The most arrogant in history

The guards stepped forward and took Huang Jian away.

"Your Majesty, where has your courage to travel the world gone? Why did you surrender to the Huns?" Huang Jian still turned around and shouted.

Ye Kun fell down on the dragon chair and sighed again.

Sang Buyi clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, do you really want to marry?"

Ye Kun waved his hand: "I have made up my mind, please don't say anything more."

"OK then."

Sang Buyi looked at the Xiongnu envoy and said, "I am a princess of the Han Dynasty, a great nation of China, and I cannot tolerate any grievance. How do you plan to welcome the bride? How much is the betrothal gift?"

Qiongtu Qigu was overjoyed and clasped his fists and said:

"Please rest assured, Emperor Han, we will not wrong the princess. As for the betrothal gifts, our Chanyu has said that we will prepare 50,000 cattle and sheep and 10,000 taels of gold sand. We will bring these things on the day of the wedding.

The wedding procession, led by the Chanyu's younger brother and the Xiongnu princes and ministers, reached the northern foot of the Yin Mountains.

Sang Buyi turned around and asked Ye Kun: "Your Majesty, do you think this... is okay?"

Ye Kun said listlessly: "Master Sang, please take full charge of this matter. In short, the princess of the Han Dynasty cannot lose face for the royal family when she goes to the border. There must be a grand ceremony, otherwise... I will be sorry for Princess Mingzhu."

Sang Buyi thought for a moment and said, "In that case, let's discuss the princess's dowry items and dowry personnel."

Ye Kun looked at Qiong Tuqigu and said, "The princess is still young, so let's set the wedding date for next year, is that okay?"

The messenger smiled and said, "The princess is fourteen or fifteen years old, which means she is an adult. I beg the Emperor of the Han Dynasty to agree to send the princess there by the end of the year."

"It's the end of the year, there's not much time left."

"In a month, that is, the beginning of October, the weather will not be too cold." The envoy clasped his fists and said, "As long as you send the princess to the northern foot of Yinshan Mountain, we will naturally welcome her."

Ye Kun pondered for a long time, and finally nodded: "Okay, then on October 6th, we will send the princess to the northern foot of Yinshan Mountain."

Sang Buyi clasped his fists and said, "Since the princess is marrying the Xiongnu, it is a matter of great celebration for all. I suggest that we expand trade in the border market, hang up lanterns and decorations, and add joy to the princess's wedding!"

Ye Kun nodded: "Approved, adjourn the court!"

Everyone wanted to say something, but Ye Kun had already stood up and left.

Sang Buyi smiled bitterly and said to the Xiongnu envoy: "Princess Mingzhu is the emperor's favorite. This time, the emperor really showed his sincerity. I hope you Xiongnu will keep your word in the future and stop provoking and harassing us!"

The Xiongnu envoy smiled and said, "Don't worry, Prime Minister. We will keep our word."

Sang Buyi nodded, called the messenger and discussed the specific details.

In the harem, Princess Dai Xi and Princess Mingzhu heard the news, pretended to cry, and then closed the door to refuse visitors.

Jiang Yourong also pretended to be hypocritical and asked everyone to prepare a dowry for Princess Mingzhu.

Everything looks like that.

Ye Kun ordered Tan Bamao to secretly enlighten Huang Jian, reveal the truth to him, let him suffer a little injustice and stay in jail for a few days.

Sang Buzhi and Wu Qiong also dispatched a large amount of supplies to the border markets. The prices were low and the quality was good, which attracted the Huns to trade.

Guan Yong, who was stationed in Yinshan, also received a secret letter from Ye Kun and began to make preparations in secret.

Two days later, Ye Kun finally had time to go and see the first railway line in China.

The railway is more than 200 miles long, running from the southern part of Zhuo County to Fanyang County, which was later called Gaobeidian.

There is only one route, but there are already four trains.

Two trains are freight and two are passenger.

Wu Qiong did the math and found that operating the railway now was a loss-making business.

The trains were prone to breaking down and often broke down halfway, causing the people to point fingers and talk about it.

But Ye Kun ordered:

"We must do it even if it costs us money. We must not give up. If a train breaks down, we will repair it. Only in actual use can we discover problems and finally make the technology mature!"

No technology will be perfect at the beginning.

We must explore in practice and improve slowly.

Trains and railways are a complex system, and some problems are normal.

But Ye Kun is confident that within a year, railway transportation will be back on track and fully mature.

Everyone followed Ye Kun, got on the train at Zhuojun South Station, and headed south.

When Ayiman saw the railroad tracks, he sighed:

"The Han Kingdom is too rich to use such fine steel and iron to pave the road. I'm afraid all the money in Loulan Kingdom would not be enough to buy your railway."

Ye Kun smiled and said, "Your Majesty, thank you for the compliment. Your Loulan Kingdom also has things that I can't buy."

Ayiman was curious and asked, "What can't you buy or afford?"

"There's someone I can't afford and can't buy. Can you guess who it is?"

"I...can't guess."

Ayiman rolled her eyes at Ye Kun.

The train started and clanged southward.

Ayiman looked out the window, fascinated. "The Han Empire is great. It has such a vast country, countless rivers, countless people, and so much steel and coal. In Loulan, there are only vast deserts and yellow sand..."

"So, I hope you guys from Loulan can move here. I sincerely hope so."

Ye Kun said: "Loulan is a suitable place for me to build a military city for garrisoning troops. But it is not a good place to live and raise children."

Ayiman sighed: "Your Majesty, let me think about it again, please don't force me."

Ye Kun nodded: "I respect your opinion and will not force you. If you really don't want to move, I will open another route, bypassing Loulan Kingdom."

Go around Loulan and take over the other thirty-five countries. You, Loulan, are trapped in the middle by me. How can you still fly?

If the trade route bypassed Loulan, Loulan's tax revenue would be gone and it would have to rely on self-reliance for food.

Given Loulan’s fragile ecological environment, it would not last long, and its people would flee in all directions and eventually be integrated into China.

Today's train is quite respectable.

The speed is 25 kilometers per hour, which is relatively stable.

Ayiman smiled and said, "It seems that this train is not fast at all."

"You can't feel the speed when you sit in the car. In fact, the speed is about the same as that of a running warhorse. In one day and one night, it can travel a thousand miles."

Ye Kun explained: "The current trains and railways are still in the testing stage, and their speed will be improved in the future. Three years later, if there is a railway directly to Loulan, then it will only take me five days and five nights to visit you from Zhuojun."

Ayiman was skeptical: "It can't be that fast. It took me a month to get here from Loulan."

"It will get faster and faster in the future. One day, we will despise carriages and chop them up for firewood."

Ye Kun patted the carriage and said, "In addition to trains, we are also researching automatic vehicles. They are several times the size of horse-drawn carriages, do not need to be pulled by animals, can run on the road by themselves, and are faster than horse-drawn carriages."

Once steam engine technology is fully mature, there will be steam engine cars.

The steam engine car project was launched last year and is still under development.

To make it easier for everyone to understand, Ye Kun calls it an automatic car.

Ayiman asked: "Is it like the bicycles in the Science and Technology City, pedaled by foot?"

"Of course not. It's the same as a train, burning coal and driven by a steam engine. The automatic train I'm talking about can carry tens of thousands of pounds of cargo at a time."

Ye Kun didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Even if you step on it with your feet until smoke comes out, you still can’t move a car!

Ayiman sighed and looked at Ye Kun resentfully: "You make me feel itchy. I don't even want to go back."