Song Gexing

Chapter 253 New War Situation in the Western Regions

Just after a battle, the Harun Khans in the eastern part of the Karakhanid Dynasty clashed with the Gaochang Uighurs again. In this battle, the Gaochang Uighurs were defeated again.

Since the Khotan Kingdom was overthrown by the Karakhanids, the Gaochang Uighurs have become their next target. If not for the sudden rise of the Seljuk Empire, the Gaochang Uighurs would have been destroyed long ago.

In addition to the reason for occupying territory, the Karakhanid Dynasty's eastern expedition was mainly under the banner of holy war, because Khotan and the Gaochang Uighurs were both countries that believed in Buddhism.

The Karakhanid dynasty was the first Islamic state of the Turkic-speaking people. Its establishment marked the beginning of the Islamicization of the northwest people.

Since the Song Dynasty was isolated from the Western Regions, and the Liao Kingdom did not want to take care of such a distant place, it only sent [-] herdsmen there to provide symbolic support and then nothing more.

Therefore, the forces in the Transoxiana region have been eyeing the Western Regions. After the Seljuks returned, they originally wanted to trade with the Song Dynasty, but the Karakhanid Dynasty went on war again and blocked the road.

The news reached Gansu. After receiving it, Liu Changzuo struggled for a long time and summoned the generals to discuss the matter. His general Li Yuan was the leader of the Uighur tribe in Ganzhou and surrendered from Xixia.

He took out a letter asking for help: "The Black Khanate is shameless. Everywhere it goes, it must force the people to believe in religion. If the Gaochang Uighurs are swallowed up, there will be no Buddhist land in the entire Western Region. I will ask the general to send troops to show those bastards." Look at the majesty of the Celestial Empire.”

The Black Khanate is what the Song people called the Karakhanid Dynasty. Liu Changzuo was hesitant and said: "It is not difficult to send troops, but how many people will go and how to ensure the logistics and food are big problems. The Gobi Desert is thousands of miles away from Dunhuang. If there are not enough people to go, I will be afraid." You will suffer a loss because if you go too many, the logistics will be too difficult."

Li Shunju, who had been promoted to the position of supervisor of the Gansu Army, pondered: "What if we borrow a road from the Liao Kingdom? Go straight to the southern foot of Jinshan Mountain, kill Alashankou, and march to Yining."

Liu Changzuo shook his head: "The Liao Kingdom is guarding us now, how can we let us take advantage of it?"

Li Yuan immediately said: "If we go to the Yellow-headed Uighur territory, we can first pull out the city of Yuechang and build a bridgehead, and then we can go directly to Khotan by walking along the northern part of the Kunlun Mountains."

"Yellow-headed Uighur?"

Liu Changzuo pondered for a moment and asked: "The defense change over at Qingtang has been completed. The three sons of Zusiluo have surrendered their troops. Hasn't the Yellow-headed Uyghur replied yet?"

At this time, northern Tibet and northwest Tibet had all become areas directly under the jurisdiction of the Song Dynasty. The Song army had actually reached the Western Regions and faced the original Khotan Kingdom across the Kunlun Mountains.

It's just that it's impossible to cross the Kunlun Mountains, so the only way is to go to the territory of the Yellow-headed Uighur, but that area is not under the jurisdiction of Gsisiluo, so it is still outside.

What Li Yuan said is correct. Although the Yellow-headed Uighurs were not incorporated into the Song Dynasty, they always recognized the Song Dynasty as the suzerain state and would often send people to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty.

Although they were blocked by Xixia in the past, they could go to the Song Dynasty through Tubo, and they would not refuse to go there.

But Liu Changzuo is a little scruples, that is, it is different from the past. In the past, Zong Siluo was independent, and they didn't think that the Song Dynasty would threaten them.

But as Zusiluo announced that Tubo would return to the Song Dynasty and automatically lift its military power, they became nervous.

Moreover, the imperial court did intend to merge them into the Song Dynasty, and had sent people to contact them to discuss it. However, the Yellow-headed Uighurs were not a large group, but several tribes, each in charge of their own affairs.

There are other nomads in this area, and they are also the Grass-headed Tatars who want to negotiate.

"There are still two tribes that are unwilling to submit, thinking that the imperial court will restrict their free grazing."

After hearing Liu Changzuo's question, Li Yuan sighed helplessly.I was helpless by the short-sightedness of my own kind.In fact, he himself was not in the past. Before surrendering, he was also worried, but he had to surrender due to the pressure of the army.

The Yellow-headed Uighur is located in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang, with the farthest west being Ruoqiang and the southeastern edge of the Tengger Desert.

Later, due to the eastward expansion of Islam, this branch was forced to move to the Jiuquan area, and merged with the Han and Mongolian peoples to form the Yugur people of later generations.

However, in the Song Dynasty, because the Gaochang Uighurs were a Buddhist country, they were far away from the Islamic countries and did not feel the danger of genocide, so they were still nomadic outside Jiayuguan.

But in fact, the danger is approaching, because on the other side of the desert, Khotan has been destroyed.

Moreover, in the Western Regions during the Northern Song Dynasty, the desertification phenomenon was not that serious, and the desert area was far less vast than in later generations.

Yuechang City was built in the desert, but this city has long been lost in later generations. It was submerged in the yellow sand and told the changes of the years.

Yuechang City is located between Ruoqiang and Qiemo, at the eastern end of the later Tengger Desert. Desertification has begun at this time, but it can still nomadic herds and plant arid crops.

As long as the Song army occupies this place, it can use it as a base to march westward along the edge of the desert and penetrate directly into Khotan to have a close contact with the eastern Khan of the Karakhanid Dynasty.

Liu Changzuo finally agreed to Li Yuan's suggestion and sent people to negotiate with the Yellow-headed Uighurs. This time he did not talk about their surrender, but showed them the letter of distress from the Gaochang Uighurs.

Tell them that if the Gaochang Uighurs in front are destroyed, the next target of the Karakhan Dynasty will definitely be them.

Because they are the weakest, the Karakhan dynasty of the Khitans in the north do not dare to offend, and they do not dare to offend the Song Dynasty in the southeast. Then they and the Tubo are the only ones left.

The various Yellow-headed Uighur tribes had no choice but to unite together and agreed to allow the Song army to transit the border, and promised to escort the grain and grass and protect the retreat.

Just at this time, good news came from Wang Zhongzheng. The Shanqiang tribe among the Tubo tribes was conquered by him. The Song army reached Pangong Lake in the snowy area.

Wang Zhongzheng was ruthless this time and led five thousand troops deep into the Houzang area. His achievements in the previous battles were not great, which made him feel ashamed.

Zhao Fang sent three internal eunuchs to the northwest. Both Li Shunju and Li Xian made great contributions, but he only had some small achievements. How could he bear this?

Therefore, after Zushiluo surrendered, he volunteered to go to the Qingtang area. First, he reorganized Zushiluo's army. After successfully completing it, he found that the Shanqiang tribes were blocking the road between the Zushilu tribe and other Tubo tribes.

In this era, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is not only the Tubo people, there are also many Qianghu tribes. The so-called Shanqiang refers to a branch of the Qianghu. They should be descendants of Diqiang, who are used to living in the mountains.

Around the central part of the Kunlun Mountains, Wang Zhongzheng thought it would be a great achievement to recover these tribes, so he led 5000 troops there decisively.

But this time he was right in his bet. The Shanqiang tribe did not have much ambition. They were usually employed by various Tubo tribes to help them fight for territory. There were also many of these people in Jisiluo's army.

Seeing the arrival of the Song Dynasty army, and hearing that the powerful Xisi Luo had surrendered and was granted the hereditary and irreplaceable title of county king, the leaders of these tribes were moved.

(End of this chapter)