General Qin

That night, Zhao Tuo attended the celebration dinner held by the First Emperor for Ren Xiao and other heroes.

I don’t know whether it was because the First Emperor was ill or because he had gradually become indifferent to these banquets after cultivating immortality, but he left in the middle of the banquet.

Prince Fusu stayed and was responsible for entertaining the heroes on his father's behalf.

"General Ren is brave and good at fighting. He suppressed the barbarians in the southwest. He is our great Qin Zhongliang. Fusu admires him very much. He should give a toast to the general."

After the emperor left, Fusu stood up on his own initiative and toasted to Ren Xiao politely with a smile.

Ren Xiao was flattered, stood up quickly, and said with a blushing face: "The prince is so complimentary. Xiao is a warrior, and it is an honor to fight for the country. How dare you be respected by the prince."

Fusu smiled and said: "The general has outstanding achievements and is the pillar of our Qin Dynasty. He is worthy of it."

After some compliments, Ren Xiao drank the wine in his glass with a blushing face, looking at Prince Fusu with eyes full of excitement.

The prince personally toasted, which was a great honor.

When all the ministers followed Fusu in praising Ren Xiao, they also had their own ideas.

"The prince is sensible."

Li Si's eyes flashed with satisfaction. As a veteran in politics, he could tell that after this toast, the general Ren Xiao had already developed a good impression of Fusu.

Zhao Tuo is Fusu's brother-in-law, and Meng Tian has a working relationship with Fusu, and now he has got closer to Ren Xiao through the banquet.

With the support of these important military officials, Fusu's position as crown prince is naturally very stable.

From this aspect, Zhao Tuo and Ren Xiao are now his allies.

"As long as you help my son-in-law, all grudges will be settled easily."

Li Si squinted his eyes and looked at Zhao Tuo and Ren Xiao with a softer look.

Compared with Li Si, he focused on the prince.

In Zhao Tuo's eyes, what happened tonight was actually a very important signal.

The prince Fusu entertained his ministers on behalf of the First Emperor, which was essentially a status substitution.

The First Emperor was gradually handing over various affairs to Fusu.

If this situation continues, it won't be long before Fusu can truly gain real power.

"Everything will get better."

Zhao Tuo smiled and stood up to toast Ren Xiao and other meritorious soldiers with a glass of wine.

At the end of the dinner, the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves.

Zhao Tuo returned to the mansion smelling of alcohol.

It was getting late at this time, and Xiao Zhaoche fell asleep early without waiting for his father.

Zhao Tuo couldn't sleep, so he asked someone to bring him paper and pen, and then he sat in front of the case, drawing and thinking.

After a while, there was a sound of footsteps behind him.

"It's getting late. Why are you not sleeping when your beloved has returned? What are you doing?"

Zhao Tuo looked back and saw his wife coming.

Because it was already late at night, Ying Yinman only wore a thin and comfortable silk dress, which further showed her curvy figure. The exposed skin was as white as jade, glowing with an alluring luster under the flickering lights.

"I'm drawing a map. You should go to bed first."

Zhao Tuo replied with a smile, then turned to look at the paper in front of him.

"map?"

Ying Yinman was a little surprised. Instead of leaving, she came over and looked at the cases in front of Zhao Tuo.

On the large yellow paper, Zhao Tuo used a pen to outline strange shapes. Judging from its appearance, it really looked like a map of a certain area.

"Where is this map? Why does it look like a big rooster?"

Ying Yinman stretched out her hand curiously.

Zhao Tuo curled his lips slightly and praised his wife's keen insight.

He drew a map of the entire Asia. According to his memory, he naturally first drew a map of China that resembled a big rooster, and then expanded it to the surrounding areas.

In addition to the original map of China, he drew a Korean Peninsula in the east as the chicken's mouth, and drew several large islands across the sea below as chicken feed.

On the south side, Southeast Asia and the Indian Peninsula are used as two chicken feet. At a sudden glance, it really looks like a complete big rooster.

"Look at Daqin here. The long and narrow peninsula to the east is Haidong, which General Li is attacking. Crossing the sea from Haidong, you can reach Fusang. There should be some barbarians on it now, so there is no threat."

"To the west is the Yuezhi who Wang Lizheng led his army to attack. Past the Yuezhi is the Western Region. There are many good things in this place. Then here is the land of Baiyue in the south. From Baiyue and the Yi people, and then go southwest, you should It’s just poison.”

Zhao Tuo introduced these places to Ying Yinman while pointing on the paper.

Regarding his wife, Zhao Tuo did not want to hide such an unimportant matter.

Ying Yinman didn't ask how Zhao Tuo knew.

"Even if you ask, it's not like using Gongshuzi to fool you."

Ying Yinman murmured in his heart while looking at the map in front of him curiously. After listening to Zhao Tuo's explanation, he exclaimed: "This world is really big."

Then her beautiful eyebrows furrowed and she said, "Don't let Father see this map. If he knew about it, I'm afraid he would want to capture it."

Zhao Tuo smiled bitterly.

Not to mention Fusang and the Western Regions, at least now the Haidong Korean Peninsula and the Yuezhi Hexi Corridor are under attack by the Qin army, and Baiyue is probably also in the emperor's plan.

Zhao Tuo has heard that since this year, Tu Sui, who serves as the county guard in the south, has written three times in a row suggesting attacking Baiyue. Although the emperor did not adopt Tu Sui's suggestion, he did not dismiss it either. He probably had this intention in mind, but felt that the time was not yet ripe.

Nowadays, the wars everywhere are undecided, and the body poison messenger from further south actually came to Xianyang as an envoy to ask for an audience. No one knows what the First Emperor would think after meeting the body poison messenger.

"I hope cultivating immortality can make the emperor less lusty."

Zhao Tuo sighed secretly.

India is a good place. It is said that rice there can be harvested three times a year and the products are extremely abundant.

But it was too far away from the mainland of Qin, not to mention the limited transportation conditions in this era. There were all wild roads along the way. It was okay for envoys and caravans to travel, but it would be really difficult to send troops to conquer.

Zhao Tuo also has his own views on this.

"If the local area cannot be conquered for the time being, we can still understand the other party's situation first and open the country to communicate with the world. In the end, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages."

"And the days are still very long. We can't do it now. When the time comes in the future, it is not impossible to send a few princes and some people to enfeoff them. We can treat these places that do not belong to China, just like the Zhou people, and enfeoff the princes slowly. Let the erosion pass slowly, this is not a bad way to expand Zhuxia's territory."

Zhao Tuo buried the idea of ​​enfeoffment deeply.

He felt that the cultivated land of China was governed by counties and counties, while the uncivilized raw land was slowly assimilated and eroded through enfeoffment. In fact, it was more suitable for the national conditions of this era than the entire county system.

However, after all, enfeoffment conflicted with Qin Shihuang's ideas, and he did not dare to say it casually.

As for what the First Emperor thought about the Shendu Kingdom thousands of miles away in the southwest, it still depends on the situation when the envoys met with him.

About the fifth day after the Qin army's triumphant return, the First Emperor finally remembered this court team from a small southern state and ordered it to come to the court to pay homage.

The Qin State had two officials and institutions responsible for dealing with barbarians, one was Dianke, and the other was Dianguo.

One of them is internal and the other is external.

As the name suggests, the Dian Kingdom is responsible for the ethnic minorities in the country who surrendered to the Qin Dynasty, and has jurisdiction over various subordinate states, such as the Xiongnu and Yuezhi tribes that were defeated and surrendered before, and the southwestern Yi who had just surrendered.

As for Dianke, he is responsible for the affairs of ethnic minorities that have good relations with Qin.

It is Dian Ke who is responsible for the visit of the body poison messenger.

"The concubines have all been promoted to Dianke. This is a necessary qualification."

Zhao Tuo glanced at Dianke Mengyu.

This man was Meng Yu, the fifth doctor he was responsible for welcoming when he followed Jing Ke into Guanzhong a long time ago.

Nine years later, Meng Yu was promoted to the rank of minister and became a guest of one of the nine ministers.

Zhao Tuo guessed that the emperor might want to use Meng's people to balance the court.

Under the guidance of Dianke Meng Yu, the envoy from the distant country of Shendu formally entered the palace to meet the Emperor of Qin.

"so white!"

This was probably the first reaction of everyone in the palace when they saw the messenger.

The skin color and appearance are different from those of the Central Plains people, which is very eye-catching.

However, with Sujatha in front, the First Emperor and the ministers were slightly surprised and then regained their composure.

"Singer, the envoy of Shendu Kingdom, pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor of Qin!"

The messenger looked to be in his thirties and was eight feet tall.

Wearing an exotic costume and speaking a strange Qin language, he did not look around after entering the palace, but stepped forward to pay homage to the First Emperor.

It seems that this person has understood the relevant etiquette.

"As expected, if you want to be an envoy or go out to do business, you must have a talent for language."

Zhao Tuo nodded secretly. According to Chen Ping, this poisonous messenger Xing didn't understand Qin language at all when he first met Qin Jun.

When communicating with Chen Ping, he had to make gestures and gestures, which was very troublesome.

But Singer showed a strong talent for learning on the way from Diandi to Xianyang. He almost mastered Qin Yu in a few months along the way. Although the tone of his speech was still strange, at least it was understandable. , can communicate normally with Qin people.

Seeing that Xing could speak the Qin language and knew some etiquette, the First Emperor nodded slightly and asked: "Get up, what is the reason why the envoy from the Shendu Kingdom came to see me this time."

Singer stood up, looked at the First Emperor on the imperial couch, and said: "Great Qin is a big country in the north, and I, Shendu, are a big country in the south. Today, I represent Shendu State to trade with Great Qin and be friendly to each other. I also ask the emperor to use goods with us. The merchants of my poisonous country conduct transactions."

The good impression that the First Emperor had just established on this messenger immediately disappeared without a trace with these words of Singer.

His face darkened.

The barbarians showed no respect.

What is body poison?

Before the Qin army captured the Dian Kingdom, the First Emperor had never heard of this weird name. He thought it was an inconspicuous small country like Kunming and Ailao.

The reason why the First Emperor summoned them was that the envoy would offer a gift, congratulate the First Emperor on his mighty power in conquering the southwestern barbarians, and express his surrender.

In this way, the First Emperor could win the prestige of a foreign court official and take advantage of the situation to brag about it.

Who knew that the other party had no discernment at all, but he opened his mouth just to do business with Da Qin. He was completely putting his body and poison on the same equal position as Da Qin.

How unreasonable!

I don’t know how big or small I am!

Seeing the First Emperor's expression change.

The ministers in the palace also looked unhappy. Wang Wu, the governor of Su Nei, kept observing the emperor's expression and reacted the fastest.

He immediately stood up and scolded: "What a barbarian from the south, who doesn't know how high the sky is, how dare he claim to be a great country in the court of our Qin Dynasty, and even attempts to do business with our Qin Dynasty."

"Humph, do you know that since our Great Qin conquered the world, we have destroyed six countries of ten thousand chariots and conquered three powerful grassland countries? Our military strength is so strong that we are invincible in the world. Since you said that you are a big country in the south, don't you know? How many soldiers are there?"

Wang Wu looked sarcastic.

As far as he knew, except for the 40,000 to 500,000 troops of the six princes who were exterminated in the past, even the strong grassland countries such as the Xiongnu and Yuezhi, whose entire people had soldiers, only had 100,000 or 200,000 troops. For example, the Baiyue and Yi people in the south have even fewer people. A country with a few thousand troops can be called a big country.

How many troops can you have if you are just poisoned?

Wang Wu asked this question just because he wanted to wait for the messenger Singer to tell him a ridiculous military strength, and then he would scare him with "The Qin Dynasty holds a million halberds", so that these ignorant barbarians can open their eyes and know what the world's powerful country is. What kind of appearance.

After hearing Wang Wu's question, Zhao Tuo looked at the body poison messenger curiously. He was very interested in the situation in India in this era.

The First Emperor on the imperial couch showed disdain.

A small barbarian country in the south would be able to brag about it for a long time if it could have a force of 10,000, and it would not interest him at all.

Just under the gaze of the Duke of Qin.

However, the messenger Singer was not timid. He held his head high, looked around at everyone in the palace, and then said loudly: "Since you Qin people want to ask, I won't hide it."

"I am a poisonous country, and the land is vast and rich in resources."

"There are sixty-two million war elephants and forty-one million chariots."

"There are warriors capable of killing, 1,298 million!"

"My Lord Ashoka conquered 652 countries, killed 189.31 million enemy countries, and captured 365.24 million people!"