Chapter 451: Offering the Palace!
The Royal Palace of Dayuan.
Luo Shi looked at the Princess of Dayuan kneeling in front of the horse. Women from the Western Regions were very famous in the Han Dynasty, and high-ranking officials and nobles all liked to take them as concubines or dancers.
From the perspective of Luo Shi riding on his horse, the Princess of Dayuan had a very explosive figure, a typical fertile girl, and her clothes were unrestrained. She had a face like a peach and was extremely beautiful, and her eyes were quite alluring.
Luo Shi was used to seeing the beautiful girls of the Luo family, so he didn't think there was anything wrong, but others could not help themselves. The Temple Army was a ruthless killing machine on the battlefield, but they were flesh and blood people off the battlefield. Their fiery gazes were cast on the body of the Dayuan Princess.
Luo Shi's first reaction was to present this woman to the emperor, imitating his father's action of presenting the Princess of Loulan to Liu Che. If she gave birth to a son, he could bring him back to the Western Regions to be king, just like he split the Wusun Kingdom and the Dayuan Kingdom, thus alleviating the military pressure on the Western Regions Protectorate.
Luo Shi knew very well that the victory in this battle was only temporary. If the results could not be consolidated by appropriate political means, Dayuan would betray the Han Dynasty again within two or three years given its remote location.
If one wants to establish a stable rule, military victory alone is not enough; rule that relies on force is bound to fail.
"Beautiful princess, I will present you to the supreme ruler of the Han Empire, the most honorable person under the Emperor Su Wang, the great Son of Heaven."
"I will kill the King of Dayuan! I will circulate his head among the countries in the Western Regions, and then I will return to Chang'an of the Han Dynasty and present it to the emperor!"
"I will kill the nobles who persuaded the King of Dayuan to betray the Han Dynasty and hang their heads outside Dayuan City as a warning to everyone who enters Dayuan City."
"I will kill those soldiers who volunteered to fight for the King of Dayuan. Report each other. As long as the report is true, you can be spared the death penalty."
"I want Dayuan to submit to the Han Dynasty and send princes and princesses and the sons of great nobles to Chang'an to study the classics of my ancient sages."
"Princess, do you accept these conditions?"
Luo Shi's words were heard by the Princess of Dayuan and the nobles of Dayuan. Princess Huo De of Dayuan raised her head and said angrily, "General of the Han people, are you humiliating Dayuan?"
Killing the King of Dayuan was nothing, as it was something that could be thought of when surrendering, but the subsequent conditions were a little unacceptable.
The prince of Dayuan who was captured by Luo Shi earlier also said loudly: "Your Excellency General, such humiliation of Dayuan is unacceptable.
Dayuan's resistance will not stop. The general's army alone cannot conquer the powerful Dayuan!"
It's true, conquering a country and defeating a country are completely different.
But Luo Shi was not at all timid, he said slowly but firmly with a sharp gaze: "Then wait for me to defeat your Dayuan army again.
I will come back to discuss it with you then, but by then, the conditions will be more than just this!"
As soon as Luo Shi said this, the Han army immediately roared loudly, especially the temple army, who quickly pulled out the sharp blades that were still dripping with blood, and the air was filled with murderous intent.
The Dayuan nobles immediately changed color. The reason they opened the city and surrendered was because the Dayuan noble army was defeated and no one could come to rescue Dayuan. They surrendered because there was no hope of survival.
But even if they surrendered, the Dayuan nobles still had confidence in their hearts. The Han army could not stay here forever. Although the Han army had the upper hand now, the duration of fighting on home ground and fighting away from home were completely different.
But Luo Shi actually wanted to confront them and refused to give in, just to see who would die first. This made the Dayuan nobles a little panicked, and the Dayuan princess, who had been glaring at Luo Shi, softened her gaze.
…
After the expedition to Dayuan was victorious, the messenger rushed to Chang'an with the battle report to report to Emperor Liu Dan. Luo Shi led the officials of the Western Regions Protectorate and the kings of the Western Regions countries and slowly headed towards Chang'an.
In Changle Palace, close ministers reported Luo Shi's battle achievements to Liu Dan.
“Your Majesty, after receiving your order, the Grand Protector set out from Wushuang Country, led a total of 20,000 infantry and cavalry troops as well as tens of thousands of troops from the Western Regions, crossed the Tianshan Mountains, crossed the desert Gobi, and marched more than 4,000 miles to the capital of Dayuan.
First, they defeated the defenders of the Dayuan royal city, beheaded 13,500 people, captured 12,000 people, and killed and captured 13 nobles including the prince of Dayuan.
After besieging Dayuan City for a month, they defeated the coalition of Dayuan nobles, beheaded 8,700 people, captured 7,500 people, and killed and captured 24 Dayuan nobles.
After two months of siege on Dayuan, the nobles of Dayuan opened the city and surrendered. The king of Dayuan was beheaded, and the Grand Protector General sent the head of the king of Dayuan to the Western Regions to boost the prestige of the Han Dynasty. The various countries were terrified and sent their princes to the Han Dynasty to pay tribute and express their willingness to submit to the Han Dynasty.
Liu Dan was shaken by the battle report and laughed loudly, "Marquis Wushuang is indeed brave and valiant, quite like his father, Lord Zhao!
I want to reward him handsomely. I remember that Wushuang Hou is the second son of Zhao Gong. A second son is good. Wushuang Hou hasn't married yet, right?"
"Your Majesty, I have never heard of it!"
Liu Dan clapped his hands and laughed loudly, "Grind it for me. I want to write a letter to Lord Zhao!"
Liu Dan was in a very happy mood. Since the good news from the northwest had already come, the good news from the southeast must be about the same.
…
After two months of trekking, and this was under the premise of increasing the speed, the army naturally stayed in the Western Regions Protectorate. Luo Shi only brought brave warriors and envoys from the Western Regions countries.
The temple army also remained in the Western Regions to guard the temple of King Su.
This was the first time that Luo Shi met this emperor. He was the Protector-General of the Western Regions appointed by Emperor Xiaoding, but it was this emperor who ultimately enabled him to achieve such great achievements.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!"
Liu Dan returned the greeting and bowed, then laughed loudly and said, "My great contributor has returned. How many people from the Western Regions have come to congratulate us this time?"
Luo Shi stated: "Your Majesty, there are thirty-seven countries in the Western Regions that have come to congratulate you!"
Liu Dan said with a smile: "Such a scene of foreign countries coming to congratulate us, looking back, I am afraid that only the emperor of Zhou Dynasty in the past could have such a scene.
Today I am enjoying the blessing because of you, so I should reward you generously."
The first Han emperor to enjoy congratulations from various countries was Emperor Xiaowu. However, Luo Wuzhi had just pacified the Western Regions at that time, and had only subdued twelve or thirteen countries in the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains.
Luo Wuji was mainly responsible for creating the political structure of the Protectorate of the Western Regions, as well as the way in which the Protectorate of the Western Regions interacted with various countries. In terms of the number of countries that had been intimidated, it was naturally far from comparable to what Luo Shi had achieved since he became the Grand Protector.
Luo Shi smiled and said, "Without your Majesty's strong support, I would not have been able to accomplish such a feat."
This was not just flattery. The army was fighting for money and food. Without Liu Dan's unremitting support, Luo Shi could only go to war with 10,000 elite troops.
They definitely cannot defeat Dayuan.
Liu Dan was very clear about this, so he accepted all the praises and said proudly: "I have Sang Qing, so the military expenses are not a problem. The Grand Protector only needs to fight the war, and I will not reduce the military expenses by a single cent."
When Luo Shi heard the name Sang Qing, he knew that it must be the most favored minister in the past two years, the Grand Minister of Agriculture Sang Hongyang.
Although he was only the Minister of Agriculture now, Sang Hongyang's status was almost comparable to that of the Prime Minister. As the emperor's money bag, there were rumors in Chang'an that the emperor would soon appoint Sang Hongyang as the Chief Censor, concurrently the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Commerce, and become the deputy prime minister, and put the entire Han Dynasty's finances under his control.
The Luo family recognized Sang Hongyang's financial ability, but Legalist students have always been capable and no one doubted them in this regard.
The key point is that Sang Hongyang has the common problem of the Legalists. He could have been less strict, but he had to go to extremes, which is puzzling.
For example, during the Warring States Period, the content of the reforms in Wei and Qi were actually very good, but their monarchs were incompetent and did not persist. However, the Qin Legalists insisted on creating an extreme farming and warfare system, which was extremely outrageous.
Sang Hongyang is like this now. He has the example of Luo Xin, the great financial steward, who can restore production and replenish the national treasury without hurting the people. However, Sang Hongyang insists on using those tricks to make money by draining the pond to catch fish.
He knew everything and was very clear about the consequences of these policies, but in the end he still had to do so. He existed solely to maintain the emperor's rule and had no regard for the people at all.
Luo Shi rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Then I'd like your majesty to introduce the Minister of Agriculture to me."
…
Liu Dan offered the pickled head of the King of Dayuan as a sacrifice in the Taimiao of the Han Dynasty. After Luo Shi defeated Dayuan, he began to order people to exaggerate Dayuan's power. In the minds of the Han people, Dayuan was a big country with a population of one million and a hundred thousand soldiers, not an ordinary small country in the Western Regions with a population of tens of thousands and a few thousand soldiers.
It should be remembered that the Huns in the past had a population of only two million. This made Liu Dan feel very proud. Defeating such a big country could demonstrate the strength of the Han Dynasty and the prosperity of its military power.
"My dear ancestors, the head of the King of Dayuan is just the beginning. I will lead the iron cavalry of my great Han Dynasty and conquer a vast world. Wherever I look, it will be the territory of the great Han Dynasty, and all the bandit chieftains will submit to the emperor."
Liu Dan's heart was full of lofty ideals, and the continuous victories of the Han army gave him unlimited confidence.
Time flies like running water, and while Liu Dan was making these bold statements, several years had passed.
————
After suppressing the Dayuan rebellion, the Han Dynasty's sphere of influence completely covered the Western Regions. The Western Regions Protectorate officially became the highest administrative body in the entire Western Regions. The Western Regions Protectorate was the highest administrative and military officer in the Western Regions. In order to deter the Dayuan region that had just been pacified, as well as the more distant countries such as Kangju and Daxia, the political center of the Western Regions Protectorate was completely set in the Yishui River Valley and the unparalleled marquisate—Dunhuang County. These were the two core areas for the Han Dynasty to stabilize its rule over the Western Regions. Whoever controlled these areas controlled the Western Regions. ——"The Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty"
(End of this chapter)
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