Chapter 749: The shocking envoy of the Maurya Dynasty
"...I will explain this matter to my mother and Brother Wang." Zhao Mu said a little embarrassedly. According to the customs of the Central Plains, parents' words and matchmaker's agreement.
Even if the father is not around, the eldest brother is like his father.
He got married privately in the Mauryan Empire without the consent of his mother and brother, which was indeed against etiquette and law.
But the situation at that time was special. If he did not agree, Ashoka would not have allowed Ariva to come to Zhao with him.
Meng Ao didn't say much. No matter who Zhao Mu married, this matter was a family matter. As an outsider, he couldn't say anything.
"Meng Ao has seen the envoy... and his wife." Meng Ao bowed to Ashande and Ariva.
Ashande and Aliwa also returned the courtesy according to the Zhao etiquette taught to them by Zhao Mu.
Due to the language barrier, the two parties did not communicate much and parted after just meeting.
Ariva followed Zhao Mu and stayed in the Zhao army's camp, while Ashande returned to the envoy's team, and the two teams slowly marched eastward.
"The governor of Zhao State is a general in the extraordinary realm." On the way, the guard chief whispered to Ashande.
Ashande was not surprised. The Zhao State was an extremely powerful country. It was normal to have transcendent realms. It would be strange if there were no transcendent realm generals.
For countries at the level of Zhao State and the Maurya Dynasty, one Transcendent Realm person has little impact. What matters more is 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, etc.
"How are the other side's soldiers?" Ashander asked. He didn't know much about military affairs, but the guard captain beside him was a famous general of the Maurya Dynasty. He had followed his brother Ashoka in battles for many years, whether he was taking orders to fight or
Everyone has their own opinions on military training.
King Asoka sent him as an envoy, in addition to protecting his brother, there was also a reason to explore Zhao's military strength.
"The soldiers are average. Although they have murderous intent, their momentum is a bit scattered. They have combat experience, but they are not veterans of hundreds of battles. They should be about the same level as our country's regular soldiers." The guard chief said.
His vision was indeed vicious, and he could tell Zhao Jun's strength with just one face-to-face meeting, but what he didn't know was that what he saw was not the main soldier of Zhao State.
The real soldiers of the Zhao Kingdom were not comparable to those of the Mauryan Dynasty who had only been recruited from the fields for a short time and had only fought two battles.
In terms of overall strength, there is actually a big gap between the Zhao State and the Maurya Dynasty. However, in terms of military strength, the Zhao State is not inferior to the Maurya Dynasty at all.
"It seems that Zhao State has developed commerce and trade, gold is everywhere, and its military strength is relatively average." Ashande guessed in his mind, but what he saw was only one county of Zhao State. The specific situation will have to wait until he gets deep into the hinterland of Zhao State.
Make a decision only after you understand enough.
He went to Zhao as an envoy on behalf of the Mauryan Dynasty not only for the sake of friendship between the two countries, but more importantly, to explore the true distance between the two countries and whether Zhao's true strength would pose a threat to the Mauryan Dynasty.
The affluence of the Zhao Kingdom moved King Ashoka's heart.
Exquisite silk, easy-to-write paper, gorgeous colored glaze, everything is priceless.
A common man is innocent of the crime of having a jade in his possession. If Zhao and the Maurya Dynasty are not out of reach, and at the same time their strength is not as good as that of the Maurya Dynasty, he would not mind sending troops to Zhao.
Of course, if Zhao was very powerful, or the two countries were far enough apart that there would be no conflict, King Ashoka would choose to be a peace-loving king.
Everything depends on the outcome of this mission.
Entering the Hexi Corridor, the Mauryan Dynasty envoys saw an extremely prosperous scene, with an endless stream of business travelers and farmers carrying tools and building roads in full swing.
In the Mauryan Dynasty, such large-scale labor must have been lamented and the people were resentful, but the people of Zhao State did not look unhappy at all, but looked very happy.
"They are not doing hard labor, they work for the court and the court gives them money." Zhao Mu explained.
"Why do we still need to give money when we can force people to work? Is it possible that Zhao Guo already has too much money to spend?" Ashande asked strangely. In his opinion, even if there is too much money to spend, it still doesn't matter.
There is no need to give it to these untouchables.
"The order from Brother Wang." Zhao Mu didn't bother to explain. Both sides had different values and the explanation didn't make sense. It would be better to blame it on Zhao Kuo.
"Is this the most prosperous place in Zhao country?" Ashande asked.
"No, this is the most remote place in Zhao country and has not really developed yet." Zhao Mu shook his head.
Ashande was even more frightened, and at the same time he couldn't believe it. The most remote places in Zhao State have developed like this, so how prosperous will the core area be?
After passing through the Hexi Corridor, Zhao Mu did not lead the Qin envoys to continue eastward, through the Qin State and into the Zhao State. Instead, he turned to the northeast, then north, and entered the Hetao. He followed the river down the river and came from the clouds.
The county took the official road to Wuyang and took a boat all the way south to Handan.
Although it is closer to Qin, it is an enemy country after all, and it will be difficult to deal with any accidents.
This gave the envoys of the Mauryan Dynasty the illusion that the vast territory of Zhao State was no less vast than that of the Mauryan Dynasty!
"How long are these roads?"
"All counties and counties in Zhao State have them."
"How many libraries and colleges like this are there in Zhao?"
"There are them in all counties and counties in Zhao State, and also in some villages and towns."
"Can everyone go in and study?"
"You must have a household registration in Zhao country."
"How many scholars must there be in the State of Zhao?"
"I don't know, I haven't counted it."
…
Ashande walked and asked questions, and the more he looked, the more frightened he became.
The official roads in Zhao State were all connected, and all counties and counties along the way were paved with official roads. At the same time, Zhao State also built colleges and developed education, so that the lower class people also had the opportunity to read and become literate.
This made Ashander, who was used to the caste system, find it unbelievable.
Zhao State also had prosperous commerce, with chariots and horses like dragons, acres and acres of fertile land, people living and working in peace and contentment, and dogs and chickens hearing each other.
Everyone is not hostile to the government, but is very supportive of it.
Ashande suddenly felt that Zhao was a more powerful country than the Mauryan Dynasty. This was undoubtedly a huge blow to Ashande, who had always been very proud in his heart.
If this matter can still be reluctantly accepted, then there are still six powerful countries in the Central Plains like Zhao State, and Ashande cannot accept it no matter what.
Before that, he had always thought that the Mauryan Dynasty was the most powerful country in the world. Although the Seleucid Empire in the West was also very powerful, the Seleucid Empire had been in decline, while the Mauryan Dynasty was thriving.
Ashander did not feel that the Seleucid Empire would pose a threat to the Mauryan Dynasty.
As a result, someone now told him that the Maurya Dynasty was not the most powerful country. There were seven such countries in the far east!
How could Ashande 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 thing, so Ashande couldn't help but not 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 in front of us, giving Ashande and others a huge sense of impact.
Although their capital is also very tall, compared with Handan, it is just like a county town and is not at the same level at all.
After entering the city, Ashande felt even more the prosperity and strength of the Zhao Kingdom. The business travelers coming and going, the scholars talking, the hawkers hawking in the distance, the teahouses and restaurants on the roadside... it was several times more prosperous than the capital of the Maurya Dynasty.
.
The streets are clean and tidy. Although there are people and carriages everywhere, you can't see any cow dung or horse dung, and you can't smell any stench. There are faint smiles on people's faces, even when they see the envoys of the Maurya Dynasty.
Not surprised.
This shows that people here are used to seeing foreigners often, so they are not surprised.
Along the way they looked around and asked about new things.
However, Zhao Mu had no intention of explaining to them anymore and finally returned to Handan. He wanted to go back to the palace to meet his mother and brother first.
Zhao Mu did not take the Mauryan envoys 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 Ariva to visit his mother and Zhao Kuo.
Although Mother Zhao was a little dissatisfied with her son for marrying a foreigner, she had not seen her son for two and a half years, so she could not bear to scold her. Instead, she kept praising Ariva for her beauty.
"Tell me about the Maurya Dynasty." After a while, Zhao Kuo took Zhao Mu aside.
"The Maurya Dynasty is very powerful, and the monarch Ashoka is a rare hero once in a century. He not only conquered a territory comparable to the entire Central Plains, but also implemented reforms, pushing the strength of the Maurya Dynasty to a peak. However, the Maurya Dynasty has
There are two huge hidden dangers. If either one is not solved, it may lead to the country's subjugation."
"One is that the religious power is particularly strong, penetrating into all aspects. Even Ashoka believed in Buddhism and the Brahmanic caste system. The second is that the cultural and racial conflicts in the Mauryan Dynasty were very serious. Unlike the Central Plains, even if they were divided into
Many countries still have cultural identities and believe that they all have the same origin. Every invasion of outsiders in the history of the Maurya Dynasty brought new races and new cultures. So far, they have not been able to integrate well, and often
A conflict broke out," Zhao Mu said.
"..." Zhao Kuo remained silent. No one can solve these two problems in India, let alone now, even after more than two thousand years.
Although the Central Plains Dynasty fought for thousands of years, and experienced the Shang Dynasty's destruction of Xia, Zhou Dynasty's destruction of Shang, and the demise of the Zhou Dynasty, in the final analysis, it was still the same group of people who were fighting, and they all had the same ancestors and blood heritage.
But the Mauryan Dynasty was different. Aryans, Persians, Macedonians, and local indigenous people all thrived and flourished on this land.
In particular, the Aryan caste system penetrated into all aspects of the Mauryan Dynasty. Even King Ashoka had to compromise with it. He could only suppress Brahmanism by supporting Buddhism and slowly weaken its power.
Unfortunately, it failed in the end.
Historically, King Ashoka failed to solve whether it was religious issues or cultural and ethnic conflicts.
Of course, this is not because Ashoka is not good at it, but because this problem cannot be solved.
Unless there are five or six kings like Ashoka in the Maurya Dynasty, and they all unswervingly weaken Brahmanism, it may be solved in the end, but it is also possible that Buddhism will be supported into another giant.
Historically, after the death of King Asoka, the huge Mauryan Dynasty collapsed like the Qin Dynasty in China.
However, due to differences in systems, although the Mauryan Dynasty collapsed, it did not lose the country like the Qin Dynasty, and still maintained its basic foundation.
This also prevented the emergence of a great dynasty like the Han Dynasty after the Maurya Dynasty.
It is difficult to unify the world, but it is even harder to unite the world into one.
Historically, the unification of China was completed by Qin Shihuang, but the unification was completed by the Han Dynasty. In the history of various countries in the world, there are many people who have their own first emperors, such as Ashoka. But another one can appear later.
of the Han Dynasty.
This is the only one, there is no other semicolon.
The ritual and music education of the Zhou Dynasty, the First Emperor who unified the world, and the unified Han Dynasty made the Chinese nation firmly unite into a whole. Without one, maybe China would be divided.
China is so difficult, let alone India, which is not even racially unified.
The history of India is a history of continuous conquest. As time goes by, the races have not decreased, but have increased in number, and various conflicts have never stopped.
To solve this problem, the most basic requirement is to overthrow India's caste system and let Indians "stand up."
Overthrowing the caste system in India means going against the entire country. Not to mention whether there is such power, as a ruler, instead of taking such a big risk, it would be better to join the Brahman religion and eat the world with blood. Wouldn't it be beautiful?
!
Moreover, what the ruler pursues is never to make everyone "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. Those scum and untouchables don't want it.
Want to threaten a little bit of imperial power.
It's a pity that it is not internally friendly, and externally it will only kneel down quickly.
"What is King Asoka's attitude towards our country, Zhao?" Zhao Kuo asked.
"Very good, otherwise I wouldn't marry my daughter to me, but I always feel that there is something else in it." Zhao Mu said.
"After all, Ashoka is the king of a country. The relationship between children is not as important as military matters in the long run. However, the Maurya Dynasty is far away from our country of Zhao, and there will be no conflict in a short time. Maintaining good trade relations with the Maurya Dynasty will be of great help to our country of Zhao."
The benefits." Zhao Kuo said.
The grain, cotton, spices, gems, etc. of the Mauryan Dynasty were all needed by the Zhao State. The silk, porcelain, and paper of the Zhao State could also be sold at high prices in the Mauryan Dynasty.
Countries in the Central Plains have always been troubled by food, but the Mauryan Dynasty was in the tropics, with at least two crops a year, and even three crops in fertile soil, so it never worried about food.
If we can purchase large quantities of grain and grass from the Mauryan Dynasty, it will be a huge help to the development of Zhao State.
"My dear brother, I think so too. At least before our country Zhao can unify the Central Plains, we must have good relations with the Maurya Dynasty." Zhao Mu said, "When does Brother Wang plan to receive the envoys of the Maurya Dynasty?"
"Tomorrow." Zhao Kuo said to Liu Ping, "By the way, send someone to keep an eye on them. Some things can be shown to them openly, but some things still need to be kept secret."