Chapter 193: Troops Arrive at the Five Cities

“The mid-summer in the northern frontier is delayed; grass and trees in the barbarian lands grow tall. Horses race faster than birds; the sky seems to stretch beyond the setting sun. The commander has just led his troops out, preparing to march in September. Two million soldiers, their armor gleaming like gold. Flags wave over Kunlun, drums resound in Puchang. The celestial light guides the imperial army, as heavenly might descends upon the vast wastelands.”

By September, the northern frontier had entered a season of alternating heat and cold. The sun shone fiercely during the day, while icy winds blew at night, bringing biting cold.

That morning, as the sun rose, it emerged from the thick mist in the east, casting a golden glow over Yuegong City and the surrounding forests. In the distance, an army approached from the edge of the forests. This Tang army consisted of about three thousand men, all clad in bright armor, equipped with swords and bows. Behind their tall horses were military blankets and sleeping bags.

Li Qing’an was at the center of the army. Having set out on the tenth day of September, after seven days of marching, he was about to reach the destination of this expedition: Yuegong City.

On the surface, this was a routine inspection, with a small force of only three thousand cavalry. But including the troops stationed in the newly built five cities, Li Qing’an had deployed over eighteen thousand soldiers north of Suiye. This force was sufficient to launch a campaign.

The decision to send troops to Yuegong City was made on the evening of the tenth day of September. That night, he received a pigeon message from the Han-Tang Association in Chang’an, announcing that the imperial court had officially approved Gao Xianzhi’s use of force against the Que Shi Kingdom—this was the signal for him to march on Suiye.

In fact, since May, he had been actively preparing for war. He stationed the newly recruited soldiers in three provinces, while the main force in the northern frontier gradually moved to the new five cities through rotations. By mid-August, the new five cities already had fifteen thousand soldiers stationed there. Along with the soldiers came large amounts of food and military supplies. The food stored in Fengming City alone was enough to feed ten thousand troops for a year.

Yuegong City was originally a small town, more like a large garrison capable of holding at most six hundred people. However, due to its unique geographical location, Li Qing’an chose it as the first of the five cities. Situated on a cliff north of Cheling, it had a high and defensible terrain. After months of construction by thousands of craftsmen, Yuegong City had been expanded five times its original size. Moreover, four smaller cities were built around it, allowing Yuegong City to house eight thousand soldiers.

In addition to Yuegong City, Fengming City, Longwei City, Baihan City, and Yibao City were built in sequence to the northwest, like a string of pearls scattered across thousands of miles of grasslands and deserts. The farthest was Yibao City, built right by the Yibao Sea.

At this moment, the army was marching through the continuous mountains of Cheling, heading west along the Ili River Valley. It was a difficult route, with constant climbs over towering peaks. From Beiting, they could reach Suie, and then another 700 li west to Talas—this was the famous northern route of the Silk Road. Since the Han and Tang dynasties, this path had facilitated the exchange of wealth and culture between the East and West, stretching as far as the distant West with the sound of camel bells.

After passing through this forest and crossing a high ridge along a small stream, Yuegong City came into clear view. Li Qingan raised the curtain and looked toward a cliff to the south, where there was a beacon tower of the Tang army. He saw three thick columns of smoke rising from it, signaling the arrival of a large army.

“Sir, look!” A soldier pointed to a distant ridge. A group of small black dots appeared on the hill—about a hundred people.

Li Qingan had exceptional eyesight and could see that those black dots were Tang cavalry, likely sent from Yuegong City to greet him.

The cavalry also noticed them and rushed down from the ridge, arriving before them in no time. The leader was Li Fei Yuanli, the commander of Yuegong City.

Li Fei Yuanli had originally been a military officer in the Hanhai Army. As the main force of the Beiting army moved west, he came to Yuegong City to serve as its commander. Currently, there were 6,000 troops in Yuegong City, all former members of the Hanhai Army.

Li Fei Yuanli stepped forward and bowed. “Your humble servant, Li Fei Yuanli, pays his respects to the sir.”

Li Qingan noticed a small bruise on his right forehead, still fresh, and smiled. “Is your wife also in the city?”

Li Fei Yuanli had married Shi Sanniang not long after arriving in Beiting. At first, their marriage was harmonious, but a few months later, Shi Sanniang began to show her stricter side. She controlled him strictly, forbidding him from drinking excessively or visiting brothels. She established various household rules, and with her cunning, she managed to keep the fierce Li Fei Yuanli in check. Bruises and scratched faces became common for him. At first, people laughed at him, but eventually, it became normal.

Seeing Li Qingan’s sharp gaze, Li Fei Yuanli cursed inwardly and said with a pained expression, “She tormented me all night and left satisfiedly for Fengming City early in the morning.”

Li Qingan smiled slightly and stopped teasing him. He then asked, “Have you received the orders I sent?”

“I have received them. The army is fully prepared and ready to set out at any time.”

“Good! Rest for a day. Tomorrow morning, the army will assemble in Fengming City.”

Half an hour later, the army entered Yuegong City, which is today’s Horgos. Here, there are mountains covered with snow all year round as well as vast plateau grasslands. It has always been a strategic pass on the Silk Road. Initially, Yuegong City served as a resting place for merchants, but with the rise of the Turkic tribes, it gradually became a military stronghold to defend against them.

Yuegong City was not entirely occupied by troops. Among its four sub-cities, one was built on a gently sloping hill for commercial use, housing over a hundred businesses, mostly inns and brothels, which soldiers were also allowed to visit with permission.

While the soldiers went inside to rest, Li Qing’an stood on the castle wall, gazing into the distance. The castle stood tall, as if looking down from the clouds. In the distance, one could see endless plateau grasslands under a clear blue sky, with huge white clouds floating above. On the grasslands, white tents could be faintly seen, along with large piles of grass—left by nearby herders cutting autumn grass for winter.

This was Horgos. Thirteen hundred years later, it would be known as the eastern frontier fortress. Li Qing’an looked at this land with emotion. He had been here in his past life, and the mountains and grasslands hadn’t changed.

“It’s fucking like a dream!” Li Feiyuanli exclaimed beside him.

Li Qing’an glanced at him and smiled. “How is it like a dream?”

Li Feiyuanli grinned and sighed. “Every time I stand here, I remember those days guarding the fortress. Back then, Old Li only had fifty men under him, but just over three years later, he was leading six thousand. That was something unimaginable three years ago.”

“And you never expected that the unknown boy you saved and fed horses back then would become your superior, right?”

“That’s right. I recognized his potential and promoted him to fire commander.”

Li Feiyuanli scratched his head and asked with a smile, “Where exactly are you from? I’m still confused. I thought you were from Luoyang back then, but it seems you’re not at all.”

“I don’t know where I’m from either. I’ve been drifting around since I was young.”

Li Qing’an sighed softly and said with a bitter smile, “Maybe I’m really a Suiye Han.”

“You? A Suiye Han?” Li Feiyuanli looked at him in confusion.

“A Suiye Han should be able to speak Turkic, but you learned it later.”

“I don’t know. Stop asking.”

Suddenly, Li Qing’an saw a caravan of camels approaching in the distance. He smiled at Li Feiyuanli and said, “Come with me to take a look!”

This was a Sogdian merchant caravan from Kangguo, having traveled thousands of miles to reach the Tang Dynasty. They were not large in number—just over 200 camels and about 100 merchants, making it a medium-sized caravan. In the distance, they could see Yuegong City already in sight, so the merchants urged their camels to speed up.

“Uncle, there’s an army coming from ahead.”

One astute merchant spotted a group of cavalry approaching. The merchants slowed down their camels. The leader of the caravan was Tuo Tuo, an experienced old merchant. After observing for a while, he waved his hand and said to everyone, “Don’t be afraid. It’s the Tang army.”

The foreign merchants weren’t afraid of the Tang army but rather of the Turkic tribes, especially those with the surname Hei south of Suiye, who were known for their plundering. Over the years, their chieftain Moji had tolerated their behavior, allowing them to become even more violent in killing and looting. As a result, fewer and fewer foreign merchants chose to enter the Tang Dynasty through Anxi, with most opting to take the northern route.

Yuegong City was the first checkpoint for those entering the Tang Dynasty via the northern route.

In a short while, 500 Tang cavalry riders rushed over and surrounded the caravan. The merchants gathered together, anxious.

The group parted, and Li Qing’an and Li Fei Yuanli rode forward. Li Qing’an asked in Turkic, “Who is the leader here? Where are you from?”

The old merchant Tuo Tuo stepped forward and bowed respectfully. “General, I am the leader. I come from Samarkand in Kangguo.”

“I want to ask you—on your journey eastward, did you pass by Ashibulai City?”

“Yes! We did!”

“When was that?”

“Ten days ago, General.”

“Has there been any change in Ashibulai City? I mean in terms of the army—have there been more troops, or stricter inspections?”

“Yes! There are more troops now. When we passed by, we encountered an army of nearly 10,000 from the Shi State. Moreover, the inspections in Ashibulai City are very strict, especially for Han people. It wasn’t like this before. I heard it started just in the past month.”

Li Qing’an nodded and then asked with a smile, “Has the civil war in the Abbasid Caliphate ended?”

“Not yet. The leader in black, Abbas, promised that as long as we help him in battle, he will allow us to restore our Zoroastrian faith after victory. So many people from our Kangguo have gone to fight. I heard the war is almost over.”

“I see!”

Li Qing’an bowed with a smile and said, “You may go. There’s nothing else to worry about.”

The Tang soldiers cleared a path, and the merchants urged their camels onward toward Yuegong City. Li Qing’an turned to Li Fei Yuanli and said with a smile, “It seems the people of the Shi State are also planning to attack Suiye. Hmph! They seem to have thought of the same thing as us.”

Early the next morning, Li Qingan left only a thousand men to guard Yuegong City, while the remaining eight thousand troops set off in great numbers toward Fengming City.
Fengming City was located on the north bank of the Yili River, about two hundred li away. Built along the mountains, it was tall, sturdy, easy to defend but difficult to attack. As it was the closest to Suire City, it served as the logistical headquarters for the army’s expedition to Beiting, with three thousand troops stationed there.
Fengming City not only stored large amounts of food and military supplies but also housed a new institution—the Beiting Army’s Western Expedition Hospital. Tang soldiers injured in battles against Suire would be bandaged on the spot and sent to Fengming City for treatment and recovery.
There were not only a hundred military doctors there but also a barracks for female soldiers of the Beiting Army. Establishing field hospitals and accompanying female soldiers had become one of the Beiting Army’s most distinctive features. In the age of cold weapons, soldiers mostly did not die in battle but rather from injuries and blood loss. During the Battle of Chiling, Li Qingan successfully established a unit of female soldiers. After arriving in Beiting, he recruited five hundred strong women from among the military families to form a battalion of female soldiers. Shi Sanniang, the wife of Li Feiyuanli, was the first commander of this battalion.
Two days later, Li Qingan led his army to Fengming City. By then, the city was already bustling with activity. In addition to troops from Yuegong City, soldiers from the other three cities had also arrived over the past two days, bringing the total number of Tang troops to fifteen thousand.
Fengming City could not accommodate such a large number of troops, so the Tang troops who arrived earlier set up camps beside the city, dug deep ditches, erected thick barriers, and arranged their tents neatly, creating an orderly military camp.
The arrival of the main force of the Tang army made the camp even more lively. Han Zhi, the governor of Yizhou, who had just come from Longwei City, along with the Shatuo generals Zhu Xia Jinzhong and Zhu Xia Shengyi, went out to welcome them.
“Sir, you’re the last to arrive. As a penalty, you must drink three cups of tea instead of wine!” Han Zhi said with a smile as he punched Li Qingan lightly.
Li Qingan took his hand and laughed, “I’ve come from a thousand li away. I can’t compare to you guys. I’m just from nearby.”
He then nodded at Zhu Xia Jinzhong and said with a smile, “When did General Jinzhong arrive?”
The three thousand soldiers of the Shatuo battalion were stationed in Longwei City and Beihan City, under the command of Governor Han Zhi of Yizhou. Zhu Xia Jinzhong quickly replied, “Reporting to the general, we arrived early this morning.”
“Good! Everyone, take a rest for an hour. One hour later, all officers above the rank of Guoyi Commandant must gather in my tent.”
The soldiers went inside to rest. At that moment, Han Zhi stepped forward and whispered to Li Qingan, “I just received news from scouts. It seems that the Shi State might also attack Suire.”

Li Qing’an glanced at him. This news should have been reported to him by Li Fei Shouyu from Fengming City—whose scout’s message was he receiving? Li Qing’an didn’t ask further and smiled, saying, “On our way here, we encountered a group of Hu merchants, and I also got news from them. Things are getting quite lively now.” At that moment, Li Fei Shouyu arrived with Bai Xiaode and Bai Xiaojie. From afar, he apologized, “Lord, I was busy arranging the camp and arrived late. Please forgive me.” “What’s wrong with the tents? Are there not enough?” “No! It’s not that! It’s that the Shatuo people insist on staying together. There are too many of them, and I originally planned to split them into two groups.” “It was my order to let the Shatuo people live together.” Han Zhi quickly said to Li Qing’an, “My mother is a Shatuo, so I know that they generally prefer to live together and dislike being separated. Please understand their customs, Lord.” Li Qing’an smiled, “It’s just a minor issue. Besides, we’ll only be camped here for two days at most.” Han Zhi was shocked, “Are we going to use troops so soon?” “Speed is crucial in warfare. The reason I stationed heavy troops in five cities in advance was to gain the upper hand before the enemy could detect our strategic intentions. If everything had to be arranged slowly, what’s the point of building those five cities?” Hearing Li Qing’an’s stern tone, Han Zhi wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “I was too simplistic in my thinking.” “It’s fine. Governor Han, go back to your duties! I still need to discuss some military matters with Shouyu.” Li Qing’an dismissed Han Zhi and immediately asked Li Fei Shouyu, “What’s going on? Why did Han Zhi also send scouts?” Li Fei Shouyu gave a bitter smile and said, “This is exactly what I was about to report to you. I just found out that Han Zhi secretly sent scouts to Ashibulai City a month and a half ago to gather information. As a result, the scouts were captured, revealing the troop deployment in Longwei City. That’s why the Shi State has sent more troops to Ashibulai City, aiming to capture Suiye before the Tang army.” Li Qing’an was furious. “What does this bastard want?” “If I’m not mistaken, he wants to take credit for himself. He wants to capture Ashibulai City first before you.” “He can dream!” After pondering for a moment, Li Qing’an said, “Go and call Zhu Xia Jinzhong here.” … … Li Qing’an returned to his command tent first. Moments later, Zhu Xia Jinzhong rushed over, knelt down, and saluted, “Your humble servant greets the military governor!”

Zhu Xia Jinzhong was the son of Guduzhi. According to the initial agreement, after the Shatuo people obtained the Jinshan Pasture, they sent three thousand elite soldiers to join the Beiting Army, divided into two camps. One camp was led by Zhu Xia Jinzhong, with two thousand cavalry, stationed north of Tingzhou under the direct command of Li Qingan. The other camp was led by Guduzhi’s nephew, Zhu Xia Shengyi, with one thousand cavalry, stationed north of Yizhou to defend against the Uyghurs, under the command of Han Zhi, the governor of Yizhou. Both camps arrived at Wucheng ahead of schedule. Zhu Xia Jinzhong was stationed in Baihan City, while Zhu Xia Shengyi and Han Zhi were stationed in Longwei City.

Li Qingan asked directly, “Can you command Zhu Xia Shengyi’s cavalry?”

Zhu Xia Jinzhong felt embarrassed and replied, “Although we are both Shatuo people, we belong to different tribes. I cannot command Shengyi’s troops.”

Li Qingan pondered for a moment before asking, “What caused the trouble at the camp this time?”

“Reporting to you, sir, we were not originally supposed to live together, but Shengyi insisted that I and his men live together. Governor Han also tried to persuade me. His mother is from Shengyi’s tribe, so he understands Shatuo customs—brothers are inseparable.”

Li Qingan sneered. He understood Han Zhi’s intentions—he wanted to attack Ashibulai City first, but he only had two thousand men. Together with Shengyi’s one thousand Shatuo cavalry, that was only three thousand troops, which was not enough. Since he couldn’t command the Hanhai and Tianshan armies, he turned his attention to another Shatuo tribe.

The battle hadn’t even started yet, and they were already acting out of self-interest.

“Jinzhong, do you understand what Governor Han means by wanting you to live with him?”

Zhu Xia Jinzhong’s face turned red as he said in a low voice, “I understand his intention. But please rest assured, sir. Before I left, my father repeatedly told me that the future of the Shatuo people lies with you. He told me to follow all your orders, even if they conflict with those from the imperial court.”

Li Qingan nodded with a smile. “Very good. Your father is a wise man.”

Just then, a burst of shouting and noise came from outside. A bodyguard rushed into the tent and reported urgently, “Sir, the troops from Yizhou and the Tianshan army have started fighting over the campsite.”