The Yellow River is far above the white clouds, a lonely city and ten thousand mountains.

Why should Qiang Di complain about the willows.

The spring breeze does not pass the jade gate.

The poem is called "Liangzhou Ci", but the scene written can be understood as the appearance of the entire Hexi Corridor. The poet traveled all the way west from Chang'an, feeling that the Yellow River was already as far away as the horizon, and then to the west, the Qilian Mountains stretched endlessly, towering into the clouds, and a lonely city could be seen by chance under the mountain, and finally went to Yumen Pass, feeling that even the spring breeze could not blow here, a bitter cold.

The poet writes about Biansai as both majestic and magnificent, but also desolate and lonely.

Yang Yi galloped all the way to the west, to the ancient Yumen Pass in the west of Shazhou, which was placed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and named after the jade imported from the Western Regions; It was once an important gateway to the southern Silk Road in Khotan, and further west was the vast Puchang Sea (Lop Nur).

Puchanghai is said to have covered an area of five or six thousand square kilometers during the Han Dynasty, but now it is estimated that the remaining surface of the lake is only about five hundred square kilometers.

Looking at the ancient jade gate pass in front of you, here is already a long yellow sand, the gate city is made of huge stone strips, many have collapsed, half buried in the yellow sand, it looks extremely desolate.

Only the crickets in the cracks of the wall seem to be singing over and over again the fierce wind of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

Due to the wind and sand, you can see some copper arrowheads, ancient coins, pottery cups, broken blades, horse bones, dry bones and other things from time to time.

Perhaps, in addition to the prosperous business exchanges, there have also been countless Han men who threw their heads and spilled their blood here!

Looking at this broken wall and listening to the wind and insects singing, Yang Yi couldn't help but think of a passage:

This is the wasteland of Chinese history, like the rain of horses' hooves, such as the cry of thunder, such as the blood of the injection; The white hair of the loving mother in the Central Plains, the distant view of the spring boudoir in the south of the Yangtze River, and the night cry of the child in Huxiang; Farewell under the shade of the willows in his hometown, the general's round angry eyes, and the military flag hunting in the wind; With a burst of smoke and dust, another cloud of smoke and dust, they all drifted away...... I believe that when the deceased were dying, they were facing the enemy in the north of Shuo; I believe that they are also eager to come back at the last minute and give a look at familiar land.

So they fell down in a twist and turned into a pile of sand.

Yang Yi walked in the long yellow sand, not far away thousands of Song soldiers stood solemnly like a forest, silent, only the neighing of the war horses and the rolling of the flag from time to time; Yang Yi looked back at them, perhaps, for the sake of this Guancheng and this territory, some of them will turn into a pile of dry bones here in the future!

But if there is no blood sprinkled into the yellow sand, and there is no generous man to go to the difficulty, how can there be the peace and tranquility of the loving mothers and children of the Central Plains? How can there be an endless inheritance of China?

Yang Yi faced the three armies and shouted, "Come on! I planted the flag of the Han family on the gate to comfort the martyrs who had given their lives here, and my Han family boy is back! In the future, they will no longer be a pile of dry bones in a foreign land, and in the future, they will lie down on the land of my China again! ”

Wang Yong got the order, carrying a big banner with Song characters in tears, and inserted it to the highest place in the city, and the flag was hunting in the wind, bright red as blood!

The three armies were still silent, and the heavens and the earth were solemn.

Yang Yi roared again: "Bring the wine!" ”

The soldier held the wine, there was not too much ceremony, Yang Yi sprinkled the wine and sacrificed, and recited at the same time: "Born as a Han family, die as a ghost of the Han family, the heroic spirit is not far away, bless me Huaxia!" ”

The three armies saluted violently and shouted in unison:

The heroic spirit is not far away, bless me Huaxia!

The heroic spirit is not far away, bless me Huaxia!

The heroic spirit is not far away, bless me Huaxia!

…… Yang Yi led the army to Yumen to worship, not on a whim, to learn from other literati to come here to pay homage to the monuments, but that many soldiers behind him will stay here, and in this place far from their homeland, it is necessary to strengthen their sense of responsibility.

At this time, a messenger came galloping, stirred up dust and sand all the way, and reported loudly to Yang Yi's ten zhang: "Report, the chief of the march, the yellow-headed Uighurs, the grass-headed Datar, and the Tubo Achaima tribe have sent envoys to ask for an audience with the chief manager. ”

"Oh, where is the messenger now?"

"Back to the general manager, the envoys of the three departments have entered Shazhou City."

"Okay, I'll go back."

The Yellow Head Uighurs, originally a part of the Uighurs of Ganzhou, were under the jurisdiction of Zhang Yichao's Guiyi Army, and after becoming strong, they became a country on their own, with a population of 300,000 when they were strong, and built a huge city in Cheltan near Ganzhou; Covering an area of 50 li long and wide, the city was modeled after the capital of the former Uighur Khanate, with walls more than three feet high and it would take a day for people to pass through the city.

Later, when the Western Xia gradually rose, the Ganzhou Uighurs formed an alliance with the Tibetan Liugu tribe to resist together, while the Western Xia and the Liao relied on each other, and the two sides fought many times.

In the early stage, the Ganzhou Uighurs and the Tibetan Liugu tribe won many victories against the Western Xia, but when the Ganzhou Uighurs were victorious, the Liao State twice sent troops to attack the Ganzhou Uighurs.

In the third year of Zhenzong's Dazhong Xiangfu (1010), Xiao Tuyu was attacked by Xiao Tuyu in the northwest of Liao, which dealt a great blow to the Ganzhou Uighurs.

In the sixth year of Renzong Tiansheng (1028), the Liao army besieged Ganzhou for four months, but failed to break through the city, and finally had to withdraw from the siege, but Li Yuanhao took the opportunity to attack; The Uighurs in Ganzhou were unable to reach it, and the city was broken, most of them fled to the west of the Green Mountains, and a small part belonged to the Great Song Dynasty, and some were captured by the Dang people; Another part retreated to the southwest, joined up with the Uighurs who had been stationed in Shazhou and Guazhou, and retreated to the Qaidam Basin south of Shazhou, which was the Yellow Head Uighurs.

The yellow-headed Uighurs got their name because their hair was yellow, and because they liked to use yellow. In fact, this is only part of the reason, the main one is that the yellow-headed Uighurs are the royal family of the Uighurs, so they are called the yellow-headed Uighurs, and the current tribal leader is called Hanmayi.

The grass-headed Tatars, the remnants of the Tatars, were originally in the northeast of Xi and Khitan, and were later attacked by the Khitans, the tribes were scattered, and the Uighurs, like the Uighurs, continued to move westward, and now they are nomadic with the yellow-headed Uighurs in the south of Shazhou, and the head of the tribe is called Julianxi.

In the ninth year of Tang Zhenguan (635), the Tang army defeated Fuyun, the king of Tuguhun, and Tuyuhun was divided into two parts.

The western part was led by Fu Yunzi Dayan Mangjiebo, who lived in Shanshan, and later subdued to Tibet, which was called Achaibu.

After the civil strife in the Tubo Empire, each part / split, divided into Achaibu, Qiangtang, Qingtang, Nacang, Tusi Ma, Wusi, Bowo, Kang, Nari, Guge, Burang, Rituo, Mayu and other departments, now in Tubo than the Spring and Autumn Period of the Central Plains and the Warring States Period, in order to compete for territory and resources, each other is fighting endlessly.

At present, the sphere of influence of the Achai tribe is as large as the Qinghai Lake in the east, the Golmud River in the west, the Huangtou Uighurs in the north, and the Jishi Mountain in the south.

Since the first year of Shaosheng, the Great Song Dynasty has won consecutive victories in foreign wars, and in the face of hundreds of thousands of Liaoxia troops in front and behind, they did not fall behind at all, but forced Liaoxia to bow their heads.

This time, Yang Yi led tens of thousands of troops to raid Hexi, which was like a bamboo, destroying the withering and decaying, and directly extended the sphere of influence of the Great Song Dynasty to the west end of the Hexi Corridor.

Yang Yi returned to Shazhou City, and soon met with the envoys of the three Liao ministries in the state government, and all three of them brought heavy gifts and their attitudes were quite respectful.

After greeting each other and settling down, the yellow-headed Uighur envoy Toktomin said: "For decades, the Dangxiang people have invaded Hexi, plundered many neighboring countries such as us, and blocked the way for all countries to pay tribute to the Celestial Empire. Now General Manager Yang led the army to conquer Hexi, expel the party members, and reopen the ancient silk road, which is really a blessing for the countries of the Western Regions; Today, we brought some small gifts, not only to congratulate Governor Yang on his invincible power and recovery of Hexi, but also to ask Governor Yang to allow us to pay tribute to the Celestial Empire. ”

After Toktomin finished speaking, the other two envoys also echoed in unison, expressing their desire to pay tribute.

In fact, even when the Western Xia occupied Hexi, these tribes often went to Tibet to pay tribute to the Great Song Dynasty; The Great Song Dynasty felt that the tribute envoys came too much, and the cost of the reward was too great, so it ordered that all countries did not have to pay tribute every year, and they did not let them enter Beijing when they came, so many tribute envoys could only stay in the area of Xining Prefecture.

The imperial court gives one or two tribute places every year, and it depends on the joy of the Great Song Dynasty on whose turn it is.

Now it is different, under the great victory, the court needs some tribute envoys to add to the icing on the cake, and because each other's forces are already bordering, a series of border trade terms need to be renegotiated; Therefore, Yang Yi said with a smile: "The Western Xia not only repeatedly invaded and plundered the countries in the Western Regions, but also invaded the Great Song Dynasty every year. All the ministries accepted the canonization of our Great Song Emperor early in the morning, and they exchanged friendships, and now Hexi has been unimpeded, and all the ministries want to pay tribute, and our dynasty welcomes them. ”

When the yellow-headed Uighurs and grass-headed Tatar envoys heard this, their hanging hearts finally let go of a lot, after all, no one knew if Yang Yi would clean them up after clarifying Hexi.

Seeing that the Song army was like a broken bamboo, and in a short period of time, they didn't dare to think that their 10,000 or 20,000 troops could withstand the attack of the Song army.

Moslow, the messenger of the Achaibu, was much more calm; After all, Achaibu and Hexi are separated by an unattainable Qilian Mountain, and the Great Song Dynasty can't help Achaibu at present, of course, if the Great Song Dynasty joins forces with the Huangtou Uighurs and Caotou Tatars, it will be another matter.

Moslow's visit this time, in addition to expressing friendship, mainly wanted to develop trade with the Great Song Dynasty, of course, if he could get the support of the Great Song Dynasty, then the Achai Ministry and the Tibetan Ministry, they would be in a favorable position when they were fighting for territory.

They were only in preliminary contact with each other, and Yang Yi did not discuss with them in detail, but only expressed his intention to allow them to enter the court to pay tribute, and the specific matters would be discussed by the imperial court and the ministries.

As for cleaning them up, it is not in the interests of the Great Song Dynasty at the moment.

First, there is no excuse for the time being, and it is untenable in righteousness; Second, the Hetao has not yet been taken, and the Liao State in the north is not stable; At present, by befriending these tribes, Hexi will not be pinned down too many troops, so that he can concentrate on cleaning up Western Xia as soon as possible.

Meals should be eaten one bite at a time, and things must be prioritized.

(To be continued)