"Khan doesn't know yet? Master Ponni Rehan recruited two more female slaves into the tent last night. I heard that they didn't sleep all night. They may be having sweet dreams now, and Khan's summons may not wake them up.
He, haha."
Without waiting for a reply, a greasy-faced Daluo said with a smile.
Everyone in the tent laughed, and two of them had serious faces, indicating that they were related to Zhao Deyan.
In the past two years, Zhao Deyan has offended more and more people in the royal court. If something small happened today, he would cause some trouble. Even Zhao Deyan's allies were too lazy to speak up for him.
In their opinion, as long as Khan can still trust Ponnire, everyone can still live their lives.
In fact, Zhao Deyan mainly represented people from the former Sui Dynasty. He arrived at the Turkic royal court late and missed the best opportunity to strengthen his power.
Most of the "southerners" who defected to the Turks because of the war in the south were consumed during Shibi Khan's southern expedition. There were many "southerners" in the Turkic Khan's tent.
During the two southern expeditions of Shibi Khan, "southerners" were used as guides and vanguards. Many people died on the spot, and some fled back to the south.
At that time, the strength of the Turks expanded rapidly, and the princes near the Great Wall in the south also offered their knees to the Turks royal court in order to be canonized by the Khan.
The Turks at that time were absolutely arrogant. People in the south also said that the prosperity of Rong and Di was unprecedented in ancient times.
From the perspective of later generations, the timing of Shibi Khan's first southern expedition was actually very precise. Yang Guang threw himself into the trap. The Turkic divisions were famous. If they could defeat Mayi and Yanmen counties in one battle, the Turks would rule
It is not impossible to realize the Central Plains.
Because at that time, at least the Sui people in the north had been ruled by the Xianbei people for a long time, and they were not so resistant to the Turks. They had no concept of a Han-Hu defense, and there were many people who took refuge with the Turks.
It is a pity that the Turks went south twice, and their behavior was extremely cruel, without any foresight, and their strength was quite weak. They did not seem to have the appearance of kings that the Central Plains people often say.
There was civil strife in the Central Plains, and all the heroes rose up. The Turks invaded with overwhelming force, but they were trapped under the isolated city of Yanmen. They almost scared Yang Guang into a psychosis, but failed to hurt him at all.
In this single war, the Turks lost a God-given opportunity that was at their fingertips.
The former Sui rebel generals who defected to the Turks did not get the benefits they expected in this chaotic war. Instead, they were pushed out by the Turks and used as cannon fodder.
Just under Yanmen City, more than a dozen of the former Sui rebel generals who led the army to attack the city died. Later, in the Battle of Mayi, not to mention those who died under Yunnei City, there were many people who died in the battle of Mayi County City.
Few people have their livers and brains smeared to pieces.
Having failed to take advantage on the battlefield, the Turks were frustrated and began to despise the "southerners" who had defected to them. By the time Zhao Deyan was re-employed by Ashina Yanghuan, the situation between the north and the south had changed drastically, and the Road-Leading Party was no longer so popular in the Turks.
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Now Zhao Deyan's status was given by the Turkic Khan Ashina Yang Huan, but he himself has no foundation, only two or three close followers, and only a few allies.
Such characters are common in the Central Plains dynasties, and they are also very common in the Turks. They don't get much respect. The nobles tease Punire Khan with ease. As long as the Khan doesn't say anything, they can do it formally or privately.
It is a very good topic no matter the occasion.
Zhao Deyan, on the other hand, is more lecherous, and he is not afraid of having no tail to pull.
Ashina Yang Huan is also used to it. Zhao Deyan and others are her lackeys. It's okay to be teased. As long as they don't go too far, she won't be overly protective.
Listening to the nobles teasing Zhao Deyan one by one, she laughed helplessly, "Okay, okay, have those who left come back? Where did the Tang people go, and why is there still no one there?"
So the topic of the Turkic nobles in the Khan's tent immediately changed, and they began to attack the Emperor of Tang Dynasty, saying that he was very disrespectful to the Khan and made the noble Khan wait here for such a long time. He should be punished by the gods.
punishment.
Back then, the damn Whip of the Gods became the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and the title change only took a few years, but to the Turkic nobles, it felt like a long time had passed.
Almost no one talks about the old title anymore, especially those who participated in the last alliance between the two countries. They have awe of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty and can already regard the Emperor of Tang and Khan as the same.
In other words, they felt that the man was someone who could be equal to Khan.
…………
Zhao Deyan did not appear in the tent in the end, and Fu Li's reply was that Kun Nirehan was not feeling well, so he did not come to dine with everyone.
Ashina Yang Huan didn't say much, and asked people to bring the roasted meat. The aroma of meat and milk wine mixed together and filled the tent.
Ashina Yang Huan didn't have much appetite, so he drank the wine sent by his nephew in small sips. The food in front of him was also different from that of the Turkic nobles. They were all cut meat strips, dipped in garlic sauce, and hand-made.
He was holding the ivory tamarind sent over by his nephew, and he was eating it selectively.
During the dinner, Ashina Yang Huan controlled the topic with ease.
This year is also a critical year for the Turkic tribes. After the alliance with the Tang Dynasty in May, a grassland alliance will be organized.
In fact, it is equivalent to the war mobilization of the Turkic royal court. Each tribe in the grassland will send out the bravest warriors among the tribes to gather under the banner of the Khan's Golden Wolf. They will launch an offensive against the Western Regions in July or August at the latest.
The strategic goal has been set. Even if we cannot attack the vicinity of Suiye River and drive away Tongyehu Khan, we must clear out the small countries in the Western Region at the southern foot of the eastern section of the Tianshan Mountains.
When winter passes, we must continue to maintain a strong offensive. Next year will be a crucial year that determines whether the Turkic Royal Court can unify the entire Turks again.
Western Khan Ashina Qura was the most important representative of the war faction in the royal court. He advocated two decisive battles to regain the long-lost Western Regions.
He expected that the first decisive battle would be at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the late autumn and early winter of this year against the main force of the Western Turkic King's Account, and the second battle would be at the beginning of next year to completely defeat the remaining troops gathered by Tong Yehu Khan.
After the war, he forced all countries in the Western Regions to be loyal to the Turkic royal court, and he believed that they should not rely on the help of the Tang people.
On this issue, the opinions of the Turkic nobles in the royal court were not unified.
Many nobles felt that the Western Khan was too optimistic about the war. The Turkic royal court was far away from the Western Regions. If Ashina Qiuluo insisted on going his own way, it would be easy to follow the same path as Shegui Khan's eastern expedition.
Now that the Turkic Royal Court has good relations with the Tang State, why can't the Tang State send troops to jointly attack the Western Turks? In that case, the chances of winning will be greatly increased.
After the war, it was nothing more than giving some benefits to Tang State...
Such suggestions were supported by the majority of people in the Turkic royal court, and were not just a minority opinion. The Western Regions were of extraordinary significance to the Turks.
What the Turkic nobles value is not actually the strategic role of the Western Regions. Most Turks do not have this concept in their minds, let alone meritorious deeds.
They simply covet the wealth of the Western Region, which is a land blessed by the gods flowing with milk and honey. This concept has been deeply rooted in their minds when they were still forging iron for the Rouran people in Mobei.
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This strong subjective desire (harmony) can now finally be turned into action, allowing the Turkic royal court and even the various Turkic tribes, especially the Western tribes, to surprisingly unite together.
So the differences are just on the details of the action.
To put it more seriously, in the early stages of outward expansion, Grand Turkism was once again becoming the mainstream idea among the Turks. However, the cautious ones among them did not want to see the bloody fight between the east and west Turks, but let the Tang people watch or even sit back and watch.
Fisherman's profit.
They advocated uniting with the Tang State and letting the Tang State contain the Western Turks from the flanks. Even if they gave some of the benefits to the Tang State after the war, they could not let the Tang State become a bystander.
From this point of view, the elites among the Turkic nobility are not stupid.
The benefits of doing this are obvious. Even if this military expedition fails, if the Tang State joins the war, it will make the Western Turks and the Tang State at odds with each other. At worst, it will return to the previous state of stalemate between the three parties.
Ashina Qiuluo sneered at this. He asked a very pointed question. If the Tang State sent troops to join the war, it would not matter how much spoil the Tang State would get in the end.
Let's just say that if the Tang Dynasty attacked and occupied Suiyechuan first during the decisive battle between the East and West Turks, or forced Tongye Hu to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, how would it respond then?
This kind of debate has no results. It is a predetermined issue. Even if the ministers in the Tang Dynasty were replaced, they probably would not be able to agree on it.
…………
The sun was setting in the west, and the grassland became dim.
The nobles came out of their tents one after another, most of them with solemn faces. The alliance with the Tang people put a lot of pressure on the Turkic nobles. The news coming from the south was not good.
The Tang Dynasty was mobilizing their warriors, and various true or false news spread, making everyone very nervous, mainly because they didn't know what the Tang Dynasty wanted to do.
The Turkic royal court also had to respond. From the time the alliance was concluded in April, some Turkic tribes were ordered to move north to avoid being directly attacked by the Tang people if the talks collapsed.
On the Yunzhong Grassland, at the end of April, when the Turkic Khan set out from the royal court, several powerful tribes had already entered here and were scattered on the edge of the Yunzhong and Yunwai Grasslands.
The first to arrive were two thousand Turkic elite cavalry, which were stationed near the Yunzhong City ruins built in the Han Dynasty. Together with the thousands of the Khan's personal troops who arrived with the Khan's retinue, there were almost more than ten thousand people.
After the alliance, they will return to the royal court with the Khan, and prepare for the Western Expedition in the following days. In this western expedition, the Khan tents of the Turkic Royal Court will move to the foothills of Tianshan Mountain, until
It ends with the tribes of Xueyantuo and other Tiele tribes.
It's almost equivalent to Khan's personal expedition...