Chapter 1786: Ending and Beginning

Balasagun, or rather the city of Suiye, as the junction of the two main trunk routes of the Central and Northern Silk Roads, had always been a place that merchants and envoys from east and west must pass through. With this unique geographical advantage, it had never lacked nourishment for development.

At the same time, because it was located in the Chu River valley and nourished by nearby snowmelt, the land was fertile, the climate pleasant, and the products abundant—an extremely strong attraction for Central Asian regimes, and a place that every Central Asian hegemon in history had to fight over.

Over the past few decades, the rise of the Kara-Khanids had also absorbed no small amount of nourishment from it, and in the construction of Suiye, the Kara-Khanids had been quite conscientious, spending no small cost.

And its status as the capital of the Kara-Khanids was only a matter of the last ten years. Originally, their Great Khan's seat was at Kashgar, which was close to the Western Regions and also adjacent to Khotan. Whether advancing east or south, it was very convenient. Only, over the past thirty years, the Kara-Khanids' main energy had been focused on advancing east, and the result—there is no need to recount it.

Because it was located south of the Tianshan Mountains, compared to the entire Kara-Khanid state, Kashgar was in fact a salient. When national power was strong, it was a bridgehead for expansion; once momentum flagged, its security became difficult to guarantee.

And the Great Han, in its several expansions after unification, had performed too aggressively. When part of its attention shifted to the Western Regions, the Kara-Khanids felt tremendous pressure. After a difficult choice, Alimsar Khan finally made up his mind to move the capital north to Balasagun.

And with the arrival of Liu Min's western expedition, the results proved the foresight of that year's decision to move the capital. Otherwise, after the Battle of Kucha, the Han army driving deep and sweeping across Mobei, the badly defeated Kara-Khanids would have had to fight a battle to defend their country ahead of time.

Only, many things cannot be predicted. Alimsar valued Balasagun's solid prosperity and its natural mountain barriers, but Yang Yanzhao's one two-thousand-li outflanking raid made his calculations come to nothing. Not only was Balasagun recovered by the Han army with almost no resistance, but it also brought about the collapse of the front-line battlefield, and he himself fell on the battlefield, dying at the hands of an unknown soldier of the Khotan army.

The Chu River surged out of the "Pearl Sea" and turned northwestward. The city of Suiye, this great city of the Western Regions, sat north of the mountains and south of the river. However, the once prosperous and lively city, in the winter wind, now carried a bit more desolation. Were it not for the great army gathered here, it would probably be even more desolate.

Inside and outside the city, scenes of ruin were everywhere. The destruction brought by war was enormous and grievous. Even the beacon of humanity in this age, the representative of the most advanced civilization, in the process of external expansion, was accompanied by blood and storm, bringing to the conquered states and tribes slaughter, death, and fear.

Suiye's original population had exceeded thirty thousand—that was by no means a small number—but now, there were only a little over twenty thousand. After the city was broken, in order to suppress the unsubmissive and control the city as quickly as possible, Yang Yanzhao completely let loose his hands, controlling the scene with an iron fist. Add to that the servile Turks acting as claws and teeth, and reasonable looting—the blood naturally flowed a bit more.

The whole city in mourning white was, of course, not for those Kara-Khanids who died under the butcher's blade. The news of the Empress's passing had also reached the army before Suiye. Without Liu Min even needing to raise it, Yang Yanzhao had already made ample preparations.

Among these upper-class sons of nobles and meritorious families, who had not felt Empress Fu's kindness and teachings? Moreover, Yang Yanzhao was the Imperial Son-in-law of the current dynasty. Moved by remembrance, he adopted the most devout posture, from ten thousand li away, to convey the heaviest grief to the departed Empress.

In the bleak and chilly wind, Liu Min led the great army into the city of Suiye. Yang Yanzhao, with the few submissive Turks under his command, came to welcome him. Seeing Yang Yanzhao at the head of the crowd, Liu Min could not even spare a glance at Suiye city; from afar he dismounted and walked forward on foot.

Seeing this, Yang Yanzhao also came forward to meet him. The two drew close and embraced fiercely. Liu Min pounded Yang Yanzhao's back hard twice and said, "Yuanxian, you've worked hard!"

Hearing this, Yang Yanzhao was also moved: "Your Highness, you've worked hard!"

At this moment, in this scene, there were no extra words to say. No amount of words could fully express the surging emotions within the two men.

They embraced for a long while before letting go. Standing beneath the city walls, witnessed by the three armies, the two simultaneously burst into a few laughs. The laughter contained countless emotions. Seeing each other's mourning attire, both revealed a trace of suppressed grief—grief for the passing of Empress Fu, and for the officers and men who had died since the second western expedition.

In this war against the Kara-Khanids, the Great Han had achieved a complete victory, basically annihilating the Kara-Khanids' main army. The Kara-Khanid Great Khan had been killed in battle, and vast amounts of Kara-Khanid cities and territory, including their capital, had been seized. It could be said that the Kara-Khanid state had been smashed to collapse—this was even more miserable than when the Kara-Khanids had been bullied by the Samanids and lost Taraz decades earlier.

But corresponding to the glorious victory was a grievous price. In just the southern route army led by Liu Min alone, in more than a dozen large and small battles, direct deaths exceeded four thousand. If counted by casualties, it looked even more painful.

Due to the intensity of the fighting and the inability to fully guarantee medicine, many wounded officers and men could hardly receive treatment and died in their pain.

The first batch of cremated soldiers' ashes had already been shipped back to the homeland. At least they still had the chance to return to their roots, giving their families something to remember them by. But for those soldiers buried in foreign soil, or even those whose bodies were never found, it was even more cruel.

And counting the casualties of Liu Min's two years of western expedition, the numbers were even larger—dead and wounded had already exceeded twenty thousand. Expansion was never just talk; those achievements and lands were bought with the lives and blood of the Great Han's officers and men.

After invading Kara-Khanid territory, whether Liu Min or Yang Yanzhao, both deliberately indulged their subordinates, even going so far as to violate some military discipline. This was both to let the soldiers vent their anger and resentment, and also to plunder wealth in the shortest possible time to make up for the deficits brought by expansion.

For the western expedition, support from home had already been substantial, but if the court and the soldiers could not see benefits, it would be hard to sustain for long. Of the gains seized within Kara-Khanid territory, part was fed back to the court, and part was distributed to the officers and men as rewards and consolation payments, to steady military morale.

Serving as a soldier for food, and getting rich through war—that was the fundamental reason the Great Han's officers and men were willing to follow on distant expeditions. Talk of fame and great enterprise meant little to ordinary soldiers.

Of course, this ran contrary to the Great Han's long-held principles of military and political governance, especially this reward policy. But for the central court, seven or eight thousand li away, to achieve complete control over the western expedition army was itself a fantasy—even quite absurd. This was also the inevitable consequence of expansion.

What the court could truly do was only control the logistical lifeline of the stationed army and the appointment of generals and commanders. But even so, how much effect it could have was hard to predict.

As for the conquered Kara-Khanid people, the later period of rule would inevitably face greater public security problems—that much was predictable. Everything has its pros and cons; take the benefit, bear the harm. Liu Min naturally chose to look after the western expedition soldiers first.

With the great army garrisoned, Liu Min finally had leisure to observe Suiye. Together with the commanders of both route armies, he stood atop the city walls of Suiye, looking down from a height to take in its fine scenery.

Standing there for a long while, gazing at the Chu River flowing past the city, Liu Min suddenly raised his arm and swept it downward, pointing at his feet. With both emotion and determination, he said: "Suiye—since Emperor Wu of the Former Han, this has been the extreme western reach of our Great Han's expansion. A thousand years later, we descendants have returned to this old ground. We must not disgrace the might and virtue of our forebears. This should not be an ending, but a beginning!"

Liu Min's words were spoken with force and full of heroic spirit, clearly indicating that his intent for the western expedition had not yet ceased. However, the commanders beside him, upon hearing this, wore varied expressions.