The entire green ridge was under the jurisdiction of the governor of Osh of the Bukhara Khanate.

But there have been several governors in a row, who have never set foot in the land of green mountains - a plateau with an average altitude of more than 3,000 meters, who has nothing to do and wander around?

Green Ridge is different from Jiang Liang's imagination, although it believes in the Green Religion, it is a secular tribal society.

The Yarkand Khanate and the Mughal Empire, at this time, were both Sufis. The vast plateaus and mountainous areas of the Green Mountains believe in the Ismaili sect, and at the same time integrate primitive totem worship, and they are extremely tolerant of pagan beliefs.

When Jiang Liang and Tajik businessmen communicated, the two sides were purely talking about chickens and ducks.

Jiang Liang's goal was Green Ridge, while Tajik merchants believed that China wanted to take Ferghana and Osh. Both belong to the territory of the Tajiks, but their religious and cultural differences are very large, and even the denominations of faith are different.

Fergana and Osh, on the northern edge of the Green Ridge, are the core areas of Tajikistan. Religion, customs, and culture were heavily influenced by Central Asia, and power was held by nobles and imams.

The green ridges that China intends to seize are all plateaus and mountains, and the economy is very backward. In this case, the religious leaders have very little say, so the heads of the various tribes have the final say.

You can see Green Christians worshipping totems in the mountainous areas of the Green Mountains, just like the Green Christians in Java worship Mazu...... The style of painting is extremely weird, and it is the product of the fusion of beliefs.

Liang Zhen seized the Stone City River Valley, such a big thing, the governor of Bukhara did not know.

It was not until the Chinese army approached Salitash, that is, the Chihe Post of the Tang Dynasty, that the garrison of Bukhara woke up from a big dream.

For the king of Bukhara, the only role of the Green Ridge was to collect tolls for caravans. I didn't even bother to build a checkpoint at the mountain pass, because the environment at the mountain pass was harsh, so it was not as convenient as collecting taxes at the Chihe Station, which was a necessary place on the Silk Road anyway.

Thousands of troops were killed, and the defender Saeed was stunned.

He knew that Yarkand was at war, so from last year to now, business travel has been almost cut off. But he never thought that the Chinese army actually crossed the mountain pass and led the troops to kill the city where they were stationed.

Said's name is a guard, but he is actually a toll collector.

There are not enough 500 soldiers under his command—it is too poor to transport food over long distances, so there are too many soldiers to support it.

In addition to the castle, there were many merchants from Central Asia.

They had been here since last year, but the Chinese army blocked the mountain pass and temporarily banned the passage of caravans, so they had to retreat to Chiheyi and wait for the trade route to open.

Both the defenders and the merchants had heard rumors of the Chinese army and knew that it was a group of soldiers who could summon devils.

At this moment, businessmen outside the city ran away one after another.

But they don't want to go too far, they also want to go to Kashgar and buy Chinese goods to ship to Central Asia.

Liang Zhen only brought four artillery pieces over, and the military order above was to try not to fight. If the defenders are willing to surrender, allow them to safely withdraw from the Green Ridge, so as not to completely tear the face with the Bukhara Khanate.

"What? Let me surrender? Said asked.

The messenger said: "Yes, as long as you surrender, you can withdraw from the Pamir in peace." ”

"Impossible." Said shook his head.

Chiheyi is so important because it can collect tolls.

Chinese goods are transported to the West by land, and all of them have to pass through here, and a huge amount of toll tax can be collected every year.

If Said dared to surrender, not to mention that the king would not let him go, even the governor would cut him down. How many people are counting on the toll booth here.

The messenger went back to report, but Liang Zhen was too lazy to bombard slowly, and ordered: "Raise the hot air balloon." ”

This river valley is located at the confluence of two rivers, and the castle is surrounded by mountains on all sides, so there is no fixed wind direction.

The observers measured it for a while and found that the wind direction was all chaotic.

The southeast wind blows for a while, and the wind blows from the north for a while, and the wind is also strong and small.

In the face of this situation, you can only take off first and then say, when a hot air balloon is raised on all sides of the city, there are always one or two hot air balloons that are in the right direction.

"Zhenny! Zhenny! ”

The defenders had heard rumors from the merchants, and they were shouting the devil at this moment.

"Boom, boom!"

When 10,000 enemies threw themselves on the city and exploded, the soldiers finally collapsed.

With just over 400 people defending the city, they were already demoralized. Rather than being frightened by the "devil", it was better to find a reason for himself to flee, and the soldiers rushed towards the city gates, and no matter how much Saeed tried to stop them, it would be to no avail.

So, Saeed also ran.

The Datong army carried out hot air balloon bombing, which gave Saeed an excuse to escape, because the Chinese army summoned the devil, so he really couldn't fight. Should...... You can get the Governor's forgiveness.

Liang Zhen smiled: "Catch up, you don't have to chase too hard." ”

China did not want to fight a big war with the Bukhara Khanate, but only drove the enemy out of the green mountains.

The routed soldiers all rowed north and fled, and the Datong army also grabbed some merchant ships and followed them to the north.

Businessmen from Central Asia hid on the shore in front of them and witnessed this "pursuit battle" throughout the whole process.

The missionary Lei Zhiji personally led the troops to chase after him, and he wanted to investigate the situation along the way. He also stopped halfway and grabbed a few businessmen to accompany the army and asked them to introduce specific information.

Coming to a village called Guricha, where the river was divided into two, the merchant Jia said: "Follow the river to the west to Osh, where the governor is stationed. Follow the river to the north to a city called Uzgen. Wherever you go, as long as you go out of the river valley, it will be much lower and flatter. ”

The two rivers that branched out, Lei Zhiji took a boat to walk around, and finally returned to Gulitsa: "You can build a city here, get stuck here, and only need three or five hundred defenders to resist the attack of tens of thousands of enemies." ”

According to Shang Jia's description, Lei Zhiji drew a simple map based on his own field investigation.

Then, draw a circle in Gulitsa and a circle in Chiheyi. Cities are to be built in both places, and each city has three or five hundred garrisons, and this large area is stable.

In the next three months, Lei Zhiji visited other areas of the Green Ridge.

Only then did I finally know that geographically speaking, there are eight regions in the Pamirs, referred to as "Bapa". However, in terms of ethnicity and culture, it can be divided into six regions. In terms of language, it can be divided into two major sections.

The ethnic composition is extremely complex, and it is not only Tajiks.

Some came from India, some came from Persia, some came from Siberia, and of course some came from Xinjiang.

The only link between the various groups is the common belief in Ismailis. Moreover, the faith is also internally divided, and each region incorporates unique religious characteristics.

Lei Zhiji returned to Kashgar and handed in his investigation report.

He said to Jiang Liang: "Dudu, the land of green mountains is isolated from the world, just like Tibet. The sects here are much more moderate and tolerant than Yarkand, and there is no need to use iron-fisted means. ”

"Go on." Jiang Liang nodded.

Lei Zhiji said: "The local tribes in the Green Mountains are also very similar to the Tibetan side, but they are slightly different. The religious chiefs here don't have much secular power. The central part of the Green Mountains is not suitable for farming, and is more like the nomadic tribes of Mongolia. The rest of the ridge is half cultivated and half pasture, which is very similar to the Kang area. ”

"On the Kangzang side, there are big nobles, but there are no big nobles in the Green Mountains. They are all nobles of small and medium-sized tribes, because they are isolated from the world and have a large population, and they cannot be unified with each other. To put it bluntly, a plate of loose sand. For them, whoever fights surrenders is the same as the court and the Bukhara Khanate. ”

"Moreover, the external forces occupying this place are all for the commercial taxes of the Silk Road, and the oppression of the local tribes is not serious. After all, the poor tribes in the mountains, no matter how much they bully, they can't squeeze oil and water. If troops are sent to collect taxes, the mountains are high and the roads are far away, and it is difficult to transport military rations, and the taxes urged out cannot cover the military expenses. ”

"The great nobles and imams mentioned by Shang Jia before are not in the land of green mountains, but in a large area of Osh. It is also the territory of the Tajiks, but they are all different in their sects and beliefs, and they are much richer than in the Green Mountains. ”

"The local tribes of Green Ridge also have slaves, but there are not many of them. Often there were wars between tribes, prisoners of war were reduced to slavery, and slaves were born as slaves. ”

"Slaves can be forcibly freed, but tribal wars cannot be stopped. The tribes here fought because they were too poor to compete for pasture and arable land. Unless you can make them all rich, there will always be wars, there will always be prisoners of war, there will always be slaves. ”

"There are eight papa, and there are eight great cities that can be built, and each city has a garrison of 500 people. There are also five key locations where small castles can be built, each with a garrison ranging from tens to hundreds. The total number of garrisons in the entire Green Ridge should be around five or six thousand. ”

After speaking, Lei Zhiji looked at Jiang Liang.

Jiang Liang shook his head and said: "Six thousand garrisons are too many, and transportation here is difficult, so it is impossible to transport military rations from Kashgar for a long time. If you want to get food on the spot, you can only garrison a small number of troops, otherwise it will intensify the conflict with the local tribes. After all, there is only so much food produced, even if we spend money to buy it, it will cause a shortage of food in the green mountains. The Green Ridge garrison, up to four thousand. ”

Lei Zhiji said: "Four thousand is unstable. ”

Jiang Liang said: "Steady, you yourself say that the local tribes are scattered, and even the language is divided into two parts. Eight great cities, each garrison of four hundred. There are 800 troops left, stationed at various checkpoints. ”

"It's not enough." Lei Zhiji said.

Jiang Liang said with a smile: "Since the local tribe is very poor, let's collect less taxes." They paid little tax, so they had to fight for the court. If one tribe rebels, let other tribes send troops and follow our Datong army to quell the rebellion. If all the tribes are rebelling, it means that the Han officials have a problem and have forced all the scattered tribes to rebel. ”

The imperial court was also to build schools in the Green Mountains, initially recruiting only the children of the tribal nobles, and then slowly extending to the commoners.

Since the sects here are more moderate and do not interfere in politics, let them keep their faith.

To tell the truth, as long as the court does not extort tyranny, the Tajiks are very docile, because they are used to submitting to the suzerain, so as to obtain a more stable living environment.

The Tajik brothers of New China have produced many border guards who are obliged to patrol the border for the motherland, and even pay with their own lives for it.