Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1059 1054 [Wu Dalang's Anxi Dream]

Li Yanxian said that the captives who were killed were all foreigners, but in fact many of them were Uighurs, who had the same ancestors as the Gaochang nobles.

During the middle Tang Dynasty, Mu Yu Khan led the Uighur army south to help the Tang court recapture Luoyang.

The Sogdians and Manichaeans, who had been oppressed and had a hard time surviving, now had new partners. Many Manichaeans followed Mu Yu Khan to the northern desert.

Soon after, Manichaeism became the state religion of the Uighur Khanate.

The Sogdians helped the Uighurs to formulate policies and develop the economy, and the Uighurs supported the Sogdians in spreading Manichaeism, such as requiring the Tang Dynasty to build "Dayun Guangming Temple" in major cities.

With increasing accumulation of wealth and higher progress of civilization, the Uighurs became the first Khanate in the northern grasslands to build a large city.

The negative effect is: the army’s combat effectiveness continues to decline!

Therefore, the Uighur nation was destroyed.

A group of Uighurs fled to the Khitan territory, changed their surname to Xiao, and merged with the Xi people to become the descendants of the Liao Dynasty.

One group fled to the Central Plains and were gradually assimilated into the Han people.

One group fled to the Tubo territory. With the collapse of the Tubo Empire, those living in Gansu were ruled by the Western Xia, and those living in Qinghai became the Yellow-headed Uighurs.

One group fled to Anxi and established the Gaochang Uighur Kingdom, while still retaining Manichaeism as the state religion.

One group fled to Central Asia and established the Karakhanid Khanate, which Turkified the region and whose rulers also converted to desert religion. Moreover, many descendants of the Uighur tribes gradually became oppressed groups.

Judging from this evolution, Yelu Dashi, Gaochang Uighurs, Karakhanid Khanate... their ancestors are actually related.

Yelu Dashi was able to quickly annex the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate, thanks to the great contributions of the descendants of the Uighurs who had become an oppressed group. They were originally dissatisfied with the rule of the Karakhanid Khanate and had even revolted, and directly regarded Yelu Dashi, who came from their ancestral land, as one of their own!
"Should we ban all Uighur characters?"

This is the main content of the first memorial Li Yanxian sent to the court.

As winter passed and spring came, the imperial edict from the court was sent to Gaochang.

First, reward the soldiers of the three armies.

Second, the Anxi Protectorate was established, with Wu Jie as the first Anxi Protector, and Li Yanxian was transferred back to the central government to serve as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.

Third, officials have been sent to the Anxi Protectorate.

Fourth, official documents must be written in Chinese characters, while unofficial documents and religious scriptures are temporarily allowed to continue using Uighur.

Xinjiang is too far away and its religious influence is too strong. In order to avoid repeated rebellions, Emperor Zhu did not take a one-size-fits-all approach this time.

Another important reason is the influence of Uighur script.

The Xixia script was modified from Chinese characters, and many Xixia scholars knew Chinese characters. The Jin Dynasty script was even worse, and they themselves rarely used it. The scripts of these two countries were destroyed, and they did not cause any waves.

The Uighur script is different.

It borrowed the alphabet from the Sogdians and has developed for hundreds of years. Even the Manchu and Mongolian characters of later generations originated from this alphabet.

Once it is banned directly, it will be equivalent to turning all the nobles, scholars and monks in the former Gaochang Kingdom into illiterate people!

Therefore, Zhu Ming softened his stance a bit and allowed the Uighur script to appear in unofficial documents and scriptures. With the strength of Chinese characters and official promotion, it was only a matter of time before the Uighur script was eliminated. If you can win with culture, there is no need to rush to resort to force.

As the Ming Dynasty's rule deepens, more and more local people will take the initiative to learn Chinese characters.

Sent by the court were not only administrative officials but also many eminent monks from the Han area.

These eminent monks were mainly Buddhists and Nestorians.

Emperor Zhu even banned the Nestorianism in the Hexi Corridor, confiscated all the Nestorian temples there, and threw all the Nestorian monks to the Anxi Protectorate. Many of them had already learned Chinese characters and were about to be assigned to the Nestorian temples in Anxi.

Buddhism and Nestorianism were the main targets of sinicization of the Ming Dynasty court because they had the largest number of believers in the former Gaochang Kingdom and had the greatest influence among the people.

The court even issued a deadline order: Buddhist and Nestorian monks in the Anxi Protectorate who could not read Chinese characters within five years were not allowed to hold important positions in temples. Within ten years, if the literacy rate of monks in a temple (Chinese characters) was less than 30%, the temple would be ordered to be closed down by the court. Within fifteen years, all scriptures used publicly in temples must be in Chinese characters!
In addition, the following content was also spread in the form of rumors: if other religious sects did not align themselves with Buddhism and Nestorianism and did not take the initiative to learn Chinese characters and chant scriptures in Chinese, then the imperial court would ban the spread of that religion in the future.

It is a disguised way of forcing various religious sects to sinicize!
Anyway, there is no need to worry about religious issues. Just stick to Buddhism and Nestorianism - these two are the mainstream.

The Manichaeism in Gaochang, as the state religion of the Uighurs for hundreds of years, had long since lost its influence among the masses, and was completely different from the Manichaeism in the Han area. The former represented the interests of the nobles, while the latter was a professional rebel. If the two met, they would definitely reject each other as heretics.

Zoroastrianism also continued to decline, but in the opposite direction of Manichaeism.

Because Gaochang Manichaeism was detached from the masses, most of its believers belonged to the upper class.

As for Gaochang Zoroastrianism, the temples in the city have almost been demolished. It mainly exists in the vast rural areas, and most of its believers are small and medium-sized nobles and ordinary people. Moreover, due to the problem of doctrine, this religion cannot become big - it has been given nationalist characteristics in Persia, and no matter how it is improved, it will inevitably become more and more niche, so it has been excluded by all sects in the Gaochang area.

If the imperial court did not actively support Zoroastrianism, the end of this religion would certainly be its natural demise.

As for Gaochang Taoism, since it was too niche, the imperial court was too lazy to care about it and just let the Uighur Taoists develop on their own.

Shamanism and the like are similar to Taoism.

……

The snow melted and the excess troops were evacuated.

Gaochang had a garrison of 6,000 troops and 25,000 immigrants.

In Illinois, there are 3,000 troops stationed and 20,000 immigrants.

Shanshan had a garrison of 800 troops and 3,000 immigrants.

Datun had a garrison of 800 soldiers and 1,000 immigrants.

Yanqi had a garrison of 3,000 troops and 10,000 immigrants.

In Qiuci, there were 6,000 troops stationed and 10,000 immigrants.

Hotan, with a garrison of one thousand troops and one thousand immigrants.

In Zhangbali, there were 5,000 soldiers stationed there and 10,000 immigrants.

The entire Anxi Protectorate had a garrison of 20,600 men, but only 10,000 of them were fully employed in the field, and the rest were part-time garrison troops.

Correspondingly, the Ningxia Governor's Office was transferred to Ningxia Province ahead of schedule to reduce the number of troops in the area bordering Shaanxi.

The number of troops stationed in Shaanxi also decreased again.

All the troops withdrawn from Shaanxi and Ningxia were thrown into the jurisdiction of the newly established Anxi Protectorate.

A small number of troops will also be left behind in the remaining provinces where troops are sent out.

Because the soldiers had to be stationed thousands of miles away, each of them received financial compensation. If they wanted to bring their families over, all expenses would be borne by the court. If there were special circumstances, such as brothers dying of illness and becoming an only child, they could apply to stay in their hometown and transfer to other troops. Although the Anxi Protectorate had 20,000 troops stationed there, in terms of the number of troops nationwide, the increase in troops was actually only 4,000 to 5,000.

The expenses in the first few years must have been huge, not only because of the need to transport military rations, but also to provide various materials for the immigrants. But once the tax exemption period for immigrants was over, plus the taxes paid by local people, Anxi Protectorate could become self-sufficient.

If there are casualties in the army here, priority will be given to recruiting from Han immigrants.

Five years later, recruiting soldiers from local young and strong people began, but the annual recruitment ratio needed to be strictly limited.

Ten years later, recruitment can be opened, but the proportion of Han people in each army must be kept above 70% at all times.

This restriction can be lifted after the Protectorate is transformed into a province, because that means the degree of sinicization in the Anxi region has been sufficient.

……

Wu Juyuan came from the suburbs of Kaifeng.

His father was Wu Song, his first teacher was Wu Jialiang, and he was the eldest son so he was also called Wu Dalang.

This name was chosen by Wu Jialiang, who hoped that he would pass the imperial examination and become an official.

Unfortunately, Wu Juyuan was not good at studying, but he was quite good at martial arts.

He planned to join the army to seek a bright future, but his father Wu Song did not allow it, saying that if he continued to fight and kill, he would eventually die on the battlefield.

Wu Juyuan's family owned more than 200 acres of land, some of which were allocated by the government and some of which were bought by his father.

In addition to the land, his family also opened an oil press.

In the past few years, floods and droughts have continued, and the court has restricted the sale of rice wine and encouraged the people to brew liquor. His father Wu Song took the opportunity to brew rice wine privately for the rich in the city to secretly satisfy their cravings.

Last year, because the alcohol restriction order was lifted, the business of privately brewing rice wine could no longer be continued, so Wu Song poached people to start brewing white wine instead.

The family also started raising pigs, and the distiller's grains could be used to feed the pigs.

There is a pig tyrant in Kaifeng who regularly goes to the countryside to purchase live pigs.

When facing Wu Song, the pig tyrant did not dare to lower the price too much. First, Wu Song did not raise many pigs, and second, Wu Song was very famous. After dealing with him several times, the pig tyrant even became sworn brothers with Wu Song.

This is considered a well-off family.

Moreover, with Wu Song's abilities, it would be very easy for the government to recruit civilians to serve in distant military service and hire someone to replace him.

But it was not possible last year. Civil and military officials directly followed the household register and forcibly recruited young people who were of the right age, had brothers at home and were single!
At the beginning, Wu Juyuan only moved the grain and grass from Kaifeng onto the ship, and he could also take the ship all the way to Shaanxi.

In a daze, he went to the Hexi Corridor and transported food and fodder back and forth between Guazhou and Suzhou.

In winter, heavy snow blocked the roads, so he was left in Guazhou and was told that he could go home in the spring.

When they were about to leave in the spring, the government suddenly announced an increase in the number of immigrants, and Wu Juyuan was unlucky enough to be selected as an immigrant.

The other selected civilians all had sad faces along the way.

Wu Juyuan seemed a little excited. He was eighteen years old this year. He had learned the Four Books and Six Classics, was familiar with modern mathematics, and was also quite good at martial arts. However, his knowledge was still far from being enough to pass the examination for a scholar. His father Wu Song insisted that he continue studying and would not allow him to join the army. This trip to the Western Regions might allow him to show his talents!
We passed through hundreds of miles of uninhabited areas, with only five bitter springs along the way.

Such a harsh environment frightened the other civilians so much that they turned pale and thought the whole Western Region was like this.

Finally, after many hardships, they arrived in Illinois and camped outside the city waiting for assignment.

After waiting for several days, Wu Juyuan was called over to queue up.

The clerk held up the roster and whispered, "Wu Juyuan."

A loud-mouthed soldier nearby immediately called out, "Who is the Wu Ju Yuan winner?"

Wu Juyuan quickly ran out of the team and said, "I am Wu Juyuan."

The clerk asked, "Wu Juyuan, from Kaifeng, Tokyo, is eighteen years old this year, and has two adult brothers at home. Is this you? If you were hired as a servant, you can tell me now."

Who the hell dares to say that?

Even if they were conscripted, they dared not say it clearly.

"It's me." Wu Juyuan bowed.

The clerk smiled and said, "From your words and deeds, you have indeed been educated. Unfortunately, the quota for the nearby places is full, and you are the last two batches. Hotan and Datun City are more difficult, so we will arrange for you to immigrate to Qiuci."

At that time, the city of Qiuci was on the other side of Kuqa in Aksu.

Wu Juyuan continued to stay in Yizhou for a few days and then set off with other immigrants.

These immigrants numbered more than 2,000 people and were the last group to go to Qiuci. It was said that the army, officials and previous groups of immigrants had already gone there.

Wu Juyuan was temporarily appointed as the battalion commander because he was good at writing and calculating.

They were led by an officer, and the other temporary battalion commanders also had their own backgrounds. Some had studied like Wu Juyuan, and some had participated in militia training.

At the same time, they also obtained supplies.

Many large carts pulled by mules and horses were loaded with food, farm tools, seeds, clothing and military equipment.

The official distributing the supplies said, "We don't have enough oxen for the time being, so we'll use mules and horses to plow the fields. As for the weapons, check them first and replace any that are damaged."

Wu Juyuan was very happy.

Not only did he receive a spear, a sword, a set of leather armor, and a crossbow, but because he served as the temporary battalion commander, the government directly issued him a war horse.

Wu Juyuan saw the bows and arrows and ran over to ask, "Can the crossbow be replaced with a horse bow? A foot bow is also OK."

"You can ride and shoot?" The quartermaster was quite surprised.

Wu Juyuan smiled and said, "He is skilled in archery and horse riding."

The quartermaster also smiled and said, "Kucha is on the border, there may be a war. You may be recruited as a soldier in the future."

Wu Juyuan said: "I want to be a general!"

"Hahahaha!"

"Ambitious!"

The other soldiers around laughed and praised him when they heard this.

(End of this chapter)