Chapter 399: Night Attack on That City

Although the Abbasid Dynasty did not suffer a severe famine as Li Qing’an had imagined, it indeed faced the test of a harsh winter. The loss of Sindh and Punjab, two major grain reserves, caused grain prices in Damascus to soar. Coupled with direct trade between the Tang Dynasty and the Romans, Arab trade interests were greatly diminished. Various adverse factors loomed over the young Abbasid Empire, causing widespread anxiety and continuous price increases. The ruling class of the Abbasid Dynasty finally realized that the Tang Dynasty was their most formidable enemy—having already ruined decades of Arab efforts to expand eastward, and the Tang people had replaced their traditional rival, the Romans.

Realizing these serious consequences, Caliph Mansur ultimately decided to reconcile with the Romans, acknowledging Cyprus as belonging to Constantinople. He also sent Vizier Khalid as a special envoy to Constantinople.

In the Damascus palace, Mansur paced anxiously in his map room. He could faintly hear the angry shouts of the people outside the palace—thousands of lower-class Damascus residents complaining about soaring grain prices, expressing their discontent during prayers. Mansur had ordered grain to be brought in from Egypt, but this was only a temporary measure. Egypt was also unstable, and exploiting its wealth too much might exacerbate tensions and lead to riots there.

In fact, Mansur’s concern was not solely about food but also about his territory and authority. The corrupt Umayyad Dynasty had still managed to expand into the East and secure a steady stream of wealth, while his new Abbasid Dynasty had failed to expand eastward and had repeatedly lost the achievements of the previous dynasty. How would the Arabs view him?

Three years ago, when Transoxiana was lost, the Abbasids had never considered giving up completely; they were waiting for an opportunity to reclaim it. Unfortunately, the Abbasid leader passed away, and the task of recovering Transoxiana fell to Mansur. Mansur never admitted that Transoxiana was lost. His negotiations with the Tang Dynasty were merely a delaying tactic—they needed to deal with the remnants of the Umayyads in Western Spain. But now, not only had they not regained Transoxiana, they had also lost Sindh and Punjab.

Mansur stared at the vast lands east of the Amu Darya River on the map, his fists clenching tightly.

“Your Majesty, General Ziyad has arrived.”

“Oh! Please have him come in at once.”

Man Sul was pleasantly surprised. Ziyad’s arrival meant that some discord between them had dissipated. Man Sul had once considered eliminating Ziyad because he hadn’t become his trusted ally as he had hoped. Khorasan still maintained a certain distance from Damascus, and Ziyad had merely replaced Muslim as the new ruler of Khorasan, which filled Man Sul with dissatisfaction. This resentment peaked when the Tang forces launched a massive attack on Transoxiana, and Ziyad stood by idly, watching Transoxiana fall. At that moment, Man Sul’s dissatisfaction turned into fierce anger.

But now, the changing circumstances meant Man Sul needed Ziyad’s help again. Last month, he had given Ziyad a hundred beautiful female slaves. Ziyad understood what was expected of him and immediately wrote a letter to Man Sul, explaining why he hadn’t sent reinforcements to Sindh and Transoxiana. The Tang forces had strengthened their military presence in the Transoxian region, stationing 40,000 troops along the Amu Darya River. If they sent troops to Transoxiana, the Tang forces would launch a full-scale attack on Khorasan. Meanwhile, Damascus’s army was occupied by the Romans and unable to provide support from the east. To prevent Khorasan from falling, Ziyad had no choice but to remain inactive.

His explanation won Man Sul’s understanding, and so Ziyad came to see him as scheduled.

Ziyad hurried into the Map Palace and bowed deeply to Man Sul with great respect, saying, “Your Majesty, the Caliph, your servant Ziyad ibn Sarih al-Khuzai pays his respects to you!”

“General Ziyad, you’ve had a long journey. Please sit!”

Man Sul invited Ziyad to sit and personally poured him a cup of hot tea from the Tang dynasty. Smiling, he asked, “How do you like the maids I gave you?”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I like them very much. But I don’t know how to repay your generosity.”

“I don’t need any other repayment from you. As long as you keep your promises, that will be the greatest gratitude you can show me.”

“Does Your Majesty mean… Transoxiana?”

Ziyad remembered that when he was appointed governor of Khorasan, he had promised Man Sul that he would reclaim Transoxiana within three years. He still had one and a half years left.

Man Sul nodded. “It’s time for you to fulfill your promise.”

Ziyad hesitated for a moment and said, “But Khorasan only has 40,000 troops. To take Transoxiana and fight against the Tang forces, we need at least 100,000 troops. Muslim also thought so back then, and we would also need the most advanced weapons.”

Perhaps Qiyad mentioned a name that Mansur really didn’t want to hear. His expression gradually darkened, and he said unhappily, “I know better than you how many troops are needed to deal with the Tang army. You are just one of my several forces, and you’re not the commander in charge of fighting the Tang army. I am the commander, and you must obey my orders absolutely. Do you understand?”
Qiyad knelt down, placed Mansur’s hand on his forehead, and said solemnly, “Most noble Caliph, I have not the slightest disrespect for you. I will faithfully carry out your orders. Give me your commands!”
Mansur stared into his eyes and saw a hint of loyalty, which reminded him of the Qiyad he had seen on Mount Boshan years ago. Mansur’s expression gradually softened, and he nodded, saying, “Go and wait! I will give you orders soon.”
Qiyad withdrew, while Mansur stood by the map with his hands behind his back, silently gazing at the vast lands east of the Amu Darya River. The image of Li Qing’an, the commander of Anxi, came to mind—that ambitious commander of the Tang army. He had heard that Li Qing’an had become a prince of the Tang Dynasty. Was he prepared to engage in a major battle with the Arabs?
“Your Majesty, have you summoned me?”
Khalid’s voice came from behind. He had returned from Constantinople just the day before. Without turning around, Mansur asked, “Do you think the Roman emperor will really abide by the military agreement with the Tang Dynasty and send troops to support them?”
“If it were half a year from now, perhaps, but right now he has no time to spare. When I was in Constantinople, he was busy building castles to defend against invasions from the West.”
“You mean the Bulgars?”
“Yes! I just received news that the Bulgars proposed to marry Princess Eirwen to their prince, but their request was rejected. The Bulgars have already attacked the Romans. So I think that if we let go of the Tang Dynasty, now is the perfect opportunity for us to reclaim Cyprus.”
“No!” Mansur rejected Khalid’s suggestion of attacking the Roman Empire without hesitation. “Our main enemy is in the East. I have been waiting for this day for three whole years.”
……
It was already early December, and the Amu Darya River basin was in a frozen winter season. This year’s winter was especially harsh, with howling north winds freezing the river solid, turning the thousand-mile-long Amu Darya into a crystal-clear ribbon of ice.

On that day, heavy snow fell from the sky—a severe snowstorm rarely seen in the Amu Darya basin in decades. Snowflakes covered everything, sometimes carried by the cold wind and swirling in the air. In just half a day, both banks of the Amu Darya turned completely white.

That evening, a camel cavalry force of about three thousand men appeared in the desert west of the Amu Darya. It was a well-equipped Khurasan army, wearing iron helmets and shiny scale armor, carrying bows and shields on their backs and sharp spears in their hands. They were draped in white cloaks, making them hard to spot in the fierce snowstorm. Yet they moved swiftly, unaffected by the weather, heading straight for the Amu Darya, about ten miles away.

The Amu Darya was known as the Wuhu River in the Tang Dynasty. By now, it had become the boundary between Tang forces and those of the Abbasids. Months earlier, during the battles against Tocharia and Sindh, the Tang army had driven the Abbasid forces completely across the Amu Darya. To prevent Khurasan from supporting Tocharia, Li Siyeh, the military commander overseeing the river region, stationed tens of thousands of troops on the west bank of the Amu Darya. This forced the Abbasid forces in Khurasan to refrain from taking reckless actions. Now that the battles in Tocharia were over, Li Siyeh still kept twenty thousand troops along the Amu Darya, distributed across fifteen fortresses. Signal towers connected these fortresses, extending all the way to Samarkand, forming a robust defense system.

But today, the once-in-decades snowstorm weakened the Tang army’s defense system. Nothing could be seen beyond a few dozen steps, and the Tang troops hid inside the fortresses, waiting for the storm to pass.

As darkness fell, the snowstorm continued to rage along both banks of the Amu Darya. Dongsan City was the seventh fortress built by the Tang army along the river and the third largest among the fifteen fortresses, with about three thousand troops stationed there. The sudden severe snowstorm also forced the troops to retreat into the fortress, halting normal patrols. Outside the fortress, everything was pitch black, as if the entire land had been swallowed by a mist.

About eight miles south of Dongsan City, the three thousand Abbasid troops finally reached the banks of the Amu Darya. Their journey had also been extremely difficult; they could hardly see their way, with only their guides navigating by instinct. The three thousand men and camels were tied together with dozens of long ropes as they stepped onto the frozen surface of the river.

The leader of this army was named Shahim, a trusted general under Qiyad. This time, he followed Qiyad’s orders to lead three thousand cavalry deep into the region to gauge the Tang army’s reactions and troop deployments. It was unlikely they would survive this mission—advancing alone into enemy territory with no way to retreat, yet orders were absolute, so Shahim had no choice but to lead his troops in a risky crossing of the Amu Darya River.

Although thick ropes of grass were tied around the legs of both men and camels, they kept slipping on the slippery ice, with cries of panic echoing everywhere. Fortunately, it was deep night and snowing heavily, and the Tang army had no patrols on the opposite bank, allowing them to cross the Amu Darya by chance. The falling snow quickly covered their footprints and traces.

After crossing the Amu Darya, the three thousand Arabs continued marching forward. Ahead lay an endless desert. By dawn the next day, the snow finally stopped. In the dim morning light, they saw distant mountain ranges. Shahim was deeply moved—he was very familiar with this terrain. In the past, he had stationed his troops behind those mountains, in Nishapur, a famous gem-producing region in Transoxiana. This was the purpose of his risky expedition: to launch a surprise attack on Nishapur, shock the nations of Transoxiana, and build momentum for a larger-scale invasion.

“Speed up! Reach Nishapur before dark!” Shahim ordered. The three thousand Arab cavalry spurred their camels, shouting as they rushed northeast in a torrential charge.

……

Nishapur was the capital of the Kingdom of Khotan and the smallest nation among those of Transoxiana closest to the Arabs. Known as the City of Gems, it produced various precious stones, bringing endless wealth to the city. However, this wealth did not go into the hands of the people of Nishapur but rather into those of a few powerful families from Samarkand and Bukhara, who controlled the gem trade while the locals became their laborers.

The Kingdom of Khotan also lay at the western edge of the Fergana Valley, surrounded by towering mountains. About a hundred miles south of Nishapur was the famous Iron Gate Pass, the most strategic point in Transoxiana leading to Turkestan. On the other side of the Iron Gate Pass lay the Kingdom of Jiesu, the first nation attacked by the Tang army during the Turkestan campaigns. The Tang army stationed fifty thousand troops at the Iron Gate Pass.

Shahim knew that their three thousand camel cavalry could not capture the Iron Gate Pass. His target was not the pass but Nishapur. Thanks to his familiarity with the terrain, he could bypass the mountains from the north and then head south along the Duomo River straight to Nishapur.

Due to the Tang army’s deployment of heavy forces along the Amu Darya River, the countries in the region had few troops stationed there, especially the Kingdom of Khotan. Most of its troops were stationed at Tienmen Pass, leaving only a little over a thousand Tang soldiers in Nishapur to maintain order in the city.

Unlike Bukhara, the conflict between Muslims and Zoroastrians in Nishapur was not severe; it could even be described as “harmonious coexistence.” Each group had its own temples and generally did not interfere with one another. The city’s population was around 30,000, nearly half of whom were engaged in mining, extracting large quantities of gemstone ore and breaking it down to find various gems.

After the Tang army took control of the region, the gemstone industry continued to thrive. Previously, the gems were mainly sold to the Arabs, but now they were sold to the Tang people, usually to Chuy, from where merchants would transport them to Central China.

Like the Amu Darya River, Nishapur was also hit by a severe snowstorm not seen in decades. It darkened early, and starting at noon, heavy snow began to fall. Snowflakes covered everything, and darkness enveloped the area, quickly turning the city and its surroundings into a world of darkness.

Dozens of Tang soldiers were guarding the city gates on the walls. The gates were already closed, and the soldiers had gathered in rooms to keep warm by the fire. They were chatting and laughing, with a half-roasted lamb leg cooking over the fire, filling the room with a strong scent of meat. Suddenly, one of the soldiers seemed to hear something and said to their deputy officer, “Deputy Sun, it seems someone is shouting outside the city!”

“Then go and check!”

Deputy Sun, who was focused on roasting meat, ignored him. The soldier went outside and returned after a while, saying, “Deputy officer, it’s a group of merchants. I heard many camel calls.”

“Where are they from?”

“They say they’re from Samarkand and ask us to open the gates.”

“It’s rule to close the gates at dusk!”

Deputy Sun waved his hand impatiently and said, “Tell them to wait outside overnight and enter in the morning.”

Just then, a loud crash came from outside. With a thunderous sound, the entire city wall trembled. Several soldiers lost their balance and fell to the ground, and the roasting rack tipped over, causing the nearly cooked lamb to fall to the floor.

The Tang soldiers looked at each other, unsure of what had happened. Suddenly, another loud noise erupted, and the city wall shook violently again. Deputy Sun quickly realized what was happening and shouted, “Alert everyone! Someone is trying to break through the city gates!”

“Dong! Dong!” The shrill ringing of bells filled the night sky. Dozens of Tang soldiers defending the city rushed up the walls. In the pitch darkness, no figures could be seen. They drew their bows, loosed arrows at the city gates, and cries of pain echoed from below. Just then, another loud, thunderous impact came from the gates, shaking the ground violently. Finally, the gates could no longer hold and were torn open with a crash.

Three thousand Arab camel cavalry charged into Nasehbo City, shouting loudly. At that moment, the first batch of about four hundred Tang soldiers also rushed out. In the darkness, seeing a swarm of dark camel silhouettes charging into the city, they all drew their bows and fired arrows. Arrows rained down like swarms of locusts, densely hitting the Arab cavalry, causing them to fall off their camels while cries of pain filled the air. Shahim, eyes red with fury, tried to storm into the city but encountered fierce resistance. Unwilling to give up, he swung his curved sword and shouted, “Charge! Either we perish all or we capture Nasehbo!”

The Arab army charged forward, using their shields to block the Tang soldiers’ sharp arrows. In an instant, they reached the Tang soldiers. The Tang soldiers also put down their bows and used spears to fight, engaging in a brutal battle with the invading Arab cavalry. The square inside the city gates turned into a bloody battlefield.

More and more Arab cavalry poured in through the gates. By then, the thousand Tang soldiers stationed in Nasehbo had all arrived. The situation was urgent; they didn’t have time to mount their horses and fought as infantry. The beacon towers on the rooftops of Nasehbo City burned brightly with flames, standing out sharply in the darkness. They sent pleas for help to the troops guarding Tiemenguan to the south.

The battle in the darkness was especially fierce. They couldn’t see each other’s faces and fought bloody battles based solely on height differences—tall were the Arab cavalry, short were the Tang infantry. They also couldn’t see each other’s weapons. Often, after a spear pierced through an opponent’s chest, they themselves would have their heads cut off with a single strike. Cries of pain echoed continuously, limbs flew everywhere, and blood splattered in all directions.

The Tang commander defending Nasehbo was Luo Yanguang, a senior officer who belonged to the old Anxi army. He had participated in the battles of Juyanti and Talas and possessed considerable experience. He realized that the number of Arab soldiers far exceeded theirs, and since they were camel cavalry, they had an advantage over the Tang infantry. The Tang soldiers, fighting in separate formations, were clearly at a disadvantage.

Anxiously, he shouted, “Infantry, form up! Infantry, form up!”

Under his command, the well-trained Tang soldiers began to gather, quickly transitioning from chaos into an infantry formation. Back to back, they formed a spear wall, coordinating with each other as they advanced step by step, using collective strength to launch a counterattack against the Arab cavalry.

At this moment, dark mist covered everything, making it impossible to see clearly. The combat strength of both sides hinged on whose troops were better trained. If it were the Tocharian or Sindh forces, even with a thousand infantry against three thousand cavalry, the Tang army would still sweep them away. But they were facing the elite Khorasan forces—three thousand men selected from forty thousand Khorasan soldiers, capable of breaking through even the chaos of a blizzard. Their combat prowess was thus evident.

By then, most of the Arab cavalry had rushed into the city gates, and Shahim began to arrange his troops. They formed groups of a hundred and launched fierce attacks from all directions at the Tang infantry formations. Once again, both sides engaged in brutal combat.

A Tang soldier in the front line had his chest pierced by a spear thrown by an Arab officer. Crying in pain, he fell to the ground. Another Tang soldier immediately took his place and, together with those on his flanks, thrust their three spears at the Arab officer, piercing his body. The Arab officer screamed as his body was lifted high into the air…

As time passed, the situation became increasingly unfavorable for the Tang army. Nearly half of their troops had been killed. Although the Arab forces also suffered heavy losses, their numerical advantage grew, turning a 3-to-1 ratio into a 5-to-1 one.

Luo Yanguang realized that if they continued fighting, the entire Tang army would be annihilated. He immediately ordered, “Abandon the city and break through!”

More than five hundred Tang soldiers rallied their strength, broke through the Arab encirclement, and retreated swiftly southward. Using the familiar streets and alleys, they returned to the barracks and stables, mounted their horses, and quickly left Nishapur through the southern gate.