Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 387: Shishi
In the palace of the King of Chu, Shi Yi was saying goodbye to Bai Tu.
At this time, most of the envoys from the various princes had already left. After Wu Xiong was taken for a walk, Wu Shuo left in disgrace and never came to see Bai Tu again.
"Don't worry, Governor Shi. The Shi family has protected the Jiaozhou area. Not only have the local ethnic groups been educated and behaved properly, but the people have also kept their jobs in times of chaos. The travelers have also been blessed by the Shi family. I have kept all of this in mind. When you go back, don't forget to thank your brother on my behalf." Bai Tu said to Shi Yi familiarly.
That’s right, Shi Yi is none other than Shi Xie’s cousin.
At this time, Jiaozhou was one of the very few Han territories that was not caught up in the chaotic times.
Jiaozhou is not small in area and is also Lingnan in a narrow sense. Before the chaotic times, the level of governance was very low. After all... the level of governance in Jingnan and southeastern Jiangdong was not high, let alone Lingnan which is further south and blocked by the Five Ridges?
It is also called the land of the Baiyue and the land of the Baiman, which means that many of the local people’s customs are different from those of the Han people.
However, when the chaos broke out, the population of Jiaozhou increased instead of decreased, partly because Shi Xie, the governor of Jiaozhi at the time, was stable enough, and partly because many Han people fled to Lingnan.
I don’t know if the governor of Jiaozhou at that time wanted to take advantage of the chaotic times to make progress, but instead he imposed heavy taxes on Jiaozhou and eventually died at the hands of the rebels.
Given Jiaozhou's geographical location, if it encountered an ambitious person, it would be very easy to split away at this time. Just like at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Zhao Tuo founded the Nanyue Kingdom here, which was not reincorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty until the reign of Emperor Wu of Han.
Just like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao had no idea about Hetao, if Jiaozhou split away at this time, it would probably not attract much attention.
When the world is in chaos, places with poor governance and a large number of "foreigners" are like chicken ribs.
Fortunately, Shi Xie not only had the skills to unite Jiaozhou, but also did not have so many ideas, or did not want to be comfortable for a while...
"I will definitely convey the king's gratitude and previous suggestions. My brother has always admired the king. I believe that it won't be long before I will bother you again." Shi Yi did not protest against Bai Tu's "infringing" words.
Although the Shi family took advantage of the turbulent times to dominate a state and became a veritable separatist warlord, they did not establish their own regime like Zhao Tuo, nor did they have the wild idea of breaking out of Jiaozhou and competing for dominance over the world.
Instead, he took advantage of his opportunity to be the master of Jiaozhou to educate the barbarians, cultivate the people's strength, and accept the people and talents who fled to Jiaozhou, so that this place could avoid the war.
Compared to the Xiongnu and Xianbei, which were northern ethnic groups that were considered part of the Chinese nation only during the Five Ancient Emperors, the Jiaozhou barbarians were more closely related to the Han people, and were even Han people in a broad sense... The so-called Han people today are just "the people of the Han Dynasty."
Several hundred years ago in the pre-Qin period, the cultures of countries all over the world were very different, even among the vassal states that belonged to the Zhou Dynasty. After all, it was still a transition period from tribes to nations.
Over the past few hundred years, from the Warring States period when various countries successively reformed and strengthened centralization to the unification of the Qin and Han dynasties, the cultures within the dynasties converged, except in some places... the trend was slower.
Bai Tu responded enthusiastically to Shi Yi's kindness. Except for not using too much Rainbow Source on Shi Yi himself, his enthusiasm was even greater than that towards the envoy of the Marquis of Shu!
In the history without the White Rabbit Effect, Shi Xie surrendered to the Eastern Wu after the Battle of Chibi, sent his clansmen to the Eastern Wu as hostages, and accepted the appointment of the governor by Sun Quan, paying tribute every year, without any intention of raising an army...
The only regret is that Shi Xie’s descendants were a little arrogant, and Sun Quan was really cruel.
After Shi Xie's death, the Shi clan rebelled. Not only were the rebels exterminated, but even a group of hostages at the time were implicated.
Bai Tu also knew Shi Xie's thoughts, so he looked at Shi Yi differently - it was possible that he would surrender directly, but of course his treatment would be different from that of other envoys!
Indeed, the gift that Shi Xie sent this time was also very valuable. In addition to Jiaozhou's local specialties, pearls, jade, tortoise shells, colored glaze and other treasures, there were also ivory and rhinoceros horns, which were not recommended, and even bananas, coconuts, longans and other fruits that were specially sent by express horses...
Bai Tu accepted all of Shi's kindness and gave gifts in return, such as a large amount of artificial glass, salt, books, and ironware. He also expressed the hope of appointing officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs to support the development of Jiaozhou.
Facing Shi Yi, Bai Tu acted as if he had already regarded Jiaozhou as his own territory and "thanked" Shi Xie for his contribution to Jiaozhou!
However, Shi Yi was not ashamed or angry about this. Instead, he accepted the evaluation politely and even said that he would discuss Bai Tu's suggestions with his brother in detail when he returned. He also emphasized that Shi Xie also admired Bai Tu.
Apparently, they have already reached the stage where they can start talking about the price right away...
After all, Shi Xie did not expect to conquer the world with Jiaozhou alone. Although there were many local specialties, the overall level of civilization in Jiaozhou was low and the population was small. Most of them were barbarians who had little identification with the Han Dynasty.
These barbarians certainly admired Shi Xie, and his position in Lingnan would be close to that of Zhao Tuo, who founded the Nanyue Kingdom, but...
Use them to conquer the world?
Better stop dreaming.
As for secession...
Shi Xie felt that there should be no problem with his generation, but what about the next generation?
After the Central Plains is reunited, can they continue to be separatist? Didn’t you see what happened to the Nanyue Kingdom?
Although he was a warlord, Shi Xie was still a noble family at heart and did not want to put his descendants at risk...
The current power of Chu State is much stronger than that of Eastern Wu after the Battle of Chibi. The title bestowed on Liu Cong and Madam Cai when the state was founded also made Shi Xie feel at ease.
The intention of sending his younger brother Shi Yi here was to test him - not to test his strength, but to test the treatment he would receive after surrendering!
Equivalent to Liu Cong?
That's a bit lacking in meaning. Shi Xie doesn't want a nominal title of marquis.
Bai Tu also understood that Shi Shi was indeed different from Madam Cai. In terms of effort, Madam Cai used her position to attack Huanglong and directly control the Xiangyang center, and then surrendered in the chaos. If Shi Shi surrendered, it would be a real surrender...
However, Bai Tu did not want to do what the Eastern Wu did, where the Shi family was still governing Jiaozhou and even gave them the capital to rebel, and then wait for them to take action and then cleanse the area again...
How the two sides will work together specifically remains to be discussed. Now they are just contacting each other with good intentions.
Shi Xie and Bai Tu were not in a hurry. Anyway, with the gradual development of the Five Ridges and the gradual assimilation of the Shanyue and Wuling barbarians, Jiaozhou would only become "closer" to the State of Chu.
"Chunhua, go to the Ministry of Rites again later and double the gifts you bring back to Governor Shi." Bai Tu said to Zhang Chunhua who was standing beside him.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness..." We can also tell something from Shi Yi's address. Although he also calls himself a foreign official, he does not address himself as "King of Chu", but as "Your Majesty", which is a more recognizable term.
This wasn't just because it came out right. Because of this name before, Shi Yi had received countless glares from Wu Shuo...
After seeing Shi Yi off, Zhang Chunhua also went to the Ministry of Rites, leaving Bai Tu alone... and Lu Lingqi, who had just returned from vacation, who asked expressionlessly, "Chunhua? When did you address me so warmly?"
