Chapter 372: Dig the Hole but Don

"The great undertaking is accomplished…"

When the Emperor gave his oral decree, telling Heifu to write out the western expansion strategy in detail in a memorial, Heifu knew that Qin Shi Huang had already made his choice.

"The desire to open up new territory, the benefits of tangible gain, and on top of that the dream of seeking immortality — only by applying all three at once could the Emperor be moved to alter the state policy."

The Emperor held the six reins in his hand; his objective determined the direction the empire traveled. And so, under Heifu's guidance, the wheel of history slowly began to veer from its original track…

At the very least, for the next few years, Heifu's subordinates in Yuzhang could farm in peace, without having to go suffer prematurely in the tropical rainforests of Southern Yue.

But the Qiang and Rong tribes around Guanxi, as well as the Xiongnu and Yuezhi, would likely be trembling under Qin Shi Huang's tyrannical might…

In this matter, Heifu considered that he had acted with due caution. Heaven knew, earth knew, he knew, and Wu Zhi knew.

Wu Zhi was already a man with one foot in the grave. In order to compete with the Yan and Qi alchemists, he had no choice but to bring out the long-circulating legend of the Queen Mother of the West. Heifu had merely provided a handwritten copy of the *Biography of King Mu*, so that the old shaman-priest could flesh out a few more details. As for the appellation "Black Hound," the Emperor had come up with that himself.

Although Meng Tian had also once suggested garrisoning Shang Commandery to guard against the Xiongnu, the proposal for western expansion was indeed first advocated by Heifu. It was not unreasonable for the Emperor to regard him as the one who had pointed the way.

Heifu's push for Qin to expand westward was not a passing whim, but the result of careful deliberation.

Historically, although Qin had sent Meng Tian north to build the Long Wall and guard the borders, driving the Xiongnu back over seven hundred li so that the Hu people dared not come south to graze their horses and their warriors dared not draw their bows in vengeance,

the Xiongnu rose again during the Chu–Han Contention, absorbing the Yuezhi and the Eastern Hu to become a vast empire stretching ten thousand li, a formidable enemy to the Central Plains. Liu Bang nearly lost his life at the Siege of Baideng, and afterward barely managed to hold the situation together through marriage alliances. The Xiongnu Empire loomed over the Han dynasty for decades, and even by the time of Emperor Wu of Han, it had not been thoroughly resolved.

Therefore, Heifu thought, could Qin's strike against the Xiongnu be made a little earlier, and a little more ruthless?

In any case, the steppe at present was a tripartite balance of Xiongnu, Yuezhi, and Eastern Hu. If they could be defeated one by one, eliminating a great latent threat to China, would that not be a fine thing?

Exterminating the Xiongnu seemed, on the face of it, to have nothing to do with searching for the land of the Queen Mother of the West, but Heifu still found a way to forcibly connect the two.

When he read the *Biography of King Mu*, he could not make sense of many of the place names in it, such as the starting point of King Mu of Zhou's westward journey, the "Hezong Clan." After consulting Zhang Cang, Zhang Cang said that the state of the Hezong Clan might be in the Hetao region west of Yunzhong and Jiuyuan.

During the time of King Wuling of Zhao, the state of Zhao had already occupied the southern foothills of the Yin Mountains and built the fortresses of Yunzhong, Jiuyuan, and Gaoque. Over ten years ago, the Qin army took control of that area, stationing troops there as well. It was from there that Meng Tian set out to attack the state of Dai to the east and defend against Xiongnu reinforcements.

Now, the Hetao and Henan regions, where the Hezong Clan once dwelt, were all in the hands of the Xiongnu, used as winter pastureland. Although Heifu knew that the route in the book was unreliable, with this layer of pretext, wasn't that one more reason to strike the Xiongnu?

The Yellow River brings a hundred calamities but benefits only the Hetao. Although the Yellow River's ravages were not yet so fierce in this era, the Hetao was indeed a fine place. Not only was there a vast sky and boundless wilds where the wind blew the grass low to reveal grazing cattle and sheep, but there were also considerable forests, and in the more fertile areas, some agriculture could be practiced.

However, regarding the matter of the Xiongnu, Heifu only touched on it briefly, adding that his own knowledge was too incomplete for him to venture rash opinions, and requesting that His Majesty seek counsel from ministers more familiar with Xiongnu affairs.

Who else could that candidate be but the Privy Treasurer's Deputy Superintendent, Meng Tian? Since Meng Tian had historically succeeded in defeating the Xiongnu, he should be able to take charge of that front this time as well. Heifu had no great need to involve himself.

He was personally more interested in the Western Regions.

Heifu believed that complacency and self-isolation only led to stagnation. Civilizations in different regions needed to interact!

Stones from other hills can polish jade. China had its superior technologies, and so did Greece and Rome. Civilizations in different regions, shaped by different natural environments, developed different branches of the technology tree, and even domesticated entirely different crops and animals, which then slowly spread to other places.

For instance, wheat, barley, sheep, and horses had all been introduced to the Central Plains from the west and north at different times, gradually spreading. Yet Heifu still did not see many fruits and vegetables common in later ages: watermelon, grapes, melons, pomegranates, sesame, walnuts, cucumbers, pepper, spinach…

He very much longed to gnaw on watermelon in the height of summer, drink grape juice, sprinkle sesame seeds over steaming wheat cakes, and add a dash of pepper to his cooking — all would be delightful…

And the tall, long-legged Scythian horse, alfalfa as high-quality fodder for horses, and the cotton that would one day clothe all under heaven — none of these existed in the Central Plains.

These things were neither very near nor very far; they could be found in the Western Regions, Central Asia, and West Asia. The Western Regions at present were likely a scattering of small oasis states, living off the Jade Road. To the wolf-like and tiger-fierce Qin army, they would be lambs awaiting slaughter.

And once one crossed the Pamir Plateau, one could make contact with some of the Greek kingdoms left behind after Alexander's eastern campaigns…

With just a few steps, the seemingly isolated Eastern and Western worlds could establish contact. The thought of it was rather stirring.

And the manner of that contact could be trade — or it could be conquest!

That was why Heifu believed that expanding westward offered far greater benefit than the Baiyue, which would sooner or later be brought under Central Plains rule anyway and would then be very difficult to push further south from. Even a thousand years later, Southeast Asia would still be a nightmare of miasmic vapors for the people of the Central Plains.

But what if China, in the boldly enterprising Qin era, could open its eyes and see the vastness of the world? The point was not how much land could be conquered in a short time, but the long-term benefits it would bring.

"Of course, the prerequisite for all this is to first get past the barrier of the various Qiang and the Yuezhi of Hexi. And to plot the seizure of Hexi, Henan, and the Hetao, one must begin by consolidating Longxi, Beidi, and Shang Commandery…"

Heifu deeply understood the principle that one cannot get fat on a single mouthful. This was also why he was not worried that Qin Shi Huang, failing to find the land of the Queen Mother of the West, would vent his anger on him.

"Building roads, resettling migrants, creating a military frontier, and training cavalry in the three commanderies — that can't be accomplished in under three years, can it?"

"And after that, striking the Xiongnu, striking the Yuezhi, and seizing Hexi and the Hetao — that can't be accomplished in under three years either, can it?"

So according to Heifu's projection, it would be six or seven years before the Qin army could reach the Dunhuang area and establish outposts.

As for the Western Regions, before the roads were built, a large army could not pass through. At most, a few merchant caravans could be dispatched to go take a look, following the "Jade Road," the precursor to the Silk Road.

In a region as vast as the southern and northern Tianshan basins, how could merchant envoys possibly find the purely fictional "Land of the Queen Mother of the West" with any ease? The round trip would take several more years. By the time the envoys had thoroughly explored the Western Regions and returned to report, Qin Shi Huang might already have ridden the dragon back to heaven, and would no longer be waiting for the Queen Mother of the West…

This wishful scheme of Heifu's could be called "dig the hole but don't fill it in" — he was only responsible for selling the idea, not for after-sales service.

"Heading west can at least yield some tangible gains. It's far better than squandering money and silk sending alchemists to search for immortals overseas."

Although this amounted to "deceiving the sovereign," Heifu did it with a clear conscience.

With the technological level of this era, ships could at most sail along the coastline; venturing even a little way out to sea would mean sinking. Matters like launching an Age of Discovery, colonizing Japan, or going to the Americas to find corn and potatoes were, like the Queen Mother of the West that Qin Shi Huang was so enamored with, mere mirages — illusory bubbles, visible but unreachable.

Though his ideas were wildly unconstrained, most could not be shared with others. Heifu's memorial still had to be written in a methodical and proper manner. So he spread paper and ink on the low table, took up his Meng Tian brush, and began to write.

"Your servant has heard the words of Xun Qing: 'Without accumulating small steps, one cannot reach a thousand li; without accumulating small streams, one cannot form a river or sea.' Now that Your Majesty wishes to undertake affairs a thousand li to the west, it must also begin with small steps and small streams. First, open up the wastelands of the three commanderies, resettle ten thousand households to fill them, and have them till the land and stockpile grain. Then conscript the sons of both Hua and Rong in the three commanderies into the army, and train them in the methods of mounted archery and cavalry maneuvers. Once the troops are ready in three years, they may then go forth beyond the passes to open up new territory…"

…

A day later, Heifu's memorial had been delivered to Qin Shi Huang's traveling palace. It happened that Zhao Gao, Prefect of the Palace Secretariat, was also present. When he saw that Qin Shi Huang, upon learning of its arrival, immediately set aside the government affairs in hand to read Heifu's memorial first, a feeling of jealousy stirred in his heart.

But what he felt even more was alarm.

"Heifu is only twenty-five or twenty-six, so young, yet he can take the lead in guiding major state policy. Even Li Si back in his day was no more than this, was he?"

What was even more infuriating was that his name was Heifu, and during his time as a village chief he had styled himself "the Heavenly Hound of Qin," which happened to match the black hound that guided the way in Qin Shi Huang's dream. With this matter, Heifu gained even more of the Emperor's trust and favor, and the poison Zhao Gao had previously laid had completely lost its effect.

Although Zhao Gao felt that there were some questionable points in what Wu Zhi had said about the "Queen Mother of the West," he was very clever and knew he could not spoil the Emperor's mood when he was in high spirits. He could only bury the matter in his heart and refrain from making trouble for the time being.

At that moment, the receptionist brought the memorial up. It was a thick stack of paper. Qin Shi Huang could not help but sigh with emotion: "This memorial of Heifu's must contain several thousand words. If it were on bamboo slips, it would probably weigh several catties. Paper is truly light and convenient…"

Zhao Gao could only mumble his obsequious agreement.

But when Qin Shi Huang opened Heifu's memorial, he furrowed his brow. Zhao Gao's heart stirred, thinking that Heifu had said something to displease the Emperor.

Yet after reading a few pages, Qin Shi Huang's brow quickly smoothed out, and he laughed as he scolded:

"As befits the man who first proposed this undertaking, although Heifu claims that, being a southerner, he does not understand the affairs west of the passes, and hopes that We may order the Chancellor and the Imperial Secretary to deliberate, he has written with the utmost detail and considerable insight."

"It's just that the name he has given to the western expansion strategy is truly… exceedingly strange."

Qin Shi Huang looked over the title at the head of the document once more, still feeling that something was not quite right.

Shaking his head, he laid the hemp paper down on the low table. Zhao Gao happened to catch a glimpse of the first page, on which were boldly written five large characters…

"Western… Great Development?"

(End of chapter)