Chapter 245: The Fall of the Northern City

“Boom!” With a loud crash, an iron gate was violently struck by a thick tree. The gate shook violently, on the verge of collapsing. The Persian soldiers on the city wall shouted and drew their bows, shooting arrows down at the slaves below. Arrows rained down, and dozens of ragged slaves collapsed with screams after being hit. Yet more slaves stepped forward, using wooden planks as shields to defend against the arrows from above.

Silver City was a medium-sized town at the foot of Mount Boshan, built by the Persians in the 20th year of the Kaiyuan era. It served as the stronghold for the Persians controlling over a dozen silver mines on Mount Boshan. With more than a thousand Persian troops stationed there, the city stored large quantities of silver and grain. Over the past decade, it had brought immense wealth to the Persian Umayyad dynasty.

Where there is oppression, there is resistance. At that moment, uprisings of slaves broke out in all the mines on Mount Boshan.

All this was driven by 300 Tang soldiers who incited the enslaved slaves, telling them that the Tang army had come to Central Asia to restore their freedom and faith. Now that the Tang army had defeated the Persian forces, they would all be able to return to their homes and reunite with their families.

The slaves in the silver mines were mostly Zoroastrian believers captured by the Persians from Sogdiana and Turkestan. They had been mining on Mount Boshan for five or six years, performing grueling physical labor, eating the poorest food, suffering from the elements, and being beaten and whipped. Time and again, they had watched their comrades die around them and seen their statues of Ahura Mazda smashed to pieces. Now, fury burned in their hearts, and 50,000 slaves from over a dozen silver mines on the north side of Mount Boshan rose up in revolt.

They fought back using iron picks, wooden sticks, chains, and any tools at their disposal. The more than 3,000 Persian soldiers overseeing the mines were forced to flee in panic. Many were killed by the enraged slaves; their weapons were seized, their tents burned, and their records torn apart. They fled to Silver City for shelter, but soon, slaves gathered from all directions surrounded the city. They demanded food and wanted to return to their homes.

The vast crowd of 50,000 slaves, like an angry swarm of ants, surrounded Silver City completely. 300 Tang scouts rode among them, directing the slaves in their attack on the city.

But Qin Haiyang’s heart was filled with worry. He felt that the slaves’ rebellion was about to get out of control. Yes, they had suffered too much oppression, and there was so much pent-up anger in their hearts. Once that oppression was released and their anger erupted, they would do things that would harm the Tang army’s interests—they would plunder all the silver and gold stored in the city, and then Qin Haiyang would have no chance of rising to power or becoming rich.

But he knew there was one person who could control the situation. Qin Haiyang rode his horse straight to the most respected among the slaves—a Vohuism elder named Barumi. He was the son of the great Vohuism elder of the Shi state. When captured, he had also been strong and muscular. Nearly twenty years had passed, and now he had become an old man. He had taken over his father’s business in the silver mine and had become the Vohuism elder secretly worshipped by the fifty thousand slaves there.

“Barumi, you must make them kill the Big Eaters. Don’t let them loot the supplies in the warehouses. I will distribute them evenly among everyone.”

Barumi sat on a wooden plank, carried by six followers. His legs had been broken by the Big Eaters during an escape ten years earlier, and since then he had been unable to stand.

Barumi lowered his head and after a long while slowly said, “You want them to kill the Big Eaters for you, but you won’t give them any reward. Who would be willing to do that?”

“Very well. Then tell everyone that for killing one Big Eater, they will receive one jin of silver, double the usual amount of food, and everything belonging to the Big Eater will go to them.”

“Everyone deserves one jin of silver—that’s the fruit of their years of hard work. Those who kill the Big Eaters will get double!”

“Damn, what a heartless bastard!” Qin Haiyang cursed in Chinese and spat heavily. “Fine! I agree to it.”

Barumi waved his hand, and his followers carried him onto a high platform. At that moment, countless eyes turned toward him. He spread his arms slightly, and immediately, silence fell outside the city.

“My disciples!”

His voice was loud and clear, carried far by the wind.

“Today is the day when Ahura Mazda, our supreme god, liberates us. We must kill the Big Eaters who have insulted our god. But first, we must use the supplies in the city to worship our god. After we hold the worship ceremony, I will bring light to everyone, as per the will of our god.”

“Damn, what a smooth talker!” Qin Haiyang muttered under his breath.

“My disciples, let us break through these gates in the name of the god and kill all the Big Eaters.”

“Kill them!”

The fifty thousand slaves roared in fury, their cries echoing across the sky. Barumi pointed at the city gates. “Go! Smash them!”

Fifty thousand people surged like waves toward the city gates. Nearly a thousand of them held huge battering rams and charged at the gates once again. With a deafening crash, the gates shook violently, as if the entire earth were trembling.
“One, two, three!”
The massive rams struck the gates again with force. The dilapidated gates could no longer hold and were torn open with a roar. Thousands of slaves rushed into the city, while the Abbasid soldiers scattered in panic. Two hundred Tang soldiers, who had been waiting, rode after the slaves. Qin Haiyang shouted loudly, “Hurry! Seize the treasury!”
The Tang soldiers rushed deep into the city like a gust of wind. They had already investigated and learned that the treasury was at the heart of the city, a huge white building. From afar, they saw the prominent white structure and charged toward it at lightning speed.
Almost all the Abbasid soldiers had gone to defend the city, leaving only twenty or thirty guards in front of the treasury. As the two hundred Tang soldiers rushed in, arrows flew before they even arrived—like meteors—killing more than twenty of the fleeing guards in an instant.
A few Abbasid soldiers knelt on the ground, begging for mercy. The Tang soldiers rushed forward and slashed with their swords. Qin Haiyang shouted anxiously, “Spare their lives!”
Only then were the lives of a few prisoners spared. Qin Haiyang dismounted, pointed his sword at each of their foreheads, and ordered in imperfect Sogdian, “Open the treasury!”
The Abbasid soldiers nervously took out the keys and opened the vault. As the heavy iron doors creaked open, they revealed another stone room built of huge stones, extremely sturdy—this was where the Abbasid people stored their gold and silver.
One of the iron doors was opened, and a beam of light shone into the dark stone room. The room covered about two mu of land, but half of it was empty, while the other half was filled with boxes of large silver ingots. The Abbasid people cast these ingots according to specific standards, each weighing about fifty jin.
The ingots piled up like small mountains—twenty per box, totaling a thousand jin. There were roughly three hundred boxes in the treasury, meaning at least three hundred thousand jin in total. This was the third batch of silver the Abbasid people planned to take away; the second batch had been sunk by the Tang soldiers in secret waters.
If each of the fifty thousand slaves got one jin, there would still be two hundred fifty thousand jin left. Such a large amount of silver would be enough to promote Qin Haiyang to a military officer.
Qin Haiyang was overjoyed. Suddenly, noisy shouts came from afar as countless people rushed toward them. He immediately ordered, “Lock up the treasury! No one is allowed in!”
……

On the very day the Tang forces captured the capital of Dongcao Country, 300 of their scouts successfully incited slaves to rebel and seized Yin City. Four days later, Lifi Yuanli led 5,000 Tang troops into Yin City, thus bringing this largest silver mine under Tang control.
……
In Samarkand, the reports of the initial defeat of the Abbasid forces in Dongcao Country were presented to Abu Muslim. He did not explode in anger; instead, this defeat was within his expectations. He had sent only 30,000 troops to Dongcao Country, including 10,000 Sogdian soldiers, while his elite Khorasan forces, led by Qiyad, returned with 15,000 men, in line with his expectations.
Since Mansur returned to Damascus ten days earlier, Muslim had taken full control of the decision-making for the campaign against the Tang Dynasty. To win this battle, he devised a meticulous plan, even resorting to using Dongcao Country as a bait to lure the Tang forces into a trap. Now half of his plan had succeeded; the rest depended on Khalid’s performance. Standing in front of the map, Muslim stared coldly at the small northern city marked on it. Capturing it would allow him to simultaneously strangle Suyab and Tashkent.
A faint smile appeared on Abu Muslim’s lips as he murmured to himself, “Heir to the Barmakid family, will you disappoint me?”
……
The night sky was clear, and the White Water River, illuminated by the moonlight, formed an arc as it disappeared eastward into the distant horizon. On both sides of the river lay long, endless forests shrouded in mist. This was a low-lying valley in the Fergana Basin, with a climate much warmer than that of Tuozhi City, thanks to the Kent Mountains blocking the cold winds from the north.
Large areas along the riverbanks were covered with fragrant firs, cedars, and cypresses, interspersed with wide open spaces filled with shrubs. The unknown berries in these shrubs had ripened, glowing brightly.
Upstream in this remote valley lay a small castle called White Water City. It was a necessary passage north from Tuozhi City to Talas City and served as an important resting place for merchants. Its significance lay solely in this function; it held no major strategic value, so only a single battalion of 500 Tang troops was stationed there.
The city itself had a small population of only three or four hundred households. Qu Le, the deputy king of the Shi State, lived in poverty here.

That night, a large Arab cavalry force of about three thousand men slowly approached Baisui City. However, their advance was not concealed, and the beacon towers near Baisui City immediately detected them. Three flames shot into the sky from the towers, their bright light shining brightly in the darkness—a signal of an enemy army approaching. Soon after, the alarm bells in Baisui City rang loudly, and more flames rose. Quickly, the beacon towers on Kent Mountain to the north of Baisui City were also lit, transmitting the alarm signals to Talas City one by one.

Baisui City was closer to Talas City than Tuozhi City, being only about two hundred li away. Half an hour later, the distress signals from Baisui City’s beacon towers reached Talas City.

By then, Talas City’s garrison had been increased to five thousand men. Talas City held extreme strategic importance: heading east along the northern foothills of Qianquan Mountain, passing through Julan City and Ashibulai City, one could reach Suiye, which was about seven hundred li away. To the north lay the famous trade route to Byzantium. When the Turks moved southward and crossed Qianquan Mountain, they first reached Talas City, which served as a vital passage for their southern advance.

Due to its crucial strategic position, Li Qing’an attached great importance to it, gradually increasing the garrison from an initial two thousand to five thousand men. Yet, in handling Baisui City’s status, Li Qing’an made a defensive mistake. Since Baisui City was close to Talas City and the two cities had a historical connection that allowed them to support each other, Li Qing’an designated Baisui City as a subordinate city of Talas City.

But this subordinate relationship imposed a responsibility on Talas City toward Baisui City, which in turn became a defensive weakness. When the distress signals from Baisui City arrived, General Bai Xiaojie immediately led three thousand troops to rush to Baisui City for support overnight.

The night slowly gave way to unrest, as a fiery red sun rose slowly atop Qianquan Mountain in the east, casting its radiant light over the vast land. The defenders of Talas City continued to patrol the city walls as usual.

The soldiers looked westward and saw dark smoke rising in the distance—signaling an alarm from a beacon tower twenty li away. But they paid it no mind, clearly assuming it was still the distress signal from Baisui City, whose beacon towers had been burning all night, leaving the soldiers exhausted.

Suddenly, one soldier screamed. Pointing west, he shouted, “Look quickly! What’s that?”

The soldiers on the city walls turned to look west, and their hearts turned to ice. In the distance, several miles away, a long black line appeared at the edge of the grassland, rapidly approaching.

“It’s the Arab army!”

Someone shouted, and the alarm bells rang. The Tang soldiers rushed to the city walls, all of them in shock.
Several miles away, the main force of the Abbasid army advanced in overwhelming numbers toward Taraz, like black waves rolling one after another—over 30,000 men strong. Among them were massive catapults, their huge wooden wheels rolling loudly across the grasslands.
At the front of the army, Khalid al-Barmak, a general of the Abbasid Empire, stared darkly at Taraz in the distance. With an army of 30,000, there was no need to launch a night attack on Baisui City to lure the Tang forces away; their sheer numbers were enough to overwhelm the city.
Khalid al-Barmak was the eldest son of the prestigious Barmak family in Persia, descendants of the Persian royal family with the noblest bloodline. He had once been a favorite general of Abu Muslim, but not anymore—because he was a Shiite. Abu Muslim’s brutal suppression of Shiites in Transoxiana angered Khalid, who then defected to Mansur. Since Mansur had reached a compromise with Muslim before returning to Damascus, allowing Muslim to command his army, Muslim ordered Khalid to lead 30,000 Syrian troops in a surprise attack on Taraz.
Though dissatisfied with Muslim, Khalid greatly admired his tactics—using Dongcao Country to draw the Tang forces south and having Ziyad hold them off while he advanced north along the Syr Darya River, crossing it west of Taraz to capture the city and head straight for Suyab, thereby putting the Tang forces at a disadvantage.
Khalid swung his sword and shouted loudly, “Advance! Take Taraz!”
……
As the main force of the Abbasid army moved north, news of Taraz’s fall and the destruction of its defending troops reached the capital of Dongcao Country two days later. By then, the Tang forces were preparing for battle at Samarkand. The loss of Taraz shocked every Tang general, especially General Bai Xiaojie, who was killed in an ambush while trying to reinforce the city, causing great sorrow among the Tang commanders.
Li Siye and Li Guangbi arrived at Li Qingan’s tent simultaneously.
“The general has locked himself in his tent and won’t see anyone,” Li Guangbi said first, sighing.
Li Siye nodded. “We should persuade him. The situation isn’t that bad yet; it can still be turned around.”
“Let him calm down. Let him think things through,” Li Guangbi said, understanding Li Qingan’s feelings at that moment.

Inside the large tent, Li Qing’an sat in front of the sand table, gazing blankly at Talas. The loss of Talas City had put him at a strategic disadvantage, and the death of Bai Xiaojie caused him deep pain. It was his responsibility—he had underestimated the enemy. Since capturing Suiye, everything had gone smoothly, leading him to underestimate Abu Muslim, thinking his poor performance was due to a strained relationship with Mansur.

But he had forgotten that Abu Muslim was the very man who had once defeated Gao Xianzhi decisively. He had underestimated such a formidable opponent and even thought he could capture Samarkand in one fell swoop.

It was only now that Li Qing’an realized he had been in Abu Muslim’s plan all along. Abu Muslim used Qiyad’s 30,000 troops to hold him busy while secretly sending his main forces north to capture Talas City, trading away a useless small state for strategic advantages.

Li Qing’an sighed. The cost of underestimating the enemy was indeed heavy. He glanced outside the tent and saw Li Guangbi and Li Siye standing there. He said, “Let them in.”

The tent curtain was lifted, and Li Guangbi and Li Siye entered. They looked at each other, unsure who should speak first. Li Qing’an smiled slightly and said, “Do you think I’m sitting here alone, suffering?”

Li Siye scratched the back of his head and laughed, “We were worried that the great general might lose confidence after such a setback.”

“Lose confidence?”

Li Qing’an sneered. “Why would I lose confidence?”

He walked a few steps around the tent with his hands behind his back, then turned to the two of them and said, “I admit I underestimated the enemy. I underestimated Muslim. I also know that once Talas City fell, the Arabs seized the upper hand and took control of the entire campaign. But does that mean I’ll lose confidence? If so, why fight any more battles?”

At that moment, Li Guangbi said, “Actually, even if the battle at Dongcao was a feint by the enemy, their cost was also severe, especially the loss of Yincheng. I doubt Muslim can even explain this to their caliph.”

Li Qing’an nodded. “For capturing Yincheng, I will reward those 300 scouts generously, especially Qin Haiyang. Though he has a past, he’s a talent. He helped Anxi secure 700,000 jin of silver—a truly remarkable achievement. I will promote him to lieutenant general.”

At this point, he said to Li Guangbi again, “I’ll leave ten thousand troops with you. Don’t worry about the fate of Dongcao Country. You must defend Yincheng for me and retrieve the silver that has sunk to the bottom of the river as soon as possible. If you really can’t hold Yincheng, you may abandon it, but whatever happens, you must bring all the silver back to Anxi safely. In particular, be careful not to let the Turanian and Arab troops cut off your retreat.”
Li Guangbi bowed and said, “General, rest assured. I’ll start working on this right away.”
At that moment, Li Fei Yuanli also came in. Li Qingan smiled and said, “You’ve come at just the right time. I have a task for you.”
Li Fei Yuanli bowed and said, “Please give your orders, General!”
After thinking for a while, Li Qingan said, “Don’t let those fifty thousand slaves in Yincheng go back for now. Find a way to take them to Suiye first. Select the strongest among them for training. Tell them that the nine Sogdian kingdoms will belong to them in the future.”
“I’ll follow your orders!”
After arranging everything, Li Qingan said to Li Siye, “Next, we’ll rush back to Tuozhi City to prepare for battle against Abu Muslim’s main forces.”
At that time, a bodyguard outside the tent reported, “General, there’s a Taoist priest outside the camp who wants to see you. He says he’s coming from Chang’an.”