Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The administrative system of the Gaochang Uighur Kingdom basically inherited the Xizhou system of the Tang Dynasty - the seat of the Tang Dynasty's Xizhou was in Gaochang City.

It has two systems.

One is the system of prefectures, counties, townships, and villages, which is governed by officials appointed by the court.

The other is the system of control over nomadic tribes.

With the development of agriculture, nomadic tribes are becoming fewer and fewer in the area south of the Tianshan Mountains, and more and more prefectures and counties are established.

And how are officials in prefectures and counties selected?

Imperial examinations!

This seems a bit counterintuitive, but it is true.

The Western Xia, which was deeply sinicized, did not start the imperial examination until the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty. However, the Gaochang Uighurs, far away in Xinjiang, have always had the imperial examination system since the founding of the country.

However, with the intensification of land annexation, the imperial examination system here has become more and more formal. In addition, there is the tradition of recommendation and merit inherited from the Tang Dynasty, coupled with land annexation, which led to the hereditary nobles and military nobles stealing local power.

As for Manichaeism, which was separated from the masses, it was even automatically Confucianized very early.

In order to strengthen the centralized rule of the King of Gaochang, Manichaeism, as the state religion, took the initiative to absorb a large number of Confucian ideas and advocated social order and ethical principles.

Manichaeism was abandoned by the rulers, and Buddhism came later in Gaochang. The whole process was accompanied by the intensification of local autonomy.

During the rule of Gaochang Uighurs and Western Liao, the central government was still nominally centralized, and officials were selected through imperial examinations. But in fact, different oasis areas were ruled by hereditary nobles of all sizes.

Because the great nobles were detained by Li Yanxian, they were ordered to move their families to Ningxia and western Liaoning through military threats.

The remaining small nobles were no longer a concern. The Ming Dynasty could fill the political niche of the great nobles by directly selecting civil and military officials. Then, through imperial examinations and small nobles, they assisted Han officials in ruling prefectures and counties.

There were only two places that were more difficult to deal with.

One was north of the Tianshan Mountains, where it was mainly ruled by tributary rule.

Today, the Ming Dynasty only has garrisons and immigrants in Zhangbali (Urumqi), and has not yet actually controlled Beiting. The tribal cavalry in Beiting also fled quickly without surrendering after the Naiman tribe withdrew.

Second, Kashgar and Kucha still need to fight a few more battles.

The capital of the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate is in Kashgar, and it rules the area around Hotan.

For more than a hundred years, they have repeatedly launched holy wars and attacked the Kucha Uighurs in the Aksu area. They killed a large number of Buddhists, burned temples and Buddhist scriptures, and finally forced the Kucha Uighurs to become independent from the Gaochang Uighurs, and the Kucha Uighurs also became vassals of the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate.

By the way, the Gaochang Uighurs originally belonged to a dual kingship.

One was the Gaochang Uighur King, and the other was the Kucha Uighur King. They nominally co-ruled the country.

After Yelu Dashi rose to power, he demoted the Great Khan of the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate to the King of Kashgar. Therefore, the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate became the Eastern Karakhanid Kingdom and became a vassal state of the Western Liao Dynasty.

The Kingdom of Kucha Uighurs also became independent and directly subordinate to the Western Liao Dynasty.

These two kingdoms, one in Kashgar and the other in Kuche. In the previous war, only symbolic troops were sent to participate, and no losses were suffered, and the real nobles did not come.

In the next few years, in addition to consolidating its rule, the Anxi Protectorate of the Ming Dynasty will also use troops in the following places-

First, Beiting. Completely conquer the grasslands north of the Tianshan Mountains!

Second, Yili. It is now the territory of the Western Liao Dynasty.

Third, Aksu, Kashgar, and Hotan, a large area, there are two kingdoms that do not accept the rule of the Ming Dynasty, and the main religion has become desert religion.

Wu Juyuan traveled all the way to Yanqi and found that there were tens of thousands of people gathered here.

The 10,000 Han people who immigrated to Yanqi have begun to divide the land under the arrangement of officials.

The land of the relocated nobles is mainly distributed, but it also involves some small nobles and civilians. The Anxi Protectorate has promised that those who are willing to sell their land will be redeemed by the government, and those who are unwilling to sell their land will follow the Ming army to rob - to rob them more land in Kashgar and Qiuci for exchange!

Small and medium-sized nobles from other places can also follow to rob land.

The 6,000 garrisons of Qiuci, the 3,000 garrisons of Yanqi, and the 1,000 garrisons of Hotan are all currently gathering in Yanqi.

There are also many small and medium-sized noble armed forces in Yanqi, which are also gathering.

The war is about to start!

The immigrants going to Qiuci and Hotan also need to participate in the war, including Wu Juyuan who just arrived.

Wu Juyuan and his group of immigrants came late, and they didn’t even have time for militia training, so they could only serve as logistics and transportation personnel temporarily.

At the end of spring sowing in the Yanqi area, the troops officially marched towards Qiuci: 10,000 regular Ming troops, 11,000 armed Han immigrants, 3,000 noble armed forces from various places in Gaochang, and hundreds of Yanqi civilians waiting for land compensation.

The 10,000 Han immigrants who immigrated to Yanqi also had to help them transport food and grass after the spring sowing was over.

…

The King of Kucha Uighurs was called Kui Yu. In another time and space, he sent envoys to pay tribute to the Jin Kingdom.

In this time and space, he naturally paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

But after the rise of Western Liao, Kui Yu cut off his contacts with the Ming Dynasty and became a vassal state of Western Liao.

“Last year, the Liao Dynasty sent troops to rescue Gaochang. We also sent a thousand soldiers, two thousand civilians and a lot of food and grass to join the Liao Dynasty’s reinforcements and march eastward.”

“None of those soldiers and civilians came back. I heard that the survivors were killed.”

“Now that the Ming Dynasty’s army is coming, do you have any suggestions?”

Kui Yu is already in his fifties and has gained some weight.

His ancestors encountered holy wars many times, and numerous temples, monks and believers of various religions were killed. Since his grandfather's generation, he had been forced to convert to desert religion.

He was still very loyal to Xiliao. After all, it was Yelu Dashi who helped him break away from the Eastern Kara Khanate and become independent.

Prime Minister Bayi Buhua said: "Your Majesty should quickly summon the army and send envoys to contact the Ming army to see what they want."

Another prime minister, Turmidis, said: "Isn't it clear what they want? All the great nobles in Yanqi were moved to Han with their families, and the Han immigrants took away the land of the great nobles. Although the Gaochang Uighur King was in Hu Sihan Er, but I heard that the Gaochang royal family has all gone to Luoyang. Those of us who are either royal families or nobles will lose our land and be far away from home even if we surrender. "

"The Liao Dynasty was defeated, do you want to fight the Ming army?" You Sumut, the prime minister in charge of military affairs, asked.

Turmidis said: "You can seek help from the King of Kashgar (King of East Kara)."

Yousumut sneered: "He is a subjugated monarch who can't even defeat the rebels. Can he help us fight against the Ming army?"

When the nine prime ministers were almost quarreling, King Kuma of Kucha said: "Let's send an envoy first. Is there anyone willing to be an envoy?"

Military Prime Minister Yousumut said: "I am willing to be an envoy."

Ahmed, the religious prime minister, immediately objected: "Your Majesty, he was frightened by last year's war. If you send him as an envoy, he will only know how to surrender and betray the country!"

Kuma Yu said: "Bayi Buhua, you can go."

Bayi Buhua took a few followers and headed east quickly, and met the Ming army halfway.

The leader of the Ming army on this road was called Huang Zuo, who was originally a subordinate of Prime Minister Zhong. He was Wang Zuo in "The Complete Biography of Yue Shuo".

Many of Prime Minister Zhong's generals defected to the Ming Dynasty and were dispersed and organized into various armies.

Huang Zuo was transferred to Shandong and followed Guan Sheng and Han Shizhong to conquer the Kingdom of Jin. Later, he was incorporated into the Sichuan Field Army and was promoted by fighting against barbarians. Then he was transferred to Shanxi as the commander of the field army. His direct boss was Shanxi Commander-in-Chief Liu Qi.

"King Qiuci wants to surrender?" Huang Zuo asked.

Bayi Buhua said: "Qiuci is willing to be a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and he will be loyal from now on. My king has long sent envoys to Kaifeng to pay tribute, and was canonized as the king of Qiuci by the Ming Emperor. Only because of the excessive military front of the Liao Kingdom, we I was forced to cut off contact with the Ming Dynasty, and now I plan to return to the embrace of my motherland.”

Huang Zuo said: "It is okay to surrender. The royal family and nobles will all move to Han Dynasty and free up the land in Qiuci for Han people to cultivate."

Of course Bayi Buhua was unwilling: "Can we each take a step back?"

"Don't even take a step back." Huang Zuo sneered. He still wanted to gain military exploits.

Bayi Buhua almost begged to continue the negotiation, but Huang Zuo refused to let go. He could only go back to resume his life with worries.

At the same time, King Kucha also sent an envoy to contact King Dongkara.

King Ibrahim was unable to suppress the rebels, so he invited Yelu Dashi to help. In the end, Yelu Dashi annexed the territory and established Xiliao.

He is only in his thirties and is an idiot!

Facing the Kucha envoy, Ibrahim said in fear: "Last year, I sent many troops and civilians to join Daliao's reinforcements to rescue Gaochang, but none of those soldiers or civilians came back. Even Daliao couldn't defeat Ming Dynasty. Army, what chance do our two countries’ coalition have of winning?”

The Kucha envoy could only promote the Ming Dynasty's policies, evicting nobles, immigrating Han people, occupying land, etc.

When these things were said, the ministers of Dongkara suddenly became upset.

Prime Minister Abdullah said: "Great Khan, we can launch a holy war and let all men join the army. We will definitely defeat those infidels!"

Ibrahimchi asked: "What should I do if I lose?"

"If we lose, we will flee to Husihan'er (the capital of Western Liao)," Abdullah said. "Even if we surrender, we will be moved to Han. In this case, it is better to fight. After defeat, flee to Hu Sihan'er can still get preferential treatment and become a noble. Isn't it better than being moved to Han Dynasty? "

Ibrahim nodded and said: "That's the truth, then launch a jihad against the Ming Dynasty!"

Although the Kucha Uighur Kingdom is independent, its domestic clergy have long been controlled by the Eastern Kara Kingdom.

Dongkara launched a holy war, and Qiuci also quickly started a riot. The eminent monks encouraged them to send troops. If they didn't agree, they would probably rebel directly.

May.

The Ming army conquered a series of territories in the eastern part of Kucha and was approaching the royal city of Kucha.

The Kucha army was retreating steadily. Under the organization of the clergy and nobles, they formed a jihadist army and tried to defend the royal city.

At the same time, the jihadi army from East Kara also came to the rescue.

The total number of holy soldiers from the two countries totaled 50,000 to 60,000, but most of the soldiers did not even have decent weapons.