A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1192 A Palace Scandal

White snow peaks, dark green mountains in the distance,

Endless green grass stretching to the sky,

The Suiye River Valley in spring is very beautiful. The wild apricot blossoms that bloom all over the hillsides seem delicate, but they appear together with the cold snow-capped peaks and desolate canyons.
Although it is not the apricot blossoms and misty rain of Jiangnan, it gives people who are there a beautiful feeling.

The rolling valleys, the dense and sparse wild apricot forests, the verdant valleys and the apricot blossoms complement each other into a picture.
Under the snowy peaks of Qianquan, in the sea of ​​wild apricot blossoms,
Wu Huaiyu met several groups of guests in the sea of ​​wild apricot blossoms in the Suiye River Valley.

"This Tocharian Yehu came here at a good time." Jiang Xingben said with a smile, "After a winter and a spring, we finally wiped out the two tribes of Asiqie. General Shi Shouxin also gained a firm foothold in Shiguo. He and Xin Liaoer led 5,000 Anxi troops and defeated several domestic rebellions one after another.

Even the King of Kangguo offered to marry the princess to General Shi.
This Tocharian Yehu has never come earlier or later, but now he comes to pay respect to the Prime Minister. It seems that he is really scared. "

Wu Huaiyu sat in the wild apricot forest, feeling the beautiful scenery firsthand. He was not surprised at all that Tocharian Yehu came.

In fact, many people did not expect that last winter, Wu Huaiyu launched a lightning raid on Asijie and Liangjijin, chased them to Shiguo and captured them, and even destroyed the capital of Shiguo, and captured the kings of Shiguo.

The Tang army did not stop its advance.

The whole winter, and this spring,
The Anxi Army, the Turkic tribes they had recruited, and the troops of Yanqi and other places launched a continuous sweeping offensive against the Asiqi people, who numbered over 100,000 in Suiyechuan.

Many people thought that Wu Huaiyu's statement of wanting to destroy Asijie was just a gesture.
After conquering some tribes, they would definitely try to pacify them, or perhaps move some tribes inland, but it was impossible to really exterminate so many Ashkenazi people.

But they underestimated Wu Huaiyu's determination.

He did not need to slaughter the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Asiji and Asiji tribes. He only wanted to dismember them. Every time he conquered a tribe or a pasture, he would escort the young and strong to Suiye, Yili, Gaochang and other places, to perform labor, build cities and forts, and then send them to Hexi, Chang'an and Luoyang to be sold as slaves.

As for the other women, children, the elderly and the weak, they were divided up as slaves with the other tribes that took part in the attack.

The Asiqie people's cattle, horses, sheep, camels, tents, pots and bowls were all divided up.

One winter and one spring,
The two strongest units of the West Chamber Five Crossbows and Shibi have now become a thing of the past. Except for a few who migrated and escaped, most of the others have been destroyed by the joint efforts of the Anxi Army and other units.

Even the best grasslands in Suiye River that they once occupied were now divided among the three tribes of Geshu, Basagan and others.

The ferocity and terrifying attack power displayed by the Anxi Army have made not only the Zhaowu and Sogdian states in Hezhong, adjacent to the Suiye River, tremble in fear, but also the current Turkic king of Anguo, who was also deprived of his Sogdian throne.

After Shi Shouxin came to power in the Shi Kingdom, An Guo supported several rebellions in the Shi Kingdom behind the scenes, all of which were led by Turkic nobles, but without exception they all rose and fell quickly and were suppressed by Shi Shouxin and Xin Liaoer's Anxi Army.

The blood of the rebels flowed like a river.
This is why the King of Kangguo later took the initiative to marry the princess to Shi Shouxin.
And the Tocharian Yehuqin from the south of Zhaowu Sogdia came to pay a visit to Wu Huaiyu.

"How much does Minister Wu know about this Tocharian Yehu?" Jiang Xingben asked.

"Could it be that Lord Jiang knows his background?"

Jiang Xingben stroked his beard and said proudly, "I do know a little bit about him. I first knew about this Yehu because I heard about a scandal in the Tokharistan court when I was in Gaochang."

Whenever it comes to palace secrets, people can't help but want to eat melons.
"tell me the story."

"The current Tokharistan Yehu is the grandson of Tongyehu Khan. His father, Tadushe, was the first Tokharistan Yehu."

When Jiang Xingben talked about the palace secrets, he wanted to start from the time when Pangu created the world.
The spring scenery was beautiful, with apricot blossoms and a gentle breeze. Wu Huaiyu didn't care and just let him talk.

"It is said that during the reign of Nijuechuluo Khan, the Tiele people, led by Qibi Geleng and Yishibo, revived their country and established the Tiele Khanate. They killed Nijuechuluo Khan until he was completely wiped out. Yes, Geleng was Qibi Heli's grandfather, and Yishibo was the grandfather of the current Xueyantuo Khan Yinan. They established the Tiele Khanate in Khanfutu City and once controlled Jinshan and the eastern part of Tianshan. Gaochang, Yanqi, Yiwuluo and other places were all under their control."

Wu Huaiyu actually knew almost everything that happened next.

Later, Shekui Khan, a minor khan of the Western Turkic Khanate, received support from the Sui Dynasty. He not only seized the position of the Khan from Chuluo, forcing him to surrender to the Sui emperor and become his guest of honor, but he also quickly put down the Tiele people's restoration movement.
Under his rule, the Western Turks quickly regained their strength, but he died of illness soon after, and his northern brother Tongyehu inherited the throne of the Khan. Tongyehu was a very remarkable person. He saw that the Eastern Turks were strong and that the Tang Dynasty in the east had reunified the Central Plains.
However, the Persian Sassanid Empire in the west was very weak, so he moved his headquarters to the Suiye River and prepared to develop westward with all his strength.

It is said that the Western Turks were friendly with Persia in the past, and they even joined forces to destroy the Yanda people of Tocharia.
Tongyehu Khan controlled the countries in the Western Regions and became the hegemon of the Silk Road. They wanted to open up a trade route with Rome and bypass Persia, the profiteer in the middle, but the Persian Sassanids obstructed them and even took the risk of poisoning the Turkic envoys.

As a result, the former allies Persia and Western Turks turned against each other.
After Tong Yehu revitalized the Western Turks, he sent two armies to attack Persia from the north and south, seizing the nomadic tribes and vassal states on the edge of Persia, in response to Emperor Heraclius of the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire.

The commander of the northern route was Tongyehu's uncle. Later, Moheduo Khan, who rebelled and poisoned Tongyehu and proclaimed himself Khan, was still Shibiyehu at the time. He led his troops to seize the southern Russian steppes and control the North Caucasus region. He was conferred the title of Khazar Yehu by Tongyehu Khan and led the Khazar tribe, a branch of the Western Turkic Khazars.

This Khazar tribe was called the Western Turkic tribe. Like the Karluk and Chuyue tribes, it was said that their main tribe was related to the Gesa tribe of the Huihe. When the Northern Wei Dynasty defeated the Gaoche tribe, they were forced to migrate westward. Those who did not leave became the Gesa tribe of the Huihe.

The Gesa people who migrated westwards also joined forces with some White Huns,

Later, they became the Khazars and were subordinate to the Ashina family.
After Moheduo became the Khazar Yehu, he joined forces with the Byzantines and defeated the Persian Sassanids many times. The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius even took the initiative to betroth his daughter, Princess Eudoxia, to Moheduo. The Byzantines called Moheduo the Chinese Yehu and even honored him as the King of the North.

But later, Moheduo returned to the Khan's court, poisoned his nephew Tongyehu and proclaimed himself the Great Khan. He did not marry the Roman princess, but instead asked the Tang emperor for marriage. However, after he usurped the throne, he failed to gain the support of most of the Western Turkic tribes, and the Tang Dynasty did not want to marry the princess to a traitor.
Moheduo was eventually deserted by his friends and relatives and was defeated.

Tong Yehu also sent another group of troops to attack Persia.

Heraclius led his army to the Persian capital of Ctesiphon, while Tongyehu sent his general Tadushet to attack the rear of Persia from the south.

Persian prince Kavadh II killed his father, King Khosrau II, and humiliatingly submitted to the Eastern Roman Empire and Western Turks and asked for peace.

Tadushet plundered Persia on a large scale, and Tongyehu was very satisfied. He promoted him to Yehu and asked him to choose a piece of land around Persia to build his own headquarters. Tadushet chose Tocharistan.

It was once the core area of ​​the Kushan Empire, ruled by a group of Yanda princes.

After Tadushe set up his headquarters in Tokharistan, he conquered the east and the west, and 27 small countries successively submitted to him. As a result, the Tokharistan Yehudi, which was a subordinate of the Western Turks, became the most powerful country in Central Asia.

Tadus founded a kingdom in Tokharistan. Although he was very brave, he was eventually killed by his own son.

In his early years, Tadushe also married politically, marrying two wives, both of whom were daughters of Gaochang King Qu Boya. This was also the practice of many Western Turkic nobles at the time. For example, the mother of Nijue Choro Khan was a Han Chinese woman from Gaochang.
Even Moheduo Khan's mother was a Gaochang Han.

In the fourth year of Zhenguan,

Tadusek's eldest son, Shabolatqin, fell in love with his aunt, who was also his stepmother, the daughter of the King of Gaochang.

According to the Turkic levirate marriage system, after the death of his father, the son can inherit his father's wives and concubines except his biological mother, which is in accordance with the rules.
But the problem was that Tadushe was not dead yet, and Shaboluotu fell in love with his stepmother, who was also his aunt. When this was exposed, Tadushe could not bear it.

So Shabolatqin poisoned Tadushe and adopted his aunt openly.

At that time, Moheduo, who usurped the throne and proclaimed himself the Great Khan, was in power for only a few years before he was deserted by his friends and relatives, defeated by Siyehu Khan, and fled to Jinshan, where he was killed by Nisu.

After Shabolateqin poisoned his father, he expressed his support to his uncle Siyehu Khan, who had just been supported by Nushipi, and was named Tocharian Yehu by Siyehu.

Later, Siyehu Khan insisted on conquering the Tiele in northern Mobei, but was defeated and wanted to kill his meritorious officials, which led to him being deserted by his friends and relatives. He died shortly after fleeing to Kangju after his defeat.

After that, there were three Khans, namely Nisu, Tongershe and Bobu.
The Tokharistan Yaguru Ashina Ushiba had always had a bad relationship with the Nisu clan. Later, Asiqie and Shiguo launched a rebellion against Dilish Khan, Oshe and Shaboluo Yaguru Khan Bobu, and the Tokharistan Yaguru was also involved.

Now Asijie was gone, and the kings of Shiguo were also captured and sent to Chang'an.
Tokharistan Yehu Ashina Ushibo was also panicked.
After Jiang Xingben finished telling the story about the palace scandal of Tocharian Yehu Kingdom, he had no good impression of Wushiba. He thought that he was morally corrupt and had close contacts with the Asikyi tribe in the past. Such a person could not be trusted, let alone cooperate with.

"The Tokharistan Kingdom borders Persia to the southwest, Sogdia to the north, and the Pamir Mountains to the northeast. Its location is very important."

Although Persia was already in decline, Wu Huaiyu knew that a future powerful enemy, the Arab Empire, was rising on the Arabian Peninsula to its south.

If the Tang Dynasty could have controlled Tocharistan and Transoxiana earlier, or even the Khazars who occupied the North Caucasus,
In this way, we can establish a solid defense line in advance against Persia, which will be annexed by the Arabs sooner or later.

As for Ushiboyehu, who poisoned his father, committed adultery with his stepmother, and never obeyed the orders of the Western Turkic Khanate, this is not important.
"Tocharian is a little out of our reach now, but its strength is very strong, far exceeding that of the Nine Surnames Hu."

It would be best to separate such a powerful regional force from the Western Turkic Khanate.

The same is true for the Khazars.
"Since Wushiba has taken the initiative to submit, we should accept him and petition the court to establish the Tokharistan Protectorate in Tokharistan and appoint Ashina Wushiba as the Protector General of Tokharistan Protectorate and the Governor of Yuezhi Prefecture.

The Tokharistan Protectorate was governed by 16 military governorates.

These sixteen military governorships were actually established based on the original surrendered vassal states of Yeda, and the king was the military governor.

The main purpose of this Tokharistan Protectorate and the sixteen subordinate governorates under it was to make it equal to the Mengchi Protectorate of Nanting Khan, so that it would no longer be subordinate to Nanting Khan.
The other is to make Tocharistan the southernmost and outermost buffer zone of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions.

Therefore, it is not important that Ushiba killed his father and mother and betrayed the Khanate. The most important thing is to pull Tocharian out and establish a protectorate. The key is to continue to weaken the Western Turkic Khanate.

Jiang Xingben finally understood what Wu Huaiyu meant.
"How about I meet this Wushibo first. If he can understand the current situation and is willing to listen, then I will support him to be the Protector General of Tokharistan and let him continue to be his Yehu. If he is disobedient, I will arrest him and send him to Chang'an to accompany Yu Gushe and the others."

"You can talk to him first, but I believe that since he is willing to come, it means he knows what is right for him."

"Does he need to do anything to prove his loyalty?" Jiang Xingben asked.

"Then let him lead the Tocharian soldiers to help our Anxi army capture Kepantu in the Pamir Mountains."

(End of this chapter)