Kucha was the Anxi Protectorate during the Tang Dynasty. It was the largest city in this area with a huge city. With the chaos of the late Tang and Five Dynasties, and the Hei Khan defeated Gaochang here a year ago, the population is now pitifully small.

Du Zhongxiao was riding on the horse and looked at the deserted streets, feeling a little sad. The place should have been full of flowers, but now it is so deserted.

After entering the city lord's mansion, Du Zhongxiao took a break and arrived at the official hall. Fu Bi had already waited here and recited his own ceremony.

After using tea, Du Zhongxiao said: "There are only two places suitable for people to live in the Western Regions. One is the foot of a mountain like Kucha, and the other is the place where the big river flows. From this, hundreds of miles south, the Tarim River is always abundant and people live in it. However, the waterways of the river are impermanent and often flood, and it is impossible to form a city. There are only some fishermen and hunters. Now more than 2,000 people in the Heikang Mountains have entered the Tianshan Mountains. I heard that they were going to cross the Heikang back to Heikang. Zhang Ji sent people to follow him, and as long as they don't go anywhere else, they don't care about them. Another is the Tarim River Basin in the south. I want to send one or two thousand people to go west along the riverside, and we will be in peace with each other in Shule. What do the deputy envoy think?"

Fu Bi said: "Of course this should be the case. I heard that the Five Dynasties of War had caused many households to flee to the banks of the river in the south. When the troops passed by, they might return to the city. Along the way, we all saw that every city seemed deserted."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Yes, there were not many households in the Western Regions, and even after the war, how many people could be left? The most populous area is around Gaochang, and there are not many households in other cities. To be honest, if you occupy this place, the court does not know how much money you have to invest in it."

Fu Bi sighed, shook his head, and said nothing.

Since entering Yizhou, we have fought all the way, and it is hard to say that we can see the situation. Due to the cut-off of trade routes, the prosperous metropolis in the Tang Dynasty had long been dilapidated and sparsely populated. Especially when Tubo invaded, a large number of people had migrated, but they had not recovered for a hundred or two years.

There is no need to think about migrating the population directly here. The Song Dynasty was not the Han and Tang dynasties, and the only way to immigrate was to use the form of a xiang army. Now the army is undergoing large-scale training, so how can there be so many xiang army? It is impossible to recruit people directly, but the court's finances cannot support it.

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao said: "In fact, the most fundamental way is to build roads. The imperial court built a new road construction army, but not many of them would be assigned to the Western Regions. The Black Khan prisoners captured a few days ago can be used to build roads like the Dangxiang prisoners in front of them."

Fu Bi shook his head: "It's not easy to use. Black sweat is not Dangxiang. These people have different customs, poor language, and religious habits. When they were in China, their lives were not particularly difficult. If you want to use Dangxiang people, you can make them eat well, but you are afraid you are not satisfied."

Du Zhongxiao nodded silently. Fu Bi was talking about the truth. Heihan has his own religion. He originally had both agriculture and animal husbandry, had good geographical conditions, and at the intersection of east-west transportation, his life was much better than Dangxiang. He relied on letting them have enough food and worked hard, but I was afraid it would not work.

After thinking for a while, Du Zhongxiao suddenly realized that there were too many tens of thousands of black sweat prisoners who had captured, and he didn't know how to deal with it. It would be difficult to manage them in the Western Regions and would cause trouble. It would be a pity that black sweat always had to pay the price.

Fu Bi said: "Let's lock people in Gaochang and Yizhou first, wait until Shule, and then talk to the Black Khan King. If they give them enough benefits, they can also put them back. For Black Khan, tens of thousands of people are not small numbers, and they should be willing to redeem them."

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "I have to do this. But before I put it back, I still asked them to build roads. One or two thousand miles from Yizhou to here is too far away. Without railways, this line of cities can only garrison troops, and they cannot manage outside the city at all."

Starting from Kucha, one problem is that the direction of the railway. If Shannan takes Khotan as the destination, you can follow the tributary of the Tarim River and go south to Khotan. If Shule is the destination, you should go west. However, this is all about Du Zhongxiao's departure. He just thought about it and would not make any intention. He didn't know when the railway was built in Yizhou to Kucha, so he could not control so long.

The army rested in Kucha for two days and then headed west. The cavalry led by Zhang Ke in front was unobstructed, and Hei Khan had no strength to send a large number of troops. There was indeed no garrison in the city afterwards.

By the end of October, Du Zhongxiao's army finally arrived in Shule, a wealthy place surrounded by mountains on three sides. This is the capital of Donghei Khan, second only to the capital Balashaguon, and has nearly 10,000 families under his rule. Ilik has a good relationship with his brother and has always stayed here.

Shule is relatively south, and the climate is much warmer than Yizhou and Gaochang. Although it has entered winter, it is not particularly cold.

After entering the city and looking at the bustling streets, Du Zhongxiao said to Fu Bi: "We have traveled thousands of miles in the Western Regions. The most prosperous place is this Shule City. I think it is because of the decline of the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and it has not been occupied by Tubo, and the population has not moved to other places."

Fu Bi nodded: "At that time, Khotan was still strong, and he fought with Hei Khan for nearly a hundred years, and was finally destroyed by Hei Khan. This place is one of the most important places for Hei Khan. Many royal families around him should not be underestimated. After the defeat in the front, I heard that the princes and nobles fled, but the market was not damaged."

Zhang Ke on the side said, "The Black Khan escaped and took away many treasures. After I brought my army into the city, I sealed up their places and checked them inside. There were no treasures anymore. This is a pity. This is still the place where Ilik stays, but when we come, his family has already escaped."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "If Hei Khan does not pay tribute and submit, he will take Ilik back to the capital when he goes back. For us, this person is useless, but for Hei Khan, it is indispensable. I heard that the brothers of Hei Khan are not harmonious, and Ilik has a good relationship with his elder brother, but his second brother does not interact with them. The Black Khan King lacks this younger brother's help and loses a large amount of army. How can the internal affairs be stable?"

Zhang Ku nodded repeatedly: "Jie Shuai said it well. After I came here, I summoned local squire to speak, and they also said so. The Black Khan King and his second brother Bogra Khan have been incompatible for a long time, and the two sides have long stopped interacting with each other. If the news of the defeat in this battle is transmitted back, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no war."

Du Zhongxiao nodded and said to Fu Bi: "In this way, it may not necessarily be necessary for the Black Khan King to agree. His younger brother seems to be fine."

Fu Bi said: "It's true. Without my brother's help, I lost 70,000 to 80,000 people. If Hei Khan had an internal strife, it would be unpredictable."

While chatting, a few people arrived at the city lord's mansion in a short while.

Zhang Ke said: "This is Shule's city lord's mansion and Irik's palace. He is the one who deals with nearby affairs. I heard that this is Shule's protector's mansion in the original Tang Dynasty. Later, the master was changed many times, and finally it fell into the hands of the Black Khan King."

Du Zhongxiao looked at the tall and gorgeous city lord's mansion and said, "This place is better than that of Gaochang's royal court. It is indeed a place worthy of the Western Regions."

After entering the city lord's mansion, Du Zhongxiao and Fu Bi returned to their residence to rest, changed into casual clothes, and returned to the official hall. Zhang Ji and Sheng were already waiting here, and each of them gave their own lectures and sat down. Zhang Sheng said: "Jings, our army has come all the way west. Except for fighting in Barchuk, the rest of the cities have all been recruited to surrender. I heard from people on the road that they defeated the Black Khan army in Buzzer, which scared the people in these cities. The Black Khan army passed by these cities. The lineup was rigorous and the momentum was seen with their own eyes. But in front of the imperial army, it was vulnerable. Who dared to stop it?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "I didn't expect this effect in that battle. By the way, how about Khotan in the south? Is there a Black Sweat Army?"

Zhang Sheng said: "Only the Ya'er see, there are troops in the three places of Khotan and Kriya. I heard that there are only more than one thousand people in total. When they occupy Shule, there is no place in their hands. We have not sent troops to them yet."

Du Zhongxiao said: "No hurry. We have finished negotiating with Hei Khan, and it will not be too late to deal with it. After occupying Shule, the Black Khan Kingdom was cut off from the Black Khan Kingdom's involvement in the Western Regions. Khotan is just a matter of convenience. When the railway is built here in the future, Hei Khan will not be a concern."

On one side of the Kingdom of Khotan was Hei Khan and on the other side was Tubo. At this time, Tubo was divided into pieces and had no powerful forces, so there was no need to worry. As long as he firmly occupied Shule, Hei Khan would squeeze out the Western Regions.
Chapter completed!