Chai Shao and Li Daliang led the army and marched towards Camel's Peak.
When they arrived at Camel's Hump, everyone was dumbfounded. The entire Camel's Hump had turned into a piece of scorched earth, with thick smoke still rising in some places.
The entire Gobi Desert was full of burnt corpses. When the wind blew, the smell... made many soldiers start to vomit.
"This...what exactly happened?"
"Prince-in-law, there are 50,000 troops. There were 50,000 troops stationed here last night. Overnight, only these corpses were left."
"Report..."
"General, His Highness's men are here to deliver military orders!"
Chai Shao said: "Take me there immediately!"
Behind the hillside, Li Bingdao and two subordinates came to convey the military order of the King of Shu.
Last night, the number of Gaochang soldiers they killed, including those burned to death, was only ten thousand at most.
Later, the generals of Gaochang quickly controlled the situation, but when they learned that King Qu Wentai of Gaochang had been killed, even those generals panicked!
They took their respective people and dispersed in a hurry, heading towards the capital of Gaochang.
There are no more horses. They were scared away by the thunder last night. There are only a few horses, and some of them were burned.
So, Li Ke, the king of Shu, immediately led his men and chased after him. Now is the best time to capture prisoners, and they should be sure to capture them one at a time.
So, under their pursuit, even though there were more than a thousand Gaochang soldiers, when they saw more than 200 of them, they charged forward and killed their generals, and the ragtag group surrendered.
From morning to noon, His Highness personally led the team, ran for more than fifty miles, and killed more than a dozen senior Gaochang generals!
Received more than 5,000 prisoners.
But the Gaochang soldiers were too scattered, and the entire desert was full of Gaochang soldiers fleeing for their lives.
The sun was scorching, and these soldiers had experienced the fire. They had nothing to eat or drink, so they ran away in a panic.
At this moment, they can only pray to God to allow them to encounter water sources or meet cattle and sheep herders.
Even if they encounter the Tang army, they are lucky. They don't have to die at least, and they are willing to surrender.
"Commander Li, where is Your Highness?"
Chai Shao rode up to Li Bingdao, jumped off his horse, and asked quickly.
Li Bingdao clasped his fists: "I've seen you, sir! Your Highness is fine."
"Li Bingdao, you damn good boy, what did you do last night? This is incredible..." Li Daliang patted Li Bingdao on the shoulder and asked with a smile.
Chai Shao interrupted Li Daliang and said: "Brother Li, let him convey the military order first."
"Yes, yes, Xiao Li, please tell me the military order."
Li Bingdao cupped his fists and said: "Two generals, His Highness said that when you arrive, you will immediately pursue the fleeing soldiers in Gaochang and capture them all."
"Currently, His Highness has captured more than 5,000 people, and almost 20,000 to 30,000 troops have escaped into the Gobi Desert!"
Two people: "..."
"The last general takes orders."
"Two generals, the last general has taken his leave."
Li Bingdao got on his horse and rode away.
Chai Shao said: "Since the Gaochang soldiers have fled, they cannot flee in groups. Therefore, we must disperse and pursue the deserters in teams of a thousand people."
"Okay, I'll give the order right now."
More than 46,000 people were divided into 46 teams and began a carpet search. ŴŴŴ.BiQuGe.Biz
Deep in the desert, the team of prisoners behind Li Ke was getting longer and longer, and the food, grass and water they brought were not enough.
Fortunately, they caught enough war horses, three horses per person, and some even led four horses.
Within a day, these prisoners' lips had become chapped. Without water, they would have died of dehydration.
These prisoners are of great use, and Li Ke would rather throw away these horses than these prisoners.
These prisoners played an extremely important role in his subsequent capture of the entire Gaochang. Among these prisoners, there were even important figures from certain tribes. Capturing them was equivalent to taking control of the tribe.
"The blood of the horse is bled for everyone to drink, and the horse meat is shared for everyone to eat."
So, Li Ke's subordinates began to stab the horses and bleed them, gave them to the prisoners who were about to die of thirst, and gave them horse meat to eat.
The soldiers in Gaochang were also very confused. Not only did the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty not kill them, but they also stabbed their horses to bleed them to save them?
In the countries of the Western Regions, the value of a war horse is far greater than their value, and for a warrior, even if he is about to die of thirst, he will never stab the horse to save himself.
War horses are the cavalry’s faith.
But when people face death, they will definitely save themselves subconsciously. They must live first. This is something engraved in human genes by the Creator.
These prisoners rushed to drink the horse's blood. A total of 500 horses were slaughtered, but it was enough for these 5,000 people to survive!
Then they ate horse meat, eating it raw. Even if some soldiers were unwilling, they saw the Tang army taking out their long knives and immediately gulped it down.
It makes people feel funny and pitiful.
After all, the ancestors of these people were also Han people, the descendants of those who once opened up new territories.
When Li Ke saw that everyone had almost eaten and drank, he came to a high platform and looked at the crowd of prisoners below.
There were also hundreds of Tang troops riding tall horses, holding long knives or scimitars, and armed to the teeth.
The prisoners saw a young man wearing chainmail ascending to the high platform in front, surrounded by heavily armed Tang troops. Judging from the caution of those people, this young man was not an ordinary person.
"Everyone, I am the King of Shu in the Tang Dynasty, and I am the king. I just saved your lives."
"You must be wondering why I want to save you. To tell you the truth, your ancestors are all Han people and they once opened up territory for the Han people here."
"So, Gaochang and Zhongyuan are originally one family. I don't want brothers to kill each other and make their enemies laugh and their relatives feel pain."
"Qu Wentai, the king of Gaochang, imposed violent conquests at home, launched wars abroad, destroyed the Yiwu Kingdom, beheaded the leader of the Yiwu Kingdom, and invaded Yumen Pass of the Tang Dynasty, killing thousands of our Tang Dynasty defenders. This is unbearable!"
"I, under the orders of the Khan of Heaven, came to conquer King Qu Wentai of Gaochang. His crime is unforgivable. I have executed him on the spot to show the power of Heaven."
"I saved you today, for no other reason than for your parents and wives to see you again."
"Everyone is free now. If you want to go home now, then go home! I will never make things difficult for you."
"If you want to stay, follow me to conquer Gaochang, conquer the countries in the Western Regions, and conquer the Western Turks... After you become famous, I will allow you to have the same treatment as the Tang Army."
After Li Ke finished speaking, everyone looked at the King of Shu in surprise. Standing in front of them was His Highness the King of Shu of the Tang Dynasty.
However, there were still people who did not want to repay their kindness and said goodbye to King Li Ke of Shu.
Faced with such disrespectful people, Li Ke was not willing to let them go back to waste food!
It’s better to stay and do good deeds for the animals in the desert!
"He who leaves is the enemy."
Biquge
