Tibet.

Chapter 1450: The Tangut Rebellion
In Chang'an, two disturbing pieces of news shocked the court and the public.

One piece of news was that the Tanguts in Gyeongju and Wonju were rebelling, and the other piece of news was that the Chuyue tribe living in the southern part of Geumsan showed signs of rebellion.

The Dangxiang people were originally Western Qiang people who lived in Hehuang. Emperor Wen of Sui and Empress Wu Zetian migrated them to the Guannei area twice, to Yuanzhou, Qingzhou, Xiazhou, Yinzhou and Yanzhou, where they lived together with the local Han people. Among them, 70% of the Dangxiang people were concentrated in Yuanzhou and Qingzhou.

After An Lushan captured Chang'an, his army continued to attack Shuofang where the temporary court was located. The Tang army also fought with all its might. Gyeongju and Wonju became battlefields for the two armies. A large number of Han people either died or fled, while the Dangxiang people hiding in the mountains were safe and sound.

Because Li Ye's sneak attack on Chang'an was successful, An Lushan's army quickly retreated south and the war came to an abrupt end. The temporary court and army also hurried south to Hanzhong. The Dangxiang people took the opportunity to occupy the vacant land left by the Han people. This was an opportunity for the Dangxiang people to develop rapidly.

After the Helong Army took over Guannei Road, Gyeongzhou and Wonzhou have been used as bases for animal husbandry. During the Tang Dynasty, Guannei Road had relatively high rainfall and a warm climate. Gyeongzhou and Wonzhou had large pastures, so the imperial court placed millions of sheep in Wonzhou and Gyeongzhou. Some Dangxiang people became professional herders and were paid for herding.

But anything will inevitably lead to conflicts over time, which is also caused by the different perceptions of the parties involved. If the conflicts are handled well, with mutual understanding and tolerance, the conflicts can be resolved.

However, if the conflict is not handled properly, it will lead to the intensification of conflicts between the two sides and end up in a mess.

The Dangxiang people's grazing belongs to the latter category. The conflict arises from the lambs. Millions of sheep belong to the imperial court, with clear ownership rights, which the Dangxiang people also recognize.

When the ewe gave birth to a lamb, the imperial court believed that the lamb was still the imperial property and could not be questioned. However, the Dangxiang people did not think so. They believed that half of the lamb belonged to them.

The two sides negotiated more than once, but the court could only give the Tanguts 10% of the lambs as compensation for taking care of the ewes.

The Dangxiang people were particularly stubborn and would never budge on anything they had determined. There was no talk of compromise. They insisted on having half of the lamb, leaving no room for negotiation between the two sides.

The negotiations came to a stalemate, but the ewes continued to give birth to lambs, and the lambs grew up slowly. At first, everyone could still grit their teeth and bear it, but as the number of sheep with unclear ownership increased, and the accumulated number exceeded 500,000, the conflict finally broke out.

The Dangxiang people took the initiative and built more than 20 castles in the mountains. They drove 500,000 sheep into the 20 castles.

The officials of the pastoral supervision immediately discovered that the number of sheep was wrong, and they soon found out the truth. While negotiating with the Dangxiang people, the supervisory officials requested support from the garrison in Yuanzhou.

When a thousand Tang soldiers broke through the first castle, the conflict intensified. The Dangxiang leader Tuoba Zhaoguang of Yuanzhou announced that he would no longer accept the rule of the Tang Dynasty. Soon after, the Dangxiang leader Tuoba Qimei of Qingzhou also announced that he would no longer accept the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

The Dangxiang people in the two states killed 23 herdsmen, defeated the 2,000 Tang troops of Yuanzhou’s military commander, and publicly beheaded Yuanzhou’s military commander Duan Hongwei.

At the same time, the Dangxiang also seized millions of sheep from the imperial court. They assembled tens of thousands of troops and occupied Yuanzhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, Xiazhou, and Yinzhou, seriously threatening Yanzhou, which was rich in oil, and Lingzhou, which was rich in grain.

When the news reached Chang'an, it immediately shocked the court and the country. This was a rebellion at home, and the Tanguts were only a few hundred miles away from Guanzhong. Li Ye was also very angry. He was angry that it was not the Tanguts who rebelled. He knew that the Tanguts would sooner or later become a major threat to the Central Plains dynasty. He even stationed troops to monitor the Tanguts. As a result, the Tanguts rebelled, and Li Ye realized that he knew nothing about it.

In the government hall, Li Ye rapped his knuckles on the table. "What a shame! It's a great shame. In our report, the Dangxiang were still a primitive, loose family, docile and low-key, not fighting with the world, at most they had conflicts with us over a few sheep, but now! They actually have an army of tens of thousands of people, and even a Dangxiang king. Where did their weapons come from? How is their army organized? They actually have a government, and we know nothing about it!"

Privy Councilor Guo Ziyi advised: "Your Majesty, please calm down. I may be able to explain some of the situation!"

Li Ye suppressed his anger and said, "Privy Councilor, please speak!"

Guo Ziyi said calmly: "Your Majesty, the Tanguts have never been a gentle people. They are brave and aggressive. There are five major tribes. Because the relationship between us and the Tanguts is just an employment relationship, we hire a small number of Tanguts to herd our sheep, so our understanding of the Tanguts comes from these Tanguts who herd our sheep.

They worked for us and showed us a gentle and low-key side. In addition, we signed a contract with the single-family Tanguts, and they also acted like independent families. We didn't know that they actually had tribes, and naturally we didn't know the situation in their tribes. "

Guo Ziyi's explanation made sense, and Li Ye's anger subsided a little, but he was still dissatisfied. Guo Ziyi only explained part of it. This was how Mu Jian understood the Dangxiang people, but what about the garrison? The garrison in Yuanzhou was to monitor the Dangxiang people comprehensively.

At this time, Guo Ziyi continued, "I suspect that Yuanzhou Military Commissioner Duan Hongwei may have been bribed by the Tanguts. Today, I have read his previous reports. Basically, he speaks well of the Tanguts, saying how grateful the Tanguts are to the court for giving them a place to live and how loyal they are to the court. All five reports have the same content. He never warned the court that the Tanguts would rebel one day."

Li Ye nodded. This was more like it. He paused for a moment and said, "Duan Hongwei has been killed by the Tanguts. This is his retribution. Now I want to know how many troops the Tanguts have and where their weapons and equipment come from. Does the Privy Councilor know?"

Guo Ziyi thought for a moment and said, "The total number of Dangxiang people is between 300,000 and 400,000, so their military strength is about 50,000 to 60,000. As for the source of their weapons, they should be left behind when the Tang army and An Lushan's rebels fought fiercely in Yuanzhou and Qingzhou. At that time, there was no time to clean up the battlefield, and these weapons and armors fell into the hands of the Dangxiang people. After they repaired them, they hid the weapons among the people. This is also the habit of nomads. They are herdsmen in peacetime and soldiers in wartime."

At this time, Wei Jiansu, who had been silent, said slowly: "Your Majesty, when the late emperor ascended the throne in Shuofang, the leaders of the five major tribes of Dangxiang went to pay homage to congratulate him. They were also the only ethnic group to congratulate him, which touched the emperor very much. He gave them a high degree of autonomy. They only belonged to the Tang Dynasty in name, but in fact they were made independent, and the five leaders were named Khan.

That’s why there was no information about the Tanguts in the court. Your Majesty was regent for two years and on the throne for two years. During these four years, you were always fighting outside the city and didn’t pay attention to the area around Chang’an. The Tanguts were left in the dark. Of course, the court also ignored the Tanguts, thinking that they were no different from the Qiang people in Hexi and Longyou, but in fact, the two were very different.”

Xiao Hua, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, also said: "I have also looked through the records of the Dangxiang people today. They only recorded the names of their five tribes, and those were records from ten years ago. However, the Hexi Qiang people are different. The court has the information of every Qiang household. This is a typical dual destiny. They belong to the tribe and are also citizens of the Tang Dynasty."

At this time, the Minister of War Bai Xiaode asked: "Your Majesty, I heard that Jinshan Chuyue also showed signs of rebellion. What's going on?"

Li Ye said slowly: "The Chuyue tribe is the former Jinshan tribe, living between Jinshan and Zheluoman Mountain. Originally, there were more than a dozen small tribes. Among them, the Zhuxie tribe became powerful and unified the Jinshan tribe, changing its name to the Chuyue tribe, also known as the Shatuo tribe. Originally, the area south of Jinshan belonged to Tingzhou and Yizhou, which was governed by the Beiting Military Governor's Office and was actually controlled by the Tang Dynasty. Their rebellion was to turn this land from actually controlled by the Tang Dynasty into a vassal state. There is no rush, it's just a name. It won't be too late to deal with them after we deal with the Dangxiang people. Besides, I have long wanted to destroy the Qarluk tribe and deal with the Jinshan tribe and the Qarluk tribe together."

(End of this chapter)