Luoyang, Chongwen Palace. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

It was already evening when Li Congjing received Li Shaocheng's military report, and after reading this military report on the "war" after the imperial case, although he did not feel surprised, he still had a smile on his face. Zhongyun returned to obedience and Khotan was sealed, which means that the southern edge of the Tarim Basin has been basically pacified, and the Western Regions are vast, east of the Green Ridge and south of Tiannan, but they are the north and south parts of the Tarim, and now the south has settled down, which means that the Western Regions have opened up the situation.

There is a "family banquet" in the palace today, Li Congjing stayed in Chongwen Hall for a long time because of Li Shaocheng's military report, and before the sun set, Li Yongning came over, and mentioned the war in the Western Regions, Li Yongning pulled Li Congjing and asked him to explain the situation in the Western Regions to her.

The two sat opposite each other on the sitting, and Li Congjing saw that Li Yongning was full of interest and leaned in to listen, so he roughly told her something: "The land of the Western Regions, the reason why it is a key place, is because it connects things and things, don't look at the Western Regions, there were thirty-six countries, it seems to be very strong, but in fact, they are all small city-states, and most of the people in a country are only tens of thousands, and the few are even less than 10,000 - in the past, when the country was at the height of Khotan's power, the number of people was less than 100,000. Therefore, although the Western Regions has a large number of forces and many tribes, for generations, as long as China sends tens of thousands of kings to the west, it is almost invincible. ”

"The reason why the situation in the Western Regions is complicated, and why wars are frequent and difficult to fight, is because other major races have invaded and fought with our Chinese army, such as the Xiongnu in the early days, the Turks in the future, and the Tibetans in the past. Therefore, the enemies of the Chinese army in the Western Regions are actually not mainly the small countries in the Western Regions, but these big races. ”

"After the Anshi Rebellion, the destruction of the four towns of Anxi was due to the ambition of Tubo, and they took the opportunity to attack the troops of the whole country, and most of the small countries in the Western Regions of the four towns fought together with our Anxi border army."

At that time, Hexi and the Western Regions were all occupied by Tibet. Therefore, once the civil strife in Tibet, Zhang Yichao was able to take advantage of the situation, revive the Guiyi Army, and collect the land of the eleven states. ”

Hearing this, Li Yongning wondered: "Then why did the Guiyi army decline later, and why was the land of Gan and Su occupied by the Uighurs?" ”

Li Congjing took a sip of tea, moistened his throat, and continued: "This has to be said that the Uighurs, at the beginning of this dynasty, after the Turks who unified Mobei were destroyed, the Uighurs set up a royal court in Mobei and submitted to our Tang Dynasty. On the eve of Zhang Yichao's revival of the rebel army, the Uighur royal court was defeated by the Uighurs, and the Uighur nobles were forced to migrate in three groups and leave Mobei, which became the territory of the Deserts—the Turks, Tieler, Uighurs, and Digas were actually all tribes in the northern part of the Desert. ”

"The migratory Uighurs were divided into three groups, one to the west of the Green Mountains, one to the west of Xizhou, and one south to the border of our Tang Dynasty, which was defeated by our Tang border army, and its people merged into the Tang and other tribes. Another of the Uighurs who went to the Xizhou area went to the land west of the river. Zhang Yichao revived the Guiyi Army, sat in the land of eleven states, and his power was flourishing, so the migrating Uighurs naturally could not do anything at this time. Later, the Guiyi army fought for power within the army, and Hexi fell into chaos, with the Uighurs in Hexi taking advantage of the situation to occupy Gansu and Su, and the Tubo taking advantage of the situation to reoccupy Shan, Liang and other prefectures. ”

"Before my 100,000 forbidden army set out to conquer Hexi, the Uighurs in Xizhou were growing in power, and many small countries in the Western Regions were attached to the past, and they were also ......eyeing the Guiyi army."

Li Yongning was stunned, then gritted his teeth and said: "In this way, these Uighur thieves are really wolf ambitions, offending my Datang Tianwei and attacking my Datang border army, they are really the enemies of our Datang Dynasty, and they should be killed!" ”

Li Congjing glanced at Li Yongning and said with a smile: "You are quite murderous. But it's not that simple. ”

Sighing, Li Congjing continued: "At the beginning of this dynasty, the Turks unified Mobei, repeatedly violated the frontier, Taizong destroyed it, and the rising Uighurs submitted to the Tang Dynasty, paid tribute, and rarely attacked the border. During the Anshi Rebellion, the Uighurs also contributed to the suppression of the imperial court - unlike the Khotanese state, which took the initiative to come to the king of Qin from the east, the conditions for the Uighurs to send troops were very harsh, and it can be said that they took advantage of the fire to rob, and my Tang Dynasty and the Uighurs also began from there. When the Uighurs declined and were forced to migrate, the Uighurs of Western China treated the Tang Dynasty as 'nephews', and they paid tribute repeatedly. ”

Not only that, but in fact, by the Song Dynasty, the Western Uighurs also paid tribute to China until they were captured by the Liaojin.

"So what's going on now? Could the Western Uighurs mean to be submissive? Li Yongning asked with concern in the blink of an eye.

Li Congjing said meaningfully: "If you return to obedience or not, I'm afraid you won't know until you have been beaten." ”

Li Yongning showed a look of surprise, and then asked: "In the Western Regions at present, apart from the Uighurs in Xizhou, are there other great enemies?" ”

Li Congjing said: "Since Guo Xin died in battle and the four towns of Anxi were destroyed, the southern part of the Western Regions is the sphere of influence of the Tibetans, and the situation in the northern part of the Western Regions is more complicated, but since the Uighurs migrated from Mobei, the northern part of the Western Regions is the Uighur sphere of influence, and the difference is only whether it is controlled by a Uighur khan. At present, the only enemy in the northern part of the Western Regions is the Uighurs of Western Prefecture, and the nine surnamed Uhu in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains are also Uighurs. Other small tribes don't have to worry. As for the area around the Green Ridge to the west......"

Speaking of this, Li Congjing's eyes suddenly became deep and sharp, "In the west of Shule, there is a great enemy in the area of Green Ridge. ”

"The enemy? What kind of enemy? Li Yongning noticed Li Congjing's sudden serious tone, and felt very strange, with the current national situation of the Tang Dynasty, what can make Li Congjing pay so much attention must not be an ordinary enemy, "The west of the Green Ridge is not also the Uighurs who moved west?" ”

"Today, this Uighur force is no longer a simple Uighur." Li Congjing was meaningful, and suddenly changed his words and asked Li Yongning: "Do you know the Manichaeism of the past?" ”

Li Yongning flashed his recollections, "Manichaeism is a Uighur sect, and it also entered China in the past, but it did not spread widely and was suppressed by the imperial court...... It also means being excluded by Buddhism. ”

Li Congjing bowed slightly, "The Uighurs have always believed in Manichaeism, but since the royal court was broken by the Tunjas and forced to migrate away from Mobei, their beliefs have changed. The Uighurs who moved to Xizhou (Gaochang) have gradually converted to Buddhism because of the prevalence of Buddhism here—in fact, not only Xizhou, but the entire Western Regions are places where Buddhism flourishes. Isn't Dunhuang the crystallization of the prevalence of Buddhism? However, the Uighurs who migrated to the area around and west of the Green Mountains converted to a different sect. ”

"What sect? It can't be Taoism, right? Li Yongning laughed.

Li Congjing glanced at her weakly, "Islam." ”

"Islam?" Li Yongning's eyes were blank.

Li Congjing's expression was serious, "Yes, the world also calls it a Muslim." ”

Li Yongning was still full of doubts, "The Uighurs have changed their sect to believe, and they have become powerful?" ”

Li Congjing showed a look of jealousy, "It's really become powerful." And after converting to this religion, the Uighurs in the Green Mountains, which should now be called the Qarakhanid Dynasty, were not alone in the battle, there were still people behind them. ”

At this time, Li Congjing remembered some "past events".

The Qarakhanid Dynasty invaded eastward and encountered the "Chinese vassal" Khotan, and the "Hundred Years War" broke out between the two sides. Khotan asked the Northern Song Dynasty for help, but the Northern Song Dynasty was unable to look westward, so it only sent a group of more than 100 monks to talk about the momentum. The disparity in strength between the two sides was huge, and the Qarakhanid Dynasty had called on believers to gather more than 100,000 troops to attack the Khotanese state, which had only 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers, and in this case, under the leadership of Li Shengtian and Li Congde, the Khotanese State won many battles, and also broke through the capital of the Qarakhanid Dynasty and killed its khanate - in this protracted and vast and cruel war, the Western Uighurs sided with the Khotanese state.

At the end of the "Hundred Years' War", Khotan was exhausted by the war and finally perished, but the remnants of the army and the people still struggled with the eastward invasion of the Qarakhanid Dynasty.

As a result, Buddhism gradually disappeared in the Western Regions, and Islam took its place, but the golden age of the latter's expansion had passed, and the followers became mainly moderate, and although they achieved results in the Western Regions and Hexi, they were hardly introduced to the Central Plains.

At this time, the rise of Zen Buddhism, a school of Buddhism in the Central Plains, changed the past style of occupying the land and fighting for profits with the imperial court, and its position was stable, and it was not "destroyed by the imperial court", so it continued to develop for thousands of years.

"Okay, that's it, you can stop it." Li Congjing stood up, "In a word, in the land of the Western Regions, Tibet has long been in decline, but the Uighurs are still powerful, and to pacify the Uighurs is to pacify the Western Regions." ”

......

The next day, Li Congjing discussed with Feng Dao in the Guangxian Palace.

"Although the Western Regions are mainly only enemies of the Uighurs, in addition to the Anxi Protectorate, there is also the Beiting Protectorate, the north of the Beiting is Mobei, and the Huangjiasi in the Mobei is also a problem that has to be solved, as well as the Qarakhanid Dynasty, what kind of attitude to deal with - the territory west of the Green Mountains, whether the Tang Dynasty wants it or not, and the Dawan Governor's Mansion in the past is reset or not?" Li Congjing threw out the issue.

Feng Dao said calmly: "On the grassland, there are Khitan in the east and Tatar in the west. The minister thought that as long as the Khitan and Tatar were resolved, the Khedan would not be a problem, and they would be annexed. ”

"How will it be attached?" Li Congjing asked.

In the past, Li Ling went out to fight against the Huns, was captured by exhaustion, was crowned king by the Huns, ruled the land of Kun, he and his soldiers, and the Huns intermarried, so there were descendants. The people of the Gang are red-haired and green-eyed, but there are also black-haired and black-eyed people, black-haired and black-eyed people, who claim to be the descendants of Li Ling. And Li Ling is a descendant of Li Guang, so when Taizong, Huang Jiasi once entered the tribute service and 'recognized relatives' with the royal family. Zhongzong also once said to Huang Jiasi, 'Erguo is the same clan as me, and it is not comparable to other countries'. During the reign of Emperor Wuzong, the Emperor broke through the Uighur court and sent an envoy to the court to request canonization, and the Prime Minister Li Deyu drafted the letter of the country 'Giving the Khan of the Emperor's book', which said that 'the Khan received the source of the clan and was the same clan as me', and Xuanzong also canonized the Khan of the Emperor as 'the Khan of Yingwu Chengming'. ”

Feng Dao said, "Since I took the initiative to surrender to my Tang Dynasty, if I am the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan and the Tatars, and open up the road, how can I not belong to the Tang Dynasty?" ”

"That's what happened!" Li Congjing suddenly didn't know much about this history, but now after listening to Feng Dao's words, he has a deeper understanding of "national integration" and "Han and Tang dynasty national prestige", "Since you are the same clan, you are a family, why do you need to say more?" ”

Feng Dao also even claimed that he was, "Your Majesty is eloquent and strategic, and my Tang Dynasty is flourishing day by day, so why can't I have Zhenguan and Kaiyuan in the future?" After patting the sycophants for a while, Feng Dao continued: "As for the Qarakhanid Dynasty, it is better to wait until the Western Regions are pacified, and then make a conclusion. ”

Li Congjing nodded, "That's fine." After the pacification of the Western Regions, when the Anxi Protectorate was reinstated, the situation in the Western Regions was different from that of the Central Plains, the composition of the ethnic groups of the countries was complex, and it was inappropriate to rashly set up provinces to collect power, and they had a high degree of recognition of the Anxi Protectorate...... With the Anxi Protectorate as a transition, as for the establishment of the Anxi Province, I plan to spend about ten years to prepare, what does Feng Xiang think? “

"Good is great!"

......

ps: Because of the current policy, historical texts cannot involve too many religious issues, so Islam will stop and replace it with the Qarakhanid Dynasty in the future, and if you are interested in this history, you can go and see for yourself.