Chapter 337: Strategies for the Peacock Kingdom
Regarding the question of the First Emperor, Li Nian smiled and said, "So what if he can accomplish something? Then Jainism is not much better than Buddhism. If it gains power, it is just another Peacock Kingdom Buddhism."
Although the words and tone in the words were speculation, the First Emperor understood that this should be something that happened later in the history of the Peacock Kingdom.
The current king of the Peacock Kingdom is called "Sanboludi". He is the grandson of Ashoka and the son of Kurnara. After becoming the king of the Peacock Kingdom, he built tens of thousands of Jain temples across the country. Although the prosperity of Buddhism was suppressed by it, he ushered in Jainism, and the essence has not changed much.
Tens of thousands of Jain temples were built in Sanboludi. When his ancestor Ashoka promoted Buddhism, he must have built many temples. From this, it can be seen how much extravagant these kings of the Peacock Kingdom were wasted and how to tolerate the people under his rule.
Gan Yu nodded and said, "What the young master said is right. From our perspective, the king of the Peacock Kingdom is not a talented person. Even if he really uses the idea of Jainism, he is afraid that the result will not achieve his wish, which will make Jainism another Buddhism in the Peacock Kingdom."
Maybe the king of the Peacock Kingdom didn't think about so many power and tricks at all, but just believed in Jainism just like his ancestor Yue Guwang.
There is no conspiracy theory. People just believe in Jainism and want to grow Jainism, but they have never considered suppressing Buddhism and high caste aristocrats.
The First Emperor asked again: "What is the situation in the Peacock Kingdom now? Will it pose a threat to our Great Qin?"
Gan Yu said: "The Peacock Kingdom was prosperous in the era of Ashoka, and now it is no longer the same as before. As we have seen in Danmolid, the military facilities in its country are slackened and the people are dispersed. Due to the long-term peace, and the propaganda of Buddhism, Jainism and other sects, the caste system has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The people are too gentle and peaceful in their temper, and they have no idea of being safe and dangerous..."
"Although the Peacock Country is large and the people are numerous, they are like a house with good appearance and decay inside. Even if they have not encountered foreign enemies, they can still scare others by their appearance. If they encounter a strong enemy, they will be quickly destroyed with just a slight push."
In fact, it was not a matter of one or two days for the third brother to do it on the outside but it was the case during the Tang Dynasty. It was obvious that such a large country was beaten up by Wang Xuance. Even the country was destroyed by Wang Xuance. A large number of kings, queens and princes were captured. The soldiers led by Wang Xuance were not the Tang army, but the soldiers summoned from Tubo and Nipola.
Gan Yu said: "The Peacock Kingdom is not peaceful now. King Ashoka led his army to conquer various places in his early years, so that the territory of the Peacock Kingdom expanded. When King Ashoka was still alive, these places naturally obeyed. However, after King Ashoka died, he had the intention of being unjust and attempted to be independent."
"The current king of Peacock Kingdom has neither the power of Ashoka nor the power of Ashoka. He can only watch these places cause chaos and not obey their orders."
The First Emperor smiled and commented: "The King Ashoka promoted Buddhism because he thought that after his death, his descendants would not be able to suppress the conquering places he conquered. He wanted to use Buddhist sayings to turn the people into docile and harmless pig dogs to stabilize the throne of his descendants."
The ministers also felt that this was the real purpose of Ashoka's promotion of Buddhism. Otherwise, it would be too vain to be a king like Ashoka who led his army to fight for half his life and suddenly repented because of a war.
King Ashoka must have wanted to use Buddhism to achieve his goals and make the people become sheep who are obedient under the influence of Buddhism. Only then can he and his descendants stabilize the throne and rule for generations.
"However, King Ashoka did not expect that such actions would be harmed. Although his Buddhist theory made the people gentle and peaceful, it also made the people lose their desire to be martial and enterprising and be prepared for danger in times of peace."
"Although such a people are easy to govern by their descendants, they are no longer able to shoulder the responsibility of defending their families and the country. If they encounter foreign troubles, they are afraid that the country will collapse at once and the country will die quickly!"
Relying on a group of people who have been worn out with their sharpness and blood to take up their weapons and fight against powerful foreign hostilities? I am afraid that if I am defeated on the battlefield a few times, the whole country will surrender.
In some ways, Ashoka's goal was achieved, but unfortunately the effect was too good, and the entire country became a large sheep breeding area.
Of course, the people of Peacock Country are not bloody and docile as sheep. King Ashoka can only be regarded as a driving force. The real root of this situation is the caste system.
The caste system was established by foreign Aryans to suppress local people and ensure their own status. The less bloodless and docile the lower caste, the smoother and longer the system will operate.
The caste system has been in operation for thousands of years, which means that the lower caste has been suppressed for thousands of years. In addition, the local people themselves are also strange, so they have naturally worn out the martial arts of monks.
The caste system not only affects the local people, but the foreign Aryans were also influenced by this system. The caste system gave them a long-term and comfortable environment. Over time, their blood and fighting spirit were also calmed down.
As a result, there were all kinds of strange phenomena in the Peacock Kingdom: they were obviously from a low caste, but they were willing to maintain the caste system; they were obviously a high caste aristocrats, but they believed in Buddhism and Jainism, allowing them to exist.
It seems contradictory, but in fact it has its reasons. It is like a certain person who is sometimes humble and polite, not as polite as a normal person, and sometimes he is extremely arrogant and acts so cruel that he is worse than a beast.
After listening to Gan Yu's words, Emperor First Emperor and his ministers felt that the Peacock Kingdom was showing a treacherous atmosphere from top to bottom, and there were weaknesses and loopholes everywhere.
The First Emperor asked again: "From you look at it, when will this Peacock Kingdom perish?"
Gan Yu thought about this question for a while, and then replied: "Go back to your Majesty, from my perspective, if there are no foreign enemies in this Peacock Kingdom, it will last for twenty or thirty years. If it encounters foreign enemies, it will be destroyed within a few years. The stronger the foreign enemies, the faster the destruction will be destroyed. With the sharpness of the Qin army, only tens of thousands of troops can be destroyed!"
There is no big problem with the inference about when the Peacock Kingdom will perish. The Peacock Kingdom has good fortune and has not encountered powerful foreign enemies in the late period, which has caused him to stay for decades after King Ashoka passed away until he was killed by the powerful minister Busheyemidoro Xunga.
There are some questions about how many troops the Qin Dynasty should use to destroy the Peacock Kingdom. Tens of thousands are really too many. Li Nian believes that 10,000 elite Qin soldiers are enough to destroy the Peacock Kingdom.
When the Tang Dynasty King Xuance destroyed Zhongtianzhu, the Tubo soldiers and Nipola soldiers led by him were less than 10,000. The less than 10,000 troops borrowed could destroy Zhongtianzhu. The attack on the Peacock Kingdom with 10,000 elite troops of the Qin Dynasty was truly giving face to the Peacock Kingdom.
After Gan Yu retreated, the ministers in the palace started discussing. Li Si said, "This country is prosperous and should be owned by our Great Qin!"
No one refuted Li Si's words, and everyone believed that the Qin Dynasty wanted to seize this place. Compared with the silver mountains of the Xiaoben Islands and the mineral deposits of Yingzhou and Hezhou, the Peacock Kingdom of Yangzhou is more important.
Because silver and minerals cannot be used directly for food and clothing, but the Peacock Country has fertile land and abundant resources, it can provide food and clothing to the people.
If the Peacock Kingdom hadn’t had the abundant resources and the people could get the food and drink they needed to ensure basic survival, the Peacock Kingdom would not have been able to do such strange jobs. Think about building tens of thousands of temples for Buddhism and tens of thousands of temples for Jainism, and raising princes and nobles and a large number of monks. If it weren’t for the abundant resources, could it be affordable?
This made the First Emperor and his ministers very interested in the land of the Peacock Kingdom. This place should be owned by the Great Qin and become the production base of the Great Qin to support the Great Qin.
The reason why the third brother was called the most dazzling jewel in the crown of the British in later generations is that he can supply massive materials to the British in supply.
Later, after World War II, Eagle Sauce and Mao Bear joined forces to disintegrate the colonial system. The third brother broke away from the independence of the British, resulting in a shortage of supplies for the British, almost unable to even eat butter. He also made a joke about a good man who grew peanuts in Africa.
Just...
Wang Wan said: "Although the Peacock Kingdom is good, it is far from the Great Qin Dynasty. How can the army of the Great Qin come? Even if the army can go over and conquer the Peacock Kingdom, how can it be governed and sent its domestic production back to our Great Qin?"
Wang Wan did not oppose sending troops to the Peacock Kingdom, because if he could take down the Peacock Kingdom and turn it into a production base for the Qin Dynasty, it would be too great to improve the Qin Dynasty, and even he could not help but be moved.
After hearing Wang Wan's question, the First Emperor glanced at Li Nian. Li Nian immediately understood the intention of the First Emperor and replied: "The Prime Minister's question is reasonable. If these problems cannot be solved, no matter how good the land of the Peacock Kingdom is, it will be useless to our Great Qin... Please send someone to send the world map to the hall!"
Following Li Nian's words, soon a huge world map was carried into the hall, which was made by the First Emperor.
Li Nian stood up and walked to the map, took a small wooden stick handed over by the guard, pointed to the map and said, "From the map, the Peacock Kingdom seems not far from my Great Qin. You can reach it just by walking southwest from the land."
The First Emperor and the ministers looked at the map and heard Li Nian say that they remembered what Li Nian once told them. The two countries seemed not far away, but in fact there was an extremely high mountain range blocking each other.
"However, in fact, the mountains and rivers here are extremely high and the roads are very difficult to walk. If you want to pass through it from now on, it is not impossible. It is just that the cost is very high, and the gains from the exchanges may not be enough, and the efficiency is not high!"
No mistakes, one song, one content, one in 6, one book, one bar, one reading!
Just cross the Himalayas mountains, how many people can be organized and how much supplies can you bring at a time, how much harvest is compared to the cost, and how many times can you organize in a year?
Li Nian felt that the harvest might be far less than giving, so he pointed the wooden stick to the other side: "It is not advisable to climb over that mountain directly. If you still want to go over the land, you have to choose a detour. One road is from this side, passing through the land of Baiyue, which is the way Yao Zhi, Gan Yu and others traveled to the envoys."
"Your Majesty and you all know about this road. Although you don't need to cross the highest place in the world, it is also difficult to walk on mountains and rivers, dense forests, and you also need to pass through the Baiyue tribe, which is also not easy."
Li Nian changed the wooden stick to another place on the map and pointed out a route. "There is another option to detour from the Western Regions and go from here to the Peacock Kingdom."
"This road is still difficult to walk. The countries in the Western Regions are not under our jurisdiction. If we send troops to borrow from their country, it will be difficult for them to agree. Moreover, there are deserts and Gobi in the Western Regions, which is not easier than climbing mountains and passing through dense forests."
After hearing Li Nian's words, the ministers understood their intentions. They could go from land to Peacock Kingdom, but they were more difficult to walk and the cost was higher.
Therefore, according to this person's intention, is he going from the sea to the Peacock Kingdom?
The ministers looked at the map, looked at the coast of the Qin Dynasty, and then looked at the location of the Peacock Kingdom, thinking about where to start from the Qin Dynasty and reach the Peacock Kingdom by sea.
From the map, it is not easy to pass from the sea, and the road is farther than from land.
Li Nian smiled and said, "If the Qin Dynasty wants to send a large army to the Peacock Kingdom and include it in governance, it is best to go from the sea. The journey on the sea seems to be farther and more circling than on land, but in fact, the sea route has a greater advantage than on land, that is, the transportation capacity of the sea route is higher than on land."
"The materials a ship can transport back at one time are far better than those who carry horses. As long as the sea route is accurate, it is smoother than the land route. It requires crossing mountains and ridges and dense forests by land, but not at sea. A round trip may not be slower than by land, or even faster!"
"Our Qin army can go to the Peacock Kingdom by sea, and the materials obtained from the Peacock Kingdom can also be transported back by sea. But the specific route we have to discuss and prepare!"
It is impossible for the Qin Dynasty to send troops to the Peacock Kingdom now, and there are still many preparations, including technical preparations, personnel preparations, intelligence preparations, material preparations, etc.
Li Nian didn't think about swallowing the Peacock Kingdom immediately, but there could be a plan to develop in this direction so that all ministers could think in this direction. If people do not have long-term plans, they will have immediate worries. If the country does not have long-term plans, they will not last long.
After answering the question of how to get there, Li Nian said again: "As long as my army of Great Qin can pass, the strength of the Peacock Kingdom cannot confront our Great Qin at all. Conquering and conquering it is only a matter of time."
On this point, all the ministers held the same attitude, believing that as long as the Qin army went over, the Peacock Kingdom would be impossible to resist.
"The current high caste of Peacock Kingdom is actually not the local indigenous people, but a group of foreign invaders called the "Aryans". They conquered the indigenous people and brought about the caste system."
"Why can the Aryans conquer the indigenous peoples, my Daqin cannot conquer them?"
"Although this surname system is not a good thing, it has been rooted in the hearts of the people of Peacock for a long time. It has long been accepted by the people of Peacock for the sake of being willing to take the initiative to maintain it. If the Qin Dynasty governs the Peacock for one day, it should not change it rashly!"
Making changes rashly may not necessarily make the lower castes of the Peacock Kingdom grateful, but may instead arouse hatred and resistance.
After all, they are very happy to be slaves. Do you want to deprive them of their right to be livestock and slaves?
That won't become an enemy!
This situation is of course satisfying their wishes and continuing to use them as livestock.
Li Nian said: "Although the caste system has many disadvantages, it is beneficial to the Qin Dynasty's governance of the Peacock Kingdom. The people of the Peacock Kingdom have become accustomed to the caste system and become tame and docile under its influence."
"So, as long as my army of Great Qin defeated the Peacock Kingdom and declared to them that our people are all high castes, we should be able to take advantage of the situation and accept it!"
Not to mention other eras, but during the Tang Dynasty, the Tang people were 100% of the high castes in India. Even the Brahmin masters of the "Zheng Aryan Banner" had to be angry when they saw the people of the Tang Dynasty and did not dare to show off.
Unfortunately, the Tang Dynasty never regarded Tianzhu as an opponent, so even Wang Xuance's achievements in destroying Tianzhu were not valued.
(This chapter ends)