Yang Zengxin was born as a scholar, although he was a Confucian scholar, but he very much agreed with Taoism, and his way of governing the Western Regions also completely followed Lao Tzu's theory of small countries and widows, but the Tao is just the Tao, and if you really want to cut the grass and eradicate the roots, the wrist is as ruthless. He had thought about the Kazakh issue for a long time, and knew that in order to annex this place, the first thing was to wipe out the national elite of the place. Therefore, despite the fact that Qihe is the most chaotic place in Kazakhstan, and regardless of the incident in Turkai Province last year, the Kazakh hero Amangerda is still insisting on resisting Russia. Imanov, instead, sent the intelligence service directly west to Orenburg and approached the Arash party.

As soon as I finished talking about Kazakhstan, someone from outside came to report that it was Bukhara Khan Muhammad. Alim sent someone to see him. Yang Zengxin and Xu Jingxi just smiled when they heard this, although this Alim Khan is hereditary, but the means and personality should not be underestimated, before the Intelligence Bureau invited him to send someone to Beijing to talk in detail, he was afraid that the matter would not be severely punished by Russia, so he didn't agree, only promised that he would send troops to support the coordination at that time. It was so late that Junay of Khiva had taken the lead everywhere, and now that the situation was so clear, he sent people from time to time to ask for it in order to get back the ancestral land annexed by Russia, and this time it came again.

Yang Zengxin was not in a hurry, and said to the person who reported: "This is not busy first, let him wait." After speaking, he continued the topic just now, "This Central Asia is actually similar to the Western Regions, with the Syr Darya River as the boundary, the north is all grasslands, all herdsmen, and the south is acres of fields, all farmers. Kazakhstan has the Arash Party, and in Turkestan there is the Young Bukhara Party, both of which have learned new things and read new books, and are even more influenced by the Young Turks. These parties are also not easy to cope. Fortunately, most of Turkestan should not be incorporated into our country, so let these two khanates have a headache. ”

Yang Zengxin said that the youth party had a headache, and Xu Jingxi was funny. In fact, the Revival Association is also regarded as the Young Chinese Party, but it is difficult for him to say it, and the two discussed for half an hour before the envoy of the Bukhara Khanate was invited in.

The person who came was Ali Khan, a close confidant of the Bukhara Khanate and the minister in charge of the internal affairs of the Khanate. Riza, he first bowed to Yang Zengxin and Xu Jingxi, and then respectfully asked his entourage to present the gift list. Yang Zengxin swept the courtesy sheet. He was not interested in the horses, jade, or furs on them, but asked, "What is your Majesty Ali here for?" ”

Seeing that Yang Zengxin did not return the gift list immediately, Ali. Riza hurriedly bowed and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, the Great Protector of Muslims, and the Blessed One of Allah. My king wishes to recover the valley of Bakhana, the homeland of his ancestors, and is willing to send 20,000 troops to this end, and to give you a million pieces of cake and sheepskin, 2,000 boxes of jade, and 1,000 horses, and only ask for the permission of the governor. ”

The Khivas occupied Tashkent. To the north is the predetermined Sino-Greek border. So he had to go west, seizing the most fertile Fergana basin in all of Turkestan, and the timid Bukhara simply occupied Samarkand. When I thought of occupying the Fergana Basin, I was still a step too late, and Khiva took the lead, but this place is historical, and before the rise of the Kokand Khanate, it seems that it really has something to do with Bukhara. Actually, it doesn't matter if it has a relationship or not. The point is that the basin is too fertile, since China has made it clear that it does not want to encroach on the land of its friends. Then these two khanates grabbed it.

"Humph!" After listening to the conditions of the Bukhara people, Yang Zengxin said: "Your Excellency, please go back, Bahana is not owned by our country, how can it be reasonable to negotiate with our country?" Besides, even if it is our territory, how dare the Governor covet the sale of goods? ”

I came to intercede before, but this time Riza came to be more practical, in order to ask Yang Zengxin to nod, not to mention the whole basin, but it is good to be able to get a part. Now seeing that Yang Zengxin was very displeased, he panicked, didn't he say that the Han people were the most greedy for money, why couldn't so many money make the person in front of him open his mouth to help?

The Bukhara people were sweating at Yang Zengxin's 'hum', and Xu Jingxi, who was negotiating with a white face, glanced at him, and then said: "Hey......, how can this ancestral land be abandoned?" The king of your country is so filial that he offended the adults when he was dizzy. ”

After arriving in the Western Regions, Xu Jingxi only wore civil official robes in order not to attract attention, but his official robes were red when he was so young, so he recruited Ali. Zari paid attention, but he didn't want to help solve the siege at this embarrassing moment, and Ali was very grateful.

In Ali. In Zari's gaze, Xu Jingxi continued, "This Bahanna, it's really difficult to deal with, the king of your country said that it was the ancestor of your country, but the king of Shiva also said that this was their ancestor, and it was taken away by Kokand more than a hundred years ago, it seems that this ancestor is not easy to distinguish." Lord Yang, and this Your Excellency Ali, I think this valley will either be drawn by everyone, and whoever is caught will be whoever, or ......" Glancing at the Bukhara people who were listening, Xu Jingxi smiled and said: "Then there will be a fight, whoever wins will be counted, then the matter is over?" Isn't it, Lord Yang? ”

After Xu Jingxi finished speaking, Ali. Zari's eyes immediately turned to Yang Zengxin, I only wanted him to make a statement, I didn't want Yang Zengxin to flick his sleeves, he said angrily: "Everything is precious to peace, just for a piece of land, today you come to ask, he will come to ask again, can't you talk about it well, why do you want to make a big fight and die a life?" What are you going to do with the two countries, the Governor doesn't have the leisure to care! ”

After Yang Zengxin finished speaking, he got up and went back to the inner house, only Xu Jingxi and Ali were left in the flower hall, and when the people from the office were about to come to see off the guests, they were waved away by Xu Jingxi, who stood up, and he looked at Ali and said, "Can you rob Shiva?" ”

Ali is a civil official in internal affairs, although he is not good at martial arts, but thinking of the order of the Khan before he came, he had to bite the bullet and say: "If you can fight, you are afraid of ......."

"If you are afraid, this official will tell you directly, my country has no intention of the Turkestan region, as long as your two countries are not used by the forces of the great powers and are hostile to our country, my country does not want to care about the affairs over there at all, and you can do whatever you like." Xu Jingxi said unashamedly, "I see, there are too many places occupied by this Shiva, and they are almost going to occupy all the land in this river, if you can beat it, you can grab it directly." ”

The Eastern Revolution, the founding of China, the expulsion of the Manchus, the restoration of the Han Dynasty, and the clothes of the officials were also changed back to the previous dynasty. When Xu Jingxi was sitting just now, Ali didn't see it clearly. Now I see that Xu Jingxi's chest is embroidered with a unicorn, and suddenly the hairs on his back stand up, this is a first-class military attaché. is even more fighting than Yang Zengxin, is it the Chinese minister who came to Beijing to supervise the army in the Western Regions?

Ali was a little stunned, only when Xu Jingxi saw that he was silent, and when his eyes swept over, he bowed humbly and said, "My lord is really high." At first, we also wanted to value peace, but the Khiva country guarded the entrance to the valley and did not allow our country to enter, so I had to ask the governor for help in mediation. If the kingdom does not regulate this matter. We will have no choice but to go to war with Khiva. ”

"That's it." Xu Jingxi nodded and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, I saw that Khiva had a meritorious role in rejecting Russia, although I knew that Khiva was rude. But it's hard to say. In my opinion, since the valley is the land of your ancestors, then grab it, so what kind of mess! You've been begging for more than a month. But everyone is going to set the new kingdom there. What are you waiting for? ”

Xu Jingxi's last sentence was the most lethal, Ali's face suddenly disagreed, he wanted to leave immediately, but thinking of Xu Jingxi's identity that he didn't know yet, he bowed and asked: "Villain Ali, please give me a name?" ”

"I, Xu Jingxi of the General Staff." Xu Jingxi generously told his name, and then gave him a letter of worship and said: "If there is something in the future, please come here to find me." "He's so cheerful. Returning the post, Ali was overjoyed. I didn't want to wait for him to take the post, Xu Jingxi said again: "Legend has it that the land of Bahan was the Great Wan Kingdom in the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once exchanged the golden horse for the sweat and blood BMW, but unfortunately, it was not replaced by ...... in the end."

Xu Jingxi helped speak before, but now he is obviously asking for bribes, Ali immediately smiled when he heard this, and replied immediately: "Back to my lord, the sweat and blood BMW will definitely be found, it will definitely be found, and it will be sent to ...... at that time."

"Ahem...... Xu Jingxi pretended to cough and said, "Since it's okay, then Your Excellency, please go back." ”

Singing with a white face and a black face, and finally openly asking for a bribe, Xu Jingxi returned to the inner hall after the second half of the performance, Yang Zengxin laughed and said: "I didn't expect Yu Chu to know this." ”

"In the old officialdom, who wouldn't do this." Xu Jingxi sighed: "My lord, will Bukhara do it?" ”

"It's already done!" Yang Zengxin was holding this telegram from Tashkent with his hand behind his back, and he handed it to Xu Jingxi and said: "General Peng sent it, these two countries are fighting in the place of Khujand, so I don't know how this war will end." ”

Khujand is the entrance to the Fergana Basin, and Khiva occupied it after taking Tashkent, trying to control the entire basin, but Bukhara was not easy to mess with - the main force of the Khiva army was tribal warriors of the Turkmen tribes, and the soldiers of Bukhara were mountain hunters and basmachi (bandits) from the Tajik region. Khivaba was on the south side of the Aral Sea, but now he had moved into the mountains and occupied the Ferghana Basin, which immediately provoked the wrath of the local natives and Basmachi. Tashkent because it was fought with the help of the Chinese, and outside the mountains, Khiva occupied it, that is, forget it, this Fergana was liberated by the locals themselves who killed the Russian police, what does you Khiva have to do?

Therefore, Basmachi, who had entered and exited the basin a few days ago, was very angry because he was disarmed by the Khivans, and today he was entangled in the ordinary people fighting. Peng Qingpeng, who was in front of Tashkent, was startled when he received the news. Russia had anyway transferred a unit from the Caucasian front to defend Trans-Caspian Province, and he was holding a meeting with the military generals of the two countries to deal with the Russian army.

After forwarding the news to Tacheng, Peng Qingpeng saw that the generals of the two countries had not yet spoken, and Zhu Naide took the lead and said: "General, this matter was deliberately provoked by them, please help Shiva preside over justice!" ”

Junaid is a hero, more than brave, but not enough wit or power, otherwise he would have known that the war between Khiva and Bukhara was the happiest China, how could he ever preside over justice? But as soon as he said this, next to Bukhara's leading general, Ali. Fufu also hurriedly said: "General, the Khiva soldiers will rob whatever they see, they must have robbed too much and provoked civil unrest." ”

Except for the tribes in the oases, the tribes in other parts of Turkmenistan are extremely poor, and the most popular occupation for men is to be mercenaries, and ten years ago the Persian king was deposed, and 20,000 or 30,000 people were hired from Turkmenistan to go to Persia to prepare for the restoration of the country. This time Khiva raised the banner against Russia, although carefully selected, also hired 10,000 Turkmen, these people did not forget to rob in battle, locusts generally saw what they saw, robbed the entire Caucasian race of Turkestan, and some rich local natives also suffered from it.

As soon as Junaid heard Ali accuse his army of looting. I was so ruthless in my heart that I couldn't refute it, but I heard Peng Qingpeng say: "Our army is here to fight the Russians, and I can't care if the two of them have any grievances." I don't have the right to care. What I want is that you must send your troops to the designated position to meet the enemy on time as planned, and if anyone is late, then don't blame me for being unkind. Alright, Sakai! ”

Peng Qingpeng is only responsible for commanding the rejection of Russia here, and he doesn't want to care about the entanglement and grievances between the two countries at all, not to mention that before he came here, Yang Zengxin explained to him that he wanted to provoke the contradictions between the two countries as much as possible. This kind of thing he doesn't bother to do. Now that they're fighting on their own, let them make trouble.

Peng Qingpeng said this, and Zhu Naide was a little puzzled. However, when he went outside, he heard that his subordinates had reported that Basmachi had bombarded the city with cannons, and the inhabitants of the city also responded to the troops outside the city, and immediately did not hesitate to order the defenders to resist at all costs. And let Ibrahim of Turkmenistan. Berg went with the Khanate cavalry regiment to suppress it.

Juned's side is doing it on a large scale. And just received Tacheng Ali. Zari telegraphed to Bukhara Khan Muhammad. Alim also ordered his Basmachi to take Khujand and wipe out the Khiva robbers in the Ferghana Basin. For a time, the already somewhat calm situation in Central Asia made waves again, and the two teams that were supposed to fight side by side in the Outer Caspian Sea region were killed and bloodied, and their corpses were strewn all over the field.

The Baath Army would not fight the Ba'anth Army, and the British, who heard the news, finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that it was just two khanates fighting for the Ferghana Basin, and there was no interference from outside forces. And the situation in Turkestan is so chaotic. On the orders of the Anglo-Indian Governor Zemsford, the British consul in Kabul, Afghanistan, came to the palace of King Habibullah.

With the combat effectiveness of Khiva and Bukhara. I thought that the battle for Khuzhan would have the most casualties of hundreds of people, and I didn't want the fifth day of the conflict between the two sides, Afghanistan actually sent troops at the invitation of Bukhara, although I don't know what the agreement is between the two countries, but at this time Xu Jingxi understands why Ali. Zari said that the reason why he was able to play was that there was foreign aid behind him. Of course, Afghanistan was a British protectorate at this time, and even if there was no British instigation and British acquiescence in Afghanistan's troops, the war was immediately complicated.

"It seems that Bukhara has ceded the Chi Peng River to Afghanistan." In the inner hall of the Tacheng Administration, Yang Zengxin, who received the news of the dispatch of troops from Afghanistan, judged. "The northern border of Afghanistan was forcibly divided by Britain and Russia, some places that should have belonged to Afghanistan have become Russian borders, and some places that originally belonged to Bukhara and Turkmenistan have become Afghan territory.

"What do you mean, do you mean that Afghanistan is going to rob other places?" After all, Xu Jingxi only learned about the situation in Turkestan through briefings, and he did not know much about the Russian-British border demarcation decades ago.

"Well, Turkmenistan's Merv Oasis (present-day Mare) is what Afghanistan has always wanted, and if he defeats Khiva this time, then he will definitely take possession of it." Yang Zengxin said.

As soon as Yang Zengxin said the Merv Oasis, Xu Jingxi shook his head, and he said: "If we connect to Persia through the old railway line, then this Merv Oasis must not be occupied by Afghanistan." ”

"yes." Yang Zengxin, who fully knew the importance of the Merv Oasis, didn't need Xu Jingxi to mention it at all, his expression was solemn, and he only said: "This Merv Oasis actually belonged to Persia before the Russian invasion. If we let Khiva occupy it, then Turkmenistan will most likely belong to Khiva; And if he wants Persia to get this area, then he should send troops now, so as not to be confused later, but now the Persian side ......"

Persia is a link that must be opened, according to Yang Rui's established requirements, the border between China and Poland is the best policy, Yang Zengxin has always planned according to this requirement, for this reason, Khiva would rather cede the area south of the Syr Darya River, and support Khiva to occupy the Ferghana Basin, in order to ask him to cede most of the Turkmenistan area. Khiva is easy to deal with, but Persia is a semi-colonial country, and it used to hold a parliament and implement a constitution like the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which finally caused the whole country to fall apart.

Fortunately, the situation in Persia finally stabilized before the European war, the new king Ahmed, who was only 18 years old, was crowned on the throne, and the former regent Naselmerk traveled to Europe, and Sino-Polish relations also entered a honeymoon. However, the central government of such a semi-colonial country had no authority, and after the start of the war in Europe, Tabriz in the north immediately became the object of contention between the Russian army and the Ottoman army, and Huzestan in the south was frequently sabotaged by anti-British tribes instigated by German spies because of the oil pipeline, and Huzestan and other places were occupied by British troops.

This was true of foreign affairs, and the Persian government had two armies. a Cossack brigade numbering 8,000 men, nominally belonging to Persia, but always under the command of Russian officers; Then there was the gendarmerie, numbering 7,000 men and commanded by Swedish officers. The Persian government really relied on. It was only a gendarmerie, but this army, because it was instigated by Germany to oppose the British, was eventually reduced to 3,000 men, and the internal Swedish officers and pro-German native officers were replaced. Although China's demand for the occupied territory of the Cumen region is not anti-British, Turkmenistan was originally part of Russia, not to mention the 70,000 Russian troops in Tabriz, but the 8,000-strong Cossack brigade near Tehran. It was enough to scare the Persian government.

According to the previous plan, after Russia was completely thrown into chaos at the end of the year, it might be possible for Persia to send troops at that time. But now that Afghanistan has suddenly sent troops, if it really wants to border China and Poland, the Persian side must move in advance, otherwise with the cunning eyes of the British. It is to never let China border Persia. And then threaten the Persian Gulf.

"Let's call the Prime Minister's Office." Xu Jingxi thought about things several times in his mind, and finally sighed.

"Hmm. Let's just draft it at the beginning. Yang Zengxin stroked his beard and said. He was familiar with the Western Regions, Kazakhstan, and Turkestan, but Persia, not to mention its internal disintegration due to its constitution, and the intertwining of British, Russian, German, and American forces during the war, was not something he could speculate.

Tacheng's telegram soon arrived in Beijing, and Yang Rui was amused when he received it. Even if the two khanates of Khiva and Bukhara are supported by themselves, Afghanistan, which has less than 10,000 regular troops and arms production is still a workshop, can still join in the fun. Could it be that the British gave them incredible support?

Thinking about this question, not only Xie Jintai, but also Zhang Shi was called, he handed the telegram to Zhang Shi and asked, "What are the British doing in Afghanistan?" ”

"According to intelligence, the British supported Afghanistan in seizing all of Turkestan after the two khanates did not move." Zhang Shi said, "The British and Indian governors have mobilized a batch of weapons and ammunition to transport to Kabul. ”

"Such big ambitions?" Yang Rui and Xie Jintai were both taken aback. With the strength of Afghanistan, can it annex the whole of Turkestan?

"Sir, this is an excuse for the British to bewitch the king of Afghanistan, at least Talzi, the leader of the country's al-Shabaab, thinks so, but the king is so overjoyed that he thinks this is a rare opportunity, and he doesn't listen to advice at all, and only thinks about the 500,000 pounds and 10,000 rifles promised by the British, and what kind of big Afghan kingdom, so ......" Zhang Shi said in a language that he felt amused. When the Germans went to Afghanistan to persuade King Habibullah to participate in the jihad war the year before last, the king was very clever enough to turn right and right, and put forward such difficult terms as '100,000 rifles, 300 cannons, and 20 million pounds of gold' to refuse the German mission, but this time it was so simply bought by the British.

"It's just the mountains of Afghanistan, and if you go to Pingyuan, isn't it looking for death?" Yang Rui had to believe that the Afghans really had a plan for a big Afghan state, but he disdained it, and only said: "Dingchen and Yu Chu's suggestion is to let the Persian side launch it in advance, Chong'an, what do you think the Persian side should do?" Is there a way to make the Persians rise again? ”

"This ......" Xie Jintai knew that the best solution for Afghanistan to send troops was to send troops from Persia, but the situation in Persia was a mess, from the beginning of the war to the present, the king has changed three prime ministers in a row, and now on the table is the pro-British Prime Minister Vosu Gdullah, this person was completely promoted to power after Britain controlled the situation, Persia sent troops to Russian territory, then he must ask Britain in advance, and Britain and Russia are now allies, so the British will never agree to this matter.

After thinking about it for a while, Xie Jintai finally said: "Actually, at this time, not to mention whether the British can see through our intention to border Persia, that is, they can't see that the British will not agree to Persia sending troops to Turkmenistan to provoke Russia. I look at this matter......" Xie Jintai looked at Zhang Shi helplessly, and said: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no choice, just look at the intelligence bureau ......"

Xie Jintai pushed the matter to the Intelligence Bureau in a few sentences, Zhang Shi also smiled bitterly, he said: "Sir, in addition to the government, Britain and Russia, there is also a force called the Islamic Alliance in Persia, they have a guerrilla force called the Foresters in the dense forests of Gilan Province, and the Germans and Ottomans have supported them......"

"Isn't there anything else?" Yang Rui was very displeased when he heard that this force was called the Islamic League, and the position of this sectarian has always been anti-Westernization and hostile to all foreign forces. Not to mention that he would not support this kind of power, even if he did, before World War II, China did not have the capital to compete with Britain in Persia. (To be continued......)