"Don't worry, as long as you hold on for four or five more days, Ashina Daozhen will lead the front army back!" Xue Rengui patted Wang Zhaotang on the shoulder: "You have the greatest credit for this matter. Don't worry, I will definitely write a letter. The imperial court, report your affairs to the Emperor of Heaven and reward you heavily!"
"Thank you, Chief Manager!" Wang Zhaotang thanked him hurriedly. He also knew that Xue Rengui would be unable to protect himself after such a defeat, but such an expression was better than nothing.
"Okay, please step back first!" Xue Rengui comforted Wang Zhaotang a few more words, returned to the cases, and began to think about how to write a memorial to the court. The words he just said were meant to overshadow Wang Zhaotang, but most of them were still sincere. After all, after trusting a guy like Guo Daifeng who failed to achieve anything but failed, he could still have a foothold because Wang Zhaotang had left these thousands of sick people behind at that time. As long as Ashina Daozhen can bring back the former army, and with the addition of Qinling's eldest son Gongren, a comeback is unlikely, but it is still possible to treat a small loss as a win.
Xue Rengui wrote four or five beginnings, but after just two lines, he could no longer write. He crumpled up into a ball and threw it on the ground. Finally, he had to put down the brush and sighed. It was a pity that the commonly used writing instrument was not there, otherwise it would not be needed. I have to do it myself, but I can't just find someone to deal with this kind of letter, I can only hold it in here myself.
"Grand Steward, Grand Steward?"
"Who? What's the matter?" Xue Rengui pretended to be majestic and calm. His current mentality was like a frightened bird. The slightest change would make his stomach tangle into a ball, as if all the intestines were entangled.
"It's me, Wang Zhaotang!"
"Wang Sima? Come in and talk!"
Wang Zhaotang walked into the tent. His face was as pale as a dead man, and his eyes were in a trance, like a wandering ghost. Xue Rengui suppressed the bad premonition and said with a smile: "Sit down and talk! Sit down and talk!"
Wang Zhaotang did not sit down, but said in a strange tone: "The Turks have rebelled!"
"What?" Xue Rengui was startled: "What Turks? Wang Sima, please explain clearly!"
"There is a group of Turkic cavalry outside, holding a wolf-headed flag. They claim to be the Turkic followers of the former army. They have already elected Ashina Daozhen as the new khan and formed an alliance with Tibet!"
"What?" Xue Rengui felt as if his head suddenly exploded. The news brought by Wang Zhaotang was much worse than the worst-case scenario he expected. If this was true, it would not only be the end of the former army. After the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Eastern Turkic Khanate during the Zhenguan period, the four prefecture governor's offices of Shun, You, Hua and Chang were set up in the hometown of Tuli Khan, and the Dingxiang and Yunzhong governor's offices were set up in the hometown of Jieli Khan. In the first year of Yonghui (650), the Turkic Chebi Khan of Tang pinged, "all the Turkic tribes were ministers of the frontier", so he established the Hanhai Protector's Office in his area, and led the three governor's offices of Langshan, Yunzhong and Sangqian. Sunong and other twenty-four states.
This land probably includes today's Inner Mongolia, Outer Mongolia, the upper reaches of the Yenisey River in Russia and the areas around Lake Baikal. If this is really the case, then the Turkic tribes in this vast land are likely to respond to his call. Launch a rebellion and fight for independence. Longyou Road will fall into a situation of being attacked from both sides.
"General Manager, those Turks are outside. Come out and have a look!" Wang Zhaotang said.
"Okay, I'll be out right away!" Xue Rengui stood up quickly and followed Wang Zhaotang outside. Soon they arrived at a watchtower and saw dozens of Turkic cavalry galloping back and forth on the river beach at the foot of the mountain, speaking in Turkic language. He and Han shouted loudly to the camp. On the mound on the other side of the river, a wolf-head flag was fluttering in the wind. Hundreds of cavalry were lined up on it. Judging from the costumes, they were all Turkic cavalry originally attached to the Tang Army.
"Where is Ashina Daozhen? Let Ashina Daozhen come out to see me!" Xue Rengui shouted loudly.
"Is it Mr. Xue?" A Turkic knight on the river beach responded loudly: "What do you want? Do you want to see my Khan?"
"Bah!" Xue Rengui spat: "How could Ashina Daozhen betray the imperial court and become the khan of you bitches? He must have been assassinated by you bitches, and you also used his name to deceive others!"
"Hahaha!" The Turkic knight laughed: "Yes, Ashina Daozhen really refused to betray the Tang Dynasty. He was still thinking about his princess wife and the glory and wealth of Chang'an, but he forgot the glory of Ashina's descendants! But we didn’t kill him, we just put him under house arrest. He has forgotten his noble bloodline, but we will not forget it!”
Xue Rengui breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Ashina Dao was really not dead. He suddenly remembered the treaty scene between the Turks and the Tibetans he had discovered when he was in Shanzhou, and his mind immediately sobered up: "You guys hooked up with the Tibetans before sending troops. , no wonder——”
"Not bad!" The Turkic knight laughed: "General Manager Xue really has a good eye. Yes, we discussed the alliance with General Qinling a few years ago. He knew very well that sooner or later, Tubo would have a war with Datang. If With the strength of the Tubo people alone, sooner or later the Turks, Xueyantuo people, and Tiele people will be conquered by the Tang people. Without the help of the Tubo people, we Turks will always be your Tang people's slaves - "
"Silence!"
"Emperor Taizongwen did treat me kindly, but that happened decades ago!" The Turkic knight replied: "Every time the Tang Dynasty sent out troops, they drove our Turks as the vanguard. They fought every day and suffered many casualties. . The rewards obtained were all given to the descendants of the noble chiefs who stayed in Chang'an. How much can we people who have lived on the grasslands get? These noble chiefs stay in Chang'an all year round, wearing brocade and satin, eating ointment and rice, just like Ashina. Daozhen, how are we different from you Tang people? The Khan of our Turks is the alpha wolf on the grassland. He leads us Turks to conquer the east and west in order to expand our Turkic khanate. He does not force us to work hard for you Tang people. !”
Hearing this, Xue Rengui had completely come to his senses. He compared the whole story and immediately discovered the doubts in it: "No, Ashina Dao really didn't go to your hometown to deal with people who were connected with Tubo. How could it have any effect?" nothing?"
"Isn't this simple? Let's put this matter on a few usually unpleasant guys and report it to Ashina Daozhen! He has been in Chang'an all year round and can't even figure out the pedigree of the chiefs on the grassland. , and the time is running out, what else can he do? Anyway, as long as the incident happens, he can only listen to our arrangements! "
At this time, Xue Rengui fully understood that his expedition had been completely trapped in a huge net. That Qinling was indeed worthy of being the first general of Tubo. For many years, the Tubo people had regarded him as an ally and vassal of the Tang Dynasty. Identities exist, and the relationship between the two countries has always been good. Therefore, when Tubo completely conquered Tuyuhun in 663 AD, Tang still adopted the method of mediating the conflict instead of directly sending troops to attack. This was because Tang was fighting hard with Goguryeo at that time and had no time to look west. There are also One reason is that the Tang Dynasty did not regard Tubo as a formal enemy at that time, and regarded the war between Tubo and Tuyuhun as a conflict between two vassals.
After that, as the Tubo people's power in Qinghai continued to increase, they began to gradually threaten the security of Longyou and the Western Regions trade routes. Tang Cai began to gradually change his views on them and prepared to use military means to solve them. And Qinling realized the importance of the Turks to the Tang Empire very early. As the last grassland overlord, after the Turks were conquered by the Tang Empire, due to the long-term peace, the livestock population multiplied, and their strength was stronger than that in the early Tang Dynasty due to internal fighting and snow disasters. time is increased.
The Tang people adopted the method of gathering their chiefs, setting up officials to rule them, and recruiting their elites to assist in battles when going out, which greatly improved their military strength. If we can instigate independence, it can weaken the military power of the Tang people and disperse their power. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone. It should be said that Qinling's instigation received huge rewards. The rebellion of the Turks not only directly led to the destruction of the Tang Dynasty's former army in Dafeichuan, but when they returned to their hometown, they would set off a terrible storm that would involve the entire Tang Empire. .
"B*tch!" However, Xue Rengui's arrow still hit the Turkic knight's shoulder. The knight immediately fell off his horse. The Turkic knight next to him quickly picked him up and ran to the other side of the river. Xue Rengui was about to shoot again. But it was too late.
"General Xue is a master of shooting, you have seen it today!" The Turkic knight was also brave. He breathed for a moment on the other side, then mounted his horse and came to the river and shouted: "But if it had been ten years in the morning, I would have been dead, right? What the hell is that? Generals have gray hair, but heroes grow old!" At this point, there was a burst of laughter from the riverside.
"This bitch is too arrogant!" Xue Rengui's soldiers were furious when they saw this: "General, let me lead people to rush out and show these Turkic dogs some color!"
"That's it!" Xue Rengui sighed: "He is right, I am indeed old, and the arrow I shot just now was indeed in his chest!"
"General——"
"The current situation is like this, what difference does it make if you kill one more of him or one less of him?" Xue Rengui sighed: "It would be good to have one more person guarding the camp next. Besides, who knows they are not ambushing you? "
"Then, what should we do?"
"Hold on, hold on!" Xue Rengui said.
"Persevere?" The leader of the soldiers was stunned: "But, but the front army is already finished? We only have a lone army now, what's the use of persisting no matter how hard we persist?"
"I don't know!" Xue Rengui shook his head: "But now this is the only thing I can do. One hundred thousand athletes followed me eastward, and now there are only a few thousand people in this camp left. The only thing I can do is to They took them back one by one!"
As time went by, more and more troops appeared next to the Tang army's camp. They were wearing brand-new armor, many of which were in the style of the Tang army. The Tubo people began to repair the dams on the upper reaches of the river to redirect the river. In order to cut off the water source of the Tang army's camp.
"Fortunately, there are only a few thousand people in the camp, and you dug a reservoir, otherwise there would be no need to fight. We will die of thirst soon!" Xue Rengui sighed.
"I didn't expect it to be like this!" Wang Zhaotang said with a bitter smile: "If I had known better, I would have dug deeper!"
"No matter how deep it goes, there is only enough food for three months. Even if there is water then, there will be nothing to eat!" Xue Rengui looked at the sky: "It is already the beginning of May, right? In three months it will be August. It's already been a month, can Longyou send reinforcements to rescue the siege?" At this point, he suddenly laughed and shook his head: "This is not something you should worry about anymore!"
"Yes!" Wang Zhaotang nodded. He was as pessimistic as Xue Rengui about this. Although Longyou is known as the strongest town in the world, after pulling out 100,000 elite troops at once, the remaining troops may be guarding everywhere. Wubao is good. Even if it is transferred from Guannei and Hedong, it will take time to reorganize the new army. Not to mention that if the Turks rebelled, the time just to pacify the Turks' homeland would be calculated in years.
"Forget it, at least we still have Gongren in our hands. I hope Qinling will still care about this eldest son who fell into our hands, right?"
If Xue Rengui still had a bargaining chip in his hand, it was Gong Ren. The only thing he was lucky about now was that he had brought this important prisoner with him when he came to Dafeiling, otherwise it would have been completely over.
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Tubo camp.
On the hills of the Tang Army's camp, a long table made of original pine wood was set up, and it was covered with a fine linen tablecloth from India. Qin Ling's big tent was next to the table, with the red and white flag flying on the long pole, and it was here that he had dinner with his generals and other important people.
Ashina Daozhen came last. Although he was nominally the Great Khan of the New Turkic Khanate and could compete with Qinling, he knew very well what he actually was - a puppet held hostage by his subordinates. , a prisoner of the defeated army, maybe when these traitors find a better puppet, he will be dealt with. When he thinks of this, he is angry and afraid. So he planned to get drunk and use alcohol to get rid of his fear. It was already dusk, and the sky was full of fireflies, as if they were alive.
Tonight's main course was already set on the table, a roasted calf stuffed with mushrooms, chestnuts and various dried fruits. The aroma stimulated everyone's taste buds. They chatted excitedly, arguing with each other about the victory they had already won. Who can win? Get more loot.
"Without us, our Turkic cavalry, you Tubo people would never have won so easily!" A Turkic chief loudly said: "The elites of the Tang people are all in the front army. These are veterans who have experienced hundreds of battles. Their strong bows are strong. In front of the crossbow, I don’t know how many warriors fell!”
First of all, I would like to thank Long Zhan Yu Ye, Zheng An Jun Yue and other book friends for their rewards.
What happened to Wagner in Russia this afternoon was really eye-opening. How can history be as satisfying as witnessing it with your own eyes!
(End of chapter)
