Han Khan

Chapter 68: Jinshan Naiman
The death of Kutlug Yar Khan meant that from that day on, until the Khitans unified the north and south of the desert, there would no longer be a real Khan with a title in this desert, and even a Khan in name would no longer exist.

In the future, the various tribes in the grasslands north and south of the desert will gradually be conquered by the Khitans, and will from then on submit to the emperor of the Liao Kingdom.

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The last ray of light in the sky slowly disappeared behind the Golden Mountain, and the grassland was filled with darkness.

On the banks of the Bulgan River, Zawankad, the chief of the Naiman Xidan tribe, was standing by a campfire outside his yurt, carefully roasting a fat yellow sheep, which was his catch of the day.

When he was young, he was already an outstanding hunter and warrior among the Khitan and Naiman people.

Two years ago, his father and brother led their tribesmen to assist the Khan in fighting against the Tatars and the coalition forces of the Ubili and Dubo tribes who betrayed the Khan, but unfortunately both died in the battle.

After that, he inherited the position of the chief of the Xidan tribe and led the remaining 200 households of the tribe, moving westward from the Yanran Mountains to the banks of the Bulgan River to roam.

This is the season for hunting gazelles. Although there are not many fertile pastures in the Bulgan River, there are many gazelles.

He picked up the lamb leg and chewed it with big mouthfuls. The meat was extremely tender. In addition, the sheepskin could be made into a warm winter coat.

Thinking of this, he felt a pang of sadness in his heart. Originally, the Xidan tribe was much stronger than it is now, with at least 500 members. In the past, he often followed his father across the Qingshan Gobi Desert to Yizhou to exchange livestock for food and cotton cloth to survive the difficult winter.

He still remembered the Uighur city of Yizhou, a stone building that had never been seen on the grassland, where people from many different ethnic groups lived to protect themselves from the cold winter.

The Uighur merchants there were cunning, but generally satisfactory because they could really exchange their furs and livestock for the cotton cloth and food, and even swords and armor, that the Xidan tribe needed.

However, things are different now. The Xidan tribe has now submitted to the Jiluo tribe to their north. The Jiluo tribe has more than 800 people, and its leader Qie Buhua protects and controls the Xidan tribe.

Therefore, the Xidan tribe had to pay tributes to the Jiluo tribe every year in the form of cattle, sheep, horses, fox skins, sheep skins, horse skins, and cow skins. Hundreds of skins had to be submitted each year, and all the people in the tribe had to share the burden.

The leader of the Jiluo tribe would give back some salt produced in the lake basin area, as well as some simple weapons such as spears, bows and arrows, and a small amount of very rough ironware, which was of far inferior quality to those sold by the Uighurs in Yizhou City.

In addition, the meat of dead cattle, sheep and horses can be eaten by the people, but the fur cannot be kept privately and must be handed over to the Jiluo tribe. In the past, these furs could be exchanged for weapons, food and cotton cloth in Yizhou, but now they can't be exchanged, and life is getting harder and harder.

The situation has gone from bad to worse in the past two years. The leader of the Jiluo tribe wanted to completely annex the Xidan tribe and kept increasing the proportion of tribute to be paid each year. The people of the tribe were also often humiliated and oppressed by the Jiluo tribe, and their lives were miserable.

If there were no other lush pastures except the Bulgan River and if there were no powerful Uighurs to the west, they would probably have migrated westward long ago.

While cutting meat, Zawankad was thinking about the past.

The Jiluo tribe was oppressive, but life still had to go on, right? At least the Xidan tribe had blocked the Tatars' attacks, and no Tatars had come in the past two years, so the tribute they paid was not in vain.

Suddenly, a burst of rapid horse hoof sounds came from a distance. Zawankad's face changed drastically, and he immediately lay on the ground like a toad, listened carefully for a while, then quickly stood up and rushed into the tent like a gust of wind, asked his wife to put on the iron armor for him, and picked up the bow on the tent.

He quickly said a few words to his wife, glanced at his three children, and said nothing more.

Then he walked out of the tent. At this time, nearly a hundred people had gathered in front of his tent. The Xidan tribe had once been glorious, so there were still fifty or sixty warriors wearing leather and iron armor. This was also the reason why the Jiluo tribe did not dare to annex the Xidan tribe openly.

"Chief, Ugunai and Mogus are missing." said a tribesman wearing leather armor.

The sound of horse hooves in the distance became clearer and deafening, and everyone was panicked. The entire camp fell into chaos, but under Zhawankad's angry shouting, everyone quieted down and looked in panic in the direction of the horse hooves.

"Where did he disappear? How long has it been? Never mind, there's no time!" Zawankad drew out the scimitar in his hand.

It turned out that the scout group led by Koza had crossed the Bulgan River under the cover of night and quickly surrounded the entire camp of the Xidan tribe.

When eight or nine hundred fully armored cavalrymen appeared before him, Zawankad was so shocked that he gave up resistance because resistance was futile and could not kill or injure such a powerful enemy.

However, he didn't understand why such a powerful force would send out so many elite troops just to deal with the small Xidan tribe.

So he ventured to ask, "I am Zawankade, the chief of the Xidan tribe. I don't know how the Xidan tribe has offended you. Please forgive me."

Koza remained silent, just looking at the Naiman chief in iron armor. He wanted to understand these people, so he had to give them a feeling of powerlessness when they first met, because he was not here to kill people, their role was only to deter.

At this time, the sound of horse hooves rang out again, but not as frequently as before. After a while, Zawankad discovered that the person riding the horse was Ugunai, who the tribe had just said had been missing for a day.

Ugunai jumped off his horse and stumbled toward the camp. He knelt on the ground with a plop and said to Zhawankad:

"Chief, these people are not enemies, not enemies, you must not resist..."

At this time, seeing that the deterrent effect was almost enough, Koza and more than a dozen guards jumped off their horses and walked towards Zawankad.

He took off his helmet and held it in his arms, and said to the terrified Zawankad who was standing in front of a hundred people:
"Are you Zawankad? I seem to have seen you before, in the Khan's tent by Lake Uvs seventeen years ago." Zawankad suddenly remembered that he was about fifteen years old at that time and was already a man who could hunt wild wolves.

At that time, the Xidan tribe was very powerful, with more than 500 tents of subjects. As a subordinate of the Khan, they grazed, fished and hunted in the area around Lake Uvs.

Seventeen years ago, his father welcomed a Tang Dynasty delegation from far away, south of the Gobi Desert.

Later, Princess Asli married a Tang man from the south.

Among the entourage at that time was the person in front of him.

"Lord Koza?"

Zawankad was surprised, but then he recognized the person in front of him. He was from the Abuhan tribe, who also grazed, fished and hunted on the shores of Lake Uvs.

He was originally a warrior under the command of the chief of the Abuhan tribe. Later, he was chosen by the Khan and went to the Tang Kingdom in the south with Princess Asli.

I just don’t know why he appears here now, and where those fully armed armored cavalrymen come from.

"Are you...returning from the Tang people?" Zawankad asked cautiously and respectfully.

I really have to be respectful! Although they were all Khitans, only seventeen years later, the Khitan Khan of Jinshan was assassinated and the various tribes split into Naimans.

Moreover, these numerous elite cavalrymen were surrounding the Xidan tribe aggressively.

Koza said:
"Yes, I'm back. Now I'm the princess's son, the commander of the guard corps of His Royal Highness Zhang Sheng and Batur. These warriors are the guards of the special forces.

This time, I will accompany His Highness the Special Agent back to Mobei to prepare for the meeting with the Khan and spread the sacred will of Tengri, the God of Heaven, in Mobei.

Now, your mother, Princess Asili, and your father have already passed away. We were originally planning to come to Khan, but we didn't expect that Khan was already dead. I think your Highness will definitely take revenge on those betrayers for Khan's sake!"

Is Zhang Sheng, who is leading the Jin Han people and resting in the valley at this time, angry?

No, he came to his uncle just to find a suitable reason to occupy a piece of land so that the people of the tribe would have a place to graze their livestock.

Zhang Sheng thought, can't we do this now? Of course we can.

It was because he had the blood of the Khitan Khan and the Great Khan of Mobei. Even if this Khan was weak and could not control the various tribes, he was still the Great Khan to whom all the tribes surrendered after the demise of the Turks and Uighurs in Mobei.

Therefore, he had the right to take revenge on those tribes that betrayed Kutlug Yar Khan, and he had the right to legally establish his own ordo (fiefdom and subjects) in the land of Mobei and Jinshan.

Now that the grasslands were divided and not under each other's rule, it was a good opportunity for him to march into the grasslands. How could he give up his pursuit of power just because of his uncle's death? Now that he had come here, how could he return empty-handed?

What's more, without his uncle Khan, it would be much easier for him to do things. He would have no more obstacles in killing those tribes that occupied the prime pastures and betrayed his uncle.

According to the law of the jungle on the grassland, the winner will own everything, and the loser will lose all traditional customs. Tomorrow, the Jinhan tribe will appear in front of the Jinshan tribes in a strong manner. Those who submit will live, and those who refuse will die.

On the side of the Xidan tribe, when Zawankad learned that Koza, a warrior of the Abuhan tribe, was loyal to someone who was actually the Khan's nephew and the leader of the Jinhan tribe from the Tang people in the south.

He had more than 3,000 armored cavalry and more than 3,000 slave soldiers under his command. He knew that Jinshan was about to face a bloody storm.

And isn’t this an opportunity for the Xidan Department? He thought with great excitement.

That is a large tribe with more than 6,000 troops and 40 to 50,000 people. At this time, the Xidan tribe should quickly pledge allegiance and surrender.

Zhang Sheng Teqin mentioned by Koza is also a descendant of the Khan. How could there be any psychological barriers for him to submit to him?

No matter how strong the Jiluo tribe is, can they withstand the attack of these elite armored cavalry?

Zawankad, the chief of the Xidan tribe, was looking at the nearly a thousand cavalrymen in front of him in the dim light of torches in the night, and was extremely shocked.

“I have a sacred mission, representing the messenger of Lord Haotian and Tengri on earth—the special agent of the Jinhan tribe, the emperor of the Holy Religion, and the nephew of the Khitan Khan, His Highness Zhang Sheng!

I have been ordered to come here today to fight against the rebellious people on the grassland and the rebels who betrayed and killed Kutlug Yar Khan!

In the past two months, the Uighurs of Qiuci, far away in the Qilian Mountains in the south, and the Uighurs of Yizhou City, located next to the Zheluoman Mountains, have all been conquered by our great lord.

Now, Chief Zawankade, will you fight to the end with my Jinhan tribe, or...

(End of this chapter)