Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Li Yanxian said that the captives who were killed were all foreigners, but in fact many of them were Uighurs, who had the same ancestors as the Gaochang nobles.

During the mid-Tang Dynasty, Mu Yu Khan led the Uighur army south to help the Tang Dynasty recover Luoyang.

The Sogdians and Manichaeism, who were suppressed and had a hard time surviving, had new partners. Many Manichaeism monks followed Mu Yu Khan to Mobei.

Then, Manichaeism became the state religion of the Uighur Khanate.

The Sogdians helped the Uighurs formulate policies and develop the economy, and the Uighurs supported the Sogdians in spreading Manichaeism, such as requiring the Tang Dynasty to build the "Dayun Guangming Temple" in major cities.

The accumulation of more and more wealth and the progress of civilization made the Uighurs the first Khanate in the northern grasslands to build a large city.

The negative effect is: the combat effectiveness of the army continued to decline!

Therefore, the Uighurs perished.

One group of Uighurs fled to the Khitan territory, changed their surname to Xiao, merged with the Xi people, and developed into the descendants of the Liao Dynasty.

One group fled to the Central Plains and was gradually assimilated into the Han people.

One group fled to the Tibetan territory. With the collapse of the Tibetan Empire, those living in Gansu were ruled by the Western Xia, and those living in Qinghai became the Yellow-headed Uighurs.

One group fled to the Anxi territory and established the Gaochang Uighur Kingdom, still retaining Manichaeism as the state religion.

One group fled to Central Asia and established the Karakhanid Khanate. While Turkifying the area, the rulers also converted to desert religion. Moreover, many descendants of the Uighur tribes gradually became oppressed groups.

From this evolution, Yelu Dashi, Gaochang Uighurs, Karakhanid Khanate...they are actually related to each other.

Yelu Dashi was able to quickly annex the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate, and the descendants of the Uighurs who became oppressed groups made great contributions. They were already dissatisfied with the rule of the Karakhanid Khanate and even started to revolt. They directly regarded Yelu Dashi, who came from their ancestral land, as their own people!

"Should the Uighur script be completely banned?"

This was the main content of Li Yanxian's first memorial to the court.

When winter passed and spring came, the imperial edict of the court was sent to Gaochang.

First, reward the soldiers of the three armies.

Second, the Anxi Protectorate was established, Wu Jie was the first Anxi Protector, and Li Yanxian was transferred back to the central government to serve as the left vice minister of the Ministry of War.

Third, officials have been sent to the Anxi Protectorate.

Fourth, official documents must be written in Chinese characters, and unofficial documents and religious scriptures are temporarily allowed to continue to use Uighur.

Xinjiang is too far away and religious power is too strong. In order to avoid rebellions one after another, Emperor Zhu did not take a one-size-fits-all approach this time.

Another important reason is the influence of Uighur script.

The Xixia script was modified by imitating Chinese characters, and many Xixia scholars also knew Chinese characters. The Jin Dynasty's writing was even worse, and they rarely used it. The writing of these two countries was destroyed, and it would not cause any waves.

The Uighur writing was different.

It borrowed letters from the Sogdians and has been developed for hundreds of years. Even the Manchu and Mongolian writings of later generations originated from this kind of letters.

Once it was directly banned, it would be equivalent to turning all the nobles, scholars and monks in the former Gaochang Kingdom into illiterates!

So Zhu Ming softened the situation a little and allowed the Uighur writing to appear in unofficial documents and scriptures. With the power of Chinese characters and official promotion, it was only a matter of time before the Uighur writing was killed. If you can win with culture, you don't have to resort to force.

As the rule of the Ming Dynasty deepened, more and more local people would take the initiative to learn Chinese characters.

Sent by the court were not only administrative officials, but also many Han monks.

These monks were mainly Buddhists and Nestorians.

Emperor Zhu even directly banned the Nestorianism in the Hexi Corridor, confiscated all the Nestorian temples there, and threw all the Nestorian monks to the Anxi Protectorate. Many of them have already learned Chinese characters and will be assigned to the Nestorian temples in Anxi.

Buddhism and Nestorianism, because they have the most believers in the former Gaochang Kingdom and have the greatest influence among the people, are the main sinicization targets of the Ming Dynasty court.

The court even issued a deadline order: Buddhist and Nestorian monks in the Anxi Protectorate who cannot read Chinese characters within five years are not allowed to hold important positions in the temple. Within ten years, if the literacy rate (Chinese characters) of the monks in a temple is less than 30%, the temple will be ordered to be banned by the court. Within fifteen years, all the scriptures used publicly in the temple must be in Chinese characters!

In addition, the following content was spread in the form of rumors. If other sects do not follow Buddhism and Nestorianism, do not take the initiative to learn Chinese characters and recite scriptures in Chinese, then the court will ban the spread of this religion in the future.

In disguise, they forced all sects to sinicize!

Anyway, there is no need to worry about religious issues, just focus on Buddhism and Nestorianism - these two are the mainstream.

The Manichaeism in Gaochang has long been separated from the masses and lost its influence among the people because it has been the state religion of the Uighurs for hundreds of years. It is completely different from the Manichaeism in the Han area. The former represents the interests of the nobles, while the latter is a professional rebel. When the two sides meet, they will definitely reject each other as heretics.

Zoroastrianism is also continuing to decline, but it is just the opposite of Manichaeism.

Because Gaochang Manichaeism is separated from the masses, most of its believers belong to the upper class.

As for Gaochang Zoroastrianism, the temples in the city have been almost demolished. It mainly exists in the vast rural areas, and most of its believers are small and medium-sized nobles and ordinary people. And because of the doctrine, this religion cannot become big - it has been given nationalist characteristics in Persia, and no matter how it is improved, it will inevitably become more and more niche, so it has been jointly excluded by all sects in the Gaochang area.

If the imperial court did not actively support Zoroastrianism, the end of this religion would certainly be natural extinction.

As for Gaochang Taoism, because it was too niche, the imperial court was too lazy to care about it, and let the Uighur Taoists circle their own territory and grow on their own.

Shamanism and the like are similar to Taoism.

…

The snow melted, and the redundant troops withdrew.

Gaochang, garrisoned 6,000 troops and 25,000 immigrants.

Yizhou, garrisoned 3,000 troops and 20,000 immigrants.

Shanshan, garrisoned 800 troops and 3,000 immigrants.

Datun, garrisoned 800 troops and 1,000 immigrants.

Yanqi, garrisoned 3,000 troops and 10,000 immigrants.

Qiuci, garrisoned 6,000 troops and 10,000 immigrants.

Hotan, garrisoned 1,000 troops and 1,000 immigrants.

Zhangbali, garrisoned 5,000 troops and 10,000 immigrants.

The entire Anxi Protectorate had a garrison of 20,600 people. However, there were only 10,000 full-time field troops, and the remaining garrison troops were in a semi-full-time state.

Correspondingly, the Ningxia Governor's Office was transferred to Ningxia Province in advance, reducing the number of troops in the bordering areas of Shaanxi.

The number of garrisons in Shaanxi was also reduced again.

The troops withdrawn in Shaanxi and Ningxia were all thrown into the jurisdiction of the newly established Anxi Protectorate.

A small number of troops will also be left in the remaining provinces that sent troops this time.

Because the relevant soldiers need to be stationed thousands of miles away, each person will receive financial compensation. If they want to bring their families over, all expenses will be borne by the court. If there are special circumstances, such as brothers dying of illness and becoming an only child, they can apply to stay in their hometown and transfer to other troops.

Although the Anxi Protectorate has 20,000 garrisons, in terms of the number of troops nationwide, the increase in troops is actually only 4,000 to 5,000.

The expenses in the past few years must have been huge. Not only did they need to transport military rations, but they also had to provide various supplies for the immigrants. But once the tax exemption period for immigrants is over, plus the taxes paid by local people, the Anxi Protectorate can be self-sufficient.

If there are casualties in the army here, priority will be given to replenishing from Han immigrants.

Five years later, the army began to recruit soldiers from the local young and strong, but the annual recruitment ratio needed to be strictly limited.

Ten years later, the army could be recruited, but the proportion of Han people in each army must be kept above 70% at all times.

This restriction could be lifted after the Protectorate was transformed into a province, because that meant that the degree of Hanization in the Anxi region was sufficient.

…

Wu Juyuan came from the suburbs of Kaifeng.

His father was Wu Song, and his first teacher was Wu Jialiang. He was the eldest son, so he was also called Wu Dalang.

Wu Jialiang helped him pick this name, hoping that he could pass the imperial examination and become an official.

Unfortunately, Wu Juyuan was not a good student, but he was good at martial arts.

He planned to join the army to fight for a future, but his father Wu Song did not allow it, saying that fighting and killing would end in death sooner or later.

Wu Juyuan's family had more than 200 acres of land, some of which were allocated by the government and some were bought by his father.

In addition to the land, his family also opened an oil press.

In the past few years, floods and droughts continued. The court restricted the sale of rice wine and encouraged the people to brew liquor. His father Wu Song took the opportunity to brew rice wine privately for the rich in the city to secretly satisfy their cravings.

Last year, because the alcohol restriction was lifted, the business of brewing rice wine privately could not be continued, and Wu Song poached people to brew liquor instead.

Moreover, the family started to raise pigs, and those wine lees can be fed to pigs.

There is a pig tyrant in Kaifeng who regularly goes to the countryside to purchase live pigs.

When facing Wu Song, the pig tyrant did not dare to lower the price too much. First, Wu Song did not raise many pigs, and second, Wu Song was very famous. After dealing with him several times, the pig tyrant even swore brotherhood with Wu Song.

This is also considered a well-off family.

And with Wu Song's ability, the government recruited civilians to serve in distant service, and it was very easy to spend money to hire someone to replace him.

But last year, it was impossible to operate. Civil and military officials directly followed the household register, and young people of the right age, with brothers at home, and single were forcibly recruited!

At first, Wu Juyuan just moved Kaifeng grain onto the boat, and he could still take the boat all the way to Shaanxi.

In a daze, he went to the Hexi Corridor and transported grain back and forth between Guazhou and Suzhou.

In winter, heavy snow blocked the road, and he was left in Guazhou, saying that he could go home in the spring.

In the spring, when he was about to leave, the government suddenly said that the number of immigrants would be increased, and Wu Juyuan was very unlucky to be selected as an immigrant.

The other selected civilians were crying all the way.

Wu Juyuan seemed a little excited. He was eighteen years old this year, had learned the Four Books and Six Classics, was also familiar with new mathematics, and had a strong martial arts. But his knowledge was still far from the examination for a scholar, but his father Wu Song insisted that he continue to study and resolutely did not allow him to join the army. This time he went to the Western Regions, maybe he could show his skills!

There were only five bitter springs along the way after passing through hundreds of miles of uninhabited areas.

Such a harsh environment scared the other civilians so much that they turned pale and thought that the whole Western Regions were like this.

Finally, they came to Yizhou after going through hardships and camped outside the city to wait for assignment.

After waiting for several days, Wu Juyuan was called to line up.

The clerk took the roster and whispered: "Wu Juyuan."

A loud-voiced soldier next to him immediately shouted: "Who is Wu Juyuan?"

Wu Juyuan hurriedly ran out of the team: "I am Wu Juyuan."

The clerk asked: "Wu Juyuan, from Kaifeng, Tokyo, 18 years old this year, and there are two adult brothers at home. Is it you? If you were hired to serve, you can say it now."

Who the hell dares to say it?

Even if you were hired to serve, you dare not say it clearly.

"It's me." Wu Juyuan bowed.

The clerk smiled and said, "From your words and deeds, you have read books. Unfortunately, the quotas nearby are full, and you are the last two batches. Hotan and Datun City are more difficult, so you will be arranged to immigrate to Qiuci."

At this time, Qiuci City was on the other side of Kuche in Aksu.

Wu Juyuan continued to stay in Yizhou for a few days, and then set off with other immigrants.

There were more than 2,000 immigrants, and they were the last batch to go to Qiuci. It is said that the army, officials and the previous batches of immigrants had already gone there.

Because Wu Juyuan could write and count, he was temporarily appointed as the battalion commander.

The officer in charge of leading them was an officer, and the other temporary battalion commanders also had their own backgrounds. Some of them had read books like Wu Juyuan, and some had participated in militia training.

At the same time, they also received supplies.

Many carts pulled by mules and horses were loaded with food, farm tools, seeds, bedding and weapons.

The official distributing supplies said, "There are not enough oxen for the time being, so we will use mules and horses to plow the fields. As for the military equipment, you should check it first and replace any damaged ones as soon as possible."

Wu Juyuan was overjoyed.

Not only did he receive a long spear, a waist knife, a set of leather armor, and a crossbow, but because he was the temporary battalion commander, the government directly issued him a war horse.

Wu Juyuan saw the bow and arrow and ran over to ask, "Can the crossbow be replaced with a horse bow? A foot bow is also OK."

"Can you ride and shoot?" The quartermaster was quite surprised.

Wu Juyuan smiled and said, "I am proficient in bows and horses."

The quartermaster also smiled, "Kucha is on the border, there may be a war, and you may be a combat soldier in the future."

Wu Juyuan said, "I want to be a general in command of troops!"

"Hahahaha!"

"You have ambition!"

The other soldiers around laughed and praised him.