Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 706

Thinking of this, Hu Sanguang went out of the shift and said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Left Prime Minister, Mr. Right Prime Minister, there is something else hidden about this matter. I suggest that we discuss it later at the Xiaochao Conference."

The so-called Xiaochaohui was decided by Ye Chen, and only the officials of the Xiangfu Kingdom who were above rank two and those who were authorized by Ye Chen could participate.The purpose is to improve work efficiency and not waste the time of some officials who have nothing to do with the discussion.

After hearing what Hu Sanguang said, Han Xizai and Ma Wentao couldn't help but look surprised. Both of them are human beings. Hu Sanguang is the head of the intelligence department, who has some information that they don't know, and is His Majesty's real confidant. He said, Obviously there must be something hidden in this matter.Thinking in this way, the two raised their heads and took a peek at Ye Chen, and found that His Majesty the Emperor was frowning with a strange expression, so they didn't say anything about Khitan's marriage to a princess.

Next, the envoys who went to Khotan reported the request of Khotan to establish diplomatic relations.The monarch and ministers of Xiangfu Kingdom had a lively discussion again.During this period, Han Xizai, who was already knowledgeable and learned about the history of the Western Regions these days, carefully introduced the history of Khotan to Ye Chen.

The Kingdom of Khotan can be said to be the most special country in the Western Regions, with an extremely tortuous history. It is precisely its particularity that makes the king and ministers of the Xiangfu Kingdom have to consider the requirements of the Kingdom of Khotan.

In the Western Han Dynasty, the Yuchi family established the Khotan Kingdom, which was one of the most powerful countries in the Southern Western Regions.Khotan is located on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin, connected to Qiemo and Shanshan in the east, and Shache and Shule in the west. Khotan prospered for a time because it was an important trade base along the Silk Road. .After the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions in the Western Han Dynasty, it belonged to the Han Dynasty, and its territory included the three counties of Hotan, Luopu and Moyu in later generations.

At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was annexed by Shache.In the fourth year of Emperor Yongping of the Han Ming Dynasty, the nobleman Guangde became king, destroyed Shache, and obeyed Khotan. In the 16th year, the Sima Banchao of the Han army arrived in Khotan, and Guangde killed the Hun envoys to descend to Han. Banchao used this as a base to attack Gumo in the north, break Shache and Shule in the west, and Khotan sent troops to help.At that time, among the countries in the South Road, only Khotan and Shanshan were strong.

Later, the king of Khotan killed King Xingmi and made his son king Xingmi himself.Xu You, the prefect of Dunhuang, dispatched 2 people from Panfa, the king of Shule, to defeat Khotan, and made Chengguo the king of the clan of Wang Xing.Anguo, the king of Khotan, attacked Tangmi again and killed his king. There were many dead in the kingdom of Khotan.The captain of Wuji and the governor of the Western Regions each sent troops to assist Ding Xing, the servant of Ding Mi, as king. At that time, there were only a thousand people in the Ding Mi Kingdom.From then on, the state of Jimi fell into a slump and was eventually annexed by Khotan.

Khotan annexed the cities of Pishan, Qule, Ronglu, and Tangmi.Then it became a powerful country that "obeyed the thirteen kingdoms from Jingjue Northwest to Shule", and its territory roughly included the Hotan area of ​​later generations.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, they still paid tribute to the Central Plains Dynasty.It also annexed Ronglu, Jimi, Qule, Pishan and other countries.In the Western Jin Dynasty, it was a big country in the Western Regions together with Shanshan, Yanqi, Qiuci, and Shule.During the Northern Wei Dynasty, it was successively attacked by Tuyuhun and Rouran, and the country gradually declined.

In the 14th year of Zhenguan, the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Gaochang Kingdom, and established the Anxi Dufu in Jiaohe City, Xizhou (now the site of the old city of Xijiaohe, Turpan, Xinjiang), to manage military and political affairs in the Western Regions.

In June of the 20th year of Zhenguan, Western Turkic Yipishekui Khan asked for a marriage, and Tang made his subordinates cut off the five kingdoms of Kucha, Khotan, Shule, Zhujupo, and Congling as dowry gifts.

In the 22nd year of Zhenguan, after the Tang army entered the country of Qiuci, they moved the Anxi Dufu to the capital of the country of Qiuci (now Kuqa, Xinjiang), and at the same time set up in Qiuci, Yanqi (southwest of Yanqi, Xinjiang) and Khotan (southwest of Hotan, Xinjiang). )﹑Shule (now Kashgar, Xinjiang) built castles and built military towns in the four cities, which were both guarded and unified by Anxi, so they are called "Anxi Four Towns" for short.

In the first year of Xianheng, Tubo occupied Khotan.In the fourth year of Xianheng, Khotan King Fu Jixiong drove away Tubo and entered the Tang Dynasty in person. Tang Yutian established the Bisha Dudu Mansion, under the jurisdiction of six cities and ten Jimi prefectures, and appointed Fu Jixiong as the governor.In the third year of Yifeng, Tubo occupied the four towns of Anxi.In the fourth year of Yifeng, Cui Zhi argued against Tubo, and the Tang Dynasty occupied the four towns of Anxi.In the second year of Chuigong, Wu Zetian deliberately won over the hearts of the people after quelling the chaos of Xu and Jingye, showing that he "works with benevolence rather than wide, and with support rather than killing. He will be despicable and despicable, and he will do what the three emperors and five emperors do." Order to abandon the four towns of Anxi.Tubo took the opportunity to occupy the four towns of Anxi. In the first year of Empress Wu's longevity, Wang Xiaojie, the general manager of Tang Wuwei's army, led an army to defeat Tubo, regained the four towns, and sent troops to station for a long time.

During the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, Yu Chisheng entered the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty married the daughter of the clan, and awarded it to General Youweiwei and the governor of Bisha Prefecture.Anlu Mountain rebelled, and Yu Chisheng led his troops to the Central Plains. After the chaos was over, he died in Chang'an.In the third year of Emperor Suzong of Tang Dynasty Qianyuan), Tang granted Wei Chiyao and the deputy envoy of the four towns Jiedu, and managed the affairs of the country.He led the local people to guard Khotan together with Tang Zhen's defenders.In the sixth year of Zhenyuan, Tubo occupied Beiting and Khotan, one of the four Anxi towns.In the following years, Tubo occupied the other three towns in Anxi.Later, Zhang Yichao launched an uprising in Shazhou, and Tubo's rule in Hexi, Longyou, and the Western Regions collapsed.Khotan also took the opportunity to get rid of the shackles of Tubo, and began to communicate with the Shazhou Guiyi Army regime in Dunhuang.

After the imperial court of the later Jin Dynasty conferred Li Shengtian as the "King of Great Treasure Khotan", "Great Treasure Khotan Kingdom" became the official title of Khotan Kingdom.The territory of the Kingdom of Khotan extends to the northeast to the vicinity of Ruoqiang today, facing the Zhongyun Department across the Cheerchen River; the south reaches the Kunlun Mountains, bordering Tubo; the northwest is close to Kashgar.

In 960 A.D., the same year when Zhao Kuangyin launched the Chenqiao Mutiny, Musa Khan of the Karahan Dynasty declared Christianity as the state religion. Religious wars broke out because of religious beliefs.At the beginning of the war, Khotan had an advantage. After repelling the attack of the Karahan Dynasty, they marched westward and captured Kashgar for a time.Although the Karahan dynasty regained Kashgar with the support of Japanese reinforcements, it did not turn the tide of battle. Ali Khan himself died in the war with Khotan.

Khotan’s financial, material and manpower are inferior to the Karahan Dynasty, and the protracted war has greatly damaged its strength. Until today, it is gradually at a disadvantage. Moreover, the Karahan Dynasty has continued to conquer, and almost wants to destroy the Khotan Kingdom.The Kingdom of Khotan has sent envoys to the Song Dynasty to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty every year, and at the same time asked the Song Dynasty to send troops to help.But Zhao Kuangyin thought that the Western Regions were beyond his reach, so he ignored it.

This time, Ye Chen established the Xiangfu Kingdom, and sent envoys to all surrounding countries and forces to inform all parties. After the Kingdom of Khotan had a deep understanding of the situation in the Xiangfu Kingdom, it believed that the Xiangfu Kingdom had the potential to become their ally. Possibility of being sent to help.Because Khotan is the only country in the Western Regions where almost all the people are Han or Sinicized, and it is a pearl of Chinese civilization in the Western Regions.Although there are also alien races in Xiangfu Kingdom, it is obviously also the Chinese Dynasty, and compared with Song Dynasty, Xiangfu Kingdom is much closer to Khotan Kingdom, so Khotan Kingdom wants to form an alliance with Xiangfu Kingdom, and requests Xiangfu Kingdom sent troops to help.Otherwise, the existence of Xiangfu Kingdom will not be recognized.

Of course, Xiangfu Kingdom, headed by Ye Chen, has already finalized its style of doing things at the beginning of its establishment --- focusing on pragmatism, telling the world is just a necessary procedure, whether other countries or other forces will admit it , is of little practical significance.What everyone is discussing now is whether to send troops to help, or whether the time is ripe to send troops at this time.

Although the officials know that Ye Chen intends to unify the Western Regions, they have even begun to arrange spies and spies in the early stage to collect information on the various countries and tribes in the Western Regions.However, including Han Xizai, Yang Jiye, Ma Wentao and others, they finally agreed that it was not yet time to send troops to the Western Regions.

Because, everyone knows that the establishment of Xiangfu Kingdom, whether it is for the sake of face, for the sake of dignity or because of hatred, the monarchs and ministers of the Great Song Dynasty will definitely not give up.At the very least, it is bound to give the people of the world an appearance that they will not let it go.Otherwise, all walks of life and armies under the Song Dynasty followed Ye Chen one after another, that would be fine.

Ye Chen doesn't think so, because in his opinion, Khotan Kingdom will be his only natural ally in the Western Regions, and it doesn't matter whether other countries in the Western Regions establish diplomatic relations with Xiangfu Kingdom.However, the relationship with Khotan must be improved.However, Ye Chen also knew that what the ministers said was reasonable, and finally decided to send 5000 people to support Khotan. How to implement it, Ye Chen asked the military headquarters to make a detailed march and support operation plan.

…………

"Princess Haoyue of the Liao Kingdom is the empress I have long appointed. She and I have made a private decision for life three years ago. It is a long story here, so I will not go into details. It was just over a month ago that the Empress Dowager Khitan also The queen mother of my Xiangfu country was seriously ill. The queen went to Khitan to visit her in Beijing. She has not returned yet. I received news that although the queen was not detained by the Khitan Xiao Chuoxiao Queen Mother, I am afraid that she was also forced to agree to an upright Marry me again..." At the Xiaochaohui after the court meeting, Ye Chen took the initiative to say.

Except for Li Junhao, Bai Canghai, Lian Jicheng, Hu Sanguang and other Ye Chen's old subordinates, the rest of Ye Chen's second rank and above were stunned when they heard the words.

After a while, Han Xizai was the first to come to his senses, and after careful consideration of his words, he said, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask, has your Majesty and the Empress ever had a wedding?"

Ye Chen remembered that three years ago, Yu Daoxiang dressed up as Kaifeng's oiran pipa queen Li Siyan and married him as a concubine. Now it seems that with Yu Daoxiang's identity as the eldest princess of Liao Dynasty, it is obvious that such a simple wedding is innumerable.

Ye Chen didn't hide anything, and told all the ministers the truth.

Han Xizai sighed with a complicated expression, and said, "Since this is the case, in the capacity of His Majesty and the Jade Empress, it is reasonable for the Liao Kingdom to remarry the Jade Empress to Your Majesty."

Ma Wentao's face was slightly angry, and he said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I think this is a plot by Empress Dowager Xiao of the Liao Kingdom... No, it is a conspiracy, because we have no way to refuse. Unless your majesty does not want to make Princess Haoyue the Queen. "

(End of this chapter)