The Mongolian Empire, Hala and Lin.
Genghis Khan had been paying close attention to the war in Xixia. When the Xia army was invited to officially intervene in the war, Genghis Khan knew that the empire had no chance of winning this war.
Unless more troops were sent to Xixia.
In that case, it was likely that a local war would evolve into an uncontrollable all-out war. If the empire could send more troops, so could the Xia Empire. Moreover, it would be faster and on a larger scale.
"Order Tolui to immediately lead the troops to withdraw from Xixia. Do not continue to fight, or you will be punished according to military law."
"Yes!"
Genghis Khan was more decisive than Tolui and knew how to choose. Although the war was not a complete success, at least a large number of supplies were looted, which solved the urgent problem of the empire.
As for how to solve the remaining food shortage, they could only think about it at length.
If they continued to fight, not only would they lose the loot, but they might also lose money. Genghis Khan had been a soldier all his life and was never willing to do a losing business.
…
Tolui did not dare to disobey Genghis Khan's military order.
On the 19th of December, Tolui gathered the remnants of Mu Huali's army, a total of 250,000 troops, escorted countless supplies, and quickly evacuated Xixia.
For this batch of supplies, the Mongolian Empire lost 150,000 elite cavalry, so it was not difficult to understand Tolui's reluctance and grievance when he left Xingqing Prefecture.
Tolui hated the Xia Empire who had plucked the fruits of their labor.
Seeing the retreat of the Mongolian army, Yeli Wangrong, who was even more aggrieved than Tolui, was unwilling to give up. Regardless of Li Yuanhao's advice, he personally led 50,000 troops to chase after the Mongolian cavalry, trying to delay the retreat of the Mongolian cavalry.
Tolui, who had been holding back his anger for a long time, discussed with Mu Huali and led the troops to turn around to face the enemy, once again defeating Yeli Wangrong. Even Yeli Wangrong himself was shot to death by Tolui.
This battle also marked the end of the war in Xixia.
Three days later, Li Mu led the troops to Xingqing Prefecture and took over the defense of the city from the Xixia army, marking that the Xixia Empire had completely become history.
From this day on, the base of the Soaring Eagle Army would be moved from the Shu Province to the territory of Xixia, becoming an elite force of the dynasty against the Mongolian Empire.
With the Shu Han Dynasty's submission, there were no more hidden dangers in the Shu Province. The Flying Bear Army was enough.
After receiving the military order from the War Zone Command Headquarters to the Privy Council, the remaining troops of the Western Xia Army, apart from the Soaring Eagle Army who had recruited some soldiers to make up for the losses they had suffered in the war and to organize the Provincial Garrison Division, were to be disbanded.
With the current military strength of Great Xia, it was not suitable for them to expand their army. Therefore, Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to reluctantly part with the more than 200,000 Western Xia soldiers who had survived the war and were first-class elites.
Moreover, after this war, the population of the Western Xia Country had withered, especially the young and strong. So, arranging for this batch of soldiers to retire would also help to restore the production of the Western Xia Country as soon as possible.
Ouyang Shuo had already ordered the Civil Affairs Bureau to transfer a batch of Han people from Chengdu County of Sichuan Province to settle down in Western Xia, in order to replenish the population of Western Xia.
As for the arrangements for Li Yuanhao and the Western Xia, they would have to wait for the imperial court's edict.
…
When the news of the Western Xia Country's submission to the Great Xia Country came out, many people were envious and jealous.
On the surface, it seemed that the Great Xia had occupied the vast Xixia country effortlessly this time. In fact, it seemed that they had gained a huge advantage. In fact, not everyone could take advantage of this.
For example, the neighboring Qin State of Western Xia.
Even if Li Yuanhao was willing to lead the Western Xia Country and surrender to the Qin State, the Qin State would not be able to shelter Li Yuanhao from the Mongolian Empire.
Moreover, the Mongolian Army would not take the initiative to withdraw before the battle had even begun.
The root cause was that the Great Xia Country could smoothly take over the Western Xia Country because of its strong national strength and unparalleled prestige in the Huaxia Region. If it were any other country, it would be impossible.
Moreover, taking over the Western Xia Country was not necessarily a good thing in the short term. It meant that more than 10 million people would be crying piteously for food from the imperial court.
…
December 25th, in Shanhai City.
After several days of discussion, the imperial court's plan to deal with the Western Xia Country had finally been settled.
First, it was the imperial title for Li Yuanhao. In view of the fact that the Western Xia Country had chosen to submit to the Great Xia Country under special circumstances, and the Western Xia Country did not have a deep foundation, according to the cabinet's opinion, Li Yuanhao would only be conferred the title of a first-class marquis.
Furthermore, Li Yuanhao was not allowed to stay in Xing Qing Prefecture. He had to move his entire clan to Shanhai City.
This arrangement was also made in view of the fact that the Western Xia was home to the Qiang Tribe, and that Li Yuanhao had an unparalleled influence among the Qiang Tribe. Once the calamity was over and life returned to normal, the Qiang Tribe members who still held grudges against Li Yuanhao might regroup with Li Yuanhao and seek benefits for their tribe.
This was something that Ouyang Shuo was unwilling to see no matter what.
Of course, the Great Xia's policy of racial equality also applied to the Qiang Tribe.
Secondly, there was the administrative division of the Xixia country's territory.
When Li Yuanhao founded the country, he used Xia as the name of the country and called it Great Xia. Because it was in the west, the Song people called it Xixia.
In this way, the name of the country and the name of Xixia would inevitably violate the taboo of the Great Xia Dynasty. It certainly couldn't be directly designated as the province of Xixia. So, they needed to think of another name for the province.
Ouyang Shuo was originally lazy and wanted to directly use the territory of the Qing Dynasty as a reference, naming it Qinghai Province. It was the Cabinet Chief Jiang Shang who suggested changing the name to West Sea Province.
There was a reason for this.
The name Qinghai Province originated from Qinghai Lake. And West Sea was the ancient name of Qinghai Lake. Changing the name to West Sea Province not only made it more ancient, but it was also the opposite of East Sea Province.
Ouyang Shuo naturally followed the advice.
Then, it was time to decide on the candidate for the governor of West Sea Province.
This time, Ouyang Shuo still insisted on using the native people as his guide and promoted Cui Shousi, the former governor of Wuzhou in South Sichuan Province, to be the governor of West Sea.
As the pride of the Cui family, Cui Shousi had joined the territory when he was still in the county. He had served as the magistrate of Yi Shui County, the magistrate of Tianfeng Prefecture, the chief administrative officer of Zhen 'an County, and the governor of Wuzhou.
This time, he was promoted again and finally became a high-ranking official.
In just a few years, Cui Shousi had grown from a county magistrate to a third-rank provincial governor. Together with his sister Cui Yingyou, they formed the Twin Walls of the Cui family.
This was because local officials had more opportunities for promotion than officials in the imperial court.
It was not difficult to understand why some Great Xia officials who wanted to become central officials liked to go to the local yamen to gain experience. This way, they could increase their qualifications and get promoted.
The person who replaced Cui Shousi as the governor of Wuzhou was an even more special person.
This person was called Ouyang Huan. Before he was personally appointed by Ouyang Shuo as the governor of Wuzhou, he was just an unknown official in the imperial court. With this promotion, he officially appeared in the eyes of the imperial court.
It was not because Ouyang Huan was talented, but because of his special identity.
Ouyang Huan was Ouyang Shuo's distant third uncle and could be considered half a relative of the imperial family. He was also an outstanding member of the Ouyang family. His promotion to the governor indicated that the imperial family was beginning to gradually rise.
Regarding this, from the cabinet to the imperial court, everyone tacitly did not discuss it.
How could they allow others to criticize the Emperor's family matters?
…
In the imperial study of the palace.
The person Ouyang Shuo was meeting was Ouyang Huan, who had recently been the focus of attention.
"Third Uncle, you'll be placed under a microscope when you take up your post. Too many people are watching your every move. By doing this, you are putting Third Uncle on the fire, "Ouyang Shuo said half-jokingly and half-seriously.
Ouyang Huan was a middle-aged man. His face was resolute like it had been carved by a knife. One look and you could tell that he was a very powerful person. However, he was a man of few words and never spoke nonsense.
This was something that Ouyang Shuo especially admired.
As a relative of the imperial family, the most taboo thing was to talk too much. As the saying went, "The more you talk, the more mistakes you make." Once he said something wrong, not only would he embarrass himself, he would also damage the imperial family's reputation. This made things difficult for Ouyang Shuo.
The wheel of history had pushed the Ouyang family to their current position, so they had to constantly reflect on themselves.
Hearing this, Ouyang Huan nodded and said, "Don't worry!"
"I know. Third Uncle, true gold fears no fire. This time in Wuzhou, you will definitely achieve great things." Ouyang Shuo was very confident in his ability to judge people.
The uncle and nephew looked at each other and smiled.
… …
In the blink of an eye, it was the 30th of December.
According to the usual practice, Gaia would release a new round of system updates on this day. No one knew what kind of surprise or shock Gaia would bring this time.
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