PFC Chapter 7205 Similarities and Differences
Chapter 7205 Similarities and Differences
Chapter 7205 Similarities and Differences
"What I mean is that this large-scale construction can preserve some of the manpower. Even if something unexpected happens, given the situation of the Han Dynasty, it will be preserved." Xun Qi said frankly. "Of course, it would be even better if General Oswin could win. As for the problem of 700,000 able-bodied men that you mentioned, Zhuhelai, it is not serious. The Kushan Empire has plenty of unemployed people, which can be recruited to build water conservancy projects."
At this point, Xun Qi had actually realized certain things, especially after facing Oswin, Xun Qi had a clear understanding of the divisions in the Kushan consensus.
The simplest point is that although Xun Qi did not appear in the imperial will, this was not Xun Qi's problem. Rather, the imperial will, which currently represents the greatest common denominator, could not accommodate the faction he led, and this was a very large faction.
Having this self-awareness, Xun Qi naturally needed to establish his own banner within the Kushan Empire. If you don't make your political stance clear, how can you expect people to pledge their allegiance to you, right?
Now, Xun Qi is playing the card of the Five Marquis lineage, the last refuge of the Kushan Empire, inheriting the Qin and Han agricultural and military system, expanding territory, and establishing a great cause for hundreds of generations. It is the kind of thing that even the Zhou royal family would only be able to curse if they peeked over and saw it. You dog, you dare to do this kind of thing? Damn it, this is something only the emperor can do. Take my iron fist!
But let's talk about legitimacy or not. I was expanding the territory of China. So what? You disagree? If you disagree, come and fight me! No matter how unhappy the Zhou royal family was with the State of Chu, and thought that the King of Chu's conquest of Baiyue and expansion of territory violated the basic logic of "rites, music, and military expeditions should be initiated by the Son of Heaven," every inch of land that the State of Chu expanded was Chinese territory!
We attacked your Chu Kingdom because you refused to submit to the king's rule, but every piece of territory that your Chu Kingdom assimilated was the foundation of the Chinese nation!
Don't you know any better?!
Xun Qi was playing on a basic logic—even if I, the Marquis of Wuxi, rebelled and was forced to kneel by the emperor, I should at least get a share of the land I conquered.
I, Prince Qi, the heir of the Five Marquises, transformed 200,000 square kilometers of the Thar Desert into fertile land. Even if the Five Marquises were to kneel down and their territory of several million square kilometers were divided, leaving me with only tens of thousands of square kilometers for retirement, those 200,000 square kilometers were built up by my own hard work. According to the rules of the game, at least I should be left with some of that territory, right?
Even if I were truly the rightful heir of the Five Marquises, the Emperor, if he had any sense of propriety, would still have to leave this land to me!
Even if you destroy a country, you should not extinguish its ancestral rites. The hatred between Wu and Yue was so great. After King Fuchai of Wu destroyed Yue, he still left Yue with fifty li of land. When Goujian killed Fuchai, the hatred became even greater. Goujian still left Fuchai with five li of land. However, Fuchai could not accept it and committed suicide by covering his face.
An empire of the Kushan scale, after its collapse, would at least leave behind a territory the size of the State of Song during the Spring and Autumn Period to honor its ancestors. Based on this, Xun Qi made some preparations in advance. Even if the empire was defeated, leaving behind two or three hundred thousand square kilometers would not be a major problem.
Of course, normally it should be around 100,000 square kilometers, but this desert can be planned in advance, and Chen Xi, being such a respectable person, certainly wouldn't refuse.
Xun Qi's words were not very clear, but Vasudeva I and Zhuhelai were both shrewd people, and they realized the true meaning of Xun Qi's words almost instantly.
"What do you think, Your Majesty?" Zhuhelai asked, turning his head to look at Vasudeva I.
Zhu Helai didn't have any particular feelings about Xun Qi's suggestion. If they could win this "final battle," it didn't matter whether Xun Qi was prepared or not. If they lost, this would be a way out. Moreover, due to the current situation, although many people in the Yuezhi didn't say it, they had already accepted this fact. Xun Qi was just exposing the lie.
One way to deal with this group is to isolate them, create a faction, and send them to Peshawar. This way, both the pro-war and pro-peace factions can handle their own affairs peacefully. Moreover, Zhu Helai also felt that the project that Prince Qi wanted to undertake would be enough to completely settle down these pro-peace factions.
From the perspective of the national situation, this is actually a good thing. At least Prince Qi has enough ability to keep these people in check and prevent them from causing trouble.
Even if Zhuhelai agreed, he would still need to give Vasudeva I a way out. However, Zhuhelai did not directly object, and Vasudeva I naturally understood everything.
"You can handle this small matter," Vasudeva I said indifferently, giving Xun Qi sufficient authority without commenting on whether Xun Qi's previous words were right or wrong. As a member of the royal family, it was not wrong for Xun Qi to consider his future. Whether he spoke or not, there were only the three of them in this vast palace, so why bother, right?
"Then, once Motuluo issues the edict for you, the rest of the organization will be up to you. Funds are currently insufficient. After calculating the army's needs, the remainder will be allocated to you, but don't have too high hopes; it definitely won't be enough." Seeing that Vasudeva I had fully understood his hint, Zhu Helai immediately spoke to Xun Qi.
"Okay, I'll try to raise some of the funds myself." Xun Qi indicated that as long as he had the initial capital, he could handle the rest.
Zhu Helai had no idea that the thing the three of them were talking about in the Motuluo Palace today would later go down in history and leave a very good evaluation in the annals of history, because Xun Qi really did spend the second half of his life, relying on the runoff of the Indus River, to completely wipe out the Thar Desert.
After all, the Indus River flows through the Thar Desert. The core of the entire water conservancy project is actually water storage and regulation. This is why the bigwigs of the Sang family were able to determine in a very short time that the Thar Desert could be turned into fertile land!
Later, India, through intermittent construction of reservoirs and canals, was able to carve out 30 million acres of grassland and 570,000 hectares of paddy fields in the Thar Desert.
"Well, although you have given me the imperial edict, there are some things I feel I need to say in advance to avoid any dissatisfaction later." After getting what he wanted, Xun Qi was still somewhat dissatisfied. After all, what he was currently working on was the future fiefdom of the Five Marquises, while the current Kushan was a place that Liu Bei would later allocate to his subordinates!
Therefore, considering the future, Xun Qi now feels that he must take matters into his own hands.
"What is it?" Vasudeva I asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"Repairing this thing requires manpower, but it also requires professionals. The Brahmins have detailed information, but the Shudras are the ones who do this," Xun Qi said very seriously. Expecting the Yuezhi to repair this thing a thousand years from now is nonsense. They can only rely on the Brahmins, but while the Brahmin caste has information, they don't know how to do it. The Shudras have the relevant technology, but they don't have the information.
"It's best not to attack the Brahmins directly," Zhu Helai advised. Xun Qi had already made the first move, and Zhu Helai understood what Xun Qi meant.
"But without those materials, I have no way to get started," Xun Qi said bluntly.
“I’ll have someone find a way to get it from the Brahmins. It’s not the time to turn against the Brahmin caste right now. The Han Dynasty is on the outside, and we are on the inside. Only by joining forces can we suppress the Brahmins. But if we oppress them too much, who knows what kind of outrageous treasonous plan the Brahmins might offer the Han Dynasty.” Vasudeva I was at least a wise ruler, and he could understand the Brahmins’ mentality to some extent—it wasn’t that the Brahmins didn’t want to surrender, but that the price the Han Dynasty was asking for was too high for the Brahmins to accept.
Of course, Vasudeva I did not realize that the Han Dynasty's problem was not about the price, but that it never intended to accept the Brahmins in the first place. This was the fundamental reason why the Brahmins were selling their blood to aid the Yuezhi at this stage. From the Han Dynasty, the Brahmin caste sensed the breath of destruction for the first time. Before this, they only needed to cut off their own flesh, and the other party would eventually become part of them. But the Han Dynasty was completely different.
“Indeed, then I’ll trouble Your Majesty.” Xun Qi couldn’t say that the Han Dynasty didn’t want the Brahmins at all and just wanted them dead. So no matter how you exploit the Brahmins, they have to endure it now. After all, after a thousand years, the Brahmins have lost their fighting power and must make peace with the Yuezhi in order to have enough fighting power to deal with the Han Dynasty.
Frankly speaking, from Xun Qi's perspective, the Kushan Empire's fighting strength has not yet reached its limit. This is because both Vasudeva I and Oswin have given the Brahmin leaders who took the initiative to make peace with them enough face, and have been somewhat restrained in exploiting the Brahmins.
Even so, the vast resources accumulated by the Brahmins over thousands of years allowed the Yuezhi to reach their peak fighting power under the threat of death.
More importantly, this peak can still be broken. The Brahmins are definitely not weaker than the Han families in terms of the accumulation of certain precious resources. These are all true thousand-year-old lineages, and none of them have been interrupted.
To reiterate, these decaying things, with their accumulated strength over thousands of years, might only be at the level where they could be killed by relatively stronger things. But if some powerful individuals who don't rely on external forces were to obtain these resources, the combat power they could unleash would be immense!
Putting aside everything else, just consider this: after Oswin learned that the Han Dynasty had given every veteran a muscle-building and bone-strengthening injection, he thought that if the Han Dynasty could do that, then even if the Kushan Empire was inferior, it shouldn't only be able to give this stuff to the Imperial Guards of the fourth rank and above. So he mobilized troops and used knives to coerce them, and then the muscle-building and bone-strengthening injections were actually made available to all the Imperial Guards in the Kushan Empire!
All we can say is that the Ganges Plain's output is not the problem; it's just that all of that output was evaporated in the past!
At this stage, Xun Qi has fully realized that if the Yuezhi elites led by Oswin are allowed to exploit the Brahmins, just like they did with the rudimentary steel furnaces before, forcing the Brahmins to produce eight thousand blacksmiths and then pushing forward the blast furnace for iron smelting, then the Kushan's fighting power can increase dramatically in a short period of time.
After all, the Brahmanical social division of labor system could only be described as decadent two thousand years later. If placed in the third century, it would definitely be a force to be reckoned with, second only to the first. It was only decaying because it lacked the driving force to unleash its full potential. If it were to reach its full potential, the human resources and technological reserves accumulated by this system over thousands of years, as well as all sorts of other miscellaneous things, would be quite formidable in a short period of time.
Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Xun Qi would never directly exploit the Brahmins. Instead, he would let Vasudeva I and others do it, as that would be easier to control.
"I'll have someone organize a batch of Shudras related to water conservancy construction and send them directly to you. If I remember correctly, there seem to be two Vishvakarmans in the Bangim family. I'll have someone send them to you as well," Zhuhelai said after thinking for a moment. He knew what kind of wealth the Bangim family had. Although Bangim was doing quite poorly now, as a Brahmin from Kanauj, he was a priest who truly stood at the top of the Brahmin hierarchy.
“Vishnu-karma?” Xun Qi gasped.
The division of labor in Brahmanical society led to Shudras being primarily responsible for fields such as architecture, mathematics, and materials. However, over the millennia, this meticulous division of labor has continued, and even Shudras have constantly innovated their techniques. Visvakarma is the highest title for Shudras in the fields of architecture, mathematics, and materials, signifying near-divine skills.
The level of the craftsmen employed by Chen Xi's Shaofu, the leading figures at the Donglai Shipyard, and the designers under Sun Qian's tutelage basically represented the highest level of craftsmanship in that era. While the individual skills they possessed might differ, they were all roughly at the same level, absolutely the most outstanding and useful individuals.
Xun Qi has been in Kushan for so long, and in Peshawar he has only managed to recruit one person of this caliber. He was so valuable that he kept it a secret from the moment he got his hands on him. But Zhu He came and offered to bring him two. Damn Kushan, this broken ship has not sunk yet. They certainly have a lot of resources, but they have used all their good steel on the hilt. It's hard to know what to say.
“Yes, I happen to know that. It’s useless to Rubankim, so sending him to you as a servant will also help them achieve caste advancement.” Zhuhelai said casually. He had known about this for a long time, but he didn’t really think much of it. After all, Zhuhelai was a Brahmin priest, and his arrogance was innate, especially towards those within the caste system.
"Can you get a few more?" Xun Qi asked tentatively.
“I do know of a few Brahmin families that have such servants, but I don’t know if they’re still alive,” Zhu Helai said after thinking for a moment. Xun Qi’s heart skipped a beat when he heard this.
The Han court also looked down on artisans, but the highest-ranking artisans in the Han court could hold an official position with a salary of over two thousand shi (a unit of grain). As for the Grand Supervisor of Crafts, a position with a salary of two thousand shi was not something that artisans could actually achieve.
Regardless, the Han dynasty at least treated top craftsmen as human beings. Even families like the Yuan and Yang families, even if they didn't respect craftsmen, were willing to humble themselves and befriend the very best of the best. If they were discovered, they were willing to spend a little money to support them.
What the hell do you mean by treating master craftsmen like Zheng Hun and Ma Jun as servants and then letting them die? Are you all insane?
"Go and ask. If he's alive, send him to Peshawar." Vasudeva I frowned upon hearing this. Although he didn't care much for it, since Xun Qi needed it, he could just arrange such a small matter directly.
“If you ask directly, apart from Banqim who might give it, the others, even if they are alive, are dead.” Zhu Helai spoke the truth. As a high-ranking Brahmin, Zhu Helai was well aware of the inhumanity of this group of people—my servants, even if I can’t remember them, I won’t give them to you. I’d rather kill them than give them to you.
"You can handle this yourself; you're familiar with this kind of thing." Vasudeva I didn't see anything wrong with this suggestion. Isn't it something that happens every day—a Brahmin killing a Shudra servant?
It is indeed something that happens every day, even into the 21st century. It's nothing unusual; everyone has become accustomed to it.
“I’ll check here and see if we have the manpower. I’ll send them over for you.” Zhu Helai didn’t think these craftsmen were that important. The Brahmins never lacked these lower-level workers. The division of labor among the Shudras meant that even if these people were gone, there would be others. He just felt it was something he could do on the spur of the moment and there was no need to offend Prince Qi.
"Then remember to send it over when the time comes." Xun Qi was silent for a while, but he also knew that this matter could not be rushed. Being too hasty would reveal that he valued these talents very much, which would also be a problem.
After finalizing things with Zhu He, Xun Qi didn't stay here long. He came here to confirm some things, and now that everything that needed to be confirmed had been confirmed and everything that needed to be reported had been reported, Xun Qi didn't want to stay in Motuluo for long. After all, it was someone else's stronghold, unlike Baishawa, where everyone was his own. Even if he rebelled, there would be plenty of people there willing to follow him.
"Qi!" Xun Qi descended the palace steps, intending to find a place to rest for the night before leaving. However, before he even left the palace, he heard someone calling him. He turned around and saw Meng Kangbu. Unlike his previous spirited and heroic demeanor, Meng Kangbu now appeared somewhat gloomy.
Since his last defeat, Moncomb's entire demeanor has changed drastically, becoming much more gloomy.
"Ah, Meng Kangbu." Xun Qi stopped and greeted Meng Kangbu.
"I was investigating something and happened to see you, so I said hello." Meng Kangbu spoke frankly. He had a high degree of trust in Xun Qi, and given his own nature, he wasn't the type to keep secrets, so he spoke directly.
"You're still investigating?" Xun Qi twitched his lips, looking like he didn't know what to say.
“We definitely have spies on our side, and they’re at a very high level,” Moncombu said with a gloomy expression.
Xun Qi gave an awkward but polite smile, and Meng Kangbu fell silent upon seeing this.
Lying in the nest, (,,ω)ノ"(っω｀.)