On the grassland, Meng Ke, with Khorchin as the center, successfully gathered seven tribes including the Dongtumed in a short period of time and launched a grand "autumn hunt". Now, Qin Mu in Beijing was finally relieved. With seven younger brothers as thugs, at least in the short term, there would be no major problems with Liaodong's defense.
As far as the Central Plains dynasties were concerned, the entire north and western Xinjiang had always been surrounded by nomadic peoples. And since ancient times, western Xinjiang and northern Xinjiang were also the places where the Central Plains dynasties spent the most energy.
If the northwest is unstable, the entire Central Plains dynasty will be in trouble. The farming nation is inherently in a passive position when facing the nomadic people. The nomadic people come when they want, rob and leave, making it impossible to defend against them and impossible to catch up. Sending a large army to attack is not only costly, but also not sure whether you can find the opponent to fight a decisive battle.
The issue of the Northwest is a major issue, and it is necessary to make a macro plan and a long-term and detailed layout.
A few days ago, Qin Mu discussed foreign policy with his ministers in the court, but the discussion was not in-depth enough, and no complete and sustainable foreign policy framework was formed, let alone any implementable details.
In ancient China, the Central Plains dynasties always regarded themselves as the Celestial Empire and often adopted a condescending attitude in diplomacy. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, either you acknowledged that you were a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty and established a tributary relationship between master and vassal, or they would sever ties with you and prohibit you from coming to trade.
This is a strong and even somewhat rough foreign policy. At this time, diplomacy is often not aimed at resolving conflicts with neighboring countries, coordinating the concerns of all parties, and winning greater benefits for the country. It is just to win the vanity of "all nations coming to pay tribute" for the Ming emperor.
Although each dynasty also had institutions such as the Honglu Temple and the Lifanyuan, it is not difficult to tell from the names of the institutions what kind of mentality this diplomatic mechanism exists in.
This kind of crude diplomatic method not only fails to solve the problem, but also triggers many unnecessary wars. For example, the problem of Japanese pirates that plagued the Ming Dynasty for a long time, who dares to say that there was no reason for the Ming Dynasty to ban trade with Japan
It can be said that, except for the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when a group of famous diplomats such as Su Qin and Zhang Yi emerged, diplomacy has not received enough attention in all dynasties, and there are few comprehensive plans for foreign policies.
As a latecomer, Qin Mu knew very well that this was wrong, and extremely wrong.
The United States is powerful enough, but its State Department, which is in charge of foreign affairs, is one of the most important departments of the country. It is not difficult to see that diplomacy is actually the most important component of a country's politics, economy, military and so on.
Resolving issues through diplomatic means and developing trade are important activities for a country to exercise its sovereignty through peaceful means in order to avoid war.
Sometimes, good diplomacy can be more effective than sending out an army of 100,000.
These days, Qin Mu is considering setting up a Ministry of Foreign Affairs in addition to the existing six ministries, to coexist with the six ministries, instead of having the Honglu Temple of the Ming Dynasty and the Lifanyuan of the Qing Dynasty in charge of foreign affairs.
At the same time, a diplomatic academy was established to train talents who can form alliances and make strategic decisions.
For Daqin, the current diplomatic focus is naturally to solve the problems in the northern and western borders. These nomadic peoples are still the most important factor threatening the stability of Daqin. To solve these problems, we must first find out the internal causes of the problems in detail;
Why did nomadic peoples always invade the south? Was it because they were brutal and barbaric by nature? Or was it because they were forced by the relatively harsh living environment? If we don't understand these internal reasons, we can't find a fundamental solution.
Meng Ke gathered seven tribes to hold a grand "autumn hunt", which only solved the problem of short-term stability in Liaodong. In the process of following the Qin Dynasty in the war, these seven tribes will inevitably gain a lot of benefits and gradually become stronger. Once they become strong to a certain extent, they will become the biggest threat to the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, Meng Ke's move is not a fundamental solution to the problem of northern border.
On this day, Qin Mu once again summoned Sima An, Li Yuan and Yang Shen to the Yangxin Palace to discuss together.
Yang Shen spoke eloquently: "I have summarized it. In my opinion, the nomadic people went south to plunder for the following reasons. First, their living environment is relatively harsh, which is not conducive to farming. They are greatly affected by the climate. In years with insufficient water and grass, a large number of cattle and sheep die. If there is a severe drought or snowstorm, it is common for more than half of the livestock to die at once. This forced some of them to solve the problem of survival by means of plundering.
Second, nomadic peoples produce only horses, cattle, sheep and llamas. Since the products of various nomadic tribes are basically the same, they are nothing more than horses, cattle, sheep and llamas, so they have no need for internal trade and cannot obtain scarce living materials from internal trade.
Unlike the farming people in the Central Plains, they were not self-sufficient in all kinds of materials. Instead, they had to rely heavily on foreign trade. For example, they had no production or difficulty in self-sufficiency in rice, tea, salt, iron and other necessities of life, and could only obtain them through foreign trade or plunder.
Third, there is another very important but often overlooked factor, which is that in years with abundant grass and water, herders must sell large quantities of their livestock and fur products to the Central Plains.
The main wealth of agricultural societies is land and food, which have a strong ability to maintain their value. The main wealth of nomadic peoples is animals such as horses, cattle and sheep. In bad years, animals will die in large numbers, while in good years, they will be severely depreciated due to overproduction.
Therefore, whenever there was a good year for livestock breeding in the grasslands, they would sell them to the Central Plains. Once the trade with the Central Plains was blocked, the only way out was to start a war.
I have carefully checked the historical materials of the Han and Tang dynasties and found such a phenomenon: whenever the Xiongnu and Turks launched large-scale invasions to the south, there was no famine in the country, but on the contrary, they withdrew their troops and sought peace nine times due to famine. However, if famine started due to population increase or disasters, small groups of nomads on the edge of the grassland were forced to take risks and invade the border, but the scale of such invasions was usually small and there were few records in history books.
On the contrary, every time the Xiongnu invaded the south on a large scale, it was during a good year. I have carefully studied the reasons and think that the most likely reason is trade. When nomadic people encounter a good year, the value of livestock depreciates severely, and the merchants from the Central Plains take the opportunity to lower the price. Their actual harvest is not even much more than in a bad year. They suffer from severe trade exploitation. At this time, their people are strong and their horses are fat, so large-scale invasions to the south often occur in such years. "
Yang Shen's words greatly surprised Qin Mu. He had always believed that the nomadic peoples' invasion of the south was mostly due to natural disasters.
Qin Mu believed that Yang Shen had really checked the history books carefully and would never dare to speak nonsense on this matter. That is to say, the main reason for the nomadic peoples' large-scale invasion to the south was not famine.
In good years, they encounter serious exploitation in trade. Although this is the inevitable law of natural economy, why do they care so much about you? At this time, some of them have guns, strong men and fat horses, so let's use force to speak.
It is extremely important to figure out these reasons. If you don't find the crux of the nomadic peoples' invasion to the south, you won't be able to prescribe the right remedy and develop a comprehensive and correct solution.
Sima An said: "The reasons for the nomadic peoples' large-scale invasion to the south are definitely not just these. Most of the invasions to the south are due to the greed for power of ambitious people, and they even want to replace the throne of the emperor of the Central Plains."
Qin Mu nodded and said, "Everyone has a point. Considering these factors, first of all, what we should do is never allow a unified and powerful nomadic tribe to appear in the surrounding areas. Secondly, formulate a complete diplomatic and border trade system. The two complement each other to regulate the relationship between the Qin Dynasty and the surrounding tribes.
I have been thinking a lot these days. In the Autumn, Spring and Warring States Period, there were strategists like Su Qin and Zhang Yi, who were as powerful as a country. However, in later dynasties, there were basically no such people.
The reason is that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, all countries were equal, and real diplomacy was carried out on this basis. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, all countries regarded themselves as the Celestial Empire, and put all foreigners in an unequal position. As a result, diplomacy was not taken seriously. Naturally, it was difficult for people like Zhang Yi and Su Qin to appear again.
This king deeply feels the mistakes of past dynasties. On the surface, we can look down on the barbarians, but in private we must pay enough attention to them, and even put them on an equal level to consider diplomatic affairs.
Only when diplomacy is done well can the Qin Dynasty ensure stability in all four territories and avoid frequent military expeditions, which would consume national strength. Therefore, I intend to establish a Ministry of Foreign Affairs in addition to the six ministries to specialize in diplomatic affairs. What do you think? "
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