Since the great victory on August 14th, the Xia army has been attacking the city for several days. People in Gaochang City are panicked and undercurrents are surging.
On the 19th, Pijia Khan summoned two prime ministers in the palace: Shaoyuanzhu and Lianyou.
He has no one else to discuss with.
Well, although the ancestors of the Lian family are from the Eastern Turks, they were a famous Sinological family in the Uighur era. After entering Gaochang, due to the local farming environment, the two families were at ease with each other, and they concentrated on studying, and gradually became the Pugu family to handle state affairs.
An important helper, the relationship is very close.
After thinking about it, Pijia Khan found that there were really few people in the city who could give him advice, so the Prime Minister of the Left and the Prime Minister of the Right were the most suitable ones. As for the tribal leaders, they were all stupid as hell. They were either already timid and wanted to surrender, or they were clamoring.
If you continue to fight to the death, there will be very few normal people.
The two prime ministers also looked sad when they arrived.
At this point, there is basically no good solution. What we should consider now is how to lose more honorably and preserve our own strength to the greatest extent.
Only by surviving can we talk about the future.
"Khan, what are you..." Hao Yuanzhu looked at the paper and pen being pushed over and thought to himself, could he ask me to write an apology form again? However, this meeting was not a few days ago, and I am afraid it is too late to write it now.
"I am good at poetry, so I'll leave it to you to write the poem." Bijia Khan said, "First, let me state my grievances."
After that, I explained it in detail.
Hao Yuanshu nodded, indicating that he understood.
Generally speaking, it is written that the Great Uighur Kingdom did not intend to resist the heavenly soldiers. In fact, the situation in the country was complicated, the king was quite constrained, and he was deceived by villains, which made a big mistake.
However, he felt quite uncomfortable when writing this paragraph.
Is this the Khan of the Great Uighur Kingdom? Is it ridiculous to blame his ministers and use them as scapegoats when something goes wrong?
"I will write down later that I am willing to dedicate Beiting and Yinzhou to the Kingdom of Daxia. I will give up my title and be my vassal forever. In addition, I will give some coins and silk, eight musicians, and sixteen dancers." Piga Khan continued.
said.
Shao Yuan helped with words and sentences, and he kept writing.
"Is it enough?" Seeing Shao Yuanzhu stop, Pijia Khan couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know, but the Great Khan is following his lead," Shao Yuanzhu said.
Lian You glanced at him and secretly thought that Shao Yuanzhu was obviously the head of the country, but he protected himself wisely. The Great Uighur Kingdom was indeed in danger.
Xuan then thought that his sister was still the Queen Mother, and that the Lian family was also a wealthy family in Gaochang. If Lord Xia raised an army to investigate, it would be difficult to get rid of him, and he felt very depressed at the same time.
"How could you not know?" Pijia Khan became anxious, grabbed Shao Yuanshu's hand and said, "Think of a solution quickly."
Hao Yuanzhu sighed and said: "Let's send people to the summer camp first to explore the scenery before we talk."
"That's right." Pijia knew that he was impatient and sat back down, but he was still distracted.
"Who does the Khan intend to send out of the city?" Hao Yuanshu asked.
"Let Volcano Slave Burke go for a while first. He is used to sending envoys to various parties. If it doesn't work, then replace him." After saying that, he looked at Shao Yuanzhu and Lian You, and gave a hint.
Burke was an official position in the Uighur era. In the early days, it was called ber (ber), which meant princes and nobles. In the late Uighur period, the suffix of the word changed a bit and was called beg (beg), but the meaning remained the same.
Today, the Gaochang Uighurs call the princes and nobles "Burke", and the Anxi Uighurs who fled to the west of Congling also call them "Burke". This word was later borrowed by the Central Asians and is used in a very wide range.
****
After leaving the palace, Shao Yuanzhu and Lian You were worried.
"Prime Minister Lian, why don't you come and sit in my house?" Hao Yuanzhu said suddenly.
"That's fine." Lian You nodded, then got into his carriage and headed for Yaofu.
They actually have a pretty good relationship.
They were of similar origin, not Uighurs, but Turks, and they both believed in Manichaeism, so they were actually not the same thing as the Pugu family of the Uighur royal family.
They have high noses and deep eyes, curly hair, blue or green eyes, and look similar to the Persians who came from the west from time to time - during the Yuan Dynasty, they were called "se-eyed people".
As for the Uighur royal family and most of the nobles, their appearance is no different from that of the Han people - even in the 11th century, judging from the enshrined portraits of the Uighur royal family in Xida Temple in the Xia capital (Tingzhou), they are still mainly yellow people.
As for the local people in Gaochang, it is more complicated. There are descendants of the Tocharians, and various ethnic groups who came from the grasslands - this part is actually very complicated - there are Han people, Qiang people, Tubo people, Tuyuhun people, Dangxiang people and even others.
An unknown small clan is so complicated that it makes people have a headache.
After all, this place has been in chaos since ancient times. The Hans, Huns, Turks, Uighurs, Tubos, etc., whoever became powerful came to mess with them.
After all the people have come, will there be no one left? Especially countries like Tubo that like to conquer foreigners and then engage in wave tactics - there are even tribes from the south of the Kunlun Mountains (Himalayas) in Dunhuang.
Is it a sin made by Tubo?
Therefore, most of the Gaochang natives can no longer tell whose blood they shed, maybe a combination of both.
The Yao family and the Lian family actually looked down on the local Han people a bit. Because their Sinological attainments were far incomparable to those of the Han people. Those people couldn't even speak Chinese, and they didn't necessarily know that their ancestors were Han people, and the Yao family
, Lian's poems, lyrics, and songs are all excellent. How can you make them look up to you?
The carriage rumbled through the streets and soon entered the mansion.
As soon as he entered the main hall, Lian You was startled because he saw an acquaintance here: Vandak, whose Chinese name was Mi Zhida, a Sogdian, and the Bishop of the Eastern Diocese of Manichaeism.
"This is..." Lian You looked at Shao Yuanzhu and asked.
"I heard that Prime Minister Lian has a good relationship with Huohuo Slave Burke?" Before Shao Yuanzhu could speak, Mi Zhida asked first.
Lian You saluted Mi Zhida and said, "Yes."
"I'm going out of town, can you make arrangements?" Mizhida asked.
"Why?" Lian You was surprised.
Afraid of being killed after breaking the city? That's not right. If the diocese is gone, even if he is still alive, what's the use?
"It's about Atami." Mizhida didn't hide anything and said directly.
Hao Yuanshu remained silent and was obviously an insider.
"Atami?" Lian You was confused.
"There are 200,000 Turks over there in Rehai. Do you know this?" Mizhida asked.
Lian You nodded.
He is the left prime minister of the Great Uighur Kingdom of Dafu, so of course he knows that there are indeed many Turkic tribes in Rehai (Yinsek Lake), but they may not be as many as 200,000 tribes. This is obviously an exaggeration.
These tribes once vacillated between Pugujun and Pangteqin. After the Anxi Uighurs were defeated and lost the two important towns of Yanqi and Qiuci, the Turkic tribes in the Rehai area surrendered to the Gaochang Uighurs. However, in fact, they only ruled under the rule of Jiyi, with a symbolic harvest every year.
Pay tribute and occasionally help Gaochang fight the war, that's all.
Lian You also knew that these Turks were just outsiders, and they had no moral integrity to follow anyone who forced them to do so. Now that the Gaochang Uighurs were beaten so badly by the Xia Kingdom, the Turks in Rehai would probably defect to the Anxi Uighurs again and betray them.
"There have been a lot of people going to Atami for activities recently, you know, the priests from the west." Mizhida said.
When he said this, Lian You finally understood.
The Rehai Turks have believed in Manichaeism for many years. In fact, since they were severely persecuted in Persia, the place of origin, the Manichaes have moved all the way east. Kangju (Samarkand), Dawan (Tashkent) and other places once became
The center of Manichaeism. Eastern dioceses such as Gaochang Uighur were all developed later.
When Mu Zhen said this today, Lian You understood a little bit. This matter involved faith and there really was no room for retreat.
Faith needs the backing of secular force. In other words, they need to influence or even surrender to powerful secular kings in order to maintain their followers.
Historically, in the last year of the rule of the Piqa Khan (947), the Turks in Rehai were still loyal to the Gaochang Uighurs (see the previous chapter, Happy Year of the Fire Sheep...), but in 960, the 200,000 Turkic collective in Rehai
He converted to the Green religion and broke away from the rule of the Gaochang Uighurs.
"Muchuan wants to rely on the power of Lord Xia to stabilize the situation in Rehai?" Lian You asked.
"The reason why the 200,000 Turks in Rehai paid allegiance to the Dafu Uighur Kingdom was all due to the contributions of the first two generations of Pugu Heavenly Kings. If not for the great battle twenty years ago, they defeated the Anxi Uighur army in one fell swoop and captured Yanqi and Qiuci.
, the troops are overwhelming Congling, will they betray the Anxi Uighurs and seek refuge in Gaochang?" Mi Zhida asked.
Lian You was speechless.
To put it bluntly, this world is ultimately about strength.
When the Uyghur Khanate was still there, its power extended to the west side of the Altai Mountains, and many tribes, including the Geluolu people, took refuge there. Even the Yygas people in the Jianhe (Yenisei River) basin once surrendered to them.
After the fall of the Uyghur Khanate, Pang Teqin led his troops to move westward. At one time, he had 200,000 soldiers. After defeating Tubo and causing it to shrink southward, Pang Teqin and Pugujun became the two most powerful and appealing men in the Western Regions.
king.
Then the two heroes fought. Pugujun's descendants defeated Pangteqin's descendants and became the most dazzling presence in the Western Region. They owned five large cities, Gaochang, Beiting, Yanqi, Qiuci, and Yinwu, with a population of 300,000.
A hundred thousand strong men were born, and their reputation was unparalleled.
But the grassland tribe is the most realistic. If you are strong, it is no problem for me to take refuge in you, but once you become weak, even if I do not replace you, I will find another master.
This is the iron law of the grassland, determined by the harsh environment of the grassland. Loyalty is a very luxurious thing for them. If they are really unable to be loyal, the tribe will easily fall into disaster.
"Is it true that the Great Uighur Kingdom of Dafu is in ruins?" Lian You was a little confused.
"You have become the prime minister, don't be emotional." Mi Zhida frowned and said: "We have been defeated in a row and the capital is besieged. What else can we do? Is there a big sandstorm that can kill tens of thousands of people?
Have all the Xia troops been buried? Let me tell you, even if this is true, as long as Lord Xia is not dead and refuses to admit defeat, he will bring more troops sooner or later. He has the ability to overcome all opinions and speak the truth, and he will not lose even one battle.
Opportunity."
"In fact, Prime Minister Lian - looking through the history books, when the Central Plains Dynasty first opened, it often invaded the Western Regions." Shao Yuanzhu suddenly said: "We, the scholars, should probably follow the destiny to welcome God. Great blessings to the Uighur Kingdom,
It's such bad luck that after being stuck for such a long time, there's nothing I can do to save it."
"I promise you." Lian You sighed and said, "I hope Master Xia is a tolerant person."
"If he wants to rule the Western Regions, he must have help from powerful locals who are familiar with the people's sentiments and have little prestige." Shao Yuanshu said, "Don't worry, sir."