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Chapter 889 There is a Crack on the Eggshell
"First arrange them nearby, and find a few people to question them separately. Abash, you stay. Come on, this is our military rations, let's eat and talk." After figuring out everyone's origins and identities, Hong Tao began to stare at the roof in a daze again.

After a while, he seemed to have made a decision. He asked the staff to temporarily settle the Abash family, and then left the head of the Abash family, or Emir, alone. With a wave of his hand, Pingtou Ge and Wang Chengen served dinner. It was really dinner. If it was delayed for more than an hour, it could be eaten as breakfast.

"You can tell him who I am and where I come from, and then ask him why the Khanate's army is arresting its own people."

Since no one understood the language of the Yarkand Khanate and no one knew that the people here could speak Mongolian, Hong Tao did not give any order to capture prisoners and interrogate them.

The Eight Banners Army was quite lethal, and with the addition of the army blocking the outside, almost all the defenders wearing armor and holding weapons were killed in one battle. Whoever was dressed neatly and high-end died the fastest.

Now if he wanted to ask someone something, the only one left was this family of prisoners rescued from the military camp. Hong Tao didn't expect to get much secrets of the Khanate's military mobilization from them, but he couldn't understand why the local garrison wanted to arrest the local tribal leader.

Old man Abash had no idea where the Ming Empire was, and he had never even heard of it. But he still tried to listen carefully to the question raised by the young man next to him in very unstandard Mongolian, and then tried to give a detailed answer.

The current situation is that the arrogant Khanate army was easily defeated by the army led by the Ming Emperor, and the defeat was particularly thorough, without any ability to fight back. And his whole family was also rescued from captivity by the Ming Emperor, at least for now, he did not see any malicious intentions from the other side.

Why is he so sure? Because the emperor of the Ming Empire personally returned his granddaughter to him, without a trace of greed in his eyes. He is sixty years old and the leader of a tribe. He still has some insight into people and has accumulated some simple truths in a complex environment.

A strong man from a foreign tribe, with a group of fierce soldiers, who has absolute superiority, but did not burn, kill or loot the villagers, and treated beautiful young girls with courtesy, is a person who can be negotiated with.

Of course, these points alone can only prove that the other party is still a human being, so don't have too many illusions. If you can't meet the other party's needs, they may turn into man-eating beasts.

"Is there anyone else from the Black Mountain sect here?"

Hong Tao ate as much as he could to fill his stomach as quickly as possible, and spent most of the rest of his time listening. It took him about an hour to barely understand the current situation of the Yarkand Khanate, and he began to ask questions.

Why did he say reluctantly? In addition to the chaotic political situation and organizational structure, the main reason was that he couldn't remember those difficult names and titles. But there was one thing he understood and was very interested in, which was the infighting between the White Mountain Faction and the Black Mountain Faction.

Obviously, this kind of oppression seems to have spread from religious figures to the general public. According to Abash, he did not break any law, nor did he offend the Khanate army. On the contrary, he was very cooperative. However, he was still arrested because of his different religious sects.

"He said there are three emirs near Ruoqiang, and two more in the oasis further east. They are not large in scale, and all of them are from the White Mountain Sect. In the past, the Black Mountain Sect mainly gathered in Yarkand City, and the White Mountain Sect was the largest in Kashgar. But in recent years, most of the White Mountain Sect have been squeezed out, or killed by the Black Mountain Sect under various pretexts.

The leader of the White Mountain Sect is now in Turpan, under the protection of the Turpan Khan. As followers of the White Mountain Sect, they also plan to migrate north in the autumn and live in the territory of the Turpan Khan.

The two translators were responsible for translation, one taking notes while the other dictated. But from their expressions, it can be seen that they were similar to those listening to the heavenly book, and many words could only be transliterated. "Oh... now the Black Mountain faction is in power... why don't you ask him why he ran to the territory of Turpan Khan and felt safe?"

Although Hong Tao didn't quite understand some of the words, he had thousands of years of history in his head, so he could draw inferences by analogy. He was able to understand the main idea, and the more he listened, the more interested he became, and the more he asked questions.

It was just like someone handed me a pillow just when I was about to fall asleep, and I was worrying about the lack of mature methods to rule the people under the rule of the Yarkand Khanate. Hey, here comes the opportunity.

Religious disputes! This thing is as powerful as an atomic bomb. It can cause a large-scale conflict without a word. There are countless examples of this in history. For example, the war between Protestants and Catholics on the European continent at this time can last for decades without much external interference.

The most prominent example in this regard is Islam. Thousands of years ago, Islam once ruled many areas in the Middle East and along the Mediterranean coast, including most of Spain.

If it weren't for the extremely fierce religious disputes within Europe, it is possible that Europe would have been completely devoured bit by bit, and Africa would have been even less likely to be spared.

Without mentioning the distant past, there are obvious examples in the present. Why did Ligdan Khan, who was of pure blood and noble birth and should have been the Great Khan of all Mongolia, become increasingly miserable? One of the main reasons was that he promoted the Red Sect, which made most of the Mongolian nobles who originally believed in the Yellow Sect dissatisfied.

From these examples, it seems that religious disputes are bad. Yes, but good and bad need to be judged from different perspectives.

For the Yarkand Khanate, the conflict between the White Mountain Sect and the Black Mountain Sect was a catastrophic one, which certainly affected stability. But for the Ming Empire, the religious dispute was a very obvious crack in the eggshell.

Hong Tao, known as the big green bean fly, is used to looking for cracks to lay eggs wherever he goes. He must be ecstatic when he encounters such a good opportunity. His fertility increases dramatically. He is not satisfied with just one egg and wants to lay a pair!

The Baishan faction is currently at a disadvantage, and so is the Turpan Khan. These two losers are temporarily banding together for warmth, but they are definitely not holding back. They will surely try every possible means to accumulate strength and prepare for a showdown with heretics and political enemies.

However, judging by the population of the territory they occupy and the number of believers they have, it would be difficult to turn the tables, so the help that comes to their doorstep becomes very tempting.

If someone said to them at this time, I will send troops and supplies to help you defeat the Yarkand Khan and the Black Mountain Sect, and then hand over the Khanate to you to manage, would these two people, or these two forces, be tempted?

If you are not moved, you are not a human being! Whether it is a tribal leader or a religious leader, why do they risk their lives to fight? What are they fighting for? The answer is very simple, two words, power!

(End of this chapter)