Chapter 70: The Monumental Barrier (IV)

When the burly Tang Min swung his first strike, chaos erupted among Tang Min’s followers.
“Er Gouzi—he actually managed to strike the Tibetan lord!”
“Really? I didn’t see him cursed by gods or possessed by ghosts though.”
“What’s going on? Didn’t the Tibetan lord say those who disrespect the Tibetans would be cursed by Shambhala?”
“In my opinion, it’s like this…”
Authority itself has no vitality at all; its strength lies in its absolute control over the spirits of the ruled. In other words, authority exploits long-term oppression to create primitive conditioned reflexes in the ruled. These reflexes gradually turn into servility. Once enslaved, a person loses their full humanity, degenerating into a beast, making it extremely difficult to regain their dignity as human beings.
It’s not that the ruled lack the ability to resist, but rather they lack the desire and motivation to do so.
Just like these serfs oppressed by the Tibetans, to them, a piece of wild vegetable bread and a bowl of thin porridge are enough. Living is good enough—why resist with a curved sword?
And once authority itself is questioned and that question succeeds, the massive tower of rule it built through psychological dominance collapses rapidly from top to bottom. Once its divine status is shattered, not only can it no longer be a god, but it also loses any chance of being human. Since it no longer possesses divine status, avenging oneself becomes a way to punish evil and uphold justice. Since it isn’t blessed by gods, avenging itself won’t bring any curses! Once the potential threat is removed, people are only too happy to take revenge.
The gap between being a god and being a human is as vast as a mountain waterfall—pouring down from the mountains, stopping briefly at the level of “human,” before plunging back into the abyss.
Either be a god or a ghost—seems there’s no other choice. When the tower collapses, those once docile slaves at its base reveal their true nature of punishing evil and upholding justice, trampling heavily on the failed ruler.
After all, the loser is doomed to never rise again—why not trample them? Even if they might become the ones trampled next, at least for this moment, they experience pleasure!
“Striking the Tibetan lord won’t bring any curse! Striking the Tibetan lord won’t bring any curse!”
Wang Xiaochun exclaimed in shock, dancing with excitement.
“Strike him! Strike this vampire!”
“This scoundrel has bullied us all along—let’s take revenge!”

Curses from the Tang people rose one after another, and the situation became somewhat out of control.
“Hmm.”
Li Kuo nodded at Dou Qing, signaling him to lift the alert.
Dou Lüshuai waved his hand, and the veterans of the Bronze Warriors Camp stepped aside, watching through tears as these Tang people rushed toward the corpses of the Tubo leaders.
Hatred is like flowing water—usually held back by dams, keeping the surface calm without a ripple. But once a small crack appears in the dam, the once calm water instantly becomes turbulent, widening the crack until it destroys the dam entirely.
A faint smile appeared on Li Kuo’s lips. He had finally succeeded. As long as these Tang people could take this hardest step, he could help them move forward.
We are still Tang people after all; our pride is sacred and must not be desecrated!…
The soft candlelight flickered, occasionally sending sparks rising from its wick. Li Kuo sat alone by the desk, carefully reflecting on the events of the day.
“Hey! Li Kuo, stop spacing out. Do you hear me? I’ve worked hard to make this cheese for you, and here you are acting all deep!”
Aina glared at Li Kuo, her tone tinged with annoyance.
“Ah, thank you!”
Li Kuo quickly snapped out of his daze and smiled slightly upon seeing it was Aina. “Just put it on the desk. I’ll use it after dinner.”
“You always take advantage of people! I spent so much time making it, and you don’t even show any appreciation.”
The more she spoke, the more upset she became, fiddling with her fingers as tears welled in her eyes.
“Hey, it’s my fault. Don’t cry, please don’t cry.”
The young man panicked momentarily; he really didn’t know how to deal with women. As the teacher had said, it’s truly hard to deal with villains and women!
“Alright, I’ll eat it now, right away.”
He picked up the cheese and began scooping it into his mouth, covering his face in milky white streaks.
“Pfft!”
Seeing Li Kuo’s appearance, Aina couldn’t help but laugh. “Eat slowly, don’t choke!”
Li Kuo chuckled. “I’m just afraid you’ll get angry. When you girls cry, I don’t know what to do.”
“Hmph, you stingy guy. By the way, aren’t you the seventh in your clan? I heard them always calling you ‘Little Seventh’.”
Aina asked casually with a light snort.
Li Kuo quickly replied, “No way. It’s just a joke among my friends. If you want to call me something, just call me Qilang.”
Since childhood, he had been called “Little Seventh” by A Tian, and he had developed a phobia of it. How could he allow another beautiful woman from the White Wolf Clan to repeat that annoying title every day?

“Hmph! You Han people are the most cunning. Don’t think I don’t know the difference between those two words!”
Eina clearly picked up the hidden meaning behind the word ‘Qilang’ and shot the young man a glance.
“Well, uh, your Mandarin is quite good.”
With his scheme exposed by Lady Eina, Li Kuo was extremely embarrassed and quickly tried to change the subject to cover up.
“Of course! My Tang dialect is good enough to be among the best even in your Chang’an!”
Eina proudly raised her head, her eyes brimming with pride.
Li Kuo inwardly sighed in relief—he had managed to deflect the question! Actually, he didn’t dislike Eina at all. From the first time he saw her, he had been impressed by her carefree and unrestrained personality. But despite that admiration, facing such a foreign woman every day was indeed challenging.
“By the way, because of you interrupting, I almost forgot the main matter.”
Eina tapped her forehead and slightly parted her lips, releasing a faint fragrance. “My father said that although the river delta is fertile, it lacks natural defenses, so a large army shouldn’t stay there for long. It would be better to leave some warriors from the White Wolf tribe as backup while the main army bypasses Wuhai and heads straight for Jiuqu City.”
“Mm.”
The young man replied softly, his mind racing. Chief Suta insisted that the Tang army rush to Jiuqu City. While there was certainly the consideration of speeding up the march, it was more likely for the benefit of his own tribe. But that was understandable—from this moment on, the White Wolf tribe was completely tied to the Tang Dynasty’s war chariots; they shared both glory and hardship!
The young man had no doubts and readily agreed, “I have no objections. As long as Commander Gao agrees, let’s follow the old chief’s plan.”
“I knew you’d say that! You Tang people—all of you are so scheming.”
The young man shrugged, putting on an innocent and aggrieved look. Eina was used to seeing burly warriors around her—how could she have ever seen someone like Li Kuo, a handsome young man? His actions briefly disturbed her thoughts.
Damn it, Eina crossed her arms and bit her lip lightly.
“By the way, I saw you gather many Tang captives at the shacks on the outskirts of the city today? Oh, right… I mean, Tang civilians.”
Seeing the young man’s face darken instantly, Eina quickly waved her hand to apologize.
“Mm. It’s strange. Even though they’ve been captured by the Tibetans for just a few decades since the end of the Kaiyuan era, why have they become so confused?”

Li Kuo let out a soft sigh and muttered in complaint. Despite his efforts to encourage them, in the end, only a little over half of the Tang people dared to step forward and fight against the Tibetan officers. Excluding the old and weak, there were barely over 950 strong men left. The young man recruited all of them, while the remaining Tang people were each given some livestock left behind by the Tibetans, to be taken care of by the Naji tribe of the White Wolf clan. Perhaps they were accustomed to this nomadic lifestyle of following the water and grass.

“Don’t you even know this?”
Aina gave Li Kuo a disdainful look and said, “Those people aren’t Tang people captured during the Kaiyuan era at all. They’re actually native Tibetan herdsmen. Aside from their black straight hair and yellow skin, how can you tell they’re descendants of the Tang dynasty? My grandfather said that ever since the Tang army lost the Battle of Dafeichuan and retreated to Helong, all the Tang people in the Jiuqu and Dafeichuan areas were taken as slaves. This area borders Wuhai Lake; considering everything, they must be descendants of those Tang people.” (Note 3)

“What did you say?”
Li Kuo trembled, unable to believe it, and grabbed Aina’s hand tightly.
“Hey, how can you be so shameless? Let go of my hand! I’m saying…”
Even though Aina was straightforward, she blushed furiously and scolded him repeatedly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I lost control.”
Only then did Li Kuo realize he had grabbed Aina’s delicate hand in his urgency, so he quickly let go.

“It’s simple. After several generations of reproduction, they no longer even know their own surnames. If it weren’t for their ancestors passing down stories orally, they probably wouldn’t even speak Tang dialect anymore. They eat whatever family feeds them and speak their language. In my opinion, you shouldn’t have too many hopes.”
Aina pulled her hand back and advised him earnestly. In her view, although these Tang slaves had the same appearance as the young man before them, they had long lost their souls. Expecting a group of soulless slaves to pick up swords and fight again was nothing but delusion.

“So they’re descendants of the people from the Battle of Dafeichuan. No wonder…”
The young man suddenly understood and murmured to himself.

Note 1: Su lao: Mainly made from goat’s milk, cow’s milk, etc., hence also known as “cheese” or “milk cheese.”
Note 2: Wuhai: Today’s Toso Lake, a typical inland saltwater lake located northeast of Maduo County.
Note 3: The Battle of Dafeichuan took place in the third year of the Tang dynasty’s Zongzhang era (670 AD), and the eighth year of the Tianbao era was (759 AD). From 670 to 759, if we assume that all the Tang people at the time of the battle were of working age, and considering ancient Chinese fertility rates, at least four generations have passed.