In September of the seventeenth year of the Jingkang era, Han Shizhong, the commander-in-chief of the Western Expeditionary Army, crossed the Amu Darya River and led his army toward Isfahan, the capital of the Seljuk Empire.

Along the way, they crushed all resistance, captured 30,000 people, and killed the rest.

These 30,000 men were incorporated into the Song army as the vanguard for attacking the city.

On September 25th of the seventeenth year of the Jingkang era, Han Shizhong's army approached Isfahan and besieged the capital of the Seljuk Empire.

Han Shizhong first sent the surrendered Seljuk army to attack the city. After a day of attack, two thousand people died.

They failed to capture the city, and continued the next day, resulting in the deaths of another two thousand men.

The corpses below the city walls were piled up like mountains.

Isfahan prepared to put up a fierce resistance, praying as they remained convinced that the enemy would not be able to break through.

On the third day, Han Shizhong's patience completely ran out.

Fifty cannons, just brought from the rear, simultaneously bombarded the city wall, causing it to tremble violently. More than a dozen soldiers were instantly riddled with bullets.

The city gate was blasted into ruins.

The Song army did not attack the city immediately, but continued to bombard it with artillery fire until a large section of the city wall of Isfahan collapsed.

The willpower of these Turks completely collapsed.

On September 28th of the seventeenth year of the Jingkang era, Isfahan fell.

When the major cities of Ray, Qazvin, Hamadan, Nihavin, and Tabriz learned of the fall of Isfahan, they were all shocked.

A month later, the three cities of Ray, Hamadan, and Nihavin each assembled an army of 50,000 and marched toward Isfahan.

On November 5th of the seventeenth year of the Jingkang era, an army of 50,000 was ambushed and collapsed by the Imperial Guards thirty miles from Isfahan.

The Imperial Guard killed 20,000 enemies and captured 20,000. Two Turkic generals died and one escaped.

Two weeks later, the missing Seljuk Sultan Sanjar was found and executed in Isfahan, marking the end of the Seljuk Empire.

An enemy that suddenly arrived from the east, with overwhelming strength, crushed the Turkic world.

Ghazwin and Tabriz subsequently surrendered as well.

Most of the Turkic world was conquered.

On December 3rd of the seventeenth year of the Jingkang era, Yue Fei's army arrived in Baghdad, and 200,000 troops surrounded the city.

Baghdad is another center of the Turkic world and the oldest city in the land.

Around 3000 BC, the ancient Babylonians established a glorious civilization here.

What was Baghdad's reaction when Isfahan fell?

Serves you right!

Baghdad was gloating at the time, believing that the capital of the Turkic world would return to Baghdad.

As a result, he was happy for less than a month before he was surrounded by Yue Fei.

Of Zhao Huan's three western expeditionary armies, Yue Fei's army was the most capable.

Yue Fei suggested sending an envoy to Baghdad to open the gates and surrender, without making things difficult for them.

At first, Baghdad refused.

It wasn't until Yue Fei's cannon fire shook and collapsed half of Baghdad's city wall that the nobles of Baghdad suddenly realized the true meaning of life.

So they all went out and surrendered.

From then on, the Song army's battle line had been pushed to the banks of the Tigris River.

Even though Han Chinese had begun to settle in the Seven Rivers and Transoxiana regions, the battle lines were still too long.

Whether it was Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, or Wu Jie, they all began to use war to sustain war.

That is, they occupied the city and began to use the city's resources to support their own army.

At this time, some people in the court began to worry that the three armies were too far from the Central Plains, and that they would hold onto their troops and break away from the control of the court.

This concern is actually quite reasonable.

Anyone would have this worry.

Moreover, due to the lack of intelligence on the front lines for a long period of time, some people even suspected that Han Shizhong's army had been defeated.

Several voices rose in the court.

Some people believe that another army should be dispatched to Mulu immediately to prevent Yelü Dashi from making a comeback.

Some people did the math and started proposing the idea of ​​withdrawing troops.

Because continuing to play like this is just too expensive.

All memorials calling for the withdrawal of troops were rejected, and the relevant officials were severely criticized and fined.

It wasn't until March of the eighteenth year of the Jingkang era that news came back that Yue Fei's army had conquered a large area of ​​land in the far west of the Western Regions, and that Qin Hui had made contact with him.

At the same time, Qin Hui also presented a memorial to the emperor.

It concerns the governance of the Western Regions.

During his year in office, Qin Hui did nothing else but divide the entire Western Regions into four parts based on the map given to him by Zhao Huan.

The seven rivers basin and the central region are one area.

The area from Transoxiana to the Amu Darya is the second section.

The section from the Amu Darya to Isfahan is the third.

Isfahan to Baghdad is the fourth section.

Qin Hui suggested dividing these four areas into four separate administrative divisions, each with a military commissioner leading 8,000 elite troops to stabilize their respective territories first.

At the same time, another Grand Commander was appointed to govern the four major regions.

The three legions were to continue westward according to the will of His Majesty the Holy Martial Emperor, advancing all the way to the edge of the Western Regions.

As for immigration, it is a long process. At this stage, the goal is to ensure that the gains made on the front lines are preserved.

Qin Hui's suggestion was criticized by many people.

Some have accused Qin Hui of trying to use this approach to seize power, and that he had already volunteered himself to become the Grand Commander.

After a two-week-long imperial conference with the Council of State Affairs, the Privy Council, the Military Governor's Office, and the Three Departments, Emperor Huan finally decided to appoint Qin Hui as the Grand Governor of the Western Regions.

Furthermore, four military commissioners were selected and dispatched to the Western Regions to govern the region.

In June of the eighteenth year of the Jingkang era, a major event occurred: the railway from Yumenguan to Gaochang was completed, and the first train to the Western Regions was put into service.

Large quantities of cement and coal were transported from the Central Plains to Xingqing Prefecture, then transferred to Yumen Pass, and from Yumen Pass into Gaochang.

The transportation cost of the entire resource was reduced by two-thirds in an instant.

Every day, a continuous stream of coal was mined from the Hedong Road (Shanxi Province) and transported to the western regions.

Along with those coal mines went many people who couldn't find work in the Song Dynasty or who had been released from prison.

They were mostly adventurous people who traveled by carriage to the Western Regions.

I heard that the treatment of Han people there is very high, and as long as they are willing to go, the government will provide them with key support, and there are far more opportunities than in the Central Plains.

According to some statistics, in the eighteenth year of the Jingkang era alone, 600,000 people crossed the Seven Rivers region and entered the Hezhong region, and more than 100,000 people arrived at Mulu City.

As many as 30,000 people entered Isfahan.

The enormous wealth opportunities attract those who yearn to get rich.

With boundless energy, they traversed the route taken by the Song army, crossing mountains and rivers, and retraced the Silk Road.

I've heard that the number of these immigrants is still increasing.