In the city lord's mansion, Du Zhongxiao sat with Fu Bi and Zhang Qi, discussing the arrangements after leaving. There were not many Song troops in Khotan, only two or three thousand people, and Zhang Qi could not be here, only one or two commanders were needed.

At this moment, a pro-soldier walked in quickly, crossed his hands and said: "Report, some people outside the city found that the people of the Green Sect had fled, and the two sides clashed, and finally fought. Three civilians were killed, and the local tyrants came and asked for troops to be arrested! ”

Du Zhongxiao was stunned for a moment, and after a while, he said, "Why did those Green Sect people flee?" How did the two sides come into conflict? ”

After speaking, he waved his hand and said: "Let the local tyrant who reported the case come in, and we will ask ourselves!" This kind of thing happened just after the festival had just begun, before Yu Chi Saburo ascended the throne! I thought that everything was going smoothly, and let Yu Chi Saburo deal with these troublesome things, but he still couldn't avoid them! ”

The soldiers agreed, turned around and went out, and after a while, they brought two men in.

The two stepped forward to salute, and one said: "Outside the small city, there are more than 300 acres of good land at home, and he is a kind family who worships Buddha wholeheartedly." This one is a roadman who opened a restaurant in the town, and he is also a good person. Today, Longxing Temple talks about Buddhism, because we happen to have something at home, we make an appointment to come tomorrow, and we are idle at home. At noon, he found a group of people coming out of the city, with chariots and horses, going out of the city. ”

The passer-by rushed to say: "I opened a restaurant, and there are a few people in it who are customers, so I know each other." When he saw them walking past the restaurant, he hurriedly asked where they were going. One of them said that he had leaked his mouth, saying that recently the black sweat had left, and Khotan had regained his life and wanted to promote Buddhism, and they were sad that they wanted to flee to other places in a group. The historian happened to be drinking in the store, so he quarreled with them, saying that the country was rebuilt, and they were going to flee, not a good family, and they were going to report to the officials. Those people were afraid, so they quarreled with us, and after a long quarrel they clashed. ”

The historian said: "The villagers in my house heard that I was quarreling with others, so they came over one after another. In the end, there was a fight, and two villagers, a small guy outside the passerby, were killed by those people. They fled one after another, and they didn't know where they went. ”

Hearing this, Du Zhongxiao only felt that his head was buzzing. At this time, the two sides clashed, and it is likely that these two outsiders were too aggressive, and the accident happened. However, if someone died, and those people escaped, the murder must be on his back.

After thinking about it, he said to Zhang Qi: "Send cavalry immediately to chase those people back!" Don't meddle in religious matters, but you must find out about life lawsuits! When the Song army entered Khotan, they ignored the religion of Black Khan, and the officials did not pursue it. They fled, and it has nothing to do with us. As for the contradictions between the local people of Khotan, the army is not allowed to intervene, and it will be resolved by the king and princes later! ”

Zhang Qi made a promise, walked out of the official hall quickly, and went to arrange people. To the south of Khotan is the Kunlun Mountains, and if they escape to the mountains, it will not be easy to catch up. However, listening to the direction of the two members, it should be to look at the crow, as long as they are on the road, they can't chase it.

Watching Zhang Qi leave, Du Zhongxiao said to the historian and the passerby: "You go home, someone will come to you in a while and explain today's events clearly." These few days of the puja, everything is too busy, and wait a few days, the king will deal with it. ”

The historian and the passerby thanked each other and left.

Du Zhongxiao said to Fu Bi: "Black Khan and Khotan, first fought for decades, and finally Khotan was destroyed, and it has been fifty years now. In addition to being geographically hostile to each other, there are also religious reasons for the disputes between the two countries. In the past 50 years, there must have been many Green Christians in Khotan, but after the imperial court came, most of them regained their faith in Buddhism. There is also a group of devout believers, and these few months must have been in conflict with other people. Today's Longxing Temple Festival, and then Yu Chi Saburo ascended the throne, there is no need to say anything about the future. Nothing fled to another country, but when they got together and fled, and they died, things were different. ”

Fu Bi said: "It seems that such a bad person should be severely punished!" ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "Deputy envoy, the affairs of Khotan are still handed over to Wei Chi Saburo, and the army should not interfere too much." Otherwise, there will be chaos in the future, and the army will not be able to withdraw. Now Khotan does not have its own inspectors, and the army can help them arrest people, and they can send people to ask for everyone's confessions, but not interrogation. Everything is waiting for Lieutenant Chi Saburo to ascend the throne, and it will be handed over to him. ”

Fu Bi said: "Jieshuai, although Khotan is a country, after all, it is a country under the rule of the imperial court, not a place outside the law. Now that someone is dead, how can you let it go lightly! In my opinion, when people are caught, they will be interrogated by the marshal! ”

Du Zhongxiao sighed: "How to interrogate?" Is it to use the law of the court or to use the law? Why did the two men stop these people? Khotan is a land, although under the rule of the imperial court, the establishment of the country is to allow the use of the rule of law. ”

Fu Bi was speechless for a while and did not speak. Back then, the first thing Du Zhongxiao did on Hequ Road was to kill the local natives for selling Han women. Unexpectedly, it was Khotan, and there was another face, which made Fu Bi unable to understand.

Actually, there's nothing I can't figure out. There are many Han people in Hequ, and the local aborigines have been bullying the Han people for a long time, and it is difficult to recover the atmosphere if they do not strike hard. Unlike Khotan, there are very few Han people here, and it involves religious conflicts, so the court should withdraw and not mix in.

In Du Zhongxiao's memory, he was too impressed by religious conflicts and knew that it was a very complicated matter. If one is not handled well, it can cause mass riots. Moreover, this kind of conflict is protracted, especially for countries like Black Khan, which can be traced all the way to Persia, and it is difficult to cut the grass and eradicate the roots.

Fu Bi didn't know much about Black Khan and the Green Religion, and he didn't even know what Black Khan's religion was like. Cutting through the chaos with a quick knife and using heavy codes in troubled times is a matter of course in his eyes. Since the lieutenant Chi Saburo did not ascend the throne, then there is nothing to be tried by the Song army.

Zhang Sheng said: "The meaning of the festival marshal is to withdraw less hands from Khotan's affairs in the future, and leave more to the king of Khotan." In that case, we will only take the people back, because the king of Khotan has been released. This place is Khotanese people, Han people are very rare, even if there are Han surnames and Han names, they are mostly habits left over from the Tang Dynasty, not Han people. It doesn't matter if we don't interfere, let the natives of the Western Regions not have an opinion on the imperial court. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "That's right. It is not said that the imperial court will not care about the natives of the Western Regions in the future, but it will take its time, and everything has a process. Compared with Black Khan, a Buddhist country is still easy to deal with with Buddhism in the Central Plains. Black Khan is not monolithic, after a battle, they should be able to recognize the situation in the country. As long as trade routes can be opened, there is no need to fight them in a short period of time. The Western Regions are too big, and if the imperial court wants to lay a foundation in this area, it will not happen overnight, and it will inevitably have to make great efforts. There are two commercial roads, one north and one south. If the black sweat changes, or if you can make friends with the western black sweat, Shule is the south road. There is no big country on the northern road, and it can be opened up along the road from immigrants from the Central Plains. ”

Fu Bi said: "If that's the case, Khotan is not a trade route here." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "In the past, there were trade routes to the south of the desert, and Khotan was of course a trade route. Now there are trains, trains to Shule, the trade routes south of the desert are abandoned, and Khotan, of course, leaves the trade routes. The land here is fertile and there is beautiful jade, so it will definitely be a good place in the future. ”

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao sighed: "The imperial court has the Western Regions, in fact, now is not a good time. The party is still there, and the counties in Hexi are still in the hands of the party, even if there is a railway, it is impossible to open up the railway line. Now in the Western Regions, everything needs to be stable. When the party is destroyed and the imperial court obtains several counties in Hexi, it will have the qualifications to develop the Western Regions. Therefore, in the affairs of the Western Regions, except along the railway, try to interfere as little as possible. ”

There are few people on Hequ Road, and although there are Han remnants in the Western Regions, there are not many of them. To develop here, where are there so many Han people in the Central Plains? You can only rely on time, one step at a time. If the step is too big, it will pull the egg.