Han Khan

Chapter 46, Illinois

In the Moheyan Desert, a group of nomads dozens of miles long is migrating northward. They are small but tenacious.

The men rode in front on horseback, their faces tanned and their eyes fixed intently on the road ahead.

Squinting under the scorching sun, he led the camel caravan carrying all kinds of supplies. The camels took steady steps, one step at a time, stepping on the hot sand.

Behind him was a long line of livestock, with cows and sheep walking slowly and occasionally making noises.

The women sat in simple horse-drawn carriages or rode on camels, with their heads wrapped in scarves, holding their children tightly in their arms, and looking ahead calmly.

The tattered tents were tied to the sides of the camels, swaying slightly as the camels moved. Some people were sorting their belongings, while others were coaxing their children.

Their tents had been dismantled and tied to camels and horses or carts, and their daily necessities had been carefully placed.

The horses' hooves made a dull sound as they trod on the sand, and the wheels creaked as they turned, raising a little dust.

The sunlight shines directly down, and everyone seems to be covered with a layer of gold.

The children were running around and playing in the team, sometimes chasing lizards and geckos in the desert, and sometimes looking at everything around them curiously.

Many people are looking back frequently, gazing at the familiar but soon-to-disappear land behind them.

The team moved forward slowly and steadily, gradually disappearing into the distant horizon, leaving only a long trail to prove that they had been here.

The scorching sun and the steam rising from the desert blurred the vision, but the migrating team did not stop at all, and moved forward slowly and steadily.

Occasionally a gust of wind blows, raising a cloud of dust that fills the air.

Although the children's faces were a little tired, their eyes still sparkled with longing for the new place.

The team moved forward slowly in the desert, and the footprints behind them were quickly covered by sand. Carrying hope for life, they marched through this desolation to find a new home.

The steady sound of camel bells is pleasant to the ears.

This is a tribe migrating northwards. They have been marching for ten days. The sheep are the source of food and water on the migration route.

The team was so huge and endless that one could not see the end at a glance. Zhang Sheng, Zhang Zhongxian, Yin Shanxiong, Zhang Xibao and hundreds of guards led the team in the front, slowly moving forward with the people.

The guards on the left and right sides kept patrolling back and forth. In the scorching desert, the cavalrymen rode alone, and occasionally violent dust swept across the sky.

Hounds followed the migrating team, obediently following under the horses. Some tribesmen were walking. They were slaves of Jin Han, and only they themselves knew the hardships they went through.

In the vast Gobi Desert, the migrating team is majestic. Two or three thousand people and hundreds of thousands of livestock are moving in the same direction. It is a spectacular scene.

The centurions were leading the ten-household leaders, shuttling back and forth in the team to check if any of their people had fallen behind. The hardest-working ones were the elderly, children, and slaves who were walking.

The blue holy flag fluttered in the wind. Zhang Sheng led the guards and rode up the high hill next to them. Standing on the high place, he overlooked the migration of his tribe, which looked like a group of marching ants.

Zhang Sheng looked at the marching crowd and said to Zhang Xibao and Yin Shanxiong beside him: "Dunhuang is more than 800 li (400 kilometers) from Yizhou. We have walked more than 600 li. In another three days, we will be able to reach Yizhou!"

"Your Highness, more than 30 walking slaves died, and more than 700 cattle and horses died!" Yin Shanxiong said.

"It's not bad! Don't worry, once we conquer Yizhou, everything will be worth it!"

They were located in the Moheyan Desert between Dunhuang, Yizhou and Gaochang.

The migration route is Yinan Road (Shaogan Road) from Yumen Pass directly to Yizhou. This road is shorter and more convenient than Dahai Road (Yumen Pass to Gaochang), and there are oases along the way to replenish water.

This road is the trade route to the northern part of the sky and the Eurasian steppe. Now, it has gradually replaced the long and dangerous sea route.

"There is a shortcut from the northwest of Wuwei, which goes through thousands of miles of sand and gravel. Looking around, there is no path to follow. Those who want to go there can only follow the bones of people and animals. On the way, you may hear singing and crying. Travelers follow the sound, but many people get lost, probably because of ghosts and monsters. Therefore, merchants traveling back and forth mostly take the Yiwu Road." This is a portrayal of the Moheyan Desert and the long sea road.

Yizhou City was an important military garrison under the jurisdiction of the Beiting Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty. It was known as the throat of the Western Regions and was actually a key passage into the northern Tianshan Mountains.

After the Tang Dynasty put down the Gaochang Rebellion, in order to strengthen its control over the Western Regions, it implemented a military garrison system and set up a garrison in Yizhou as the location of the Yiwu Army's garrison.

At that time, the Yiwu army was stationed in Ganluchuan, 300 miles northwest of Yizhou, with 3,000 soldiers, 5,000 acres of land, and 300 horses.

The Yiwu Army combined soldiers and farmers into one, and cultivated land to be self-sufficient. This not only reduced the financial expenditure of the court, but also avoided the trouble of long-distance transportation of supplies. At the same time, it increased supplies and improved the living ability of the soldiers.

The terrain here is flat and vast, the land is fertile, the water resources are abundant, and the underground springs are rich, making it extremely suitable for farming.

On other important military roads far from Yizhou City, there were many beacon towers, which could be seen from each other so as to observe and understand the military situation at any time. The Tang soldiers stationed on the beacon towers mostly cultivated fields around them.

The cities and beacon towers faced each other, and the Yiwu Army, the Hanhai Army stationed in Gaochang, and the Tianshan Army stationed in Beiting supported each other, consolidating the situation of the Tang Dynasty north of the Tianshan Mountains. The existence of Yizhou City stabilized the management and rule of the eastern part of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, and a large number of caravans and immigrants lived and traded here.

However, the Anshi Rebellion broke all this.

In order to quell the rebellion, the imperial court mobilized the Northwestern Frontier Defense Force to return to the interior to quell the rebellion and defend the king, leaving only a small part of the troops to garrison, and the vast majority of the frontier defense forces were transferred back to the interior to defend Guanzhong.

The people who now occupy this place are the Gaochang Uighurs. Gaochang's Yidu Protectorate appointed his Sairen relative, Anpolara, as the garrison commander of Yizhou.

In this way, he sidelined the Han Chen family, who had defended Yizhou for generations, and commanded an army of more than 2,000 Sai people and Uighurs to defend Yizhou.

Yizhou City is close to the Eastern Tianshan Mountains. It is located in a vast area where Gobi, desert and grassland intersect. The town is not very big, because it is just an expansion of a military settlement. It is surrounded by rammed earth walls, separating the city from the outside world.

There are many arrow towers and watchtowers of different heights on the city wall, providing a good defensive vision. The flag of the Uighurs is hung above the city gate, symbolizing the ownership of the city.

In the distance, Zhang Sheng and more than a hundred guards were standing on the high hill, looking at Yizhou!

They came to investigate the situation in Yizhou, while the people of each hundred households were resting a hundred miles behind them.

Relying on their tenacious will and physical strength, the tribesmen left their familiar land, crossed the vast desert, and overcame the high temperature and harsh environment.

We finally crossed the Moheyan Desert with great difficulty. Now, on the vast Gobi Desert, there were only the sound of the sharp wind and the occasional roar of wild beasts.

Everyone finally got a rest!
But it’s not over yet! Through this migration, Zhang Sheng experienced for the first time the difficult and dangerous migration journey of nomads.

He knew that if he didn't break through Yizhou's blockade or capture Yizhou to obtain supplies, the subsequent migration would be even more difficult.

But he did not back down because of the difficulties. With his firm belief, tenacious perseverance and compulsory orders, he made all his people seriously implement his migration plan.

Now, it is impossible to stop moving forward because of this small city of Yizhou.

On the first day of July in 914, the four major guards and 30 centurions of the Jinhan tribe had all completed their rest and training.

Today, Zhang Sheng personally led a guard of 1808 people. The 30 centurions can send out a total of 1000 soldiers, a total of more than 3000 people. The army advanced mightily. Including the people of the 30 centurions, there were almost people.

Such a large scale display is considered to be worthy of the Uighur defenders in the city.

This was once the Yizhou City of the Guiyi Army, but is now controlled by the descendants of Pugu Jun.

Pugujun, a Uighur who fled to Hexi, participated in the Guiyi Army uprising led by Zhang Sheng's great-grandfather Zhang Yichao to resist the rule of Tubo.

Pugu Jun performed outstandingly in the Guiyi Army and was highly appreciated by his grandfather Zhang Yichao, who ordered him to lead the army to recapture Beiting, Gaochang and Yizhou.

In 866, Pugujun, who became the chief of the Beiting Uighurs, fought fiercely with Tubo and Khitan, captured Gaochang, Luntai (now Urumqi), and Qingzhen (now Manas County) in Xizhou, and established the Xizhou Uighurs. Of course, at this time, the Xizhou Uighurs were still under the control of the Guiyi Army, even if it was only in name.

(The Pugu were originally a Tiele tribe that was on equal footing with the Uighurs. Later, when the Uighur Khanate was established, the Pugu tribe gradually integrated into the Uighurs and became Uighurs. For example, the great general Pugu Huai'en was a Pugu who had not yet been integrated into the Uighurs. Therefore, he considered himself a Tiele and did not acknowledge himself as a Uighur).

During the time of Zhang Geng's father Zhang Chengfeng, Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty collapsed, and the Guiyi Army never recovered.

The descendants of Pugu Jun had long since left the Guiyi Army and the Tang Dynasty, and they declared themselves emperor, calling themselves Yiduhu.

After that, they began to rule the northern and eastern parts of the Tianshan Mountains, and gradually expanded southward and eastward, calling themselves the Great Uighur Kingdom, while the Guiyi Army called them the Gaochang Uighurs.

His title is also Du Hu, which actually comes from the "Du Hu" of the Tang Dynasty, and is only the initial pronunciation part of a word.

The leaders of the Uighurs who settled in the Western Regions, their court, nobles and ministers, used Gaochang as their winter capital and Beiting as their summer capital. The people to the north of the Tianshan Mountains were mainly nomadic, while those to the south of the Tianshan Mountains were mainly agricultural.

Influenced by the residents of various ethnic groups in the Western Regions, the Uighurs gradually settled down and turned to agricultural life, mainly engaging in irrigation agriculture based on karez, planting crops such as grains, cotton, melons and fruits, while also engaging in animal husbandry.

Today's Gaochang Uighurs practiced feudal landlord serfdom. The slaves and free people of various ethnic groups in the Western Regions who were conquered and controlled by the Uighurs farmed and grazed and paid tributes for the local Uighur lords.

The Uighur generals who were loyal to Yiduhu controlled a vast territory stretching from Yizhou in the east to Kuche in the west, from Yutian in the south to the Tianshan Mountains in the north.

Under the influence of Buddhist beliefs in the Western Regions, a situation gradually emerged in which Manichaeism and Buddhism were equally important, and people continued to convert to Buddhism.

For decades, the Uighurs from the northern desert ruled different tribes in the Western Regions, such as the Turks (the Qarluk, Basmil, and Turgesh ruled by Ashina), Tibetans, Han people, Sai people, Tocharians, Qarluk, and Gedu people (a branch of Tibetans), and gradually merged them into one.

The Uighurs themselves were already quite civilized and had their own writing system. After absorbing the culture, beliefs and production techniques of the Han, Tocharian, Sai and Tibetan peoples, their level of civilization was greatly improved.

This is the origin of the Uighurs in the Western Regions, who would eventually change the population structure of this land and bring a different culture.

(End of this chapter)