Han Khan

Chapter 42: Three Uighur Powers

After daybreak, Zhang Sheng asked the three women to quickly clean up the mess after yesterday's absurdity, and then asked them to return to their respective tents, because he wanted to summon the priests and the captains of each centurion to discuss the migration to the north.

After the three women helped Zhang Sheng put on his armor, they left the tent.

Then Zhang Sheng said to Yin Shanxiong who was guarding the door of the big tent.

"Shanxiong, send the guards to inform the centurions and priests to gather in my tent."

"As you command, Your Highness!"

At this time, the entire camp gradually came back to life. The women in the tribe were squeezing milk from cows, sheep and horses inside the fence. Some men were busy making and repairing armor, some were making bows and arrows, and the children were driving livestock to graze.

The sun shone on the sweet spring water in the distance, reflecting the ripples of Zhang Sheng's tent. The banks were covered with green grass, which still had remnants of dew that had fallen last night.

At this time, the sound of horse hooves came from not far away. Zhang Sheng folded his hands over his chest and looked back. The people coming were the centurions and four priests.

Zhang Sheng stood on a huge rock in front of him, and everyone gathered in front of him.

He said: "You must have seen that during the seven days of rest in the Dajingze camp, the lush and green vegetation around us has been eaten up by a large number of cattle, sheep, horses and camels.

Many tribesmen and guards were urging the summer migration, especially those who originally made a living by herding, who were extremely anxious.

They say that according to traditional experience, it is now time for the summer transition.

If action is not taken soon, the consequences will be disastrous, as there will be large-scale deaths of livestock if there is not enough pasture for them to eat.

Once a large number of livestock die, the disease is likely to spread, bringing a devastating blow to the entire ethnic group.

By then, we will be facing an unavoidable catastrophe.

Therefore, the most important thing at the moment is to find a new pasture as soon as possible, and then lead the people to migrate to a place with abundant grass and water. Only in this way can we avoid the impending disaster. Koza, Bonek, you came from the northern desert, is this really the case? "

"Your Highness is absolutely right, and what our people said is true. Now is the time for summer migration. If we miss this opportunity and fail to complete the migration smoothly, the livestock will suffer heavy losses." Koza responded.

Zhang Sheng immediately perked up when he heard this, and asked Koza and Boniek, the two nomadic guards:
"You two set out from the desert, passed through Yizhou and Moheyanqi, and followed my mother all the way to Dunhuang.

So according to your opinion, if we advance to the northern desert now, would it be a good opportunity for summer migration? In other words, can the livestock get enough fodder during this journey northwards?"

Boniec answered without thinking:

"That's right, Your Highness! If we set out north now, we will be able to reach the foot of the Golden Mountain in less than three months! There are the Doros River and the Ugur River flowing down from the Golden Mountain, and the grass is abundant, so we can graze there!
Although the Great Sea Route passes through the vast Moheyan Desert and the Gurbantunggut Desert along the way, there are actually rivers and pastures in these places.

And when we get to the foot of Jinshan Mountain, it will be the time for us to migrate for the winter! In this way, we don’t have to go to Jinshan Mountain to graze this year. At that time, all the tribes will drive their livestock to the plains near the Dolos River to graze and avoid the winter wind and snow! ”

"However, Your Highness! If you want to depart from Dunhuang City and reach the foot of the Golden Mountain, you must pass through Yizhou. Yizhou controls the pass from Hexi to the northern part of Tianshan Mountain and from Mobei to the Western Regions.

But what about now? Although Yizhou still belongs to the Guiyi Army in name, it has actually fallen into the hands of the Uighurs in Gaochang! If we can't deal with Yizhou first, those Uighurs will definitely become a stumbling block on our way forward and hinder the migration of Jinhan!"

Zhang Sheng nodded solemnly upon hearing this, and then asked Zhang Xibao, "Uncle Xibao, you have conquered Yizhou with your father, tell me what you know about Yizhou!"

“Your Highness, I followed the emperor to conquer Canwei and regain control of the area west of Yangguan. We then attacked Yizhou, but our forces were few and far between, so we relied on elite troops for surprise attacks.

At that time, Yizhou was temporarily occupied. The emperor appointed a few officials and left Yizhou in a hurry.

Because the Ganzhou Uighurs were advancing continuously at that time, we had to follow the emperor's army eastward and focus on dealing with the Ganzhou Uighurs.

Later, Yizhou was captured by the Gaochang Uighurs, who deployed a garrison of more than 2000 people there, consisting of two Uighur tribes and the local Sai people.

However, the emperor did not dismiss Chen Yunde, the governor of Yizhou appointed by the emperor. Now Chen Yunde is the nominal governor of Yizhou, but most matters are decided by the Sai people. "

The founder of Gaochang Uighurs, whose Chinese name was Pugujun, was from the Pugu tribe of the Tiele tribe, which was not a Uighur family, and could not be considered a true Uighur. However, his descendants have become the real rulers of the Uighurs in the Western Regions, and are not controlled by the Ganzhou Uighurs and the Guiyi Army. For commercial interests, they often go to Chang'an and Jinyang to pay tribute through the Uighur Road.

Why are the Uighurs now everywhere in Hexi and the Western Regions? This has to start with the An-Shi Rebellion.

After the Anshi Rebellion, Tubo expanded its power in the western part of the Tang Dynasty. After that, the two protectorates of Anxi and Beiting had become isolated forces outside the Moheyan Desert.

While the Uighurs nominally helped the Tang defend the Anxi and Beiting Protectorates, they actually controlled both places.

During this period, the Uighurs expanded their influence to the Jinshan area, controlling the Shatuo tribe, which was "dependent on Beiting", as well as the Gelug tribe (i.e., Gelulu) and the Baifu Turks who were nomadic in the northwest of Beiting (that is, the Outer Ili area). These tribes gradually became "vassals" of the Uighurs and were controlled by them.

Then, the Uighurs plundered and extorted these places on a large scale, taking all the food they needed by force. This led to rebellions among the Karluk, Turkic, Tiele and Sai peoples, and the Tubo took the opportunity to seize Beiting.

After that, the Uighurs and Tubo fought a war for more than 20 years for the control of the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains.

After that, the Uighur Khanate became powerful for a time. The Uighurs defeated the Tibetans in Beiting and Qiuci in the south, conquered the Qarluk people in the north, and their military forces extended to the west of the Pamir Mountains.

However, the good times for the Uighurs did not last long. Starting in 830, the desert grasslands suffered from terrible natural disasters year after year, including famine, plague, and then heavy snow. Cattle, sheep, and horses died in large numbers, and people also died in large numbers. The Khan's Ordu capital was reduced to ruins, and corpses covered the roads.

In the fifth year of Kaicheng (5), the Uighur general Julumuhe summoned 840 cavalrymen from the Jianhe River and attacked the Uighur headquarters - Harabalegas (Black Tiger).

The Khitans launched a massive campaign of burning, killing and looting against the Uighurs until the Khan's house was completely burned to ashes.

Thus, the state established by the Uighurs in the desert grasslands was overthrown by the Kyrgyz people.

After the fall of their country, the Uighur tribes fled in all directions along the Uighur Road and began a historic migration under the leadership of their leaders Zhuozhi and Pang Teqin.

For the nomads in Mobei, the most convenient route for migrating westward from Mobei at that time was the so-called "Uighur Road", the route of which can be roughly divided into two sections, namely from the Uighur tent to Beiting and from the Uighur tent to Chang'an.

Among them, the road from the Uighur tent to Beiting is a section of the Eurasian steppe road. Since ancient times, it has been a passage for nomads to travel between the Mongolian steppe and the Eurasian steppe. After the demise of the Uighur Khanate, it was most convenient for the Uighurs and their subordinate nomadic tribes to reach Beiting along this road.

The large number of nomads who flocked in put great pressure on Beiting and surrounding areas. In addition, the Khitan army was in pursuit.

After the Uighurs and the Kyrgyz confronted each other in Beiting for a period of time, a part of the Uighurs, led by Pang Teqin, left Beiting and continued to migrate.

In the third year of Huichang (3), Pang Teqin founded the Anxi Uighurs in Yanqi, but some Uighur tribes remained in Beiting.

In other words, after the Uighur tribe led by Pang Teqin moved westward to Beiting and the Qerluks in the northwest, it split again.

Pang Teqin moved to Yanqi City and was called Yehu. After a period of recuperation, he conquered the Qarluk people in the Seven Rivers Basin, the Uighur tribes from the desert, and various cities in the Western Regions, achieving great success.

After that, he called himself Aslan Khan. Therefore, the alliance formed by many Uighurs and local tribes was called Aslan (meaning "lion") Uighur. In fact, it had a more resounding name - the Karakhanid Khanate.

Afterwards, Pang Teqin nominally became the Khan of the entire Tianshan Uighurs, and stationed deputies (patriarchs, governors) in Beiting and Gaochang to rule the regions.

In the 11th year of Dazhong (857), the Tang Dynasty sent envoys to prepare to appoint Pang Teqin as "Nine-surname Uighur Wenlu Dengli Luo Gumo Mishi Hejulu Huaijian Khan."

However, the enthronement process was not smooth, as the imperial envoys were blocked by the rebellious Uighurs on the way and returned to the court before reaching their destination.

Later, Pang Teqin, the Nine-Surname Uighur Khan who had not been officially enthroned, led some of his tribesmen to leave Anxi and migrate to Balasagun near the Suiye River and Rehe.

The Aslan Kingdom's headquarters was established there, ruling the Karluks and the Nine-Surname Uighurs (Nine-Surname Tiele, or Oghuz) in the Seven Rivers Basin, which was densely populated by rivers such as the Ili River and the Chu River.

Today his descendants consider themselves the rulers of the Black Khanate or Karakhanid Khanate, and the Khan at this time is his youngest son, Ogurchak, also known as Bogd Khan.

We are talking about the origin of the Karakhanid Khanate, but where did the Uighurs who ruled Gaochang come from?

(End of this chapter)