In the past two years, there have not been much changes in the Han Dynasty. Political stability is often reflected in the stability of personnel. The three prime ministers Wei Renpu, Dou Yi, and Wang Pu have formed a stable leadership group. Wei Renpu is generous and considerate of the general situation; Dou Yi is upright and upright and follows etiquette; Wang Pu is young and powerful, eager to learn, and is known as a prime minister. weapon.
The official system of the Han Dynasty has also been sorted out again, and it is not difficult to further distinguish the official positions granted by the imperial court from the official positions awarded by the imperial court. This is not difficult. It only needs to be based on the Tang system and combined with the current national conditions of the Han Dynasty. However, in this process, a number of redundant officials were again eliminated.
The biggest change in the title of the official position is that of the Third Department of Envoy. In order to distinguish it from the Three Forbidden Offices, the Three Legal Departments and the Three Local Departments, the Financial Department was formally established, with jurisdiction over the Department of Branches, the Department of Household Affairs, and the Department of Salt and Iron. The Chief of the Financial Department He was called the Prime Minister and was written into the "Han Huidian". As a result, the authority and status of the Financial Secretary were further elevated, making him the first person under Zhongshu's order.
In the process of establishing the rectification and establishment of the financial system, the first relatively fierce political conflict and struggle broke out in the Kaibao Year. The confrontation between the first three ministers Red Xiang and the Minister of Household Affairs Wang Pu.
Since Wang Pu returned to the court and was assigned to the Third Division, Red Xiang, the former chief of the Third Division, has always been in a haze. In Redfield's view, Wang Pu was here to seize power. Relying on the emperor's favor and dictating matters in the Third Department, he, a dignified and scheming prime minister, was excluded from the core leadership group of Kaibao's New Deal.
In terms of talent, Red Xiang boasted that he was not inferior to Wang Pu. However, in terms of popularity, everyone praised Wang Pu for his beauty and grace, but Red Xiang was too upright, had an impatient temper, and often bullied his superiors, so his reputation was far worse. When it comes to the closeness of the relationship with the emperor and the emperor's trust, there is no comparison.
Sometimes character does determine fate. After enduring it for more than two years, Redfield chose to fight and still faced Wang Pu head-on, criticizing his words and deeds and obstructing his work. As a result, the three divisions were in constant turmoil for a period of time, even delaying their work.
Eventually, the emperor was offended. As the emperor, Liu Chengyou was naturally happy to see competition and confrontation among his ministers, but he had to have a certain limit and a bottom line, and he could not interfere with national laws and delay official duties.
When Red Xiang neglected state affairs due to personal grudges, Emperor Liu could not tolerate it. In the end, Lei Xiang was dismissed from the post of Prime Minister and sent to Longyou, where he knew Lanzhou. This kind of disposal arrangement also follows a tacit rule. After all, Red Xiang is an important minister in the court. Although he is not allowed to be in the court and is placed outside the court, he can still hold an important position.
Of course, it was also because in Emperor Liu's view, Leide Xiang was obviously lacking as a prime minister, and he was more than adequate for one party. In addition, the northwest region was the place to employ people.
As far as the results are concerned, the Han Dynasty's court struggles have begun to enter a relatively rational state, and they will not be bloody at every turn. This is also the rule that Emperor Liu gradually developed after more than ten years after he came to power. From Bian Guichen to Li Tao, and then from Fan Zhi to Red Xiang, high-ranking officials and important ministers were excluded from the capital every time. Failure to carry out important duties.
The battle between the Thunder King and the King of Thunder ended with Wang Pu's complete victory. From this, Wang Pu became the official worship envoy of Finance. From the beginning to the end, in the face of Redjohn's provocation, he adopted three methods of response: retreat, endure, and give in. In the end, the emperor intervened, Redjohn stepped in, and he jumped into place and became the leader of political affairs. A veritable second-in-command.
When Reid went west to take office, Wang Pu personally went to see him off. Although it was not that simple to forget the grudges with a smile, Wang Pu's reputation among the scholar-bureaucrats was increasing day by day, and his tolerance for people became his political label. In addition, after returning to the court, Wang Pu also recommended many talents, making his position in the court more stable.
In the Kaibao era of the Han Dynasty, on this dazzling stage, Wang Pu was destined to be a political star, exuding a dazzling light.
When it comes to the northwest, I have to say that it is not considered stable. Especially in the Hexi area, although the imperial court made a series of arrangements, especially the military garrison, which was even more powerful, the sequelae of the excessive killings at that time also appeared, and they were still undecided, although they were defeated by the Han army every time. They were suppressed forcefully, but some people always jumped out and resisted the rule of the Han Dynasty.
In two years, the population that was originally under the control of the Ganzhou Uighurs has dropped by half. They all died or fled in the turmoil. Although it is hard to accept, the fact is that under the rule of the Han Dynasty, the Gansu region was not as peaceful as it was under the rule of the Uighurs.
Several groups of Uighurs who escaped from Gansu did not stop, especially the group that moved westward to the southwest of Shazhou. Within two years, they gathered to harass Guashan Gansu five times. They have a small population and a weak military, but they are well versed in guerrilla methods. They are like flies and bugs. They cannot knock you down and their bites cannot hurt you, but they will annoy you unbearably.
The biggest time was when they united with some Tubo people to invade the border and killed and plundered more than 300 people in Shazhou. For this reason, the garrison in Hexi has prepared to conduct a surprise attack to completely eliminate this annoying remnant of Uighurs and also attack the restless Tubo people.
The Guiyi Army has completely withdrawn from the stage of history, enjoying the high titles and salaries of the imperial court. Cao Yuanzhong, the Duke of Xiping, and Cao Yuangong, the Bo of Guang'an, returned eastward in high profile to enjoy the blessings in the capital. The local wealthy families also moved inward one after another and were scattered in the Guanlong area.
The Hexi Corridor can be said to be completely in the hands of the imperial court, but the Silk Road is still cut off and business travel is difficult to develop. In addition to the unstable situation, the main reason lies in the situation in the Western Region.
Nearly five years have passed since the Liao Army's Western Expedition. During these five years, the Liao Kingdom has reaped great dividends from the war. According to information gathered from inside the Khitan, through the conquest of the Western Regions, the Liao army plundered more than 1.3 million cattle, horses, camels and various livestock, as well as countless gold and silver property. More than 150,000 young men and women of all ethnic groups in the Western Regions were escorted Returned to Khitan as a slave...
The price paid was less than 20,000 casualties. After seeing the benefits of conquering the Western Regions, Lord Yelv Jing of the Liao Dynasty sent a group of reinforcements to Yelv Xiezhen, totaling more than 20,000 tribal soldiers. Of course, in addition to supporting the Western Expeditionary Army, the Han army also took over Hexi. The Liao army in the Western Regions had to be strengthened to prevent the Han from stabbing them in the back.
In the winter of the second year of Kaibao, after Yelu Xiezhen successively defeated the main Uighur forces in the Luntai area, they once again concentrated their forces to march westward and attacked Qiuci. This time, the Uighurs failed to resist. By the spring and February of the third year of Kaibao, , the city of Qiuci, which had persisted for a year and a half, was destroyed, and the Xizhou Uighurs were lost in the dust of history.
Although it is impossible to accurately calculate how much damage the Liao Army's Western Expedition brought to the Xizhou area, we can give a rough estimate. Before the war, the Xizhou Uighurs had a population of one million. After excluding the deaths, migrations, and plunders, by the fourth year of Kaibao, the remaining population of Xizhou was only about 400,000. This was still in the late stage of the strategy, and Yelv Xiezhen consciously controlled Killing.
It can be said that the history of the Western Regions has entered a period of decline, and it is unknown how long it will take to recover.
The destruction of the Gaochang Uighurs did not mean the end of the war in the Western Regions. After pacifying Qiuci, because Khotan sent troops to rescue the Uighurs and were enemies of the Liao army, Yelv Xiezhen sent his troops south with the intention of annihilating them all.
As a result, it suffered a heavy setback. At this time, the official name of Khotan was "Dabao Khotan Kingdom", and its king was Li Shengtian, who had ruled Khotan for half a century. Under the leadership of the old king, Khotan actually defeated the Liao army and captured more than 2,000 people.
Yelv Xiezhen was furious and wanted to personally attack the enemy, but even bigger trouble came. The Black Khan Dynasty, which was in the midst of its expansionist drive and had nowhere to vent, officially joined the war. In the name of missionary jihad, they marched eastward.
The Black Khan army was not weak in terms of organization, and was well-equipped, and was blessed with the aura of holy war. However, the Liao army underestimated them because they did not understand them, so they suffered a big loss.
The first battle between the two sides took place in March of the third year of Kaibao's reign, at Badaling, with 20,000 Liao troops and 30,000 Black troops. As a result, the Liao army was defeated. Under the impact of Black Khan's heavy cavalry and those fanatical jihadists, the Liao army, which had the intention of underestimating the enemy, was completely unable to withstand it and suffered more than 4,000 losses.
That battle was the biggest setback the Liao army had suffered since its western expedition. It was the first time that it was beaten with little temper, even though nearly half of the Liao army participating in the battle were Uighur servants.
Once defeated, there will be a second and third one. The army of the Black Khan Dynasty broke through the Tianshan Mountains and advanced eastward, defeating the Liao army in Wachi, Moman and Gumo successively. It was not until they retreated to Qiuci that the Liao army, led by Yelu Xiezhen, stabilized its position.
The Liao army before and after suffered tens of thousands of losses, including the Khitan army. The situation that followed was not optimistic for the Liao army, and could even be described as pessimistic, because their actions in the Western Regions could not fail, and once they failed, the Uighurs who had temporarily subdued them by force would definitely be unstable.
The backlash came quickly. When news of the Liao army's defeat spread, the old Uighur people in Gaochang immediately began to become restless and even riot.
At what can be called a critical moment, Yelv Xiezhen showed his military talents and took advantage of the Black Khans' consecutive victories. He advanced arrogantly and underestimated the enemy's lack of preparation. He secretly gathered elite troops and set up an ambush under the city of Qiuci. Relying on the tactics of using big sticks, heavy hammers and cutting off the horse's legs, he defeated Black Khan's heavy cavalry and pursued the victory for more than 20 miles, killing and capturing more than 5,000 people.
As a result, the crisis of the Liao army was temporarily relieved. However, in the next year, the Heilongjiang and Liaoning armies continued to fight in the Tarim River Basin west of Qiuci.
Perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, even with a commander as talented as Yelu Xiezhen, the Liao army could not gain the upper hand. The most important reason was that the Liao army had too many problems, because it killed too many evildoers and the destruction of Xizhou was too serious to provide adequate relief. The support of the Qidan is far away and cannot quench the thirst.
In contrast, the Heihan people waited for Gaochang to be drained of blood, and after the Liao army was exhausted from fighting for a long time, they took advantage of the gap and naturally gained the upper hand. Under such a situation, the Khitan people's situation in the Western Regions became increasingly dire.
In this way, Khotan breathed a sigh of relief and watched the show in the south...
The impact of the war in the Western Regions on the Han Dynasty was probably reflected in the blocking of the Silk Road on land. Seeing the Liao army encounter the tough guy like Hei Khan, there was even a sense of gloating about the misfortune.
