Chapter 435 Extra 1 (4) (Update 1)
With the carving skills of the craftsmen in Chang'an City, they were able to make this lucky jade coin temporarily. Even if this was a sudden change, it would still be in time.
However, regarding this change, Cai Zhaoji couldn't help but ask one more question: "Your Majesty, do you want to change only the material, or do you want to change the pattern as well?"
This expedition to the Western Regions was launched suddenly, but fortunately its marching efficiency was also amazing, and it achieved some interim results just before the New Year.
The move proposed by the Queen of Jingjue that she should take the lead is indeed feasible!
For many years, the Jingjue people hid in the reeds in the swamps to protect themselves, which made people almost forget that they inherited the wild and fierce style of the Western Regions.
They just chose to keep a low profile when their strength was not as good as others, but it did not mean that they would give in when the hope of the tribe's rise was in front of them.
Since the fourth year of Xiping, when the Han Dynasty failed in its attempt to establish King Jumi and instead allowed Khotan to annex Jumi, the ambitions of this country in the Western Regions have been growing, and it has become more and more self-righteous.
As a result, they had long regarded the further annexation of the southern border countries as a natural thing to happen. When the Queen of Jingjue led her troops to come, the King of Yutian not only did not have any suspicion, but settled her people in a nearby city, while planning to completely devour their troops after getting rid of the Queen of Jingjue.
In theory, there would be nothing wrong with taking direct action, but having 30,000 soldiers was almost a historic breakthrough for Khotan, which had barely more than 10,000 soldiers in the early years. He was reluctant to allow any irreparable losses to occur.
But it was precisely this arrogance that caused him to suffer a devastating blow from the soldiers of Dayong led by the Queen of Jingjue.
When the troops of Dayong passed through the reed fields of Jingjue Lake and crossed the barrier of tamarisk and tung trees, the King of Khotan was still immersed in the beautiful dream that he was going to conquer another country and gain another 2,000 soldiers.
But this beautiful dream will probably never come true.
Amid the sound of horse hooves as the capital city fell, the King of Khotan fled north in panic under the protection of his subordinates, trying to block the enemy's advance through the white grass land in the north.
However, this well-prepared attack would never give him a chance to escape!
Fu Gan, who had been waiting in this direction, happened to meet this group of fleeing people. According to the strategy they had decided before the march, he killed them all on the spot.
It was a pity that the King of Khotan never got a complete explanation until his death. What exactly did the soldiers mean by "Da Yong Dang Sheng"?
However, from the perspective of maintaining the first step of rule in the Western Regions, Lu Yuan's decision, which he had to make before getting Qiao Yan's reply, was not wrong.
If the King of Khotan could disobey the orders of the Han Dynasty, he could also disobey the Yong Dynasty.
When Lu Yuan and others' troops still need to pass through Khotan to advance towards Kushan, they must not leave such a hidden danger on the road behind.
This is very different from the situation in Shanshan and Jingjue.
Kill those who deserve to be killed!
Therefore, when the war in the capital was settled, all the royal family members, auxiliary marquises, and left and right generals in Khotan had been killed by the soldiers of Dayong. Only the remaining Zuoqijun was temporarily detained as a hostage, and his subordinates were ordered to assist in stabilizing the people in Khotan.
Within three days, the top-down cleansing was completely completed, which allowed the Hetian jade to be sent back to Chang'an via the half of the Silk Road that was opened.
Since we have achieved this interim result, it would be fine to give feedback in the lucky money and let the war situation in the Western Region serve as a symbol of next year.
"It's appropriate..." Qiao Yan suddenly thought of something and said, "No, let's not change the lucky money. The original lucky money will be issued normally, but this Hetian jade will be used to make a peace buckle for officials with a salary of more than 600 dan. The hanging chain will be made of gold and sent to all parties. It is important to expand the territory and compete for merit, but please also take care of yourself first and stick to the long-term path."
The peace locket is simple to make. The pattern of the connection between the gold chain and the lock buckle went through several rounds of discussions in the proposal of the Chang'an Painting Academy, and it was finally decided to use the white cattail from the Western Regions as the pattern to show the toughness of the cattail.
Thanks to the overtime work over several days, this peace locket gift could be sent to various parties as the New Year arrived.
The place farthest from Chang'an also received this special gift within ten days.
Among them was Gan Ning, who was recruiting navy in Yangzhou at the moment.
Thinking of his majesty's consistent good luck, Gan Ning hung it on his body without hesitation.
He didn't know if there was really something mysterious about this. Two days after he received the letter of concern from Chang'an, he dug out an interesting guy from under the command of Zhang Zhao, the governor of Yangzhou.
Gan Ning still had some of the Jinfan thieves' style from his early years. He directly snatched the person back and made him his subordinate. This made Zhang Zhao, a man who followed the rules, very angry.
As a result, Gan Ning said that if Zhang Zhao had paid more attention to the situation, he would have realized that this could not be called forcibly seizing subordinates, but should be called a perfect match.
Lu Meng was obviously not content to be just an ordinary subordinate. Since his conditions were not outstanding, he chose to borrow some money on credit to prepare uniform uniforms for his men to intensify their training. He also used brown ropes and stones as cones to anchor the ships, making the movement of small boats more orderly.
When talking to him about sea travel, he could also recount his previous conversations with fishermen and dock workers.
What surprised Gan Ning even more was that although Lu Meng was young and some of his ideas were a bit naive due to his early experiences, he was willing to learn and study, and he looked like a good seedling with ambition and execution.
If he doesn't take advantage of this selection to grab this kind of person, does he have to wait for him to stand out in the battle against the Shanyue, and eventually be snatched away by other generals, or even be directly ordered by Qiao Yan to take charge of a region?
Of course, it would be better to supervise the navy together with him and help him run this great maritime business!
This is indeed the blessing bestowed upon him by Your Majesty.
On the other side, the peace locket gift also came out from Yumen Pass in Liangzhou, passed through the yellow sand again, and was delivered to Lu Yuan and others.
The connection between the small countries in the Western Regions is somewhat subtle.
States like Puli, which needed to leave their land for cultivation in Shache, and Xiya, which were more like the Qiang people in their behavior of grazing livestock following water and grass, had slightly closer ties with their neighboring countries.
For a country like Khotan that can meet its internal self-sufficiency needs, if it had dealings with other parties, people might have suspected whether it was willing to send troops to attack.
Of course, the language barrier caused by geographical differences between countries is also an important reason for the interruption of such communication.
This was not good news for the King of Khotan who had already been buried, but it was obviously good news for the soldiers of Dayong.
During the month that the jade pendant was exchanged, the soldiers of Dayong blocked the westward travel route for the people of Khotan, but it did not attract the attention of the countries to the west.
This also gave them time to recruit soldiers from the four countries of Khotan, Jingjue, Qiemo and Shanshan into the team, and to disperse their own men to garrison in their territories.
When the gift of the peace locket was delivered, the generals of various tribes were training their new soldiers, and Lu Yuan was visiting the farmland in the area with Jiang Tang.
The sandification caused by the change in the waterway in Shanshan has made the crops here infertile. The Jingjue people have limited arable land among the swamps and reeds, but Khotan has annexed various parties and has to support a population of 100,000, so it must have enough internal cultivation.
In addition to the tamarisk and hollyhock trees that serve as tree barriers, grapes are also a specialty of this area.
Previously, when Xu Rong and Ma Teng reopened the Silk Road and conducted business, they purchased a batch of high-quality grape varieties in Shule on the northern Silk Road and sent them to Liangzhou for planting. As a source of income, they successfully ensured that Qiao Yan had a sufficient supply of wine, so that he no longer had to use wine as a bribe to buy and sell officials as in the period of Emperor Ling of Han.
But when Lu Yuan tasted the grapes grown here, she suddenly realized the difference.
The grapes from the Western Regions are much sweeter than those from Liangzhou. The same is true for the other fruits and vegetables here.
Even though it is winter now and these fruits and vegetables are stored in cellars and are not as fresh as when they were just picked, it does not affect Lu Yuan's judgment at this time.
The King of Shanshan was caught off guard and surrounded on all sides, forcing him to surrender. After the Queen of Jingjue stole the limelight by volunteering, he finally found a place to display his talents.
"This was compared when the Han envoys came to the Western Regions many years ago. It was mentioned in the Shanshan classics. It said that this was because the sunshine time in the Western Regions was particularly long, and the temperature difference between day and night was large, so it was very suitable for growing fruits and vegetables. If His Majesty in the Central Plains needs us to offer, we will definitely send it to the capital after the harvest this year."
The word "this year" made Lu Yuan realize belatedly that December had passed unnoticed, and now it was the third year of Yuanzhao.
She stroked the peace locket in her hand, looked towards the land pointed by the King of Shanshan, and a look of deep thought flashed across her face.
The sunshine time is long, which is suitable for the growth of fruits and vegetables, and the soil is loose...
If this is only used to grow fruits and vegetables, it seems a bit of a waste.
You know, this is exactly the condition that cotton needs!
Bingzhou originally did not fully meet the needs of cotton cultivation. This was clearly stated in the cotton cultivation manual that Your Majesty obtained from somewhere. It was only because Bingzhou was the place where Your Majesty made his fortune, and at that time it best met the needs of keeping cotton confidential and expanding cultivation.
Now that the world has been settled, all the territories in the four directions can be governed by Your Majesty. There is no need to stick to Shangjun of Bingzhou anymore.
If the conditions here are really as good as the King of Shanshan said, it can completely replace Shangjun and become a place for large-scale cotton cultivation!
When some of Bingzhou's cotton farmers and textile weavers migrated to the Western Regions, there would be a reason to ease the transition when stationing troops here in the name of Dayong!
Unfortunately, cotton needs water to grow.
The Khotan River Basin has already reached its limit in providing food and daily necessities for the people. We should probably focus on the big rivers in the north.
The place where the Khotan River and the Pamir River meet and the waterway is widened is also the most suitable place for planting and survival in this western region.
And that river basin is on the northern route of the Silk Road.
Lu Yuan secretly told himself that he couldn't be hasty.
She kept a calm expression on her face and did not reveal that she had expanded her plan to more distant places. Instead, she acquiesced to the Shanshan King's proposal to pay tribute.
After returning to the military council meeting place in the capital of Khotan, she immediately summoned the generals from all parties.
In order to take over the northern route of the Silk Road and completely turn it into a place for Your Majesty to cultivate land and crops, we must first cut off the attempts of Kushan, Kangju, and Northern Xiongnu to spy on the intentions of the countries along the northern route.
A month may not seem like a long time, but it is the limit of how long they can stay here. It is not advisable to slow down any further and it is time to proceed to the next plan.
Whether it was His Majesty's affirmation in the reply letter for their decisiveness in killing the King of Khotan to control the situation, or the gift of the Hetian jade peace locket that asked them to take care of themselves, it made people more confident and confident in winning the battle against Kushan.
When they thought that although they were thousands of miles away from Dayong, they still had people to support them in Liangzhou, and His Majesty in Chang'an to support them from behind, they felt that the suffering of being in a foreign land could not stop them.
"To the west of Khotan, there are many mountainous valleys in the states of Xiya, Zihe, Shache and Wushen, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to advance."
Lu Yuan looked at the people below, and as expected, he did not see any difficulty on their faces, so he continued, "But we have come here, and there is no way we can turn back. So I just want to ask, we have two paths to take now, which one do you want to choose?"
"One way is to cross the Pamir Mountains, attack the Wulei Kingdom, and then cross the Penchi River to enter the Kushan territory."
"The other route is to advance to Wushen and then head directly southwest through Xuandu Mountain into Kushan."
The former route is slightly easier to travel, but it passes through a land full of small countries and is close to the junction with the northern Silk Road. There is no guarantee that they can smoothly carry out this expedition abroad and continue to remain unnoticed by outsiders.
Where is Kexuandu Mountain?
The valley of Xuandushi Mountain is extremely deep and almost impassable, and one needs to be pulled through with ropes, hence the name.
If they really took this route, they might be able to give the Kushans a sudden head-on blow, but they would hardly be able to move with their cavalry.
Crossing Xuandu Mountain is a shortcut, but also an absolutely dangerous route.
But when Lu Yuan explained the pros and cons of these two routes, Ma Chao and Yan Xing, both good horsemen, gave the same answer almost at the same time: "Take Xuandu Mountain."
As long as they can cross this place, they will be only one step away from their destination!
The author has something to say:
A group of generals showed their special abilities in order to gain merit, but unfortunately Qiao Qiao could only buff them remotely and it was not convenient for him to do it in person.
ps. The King of Khotan began to annex the surrounding areas in the fourth year of Xiping, which was 175 AD. He then annexed four countries in succession, becoming one of the destabilizing factors in the Western Regions. Just kill him. He could disobey the Han Dynasty then, and he can disobey the Yong Dynasty now.
See you at nine o'clock tonight!
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