The sand is flat and the wind is raging.

Going north to the hinterland of Khalhan, Song Jiang's soldiers had long lost their ferocity and greed when they first arrived, their lips turned pale, and they moved with difficulty.

After capturing the city, there were too many looted property, but it became a burden, so Song Jiang had to discuss with the generals, and set up a special transport team to keep the spoils of the soldiers one by one and transport them back.

At first, everyone was not at ease, and if they wanted to hold it by themselves, the more difficult it was to walk the further they went.

Chi Rong, the prince of Khotan, was already tired and irritable, chattering on his horse.

Song Jiang really thought he was noisy, so he said in a low voice: "You go to the front and ask, when will you be able to get to Samarkand." ”

Hua Rong reluctantly urged the horse forward, and just a few steps away, he shouted loudly: "Haha, brother, we have arrived." ”

Song Jiang stepped forward, only to see that in front of him were cities in the sand, full of oases, full of exotic buildings and altars, this city that suddenly appeared in the desert for so long gave people a dreamlike feeling.

Behind him, countless soldiers didn't have this feeling, they were more like Hua Rong, slowly touching the handle of their swords.

"His mother, it's finally here, hurry up and go in and rest." Hua Rong drew his knife in his hand, took the lead, and rushed down.

As soon as Song Jiang waved his hand, the Chinese army flag waved, and there was no formation, no matter what tactics, tens of thousands of troops howled and rushed down.

The soldiers and civilians of the city, who were praying, lay on the ground reverently, and felt the tremor of the earth.

Alarm bells are ringing everywhere, Samarkand is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, an important hub on the Silk Road, connecting the three empires of ancient China, the Persian Empire and India, and the once merchandising Sogdians built Samarkand into a beautiful capital.

In the 4th century B.C., when Alexander the Great of Macedonia captured the city, he could not help but exclaim: "Everything I have heard is true, except that Samarkand is more spectacular than I imagined." ”

The Qarakhanid dynasty controlled trade between China and the West for a long time, and for most of the Song dynasty, they pocketed the profits of the Eurasian Silk Road trade.

Twenty years ago, the Qarakhanid Dynasty was officially split into two, with the Western Khan being a descendant of Ali, commonly known as the Ali lineage, which owned the Transoxiana region and the western part of Ferghana, with Samarkand and Bukhara as its capitals;

Dong Khan is a descendant of Harun Bugra Khan, commonly known as Harun or Hasan, and has the Talas, Baishui City, Stone City, eastern Ferghana, the Seven Rivers Valley and Kashgar, with Barasagon as the political and military capital, and Kashgar as the religious and cultural center.

In the history of later generations, this place will be the home of Yelu Dashi in a few years. Yelu Dashi, who was defeated by the Jurchens and wandered everywhere, will slaughter all sides here and establish Western Liao.

It's just that now Song Jiang has arrived one step ahead of him, and the blades of the Song army have entered Samarkand, and the defenders in the city are powerless to resist, and they are soon broken into the city.

With the deliberate connivance of Song Jiang, Samarkand suffered a bloody baptism, in which countless nobles and religious leaders were killed, and their wealth was staggering.

If these people are not eradicated, this will always be a place of trouble, as is the case in Afghanistan, which is known as the graveyard of empires.

Fanatical religious beliefs will make them lose their ability to think and accept domination in order to seek stability.

Song Jiang fought all the way and summed up an experience, the coexistence of multiple religions and freedom of belief promoted by Shaozai is absolutely necessary.

The Western Expeditionary Army divided into two routes, marching in unison, and when they were eating away at Khalhan, the weather gradually warmed up.

As soon as the weather warmed, the Jurchens who shrank in the capital couldn't help it, and now they slowly understood the importance of Yang Pu, and began to try to listen to him, and they didn't persecute the Khitan slaves so fiercely.

Many Liao people, slowly used by the Jurchens, began to serve the Jin State.

The smelting technology of the Liao people has always been on par with that of the Great Song Dynasty, and they are more diligent than the Song people.

In the Great Song Dynasty, few people went to dig iron ore, and the output was far less than that of the Khitan.

This New Year, the Jurchens silently smelted their blades and prepared instruments in the city, and they did not intend to stop the pace of conquest when they tasted the sweetness.

Who doesn't want to have thousands or tens of thousands of raw slaves under their tent, and who doesn't want to wantonly plunder the rich territories that have not yet been conquered.

Fighting at this time for them is more like hunting, bloody and rewarding hunting.

Ever since the first Jurchen emperor, Wanyan Aguta, raised troops in the Huanglong Mansion, they were sure to win every battle, and they had gradually realized their great talent in warfare.

In later generations, there will always be people who are suspicious of the Jurchen's combat power, and deliberately ignore this history with narrow ideas, but as long as you open any history of this era, you will be told clearly and clearly that they are the most warlike people in the era of cold weapons.

Although the Mongols conquered more places, they were always surrounded by countless servant armies in the north and south. At the beginning of the Jurchen army, the uncorrupted Jin Tartars, in the destruction of the Liao and the Northern Song Dynasty, were actually a bit dazzling.

In the era of cold weapons, the war relied entirely on the physical strength of soldiers on both sides, and there were only 2,000 people when Wanyan Agu fought against Liao, but he destroyed an empire with a territory of thousands of miles within a few years.

Self-deception and belittlement of this group of ferocious people is not only disrespectful to history, but also disrespectful to the countless ancestors who died for the fight against gold.

The Jurchens were able to show their own fierce combat effectiveness, in addition to the influence of their own fishing and hunting nations, to a large extent, it had a lot to do with the Meng'an Moke system founded by Wanyan Aguta.

This is because the foundation of the Meng'an Mok system is that the loose Jurchen tribes have been gathered into a combat-ready organization.

This kind of system born for war is very strong in troubled times, and of course, after stability, it will quickly corrupt and degenerate.

Today's Jurchen Tartars are still very warlike, they are grinding their minions in the capital, lurking for a winter, and finally it is time to go out.

Outside the capital, there was an endless stream of cavalry running back and forth, and various tribes were mobilized, and many Jurchen generals couldn't wait to seek more wealth.

This winter has already given them a taste of the fruits of their victory, and has succeeded in arousing their greater desires.

At this time, they had two choices, one was to go south to Youyan and take away the richest place in Daliao;

The second is to go west to Yunzhou Datong Mansion, capture the Liao Emperor Yelu Yanxi alive, and do not completely destroy the Khitan State.

In the main hall, the Jurchen nobles gathered and argued.