Qin Official

"It's a big deal..."

When the emperor issued an oral order and asked Heifu to write down the strategy of expanding the west in detail in the memorial, Heifu knew that Qin Shihuang had made a decision.

"The desire to expand territory, the benefits of real interests, and the dream of seeking immortality are all three-pronged approaches that can make the emperor change his national policy."

The emperor holds the six bridles, and his goal determines the direction of the empire. In this way, the wheel of history, induced by Heifu, slowly deviates from its original track...

At least for a few years, Heifu's men in Yuzhang can farm with peace of mind and do not have to go to the tropical rainforest of South Vietnam to suffer early.

But the Qiang Rong tribe around Guanxi, as well as the Xiongnu Yueshi, may tremble under the lustful power of Qin Shihuang...

In this matter, Heifu thought that he had done it quite rigorously. God knew and earth knew, he knew, and Wu Zhi knew.

Wu Zhi was half buried in the earth. In order to compete with the Yanqi alchemists, Wu Zhi had to bring out the legend of the Queen Mother of the West that had been circulated in the world for a long time. Heifu only provided a handwritten copy of "The Biography of Emperor Mu" so that the old witch Zhu Neng could tell more. detail. As for the so-called "black dog", it was the emperor's own idea.

Although Meng Tian had also suggested garrisoning the commandery to prepare for the Huns, it was indeed Heifu who initiated the idea of ​​expanding to the west, and it was understandable that the emperor regarded him as a guide.

Hei Fu did not make Qin expand westward on a whim, but after careful consideration.

Historically, although the Qin Dynasty also ordered Meng Tian to build the Great Wall to the north and guard the fence, the Huns were more than 700 miles away, so that the Hu people did not dare to go south to herd horses, and the soldiers did not dare to bend their bows and complain.

However, the Xiongnu rose again during the Chu-Han period, and merged with the Yuezhi and Donghu, forming a huge empire covering thousands of miles and becoming a powerful enemy in the Central Plains. Liu Bang nearly lost his life during the siege of Baideng, and then managed to maintain the situation through marriage. The Xiongnu Empire suppressed the Han Dynasty for decades, and it was not completely resolved by the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

So Heifu thought, could Qin's attack on the Xiongnu be earlier and harder?

Anyway, the current grassland is composed of the Xiongnu, Yuezhi, and Donghu. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they could defeat each of them and eliminate a major hidden danger for China?

Although the Huns seemed to have nothing to do with looking westward for the Kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West, Heifu still found a way to forcibly connect them.

When he read "The Biography of Emperor Mu", he was confused about many place names in it, such as "He Zongshi", the starting point of King Mu of Zhou's westward journey. After consulting Zhang Cang, Zhang Cang said that the country of the Hezong clan may be the Hetao area west of Yunzhong Jiuyuan.

During the reign of King Wuling of Zhao, the State of Zhao had occupied the southern foothills of Yinshan Mountain and built fortresses such as Yunzhong, Jiuyuan, and Gaoque. More than ten years ago, the Qin army took control there and stationed a garrison. Meng Tian set out from there to attack Dai State eastward and defended it from the support of the Xiongnu.

Nowadays, the Hetao and Henan areas where the Hezong clan used to be are in the hands of the Huns and are used as winter pastures. Although Heifu also knows that the route in the novel is unreliable, with this reason, there is another reason to fight against the Huns. ?

The Yellow River is full of dangers and only benefits. Although the troubles of the Yellow River are not so fierce these days, the Hetao is indeed a good place. Not only is the sky clear and wild, the wind blows the grass and cattle and sheep can be seen, there are also many forests, and in the more fertile areas In the area, some agriculture can also be operated.

However, Heifu only briefly mentioned the matter about the Xiongnu. He also said that he knew the unknown and did not dare to speak nonsense. He asked your majesty to find another minister who was familiar with the Xiongnu affairs for discussion.

Besides Meng Tian, ​​the young eunuch of the Shaofu, who else could be this candidate? Since Meng Tian was able to successfully defeat the Huns in history, he should be able to take charge of it on his own this time, so Hei Fu doesn't have to worry about it.

He is personally more interested in the Western Regions.

Heifu believes that being complacent will only stagnate, and civilizations in different regions need to communicate with each other!

Stones from other mountains can be used to attack jade. China has superior technology, and so do Greece and Rome. In addition to science and technology, civilizations in different regions lit up different technology trees due to different natural environments, and even domesticated completely different crops and animals, and then slowly spread to other places.

For example, wheat, barley, sheep, and horses were all introduced to the Central Plains from the west and north before gradually spreading. But Heifu still hasn’t seen many fruits and vegetables that are common in later generations: watermelon, grapes, melon, pomegranate, sesame, walnut, cucumber, pepper, spinach...

He really wanted to eat watermelon and drink grape juice in the summer. It would also be nice to sprinkle a ring of sesame seeds on the hot wheat cakes and sprinkle some pepper when cooking...

There is also a Scythian horse with tall legs and long legs. The alfalfa that can be used as high-quality feed for the horse and the cotton that will be used for clothing and quilts in the future are not found in the Central Plains.

Whether these things are near or far, they exist in the Western Regions, Central Asia, and West Asia. The current Western Region should be dotted with a bunch of small oasis countries, living on the jade road. To the wolf-like tiger-like Qin army, they are simply lambs to be slaughtered.

And after crossing the Pamir Plateau, you can come into contact with some Greek kingdoms left behind after Alexander's Eastern Expeditions...

It's quite exciting to think about how you can establish communication between seemingly isolated worlds by just taking a few steps.

The way of communication can be trade or conquest!

That's why Heifu believes that opening up to the west will not benefit Baiyue who will be brought under the rule of the Central Plains sooner or later, and it will be difficult to go further south. In another thousand years, Southeast Asia will also be a miasma-filled nightmare for the Central Plains people.

But what if China could open its eyes to the vastness of the world when it forges ahead in the Qin Dynasty? It’s not about how much land you can conquer in a short time, but about the long-term benefits.

"Of course, the prerequisite for all this is to first pass the Zhuqiang and Hexi Yuezhi. If you want to conquer Hexi, Henan, and Hetao, you have to start by consolidating Longxi, Beidi, and Shangjun..."

Heifu knew that one bite would not make him fat, which was why he was not worried that Qin Shihuang would be angry with him because he could not find the kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West.

"It only takes three years to build roads, immigrate people, build military frontiers, and train cavalry in the three counties. Can't we finish it?"

"After that, we will attack the Xiongnu, the Yuezhi, and capture the Hetao River in Hexi Province. We won't be able to defeat them in less than three years, right?"

Therefore, according to Heifu's idea, it would be six or seven years before the Qin army could reach Dunhuang and establish outposts.

As for the Western Regions, before the road was built, the army would not be able to pass through. Dingtian sent several caravans to take a look along the "Jade Road", the predecessor of the Silk Road.

In such a vast area of ​​southern and northern Xinjiang, how could merchant envoys easily find the fictitious "State of the Queen Mother of the West"? It's been several years since the envoys traveled all over the Western Regions and came back to resume their duties. Qin Shihuang may have passed away under the control of a dragon, and there is no need to wait for the Queen Mother of the West...

This wishful thinking made by Heifu is called "dig and don't fill in". He only cares about selling but not about after-sales service.

"At least we can get something from heading west. It's better than wasting money and letting Warlock Fang go overseas to find immortals."

Although it was considered "bullying the emperor", Hei Fu acted confidently.

With the level of science and technology of this era, ships can only sail along the coastline at most, and they will sink if they go out a little bit. What started the Age of Discovery, colonizing Japan, and going to the Americas to find corn and potatoes, is just like the Queen Mother of the West who Qin Shihuang loved. Mirage, illusion, elusive and out of reach.

Although his ideas were wild and unconstrained, most of them could not be explained by outsiders. Heifu's memorials still had to be written in a precise manner. He spread out paper and ink on the desk, held Mengtian's pen in hand, and started writing.

"I heard what Xun Qing said: If you don't accumulate steps, you can't reach a thousand miles; if you don't accumulate small streams, you can't build a river or a sea. Now that your majesty wants to do something thousands of miles away in the West, you should start with small steps. You should first open up the wasteland of the three counties and immigrate. Thousands of households filled it up and asked them to cultivate fields and collect grain. They also recruited Huarong children from three counties to join the army and practice riding, shooting and galloping. After three years of military training, they can go out to reclaim the land..."

…

One day later, Hei Fu's memorial was delivered to Qin Shihuang's palace, and Zhao Gao, the commander of Zhongche Mansion, was also there. When Qin Shihuang learned about it, he immediately put down his government affairs and wanted to read Hei Fu's memorial first, which made him feel a little jealous.

But it was more of a shock.

"Hei Fu is only twenty-five or six years old. He is so young and can lead important national policies. Li Si back then was nothing more than that?"

What's even more annoying is that his name is Heifu, and he called himself "Qin's Heavenly Dog" when he was the pavilion chief, which happened to correspond to the black dog that led the way in Qin Shihuang's dream. With this incident, Heifu gained the emperor's trust even more, and the bad medicine Zhao Gao had given him before was completely ineffective.

Although Zhao Gao felt that what Wu Zhi said about the "Queen Mother of the West" was somewhat suspicious, he was very smart and knew that he could not spoil the emperor's mood when he was in a mood, so he could only hide the matter in his heart and not make an attack for the time being.

At this time, the visitor brought up the memorial, which was a thick stack of paper. Qin Shihuang couldn't help but sigh: "Hei Fu's memorial should have thousands of words. If it were a simple slip, it would probably weigh several kilograms. The paper is really light and easy to use." …”

Zhao Gao could only agree.

But Qin Shihuang frowned when he opened Hei Fu's memorial. Zhao Gao thought for a moment that Hei Fu had said something to make the emperor unhappy.

But after reading a few pages, Qin Shihuang's brows quickly relaxed and he smiled and cursed:

"As expected of the person who initiated this matter. Although Heifu claims to be a southerner and does not understand the affairs of Kansai. He hopes that I can ask the prime minister and censor to discuss it, but he wrote it in great detail and is quite insightful."

"It's just that the name he gave Xi Tuozhi is really... weird."

Qin Shihuang looked at the title of the chapter again and felt something was wrong.

He shook his head and put the hemp paper on the desk. Zhao Gao happened to catch a glimpse of five big words written on the first page...

"Western Development?"