sparsely populated. Liu Min urgently needs population.
Filling is the most effective way to digest and absorb these lands.
Emperor Liu's attitude towards these requests from Liu Min was unclear at this time, but he asked about Liu Yang. Liu Yang was obviously well prepared. When asked, he almost said without thinking:
"I think that although the strategy proposed by the sixth brother is aimed at conquering the Black Khan, it is still a way to achieve long-term peace and stability. If it cannot be consolidated, even if it expands thousands of miles, it will be like a castle in the air. If there is a slight disturbance, it may
Collapse, gain and lose again.
The sixth brother can calmly look at the war between Han and Heilongjiang. In order to reduce the burden on the court and protect the land and consolidate the territory, this is worthy of recognition. Therefore, I think that the sixth brother can approve and support this memorial!"
Hearing Liu Yang's attitude, Emperor Liu smiled a little and said, "My son has indeed learned through experience!"
This was both a compliment to Liu Min and a compliment to Liu Yang. Of course, Emperor Liu recognized Liu Min's strategy for governing the Western Regions. Perhaps in his opinion, Liu Min could calmly implement it based on the actual situation of the Western Regions and the imperial court.
Making judgments and decisions and putting them into action is more gratifying than expanding a country two thousand miles.
In fact, it was not just Liu Min who calmed down. After such a long time, Emperor Liu's heated head finally became clearer, and rationality once again took over the decision-making high ground.
Under the current conditions, starting a war to destroy a country thousands of miles away does not seem like a rational behavior. What's more, after all, today's Western Region is not the discrete state where small countries stood side by side like a thousand years ago.
This slogan of regaining the homeland is not very persuasive after all.
For the vast majority of the Han people, they did not care about the Western Regions at all. However, the progress since the Western Expedition and the rivers of blood flowing under Qiuci City forced Emperor Liu to change his course.
Judging from the current results, it is obvious that the Western Expedition is losing money, and the loss is huge. Stopping the loss in time is an acceptable result.
However, he spoke too eloquently and acted too resolutely at the beginning, which made him break his words and face difficulties. Therefore, he never issued an order to withdraw his troops.
Therefore, when Liu Min began to slow down the pace of the war in the Western Regions, Emperor Liu did not engage in micro-management from thousands of miles away to urge war orders.
Even Emperor Liu did not comment on the suggestions put forward by some courtiers so far. After Liu Min's political and military strategy for the Western Regions was transmitted, it was actually in line with Emperor Liu's wishes.
At least, this Western Expedition expanded two thousand miles of territory, and everything south of the Tianshan Mountains was returned to the Han Dynasty. It looked good enough and was satisfying.
"Fighting and building at the same time, everything seems impossible," Emperor Liu said.