I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

...

After leaving the Song Dynasty, Zhao Yu consciously reduced his control over the Song territory, giving Zhao Shou ample room to maneuver.

It was precisely because of this that Zhao Shou was able to allow the Song Dynasty to recuperate and thrive, just as he had hoped.

At the same time, Zhao Yu finally focused his main energy on the western expedition.

After successively defeating a number of Central Asian states, tribes, and forces, including the Seljuk Turks, the Ghaznavid Dynasty, and the Khwarazmian Empire, the Song Dynasty became the hegemon of Central Asia.

However, this does not mean that the Song Dynasty completely occupied Central Asia.

The royal families and clans of the Seljuk Empire and the Ghaznavid Dynasty were almost entirely captured by the Song army, and their main forces were also defeated by the Song army. They can be ignored for the time being.

However, the Khwarazmian royal family, or more precisely, their king, was not captured by the Song army.

Khwarazm was originally a vassal state of the Seljuk Turks, founded by Tughluq, a Seljuk sultan who was a former slave and a bodyguard.

However, in recent years the Seljuk Empire has declined more and more, and Khwarazm took the opportunity to grow stronger, getting rid of its vassal status and becoming a powerful country in Central Asia.

The title of the Khwarazmian king was "Shah".

At this time, Khwarezm was Aladdin Etsiz.

Aladdin Etsiz was a formidable figure who freed Khwarezm from its vassal status and transformed it into a powerful nation.

Historically, the Khwarazmian Empire, led by Aladdin Etsiz, eventually replaced the Seljuk Turks as the dominant power in Central Asia.

Unfortunately, Aladdin Etsiz was born at the wrong time, living in the same era as Zhao Yu and other time travelers, and Zhao Yu wanted to use Central Asia to enfeoff his sons.

in short.

Riding on their great victory, Zhao Yu's sons swept through the land, advancing towards Khwarazm with overwhelming force.

Aladdin Etsiz was naturally unwilling to let his hard-won Khwarazmian Empire be destroyed by Zhao Yu's sons, even though he knew that the Song army, which had successively destroyed the Western Karakhanid Khanate, the Ghaznavid Dynasty, and the Seljuk Turks, was no match for his Khwarazmian Empire. He was determined to fight Zhao Yu's sons.

As a result, the two sides fought three battles in a row, and the Khwarazmian army was completely defeated. Zhao Yu's sons also headed straight for the Khwarazmian capital.

After Aladdin Etsiz's defeat in the final battle, he fled westward with more than 10,000 men, eventually reaching Asia Minor. There, he called for a holy war, leading all the countries, tribes, and forces in Central Asia to rise up and drive out the Song Dynasty invaders.

Aladdin's call spread rapidly throughout Central Asia and surrounding regions via trade routes, religious post stations, and tribal messengers.

This appeal, based on religious identity, directly targets the Song Dynasty's military conquest and territorial control over Central Asia, defining the Song army's westward expedition as an invasion by a foreign tribe, and calling on all forces with the same faith to set aside past grievances and unite in resistance.

After the Seljuk Turks collapsed, the tribal alliance scattered along the banks of the Amu Darya River, harboring long-standing grievances due to the capture of their royal family and the annexation of their pastures by the Song Dynasty, gathered their young men to form cavalry units to participate in the holy war.
Religious groups that remained influential after the fall of the Ghaznavid dynasty launched sermons in major mosques and holy sites, mobilizing believers to join the ranks of “protecting the faith.” Large numbers of farmers and merchants abandoned their livelihoods and headed toward Asia Minor with rudimentary weapons.

Some of the small city-states and oasis forces in Central Asia that had originally submitted to the Song Dynasty secretly switched sides when they saw the great momentum of the holy war, and provided the allied forces with food supplies and information on the Song army's deployment.
Even the Sultanate of Rum, located far away on the Anatolian Peninsula, dispatched 30,000 elite cavalry to join the allied forces in order to contain the westward expansion of the Song Dynasty, forming a massive military alliance spanning Central Asia and Anatolia.

Its total military strength once reached 500,000.

The military operation of the holy war coalition was carried out under the slogan of "recovering lost territory". It first launched a fierce attack on the outskirts of Bukhara, a major town in Central Asia that had been taken over by the Song Dynasty not long ago.

Taking advantage of their familiarity with the terrain, the allied forces adopted tactics of dispersed raids and sieges to intercept reinforcements, frequently harassing the Song army's supply lines and launching sieges on small border towns.

Due to the complex composition of the allied forces, their flexible tactics, and their ability to use religious fanaticism to drive soldiers to fight to the death, the Song Dynasty faced considerable pressure in its initial defenses in Central Asia. Some remote strongholds were breached due to their weak troop strength, and the garrisoned soldiers were either killed in battle or captured, causing the border to shrink at one point.

Faced with the spreading war, the Song Dynasty's expeditionary force did not rush to launch a full-scale counterattack, but instead adopted a strategy of "holding the core, dividing and disintegrating, and striking with precision."

On the one hand, they strengthened the defenses of core cities such as Bukhara and Samarkand, relying on the advantages of city fortifications and firearms to resist the main force of the allied forces and deplete their manpower.

On the other hand, taking advantage of the differences in interests between the tribal alliance and the religious armed forces, the mutual distrust between the Sultanate of Rum and the remnants of Khwarezm, and the wavering of the small city-states, they sent envoys with gold, silver and treasures and trade promises to persuade some forces to break away from the coalition, while spreading rumors to exacerbate the distrust among the parties.

After securing their defenses, the Song Dynasty's western expeditionary force launched a counterattack.

Under Zhao Yu's personal command, the Song Dynasty advanced along the banks of the Amu Darya River with its main force, clearing out scattered tribal cavalry and destroying the allied forces' food and supplies depots; another 50,000 light cavalry were sent to outflank the Anatolian Peninsula, directly attacking the allied forces' rear bases and cutting off their retreat and reinforcement routes; the remaining forces were concentrated in Samarkand, waiting for an opportunity to encircle the main force of the allied forces.

As before, the Central Asian armies were no match for the Song army.

Crucially, Central Asia has now fallen into the hands of the Song Dynasty, and the Song's governance of Central Asia has begun to show results.

The crucial point is that the Song Dynasty waged a war of liberation in Central Asia, and its words and deeds were consistent. It truly liberated the slaves in Central Asia and treated the common people well.

After the Song army defeated the original states, tribes, and forces in Central Asia, Zhao Yu's sons, who were serving as vassal kings, all abolished the slave system that had lasted for thousands of years in various regions, following Zhao Yu's instructions.

As a result, all the vassal states of the Song Dynasty burned their slave contracts and freed the slave groups controlled by nobles and temples.

These slaves were mostly war prisoners, debtors, and people from the lower classes who had been enslaved for generations, totaling millions.

Zhao Yu's sons, who were serving as feudal lords, not only granted them personal freedom, but also allocated some of the land and pastures that had been annexed by nobles to freed slaves, distributed farming tools and seeds, and allowed them to cultivate or graze independently.

During this period, Zhao Yu's sons, who were serving as vassal kings, also established resettlement points around various cities, providing temporary accommodation and food to help them rebuild their livelihoods. This measure completely broke down the existing class stratification in Central Asia, allowing groups that had long been at the bottom of society to gain dignity and opportunities for development. Their sense of identification with the Song Dynasty and their respective vassal states far exceeded any propaganda, making them the core force supporting the rule of the Song Dynasty and their respective vassal states.

At the same time, the Song Dynasty and Zhao Yu's sons, who had become princes, adopted a comprehensive policy of goodwill towards the common people of Central Asia.

After the war, the sons of the Song Dynasty and Zhao Yu, who had become princes, strictly prohibited their soldiers from plundering civilians' property or disturbing their homes. They treated civilians who had been displaced by the war the same as freed slaves and provided them with resettlement.

In terms of taxation, the Song Dynasty and Zhao Yu's sons, who had become princes, implemented a policy of light taxes and levies, exempting war-torn areas from taxes for three years. Subsequently, the tax rate was far lower than the exorbitant taxes levied by various countries, tribes, and powers. At the same time, the tax exemption privileges of the aristocratic class were abolished, thus achieving tax fairness.

In the judicial system, the sons of Zhao Yu, who had become princes, were introduced into the Song Dynasty's written legal system, abandoning the old practices of tribal private punishment and religious law, and protecting the lives and property of commoners and slaves.

These measures dispelled the fear of the common people and slaves towards the "invaders," allowing them to genuinely feel an improvement in their living conditions, and shifting their attitude from passive acceptance to active identification with the rule of the Song Dynasty and Zhao Yu's sons who had become vassal kings.

The people's support quickly translated into tangible governance results.

Slaves who gained land and freedom, and commoners who regained a stable life, all threw themselves into production and reconstruction.

Under the guidance of agricultural officials dispatched by the Song Dynasty, advanced farming techniques and crop varieties from the Central Plains were introduced to Central Asia. Water conservancy projects such as canals and irrigation systems were repaired and expanded, and farmland that had been abandoned due to war was revitalized. Grain production not only recovered to pre-war levels but even increased.

The nomadic tribes on the grasslands grazed their livestock peacefully within the pastures designated by the Song Dynasty, and the number of livestock also increased.

Craftsmen and merchants in the city resumed their old trades and carried out cross-regional trade by relying on the trade routes opened up by the Song Dynasty. Products from Central Asia were exchanged with silk, porcelain, tea and light and heavy industrial products from the Central Plains, and the market gradually prospered.

The sons of Zhao Yu, who became feudal lords, introduced numerous factories that required a lot of manpower but had little technical content, creating a large number of jobs for their respective feudal states and genuinely improving the lives of the people in Central Asia.

Granaries throughout Central Asia were becoming increasingly full, and grain supplies such as wheat, barley, beef, and mutton were transported to Song army garrisons via railways and highways, completely solving the logistical supply problem for the Song expeditionary force and freeing the Song army from relying on distant Central Plains for transport.

The handicraft workshops not only met the daily needs of the local people, but also began to manufacture military supplies such as arrows, saddles, and tents for the Song army to replenish military equipment.

The smooth flow of trade routes brought in substantial tax revenue, which became the financial support for the Song Dynasty's governance of Central Asia, and further benefited people's livelihoods and national defense.

More importantly, the rallying of the people spurred the replenishment of the army. Large numbers of freed slaves and civilians grateful for the Song Dynasty's benevolence voluntarily joined the Song army or local security forces.

They were familiar with the terrain, climate, and tribal customs of Central Asia. Some served as guides, leading the Song army in precise marches through the desert and Gobi; some joined the Song army, becoming elite soldiers in the charge; and others formed militias to assist the Song army in defending cities, suppressing remaining resistance forces, and protecting supply lines.

These local recruits not only expanded the size of the Song army, but also made up for the shortcomings of foreign troops who were unfamiliar with the local environment, giving the Song Dynasty a dual advantage of "geographical advantage" and "popular support" in its confrontation with the Central Asian coalition.

In contrast, the Central Asian coalition, while appealing to the people through religion, failed to bring any real benefits to ordinary citizens and had no intention of liberating slaves. The tribal militias and noble factions within the coalition continued their old practices of plundering civilians and enslaving the lower classes. Wherever they went, they obtained supplies through forced requisition and even plundered cities to replenish their military provisions, causing widespread displacement and resentment towards the jihadist coalition.

This led more and more people in Central Asia to side with the Song Dynasty. They passed on intelligence about the movements of the allied forces to the Song army, hid food supplies for the Song army, treated the wounded, and even spontaneously organized themselves to resist the invasion of the allied forces.

In conclusion, although the Song Dynasty's reconquest of Central Asia was fraught with setbacks due to the particularly strong religious forces there, the Song Dynasty gradually gained the upper hand in the protracted war because of its appropriate strategies. It not only successfully resisted the allied forces' attacks, but also further consolidated its control over Central Asia through this war.

The defeat of the allied forces began with their internal disintegration.

Faced with the predicament of running out of food and supplies and having their retreat cut off, the Sultanate of Rum took the lead in withdrawing its troops. Subsequently, some small city-states defected, and tribal alliances collapsed due to heavy casualties. Although religious armed forces still put up a stubborn resistance, they were unable to form an effective fighting force after losing the support of other forces.

Ultimately, the Central Asian allied forces were surrounded by the main force of the Song army in the plains of Asia Minor. After several days of fierce fighting, the allied forces were completely defeated, with most of the soldiers killed or captured. The remaining forces fled southwest and were eventually pursued by the Song army to the coast of the Persian Gulf, where they were completely incapacitated.

This battle dealt a devastating blow to the resistance forces in Central Asia.

The remaining Seljuk Turkic tribes were forced to migrate to the harsh lands north of the Caspian Sea, losing their influence over the heart of Central Asia.

The religious influence of the Ghaznavid dynasty was confined to specific areas, and its preaching activities were strictly controlled.

The Sultanate of Rum was forced to submit to the Song Dynasty after its defeat in war, ceding part of its territory in eastern Asia Minor as reparations.

Those small city-states and oasis forces that had defected were stripped of their autonomy by the Song Dynasty and governed by officials directly dispatched by the court.

Aladdin Etschitz was unwilling to accept defeat.

Following the advice of his strategist, Aladdin Etsiz decided to "defect to the enemy."

Surrender to the Song Dynasty?
How can it be? !
Without the Song Dynasty, Aladdin Etsiz, even if he didn't defeat the Serzhu Turks and become the new hegemon of Central Asia, would at least have been a king whose power grew stronger with each passing year.

Because of the Song Dynasty's westward expedition, Aladdin Etsiz lost his future, his country, and even his concubines and children. He became a truly lonely man, unable to return home or his country.

Given this situation, how could Aladdin Etsiz not hate the Song Dynasty and Zhao Yu to the core?

The key point is that once Aladdin Etsiz surrenders to the Song Dynasty, he will likely be imprisoned in the City of Ten Thousand Nations forever.

Aladdin Etsis would rather die than become a prisoner.

Moreover, Aladdin Etsiz was truly unwilling to accept that Central Asia had been occupied by the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, Aladdin Etschitz decided to seek help from his former enemies—the Crusaders…

...(End of this chapter)