Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 1163 The Green Hat King

"Grandpa, let's not come out after this trip."

"Well, I won't come out anymore, so I can take care of myself at home."

In the long yellow sand, a caravan of camels is heading west.

This is a very large camel team, about a hundred merchants and their buddies, carrying two or three hundred loads of goods.They set off from Chang'an and headed west all the way to the distant Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms.

Those who spoke were two businessmen of Han ethnicity wearing headdresses. One had a gray beard and a face full of vicissitudes. He seemed to be in his 60s or [-]s, while the other was a tall and strong young man in his twenties.

"When we get to Kangju, let's sell this batch of goods, and then buy a batch of high-quality Dawan BMWs and sell them to Luoyang. The noble children there like BMWs the most, and they will definitely make a lot of money."

The father and two followed the caravan, looking forward to a bright future while walking. Grandpa is getting old, and he doesn’t plan to go out after this trip. They plan to buy land in their hometown and build a few new houses. When the fiancée gets married, she will have children, run the farm, and start a small business in her hometown, while the grandfather can raise his grandchildren at home and take care of himself for the rest of his life.

"Grandfather, is Kangju lively?"

"It's lively, it's on the Silk Road, there's no way it's not lively, especially after the Qin Dynasty defeated the Western Turkic Shekui Khan, all the countries in the Western Regions paid tribute to the Great Qin, and the original ten tribes of the Western Turks also belonged to me Being entrusted, therefore, the Silk Road will be unblocked again, and the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms will become prosperous and lively again."

"I heard that all women in Shi Country can dance the Zhezhi Dance, and they dance beautifully," said the young man.

"You boy, when you were in Chang'an City, didn't you already see the dancer of Shi Guo dance the Zhezhi dance, and you also saw Hu Xuanwu." The old man laughed.

"Grandpa, you didn't want to bring me here before, or I would have seen it a long time ago."

"In the past, the Silk Road was not so easy to walk. It was not a gamble to come here. There are many checkpoints on the road, and you have to be filial along the way. If you are lucky, you won't earn much. I am reluctant to bring you here."

The young man smiled and said, "Bring me here earlier, and you can share more for Grandpa. Just like this time, it will be much easier to bring me."

The old man also stroked his beard and smiled. Speaking of which, this son is indeed very clever. He is too old to walk, but with his son following him, he can sleep in the open or stay in a hotel in the city, and feed the camels , or taking care of the goods, they all did a good job, which saved him a lot of worry.

This time they set off from Chang’an, passing through the west of the Guanlong River, arriving at Dunhuang, then entering Gaochang, and then taking the middle line of the Silk Road in the Western Regions, from Gaochang to Yanqi, then to Kucha, then to Gumo, then entering Shule, and then crossing the mountain pass to the north , into the Yashashui (Dyrjar River) Basin of Bahan, Shiguo, to the Wuhu River (Amu Darya) tributary of the Mishui Basin of Mi, Kang, Cao, He, An, and Mu Kingdoms.

This is a long road, only six thousand miles from Dunhuang to Kangju.

From Dunhuang to Chang'an, there are still more than 3000 miles.

Even if it is a fast horse from the imperial court, it will take eight days, but they spent a full month on the road from Chang'an to Dunhuang.

Fortunately, the journey from Chang'an to Dunhuang is very safe and supplies are convenient.After leaving Dunhuang and crossing the desert, there are three Anxi prefectures of the imperial court, Yiwu, Gaochang, and Yanqi.

It's just not so convenient to go out of Yanqi and then go to Kucha.

The red Qin flag is rarely seen anymore. When I came here, I was used to seeing the red flag on the road, and I always felt at ease. Now I can’t see the red flag, and I always feel a little uneasy.

The old man remembered that when he walked this Silk Road, this place was still dominated by Turkic people. Turkic cavalry often came and went like the wind. You may even encounter horse thieves often.

"I heard that the Silk Road is still smooth now. I don't know if it's true or not. I hope I don't encounter horse thieves."

"Grandpa, now the entire Western Region is our Great Qin territory, how can there be horse thieves!" Young people don't believe that there are horse thieves. Thinking about the early years, the Central Plains was full of thieves, but now you can still see a thieves ?Not to mention horse thieves and mountain thieves, even thieves are rarely seen now, not even beggars.

Governments in various places are eager to catch some criminals, so that they can be sent directly to the frontier to farm, and the provincial ones will remove some honest and good people who are safe and secure from their own rule.

"This Kucha is not Yiwu, Gaochang and Yanqi. Those three countries have now become the three prefectures of Anxi in the Great Qin Dynasty. There are court officials and court garrison fortresses. Naturally, safety can be guaranteed, but Kucha used to be the Western Turks. As for the location of the Khan Court, the King of Kucha has long been considered a Turkic people."

When the Western Turks swept across Central Asia, they teamed up with the Persian Sassanian Dynasty to eliminate the Yanda (White Huns). Later, after setting foot in Persia, the entire Central Asia was ruled by the Western Turks, and even went south to the Indus River Basin.

In the past, the Yanda people moved westward from the grasslands to Central Asia. Later, after destroying the Yuezhi Guishuang Empire, which also moved from the east to Central Asia, they concentrated on attacking the Indus River Basin and collapsed the Gupta Empire, the former unified dynasty of India. Occupying the Indus River Basin, there is no direct rule over Central Asia, but only accepting tribute from various countries.

But the Western Turks are not so simple. They directly send nobles to control the countries.

For example, in the Black Sea area of ​​the Caspian Sea (south of Russia), the Khazar Yehu was entrusted, and the Tocharo Yehu was entrusted to the south of the Wuhu River (Afghanistan), both of which were in charge of the prince of the Ashina family.

As for the nine surnames of Zhaowu in Central Asia, including the countries in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, except for some small countries that are too weak and have nothing to offer, many city-states have been forcibly taken over by Ashina and other Turkic tribes.

Therefore, even though the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms still have the same name, the royal family is no longer the original Sogdian people.

Originally, the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu were all Da Yuezhi people like the Guishuang Empire. They all moved westward from the Hexi area in the past. They were oppressed by the Huns and moved westward. They were looking for the Da Yuezhi people who moved westward, and they planned to join forces to attack the Xiongnu.

After Guishuang was destroyed by the hated people, the nine surnames of Zhaowu claimed to be the descendants of Guishuang.

But when the Western Turks are wiped out, they will wipe out the kings of these descendants of Guishuang one by one.

Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms, because they moved from Zhaowu City in Hexi, later settled in the Kangju area, and finally branched out to establish Nine Kingdoms, all of which took Zhaowu as their surname, so they were called Zhaowu Nine Surnames.

But now, in the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms, Turks are all kings.

For example, in Shiguo (later Tashkent), when Luo Khan was in power in the Western Turkic region, the Western Turks killed the king of Shiguo, and the nobles took the throne of Shiguo.

The reason why the Khanna country was divided into the East and the West is also because the Ashina clan and the Khibi part of the spoils were not evenly distributed. In the end, the Khibi tribe ruled the West Khanna, and the Ashina nobleman Kan Mohedu led the Rats. The Ministry of Nice ruled East Pahana.

Anguo, another powerful country among the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms, was also proclaimed King of An by a small military officer named Abbots. Later, the people of Anguo couldn't bear his brutal rule and went to sue Chuluo Khan. In the end, Chuluo abolished Abbots Here, let his son be King An.

In the Tocharian countries in the south of the Wuhu River, half of the countries, the people of the country are Hu, and the kings and soldiers are Turks.

Only a few countries such as Kang and the original Gaochang were not directly annexed by the Turks because of their stronger strength, but the Turks also controlled the two countries in disguise by marrying the princess to the king.

Dai Shibi and Qu Shuzhi, two well-known kings of the Kang Kingdom, both married Turkic princesses.

Kang is also the only country in the Western Regions that retains its own younger brothers. The four small Sogdian countries, Xicao, Dongcao, Zhongcao and Mi, are all managed by the Kang family, so they can barely keep the kingship. .

After Gaochang Kingdom was also designated as a prefecture by the Great Qin, now in the entire Western Regions, only Kangju Kingdom is left, which is still the original Wang Tong.

"King Sufadie of Kucha, although he is not the Ashina family of the Turkic royal family, but the royal family is also of Turkic blood for several generations, and his wife is exactly the Ashina family. If you want to say, this King of Kucha is also interesting, It is rumored that his wife, Ashina, has been having an affair with his prime minister, Nali, and the king knows it all, but he has no choice but to suffer a lot.”

The old man smiled and talked about a secret.

The young man didn't take it seriously and said, "Whoever said that the Su Fa family used to be a vassal of the Turks deserves to be cuckolded by Ashina."

"Guci still has some strength. Don't look at the king being cuckolded by the queen and the prime minister, but Qiuci can gather an army of [-]. Otherwise, why didn't the imperial court directly annex Qiuci last time, and leave them what to do."

To the south of the Tianshan Mountains, there are mainly five major countries, Gaochang, Yanqi, Qiuci, Khotan, and Shule.

Plus some other small countries, and then there are the nine surnames of Zhaowu, and the countries of Tocharian, but now many Western Turkic tribes are also conferred as princes by the Emperor of Qin, and their territories are feudal states. There are many.

However, Gaochang and Yanqi are now behind Qin County, and the three kingdoms of Qiuci, Khotan, and Shule are all hard bones. Even Daqin will not easily move them, otherwise it will easily affect the whole body.

"There are more than [-] cities in Kucha, and the power is quite strong, and there are two Turkic tribes, Chuyue and Chumi, to help."

"Grandfather, you think too highly of this Kucha. No matter how strong it is, how can it surpass my Daqin? Even though they are very carefree now, sooner or later they will become Daqin's Anxi County."

A figure suddenly appeared in the distance.

"Cavalry, there are cavalry!"

Someone in the caravan yelled, with panic in their voice, on the Western Regions trade road, the most feared is the cavalry, sometimes, it is difficult to tell the difference between Qing soldiers and thieves.

"Quickly circle the camel team, everyone be careful."

The old man hurriedly asked his son to lead the camel, "Don't push yourself for a while, if it's the Kucha soldiers who want to pluck their feathers, give them some."

The cavalry was approaching from afar, and someone noticed the flag held high in front of the cavalry.

"Red flag, it's the red flag, it's our Daqin cavalry!"

Hearing the red flag Qin Bing, everyone in the caravan breathed a sigh of relief and cheered together.

(End of this chapter)