Song Gexing

Chapter 279 The position is very difficult

The four towns of Anxi in the Tang Dynasty underwent several changes. Among them, Qiuci, Shule and Yutian had no changes, but Suiye City was rotated twice between Yanqi and Suiye.

This also caused misunderstandings among later generations of scholars. Many people believed that Yanqi was the Broken Leaf. Fortunately, the city ruins were excavated near Chuihe River in Kyrgyzstan, which ended this misunderstanding.

Chuihe was also called Suiye River in the Tang Dynasty, and was called Chu River in later generations. Balashagon is also located on the bank of this river.

Because this river leads directly to Issyk-Kul Lake, it has sufficient water resources and is conducive to population gathering and living. The ruins of Suiye City are actually near Balashagon, which shows the importance of this place.

Balashagon is the political center of the eastern Khanate of the Black Khanate. It is now the residence of Governor Zhang Heng. Should Suiye City be rebuilt next to it, or should this city be regarded as Suiye City.

The ministers discussed for a long time and agreed that it would be better to rebuild a city. The reason was that Balashagon was the political center and the relationships between the characters in it were complicated.

For the Song Dynasty, what was needed now was stability. Setting up military towns there would not only destroy the original interests of the nobility, but also make the civilians uncomfortable.

Instead of rebuilding a city specifically for military purposes, it can also play a role in protecting Balashagon.

After listening to everyone's suggestions, Zhao Fang muttered: "That's what I think. How do you feel after hearing this?"

He asked someone to bring a map, pointed to the topographic map of the entire Western Region, and said: "Please see, gentlemen, with the Tianshan Mountains as the boundary, whether it is the original Suiye or the current Balasagon, there is only one place beyond the Tianshan Mountains. There are three military towns in the north and south of the mountain. I think two should be built in the north of the mountain and two in the south. What do you think?"

The ministers hesitated, and Wang Anshi stepped forward and asked: "Your Majesty wants to pay attention to the north of the Tianshan Mountains. However, the northern part of the mountain has always been less prosperous than the southern part of the mountain. Both the population and the economy are far inferior to the southern part of the mountain. Is it inappropriate to divide the military emphasis evenly?"

Lao Wang was not polite and directly asked what was wrong. Zhao Fang naturally would not be angry. Although this guy was stubborn, he was indeed his staunch supporter and would rarely oppose what he had decided.

"You seem to have forgotten one thing, that is, the northern part of the mountain is connected to the Mongolian Plateau. Both the Jugasi and Nianbage tribes are just tributaries, rather than being integrated into the Song Dynasty. It will not matter if we are strong now, but if our descendants are in trouble Woolen cloth?"

The ministers suddenly realized that the emperor had seen so far. Indeed, the grassland peoples were also prosperous. Although they were surrendering now, if one day they felt that their muscles were strong, they might bite you.

"Then, Your Majesty, where should I leave Shannan? The three towns in Shannan that I think are indispensable."

This is where the ministers are struggling. Khotan connects the Tibetan tribes and the Uighur region, Shule is an important town north of Congling, and Qiuci is the cultural center of the Western Regions. Which one is important.

However, Zhao Fang believed that Qiuci did not need to become a military town and could just maintain its position as a cultural center. As for security, it was located in the interior, with Shule in the west, Khotan in the south, and Tianshan in the north.

Besides, there are two important cities, Yanqi and Gaochang, to the east. If something happens, let's kill the chickens to scare the monkeys and see who dares to cause trouble there.

"I have decided to expand Yining and Yundala as military towns, and then use Shule and Yutian as the other two towns. What do you think?"

Zhao Fang thought for a while and expressed his opinion first. The ministers began to discuss that this was the Suiye City area of ​​the Tang Dynasty that was completely abandoned and another place was found to build a military town.

After some discussions, the ministers had no disagreement about Yining. After all, it was originally an important town in the Han Dynasty, and Ningyuan City in the Han and Tang Dynasties was later Yining.

Even in later generations, Yining is still the most important place in northern Xinjiang, the capital of Ili Autonomous Prefecture, and its geographical location is extremely important.Yining is located in the middle of the Ili River Valley. Large-scale construction began in the Han Dynasty. It is an important town in the Western Region Protectorate. In the warm climate of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was able to ensure self-sufficiency in food.

It's just that the ministers have objections to Nanda La. The place is too far away and is the heartland of the Grolu people. The garrison there will make the newly surrendered Grolu people uneasy.

The Grolu chose to surrender to the Song Dynasty in this battle. That was because this nation had always been a weakling. In the Talas war between the Tang Dynasty and the Abbasid Dynasty, the Grolu people rebelled, causing the Tang army's retreat to be attacked, thus losing the battle. A complete failure.

Although the Abbasid Dynasty did not pursue it after the battle, that was due to various objective reasons.

Firstly, the bravery of the Tang army shocked the cannibals. Secondly, the Abbasid Dynasty had just been established the year before, and its internal disputes had not been resolved, so it did not dare to fight a catastrophic war with the Tang Dynasty.

On the contrary, the two countries began to coexist peacefully after the war. Six years later, during the Anshi Rebellion, the Abbasid Dynasty even sent [-] troops to help the Tang Dynasty quell the rebellion.

Almost none of these people went back and stayed in the Tang Dynasty and became the ancestors of the Hui people in later generations.

But for the Tang Dynasty, this battle caused the Tang Dynasty to lose its absolute control over the Western Regions and gradually lost control.

It was precisely because of the betrayal of the Grolu people that Dashi gave them the benefit of migrating to the Talas area, occupying the original Tuqishi territory, and gradually became stronger.

Now Ge Luolu was weak and was ruled by the Black Khanate. He also stabbed the Black Khanate in the back and surrendered to the Song Dynasty.

However, the original condition for surrender was that they remained a tribe and were not willing to change their land and return it to farmland. After calculation, the Song Dynasty thought that the area was not suitable for farming, so they agreed to their conditions.

Although the various tribes of Geluolu are now restricted by the imperial court and divided into areas for grazing life, they still retain a certain degree of independence.

Being unable to resist the Song Dynasty does not mean that they are willing to be used as a military town. In that case, they will have no sense of security at all and will worry that the court will force them to return to their native land.

The Chuyue Department is also handled in the same way, but the current population of the Chuyue Department is too small, but many people are willing to fully integrate into farming.

Therefore, when Zhang Heng went to Balashagon this time, in addition to patrolling the area, he also planned to inspect various places and then relocate the people in Yuebu who were willing to farm.

"If Your Majesty feels that it is necessary to establish a military town near the west of the Black Khanate, I think Talas is better. After all, the city itself is a military fortress, but Nandala has always been a commercial center."

Upon seeing this, Han Qi suggested, and Zhao Fang frowned at the thought: "Talas is indeed a military fortress, but it is located in the middle of two rivers and cannot accommodate too many people."

This is indeed a headache. Although Talos is famous in history, it is because of the war between the Tang Dynasty and Arabia that people remember this place.

In fact, this is just a small city, located on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in later generations. Compared with Nyatala and Balasagon, the water source here is a big problem.

Of course, the strategic location here is also very important. It is located in the northwest corner of the Tianshan Mountains, but the problem is that water is a necessity for all life and production.

(End of this chapter)