"Xie Bao, it's been several years since you came back from the Western Regions. Do you still keep in contact with them? What's the situation there? Where did the Dangxiang people attack?"
Wanyan Zongqian originally had little interest in the Western Expedition - because the Western Expedition is likely to trigger a power reshuffle within the Jin Kingdom, Wanyan Xiebao is likely to become a familiar Banbo Jilie, and then become a new generation of Jin emperors .
But now this worry is gone, because Wanyan Liang has become the emperor. No matter how good Wanyan Xiebao is, he can just sneak to the west to conquer a country, become a king himself, and feel comfortable behind closed doors.
Therefore, Wanyan Zongqian's attitude towards the Western Expedition has also become more positive... If the Western Region is really as good as Xie Bao's boast, then he might as well get involved, even if he can't grab territory in the west, grab some of that The Persian and Malaysian ones are also pretty good!
"Marshal Du," Wanyan Xiabao said with a smile, "my nephew still has some contact with the Western Regions... Last winter, Yuying sent someone to deliver a letter to my nephew, and the letter said The latest situation in the Western Region now."
Wanyan Yinshuke's son Wanyan Yuying went to the Western Regions with Xiebao. When Xiebao returned, he stayed with more than a thousand people in Luntai City in the Western Regions.
The purpose of Xie Bao letting him stay in Luntai was not only to guard this large stronghold that could become a transfer station for the westward march in the future, but also to allow him to collect intelligence on the Western Regions.
In the past two or three years, he has sent more than ten waves of messengers to inform Xiebao one by one of the development and changes of the Western Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions.
"How is the situation?" Wanyan Zongqian asked with interest.
Wanyan Xiebao said with a smile: "The Tang State founded by the Dangxiang people defeated the Taohuashi State's 100,000-strong army at the Yunhu River in the Western Regions four years ago. Then the Tang State spent several months to seize Shu Shu. The old places of the three towns of Le, Yutian and Suiye, plus Qiuci, which was taken over from the Gaochang Uighurs, can be regarded as the restoration of the four towns of Anxi in the Tang Dynasty.
After that, Li Renxiao established his capital in Balashagon, the western capital of the Peach Blossom Stone Kingdom, which was located in Suiye's hometown, and changed its name to Xi'an Prefecture... which means West Chang'an. "
Wanyan Zong smiled dryly: "These party members are pretending to be stupid and even addicted to it!"
Wanyan Xiebao said with a smile: "That's right. Their Dabaigao country has been suppressed in the cramped land west of the Yinxia River for more than a hundred years, and has never had a good life. How many years has it been since it pretended to be the Tang Dynasty? They are already so arrogant, which shows that God bless the Tang Dynasty, so of course they have to pretend to be Tang Dynasty to the end!"
Wanyan Zongqian shook his head repeatedly, "If God had blessed the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty would not have perished."
Wanyan Xiebao smiled and said: "In addition, the Western Region was originally a Buddhist kingdom, but since the decline of the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, the Tianfang Sect from the Great Food Kingdom has grown stronger in the Western Region. Before the rise of the Western Tang Dynasty, It has overwhelmed Buddhism, Nestorianism, and Manichaeism in the Western Regions. The Western Tang Dynasty originally regarded Buddhism as the state religion. When it conquered Anxi, it received help from Buddhist disciples in the Western Regions, so it was natural to revitalize Buddhism as its own mission.
In order to revitalize Buddhism, the Western Tang Dynasty would inevitably fall into a battle with the Tianfang Sect. Therefore, the Western Tang Dynasty had to do everything possible to expand the number of Chinese people. Only in this way could the Western Tang Dynasty have a sufficient number of Chinese people to distribute in all directions. Therefore, there are only Tang people in the Western Tang Dynasty, and there are no Dangxiang people, Han people, Tubo people, Gaochang Uighurs, and Khotan people.
However, even if the Dangxiang people, Han people, Tubo people, Gaochang Uighurs, and Khotan people are all counted as Tang people, the Western Tang nationality can only number 1.2 million. Therefore, Xitang, which occupied the four towns of Anxi plus one Gaochang, had expanded to its limit.
In the past three years, although they sent troops to Hezhong every year, they only collected some tributes and showed their national prestige, and did not occupy the cities and villages there. Compared with the four towns in Anxi, the area around the river is truly a prosperous land, with a large population, fertile fields, and prosperous commerce... Although it is not as good as Shandong, it is not worse than Yanyun! "
Wanyan Zongbi interjected from the side: "One and two million nationals is quite a lot... How many people do we have in Dajin?"
1.2 million nationalities is indeed not that small. If it were the Mongols, they would have wiped out all the national tribes of all sizes in the Western Regions by now!
But the Western Tang Dynasty was not Mongolia after all, and in some aspects it was even inferior to the party ruled by Yelu Dashi.
Because the nomadic elements of the people in the Western Tang Dynasty were very low, they were accustomed to settled life rather than living in pursuit of water and grass.
Wanyan Xiebao smiled and said: "How can Western Tang compare with us? Their millions of nationalities were just knitted together. And most of them were farmers before. So after conquering a large piece of land, Li Renli and Cao Mian were busy relocating the nation and establishing military headquarters."
There is no way for farming people to carry out migration and production at the same time. If they are always in a state of migration, production will basically stop. More than a million people only wander around to rob but do not produce. How can they become rogues?
Therefore, after Li Renli and Cao Mian secured enough territory, they began to imitate the Tang system and implement the system of equalizing land and military forces among the nationalities.
Xiebao said again: "One and two million nationalities are scattered in the five towns of Suiye, Qiuci, Shule, Yutian, and Gaochang. The average number in one town is only 240,000. And the territory of the five towns is very vast. So once the nation is divided, the power is dispersed.”
In fact, the reason for the dispersion of power in the Western Tang Dynasty was not only the dispersion of nationalities and the establishment of military mansions, but also the feudal Jiedushi envoys - this is inconvenient to comment on, so Xiebao simply does not mention it.
The Jiedushi feudal system of the Western Tang Dynasty was actually not the Tang system, but closer to the Western Zhou feudal system!
The so-called Jiedu Envoys are actually vassal states!
Under the Jiedushi, there were two levels of feudal lords, the palace lord (the lord of the military palace) and the fort lord (the lord of the military fort), as well as the palace soldiers at the base of this feudal system.
The advantage of this feudal system is that it takes root directly at the grassroots level and can cultivate Xia Jun Yimin. The teaching ability of Buddhism and Confucianism is not enough. Only this way of Xia Jun Yimin can take root in the territory of Tianfang Sect. .
But having said that, when the "Big Teeth" of the Cross Church civilized the people in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, they actually relied on a group of barbaric Castilian knights to take root... and also expelled a large number of Moors. people and Jews.
The shortcoming of the Xiajun Yimin is that their power is easily dispersed, and it is difficult to form a joint force to deal a fatal blow to the "Seljuk Shogunate" of the great food country.
Wanyan Xiebao said with a smile: "But it is precisely because the Western Tang Dynasty was unable to advance into the river after being dispersed that Li Renli and Cao Mian wanted us to help... This is our opportunity, we should not miss it!"
In fact, the Western Tang Dynasty is not really unable to enter the river, but it is unable to digest the river... Now the 1.2 million nationalities in the Western Tang Dynasty are divided into about 200,000 households, about one-third of which are distributed in Suiye Town, that is, less than 70,000 households.
In other words, Li Renli and Cao Mian can mobilize 70,000 elite troops to invade Hezhong at any time!
This number is almost the same as the number of armed direct descendants of Sultan Sanjar, and the combat effectiveness of the Western Tang Army, which has fried pots, hot pot cannons, yak crossbows (god-arm bows), and iron kite cavalry, is undoubtedly more powerful. There is no problem in winning the field battles, and it is also possible to conquer some big cities. But there is no way to digest it... because at this time, the river has not been ravaged by the Mongols, the ecology has not collapsed, and there is a large population that can be fed!
If the Western Tang Dynasty occupied all the land in the river, then moving all their 1.2 million people there might not necessarily be able to suppress the situation.
"Xie Bao," Wanyan Zongqian asked with a smile, "Then you and your father must be almost ready? When can we set off?"
"We're almost ready... This fall, when the horses are fat and strong, we can start!"
Wanyan Zongqian glanced at his brother Zongbi, "How about we also send some troops?"
"Okay!" Wanyan Xiabao said with a smile, "My nephew and my father are worried about the lack of troops... My nephew and my father can only gather up to 280,000 troops, of which the maximum number is 60,000 soldiers. This still includes the number of auxiliary soldiers.”
Sixty thousand Jin soldiers plus 70,000 Tang troops, a total of 130,000 troops... seems to be a little less!
Wanyan Zong smiled and said: "Then let's put together a little more, and add 40,000 to you and your son, to make a total of 100,000!"
...
"The eldest brother is only willing to hand over half of Jinghu Road, and the rest of the territory is in his hands. Moreover, I also heard that the eldest brother is planning to recruit 100,000 troops to deploy defenses in Lianghuai. It seems that the eldest brother has not given up yet. !
In addition, my younger brother also heard that the eldest brother has appointed the fifth brother as the Annan Propaganda Envoy... and is preparing to use troops against the Annan Kingdom! "
"More than just using troops, the eldest brother will probably make the fifth brother king in Annan, so that he can send King Jinling to take control of the navy!"
Beijing Road, Shuntian Mansion, Yaochi Palace.
At this time, Zhao Kai had already met Zhao Zhi and Zhao Huan's envoy Zhao Qi, who had returned from Jinling City.
The two of them brought Zhao Kai good news, bad news and big news that was neither good nor bad.
The good news is that Zhao Huan agreed to become the king of Wu... Although he was only willing to hand over half of Jinghu Road, he finally unified the Song Dynasty in name.
The bad news is that Zhao Huan continues to expand his army and prepare for war, as if he wants to resist the imperial army.
The good news is that Zhao Huan finally decided to regain the lost territory of Annan... and also sent Zhao Shu, who had secretly communicated with Zhao Kai, as the commander-in-chief, and seemed to have given conditions for Zhao Shu to be recognized as the king of Annan.
Zhao Kai smiled and said: "It is always a good thing that he is willing to be the king of Wu... The less territory he has to hand over, the less he has to hand over. I always have a way to take over his land.
Sixth Brother, I will leave the mission of the Jinghu South Road Transfer Envoy to you! Officials on Jinghu South Road should remain in office as much as possible, and taxes should remain unchanged as much as possible. "
"Third brother, what are you..."
"Third brother, the eldest brother is preparing for war!"
Zhao Zhi and Zhao Qi both seemed to have seen through Zhao Huan's conspiracy, but Zhao Kai, for some reason, seemed ready to accept Zhao Huan's conditions...
Zhao Kai smiled and said: "The eldest brother's expansion of the army may be to conquer Annan... Annan has always been the land of China and should be recovered. If the fifth brother can pacify the Annan Kingdom, I will name him the King of Annan. , make it permanent in Annan!"
