Sentence:  The Chinese, ever since the first century of our era, have called the countries which we to-day name Kashgar and Sungaria, "<WSD>routes</WSD>." They referred them to their relative position on the two sides of the Tian-Shan, and called our Sungaria, Pe-lu, " northern <WSD>route</WSD>," and our Kashgar, Nan-lu, " southern <WSD>route</WSD>." The Turks gave other names to these countries; they called the northern <WSD>route</WSD> besh-balik, "the five cities," Pentapolis; the southern <WSD>route</WSD> was alti-shehr, " the six cities," Hexapolis. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  One of the major provinces of imperial China from the Later Jin to the Song, corresponding to the Tang and early Yuan circuits.