The thirteenth year of Zhenguan, winter. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Tocharian homeland, Khyber Pass.

The winter here is not too cold, and it has a bit of the feeling of Jiangnan in the Central Plains. Xuanzang was wearing a robe and riding a white horse, followed by several retinues.

The retinue ranged from warrior monks with long clubs to knights with swords, as well as guides with high noses and deep eyes.

"Twenty or thirty miles away, we will reach the mountain pass, where there is now a military fort of the Tang Army, and we can spend the night there tonight." The guide turned to Xuanzang and said.

The mountain pass in front is the Khyber Pass.

The birthplace of Tochar, because of its unique topography and special location, made it a place in later generations with the title of Imperial Cemetery.

For a long time, this place has also been known as the Land of the Four Wars.

It is also a special passage, and around this passage, it is the intersection center of the four major copyrights of East Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and South Asia.

In this era, the four major forces in the four directions of Persia, Tianzhu, the Tang Dynasty, and Rome are exactly in the four directions of this channel.

In particular, the entrance to the Tocharian Basin in each direction is relatively narrow and narrow, in the passes of some large mountain ranges.

When the Tang Dynasty entered the Tocharian Basin, it entered through the Green Ridge Pass, and between Tuguluo and Tianzhu, it also crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains from the Khyber Pass.

To the south, with Persia, and even into Asia, there are mountain passes.

It is precisely for this reason that when the Persians invaded Tianzhu, they first occupied Tochar, and then entered the Indus River Plain through the Khyber Pass. Historically, after the Turks and Persia were destroyed, they turned around and seized the homeland of Tochar. Later, the Western Turks established a khanate here, which also entered the Indus River Plain from the Khyber Pass.

Later, the Great Eclipse arose, and they invaded the Western Regions, also occupying Tocharian first.

Because of this unique topography, it has always been a key place for many forces to compete for. In that year, the Bada people came south and occupied the Tocharian homeland, which was later captured by the Turks and Persia, and finally monopolized by the Western Turks, and then seized by the Tang Dynasty.

Now, this basin is owned by Datang.

In recent years, the Persians have lost a large amount of territory under the joint attack of the Tang Dynasty and Rome, and the Arabs in the south who have been united by Islam have risen up and begun to conquer Persia fiercely.

Today's Persia has fallen into internal and external troubles, and there are wars everywhere.

For the southern Tocharian region and the Indus Valley that the Tang Dynasty seized from Persia, it was also unable to send troops to seize it.

Because of the Pamirs, in this era, West and Central Asia would first capture Tochar, and then enter the Indus Valley from the Khyber Pass, and after crossing the pass, there was an endless plain and hundreds of states on the Great Plains.

This pass is also the only passage from the whole of Central Asia to South Asia.

The Alexander, Kushan, and Persian empires all traveled south to India from the Khyber Pass.

Because it is the only route, it is also an important trade route. To the east of the pass is Peshawar, a major trading town, only more than 30 miles away.

Hundreds of years ago, King Gassera of the Kushan Empire established his capital here, making it one of the centers of Buddhist culture. During the Jin Dynasty, the high monk Fa Xian also came here, and the envoy Song Yunhe of the Northern Wei Dynasty also sent an envoy.

The Khyber Pass is built with a snowy mountain pass, which is an important fortress of the Tang Army.

The Great Snow Mountain is exactly what the Tang people called the Hindu Kush Mountain.

The city of Peshawar, which is more than 30 miles away, is a prosperous commercial town and a Buddhist cultural center.

This is one of the destinations of Xuanzang's trip.

Xuanzang became a monk in Luoyang at the age of thirteen, and left Luoyang at the end of the Sui Dynasty to study law in Sichuan. At the beginning of Zhenguan, the imperial court rectified Buddhism, Xuanzang returned to Chang'an, he passed the imperial court's Buddhist exam, and stayed in Chang'an. In Chang'an, he met the Tianzhu monks who came to Tang during the Wude period and consulted him on Buddhism.

Since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there have been many controversies in Buddhist circles, and the various factions have great differences on some important theories, and it is difficult to integrate them. So he wanted to go to Tianzhu to seek the true scriptures and verify the Dharma.

It is also to change the image of Buddhism after the status of Buddhism in the hearts of the people has dropped dramatically since Zhenguan.

He obtained the plastic Tianzhu precepts from a Tianzhu monk who came to the Tang Dynasty to teach the three vehicles of the "Yoga Treatise" at Nalanda Monastery, so he vowed to travel west to seek the Dharma, explore the original scriptures, and retranslate them, in order to unify the differences in Chinese Buddhist thought.

However, his request was not agreed to by the imperial court.

Since the beginning of Zhenguan, the imperial court has greatly rectified Buddhism, which is a policy of suppressing Buddhism. Of course, the imperial court was not interested in Xuanzang going to the West to learn scriptures.

And without the approval of the imperial court, he couldn't get a road guide, and he couldn't even leave the Tang Dynasty.

But in the sixth year of Zhenguan, Xuanzang, who had been allowed for a long time, simply traveled west privately.

However, without customs clearance documents, it is difficult to leave the country without permission, and several trips were finally seized halfway and then escorted back.

After tossing like this for several years, Xuanzang only reached Gaochang once at the farthest.

In the end, Xuanzang still left Zheng Shanguo's relationship, found Li Chao, and only through Li Chao did he get the support of the prince and get the customs clearance permit.

Although he had documents, the journey was not easy, and he traveled along the Silk Road from Hanjing to the Western Regions. Fortunately, Datang's recovery of the Western Regions made him much safer along the way.

The destination of Xuanzang's trip is Tianzhu.

He walked out of the Green Ridge into the hometown of Tocharo, and then went all the way south until he reached the pass leading to Tianzhu in the Great Snow Mountain.

A squad of cavalry galloped from afar!

The cavalry at the front, holding a red flag.

"It's Tang Qi!"

When the guide saw the red flag, he immediately jumped off the horse, and asked Xuanzang and the others to dismount together.

In this land, no one dares to be disrespectful to Datang.

"This is the patrol cavalry of the Tang Army, as long as we dismount and be inspected, they will not embarrass us, the military discipline of the Tang Army is very good." The guide whispered.

The red flag fluttered, and Tang rode closer.

Xuanzang stepped forward, clarified his identity, and took the initiative to show his clearance document and identity certificate.

"It turned out to be Master Xuanzang, are you going to Tianzhu in this line?"

"The ultimate goal of this trip is Tianzhu Nalanda Temple!"

Tang Qi's captain returned the paperwork to Xuanzang.

"It's not been peaceful in the east lately, and there's a war going on there."

"Is there a war?" Although the road was long and difficult, it did not encounter any robbers or wars, and it was relatively smooth. Hearing that Tianzhu was fighting, Xuanzang's face was a little solemn.

India is a geographical name, not a country name. In fact, India was like Byzantium, the Romans themselves never called themselves Byzantium, and before the British colonized India, the Indians did not consider themselves Indians.

On that continent, there have been many states since ancient times, and neither Tianzhu nor the body poison have unified this continent.

After the destruction of the Nada, the northern Indian region was divided again, and the princes of various places became independent and divided their powers.

In the Indus Valley, in the past it was controlled by the Hinda and Persians. In the Ganges Valley, after a period of strife and turmoil, four stronger kingdoms were formed, and two rival alliances were formed.

One of them was the Psyabuti dynasty of the Tanesha Kingdom, and the king of Guangzeng was the king of Delhi, and the kingdom was powerful when he ruled. The other country is the kingdom of Murik centered on the city of Qunu, whose territory is in the middle reaches of the Ganges.

The third country is the kingdom of Gouda in the Bengal region, and the territory is in the Ganges Delta region. The fourth kingdom was the kingdom of Mahwa, whose territory was mainly concentrated in the central region of the Changbar River valley.

The first two and the latter two formed hostile alliances, respectively.

"King Tanzani died of illness, the allied King Murik was defeated and killed, and Prince Tanzani succeeded to the throne and led his army to fight to recover the capital of the allies, but unfortunately he was murdered by King Gundam. At this time, the throne was vacant, and the ministers supported the prince Holi Shavardana as the king, which was for the sake of joy, and was called the day of the precept. ”

The cavalry captain and Xuanzang explained the situation in North India today.

"After the king of the sun ascended the throne, he immediately raised troops to avenge his brother, and personally led 5,000 elephant troops, 20,000 horse troops, and 50,000 infantry troops, from west to east, and conquered no ministers."

The king of the Ring of the Sun marched very fiercely, and first recaptured the city of Qunu, because King Murrik was killed in battle, and the throne was also empty at this time, and the king of the Ring Sun and his sister Raja Sri ruled together, and actually formed a federation of the two countries. Then the king of the sun began to conquer the whole of northern India, and conquered all the countries for six years.

After that, the nobles of the Murik Kingdom requested, and the King of the Ring of the Sun officially inherited the throne of Qunucheng, and Tanisha and Murrick merged to be called the Ring of the Sun Empire, with the capital of Qunucheng.

After that, the king of the Ring of the Sun continued to attack the south and the north, and the east and the west to conquer, so that the whole of North India was basically under the rule of the Ring of the Sun Dynasty. After that, the king also attempted to conquer South India and unify the continent.

However, the southern expedition did not go well, at that time the Deccan Plateau was under the rule of the Louqi dynasty, the king of the Japanese army marched south, the two countries fought fiercely, the king of the Japanese army was defeated, and was forced to withdraw.

After that, the king of the sun began to turn to the conquest of the lower Ganges River in the east, which was very successful.

Although the king of Gouda in the east had been based in Bengal to resist the eastward advance of the Ringing Empire, this year, after the death of King Gundam, there was no one to stop the eastward advance of the Ringing Sun Dynasty, and Bengal was incorporated into the territory of the Ringing Empire, and the Ringing Sun King completely controlled the lower Ganges region.

The Kamobo Kingdom in Northeast India had long been an ally of the King of the Ring of the Sun to conquer Gundam, and at this time it also recognized the suzerainty of the King of the Ring of the Sun over North India. In the west, the king also conquered the kingdom of Molava and the kingdom of Varavi in the northwest.

The western part of the Empire has now reached Gujarat and Sindh, so that North India, with the exception of Kashmir, the Western Jab, and Rajputna, is part of the territory of the Empire, with seaports in both the east and the west.

The western region that the king of the Ring Sun failed to obtain was the Indus Valley, which was controlled by the Hinda people in the past, later controlled by the Persians, and now controlled by the Tang Dynasty.

The Tang army was separated from the Jieri Dynasty in the south, and the Taal Desert was separated, which was regarded as a natural barrier and buffer zone. But to the north, it is already directly bordered.

"The King of the Ring of the Sun has been mobilizing his troops and horses recently, and there are signs that they are preparing for a big war, and the target of the attack is most likely us."

The captain persuaded Xuanzang not to leave the Tang Dynasty's control area, especially when the Ring Sun Dynasty was preparing a large army to attack the Tang Army.

What the Ring Sun Dynasty wanted to seize was Banjinad, which later became known as Punjap, which means five river valleys. There are flat, fertile plains with abundant water.

The guide heard that the army of the Ring Sun Dynasty was going westward, and he hurriedly persuaded Xuanzang not to go west.

One of the guards asked, "Can we stop the Japanese army from coming to conquer?" ”

The cavalry captain laughed, "Don't look at the king of the sun in Tianzhu, but in the eyes of our Tang soldiers, it is just a night lang, and if you want to be big in front of our Datang, it is just a joke." If he dares to come, we can destroy them all, and even fight to Qunu City!" ”

Although the Tang Army did not have many soldiers in the Indus Valley, it was elite.

The Han army has a saying that the Han arrives at the five hus.

And Tang Jun dared to pat his chest and say that one Tang is worth ten Hu.

Even if the central forbidden army of the King of the Sun had 50,000 infantry troops, 60,000 elephant troops, and 100,000 horse troops, no one in the Tang army was really afraid.

You have elephant army and horse army, Datang has strong ships and cannons, and ironclad cavalry!