While preparations for the war are in full swing, other things cannot be delayed.
This has always been Shao Shude's attitude: everyone performs his or her duties, and is busy but not chaotic.
Half of the Khotan army has been withdrawn, leaving only 5,000 light cavalry and 10,000 strong infantry led by Li Shengtian. The main purpose is to save food.
The monks and soldiers did not leave, but temporarily stayed at Atushi Tongguang Temple. They would also participate in the next operation of clearing grass and valleys, although this sounded a bit contrary to the rules.
The vanguard force has already set off, commanded by Yang Liang, with a total of 2,000 mounted infantry from the Feilong Army, 2,000 light cavalry from the bodyguard army, and 1,000 light cavalry from Khotan, heading west along the Nanyuan of Congling.
Shao Shude will leave in a few days. Taking advantage of this free time, he took the time to review some more important memorials.
The first one was the military report sent from Luoyang.
In the past six months, the situation in the country has been generally stable. After Yan King Shao Mingyi conquered the rebel tribes in Tonghai Dudu Mansion, he went north to Quzhou to suppress the Dongcuan tribe.
Shao Shude brushed these off. In Yunnan, the biggest enemies are the terrain, epidemics, and nothing else! Do you need me to read every word of the militia armed with extremely poor equipment and mainly tribes?
He focused on the last paragraph: King Yan asked for three thousand soldiers to be stationed in Baping City, and he assigned the land to the settlers and gave Anjia money, grain, farm tools, cattle, and seeds.
The Zhengshitang agreed, the Nanya Privy Council agreed, and the Prince of Jianguo also agreed. But the matter was relatively big, so in the end, it was sent to Shule on a 500-mile express and handed over to Shao Shude for approval.
After he read it, he felt very relieved. Erlang was indeed tolerant, so he agreed with a stroke of his pen. According to Lao Liu's request, Baping City was expanded. Officials from the Ministry of Industry were dispatched to build the city. The builders went south to Yunnan Road.
Assist and handle together.
After the expansion of Baping City was completed, a royal palace was built in the city and a palace annex was built in the mountains to the southwest. After the completion, eunuchs, palace servants, female musicians, and craftsmen were rewarded - these were the queen's requirements, after all, they were her own flesh and blood.
, it is impossible to treat harshly.
Shao Shude had no objections and only mentioned one thing: after wiping out the rebellious Quzhou barbarians, all the captives should be demoted as slaves and sent to Liaodong.
This matter happens to involve the second point.
After many years of stability in Liaodong Road, a rebellion broke out, which made Shao Shude feel a little incredible.
The key is that it happened in Longquan Mansion, which is even more surprising.
Looking more closely, this rebellion is more like an accident: Li Congke, the deputy commander of Liaodong Dadu, oppressed the Bohai people at will, killed innocent people indiscriminately, and even caused a rebellion.
The prince demoted Li Congke to the commander of the Qingzhou Prefecture Army, promoted Li Siben to the deputy commander of the Liaodong Daodu, and promoted Zhou Jiying, the deputy commander of the Yingzhou Prefecture Army, to the commander.
Forty thousand people from Longquan Prefecture were demoted as slaves and sent to Minzhou, Mengzhou, and Yizhou to serve as tribes of soldiers.
After reading it, Shao Shude generally agreed with this treatment. However, when he saw Zhou Jiying's name, he was a little impressed and remembered that he was originally a son of the Forbidden Army. He worked as a farmer in Xin'an County, Henan Prefecture, and had made military exploits during the Khitan conquest, so he decided to transfer him
He was transferred to the Western Regions and served as the commander of the state army in Yanqi Prefecture, slowly improving the local state army system.
After reviewing it, Shao Shude read the memorial again and was silent for a long time.
The administration of officials is sometimes really dangerous. People like Li Congke can fight and kill, but it is really inappropriate for him to be an official.
After thinking about it, I felt a little angry, so I added another one, transferring Li Congke to be the commander of the Yinzhou Prefecture Army and coming to Shule Army immediately to serve.
It would be most appropriate for this kind of demon king to be left to his father, Li Siyuan, to discipline him. The father and son go to fight for me!
After finishing a large pile of memorials, the last one was about the Korean Peninsula: the leader of the Taifeng Kingdom, Maitreya Buddha, sent an envoy to the court to complain, saying that there were many Central Plains pirates in the offshore area, plundering people, and selling them to Liaodong as slaves.
, please ask the Emperor of Great Xia to issue an edict to ban it.
The prince did not dare to take charge of a diplomatic incident of this level, so he sent Shule to ask the sage for approval.
After reading this, Shao Shude just sneered. Gong Yi refused to accept the imperial canonization, so he had the nerve to complain? So he only approved with four words: "His size is forbidden!"
After reviewing all the memorials, Shao Shude pushed them aside. For a moment, he felt a little frightened: This country is still running smoothly without him...
Then he laughed at himself, maybe many people wished he would die soon.
The people who were demoted as slaves gnashed their teeth and cursed at him while repairing the earth.
The enemy generals and Wu Fu's family members who were killed by him said that on the battlefield, life and death were determined by destiny, and no one would be blamed for the death, but in reality? Who knows what they were thinking behind the scenes.
Did Jiang Ren really not care that much when he stole his wife and daughter and toyed with her? When he saw his beloved wife’s belly growing as big as a balloon, did he stab a lot of people in private?
Haha, I am still alive and kicking, so I disappoint you.
I will use victory after victory to make you more desperate. Daxia's prestige is getting stronger day by day, and its foundation is getting stronger and stronger day by day. Even if you want to rebel, you can't get many friends.
Despair! I am such a man. No matter you curse or praise me, you can't hurt me in the slightest.
The only thing that can defeat me is time.
Time waits not for us!
On the first day of August in the fifteenth year of Jianji, after personally supervising the harvest of spring wheat, Shao Shude left Shule, accompanied by civil and military officials and palace guards, and marched westward under the protection of tens of thousands of troops.
******
Fergana was called "Bakhanna" in the Tang Dynasty, and in the "Book of Han" it was called Dawan Kingdom-Bakhanna, which corresponds to the Persian semantics of "a mountain basin with only one outlet".
In the later period of the Arabian Umayyad Dynasty (White Era), they completed the conquest of Persia and then set their sights on Central Asia.
In the fourth year of Chang'an of Empress Wu (704), Qu Dibo served as the emir (equivalent to the governor) of the Great Khorasan Province in white clothes. With Mulu (now Mare, Turkmenistan) as the capital, he had more than 50,000 troops under his command——
“Forty thousand people came from Basra, 7,000 people came from Kufa, and 7,000 people were obedient people.”
"Submissive people" are soldiers recruited in conquered areas, most likely Persians.
Since this year, Dashi's army in the Mulu area has been maintained at this scale to suppress the entire Great Khorasan Province (including parts of Central Asia) until the change of dynasty in 750.
In the first year of Shenlong (705), the first year of Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty, Qu Dibo conquered Tocharostan (the capital is in today's Balkh Province in northern Afghanistan).
From 706 to 709, he wiped out the disobedient tribes around Bukhara.
From 710 to 712, he conquered Samarkand and the Khwarezm area.
From 713 to 715, he sent troops deep into the Syr Darya River Basin, and finally hit the wall.
In the third year of Kaiyuan (715), Dashi and Tubo interfered with the succession of the monarch of Bukhanna, and a war broke out with the Tang Dynasty. In the end, they were defeated. Bukhanna, which was originally wandering among all parties, was completely controlled by the Tang Dynasty.
From this year onwards, the King of Dashi issued an explicit order that whoever could cross the Congling Mountains and conquer the Tang Dynasty eastward could be the governor of China. Therefore, they were very confident and continued to advance eastward without losing.
It doesn't matter if all the soldiers are dead. Just continue recruiting from Baghdad, Basra, and Damascus. Those who die will come one after another.
They were so persistent and stubborn until Tuqishi rebelled against the Tang Dynasty and was defeated. They defeated Gao Xianzhi in the Battle of Talos, finally captured Bakhna and gained the passage to China.
But this time Tubo came again.
They competed with the predators in Central Asia, expanding deep into the grasslands and deserts, blocking the eastward invasion of the black-clad predators.
When Tibet failed, so did the black-clad Dashi, and Central Asia was shattered into pieces, until the rise of Samandria...
Central Asia turns out to be a crossroads, and anyone who becomes powerful will kick it.
The Turks came to bring disaster, the Persians came to bring disaster, the Great Eclipse came to bring disaster, the Tang Dynasty came to bring disaster, and Tubo also came to bring disaster. The most recent time was the westward-migrating Uighurs who penetrated Central Asia.
Now, obviously someone is causing trouble again.
On the evening of the second day of August, the army arrived near Congling and camped in a small oasis (today's Upal Town, Shufu County).
When we arrived at this area, we could clearly feel that the terrain was gradually rising. However, the nearby agriculture was developing very well, with wheat fields and orchards in abundance, and it was not affected much by the war. Although the local people were panicked, after they were used to seeing soldiers, they
That's it. The saint has issued a notice to calm the people. As long as you don't seek death, it's usually no big deal.
At the foot of the mountain on the west side of the oasis, there is actually a Buddhist temple called Dafu Temple. No one knows when it was built. It may be said to be the Northern Dynasties or the Sui Dynasty. It is hard to decide whether it is.
There are gurgling springs in front of the mountain and green trees on the mountain. There are more than 20 monks in the temple. They seem to be relatively knowledgeable because they are translating Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures. Later generations discovered the ruins of this large-scale Buddhist temple in the 1970s.
It should be destroyed during the period when the Creator moved eastward.
Shao Shude did not stay here longer and continued the march the next day.
As the altitude got higher and higher, he clearly felt the thinness of the air.
For a moment, he felt a little regretful.
Isn't it comfortable to stay in Shule and sleep with Satuk's wife in your arms? Repeatedly inject vitality into the place where she gave birth to life, listen to the messenger's report when she is free, and use remote control to command. I don't know how much effort it will save.
But he knows that's not how it works.
It is not often that you have the opportunity to travel through legendary historical cities, trace the footsteps of heroes and heroes in history who established martial arts, and even re-engrave your own mark.
He now has the willful capital, and his inner desire has overwhelmed other needs. What's more, if you don't come in person, how can you give orders to the various tribes? This trip is inevitable - of course, Satuk's wife and daughter were also
He took it with him to see if there was any chance of meeting that person.
On the fourth day of August, he received a report from the pioneer messenger: Yang Liang requested that we all fight against Ticheng.
Shao Shude immediately asked someone to bring the map and look at it carefully.
Juzhanti, also called Kuzhan City, is located near Hujande (Khujan), the second largest city in Tajikistan in later times, and is the western entrance of the Fergana Basin.
From here, you can go southwest to the former Dongcao and Kang states, and enter the area where the Sogdians are densely populated.
The northwest leads to the Kingdom of Old Stone (Tashkent).
To the east, you can enter the heartland of Bakhanna.
"It's too risky." Shao Shude slapped his palm on the map and said, "Send an order to Yang Liang and follow the original plan to gain a foothold first."
According to the information provided by the merchants, there are six cities and dozens of villages and towns in Bakhna from west to east. The westernmost one is Huzhen City or Juzhanti.
Directly move the army to the west, block the entire basin, and then slowly concoct it. This plan is extremely bold. But Shao Shude wanted to stabilize his hand first and take a look before talking.
The envoy left quickly after receiving the military order.
Shao Shude sat next to the dilapidated post road, looking at the vast mountains in the distance, and suddenly laughed: "Yang Liang's plan is not without merit. Let's test the thief's strength first before making any calculations. If it doesn't work, just block the whole place."
What about the basin?”
After drinking a cup of tea, he clapped his hands, got up and mounted his horse, and said: "Let's go! Follow me to the grass valley!"