Chapter 1675: The Third Western Expedition

While Wang Shen was deploying troops and making a great show of force along the Yulin Road, preparing for a "converging pincer attack" against the rebel Li Jiqian, thousands of li away, a war between nations was unfolding in full blaze.

In truth, Li Jiqian's rebellion was little more than a minor disturbance; its most damaging effect was merely exposing the tensions between Hu and Han peoples in the northwestern region, and it could hardly be said to have any significant impact on the court.

The reason it was treated with such solemnity was simply that Emperor Liu had taken it to heart, and from top to bottom, everyone had to show some response. In the eyes of many in power, the rebel Li was no more than a skin ailment—a minor irritation that could never amount to anything.

Even from the perspective of the Yulin Road, no full effort was being expended against Li Jiqian's small-scale rebellion. Although the local officers and soldiers had noticed how slippery the man was, they did not take him seriously. In the view of many, the moment they resolved to launch a punitive campaign, Li Jiqian would face nothing but destruction.

By comparison, the war unfolding in Anxi drew far more attention. After all, this was a war aimed at the annihilation of a state—the first time since the Kaibao Northern Expedition that the Great Han had launched an outward expansion after more than a decade of pursuing a strategy of contraction.

Even judged solely by the scale of forces mobilized, it would leave a bold and heavy stroke in the war history of the Great Han. From the winter of the twentieth year of Kaibao, when Emperor Liu issued the edict to campaign against the Kara-Khanids, to the late spring of this year, after a full five months of preparation, under the command of Prince Wei, Liu Min, the Great Han formally launched its Third Western Expedition.

Over the past twenty years, the Great Han had launched two western expeditions. The first was in the first year of Kaibao, when the court had just unified the realm and recovered the entire south. Emperor Liu's ambition for conquest was at its peak; he considered himself invincible under heaven. Surveying the four seas, the Khitan could not yet be challenged, so his gaze naturally turned to the northwest—how could he tolerate even a single corner remaining incomplete?

The Han army, which had not yet emerged from the era of warfare, was at its peak. Commanded by Guo Rong, with Wang Yansheng and Guo Jin as his assistants, they swept through everything in their path despite minor setbacks—not only destroying the Ganzhou Uyghurs but also bringing the Cao clan of the Guiyi Army back into the embrace of the Central Plains, fully recovering the Hexi Corridor, with the western border reaching Yumen and Yang Pass.

The second was in the eighth year of Kaibao, when the court launched a great northern expedition, commanded by Guo Jin. However, that western expedition was part of the overall Kaibao Northern Expedition. Guo Jin served as the main general, leading a detached force deep into the Western Regions, with the aim of eliminating the Khitan army entrenched there.

In the end, the objective was successfully achieved—not only were the Khitan eliminated and nearly all of the Qocho Uyghur territory recovered, but the Kara-Khanid incursions were also driven back to the west, and the fruits of victory were preserved.

As for the nature of this Third Western Expedition, to be frank, it contained some complicated elements. It was both a manifestation of the Great Han's pioneering ambition and carried the righteous justification of recovering China's ancient territories. Yet, combined with the turmoil of the twentieth year of Kaibao, it inevitably gave the impression that Emperor Liu was fond of grandiose achievements and venting personal grievances.

Among the upper echelons of the court, supporters were few. After all, in the conflict with the Kara-Khanids, the Great Han was "in the wrong." Even though a mountain of evidence could be produced to prove the righteousness of the western expedition, some conservatives could not shake the notion that this was "waging war without just cause."

Of course, where there were conservatives, there were also radicals. For the generals and commanders participating in this western expedition, it was a rare opportunity to build merit. In recent years, the navy had been continuously rising, extracting vast wealth for the empire by bullying the natives of the South Seas.

Faced with such a situation, how could the cavalry and infantry—the ones who truly ran the show—not look on with envy? Yet when they looked around, there seemed to be few places left where they could put their skills to use.

The remnants of the Khitan in Mobei could barely qualify as an opponent, but they were simply too far away and difficult to fight. Just then, relations between the Han and the Kara-Khanids soured, giving the merit-hungry generals a target and direction to vent their ambitions.

At least for the Han army long stationed in the northwest, they had witnessed with their own eyes the flourishing revival of the Silk Road and had been maintaining it all along—and they themselves had reaped considerable benefits from it.

Even if for no other reason than this, it was worth their while to teach a lesson to that arrogant, clueless Kara-Khanid state that thought so highly of itself.

For this western expedition, besides Prince Wei Liu Min serving as commander-in-chief with the dignity of an imperial prince, Imperial Son-in-law Yang Yanzhao served as deputy commander. Additionally, Guo Yi was appointed Chief Inspector of the field headquarters, Wang Shenjun as Formation Commander of the field headquarters, Xiang Deming as Provisions Commissioner of the field headquarters, and Murong Jiye as Trench Formation Commander...

From the above appointments, one could see the special nature of this expedition compared to previous ones. The principal commanders and key positions of the western expedition's field headquarters were all filled by outstanding talents of the younger generation, and every one of them came from distinguished backgrounds.

Not to mention the two principal commanders, Liu Min and Yang Yanzhao—Guo Yi was the youngest son of Guo Wei, Duke of Xing; Wang Shenjun was the eldest son of the late Wang Quanbin, Duke of Pingnan; Xiang Deming was the eldest son of Xiang Xun, Duke of Wen; and Murong Jiye was the grandson of Murong Yanchao, Duke of Luan, and the son of Murong Chengtai, the current Chief Commander of the Capital Region.

The only one who could be considered a veteran general was Kang Baoyi, appointed Army Supervisor of the field headquarters. Strictly speaking, he too belonged to the second generation of generals, but he had joined the army early, following his father Kang Zaiyu on campaigns east and west from a young age. With nearly thirty years of military service, from north to south and back again, he had repeatedly distinguished himself in battle and suffered dozens of wounds. In terms of prestige alone, no one in the western expedition army could surpass him. Emperor Liu's primary purpose in employing Kang Baoyi was to have him steady the ranks for Liu Min and Yang Yanzhao.

Clearly, as the old generals and old commanders further aged and passed away, a number of middle and younger generation commanders were gradually stepping onto the stage, and a new generation of pillars for the Great Han Empire was rising amid the tides of history.

This western expedition mobilized a total of over fifty thousand troops, with the majority of the border garrisons and militia forces from Anxi and Hexi being drawn upon. It was not that more troops could not be conscripted—it was simply that the logistical pressure was already considerable; any more would exceed the capacity of the two regions to sustain them.

Although the territory of Anxi was vast, it had only been under Han rule for ten years. In the past, the Uyghurs, Khitan, Kara-Khanids, the Great Han, and even the state of Khotan to the south—several powers had fought a ten-year seesaw war over this land. It had been ravaged repeatedly, reduced essentially to ruins. Of the million subjects from Qocho's heyday, eighty percent had been lost.

It was not until the Han army marched west that a rare peace was finally achieved. But ten years was nowhere near enough for a new generation to grow to maturity, and recovery and reconstruction remained a distant prospect. By the twenty-first year of Kaibao, the population under Anxi's jurisdiction was still under two hundred fifty thousand, and many of those had been brought in by merchants traveling back and forth between east and west.

Therefore, the exhausted Anxi simply could not support a major war. Able-bodied labor was scarce; the Defense Commissioner of Qocho, Pule, had racked his brains and could only provide a little over five thousand able-bodied men to serve as auxiliary troops. The real support for the army's westward advance had to come from Hexi.

Of the fifty thousand troops, over twenty thousand were cavalry. Fighting the Kara-Khanids required combined arms cooperation, and to a certain extent, the role of cavalry was even more important.

To this end, the court had specially allocated three thousand heavily armored cavalry to participate in the campaign, specifically to counter the Kara-Khanid imperial guard heavy cavalry. Of course, this also included over ten thousand auxiliary troops from various tribes.

It had to be said that conscripting auxiliary tribal troops for combat was indeed a cost-saving measure. First, their combat effectiveness had some guarantee; second, the expenditure was less compared to regular officers and soldiers. The court only needed to provide some money, grain, and weapons to make them overjoyed.

Prince Wei Liu Min even directly promised those auxiliary troops composed of Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Liugu tribesmen: once the Kara-Khanids were defeated, they would be allowed to plunder at will, and the court would only take half of the spoils—all to spur their fighting spirit and make them risk their lives.

This agreement indeed suited the auxiliary troops from top to bottom. In the past, when the court conscripted tribal warriors, it was mainly for domestic battlefields, especially during the Northern Expedition, when tens of thousands of barbarian cavalry were armed. But at that time, the court's regulations had strict restrictions—after all, the territory of the Great Han could not be left to their unchecked ravages.

But fighting the Kara-Khanids was different. Although it could also be said to be territory that had historically belonged to the Great Han, practical factors could not be ignored. Even the Tangut, a mere minor tribe, were hard to keep pacified—how much more so the Kara-Khanid state, which had been established for a long time and whose culture and traditions were completely different from China's?

To conquer the Kara-Khanids and recover the old territories, it was necessary to destroy them from top to bottom, from inside out, and then consolidate. In this process, there were certain things that were not suitable for the discipline-emphasizing Han army to do.