People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 469 Recovering the Western Regions, the Black Khan Kingdom

War comes quickly and goes away quickly.

The Song army's attack on the Uighurs was like a group of well-equipped heavy cavalry fighting a group of primitive tribal remnants whose weapons were all bronze.

There is no comparison between the two sides, just like no matter how thick the leather armor is, it cannot stop the shooting of bullets.

As the sun sets, the earth is painted orange, but now it has turned into bright red, a true blood-like color, filling Yizhou with blood.

Di Qing personally led the remaining 2,000 men and raided the rear of the Uighur army, destroying the already chaotic Uighurs and even their command system.

In the midst of the chaos, the Uighur King Aqifuluo was surrounded by his guards and wanted to escape. However, he happened to encounter 500 Song soldiers led by Zeng Yong who were trying to encircle them. He was shot and fell off his horse in the chaos.

Tens of thousands of Uighur cavalry were in a panic and most of them instinctively fled to the west. That direction was the direction of the Uighur royal court in Gaochang, and there were places for supplies along the way.

For example, Bifengyi, Baozhuang (Shanshan County), Qiketamu Town, Liuchong Town, etc., and most of them are the habitats of these soldiers' tribes.

Di Qing naturally would not miss this opportunity of autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. At a command, the Song army chased all the way. In addition to the 20,000 combat soldiers, even the civilians and the garrison troops in the rear joined in this feast.

The Song Dynasty stipulated that not only combat soldiers, but anyone who participated in the battlefield, even auxiliary soldiers or civilian laborers, would be rewarded as long as they had military merits, whether it was killing, capturing, seizing or obtaining important intelligence.

Under such a reward mechanism and with the battle going in their favor, the Song army fell into a frantic pursuit, with only a few thousand men left to garrison Yizhou and occupy the local city.

The next day, the Song army, which had been chasing all night, arrived at Nazhi County.

It is located about 65 kilometers west of Yizhou, probably in Sibao Village, Wubao Township, Hami City, Xinjiang in later generations. It is the site of the ancient city of Lapuquke in later generations. It was established in the Tang Dynasty and is now occupied by the Uighurs.

Di Qing reorganized the troops here, left behind some logistical laborers and auxiliary soldiers along the way, and then led the main combat troops all the way to Gaochang in the west.

A few days later, they successively conquered Zetian and Baozhuang, and finally arrived at Xizhou during the Tang Dynasty, which was Gaochang at that time and Turpan in later generations.

Gaochang has a favorable geographical environment and has been an important connecting hub of the ancient Silk Road since ancient times. Not only merchants from the Western Regions, but also merchants from Central Asia and the Han Chinese gathered here, bringing prosperity to this place.

But when they heard that the Song army was coming, the Uighurs, who were the main ethnic group, fled and scattered. There was chaos and war everywhere, and the city suddenly became deserted. Only some merchants and residents of other ethnic groups remained in the city.

Outside the east gate of the city, a large number of Uighurs gathered, but they were not there to meet the enemy, but seemed to be lining the streets to welcome them.

Di Qing was riding on a horse, and the winding road behind him was filled with densely packed heads of people. Some Uighurs who were watching in the distance exclaimed in surprise. They never expected that the Song army, who were not wearing armor or carrying weapons, could defeat their army like this?

Not long after, the army slowly arrived in front of the city, and saw several middle-aged and elderly men coming forward and saluting Di Qing.

"Master."

"General Di!"

Except for the three released envoys from the Song Dynasty, the rest were powerful people from the Gaochang Kingdom.

The leader was none other than Si Jie, one of the ministers of Gaochang. He said to Di Qing, "Your Majesty has been bewitched by the witch and has rashly launched a war against a great country. Now that we have captured the witch, it is up to you, General, to decide what happens to her."

He said and waved his hand.

Several sturdy maids at the back pushed out Princess Jingyang, who was tied up.

Logically speaking, although Aqifuluo was defeated, Princess Jingyang was a princess of the Liao Kingdom after all, and she had the Liao Army guards. Even if she was in trouble and wanted to get rid of them, it would not be a problem for her to escape back to the Liao Kingdom under the protection of the soldiers.

However, Princess Jingyang looked as pale as death at this moment, because when the Liao army guards heard that the main force of the Song army had arrived, they wanted to enter the palace to kill her - this made her realize that she was just a pawn of the Liao Kingdom.

The Liao Kingdom needed the Song Dynasty to focus its attention elsewhere, so naturally someone was needed to stir up trouble in the Western Regions to attract the Song army. Obviously, she and Aqifuluo were just scapegoats.

If Princess Jingyang escaped back to Liao, the Song Dynasty would have an excuse to attack Liao, which would be a bad thing.

Therefore, the best outcome would be to kill her so that there would be no evidence against her.

Fortunately, just as the Liao soldiers who were carrying out the order tricked Princess Jingyang out of the palace and were about to take action, they happened to encounter a Uighur palace coup.

It was ministers such as Huduoge, Turuhe, and Sijie who gathered some troops, broke into the palace, and deposed the queen and Aqifuluo's son.

As a result, when Princess Jingyang was about to die, the two sides met near the gate of Gaochang Palace and fought a bloody battle.

Since the Liao people were not fighting on their home ground, they were forced to retreat and failed to kill the enemy. Princess Jingyang, the queen, was captured by Hu Duoge and others and was now presented to the Song Dynasty.

Di Qing actually knew all this a long time ago. Si Jie and others had already written to him to explain in detail. The two sides had communicated through letters before, and now it was just a ceremony.

He waved his hand and said, "Send him to Bianliang!"

If the Liao Kingdom was strong, Princess Jingyang would be a hot potato, and the best way would be to execute her in secret.

But now the situation of offense and defense has changed, and the Song Dynasty has become strong. Then Princess Jingyang will become an excuse for the Song Dynasty to attack the Liao Dynasty. As for when this excuse will be used, that is a matter for the future.

"General Di, please come into the city. We have prepared wine and food."

After resolving the issue of Princess Jingyang, Si Jie quickly extended an invitation to Di Qing. Now that the situation had been settled, it was time to discuss post-war matters.

Di Qing nodded and said, "Jia Kui."

"exist."

Jia Kui stood up.

"Lead the people to take over the city defense, and the rest of the people will camp outside the city."

"Yes!"

"Let's go!"

After Di Qing assigned the task, he entered the city.

At this moment, the streets in the city are empty and every household in the city is closed.

Unlike the county towns of the Song Dynasty where all the houses were made of wood, the houses in the Western Regions were all made of rammed earth due to the lack of trees and severe shortage of wooden boards.

Their houses are quite low, and the overall architectural style is completely different from that of the Central Plains, full of exotic charm.

Occasionally there were pedestrians inside. When they saw the Song army, they all stood neatly in the corners and dared not look up. Their appearance was very different from that of the people in the Central Plains. They had high noses, deep eye sockets, and different hair colors.

Di Qing was not too surprised. As an international metropolis today, Bianliang had many foreigners. He had seen all kinds of foreigners, so he was used to it.

Soon, under the leadership of many Uighur nobles, he arrived at the Uighur palace. The Song army had already taken over the place, and the entire city was quickly under control.

"General, please!"

Si Jie and others took Di Qing to the main hall of the palace. It was a brick and stone structure with a round roof on top and blue bricks on the bottom. The doors and windows were exquisitely carved. Although the palace was not large, it was a rare exquisite building in Gaochang. There were tables and chairs in the hall. Chairs were originally invented by the Hu people. Before that, the Han people sat on the ground with a mat on the ground, legs crossed, and a small table in front of them.

Later, the Huchuang was introduced to China, and gradually became popular during the Sui and Tang dynasties. By the Song Dynasty, it was already widespread, and every household had tables and chairs. Therefore, in terms of the source, the first people to use tables and chairs were actually the Hu people in the Western Regions and the grasslands.

In addition to Di Qing and his guards, three envoys from the Song Dynasty, Sun Youtong, a doctor from the Ministry of Rites, Li Tao, a doctor from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Liu Bingyan, a deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also followed in the room.

Di Qing and others sat on chairs, not in the main seats, but on the right side of the long table. Hu Duoge, Turuhe, Sijie and others sat opposite them, representing the interests of the Song Dynasty and the Uighurs respectively.

"Everyone, we have already discussed the specific matters in the letters before. Aqifuluo was ignorant of fate and arrogant. Now he has died in the chaos of the army. From now on, the Uighur Khanate will perish. Do you have any objections?"

After sitting down, Di Qing stared at everyone with fierce eyes.

He was not here to help any of the powerful people present here to build an empire, nor did he have any intention of supporting anyone. Annan was a special case, and the Western Regions were just a little far away.

Therefore, according to the imperial court's order, this time the Western Regions will be taken back. Even if Akifro and Khan Suleiman of the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate obey, they still have to station troops there to control the Silk Road.

The current situation is the best. Since Aqifuluo is asking for his own death, it is only natural for the Song Dynasty to take back the Western Regions.

"I will obey the imperial court of the Song Dynasty."

Several people looked at each other and realized that the situation was beyond their control, so they had no choice but to agree.

Di Qing smiled and said, "Don't worry. The Western Regions are too far from the Central Plains. The court will not send officials directly here. We need your help in management. When the time comes, I will ask the court for your merits. You just need to wait for the court's order."

"Thank you, General. Thank you, General."

Everyone was smiling from ear to ear. Wasn't it for this moment that they surrendered first?

They were powerful and wealthy before, and they are still powerful and wealthy now.

It's just a change of owner.

Moreover, this master is still far away from them, and maybe their future life will be better than under Aqifuluo.

"Well, let's get down to business."

Di Qing actually had no appetite when looking at the table full of dishes. The main reason was that although it was almost September, the Western Region was still very hot. He had been traveling for a whole day and had eaten some dry biscuits on the way, which he had not digested yet.

But if he didn't move his chopsticks, the people across from him wouldn't dare to move either, and the table full of roasted lamb legs and roasted beef would be wasted, so he forced himself to pick up the knife, cut off a piece of meat and said, "Eat, eat, eat."

"Come, come, come, eat."

The atmosphere became relaxed and lively, and Hu Duoge, Turuhe, Sijie and others also started cutting meat with smiles on their faces.

Then he heard Di Qing say while eating: "How much do you know about the Black Khanate?"

Hu Duoge said with a serious face: "They are vicious pagans."

"You have no intersection with them?"

Di Qing asked again.

“There may be exchanges among the people, but we have no interactions with them.”

Turuhe replied.

"Is that so?"

Di Qing was a little confused.

Aren’t they all in the Western Regions and very close to each other?

Why is there absolutely no interaction between the two sides?
Then I heard Sijie say: "General, although we are neighbors with the Black Khan, we are actually very far away from them. It takes more than 3,000 miles to travel there."

"so far?"

Di Qing was very surprised.

However, Sun Youtong, a doctor of the Ministry of Rites, had done his homework before coming here. He said, "What you don't know, sir, is that the Western Region Uighur Khanate believes in Buddhism, while the Black Khanate believes in the Arab religion. The two countries are incompatible and call each other pagans. There is no communication between the two countries. In addition, although they are neighbors, they are separated by the Tianshan Mountains in the west and the vast sea in the south. Therefore, even though the two countries are separated, they have no intersection at all."

According to historical records, the Uighurs were a part of the Tiele, a tribal alliance that roamed south of Lake Baikal. The Tiele tribes were oppressed by the Turks for many years, so they united to resist the Turks.

After the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Turks, the Uighurs rose and quickly unified the grasslands, replacing the Turks' position in the desert grasslands.

But less than a hundred years later, due to Yu's long-term tyranny and internal unrest, the Uighurs declined and were eventually conquered by the Kyrgyz. After the demise of their country, the various Uighur tribes moved away one after another.

Some of them fled to the Western Regions and became the Ganzhou Uighurs, Shazhou Uighurs, Hexi Uighurs, Gaochang Uighurs, Kucha Uighurs, etc. Finally, in the long course of history, influenced by foreign enemies and internal annexation, the Gaochang Uighurs gained the upper hand, unified the various tribes and established the Western Region Uighur Royal Court.

Another part fled to Central Asia, which is almost the border of Xinjiang in my country, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, etc., and established the Black Khanate together with the Karluk people.

Although the main ethnic groups of Gaochang Uighurs and Kara-Khanid Khanate were both Uighurs, due to long-term separation and changes in beliefs on both sides, the Gaochang Uighurs believed in Buddhism and the Kara-Khanid Khanate believed in Islam, and since then the two countries completely cut off contacts.

Even if the Tianshan Mountains and the Tarim Basin had not been blocking the way, war might have broken out between the two countries long ago, because the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan was destroyed by the Kara Khanate forty years ago.

According to the History of Song Dynasty, the Kara Khanate spread Islam to Khotan, but Khotan was determined not to accept it and accused each other of being pagans. Decades of war broke out. Although Khotan put up a tenacious resistance, it was eventually destroyed in 1004 AD.

Therefore, the Kara Khanate at that time was a vast empire stretching from the Caspian Sea in the west to the Ili and Tianshan Mountains in my country in the east, from Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan in the north to the Hotan region in my country in the south.

Basically, the Xinjiang region controlled by the Kara Khanate is actually Kashgar, Hotan, Aksu, Yili and other places on the border of our country, while the Gaochang Uighurs controlled the core area of ​​the Western Regions. When the Song Dynasty destroyed the Gaochang Uighurs, it was almost like recovering most of the Western Regions.

However, the Kara Khanate was only powerful for a short time. In 1041 AD, the Kara Khanate split into Eastern Kara Khanate and Western Kara Khanate.

The Western Karakhanid Khanate was roughly located in the area from Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan, while the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate was centered on Lake Issyk-Kul. Its sphere of influence included parts of Uzbekistan, part of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and my country's Ili and Hotan regions.

It can be said that the Kingdom of Karakhanid Khans was still very far away from Gaochang Uighurs, and even to the Hotan region it was more than a thousand kilometers away. If the Song Dynasty wanted to attack the Kingdom of Karakhanid Khans, their royal court was not far from Talas, which shows how difficult it would be.

"Ah."

After listening to everyone's words, Di Qing finally realized that the Black Khanate was not just a few thousand miles away from the Song Dynasty, but tens of thousands of miles away.

Just remembering what the governor said before he left, he said in a deep voice: "No matter how far away the Black Khan is from us, the will of the court is the will of the court. All countries in the Western Regions should submit to the Song Dynasty and send envoys to the Black Khan! If they do not submit, they will be destroyed!"

"Yes!"

Everyone was extremely excited. Since the Tang Dynasty, the might of the Han people would finally descend upon the Western Regions during the Song Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)