Chapter 303 Old Place
In mid-October, Hu Hongxiu, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, hurriedly set off westward.
Of course, although it was hurried, it was well equipped, including staff from the Ministry of Rites, staff from the Ministry of War, an entire squad of imperial guards, an entire cavalry of the imperial camp from Hehuang, several Jinshi who followed the imperial camp, several new Jinshi, and even a team of monks and a team of Taoists.
The envoys' ceremonial guards and gifts prepared for Yelu Dashi all had what they should have, but they were not spread out specially.
The group traveled light in the heart of the Central Plains and arrived at Guanxi at leisure. Then the military minister, who was going to Guanxi to check logistics and buy war horses from the Qingtang tribe, just had a brief conversation with Yuwen Xuzhong, who had received the news in advance, and continued to travel west. In order to save time, Hu Hongxiu and Yelu Yudu, as well as a small Tibetan tribe in Qingtang, a Han merchant caravan with experience in traveling west, and a Khotan merchant caravan that was about to turn back, simply met in Lanzhou.
There, local officials and local troops had already arranged logistical vehicles, horses, food, and some necessary salt, cloth and other items.
But at this time, it was already November and the weather was getting colder.
In northern Shaanxi, it is said that the war situation has become somewhat tense again. The Jin army of the Bao'an Army was successfully driven out by Wu Jie and Guo Hao. But at the same time, because one of the three rulers of the Jin Dynasty, the King of Wei Wanyan Wushu, arrived in Daning, an important town along the river, the situation in Danzhou, which faces the Yellow River, has become somewhat tense again.
But it didn't matter. At least Hu Hongxiu, Yelu Yudu and his group didn't bother to pay attention to it, because they had to go straight west without stopping.
As for the road to the west, it is actually not that complicated.
First of all, thanks to the opening of the Hehuang border during the reign of Emperor Shenzong, Lanzhou, Huangzhou and Xiningzhou have all become civilized Han territories, and the Tibetan Zuosiluo regime that was entrenched here at that time has been basically annexed and "matured". Even during the reign of Cai Jing, he did not forget to strengthen his rule over this place and suppressed the once-shaky Qingtang City (the capital of Xiningzhou, which is Xining in later generations). However, it was Zhao Huai'en, the Huangshan Affairs Commissioner who took office five years ago, who, as a descendant of Zuosiluo, has always been loyal to the Song Dynasty...The local Tibetan small tribe was provided by him, specifically for negotiating with the Tibetan tribes along the way.
So, this road is generally safe.
Secondly, it was precisely because the Western Xia had long controlled the Hexi Corridor and consciously isolated the Song Dynasty from the Western Regions that many Western Regions merchants were forced to take the Qinghai Road.
Even after Emperor Shenzong took control of Xining, envoys from Khotan immediately began to come from that place. And because they came too quickly and in too large numbers, the Song Dynasty felt tired of rewarding them and had to limit their visits to once every two years.
Yutian is the later Hotan. "Tian" means gate, which means that Yutian is a transportation hub in southern Xinjiang. At least this Qinghai Road can lead directly to Yutian.
In other words, this road has been clear and obvious since ancient times until now, and has never been a wild road.
Or to use the almost unanimous words of the three guides from Han, Tubo and Khotan, if you continue this journey westwards, as long as you can endure the hardship, you will definitely enter a major city in the Western Regions within two months, and then go to look for Yelu Dashi at your leisure.
If the road is smooth, forty to fifty days is also appropriate.
Hu Hongxiu and Yelu Yudu naturally had nothing to say, especially since there were Khotanese merchants who had just arrived in Xining City and told them some clear news. That is, before these Khotanese people set out, they did hear news from Yelu Dashi in southern Xinjiang. They knew that a Khitan king had swept through Yesili and was going to turn to the south, because the Western Region Uighur tribes who controlled Gaochang and Hamili were conducting diplomatic negotiations with the Khitan king at that time in an attempt to avoid war.
This was consistent with the information Yu Du had obtained from Xixia. Considering that Xixia controlled the Hexi Corridor, they naturally knew more quickly and more completely. Therefore, the huge delegation led by Hu Hongxiu had almost no doubts and immediately left Xining Prefecture and headed west in order to meet Yelu Dashi as soon as possible.
However, traveling is always full of surprises and excitement, but also boredom and dullness.
Less than a hundred miles west of Xining Prefecture, the group of people were shocked for the first time because they saw Qinghai Lake, which was like a natural wonder.
Qinghai Lake, in those days no one would call it a lake. The Tibetans called it the "Blue Sea" from the beginning. After seeing such a large and blue salt water, the Han people did not dare to believe that it was a lake. They just called it the West Sea, but at the same time they had to admit that this was a "Blue Sea".
Of course, when the Han people continued to expand and saw the Aral Sea further west, they changed the definition of the West Sea and re-determined that the area on the Xining Prefecture was just "a blue sea".
At that time in Qinghai, everyone, Hu Hongxiu, the educated Khitan remnant Yelu Yudu, and the accompanying Jinshi, including the Guangdong guy with the lowest education level among them, 'Jiayingzi', who was promoted to the position of Yuwenlang in the Ministry of War just because of his strong backing and experience in suppressing rebellions in Yaoshan and Qianzhou, all remembered the poem instantly.
So-called:
The long clouds from Qinghai darken the snow-capped mountains, and the lonely city looks towards Yumen Pass in the distance.
I’ve worn out my golden armor through a hundred battles in the yellow sand, and I will never return until I have conquered Loulan!
This land has not been effectively ruled by the Central Plains dynasty for hundreds of years.
The Tang Dynasty that once dominated the universe is gone forever; the Tubo that once fought against the Tang Dynasty, the Uighurs, the Arabs, India, and Nanzhao and expanded in five directions was like a flash in the pan, and completely collapsed beyond control; even earlier, the Turkic people who once dominated the world had already rolled to the edge of the Mediterranean and redefined the West Sea... However, this blue sea and this poem that almost everyone can recite clearly remind everyone that this land, from the mountains to the sea, has long been integrated into the cultural bloodline of the Central Plains dynasty.
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