Chapter 303 Borrowing Treasures from Loulan
The group successfully entered the city of Loulan. The city here was made of earth and looked gray, without any of the majestic feeling of a national capital.
Not to mention compared with great cities like Chang'an and Luoyang, even among the county seats, this city is nothing.
However, after traveling for such a long time without seeing even a ghost, the sudden appearance of so many people still made everyone in the team somewhat excited.
Luo Zhongkan was fine, after all, he was a descendant of the Luo family, and had the holy marks to suppress him all the time, but the others were normal people, and after living like this for a long time, they had accumulated countless annoyances.
However, whether it was Luo Mo or the brave warriors, their discipline was second to none. According to Luo Zhongkan's arrangement, they stayed in the inn specially for travelers and merchants, and then began to try to obtain all kinds of information about the Kingdom of Loulan.
Luo Zhongkan came to the Western Regions not to travel, but to collect information about the local customs and practices, draw a geomancy map of the Western Regions, record the local specialties, and see what the Central Plains could get from here.
These are all very important political tasks, and the most important one is that he has to find a stronghold suitable for the survival of the Luo family in the vast Western Regions. Luo Ling clearly told him in the letter that he wanted to establish a stronghold similar to Luo Village in the Western Regions.
The Western Regions will definitely be incorporated into the rule of the Central Dynasty in the future. Every generation will send a Luo clan member to the Western Regions to take charge and assist the management agency of the Central Dynasty at that time.
The first thing to do when entering the Western Regions is to learn the local language, so that you can get rid of most of the troubles. Among the group of 300 people, Luo Zhongkan specially selected some people who were good at speaking.
These people were gifted in languages. Within a short time of entering the Western Regions, they had learned the Western dialect with a strong flavor.
Of course, the Western Regions do not have a common language like the elegant language of the Central Plains, but many of the languages here are very similar. Even if the intonation is very strange, it is basically understandable.
After entering Loulan City, Luo Zhongkan relied on his proficiency in languages and began to chat with the locals. He spoke pure Loulan dialect and no one thought that he was a person from the Central Plains. Luo Zhongkan said that he had gone to a distant place to do business and had not returned for a long time. Then, under the offensive of money, he got a lot of information out of him.
The Kingdom of Loulan was much larger than he had imagined, both in terms of population and the size of the oasis. Then Luo Zhongkan received news that the King of Loulan was cutting down trees in the oasis in order to grow more food or obtain more livestock.
This made Luo Zhongkan somewhat shocked and angry.
Although he has only been here for a short time, Luo Zhongkan has already deeply felt that this is truly a beautiful land. The oasis is no different from the Central Plains.
As a result, the King of Loulan now wants to cut down trees!
The oasis is surrounded by desert. If we cut down the trees in the oasis, won’t the oasis be destroyed?
It is true that the Central Plains had experienced thousands of years of slash-and-burn farming and large tracts of forests had been cut down, but the situation was completely different. King Su had clearly established many rules even when cutting down forests.
For example, a large number of trees in the mountains are not allowed to be cut down, and trees near water sources are not allowed to be cut down.
"The roots of the forest are used to stabilize the water and soil underground. Water and soil are the foundation for all things. Only by protecting a certain amount of forest can the land be cultivated for a long time. Especially in Fenghao, we must ensure that there are enough forests on the plateau from generation to generation."
Because of this rule, the Zhou royal family did not cut down trees from the surrounding areas when repairing the palace, but obtained them from more distant places.
If this is the case in the Central Plains, what about the Western Regions where the natural conditions are far inferior to those in the Central Plains?
Luo Zhongkan could already imagine that if the King of Loulan continued to cut down trees like this, this oasis would sooner or later turn into a barren desert. If a river dried up and the water volume decreased, this place would be buried by yellow sand within twenty years.
"How dare the mere King of Loulan destroy the land of Zhuxia!"
Luo Zhongkan's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he immediately wanted to rush into the Loulan Palace and chop off the Loulan King's dog head.
…
Ten miles outside Loulan City, Luo Zhongkan called on the brave warriors to leave quickly, leaving scattered corpses behind them.
Don't get me wrong, Luo Zhongkan certainly wouldn't really kill the King of Loulan just because he cut down trees.
After all, he only brought 300 people this time, so he still had to maintain the polite attitude of a country of etiquette. If there were 3,000 people, Luo Zhongkan would probably have really taken direct action. He could not be polite to a black sheep like the King of Loulan.
Although Luo Zhongkan did not take action, conflicts broke out within the royal family of Loulan Kingdom, and the prince launched a rebellion against the King of Loulan. Even in such a city, the conflicts of interest were very complicated.
It is said that the prince's wife was a beautiful woman who was favored by the King of Loulan. The Prince of Loulan held a grudge against her and staged a farce of loving father and filial son.
It is somewhat similar to the incident in the past when Prince Shu killed the Zhou emperor.
Luo Zhongkan couldn't help but sigh that there was really nothing new under the sun, and such strange things could be seen everywhere.
With such a godsend opportunity, Luo Zhongkan certainly had to do something, such as obtaining national data on Loulan, such as population, troop distribution, production, and books on Loulan.
Although this place is relatively backward, these things are still very important. Luo Zhongkan brought his people to receive these materials openly.
During this process, it was normal to sweep away all the treasures of Loulan Kingdom.
Of course, it is understandable that a fire might start accidentally after borrowing something, but the people of Loulan kept harping on such a normal thing, as if Luo Zhongkan and the others had done something wrong.
But there was no way out. The host did not welcome him. As a polite and civilized person, Luo Zhongkan could only leave. Faced with the radical host, he had no choice but to kill a few people to intimidate them.
This move was indeed very effective. The new King of Loulan looked in horror at Luo Zhongkan and others who were leaving. He had no idea where these people came from. The news of the Han Dynasty was still circulating in the Hexi Corridor and had not yet reached the south of the Tianshan Mountains.
"Let's go to the next country. Loulan is so small, but it has a lot of treasures. These things have never been seen in the Central Plains."
Luo Zhongkan was playing with some exquisite jade in his hands, and someone came over and said, "Sir, the master said that the Western Regions is a treasure land, and it is really true.
There are too many things here that cannot be seen in the Central Plains, and many things that are common in the Central Plains are also missing.
If we can bring the unique things of the Western Regions back to the Central Plains and sell them, our family will become extremely wealthy. If we can maintain our status in the Western Regions and control the trade routes between the Western Regions and the Central Plains, we can eat from both ends and become rich enough to rival a country. "
Luo Zhongkan's body, which was riding on the camel, froze. Although he did not know much about business, he still knew about reselling. Rare items like jade from the Western Regions would surely attract the attention of nobles in the Central Plains.
Camel bells rang out, as if it was really a caravan of merchants. Luo Zhongkan said softly, "If we want to communicate with the Western Regions, relying solely on the power of our family will only result in more losses than gains. We need the full support of the court. However, our family can indeed gain benefits from this. I think that's what my eldest brother means as well."
For the Luo family, making money has always been an extremely important thing. After all, there are so many places where the Luo family needs to spend money.
There has always been a saying that prosperity is the most important thing. In order to maintain its cultural hegemony, the Luo family needs to continuously invest countless amounts of money.
When it comes to the use of force, what makes a brave warrior is faith on the one hand and money on the other.
Whether it is training, maintaining combat effectiveness, or even various welfare benefits, a large amount of money is required.
The reason why the royal family of Luo State could afford it was that they spent the money that the nobles used for enjoyment and extravagance on the people of the country. To use the fashionable term in later generations, this was a good job of redistributing wealth.
However, no matter how well the wealth is distributed, it will not work without a source. Before, there was a country to collect taxes, but now there is only Zhaocheng left.
It is simply a fantasy for such a city to train 3,000 warriors of the brave warrior level, so the Luo family has been doing business to subsidize the huge consumption.
After walking for a while, Luo Zhongkan pondered and said, "We should send someone back to send a letter to my elder brother, telling him the situation here and whether he thinks it is necessary to send more people.
We are in the Western Regions and don’t know the situation in the Central Plains. This may not be conducive to your decision.”
Although Luo Zhongkan believed that it was impossible to send people to the Western Regions given the current weakness of the Central Plains, after all, a large army was completely different from a small team like theirs, but what if his elder brother thought that more people should be sent?
So a five-member team with a local guide returned along the same route carrying Luo Zhongkan's letter. Luo Zhongkan did not ask them to be fast. The most important thing was safety. Even three to five years would be fine as long as everyone was safe.
It took a full two years for the first letter to reach Luo Ling. Luo Ling was indeed very interested in Luo Zhongkan's description in the letter. Whether it was the fertility of the land, the rare products, or the weak country, Luo Ling regarded this piece of land as his own.
In particular, Luo Zhongkan emphasized that the King of Loulan was gradually destroying the environment of Loulan. These people did not know how to make the land fertile, and their farming techniques were not advanced, so they should make plans early.
Luo Ling touched the God of Four Seasons in his arms, thinking to himself, it would be great if this artifact did not require the consumption of family heritage. It would be perfect for permanently suppressing the Western Regions.
In the letter, Luo Zhongkan also said that the Western Regions were too vast, and he was afraid that the brothers who followed him out would have to stay in the Western Regions for a dozen years, so he hoped that Luo Ling would agree to allow the brave warriors to take concubines in the Western Regions.
From the moment the brave warriors appeared in the world, they have always been clan soldiers. They used to be royal clan members, and now they are clan members. So of course the head of the family needs to worry about their weddings and funerals.
But generally speaking, as long as it does not violate morality, the family allows free love and the person can be reported to the head of the family, who will then grant a share of the property. However, taking a concubine, especially a barbarian as a concubine, requires the head of the family's consent. After all, a bastard's son is also a member of the royal family and is still a member of the family, so this must be done with caution.
(End of this chapter)
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