The battle between the Tang Empire and the Arab Abbasids at Talas ended in a crushing defeat for the Tang army. The Battle of Talas was the largest armed conflict between the Tang Empire and the Arab Empire, and its outcome had a profound impact on the development of Central Asian civilization.

"As a result of the defeat of the Talas River, China's national power became extinct in the West." Yang Feixia, the guard of Ili Town, who accompanied Yang Shuoming to Kazakhstan for inspection, sighed and said, "If it weren't for this defeat, my Chinese civilization would have been carried forward in the West, and the world today might be different." ”

Since Yang Shuoming went to the northwest region to investigate and inspect in the capacity of the national railway superintendent, and local officials greeted and saw him off everywhere he went, so the people who had the most contact were local political officials. When passing through Yili, the officials who dealt with him included Yang Feixia, the town guard, Zhao Guoliang, the governor of Yining, Niu Shi, the chief of staff of the town office, Chang Guoying, the police chief, and Chen Zhongzhong, the quartermaster. And Yang Feixia was the highest governor of Yili at that time, a native of Mengzi County, Yunnan Province, and a fellow villager of Yang Zengxin, the governor of Xinjiang Province at that time. He was formerly Chief of Staff of the Governor's Office. After the outbreak of the Ili Xinhai Revolution in 1912, Yanjing Zhengaxe changed General Ili to the town border envoy. In 1914, Yang Zengxin changed the town border envoy to the town guard envoy, formally established the Yili town guard envoy, and selected Yang Feixia to serve in this important position. Yang Feixia served in Ili for seven years, and her most outstanding political achievement was skillfully handling the matter of repatriating the defeated Belarusian army and more than 200,000 Kazakh refugees who had fled to Ili, and decisively suppressing the rebellion of Dutov and Liu Lianke, the leaders of the White Russian bandits. On the evening of Yang Shuoming's arrival in Yili, Yang Feixia came to visit. Yang Shuoming had a good impression of him, "He has studied abroad, studied Chinese and Western, and has a lot of new knowledge." Yang Feixia also admired Yang Shuoming very much, on the second day of Yang Shuoming's arrival in Yili, Yang Feixia instructed all places to "prepare a document to inform the commanders and take care of them along the way", and made pre-arrangements for Yang Shuoming's future inspection trip, and after receiving Yang Zengxin's instructions, in order to ensure the safety of Yang Shuoming and his party, Yang Feixia led the army to accompany Yang Shuoming into the Kazakh steppe.

"Yes, this is undoubtedly a very significant battle in the history of Turkestan, because it determines the question of whether the Chinese civilization or the Arab civilization will dominate the region." Professor Baynes, a historian at Stanford University in the United States, said.

"Not necessarily. After the Battle of Talas, the strength of the Anxi Protectorate was still not to be underestimated. Later, Feng Changqing won the battle against Da Bolu, which especially shows that the Tang Dynasty's power in the West still exists, and it will never withdraw from Central Asia as the Westerners say. Yang Shuoming shook his head and said, "The Tang Dynasty's withdrawal from Central Asia was definitely not because of the Battle of Talas. It was determined by the domestic situation in the Tang Dynasty and can be said to be a direct consequence of the 'Anshi Rebellion'. ”

Listening to Yang Shuoming's words, Yang Feixia and Baines both looked surprised.

"Can General Yang be more specific?" Baines said, pulling out his notebook and pen.

"The Battle of Talas was just an encounter between the Tang Dynasty and the Arab Empire, because after the war, the Arabs did not take advantage of the victory to advance eastward, and the Tang Dynasty's Anxi Protectorate still maintained considerable power in the Western Regions." Yang Shuoming said, "Although the Anxi Protectorate suffered heavy losses after the Battle of Talas, and the elite was lost, the recovery ability of the Tang Dynasty was amazing, and only two years later, Feng Changqing, who was promoted to the envoy of the Anxi Festival, attacked the Great Bolu controlled by Tibet in 753, and won a great victory, and was surrendered and returned. This shows that the strength of the Anxi Protectorate has been largely restored, and if it were not for the Anshi Rebellion, the Anxi Protectorate would have been able to fight the Arabs again. ”

"What do you think led to the disappearance of Chinese civilization and the Islamization of Central Asia as a whole?" Baines asked.

"The real turning point in the history of political relations in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty was in 755 years when the 'Anshi Rebellion' broke out." Yang Shuoming sighed and said, "If it weren't for this civil strife, which greatly damaged the strength of the Tang Empire, history would be completely different. Although the Anshi Rebellion was later put down, the once powerful Tang Empire gradually fell into a state of civil strife in the division of feudal towns, and was never able to regain its former glory, and its hegemony in the Western Regions also disappeared with the collapse of the Tang Dynasty. As a result, it was never possible to return to Central Asia. ”

Listening to Yang Shuoming's words, Yang Feixia nodded again and again, while Baines was busy writing these down in his notebook.

Yang Shuoming, who is familiar with history, knew that the outcome of the Battle of Talas was not as important as later generations imagined, it was only a regional surname conflict between the two major empires of the Tang Dynasty and the Arab empires, Gao Xianzhi underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Arab army because of his repeated victories, and was finally defeated due to the rebellion of the Qarluq tribe. However, even if the Tang Dynasty defeated the Arabs or the Battle of Talas did not break out, it could not change the basic influence of the Tang Dynasty and the Arabs in Central Asia, and the nominally Tang Dynasty ruled the prefectures still maintained a relative reading surname, they only recognized the suzerainty of the Tang Dynasty and sent tribute, and when the Arab army came to conquer, it had to submit to the Arabs, but the influence of the Arab Empire and Islam in the Transriver region was always extremely limited. Although the Tang army suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Talas, this did not fundamentally shake the military power of the Tang Empire in the Western Regions. After the Talas War, the Central Asian countries still hoped that the Tang Dynasty would support them and attack Arabia, and repeatedly asked for help. In the twelfth year of Tianbao (753 AD), Feng Changqing's conquest of Da Bolu was even more victorious. In the thirteenth year of Tianbao (754 AD), the king of Dongcao, the vice king of Anguo, Ye Jie, and the king of Zhuhu Jiu jointly submitted a table, requesting to fight the "black clothes and food" with the Tang Dynasty. All of this shows that the Tang Dynasty's influence in Central Asia still existed and was not weakened by the defeat at the Battle of Talas.

The victorious Arabs, who were too busy quelling civil strife to keep Central Asia, were already satisfied with keeping Central Asia and were unable to expand further. Shortly after the Battle of Talas, the Arab governor Abu Abu of Khorasan, who had fought against Gao Xianzhi, was the governor of Khorasan. Muslims were murdered for their high achievements, and his general Ziyad? Ibn? Surrey was also executed, which led to a large-scale rebellion, and the Arabs were too busy quelling the rebellion to pursue the victory, but only to consolidate their hegemony in Central Asia that had replaced the Tang dynasty. At the same time, the rise of Tibet successfully stopped the eastward advance of the Arabs and prevented further loss of the western territories of the Tang Dynasty.

The beginning of the gradual abandonment of the Western Regions by the Tang Dynasty was the "Anshi Rebellion" in the 14th year of Tianbao (755 AD).

Although Gao Xianzhi was defeated this time, he was still entrusted with an important task by Tang Xuanzong. In November of the 14th year of Tianbao, An Lushan rebelled against Fanyang, and the world was in chaos. Gao Xianzhi was ordered to conquer the rebels and hold Tongguan in the face of empty defenses and unaccustomed soldiers, and this famous Goguryeo general showed his outstanding military talent and once defended the gateway to Chang'an. Unfortunately, soon Tang Xuanzong listened to slander and mistakenly beheaded Gao Xianzhi. After the outbreak of the "Anshi Rebellion", in order to quell the rebellion, the Tang Dynasty political axe requisitioned a large number of border troops to quell the rebellion. After that, the Western Regions entered a period of competition between Tibet, Arabia, and Uighurs. However, due to the pacification of the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty had a serious depletion of national strength, and finally had to give up the competition with Arabia in Central Asia.

If it weren't for that civil strife within the Tang Empire, perhaps, in a few years, the Don army would have regained their hegemony from the Arabs! However, the subsequent outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion caused the Tang Army to lose this opportunity forever! It was this eight-year civil war from within the empire that almost exhausted all the wealth of this mighty empire! The decline of Chinese civilization began abruptly at that time. Although the rebellion was eventually put down, the empire rebuilt from the ruins was no longer the Tian Khan Empire, and in 792 AD the Tibetans conquered the last stronghold of the Tang Empire in the Tarim Basin, and the Han Chinese army was never able to set foot on this land for nearly 800 years before the Qing Dynasty was established......

"If there is no civil strife, the country will not be truly strong." Yang Shuoming looked at everyone and said, "If there are endless internal worries, there will be more external troubles, so our country can no longer be chaotic, and we can't afford to be chaotic." ”

As a Chinese who has set foot on this land again, Yang Shuoming will never allow history to repeat itself in his own hands!

Hearing Yang Shuoming's words as if he meant something, Long Yonghua glanced at Yang Feixia from Xinjiang Province from the corner of his eye, and saw that the face of the town guard from Xinjiang Province was not abnormal, and Long Yonghua's somewhat hanging heart relaxed slightly.

"General, we've found these." Several Chinese cavalrymen galloped to Yang Shuoming's side at this time, showing him what they had just found.

All they found were rusty iron bars, some straight and some bent. Because they are too old and corroded, they can't see their original faces, but Yang Shuoming still recognizes their identities through the analysis of the "supercomputer eye".

The straight and long iron bar with a thick side and a thin one side was originally a horizontal knife in the Tang Dynasty, and the long and wide iron bar with thin sides should be a Mo knife.

The scimitar, on the other hand, was clearly an Arabic scimitar, and, judging by the degree of corrosion, was most likely made of patterned steel.

Thinking of the kind of steel processing technology that is almost extinct in China, Yang Shuoming couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh in his heart.

He still has a lot to do, but he doesn't seem to have enough time.

"Help me collect more of these things." Yang Shuoming ordered the cavalry warriors around him, and the knights immediately dispersed.

At this time, a plane suddenly appeared in the sky, Yang Shuoming looked up and recognized that it was the "Sparrowhawk" sent by his airship.

After circling above the heads of Yang Shuoming and the others, this "sparrowhawk" threw down a shiny golden thing, and then flew away. Several Chinese cavalrymen hurried towards the place where the plane had left something.

Soon, a cavalryman found the target, picked it up, and then turned around and galloped, sending it to Yang Shuoming.

Paris watched curiously as Yang Shuoming opened the beautiful cylinder made of brass with skillful movements, and took out the documents inside, she noticed that Yang Shuoming's eyes were unblinking and focused when he was reading these documents, and she couldn't help but purse her lips and smile.

"Is there news from Kyori?" Long Yonghua asked.

"The results of the big presidential election have been announced." Yang Shuoming said calmly.

Xinjiang Province, Dihua, Provincial Government Axe Administration.

"Is there any news from Feixia?" An old man dressed in a Qing-style robe and wearing a melon-skin hat looked at the thick stack of telegrams on the table and asked.

"Back to Dashuai, not yet." A civil official replied respectfully, "The latest news from Envoy Yang was sent seven days ago. ”

"Isn't this kid also thinking about marrying a Kazakh wife there?" The old man stroked the sparse goatee on his chin and said with some anger.

The big handsome laughed. A man who was also wearing a robe smiled and said, "Yang Zhenshou has not been married for a long time, so he won't do that." However, it was Supervisor Yang who seemed to be particularly interested in women. ”

Hearing his words, the old man who was called Da Shuai couldn't help but smile.

"This person is a little more colorful, but he is still quite capable."

This old man, known as the "Great Marshal", is Yang Zengxin, the overseer of Xinjiang Province.

Yang Zengxin's name Dingchen, is a native of Mengzi, Yunnan, born on March 6, 1864 (the twenty-eighth day of the first month of the third year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty). In 1888, he was raised in the middle of the year, and the following year he was a member of the Lianjie Jinshi. In 1900, he served as the Gansu envoy and the general office of the Wubei School. In 1907, he entered Xinjiang and served as the general office of the army primary school in Xinjiang Province, and also served as the senator of the supervision and training office. In 1911, he was promoted to the post of envoy of the town and the envoy of the law. After the establishment of the Republic of China, he was appointed by Yuan Shikai as the governor and chief of civil affairs of Xinjiang Province. After Yuan Shikai restored the imperial system, Yang Zengxin actively supported Yuan Shikai as emperor and was awarded the title of first-class earl. After Yuan Shikai's death, Yang Zengxin served as the governor of Xinjiang Province for a long time, and he has been saying it until now.

Yang was in charge of Xinjiang Province, and first used the means of "peace negotiation" to cancel the Ili Provisional Revolutionary Political Axe established in the Xinhai Revolution, and appointed the governor of Xinjiang Province to serve as the military commander of Ili; Later, he sent troops to defeat the Russian invading army, quell the chaos, and changed the Altay Special Zone to Ashan Road, completing the unification of Xinjiang Province. Yang Zengxin firmly believed in Lao Tzu's political ideology of "a small country and a widowed people", pursued the ruling policy of "ruling by doing nothing", and when he ruled Xinjiang Province, he rectified the rule of officials to "eliminate troubles before they sprouted", cut down soldiers, rewarded land reclamation, and did a lot of undertakings that were beneficial to the people's livelihood, but at the same time he advocated feudal superstition, obstructed the establishment of schools and the dissemination of science and culture, advocated "disputes do not ask about the affairs of the Central Plains", "chaos has grown into the ancient people", and ruled the people of all ethnic groups with the policy of seclusion and self-control and foolishness, so that all aspects of Xinjiang Province and regions have stagnated. He recklessly responded to foreign invading forces that coveted the frontiers from time to time, striving to protect themselves and safeguarding peace in the frontiers.

Yang Zengxin is good at power and good at discerning the direction of the wind. For example, after the death of Yuan Shikai and the fall of the Hongxian Empire, Yang Zengxin immediately telegraphed to support Duan Qirui's "rebuilding the republic", announced that Yi Zhi would be annexed, and supported the Yanjing political axe, so he was still able to serve as the governor and civil governor of Xinjiang Province and control the military and political power of Xinjiang Province.

It's just that now, Yang Zengxin faintly feels that his power is being threatened by another one.

"His ability is not small, otherwise he would not have the nickname of 'high-tech warlord'." The robed civilian official who called Yang Zengxin a marshal, Fan Yaonan, who was also the director of the Military Affairs Department and the director of foreign affairs in Dihua Province, nodded and said.

Fan Yaonan was a member of the Hubei Public Security Bureau, born in 1879, a graduate of Waseda University, who entered Xinjiang during the New Deal of Xinjiang Province in the late Qing Dynasty, but served as the director of the local procuratorate and a teacher of the Government School. After the Xinhai Revolution, he entered Beijing and served as secretary of the State Council. In 1917, Zhu Qichao, the chief minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, recommended Fan Yaonan to re-enter Xinjiang Province and serve as the governor of Aksu.

Fan Yaonan has always had a soft spot for Xinjiang Province, so he entered Xinjiang twice as an official. When Yang Zengxin ruled Xinjiang, there was a slang cloud: "Wen has Fan Yaonan, and Wu has Yang Feixia". In fact, Fan Yang and Yang are both civil and military, and they are Yang Zengxin's right-hand man. During her tenure as the envoy of Yili Town, Yang Feixia resisted the invasion of the Russian army and made great contributions to the stability of Yili. Fan Yaonan served as the director of Dihua Daotai, the director of military affairs, and the director of foreign affairs, and he was in charge of government affairs and diplomacy, and he was honest and honest as an official, and his reputation in the officialdom and among the people was very good.

After the establishment of the new Republic of China political axe, Yang Zengxin ostensibly surrendered to the Yanjing Central Political Axe, but in fact he was still engaged in the Kingdom of Reading Power in Xinjiang Province, Yang Zengxin was extremely concerned about every move of the Yanjing political axe, he knew that the Yanjing political axe was not so at ease with himself, so this time Yang Shuoming's arrival stimulated his sensitive nerves even more.

What he was most worried about now was Yang Shuoming's reaction to knowing that he had signed a peace treaty with Soviet Russia.

Due to the special geographical location of Xinjiang Province, it has become the object of competition between Britain and Russia for aggression since the end of the Qing Dynasty, and when Yang Zengxin was in charge of the military affairs of Xinjiang Province, he took a variety of effective measures in domestic and foreign affairs to consolidate his rule in Xinjiang Province.

In terms of internal affairs, Yang Zengxin practiced the principle of "ruling by inaction". In addition, he also rectified the administration of officials, severely cracked down on corruption, and greatly increased the financial revenue of Xinjiang Province. In terms of ethnic and religious policies, Yang Zengxin adopted a policy of restraint and restraint to prevent internal turmoil. On the one hand, he vigorously encircled the upper-class princes of various ethnic groups in Xinjiang Province, and made the various groups among them contain each other, and also tried their best to contain each other among the ethnic minorities and between the Hui and Han people. In terms of religion, the principle of non-interference with the religion of the people is adopted to maintain the status quo of local Islam, and religion is used to assist in the maintenance of social order and to prevent foreign religious forces from entering the influence. Due to Yang Zengxin's conservatism in thinking, he lacked achievements in the social, economic, and cultural construction of Xinjiang Province. Therefore, although Yang Zengxin enabled Xinjiang Province to maintain stability and was loved by many local people, it caused Xinjiang Province to lack new modernization and lagged behind the development of the hinterland.

(To be continued)