Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Luoyang, imperial military meeting.

Zhang Guangdao stood in front of a map of the Western Regions and pointed at the map with a wooden stick: "According to the news sent back by Wu Jie, Qiuci, Kashgar, and Hotan have been successfully captured, but the conditions for attacking Ili are not yet complete. Specific details The situation can be explained by Li Shilang."

Li Yanxian's current title is Duke of the State of Qin, his official position is Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, he has been promoted to Taifu and Shangzhu Kingdom, and his military rank is General Zhenguo.

Compared with the pile of titles and titles, his official position is the most inconspicuous.

Li Yanxian pointed to the Ili River Valley and said: "This mountain range is the North Tianshan Mountains, and this mountain range is the South Tianshan Mountains. The two Tianshan Mountains separate the Yili River Valley, making it impossible to send troops directly from the east."

"There are two routes to advance."

"One is to go around to the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains and go through a passage in the North Tianshan Mountains (Guozigou Mountain Road). The other is to send troops from Qiuci and pass through a mountain road in the South Tianshan Mountains (Xia Te Ancient Road). If our army wants to take Ili In the river valley, it is best to send troops along two routes, facing each other from the north to the south to eat up the entire Ili. "

"To send troops from the north, we also need to solve the problems of the grassland tribes. The imperial court is currently only stationing troops and immigrating to Zhangbali (Urumqi), and the tribes further away have still not submitted."

"To the east of Zhangbali is Beiting City, which is the seat of the Beiting Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty and the summer capital of the Gaochang Uighur Kingdom. There are many large and small tribes there, and they all fled during the decisive battle last year. According to the news sent back by Wu Jie, The Beiting tribes are fighting against the Naiman tribe. The reason is that the Naiman tribe suddenly moved south after the beginning of spring. "

"To the northwest of Zhangbali there is Yemilicheng (northwest of Tacheng), which is where the Yelu Dashi establishment is called Khan."

"When our army sends troops from the North Route, it should first recover the tribes in Beiting and deal with the threats from the rear. Then use Zhangbali (Urumqi) as the rear area of ​​the North Route Army, send elites and civilians to march westward, and reach the mountain pass of the southern passage Build a city outside. While guarding the city against the threat from Ye Mili, you can also stock up on food and grass to prepare for the southern expedition to Ili."

"As for Kucha, the South Route Army's troop dispatch route is extremely dangerous, and Xiliao is very likely to set up passes layer by layer. Kucha, Kashgar, and Hotan were smashed again this time. Huang Zuo slaughtered many local soldiers and civilians, and more people need to be relocated. The Han people used to farm so as to ensure the supply of food and grass.”

"It will take three to five years for the north and south routes to operate and fight before they can basically consolidate the newly occupied territory and resume production and stockpile food and grass. At least 40,000 people will need to immigrate there, and it is best to increase the garrison by 5,000!"

"After conquering the Ili Valley, Ili needs more immigrants."

"When we are preparing to send troops to Yili, Xiliao will definitely not be idle. Xiliao will mostly build passes on the southern route, relying on Daodaoxiongguan to resist the Ming Dynasty's southern route army. And in the north, Xiliao will also build passes But we mainly rely on the grassland to fight. Conquering the Beiting tribes is the first step. Next, we should defeat the Naiman tribe, at least to ensure that the Naiman tribe will not join any party. "

"..."

What Li Yanxian said has been discussed with the Privy Council a long time ago, and now it is presented to the emperor and cabinet ministers.

Ju Ming said nothing.

The seven cabinet ministers whispered among themselves and raised some detailed questions from time to time.

Li Hanzhang said: "Continuing to increase the number of troops and immigrants will consume too much money and food. Can we fight directly?"

Li Bao replied: "You can fight directly. First, conquer the Beiting tribes and Naiman tribes, and also suppress the rebels in Gaochang, Qiuci, Kashgar and other places. Then, regardless of the life and death of the local people, forcefully collect more grain and grass , Bring the noble troops from the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains with you during the battle."

"We can defeat them that way," Li Yanxian said, "but our army can only occupy key cities, and the wider area is completely under control. It will be particularly easy for rebellion to occur in the future."

Qian Chen asked: "Is it possible to immigrate year by year in the future?"

Li Yanxian said: "Yes. But it is very easy to immigrate now. If we immigrate year by year in the future, we will have more conflicts with the local nobles and people."

After another discussion, Ju Ming decided:

"According to the Privy Council's strategy, the cabinet will discuss with the various ministries to implement it. When selecting subsequent immigrants, pay attention to ensuring the supply of materials and not letting the immigrants freeze to death and starve to death."

"The telegraph must lay antennas all the way from the Hexi Corridor to the far west."

"We will not send troops to Yili for three years. We will first consolidate the newly occupied territory. Especially the tribes in Beiting must be conquered as soon as possible. Beiting City must also have troops and immigrants."

With the fighting power of the Ming army, of course they can fight all the way through, and even obtain food and grass along the way.

But what is the difference between that and Yelu Dashi?

It is simply that the Ming army occupied some important cities and took a wider area as a subsidiary force, and it was simply impossible to effectively govern it.

Further Central Asia can do that, but the Ili Valley must be actually occupied and controlled!

You have to take your time step by step.

Just to capture the Yili River Valley, it would take another three years to prepare, let alone the complete Land of Seven Rivers and Hezhong Mansion.

The ministers dispersed one after another, and Ju Ming stared at the map for a long time.

It was like he was playing a coloring map game.

Mobei Grassland, Jungar Basin, Yunnan, Yili, and even many areas in Guizhou still need Ju Ming to color them.

Each piece painted on it means war, death and conquest.

…

Bukhara.

The king here is also named Ibrahim, who was named Peach Blossom Stone Khan by Yelu Dashi.

There is also a "Shaheina" left in Xiliao to supervise the rule of King Ibrahim, just like the Supreme Emperor of the Bukhara Khanate.

This spring, Ajisi did not wait for his horses to gain weight before leading the Khwarezm army to fight.

Ibrahim urgently asked Xiliao for help.

How could it be possible to wait for reinforcements?

Xiliao lost troops and generals in the battle last year, and this year they received news that the Ming army was attacking Kucha. Although the monarchs and ministers of the Ming Dynasty decided to wait three years before attacking Ili, the monarchs and ministers of the Western Liao Dynasty did not know.

They were always prepared to resist the Ming army and did not dare to send troops to rescue Bukhara.

The city of Bukhara was besieged for three months and was finally defeated and fell.

Peach Blossom Stone Khan Ibrahim was taken as a prisoner, "Shaheina" sent by Xiliao to supervise the country was executed, and the wealth in Bukhara was looted by Khwarezm.

The scale of this battle was small, but it had a huge impact in Central and West Asia - it showed the decline of Western Liao and was no longer able to protect its vassal states.

Far away in Mulu City, Sanjar received the news.

Sanjar called Prime Minister Mulek to discuss: "The Ming Dynasty went on an expedition to Gaochang and defeated the Black Khitan reinforcements, and I heard that the war is still going on. This is our opportunity. The Black Khitan can't even rescue the vassal state of Bukhara. It is impossible to resist my expeditionary army any longer."

Mulek admonished: "Your Majesty, now is not a good time to send troops. In recent years, the Seljuq vassals have become independent, and rebels often appear in the country. Even Mulu City was looted by Khwarezm. Although we The domestic rebels have been basically eliminated, but the people are so poor that they cannot provide food and grass. Once troops are forced to send out troops, I am afraid that famine will spread and rebels will wreak havoc again. "

"Military rations are not a problem. Wherever the army goes, local people can provide rations." Sanjar planned to grab them all the way.

Mulek said: "If we really want to send troops, it is better to go east than north. Attack Khwarezm first, which is closer and weaker, and Ajisi has betrayed us many times. The Black Khitans were beaten by the Ming Dynasty and were unable to parry. They were already in It is declining, and we can kill it at any time, but we cannot sit back and watch the rise of Khwarezm, Ajisi is our biggest concern!”

Sanjar felt it made sense and had been convinced by Mulek, and personally he also wanted to beat Ajisi.

How can an enemy hate a traitor?

And this traitor betrayed him repeatedly.

The Ming Dynasty went on an expedition to the Western Regions last year. Although it did not even capture Ili, the aftermath of the war spread to West Asia.

The Seljuk Empire, regardless of the depletion of its troops and the hardship of its people, forcibly mobilized a large army to attack Khwarezm.

Ajisi was shocked when he heard the news and quickly sent envoys to negotiate peace.

He was willing to leave Xiliao and submit to the Seljuqs again. At the same time, all the goods stolen from Seljuk, plus some compensation, were returned to Sanjar, and an annual tribute of 30,000 gold coins was given.

Since Xiliao was no longer a threat, Sanjar did not accept surrender as historically.

He led his army all the way to the city of Khwarezm. The arrogant Ajisi did not even dare to hold on to the capital, so he abandoned the city and fled with his trusted troops overnight.

Sanjar sent troops to plunder Khwarazm and established a puppet as the king of Khwarazm. A symbolic pursuit captured two cities, and then returned to the court after the plunder.

Immediately, Khwarezm became divided.

The puppet king supported by Sanjar and Ajisi, who abandoned the capital and fled, each raised a group of nobles to start a civil war mode.

By the way, King Ibrahim of Bukhara who was imprisoned in Khwarezm was also rescued and released by Sanjar.

In order to repay his kindness, Ibrahim betrayed Xiliao and fell into the arms of Sanjar again, and Bukhara became a vassal state of Seljuk.

At the same time, the fight in Hezhong Mansion was also lively.

Because Xiliao did not rescue Bukhara, the vassal forces saw its decline. As a result, the nobles of the Western Kara Khanate rebelled. They first killed the puppet king and the governor of Western Liao, and then fought with the remnants of Xixia who were placed there.

At that time, 20,000 to 30,000 Xixia soldiers and civilians in the Hexi Corridor fled to Xiliao.

Yelu Dashi placed them in Hezhong Mansion and occupied a large amount of cultivated land and grassland belonging to the Western Kara nobles. The contradiction between the two sides became more and more intense. It was okay with Xiliao suppressing them, but the conflict broke out immediately after Xiliao declined.

The Xixia people were caught off guard and fled to the Fergana Basin in embarrassment, joining forces with the Xiliao garrison there.

A decisive battle broke out between the two sides at the mountain pass. The coalition of Western Kara nobles was defeated and was chased all the way to Samarkand.

A party nobleman named Ren Duoxiu Ge led his army into the bloody massacre city of Samarkand, took over as the governor of Hezhong Prefecture and asked for approval from Xiliao.

Queen Gantian of Western Liao pinched her nose and recognized her, and Hezhong Mansion fell into the hands of the remnants of Western Xia for no reason.

But the chaos in Hezhong Mansion had just begun. Because the rule of the party members was too cruel, the remaining nobles of Hezhong Mansion rebelled in tandem. They did not go to fight Samarkand, but the separatist areas did not obey orders, and from time to time they sent troops to attack the territory of the party members.

Moreover, when the party members massacred the city, they also slaughtered the temples inside and outside the city and looted the wealth accumulated by the temples for hundreds of years. Therefore, the radical Tianfang believers were also taking revenge. Brother Rendoxiu was assassinated several times when he went out.

Brother Ren Duoxiu does not have the political wisdom of Yelu Dashi. He has only one way to deal with it: kill!

Further south, the Ghazni dynasty in Afghanistan also chose to attack the Gur dynasty at this time.

The reason was that Gejinin oppressed Ghur too much. When Sanjar won the victory over Khwarezm, the Ghur dynasty immediately pledged allegiance to Sanjar and sought protection from Sanjar.

King Gejining is Sanjar's nephew. He has given up on his uncle for a long time and has sent troops brazenly to completely conquer the Gur Dynasty.

Sanjar was furious, and he led the Seljuk army that was returning to the army and turned around to fight Gejining.

The two sides fought for a while and then withdrew their troops.

Zhu Ming didn't know until now that his order to go to the Western Regions had triggered a chain reaction, and the whole of Central Asia was plunged into war.