Chapter 519: The Night of the Full Moon (Part 1)

About thirty li west of Ahuancheng lay a great river called the Yuezhi River, the lifeblood of the Yuezhi kingdom. The river flowed northward to join the Kulu River, a tributary of the Amu Darya, winding through high mountains and canyons, creating numerous vast gorges—some hundreds of li wide, others just over a dozen li. The land on both sides of the river valleys was flat, with a mild climate and highly fertile soil, making it the main grain-producing area of the Yuezhi kingdom. The majority of the Yuezhi population lived in these valleys. Since the Tubo army occupied Toharistan, these valleys had become an important source of food for the Tubo.

At first, the local residents could endure humiliation and hand over grain, but as the war situation grew tense, the Tubo demanded more and more grain, even sending small teams to loot homes. Unable to bear it any longer, the Toharians finally rose up in rebellion.

A group of fifty Tubo soldiers was surrounded by over a thousand locals near a village called Papapu Village. They had just left the village, with several carts loaded with stolen grain and over twenty oxen and hundreds of sheep. The dozen Tubo soldiers still looked satisfied, but they had no idea that a widow, after being humiliated and stripped of all her possessions, had angrily drowned herself along with her two children. Her family’s death finally ignited the fury of the Toharians.

The villagers, enraged, carried the bodies of the woman and children out of the village. Armed with sticks and knives, they chased after the Tubo soldiers and surrounded the fifty of them.

“Are you trying to rebel?”
The Tubo centurion shouted in harsh Toharian, drawing his sword and charging at an elderly man. He felt it necessary to kill someone to assert his authority. The Toharians stared at him coldly; if looks could kill, the centurion would have been torn to pieces long ago.

“Kill him!”
Someone shouted, and the Toharians suddenly erupted in fury. Roaring, they rushed forward, attacking the centurion with sticks and swords. Amidst screams, the centurion was torn to shreds and died on the spot.

The remaining Tubo soldiers were shocked and drew their swords to defend themselves. At that moment, hundreds of stones rained down on them. Their heads bled as they realized the situation was hopeless. Shouting, they scattered in all directions.

“Kill them!”

Over a thousand people from the Tohara villages rose up; dozens of them surrounded one person, quickly knocking down the Tibetan soldiers, cutting off their limbs, and beheading them. From time to time, cheers erupted from the crowd as they raised the heads of the Tibetan soldiers and reclaimed their cattle, sheep, and food.
Similar incidents occurred not only in Papa Village but also throughout the Yuechi region and various Tohara states, with uprisings against the Tibetans breaking out everywhere. Many nobles who had secretly returned to their homeland became leaders of these uprisings. They organized one after another Tohara restoration army to drive out the Tibetan troops stationed in their lands, sparking intense uprisings throughout Tohara.
…
In the palace of Ahan City, Shangxi Dongzan paced back and forth anxiously with his hands behind his back. Three days before the full moon night, he once again received Abu Zalik, the envoy of Caliph Mansur. Disguised as a merchant and sharing the same name as a Shiite Muslim leader, this envoy had convinced Shangxi Dongzan completely. Though there were still some doubts—such as the fact that his round trip took only seven days, which was too fast even though the caliph was not far behind the Tang army—and the fact that he had disguised himself as a merchant twice without encountering any Tang army intercepts—other Arab merchants had vanished from Tohara, so how could he get through unimpeded?
These doubts were obvious, but at that moment, Shangxi Dongzan chose to ignore them. Many Tohara nobles had secretly returned to their various states, inciting the people to rise up simultaneously. Many Tibetan teams that went to the countryside to steal food were beaten to death by the rebels, leaving the situation in Tohara extremely critical.
Moreover, the military supplies in Shangjiasu’s army stationed in Lan City would only last five days. He sent people to Shangxi Dongzan three times a day to demand more food. Although Shangxi Dongzan still had some stored food, he dared not send any more to Shangjiasu. It wasn’t out of fear of being captured by the Tang army again, but because Shangxi Dongzan had learned that Shangjiasu was planning to head south to Sindh. Due to the lack of food, he couldn’t set off yet. Once Shangjiasu obtained food, they would surely retreat to Sindh. If that happened, leaving Shangxi Dongzan alone in Tohara to face the Tang army would mean certain death for him. Therefore, Shangxi Dongzan preferred to let Shangjiasu run out of food rather than let him go his own way.

At this point, the Arabs became Shanshi Dongzan’s last hope for salvation. The only way to save the Tibetan army was to unite with the Arabs to defeat the Tang forces. For this reason, the seemingly logical actions of Zalik became unimportant; what mattered was the letter from Mansur himself that Zalik brought, which could not be fake.

This time, Zalik brought even more demanding conditions from Caliph Mansur. Not only were the gains from a Tibetan victory limited to Tokharistan, but Tibet also had to become a vassal state of the Abbasid Empire, paying taxes and submitting annually. In other words, Tokharistan was actually Arab territory, granted to Tibet as temporary residence. Despite these extremely harsh conditions, Shanshi Dongzan breathed a deep sigh of relief. This showed that the Arabs were genuinely intent on sending troops. Even if Tibet had to become a vassal state, it would be acceptable—as long as the Arabs were willing to fight, everything could be negotiated.

Shanshi Dongzan agreed to Zalik’s demands without hesitation. He said solemnly, “Please convey to His Majesty the Caliph that our Tibetan army accepts his additional conditions and will become a vassal state of the Arabs. Please ensure the Caliph sends troops as agreed.”

Zalik shook his head and smiled. “General Shanshi Dongzan, can some matters be settled merely with verbal agreements?”
“What then?”
“It’s simple. General Shanshi Dongzan should write a written guarantee. It doesn’t need to be long—just one page—is enough, but the content must be clear, with both a signature and a seal.”
“There’s no problem with that.”

Shanshi Dongzan sat down and wrote a guarantee, a political declaration acknowledging the Abbasid Empire as Tibet’s suzerain state. He stamped it heavily with his gold seal. Suddenly, he frowned and asked, “Will you send this back like this? There are only three days left until the full moon night—will you make it in time?”

Zalik smiled slightly. “General Shanshi Dongzan, one of my attendants is outside the palace. He has an eagle that can fly a thousand miles a day. It will be this eagle that delivers General’s letter to His Majesty the Caliph.”

Shanshi Dongzan was overjoyed. “Excellent! I want to see you send the eagle myself.”

…

In the courtyard, an attendant handed a strong eagle to Zalik. Zalik stroked the eagle’s feathers and tied the letter containing Shanshi Dongzan’s political declaration to its leg. He turned to Shanshi Dongzan with a smile, but Shanshi Dongzan felt puzzled. This method of communication using eagles was exactly the same as that of the Tang army, even the shape of the letter container was similar.

Perhaps due to their long-term battles with the Tang army, they had also learned their communication methods? At that moment, Zharik threw the eagle into the blue sky right in front of him. Watching the eagle’s agile flight, Shangxi Dongzan’s doubts vanished as the eagle flew westward with all his hopes.
…
Hualu City, where the main force of the Tang army was stationed, was about four hundred li away from Ahuan City. After flying for half a day, the eagle reached its destination. A clear cry echoed in the air as it began to descend toward an eagle tower that called it back. A soldier had been waiting there for a long time. He stretched out his arm, and the eagle landed on it, its sharp eyes fixed on him as it made a “cawing” sound. The soldier quickly removed the message pouch from its leg and patted its head, smiling, “What a fine messenger!”
The soldier rewarded it with a large piece of fresh meat. The eagle picked up the meat and flew toward the lush forest outside the city, while the soldier rushed down from the eagle tower and headed to the military headquarters inside.
The military headquarters was in a state of readiness for battle. Teams of soldiers patrolled back and forth inside and around the area, with strict security. The officers moved hurriedly, looking serious. Some gathered in the courtyard, waiting to be summoned by the general. Reports from scouts brought information from various parts of Turfan. The military advisors translated and organized this information, formatting it neatly to be delivered promptly to Li Qing’an’s desk.
An eagle trainer rushed into the military headquarters and arrived at the documents room, where various reports were submitted. He happened to meet Wei Jin, the clerk officer, coming out. The eagle trainer quickly stepped forward and bowed, saying, “Clerk Officer Wei, Zharik’s letter has arrived.”
“Oh! Give it to me quickly.”
Wei Jin also understood the importance of this letter—the general had been eagerly awaiting it! He took the letter and hurried toward Li Qing’an’s room.
Inside the room, Li Qing’an was discussing military strategies with several generals. Whether they could defeat the Tubo army was no longer the key issue; everyone knew that as long as the Tang army fought steadily, victory was certain. The crucial point was to annihilate the Tubo army completely and prevent them from fleeing to Xinde. Feng Changqing of Xinde had already gone deep into Tubo territory, leaving Xinde with only seven thousand Tang soldiers, making it defenseless. If the Tubo army escaped to Xinde or Tianzhu, it would deal a severe blow to Li Qing’an’s strategy against Tubo.

For this reason, Li Qingan had already sent General Li Feiyuanli to lead 20,000 troops to take a detour to Huvwen City in Xiliu Country to cut off the Tubo army’s advance toward Xinde. Nevertheless, Li Qingan was still a bit worried. His concern was Shang Jiasu, who had already clashed with him in Qiemo City. This man was average in battle but excelled at escaping. Back then, he had led a few hundred men, with no food or water, yet he managed to flee across thousands of miles of uninhabited plateau. Now, with 80,000 troops at his disposal, they must not let him escape again. At that moment, Wei Jin hurried into the room and whispered in Li Qingan’s ear, “General, Zharik’s intelligence has arrived.”