Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 832 Zhu Yuanzhang Provides Guidance on Domestic Affairs

Perhaps every civilization desires a "reference point." For the Central Plains, Rome fulfilled this need.

To be fair, in the eyes of the surrounding civilizations, Rome wasn't really a particularly prestigious entity. Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and even the Greeks and Phoenicians all had longer histories and more advanced cultures. The Romans were actually a relatively recent nouveau riche, and in many people's eyes, they themselves were "barbarians"...

However, the Romans were militarily powerful enough, and more importantly, the timing of their rise to power was opportune.

The people of the Central Plains first seriously learned about a major power beyond their borders during the Han Dynasty. Although commercial exchanges had already taken place before, this was the first time the central court had hosted formal diplomatic activities. This period also coincided with Rome's gradual unification of the Mediterranean and its approaching zenith.

If they had arrived earlier, the Romans wouldn't have been famous yet, and they probably wouldn't have made such a strong first impression—Guo Kang and his group preferred to use 221 years before the Heavenly Brother Era as a marker. This date is very easy to remember; it's both the year Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms and the year Hannibal vowed revenge, marking the beginning of the Second Punic War. Only after this victory did Rome become the dominant power in the Mediterranean.

Conversely, if they had arrived too late, Rome would have declined along with the Han Dynasty, ending up in ruins. At best, they would have been fellow sufferers, and they wouldn't have left behind such a good impression of being a "great power."

Of course, there is another important factor: Rome was also the furthest of the great powers of the classical era.

Later generations generally believe that there were four powerful states in this era: Han, Kushan, Persia, and Rome. However, these four states were of different sizes.

The Han Dynasty always referred to the Kushans as the Great Yuezhi and never took them seriously. Later, when the Kushans attacked the Western Regions, Ban Chao dealt with them on his own without the need for the imperial court to send troops.

Geographically, and based on prehistoric archaeology, the traditional Han territory roughly extended to the Hami area. Further west lay another large region centered on Central Asia. However, the Han people were so powerful that they broke through geographical boundaries, crossed the natural barriers in the center of the Eurasian continent, and projected military force to the other side.

The distance from Chang'an to Dayuan and from Dayuan to Constantinople is roughly the same. However, the journey from the Mediterranean world to Central Asia crosses several cultural spheres, and only an expedition of Alexander the Great's scale could have reached this region. Meanwhile, the Han Dynasty only had one court overseeing it. The emperor actually wanted to send a group of criminals to this place to steal horses…

In this context, people naturally tend to look down on others, and the more they interact with them, the more they feel that "they're nothing special." When Han Dynasty envoys had only been to the Western Regions, they still considered Persia a great power beyond the region; after arriving in Persia, the Parthian king arranged for their army to be shown off, intending to intimidate the envoys. However, after seeing their army, the envoys felt that the Persians were "weak and incapable of fighting," and could not be relied upon at all.

Moreover, it wasn't just the Han Dynasty that openly looked down on them. At that time, the Xiongnu were also very powerful, having started their operations in the Western Regions even earlier than the Han Dynasty. The Xiongnu army repeatedly attacked their western enemies, instilling great fear in the local people. As a result, Xiongnu envoys were also arrogant and domineering, never paying for their meals wherever they went, from Loulan to Persia.

The Han Dynasty arrived later and did not receive this treatment. The Han envoy was very envious and wrote to the court, saying that the countries here feared the power of the Xiongnu, demonstrating that arriving early and cultivating the region for many years had indeed been effective. He wished they could do the same.

Thus, Rome, being the furthest away, is the only one whose luster has not faded. Because there was never direct contact, the Han people even projected some of their own idealized visions onto Rome. As a result, it's unclear how much of the Rome recorded by the Han people is actually related to Rome, and how much is simply the product of their imagination.

Of course, the reverse is also true. Rome probably knew less about the Han Dynasty than we do, leading to the long-standing belief that "silk grows on trees." The Romans' descriptions of the Han Dynasty were so exaggerated that even the Han people themselves probably couldn't help but feel overwhelmed…

In this context of "distance creating beauty," the "Great Qin State" naturally acquired a halo, even generating a role beyond that of Rome itself. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang's letter, specifically written to the Romans, likely had this purpose—the letter to the Romans specifically stated that it was a formal letter to "the last country not yet notified." In reality, everyone knows there are countless countries of all sizes in the world, and Zhu Yuanzhang certainly didn't send them all. However, compared to other countries, the Romans did indeed hold a unique and additional significance. Therefore, he chose them as the target of his notification from afar, incidentally also to express his political stance to domestic officials and people, as well as to surrounding vassal states.

Therefore, as long as we cater to his needs in this regard, we can definitely gain the approval of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, Guo Gai and his group were very familiar with the products of the Central Plains, so they deliberately found some things that were not commonly seen there and sent them over.

The tribute items were actually quite particular. Generally speaking, the rarer and more exotic they were, the more they reflected the "tribute from a distant country." Ultimately, given the Ming Dynasty's resources and productivity, its needs from other countries were essentially limited to various mineral resources and low-end processed goods. The main purpose of these "high-end" goods wasn't their monetary value, but rather to express the distant country's submission to the Ming Dynasty's order. Therefore, the farther away the tribute-giver was and the rarer the items they offered, the more they satisfied this need, attracting the Ming Dynasty's attention and gaining their approval.

In comparison, the actual value or origin of the goods became irrelevant. For example, Bengal once presented giraffes as tribute to the Ming Dynasty, which greatly impressed and pleased the Ming officials. However, the giraffes were not actually native to Bengal; they were a gift from the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt to the Sultan of Bengal, who in turn purchased them from merchants in southern Nubia. Despite changing hands so many times, the Ming Dynasty was still delighted and made a special record of it. Even later, when they went on sea voyages, they still thought about the giraffes…

This time, the delegation from the Purple Horde brought a large quantity of glassware. They purchased high-quality glass from Italy and Syria, filling two ships, and even commissioned custom-made patterns and inscriptions to congratulate the Ming Dynasty. Because there were no substitutes for this type of glass in the Central Plains for a long time, many high-end glass artifacts throughout history were originally imported from the Eastern Roman Empire, and many have survived to the present day.

Therefore, having grasped these key points, the Roman mission deliberately made a big show of their journey, wanting the whole world to know that they had received a notification and had come specifically to return the visit. The mission's leader, Samiotis, was also well-traveled and adept at diplomacy. After landing in Quanzhou, they actively promoted the news, boasting to everyone they met that they had learned of the Ming Dynasty's expulsion of the Manchus and had come specifically to offer their congratulations.

He also said that Rome and the Central Plains, for some reason, had always risen and fallen together. Therefore, they were genuinely happy about the establishment of the Ming Dynasty—perhaps this was the place truly approved by the Heavenly Father. With revival and unification achieved here, there was hope for Rome as well. The Ming Dynasty was very pleased with this. After this mission, the number of tribute missions from the Purple Horde was finalized. Samiotis, thanks to his outstanding performance, received a promotion beyond the usual ranks, so much so that many former Greek officials still hold positions in the Ministry of Rites responsible for diplomacy, proving their worth. However, not long after, the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty in Southeast Asia gradually organized, forming the present-day Javanese Yuan, and began fighting the Ming Dynasty at sea, causing the sea routes to be disrupted. The hard-won maritime trade routes thus became troublesome.

Moreover, as time went on, the Ming Dynasty also realized that something seemed amiss with this Great Qin Kingdom. However, at this time, the naval war between the Yuan and Ming dynasties was raging, and they did not have the spare energy to deal with these matters.

According to the reply brought by the mission, the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Rites meant that as long as they honestly paid tribute and did business, and did not support the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty in fighting against the Ming army, they would not want to interfere too much.

After all, there are just too many and too chaotic things going on right now.

The remnants of the Yuan Dynasty were scattered across the world, drawing in surrounding countries large and small. To resolve the situation with minimal losses, diplomacy was essential. However, the Seres civilization had historically not placed much importance on diplomacy. These tasks, according to the system, were only handled by a branch of the Ministry of Rites, which was not only understaffed but also had little influence. As the situation changed, the emperor and the court did indeed place greater emphasis on diplomacy, giving them more opportunities and positions. But compared to the workload, it was still far from sufficient. Even translating documents was overwhelming, enough to exhaust people…

Therefore, the officials in charge of foreign affairs at the Ministry of Rites preferred to avoid trouble rather than cause more problems.

After accepting the gifts from the delegation, the official in charge explained that they already knew "Da Qin" (the Roman Empire) was thousands of miles away, and the two countries were practically unrelated. These exchanges were simply a matter of mutual benefit. The Ming Dynasty would exchange goods for Roman specialties and maintain Rome's recognition of the Ming Dynasty's legitimacy. Therefore, as long as the Purple Horde continued to play the role of "Rome" and lead the praise of the Ming Dynasty's divine mandate, their most important task would be accomplished. They could also cooperate and pretend that Rome truly had won over the region.

Having received this promise, the delegation was reassured. So, they resumed their business dealings with the Yuan people under the banner of the "Purple Horde Khanate." After all, the "Great Qin Kingdom" was still supporting the Ming Dynasty.

However, this situation did not last for more than a few years, and it was unexpectedly exposed in a case during the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty officials who accepted gifts from the delegation were also implicated and implicated in this case. Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang's methods were ruthless; after this round, the people in the Ministry of Rites who were dealing with them were completely replaced. The arrested officials didn't try to conceal anything; they confessed everything immediately, even revealing things like how they wet their pants as children. As a result, the affairs of the Purple Horde were also leaked, causing considerable embarrassment for everyone.

However, at this point, distance began to play a role. Even if the Ming Dynasty was dissatisfied with their repeated attempts to deceive the court into paying tribute, they couldn't really do anything about it. They could only reprimand the delegation during the next tribute mission and forbid them from purchasing supplies as punishment.

Furthermore, Zhu Yuanzhang himself seemed to take this matter unexpectedly seriously. Unlike other countries, he personally intervened in the Purple Horde delegation's inquiry, demanding that the envoys reveal the true situation.

The leader of the group was Lu Wu, a Bulgarian. Unlike the seasoned Greek soldiers, he was a veteran who had been wounded and discharged from the army. He came here purely because the army was looking after its own people; he figured it was just a formality. The tribute mission had already taken place several times, and there wasn't much for him to do along the way. He just needed to run errands and accumulate experience.

Therefore, he was completely unprepared for this situation. Fearing that making up an excuse on the spot might not be convincing enough, he simply laid out his past experiences directly.

To everyone's surprise, Zhu Yuanzhang was actually quite satisfied with the situation and did not pursue the matter further. He even instructed the Ministry of Rites to let the matter drop.

He also told the delegation that although it was a mistake, they would not hold it against them this time, considering they were too far away and unfamiliar with the local customs. Furthermore, although the Purple Horde was nominally Mongol, they had actually risen through hardship, starting with agriculture and warfare. This was completely different from the situation in the Yuan Dynasty. It was perfectly acceptable for them to call themselves Han Chinese, with the surname Liu; it did not dishonor the name.

He even encouraged the delegation, saying that in his view, a nation established in this way should also be blessed by Heaven. Even if the Great Qin Kingdom had not yet been restored, it should already possess the necessary conditions.

In short, this story of how they rose to power resonated deeply with Zhu Yuanzhang, earning him considerable favor. Their manner of speaking was also very agreeable to him.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but begin to care about the true "people of Qin." He even stated that the rise and fall of dynasties and the continuation of traditions were the duties of a true ruler. He had heard that the Qin Kingdom was the pinnacle of culture and education outside the Central Plains; therefore, these basic rites and laws should be upheld and returned to the true people of Qin. If that wasn't possible, he suggested following the example of Dali and Japan, where the Khanate held actual power and Qin people continued to rule. Although this might seem like a loss of status, he believed it would greatly enhance the legitimacy of the Khanate itself, facilitating smoother future development.

In response, the delegation could only offer further explanation, recounting to him how the Greek kings had fought amongst themselves.

This time, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to agree again...

(End of this chapter)