end song

Chapter 789 Zhang Qian
Li Xia had a little understanding of Mongolia's fiefdoms, and knew that the Western Regions belonged to the Chagatai Khanate.

After Dunhuang and Yumen Pass, the next important town on the Silk Road is Gaochang City.Gaochang is the territory of the Chagatai Khanate, and its eastern boundary is probably near the Tianshan Mountains.

Of course, the Wokuotai line also has several fiefdoms of the kings intertwined with it.

If Brother Ali's sphere of influence can extend to the Western Regions, it means that he successfully united the Chagatai and Okuotai families to oppose Kublai Khan.

It can be seen that Brother Ali is not as good as Kublai Khan in war, but he has a great advantage in terms of connections.

What Yelu Xiliang said was exactly what Li Xia wanted to understand in detail.

……

"It's not that Brother Ali Boke's sphere of influence is in the Western Regions, but that the kings of the Western Regions are now uniting against our Majesty. Ye Mili is Ulus of Haidu."

When Yelu Xiliang said this, his expression suddenly became agitated, and he said, "By the way, I heard from Ye Mili that His Majesty has proclaimed himself emperor, is he proclaimed emperor?"

These words were strange, but Li Xia understood what he meant, and said, "That's right, it's the emperor."

"That's great!" Yelu Xiliang said: "My father always said that you can conquer the world immediately, but you can't rule the world immediately. Now that His Majesty is enthroned, the country finally has a constitution for governing the country..."

"Yeah, after more than 50 years since the founding of the country, I finally know how to govern the country." Li Xia responded casually, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

Yelu Xiliang couldn't hear it, and continued to lament this hard-won achievement.

"Brother Li, do you know? My Yelu clan's own grandfather, Prime Minister Genghis Khan, finally restored civil rule after three generations."

He was young, so he didn't cry bitterly because of this, but cheered up, as if he wanted to return to Shangdu to show off his talents.

Li Xia listened casually for a while, then brought the topic back to the Western Regions, and asked, "How did you get to Ye Mili?"

When asked about this experience, Yelu Xiliang didn't know where to start, and asked, "Mengge Khan's eight years... do you have a reign name now?"

"Three years of Central Unification are about to pass."

"Almost four years."

Yelu Xiliang wiped his eyes and said: "Back then, when the Great Khan passed away, my father resolutely defected to His Majesty. My mother, my two younger brothers and I were captured by Hunduhai. After that, Hunduhai sent a hundred people to escort us to Ha Lahe Lin. When we arrived in Ganzhou, I heard that Hunduhai was defeated?"

"That's right, it was defeated by Wang Liangchen."

After Li Xia finished speaking, he realized that he was pretending to be the prince of Mongolia, and there was a flaw here.

I haven't acted for a long time, and I have regressed.

Of course, today's situation is different from before. Dressing up casually today is nothing more than making it easier to obtain information, otherwise torture and torture would take a lot of time and may not be able to obtain comprehensive information.

Yelu Xiliang didn't realize that there was something wrong with Li Xia calling Wang Liangchen by his first name, so he talked to himself.

"When the news of the defeat of the rebel army came, I took the opportunity to escape with my mother and younger brothers, and hid in Shatuozi before Heihe..."

Li Xia looked at Yelu Xiliang with admiration.

Counting the time, it was the second year after Meng Ge's death. Yelu Xiliang was only 13 years old, but he was able to escape under the supervision of more than a hundred soldiers. He was really capable at a young age.

"Later, some rebels came looking for horses. The old servant girl leaked her words and exposed her whereabouts. We were captured by the rebels and sent to Suzhou." Yelu Xiliang said again, "At that time, the Hexi rebels had elected 'Hala' Buhua' is the Marshal of the capital, Hara Buhua has an old relationship with my father, so he didn't kill me."

It's getting more and more westward.

The county names established in the Han Dynasty are different from the current state names. Ganzhou is probably Zhangye County, Suzhou is probably Saquan County, and further west is Shazhou, probably Dunhuang County.

Sure enough, Yelu Xiliang said again: "Afterwards, Kuoduan's sons chose to support His Majesty, and Hara Buhua retreated westward. When we arrived in Shazhou, we took the opportunity to escape from the rebels. Tingdu Protectorate..."

Yelu Xiliang talked for a long time.

He had a lot of experience, he fled all the way west in three years, and met many Mongolian kings in the Western Regions.

Some of these Mongol kings supported Ali Buge and sent people to hunt him down; some supported Kublai Khan and sent people to escort him;

After hearing this, Li Xia combined the information he had obtained from his previous trip to the north, and clarified a lot about the chaotic relationship among the kings of the Western Mongolian Regions.

……

To put it simply, there are four old factions in Mongolia, that is, the four sons of Genghis Khan's eldest wife, Jochi, Chagatai, Okuotai, and Tuolei.

There is a tradition in Mongolia that the eldest son is sent out to expand the territory, while the younger son stays at home to guard the stove.

Genghis Khan may have had a similar idea when dealing with the funeral affairs. He divided up a large area of ​​territory for Shuchi and Chagatai, passed the position of Khan to his third son Okuotai, and left the army to Tuolei.

From the Jochi lineage, Jochi had a famous son, Batu. Batu conquered a large area of ​​territory and established the Golden Horde, which is basically an independent khanate. Now the Khan is ruled by Batu’s younger brother. Brother Bie'er inherited, and Brother Bie'er now supports Brother Aribu.In short, the eldest son's family went out independently, but he was still able to dictate the affairs of the family;
The Chagatai lineage, as the elder brother of the Great Khan, Chagatai was indeed high and powerful when he was alive, but after his death, the huge fief was targeted, and everyone wanted to take a bite.Now the successor is Aluhu, the grandson of Chagatai, who belongs to the puppet of Brother Ali.In short, although the second son's family business is big, it is a mess, and the family needs to help arrange it. At the same time, the family is also greedy for the second son's family business;
Wo Kuotai's family, Wo Kuotai became very famous after he became a great khan. After killing Tuo Lei, he wanted Tuo Lei's widow to marry his eldest son, Guiyou, and divided up Tuo Lei's family. As a result, he drank by himself He died suddenly, and several of his sons-in-law also died early. His wife and daughter-in-law have dominated the political affairs for several years, and he lost his position.Today, the one who has become a master among the descendants is the grandson Haidu, and the two concubines are Hedan and Mieli.In short, the family of the third son and the family of the fourth son fought bloody battles and lost their position in the family. Some descendants wanted to take home the business, and some wanted to be honest and obedient.

Tuo Lei's family, although Tuo Lei is dead, his wife Lu Woteni is very powerful.The four sons born to Soluheteni, Mengge won the Khan throne, Kublai Khan ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, Hulagu's western expedition has laid down a large area of ​​territory, Ari Boke has also proclaimed Khan and won the kings support.In short, the descendants of the fourth son's family are striving for success, and Xu Liewu has his own family business. It only depends on who can win the family between Kublai Khan and Brother Ali.

In Li Xia's eyes, the disputes in the Great Mongolian Kingdom are almost such a bloody family struggle...

There are really many descendants, and these are probably the most outstanding ones.

Look at the territory again.

Li Xia can't connect with the geography he knows through various strange place names today.

While listening to Yelu Xiliang tell stories about the Western Regions, he drew on paper, but he could only draw an inaccurate range.

He divided the territory of Mongolia into two parts, the eastern part is the main family, and the western part is the branch.

The large tracts of territory in the east, including Harahelin and the Central Plains, are exactly what Kublai Khan and Ali Boke are fighting for, and they belong to the Tuo Lei family.

And the west can be divided into four small parts, Li Xia drew a "field" character.

On the upper left, the Jochi lineage, Berg's territory, probably from the west of Russia to the east of Europe;

On the lower left, the Tuolei line, Hulagu's territory, probably covers West Asia;
On the upper right, the Wokuotai series, the territory left by the descendants of Haidu and Wokuotai, the area is very small, probably near Kazakhstan;
On the lower right, the Chagatai family, the territory of Aluhu, probably covers part of the Western Regions and Central Asia.

……

Looking at it this way, in Li Xia's eyes, the Mongolian faction has a general context.

After clarifying the context, he returned to the Western Regions.

This is the place where the forces of the Wokuotai and Chagatai families intertwine.

Yelu Xiliang has just returned from the Western Regions, so he is very clear about these situations...

"Haidu and Aluhu seem to support Brother Ali, but they have different ideas."

"How is it different?"

"Aluhu is just a puppet sent by Brother Ali. He is the son of Baidali, the sixth son of Chagatai. He has been following Brother Ali and is regarded as a confidant. He is collecting money and food for Brother Ali."

"Counterattack Hara and Lin?"

"Yes." Yelu Xiliang said: "The Chagatai Khanate has farming land, which can provide a large amount of supplies. Aluhu has gathered 15 cavalry in the north of the Amu River and in the Turkic lands, and recruited livestock, horses and weapons. "

"15 cavalry? To help Ali?"

"That's right. What I saw in the Western Regions was that Aluhu enlisted the herdsmen with the order of 'Ali Buge Khan'."

Li Xia fell into deep thought again, then stroked lightly on the paper, crossed out a certain line of words written before, and whispered something to himself.

"Puppet? Confidant?"

"Aluhu is a puppet, but Haidu is an ambitious man." Yelu Xiliang said.

He is not unintelligent, but after all, he is still young, and his thoughts are still simple, and he said: "Haidu is the grandson of Okuotai Khan. He is supporting Brother Ali in the name of supporting Brother Ali, but he is actually expanding his territory. He has already occupied Ye Mili City. This is why I escaped from Yemili City..."

"Who helped you return east?"

"The son of King Hedan. The news that King Hedan supported His Majesty was sent back to Bieshibali, and his son Ye Dier wanted to contact his father, so he helped me escape."

"..."

From noon to evening, and at nightfall, soldiers brought candles and dishes, and Li Xia had been listening to Yelu Xiliang's narration.

For more than three years, a child took his mother and younger brother on a long journey, which is not without hardships and dangers.

Yelu Xiliang wanted to hold back, but he cried in the end.

He was originally a son of a famous family, but at the age of 16, he was already full of wind and frost.

Although Li Xia is patient, what he cares more about is finding out about the situation in the Western Regions in this Journey to the West.

Until late at night, Yelu Xiliang wiped his eyes after talking about the journey, and said, "Brother Li laughed, I thought... I would never come back."

"No, Zhang Qian traveled to the Western Regions in the past. It's rare for you to have such an experience at such a young age."

Li Xia felt it.

He recently captured Hexi, and in his spare time he often watched the Emperor Wu of the Han's counterattack against the Huns. Today he finally realized the feelings of Emperor Wu of the Han talking with Zhang Qian after he returned from the Western Regions.

Yelu Xiliang hurriedly said: "It's incomparable, I dare not compare with Bowanghou."

Li Xia thought so too. Zhang Qian was sent to the Western Regions and lived in poverty for 13 years.

But no matter what, when the Mongolian army came to invade, although the conversation with Yelu Xiliang could not change any situation, it gave Li Xia a new understanding of the situation of Kublai Khan, the enemy.

……

After talking about the affairs of the Western Regions, Yelu Xiliang was also quite curious about the affairs of the Central Plains, and said: "I have lived in the Western Regions for many years, but I don't know how the Central Plains has changed. I beg Brother Li to advise me."

"Alright."

"Thank you."

"If we talk about the changes in the Central Plains, let's talk about Li Xia of Guanlong first..."

"Li Xia? Who is that?"

"Haven't you heard of it?"

"I've never heard of such a character." Yelu Xiliang immediately shook his head.

When he was taken captive by Hunduhai, the news of Mengge Khan's death had just reached Liupan Mountain. The Mongolians refused to admit that Mengge died in battle, so naturally they had never heard of Li Xia's name at that time.

When Yelu Xiliang came back again, it would be a long time...

(End of this chapter)