I

For two hundred years from the 16th to the 17th century, the overland Silk Road was in the hands of the Bukhara people.

Chinese goods leave Xinjiang and are transported from the southern mountainous area to the Caspian Sea. According to the administrative maps of later generations, the general path is as follows: Gansu-Xinjiang-Tajikistan-Turkmenistan (Uzbekistan)-Caspian Sea-Russia (Persia, Ukraine).

Although the overland Silk Road has declined with the rise of great navigation, it is definitely not as withered as imagined.

Historically, the main purpose of Tsarist Russian envoys visiting China during the Kangxi period was to open up new trade routes in Siberia and break the Bukhara people's monopoly on Chinese goods.

Kashgar.

Jiang Liang met with several Bukhara businessmen and asked about their domestic situation: "How has the King of Bukhara been doing in recent years?"

These businessmen are all from the Tajik ethnic group, a ruled ethnic group within the Bukhara Khan.

A businessman said: "I have never met the Great Khan, but I heard that he likes to enjoy himself. In addition to paying taxes, the caravans passing through Bukhara must also donate the most exquisite goods to the Great Khan for free in order to obtain them. Passage.”

Another businessman said: "The Great Khan kept raising taxes, and the leaders of all ethnic groups were very dissatisfied."

Jiang Liang simply opened the skylight and spoke frankly: "If the Chinese army occupied the mountainous area where the Tajik people live, would the local leaders resist to the death?"

The businessmen replied: "If the general does not kill the nobles and imams indiscriminately and retains their power, they will not resist. If the general can lower taxes, the nobles and imams are willing to throw themselves into the arms of China."

Jiang Liang thought silently and didn't speak again for a while.

Zhao Han asked him to wait for an opportunity to seize the Tajik region and completely consolidate the defense line in the Western Region. But this doesn't mean death, it's just waiting for an opportunity. If it's not easy to fight, you can give up temporarily.

After arriving in Kashgar, Jiang Liang met many Bukhara businessmen and inquired about the situation and found that the Tajik area was not easy to fight.

90% of the area there is plateau and mountainous, and Jiangliang's logistics supply line extends from Gansu to Kashgar. Running such a long supply line to an area 90% of which is mountainous can be called a military disaster.

Even if they want to be beaten, they must not be like in Xinjiang, where they just kill nobles and scholars when they see them.

Otherwise, the locals only need to fight guerrillas in the mountains to beat the Chinese army to the point of mental collapse.

The style of play and dominance strategy must be changed!

That is, only the Bukhara military and political chiefs in each city were killed, and the rulers sent by the Bukhara Khan were driven away. Then, he gave preferential treatment to imams and Tajik leaders, implemented religious freedom and tribal autonomy, and gained the support of local religious and aristocratic leaders.

The Bukhara Khanate was once very powerful. When it was besieged from all sides, it defeated Persia in the west and drove away the founders of the Mughal Empire and Yarkand Khanate in the east.

But at this time, the dynasty had changed, the Shaybanid dynasty was destroyed, and the Astrakhan dynasty passed to its fifth king.

The third king was awesome, ending civil strife and achieving unification.

During the reign of the fourth king, the Bukhara Khanate began to decline.

The current king is Abdullah Aziz, who has been on the throne for 21 years. He was relatively sober at the beginning, but now he is becoming more and more stupid, and he is arrogant and enjoys everything, and he levies violent taxes on all ethnic groups in the country.

The leaders of various ethnic groups began to frequently lead uprisings, but the governors of the Bukhara Khanate played a trick of supporting the bandits for self-respect, and eventually they simply broke up and split.

Zhongyu Zitouqhan, who married his sister to Zhao Han, not only unified the Kazakh Khanate, but also sent troops to support the Bukhara nobles to ascend to power, thus completing the unification of Bukhara again. As a result, Bukhara became a vassal state of Kazakhstan, and Touq Khan also became the Great Khan of Bukhara (an existence similar to Tian Khan, but did not actually manage Bukhara).

In a situation like Bukhara where uprisings were frequent and the governor did not obey the king's orders, it was very suitable for an attack. Jiang Liang did not want to give up this good opportunity.

Of course, China does not want to annex Bukhara, but to eat the Tajik territory. There are plateaus and mountains all over there. As long as they are occupied and a few passes are built at the mountain passes, a small garrison can ensure the security of southern Xinjiang. Coupled with the Kyrgyz territory and the construction of passes at mountain passes, foreign enemies would never even think of entering Xinjiang.

This is considered from a national defense perspective.

Regardless of whether it is Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan, Zhao Han does not intend to occupy all of them. He will only occupy the best-defended areas, which is approximately equivalent to 80% of the territories of the two countries.

Jiang Liang continued to inquire about the situation, and after several days of repeated thinking, he finally decided on the target of action-to occupy the Pamir Plateau, and nothing else!

Moreover, there are excuses for sending troops, since ancient times, and to regain lost territory.

The Pamir Plateau is also called Congling and Buzhou Mountain!

In this way, it will be very easy to fight, because the Bukhara Khanate has very weak control over Congling and does not even have a decent large city.

The average altitude of Napo is more than 3,000 meters, and there are high mountains covered with snow all year round. However, it is also a must-stop place on the Silk Road.

It was already the eighth month of the lunar calendar, and the weather had turned cold, making it no longer suitable to send troops because it might snow at any time.

Moreover, there is still a lot that needs to be done to defeat half of Xinjiang.

Nearly 100,000 civilians, half male and half, all husband and wife, signed up voluntarily and were placed in various places in the Western Region one after another. The resettlement sites are all the best places suitable for agricultural reclamation.

The freed serfs of all ethnic groups were placed in slightly worse places.

Sending troops, fighting, garrisoning, immigrating, building forts... the entire process to recover half of Xinjiang would cost about 40 million taels of silver. The Datong court is once again in debt. Judging from the current financial surplus, it will take ten years to pay off the debt with interest.

The Datong Army was fighting in southern Xinjiang, and in the vast northern Xinjiang region, a war broke out again between the Junggar Tribe and the Heshuote Tribe for pasture.

The previous alliance was meaningless. The Datong Army was fighting right before their eyes, but it could not stop the two armies from fighting. The weather was really bad during the Little Ice Age, and there was a heavy snowstorm last winter, which froze countless people and animals to death. Rather than competing for pasture, they were competing for food and population.

In another time and space, Junggar crushed Heshuote, and Heshuote had long become a vassal of Junggar.

But in this time and space, the Heshuote tribe of Qinghai and Tibet returned with 30,000 to 40,000 tribesmen. As for the Junggar tribe, half of them were killed by the Datong Army in Mobei. As a result, the two sides were evenly matched, and the fighting was back and forth. For ten or eight years, there was no winner at all.

In the spring of the next year, the first batch of 2,000 monks and Taoists passed through Jiayuguan and came to the Western Regions under the arrangement of the imperial court.

It is often a master teacher with several apprentices.

Some are placed in cities, and most are placed in rural areas. Every teacher has a special fund from which he can receive money and food to help poor people of all ethnic groups. When providing relief and treating diseases, they also spread Buddhist and Taoist beliefs, and there will always be people who will be influenced by them.

Jiang Liang had already gone to the imperial court last autumn, requesting for more money and food. He planned to capture Congling as well, and by the way, Urumqi and Barkol.

When the snow melted in spring, Jiang Liang immediately divided his troops.

Five thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry marched towards Congling. These troops were enough to eat up the Pamir Plateau.

In addition to the city defense troops from various places, the remaining troops went to attack Yangji Bali (Urumqi) and Barkol respectively. These two places were both arable and grazing, and Jiang Liang wanted to build a city after conquering them.

The vanguard general Liang Zhen was responsible for regaining Congling.

He first led his troops to the southeastern valley, which is Taxkorgan County in New China.

There is no city built in the area, and only some Tajik tribes live there.

Eight thousand Datong troops fought until no one dared to resist, and tribal leaders came to surrender one after another. Whether they surrender to China or the Bukhara Khanate, it doesn't matter to these Tajiks.

"Sir, there is an ancient city over there!"

The river valley here is very wide and at a low altitude. There are tens of thousands of acres of grassland along the river and even farmland in some places.

Liang Zhen rode on horseback and found the ruins of the ancient city, and it was also a stone city wall - Taxkorgan, which in Turkic means stone city.

Liang Zhen walked around the city and complained: "The King of Bukhara did not send troops to garrison such a river valley with rich water and grass, and even allowed the perfectly good stone city to be abandoned."

Lei Zhiji, a military missionary officer, said: "This should be the Congling Shouchu City of the Tang Dynasty."

"What is Shouzuo?" Liang Zhen asked.

Lei Zhiji explained: "It is similar to the military town of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the big one was called the army, and the small one was called the guard. The ruins in front of you are the Congling military town castle of the Tang Dynasty."

Liang Zhen, a Mongolian descendant who had been a Korean, suddenly realized: "The governor said that he wanted to recover the lost territory. He was not making it up. This was really our territory before. Hehe, you missionaries do have knowledge in your belly. You can tell it at a glance. Know the origin of the abandoned city in the Western Region."

Lei Zhiji couldn't help but roll his eyes: "The governor has been collecting intelligence from the Western Regions two or three years in advance, and the imperial court has also sent out ancient messages from the Western Regions. I seem to remember, you should also have received a copy, right?"

"Hehe, hehe, I saw it but forgot." Liang Zhen said with a perfunctory smile.

Lei Zhiji said: "The Congling Shouzhou City was smaller in the Tang Dynasty, and was expanded in the Yuan Dynasty. The city wall in front of me should have been expanded in the Yuan Dynasty. Troops can be stationed here, and food can be grown. The city must be restored. .”

Liang Zhen said: "Do you think that if we stay to garrison and occupy the pastures around the city, will the local tribes be willing to move away?"

"If you don't move away, we will fight!" Lei Zhiji said coldly.

Liang Zhen sighed: "Oh, it would be easier to fight now. It's a pity that all the local tribes have surrendered."

Leaving behind a thousand infantry and two thousand civilians, Liang Zhen led the army to the northwest.

There is a very long and narrow river valley there, which is the only place that the Silk Road must pass through. A small city developed at the intersection of the two rivers. The name of the city is Salitash.

It is said to be a city, but it is actually a small town, but it is already the largest city in the Pamirs!

By the way, in the Tang Dynasty, this place was called Chihe Station, which was a station affiliated to Congling Shouchu.

Datong China did not invade other countries, it really just recovered its lost territory. From now on, there will be no Pamirs, only China's Congling and Buzhou Mountains.