Chapter 1: The restless post-turkic

Above the desert, snow is flying, and the grasslands are covered with silver. The north wind roars, and the sound is whimpering, which makes people feel sad.

Li Ling's "Reply to Su Wu" wrote that "the land of Hu is black and the soil on the edge is rippling, but he heard the sound of the sad and depressed wind", which is the best portrayal of the winter in the vast desert.

The snow covered path ruler, no one came out to move on the grassland, and the herdsmen were nestling in tents to spend the winter, drinking horse breasts to relieve the cold.

The location of the royal court of the Later Turks was connected by tents, stretching for more than ten miles, which was quite spectacular. However, the snow this year was too heavy, and many tents were crushed, and many soldiers were cleaning up in the cold wind.

Among the numerous tents, there is a huge tent, which is the tent of the Turkic Khan moused him.

The old Mochu was wearing a desert fur fur and leaned against the fire. There were roasted lamb and steaming horse breasts on the tables in front of him. The silver knife waved, and a large piece of lamb was cut off. Mochu was stuffed into his mouth, chewed it heavily, then picked up a golden bowl and sucked the hot horse breasts. A hot stream of heat entered his throat, which was particularly comfortable.

Putting down the golden bowl in his hand, Mochu glanced at the ministers in the tent and asked, "The snow fell heavily this year, and it was so thick after only two days. With my years of experience, the snow will fall even harder in the future, and cattle, sheep and horses will inevitably freeze a lot. How do you think about this future life?"

"Khan, what's there to say about this? Of course, I'm going to the Tang people's place to grab it!" A general blurted out without thinking.

"Who said the Tang people were rich and timid? They are our inexhaustible warehouse!" Another general said disdainfully.

Since ancient times, nomadic peoples in the desert have regarded the living China that have been farming as their inexhaustible warehouses, such as the Huns, the Xianbei, the Turks, and the Khitans and Jurchens in later generations.

This is an eternal rule!

The only change is whether China is powerful and whether it has the power to fight back. If China is strong, even if it is like the Huns, it will be defeated. If China is in a downturn, even if it creates countless wealth, the Song Dynasty's wealth is even better than the prosperous Tang Dynasty, but its martial arts are weak, and it is just a wedding dress for others, which makes it cheaper for foreign races such as the Khitan and Jurchens.

Whenever heavy snow continues, causing snow disasters and large quantities of cattle and sheep are frozen to death, the nomadic people on the grassland will swear to go south to invade, kill and capture border residents, and rob property.

A snow disaster like this year is rare in the history of the Post-Turkish people, and Mochu had to deal with it early.

"You are so gentle, how can the three Tang people surrender the city to the point of being better?" A minister of a young age asked. This man was Mochuk Khan's younger brother Du Xitu, and the official was at Zuoxiangcha.

"This..." The crowd suddenly had nothing to answer.

After quiet, someone immediately shouted: "Can we starve to death?"

"You can survive if you fight?" Du Situ asked again.

"That's better than waiting for death!" Someone shouted again.

"If you want to die, you must die on the way to beat the Tang people. You cannot starve to death or freeze to death!" The generals immediately agreed.

"Khan, what do you think you should do?" Du Xitu couldn't convince the public, so he had to ask Mochu for help.

Mochu glanced at the ministers, picked up the hot horse's breasts and started drinking. The ministers immediately stopped eating and drinking, stared at him, and waited for him to show him.

After a while, Mochu put down the golden bowl and said slowly: "If we don't fight, we are waiting to die. This is not what we Turkic heroes should do! If we fight, the three surrendered cities of the Tang people are standing in front of us, leaving us helpless. This is really hard to achieve both sides!"

What is the surrender city? Why did the Later Turks be so afraid? This starts with the establishment of the Later Turks.

In 630 AD, Li Jing attacked Yinshan at night and drove Jie Li Khan's old nest, causing Jie Li Khan to be captured alive, and the Eastern Turks were declared destroyed. The demise of the Eastern Turks was a major event, shocking the desert, causing the Turkic tribes on the grassland to surrender and surrender to the Tang Dynasty. In order to manage the northern border, the Tang Dynasty established many Protectorate Mansions, which were under the jurisdiction of the Yanran Protectorate Mansion.

The Yanran Protectorate was later Anbei Protectorate. Its capital was Shanyutai, and it is now near Hangjinhou Banner, Inner Mongolia. At that time, the Yanran Protectorate was very vast, including the current north of the Uga River in Inner Mongolia, the entire territory of Outer Mongolia, the Ertzis River in Russia, the upper reaches of the Yenisei River, the Angara River and Lake Baikal areas.

Everyone knows that the poet Li Bai was born in the Baikal area and later moved to Jiangyou, Sichuan. It is precisely because of this that some Russians think that Li Bai should be Russian, not Chinese. It is very simple to refute him, just ask him whether the poet Li Bai wrote Tang poetry or Russian poetry.

After the Turkic tribes surrendered, they were stable under the ethnic policy of Emperor Taizong of Tang, and there was no abnormal movement for nearly half a century. However, as time passed, the Turkic thoughts on restoring the country began to spread, and many Turkic nobles were ready to move. In addition, the Tang Dynasty implemented the strategy of "using barbarians to control barbarians" and summoned the Turkic people to fight for the Tang Dynasty. After nearly half a century of war, the Turkic people suffered heavy casualties, which prepared an excuse for the Turkic rebellion.

In the tenth year of the winter of 679 AD, the Turkic chief Ashide Wenfuhe, a subordinate of the Shanyu Protectorate, took the lead in opposing the Tang Dynasty and made Ashina Nishuocu a Khan. The responders reached 24 tribes, gathering hundreds of thousands of people, and their reputations were greatly boosted.

The Tang Dynasty was not ruthless in the rebellion of the Turks. Emperor Gaozong decided to suppress it. General Pei Xingjian led his troops to fight. In March of the following year, he defeated hundreds of thousands of Turks in Heishan (now northwest of Baotou), captured and served alive. Nishutu was killed by his subordinates. The rebellion of the Turks ended in a great defeat and had to retreat to Langshan.

The Turks' rebellion was unhappy and people were in panic. In the end, Wen Fu's troops welcomed Jie Li Khan's nephew Fu Nian from Xiazhou (now Jingbian, Shaanxi), crossed the Yellow River north and established him as Khan. The Turks finally stabilized.

However, the Turks at this time could not be called the Post-Turkish, because the Turks were under the attack of the Tang Dynasty army and soon broke through Pei Xingjian. In October 681, under the command of Pei Xingjian, the Tang army attacked fiercely and finally surrounded Fu Nian's garrison.

In the critical situation of the Tang Dynasty's army being in a critical situation, Fu Nian had to arrest Wen Fu and surrender to the Tang army. In order to eliminate the worries of the Turks, Pei Xingjian agreed to Fu Nian not to kill him. However, Pei Yan hated Pei Xingjian's contribution and slandered Emperor Gaozong of Tang and asked Emperor Gaozong to kill Fu Nian.

Since Emperor Wu of Han attacked the Huns, China has always implemented a strategy of giving favor to the northern nomadic peoples, which is to treat surrendered foreign races well and never show mercy to those who dare to resist. This strategy achieved great results, and the Tang Dynasty also followed this strategy.

Pei Xingjian's handling was appropriate. Although Emperor Gaozong was still in power, the power of the government at that time had fallen into the hands of Wu Zetian. She did not understand Pei Yan's sinister intentions and made a big mistake.

This laid the seeds of fire for the later large-scale rebellion of the Turks. It is better to fight hard if you surrender, or if you don’t surrender or die. This is human nature. From then on, the Turks would rather die in battle than surrender.

After the incident, Pei Xingjian lamented that the court would surrender and no one would surrender in the future, and said that he would not be sick. Later, the Turks' crucified his prophecy was well fulfilled.

In 682, Jie Li Khan's tribe Ashinagudulu rebelled again. His grandfather was the chief of the Ying tribe of Sari Yuan and inherited the Tutun position. This was the true founder of Jie Li Shi Khan, the later Turkic founder. After Fu Nian died, he led seventeen people to run away in anger, recruited unwilling Turkic people all the way, gathered 700 people, and occupied Heisha City (now Hohhot).

The killing of Fu Nian caused a significant reduction in the status of the Tang Dynasty in the minds of the Turks, especially the remnants of Fu Nian were even more dissatisfied with the Tang Dynasty. Khan of Jie Lishi was a smart man. He took this opportunity to gather the remaining Fu Nian tribes and gather more than 5,000 people. He copied the Tielle Nine tribes and obtained a large number of cattle and sheep populations. From then on, he became stronger and became a Khan. Later, the Turks officially began.

Although the Turks had the idea of ​​rebellion, their hearts were not strong. After all, the Tang Dynasty was strong and the Tang Dynasty was nostalgic for the Turks. If there was no Fu Nian being killed, the Turks would not have the intention to die. Perhaps the Turks could not establish a country at all and would soon be exterminated.

After the establishment of the Turks, they went south and plundered. In March 683, they surrounded the Shanyu Protectorate's Mansion and killed Sima Zhang Xingshi, which made the Anbei Protectorate's Mansion unable to gain a foothold in Mobei and had to move south.

For a time, the Turks' momentum was greatly boosted, and they plundered the border and captured countless people. Fortunately, they were defeated by the famous general Xue Rengui.

This was just a slight upset. Later, the Turks became more and more harmful and were overwhelmed. There was no way, so Wu Zetian sent a famous general Cheng Wuting to defend the northern part. Cheng Wuting was a famous general who followed Pei Xingjian to defeat the Turks and participated in the Battle of Black Mountain. He was very famous among the Turks.

Later, when the Turks heard that he came to guard the northern part, they were afraid. They restrained their troops and dared not disturb the border. The northern part had a rare period of peace. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Cheng Wuting had a good relationship with Pei Yan, and Wu Zetian killed Pei Yan. Cheng Wuting helped him say a few good words, which made Wu Zetian unhappy and sent someone to kill Cheng Wuting.

The Turks were most happy when Cheng Wuting died. They slaughtered cattle and sheep, and placed a banquet to celebrate for a few days. What was most unexpected was that the Turks also set up temples for Cheng Wuting, and whenever they went to war, they would come to worship.

The consequences of this power murder were very serious. No one in the north could guard against the Turks. The Turks became even more rampant and successively plundered Daizhou, Changping, and Shuozhou. What was even more serious was that the entire army of Cuan Baobi was wiped out, which shocked the Tang Dynasty.

Wu Zetian was very angry and called Gu Dulu "No Du Lu".

It is unknown whether Wu Zetian regretted killing Cheng Wuxing at this time.

During Gu Dulu's reign, the Later Turks attacked from all directions and their strength increased greatly. In the northern part of the Tang Dynasty, nine surnames Tiel, thirty surnames Tatars, Khitans, and Xi had all conquered him. He went on a 47 battles in his life, and he personally participated in more than twenty battles, which laid a good foundation for the Later Turks.

After his death, his son was young and his younger brother Mochu became Khan.

Although Mochuo was independent, he was a cunning fox who was good at using the wind to make trouble. At the beginning of his independence, he knew that his foundation was unstable and he had to rely on the power of the Tang Dynasty to stabilize his position. So he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and asked to support him.

It can be said that it was Wu Zetian's mistake that led to the founding of the Later Turks. Wu Zetian's performance was remarkable in dealing with the Western Regions and recapturing the four Anxi towns. When dealing with the post-Turkish issue, she made frequent tricks and made continuous mistakes. The first mistake was that she did not stop Emperor Gaozong from killing Fu Nian, giving the Turks a fighting spirit. The second mistake was that she killed Cheng Wuting for the sake of power and interests, making it impossible for the north to resist the generals of the Turks.

Immediately afterwards, Wu Zetian's third mistake came again. Perhaps Wu Zetian refused to admit it, and it was likely that he still regretted killing Cheng Wuting in his heart, which made the north uneasy.

Perhaps because he felt dull, Wu Zetian was overjoyed when Modu's request arrived, and immediately enthroned the title and rewarded him. Mochuo was very good at being a human being. In order to please Wu Zetian, he sent troops to defeat the Khitan to repay the victory. Wu Zetian was even happier and conferred him the favor of the Great Shanyu and made contributions to the Khan of the country.

The cunning Mochu knew that the opportunity had come. When Wu Zetian was happy, he asked the Tang Dynasty to return Feng, Sheng, Ling, Xia, Shuo, Turkish surrendered households in the six prefectures, and the Shanyu Protectorate. In addition, he also asked for grain seeds, silk, agricultural tools, iron and other things. There was a lot of opposition in the court and the debate continued. Wu Zetian finally gave Mochu tens of thousands of households in the six prefectures and gave him 40,000 hu of grain seeds, 50,000 pieces of mixed colors, 3,000 agricultural tools, and 40,000 kilograms of iron.

This is the capital to steal grain, and the population of these households was greatly increased. Getting these materials is like a businessman who has the capital to make the transaction bigger. He makes full use of these resources, first conquered the new city of Khitan, obtained population materials, and increased his strength.

After his strength increased, Mochu began to harass the border of the Tang Dynasty. At this time, Mochu tore off his disguise and did not take the Tang Dynasty seriously at all. He detained Wu Zetian's nephew Wu Yanxiu for six years in the name of intermarriage. He also sent troops to attack Jingnan Army, Qingyi Army, Pingdi Army, and attacked Guizhou, Tanzhou, Dingzhou, and Zhaozhou.

Wu Zetian sent 450,000 troops to fight, but there was no effect at all. For a time, the wars in the north were continuous and peace could not be achieved, and the people lived in dire straits.

The most tragic thing is that when Di Renjie led his army to counterattack, Mochu killed all the nearly 100,000 border residents who had been plundered. He killed 100,000 border residents at one time. This is not common in the Tang Dynasty, even in Chinese history, and even as powerful as the Huns could not do it.

Wu Zetian, who received this news, didn't know what he thought.

By this time, Mochuo had already had an army of 400,000, and did not take the Tang Dynasty seriously at all. He often disturbed the Tang Dynasty's borders and even snatched more than 10,000 official horses from Longyou. The government and the country were shocked, but there was no way to do anything. He could only make marriage and marriage based on the Turkic people's temperament.

Mochuo relied on his strength and did not take the Tang Dynasty seriously, and concentrated his efforts to expedition the Tuqi Shi in the west. Zhang Ren, the chief general of Shuofang Dao at that time, was willing to seize this rare opportunity and launch a large number of troops to defeat the remaining Hou Turkic soldiers and seize the southern part of the Mo.

At that time, the Later Turks and the Tang Dynasty used the Yellow River as the boundary, and Zhang Ren's willing troops to go north of the Yellow River was not counted. After defeating the Turks, three surrendered cities were built on the north bank of the Yellow River.

The three cities corresponded to each other's heads and ends, and they were easy to defend but difficult to attack. They became a strategic barrier for the Tang Dynasty in the northern part of the desert, and well blocked the Turks' advance southward.

The construction of the three cities of surrender was far-reachingly affected, which not only gave the Tang Dynasty a good strategic barrier, but also made the Turks have no foothold in the south of the Mo. Although they wanted to retake the south of the Mo, they were willing but not capable enough.

The Shuofang land was no longer invaded by the Turks, and finally had a rare tranquility.

In order to regain the southern part of the desert, the Turks attacked Sujiang City several times, and they were abandoned and could not capture it. Therefore, when the Sujiang City was mentioned, the Turks were very heartbroken.

"Khan, what's the use of these irrelevant things? Should I fight or not?" Some generals couldn't help it.

"Just one word, type!" Mochu slapped his right hand on several tables.

"What if you can't fight?" Du Sifu was worried: "The Tang people's weapons and armor are better than us. We can't get it if we defeat the Jiangcheng."

"Yes, Khan!" Many people agreed.

Mochu slapped his hands and said, "I would like to invite brothers Hussein!"

As soon as the order was heard, footsteps sounded, and a tall and big Hu man walked in and bowed to Mochu and said, "I've seen Khan!"

"Brother Hussein, please sit down!" Mochu pointed his right hand at the room. Hussein thanked him and sat down.

The generals looked at the Dashi Hu man, not sure why. Mochu glanced at the ministers and then said, "The Hussein brothers are the messengers sent by the Dashi Caliph. Brothers Hussein, please tell me the gift Harry sent to me."

"Yes, Khan!" Husai responded and raised his voice: "Our caliph and Mochukhan are friends and brothers. I sent me to give Mochukhan a hundred ivory and tortoiseshell..."

Mochu interrupted him and said, "Brother Hussein, don't talk about these things that are not useful, but just talk about practical treasures."

"Khan, you are such an interesting person and a capable person!" Hussein praised: "These things are of great value and many people like them, only Khan, you don't."

Mochu corrected and said, "It's not that I don't like it, but because these things can only be seen and played with, it's not as useful as swords and guns. We Turks just like swords and guns!"

Husaiyin gave a thumbs up again and praised: "Khan, to the words of the Tang people, Khan is a great-profit king! Only the great-profit king will think so!"

Mo smiled and said, "Brother Husaiyin, I appreciate your praise. I am a Turkic person, not a Tang Dynasty person!"

"I am sorry for my fault, I am sorry for my fault!" Husaiyin nodded and said, "Our Caliph gave Khan five thousand Damascus swords and fifty thousand pounds of iron. Khan, do you want me to say this?"

"That's right!" Mochu nodded and said to the ministers: "You all heard that the Caliph of Dashi not only gave us weapons, but also asked the brothers Hussein to tell me: Now, Tubo is gone, and the Tang people cannot free up their hands! Our Great Turks will restrain the northern part of the Tang Dynasty, and the Great Food Empire will fight in the Western Regions. In this way, when the two sides of the Tang Dynasty go to war, we must not support each other. If we don't take this opportunity to attack Sujiangcheng, what time will we have to wait?"

In order to fight against the powerful Tang Dynasty, Tubo, the Later Turks and the Dashi colluded with each other and colluded with each other. Now that Tubo is gone, the Dashi and the Later Turks must be anxious, so they are getting closer.

They must take advantage of the Tang Dynasty before it vacated!

"In the spring of the following year, after the ice and snow melt, we immediately raise our troops south and attack Sujiang City!" Mochuo said last.
Chapter completed!