Chapter 868 0863 [Collusion between Xiliao and Xixia]
When Ju Ming received a letter from Gaochang asking for help, Yelu Dashi was already attacking Kashgar.
On the day of siege, take it directly!
Because the elite of Kashgar rebelled and went to the capital last year, they were already destroyed by Yelu Dashi.
Many of the generals in charge of the army were captured alive, but Yelu Dashi did not kill them, but allowed them to continue leading the army and lead the way back to Kashgar.
Yelu Dashi continued to advance, personally led the main force to capture Aksu, and then sent a partial division to occupy Hotan.
In the summer, Yelu Dashi captured the entire territory of the Eastern Kara Khanate, and the 50,000-strong army continued to march eastward towards Turpan.
Tens of thousands of enemy troops besieged the city. King Bileg of Gaochang lamented: "The reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty can't wait any longer. Please follow me out of the city to ask for surrender."
After saying this, Belgo sent an envoy.
Yelu Dashi said to the envoy: "As long as Biluo surrenders, I will let him rule Gaochang. I can swear to God that if I violate my oath, I will strike with five thunderbolts!"
The envoy quickly returned to the city to resume his mission.
Bi Lege took his wife, children, officials, and Gaochang's register and map, and went out of the city to kneel down to greet the Yelu Dashi: "The little king comes to pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor of Liao!"
Yelu Dashi got off his horse and helped Big Brother up with his own hands: "I keep my word. Now I will make you the Protector of Yi, and you can continue to rule this place. Moreover, I will not launch an army to plunder. You just need to provide some military rations."
Of course, I will leave an official to assist you."
Biluo was overjoyed and knelt down again, kowtowed and shouted: "Holy King, please accept the nine bows of the little king!"
Yelu Dashi smiled and said: "What benefits can you get from surrendering to the Ming Emperor? There is Xixia in the middle. Can the Ming State send reinforcements? Now that you have surrendered to me, no matter who comes to attack Gaochang, I will send troops to defeat him."
Drive away."
Big Brother quickly flattered: "The Emperor of the Ming Kingdom is certainly not as good as the Emperor of the Liao Dynasty."
"Get a pen and paper!"
Yelu Dashi said: "You personally wrote a letter to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, saying that as the suzerain, he could not protect the peace of the vassal. He was really incompetent. Now you have chosen another Ming lord and are no longer a vassal of the Ming Dynasty. Tell him not to do it again in the future."
Send an envoy over."
"This..." Big Brother heard this and everyone was numb.
He was not afraid of angering the Ming Dynasty and sending troops to attack. After all, there was Xixia in the middle. As long as Xixia was not destroyed, the Gaochang Uighurs would be safe.
But Gaochang relies heavily on the Silk Road. What if the Ming Emperor angers the emperor and imposes trade sanctions on Gaochang?
Yelu Dashi understood what Big Brother was thinking and comforted him: "Don't worry. I have some friendship with Emperor Zhu of the Ming Dynasty, and I will send someone to deliver the credentials to him. From now on, Daliao and the Ming Dynasty will still be brothers.
.I can give Emperor Zhu face and recognize him as my elder brother, which will not affect our trade."
This is Yelu Dashi’s true thoughts.
Xiliao was far away from the Ming Dynasty, so he thought there would be no big war.
Although he swallowed up the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, he condescended to worship Emperor Zhu as his elder brother. The two were even, everyone was happy, and they could do business happily from now on.
If Emperor Zhu doesn't give him face, then let's break up.
Can a trade embargo prevent smuggling?
After Yelu Dashi entered the city, he wrote two letters of credence and sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty and Xixia respectively.
He then said to Bilu Ge: "If there are Khitans or Han people who escape to your rule, you must protect them and send these people to me."
"Yes!" How dare Big Brother object?
Yelv Dashi captured the Eastern Kara Khanate and strictly controlled the army along the way, without causing any harm to the people of all ethnic groups.
At the same time, it also declared freedom of religion and would not force any ethnic group to convert, nor change the customs and traditions of any ethnic group.
But he also privately ordered the Khitans to prohibit intermarriage with other ethnic groups in Central Asia and to only believe in Buddhism. From now on, the Khitans in Western Liao were only allowed to marry Khitans and Han Chinese to ensure that they would not be assimilated by those ethnic groups.
Now I am asking Bilu Ge to help us bring in more Khitans and Han people.
Yelu Dashi stood on his horse and looked to the east, murmuring to himself: "I'm afraid there will be a battle sooner or later between you and me."
Bilge, however, looked at the Yelv Stone and couldn't even cry even if he wanted to.
It was agreed that he would continue to rule Gaochang, but Yelu Dashi left officials to "assist" him. In the past two days, he also replaced and recruited Gaochang generals and relieved Bilego from his military command.
Belgo returned to the palace and began to lay down on his back: "Bring me some wine!"
…
The capital of Xixia.
Li Renzhong, the king of Pu, and Richard brother, the king of Jin, sat on the left and right respectively.
After Brother Richard sent troops to capture Baotou, he became violent again in the past few years. He behaved arrogantly and domineeringly, took bribes to promote officials, and built houses in the capital of Xixia that exceeded the regulations.
However, if power reaches a delicate balance, the emperor will still be given face at critical times.
"What does Yelu Dashi's credential mean?" Li Qianshun asked.
Li Renzhong speculated: "Is it possible to sow discord?"
Brother Richard had already guessed what Yelu Dashi was thinking: "How can there be any sowing discord? The Ming Dynasty had a strong military and destroyed the Jin Kingdom, and Yelu Dashi was also afraid. Although I haven't read a few books, I also know the meaning of lips dying and teeth cold.
"
Li Renzhong also figured it out: "If our Daxia is destroyed, Yelu Dashi will face the Ming Dynasty directly. Therefore, Yelu Dashi will do everything possible to protect our Daxia."
Li Qianshun nodded and said: "It must be so."
Li Renzhong said: "Your Majesty, our country can continue to profess vassalage to the Ming Kingdom. But we must also maintain good relations with the Liao Kingdom (Western Liao) and treat merchants from the Liao Kingdom well. If the Ming Kingdom sends troops to attack in the future, we should immediately attack the Liao Kingdom.
If you ask for reinforcements, Yelu Dashi will definitely send troops to rescue you."
"Do we also want to have a father-son relationship with the Liao Kingdom?" Li Qianshun no longer cares about being the emperor.
Li Renzhong shook his head: "No need. One country cannot serve two masters, and it cannot give the Ming Dynasty an excuse to send troops. Since Yelu Dashi respects Emperor Zhu as his elder brother, I and the Liao Kingdom can be uncles and nephews. Your Majesty, please prepare the national ceremony as soon as possible.
You should also marry Yelu Dashi and marry a princess to him."
Li Qianshun agreed.
This kind of thing is too familiar to Xixia.
The Liao Kingdom became the Western Liao Kingdom, and the Song Kingdom became the Ming Kingdom. The relationship between the Three Kingdoms was still the same as before.
Daming and Xiliao are brothers, and Xixia is an honest son and nephew. Once his father calls, he goes to his uncle for help and teaches his unfilial father a lesson.
After some further discussion, Li Renzhong and Brother Richard resigned.
Soon, Li Qianshun called Li Renzhong back behind Brother Richard's back and asked, "How are the firearms going?"
Li Renzhong said: "Six artillery pieces and more than a hundred fire blunderbuss have been built."
"You arrange a time for me to inspect the firearms," Li Qianshun said.
A few days later, Li Qianshun came to the firearms testing site.
Li Renzhong pointed to the artillery and introduced: "The six artillery pieces are divided into three types. The cast iron cannon is easy to explode, so several rings of iron hoops must be added. The wrought iron cannon is too slow to make. The copper cannon is too expensive to make, and there is not that much copper. material."
Artillery is really not complicated.
The Jin Kingdom had too much internal strife and had no time to develop.
Even so, before the fall of the Jin Kingdom, firearms were quietly developed.
Xixia developed firearms earlier because it hurt them.
So far, Xixia has been researching and developing it for nine years.
Although the gunpowder has not yet reached the optimal ratio, and it is not known how to granulate the gunpowder, several types of artillery have been produced.
"boom!"
There was a loud noise and the shells flew out.
Unfortunately, the cannonballs landed randomly, tens of meters away from the target.
Li Renzhong said: "Your Majesty, I have been training the gunners, and they are more accurate than before."
Li Qianshun praised: "King Pu's hard work has made great achievements."
After testing the artillery, I tried the musket again.
More than a hundred matchlock guns fired with crackling volleys, with good firing and hitting rates.
But this is just a drill.
Without granulated black powder, filling it too tightly or too loosely will affect the shooting range and may even prevent normal firing. If it goes to the battlefield, the musketeer will definitely be nervous and it will be difficult to reach the level of usual practice.
In order to ensure the firing rate, musketeers who use powdered gunpowder usually fill the gunpowder half full. However, this will affect the range and power of the musket.
Artillery, same thing.
Li Qianshun asked: "How many firecrackers can be made in a year?"
Li Renzhong said: "It depends on the number and skills of the craftsmen. The current craftsmen can make more than a hundred firecrackers a year."
"I will allocate another 100 craftsmen to you to build 3,000 fire guns as soon as possible!" Li Qianshun said.
Li Qianshun wanted to create a musketeer team, not only to deal with the Ming Dynasty, but also to suppress the increasingly arrogant Brother Richard.
Training a musketeer team of three thousand people was nothing to the Ming Dynasty, but it was quite difficult in Xixia.
Moreover, Xixia is still casting cannons.
Li Qianshun asked again: "It is said that the Ming Dynasty had a kind of fire gun that could be fired without a match rope?"
Li Renzhong said: "It should be fired with flint. However, I asked craftsmen to make several guns, and they worked sometimes and sometimes not. Pulling the spring spring ten times can only fire three or four times at most. No matter how you improve it, you can't improve it."
"Then make one with a match rope first." Li Qianshun said.
After inspecting the firearms, when he returned to the palace, a eunuch greeted him and whispered, and Li Qianshun's good mood disappeared instantly.
But it was Brother Richard who forcibly demolished private houses and expanded his own Jin Palace.
Today's Jin Prince's Mansion has been expanded once, and some of the decorations are seriously illegal. Now it is not restrained and is being expanded a second time, which makes Li Qianshun feel seriously uneasy.
Li Qianshun said to the accompanying eunuch: "Reduce the expenses in the palace. I, the concubine, the prince, and the princess will only sew one set of winter clothes this year. Daily dishes and fine wines will also be reduced by another 20%. Don't do this. Side story, just do it quietly."
"Your Majesty, you have wronged yourself so much!" the eunuch said, wiping his tears.
Li Qianshun is indeed aggrieved.
He succeeded to the throne when he was three years old, and his mother's party was in power. The Empress Dowager Liang made Xixia into a mess. Fortunately, he angered the Liao State and sent an envoy to poison the Empress Dowager Liang to death. Only then did Li Qianshun finally be able to take charge personally and marry the princess of the Liao State for support.
However, the Liao Kingdom fell, and his queen and son died of illness one after another inexplicably. Brother Richard wielded military power to bully the emperor.
Now there are even more internal and external troubles.
At home he was afraid of brother Richard's rebellion, and abroad he was afraid of the Ming Dynasty coming to kill him.
Now I can only live frugally, save some money between my teeth, and quickly build firearms to save my life. Maybe I still can't defeat the Ming Dynasty, but I can suppress Brother Richard, otherwise he won't be able to sleep at night.