Song Gexing

Chapter 254 Good News
In December of the third year of Xining, the Song army conquered Khotan and forced the Eastern Great Khan of the Karakhanid Dynasty to withdraw his troops from the Gaochang Uighurs. But Liu Changzuo, the famous general, could not let go of the opportunity.

Before they arrived, they made a hasty march and led [-] cavalry to set off first. They set out in an ambush outside Shule City and defeated the opponent's [-]-strong army.

After seeing the Shule City garrison, Kaicheng surrendered. This thousand-year-old city was once again in the hands of the Han people. This brought the eastern Karakhanid Khanate, leaving only one Uzgen city south of the Xihong River, and the rest All on the north bank of the river.

The two great Khans of the Karakhanid Dynasty, the Eastern and Western Khans, were actually in opposition. The power of the Western Khans was in the Transoxiana region, which would become the Middle East in later generations.

The power of the Eastern Great Khan was in Xinjiang and Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other places in the north. Its capital was Balasagon, which later became Kyrgyzstan.

Kadir Khan was shocked when he got the news, because the Song army showed a weapon that made their soldiers stand on end.

Like thunder from the sky, black smoke filled the air, and the belly and legs of the war horse were torn open. It was like a divine punishment. The other party didn't get close at all, and the horse on his side fell over.

Less than 60 years after the destruction of Khotan, there were still a small number of Buddhists, Nestorian and Zoroastrian believers among the people. These people panicked and shouted "Gods punish sin" or "Vajra destroys the world", causing panic.

Not only were they afraid, but the Tibetan, Uighur, and Qianghu soldiers who followed the Song army out of the country were now in awe of the Song Dynasty. This was the first time that Thunderbolt Bombs appeared on the battlefield on a large scale.

This unknown weapon caused a crushing victory, making all the tribes in the Western Region horrified.

Perhaps they were reminded of the distant Tang Dynasty, which also crushed the countries in the Western Region in the same way, but that was just the Tang army's bravery and proficiency in fighting, not the fear caused by the unknown.

Within a few days, many nomadic tribes near Shule City came to offer wine and lambs.

Liu Changzuo immediately issued an order to abolish compulsory religious beliefs. According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, people were free to believe. As long as it was not an evil religion, the court would not restrict everyone.

This move subdued people with other religious beliefs, and the supervisor Li Shunju secretly spread the news that the Immortal Heaven was coming back.

This is the original belief of the Turkic people. In the eastern part of the Karakhanid Dynasty, there were actually not many Uighurs, they just occupied the aristocratic class.

This generation was originally the territory of Geluolu, and the population was also the largest. Geluolu was one of the Tiele tribes, belonging to the Turkic race, and was a different race from the forest tribes of the Uighurs.

The Uighurs are a people who fish and hunt in the forests near Lake Baikal. During the Anshi Rebellion, they played a large role in helping the Tang Dynasty suppress the rebellion. They migrated to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia as nomads.

After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Uighur Khanate also weakened and gradually migrated to the Hexi Corridor and the Western Regions, forming two major groups: the Hexi Uighurs and the Western Regions Uighurs.

After the rise of Xixia, most of the Hexi Uighurs were conquered, and many people moved to the Western Regions. Only the yellow-headed Uighurs were left. With the help of Xixia, they were not conquered by Xixia.

The Uighurs in the Western Regions established a khanate. Because the place they occupied originally belonged to the Gaochang Kingdom, they were called the Gaochang Uighurs.

The Uighurs who migrated further afield merged with the Yangmo tribe, one of the nine original surnames of Tiele, and conquered Geluolu. This was the basis of the Karakhanid dynasty.

Since both Yanmo and Geluolu are descendants of Turks, this group of Uighurs has also become the spokesperson of the Turks. Therefore, the Karakhanid Dynasty can be said to be established by the Uighurs or the Turks.At this time, there was no later Uyghur, but ethnic integration had already begun. As the Karakhanid dynasty moved westward and occupied large areas of land in West Asia, intermarriage among local people became a common phenomenon.

On the first day of the first lunar month of the fourth year of Xining's reign, after the congratulations from all the officials, Zhao Fang signaled Gao Jujian, and the spring breeze on his face could not conceal his pride and joy.

Gao Jujian stepped forward with her head held high and announced loudly: "Good news from the eight hundred miles of the Western Region!"

The ministers suddenly became energetic, and they all looked at him intently. He continued with a smile on his face: "Uncle Suzhou and the governor of the pro-army army have signed a deal. Major General Liu Changzuo has reported success. Our army of the Song Dynasty has been invited by the Uighurs of Gaochang. To resist the invasion of the Black Khanate, we sent troops on October 26th in the third year of Xining, and by December [-]th, we captured the eastern part of the Black Khanate that belonged to the Great Khan... and restored the territory of Khotan!"

The ministers cheered immediately, but Gao Jujian immediately raised his hand to signal and continued: "Wang Zhongzheng, the Secretary of the Imperial City, the governor of Guazhou, and the envoy of Qingtang Xuanfu, persuaded the Shanqiang to subdue the Qiang people on October [-]th, the third year of Xining. , marching into Tibet, our Song army has successfully garrisoned on the bank of Pangong Lake. As of December, we have received [-] requests for surrender from various Tibetan ministries and requested our emperor to send imperial envoys to Tibet..."

"Wow!"

The noise in the court became even louder, and some people even started dancing and crying and laughing regardless of the emperor. Wang Anshi and Lu Huiqing even rushed forward and shouted long live.

"Long live my emperor! Long live the Song Dynasty! I congratulate my emperor for setting a precedent in the world and surpassing the prosperous times of Han and Tang Dynasties. Now he has achieved it..."

Yes, the significance of Tubo was more important than that of the Western Regions in this era, because the Han and Tang Dynasties conquered the Western Regions, but the Central Plains Dynasty never conquered Tubo.

Both the Han Dynasty, which was militarily powerful, and the Tang Dynasty, which was top-notch in both civil and martial arts, were helpless against Tibet. The Tang Dynasty was even defeated by Tubo several times.

The geographical location of Tubo is so special that it is difficult for the Han army to fight there for a long time. You can defeat them, but you can't garrison there. As soon as the enemy withdraws, they will fight again.

Most future generations think that Tibet was difficult to defeat because of altitude sickness. In fact, that is impossible. The combat effectiveness of a powerful dynasty's army must be able to fight in any geographical environment.

The reason why Tubo is really difficult to fight is that logistical supplies are too difficult. The vast territory and sparse population make it impossible for you to fight to support the war. This is also the reason why the Han Dynasty does not pay attention to it.

The Tang Dynasty paid attention to it because Tubo had threatened the smooth flow of the Silk Road. It could threaten the Silk Road, which showed that Tubo was too powerful to be contained.

That is to say, during the Tang Dynasty, Tubo was the most powerful period in history. Both militarily and economically, it reached the level of the great powers of the same period. It was able to snatch the West Asian region from the Arab Empire. It was naturally impossible for the Tang Dynasty to take it away.

But now the Song Dynasty has done it, and they have actively surrendered. For the scholar-bureaucrats, this is a glorious event that can be recorded in the annals of history.

Although everyone knows that Tubo is now a piece of disorganized sand, incomparable to that of the Tang Dynasty, after all, it has accomplished what the Tang Dynasty could not do.

Moreover, the surrender of Tubo indicated that the Song Dynasty could intervene in the Western Regions at any time, and even further areas. The Song Dynasty already knew that there was vast land outside the Western Regions, and even the existence of the Roman Empire was known to the Song people.

(End of this chapter)