Han Shizu

Chapter 2139 Sejong Chapter 14 The Storm in Central Asia (Part )

For the Three Kingdoms of Anxi, especially the Kingdom of Anxi, this Eastern Expedition organized by the Ghaznavid Dynasty is something that must be taken seriously. Not only because of the direct threat of war brought by its large-scale organization of the Eastern Expedition, but also because the Ghaznavid Dynasty was a problem that the three countries had to solve if they wanted to establish a long-term foothold in the Transoxiana region or further west in the Mesopotamia.

From a geopolitical point of view, Ghaznavids, which was founded in "Afghanistan", borders Anxi and Kangju. It has a long enough border from west to east. Although it is blocked by mountains, deep valleys, and rivers, it still There is a direct security conflict of interest.

Moreover, the long-standing wish between the two parties has been deep, and it can even be traced back to the first Yisl Eastern Expedition. At that time, the Arabs of the Islamic religion once attacked Suiye City, causing serious threats and damage to the rule of the Anxi Governor's Mansion. Although Ghazni was only a younger brother in the ysl world at that time, he was also involved.

The most recent grievance lies in the sharing of food from the Samanid Dynasty. As an emerging dynasty that became independent from the Samanid Dynasty, it naturally has "feelings" for its former suzerain country. But since the Han people came to the west, they continued to expand in the seven river basins. When they conquered and destroyed the Samanid Dynasty, they almost occupied the entire area in the middle of the river, eating a large piece of fat.

As for Ghaznavids, although they seized large tracts of land in Persia to the west, completely annihilated and annexed the remaining small states of the Saffar Dynasty, and conquered cities and lands in the northwest of the Indus Valley to the south, in the "traditional" riverine areas, He only got a little bit of leftovers, how could he accept it?

The contradiction between the two parties and the conflict in fundamental interests are almost irreconcilable.

Just like the Three Kingdoms of Anxi in the eyes of the Ghaznavid monarch Mahmud, they are wolf-like foreign invaders and the biggest threat to the food-eating countries and the YSL religious tradition. In the eyes of the three kings, Ghaznavids are also the development and progress of the Three Kingdoms. The biggest obstacle on the road.

Now, no more than thirty years ago, the Ghaznavid dynasty has completely replaced the Buyid dynasty and become the most powerful dynasty within the framework of the Abbasid Empire. It is also the leader of the ysl world at the current stage, and the monarch Mahmoud has become The first prince to use "Sultan" as his title. The most important thing is that it is still in the golden period of upward development.

As the "leading brother" in the Three Kingdoms, Anxi and Kangju, who had already had many conflicts and fights with Ghazni in the upper reaches of the Jihun River, had already reached a consensus on the issue of attacking Ghazni.

If the ysl world is still like what it was twenty or thirty years ago, with the countries sinking, splitting internally, and attacking each other, it would be okay to let the three countries stabilize, wait, recuperate, and concentrate on development for a while.

Within the Three Kingdoms, the reason why there had been endless debates over the war of expansion was also due to the hesitation at the top. Otherwise, as the bloodline of Emperor Shizu, the "founding leader" of the Three Kingdoms in Anxi, wanted to suppress the noise and turmoil below. It is really not difficult to denounce.

Even after more than 20 years of continuous Western expeditions, he forcibly conquered a vast territory, represented Chinese power, and was deeply rooted in Central Asia that had never been reached by previous dynasties. When faced with some strategic development issues, Anxi King Liu Min still had to restrain himself. That little bit of pride and complacency leads to a relatively cautious approach to things.

Therefore, the longer you stay in Central Asia and the Middle East, the deeper you will understand those enemies and enemies, and the more cautious your attitude will become.

After all, what he has been doing has been an unprecedented undertaking. Every step he takes, every city he conquers, and every person he subdues are breaking the traditional Chinese barriers and are unprecedented breakthroughs for the Han people.

Although the enemies faced by the Anxi Three Kingdoms are still called barbarians in official propaganda and titles, when they are planning to fight against each other, can they really be regarded as uncivilized, barbaric and ignorant indigenous peoples?

If Liu Min and others had always maintained a arrogant mentality, they would not have achieved what they have today, and their achievements would have been overwhelmed by YSL's craze for jihad.

Compared with the other Liu clan kings who conquered cities and conquered the barbarians in Southeast Asia, Liu Min always believed that the actions of himself and others were more difficult and more valuable. Even in the Northeast, which is also struggling to start a business, Liu Min's attitude is still reserved, because the opponents they face are just some indigenous barbarians.

There is no reference to any of this, because going back thousands of years, no Chinese dynasty has ever been able to extend its tentacles to such a distant and wide area. Even if it shines a sword, it is not like the form of the Han Empire today. scale, to such an extent.

However, the development of things never follows the will of the individual. In a foreign land full of MSL, there are even more things that are out of control. The rise of Ghaznavids is one thing. What is even more unpredictable is the massive Western expedition of the Han people. It brought violent reactions to the Two Rivers and Seven Rivers basins.

This is different from the nomadic tribes such as the Yuezhi, Xiongnu, and Turks who have failed in their struggle for hegemony in East Asia in the past thousand years and moved westward. The Han people, as a group, will not move. Once they take that step, no matter what the environment, they will be extremely vulnerable. Easy, take root and sprout.

However, caution is a gesture, not timidity. When the second YSL coalition was successfully formed and surged eastwards, the senior officials of the Three Kingdoms of Anxi, headed by Liu Min, quickly put away all their hesitations and resumed their usual decisiveness and ruthlessness.

The organized army of 130,000 basically includes all the elite troops of the Three Kingdoms of Anxi. At home, except for necessary defenses, almost all other troops have been mobilized. All major military stations and camps organized by military methods have also been mobilized. , providing support from aspects such as logistics and transportation.

This is said to be the most thorough mobilization of the military machinery of the Three Kingdoms in Anxi. After all, the enemies faced are different in scale and intensity.

This time a brutal war must be fought, not only fought, but also won! Not to mention the benefits of winning, all you need to know is that if you lose, not to mention the newly captured Hezhong area, even the "homeland of the Black Khan" that has been in operation for 20 years, will be unstable, and may even face the direct threat of Arab counterattack. , facing the crazy revenge of those YSL believers. Even with the support of the Han Dynasty, they will not be driven back to Gaochang Road directly, but the thirty years of western expansion will be severely damaged. It is basically impossible to make a comeback, because the Han Dynasty after entering the Yongxi era will not be able to be like that again. During the Shizu period, it was difficult to turn around when supporting the Western Expedition and national policies at all costs.

Therefore, the Three Kingdoms of Anxi, especially the three kings, knew deeply that they only had reasons to win in this battle, but no choice to lose. Because of this awareness, from the beginning of the war, the Anxi Three Kingdoms Allied Forces mobilized in full force and attacked with all their might.

This is still not a war in which the Han people singled out the entire world, because the world or the Arabs have never truly formed a joint force when facing the Han people.

Even though the Arabs had shown considerable unity when they launched the Second Holy War, when the war machines of the Anxi Three Kingdoms were fully activated, they still struggled to cope.

The "Second Han-Iran War" broke out in the autumn of the 11th year of Yongxi's reign and officially ended in the summer of the 12th year. It lasted for a year and was divided into three stages and two battles.

The first stage is the offensive and defensive battle of Mingcheng, when Iraq attacks and Han defends, the two sides start a desperate battle around Mingcheng. Mingcheng (Ashgabat, Turkmenistan) has existed as an independent city and administrative district for a short time. It is a brand-new city completely built by Han people and infiltrated with rich Han cultural connotations inside and outside.

A not too big, but solid enough city was built in just four years, thanks to the hard work of Haidong Economic Envoy Liu Wentao (the second son of King Zhao Liu Fang and the younger brother of King Liu Wengong of Beiting). It must also be infiltrated with the flesh and blood of a large number of local aborigines and MSL.

"Building cities with flesh and blood" was a common practice within the Han Empire, let alone Central Asia where restrictions were completely relaxed and unscrupulous. It is said that in order to build Ming City, tens of thousands of YSL clergy and believers from Haidong and surrounding areas died while working hard, and many others were directly filled under the city foundation and within the city walls. This is also in the YSL world, One of the most condemned "Han tyranny".

With this connection, being located at a strategic hub of transportation, economic convergence, and the core of Haidong's military and political affairs, it naturally became the first target of the Eastern Expedition Army.

The battle began in September of the 11th year of Yongxi's reign. Maweir, the general of the Qiyar Kingdom, served as the main general and led a coalition of 50,000 troops to attack Mingcheng. At that time, the Ming City, including the domesticated servant army, had only seven thousand guards, a ratio of close to one to ten.

Fortunately, Mingcheng is the city with the highest degree of Chineseization and the highest loyalty in the Haidong (east of the Caspian Sea) region. There are not many soldiers and horses, but there are plenty of food, grass, armor, and even twenty artillery as defensive weapons. Therefore, , it can still be supported in a short period of time.

Even though there are many "favorable factors", the disadvantage of the disparity in strength is enough to make the Mingcheng defenders fight hard and struggle more and more from behind.

The deterrence ability of artillery is still powerful, but it is nothing new in the Dashi area. Its strike coverage has limited lethality. After the artillery shells are used up, traditional urban attack and defense are still the mainstream of the battlefield.

As for the coalition forces that launched the attack, apart from a few thousand "elites" from the Ziyar Kingdom, the rest were all jihadists from the vast YSL world, and in the early preparation process, they also formed a certain degree of organization and discipline. It was the experience and lessons learned by Ghaznavid Sultan Mahmud, the commander-in-chief of the entire coalition, from the failure of the first Eastern Expedition.

And this group of Eastern Expeditionary Army, which was organized, well-trained, well-equipped and well-equipped, had a firm will to fight, and was filled with the blood of jihad and revenge, also used their fearless attack to push Mingcheng to a desperate situation.

However, the Jihadists are like a frenzy, and the defenders of Mingcheng are also as solid as a rock. Needless to say, the Beiting Army headquarters has gradually increased to 4,000 people. Even the servants are fighting to the death. They also have no possibility of surrender. After all, as the "betrayer" of ysl, he is the more hated heretic.

At the same time, when it comes to infringing on local tribes and believers, these servant armies have done more, and even have more blood on their hands than the Han people. This is the so-called "voucher of surrender", which means that if the Han people are defeated, Their fate will be even more miserable, and they dare not fail to try their best.

Therefore, during the attack and defense of Mingcheng that lasted for almost a month, even if there were several dangers, the defenders fought bloody and desperately to protect the safety of the city with an unusually decisive attitude.

In this process, the Three Kingdoms of Anxi showed an attitude of "indifference". Apart from dispatching troops, arming soldiers and horses, raising supplies and conducting reconnaissance, there was no more action.

Even at the most critical moment of Ming City, facing the desperate messengers asking for help, Beiting King Liu Wen was eager to send troops to relieve the siege of Ming City, but Anxi King Liu Min remained silent, choosing to wait and see...

(End of this chapter)