Chapter 524: Driving Wolves into Shu?

In mid-May, after nearly two months of arduous travel, the 100,000 Anxi troops finally arrived in Longyou. By then, Ma Chongying’s forces, hidden along the Nine Bends of the Yellow River, had already received news of the trouble in Lhasa. He immediately led 70,000 troops to break through from Jishishan and return to Lhasa. Predicting this move, Li Guangbi rushed with his troops to assist Li Sheng’s forces. A fierce battle ensued at Jishishan, lasting three days and nights. Under the desperate resistance of the Tang forces, Ma Chongying failed to break through and retreated to the Nine Bends of the Yellow River, suffering 30,000 casualties. The Tang forces also lost over 10,000 men in this battle, which became the bloodiest since the start of the Tang-Tibet wars. It was this battle at Jishishan that utterly shattered the Tibetans’ last hopes. With the main force of the 100,000 Anxi troops arriving in Longyou, the Tibetans were utterly defeated.

In the early morning, a thin layer of mist covered the surface of the Yellow River, spreading like milk across both banks. Suddenly, the sound of rapid horse hooves disrupted the peaceful dawn. Out of the mist appeared a group of about 100 black Tang cavalry, racing along the riverbank toward the south.

At the head of this cavalry was a general in his forties, with high brow bones and deep-set eyes. Dressed in Tang military armor, carrying a sword and a bow, he appeared imposing. He was Wang Sili, the commander of the Tang forces in the Hezhou–Weizhou area, sent by Li Qingan to discuss military matters.

The 40,000 troops under Wang Sili were actually Li Heng’s Guanzhong forces. To show his support for the Tang-Tibet war, Li Heng ordered Wang Sili to lead these troops to Longyou to fight. Yet, since arriving in Longyou, Wang Sili had not yet engaged the Tibetan forces once, which filled him with an indescribable sense of pressure and frustration. Especially since the Anxi troops had stopped 70,000 retreating soldiers with just 40,000 men, driving the Tibetans back to the Nine Bends of the Yellow River at a cost of nearly 40% casualties, such a brutal battle made Wang Sili feel extremely ashamed. He knew well that his 40,000 Guanzhong troops might not even be able to resist 20,000 Tibetans.

So when Li Heng ordered Wang Sili to withdraw to Guanzhong immediately, and at the same time, Li Qingan’s main force arrived in Longyou and ordered him to come and discuss military strategies, Wang Sili still chose Li Qingan. This was not only because Li Qingan had saved his life at Tongguan years ago but also because of a broader strategic judgment—he was not optimistic about Li Heng.

For Wang Sili, as a soldier, strength meant everything.

Wang Sili whipped his warhorse hard, and the horse accelerated, rushing toward the Tang army’s camp dozens of miles away.
……
Inside the central command tent, Li Qing’an had regained his composure from the joy of Toharistan’s victory. By now, Tubo was no longer his main concern—Tubo, the kingdom of the plateau, had been destroyed. His gaze swept from the Amu Darya to Toharistan, across the entire plateau, before finally settling on the east—the source of the world, the Great Tang Dynasty, where his true home lay.
Years of political struggles had cultivated his rational and meticulous thinking, while years of warfare had endowed his blood with the ferocity unique to nomadic peoples, making his heart colder and more ruthless. At this moment, he was considering a plan he had thought of long ago, but the timing had not been right. Yet since Li Qing’an received a secret report from Yang Guozhong that Li Longji had already secretly ordered Li Heng to also inherit the throne of Southern Tang, the timing Li Qing’an needed had finally arrived.
At that moment, a soldier’s report came from the door: “Reporting to the general, General Wang Sili has arrived.”
“Let him in!”
Li Qing’an immediately put his thoughts aside. This Wang Sili was very important to him—a crucial piece in his overall strategy.
A moment later, Wang Sili strode in quickly. He knelt on one knee and bowed to Li Qing’an, saying, “Your humble servant, Wang Sili, pays his respects to the general!”
Li Qing’an quickly helped him up and glanced at him from head to toe, then smiled and said, “General Wang, you must have had a hard journey.”
“I’ve only traveled a few hundred miles—how can it be called ‘hard’? It’s the general who has marched tens of thousands of miles from Toharistan to Longyou—that’s truly hard work.”
Li Qing’an nodded. This Wang Sili was good at speaking. He quickly smiled and said to Wang Sili, “Come! Sit down and talk.”
The two sat down, and their personal guards brought them tea. Li Qing’an asked him with concern, “What’s the morale of the forty thousand soldiers?”
“It’s not high, but it’s not low either. The general should know that the troops in Guanzhong lack experience in major battles. My greatest regret is that we still haven’t fought a single battle yet.”
“There will always be opportunities to fight! In the future, General Wang will likely fight against An Lushan.”
“Is that so?” Wang Sili’s eyes lit up. His greatest hope was to fight An Lushan again. In the Battle of Tongguan back then, he had nearly lost his entire army, an humiliation that haunted him his whole life. To wash away this shame, he needed to fight An Lushan’s army once more.

“There should be such an opportunity. An Lushan has now established a puppet Tang state in Youzhou and proclaimed himself Prime Minister. In fact, he has already rebelled. The reason he hasn’t launched a large-scale southern offensive yet is that his forces are insufficient; he is still recruiting troops on a large scale. Once he has enough soldiers, he will surely march south under the pretext of punishing Li Hen and advance into Guanzhong.”
Wang Sili nodded silently. He believed what Li Qingan said was true, and that indeed was the situation. At that moment, Li Qingan added, “But it’s also possible you won’t get the chance to fight An Lushan.”
“Why?” Wang Sili was surprised.
Li Qingan looked at him intently and said slowly, “I’m worried you might go to Shu.”
Wang Sili fell silent. He understood what Li Qingan meant. Li Qingan was giving him a choice: to remain loyal to Li Hen or switch sides to join him. This could be considered the biggest decision of Wang Sili’s life. But after only a brief silence, he made up his mind. He knelt down again and said solemnly, “Your servant is willing to serve the great general!”
In fact, Wang Sili had been thinking about this for a long time. He had been sidelined by Chen Xuanli and lost most of his military power. If not for Chen Xuanli’s arrogance, he might have already been idle at home. Li Hen’s suspicion and harshness had long made Wang Sili lose interest in him.
He had long wanted to join Li Qingan but hadn’t dared to speak up. Now that Li Qingan had offered it, how could he pass up this chance?
“Good! Good!”
Li Qingan repeated “good” twice. He helped Wang Sili up and said earnestly, “When we fought side by side at Tongguan back then, I knew we would end up together sooner or later, because we shared the same cause.”
“Your servant understands. It is the greatest honor for me to join the Anxi Army.”
Li Qingan walked quickly to the sand table and pointed at the area around the Nine Bends of the Yellow River with a wooden stick. “Currently, the Tubo army still has 40,000 troops, holed up here. Now that my 100,000-strong army has arrived, the complete destruction of the Tubo army is just a matter of time.”
“But your servant is worried that Tubo reinforcements might arrive.”
Li Qingan smiled slightly. “You don’t need to worry. The Tubo stronghold, Luoshe City, has already been captured by Feng Changqing. The Tubo king died in Turfan, and all their key officials have surrendered.”
Wang Sili was stunned. He could hardly believe what he heard. Tubo was finished. Then, defeating the Tubo army at the Nine Bends would be their last battle.
Li Qingan patted his shoulder and said with a smile, “All you need to do now is one thing: use your 40,000 troops to cut off the Tubo army’s retreat and prevent them from fleeing to Chengdu. This is very important—you must not be careless.”

“I understand. I’ll go right away.”
Wang Sili bowed and then left. As soon as he left, Li Guangbi hurried over.
“General, has General Wang Sili left?”
“Do you have something to ask him?” Li Qing’an asked with a smile.
“I think the general must want him to stop the Tibetans from fleeing to Bashu!”
“You’re right. That’s exactly what I’ve planned.”
Li Guangbi hesitated for a moment. He walked over to the sand table, looked at the rear of the Tibetan army, and said, “There’s something I wonder if I should say or not.”
Li Qing’an smiled faintly and said, “Go ahead and say it.”
“I’m wondering why we can’t let Ma Chongying enter Shu. Once his army enters Shu, the region will surely be in danger. Li Longji will either ask the general for help or summon Li Heng’s army to Shu. I’ve heard that the relationship between Li Longji and his son has improved somewhat, so it’s most likely that Li Heng’s army from Guanzhong will be sent there. Once Li Heng’s army enters Shu and Wang Sili’s army returns to Guanzhong, won’t Guanzhong fall under the general’s control?”
“That’s a plan to drive wolves into Shu. I thought of it first too, but I’ve given up on it now.”
“Why?” Li Guangbi was puzzled.
Li Qing’an smiled and slowly stepped forward, pointing at the Jiuqu area with a wooden stick. “This is a trap we’ve set to capture Ma Chongying’s Tibetan army. He already knows that Luoshe is in trouble. He’s tried several times to return there at all costs, but without success. Yet he won’t give up. Now that my hundred-thousand-strong army has arrived, he’ll surely be under pressure and try to escape back to Luoshe again. So his army is the only hope for Tibet to turn the situation around. Under these circumstances, I don’t want to take risks. If Gao Xianzhi still held military power in Jiannan, maybe I would have tried it, but Gao Xianzhi has already had his military power taken away. Now, military power lies in the hands of Prince Rong, Li Wan. I know him well—he’s no match for Ma Chongying. Once Jiannan’s army is defeated, the Tibetan army will occupy Chengdu. I’m not worried about the Han people, but I’m worried about the Qiang and Nanzhao people. I’m afraid they’ll be used by Ma Chongying to reorganize a hundred-thousand-strong army and attack Luoshe again. By then, it will be too late for us to regret it.”
At this point, Li Qing’an straightened up and said proudly, “As for Li Heng’s army in Guanzhong, I’ve never taken them seriously. Can they even compete with my battle-hardened Anxi army?”
Li Guangbi felt extremely ashamed. He thought he had come up with a clever plan, but didn’t realize it might backfire. Li Qing’an was right—he had a hundred-thousand-strong Anxi army, so there was no need to resort to such tactics.

“I understand, but I’m still a bit worried that Wang Sili’s troops won’t be able to stop Ma Chongying.”
“Don’t worry! I’m just giving Wang Sili a chance to fight. In reality, I don’t expect him to hold off the Tibetan troops. I’ve already sent Li Sheng with 30,000 troops to the Xihun Mountains area, which is the only route Ma Chongying can take to enter Shu. I believe Li Sheng will prevent the Tibetan army from retreating eastward.”
……
On May 16th, 80,000 of the Tang army’s main forces crossed the Yellow River at Feiyun and headed straight for Dushan City, where the Tibetan troops were stationed. As Li Qing’an had predicted, once 100,000 troops from Anxi arrived in Longyou, Ma Chongying realized the situation was hopeless. Now, he had no way to retreat north, south, or west—his only option was to retreat eastward to Jiannan Xichuan, from where he could circle back to Luoshe. Although it was risky, it was his only path. He might not be able to defeat the Anxi troops, but he might still be able to take on the Jiannan troops. It would be best if he could go to Nanzhao and get their military support to help him restore his kingdom.
When Ma Chongying heard that the Tang army’s main forces had crossed the river, he immediately decided to lead his troops eastward.
The first stage of their eastward advance was from Dushan City to crossing the Tao River—a distance of over a thousand miles. If they could reach Minzhou on the east bank of the Tao River, their strategic shift eastward would be largely successful.
But Li Qing’an had put in tremendous effort to win this battle between Tang and Tibet. He had even traveled thousands of miles just to be here. How could he allow the Tibetans to turn the situation around at such a critical moment? How could he not be aware of the possibility of the Tibetan army retreating eastward?
Ten days later, when the Tibetan army reached a narrow valley called Juesheng Valley, news came that Ma Chongying least wanted to hear: an unknown number of Tang troops had blocked this narrow pass.
This area was part of the Xihun Mountains, with steep mountains surrounding it for hundreds of miles. There was only this narrow valley, less than three miles wide and about thirty miles long, through which they could pass the mountains. If they didn’t take this route, they would have to retreat hundreds of miles and go around to the upper reaches of the Yellow River, then climb over the Jishi Mountains. Of course, they could return directly to Luoshe from there, but their supplies were running low, and the Tang army was chasing them. If surrounded by the Tang forces, they would be doomed.
“Commander, what should we do?” several generals asked anxiously.
Ma Chongying’s brows were furrowed in concern. He didn’t know exactly how many Tang troops were blocking the path. If there weren’t many, maybe they could break through.
“Pass my orders! The entire army shall launch an attack. If we can’t break through, I’ll die here along with everyone else.”

The sound of the Tubo people’s drums resounded loudly across the plateau. Forty thousand Tubo soldiers fought a desperate battle with their backs to the river. The massive army surged forward like an unstoppable force, their battle cries echoing like thunder. Driven by the desire to survive, they rushed headlong into the valley.

The Tang army had already built fortifications at the narrowest part of the valley, where it was only one and a half li wide. Thirty thousand Tang soldiers constructed a makeshift wall using huge stones. The narrow pass couldn’t accommodate so many soldiers for defense at once, so Li Sheng deployed only fifteen thousand archers.

The wall was about ten li away from the entrance of the valley. Deafening shouts echoed through the valley. The Tubo army surged forward like a flood breaking its banks, rushing toward the wall with a howling fury. They were now only one li away, their dark masses covering the sky.

The Tang soldiers crouched behind their defensive positions, calmly drawing bows and loading arrows. Fifteen thousand Tang bows were raised simultaneously at a 30-degree angle forward. The fifteen thousand archers were arranged in three rows, with about ten steps between each row.

This was just the first line of defense. Li Sheng had set up three lines in total. If this line was breached, they would retreat to the second line, located three li away.

But as a young commander, Li Sheng would never retreat unless absolutely necessary.

Two hundred steps… one hundred and eighty steps… The Tubo army was getting closer, and their fierce faces could already be clearly seen.

One hundred and fifty steps! With a wave of his hand, Li Sheng ordered the Tang army to fire simultaneously. A torrent of arrows, like a relentless downpour, rushed at the Tubo soldiers. The arrows pierced their shields and armor. Thousands of Tubo soldiers at the front immediately let out cries of pain as they fell to the ground…

After firing the first round, the Tang soldiers quickly sat down and used their feet and strength to draw the bows back. They used the large personal bows invented by the Anxi Bow and Arrow Bureau the previous year, similar to the Shenbi crossbow invented during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. These bows were three feet three inches long with a string two feet five inches long, and they used two arrows per shot, allowing a range of up to three hundred steps. After the Tang army sold their old bows to the Byzantines, the Suiye archers were the first to adopt these powerful personal bows.

With a range of three hundred steps and an effective killing distance of two hundred and twenty steps, the Tang army waited until 150 steps away to fire to maximize damage.

After the first round, the second round saw five thousand Tang archers firing simultaneously again. A sea of arrows covered the sky over the valley. Then came the third round…

The entire valley was filled with the corpses of Tibetan soldiers and war horses, piled up in layers. Rivers of blood flowed everywhere, and the stench of blood filled the valley, making it unbearable. The Tang army fired just twice, releasing 60,000 arrows, resulting in over 9,000 Tibetans killed or severely wounded. The wounded could not even be carried away, leaving them with no other choice but death.

Ma Chongying was terrified. Just as the attack had begun, his army of 40,000 had been reduced to 30,000. He began to realize that the Tang army had stationed heavy forces in the gorge. Could he really be forced to retreat? He had thought of using fire and smoke attacks earlier, but the area around was nothing but Gobi desert—bare mountains covered only in snow and cliffs, with not a single tree in sight.

Ma Chongying crouched on the ground, clutching his head in pain. What to do? Luohe had already been captured, and Tibet was doomed. Where could his remaining troops go?

At that moment, distant thunder rumbled. Ma Chongying raised his head in surprise—was it going to rain? If it rained, the Tang army’s bows and crossbows would be useless. But all he saw was the bright sun. Where could lightning come from?

“General, look!” A soldier pointed fearfully in the distance. Ma Chongying slowly stood up, his face pale as death. The western sky was covered with banners, and a long, undulating black line appeared on the Gobi desert ten miles away—at least 50,000 cavalrymen. The Tang army’s pursuers had arrived.

He had only 30,000 Tibetan soldiers left. His country was destroyed, his morale was low, his troops were exhausted. In front, there were tens of thousands of Tang archers blocking the way—no way out. Behind them, the pursuers were already there. They had nowhere to go.

Just then, a Tang soldier rushed over and shot a letter with a headless arrow from a hundred paces away. A soldier picked it up and handed it to Ma Chongying. When he opened it, it was written by Li Qing’an.

“To General Ma Chongying, the last commander of the Tibetan army, from Li Qing’an, Governor of Anxi in the Great Tang Dynasty: It has been nearly ten years since our first battle at Shibu City. During that time, we have fought dozens of battles against Tibet, winning most and losing few. Including the battle against Tokharistan, 230,000 Tibetan soldiers were wiped out, and their king died. The Tang army crossed the Great Snow Mountains and invaded Luohe from Nilopara, annihilating all of Tibet’s remaining forces. The officials of Luohe have surrendered. Now, General, you are at your last resort, with your country destroyed. If you wish to save your soldiers’ lives so they can reunite with their families, surrender immediately. I promise to release them all after three years of mining. If you persist in resistance, Li Qing’an will order that no prisoners be spared and everyone will be killed! Tibet will never again have able-bodied men. Please think carefully.”

Ma Chongying glanced back at his soldiers, all of whom were filled with fear and low morale. With such a situation, what was the point of continuing the battle? As Li Qingan had said, it was better to leave some strong men for Tubo! With a deep sigh, he ordered, “Drop your weapons and surrender as a whole army!”
……
In the last days of May in the second year of the Zhenzhi era of the Tang Dynasty, with Ma Chongying’s last 30,000 soldiers surrendering to the Tang forces, the six-month-long war between Tang and Tubo came to an end. Tubo withdrew from the political stage of the Tang Dynasty in a nearly tragic manner, officially becoming a vassal state of the Tang.