"Chang Shi, the young Khan of Tuli has sent for peace talks."
"Oh? Did you bring your war horse?"
"No, the other party claimed that they wanted to see General Qibi Heli and the 10,000 prisoners first to ensure the safety of the prisoners."
"Then take him to the construction site to have a look."
On the construction site in the north of Anle City, 10,000 Turkic prisoners were divided into four groups. Each group had a Tang Dynasty soldier and horse to supervise the work, and asked these groups to dig ditches and build fortifications.
Originally, Chai Shao was worried that if these ten thousand people were imprisoned together, what would happen if they mutinied? Even if there is no mutiny, people will eat horse chews all day long, and the amount of food consumed is not a small amount.
But after seeing the fortifications planned by Xiao Rui, Chai Shao felt happy. These 10,000 prisoners were not enough. It would be better if Tuli could exchange the prisoners later and let these coolies dig out the people's irrigation canals to avoid initiating corvee labor. .
"General Qibi Heli, general, the little Khan Tuli has sent down to visit you. How are you doing? Did the Tang Dynasty mistreat everyone?"
Qibi Heli, who was naked from the waist up, was working hard to dig a ditch. When he heard someone shouting, he dropped the tools in his hands and jumped up from the tunnel, "It's General Asmin. You came just in time. Datang proposed it." Did Little Khan Tuli agree to the conditions? Why can't we get ten thousand horses together after so many days?"
Qibi Heli's words quickly attracted the attention of many prisoners around him, and everyone turned to stare at the envoy Asmin.
Asmin instantly felt like a thorn in his back, and quickly explained with a smile: "No, no, the previous information was wrong, I didn't know that you were captured. This is not because of fear of fraud, so Tuli Little Khan sent me here to confirm After ensuring everyone's safety, we will immediately arrange for everyone to be replaced."
This was okay, so I felt relieved again and continued digging the ditch.
Asiming said in confusion: "General, the Tang people are so abominable that they let you do hard labor?"
Qibi Heli rolled his eyes at this guy, "What else? What do you want us to do?"
"You are my Turkic warriors, you should be well fed and supported."
Qibi said weakly: "Forget it, it's good that we were not beheaded when we became prisoners. First, they didn't whip us, and second, they didn't let us starve. They also gave us one meal of meat every day, so that's good. Just think about it. For a moment, what would happen if we captured the Tang people?"
this……
Asmin lowered his voice and whispered: "General, how can you speak for them? Can we Turkic warriors and the pariahs of the Tang Dynasty compare?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he was whipped in the face by Cheng Huaimo, the supervisor next to him, "What did you just say? Who is the untouchable? Damn it, a bullshit envoy who dares to come to the Tang Dynasty to scold us Tang people, let me take it from you." ! Send someone back to tell Tuli that he will send a polite person as an envoy next time and kill these guys one by one!"
Qibi Heli quickly tried to persuade him: "Don't do it, don't do it..."
Cheng Huaimo said with a straight face: "General Qibi Heli, the Tang people should not be insulted. I will only kill him to give you face. Although you are Turks and our prisoners, my brother Xiao is right, everyone should Learn to respect each other, we didn’t bully you, right?”
"Yes, yes, the Tang Dynasty is a country of etiquette. I am convinced. Asiming just doesn't understand the rules. Can you spare him once and I will teach him." Qibi Heli apologized repeatedly.
After frowning and thinking for a moment, Cheng Huaimo nodded and said: "Okay, then let's stay and work with you. Let Tuli send someone else."
Asiming, who was half frightened to death, no longer dared to speak nonsense, and asked Qibi Heli in a low voice: "General, what's going on? Didn't you say that you were not abused? They kill people at the slightest disagreement, they, they... …”
Qibi Heli glared at this guy and sighed: "It's not my fault. It's your own fault. I've been with these Tang people for several days, and they still speak and do things very fairly. Let us do hard work, isn't it? Because of his status as a prisoner, he had to work in exchange for food, an equal exchange. Even the people of the Tang Dynasty had to participate in corvee labor every year."
"But……"
"You don't understand. Following them these past few days, our people have learned a lot. The Tang Dynasty is indeed a country of etiquette, and we should not come to rob others."
Here……
Asiming was completely confused. Is this still General Qibi Heli? Why do you feel like he rebelled and defected to the Tang Dynasty?
This is the great thing about Xiao Rui, one step counts as three steps. Turks worship the strong, and if they want to educate and brainwash these people, pure preferential treatment will not work, they must be subdued first.
Qibi Heli was conquered by Su Lie himself, while the other dissatisfied captains and centurions were conquered by Qin Huaidao and a group of other young generals.
After being convinced, if you reason with them again, they will listen to the lectures much more seriously. What about everyone being equal, respecting each other, being civilized and courteous, and getting more for hard work? In short, what this construction site can embody is as simple and crude as possible. The display made this group of Turks feel that they were not captured, but hired by the Tang Dynasty to work.
At the beginning, Chai Shao thought it was impossible, but until Xiao Rui showed his killer weapon - the construction site cauldron. Do Turks have this thing? Not to mention Turks, the Tang Dynasty does not have them yet.
Working hard every day, eating and drinking well, and having interactive programs in the evening, how can such an atmosphere feel like a prisoner? Especially the Turkic cavalry who came from poor backgrounds gradually fell in love with this harmonious atmosphere. Being prisoners in the Tang Dynasty had better food than in the Tuli royal court.
The next day, Tuli heard that the envoy he had sent was detained, and he stamped his feet angrily, "Asiming was detained? It's too much to bully people, the Tang Dynasty bullies people too much! When I get back those 10,000 elites, I will definitely Teach them a lesson. Come here, organize the ten thousand war horses, and inform Chai Shao of Youzhou that the prisoners will be exchanged at the border in three days."
Little Khan Tuli had never thought about tampering with the war horses in the prisoner exchange, but he was also worried that if the quality of the war horses delivered was not good, would Datang kill the prisoners?
Forget it, just think that these ten thousand good horses are fostered in Datang, and they will be brought back in a few days.
At the same time, Tuli's messenger finally arrived at the location of Jieli, the Turkic royal court, and put all the blame on the foreign general Qibi Heli.
If it weren't for Tuli's fire seal, Jieli would definitely have thought that this was a lie about the military situation. Our 10,000 Turkic cavalry were captured by the Tang Dynasty's 10,000 infantry? How can Qibi lead people to surrender to the enemy? Absolutely impossible! Qibi Heli is my most capable general, specially sent to inspect the surrounding areas. Where did he get the soldiers and horses to surrender to the enemy?
"Come here, go to Tuli's headquarters immediately to find out if there has been any fighting recently? In addition, ask General Qibi Heli to reply to this Khan."
reply? Qibi Heli was digging ditches, how could he have time to reply to the letter? If Jie Li knew that Tu Li gave away 10,000 good horses to the Tang Dynasty, I wonder if he would be mad to death.
No, plus the 10,000 horses captured by Qibi Heli, the Tang Dynasty made at least 20,000 horses this time, not counting the blackmail from the Khitan. Twenty thousand excellent war horses, if matched with the Tang Dynasty's excellent weapons and armor, would be an invincible elite cavalry. On the future battlefield, the Turkic cavalry will also have to stay away.
This is why the Turks and even the entire grassland resisted the Tang Dynasty's purchase of war horses.
