Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

The battle lines began to stabilize and became extremely deadlocked.

More than 70,000 Western Liao troops had partially surrounded more than 100,000 Seljuk troops.

However, the Western Liao army's armor and weapons were even more rudimentary.

At the critical moment, Yelü Dashi personally took to the field, leading the reserve force in a fierce charge to stabilize the situation.

"They've been defeated! The enemy has been defeated!"

The Seljuk soldiers near the valley shouted, which greatly boosted the morale of the nearby Seljuk army.

However, Xiao Wulila, who was holding the valley to the death, could not withstand the fierce attack of the Seljuks.

The entire right flank retreated in disarray, scrambling to escape into the depths of the valley.

The Seljuk left and central armies, already enraged, chased the Western Liao right army into the valley, with even Sanjar himself joining the pursuit.

Sanjar's queen, attendants, and scholars also rushed into the valley.

Those scholars, too, fought in armor!

Chapter 3832 A cornered beast still fights

"kill!"

Yelü Dashi led the central army of the Western Liao Dynasty and rushed to the mouth of the valley at top speed, completely blocking the valley.

Meanwhile, in the ravines on both sides of the valley, more than 8,000 Karluk mercenaries...

They split into several groups and charged out from the waist, cutting the Seljuk army that had pursued them into the valley into several pieces.

Seeing that the ambush troops had already emerged, Xiao Wulila quickly gathered his feigned retreat troops and immediately turned around to fight back.

Sanjar was shocked to find himself in an ambush. He led his central army back and charged into the valley entrance, but Yelü Dashi blocked the way.

Both sides faced extremely close calls.

The Seljuk left and center armies were divided and surrounded in the valley.

Meanwhile, the central army of the Western Liao was attacked from both sides, and Yelü Dashi personally led troops to block the valley entrance.

He was attacked by both the Seljuk central army in the valley and the Seljuk right army outside the valley.

The former, like cornered beasts, fought desperately to break free, while the latter, wanting to rescue the Sultan, went berserk.

Yelü Dashi personally commanded the central army, which became the center of the entire battlefield.

He coordinated with the Western Liao troops in the valley to surround the two Seljuk armies.

They also coordinated with the Western Liao troops outside the valley to surround the other two Seljuk armies.

From another perspective, Yelü Dashi himself was also surrounded.

If the Seljuks can defeat Yelü Dashi's central army, they can turn the tide of this battle!

The ensuing battle lasted for a full six hours.

Five thousand Seljuk heavy cavalrymen took turns charging towards Yelü Dashi.

Li Tiansheng led two thousand Western Liao heavy cavalry, relentlessly engaging the Seljuk heavy cavalry, sacrificing his life to buy time for the right wing to encircle and annihilate them.

The Western Liao left army also launched a fierce attack on the Seljuk right army outside the valley.

Then there were the eight thousand Karluk mercenaries. Their equipment was extremely outdated, yet they were all mountain infantry.

In the complex valleys, they were repeatedly defeated by the well-equipped Seljuk army.

They would climb the mountain to escape, only to rush down from another place.

Xiao Wulila's troops suffered heavy losses during the feigned defeat, and now they are cooperating with the Karluk mercenaries to encircle and annihilate the enemy.

Gradually, the Seljuk army was divided and surrounded in the valley.

Their forces were unable to hold out even faster than Yelü Dashi's central army, which was also surrounded.

However, the central army of the Western Liao was also nearly collapsed, and Yelü Dashi himself was wounded in multiple places.

Under the desperate charge of the Sultan's personal guard infantry, Yelü Dashi's central army was breached.

Sanjar led a portion of his remaining troops out of the valley and joined up with the remaining Seljuk heavy cavalry outside the valley.

But he left his wife, scholars, and troops all in the valley.

The left and central armies of the Seljuk forces in the valley were almost entirely wiped out.

The Seljuk right wing outside the valley was also teetering on the brink of collapse.

Sanjar dared not fight any longer and fled in disarray with a small number of heavy and light cavalry.

The Sudanese heavy infantry who charged out of the valley with him were surrounded and annihilated by the Western Liao army.

"we won!"

The soldiers of the Western Liao cheered and shouted, and Yelü Dashi, covered in blood, also smiled.

But the laughter was rather pathetic.

The Western Liao army suffered more than half its casualties, with over 15% killed in action.

In particular, Yelü Dashi's central army and heavy cavalry suffered a casualty rate of nearly 40%.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible for Sanjar to break out of the valley and escape.

These were all the core elite troops of the Western Liao Dynasty, and the heavy casualties caused Yelü Dashi great distress!

Meanwhile, Sanjar fled back to Samarkand.

Without consulting the King of the Western Karakhanid Khanate, he ordered the burning of the city's grain supplies and houses.

Chapter 3833 Too Arrogant

Li Tiansheng led the Western Liao cavalry in hot pursuit. Sangjar was so frightened that he continued to flee, and the king abandoned the queen and fled with him.

Li Tiansheng's cavalry were exhausted and chose not to continue the pursuit, but instead ordered the people in the city to put out the fire.

After a while, Yelü Dashi led his main force to arrive.

Officials of the Western Karakhanid Khanate came out of the city to greet him, kneeling and kowtowing, shouting: "Great Jur Khan, you are the king of kings, the greatest monarch in the world!"

Yelü Dashi pointed to the city wall: "What's this place called?"

An official from the Western Karakhanid Khanate replied, “Reporting to the great Gurkha, this is Samarkand.”

Yelü Dashi said to the generals behind him, "It's too difficult to pronounce. This city is located between several major rivers, so we can rename it Hezhong Prefecture."

……

News spread that Sanjar's 100,000-strong army had been annihilated.

He left behind in the west to guard against Ajis's 50,000-strong army, which then scattered in disarray.

Those troops, who were originally from vassal states, were forcibly recruited by Sanjar to fight.

Now that Sanjar has been defeated and fled back, the first reaction of the monarchs of the vassal states is not to come to his aid.

Instead, he quickly led his troops back to his hometown to stabilize the situation.

They also joined forces to break away from Sanjar's rule.

Ajis, who was brutally beaten by the Seljuk army last year and whose son was even executed, suddenly felt that he was back in power.

Ajzi led an army of 30,000 south, first capturing the city of Seraches, and then taking over the new Seljuk capital of Merv.

Sanjar was forced to abandon the capital and flee, and Ajis immediately emptied the city of its wealth and ordered a massacre!

Immediately afterwards, Ajis continued south, but was forced to retreat when he encountered the Khorasan coalition.

He abducted countless people, livestock, and valuables from the Seljuks, and for a time he was extremely arrogant.

He even ordered nobles, soldiers, and civilians along the way to include his name in their prayers, which was tantamount to him claiming to be the Sultan.

Meanwhile, Ajis promised last year that Khwarazm would submit to the Western Liao as long as Yelü Dashi saved him.

Now he has gone back on his word, no longer considering himself a subject, and wants to be on equal footing with Yelü Dashi.

Yelü Dashi immediately dispatched a detachment led by Xiao Chala Abu, which marched hundreds of miles straight into enemy territory.

When the local lords of Khwarezm heard that the army that had defeated Sanjar was coming, they were all so frightened that they rushed to surrender.

Xiao Chala Abu swept through the enemy lines and quickly reached the capital of Khwarazm.

Ajisi also quickly surrendered and stopped insisting on being on equal footing with Yelü Dashi...

However, Khwarazm, as a vassal state of the Western Liao, possessed a high degree of independence and autonomy.

They only needed to pay tribute to the Western Liao every year, and they didn't even need to send troops to help the Western Liao fight.

Ajis's performance was not over yet. Two years later, Sanjar regrouped his troops and returned to fight.

Having suffered several defeats in a row, Ajis was so frightened that he immediately surrendered and submitted.

Khwarazm once again became a vassal state of the Seljuks.

He jumps around repeatedly, becoming arrogant and overbearing when he gets his way—a complete clown.

……

Meanwhile, Yelü Dashi defeated Sanjar and then annexed the entire Western Karakhanid Khanate.

Although the king abandoned his wife and ran away, his brother was still alive.

Yelü Dashi did not rule directly; instead, he bestowed the title of "Taohuashi Khan" upon the king's younger brother (who claimed to be a descendant of a Tang Dynasty princess).

He ordered them to continue ruling the Western Karakhanid Khanate, and left behind trusted confidants to oversee its affairs—people sent by Yelü Dashi.

Hezhong Prefecture was made a secondary capital of the Western Liao Dynasty, and a large area was designated as a directly administered territory, with the local king not allowed to interfere in the affairs of this directly administered territory.

Chapter 3834 Founding the Nation

Additionally, Bukhara, originally part of the Western Karakhanid Khanate but later annexed by the Seljuks,

Yelü Dashi also conferred titles upon nobles and established the Khanate of Bukhara.

It wasn't that he didn't want to rule directly, but rather that Yelü Dashi didn't have enough officials at his disposal!

He could only select officials from among Central Asian scholars or nobles to govern the regions.

These guys are completely unreliable and are likely to cause conflict with the locals. It would be better to leave it as it is and establish a vassal state.

The various vassal states under the Western Liao Dynasty adopted different methods of governance depending on local conditions.

The least influential were those like Khwarezm, which only needed to pay 30,000 silver dinars annually.

There was also the newly established Khanate of Bukhara, where the king enjoyed complete autonomy.

In addition to paying annual tribute, the army was required to accept Yelü Dashi's conscription without any conditions.

On the Gaochang Uyghur side, a governor-general system was implemented, but some of the king's powers were retained.

The Western Liao inherited the system of officials serving in both the north and south of the Liao dynasty.

The officials in the north were the men that Yelü Dashi brought with him.

The Southern Officials were local officials and nobles who had been conquered.

Yelü Dashi also abolished the enfeoffment system, dividing the directly administered territories and vassal states into more scattered ruling areas.

Fighting between different ruling territories is prohibited.

Especially mutual annexation, otherwise they will be attacked by all sides.

In principle, all officials must be appointed by Yelü Dashi.

However, in practice, the selection of officials recommended by the monarch of the vassal state...

Yelü Dashi rarely objected to hereditary successors, especially those who inherited their positions.

Yelü Dashi designated a large area under his direct control in the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate, and divided the people into farmers and herdsmen by registering households.

Take farmers, for example; each household was taxed only one dinar.

This was a very, very light tax in Central Asia, and countless Central Asian farmers were extremely loyal to Yelü Dashi.