Chapter 479: Flames on the Plateau

After emerging from its source, the Yellow River flows east for a hundred miles before entering a large lake—this plateau lake is known as Baihai. Composed of two lakes shaped like gourds, its water is extremely clear, appearing deep green. On sunny days, the clouds in the sky and the surrounding mountains are reflected in the water clearly, resembling two pure, flawless sapphires embedded in the vast plateau at the source of the Yellow River.

The Tubo people also settled along waterways; where there were lakes and rivers, the grasslands thrived and the land became fertile. Thus, Baihai once served as a major logistical base for the Tubo army.

During the battles in August of the 11th year of the Tianbao era, Ge Shuhan launched a prolonged attack on the Tubo forces at Baihai but was defeated by Tubo reinforcements, suffering heavy losses. However, the Tubo army was also severely weakened. They eventually abandoned Baihai and retreated to their homeland in Luoshe. The Tang army then settled tens of thousands of Tu Yuguhun people there and stationed a 500-strong plateau guard force.

Three full years passed. By then, the Tu Yuguhun people had settled in, raising children, herding livestock, and drawing water, adapting to life at Baihai. Yet, a military disaster about to change their lives was quietly approaching.

It was August once again. Tens of thousands of Tubo troops crossed Zishan—what is now the Bayan Har Mountains—named for the magnificent purple hue produced by sunlight on its snow-capped peaks. The mountains are extremely high and covered in snow year-round.

Compared to the Han army, the Tubo army had a clear advantage in fighting on the plateau. They could endure long marches and often traveled thousands of miles across the plateau to attack distant targets.

This time, the Tubo army was divided into two expeditionary forces: one attacking Longyou in the east and the other attacking Anxi in the west. According to the Tubo strategy, they would first attack Longyou. The Anxi army would surely rush to support Longyou, leaving Anxi’s interior defenseless. Then, their main force would launch a full-scale attack on Anxi, while the Uyghurs would attack Beiting from the north. By coordinating their efforts, they aimed to drive the Tang forces out of Anxi completely.

This was indeed historical fact. After the Anxi Rebellion broke out, the Tubo army took advantage of the weakness in Longyou and Hexi, occupied those regions, plundered the Tang Dynasty’s resources to strengthen their own power, and cut off Tang support for Anxi, turning it into a separate territory that was eventually annexed by the Tubo. Coincidentally, it happened at this exact time.

Historically, Dazhalugong, Shangxidongzan, and Shang Jiasu led an army of 100,000 men on an eastern invasion, eventually capturing Chang’an. After plundering the city extensively, they withdrew. Historical records do not clearly state how many Tang women and men were taken away by the Tibetans, but given the Tibetans’ emphasis on capturing populations, Chang’an, a metropolis with a population of millions, must have suffered severe destruction.

After Li Qing’an altered the course of Tang history, Chang’an might never have been captured by the Tibetans again, but they still sent troops along historical patterns—still these three men: Dazhalugong, Shangxidongzan, and Shang Jiasu. The difference was that Dazhalugong launched a feint attack on Longyou, while Shangxidongzan and Shang Jiasu focused their main attack on Anxi.

Under the sunlight, a force of 50,000 Tibetans appeared upstream of Baihai. They set out from Luoshe, marching due north, passing through Lake Namtso, reaching Yemayi, then continuing north through the Tanggula Pass to Xinuoluo Station. After resting briefly there, they continued northward and soon reached the source of the Yangtze River, the Yaniu River, now known as the Tuotuo River. They moved east along the Yaniu River to Zhonglongyi, crossed Zishan at a slightly lower pass, and reached the south side of Baihai, from where they would attack the area.

The commander, Dazhalugong, was in his fifties. Having fought against the Tang Dynasty for years, he even adopted a Chinese name, Ma Chongying. Throughout his decades in the military, he had participated in countless battles against the Tang—against Huangfu Weiming, Wang Zhongsì, Geshu Han, and now Li Qing’an—with more victories than defeats. However, the most memorable battle was the Battle of Shibao City at the end of the sixth year of the Tianbao era, when Li Qing’an used a force of just over 3,000 men to stop nearly 100,000 Tibetan reinforcements, inflicting heavy losses on the Tibetans, including the death of their king.

That battle left a deep scar on Dazhalugong. Now, as he fought in Longyou again, he intended to avenge his past defeats and humiliations with a hundredfold vengeance.

“Commander, look over there!”

A Tibetan soldier pointed ahead. On a high ridge several miles away stood a stone fortress, different from the Xingxiu Fortress they had built in Xingxiu Chuan—lower in elevation. It was not really a fortress but rather a Tang military outpost and signal tower.

As they discovered this outpost, it seemed the Tang forces had also noticed them. Three plumes of smoke rose from the fortress, sending signals into the distance—an alarm that a large enemy force was approaching.

Dazhalugong was furious. He immediately ordered, “The first army, charge in and destroy this fortress!”

Ten thousand Tibetan cavalry set out, like a black avalanche on the snow-capped mountains, sweeping toward this isolated Tang army outpost. This Tang outpost was called Xiyue Fort, located over twenty li from Baihai. It got its name because Xiyue River lay beyond Zishan. There were sixty soldiers stationed there, most of whom were Tang soldiers of Tuyuhun origin. Since Han soldiers were not adapted to fighting on the plateau nor to living there for long periods, Geshu Han recruited nearly twenty thousand Tang soldiers from the Tuyuhun and Qiang tribes, mixing in a small number of Han soldiers, and ordered them to guard the plateau forts and strongholds. Meanwhile, Geshu Han took fifty thousand Han soldiers eastward to Chang’an, leaving these Tuyuhun-origin Tang soldiers on the plateau. Due to the difficult terrain and poor communication, most of the Tuyuhun and Qiang people on the plateau still did not know that Geshu Han had left Longyou. These troops led a semi-nomadic, semi-military life, just like the herders. Zishan Pass had been peaceful for three years, but unexpectedly, three years later, the Tibetan army suddenly attacked. Seeing the overwhelming force of the Tibetan troops, the dozen or so Tang soldiers in the fort lit the beacon fires and rushed out of the stone fort, heading toward the sheep and horse pens just a few hundred steps away. By then, the Tibetan cavalry had already surrounded them, and Xiyue Fort was instantly engulfed by the onslaught. More than forty Tang soldiers who rushed out of the fort too late were killed by the Tibetan swords, with only a dozen or so managing to escape. Seeing some Tang soldiers escape, Dazhalugong was filled with rage. He swung his sword and shouted, “Pass my order: the army must purge Baihai, and we must dye Baihai red with Tibetan swords!” The order to massacre was given, and the Tibetan troops shouted loudly, waving their swords and spears as they rode swiftly toward Baihai, twenty li away. The main grazing areas of Baihai were in the south, where more than twenty thousand Tuyuhun herders from the Jishishan area lived. During Tibetan rule, they had become subjects of Tibet. After the Tang army captured Jishishan and Baihai, they promised the Tuyuhun people to rebuild their nation. Tempted by this promise, some Tuyuhun tribes betrayed Tibet and moved south to seize Baihai, once Tibet’s most fertile land. But today, suddenly, smoke billowed from the beacon towers twenty li away, terrifying the Tuyuhun herders. They shouted for their wives and children, and chaos reigned inside and outside the tents. Ignoring their livestock and possessions, they pushed their families onto horses and fled north. At that moment, a dozen or so Tang soldiers were fleeing from the south. A few hundred steps behind them, dark clouds gathered, filled with murderous intent, stretching for several li—like a black wave rushing forward.

The Tibetans demonstrated their formidable combat skills on the plateau. Racing at altitudes of over 4,000 meters, they moved like a swarm of wolves, reaching the shores of Lake Baihai in just fifteen minutes. From afar, they could see the tents and the women, children, and elders of the Tuyuhun people fleeing. They shouted wildly, revealing their white teeth on their dark faces, waving their swords as they charged at the Tuyuhun camp.

Dazhalugong swung his sword and roared, “Slaughter them all!”

The cavalry struck like a storm, sweeping up the tents. Regardless of age or gender, everyone was beheaded by the Tibetan cavalry, their bodies lying dead by the lake. Weak children were pierced through the chest with spears by the Tibetan cavalry and thrown high into the air.

Fifty thousand Tibetan cavalrymen rode nonstop, killing one tribe after another as punishment for these traitors who had invaded their land.

The massacre at Lake Baihai lasted five days, spreading from the south to the north. Aside from a few thousand herders grazing in the north who managed to escape, the remaining fifteen thousand Tuyuhun people and hundreds of Tang soldiers all perished under the iron heel of the Tibetan army.

Dazhalugong was not satisfied with merely recapturing Lake Baihai. He divided his forces into two groups—one heading straight for Dafeichuan, while he led the other toward Wuhai and the Nine Bends of the Yellow River.

……

The headquarters of the Longyou military governor was located in Huangshui County, Shanzhou, which is today’s Ledu County in Qinghai. This was where the Lintao army was stationed. However, the most strategically important county in Longyou was not Huangshui County but Shancheng County, about a hundred miles west of it—what is today’s Xining in Qinghai.

At present, the main force of sixty thousand Tang soldiers sent from Anxi had arrived in Longyou. Adding to this were twenty thousand Tuyuhun-Tang soldiers recruited by Geshu Han, along with forty thousand soldiers from Guanzhong led by Wang Sili, bringing the total number of Tang soldiers in Longyou to one hundred twenty thousand.

However, the Tuyuhun army was weak, and the Guanzhong troops were not adapted to fighting on the plateau. Thus, the main force in Longyou remained the sixty thousand soldiers sent from Anxi. These were led by the Toharian governor Li Guangbi. Fifteen thousand of them, under the command of General Li Sheng, had already been sent to the Nine Bends region, while the remaining forty-five thousand were stationed in Dafeichuan and the Hehuang area.

On his way back to Anxi, Li Qingan made a brief stop in Shancheng County of Longyou. Shortly after arriving in Longyou, he received urgent signals of distress coming from the direction of Lake Baihai.

In the temporary military headquarters in Shan County, Li Qingan stood in silence before a huge map—this map was the geographical chart of Tubo’s mountains and rivers, stolen by An Baoyu from Tubo’s envoys. He had marked red circles around four locations: Baihai, the Nine Bends of the Yellow River, Dafeichuan, and Shibao City. These four places were strategic key points that Tubo’s army must seize. Baihai was likely already lost, so Tubo’s next target was probably the Nine Bends of the Yellow River. Li Qingan drew another thick circle around the Nine Bends of the Yellow River. He would rather sacrifice Dafeichuan than let those areas fall to Tubo’s army. The Nine Bends of the Yellow River was the most fertile region west of Chiling and had always served as Tubo’s logistical base. If Tubo’s army captured this area, it would mean they had firmly established a foothold in Longyou.