For two hundred years between the 16th and 17th centuries, the overland Silk Road was in the hands of the Bukharans.

Chinese goods leave Xinjiang and are transported from the southern mountains to the Caspian Sea. According to the administrative map of later generations, the approximate path is as follows: Gansu - Xinjiang - Tajikistan - Turkmenistan (Uzbekistan) - Caspian Sea - Russia (Persia, Ukraine).

Although the overland Silk Road declined with the prosperity of the Great Voyage, it was definitely not as withered as imagined.

Historically, the main purpose of the Russian envoys' visit to China during the Kangxi reign was to open up new trade routes in Siberia and break the monopoly of the Bukharans on Chinese goods.

Kashi.

Jiang Liang met with several Bukharan businessmen and asked them about the situation in the country: "How has the King of Bukhara been in recent years?" ”

These merchants were all from the Tajik ethnic group and belonged to the ruling ethnic group in the Bukhara Khanate.

One businessman said, "I haven't seen the Great Khan, but I've heard that he likes to enjoy." In addition to paying taxes, the caravans passing through the city of Bukhara had to offer the finest goods to the Great Khan free of charge in order to gain passage. ”

Another merchant said: "The Great Khan continued to raise taxes, and the chiefs of the tribes were very dissatisfied. ”

Jiang Liang simply opened the skylight and said brightly: "If the Chinese army occupies the mountainous area inhabited by the Tajiks, will the local leaders resist desperately?" ”

The merchants replied: "If the generals do not kill the nobles and imams indiscriminately, and retain their power, they will not resist." If the generals could lower their taxes, the nobles and imams would be willing to throw themselves into the arms of China. ”

Jiang Liang thought silently and didn't speak again for a while.

Zhao Han asked him to wait for an opportunity to seize the Tajik region and completely consolidate the defense line in the Western Regions. But this is not said to death, just waiting for the opportunity to move, and if it is not good to fight, you can give up for the time being.

After coming to Kashgar, Jiang Liang met with many Bukhara businessmen and inquired about the situation and found that the Tajik region was not easy to fight.

Ninety percent of the area there is a plateau and mountains, and Jiangliang's logistical supply line stretches from Gansu to Kashgar. Such a long supply line to fight a place where 90% of the mountains are almost a military disaster.

Even if you want to fight, you must not cut down the nobles and scholars when you see them, as in Xinjiang.

Otherwise, the locals would have beaten the Chinese army to the point of a nervous breakdown by fighting guerrilla warfare in the mountains.

You have to change your style of play and your strategy of domination!

That is, to kill only the military and political governors of Bukhara in each city, and to drive out the rulers sent by the Great Khan of Bukhara. Then, preferential treatment was given to imams and Tajik chieftains, religious freedom and tribal autonomy were exercised, and local religious and aristocratic leaders were supported.

The Khanate of Bukhara was once very powerful, and when it was besieged from all sides, it overthrew Persia in the west and drove out the founders of the Mughal Empire and the Yarkand Khanate in the east.

But by this time there had been a change of dynasty, the Shaybani dynasty had fallen, and the Astrakhan dynasty passed to the fifth king.

The third king was very awesome, ended the civil strife and completed the unification.

At the time of the reign of the fourth king, the Bukhara Khanate began to decline.

The current king, Abdullah Aziz, has been on the throne for 21 years. At first, he was relatively sober, but now he is becoming more and more mediocre, and he likes to enjoy everything empty-eyed, and he is tyrannical to all ethnic groups in the country.

The chiefs of the various tribes began to lead frequent uprisings, but the governors of the Bukhara Khanate, playing the trick of raising their own dignity, eventually broke up altogether.

Zhongyuzi Touke Khan, who married his sister to Zhao Han, not only unified the Kazakh Khanate, but also sent troops to support the Bukhara nobles to ascend to the throne and complete the unification of Bukhara again. As a result, Bukhara became a subject state of Kazakhstan, and the Touk Khan also became the Great Khan of Bukhara (similar to the existence of the Heavenly Khan, who did not actually administer Bukhara).

In the case of frequent uprisings in Bukhara and the fact that the governor did not obey the king's orders, it was too suitable for attacking, and Jiang Liang did not want to give up this good opportunity.

China, of course, is not trying to annex Bukhara, but to eat the territory of the Tajiks. There are plateaus and mountains all over the place, as long as they occupy it, they can build a few passes in the mountain passes at will, and a small number of garrisons can ensure the security of southern Xinjiang. In addition, with the territory of the Kyrgyz, a pass was also built in the mountain pass, and foreign enemies did not want to enter Xinjiang at all.

This is considered from a defense point of view.

Whether it is Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan, Zhao Han does not plan to occupy it all, only the best defended places, which is equivalent to about 80% of the territory of the two countries.

Jiang Liang continued to inquire about the situation, and after several days of repeated thinking, he finally decided on the goal of action - to occupy the Pamirs, and not to do anything else!

Moreover, there is an excuse to send troops, since ancient times and the reconquista.

The Pamir Plateau, also known as the Green Ridge and the Buzhou Mountain!

In this way, it was very easy to fight, because the Bukhara Khanate had a weak rule over the Green Mountains, and there was not even a decent large city.

The average altitude of Napo is more than 3,000 meters, and there are snow-covered mountains everywhere, but it is also a necessary place on the Silk Road.

At this time, it was the eighth month of the lunar calendar, and the weather was getting colder, which was no longer suitable for sending troops, because it could snow at any time.

Moreover, there is still a lot to be done after half of Xinjiang is defeated.

Nearly 100,000 husbands and women, half men and half women, all husband and wife, signed up voluntarily and were successively resettled in various parts of the Western Regions. The resettlement sites are all the best places for agricultural reclamation.

The freed serfs of all nationalities were placed in slightly worse places.

Sending troops, fighting, garrisoning, immigration, fortification...... The whole process went down and recovered half of Xinjiang, which would cost about 40 million taels of silver. The Datong Imperial Court is again riddled with debts, and judging from the current financial surplus, it will take ten years to pay off with interest.

The Datong army fought in southern Xinjiang, and in the vast northern Xinjiang region, the Dzungar and Heshute divisions, once again broke out in the battle for grassland.

The previous alliance was meaningless, and the Datong army was killed under their noses, and it also couldn't prevent the two from fighting. It was really bad weather during the Xiaoice period, and last winter there was a heavy snowstorm, freezing countless people and animals, not so much for pasture, but for food and population.

In another time and space, Dzungaria crushed Heshute, and Heshute had long become a vassal of Dzungaria.

But in this time and space, the Qinghai-Tibet Heshute Department returned with thirty or forty thousand people. And the Dzungar Department was half wiped out by the Datong Army in Mobei. As a result, the two sides were evenly matched, and they fought back and forth, and they couldn't tell the winner in ten or eight years.

In the spring of the second year, the first batch of 2,000 monks, under the arrangement of the imperial court, crossed Jiayuguan and came to the Western Regions.

It is often a master with a few apprentices.

Some were resettled in the cities, and most in the countryside. Each teacher has a special fund that can receive money and food to help the poor people of all ethnic groups. When providing relief and curing diseases, they spread Buddhist and Taoist beliefs by the way, and there will always be people who will be influenced by them.

In the autumn of last year, Jiang Liang had already gone to the imperial court to ask for more money and food, and he planned to take the Green Ridge as well, and by the way, Urumqi and Balikun.

At the beginning of spring, the snow melted, and Jiang Liang immediately divided his troops.

5,000 foot soldiers and 3,000 cavalry marched towards the Green Ridge, which was enough to eat the Pamirs.

In addition to the garrison troops in various places, the remaining troops went to attack Yangji Bali (Urumqi) and Balikun respectively. These two places are both arable and pastureable, and Jiang Liang wants to build a city after he fights it.

Liang Zhen, the pioneer general, was responsible for recovering the Green Ridge.

He first led his troops to the southeastern river valley, which was Tashkurgan County in New China.

There were no cities built in the area, only a few Tajik tribes lived.

The 8,000 Datong army was so killed that no one dared to resist at all, and the tribal leaders came to surrender one after another. It didn't matter to these Tajiks whether they submitted to China or the Bukhara Khanate.

"Commander, there's an ancient city over there!"

The river valley here is very wide and at a low altitude, with tens of thousands of acres of grassland along the river, and even farmland in some places.

Liang Zhen rode a horse and galloped, and sure enough, he found the ruins of the ancient city, and it was also a stone city wall - Tashkurgan, which means stone city in Turkic language.

Liang Zhen took a turn inside and outside the city, and complained: "In such a river valley with abundant water and grass, the king of Bukhara did not send troops to garrison it, and even the good stone city was left to be abandoned. ”

Lei Zhiji, a military missionary officer, said: "This should be the Tang Dynasty's Green Ridge Guarding and Capturing City." ”

"What is a catch?" Liang Zhen asked.

Lei Zhiji explained: "Similar to the military town of the Ming Dynasty, at that time, the big ones were called the army, and the small ones were called guards. The ruined wall in front of you is the castle of the Tang Dynasty's Green Ridge Military Town. ”

Liang Zhen, a Mongolian descendant who had been a Korean, suddenly realized: "The governor said that he wanted to recover the lost territory, but he didn't make it up, this was really our Chinese territory in the past." Hehe, you missionaries do have knowledge in your stomach, and you know the origin of the ruined city in the Western Regions at a glance. ”

Lei Zhiji couldn't help but roll his eyes: "The governor was collecting intelligence from the Western Regions two or three years in advance, and the imperial court also sent ancient information about the Western Regions. I seem to remember, you should have received a copy too, right? ”

"Hehe, hehe, I've seen it, I forgot." Liang Zhen smiled perfunctorily.

Lei Zhiji said: "In the Tang Dynasty, the city was smaller, and in the Yuan Dynasty, it was expanded. The city wall in front of you should have been expanded in the Yuan Dynasty. You can garrison troops here, and you can grow food, and you have to restore the city. ”

Liang Zhen said: "Do you guess that we stayed to garrison and occupied the grassland around the city, and the local tribes are willing to move away?" ”

"If you don't move away, you will fight!" Lei Zhiji said coldly.

Liang Zhen sighed: "Alas, it is more convenient to fight now, but unfortunately the local tribes have all surrendered." ”

Leaving behind 1,000 foot soldiers and 2,000 people, Liang Zhen led the army to the northwest.

There was a very narrow river valley that was a must for the Silk Road, and at the confluence of the two rivers developed a small city, which was called Salitash.

It's actually a small town, but it's already the largest city in the Pamirs!

By the way, in the Tang Dynasty, it was called Chihe Station, which was a post station belonging to the Green Ridge Guard.

Datong China did not invade other countries, it is really a reconquest of lost territory, and in the future, there will be no Pamir Plateau, only China's green mountains and Buzhou mountains.