Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

When the Ming Dynasty issued treasure banknotes, Yelu Dashi was on his way to the west.

It's just a "Western Expedition". He didn't say that he was going to run away. If it didn't work out, he might come back.

The Mongolian tribes and the White Tatars completely separated from Yelu Dashi. But some other tribes in Mobei still nominally surrendered to him, and gave a small number of warriors and herdsmen as gifts to follow Yelu Dashi all the way west.

After crossing the Altai Mountains, the Naiman tribe gave strong support.

However, although the leaders of the Naiman tribe are willing to send troops to help and provide materials and people, they do not want Yelu Dashi to really stay here.

Because the grassland cannot accommodate so many people!

Yelv Dashi could only lead his troops southward, cross the Tianshan Pass to Turpan, and use the Gaochang Uighurs to attack the Eastern Kara Khanate.

King Bilege of Gaochang was so frightened that he was afraid that Yelu's big stone dove would occupy the magpie's nest.

He took out the canonization edict of the Ming emperor and claimed that the Gaochang Uighurs were a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. He also held a banquet for Yelu Dashi for three days, and sent 600 horses, 100 camels, and 3,000 sheep as gifts to wish Yelu Dashi a success in his western expedition.

Then, Bilugo quietly sent someone to report to the Eastern Kara Khanate, saying that Yelu Dashi's army would soon kill them.

Probably when they reached the territory of Kyrgyzstan in later generations, the army of the Eastern Kara Khanate ambushed Yelu Dashi in the mountains.

Yelu Dashi was defeated miserably and fled with his troops in embarrassment.

Fortunately, the women and children were temporarily placed in the Naiman tribe, otherwise this ambush could have wiped out Yelu Dashi's capital.

Yelu Dashi had doubts in his heart and always felt that he had been betrayed.

He returned along the original route with the remaining soldiers, but was ambushed by Gaochang Uighurs.

"My sons, now we have to fight to the death, otherwise we will all die here!"

At the critical moment, Yelu Dashi personally led hundreds of cavalry to charge, and the ordinary cavalry also moved forward bravely.

Although the Gaochang Uighurs have more armored cavalry and their overall numerical superiority, they have not fought hard for many years. Facing the Western Liao soldiers and horses fighting against the trapped beasts, the Gaochang Uighurs were defeated in front of them and were chased all the way back to Bielsbali.

There is a wall in Beishibali. It was once the seat of the Beiting Protectorate in the Tang Dynasty and is now the royal city of the Gaochang Uighurs.

Yelu Dashi rushed to the city in person and asked: "I only used the road to march and did not plunder along the way to Gaochang. Why did you betray my whereabouts and send troops to ambush me on my way back?"

Big Brother panicked and defended: "I did not betray your ambush soldiers and horses, they were all actions without permission. I would like to give you fifty more camels, five thousand sheep, and a thousand male and female slaves as a gift to you."

As he spoke, he threatened in a very subtle way: "If Gaochang had not become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, I would have surrendered the whole country to you!"

Yelu Dashi looked at the fortified city in front of him. If there was no city wall, he would not care whose vassal country it belonged to. He would definitely crush this place to ashes the hatred.

It's a pity that he was ambushed and defeated in the first time. Although he won on the way back, he suffered a lot of losses. Moreover, the Gaochang Uighurs had the support of the Ming Dynasty and the strong city in front of them as a stronghold. Hatred must be restrained!

After accepting Gaochang's "gift", Yelu Dashi headed to the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain.

Although the Gaochang army was not good at fighting, its armor was pretty good. The Xixia Iron Kites were originally imitated by the Gaochang cavalry.

In this bloody battle, Yelu Dashi captured nearly a thousand armors, which, including his previous wealth, was enough to equip 1,300 armored cavalry.

Just when Yelu Dashi didn't know where to go, a small Khitan tribe came to seek refuge. The leader said to Yelu Dashi: "Go west along the north side of Tianshan Mountain. There is a land of seven rivers with rich water and grass. Many Khitan people migrated here and scattered. Nomadicism is out of place and they are often oppressed by local tribes.”

"There are actually Khitans in the west?" Yelu Dashi said in surprise.

The tribal leader said: "As long as the Great Khan leads his troops, not only the Khitans will be willing to surrender, but also many other tribes will surrender. Because the nobles and priests of the Black Khanate force outsiders and small tribes like us to convert. No. Those who want to convert are often massacred. Even if they convert, they are still exploited."

Of course, the fertile land of Seven Rivers cannot be easily captured.

Those scattered small Khitan tribes are actually distributed on the edge of the Land of Seven Rivers. Strictly speaking, they are not even the edge - approximately in the Tacheng, Karamay, and Bortala areas of Xinjiang.

Yelu Dashi immediately led his army there. Due to his status as a noble of the Liao Kingdom, the Khitan tribes here all joined him and regarded him as their backbone and savior.

There was almost no fighting, just armed marches, and Yelu Dashi conquered the nearby non-Khitan tribes.

He finally has a base and a territory that is completely his own!

Even the tribes north of the Tianshan Mountains that originally submitted to Gaochang have fallen into the arms of Yelu Dashi.

Counting the tribesmen brought from Mobei, the Naiman tribe who were willing to obey him, and the small tribes on the western edge of Mobei, there were already 40,000 households in Yelu Dashi's territory.

The current westernmost territory of Yelv Dashi is probably the China-Kazakhstan border in northern Xinjiang.

He has already set a goal for next year, which is to conquer the pastures around Zhaisangbo and Ara Lake.

After taking care of these two places, the next step is Lake Balkhash.

Standing on the banks of the Yemili River (Emin River) in Zhuma, Yelu Dashi looked at the grassland that was not fertile. For a moment, he was open-minded and filled with emotion. He felt that the sky was so high that birds could fly, and the sea was so wide that fish could leap.

"This is the real foundation for establishing a career!" Yelu Dashi laughed loudly.

The general Xiao Weili said: "This land was given to the Great Khan by God. It is sandwiched between the Black Khanate and Gaochang. It has been waiting for the Great Khan for hundreds of years!"

"Hahahaha!" Yelu Dashi smiled even more happily.

In fact, it is because it is too desolate and poor, and it is too far away from the core of the two countries' rule. Neither the Gaochang Uighurs nor the Eastern Kara Khanate look down upon it. They only occasionally send troops to show off their force and bully the small tribes here, and then use this area as a buffer zone between the two countries.

Only Yelu Dashi, a bereaved dog, regards the territory that others look down upon as a treasure.

Yelu Dashi held a whip and commented: "Although I was ambushed and defeated by the Black Khanate, I do not regard the Black Khanate as a strong enemy. Such a dangerous terrain, and an ambush on three sides in advance, actually allowed us to escape, and we were not left behind. There are too many warriors. If it were me who ambushed them, the enemy would have been completely annihilated! From this we can infer that the Black Khanate’s troops are meager and I can easily defeat them head-on!"

Xiao Weili said with an admiring look on his face: "With the blessing of God, the Great Khan is indomitable, brave and good at fighting, and he will surely restore the Liao Kingdom in the Western Regions!"

Yelu's big stone whip pointed forward: "You and I, working together, can create a foundation for eternity."

"drive!"

Dozens of cavalry followed Yelu Dashi and ran wildly. They were going to explore the terrain farther west and be fully prepared for sending troops to conquer next year.

Looking back to the southeast, Yelu Dashi was filled with resentment and the ill will of being stabbed in the back.

Once he has enough strength, he will definitely fight back to Beishi Bali and conquer the Gaochang Uighur.

He doesn’t care whose vassal country Gaochang belongs to!

…

Yelu Dashi has a foothold, but the Jin Kingdom is in a fight.

A political system like the Jin Kingdom must continue to fight, and problems will arise once it is idle.

Last year they conquered Yelu Dashi, and this year they conquered Huangtou Jurchen.

The Yellow-headed Jurchens are located in the Daxingan Mountains and along the Heilongjiang River. They were formerly called Huangtou Shiwei and were conquered by the Jin Kingdom more than ten years ago.

A group of blond minorities.

"Those with many yellow hair, yellow temples, and green eyes are called yellow-headed Jurchens." - "Three Dynasties Beimeng Huibian".

So far away from Mobei, the Huang-headed Jurchen actually surrendered and rebelled again. In the past two years, she surrendered to Yelu Dashi and went south along the Nenjiang River and Heilongjiang River to plunder the Jin Kingdom.

The reason is very simple. The Kingdom of Jin increased the tribute amount of the Huangtou tribe, allowing the four Huangtou tribes to pay more tribute every year!

Now, they have restored their clan name and changed it to "Huangtou Shiwei".

Wanyan Zonghan personally led the troops to conquer, all the way north along the Nen River and all the way north along the Heilongjiang River.

The Jin soldiers fought consecutively and successfully, grabbing a lot of fish, pearls and furs, and captured many blond slaves. But that’s all, it’s not enough to consume military rations for sending troops!

Two of the four tribes of Huangtou Shiwei surrendered to the Jin Kingdom again, while the two further north were still resisting.

When the Jin soldiers came, they went to the Daxingan Mountains. The Jin soldiers left and came out again, and then they went south to plunder. Anyway, they wanted to fight the Jin country to the end.

After returning to Shangjing with the prisoners and trophies, Wanyan Zonghan felt very unhappy.

This battle was fought at a loss. Huangtou Shiwei's gang of savages were too poor!

Two birch bark boats came at full speed and quickly approached Wanyan Zonghan's marching troops.

"Stop, stop!"

The soldiers began to fire arrows.

The people on the boat shouted: "I am Wen Du Sizhong, let me go quickly!"

The arrows stopped immediately, and someone came to respond.

Wanyan Zonghan asked: "But what happened to Beijing?"

Wen Du Sizhong looked to the left and right, but stopped talking.

Wanyan Zonghan asked his soldiers to disperse and whispered, "Go ahead."

"Xie Ye died of illness," Wen Du Sizhong said.

"What? I was fine before I sent out the troops." Wanyan Zonghan was shocked.

Wanyan Xie is also the leader of the Jin Kingdom's ancestral line. He coordinates to appease the ancestral line nobles and reaches a delicate balance with Wanyan Zonghan.

This man suddenly died of illness, and chaos broke out in the Kingdom of Jin again.

Wanyan Zonghan suddenly felt like his head was as big as a fight. His biggest political opponent was dead, which was not necessarily a good thing.

Those ancestral nobles are all arrogant and have high self-esteem.

With Wanyan Xie also stepping in to suppress them, they didn't dare to mess around. Now that the leading King of Hell is dead, the following group of bull-headed and horse-faced people don’t know what trouble they can cause.

Wen Du Sizhong said: "When Xiye died, the ancestral line was leaderless, and a large number of them were attracted by the emperor. The emperor held a meeting a few days ago and wanted to accept the prince (Aguda's eldest grandson) as his adopted son, and also wanted his own son to be the leader of the country. Lie, there is actually a large group of ancestral nobles supporting him. Orben (Wanyan Zongqian) can no longer suppress him, please Marshal, please lead your troops back as soon as possible."

This was a counterattack by Emperor Wu Qimai of the Jin Kingdom. While Wanyan Xie also died of illness and Wanyan Zonghan was out leading his troops, he unknowingly recruited a bunch of ancestral families.

Moreover, there are very good reasons for accepting the prince as his adopted son. I am the emperor, isn't it natural for me to accept the prince as my adopted son?

He even wanted his eldest son to inherit the position of prime minister vacated by Wanyan Xie who also died of illness.

Wanyan Zonghan hurriedly marched back to Beijing, discussed with Wanyan Zongqian at night, and proposed to convene the Bojilie Conference the next day.

At the meeting, Wanyan Zongqian said: "The treasury has been repeatedly stolen recently, and even the wine in the warehouse was stolen. I sent people to investigate in detail and found that it was stolen by His Majesty the Emperor. How should we deal with this?"

Wanyan Zonghan said: "According to the law established by Taizu, you should be beaten with twenty military sticks!"

Wanyan Zongqian said: "But it is the emperor who steals the treasury."

"Is the emperor greater than Taizu's law?" Wanyan Zonghan asked.

Wanyan Zongqian said: "It seems that Taizu's law is greater."

The two of them sang in harmony, which completely confused Wu Qimai, and the other nobles who attended the meeting were also confused.

Wanyan Zonghan suddenly stood up, rushed to the dragon chair, and grabbed Emperor Wu Qimai down: "After beating the military stick, we can continue the meeting!"

"I am the emperor, I am the emperor!" Wu Qimai was shocked.

What about the emperor?

Stealing the treasury is still spanking.

Those ancestral nobles who turned to Wu for help looked at Wanyan Zonghan, who held military power, and Wanyan Zongqian, who controlled half of the court, and were so frightened that they did not dare to say a word of objection.

The dignified Emperor of the Jin Kingdom was really dragged out and spanked like this.

(Updated, I’m not a barker!)