If it was just an unrealistic fantasy of the Turks, then the iron cavalry in the Xia Kingdom would have suppressed them a long time ago. But what is frightening is that these Turks converted to Tianfang as early as the end of the Tang Dynasty and the fifth dynasty – about the same time as the Western Uighurs abandoned Buddhism and converted to Tianfang. With the Celestial Sect as a tandem, the Turks and the Western Uighurs had a common bond - although in the past, the Turks bullied the Western Qarakhanids a lot, but the sympathy after the death of the country gave them the motivation and will to rebel against the Xia Dynasty together.

Huang Taiji had been in the Liao army for many years, perhaps because of his instinct to study this way for a long time, and he immediately realized that those black-robed people were Tianfang missionaries among the Turks. And it is highly likely that they were missionaries from the western Seljuk Turkic countries of Asia Minor who had sneaked all the way from Persia.

Persia was a large country to the west of Western Xia and also had a very long history of exchanges with China. During the Tang Dynasty, Persia was destroyed by the Abbasid Dynasty, and the Persian prince came to China to ask Tang Gaozong for help. Later, Persia barely regained its power and controlled the caliphate within the system of the Arab Empire, but it was destroyed by the Seljuks, who had not been dismembered by the Tangut people when they moved westward. The ancient Persian empire did not know when it would regain its independence and freedom - and now, the Persians, under the protection and guidance of Western Xia, have restored their independence, at least with more autonomy.

Thus, the missionaries from Asia Minor who passed through the Persian plateau through the mountains and mountains to the river could be described as nine deaths and one in a hundred. However, Huang Taiji knew that there was another risky but relatively safe route - crossing the Caspian Sea through the mountains of the Caucasus under the control of the Great Liao Empire, and with the help of the Oghuz (Turkmen) and seeing the diligence of the Turkic people, their safety in coming to the river through the Central Desert would be greatly increased.

First of all, the mountainous region of the Greater Caucasus was a newly acquired territory of the Liao Empire, and the local inhabitants rebelled one after another, many of whom were supporters of the Tianfang Sect. Under their cover, it is not so difficult for dozens of people to smuggle into the Caspian Sea, which is not wide and has no turbulent seas.

The Oghuz were also Turkic people who believed in the Celestial Sect, and they rarely participated in the political strife of the kingdom, living quietly in the vast plains between the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea and the central Karakum Desert, which the kingdom had designated for them. But they were also devout followers of the Celestial Sect, and although they had never actively participated in the rebellion of other Turkic believers, it was not impossible for them to shield some missionaries from afar with their common beliefs.

As long as you figure out this verse, the rest is easy to explain, such as how the black-robed people made their way through the kingdom through the blockade of Tocharian and Khorasan into the depths of the river, and why they tried to restore the influence of the Celestial Sect in the middle of the river, where the Turks were quite scattered.

After the Xia Kingdom destroyed the Seljuk Turks, it occupied a vast territory from the Hindu Kush Mountains to the Indus River, and in order to suppress the resistance of the Turks, the kingdom consciously supported the power of the indigenous people here, such as introducing the Zoroastrian Persians to become feudal lords in the Khorasan Province, and guiding the Buddhist Tocharians to occupy the upper class in the Tocharian Province.

In this way, the Xia reached a tacit agreement with the upper echelons of several areas prone to rebellion, and both sides agreed to press the Turks to the ground and rub them fiercely. Over time, the remnants of the Turkic forces were gradually reduced to some rather poor places. But with the laying of the railway, the highway gradually became a network, the Xia Kingdom gradually got rid of the combat mode of relying solely on cavalry + mountain infantry, and the pressure on logistics was greatly reduced.

Huang Taiji's mind quickly sketched a picture, and an instinct drove him: "They haven't gone far yet, right, we can quietly follow and see what kind of medicine they sell in the gourd." ”

Although Amir didn't quite understand this Eastern saying, he could understand what he meant. The next morning, without telling anyone, they quietly packed some necessities and followed the Uighur footprints of the migration.

Traditionally, nomads would stop and go in spring and summer, staying for a longer period of time where the water and grass were abundant, and constantly sending scouts to scout the surrounding grasslands (including natural conditions and the presence of other powerful tribes). But now, because the agriculture and animal husbandry department of the Xia Kingdom has demarcated their own pastures and migration routes for hundreds or thousands of tribes, there are few large-scale struggles over pastures and water sources.

Therefore, Huang Taiji and the others found that these Uighurs were like salmon in the sea, and they did not care whether the pastures they passed by were fat or thin, and they were moving in a northwesterly direction, as if there were mountains of gold and silver waiting for them.

After another day and a half, Amir also noticed that something was wrong: "Sir, they seem to have more hooves. ”

Although it seemed difficult for Wong Tai Kee to discern the difference between the horseshoe prints on the pasture, he still believed in the young man's observation: "If my guess is correct, their leader may have been tricked by the rebels into doing something wrong." Boy, do you know which way to go to the nearest city? ”

Amir pointed to the northwest with his horsewhip: "In that direction, there is a city of Keno, a city founded by Christians. The population is about five thousand. If we go fast, we can get there in about a day and a night,"

Huang Taiji estimated the mileage, and they were now wandering about fifty miles behind the Uighurs, separated by a low hill that made them not yet visible to the other side - this also showed that the other side did not have a special military expert, but considering that these Uighurs were just some herdsmen, it was indeed a bit too harsh to use the requirements of the elite cavalry of the Great Liao Empire for the reconnaissance range.

He could already guess in his heart what the Uighurs were going to do under the leadership of the Celestial Missionaries. What was about to happen was nothing to the fat old fox, but it might have been too much for Amir, a young man under twenty years old.

So he said, "Amir, I want you to do something, this matter is not only related to the life and death of you and me, but also the lives of the five thousand men, women, and children in the city of Keno, and even more so the safety of your beloved Gulandam - do you have the courage to complete this task?" ”

The young man's answer was no hesitation, so Huang Taiji ordered him: "I want you to go back and report to your leader that their old neighbors, the people of Qulandam, and an unknown number of Uighurs, have been bewitched and may have been involved in a rebellion." The only way to stop them is to immediately mobilize the nearby kingdom troops to deter them. Do you understand? ”

The young man agreed, and then asked, "What about you, sir?" ”

"I'll spy on them first, and if I have the chance, I'll go to Keno City to warn the local residents." Huang Taiji said: "Don't look at me like this, I was also an eagle on the grassland when I was young...... Boy, your mother wasn't weaned when I bent my bow and shot Hai Dongqing! ”

After coaxing the young man away, Huang Taiji counted all his equipment, a toy-like monocular, which he had bought for fifty summer coins from an old man in Andijan, and he wouldn't have wasted money if it weren't for the fact that it might be an antique. There are also two short guns, which are enough bullets, but the range is limited. A carbine, a jacket of bullets is thirty rounds. The rest of the things, matches, single lenses, tent sleeping bags, and a cowhide bag that he regarded as important as his life—there was a large-scale contour map drawn by the Liao State General Staff Headquarters, which was a purely military map, with no cities, no tribal gathering places, only water sources, lakes and mountains, although it could not be said that he was not used at all, but it was obvious that at present he only had himself to deploy, and this map was of little significance.

After pondering the map for a moment, Huang Taiji tucked the cowhide bag under the saddle, pinned two short guns to his thighs, carried a horse pistol, and put a dirty old Xia army cloak on the outside—an outdated military uniform with a good camouflage effect, which was loved by the steppe herders. After everything was cleaned up, Huang Taiji held the reins in one hand and a compass in the other, and cut in from the southwest along the contour line.

The wind direction in the grasslands is changeable, but during this season there are more times when the northeast wind blows during the day. Huang Taiji chose this direction to go in, and the smell would not be worn far away, so as not to be detected by the herdsmen's hunting dogs.

After walking for about two hours, Huang Taiji finally saw the Uighur horse caravan as far as he could see. They went all the way to the northwest, leaving no rear team to observe, really like the salmon as the Liao proverb - regardless of the belly.

Huang Taiji hung far behind them like this, neither too close nor left behind by them.

As the sun set up in the west, the Uighurs finally stopped and began to set up camp, the women went out to fetch water, and the young men set up their tents, made fires, and prepared to cook.

Huang Taiji was not blessed with hot food, so he could only drink spring water and nibble on dry food near a remote corner of a valley. Fortunately, this is an alpine meadow, and the valley is a trace of the ice age tens of millions of years ago, and the two carts of the stream formed after the melting of the ice and snow are scattered with large and small icy rocks, some of which are so large that they can completely shelter him and the horses.

Hiding behind rocks, Huang Taiji nibbled on unpalatable jerky and brown bread as he counted the amount of water the women fetched. Based on the amount of water taken from these buckets, he could roughly estimate how many people there were—and now he knew that the other side was probably two tribes united and marching northwest together. The number of visual inspections is around 10,000 - there is an upper limit to the number of people counted through visual scale, and it can be estimated more accurately within 5,000 eyes, and it is impossible to distinguish between more than 10,000 eyes, and it must be supplemented by other statistical means, these are the foundations of the imperial military academy, although Huang Taiji has graduated for many years, but this basic skill is still at hand.

By taking the amount of water, he estimated that the other party might have more than 13,400 people, and it should be said that there had not been such a large gathering of Turkic tribes in the steppe for many years. As long as the officials of the Xia Kingdom did not faint, they would immediately become vigilant.

As he retreated back to his hiding place, he felt the ground seem to shake a little, and it must be that another team of horses was approaching—could it be that the Kingdom Army was coming so soon? Huang Taiji said in his heart, but his cautious instinct made him not go out rashly, but continued to lie here, and after a while, he heard some very joyous voices coming from the Uighur camp, Huang Taiji had not learned the ancient language of Uighur, but he could hear that the Uighurs were friends and not enemies.