According to Dong Zhuo's news report, Liu Bei learned that the current Western Regions were not much different from when the Eastern Han government was forced to withdraw from the governance of the Western Regions during the Guanghe period.
After the Eastern Han Dynasty tried their best to drive away the Huns, they themselves were dying and unable to continue to control the Western Regions. At that time, the Xianbei people took over the ecological niche of the Huns and started to do things in the Western Regions, making the Han Empire really unable to control the Western Regions.
After promoting the decree, the Liangzhou Rebellion broke out, and the Han Empire completely lost the possibility of managing the Western Regions.
But later on, Liu Bei showed great power and defeated the Xianbei people to pieces. They suffered heavy losses. Basically, they died in the war. The lucky ones who survived did not dare to stay long and ran away. Their strength was greatly reduced.
Under such circumstances, it cannot maintain sufficient influence on the countries in the Western Regions.
So it should not be said that after Liu Bei completed the Northern Expedition during the Jian'an period until now, almost all the countries in the Western Regions have been in a golden age of independent development. No big force interfered with them, and they were able to make their own decisions.
Dealing with their own affairs, it feels a bit prosperous.
At the same time, it is said that there are no tigers in the mountains and monkeys rule the king. Because the countries in the Western Regions have no suppressors and the old order collapses, some relatively large countries try to be the rule makers themselves, thereby abandoning the order created by the Eastern Han Empire.
, used troops to fight, and wanted to be the master of the Western Regions.
Anyway, this stage was the golden age of independent development in the Western Regions. It was also a war-torn era with many military conquests between each other. Some small countries with weak national power were wiped out during this period.
Up to now, there are naturally a lot of countries that still exist in the Western Regions. The relatively large countries include Pulei Kingdom, Shanshan Kingdom, Qiuci Kingdom, Khotan Kingdom, Wusun Kingdom, etc. There are still many other small countries.
In the vast land of the Western Region, each one has its own affairs, each with its own splendor.
However, when the Han Empire did not return to the Western Regions and the Xianbei forces were driven away, it was these big countries that dominated the Western Regions. For some time, they seemed to have become accustomed to the situation without tigers, and seemed to have thought that
No more tigers will come back to scare them.
However, some countries are wiser, such as Pulei and Shanshan, which are closer to the Han Empire. These two countries are considered big countries in the Western Regions and are relatively close to the border of Dunhuang County of the Han Empire. Therefore, when Liu Bei launched his business plan in the Western Regions,
It is these two countries that are targeted.
Because he lacked strength at the time, Liu Bei did not want to return to the Western Regions immediately, so he planned to sell his goods to Pulei and Shanshan, and then let these two countries act as second-tier dealers to sell more goods to other countries in the Western Regions and earn a profit.
A transfer fee, and Liangzhou can also earn a sum of money to subsidize some military expenses.
Over the years, the goods Liangzhou has sold to these two countries have mainly been salt, lacquerware, porcelain, and silk. The ironware Liu Bei did not let Liu Bei sell, so he lost some income, but specifically, he still made a lot of money.
of.
This business was originally under Liu Bei's personal control. Later, when Liu Bei arrived at the central government, he handed over the business to the Shaofu.
After Zhen Yan was transferred to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Liu Bei handed over the management of foreign trade to the Ministry of Household Affairs. Except for salt and Shu brocade, all the money earned was put into the treasury, which was clearly separated.
Also because they had always had trade relations with the Han Empire, Shanshan and Pulei had a relatively good understanding of the situation of the Han Empire.
They knew that the Han Empire produced a fierce man from heaven in Liangzhou, who made the Xianbei and Qiang people docile and capable of fighting, so they were a little afraid of Liu Bei, even if they heard about the power of the Han Empire
It's not stable and I don't dare to make mistakes.
Later, Liu Bei went to Luoyang and did not return to Liangzhou. The relevant news of Pu Lei and Shanshan was delayed a bit. It was not until one year after Liu Bei ascended the throne and the second year of Zhenguan that the leaders of these two countries were informed.
I learned one after another that the Han Empire had changed its emperor, and that Liu Bei had become emperor.
Then the two countries knew the news that the Han Empire would definitely return to the Western Regions, so they prepared to send envoys to Dunhuang County to inquire about the news. If the news was reliable, they would quickly go to Luoyang to embrace Liu Bei's arms and strive to be the first batch to embrace Liu Bei.
Thighs became Liu Bei's earliest bastard, which gave him a good first impression and made it easier to carry out his work in the future.
But before they could send their official envoys, the official envoys from the Han Empire arrived.
Dong Zhuo was sent on a business trip by Liu Bei. After understanding the situation, he prepared to take back the "sovereignty" of Pulei and Shanshan as the first step and let them assist him in completing his mission. So he sent envoys to these two countries and asked them to send their own
Dong Dahonglu came to Dunhuang County to see him. He had important matters to discuss with the two countries.
Although Dong Zhuo was obedient in front of Liu Bei and did not dare to make any mistakes, his identity as a Han still allowed him to naturally have a superior mentality when facing the countries in the Western Regions, even if the other party was a king and he was a
minister, but he still thought that he could order the kings of these two countries to send people to pay homage to him to show their submission to the Han Empire.
Seriously speaking, this is not a big problem. The officials of the Han Empire should have the status of the Supreme Emperor in the Western Regions. Dong Zhuo once served as a military commander and knew something about the Western Regions, and Pu Lei and Shanshan also happened to know about it.
Liu Bei, the new emperor, had abundant military virtues, so in the face of Dong Zhuo's call, the two countries who had some understanding did not dare to neglect.
At the end of the second year of Zhenguan, the special envoys of King Pulei and King Shanshan respectively sent people to Dunhuang County to meet with Dong Zhuo and express their surrender to the Han Empire at the first time.
Dong Zhuo was very satisfied with the attitude of the two kings to understand current affairs, and then conveyed the purpose of his visit to the special envoy.
The Han Dynasty is about to return to the Western Regions.
As the emperor of the Han Empire, Liu Bei felt that it was time for the Han Dynasty to return to the Western Regions, reorganize the Han Empire's jurisdiction over the Western Regions, and regain the power that had been lost. As the forerunner of all this, he, Dong Dahong, was the pioneer messenger, and Dong Dahong
What he needs first is the attitude of Pulei and Shanshan.
Now it seems that the attitudes of the two countries are relatively clear.
He surrendered directly and did not feel that the Han Empire was dead just because the Han Empire had left the Western Regions for more than ten years.
Dong Zhuo was very satisfied and after sorting it out, he discussed it with his deputy envoys and decided that Dong Zhuo would take the north route and the deputy envoys would take the south route to announce to the Western Region countries in the north and south respectively that the Han Dynasty would return to the Western Regions and further declare.
Sovereignty sees who is a loyal minister and who is a rebel. If you meet a loyal minister, you will be rewarded. If you meet a rebel...
Of course I did it!
As soon as this matter was mentioned, Zhang Fei became interested.
"How to fight? Has His Majesty decided to take action against the Western Region? Who will the war be fought against? When will the war start? How many people can I send out?"
Seeing the excited Zhang Fei, Dong Zhuo felt somewhat depressed.
Although he was once such a fighting maniac, shouting and killing every day, he would always feel uncomfortable if he didn't kill a few people every day.
But as I got older and became an official in Luoyang, I polished my character and felt that I was more or less like a central government official. I couldn't shout and kill at every turn, so I treated Zhang Fei who shouted and killed at every turn.
He was somewhat uncomfortable with his behavior.
In a daze, Dong Zhuo himself didn't recognize his former self.
Could it be that life in Luoyang was so comfortable that he forgot about the past?
But he quickly came to his senses.
"General Zhang, your Majesty sent me here this time to inspect the Western Regions and announce the return of the Han Dynasty to the Western Regions. It is not to start a war."
When Zhang Fei heard this, his face suddenly turned pale.
"You're still not allowed to fight? How long have I been here? There's never been a fight! If I stay like this, my knife will get rusty!"
Dong Zhuo sighed helplessly.
"While the two of us were touring the Western Regions, Your Majesty ordered General Zhang to send cavalry to accompany us. If the countries were obedient, there would be no need to use swords. If the countries were rebellious and disobedient, then they would naturally have to send out large armies to pacify them. So General Zhang may have
If there is an opportunity to fight, be less restless and less restless."
As soon as these words were spoken, Zhang Fei's mood immediately improved again.
"Is this really happening?"
"That's natural."
Dong Zhuo nodded and said: "If there are any disrespectful people in the Western Regions, they will naturally send troops to destroy them. Although I don't hope that there will be disrespectful people, but after so many years, it is inevitable that some disrespectful people will appear. By then, the news will reach
Luoyang, what comes back must be the Privy Council's troop dispatch order."
Zhang Fei looked Dong Zhuo up and down and nodded with satisfaction.
"Then I'll lend you some good words."
Good news?
Is it auspicious to start a war?
I'm afraid the Ministry of Revenue and the Young Master don't view things this way.
Dong Zhuo reacted quickly and burst into laughter.
What happened next was a matter of course. In order to better inspect the Western Region and declare his sovereignty, Zhang Fei sent two captains, each leading a thousand elite cavalry of the Tiger Cavalry Army to escort Dong Zhuo and his deputy envoy.
So Dong Zhuo led his team to Pulei State, starting from Pulei State and taking the North Western Region Road all the way to the west, while his deputy Yu Tian started from Shanshan State and took the South Western Region Road all the way west.
The two agreed to finally meet at Dawan Congress.
So in December of the second year of Zhenguan, Dong Zhuo and his deputy set off together. They went separately to the Pulei Kingdom and the Shanshan Kingdom and received very good treatment and many gifts. When they left the country, they also received a lot of gifts.
Both countries sent troops to accompany us, and we also received a large amount of supplies as gifts.
After Dong Zhuo left the Pulei Kingdom, he entered the territory of the Yizhi Kingdom.
As a small country with a particularly small power, Yizhi was also economically affected by the Han Empire. At that time, the whole country was eating salt provided by the Han Empire. Not only that, their national standing army was not as large as Dong Zhuo's cavalry escorts.
.
So after seeing the Han envoys and the elite cavalry of the Han Empire, they knelt down and sang conquest without saying a word.
Before Dong Zhuo even said anything, Yi Zhiguo knelt down, obediently sent money and food, entertained the Han envoys and Han troops with delicious food, and expressed his approval of the Han Empire's strategy of returning to the Western Regions.
Afterwards, the king personally led people to escort Dong Zhuo out of the country and entered the Cheshi Kingdom.
At that time, the Cheshi Kingdom had been split into the Cheshi Front Kingdom and the Cheshi Behind Kingdom. Dong Zhuo first entered the Cheshi Hou Kingdom, where Dong Zhuo began to encounter less friendly treatment.
When entering the territory behind Chaushi, Dong Zhuo missed the days of leaping horses and wielding swords, so he personally led a hundred cavalry to open the way in front, and the main force followed behind with supplies.
As a result, after opening the road just once, there was a team of bandits in the country behind the car division. It was not known whether they were official or private bandits. They did not know whether they felt that Dong Zhuo had few people or something, so they actually took the initiative to attack Dong Zhuo's team.
Seeing a group of about three to four hundred horse bandits rushing toward him to rob him, Dong Zhuo felt as if he was hallucinating.
Who?
You are so brave, how dare you sneak attack me?
Then, there is no need for Dong Zhuo to retrace his past of riding a horse and wielding a sword, the active military will naturally help him complete this matter.
The soldiers of the Tiger Cavalry Army, who had been almost going crazy from holding back the pressure on the training ground, saw that an enemy was finally coming. They were even happier than the enemy.
The enemies were all wiped out.
One hundred against three or four hundred, within a matter of a stick of incense, this group of guys who didn't know whether they were enemy troops or horse bandits were chopped to pieces, and only a few were left. In the end, they didn't even try to run away, but were starved to death.
The thirsty Han cavalry chased them and killed them all.
Dong Zhuo watched from behind, stunned for a moment.
He had seen that Liu Bei's cavalry were strong and good at fighting. He had seen it on the battlefield in Liangzhou back then, but he did not expect that after so many years, his cavalry would be even more capable than before.
After this little trouble, Dong Zhuo sent the guide assigned to him by King Yi Zhi to deliver the message to the King of Cheshihou, asking the king to welcome him to the King's City of Cheshihou, and also asked him to explain why there were horse bandits.
The attack on the Han envoys.
As a result, I don’t know whether the king was distracted or there was a miscommunication. The guide was actually beaten and driven out of the royal city. He came back to Dong Zhuo crying, saying that he had been beaten badly and that the other party ignored him at all.
.
Dong Zhuo was angry at that time.
Slapping my messenger is slapping me in the face!
Slapping me in the face is slapping the Han Empire in the face!
Slapping the Han Empire in the face is tantamount to declaring war on the Han Dynasty!
Round it up.
This bastard has declared war on the Han! He wants to rebel!
Fuck him for me!
Dong Zhuo was so furious that he instantly retrieved the memory of his leaping horse and wielding his sword. He discussed it with Zhao Qi, the captain of the Tiger Cavalry Army, and both of them agreed that this was an act of rebellion, not just an ordinary rebellion, and a heavy blow was necessary!
The guide sent by the king of Yizhi carefully told Dong Zhuo and Zhao Qi that the country behind Cheshi had a population of tens of thousands, and at least five or six thousand people could join the army to fight. The usual standing army was more than 2,000, and the Han army was not enough.
.
"With a small number of enemies, it should be difficult even for the Han Heavenly Soldiers, right?"
Who would have thought that when Zhao Qi heard this, he instantly felt red and warm.
"What? There are only more than 2,000 standing troops? Who are you looking down on? How dare you despise the Han envoy with this? You are looking for death!"
Zhao Qi immediately agreed with Dong Zhuo's opinion, and together with Dong Zhuo, he led troops directly to the King's City behind Cheshi, and started the first war of annihilation for the Han Empire since it lost its jurisdiction over the Western Regions.