Zhao Kuo didn't like drinking very much, but he still vaguely remembered that he still owed a banquet. He had promised one of his friends in Wei to accompany him to have a good drink. His friend had long been buried in the land. In Fusu's words, Zhao Kuo made up for the banquet he owed.

In the decades of war, Zhao Kuo has lost everything he can lose. After most of his life, he has only this old and sick body and the idea of ​​running around for the people of the world. Only these two things have not been taken away. At this age, Zhao Kuo has also been open to life and death. He does not care about his life and death. However, he hopes that this idea of ​​being for the people of the world can continue to be passed on.

To be honest, Zhao Kuo has not been able to find a suitable successor so far. He has many disciples, among which the best, like Han Fei, have long become a famous scholar in the world. Although his official position is lower than Li Si, in terms of prestige in Qin, the three Li Si are not as good as Han Fei. However, Han Fei is Han Fei. After absorbing Zhao Kuo's thoughts, he formed his own unique and advanced Legalism theory, which is different from Zhao Kuo.

Zhao Kuo's core idea is the people, while Han Fei's core idea is the country. It seems the same, but things are different. For example, Zhao Kuo believes that the implementation of the system in the temple must first benefit the people, while Han Fei believes that the system in the temple must first benefit the country. In the original timeline, the "country" in Han Fei's heart is the king, which made indelible contributions to the centralization system and promoted the unification.

Nowadays, under the influence of Zhao Kuo, the concept of the country is no longer limited to the king, but it is still very different from that of Zhao Kuo's country and the people.

Zhao Kuo did not force it. Confucius taught more than 3,000 disciples, and each of them had his own opinions. No one inherited Confucius's theory and thoughts. It was unchanging, including Confucius's original family, and it also gradually changed and formed his own unique theory. Xunzi was very angry about this and believed that they distorted Confucius' theory. In fact, Xunzi's thoughts were not the same? Xunzi's thoughts were still different from those of Confucius, but Xunzi believed that he was the most perfect successor.

Mencius and Xunzi are probably the best heirs of Confucius' thoughts. Zhao Kuo likes these two people very much. A person who can calmly say that he sacrifices his life for justice is really exciting. Zhao Kuo still remembers reading in his previous life and read this text. When he was young, he reads it over and over with his book in his hand. His mind is full of scenes of a strong and kind middle-aged man shouting with his hands behind his back and forth, which makes him very excited and cannot be forgotten after more than ten years.

As for Xunzi, Zhao Kuo was not so excited when he read his advice to learn. He just felt that this man's old-fashioned preaching was meaningless and far worse than Mencius. However, when he came to this era and personally met this great scholar, Zhao Kuo was shocked. This great scholar had a different charm in his words and deeds, with advanced thoughts and caring about the world. This kind of saint that Zhao Kuo could imagine was probably like this.

Mencius's remarks were so generous and exciting. He spoke loudly of his pursuit of benevolence and righteousness, excitedly expressed his love for the people, angrily accusing the king, and demanding the ministers to resist. He seemed to stand in the thunder, pointing at the sky, and his figure was so tall. However, Xunzi was very calm. He calmly spoke his concerns about the world, calmly said what water could carry boats to express his love for the people, and said that human nature was evil to persuade everyone to learn. If Mencius stood in the air, looked up at the sky, and thunder flashed beside him.

Then Xunzi must have stood on the abyss, lowered his head, looked at the people suffering in the abyss, and reached out his hand calmly towards them.

The two cannot distinguish between the two, nor can they say which one is better. Both are the light of civilization. They inherited the thoughts of Confucius and continued to practice asceticism. Zhao Kuo did not dare to compare himself with Confucius, even Xunzi and Mencius could not do it. He was at best a plagiarist and brought thousands of years of experience to this era. However, Zhao Kuo still hoped to find someone who could inherit his own thoughts and pass on this unique people-oriented idea.

During his lifetime, Lu Buwei recommended a northerner who was proficient in various languages. A few months later, the northerner came to Xianyang and was brought to Zhao Kuo. The northerner called him Zhang Pu. Although he had a Pu in his name, this man was rough and tall, but not like jade. After he arrived, Zhao Kuo asked Zhao Gao to bring Gan Luo. Although Zhang Pu was tall, he was still a little restrained in front of Zhao Kuo, and his hands were trembling slightly.

"Are you a northerner?" Zhao Kuo saw that he was so nervous, so he could only use some common words to make him relax. Sure enough, Zhao Kuo asked about his family situation. When he was harvesting these recently, the northerner was no longer so nervous. He is now farming as a business and has a lot of land in the northerner. Zhao Kuo spoke about language issues. The man smiled and said, "I dare not hide it from you. I used to do business with the Hu people during my eldest father's time... I was convicted of this."

"My father fled from Qin, went to Zhao, and continued to trade with the Hu people. I learned Hu language at that time..."

"Do you know Yuezhi's words?"

"Of course, Yuezhi is the one who trades the most frequently. My father even had a few friends in Yuezhi. Yuezhi is not as cruel as the Huns. The Huns often kill merchants after getting the goods. They have bad reputations. The Linhu people are poor and have nothing to trade. Therefore, trade is carried out with the Donghu and Yuezhi people. The Donghu people have trade with Zhao and Yan. They do not kill merchants. The Yuezhi people are very good at trading themselves."

"They often go to the Western Regions and even the north to trade with tribes such as Ding Ling. There are many good things there, and they are credible and will not rob and kill merchants..." Zhang Pu began to explain these cold knowledge to Zhao Kuo. The Yuezhi people do a lot of business. They like to resell and control the trade routes between the Western Regions and the Central Plains, and even the grasslands, so they are very rich, but the price of wealth is that their combat effectiveness is not very high.

They were very indulging in merchants and would not rob and kill merchants. Of course, if they compete for trade routes with them, the situation would be different. According to what Zhang Pu said, the Huns once sent caravans to the Western Regions, and were robbed and killed by Yuezhi people in the middle of the journey. The purpose of robbery was to monopolize the trade routes between the East and the West. The Huns did not attach much importance to trade. If they were attracted to something, they preferred to rob rather than buy them.

In the eyes of the people of the Central Plains, they were all Hu, but they were all different from each other. There was also Donghu. Donghu maintained trade with the Central Plains and traded the most frequently with the Central Plains, which led to their higher degree of sinicization. In the later Han Dynasty, the descendants of these Donghu people became mercenaries of the Han Dynasty, and even helped the Han Dynasty to guard the Northeast for a while. However, in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the temple could not afford military expenditure, and these mercenaries could not support themselves, so they began to rob.

Cao Cao pacified them once. In the following days, the descendants of Donghu became more and more sinicized. They eventually went south to establish their own dynasty, and even almost unified China for a while. Among the Hu people from all over the world, the descendants of Donghu were the fastest to integrate into the Central Plains, which was inseparable from their higher sinicization. Zhang Pu knew a lot, and Zhao Kuo listened to him carefully, but he was a little worried.

He originally thought that the Yuezhi people had no hatred with Qin, and sent envoys to let them go and open up the road to the Western Regions, but now it seems that the Yuezhi people do not like others to bypass them for trade. They guard the Hexi Corridor and want to monopolize the trade route here. If the Qin State wants to open up the Western Regions and establish a trade route, the Yuezhi people will never agree, and this seems to be solved by war.

The combat power of the Yuezhi people is not too high, but it is definitely not bad. After all, they still have the strength to occupy the Hexi Corridor. On the original historical line, they were not lucky. They met the first hero of the grassland. The Yuezhi people, who were the hero, ran away with their heads in their arms. The Yuezhi people were no match for the hero, so they fled to the Western Regions. They defeated Wusun, a country near Dunhuang, on the road, killed their king, and then fled to the Western Regions.

It was also the Yuezhi people who were unlucky. The prince of Wusun, a country they destroyed on the road, fled all the way to the side of the hero. When the hero heard about him, he felt a little pitiful to him, so he adopted him for his son and taught him personally. So, when the prince grew up, he immediately took the knights to kill him. The Yuezhi people knew that they had caused such trouble. Under the attack of the Wusun prince, they were defeated again and could not even stay in the Western Regions.

They could only continue to run west, and then ran to Daxia. After the defeated Yuezhi people came here, they were surprised to find that they were the first-class combat power here. So they pacified the surrounding land and established an empire called the Kushan Empire. The place they came to was later India... The Indians were also unlucky, eating fruits and singing songs at home, and the Yuezhi people were driven to come.

However, they were also lucky. The Yuezhi was not the Huns... It is said that after the heroic prairie talked with the Han Dynasty in his later years, he thought about starting from the Western Regions and attacking Daxia and other areas (India), but he died before he could send someone. Compared to the cruel Huns, the Yuezhi people were the cute little sheep. Just say that Wusun, if the person who attacked him was the Huns, I am afraid that there would be no prince who could escape alive with the tribes...

Zhao Kuo frowned. Could it be that he could only open up the Western Regions through war?

Zhao Kuo did not like war, especially now, it is rare for people from all over the world to usher in the opportunity for development. The Northern Army fought against the Yue people in the southwest again. After pacifying Baiyue, the Qin State would definitely take some time to cultivate and attack Yuezhi without stopping. This would lead to big problems. Zhao Kuo seemed a little worried, and Zhang Pu seemed a little confused. Zhao Kuo told him his original idea. Zhang Pu laughed and said, "You don't have to worry."

"Now King Yuezhi is a foolish king. He cannot listen to the advice of his ministers. He is rich and lustful, short-sighted, and has no ability... As long as you send someone to give him some gifts, persuade him to let the Qin envoys go to the Western Regions, or promise him that the caravans from Qin to the Western Regions pay him money, he will definitely agree... Even if his ministers know that this is wrong, they will definitely not dare to advise. Those who dare to advise are killed by him..."

Zhang Pu said with special disdain: "When the Huns' Toman Shanyu was defeated by General Li Mu, the Yuezhi people wanted to take the opportunity to attack the Huns, so the Yuezhi General brought people to attack. As a result, the Yuezhi King took advantage of the general's outing and snatched the general's wife and daughter. The wife and daughter could not bear the humiliation and committed suicide directly... In order to avoid the general's revenge after learning the truth, he actually sent another general to attack the previous general..."

Zhang Pu shook his head and could see that he had nothing to say about the character of the Yuezhi King. Zhao Kuo also looked a little angry, "Beasts are worse than..."

Gan Luo quickly came to Zhao Kuo's mansion, and Zhao Kuo introduced Zhang Pu to him. After they met, they sat in front of Zhao Kuo and began to discuss the matter of the mission. Gan Luo listened carefully to Zhang Pu's introduction to the Yuezhi people and thought for a long time. Finally, he said: "Since that's the case, I'm sure... I'm willing to go to Yuezhi, and ask this Zhang Jun to go with me as my deputy..."

Of course, Gan Luo could not go empty-handed. After asking about the King of Yuezhi from Zhang Pu, Gan Luo knew what he should prepare, and the next thing had to be handed over to Li Si and the others, because it was a big deal, and Zhao Kuo was only the minister in charge of education, and diplomacy was not under his control. The Dianke of Qin was originally in charge. Later, Qi became the censor, and Dianke's position was given to Wang Wan.

Zhao Kuo wrote a letter and asked Gan Luo and Zhang Pu to go to the Prime Minister's Mansion to find Li Si.

Sitting in the Prime Minister's Mansion, Li Si was reading Zhao Kuo's letters seriously. He felt a little confused about why Zhao Kuo was so concerned about the Western Regions and wanted to open up the Western Regions. However, Li Si never asked about these things. He was just an executor. He hid the letters and did not hand them over to Han Fei to see. He calmly said to Gan Luo: "Okay, I understand, I will arrange them."

Gan Luo was a little surprised. He thought Li Si would ask about the situation on the mission. Unexpectedly, he was so straightforward and neat, Li Si immediately handed over the matter to Xiao He and asked Xiao He, Meng Yi and Zhang Cang to prepare what Gan Luo needed, prepare personnel and supplies, etc. Li Si handed over the matter to these young people, and he took Gan Luo to the palace. He wanted to report to the emperor. As the prime minister, he did not dare to make his own decisions. No matter how big or small the matter was, he had to ask the emperor's thoughts.
Chapter completed!