Chapter 1281: The Situation in the Western Regions Is Excellent

By midsummer, nearly half of the eighth year of Kaibao had already passed, and the Great Han's northern expedition was proceeding with thunderous momentum, blazing like fire, as both sides engaged in mortal combat along a border stretching ten thousand li.

By late May, the war situation gradually entered a stalemate phase, but overall, the Great Han still held the initiative. After all, the Great Han's advantage in national strength was too obvious, while Liao, having just weathered the upheaval of a dynastic transition where nothing could yet be called stable, was forced to wrench its entire nation onto the track of war.

The reason Liao could wrestle with the Great Han to this extent was due both to its considerable military strength and to the fact that it had a young but wise emperor, along with a host of talented figures of both civil and military ability, who, with national calamity looming, managed to achieve a semblance of unity of purpose and shared hatred against the enemy.

However, no matter how desperately Liao struggled, the gap in national strength between the two sides could not be changed, and the disparity in hard power was difficult to bridge. On the Great Han's side, elite troops were likewise deployed in full, and heroes emerged in abundance.

War may possess a certain element of contingency, and miracles may be possible, but to repeat the old saying: the Great Han, relying on its abundant human, financial, and material resources, could afford to lose once, twice, or even three times—as long as the overall situation was not compromised, there would always be a chance to stage a comeback.

Liao could not afford the same. Suffering one heavy blow might set off an uncontrollable chain reaction, causing irreparable losses. Thus, as the war progressed, the pressure shifted exponentially onto Liao's side.

One should note that this spring campaign of the Great Han had already caused major disruption to domestic production—let alone for Liao. As battles unfolded on all fronts, reports streamed into the Bureau of Military Affairs, and Emperor Liu even harbored the resolve to exhaust Liao to death through sheer national strength.

If one year couldn't finish it, fight for one year; if two years couldn't finish it, fight for two years; three years... Under this mode of warfare, Liao could not hold out for three years. Even merely trying to survive the eighth year of Kaibao smoothly would be extremely difficult—and that was premised on the Han army making no major breakthroughs.

In terms of military talent, over all these years Emperor Liu had not improved much, but in strategic vision, he was absolutely unparalleled. This kind of bullying warfare was what he knew best and loved most. In his own area of expertise, Emperor Liu was always as steady as an old dog.

Surveying the entire war situation, from west to east, the Han army was in a posture of full-scale offensive. Over in Hexi, the Marquis of Bowang, Guo Jin, led ten thousand infantry and cavalry westward, advancing into the Western Regions.

If one were to rank the armies of the Great Han, the Hexi army would absolutely rank among the top, even able to surpass the elite of the imperial army. Their fierce local customs, high-quality recruitment pool, and years of practical combat training had all forged the Hexi army's fearsome reputation.

As for Guo Jin's westward expedition this time, while his forces could not be called overwhelming in number, the impact was enormous, placing tremendous pressure on the Liao army in the Western Regions. From the very start of the Han army's western campaign, their already precarious rule had begun to waver.

Countless victories had forged the prestige of the Great Han Empire, and its influence had long since penetrated deep into the Western Regions. As for the condition of the people there, it could be summed up in one phrase: they had suffered under Liao for too long!

With the Han army as their backing, the various peoples of the Western Regions, who had endured the brutal rule of the Liao army, grew bold. After the Han army advanced into Yizhou, they rose up under all manner of banners to revolt against Khitan rule. From Yizhou in the east to Karasahr in the west, all answered the call like shadows following form.

Among them, the most formidable in scale was naturally the righteous army led by Pule, a former Uyghur noble. In the nearly ten years of shifting fortunes in the Western Regions, Pule was an unavoidable figure, the most important reason being his especially close relationship with the Great Han.

Emperor Liu had personally received him on several occasions and greatly admired his loyalty, wisdom, and sense of righteousness. Over the past year and a half, Pule had secretly returned to the Western Regions several times, organizing multiple uprisings against Khitan rule. Though they were ultimately suppressed due to insufficient strength and failed to achieve their aims, they had not managed to stir up major waves.

However, backed by the Great Han and supported by it, he was given ample confidence, the courage to grow stronger with each setback, and the opportunity to keep trying again.

After Guo Jin's western expedition began, Pule was the first to respond. At the time, he was leading several hundred Uyghurs who hated Khitan rule in guerrilla operations near Yizhou. Thanks to his close ties with the Great Han, he had long been prepared for the Han army's westward advance. Once Guo Jin arrived from the west, Pule quickly sent people to spread the news that the Great Han was on a western campaign to rescue the people of the Western Regions, fanning flames throughout the Liao-ruled territories.

Over the past year and a half, though Pule's uprisings had suffered repeated setbacks, he had accumulated considerable prestige. When he threw his weight behind this effort, the influence naturally spread rapidly.

Moreover, this time, with the Han army as a powerful pillar of support, the resistance fervor of the various peoples of the Western Regions was especially high. Pule's own force alone recruited followers within half a month, expanding to over three thousand men.

And these three thousand-plus men played no small role in coordinating with the Han army's assault on Yizhou. The imperial court had set no rigid objectives for the Hexi army, but as the commanding general, Guo Jin naturally had no desire to play a supporting role or be a mere spectator.

To achieve something in the Western Regions, Yizhou was a must-take. Guo Jin led his army north from Guazhou, heading straight for the prefectural seat. As for how to take Yizhou, Guo Jin had long since devised a plan—simple: coordinate from within and without.

With Pule's cooperation, along with agents inside the city and residents who had long been dissatisfied with Khitan rule, it took only three days to deliver a devastating blow to the Liao army in Yizhou.

The city of Yizhou fell, and all three thousand Liao defenders within were killed to the last man—not a single one escaped. The ones who did the killing were, of course, the Western Regions people themselves. After years of attrition, Liao had deployed fewer than thirty thousand troops across the entire Western Regions.

The annihilation of three thousand soldiers was unquestionably a heavy blow to Liao's defenses in the Western Regions. With such limited forces, defending the vast Western Regions left the Liao army in a grim predicament.

Moreover, the fall of Yizhou effectively opened the gateway for the Han army's western campaign, and the forces under Guo Jin's command received a massive boost. Pule's troops were directly absorbed, and righteous fighters and tribal folk near Yizhou eagerly enlisted, all rallying under the banner of the Great Han.

It could be said that the Han army's westward advance had thoroughly ignited the resistance fervor of the various peoples who had long suffered oppression and exploitation. In taking revenge on Liao and fighting the Khitan, they were exceptionally enthusiastic.

Back in the day, the Western Uyghur Kingdom had over a million subjects. After the Liao army's conquest, the population plummeted to less than forty percent, and with the social turmoil of recent years and the Khitan's continued squeezing, it kept declining further.

Even so, if the remaining several hundred thousand people rose up together, it would be more than enough to give the Liao army a hard time. And this was precisely the greatest reliance that emboldened Guo Jin to dare attack the Western Regions with a mere ten thousand infantry and cavalry. The easy capture of Yizhou was proof, and taking Yizhou had successfully pried open the entire situation in the Western Regions.

Following Guo Jin's lead, large numbers of Western Uyghur survivors who had fled to Hexi in previous years flocked to the Hexi authorities, requesting permission to return to the Western Regions with their own weapons, warhorses, and rations to fight for revenge.

Faced with the fervor of these Western Uyghur survivors, the Hexi authorities naturally expressed welcome, but they could not make the decision themselves. It was Lu Duoxun who showed great boldness, acting first and reporting later, approving these people's requests.

Thus, Guo Jin's western expedition gained another three thousand-plus fighters with unwavering will to battle. By the time May arrived, Guo Jin's western expeditionary force had grown to over thirty thousand men and was bearing down on the city of Gaochang.

And as one side waxed and the other waned, the situation for the Liao army in the Western Regions grew increasingly dire. Not only did they face the pressure of the main Han force under Guo Jin's command, but internally, the entire population had turned against them, seething with revolt.

Across the vast Western Regions, apart from a few major cities, the remaining towns and villages were either occupied by the Western Regions people or under Han army control. Especially the revenge attacks by the Western Regions people—cruel and bloody—had returned the suffering they endured years ago tenfold and a hundredfold, forcing the Liao army to dare not disperse their forces.

Unbeknownst to themselves, the Liao army in the Western Regions had fallen into the same predicament the Uyghur Kingdom faced when Yelu Xiezhen had campaigned west—they could only hole up in their walled cities, while everything beyond the city walls had fallen, leaving them powerless to act and forced to let the Han army roam freely.

And amid this crisis, contradictions emerged within the Liao army itself. Three men were chiefly responsible for Liao's military and civil affairs in the Western Regions: the Pacification Commissioner Yelu Yilaiha, the Campaign Commissioner Yelu Sha, and the Prince of Wei, Yelu Dilie, who had been pushed out of Liao's power center.

Yelu Yilaiha was a confidant of the late Liao emperor Yelu Jing, while Yelu Sha was a battle-hardened veteran general. The three men's opinions were highly divergent. Yelu Dilie advocated concentrating forces and launching an active strike to destroy the main Han force led by Guo Jin. In Dilie's view, as long as the Han army was defeated, the other Western Regions righteous armies were merely a motley rabble, hardly a major threat.

Yelu Yilaiha and Yelu Sha both held clear opposition. Yelu Yilaiha insisted on holding firm in defense, waiting for the situation to change. Yelu Sha, however, was more decisive—he believed the Western Regions could no longer be defended and that choices had to be made. His specific proposal was to abandon Kucha and Gaochang, preserve strength, pull back to Luntai and Beiting in the north, and cede the territory south of the Tianshan Mountains to the Han army.

Compared to the south, thanks to geographical advantages, the Liao army's control over the northern cities was somewhat stronger. However, his opinion met with opposition.

During the years Yelu Yilaiha had governed the Western Regions, he had witnessed the region's desolation, the turmoil among the people, and the unstable popular sentiment. The various peoples had accumulated hatred toward the Great Liao, and he had already begun working to restore the economy and develop livelihoods, achieving some progress.

Yet heaven did not grant his wishes. The great war between Han and Liao, and the Han army's western campaign, had completely shattered his plans. Moreover, the historical problems left by Liao's own western conquest—the long-suppressed ethnic hatred—could not be easily dissolved.

Amid these conflicting opinions, Liao's situation in the Western Regions inevitably slid toward decline. And Guo Jin, under these circumstances, after thorough preparation, also planned to launch a decisive battle—the Battle of Gaochang.

In the latest Western Regions war report received by the Bureau of Military Affairs, Guo Jin stated that within one month, all the Western Uyghur lands south of the Tianshan Mountains would be brought fully under the Great Han's control.

The western expedition to the Western Regions—even Emperor Liu included—had not harbored great expectations; it was merely a detached force. Yet unexpectedly, in the war against Liao, it was Guo Jin's army that achieved the first breakthrough.

When one commands both the favor of heaven and the unity of men, there is nowhere one cannot prevail!