Chapter 868 0863 [Western Liao and Western Xia Collude]
When Zhu Ming received Gaochang's letter for help, Yelu Dashi was already attacking Kashgar.
On the day of the siege, they took the city directly!
Because the elite troops of Kashgar, who rebelled and attacked the capital last year, were defeated by Yelu Dashi.
Several generals were captured alive, but Yelu Dashi did not kill them. He let them continue to lead the troops and act as guides to attack back to Kashgar.
Yelu Dashi continued to advance, personally led the main force to capture Aksu, and then sent a detachment to occupy Hotan.
In summer, Yelu Dashi occupied the entire territory of the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate, and 50,000 troops continued to advance eastward to Turpan.
With tens of thousands of enemy troops besieging the city, Gaochang King Bilege lamented: "The Ming reinforcements can't wait, you can follow me out of the city to surrender."
After that, Bilege sent an envoy.
Yelu Dashi said to the envoy: "As long as Bilege surrenders, I will let him rule Gaochang. I can swear to heaven that if I break my oath, I will be struck by lightning!" The envoy hurried back to the city to report. Bilege took his wife, children, officials, and the map of Gaochang, and went out of the city to kneel to welcome Yelu Dashi: "The little king pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor of the Liao Dynasty!" Yelu Dashi turned over and got off the horse, and personally helped Bilege up: "I keep my word. Now I will appoint you as Yiduhu, and you can continue to rule this place. Moreover, I will not allow the soldiers to plunder, you just need to provide some military rations. Of course, I will leave an official to assist you." Bilege was overjoyed, knelt down again, kowtowed and shouted: "Holy Lord, please accept my nine bows!" Yelu Dashi smiled and said: "What can you get by submitting to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty? What's the benefit? With Xixia in the middle, can Ming send reinforcements? Now that you have surrendered to me, no matter who attacks Gaochang, I will send troops to drive him away. "
Bilege hurriedly flattered: "The Emperor of Ming is certainly not as good as the Emperor of Liao."
"Bring paper and pen!"
Yelü Dashi said: "You wrote a letter to the Emperor of Ming in person, saying that he is the suzerain but cannot keep the vassal safe, which is extremely incompetent. Now that you have surrendered to another lord and are no longer a vassal of Ming, ask him not to send envoys in the future. "
"This..." Bilege was numb after hearing it.
He was not afraid of angering Ming to send troops to attack, after all, there was Xixia in the middle. As long as Xixia was not destroyed, Gaochang Uighurs would be safe.
But Gaochang relied heavily on the Silk Road. If he angered the Emperor of Ming, what would happen to the trade sanctions against Gaochang?
Yelu Dashi understood what Bilege was thinking and comforted him: "Don't worry. I have some friendship with Emperor Zhu of Ming. I will send someone to deliver the letter of credence to him. In the future, Liao and Ming will still be brotherly countries. I can give face to Emperor Zhu and recognize him as my brother, which will not affect the trade."
This is Yelu Dashi's true thought.
Western Liao is far away from Ming, and he thinks there will be no war.
Although he swallowed up the vassal state of Ming, he also condescended to worship Emperor Zhu as his brother. The two sides are even, everyone is happy, and they will do business happily in the future.
If Emperor Zhu does not give face, then break up.
Can trade embargo prevent smuggling?
After entering the city, Yelu Dashi wrote two letters of credence and sent envoys to Ming and Xixia respectively.
He also said to Bilege: "If there are Khitans or Han people who escape to your rule, you must protect them and send these people to me."
"Yes!" How dare Bilege object.
Yelu Dashi captured the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate and strictly controlled the army along the way, without harming the people of all ethnic groups.
At the same time, he also declared religious freedom, and would not force any ethnic group to convert, nor change the customs and traditions of all ethnic groups.
But he also privately ordered the Khitans to prohibit intermarriage with the ethnic groups in Central Asia, and only believe in Buddhism. The Khitans in the Western Liao territory will only be allowed to marry Khitans and Han people in the future to ensure that they will not be assimilated by those ethnic groups.
Now he also asked Bilege to help introduce more Khitans and Han people.
Yelu Dashi stopped his horse and looked to the east, muttering to himself: "I'm afraid there will be a war between you and me sooner or later."
Bilege looked at Yelu Dashi and couldn't cry even if he wanted to.
It was agreed that he would continue to rule Gaochang, but Yelu Dashi left officials to "assist". In the past two days, he also replaced and won over the generals of Gaochang and relieved Bilege of his military command.
Bilege returned to the palace and began to lie down and play: "Bring wine!"
...
The capital of Western Xia.
Prince Pu Li Renzhong and Prince Jin Li Cha Ge, one civil and one military, sat on the left and right.
After Li Cha Ge led his troops to capture Baotou, he became arrogant again in the past few years. He acted arrogantly and took bribes to promote officials, and built a house in the capital of Xixia beyond the regulations.
However, the power reached a delicate balance, and the emperor would still be given face at critical moments.
"What does Yelu Dashi's letter mean?" Li Qianshun asked.
Li Renzhong speculated, "Could it be to sow discord?"
Brother Richard had guessed what Yelu Dashi was thinking: "How could there be any sowing discord? The Ming army was strong and destroyed the Jin, and Yelu Dashi was afraid. Although I haven't read many books, I also know the principle of lips and teeth being cold."
Li Renzhong also figured it out: "If my Great Xia is destroyed, Yelu Dashi will have to face the Ming. Therefore, Yelu Dashi tried every means to save my Great Xia."
Li Qianshun nodded and said, "It must be so."
Li Renzhong said: "Your Majesty, our country can continue to pay tribute to the Ming. But we must also maintain good relations with the Liao (Western Liao) and treat merchants from the Liao well. If the Ming sends troops to attack in the future, we should immediately request reinforcements from the Liao, and Yelu Dashi will definitely send troops to rescue."
"Do we also have to make a father-son agreement with the Liao?" Li Qianshun no longer cared about being a puppet emperor.
Li Renzhong shook his head: "No need. A country cannot serve two masters, and it cannot give the Ming Dynasty an excuse to send troops. Since Yelu Dashi respects Emperor Zhu as his elder brother, our Great Xia and Liao Kingdom can just be uncle and nephew. Your Majesty, please prepare the state ceremony as soon as possible, and marry Yelu Dashi and marry a princess to him."
Li Qianshun agreed.
This kind of thing is too familiar to Xixia.
The Liao Kingdom became the Western Liao, and the Song Kingdom became the Ming Kingdom. It is still the relationship of the three countries before.
The Ming Dynasty and the Western Liao are brothers, and Xixia is honestly a son and nephew. Once the father attacks, go to the uncle for help and teach the unfilial father a lesson.
After another discussion, Li Renzhong and Richard Brother left.
Soon, Li Qianshun called Li Renzhong back without Richard Brother's knowledge and asked: "How is the firearms made?"
Li Renzhong said: "Six cannons and more than 100 muskets have been made."
"Please arrange a time, I want to inspect the firearms." Li Qianshun said.
A few days later, Li Qianshun came to the firearms test site.
Li Renzhong pointed at the cannons and introduced: "There are six cannons, divided into three types. Cast iron cannons are easy to explode, so they must be added with several iron hoops. Forged iron cannons are too slow to make. Copper cannons are too expensive, and there is not so much copper material."
Cannons are really not complicated.
The Jin Dynasty had no time to develop because of the serious internal strife.
Even so, before the fall of the Jin Dynasty, it was quietly developing firearms.
Xixia developed firearms earlier because it was hurt by this thing.
So far, Xixia has been developing for nine years.
Although the gunpowder has not reached the best ratio, and it is not known how to granulate the gunpowder, several types of cannons have been made.
"Boom!"
With a loud bang, the shells flew out.
Unfortunately, the landing point of the shells was random, dozens of meters away from the target.
Li Renzhong said: "Your Majesty, I have been training the gunners, and they are getting more and more accurate than before."
Li Qianshun praised: "King Pu has worked hard and made great contributions."
After testing the artillery, he tested the muskets.
More than a hundred matchlock guns fired in a volley, with good firing rate and hit rate.
But this is just a drill.
Without granulated black gunpowder, filling it too tight or too loose will affect the range, and it may even be impossible to fire normally. If they go to the battlefield, the musketeers will definitely be nervous and it will be difficult to reach the level of normal training.
In order to ensure the firing rate, musketeers using powdered gunpowder generally fill the gunpowder half full. But this will affect the range and power of the musket.
The same is true for artillery.
Li Qianshun asked: "How many muskets can be made in a year?"
Li Renzhong said: "It depends on the number and skills of craftsmen. With the existing craftsmen, more than a hundred muskets can be made in a year."
"I will allocate another hundred craftsmen to you to make 3,000 muskets as soon as possible!" Li Qianshun said.
Li Qianshun wanted to create a musket team, not only to deal with the Ming Dynasty, but also to suppress the increasingly arrogant Richard.
Training a musket team of 3,000 people was nothing for the Ming Dynasty, but it was quite difficult for Xixia.
Moreover, Xixia was still casting cannons.
Li Qianshun asked again: "It is rumored that the Ming Dynasty has a kind of musket that can be fired without a fuse?"
Li Renzhong said: "It should be fired with flint. But I asked the craftsmen to make several, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Ten times the spring is pulled, it can only fire three or four times at most, and no matter how it is improved, it can't be improved."
"Then make one with a fuse first." Li Qianshun said.
After inspecting the firearms and returning to the palace, a eunuch came up and whispered, and Li Qianshun's good mood disappeared instantly.
It was Richard who forcibly demolished houses and expanded his Jinwang Mansion.
The current Jinwang Mansion has been expanded once, and some decorations are seriously illegal. Now it is not restrained and it is going to be expanded for the second time, which makes Li Qianshun feel seriously uneasy.
Li Qianshun said to the eunuchs who accompanied him: "Reduce the expenses in the palace. This year, I, the empress, the princes and the princesses will all only have one set of winter clothes. Daily dishes and fine wines will also be reduced by 20%. Don't spread this matter, just do it quietly."
"Your Majesty is too wronged!" The eunuch wiped his tears and said.
Li Qianshun was indeed wronged.
He succeeded to the throne at the age of three. His mother's party was in power, and Queen Mother Liang messed up Xixia. Fortunately, he angered the Liao Kingdom, which sent envoys to poison Queen Mother Liang. Li Qianshun was finally able to rule the country and married a Liao princess as a backup.
But the Liao Kingdom was destroyed, his queen and son died of illness one after another for no apparent reason, and Brother Richard held military power and bullied the emperor.
Now there are internal and external troubles.
At home, he was afraid that Brother Richard would rebel, and abroad, he was afraid that the Ming Dynasty would come to kill him.
Now he can only live frugally, save some money from his teeth, and quickly build firearms to save his life. Maybe he still can't defeat the Ming Dynasty, but he can suppress Brother Richard, otherwise he won't be able to sleep at night.