The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 716 Seeking Help from Liu Bei

Although Ma Chao's intelligence was not as high as Liu Bei's or Zhuge Liang's, he was able to become a regional warlord, so his intelligence must have been higher than that of ordinary people.

He was simply too strong to think, and was used to solving problems with violence. Over time, he developed a path dependency of using violence to control violence and had an instinctive aversion to thinking things through.

Pan Jun, however, relied on his intelligence. Hearing this, he explained, "The temptation of unifying Parthia is great, but it is simply not feasible. Parthia is too big. Its mountains, grasslands, and deserts combined are larger than the Han Dynasty. We simply cannot extend our reach to every corner. We can only occupy important cities. Although occupying cities is good, it will do us far more harm than good."

"First of all, we don't speak the same language as Parthia, and the Parthian people will not be willing to accept our rule. If we occupy a city, we will have to prevent the local people from rebelling. To prevent the local people from rebelling, we will have to divide our troops and station them in various cities to suppress them at any time. But how many people do we, the Han, Qiang, Xiongnu and Western Regions allied forces, have in total? If we disperse them to various cities, we will be scattered and we will be very easy for the Parthian natives to defeat us one by one."

"Secondly, to unify Parthia, the government must fulfill its functions, formulate laws and regulations, compile household registers, construct water conservancy projects, change customs and habits to emulate the Han Dynasty, and even abolish the local script. This whole process is so complex that even if you had two hundred years, you might not be able to manage it now, let alone now. You should know that Parthia has dozens of different scripts!"

"How many years did it take Qin Shi Huang to change customs and unify the written language? Starting from King Ping of Zhou moving the capital eastward, it took a full five hundred years. And that was only a formal unification. It wasn't until the reign of Emperor Wu that ideological unification was completed. General, do you think you can accomplish this in your lifetime?"

Pan Jun had no intention of educating the local people, because his experience in Kushan was too profound, so profound that he realized that the Han people and these uncivilized people were not the same species at all, and it was impossible to educate them.

In this situation, the only way to integrate into their society is to fall to their level, which Pan Jun would never do. After all, people naturally strive for higher positions, not lower ones.

Ma Chao was also literate, knowing the story of King Ping of Zhou moving the capital eastward, knowing that many written languages ​​had emerged in China during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and knowing the mental journey of China from fragmentation to unification. Therefore, after listening to Pan Jun's account, he understood the difficulty of this matter and quickly shook his head, saying, "If we can't unify them, it's their business if the Parthians are content to degenerate. Why should I educate them? It would be better if all these natives died."

Pan Jun laughed and said, "Even if you wanted to educate them, you wouldn't have the ability. Governing a country requires a large number of civil officials, and a large number of capable clerks who are both literate and competent. It seems that you don't have many literate people under your command, General?"

Ma Chao touched his nose and turned away, not wanting to continue the topic.

Although he plundered more than 100,000 people from the Han, Qiang, Xiongnu and other tribes when he left Liangzhou, less than one in a thousand of these people were literate. Not to mention the Western Regions Allied Forces and the Northern Xiongnu who slaughtered the forest, the number of literate people in the army could be counted on two hands.

Pan Jun continued, "Therefore, our best approach right now is not to conquer cities and territories, but to develop our population. We only have so few people, and even if we conquer the entire Parthian Empire, we won't be able to control it. Land is of little use to us right now."

"So my suggestion is to extort enough food from Parthia and Sassanid, and then continue to build cities and cultivate land in Asia, increase the population, and once we have tens of millions of people, we can expand our territory without any worries."

"Therefore, I suggest that some of the equipment of the 300,000 troops captured this time be turned into farm tools."

As a Han Chinese, Ma Chao, though he disliked farming, knew the importance of cultivation. Upon hearing this, he said, "It is possible, but our population is still too small, and there are too few craftsmen in all fields. It's worrying."

Pan Jun pondered, "Perhaps we can return to the Han Dynasty for help and ask the King for some literate people to come over."

Ma Chao's eyes lit up for a moment, then quickly dimmed as he sighed, "I'm afraid the King won't give it to us. After all, I ran away against the King's orders, and you were exiled here. Neither of us has a good impression on the King. Will the King help us?"

“Definitely!” Pan Jun explained, “You’re running away, not rebelling, so what are you afraid of? Besides, you’re expanding the territory of the Han Dynasty and enhancing its national prestige.”

"As for me, since the king has sent me on this mission, it proves that the king has the intention to expand the territory. If we send back the information about Parthia and the general's achievements, the king will surely reward us handsomely."

"Furthermore, Guan Xing established many literacy classes in the army when he attacked the Wu army. Although the Eastern Wu has been destroyed, the world has not yet been unified, so the literacy classes will never be closed. I have been out for more than a year. In such a long time, the literacy classes have definitely cultivated a lot of talents. Supporting us with some of them will not affect Your Majesty's strength."

“We will ask the king for some literate officials, skilled carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, doctors, and other technical talents. With these, we will surely be able to develop rapidly in Parthia.”

Ma Chao pondered, "Then let's go back. The king has given us a great deal, and if he doesn't, we won't lose anything. Why not? But who should we send back to report our victory to the king?"

Pan Jun looked at Kuai Qi. He had originally planned to send Kuai Qi as an envoy to Parthia, but now that the Parthian envoy had come on his own initiative, there was no need for Kuai Qi to go. He should be used for another purpose.

Ma Chao laughed and said, "Then I'll trouble General Kuai to make the trip. But there's no rush. We can go in the spring."

Kuai Qi bowed and accepted the order.

Half an hour later, the meeting ended, and Ma Chao, Pan Jun, and Tu Lin arrived at Ardashir's residence. They greeted Ardashir and the brothers Hosdu with warm smiles and asked, "Gentlemen, are you settling in well?"

Ardashir had no time for small talk and laid his cards on the table: "The general doesn't talk nonsense with me. Just tell me what you want me to do."

Ma Chao laughed and said, "I want to let you go back, but I can't let you go for nothing. You have to redeem yourself with grain. As the head of the Sassanid family, how much grain do you think you are worth?"

Ardashir breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. He didn't care about the cost as long as he could return, let alone a mere grain of food.

Nevertheless, Ardashir still tentatively asked, "How many do you want?"

Ma Chao pointed his finger and laughed, "You two brothers have a total of eight million shi of grain. I can let you go back first, but you have to write an IOU and guarantee to pay it off within six months. As for your brother, he will stay with me as a hostage until the grain is settled, then he can be released. How about that?"

Ardashir was overjoyed upon hearing this, but still asked with unease, "Aren't you afraid that I'll renege on my debt when I get back? After all, I might choose money over my brother."

Ma Chao shrugged and said, "What can I do? If you don't go back, who will send me grain? Besides, even if you renege on your debt, I'm not afraid. I can defeat you once, and I can defeat you twice."

"Furthermore, I can provide weapons to the Parthian Empire, or directly help the Parthian Empire fight. I am not familiar with the Parthian terrain and do not know where you are hiding. Doesn't the Parthian Empire know this?"

Ardashir fell silent. He didn't believe that the Parthian Empire would join forces with him to deal with Ma Chao. Compared to Ma Chao, an outsider, the Parthian Empire was even less trustworthy.

So Ardashir readily agreed without much struggle, saying, "Eight million it is. I will give you every single grain of food, but I want your weapon. I can buy it with food or money."

The ring-pommel swords used by the Han cavalry were too sharp, and his own weapons couldn't withstand them, so he wanted to get some, which would be useful whether fighting Parthia or even further to Rome.

Ma Chao said, "The deal is negotiable, but only after the ransom is settled."

Ardashir agreed, and Ma Chao stood up and said with a smile, "Let's go, come with me to see the Parthian envoy. He was taken by my men to visit the prisoner camp outside the city, and he should be back soon."