Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

On the night of August 14th and the whole day of the [-]th, Jianji [-]th year, Gaochang City was in chaos.

The reason for the chaos was that the city gate was suddenly opened, some people defected to the Xia people, Vija Khan lost the news, and the minds of the ministries were confused. Some wanted to fight, some wanted to escape, and some wanted to surrender...

The scene that once happened in Dali appeared again: more than [-] people fled through the west gate. As a result, the Xia army, who was waiting in full force, fired all their bows and crossbows, harvesting the lives of the enemy one after another.After the arrows were shot, Yuan Xingqin led the cavalry of the Wuwei Army to charge forward, cutting and breaking up the chaotic enemies. The outside turned into a bloody hell.

There were more than a thousand people fleeing from the east gate. They were first attacked by armored cavalry, causing great chaos. He Gui led the German cavalry to follow and killed the bandits.

During the day on the [-]th, the remnants of the enemy were basically wiped out throughout the city, and more than a thousand enemy soldiers who were unwilling to surrender were killed.

By the evening of that day, the situation had basically stabilized, and the whole city was in peace, welcoming Master Wang.

On the 21st and 22nd, the whole city was mobilized to further clean up the remnant enemies hiding in the people, and also cleaned up the corpses and bloodstains, and cleaned the palace.

In the past few days, Shao Shude has been discussing the future governance with officials outside the city.

In the Western Regions, winning is not a problem, the difficulty lies in how to rule stably for a long time.

You can't come here like a tornado, sweep away all ghosts and monsters, and then leave.Within a few years, rebels sprung up like mushrooms after rain, messing up the local situation, and even causing the occupied land to be lost again.

Shao Shude had a vague idea about this, and it happened at this time that news came that the Khotan army heard that the Great Xia King had captured Yizhou, and entered Xizhou. The main force turned to attack Kucha, and had just captured this city.

By this time, his thoughts became clearer.

Travelers know that the large-scale afforestation of the Western Regions will take place in the next few centuries.

But this process is iterative.

The big boss of the Western Regions against the Green Cult, the main backstage is the Gaochang Uighur, and the vanguard is Khotan, the Buddhist country.

In 960 years of history, because Musa occupied Suiye, 20 Turks in Athai collectively converted to Green religion.

In 962, the Karahan Dynasty conquered Khotan and started a holy war.

Their size is several times that of Khotan, but because of the two-front war, they suffered repeated defeats, and even the old capital Shule was captured by Khotan.

"The Biography of Bugla Khan" records: "Pagans coerced the Kashgar Green Christians to convert to the original religion, forced them to eat dog meat, donkey meat, pork, and violated the Islamic law. They took it for granted to do unrighteous things, and people became pagans again. .”

After Bugla Khan transferred his troops back to southern Xinjiang from Central Asia, he besieged Kashgar for five months.The defenders of Khotan were hungry and cold, and were forced to go out of the city to fight. Under the leadership of Quketirexiti, the two sides fought three times.

"The battle was fierce and brutal, with heavy casualties on both sides...the third battle, the pagans were defeated and fled..."

The whole city of Kashgar, young and old, once again converted to the Green religion.

In this siege, the Karahan Dynasty defeated the Khotan army, regained the old capital, and defeated the volunteer army of the Gaochang Uighurs. Although the Gaochang Uighurs did not directly participate in the war, many Buddhists volunteered to go south to participate in the Holy War.

The wars of religion lasted for centuries and were brutal.The local people do not have the right to freely choose their beliefs, and everything is spoken by the butcher's knife.

Take Kashgar as an example. Originally believed in Buddhism, but later converted to Green Sect. After Khotan fought, he converted to Buddhism.

There is no mercy in this kind of war, only blood.In the end, Kara Khan defeated Khotan with a 40-year war of attrition relying on his size.

Shao Shude feels that the rise of Green Cult in the west is not necessarily a bad thing for him to rule the Western Regions.

Everything must be viewed dialectically.

When the Buddhists and Manichaeists in Khotan and Gaochang faced the threat of butcher knives from the Green Cultists, they would rely heavily on the support of the Central Plains Dynasty.

In history, Khotan sent people to the Northern Song Dynasty many times to ask for help, but the Song Dynasty was helpless, unable to provide any support, and had no interest in providing support.

Today is different...

Maybe we can take advantage of this and make some articles.That is to say, the local Jimi regime resists on the front line, and the imperial court provides assistance in the rear, such as supplies, troops, immigrants, etc. can be used.In this way, the consumption is the least, and it can gradually strengthen the presence of the imperial court in the local area, and then completely eat it.

******
On the 23rd, Shao Shude led the crowd into the city, and held a banquet in the palace to celebrate the victory.

In addition to the officials who came with them during the expedition, Shao Shude had many more new officials, including seven or eight central officials such as Meilu Achuo, Linya Huannu, Dagan Aligu, and the local tribe Yili Jin. The number has been increased to fifteen, as in Albus et al.

Just yesterday, he conferred the post of Meilu to Xie Yuanzhu and Lianyou, and the post of Pugu Dabei Nudagan, the general of Gaochang who opened the city gate first.

For the tribes in conquered areas such as Beiting, Xizhou, and Yizhou, A Chuo Meilu is temporarily in charge of finances and taxes—another Zhuang Ao’s younger brother Zhuang Yue, who is an official in Luoyang, is transferred to the west to give Meilu the post and share control with A Chuo Finance and taxation.

The tribes are largely self-governing, but some affairs, such as pasture disputes, criminal and prison justice, household registration checks, relief for victims, and academic research, are in charge of Xie Yuanzhu and Lianyou.

Tiao Xiao Agu only came from the west, and taught Daqian.

The tribes regularly send out troops for training, and Xiao Aguzhi and Pugu Dabeinu are in charge.

Ali Gu commanded the original 2000 people—now down to more than [-]—as the troops directly under the Khan Court, and they drove to fight.

Basically, Shao Shude affirmed the contribution of the descendants, and transferred some new people to share power with them and jointly manage the tribes in the conquered area.

From these job assignments, it can be seen that because the tribes in Beiting and Xizhou were beaten badly and the value of the united front was low, the Khan Court exercised stricter control over them.

In the era of the former steppe empire, many officials in the Khan court center were mascots, and their power was not very great.

What Shao Shude is now strengthening is their power, but in fact he is also consolidating the authority of the Great Khan himself.

If it is said that the system established by attracting the Hengshan Dangxiang and Yinshan ministries was similar to that of the Tang Dynasty, then the establishment of the Lifanyuan and the Beiya Privy Council was his first reform of the grassland ruling system.

The intensity of the reform was relatively gentle, and it was mainly aimed at the Hengshan Party Committee, and most of the household registration work was completed in those areas.The current Yeli clan, Wuzang clan, and Dongshan Dangxiang have basically been wiped out by the imperial court, and their households are registered as Qimin.At this point, the Lifanyuan will also carry out a second reform.

Shao Shude discussed this matter with Yang Yu when the Wudetanshan League was held, and asked them to gradually improve the system.

During these days of fighting, he also participated in the formulation of policies, and now he plans to take advantage of the favorable opportunity of a more thorough battle in the Western Regions to conduct a pilot first to see the effect, and then decide whether to expand indefinitely.

The most sensitive one is to send people to each tribe to check, determine the actual population and number of soldiers, and register them in the register—tribe soldiers, who work in agriculture in peacetime, serve as soldiers in wartime, tentatively, one soldier per household, after Taiping , can be reduced to two soldiers from three households or even lower as appropriate.

Yang Juan gave Shao Shude an example.

The three towns in Hebei have not declared their household registration or paid taxes for a long time.During the Yuanhe period of Tang Xianzong, the three towns in Hebei successfully reported the number of household registrations (although it was false...) and the number of soldiers, especially the latter. The imperial court sent people to Hebei to inspect, and Weibo Town once hid some soldiers , Temporary home farming, after the imperial envoy left, and then recalled to the barracks.

In addition, the three towns in Hebei have begun to pay taxes.

This is actually a kind of progress.

This trial of tribal reforms in the Western Regions will refer to the methods used by the Tang court to regulate the feudal towns, and take advantage of the power of the army to boil frogs in warm water step by step and gradually strengthen control.

******
Bright music sounded in the hall.

After a while, dozens of dancers entered and danced cheerfully.

"This wine is good." Shao Shude praised the wine after taking a sip of it.

He has a lot of experience in drinking wine, and Gaochang wine is really unusual for him, even if it is not No.1, it is still in the top three.

"Your Majesty, this is the sweet wine produced by our monastery, which is well-known far and wide. Among them, the best wine is only [-] cups this year..." Master Li Sheng from Xizhou Great Forest and Beishan Temple said immediately.

"Gaochang wealthy households are judged by how many vineyards they have?" Shao Shude asked with a smile.

"Exactly."

"Apart from the vineyard, what else does your temple have?"

"Our monastery is self-sufficient. We give the monks eighty shi of wheat, seven shi of sesame, three shi of millet, and two shi of beans for food every month. In addition, the whole temple gives [-] melons, a scale of green onions, and some vegetables every day."

"Self-sufficiency..." Shao Shude laughed and asked, "I want to set up Anxi Road, and set up prefectures and counties. Your temple can't always stay in Xizhou, you have to look further west."

"Yes." Master Li Sheng clasped his hands together and replied.

Buddhism is the second foreign religion believed by the Gaochang Uighurs, and its influence is not small.As with Manichean temples, there are tax-free privileges.The monastery has farmland, pastures, vineyards, mills, etc., and there are many monks who practice martial arts, which can basically be regarded as local tyrants.

Master Li Sheng knew in his heart that after Daxia occupied Xizhou, he might not give them tax-free privileges.Even if there is, it is not in Gaochang, but in a place further west.

Could it be that he is about to be pushed to the front line against the enemy?

After talking with Master Li Sheng, Shao Shude ended the topic, and turned to drink and chat with the generals sitting on both sides of the hall.

Fang destroyed a country, everyone's morale was high, and the atmosphere was warm during the meeting.After drinking for a while, everyone stared at the dancers in the arena.

According to gossip, these dancers are the wives, concubines, and family members of Uighur Khans and criminal officials. At this time, they are wearing masks and dancing Kucha music and dance according to the customs of the Western Regions.

The graceful dancing posture, plump and graceful figure, and exotic charm all attract the eyes of these big and rough people.After drinking, he spoke more presumptuously, commented, and laughed non-stop.

Han Quanhui came over, lowered his head, and whispered something in Shao Shude's ear.

Shao Shude nodded slightly, and when the dancer jumped in front of him, he got up and entered the arena, one left and one right, took the two of them into his arms, hugged them back and sat down.

The body of the woman on the left stiffened slightly, and then softened after a while.

The body of the woman on the right was trembling non-stop, with tears streaming down behind the mask.

Shao Shude laughed loudly, and said: "Whoever you like, go up and choose it, but you can take it home and give it to you."

"Long live my emperor/Khan!" The generals were overjoyed and convinced.

Fighting with the saints, there are military exploits, rewards, and women to play with. No wonder everyone is brave and eager to be the first.If there is still such a good thing to do in the west, then this battle will be fought forever-the warriors feel that the current saints are real saints, and the control was too tight before.