Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The Gaochang Uighur envoy quickly alerted Ju Ming because the envoy from Yelu Dashi was hidden inside!

In order to keep confidentiality, the envoy did not reveal his identity along the way, and only informed the officials of Honglu Temple when he arrived in Tokyo.

Although the Liao Kingdom has been destroyed, Mobei has not yet been included in the rule of the Jin Kingdom. Including the Altay region of Xinjiang in later generations, which together with Mobei formed the Northwest Road Recruitment Department of the Liao Kingdom, these places still maintained the administrative system of the Liao Kingdom.

Once existing in name only, each ministry has tended to become independent.

It was Yelu Dashi who led two hundred cavalry and used force to intimidate those tribes from taking rash actions, and gained dominance through the great righteousness of reviving the Liao Kingdom.

In the past few years, he has been connecting various ministries. If he is really disobedient, he will directly send troops to fight.

This year we just settled down the Nianbage Tribe (the predecessor of the Naiman Tribe) in the Altay region, and we went south to contact the Gaochang Uighurs. I heard that the Gaochang Uighurs were going to the Ming Dynasty as envoys, so they quietly came with the envoys.

Zhu Ming first met with the Gaochang Uighur envoy. After listening to the narrative, he asked: "In other words, Yelv Dashi just established diplomatic relations with Gaochang?"

The leader of the Uighur envoy in Gaochang was named Ceche, which means "keeping the precepts" in Buddhism. He replied: "Our country has always been a vassal state of the Liao Dynasty. Yelu Dashi claimed that the Liao Kingdom was orthodox and ordered our country to continue to swear surrender."

Zhu Ming nodded and said: "The Liao Kingdom and China are brotherly states, and Gaochang's surrender to the Liao Kingdom is not considered a betrayal."

Ceche expressed his loyalty and said: "Although our country is surrendered to the Liao Dynasty, our heart is with China. We used to be nephews to the Song Dynasty. Now that the Ming Dynasty has replaced the Song Dynasty, please let the prince continue to let Gaochang be China's nephew."

Ju Ming said: "I will report to His Majesty Ming to formally enthrone the King of Gaochang."

"Thank you, Your Highness, Prince!" Ceche was overjoyed.

Gaochang occupies Hami and Turpan, which are important nodes on the Silk Road. It can be said that it is a crime to cherish a treasure.

They could only look for their father everywhere. In the past, the Liao Kingdom was their father, and the Song Dynasty was their uncle. Later, they even regarded Yelu Dashi as their father.

You can first enthrone the King of Gaochang, then destroy Xixia and open up the Hexi Corridor, and then send troops to Gaochang.

If the king is wise, he can retain the throne, but the military power must be deprived. The specific model is similar to the Mongolian rule of Dali - the king of Dali is still there, and the military and political power belongs to Mongolia.

After Ceche retreated, the envoy of the Yellow-headed Uighur was brought in again.

There are many tribes of Yellow-headed Uighurs, and they lack a big leader with enough prestige.

They were nomadic in northern Qinghai, southwestern Gansu and southeastern Xinjiang, and were nominally affiliated with the Longyou Protectorate of the Song Dynasty. They usually pay tribute to the Song Dynasty with some specialties and eat leftovers from the Silk Road. If they are threatened by Xixia force, they will ask the Song Dynasty to send troops to help.

And if the Song Dynasty attacked Xixia from Hehuang, it would also ask the Yellow-headed Uighurs to send troops to harass (mainly plunder) the southwestern border of Xixia.

After some exchanges, Ju Ming agreed to the canonization.

The Ming Dynasty will confer three generals among the Yellow-headed Uighur tribes, and the other tribal leaders will all be generals.

The Longyou Protectorate of the Northern Song Dynasty has been abolished and will not be reestablished until the Qinghai-Tibet conquest in the future. The Yellow-headed Uighur is an extremely important force leading the way.

Zhu Ming asked: "To the west of Xixia is Gaochang, which country is to the west of Gaochang?"

A yellow-headed Uighur envoy said: "To the west of Gaochang is the Black Khanate, and the religion they believe in is the Great Food Sect."

Ju Ming nodded in thought, corresponding with the Kara Khanate in his memory.

At this time, the Kara Khanate had been divided into two parts: the east and the west. Later, Yelu Dashi's westward expedition mainly focused on the Eastern Kara Khanate.

After the Eastern Kara Khanate annexed Khotan, it continued to pretend to be Khotan to pay tribute, and in official documents called the Emperor of the Song Dynasty "the uncle of the Han family and the official family".

A bunch of political powers from the Western Regions came to China to recognize his uncle. The reason was that the emperor of the Tang Dynasty married a princess.

At that time, the princess was married to a Uighur, which led to the Western Region regimes fighting for Uighur legitimacy since the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties.

Even the Kara Khanate, which came from the west, followed the local customs and competed for Uighur legal authority, vying to be the nephew of the Chinese emperor.

And there is some truth to it, because the Kara Khanate was established by the Uighurs who moved westward.

Although the legal system sounds rather empty, it is extremely easy to use. It can improve the stability of rule, establish the legitimacy of the ruler, and make it more difficult for domestic rebels to rebel.

…

The envoy sent by Yelu Dashi is called Xiao Orila!

This man was born in the Xiao family, a descendant of the Liao Kingdom, and once served as the king of the Six Tribes of Xi. After being held captive by the Jin people and successfully escaping, he has been following Yelu Dashi.

Xiao Weili paid a visit and exchanged a few words of greetings before getting straight to the point: "I heard that the Jin soldiers went south to establish a puppet emperor of the Song Dynasty in Hebei. The Jin Kingdom is an enemy of the Ming Dynasty, and it is also an enemy of our Daliao Dynasty. My Great Khan is willing to form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty. , the two countries are brotherly states, and in the coming year we will attack the Kingdom of Jin from the north to the south!"

Ju Ming asked: "How many troops does your lord have?"

Xiao Weili said: "The Great Khan has one hundred thousand elite soldiers!"

Ju Ming smiled and said: "If there were really 100,000 elite soldiers, I'm afraid they would have gone to fight the Jin Kingdom long ago."

Xiao Orila said: "Although there are not 100,000, there must be 60,000 elite soldiers."

Zhu Ming said: "Go back and tell Yelu Dashi that I know very well how many soldiers he has. There is no need to bluff to deceive. There will definitely be a battle between the Ming Dynasty and the Jin Kingdom next year, and then he can send troops to flank the Jin Kingdom."

"His Royal Highness is indeed a cheerful person!" Xiao Weili was overjoyed.

At this time, Yelu Dashi had not yet thought about the western expedition. He had been integrating the remaining forces of the Liao Kingdom and wanted to lead his troops back from Mobei.

Two years ago, Yelu Dashi contacted Xixia and asked Xixia to attack the Jin Kingdom's northern Shanxi territory. Unexpectedly, Xixia turned around and sold him, and directly paid tribute to the Jin Kingdom.

The idea of ​​"Yelü Dashi's two hundred cavalry conquering Central Asia" is pure fucking nonsense.

Today, Yelu Dashi's residence is in Kodun City, near Ulaanbaatar.

He has ruled Mobei for two or three years. He has incorporated the Mobei border defense army of the Liao Kingdom and directly controls more than 10,000 troops. Now they forced the Nianba Ge tribe in Altay to submit, and also ordered the Gaochang Uighurs to surrender, allowing the Gaochang Uighurs to contain the second and fifth Xixia tribes.

If a war breaks out, Yelu Dashi is likely to directly pull out 20,000 to 30,000 cavalry!

Xiao Weilila said: "The Great Khan has made good friends with the White Tatars, and the White Tatars will no longer sell horses to the Jin Kingdom. The other tribes also have dealings with the Great Khan. Even if His Highness the Prince goes to war with the Jin Kingdom, the Great Khan will definitely be able to Contain the Jin Kingdom's 200,000 soldiers and horses in the north!"

"Then I wish the Ming and Liao flags a victory!" Zhu Ming said with a smile.

The White Tatars, the Wanggu tribe, openly chose to break with the Jin Kingdom under the instigation of Yelu Dashi. Although he still nominally submitted to the Jin Kingdom, he refused to provide the Jin Kingdom with war horses and soldiers.

At the same time, Yelu Dashi was planning to send troops to seize the Jin Kingdom's territory in Mobei.

It is precisely because of Yelu Dashi's various actions that the Jin Kingdom did not make a large-scale move south this year. The Jin people realized that the Ming Dynasty was not weak to the Song Dynasty and could not be conquered in one go. Yelu Dashi was connecting with others, so the Jin Kingdom must first digest and consolidate the homeland of the Liao Kingdom.

What are the consequences of not digesting the territory?

When Yelu Dashi captured the second northern camp of the Jin Kingdom, the Jin Kingdom ordered to send troops to conquer. As a result, the leaders of the Monan tribes did not cooperate at all!

This resulted in the Jin Kingdom's elite being unable to effectively supply supplies along the way, and unable to recruit grassland tribes to fight. The Jin Kingdom launched the Northern Expedition with great vigor, but had to withdraw its troops halfway, which turned into a complete joke.

Xiao Weili asked: "I heard that the Ming Dynasty captured more than 100,000 Xixia soldiers. Can I have a look at the military might of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Okay." Ju Ming smiled.

The Liao envoy brought up this matter because he wanted to observe the combat effectiveness of the Ming army. They were really frightened by the Song army.

Zhu Ming called Bai Sheng and asked him to take the Liao envoy to the military camp outside the city, and summoned soldiers to let the envoy have a good look.

Of the three thousand heavily armored guards, one thousand were taken to Huainan by Wang Yuan and are now stationed in Jiangling to confront Zhong. The remaining two thousand were on duty to guard the imperial city.

Shown in front of Xiao Weili were only five hundred heavily armored guards, led by Gu San.

These soldiers no longer use wolf mills and boring guns, but all use iron-cone armor-piercing infantry combat spears. There is also an iron bone flower on the waist, which weighs only two or three kilograms and is used for close combat.

Gu San personally shouted the command, and the five hundred heavily armored soldiers moved forward, backward, turned, and drew their guns in unison. They even lined up in stacked formations to practice wave attacks and staggered cover retreats.

A layman looks at the excitement, an expert looks at the door.

Xiao Weili, the most important figure in the founding of Xiliao, soon understood that the combat effectiveness of those heavy armored guards was overwhelming. He couldn't help but ask: "How many such warriors do your country have?"

Gu San had received the order early and exaggerated: "Such a strong army is not easy to train. There are only eight thousand people now. The south has not been pacified, five thousand of them were sent to the southern battlefield, and the rest stayed in Tokyo to defend the imperial city." "

"Eight thousand people are not too few," Xiao Orila asked again, "Besides, does your country have a strong army?"

Gu San also asked three thousand people who were practicing the mandarin duck formation to come over and said: "With such an army, my Ming Dynasty has more than 100,000 people."

The three thousand people in front of them did not wear heavy infantry armor, but their armor should not be underestimated.

They all wore armor and helmets. The whole set of armor weighed about 28 kilograms, almost touching the threshold of heavy armor.

Gu San was also bragging. The Yuanyang Formation troops, all equipped with such armor, were actually only thirty or forty thousand people. There are still many troops wearing light armor and are slowly waiting to change their uniforms. All that can be done so far is to completely eliminate paper armor.

The school grounds were deliberately set up to have rough terrain, and wooden boards were even erected to imitate lanes.

The three thousand soldiers were divided into two teams, and one thousand of them stood on small mounds, fighting in formation on the rugged terrain. The other two thousand people used traditional weapons to surround and attack from both sides, but they were still unable to break through the Yuanyang Formation.

Then, in the alleyway made of wooden planks, they fought in small groups.

Xiao Orila exclaimed: "Such a formation is of little use in an open battlefield, but it is invincible in the mountains and in the city!"

Gu San added: "My Ming Dynasty still has more than 30,000 cavalry, which are sent to fight against Xixia and Jin."

Xiao Weili said with emotion: "No wonder the Ming Dynasty was able to defeat the Song Dynasty, and also defeated Xixia, and forced the Jin Kingdom to withdraw its troops. When I return to Kedun City, I will definitely report it to the Ming Khan. When the Liao Kingdom regains its lost territory, I will follow suit. The Liao-Song alliance formed back then, and the two countries have become brothers forever."

Gu San said: "The prince said that the Ming Dynasty did not pay tribute, did not pay tribute, and did not make peace with each other. These are the 'three noes of the Ming Dynasty'. It is impossible for the Liao Kingdom to want Sui coins."

"Sui coins will naturally be invalidated." Xiao Orila chuckled.