Zhao Kuo took Mao Sui and Lian An's arms and personally helped them onto the carriage, and then extended his right hand to Huai.
The Juyan Ancient Road is extremely dangerous. If it were not for the Sophora japonica that led the way in the first half, the caravan would have been buried in the desert. The Sophora japonica made a great contribution.
Huai stretched out his right hand tremblingly, and when he was about to touch Zhao Kuo's palm, he quickly retracted it, lowered his head and said, "I am a lowly person, and I dare not ride with the king."
However, Zhao Kuo grabbed Huai and pulled him into the car without any explanation, "In my heart, as long as I am Zhao people, they are all equally noble, and no one is inferior."
After hearing this, Huai's body trembled slightly, his throat was choked and he was speechless.
"Is this the spirit of King Zhao?" In the distance, Qian stood under the city and looked at the scene in front of him, and his heart was extremely shocked.
When the caravan came back, Qian came back with the caravan because he admired Zhao Guo.
In his understanding, even the monarch of a small country like Weitou would not ride in the same car as the common people at the bottom, let alone a big country like Zhao.
But King Zhao did it.
He didn't know whether the Zhao Kingdom was as rich and powerful as the legend said, but he could feel the broad mind of King Zhao.
With such a monarch, why should the country not be rich and powerful?
When the caravan members heard about the arrival of the king, they rushed outside the city to meet each other one after another. Zhao Kuo talked with him one by one to understand what happened on the road, and told everyone about the situation at home to avoid everyone's worries.
From beginning to end, there was no trace of impatience on Zhao Kuo's face.
Only then did Liu Ping know why Zhao Kuo urgently asked for the family information of these merchants and soldiers on the way. It turned out to be for this time.
Originally, everyone was very moved when they heard that King Zhao personally greeted them, but now their emotions have reached an extreme.
Even if Zhao Kuo ordered everyone to turn around immediately and head to the Western Regions with the next batch of goods, no one would hesitate at this time.
Of course, he will definitely not do this.
Then, Zhao Kuo hosted a banquet for all the caravan members in the city, and awarded rewards in turn. Mao Sui and Lian An were directly named Lunhou, and they rose to the top in one step.
Huai was also made a master, one level lower than Marquis Lun. Others also granted him titles, money and food, and Zhao Kuo personally gave him wine and meat.
Warriors who died on the road were also rewarded, and their families received them on their behalf.
After the banquet, Zhao Kuo ordered that a stone tablet be built at the foot of Langshan Mountain to record the caravan's exploration of the Western Regions and their successful return, and to engrave the names of all the westwarders on it for future generations to admire.
The risks that pioneers need to take and the value they bring are far beyond the superficial benefits.
The contributions of these people deserve special mention.
In addition to a large number of commodities, the caravan also brought many species that were not available in Zhao State, from Dawan sweat-blooded horses to alfalfa, grapes, sesame seeds, pomegranates, broad beans, cucumbers, etc.
It greatly enriched Zhao's fruit and vegetable varieties and made significant contributions to the development of agriculture, commerce and animal husbandry.
In addition, the caravan confirmed the feasibility of the Juyan Ancient Road. Even though this ancient road took three years to travel and was far more dangerous than the Hexi Corridor, without Zhao State occupying the Hexi Corridor, this trade road was a golden one.
aisle.
The development of Qin's Hexi Corridor seriously affected Zhao's business development momentum. Many businessmen left Zhao and went to Qin and even the Western Regions, and a large number of businessmen were still waiting to see.
If a small part of the first batch of merchants can make a lot of money, a large number of merchants will inevitably flock to Qin in the future.
The adventurous spirit of businessmen is innate, and they don't care even if they lose their lives for the sake of huge profits.
The advantages of doing business in Zhao are its stability, good environment, large market, large pastures in the north, and cheap raw materials.
The disadvantage is that the big head has been eaten by Zhao, and they can only eat the small head. Although they can make a lot of money, they are still unwilling to do so.
When it came to Qin, in the face of dozens or hundreds of times the benefits, even if Qin took a big hit, they could still return home with a full load, so businessmen from all over the world flocked to Qin.
Today, the opening of the Juyan Ancient Road is to tell merchants all over the world that what Qin State has, I, Zhao State, have, and what Qin State does not have, I, Zhao State, still have.
Zhao's hundreds of years of good business environment cannot be compared to Qin's centuries of emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce, and the one-day liberation.
As long as the Juyan Ancient Road of Zhao State is open, merchants are still willing to believe that Zhao State is the leader.
It can be said that the opening of this trade road not only promoted the commercial development of Zhao State, but also suppressed the commercial development of Qin State to a certain extent.
In addition, Mao Sui and others also drew maps along the way and made detailed descriptions of the countries and regions they passed, local customs, national power, area, population, military strength, cities, special products, etc.
Although it is of no use now, it will greatly promote Zhao's understanding of the world and enrich Zhao's culture and worldview.
Before that, the world in most people's minds was only the Central Plains and the surrounding areas.
Although Zou Yan founded the Great Kyushu Theory, no one, including Zou Yan, could confirm its authenticity.
As for the legendary fairy mountains on the sea, the Queen Mother of the West in Yaochi, etc., they are even more elusive and cannot be found after a lifetime of pursuit.
However, the Warring States Period was different from those later dynasties. Although the only known civilizations were the Central Plains countries, everyone's vision was not limited and became a bird in a cage. Instead, those who had the strength to use their strength, and those who did not have the strength to use their imagination to explore and go
Guess what the world outside the Central Plains is like.
The success of Qin and Zhao in opening up trade routes made everyone know that besides the civilization of the Central Plains, there were other civilizations in the world.
These civilizations may be more backward than the civilization of the Central Plains, they may be about the same, or they may be more brilliant than the civilization of the Central Plains.
But there certainly is.
This is extremely important.
If a civilization is lonely, no matter how advanced and powerful it is, it is destined to embark on the road of destruction one day.
In addition to merchants, another group of adventurous travelers also embarked on the road to the west, north, south, and east to the sea to write their own legends and the history of China's exploration.
"A few years ago, I proposed that there is a larger world outside the Central Plains. Our place is called Chixian Shenzhou, and there are eight such large states around it. Nine states form one big state... You guys
People don’t believe it, but now it has been proven that there is indeed a vast world beyond the Central Plains.”
After the caravan returned to Handan, Zou Yan interviewed Mao Sui and Huai who had returned, including Qian who had just joined Zhao State a few years ago, and then excitedly peddled his theory in the academy.
He had done this once before when the Qin caravan returned, but there was no human or material evidence at the time, and everyone did not believe it. In addition, the relationship between Qin and Zhao was bad, so everyone inherently resisted Qin.
What Qin advocated must be wrong, and what Qin said must be false.