Prime Minister

Chapter 811

Xining six years, June.

Hezhou City, Baita Temple.

A seven-story pagoda was built here. This pagoda was built for Master Zhiyuan who died at the hands of Guizhang, and his incinerated relics were also buried here.

Inspired by Master Zhiyuan's kindness, the Tibetans refurbished the former White Pagoda Temple and decorated the Buddha with gold foil, beads, and necklaces.

Zhang Yue went to Hezhou to pay homage to the Buddha in Baita Temple in person, and paid homage to Master Zhiyuan.

In front of the pagoda, a group of monks stood and recited scriptures, while Zhang Yue led his staff and Hezhou civil and military officials joined hands to remember the deceased, and stood there for half an hour.

After paying homage to Master Zhiyuan, Zhang Yue went to the Dafulu set up outside the city, and met with the envoys of Xizhou Uighur and Khotan respectively.

After the recovery of Hezhou and the surrender of Muzheng, Dong felt the peace talks, the Song Dynasty caused a shock in the northwest countries. All the countries sent envoys to greet the emperor of Song Dynasty in the name of paying tribute, and at the same time test the reality of the Song Dynasty.

The first is Xizhou Uyghur, also known as Gaochang Uyghur.

The Xizhou Uyghur envoy brought a caravan of nearly a thousand people and a large amount of tribute.

Among them, the silk includes Douluo brocade, Maoji, Tamarin brocade, Zhusi, cooked silk, oblique brown, etc.;

In addition, there are hundreds of pieces of Bin iron knives, black gold and silverware.

Zhang Yue then asked his envoy, what is the power of the Uighurs in Xizhou?

The Xizhou Uighur replied: "As far as the Yellow River in the east and the snow-capped mountains in the west, there are hundreds of small counties, all of which are armored horses."

Hearing what the other party said, the officials under Zhang Yue were all sneering, thinking that the other party was bragging. If there is such a strong influence, why is it so silent.

But Zhang Yue understood that the other party was not talking nonsense, and that Xizhou Uighurs were a loose tribal alliance.

The so-called hundreds of small counties means that there are many small tribes. Judging from the records of Zhang Yue from the Court of Concierge and the National Trust Office, there are Uighurs in Xizhou

'South Turkic, Northern Turkic, Dazhong Iron (Zhongyun), Xiaozhong Iron, Yangmo, Gelulu (Ge Luolu), Xijiasi, Moman, Geduo, Yulong' and other large and small tribes.

The theory of power may still be above Xixia, but it is not a mess.

Zhang Yue deliberately asked: "Why haven't you come to pay tribute for a long time?"

The Uighur envoy from Xizhou was very eloquent, and he pushed everything on Xixia.

He said: "We Uighur, Khitan, and Xia have trade, but the Xia people are too brutal. They not only charge a tax of [-]% to the passing merchants, but also seize the top grade of goods."

"Since we conquered Liangzhou Mansion in the past, we merchants used to take Liangzhou Road, but now we have to take Zongge Road instead."

Zongge Road passes through Dong Zhan's territory. Song and Qing Tang had a bad relationship the year before last, which prevented the caravan from the other party from coming, so the tribute road was cut off.

Zhang Yue said: "Very good, do you have contacts with the Xizhou Uighurs and the Yellow-headed Uighurs?"

Yellow-headed Uighurs are part of Ganzhou Uighurs.The Uighurs in Ganzhou were also quite powerful in the past, and Liangzhou Prefecture was the root of the Uighurs in Ganzhou.

However, after being defeated by Li Yuanhao, the Uighurs in Ganzhou perished, and most of their tribes were scattered, and the tribes were annexed by Dangxiang, Qingtang, and Song dynasties respectively.The Ganzhou Uighurs who still live scattered in the ancient Ganliang area are called Yellow-headed Uighurs.

The Ganzhou Uyghurs were allies with the Qing and Tang tribes. They had joined forces with Dong Zhan to fight against Dangxiang before. Today, the Yellow-headed Uyghurs are still active in Shanshan, between Guazhou and Shazhou. The Xia Kingdom is very wary of them. 3 people beware.

Of course this is heard.

The names of the Uighur tribes in the Northwest changed back and forth, and the historians of the Song Dynasty often remembered these names incorrectly because of language barriers, or they didn't pay attention at all.

That's why the Xizhou Uyghur's envoy was stupefied when Zhang Yue said that the Yellow-headed Uyghur was on his face.

It wasn't until Zhang Yue reminded the Uighur tribes near Shazhou, Ganzhou, and Liangzhou that the envoy suddenly understood.

The envoy said: "The Uighurs in Shazhou have a feud with the Xia Kingdom. The prince of the tribe said before that he is willing to raise troops to help Dong Zhan attack Liangzhou and resist Xia's oppression."

Zhang Yue was overjoyed when he heard the words, and finally heard something valuable.

"How many people does the prince have?"

The envoy said: "The leader of the Uighur tribe is called Khan, the second is called Dudu, and some are called princes. There should be hundreds of people!"

Hearing the words of hundreds of people, all the generals on Zhang Yue's side shook their heads, what is the use of such a small number of people.

But Zhang Yue said very seriously: "You can contact me for help. If it succeeds, I will guarantee that your trade and business in Xihe will be unimpeded."

The envoy said happily: "I would like to serve Longtu."

After the Uighur envoy from Xizhou left, the envoy from Khotan came in.

Khotan was an important ally of the Central Plains Dynasty in the Tang Dynasty, but now it is too far away from the Song Dynasty.

The other party first submitted the letter of credence to Zhang Yue.

The national book is written in Chinese and Uighur characters.

The envoys of the Khotan Kingdom wrote a very interesting letter. The king claimed to be the Black Khan King of Blessed Power Knowing Grammar, and they called the emperor of the Song Dynasty the family of Uncle Daguan, the landowner of the Great World Land at the Sunrise of the East.

Zhang Yue is a little funny.

But it is also related.

During the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty used the power of the Uighurs to make marriages with princesses, and many princesses and daughters of clans married the Uighur Khan.

Because of this story, the Uighurs have always referred to the Central Plains Dynasty as uncle, and every time the Central Plains Dynasty bestowed imperial edicts, they also called it nephew.After the Five Dynasties until the Song Dynasty, this name was used.

There will be a question here, this country of Khotan has existed since the Han Dynasty, and it was not composed of Uighurs.

It turns out that Khotan at this time had already been annexed by the Uighur Black Khan Dynasty. The Black Khan Dynasty was worried that the Song Dynasty would pursue them for annexing its tributary state, so they called themselves Khotan.

After the real Khotan Kingdom was destroyed, most of its tribes were annexed by the Uighurs and the Qing and Tang Dynasties.

For example, Aligu, the adopted son of Dong Zhan, whose parents were Khotanese, went to Qingtang to protect him.

The annexation of Khotan was beyond the reach of the Song Dynasty, so it turned a blind eye. As for Zhang Yue, he knew this and didn't say anything.

The Khotan envoy told Zhang Yue that they had sent envoys to the Song Dynasty three times to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, but they turned back halfway due to road blockages.

Zhang Yue asked: "Who dares to obstruct you from paying tribute?"

The other party thought for a moment and replied, "It's Khitan."

Zhang Yue asked, "Where do you pay tribute?"

The Khotan envoy said: "We came through the territory of Caotou Tatar and Huangtou Uighur."

Caotou Tatar is the later Mongolia, and Caotou should be a misnomer.As for the territory of the Yellow-headed Uighur, it is in the Ganliang area of ​​Shazhou.

Zhang Yue sighed: "It's really not easy. As long as the dynasty can regain Liangzhou, you can trade with me in Liangzhou."

The Khotan envoy was very surprised when he heard this, but he still said: "If the Ganliang Road can be established, our Khotan Kingdom can have a dynasty once a year."

Zhang Yue said with a smile: "You guys have a heart."

Zhang Yue comforted them a few words, and sent soldiers and horses to escort them to Bianjing to pay tribute to the emperor.

After the two envoys left, Aligu, the adopted son of Dong Zhi, and Biansi Bojie, the leader of the Guizhang Department, also came to see him.

Zhang Yue said to the two: "I just met Khotan and the Xizhou Uyghur envoys. They all hated that the Ganliang Road was intercepted by the Xia Kingdom, so that the tribute road was blocked."

"So I think if we can contact the Yellow-headed Uighur and your tribes of the Qing and Tang Dynasties to recover the Liangzhou Prefecture together, as long as the Ganliang Road is opened, the caravans in the Western Regions will be unimpeded. Wouldn't this matter be of great benefit to our two families?"

(End of this chapter)