I, Altria, only want to rule China.

"Is this the Chinese name you gave yourself?" Liya asked curiously.

"Yes." Zhang Huiling looked up at Liya, a look of surprise flashed across his face. He didn't expect that the leading general this time would be a woman, right?

And it's not just a woman who's leading the team, there are other women around Leah as well.

PS: Is there anyone who still doesn’t know that the Western Regions is Xinjiang Province?

Chapter 78: Big Cultural Differences

City Lord Zhang looked to be in his early thirties, with slightly curly chestnut-colored hair, a high nose bridge, and a short beard, which was also a bit curly.

It can be seen that upon hearing that the Han army was coming, City Lord Zhang dressed up carefully.

He grew his hair into a bun, dressed properly in Han clothes, and learned some Han etiquette.

Not only did he take a Chinese name, he also spoke Chinese very well. One can only say that this city lord has a unique personal complex towards Han culture. It is no exaggeration to say that he is devoted to Han culture.

"This time I'm here on behalf of the Wu Kingdom, intending to retake all the countries in the Western Regions and unify their management. I wonder what City Lord Zhang thinks about this." Leah asked.

Wu State is the name that Liya plans to name her country in the future, similar to Wei in the Northern Wei Dynasty and Song in the Liu Song Dynasty. Once Liya plans to establish a country, she will use the word "Wu" as the name of the country.

"Everything is subject to the general's orders." Zhang Huiling bowed his head and said

"Get up, General Zhang, please lead the way. We have been marching for many days and will temporarily disturb General Zhang's territory." Leah said.

"Yes." Zhang Huiling quickly stood up and led the way in front of Liya.

On the way, Liya asked the other party about the situation of the Kingdom of Shanshan. The other party also answered in a positive way, and he extremely admired the culture of the Han Dynasty. If Liya did not intend to turn the Western Regions into a province of China, Liya would have thought of supporting him to become the King of Shanshan.

However, he could not become the King of Shanshan, but he had no problem being a county governor.

After hearing the other party's answer, Leah also had a clearer understanding of the Western Regions. Although the Western Regions is very large and there are many countries, these are actually small countries with a population of tens of thousands.

As long as she sends her army there, coupled with the reputation that the Han army had previously gained, these small countries will submit to them. However, some countries will not surrender so easily.

The first is Dayuan, the farthest country from them. The population of this country is about 300,000 people, and there are tens of thousands of soldiers. If Liya wants them to be convinced, she still has to show them how strong her fist is.

Next to Dayuan is Wusun, a very powerful country with a total population of 500,000 to 600,000 and a total military force of 180,000, which means almost every citizen is a soldier.

Even the Han Dynasty at that time formed an alliance with the Wusun through marriage. The most famous story was the story of the two princesses Liu Xijun and Liu Jieyou marrying into the Wusun clan.

But now the Wusun has been destroyed by the Rouran people, leaving only a few remnants that have been integrated into other countries.

To the north of Dayuan was Kangju, which had a population of over 600,000 and over 100,000 soldiers.

To the west of Dayuan was the Dayuezhi, which had a population of 400,000 and 100,000 soldiers.

Going south from Dayuezhi and crossing the Pamir Plateau is the area of ​​ancient India.

If you continue westward from Dayuezhi, you will reach the Parthian Empire. This Parthian Empire was quite powerful and was the strongest opponent of the Eastern empires encountered by the Roman Empire at that time.

The Han Dynasty called the Parthian Empire "Anxi".

Finally, let’s return to the Western Regions. To the south of Wusun is the country of Cheshi. Since the people who actually controlled Cheshi were the Rouran people, this country would not easily surrender to them.

Once they attack Cheshi, the Rouran people will not sit idly by and will most likely take the initiative to attack them.

Although these countries seem to have a large population and a military force of up to 100,000, in fact this is the total military force of one country, and they are distributed in various regions and cannot be moved at will.

Just like China, the total military force is as high as one million, but can these one million people move around at will? Obviously not.

It can be said that the 20,000 to 30,000 troops they can free up to do other things is already their limit.

What Leah has to do now is to first conquer those small countries with a population of several thousand or tens of thousands that were conquered by the Han Dynasty, and then she can turn her attention to the country of Dayuan.

In fact, in the normal new China, Xinjiang’s territory does not include the two countries of Dayuan and Wusun, but only their former parts.

However, during the Han Dynasty, these two countries were once incorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty, but it was not able to achieve actual control. What Leah has to do is to bring these two countries back into the territory. Since it is to recover lost territory, she has a reason to send troops.

As for Kangju, Dayuezhi, and the Parthian Empire, Liya had no excuse to attack them, and they were too far away. Continuing the war would only stretch her front line too long, and she would be completely unable to supply and lose.

Her main goal now is to unify the land of China, benefit the people, and then slowly develop science and technology. After the country regains its vitality, she can consider expanding her territory.

Otherwise, even if she conquered those places, they were too far away to be controlled. This is why the territory of the most powerful Tang Dynasty was only that large, and that was the limit of their control.

The most famous one is Mongolia. Although it once conquered Eurasia, what was the result? It still collapsed. It is meaningless to have a large territory. It is meaningful only when you actually control these places.

Leah stationed her army outside the city, and followed City Lord Zhang into the city with a few people.

She was skilled and courageous, and was not afraid of whether the city lord was pretending or not. After all, Merlin was by her side, and she would know about any movement quickly.

As the lord of the city, Zhang Huiling's courtyard occupied the highest position in the city. It was two stories high, with wooden beams, adobe walls, branches woven as the frame, and mud walls inside and outside.

City Lord Zhang quickly arranged for everyone to have their meal in a yard. The food was a freshly slaughtered cow. After removing the internal organs and cleaning it, it was roasted on the brazier in the middle.

Some of the generals on Liya's side couldn't help but show strange expressions when they saw that the dinner that City Lord Zhang hosted for them was actually a cow.

In the Central Plains, cows are more valuable than human lives, and it is illegal to slaughter healthy cows privately.

But when I think about the horses, cattle and sheep that are grazed in the Western Regions, and the fact that there are no less of them here and they are grown specifically for eating, I feel a little speechless.

All I can say is that the cultural differences between the two sides are indeed huge.

It didn't take long before the cow was roasted. City Lord Zhang asked a young woman to cut the beef and brought the roasted beef to Leah.

"Are you Han Chinese?" Leah asked after looking at the woman.

"Yes, General." Seeing Leah asking the question, the woman quickly saluted.

"General, this is my wife, her name is Cui Lin." Seeing Liya asking, City Lord Zhang immediately said

Chapter 79 My Loulan

"I see." Leah looked at the woman again. At this moment, she was pouring wine for herself with a smile on her face.

Although the Western Regions were barren, as the city lord's wife, she seemed to be living a good life and was well-fed. She should not have suffered any hardship in City Lord Zhang's home.

It seems that City Lord Zhang is still quite devoted to Han, but it's a good thing this way, so that Leah doesn't have to look for another spokesperson.

During the banquet, Leah asked a lot of questions about City Lord Zhang, and she also mentioned the issue of reform to see how he would react.

The other party did not react much to things like land reform. After all, fields in the Western Regions were just one of the things they were doing, and there were also grazing and fishing.

Of course, grazing and fishing do not all belong to you. You also have to pay tribute, just like paying taxes for farming. They all start from level 6 or 7.

But Leah is not worried. After all, the Western Regions are not a completely Han land. If you want to completely sinicize it, you still need to do it step by step. In short, the first step is to completely control the Western Regions.

In addition, City Lord Zhang started crying while speaking at the banquet, which made Leah and the others very upset.

Then City Lord Zhang burst into tears and complained about the oppression of the Rouran people, their extortion of Shanshan, and the Rouran people's insatiable greed.

Originally, Liya didn't understand why this guy did this, but now she knows why this guy did this.

In fact, they were just afraid that Liya would blame them for surrendering to the Rouran, so they first put all the blame on the Rouran, and then cut off ties with the Rouran, so that the Han army would not be able to blame them.

Once the Han army left, when the Rouran people came to question them, the bad guys would probably become the Han army when they cried and complained to the Rouran people.

It is very common for a small country to be indecisive.

As for City Lord Zhang, he just needs to listen to the Han Dynasty. Everything he is doing now is just the result of practical considerations.

Maybe the scene will be like this when she meets King Shan later.

After figuring out this key issue, Leah suddenly had an idea in her mind. Perhaps everything she was seeing now was just something the other party did specially for her to see.

However, Leah did not point this out, as it would be embarrassing for everyone. If their Han army was strong enough and did not allow the Rouran people to enter the Western Regions, then all these problems would be solved and the Rouran people would not have to act like fence-sitters.

At night, under the arrangement of City Lord Zhang, Leah and the others stayed in a hotel to rest. However, the fire was still lit in City Lord Zhang's room and they had not rested.

"City Lord, the Rouran envoy has learned that the Han army is coming to our place, and he ordered us to assassinate the Han generals at night." In this room, City Lord Zhang was sitting in his room, and a servant said to him.

"Don't pay attention to them. Just say that I'm drunk and have fallen asleep." City Lord Zhang waved his hand.

These Rouran people really had a good idea. If the assassination succeeded, he would be the one who was unlucky. If the assassination failed, he would still be the one who was unlucky. There were 10,000 troops outside the city. He would only do this because he was tired of living.

"Yes." The servant nodded and went downstairs.

Looking at the lights, Zhang Huiling sighed. It was not easy for them, the Shanshan people, to survive between the Han army and the Rouran.

The next day, Leah and the others were ready to set off. It would take a whole day to get from here to the royal city of Shanshan. In order to show his intentions, City Lord Zhang decided to take Leah and the others there personally.

Leah didn't object. It was always good to have someone lead the way.

After a day's journey, Shanshan King City was in sight. From a distance, Shanshan City was located on an island surrounded by two rivers separated by the Peacock River. The city was several times larger than the one that City Lord Zhang had visited before.

King Shanshan seemed to have received the news long ago. Facing the arrival of the Han army, King Shanshan did not resist, but opened the city gate and led dozens of officials and thousands of people to the outside of the city gate.

When Liya's army arrived, King Shan hurried forward, prostrated himself on the ground, and said respectfully, "Welcome the Heavenly Army."

Judging from what has been said before, the Rouran people have extorted Shanshan heavily, and Shanshan has long been overwhelmed. Both the city lord and the civilians deeply hate the Rouran people.

It is said that most of the leather hunted every year must be handed over to the city lord and then handed over to the Rouran people.

The Rouran people only knew how to ask for things from the Tang Dynasty, but the Chinese people not only did not ask for anything, but also gave in return.

Therefore, these Shanshan nobles were not afraid of Liya's arrival, but were delighted. Once the Han army returned to the Western Regions, Shanshan would be freed from the heavy taxes of the Rouran. Being pro-Han and anti-Rouran would be the choice of most Western Regions countries.

"Get up." Leah said, looking at King Shanshan who was kneeling on the ground.

The King of Shanshan was very thin, but he was wearing many gold ornaments that were loved by the grassland peoples, which sparkled and reflected light.

"I wonder why the heavenly army has come from afar?" King Shanshan stood up, glanced at Liya, and said carefully.

Leah nodded to the soldiers around her, and immediately several weapons were placed on the neck of King Shanshan.

"General, why is this happening? Why?" King Shan was terrified when he saw the sharp sword hanging on his neck.

"Before, those Rouran people invaded our Chinese border, causing countless casualties among our border soldiers, so I would like to ask, what does the King of Loulan want to say?" Leah snorted coldly, her tone full of murderous intent.

Although Loulan has now changed its name to Fengshan, Liya used this name to deliberately tell the other party, are you planning to get rid of the name Fengshan? Are you planning to leave us?

"General, please forgive me. I have no other choice. The Rouran people are powerful. They threatened us that if we dare to block their way, they will destroy our Fengshan Kingdom. I have no choice but to do this!" King Shanshan said with a tearful look on his face.

"I remember that you Shanshan surrendered to us six years ago, right?"

Although Shanshan is not submitting to Liya now, but to the Northern Wei Dynasty, it does not prevent King Shanshan from knowing that Liya has cut off the Hexi Corridor.

When the Rouran had surrendered to the Northern Wei, it was extremely excessive for these kind-hearted people to dare to let the Rouran come over.

Of course, it is not realistic to simply rely on Shanshan's 2 to 3000 troops to resist the Rouran people. Liya also knows this.

After all, Shanshan is just a vassal state. It is unrealistic to expect them to fight for China. They do not have the same sense of belonging to China as the Han Dynasty, or the countries in the Western Regions do not have that sense of belonging.

Chapter 80: Loulan Disappeared in the Long River of History

This time, Leah came to the Western Regions with the intention of solving this problem. These ten thousand soldiers will be permanently stationed in the Western Regions in the future.

Even during the Han Dynasty, there were only 300 people stationed in the Western Regions. This was a huge investment for Leah.

Not only does she want to station troops in the Western Regions, she also wants the entire Western Regions to be sinicized!

Liya didn't listen to the King of Shanshan's cry, but said coldly: "King of Shanshan, you call yourself a Han minister, but you are willing to be driven by the Rouran people and cut off the north-south road. The Rouran people deserve to die, and King Shanshan is not innocent either, so execute him immediately."

Although Shanshan has her own difficulties, Leah cannot accept being treated like a villain in this way.

You can't say that you have difficulties and you can play both sides. Just because you have difficulties, can you ignore the difficulties of China?

So Leah had to kill him, and killing King Shanshan on the spot was also a deterrent to these Shanshan people, telling the nobles of Shanshan Kingdom clearly that she did not come to Shanshan to play with them this time, but would kill people.

As Leah finished her words, the soldiers raised their swords and slashed. Along with the Shanshan King's screams, a head rolled to the ground.

Seeing their king being killed on the spot, the nobles and people of Shanshan Kingdom were all shocked for a moment. No one dared to say a word in the huge square.

There were more than thousands of kind-hearted people, but no one stepped forward, and no one dared to shoot even an arrow.

"I wonder if everyone present heard what I just said?" Liya continued.

"I, Zhang Huiling, will always be a Han minister of the Wu Kingdom, and I will obey only the orders of the Wu Kingdom!" Upon seeing this, Zhang Huiling was the first to kneel down and expressed his determination to Liya.

"Let's go into the city." Leah glanced at everyone around her and walked straight into the city.

The kind-hearted people just watched the army march into the city without even daring to stop them.

The city of Fengshan was located between two intersecting rivers. Outside the city, poplar trees stretched in rows, providing shade. The city walls were built of rammed earth and reeds, just like the cities that Liya and her friends had passed by along the way. Each side was more than 300 meters wide.

The city is roughly divided into three areas: the northeast is the palace area, with adobe walls and tall poplar wood pillars painted with vermilion. There is a low wall separating it from other areas, and there is a large lush vineyard outside the east gate.

To the west is the residential area, with single rooms closely adjacent to each other. The walls of the houses are made of reed stalks and red willow trees arranged in a fence-like pattern, reinforced with ropes made of grass, and then covered with mud. It is very simple.

But those who are eligible to live in the city are already the wealthier middle class.

In the southeast corner is the government office area. Opposite the south city gate is a small square. On the edge of the square stand the three tallest rooms in Shanshan City. This is where the King of Shanshan usually tried criminals.