Chapter 39
Lia looked at the dozen or so riders. Several people were tied behind the horses' rumps with ropes and dragged along. These people had long sabers hanging from their waists and looked like desert bandits.
"Are these Horse Bandits?" Seeing those people, Lia was stunned for a moment, but she soon realized something.
It was said that bandits often appeared in the desert; she hadn't expected to see them for herself today.
Since she had seen it, she couldn't just ignore it. Lia ran directly toward the Horse Bandits.
Those Horse Bandits had quite a harvest today. On this silk road, there were many merchants traveling back and forth between the two places, and they specialized in the business of robbing those traveling merchants.
Therefore, to prevent such things from happening, some merchants often merged dozens of caravans together to form a group of hundreds of people.
Faced with these caravans of hundreds, the Horse Bandits had no choice. However, their luck wasn't always so bad; there were always some merchants who took risks and were unwilling to pay money to join these caravans, wanting to act on their own.
Thus, those caravans with only a few people became their targets.
Chapter 93: Merchants from the Roman Empire
This group of merchants from European Rome was very unlucky. They were discovered by these Horse Bandits and captured on the spot.
These merchants from Rome suffered in their hearts. They were originally a group of hundreds of people, but their luck was poor, and they encountered a sandstorm followed by a mudslide.
As a result, the group was blown apart, and in the end, his group became a small team of a dozen people. Finally, they were discovered by this gang of Horse Bandits; it could be said they were extremely unlucky.
Just as this Roman merchant was feeling anxious about his future safety, the Horse Bandits suddenly stopped because a young girl in a Hanfu palace dress appeared before them.
The girl's appearance was as picturesque as a poem, standing right in front of them.
In the past, seeing such a beautiful girl, these Horse Bandits might have charged straight at her. But this was the desert; how could such a beautiful girl suddenly appear out of nowhere?
She was wearing the clothes of the Han people and was all alone.
To be able to walk freely in the desert for so long, the horse bandit leader's brain wasn't too stupid.
"I wonder which immortal path this fairy comes from? For what reason are you blocking our way?" Suppressing the greedy thoughts in his heart, the horse bandit leader stepped forward and asked cautiously.
"This is a bit different from what I thought. Shouldn't you all be shouting and charging at me, then kidnapping me to be your bandit's wife?"
Because this horse bandit was so polite, Lia found it somewhat hard to strike them.
"Why are you tying these people up? Who are they?" Lia pointed at the merchants whose hands were tied.
"Just some travelers from the Western Regions. They offended us, so we caught them." Seeing Lia pointing at those merchants, the horse bandit leader made up an excuse.
These Horse Bandits could be considered multilingual talents, as they knew a bit of every country's language; after all, it would be hard to communicate without knowing the merchants' languages.
"Miss, please save us! We are merchants from the Roman Empire. Our goods were robbed by these Horse Bandits, and even we ourselves have been captured by them."
These merchants had long noticed the exchange between Lia and the horse bandit leader. Seeing Lia mention them, they ignored the Horse Bandits' obstruction and rushed forward, speaking in somewhat broken han language.
"Merchants from the Roman Empire? Which Roman Empire are you from?" Lia was somewhat surprised.
The Roman Empire had already split into the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire, with both sides believing themselves to be the legitimate one. However, the one standing before them was still the Huns Empire.
It was this Huns Empire that had beaten the Roman Empire into the split between East and West Rome.
Eventually, this Western Roman Empire split into dozens of large and small countries. Only the Eastern Roman Empire was still holding out, lasting until it was destroyed during the Sui Dynasty, becoming the country of Byzantium.
"We are merchants from the Eastern Roman Empire." Hearing Lia's question, the merchant said quickly.
Seeing Lia and those merchants whispering, the Horse Bandits couldn't stand it anymore. One horse bandit pointed at Lia and said, "Boss, I think this girl is just playing tricks. She's no immortal. Why don't we just catch her together?"
"Exactly! What immortal? I'm the first one who doesn't believe it. Such a beautiful woman—if you don't want her, Boss, then give her to us!"
Although the leader of these Horse Bandits had some intelligence, his subordinates were not so smart. Since they were in this line of work, they lived with their heads on the line. Seeing such a beautiful girl and being able to look but not touch was truly unbearable for them.
"I am indeed not an immortal, but I have no problem dealing with you bandits. If you know what's good for you, you'll go to the authorities and surrender instead of dying here," Lia said, looking at the Horse Bandits.
"Little girl, today I'll let you know how powerful your bandit brothers are!" Seeing Lia admit she wasn't an immortal, the Horse Bandits' courage grew, and some began to tease her.
Lia didn't say anything. These Horse Bandits were all cold-blooded killers.
In the middle of nowhere like this, it was more convenient to just kill them. This had been her original plan anyway.
When Lia drew a longsword and slit the throat of one horse bandit, the others quickly surrounded her.
Even if the horse bandit leader wanted to say something, it was too late. Seeing that his subordinates had already come into conflict with the girl, he could only join in and attack Lia with them.
However, these Horse Bandits were just a group of ordinary people. Even though the horse bandit leader had a bit of quick wit, Lia had no intention of sparing him. In the blink of an eye, these Horse Bandits were sent by Lia onto the road to the underworld.
After finishing off the group of Horse Bandits, Lia looked back at the group of merchants from Rome.
Seeing Lia solve the Horse Bandits so easily, these Roman merchants quickly knelt on the ground, fearing Lia might kill them as well. After all, cases of bandits robbing bandits were not uncommon.
"All of you, get up. I won't do anything to you. You can take back all the property stolen by these people from their bodies," Lia waved her hand.
These merchants thanked her repeatedly.
"What is your name? Where are you going?" After the merchants had retrieved their items from the Horse Bandits, Lia continued to ask.
"Reporting to the Miss, my name is Pinov. We intend to follow this silk road to the Han people's country to do some business, but this road is truly difficult to travel," Pinov replied, letting out another sigh.
A round trip on this road would take several years. Once war broke out in a country along the way, they would have to stay for a long time, and with bad luck, they might even lose their lives.
But the rewards for such a round trip were very generous. Even knowing there was danger, there were still countless merchants traveling back and forth on this silk road.
"Can you tell me more? What items do you plan to bring back from the Han people's country? Can they be sold for a lot of money?" Lia was also a bit curious. Although she knew this road had always been called the silk road, she wasn't quite sure of the meaning behind it.
Pinov began to tell Lia about it.
It turned out that as the number of envoys and merchants increased day by day, the East and West's understanding of each other grew deeper.
Western countries were not very interested in porcelain and other items from Eastern countries; one could say their aesthetic concepts were different. But there was one exception: the silk worn by the Han people.
During the early Western Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu Shanyu, who rode over the Han Dynasty, could obtain a large amount of silk fabrics from the Huaxia Central Plains as tribute every year.
However, these silks did not fit the Huns' customs or aesthetics, so they were mostly sent westward, reaching the Western Regions, Central Asia, and Persia.
Chapter 94: Women Will Only Affect the Speed of My Sword-Drawing
These silks were smooth and beautiful, with colors as lovely as flowers and a texture as light as spider silk. They were easy to carry and could be sold in Europe for high prices comparable to gold; they were truly excellent commodities.
Thus, the Sogdians there immediately realized the business opportunity and, by every possible means, traveled thousands of miles to the Huaxia Central Plains.
By this time, the Han Dynasty had already defeated the Huns, and silk had transitioned into gifts for the various envoys of the Western Regions' vassal states. When these merchants arrived at Yumen Pass and were faced with these expensive tariffs, they were immediately rebuffed.
However, they did not give up; instead, they disguised themselves as envoys from various Western Regions countries to trick the Han Dynasty out of silk. The reason they were so desperate was that the limited quantity of silk had quietly become popular in the West.
In the Parthian Empire, the Persians used silk to decorate palaces, make sacrificial robes for Zoroastrian priests, and even as vibrant military banners.
From Bactria to Tiaozhi and the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Greeks who held a dominant position in the Middle East called silk "Amorgos clothing." It was a rare treasure from a distant exotic land and a luxury item for princes and nobles to flaunt their status.
Later, this fashion trend spread to Rome.
Those senators and generals also went wild for this gorgeous silk from the East.
Although wild tussah silk was occasionally found in other places, it could not compare at all to the mature craftsmanship of the East that had lasted for thousands of years.
Shu Brocade, Lu Gauze, Luoqi, and Shatiao—varieties from different regions competed in beauty. From emperors and feudal lords to officials and commoners, it was ordinary clothing that all classes could wear. The silk flowing out of Yumen through gift trade was just a drop in the ocean.
Yet it had deeply changed the Western Regions; the oasis city-states that were originally fragmented became active and prosperous because of silk, and they even used silk as currency.
In European countries, whether buying or selling vineyards, slaves, or livestock, silk was used as a medium of exchange.
So this road came to be known as the "silk road".
However, as far as Lia knew, this road was by no means a continuous long-distance trade route directly to Rome, but rather a relay-style short-distance exchange from station to station.
Even the Sogdians, who traveled the furthest, would at most transport silk from Yumen to Kangju and sell it to Parthian merchants.
She hadn't expected that for the sake of this so-called silk, merchants from as far as the Roman Empire would personally run all the way here.
After Lia sighed with emotion, she became even more determined to build this silk road.
Because this was not just a silk road, but also a way to announce the power of this ancient Eastern country to the outside world.
For a country capable of building a highway across the desert, just how powerful and wealthy must that country be to achieve such a feat?
Lia believed that once she built this highway, those Western countries would surely find every possible way to come to Huaxia, wanting to witness for themselves how powerful and prosperous this country was!
Only in this way could it be called a true "All nations coming to pay court"!
Lia did not make things difficult for these Roman Empire merchants either; she even pointed them in the direction of Yumen Pass.
Under the gratitude of these Roman merchants, after they left, Lia looked at the dozen or so corpses on the ground; these corpses were just right for her to experiment with.
Under Lia's Skeleton Summoning, these corpses stood up again from the ground, swaying unsteadily.
"It doesn't seem to be a skeleton. I thought it would directly take the form of a skeleton."
Lia looked at the Horse Bandits before her, whose eyes glowed with a ghostly blue light. She had originally thought the flesh and bone would automatically separate, but now it seemed that wasn't the case; instead, they looked somewhat like Zombies.
After thinking for a moment, Lia had one corpse grab another to see if it could be lifted.
Under Lia's command, one of the corpses lifted another corpse directly, holding it right over its head.
Next, Lia commanded these corpses to do other things and began to understand them slightly better.
These corpses seemed to have much greater strength and were very obedient, but they weren't very bright; they couldn't do anything too delicate and could only perform manual labor.
But wasn't manual labor exactly what she needed?
With these corpses, Lia became even more confident in the construction of the road from the Hexi Corridor to Xinjiang.
She just didn't know if these corpses would rot because of this. Perhaps she needed to discuss it with her sister; she might have many solutions.
Lia thought for a moment and felt that she still needed to discuss this matter with Morgan.
Lia released her control over these people, and they turned back into a group of motionless corpses. With a wave of her arm, a pile of yellow sand buried the traces of the dozen or so people.
"I should head back." Lia looked around, and after finding nothing else strange, she opened the water mirror and stepped inside.
When she returned, she was already back in her room.
The room was quiet and had not been touched; no one should have come in.
Lia opened the door and walked out, just happening to run into the returning Morgan.
However, Morgan's expression was very poor, looking as if she wanted to kill someone. But as soon as she saw Lia, she immediately withdrew that look and changed to a smiling, pleasing expression.
"Sister, are you awake?" Morgan came to Lia's side and reached out, wanting to touch Lia's hair.
But Lia directly dodged it. She wouldn't become submissive to Morgan just because those things happened between them last night. She was merely giving Morgan a bit of sweetness so that the other would continue to work for her!
That's right, that's how it is. Women will only affect the speed at which I draw my sword!
Thinking of this, Lia's gaze suddenly became firm again.
Seeing Lia dodge her to her face, Morgan was somewhat embarrassed, but she soon comforted herself in her heart, thinking that her sister was just being Tsundere and couldn't save face.
"Why do you look so upset after coming back?" Lia asked, recalling Morgan's expression before she returned.
"Speaking of that, it makes me angry. Those people from the Confucian school are so annoying!" Hearing Lia mention it, Morgan said sullenly.
"Oh, what did those Confucianists say?" Lia had only returned yesterday and didn't yet know to what extent the Hexi Corridor had developed.
"It's those Confucian doctrines; they're always emphasizing moral cultivation, saying this can't be done and that can't be done. It just makes me so mad!" Morgan said unhappily.
Lia was amused by this. What was Morgan's personality like? She was a very forceful person who liked to have the final say.
But currently, these people could not be killed because they were undergoing a han family cultural renaissance and needed them. So when Morgan faced them, her expression was as disgusted as if she had eaten a fly.
Chapter Ninety-Five: Lia Plans to Set the Capital at Chang'an
And what do the Confucianists like to do most? That would be Remonstrating to the death. Moreover, Confucian thought overemphasizes the individual's submissive position within the collective. It suppresses individuality, thereby causing the entire traditional Chinese society to lack innovative power.
Under the background of the Patriarchal system, Confucian thought emphasizes the Distinction between Righteousness and Profit, and the distinction between the group and the self, stressing that individuals must follow rules and make contributions within the collective, which severely restricts individual development.
In a sense, Confucian thought is an ascetic ideology, especially Neo-Confucianism, which requires people to have few desires, and even to "preserve heavenly principles and extinguish human desires," greatly curbing independent personality and the free development of people.
Finally, Confucian thought overemphasizes realism and humanistic knowledge while neglecting natural science. It lacks a rational scientific spirit and regards scientific inventions as "Ingenious but useless tricks," causing traditional Chinese social science to be insufficient and resulting in modern China falling far behind the West.
Our former Four Great Inventions greatly advanced the course of Western civilization, but in our traditional Chinese society, the Compass was used for fortune-telling, paper was used for writing Eight-legged essays, and gunpowder was used for setting off firecrackers and fireworks.
This is clear evidence of the lack of an exploratory and scientific spirit, and it also represents the failure of Confucianism in this regard.
Confucianism can be used as a set of thoughts to constrain those small countries that will be subordinate to us in the future, but it cannot be used as the national policy of our own country. This is why Lia feels that Confucianism is useless yet still accepts it.
Because Confucian thought can be used to persecute other countries, and those small nations might not even realize they are being persecuted by it.
Only when the surrounding countries use Confucianism to label themselves will Huaxia remain safe forever.
After Lia spoke with Morgan for a while about the pros and cons of Confucianism, she brought up the main business.