The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 156: Uighur God of War, Prince Calling the Door

Gaochang City, also known as Hezhou City.

Located south of the Tianshan Mountains, in the Turpan Basin, it is the Gaochang District of Turpan City in later generations.

At the same time, it was the capital of the Gaochang Uighur Kingdom.

Inside the palace, there was a scene of prosperity and joy with singing and dancing.

Between the carved beams and painted buildings, light gauze curtains fluttered in the wind, musicians played melodious music from the Western Regions, and dancers danced gracefully.

Gaochang King Yue'ersi leaned lazily on a luxurious chair, enjoying the singing and dancing, allowing the beauty next to him to slowly feed wine into his mouth with a jewel-studded wine glass.

Then, another beauty stuffed grapes into his mouth with an intoxicated look on her face.

"This is fine wine, sweet on the palate and with a long aftertaste."

"It's much better than the wine of the northern barbarians." Yue Ersi snorted coldly.

I remembered the fine wine that a minister presented to me not long ago.

The Xifenglie produced in Jinzhou.

I heard it's very popular and the price is almost several times that of ordinary drinks.

Yue'ersi likes wine, meat and beautiful women the most, but she spat it out after just one bite.

It was so strong that it was almost hard to swallow.

From then on, whenever he drank, he would spit out a strong west wind.

Hearing his words, the concubine in his arms quickly agreed with a sweet smile: "Your Majesty is absolutely right. Of all the fine wines in the world, the best is naturally the wine from Gaochang."

"How can the wine of Jinzhou be compared with the imperial wine of Your Majesty?"

After hearing this, Yue'ersi threw her head back and laughed, her laughter echoing in the palace.

"That's right, a bunch of northern barbarians who don't even have enough food to eat, how can they compare to my Gaochang?"

"In a few days, I will personally lead the army to destroy Jinzhou."

Yue'ersi laughed loudly, very confident.

Not long ago, news came from the desert that the Uighur army was unstoppable and had already conquered Changbala and killed the governor of the desert, Xiao Tuladuo, in one fell swoop. They were now besieging Beshbaliq with all their might.

Once the city falls into our hands, we only need to attack from the east and west with the royal court’s army to completely eliminate Xiao Simo.

In this way, not only the desert, but also Yinshan and Jinzhou will be included in the territory of Gaochang Kingdom.

The great cause will be accomplished, and the Gaochang Kingdom will surely be revived under his rule, and there is even hope of regaining the glory of his ancestors, the Uighur Khanate.

Thinking of this, Yue'ersi became more and more excited. She couldn't help but pick up the wine glass again, tilted her head back and drank the wine, then burst into laughter again.

At this moment, a eunuch came and reported cautiously: "Your Majesty, the Minister of War requests an audience."

The Uighur Khanate once confronted the Tang Dynasty on the northern grasslands for a hundred years, and established its own official system modeled on the three-province and six-department system.

The Uighur Khanate was destroyed, and its remnants fled to the Western Regions, where they established the Gaochang Kingdom and the Karakhanid Khanate respectively, and the corresponding official positions were also continued.

Upon hearing this, Yue Ersi closed her eyes and enjoyed the beauty's service. She said unhappily, "Let him in."

Soon, a Uighur official rushed into the palace with a panicked look on his face. He didn't even bother to salute and shouted in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! The army at the front has been defeated and the whole army has been annihilated!"

Yue'er Siyiduhu's originally cold and majestic face was instantly struck by lightning and turned pale with fear.

He opened his eyes wide, full of disbelief, his mouth slightly open, but he couldn't speak for a long time.

After a long while, he seemed to have found his voice again, and suddenly stood up from the throne. Even his beloved concubine was knocked to the ground by his bloated body.

"What did you say? Say it again to me!"

The voice had become a little hoarse due to anger and shock.

The Minister of War fell to his knees, trembling, and said, "Your Majesty, urgent news has arrived from the front."

"When our army was about to capture Beshbalik, the Jinzhou army suddenly attacked from the direction of Baigudian, catching our army off guard. Finally, finally~"

"completely annihilated!"

The palace became dead silent. Both the palace maids and the musicians knelt and trembled.

Yue'er Siyiduhu felt a black screen before her eyes, her legs went weak, and she almost couldn't stand.

"Where's Baalshu?"

"Where is Baaljutsu?"

"And Da He Chu Luo Duo, is he dead?"

He asked hurriedly, barely avoiding fainting.

"It's unknown whether Dahe Chuluoduo is alive or dead, but the prince has been captured by the Jinzhou army. This is a letter written by His Royal Highness the Prince himself."

Then, the eunuch handed a dirty piece of sheepskin to Yue Ersi.

Yue Ersi asked someone to hold it and looked at it carefully. Her face became more and more flustered and angry.

This is a letter of persuasion.

Let Yue'ersi lead the Gaochang Kingdom to surrender to the Jinzhou Army and do not make fearless resistance.

First, the Gaochang Kingdom submitted to the Northern Frontier and became a vassal state of the Northern Frontier.

Second, war reparations mainly include 100,000 taels of gold, 1 million taels of silver, 10,000 good horses, 50,000 camels, 200,000 sheep, 100,000 dan of grain, and 2,000 beauties.

Third, all officials sent by the royal court to Gaochang were beheaded, and the young supervisor was tied up and sent to the desert, and a new person was sent from the northern border to serve as the young supervisor.

Fourth, it will be necessary to pay tribute to the northern border every year in the future.

Including five thousand taels of gold, ten thousand sheep and so on, basically it is the tribute that was originally paid to the royal court, now paid to the Northern Frontier, which is nothing.

But the second point made Yue'ersi feel uncomfortable.

Too much.

As an important city on the Silk Road, Gaochang was not unable to pay the compensation, but the greedy Yue'ersi was reluctant to do so.

So, Yue'ersi began to become anxious, walking back and forth in the hall, sometimes with a panicked look on her face, sometimes gritting her teeth.

It's difficult to make a decision.

At this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside. A Khitan man pushed away the guards and strode into the hall with the Khitan soldiers behind him.

"Your Majesty, I just heard that the army on the front line was defeated, and the northern barbarians also sent a letter?"

The Khitan man was named Wen Ta, and he was a young eunuch sent by the royal court.

His job was to monitor Gaochang to see if there was any rebellion, pay tribute on time, dispatch troops according to the royal court's orders, etc.

Although he seemed to have no real power, he had the royal court's support behind him. Shao Jian's behavior became more and more arrogant. He acted tyrannically in Gaochang and had become the "emperor" of Gaochang.

Just like at this moment, Wen Ta led his soldiers to break into the palace without reporting to the emperor.

It would be a capital crime no matter where it happened, but Yue'ersi didn't dare to offend him at all.

Although he was furious, he could only helplessly say, "Master Shaojian is a good informant. I just learned the news."

"Look, this is the letter of surrender that the Northern Barbarians forced my son to write."

Wen Ta took the parchment letter in his hand, took a quick look at it, and his face turned furious.

"presumptuous."

"These rebels are so audacious."

With a curse, he drew his scimitar in the palace and chopped the parchment letter into pieces.

Then, he looked at Yue Ersi with a threatening look.

"Your Majesty, do you want to join the rebels?"

Yue'ersi was also very confused at this time, and he didn't want to get involved in the internal strife among the Khitans.

However, as a big country in the Western Regions, Gaochang was located next to the royal court and the northern border, and could not remain immune.

Before, he was optimistic about the northern border, but unfortunately the Western Expedition was not successful.

I also heard that Xiao Simo was seriously injured and it was unknown how long he could live.

This is also what Yue Ersi is most worried about. He is afraid that once Xiao Simo dies, the Northern Frontier will immediately fall apart.

Therefore, we can only continue to follow Wang Ting’s broken ship.

At this moment, although the Jinzhou army was strong, captured Beshbalik and destroyed the Uighur army, once Xiao Simo died, the northern border was immediately attacked by enemies from all directions.

It can't last long.

Therefore, in Yue'ersi's opinion, although Wang Ting is a broken ship, it can still sail, but Beijiang is a ship that is about to collapse.

So he immediately made a decision to continue following Wang Ting.

It's not that he feels sorry for the compensation, but he is simply optimistic about Wang Ting's future.

"No no no~"

"My Gaochang Kingdom is loyal to the Liao Dynasty and will never betray it."

"Those rebels killed so many of my Uighur men. I wish I could grind them to dust. How could I possibly surrender to them?"

Yue'ersi said in panic.

Then he looked embarrassed and said, "It's just that Gaochang is a small country with weak soldiers."

"The more than 10,000 soldiers my son brought to the desert were all wiped out, and there are not many troops left in the country."

"If the Jinzhou Army attacks, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on."

Hearing this, Wen Ta said confidently: "Don't worry, Your Majesty."

"I requested reinforcements from the royal court a long time ago, and they're probably on their way now."

"The Jinzhou Army has come from afar. As long as we hold the city, they won't be able to outlast us."

"Once the reinforcements arrive, we can wipe them out completely."

"By then, His Majesty the King will have accomplished great things, and His Majesty the King will surely be generous in rewarding us."

Hearing Wen Ta's words, Yue'ersi immediately felt relieved.

The Jinzhou army is fierce, and Gaochang is definitely no match for them alone. If there are reinforcements from the royal court, there will be no problem.

However, after Wen Ta left the palace, he shook his head with disdain.

"A man like him wouldn't even be able to marry a woman in an ordinary family, yet he became the King of Gaochang."

"Hmph, idiot."

Wen Ta said disdainfully, where are the reinforcements?
It was simply an excuse for him to lie to Yue Ersi.

In the previous war, the royal court suffered heavy casualties and was also preparing for a northern expedition. How could it have the troops to support Gaochang?

What's more, the Gaochang Kingdom was more than 2,000 miles away from the royal court, and by the time the reinforcements arrived, it would be too late.

"But it's also good this way. Having such a fool as king is a good thing for our Liao Dynasty."

"On the contrary, that Balshu is ambitious and undisciplined. It would be better for him to die in the desert." Wen Ta said secretly in his heart.

Little did people know that in history, after Balshu ascended the throne, he soon killed him and surrendered the Gaochang Kingdom to Mongolia.

In this life, Balshu will definitely not have this opportunity.

After returning to his residence from the palace, Wen Ta contacted the generals of Gaochang and tried his best to control the Gaochang army in his own hands.

On the other hand, he was secretly packing up his things and packing all the treasures he had looted in Gaochang over the years.

When things really get out of hand, just take your people and run away.

Moreover, Jurghan had to praise him for leading the Gaochang Kingdom to hold on until the last moment.

……

Changbala is located west of Beshbaliq.

It was probably near Urumqi in later generations.

The Jinzhou army set out from Beshbalik and wanted to attack Gaochang Kingdom, so they had to first defeat Changbala.

Because Beshbaliq and Gaochang were located in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, separated by tall mountains, it was difficult for large troops to cross.

Only in the Changbala area, the Tianshan Mountains seemed to be cut in half, with a huge gap appearing, dividing the Tianshan Mountains into two mountain ranges, east and west.

The most convenient route to enter southern Xinjiang from northern Xinjiang is through Changbala.

It is precisely because of this unique transportation advantage that this place became the provincial capital in later generations.

At this time, Changbala had already been engulfed in the flames of war.

In order to capture Beshbalik as quickly as possible, Balsu and others left only a very small number of troops to garrison Changbala.

Under the overwhelming and powerful attack of the Jinzhou army, Changbala's defense line quickly collapsed and the city was soon declared captured.

As the sun sets, the setting sun is blood-red, and the afterglow falls on the city wall stained red with blood.

Li Xiao stood tall and straight atop the battlements, his battle robe rustling in the whistling evening breeze. Soon, Chen Chong stepped onto the wall, saluted, and spoke to Li Xiao.

"Grand Commander, the city has been pacified, and all the people are staying at home."

Since the capture of Beshbalik, Li Xiao's name has changed unconsciously.

From the original governor, he became the current grand governor.

After all, the territory actually controlled by Li Xiao already includes two states.

Adding the word "big" can better reflect the difference from the Governor of Jinzhou.

This title was originally proposed by Chen Chong, and was quickly accepted by other people under Li Xiao.

Li Xiao naturally accepted this with pleasure.

He knew that Chen Chong was not just a flatterer, but someone with real abilities.

"This time, we collected 1,600 prisoners of war, all of whom have been assigned to the Yingtian Division."

"We seized 10,000 dan of grain..."

"After the Gaochang army conquered Changbala, they acted recklessly, causing widespread resentment among the people in the city."

"Some Han people are willing to join our army~"

……

Chen Chong is indeed quite capable in handling miscellaneous matters.

In the past, this kind of thing was done by Dahu or Li Dashan, which was not only time-consuming but also always resulted in omissions.

Now that it has been handed over to Chen Chong, Li Xiao feels much more relaxed.

The rest was about the seizure of spoils, the inventory of supplies in the city, etc. Chen Chong gave Li Xiao a rough list.

"Also, how far will the liquidation of spies in the city go? Please let the commander-in-chief know." Chen Chong asked finally.

The so-called spies mainly refer to the Changbala natives who defected to the Gaochang Army or secretly worked for the Gaochang Army.

Most of them are Uighurs.

After stabilizing the order in the city, the Jinzhou Army will definitely liquidate this group of people.

Li Xiao ordered Chen Chong to take the lead and Zhang Shi to lead the Jinyiwei to cooperate.

Now, Chen Chong is asking about the intensity of the liquidation.

"Dig carefully and deep, and make sure to dig out all the rats in the city." Li Xiao said in a light voice.

Chen Chong nodded slightly: "I understand."

What Li Xiao meant was that a big war was about to begin.

There were originally many Uighurs in Changbala City. After the Gaochang Army arrived, some of the nobles and wealthy businessmen began to work for the Gaochang Army.

Some of them do it openly, while others do it covertly.

But Li Xiao didn't care about that.

His criteria for determining whether someone is a spy is also very simple.

It depends on how much money and land he has.

More land? More food?
Sorry, you are a spy!

Because Li Xiao wanted to carry out land reform, he would take more land into the hands of the Governor's Office, and then let the prisoners of war engage in farming.

Therefore, those nobles who owned a large amount of land naturally became Li Xiao's targets.

After this cleansing, it is estimated that 70% of the land in Changbala will belong to the Governor's Office.

……

On the second day, as soon as it was light, Li Xiao led a team of soldiers out of Changbala.

After walking southeast for dozens of miles, we arrived at a mountain range.

"It should be here!"

Relying on his memories from later life, Li Xiao could only find the approximate direction. The specific location still needed careful searching.

"Look in the surrounding mountains for yellow rocks and loess. They smell terrible."

Under Li Xiao's command, the soldiers dispersed to search.

Although they didn't know what Li Xiao was looking for, based on the limited description, the soldiers still found a valley more than ten miles away.

As soon as Li Xiao approached, he smelled a pungent smell.

"Yes, that's the taste."

A slight smile suddenly appeared on his face.

Then he dismounted, walked quickly to the foot of the mountain, squatted down, and carefully observed the rock. He saw that the surface of the rock was a light yellow, and the texture was slightly different from that of ordinary rocks.

He gently knocked off a small piece, put it to the tip of his nose and smelled it, and an even stronger smell of sulfur hit him in the face.

"That's right, it's here."

"Sulfur Ditch."

Li Xiao laughed and murmured.

The place he was looking for was later called Sulfur Valley, consisting of thirteen ravines of varying sizes.

There is a lot of coal buried underground.

During the movement of the earth's crust, coal spontaneously combusted, producing a large amount of sulfur and other minerals.

Hence the name Sulfur Ditch.

Li Xiao wanted to use this natural sulfur mine to produce gunpowder in large quantities.

This is also the reason why Li Xiao was eager and took the initiative to go south.

There is no sulfur in Jinzhou, let alone saltpeter.

Li Xiao searched for a long time, rummaging through the walls of the toilet bit by bit, before he collected ten explosive packs to blow up the city gate of Hu Siwoerduo.

Besides, Jinzhou could no longer produce the raw materials for gunpowder.

Therefore, Li Xiao could only set his target on Changbala and Gaochang.

This is a treasure trove!

There is a natural sulfur mine in Changbala, and saltpeter is another raw material for making gunpowder.

It can also be found in Gaochang.

After all, in later generations, the Turpan Basin was famous for its abundance of natural saltpeter.

With these two raw materials, Li Xiao couldn't wait to produce gunpowder in large quantities.

We also need to produce artillery.

And there are muskets!

"Tietou, go and gather a group of prisoners of war to come here to mine Yellowstone and transport it to Jinzhou." Li Xiao ordered in a deep voice.

"As ordered!"

Soon, a group of prisoners of war arrived at Sulfur Ditch and began to mine sulfur.

Li Xiao left enough people to guard, and then led the Jinzhou army to continue south to attack Gaochang.

The Turpan Basin is an oasis on the edge of the desert with fertile soil, abundant water and grass, suitable for farming and grazing.

The remnants of the Uighur Khanate, which was defeated by the Tang Empire, split into three parts after arriving in the Western Regions.

One of them came to the Turpan Basin and found that this place was extremely suitable for survival and reproduction. They defeated the former indigenous people and occupied it.

After two hundred years of reproduction, the population of the Gaochang Uighur Kingdom has reached more than 400,000.

Most of them live in the Turpan Basin.

This place is about 400 miles away from Changbala.

The Jinzhou cavalry took only three days to reach Liuzhong City, the gateway to the Gaochang Kingdom.

After passing this city, Gaochang City is less than fifty miles away.

When ten thousand Jinzhou cavalry appeared outside Liuzhong City, both the people in the city and the defenders were all panicked.

"Cavalry, lots of cavalry~"

"Close the city gate quickly."

"Who is that?"

"A golden battle flag?"

"They are the Golden State Army."

"Prince Balshu's army was completely annihilated by the Jinzhou Army in the desert, and now they are attacking our Liuzhong City."

"Hurry to the royal city to report to His Majesty that the Jinzhou Army has arrived at Liuzhong City."

Liuzhong City was in complete panic.

The total population of the city, including men, women, old and young, was less than 20,000. Facing the overwhelming force of 10,000 Jinzhou cavalrymen, it was like a small boat in the ocean, which could capsize at any time.

In the army, Li Xiao was wearing white cotton armor and a helmet with ear protection tassels, riding on a warhorse, looking at the small Liuzhong City with a faint gaze.

With a faint smile: "Zhang Dawa, Su Daqiang."

"Arrived~"

Two generals in leather armor stepped out instantly.

They were the two thousand households appointed by Li Xiao in Beshbalik.

"You two, go look around and see if there are any villages."

"Catch all the people."

"Let them block the way and attack the city."

Hearing this, Zhang Dawa and Su Daqiang became excited instantly.

They all shouted, "Yes, sir."

Not long ago, the Gaochang army used these desert people as shields to attack Beshbalik.

Therefore, the two of them worked the hardest.

Afterwards, the two men led their respective thousand-household troops to disperse in all directions, looking for the surrounding villages and tribes.

At this time, Li Xiao thought of Balshu again and asked someone to call him over.

"Prince Baalthur."

"You are the next king of Gaochang Kingdom, so the generals guarding the city must know you."

"How about this, you help me open the city gate, and I'll spare your life."

"how?"

Li Xiao raised the corners of his mouth slightly and looked at Balshu with a slight smile.

At this moment, Balshu's face became extremely ugly, and he explained in panic.

"This, this, Grand Commander, although I am a prince, the commander of Liuzhong City is my brother's uncle. He wishes he could die, so he will definitely not open the gate."

Hearing this, Li Xiao seemed a little dissatisfied.

His expression instantly darkened: "So, you are a useless waste?"

"Come here, peel his skin for me."

Upon hearing this, Balshu's face turned pale instantly, cold sweat broke out, and he was extremely terrified.

Because in Beshbalik, Yagubi was ordered by Li Xiao to be skinned and tortured to death.

Moreover, Balsu was required to watch the entire execution process.

He finished reading it while vomiting.

I was dizzy for several days and lost a lot of weight.

The bloody and cruel scene still remains in his mind. Thinking that he would suffer the same torture, Balshu was scared to death.

He quickly knelt on the ground and begged for mercy: "I'll go, I'll go knock on the door."

"Grand Commander, please don't peel my skin."

As he spoke, Balshu crawled to the city gate and shouted to the defenders on the city wall: "I am Prince Balshu, open the city gate quickly."

Upon hearing this, the defenders on the city wall were suddenly in an uproar.

(End of this chapter)