Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

When the news came out that Sanjar's 100,000-strong army had been destroyed, the 50,000-strong army he had left in the west to guard against Ajisi dispersed.

Those troops who were originally vassal states were forcibly recruited by Sanjar to fight.

Now that Sanjar was defeated and fled back, the first reaction of the monarchs of the vassal states was not to rescue him, but to quickly lead their troops back to their hometowns to stabilize the situation, and at the same time to connect with each other to break away from Sanjar's rule.

Ajisi, who was brutally beaten by Seljuk troops last year and even his son was executed, suddenly felt that he was okay again.

Ajisi led an army of 30,000 people to the south, first captured the city of Sherakhs, and then captured the new capital of Seljuk, Mulu City.

Sanjar was beaten so much that he abandoned the capital and fled. Ajisi immediately emptied his belongings and ordered the massacre of the city!

Immediately afterwards, Ajisi continued to go south, encountered the Khorasan coalition and was forced to retreat.

He kidnapped countless people, livestock, and goods from Seljuk, and became arrogant for a while. He even ordered the nobles, soldiers and civilians along the way to add his name when praying, which was tantamount to calling himself the Sultan in disguise.

At the same time, Ajisi promised last year that as long as Yelu Dashi rescued him, Khwarazm would surrender to Xiliao.

Now he has gone back on his words. He no longer regards himself as a subordinate and wants to be on an equal footing with Yelu Dashi.

Yelu Dashi immediately sent out a partial army, led by Xiao Chala'abu, and attacked for hundreds of miles straight into the enemy's territory.

When the local lords of Khwarezm heard that the army that defeated Sanjar was coming, they were so frightened that they rushed to surrender.

Xiaozhala Abu destroyed everything along the way and soon reached the capital of Khwarezm.

Ahjisi has surrendered and no longer wants to be on an equal footing with Yelu Dashi...

However, as a vassal state of Xiliao, Khwarezm had a high degree of independence. It only had to pay "tribute" to Xiliao every year and did not even need to send troops to help Xiliao fight.

Ajisi's performance was not over yet. Two years later, Sanjar revitalized his troops and came back. Because of several consecutive defeats, Ajisi was so frightened that he quickly surrendered, and Khwarezm became a Seljuk vassal again.

He jumps sideways repeatedly and becomes rampant when he succeeds, just like a clown.

…

But it is said that Yelu Dashi defeated Sanjar and annexed the entire Western Kara Khanate.

Although the king abandoned his wife and ran away, the king's brother was still there.

Yelu Dashi did not rule directly. He named the king's younger brother "Peach Blossom Stone Khan" (this man claimed to be a descendant of a Tang Dynasty princess), allowing him to continue to rule the Western Kara Khanate and leaving his confidants to supervise the Western Kara Khanate. The government of the country - people sent by Yelu Dashi turned Hezhong Prefecture into the capital of the Western Liao Dynasty and set aside a large area as a direct jurisdiction. The local king was not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the direct jurisdiction.

In addition, Bukhara, which originally belonged to the Western Kara Khanate but was later annexed by Seljuk, Yelu Dashi also ennobled nobles to establish the Bukhara Khanate.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to rule directly, it’s that Yelu Dashi doesn’t have enough officials!

He could only select officials from Central Asian scholars or nobles to rule the place. These guys are not reliable at all and are prone to conflicts with the locals. It is better to maintain the status quo and establish a vassal state.

The specific governance methods of each vassal state under the jurisdiction of Western Liao were adapted to local conditions.

The ones with the weakest influence are those from Khwarezm, who only need to hand over 30,000 dinars of silver coins every year.

There was also the newly established Khanate of Bukhara, with the king being completely autonomous. In addition to paying tribute every year, the army must accept Yelu Dashi's recruitment unconditionally.

On the Gaochang Uighur side, a governor-general system was implemented, but some powers of the king were retained.

The Western Liao Dynasty inherited the north-south official system of the Liao Kingdom. The northern officials were those brought by Yelu Dashi, and the southern officials were the conquered local officials and nobles.

Yelu Dashi also abolished the feudal system and divided the directly-administered areas and vassal states into more fragmented ruling areas. It is forbidden for the various ruling areas to fight each other, especially to annex each other, otherwise they will be attacked by a group.

In principle, all officials must be appointed by Yelu Dashi.

But in actual implementation, Yelu Dashi would basically not object to the officials recommended by the monarch of the subject country, especially those hereditary successors.

Yelu Dashi set aside a large area directly under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Kara Khanate, organized households and divided the people into farmers and herdsmen.

Take farmers as an example. Each household only receives a tax of one dinar silver coin, which is a very light tax in Central Asia. Countless Central Asian farmers are extremely loyal to Yelu Dashi.

"Your Majesty, more than 30,000 Xixia soldiers and civilians, with a large number of war horses, livestock and property, have arrived in Gaochang and said they want to defect." Yelu Songshan came to report urgently.

Yelu Dashi was surprised: "When did it happen?"

"Twenty days ago." Yelu Songshan said.

"So fast? The Ming army actually opened up the Hexi Corridor," Yelu Dashi asked, "What happened to the other state capitals in Xixia?"

Yelu Songshan shook his head: "I don't know."

Yelu Dashi said, "Send someone to find out."

More than 30,000 soldiers and civilians fled to Xiliao from Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Shazhou, and Guazhou. The farmers were placed in the Fergana Basin, and the nomads were placed in the Katwan Grassland.

That large area belongs to the jurisdiction of Hezhong Prefecture and is also the central direct jurisdiction of Xiliao. Yelu Dashi can arrange it however he wants. The original farmers and herdsmen were directly relocated. Anyway, the Western Kara Khanate had been fighting for years, and many cultivated lands and pastures were severely depopulated.

At the same time, 300 young men and children among the soldiers and civilians were selected to study in the Imperial College of Western Liao Dynasty, and they could be assigned as officials in the future.

Yelu Dashi wanted to centralize power step by step, but he had too few available bureaucrats.

Another month passed, and Yelu Songshan came to report: "Xixia has been destroyed."

"Sure enough." Yelu Dashi sighed.

Yelu Songshan said: "The Ming army crushed the enemy with ease, and Xixia had no power to fight back."

Yelu Dashi said: "You should be neither humble nor arrogant when you go to the Ming Kingdom with gifts. Tell Emperor Zhu of the Ming Kingdom that I defeated the most powerful monarch in the Western Regions, brought all the Black Khanate under my rule, and conquered several vassal states. The territory of my Liao Dynasty is not much smaller than that of the Ming Dynasty, and the two countries will continue to be brotherly countries in the future."

Yelu Dashi's attitude was very polite, but he was not polite at all.

He increased the central direct jurisdiction in the territory of Gaochang Uighur and increased the number of standing troops in Hami area. It was obvious that he was ready to guard against the invasion of the Ming Dynasty at any time.

...

Luoyang.

Zhu Ming was also reading various reports. Governor Zhao Ding summarized the suggestions of the generals, hoping to arrange more troops in Ningxia.

The reason was simple. The number of troops in Ningxia set by the court was taken out before the war.

No one expected that the war would go so smoothly. Tens of thousands of prisoners surrendered, resulting in too many Xixia troops surviving. In the future, the scale of the rebellion will definitely be larger than expected after the division of cultivated land and grassland. The number of garrisons must be increased to quickly extinguish it.

After reading the report sent by Zhao Ding, the cabinet's proposal was to increase the number of troops by 10,000. Zhu Ming wrote:

"The field army will increase by 10,000, and the garrison army will increase by 20,000."

"In the area north of the Yangtze River, all criminals will be relocated to the Hexi Corridor to supplement the Xixia population that escaped there. After stabilization, the two cities of Shazhou and Guazhou will be reinforced."

In the Five Dynasties and the early Song Dynasty, Yumen Pass was moved to the vicinity of Yumen City in later generations. The ancient Yumen Pass has been desertified. Now Shazhou and Guazhou are at the forefront.

Yelu Dashi needs to digest the newly occupied territory, and Daming also needs to digest Xixia. The two countries are expected to live in peace for many years.

In the future, Xingqing Prefecture will be changed to Yinchuan Prefecture.

Dingzhou, Huaizhou, Jingzhou, Shunzhou, and Lingzhou were all downgraded to counties and placed under the jurisdiction of Yinchuan Prefecture.

Twenty thousand troops were stationed in the entire Yinchuan Prefecture area.

The Hexi Corridor plus Heishui City (Ejin Banner) will be changed to Gansu Prefecture in the future, with the prefecture seat located in Ganzhou (Zhangye), and 25,000 troops will be stationed in the counties and prefectures of Gansu Prefecture.

Keyimen and the surrounding area were changed to Dingyi Prefecture, with a garrison of 5,000 troops.

The name of the Western Han Dynasty was restored in Taowai, and Shuofang Prefecture was established. Han people were moved from Shanxi to cultivate good farmland. Fifteen thousand troops were stationed.

The Western Han Dynasty name was restored in the three cities of Hexi and a small area to the north of Shanxi, and Xihe Prefecture was established. Han people were moved from Shanxi to cultivate the land, and 5,000 troops were stationed.

The rest of the area was stationed with 10,000 troops.

A small area in the southeast of Western Xia, namely Yongdeng, Gaolan, and Baiyin in later generations, was placed under the jurisdiction of Lanzhou Prefecture in Shaanxi Province.

A small amount of areas in the northeast of Western Xia, together with the Shaanxi prefectures and counties there, were assigned to the jurisdiction of Shanxi Province, which is roughly the same as the Shanxi Province in later generations.

A small amount of areas in the east of Western Xia were also assigned to Shaanxi Province.

That is, the eastern defense line where Western Xia confronted the Northern Song Dynasty, those areas with mountain barriers, were all split and assigned to Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces. Not only was it to prevent the rebellion of the remnants of Western Xia, but it was also a decision made from long-term considerations, just like the assignment of Hanzhong to Shaanxi.

In this way, 80,000 troops stationed in the former Western Xia area were more than enough.

The hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians who had conquered Western Xia were returning one after another, but many people remained in the local area.

For example, the Shanxi civilians who transported grain to Yue Fei and Han Shizhong basically did not have to go home anymore, and all stayed in Shuofang Prefecture and Xihe Prefecture to farm. They were all fertile fields washed out by the Yellow River. The army took the civilians to check them out on the spot, and the civilians were very happy after seeing them.

The land there is more fertile than the arable land in many places in Shanxi.

For those who have families, the government will send their families there, along with seeds, farm tools, and oxen.

For those who have no family or are unmarried, the government will arrange for women to marry them. All the people of Xixia were conscripted to fight in the war. Although they surrendered quickly, many men were killed, and countless widows or orphans were waiting to get married.

The same is true for other places, with a large number of troops and civilians left behind.

In the entire Xixia former territory, there are 100,000 Shanxi and Shaanxi civilians left. These civilians are all given weapons and armor, and can be recruited to fight at any time.

If the remnants of Xixia rebel, they will simply pull farmers and herdsmen to rebel, and 100,000 armed civilians will be enough for them to drink a pot.

There are also a large number of military rations and livestock that were not consumed after being transported to the front line, and they were intercepted on the spot. Some were distributed to the soldiers and civilians who moved there, and some were stored in warehouses for emergency use.

In the Hexi Corridor, a large number of captured war horses and livestock were sent to the Shandan Horse Farm for breeding.

The Tiansijian Horse Farm in Kaifeng and Luoyang was selecting good horses and sending them to the Shandan Horse Farm for breeding.