C3626 (1/2)

Shang Tai and the others started to advance along the dried up river towards the Dunhuang. The journey was not long, but they walked very slowly, because they were able to find archaeological ruins that were worth searching for.

With the help of the guide and a small portion of the local scholars, Shang Tai finally found the main reason behind the decline of the Dunhuang from the Yuan Dynasty onwards.

It was also because of this research that Dunhuang had begun to shine in the hands of Shang Tai. The Ryukyu King of the Eastern Ocean had actually established a karmic connection with the Dunhuang of the desert tens of thousands of miles away due to a miraculous fate.

The decline of the Dunhuang could definitely be explained by economic, political, religious and natural factors!

Firstly, the economy, from the Tang Dynasty onwards, the ancient silk road gradually declined. Due to the war and chaos of the ancient way becoming more and more dangerous to trade, the Han Dynasty in the Song Dynasty had already completely lost control of the Western Regions. In order to fight against the foreign tribes, the Song Dynasty's people were under a very strict trade embargo.

It was already hard to see merchants roaming the ancient Silk Road, but on the southeast coast, there was a gathering of ten thousand sails.

The Central Asia countries that controlled Eurasian communications were also a mercantile race, so the advantages of maritime transport and transportation were obvious at a glance.

When the ancient silk road lost the nourishment of the powerful economic bloodline, and when the ancient silk road gradually became abandoned, the material foundation built by the Dunhuang also disappeared.

In addition to the natural environment, the Western Regions originally had very little rainfall. The agriculture and animal husbandry industry here practically relied on the mountain range to thaw the snow, and the oases created by the Season River and the Inland River were the foundation of the founding of the ancient Western Regions.

However, for thousands of years, human activities had seriously damaged the fragile natural balance and the desertification had become more and more serious. The massive regression of the agriculture and animal husbandry had made this place no longer suitable for human habitation.

Or perhaps, it could be said that this place was no longer suitable for the living conditions of the majority of the population.

The third important factor was the political one. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the country was supposed to develop its economy internally, restore its vitality and focus on the remaining parts of Meng Yuan as its main opponents.

Towards the Western Regions which already had many economic benefits, Zhu Yuanzhang and his descendants were all very indifferent. They were unwilling to put in too much effort, and only wanted to maintain the submissiveness of the local governments on the surface.

The main purpose of the Ming Dynasty when it rebuilt the Jiayuguan and the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty, rebuilt the city of Sanzhou, and set up the seven guards of Kansai was only defensive. The entire Ming dynasty had two hundred and seventy-six years of history, and the whole government had no interest in the Western Regions.

In fact, during the war of the Tulufan Empire against the Hami, the Ming Dynasty gave up all of the land west of the Jiayuguan and completely sealed off the communication between the Central Plains and the Western Regions.

For a super project like the Dunhuang, if he did not have the support of the government, then the final result would be obvious!

The last reason was naturally religion!

The most important reason why the Dunhuang was eventually forced to give up on construction and maintenance was because of the religious changes in the Western Regions. During the righteous era, the Dunhuang had already been breached by the Tulufan Han Empire, and due to the three years of the Ming Dynasty of Jiajing, the defenses to the west of the Jiayuguan was unable to be maintained.

At this time, the Western Regions was also the time when the biggest religion in history changed. The Buddhist enemies would naturally not allow the Mogao's cave to continue building.

Since the time of the Ming Dynasty, the Dunhuang had actually already gone to waste. Due to the war and the abandonment of the Central Plains Dynasty, even the most basic county system had been abolished.

There were no cities, no towns, everything returned to nomadic life. The city became a small town, the town became ruins, and the farmland became desert or pasture.

The farming civilization was completely abandoned, and this piece of land returned to the nomadic civilization from a long time ago!