At the end of September of the seventh year of Yuanzhen in the Tang Dynasty, the Turkic royal court defeated more than 100,000 Western Turks in a battle at Sanmi Mountain.
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Kucha was defeated, the news spread among the Western Turkic army, and the morale of the army fluctuated.
Kucha's subordinate army fled south first, and Ashina Helu ordered people to pursue it. The Western Turkic army was in chaos at that time.
The dissatisfied Uighurs took the opportunity to attack Ashinahelu's central army but failed, so they fled to the Buni Grassland and took refuge with Ge Luolu's strong troops stationed there.
Ashina Qiuluo led his army to advance. Ashina Helu was killed on the spot, and his tribal leaders fled westward one after another.
The Western Turkic army suffered heavy casualties and 50,000 to 60,000 prisoners, almost all of whom were vassal troops of various countries in the Western Regions. The Western Regions were now wide open.
Soon, the leader of the Geluolu tribe used his strength to surrender to Yehu Khan.
In mid-October, Ashina Qiuluo led his army to the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. The Turks and Tiele tribes who were nomadic in the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains surrendered one after another.
Yi Nan and Pu Gu Suoluo on the other side at this time swept away various tribes at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. In Shule City south of Suiye River, they encountered strong resistance from the Shule and Western Turkic armies.
The battle lasted for several days, but the 20,000 cavalry led by Yi Nan and Servant Solo failed to gain any advantage, resulting in thousands of casualties.
The arrival of a heavy snowfall brought an end to the Battle of Shule City.
Yi Nan and his servant Suoluo led their troops to retreat to Kucha. Because the food they brought had been exhausted, they plundered the kingdom of Kucha.
The red-eyed Turks started a bloody feast in Kucha Imperial City. When they left Kucha Imperial City the next year, the place was silent and there were almost no survivors.
It is not surprising that massacres have always been a specialty of the nomads. Whether it is due to their bloodthirsty nature, or to plunder wealth and frighten the enemy, such barbaric methods as massacres are common operations.
Like those ancient countries in the Western Regions that disappeared, Qiuci was completely destroyed in this battle. The small country of Qiuci with more than 10,000 households was slaughtered by the Turks.
When Ashina Qura, who was stationed in the east of Suiye River, heard the news, it was already the end of November, and Ashina Qura was furious.
The purpose of the Turkic Royal Court's expedition against the Western Turks was to restore the unity of the Turks. Strictly speaking, this was a family affair of the Turks, not a fight between enemies.
After defeating the Western Turks, he still wanted to govern the Western Regions and make them more prosperous than before, instead of wiping out all the countries in the Western Regions in one battle.
The actions of Yi Nan and his servant Suoluo brought trouble to his future rule of the Western Regions.
No one wants to usher in an overly cruel ruler, whether they are the Western Turks, the Tiele people, or even the people of the Western Regions.
The demise of Qiuci sounded the alarm for them. Although their resistance was quickly weakened in the short term, in the long run, the massacre of the city was really not worth the gain.
Therefore, when Ashina Qiulu was sweeping away the tribes on the north side of the Tianshan Mountains, as long as the other party showed loyalty, Ashina Qiu Luo would not let anyone harm their tribe, but would give them certain preferential treatment.
But the thing is like this, it is difficult for the Turkic tribal coalition to follow the orders and prohibitions, even though Ashina Qiuluo warned them when sending Yi Nan and Servant Solo to lead the army south, asking them to do as little killing as possible.
However, with heavy casualties and no reinforcements behind them, the partial troops went on a rampage and massacred the Qiuci Kingdom.
The consequence was that in the winter of that year, the monarchs and ministers of Gaochang were so frightened that the leader of Gaochang, Qu Wentai, took his wife Yuwen Yubo and ran away.
In November, Qu Wentai and his wife braved the wind and snow and came to Dunhuang without fear of hardships and obstacles, requesting that they be allowed to go to Chang'an to meet with the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
It was a coincidence that at the end of August, a not-so-big story happened in the Tang Dynasty.
Wang Gui, the minister of the Supervisory Temple, personally wrote a letter to impeach Sun Wuji, the minister of the Dali Temple. The general meaning is that Zhangsun Wuji brought the censor of the Supervisory Temple into the Dali Temple without any reason. So far, there has been no result, and he wanted to arrest the court officials.
, is an abuse of power.
What's more coincidental is that because Li Jing returned to the court, the people were excited and the emperor was very happy, so he issued a general amnesty. In early October, Gao Shilian was released by Xilihutu.
A few days later, Gao Shilian received advice from his niece and resigned. Then he took his family to Luoyang in the middle of winter, returning to his hometown.
As a result, Changsun Wuji was immediately confused. He realized that the investigation was in complete ruins, but he couldn't blame others. He could only blame himself for thinking too much and being too shrewd, and his mind was not used for the investigation.
Above all, my mind is filled with the human relations and sophistication in the officialdom.
Li Po ran out of patience and someone asked for mercy, so he settled the matter easily.
Changsun Wuji failed to withstand the test and suffered a major setback in his official career for the second time.
At this time, someone gave Changsun Wuji an idea. He might as well take the initiative to seek a foreign post while he was still young to make up for the shortcomings in his official career, and then return to Beijing to make a comeback.
This was a strategy of retreating to advance, which made Zhangsun Wuji, who was suddenly promoted to a third-rank official, with an unstable foundation and low popularity, very excited.
In addition to the above benefits, he himself also saw it very deeply. Although the minister of Dali Temple did not regard his position as high and powerful, the road to promotion was not as wide as others, and he offended many people. If he wanted to go further in his official career, it was
Thousands of difficulties.
Moreover, he has few achievements and little official qualifications. He only relies on the emperor's trust. It is indeed not safe to sit in the position of Minister of Dali Temple. It is better to go out while he is young and be promoted step by step to get through his qualifications.
After thinking about it, Changsun Wuji wrote a letter requesting to be transferred. As soon as he submitted the letter, Changsun Shunde immediately came to Tai Chi Hall and gave his nephew eye drops.
The Tang Dynasty formed an alliance with the Turks and sent troops to Gaochang next year.
The Lord of Gaochang is a Miao descendant of the former Han Dynasty. He has always been close to the Central Plains and raised troops for nothing. A wise man would not take it. It is better to send people to recruit him. I think the kings and ministers of Gaochang will be grateful for your Majesty's favor and come to meet him.
Although Li Po didn't like Changsun Shunde, he felt that his words were very reasonable, and both himself and the important officials in the court also had such thoughts.
Seeing the emperor's intention, eldest grandson Shunde recommended his nephew eldest grandson Wuji to Gaochang.
Li Po naturally knew that Changsun Shunde wanted to avenge his personal revenge, but Changsun Wuji had lost points with him and was trying to remove Changsun Wuji from his position as Minister of Dali Temple.
Changsun Wuji himself was also very well-behaved. He wrote a letter requesting to be transferred to a local, third-grade high-ranking official. If there was no explicit criticism, it would be more appropriate for him to be sent as an external supervisor.
Changsun Wuji only wanted to serve as a prefect, and wanted to show the emperor that he would serve as a local official for one or two terms in a down-to-earth manner, and only with meritorious deeds would he be able to match the emperor's appreciation.
As a result, Changsun Wuji left Beijing in September and went straight to Liangzhou. He was going to Gaochang as an envoy next spring...