Chapter 261 Preparation for the Western Turkic War

There were several huge mysteries during the Wude period, and these mysteries kept disturbing the people who studied the history of Wude in the early years. The indisputable thing about these mysteries rank first is why, in the early years of Wude, when the land of China had not yet been officially unified, the Tang Dynasty court concentrated a lot of manpower and financial resources to start building ships in several northern seaports. In any aspect, these ships could not be used in the war against the Southern Navy.

First of all, the power systems of these ships. All of these ships use steam power. This incident itself is a wonder. The steam engine appeared in Europe a thousand years after the early Tang Dynasty. But the reality is that it was used on the steam ships in the early Tang Dynasty. The place where this system came from Liu Shan’s Han Palace in Liangzhou. Thinking of Liu Shan’s identity, perhaps, the steam power aspect is not so unimaginable.

Secondly, these ships were loaded with a large amount of gunpowder on the side of the ship. These gunpowder were no longer simply used like the ones under Liangzhou City, but were fired out with huge iron and copper tubes. This is the musket that appeared in later generations, which is the prototype of the ship-borne artillery.

Again, these ships have begun to equip compass and other necessary navigation objects in the ocean. It is obvious that these ships are not going south along the coastline and used in southern battlefields. As for their purpose, it is constantly a mystery in history.

The construction of these ships itself was carried out in secret. The surrounding farmers had been moved away at the bases under construction, and there were military bases for dozens of miles around, so outsiders were not allowed to advance.

These ships later mysteriously disappeared into history. If it weren't for some people who had visited the construction and use of these ships and had a few words left behind, this might have become a corner forgotten by history. However, many people in later generations tried to find these ships based on many rumors, but they did not even find the wreckage of a ship. Perhaps, these ships were like the former sky garden and the Trojan horse, becoming a mark in the long river of history and an imprint that cannot be found or explored.

Not to mention these, the last few months of the fourth year of Wude were destined to be peaceful months. During these few months, no major wars occurred in the Western Regions, Central Plains, Jiangnan, and Northern Desert. This is not something that is difficult to imagine.

But if we look at the historical background at that time, this incident itself is very strange.

After the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in chaos and wars continued in the Central Plains. The Turks took the opportunity to participate in the operation to seize the land of the Han people. In the southwest, the Tubo forces located on the plateau were also ready to move. In the Turkic grassland, Liangzhou, and grassland wars, there were often wars of hundreds of thousands and millions of people.

It can be said that the fourth year of Wude was the most chaotic year, but in the last few months of this year, all forces were in a cooling period and quit the war, as if several forces had agreed before.

But if you analyze it carefully, you will find that this situation can be imagined.

The newly defeated Western Turks had already gained the ability to launch a war in a short time, and the victorious Eastern Turks were definitely a tragic victory, even worse than the Western Turks. The Western Turks had at least the successors to the throne and a large number of royal bloodlines, and there was no loss of civilians at all. What they lost was the army that went to war.

However, the loss of civilians in the Eastern Turks was so great that later, there were statistics from the Turks that in this battle, more than half of the civilians were lost, which was a painful blow to the Turkic grassland countries with extremely scarce population. The loss of the royal family was even more painful, and the inheritance of the throne became a huge difficulty.

If the royal family had not lost too much, there would have been no such thing as pushing a child who had not been born to the throne.

It can be said that the Western Turks suffered a crushing defeat and the Eastern Turks won a crushing victory. Neither of the two countries that participated in the war received even a slight benefit.

At this time, the Western Regions had just been liberated from the control of the Western Turks, and were quickly controlled by the King of Han from the Turkic grasslands with iron blood.

In the south, several forces in the south were relatively weak compared to the Tang Dynasty. They had no power to provoke the Tang Dynasty. They could only actively prepare for war, but could not actively start war.

At this time, the two remaining forces with decisive roles were the King of Han in Liangzhou and the other was the Tang Dynasty court. Both forces were both afraid of each other and had a significant weight in the national situation at this time.

And these two forces themselves are closely related.

The reason why there was no war in the last few months of the fourth year of Wude was probably that several forces had lost too much, and were in the stage of recuperation, and were unable to take the initiative to start a war. The two major forces that had not lost were vaguely restrained each other, guarded against each other, and did not launch a major war.

By the winter of the fourth year of Wude, things had begun to change slowly. First of all, the main force of the Tang army began to gather in the south, and the troops located in the Liangzhou area had reached a very small number.

In response, the Liangzhou army also pulled out troops from Liangzhou and went to the Western Regions. The Tang Dynasty and the King of Liangzhou seemed to have achieved something, and gradually withdrew the troops in areas that seemed to be tense.

In early December of the fourth year of Wude, heavy snow was heard.

The Tang army began to take over the Great Wall, and the Turkic forces retreated to the Turkic grasslands across the board. The northern border was bounded by the Great Wall line, and the northern border of the Han ethnic group finally advanced to the Great Wall line after the end of the Sui Dynasty.

The one who played a role in it was naturally King Han Liu Shan. Liu Shan mediated from it, and finally allowed the Tang Dynasty to take back the line of the Great Wall. In this regard, Princess Yicheng's retreat was very ignorant.

But by contacting what happened later, you may be able to see why the Turks retreated in full swing.

First of all, the Turkic forces at this time were already extremely weak and there was no capital to compete with the Tang Dynasty.

Although Liu Shan had not yet reached the position of the Turkic King at this time, the next king of the Turkic king was Liu Shan's child. Liu Shan still had a considerable position in the Turkic king. Moreover, through the previous fight against the Western Turkic kings, Liu Shan's reputation in the Turkic king was much better than after the Liangzhou War.

Finally, some people proposed that the Turkish unification was a concession made by Liu Shan to make Princess Yicheng give up the front line of the Great Wall. But in reality, after the Turkic unification, the Turkic country, as a whole, were placed under the control of Princess Yicheng.

At this time, the Western Regions were like Liu Shan promised to Shule Kingdom before, and King Shule was the co-rule of the Western Regions.

However, there is a problem here. Before, Shule Kingdom was destroyed by the Khotan army, and the original ruling class of Shule Kingdom had basically been lost, and Shule royal family was only left.

In response, King Shule had to ask King Han for someone.

As a result, the Communist ruler of the Western Regions was indeed King Shule, but the one who truly ruled the Western Regions was a large number of Liu Shan’s confidants from the Liangzhou Legion.
Chapter completed!