Liu Xian made up his mind to march into southern Xinjiang, and Khotan became the first business of the expeditionary army. He naturally wants to do it perfectly. But it is a pity that Khotan's territory is too large, and the population is too sparse, with the Taklamakan Desert in the north, and the mountains stretching for thousands of miles in the south. The traffic is inconvenient, and the news is strictly blocked. From the mouths of the local natives, Liu Xian could only understand that the Ibibula forces were completely defeated in the confrontation with Aguba last year, and the remnants fled east from the western elite area of Khotan to the Kaqiang River Valley, and as for how many people still have in Ibibula, his exact whereabouts, the only two small tribes with a population of only three or four hundred people that can be found around the expeditionary army, do not know at all.

In fact, Liu Xian is not worried about how many people there are in Ebibra. Xinjiang is a vast and sparsely populated region, and the indigenous population is notoriously small. Even in later generations, the total number of people in the huge Xinjiang was only 20 million. It is only one-fifth stronger than that of Henan and Shandong. How many people can there be in Xinjiang now?

Two million, or three million?

By 2010, the indigenous people of Xinjiang were only 10 million, and more than 140 years ago, you can imagine how many of them there are now. They will break away from the rule of the Dzungar Mongols for another 100 years, and Xinjiang a hundred years ago does not belong to them, but to Mongolia. Even if it weren't for the fact that Qianlong had killed the Dzungar people when he pacified Dzungaria again, it would have been impossible to say who would have more or fewer people in Xinjiang now.

As far as the five rebellious and separatist regimes before the rise of Agubai, except for Tuo Ming, who monopolized the elite area of northern Xinjiang, he could be called a real number of people [but his combat power was not good], and the other four families definitely didn't even have many younger brothers under Huo Qingtong's father.

If the logistics are smooth and worry-free, in the Central Plains, not to mention Liu Xian's Qin army, even Liu Mingchuan's Ming army can easily wipe out everything.

Now that Ibibullah was defeated by Aguba and fled to eastern Khotan, Liu Xian was far more concerned about where Ibibula was and how many soldiers he still had.

……

Ruoqiang. The largest county in China in later generations. With an area of 200,000 square kilometers, it is the size of two Zhejiang provinces, but its population is only 50,000 or 60,000. This gimmick, which should be very well-known, is really known to the mainland, and knows where Ruoqiang is in Xinjiang, but there are very few of them. Even Liu Xian, a person who had deliberately checked the map of Xinjiang due to the Agubai Rebellion, would not have known if it were not for Ruoqiang County, which is famous all over the country, and if he had relatives who were engaged in the dried fruit business in Xinjiang.

I broke a piece of naan and stuffed it into my mouth, and the dry naan cake became more fragrant the more I chewed it. In the blink of an eye, he put his feelings about Ruoqiang behind him, his eyes looked at the west, and his consciousness was fixed on the virtual map, when would he be able to find an indigenous tribe on a large scale?

Without the guidance of the locals, he only relied on him to lead the cavalry around the vast and desolate Gobi Desert in eastern Khotan, and how lucky he must have been to run into Ibibullah.

"Your Excellency." Wei Ming inserted a piece of roasted horse meat and handed it to Liu Xian. This is an emaciated war horse.

Fifteen hundred cavalry with three horses on their hands all the way to the west. Eight days traveled thousands of miles, and even the Mongol army under Genghis Khan could not do a single horse without damage. This is also destined to be a war horse that can't keep up with the speed of the team, and killing and eating meat is the only option.

"How many horses are there? Is it more than a hundred? ”

"Nope. It's ninety-five, less than a hundred. ”

Listening to the conversation between the two is very understatement, as long as you don't see the faces and expressions of the two at this time, you will think that a hundred war horses are not placed on the hearts of these two people at all. Only those who see Liu Xian and Wei Ming's distorted faces at this time know how distressed the two of them are now.

If Ibibra didn't 'honestly' 'compensate' Liu Xian for thousands of war horses, he would definitely let Ibibra know what it means to survive and not to die!

"Continue to the west, it's a big deal, let's go directly to Khotan!"

Seven years later, the Aguba troops, who had taken most of Xinjiang, did not have more than half the rifles given to him by the British, and Liu Xian was only 1,500 cavalry vanguards, and he dared to call Aguba's troops in Khotan.

In the desolate eastern part of Khotan, there are no high-grade indigenous tribes to inquire about the whereabouts of Ibibullah, but Liu Xian believes that the natives in the elite area of western Khotan will definitely know.

The sky was darkening and the temperature was dropping rapidly. The soldiers in the barracks got into the tents one after another. The large temperature difference between day and night here is surprising, and if it weren't for the fact that the expeditionary army had already had a long distance from Qinghai as an adaptation, it would really be unbearable to enter Xinjiang.

Don't say how big a disease it is, just a fever and cold can greatly reduce the combat strength of this 1,500 cavalry army.

The sun rose early the next morning, and the temperature quickly warmed up. Liu Xian's department headed west again. And two days later, they arrived at the Kaqiang River, which was a key point of the South Silk Road in those years, where the Kaqiang River from south to north turned to the northeast, became the Cherchen River, and finally joined Lop Nur.

It was also here that Liu Xian met the first large-scale indigenous group he encountered since his westward expansion. This ancient place is home to nearly 500 indigenous people, who not only graze cattle but also grow crops. And the leading Burke can also speak Chinese with a Beijing flavor, which makes Liu Xian very surprised.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty implemented the Burke system in Xinjiang, with the highest Arqimu Burke being the third grade, and the lowest being the seventh grade. The Burke who is stuck on the wall in front of him is the seven-grade little Burke - Yuzi Burke, who collects grain from 100 households, which is equivalent to the head of 100 households.

Liu Xian came all the way west, and the army has always been very precious to the translator sent by Jing Lian. But the two indigenous tribes I met in Solkuri at the beginning, some people can speak Chinese and not mention it, and now this card wall is already the inland of Xinjiang, and you can also meet the aborigines who are proficient in Chinese, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been cultivating the wasteland in Xinjiang for 200 years since the beginning of Kangxi, which is really effective.

A wall of 500 people, a strong man with a strong 100 people, facing a 1,500 cavalry army, from top to bottom, bowed his head and listened respectfully.

Liu Xian did not wave his troops into the city, but camped outside the city by the Kaqiang River, which won a trace of trust from the Kaqiang people. So when he asked Burke about the changes in southern Xinjiang, about the changes in Khotan, and about the whereabouts of the remnants of Ibibra today, Burke also told him what he knew.

As Liu Siam 'expected', Aguba had defeated Residin of Kuqa, and Residin himself was killed in the street battle of Kuqa, and Aguba had already unified the seven cities of southern Xinjiang.

For the local natives, this is great news, and it spreads very quickly. The card wall is also clearly known here. This Burke also knew that after Aguba destroyed Residin, he cleanly poisoned the puppet Khan king Katatiol of the Zhedeshar Khanate, changed the name of the country to the Hongfu Khanate, and became the king of the Khan himself.

Burke knew exactly who the army was in front of him, and Aguba's actions were completely rebellious. When he said this, his eyes were still paying attention to Liu Xian's expression, and he was ready to kneel down and beg for mercy immediately once he saw Liu Xian's expression and became angry. This is the strongest skill he has learned in twenty or thirty years of mixing in officialdom -- acting by his face.

Liu Xian's face has always been strict, but no matter how strict he is, he is not angry. He knew very well in his heart that he had not made the slightest move towards Xinjiang since he crossed over, and he could not trigger changes in the wheel of Xinjiang's history at all. In the seventh year of Tongzhi, in 1868 of the Western calendar, Agubai's miraculous rise was just halfway through, unifying southern Xinjiang, preparing to consolidate the foundation, and reaching out to northern Xinjiang.

Agubai stretched out his hand to the northern frontier, and he needed to communicate the four flags of the old Turgot South Road and the three flags of Heshuot Middle Road, which were stuck in the middle. This is not to say that these two Mongol tribes are powerful, but because Aguba's rise is too fast and his foundation is not solid, he is unable to march north until the rebel forces in the southern Xinjiang region are completely wiped out. In this case, it is naturally the best choice to tie two Mongolian ties. And Aguba's best gift was the head of Recidin.

As far as Liu Xian knew, Residin was a fanatical True God cultist. After gaining power, Kucha and Karasar slaughtered foreigners. The Four Banners Khan of the Old Turghut Road, Buyan Ulzheyitu, was deeply threatened, especially in the Tiemen Pass, the Hola Mountain, the Bosten Lake in the Kuruk Mountains, and the Akhunka Pass, and the Turkhut herdsmen of the Yuldus steppe prevented the Rhysidin armed forces from entering the steppe at the Kucha Murza Pass. Due to the strategy of scattered fortification, the forces were too dispersed, and the Yuledus steppe was conquered by the Uzbek cavalry of Residin, who invaded the steppe for five months, slaughtering more than 6,000 Turkut people. The four flags of the old Turghut South Road and the three flags of the middle road of Heshuot are not in the same vein as Rexiding.

Aguba had the head of Rexidin, and the two Mongols naturally communicated well. Anyway, in Liu Xian's impression, although these two Mongols have always stood on the position of the Qing court, they really did not cause much obstacle to Agubai.

Seeing that Liu Xian was not angry, Kaqiang Burke continued to talk about the news of the remnants of Ebibula that Liu Xian was most concerned about at this stage.

"This lord, Ibibullah was beheaded by Aguba last year, and Aguba then washed Khotan in blood, and now the western part of Khotan is hundreds of miles without people. Only one of Ibibra's sons fled to the east with some of the remnants. It's in the area of Ariana in the upper reaches of the Kaqiang River. ”

Burke pointed to the south and said to Liu Xian, Aryara is less than three hundred miles south of the small city of the wall, and as for their remaining strength, it may not even be as good as the small city of the wall.

Liu Xian's face suddenly became extremely embarrassed. The essence of western Khotan was actually looted by Aguba first, so what did his seven or eight thousand men eat and drink? The large number of cattle and sheep brought out by the army from the Mongolian and Tibetan tribes in eastern Qinghai can be consumed in one winter. The food of the army bottomed out as early as the beginning of the month, and now the naan cakes eaten in the vanguard army are all old.

Without new supplies, the army will have to kill its horses.

"Aguba is a venomous snake and has no reputation. Ibibra fell for him, not only losing his own life, but also causing Khotanese to bleed. ”

I don't know if he really has a strong hostility towards Agu Bai, or if he deliberately pretends to be in front of Liu Xian, this little Burke who is stuck in the wall continues to scold Agu Bai angrily. R1152