Chapter 337: Strategies for Peacock Kingdom

In response to the First Emperor’s question, Li Nian smiled and said, “Even if it can succeed, so what? Jainism is not much better than Buddhism. If it gains power, it will just be another Maurya Buddhism.”

Although the words and tone in the words were speculative, after hearing them, Qin Shihuang realized that this must be what really happened in the history of the Maurya Kingdom.

The current king of Maurya Kingdom is named “Sampradi”, the grandson of Ashoka and the son of Junala. After becoming the king of Maurya Kingdom, he built tens of thousands of Jain temples across the country. Although the prosperity of Buddhism was suppressed by him, Jainism was welcomed, and there was not much change in essence.

Tens of thousands of Jain temples were built in Sambhalla, and his ancestor King Ashoka must have built quite a few temples when he promoted Buddhism. This shows to what extent the kings of the Maurya Kingdom were extravagant and wasteful, and how tolerant the people under their rule were.

Gan Yu nodded and said, “My Lord, you are right. From our point of view, the current king of the Maurya Kingdom is not a man of great talent and strategy. Even if he really wants to use Jainism, I am afraid that the result will not achieve his wish, but will make Jainism become another Buddhism in the Maurya Kingdom.”

Maybe the King of Maurya Kingdom never thought about so many political schemes, but simply believed in Jainism like his ancestor King Chandra.

There is no conspiracy theory at all. They just believe in Jainism and want it to grow and develop. They have never considered using it to suppress Buddhism or high-caste aristocrats.

The First Emperor asked again: “What is the current situation of the Peacock Kingdom? Is it a threat to our Great Qin?”

Gan Yu said: “The Maurya Kingdom prospered during the reign of King Ashoka, but it is no longer what it used to be. From what we have seen in Tamakuri, its military is lax and people’s hearts are scattered. In addition, due to a long period of peace and the spread of Buddhism, Jainism and other religions, the caste system has been deeply rooted in people’s hearts. The people are too docile and peaceful, and have no idea of ​​being prepared for danger in times of peace…”

“Although the Peacock Kingdom is vast and its people are numerous, it is like a beautiful house with a decaying interior. As long as they have not encountered an external enemy, they can still scare others with their appearance. If they encounter a strong enemy, they will collapse quickly with just a slight push.”

In fact, the third brother has been strong on the outside but weak on the inside for a long time. It was still like this during the Tang Dynasty. Although it was such a big country, it was severely beaten by Wang Xuance. Even the Central India Kingdom was destroyed by Wang Xuance, and a large number of kings, queens, and princes were captured. The soldiers led by Wang Xuance were not the Tang army, but soldiers summoned from Tubo and Nepal.

Gan Yu said: “The Maurya Kingdom is not peaceful now. In his early years, Ashoka led his army to conquer various places to expand the territory of the Maurya Kingdom. When Ashoka was alive, these places naturally obeyed. But after Ashoka’s death, some places have rebelled and attempted to establish their own rule.”

“And the current Maurya King has neither the ability nor the authority of Ashoka. He can only watch these places in chaos and not obey his orders.”

The First Emperor smiled and commented: “Ashoka promoted Buddhism because he thought that after his death, his descendants would not be able to control the places they conquered. He wanted to use Buddhism to turn the people into docile and harmless pigs and dogs so that his descendants could secure their thrones.”

The ministers also felt that this was the real purpose of Ashoka’s promotion of Buddhism. Otherwise, it would be too frivolous for a king like Ashoka, who had led his army in battles for half his life, to suddenly repent because of a war.

Ashoka must have wanted to use Buddhism to achieve his goal, so that the people would become law-abiding sheep under the influence of Buddhism, so that he and his descendants could secure their thrones and rule from generation to generation.

“However, Ashoka did not expect that this action would backfire. Although his teachings of Buddhism made the people docile and peaceful, they also made them lose their martial and enterprising spirit and their awareness of being prepared for danger in times of peace.”

“Although such a people is easy for their descendants to govern, it is difficult for them to shoulder the responsibility of defending the country. If they encounter foreign invasion, I am afraid that they will collapse at the first touch and the country will perish quickly!”

Do we expect a group of people who have lost their spirit and courage to take up arms to fight against a powerful foreign enemy? I am afraid that if they are defeated a few times on the battlefield, the whole country will surrender.

In a way, Ashoka achieved his goal, but unfortunately the effect was too good and the entire country became a large sheep farming area.

Of course, the people of the Maurya Kingdom are heartless and as docile as sheep. Ashoka can only be regarded as a pusher, making the situation worse. The real root lies in the caste system.

The caste system was established by the foreign Aryans to suppress the local people and protect their own status. The more bloodless and docile the lower castes are, the smoother and longer the system will run.

The caste system has been in operation for thousands of years, which means that the lower castes have been suppressed for thousands of years. After such a long time, coupled with the fact that the local people themselves are also weird, their consciousness of resistance and martial spirit have naturally been worn away.

The caste system not only affected the local people, but also the foreign Aryans. The caste system gave them a long-term comfortable environment. Over time, their bloodiness and fighting spirit were also calmed down.

As a result, there were all kinds of strange phenomena in the Maurya Kingdom: although they were of low caste origin, they were willing to maintain the caste system; although they were high caste aristocrats, they believed in Buddhism and Jainism, and allowed them to exist.

It seems contradictory, but there are actually reasons for it, just like a certain person, sometimes he is humble and polite, too polite to be a normal person, and sometimes he is extremely arrogant and acts more cruelly than an animal.

After hearing Gan Yu’s words, the First Emperor and his ministers felt that the Peacock Kingdom was on the verge of death from top to bottom, and was full of weaknesses and loopholes.

The First Emperor asked again: “In your opinion, when will the Peacock Kingdom be destroyed?”

Gan Yu pondered this question for a while before replying, “Your Majesty, in my opinion, if there is no external enemy, the Peacock Kingdom can still hold out for another 20 to 30 years. If it encounters an external enemy, it will perish within a few years. The stronger the external enemy, the faster it will perish. With the sharpness of the Qin army, it only takes tens of thousands of troops to destroy it!”

There is nothing wrong with the speculation about when the Maurya Empire would perish. The Maurya Empire had good fortune and had never encountered powerful foreign enemies in its later years. This allowed it to survive for several decades after the death of Ashoka until it was killed and usurped by the powerful minister Bushayamitra Sunga.

However, there are some problems with the speculation about how many troops the Qin Dynasty would need to destroy the Peacock Kingdom. Tens of thousands are really too many. Li Nian believes that ten thousand elite Qin troops are enough to destroy the Peacock Kingdom.

When King Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty conquered Central India, the Tibetan and Nepalese soldiers he led were less than 10,000. The borrowed army of less than 10,000 was able to conquer Central India. Using 10,000 elite troops of the Qin Dynasty to attack the Peacock Kingdom at that time was indeed a face-giving to the Peacock Kingdom.

After Gan Yu left, the ministers in the hall began to discuss. Li Si said, “This country is rich and should belong to our Great Qin!”

No one refuted Li Si’s words. They all believed that the Qin Dynasty wanted to seize this place. Compared with the silver mountains in the Jiaoben Islands and the mineral deposits in Yingzhou and Hezhou, the Yangzhou Peacock Kingdom was more important.

Because silver and mineral deposits cannot be used directly for food and clothing, but the Peacock Kingdom has fertile land and abundant resources, which can actually provide food and clothing for the people.

If the Maurya Kingdom had not been rich in resources and its people had not been able to obtain food and drink to ensure their basic survival needs, the Maurya Kingdom would not have been able to do such a bizarre thing. Imagine building tens of thousands of temples for Buddhism and tens of thousands of temples for Jainism, and supporting princes, nobles, and a large number of monks. If the resources were not abundant, would it be able to afford it?
This made the First Emperor and his ministers extremely interested in the land of the Peacock Kingdom. They believed that this place should belong to the Qin Dynasty and become its production base to support it.

One of the important reasons why the third brother was called the brightest pearl in the crown of Daiying in later generations was that he could supply Daiying with massive amounts of supplies.

Later, after the end of World War II, the United States and Russia joined forces to dismantle the colonial system. India broke away from Britain and became independent, which led to a shortage of supplies from Britain. The country almost couldn’t even eat butter. There was also a joke about a British philanthropist who was planting peanuts in Africa.

only……

Wang Wan said: “Although the Peacock Kingdom is good, it is far away from the Great Qin. How can the Great Qin army reach it? Even if the army can go there and conquer the Peacock Kingdom, how can we govern it and send its people back to the Great Qin?”

Wang Wan did not object to sending troops to the Peacock Kingdom, because if the Peacock Kingdom could be captured and turned into a production base for the Qin Dynasty, it would be a huge boost to the Qin Dynasty, and even he could not help but be tempted.

After hearing Wang Wan’s question, the First Emperor glanced at Li Nian. Li Nian immediately understood what the First Emperor meant and replied, “The Prime Minister’s question is reasonable. If these problems cannot be solved, no matter how good the Peacock Kingdom is, it will be useless to our Great Qin… Please send someone to deliver the world map to the palace!”

As Li Nian said, a huge world map was soon carried into the hall. It was made by the First Emperor.

Li Nian stood up and walked to the map. He took a small wooden stick handed to him by the guard and pointed at the map and said, “From the map, it seems that the Peacock Kingdom is not far from our Great Qin. We can reach it by traveling southwest by land.”

The First Emperor and his ministers looked at the map and listened to Li Nian. They remembered what Li Nian had told them before, that the two countries seemed not far away, but in fact there was a very high mountain range blocking them.

“But in fact, the mountains here are extremely high and the roads are very difficult to travel. It is not impossible to pass through here, but the cost is very high. The gains from the trip may not be as much as the cost, and the efficiency is not high!”

If we directly cross the Himalayas, how many people can be organized at a time, how much supplies can be carried, what will be the gains compared to the cost, and how many times can it be organized in a year?
Li Nian felt that the gains from this route might be far less than the efforts, so he pointed the stick to the other side and said, “It is not advisable to go directly over that mountain, so if you still want to go over by land, you have to choose a detour. One way is to go over here through the land of Baiyue, which is the route taken by Yao Zhi, Gan Yu and others.”

“Your Majesty and you all know the problems with this road. Although we don’t have to cross the highest place in the world, it is still difficult to travel through mountains and rivers, and it is difficult to walk through dense forests. In addition, we have to pass through the Baiyue tribe, which is also not easy.”

Li Nian moved the stick to another place on the map and pointed out a route. “Another detour option is to go through the Western Regions and go to the Peacock Kingdom from here.”

“This road is still difficult to travel. The countries in the Western Regions are not under the jurisdiction of our Great Qin. If we send troops to borrow the road from their countries, they will definitely not agree. Moreover, there are deserts and Gobi in the Western Regions, which is not as easy as crossing mountains and passing through dense forests.”

After listening to Li Nian’s words, all the ministers understood his meaning. It is possible to travel to Peacock Kingdom by land, but it is more difficult and costly.

So, according to this person, we need to go to the Peacock Kingdom by sea?
The ministers looked at the map, saw the coast of Daqin, and then looked at the location of Peacock Kingdom, wondering where to start from Daqin and reach Peacock Kingdom by sea.

Judging from the map, it is not easy to get there by sea, and the route is longer than by land.

Li Nian smiled and said, “If the Qin wants to send a large army to the Peacock Kingdom and bring it under its control, it is best to go there by sea. The sea route may seem longer and more roundabout than the land route, but in fact the sea route has a greater advantage than the land route, that is, the sea route has a higher transportation capacity than the land route.”

“The amount of materials that a ship can carry back at one time is far better than what people can carry on horseback. In addition, as long as you know the correct route, the sea route is smoother than the land route. The land route requires crossing mountains and passing through dense forests, but the sea route does not. A round trip is not necessarily slower than the land route, it may even be faster!”

“The Qin army can go to the Peacock Kingdom by sea, and the supplies obtained from the Peacock Kingdom can also be transported back by sea. But the specific route has yet to be discussed and prepared!”

It is impossible for the Qin Dynasty to send troops to the Peacock Kingdom right now. It still has to make a lot of preparations, including technical preparations, personnel preparations, intelligence preparations, material preparations, etc.

Li Nian had not thought about swallowing up the Peacock Kingdom immediately, but he could have a plan for development in this direction and let his ministers think in this direction. If a man does not plan for the future, he will have immediate worries. If a country does not plan for the future, it will not last long.

After answering the question of how to get there, Li Nian said, “As long as the Qin army can get there, the Peacock Nation cannot compete with Qin with its strength. It is only a matter of time before we conquer it.”

On this point, all the ministers held the same attitude, believing that as long as the Qin army went there, the Maurya Kingdom would have no chance of resisting.

“The high castes in the Maurya Kingdom today are not actually the local indigenous people, but a group of foreign invaders called ‘Aryans’ who conquered the indigenous people and brought in the caste system.”

“If the Aryans could conquer the indigenous people, why can’t our Qin conquer them?”

“Although this surname system is not a good thing, it has long been rooted in the hearts of the Peacock people and has long been accepted by the Peacock people. They are even willing to actively maintain it. If the Qin Dynasty governs the Peacock Country one day, it must not rashly change it!”

Any hasty changes may not necessarily earn gratitude from the lower castes in the Maurya Kingdom, but may instead provoke hatred and resistance.

After all, they are happy being slaves. How dare you deprive them of their right to be livestock and slaves?
Then we will become enemies!
In this case, of course, their wishes are met and they continue to be treated like livestock.

Li Nian said: “Although the caste system has many disadvantages, it is beneficial for Daqin to govern the Peacock Kingdom. The people of the Peacock Kingdom have become accustomed to the caste system and have become docile and docile under its influence.”

“Therefore, as long as our Great Qin army defeats and conquers the Peacock Kingdom, and then declares to them that our Great Qin people are all high castes, we will be able to take advantage of the situation to be accepted by them!”

Not to mention other eras, but during the Tang Dynasty, 100% of the Tang people in India were high castes. Even the Brahmin masters of the “Aryan Banner” would be frightened when they saw the people of the Tang Dynasty and would not dare to put on airs.

Unfortunately, the Tang Dynasty never regarded India as an opponent, so even Wang Xuance’s contribution to conquering Central India was not taken seriously.

(End of this chapter)