Yaotougang is a small city about twenty miles away from Khotan City. Before the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the Bisha Governor's Mansion once stationed a large number of troops here.
The name Bisha comes from Buddhism. It can be recalled that in the 22nd year of Zhenguan, Xue Wanbei shocked Khotan with fifty horses. Under his "persuasion", Yuchi Fuchin, the king of Khotan, went to Chang'an to worship in person.
However, after Yuchi Fuchuxin arrived in Chang'an, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty had already passed away. However, Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi who succeeded him was extremely happy. He immediately appointed Yuchi Fuchuxin as the governor of Bisha Prefecture, and later upgraded it to the Governor's Palace of Bisha Prefecture. One of the four towns in Anxi.
But now that times have changed, the Tang Dynasty no longer exists, and the originally prestigious Tang Army garrison in Anxi has become a small castle.
The residents in the city either died in the troubled times or have moved to Khotan. Those who are still here have become thirty or forty households of Khotan civilians.
"Erlangjun, all the residents in the city have registered here. The emperor has decreed that this will be the place where Erlangjun settles his followers from now on!"
Next to Zhang Zhao, an official in a green robe handed Zhang Zhao a thin account book.
As he spoke, this official, who clearly had mixed-race characteristics, asked Zhang Zhao with emotion.
"Does Mr. Erlang know what kind of holy family this is?"
Zhang Zhao motioned to Zhang Zhong to take over the household register and solemnly bowed his hands in a salute.
"I have just arrived in the Kingdom of Jin, and I still don't know what to do. I am about to ask Mr. Tian for advice!"
When the green-robed official heard Zhang Zhao calling him Tian Gong, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes with joy on his face. He was just a small household official in the city of Khotan, so he had no right to be called Duke.
And as soon as Zhang Zhao finished speaking, he quickly asked Zhang Zhong to present a wooden box.
"I heard that Mr. Tian's ancestor was also an official of the Tang Dynasty in Yanqi Governor's Mansion. This box of lard and honey cake is a delicacy from the Central Plains. I gave it to Mr. Tian to comfort his homesickness!"
At this time in Khotan, the king of Khotan changed his name from Yuchi Sengwubo to Li Shengtian. The superiors would follow suit. It became popular among the nobles and officials in Khotan to give themselves Han names. In the trend of fame, anyone who can have anything to do with the Tang Dynasty will say that they have the blood of the Tang Dynasty.
For example, the Tianhu Cao in front of us originally had the surname Yutian, but in order to cater to his superiors, he found a Han ancestor for himself and changed his surname to a Han surname.
Normally, his official surname is Tian, and he can still speak Chinese that requires slow listening to understand, but he can still communicate with others. But when he returns home, he naturally becomes a Khotanese.
However, judging from the appearance of Tado Tsao, he might actually have Han family blood or it might be unknown.
Tato Cao smiled faintly, what kind of lard honey cake can travel thousands of miles across the vast sea desert and not be bad? It must be just rhetoric.
Sure enough, when Tato So opened the crack of the wooden box and took a look, the smile on his face became even more satisfied, because there were three fine silver collars lying inside, which was equivalent to at least five months of his income.
"Erlang Jun was so kind that I couldn't refuse, so I accepted it shamelessly. I said that the emperor's holy family favors Erlang Jun. That's because our Dabao Jin Kingdom has not given any land to any of its ministers for almost ten years since the 11th anniversary of the same celebration." , and it’s still so close to the royal city.”
The political system of Khotan, as far as Zhang Zhao knows, is a very strange combination.
In the area near the royal city of Khotan, Li Shengtian established the Taifu, Taiwei and six ministries and officials, which seemed to be a centralized country.
But in fact, Khotan has very strong features of the feudal system. From King Li Shengtian onwards, except for Anjun Prefecture, where the founding capital of Khotan City was located, the other nine states of Khotan have been enfeoffed.
The governor of each state was the largest feudal lord. Various areas below the governor were also controlled by other feudal lords, large and small.
When a war breaks out, various feudal lords will lead private soldiers to the capital, and then go out to fight under the leadership of generals directly under the command of the King of Khotan.
In other words, Li Shengtian actually fully controlled only Anjunzhou, the capital of Khotan, and Ya'erkan (Yarkand) in the north. The rest of the places were under the control of feudal lords, large and small.
Zhang Zhao suddenly thought that Li Shengtian was so obsessed with the culture of the Tang Dynasty. Could it be that he also wanted to introduce the Central Plains county system and weaken the power of the domestic feudal lords?
In this case, he will definitely not increase the number of feudal lords with territories. It will be normal for him not to be canonized for ten years.
And now that Li Shengtian has given Yao Tougang to Zhang Zhao, it can indeed be said that he has a strong holy love.
"And..." A glint flashed in Tato Tsao's eyes.
"Someone asked me to remind Mr. Erlang that there are some things that he must report to the emperor in time. This is his duty as a minister. Please forgive me, Mr. Erlang!"
Seeing Tato Cao walking away briskly while holding the wooden box, Zhang Zhao touched the beard that had begun to grow on his chin and thought quickly in his mind.
The old Zhang Zhong next to him was full of doubts, "What does Tian Hucao mean? He took thirty pieces of money from us and just said such nonsense?"
'Ahem! Zhang Zhao coughed dryly, determined in his heart that he would never let Old Zhang Zhong participate in anything political in the future.
The person Tabucho said had to report to the emperor at all times was undoubtedly Li Ruoyu, who had a somewhat sensitive identity!
Li Ruoyu was asking Tiando Cao to tell him that Li Shengtian already knew what he had done in Wuni City, including the fact that he gave Queen Zhongyunyou to his general!
. . . .
The castle in Yaotougang is obviously in a state of disrepair. It is a fortress built according to the large and powerful forts in Han Dynasty. It has a circumference of at least five miles, but the earthen walls have collapsed in many places and have been reclaimed as farmland.
Only the building on the right side of Wubao is still relatively complete. There are many low houses made of mud, stones, branches, etc., which are closely adjacent to each other.
When Zhang Zhao walked in from the wide front door, both sides of the door were full of men, women and children, tall and short, kneeling. Half of the men and women stood on each side. However, there were more children and adults, men and women, and relatively few elderly people.
Zhang Zhao originally wanted to give a speech to win over the hearts of his "subjects", but it turned out that his Uighur dialect was basically incomprehensible to others, let alone Chinese, and his Khotanese dialect was even more incomprehensible to Zhang Zhao. It's like listening to a book from heaven.
It was really a bit crazy to win people's hearts. Zhang Zhao laughed at himself. He had no martial arts skills and had never had a job in the military. There was no need to spend any effort to recruit people.
So Zhang Zhao handed the account book in his hand to Zhang Zhong. This was the register after they found King Zhongyun's treasure in Wuni City.
"Mr. Zhong, we have a lot of people now, and I still have to shoulder the burden of logistics.
Wu Yuan'er came to me yesterday and said that he did not want to go back to Dunhuang and was willing to follow me. You go and contact him. From now on, you will be the leader and he will be the deputy. "
"Here!" Lao Zhang Zhong stepped in and sang "here" with joy on his face, "Old man was originally the steward chosen by the emperor for Erlangjun, and now he can finally be put to use!"
"Okay, Mr. Zhong, after you go to Wu Yuan'er, come up with a plan to organize and repair Yaotou Gang Fort. You just need to use money to find a certain command!"
But Zhang Zhao pointed to the city wall that had almost completely collapsed, "But there is no need to rebuild the city wall. Just build some fences to block the wild beasts."
As he spoke, Zhang Zhao seemed to have thought of something, and pointed to a tall, relatively well-preserved earth wall in the distance.
"Find someone to reinforce that section and build it according to the strictest city wall standards!"
If you don't build a city wall, that's because this place is close to the capital of Khotan. Your nephew, with hundreds of brave soldiers, built a fortress as soon as he arrived. What do you want Li Shengtian to think?
As for reinforcing the far section, Zhang Zhao suddenly thought that without such a section of the city wall, how could he show Li Shengtian the power of his black powder!
