Han Khan

Chapter 23, Chasing the Northern Sweet Spring Water

The Khitan Khan is also my uncle. The hatred between you and the Khitan people, and the hatred between you and the people of Dunhuang, all in all, it is really a blood feud between me and you.

But you also saw that I did not enforce the good customs of the grasslands on you and did not behead all of you who were taller than the wheels."

"I thank Teqin for his kindness. I and the Uighurs are willing to serve Teqin as slaves." Salu kowtowed quickly. He understood the customs of the grassland and knew even more about the horrifying Jingguan of the Tang people.

"That's great. If you try to escape or rebel, not only I, but all the Jinhan people will not just punish you with the wheelbarrow. At that time, all the Uighurs, young and old, will be turned into fat grass..."

"As the newly-subjugated slaves of the Jinhan tribe, you must remember to be humble and obedient. You all know the rules of the grassland. You are already members of the Jinhan tribe, and this is the basis for your survival.

At the same time, I also saw today that you fought bravely.

Therefore, now, in the name of the leader of Jin Han, I grant you the position of captain of a hundred slave soldiers, and also rewards you with war horses, armor and weapons.

You will lead 100 slaves as infantry, as my slave soldiers, and lead me tomorrow to find the tribe of Tugeldagan, and then follow my command and go to battle together. And tell those slave soldiers that if they make military achievements, I will definitely reward them. "

Zhang Sheng said in a deep voice.

"Thank you for the reward, Chief! I will swear allegiance to you until death and fight for you!" Salu was ecstatic when he heard this, and kowtowed to Zhang Sheng "bang bang bang".

Finally, he was no longer a lowly slave, and he saw that in the Jinhan tribe, as long as he made meritorious services, he would be rewarded with status and wealth. At least he had hope. Being a slave was hard. There was endless work to do, no property, and he often went hungry.

"Go back."

"Yes, Your Highness." After standing up and saluted Zhang Sheng, Salu hurried away and went to the Uighur slaves, informing them of the news.

The captured Uighur warriors were all overjoyed.

Zhang Sheng looked at the receding figure of the Uighur slave Salu and thought in his mind that he should recruit a few more slave soldiers tomorrow.

Now he has only more than 1 Jinhan soldiers under his command. The royal guards and the centuries-man teams suffered heavy losses yesterday, so they must be asked to participate in the decisive battle.

Let these Uighur slaves serve as cannon fodder. They will fight another battle tomorrow and return home after it is over.

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In the fourth year of Qianhua, the Year of the Dog, that is, 4, on June 914, after resting for a night on the bank of Ganquan River, Zhang Sheng led Jin Han to continue southward along Ganquan River.

The Kucha Uighurs and the Tibetans at that time still lived by following the water and grass, and relied on grazing for a living. Ganquan River is a river formed by the melting snow of the Qilian Mountains. The banks are rich in water and grass, and many tribes are nomadic here.

When the Jin Han army arrived at the upper reaches of Ganquan River near the Qilian Mountains on June 6, Jin Han had captured more than 16 people, seized more than 5 sheep, more than 5 horses, more than 1 cattle, and dozens of camels after several days of fighting.

For the newly established Jinhan tribe, it can be said that the harvest was great!
The Tibetans and Uighurs on both sides of the river must have discovered Zhang Sheng's troops by now. They looked at the Jin Han people from afar and were terrified. They thought they were robbing all the tribes downstream!

Looking at the Jinhan warriors not far away, with their shining armor, fluttering flags, and murderous aura, as well as the endless cattle and sheep behind them, and a long line of slaves either sitting on carts or staggering on foot, they were obviously looted.

At this time, in the dense forest in the distance, several spies who looked like Han Chinese also observed the situation of the Jinhan tribe. After looking at each other, they were all dumbfounded.

After just a few days, Zhang Erlang had already conquered the Kucha Uighurs. Some of the Uighur tribes were slaughtered before they had even had time to surrender.

Men were slaughtered, and women and supplies were all robbed. These barbarians were indeed the blood of the Hu people. They beat the Uighurs in Caogu really hard!
They were spies, specially sent by Cao Yijin to investigate Zhang Sheng's Jinhan tribe. They followed the Jinhan tribe all the way, but because the Jinhan people were too vigilant and had scouts everywhere, they were far away and were not discovered. However, the results of their investigation were not very detailed. Now we only know that two Uighur tribes were robbed by Zhang Erlang and a lot of spoils were seized.

Observe these three or four scouts, hide immediately and retreat cautiously, and don't get too close. The Jin Han light cavalry has now scattered and is investigating the situation everywhere. It is obvious that another plundering war is about to begin.

In fact, from the time when the Tang Dynasty was still in existence until the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was not uncommon for Tang warriors from the Western Regions, Hetao, Hebei and other border areas to go to the grasslands to plunder the Hu people.

Anyway, the Hu people often robbed the Tang people. The powerful Tang warriors would definitely not wait to be beaten, so the Tang people and the Hu people often robbed each other. The targets of the looting were mainly the Turkic, Uighur, Tangut and Khitan tribes. The most interesting thing is that the Tang army itself controlled many Hu tribes, and there were already many Hu warriors in the army. Sometimes when looting these tribes, these Hu warriors and some other tribes would also join in the fun, which made people feel absurd.

But if you think about it carefully, it seems natural. There is no concept of nation in this era. It is a thing invented by Westerners to disintegrate the unified empire.

This phenomenon is normal nowadays. The Hu people generally identify with tribes. To them, the leader is the most honorable and terrifying person. To be honest, they cannot contact the Khans and emperors above them and the tribal warriors at the lower level.

Dunhuang, located between the Western Regions and Hexi, also did this a lot. Zhang Sheng had many Hu people under his command, and with the help of their spies, the Jin and Han people were very familiar with doing this and felt no pressure at all.

"Your Highness, I am worried that if we plunder the Uighurs like this, it will cause the slaves under my command to rebel. Now we have a large number of slaves and spoils of war. I am afraid that if we continue to fight, the gains will outweigh the losses!" Yin Shanxiong asked after saluting Zhang Sheng.

Zhang Sheng said: "Don't worry! They are more cruel than us when it comes to killing their own people."

He continued, "You saw it. The day before yesterday and yesterday, my Jinhan tribe attacked two Uighur tribes. Their armor and horses were taken away and they became slaves.

Many of the strong men who were unwilling to be slaves were eager to become my newly formed slave soldiers. They would be the main force in our robbery this time.

I want the tribal slaves under my command to quickly abandon their contempt for the Jinhan tribe and try to integrate into the Jinhan tribe. I want them to be useful to Jinhan, so that they will actively integrate into Jinhan.

Of course, if they don't take my Jinhan tribe seriously and dare to rebel, I will kill them all. In this way, when I speak next time, these slaves annexed by me will be more obedient.

Moreover, now that my Jinhan tribe is just beginning, how can I survive in this world if I don’t rely on plundering the Hu people to support my Jinhan warriors and strengthen the strength of my tribe! If I don’t annex these weak tribes, I think it’s a pity! ”

"Your Highness is wise!"

The cool wind from the Qilian Mountains brought a touch of coolness to the scorching summer. Jin Han's thousand cavalry and five infantry slave soldiers had already crossed the narrow part of Ganquan Water and surrounded the location reported by the scouts.

The cavalry did not charge directly. Although the three Tibetan tribes had a small population and lacked armor or weapons, the Jinhan cavalry simply killed those Tibetans who wanted to escape on the periphery, and then retreated to the periphery and surrounded them.

At this time, five infantry centuries composed of Uighur slaves, armed with spears, rushed towards the Tibetans with great momentum.

These Tibetans were surrounded by Jinhan warriors riding war horses and holding spears and bows. Even though their morale was high when defending their homeland, they could not help but feel panic at this moment.

"Woo!" The horn sounded, and most of the Tibetans were at a loss. The experienced ones changed their faces drastically, and shouts in foreign languages ​​were heard everywhere. Soon, the troops were in formation and faced the charging Uighur infantry. Judging from their military appearance, they were undoubtedly well-trained, but they were short of equipment and manpower.

The strong Uighur slaves rushed into the Tibetan crowd, waving and stabbing their spears, and fighting fiercely with the Tibetans.

The Jin Han people on horseback shot arrow after arrow, killing the fleeing Tibetans and the Uighur slaves who dared to retreat.

Zhang Sheng saw a cruel gladiatorial arena in front of him. The Uighurs wanted to kill the enemy, and the Tibetans wanted to survive. They all used all their strength to block and kill the enemies around them.

The herdsmen, who had no armor or weapons, had little power to fight back and fled in all directions, but were soon caught up one by one and hacked to death.

After more than a hundred Tibetan warriors fell, the Tibetans, who were on the verge of collapse, threw down their weapons, knelt down and surrendered tremblingly.

In the encirclement, blood flowed and merged into the sweet spring water. On the grass, corpses were piled up and the stench was overwhelming.

The battle was over, and the auxiliary troops were all slaves, and they had already started cleaning up the battlefield. The herdsmen who were injured but not dead were stabbed directly. The old, weak, women and children in the tribe were also pulled out, and they knelt on the ground and trembled with fear.

Tribal annexation wars are horrific things whether on the grasslands or in the snowy areas.

The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. No one knows how the winner will deal with himself. Life or death depends entirely on luck.

(End of this chapter)