Chapter 49: The Wind Rises (II)

Li Kuo’s prediction was correct. As they continued forward from the camps left behind by the Anxi Army, the road became increasingly difficult. Such narrow paths certainly couldn’t accommodate dozens of riders side by side, so a large army moving together would inevitably slow down progress. Even Li Kuo’s own thousand elite soldiers were constrained by the muddy paths and had to slow down slightly.

“Brother Kuo, in my opinion, General Gao and his men should be not far from here. Along the way, the brothers have found plenty of grain in the mud!”
Zhang Yanji spurred his horse closer to Li Kuo and pointed at an earthen enclosure not far away. “Look, that earthen enclosure is probably where they cooked meals. There are also plenty of leftover grain husks beside the wormwood!”
Zhang Yanji, as if having discovered a major enemy force, kept waving his whip, laughing nonstop. Ever since being personally chosen by Li Kuo to accompany him last night, Young Master Zhang had been in an extremely excited state. According to him, it was because Brother Kuo trusted him that he was chosen from among many other copper-armored generals to go to Talas to support General Gao. Otherwise, with so many direct subordinates of the copper-armored forces, why were only he and Zhou the Fat Boy allowed to follow Brother Kuo closely?

Heh, after all, they were close friends who had fought their way out of Chang’an together—their relationship was different from that of ordinary subordinates! Leaving aside official matters, even in terms of personal relationships, who in this army could compare to him, Zhang Yanji?
Well, that damn fat Zhou doesn’t count. He doesn’t count.

Li Kuo, however, was skeptical. Frowning, he said, “I don’t think that looks like a place where the Anxi Army was stationed. General Gao and his men should be heading toward Talas along the route of Julan Mountain City. If we go by Liu Yi’s account, Shenhaizi is the main base of the Anxi Army. No matter how you look at it, General Gao’s men wouldn’t march along this route.”

After thinking for a moment, Li Kuo added, “Besides, General Gao and his men have already buried most of their food in the previous camps, so they must cherish whatever grain is left. If anyone wasted military provisions like that, wouldn’t General Gao order them dragged outside the camp and have their legs broken?”

After hearing this, Zhang Yanji also found the scattered grains beside the earthen enclosure particularly noticeable.

“Hehe, if it’s not the Anxi Army, then…”
Zhang Yanji stopped mid-sentence and instinctively shrunk his neck. “Could it be… could it be that the Arab reinforcements just passed by here?”

“According to the maps, that’s unlikely.”

Li Kuo also found it very strange. Logically, if Abu Muslim were sending reinforcements to Talas City, he should come from Samarkand, that is, from the southwest of Talas, and certainly not take a detour through the ancient course of the Pearl River.

But if it were some other Hu tribe, it wouldn’t make sense. Some tribes with stronger combat capabilities had already declared their allegiance to the Tang Dynasty or sought refuge under the Abbasids, so they should now be following either army. As for those smaller tribes that didn’t want trouble, they certainly wouldn’t lead their warriors near Talas during this turbulent time. Unless… unless… Unless Abu Muslim had anticipated that General Gao would send troops to Suiye for reinforcements and deliberately set up checkpoints along the routes leading to Talas to intercept them. The reason he didn’t set up checkpoints along the Julan region surely wasn’t because of recklessness—it was likely that Julan had already fallen back into the hands of the Abbasids! Damn it! “Yanji, send a dozen riders ahead to scout. Report immediately if there’s any enemy activity!” Li Kuo took a deep breath and gazed at a distant green peak, deep in thought. If he were Abu Muslim, he would definitely set up checkpoints there—it was the only route to Talas, unavoidable! “Understood!” Zhang Yanji seemed to realize the urgency as well and turned his horse to pass on the orders. Taking advantage of the brief time the scouts were out, Li Kuo took the map from his bodyguards and analyzed it carefully. Based on the current situation, General Gao must be stationed south of Talas City. After controlling the northern and western areas of Talas City, Abu Muslim would surely advance eastward to engage General Gao in a decisive battle. Given General Gao’s stubborn nature, he would surely not retreat easily, so the battlefield would likely be in a basin where the east and west met. Li Kuo marked a spot between Talas and Baishui City with a charcoal pencil, considering possible scenarios. If he were General Gao, he would definitely spread out the Anxi Army’s formations to most effectively counter the Abbasid cavalry. But the Abbasids had a clear numerical advantage, and a head-on fight would hardly yield any advantage. To cause more trouble for Abu Muslim, a surprise tactic would be needed. Li Kuo’s eyes suddenly lit up as he circled the location of Baishui City with his charcoal pencil. Right, it’s here! If General Gao could turn the ruler of Baishui City against them… “Commander, commander!” As Li Kuo was lost in thought, a urgent voice pulled him back to reality. “Commander, the road ahead is blocked! The Abbasids… the Abbasids have set up checkpoints and camps at the mountain pass ahead!” A scout dismounted and knelt before Li Kuo, rushing to report. “Hmm.”

Li Kuo nodded and replied in a low voice. His guess was correct—Abu Muslim indeed was uneasy about this pass and had sent troops to guard it. If he only had a thousand men now, he could have rushed through the pass directly. But the army’s provisions were still behind them; without fully controlling this mountain pass, even if his thousand men managed to pass the checkpoints unharmed, it wouldn’t achieve much.

What needed to be done now was to seize this pass as quickly as possible to establish a connection between the Tianwei Army and the Anxi Army!

“How many enemies are there, and what weapons do they have?”

“Well… the brothers are a bit far away, so it’s hard to see clearly. But judging from their camps, there are probably five or six hundred men. As for their weapons, since they’re not Abu Muslim’s core forces, their equipment isn’t as good as ours, the Tianwei Army’s. But it’s still much better than that of ordinary Hu tribes!” The scout scratched his head and shared whatever he knew.

“Hmm.”

Li Kuo mentally reviewed the scout’s report and decided to take a risky charge at the camp. The enemy force numbered only five or six hundred. If they waited for the Tianwei Army’s rear troops to join in the attack, they would hardly encounter any effective resistance.

But if they did that, his efforts to rush ahead overnight would be meaningless, and Abu Muslim’s strategy of setting up checkpoints would have achieved its goal! From the start, he never intended to completely block this route. In fact, even Abu Muslim himself wasn’t entirely sure he could defeat Gao Shuai in a decisive battle! He didn’t dare to divert most of his troops to block him here—he simply wouldn’t!

So his goal was merely to buy time, until he could crush the main force of the Anxi Army!

Damn it!

He didn’t need much—just five or six days of delay, and the Anxi Army would run out of food completely. By then, their morale would collapse…

Li Kuo let out a long sigh and asked the scout again, “Are the Persians’ armors well-made?”

“In reply to your command,” the scout said with a bow, “their armor styles aren’t very standardized. There are chainmails, leather armor, and some soldiers don’t even wear any armor at all!”

Looking up at the sky, seeing that the sun was setting, Li Kuo ordered loudly, “Pass the order—let the brothers rest for an hour. When night falls completely, follow me to attack the camp!”…

A solitary moon hung low in the pitch-black night sky.

In the camp at the Sangjial Pass, rows of orange-yellow flames flickered.

Those were the Persian soldiers on patrol, grouped in teams of fifty, changing shifts every four hours. Since they set up camp at this pass under General Hu Jiahe Lian five days ago, they had maintained such frequent patrols at all times. Whether Tang scouts were spotted in the vicinity or not, and regardless of the battle situation at Talas, they continued to fulfill their military duties from start to finish.

Inside a slightly larger felt tent in the center of the camp, bursts of roaring could be heard from time to time. The guards were already accustomed to their lord’s deep curses and simply remained silent, unimpressed.

Hu Jiahe Lian disdainfully threw aside a hard-boiled wild deer and spat out a thick glob of phlegm. “Tch!” It was all because he had warned General Abu Muslim to pay closer attention to the movements of the Lord of Baishui City. Instead, that wench Jier Zhi turned against him, framing him as someone who was too cautious and unwilling to be loyal! General Abu Muslim believed the slander and demoted him to this desolate place to guard a fortress! This place was so remote that even hunters didn’t bother setting traps here—how could Tang troops possibly appear here?

Fifteen days! If he really had to stay here for fifteen days, he would go mad! Hmph, it was all excuses—some so-called caution and restraint—just because he wasn’t a Persian and not part of his inner circle!

“Someone! Someone here!” At the thought of this, Hu Jiahe Lian grew frustrated, slamming his fist on the table and roaring loudly.

“Lord Hu Jiahe Lian, what orders do you have?” A short, thin Persian man entered the tent, appearing to be around fifty years old. His eyes were slightly narrowed as he stared at Hu Jiahe Lian, his voice deep and hoarse like a drum with a torn skin.

“Mr. Abdullah, what brings you here?” Upon seeing Abdullah’s worried expression fade and a faint smile appear, Hu Jiahe Lian greeted him warmly, “Please, have a seat. You, the messenger of Allah on earth, I have an important matter to discuss with you.”