Chapter 83: Looking Up at the Sky (1)

Seeing Li Zigu’s figure gradually fading into the distance, the young man couldn’t help but start chasing after him. Yet with each step he took, the gap between them widened, and he couldn’t bring himself anywhere near Li Zigu’s pace.
“Third Brother!”
Amidst the young man’s hoarse cries, Li Zigu eventually disappeared into the misty clouds.
The young man jolted awake, feeling as though darkness was sweeping toward him. Looking up at the pitch-black sky above, he shook his head helplessly—this was all just a dream!
A Tian was imaginary, his mother was imaginary, and his third brother was also imaginary. Thinking of them all at once must have been because of fear in his heart. What was he being afraid of? What exactly was he afraid to face? In the dream, his third brother must have made it clear. Even if he refused to admit it or deliberately avoided it, he couldn’t change what had already happened!
Why do we fall? So that we can learn to stand up! If we stay down after falling and don’t even have the courage to try to stand, then that’s truly the mark of a coward!
With the doubts in his heart resolved, Li Kuo felt greatly relieved, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.
“Brother Kuo, Brother Kuo, why are you here by yourself?”
Not far away, Zhang Yanji was rushing over with several bodyguards, clearly very anxious.
“You didn’t say anything when you left Mingyue Pavilion. We searched the entire Julan City but couldn’t find you. Now here you are, sitting alone outside the barracks admiring the moon, causing us all great worry!”
Although Zhang Yanji was Li Kuo’s most trusted confidant, his rank in the Anxi Army wasn’t high enough to allow him access to the second floor of Mingyue Pavilion. After accompanying Li Kuo to the banquet, he stayed in the first-floor hall with generals like Zhou Wucui. So when Li Kuo left through the side door in anger, they didn’t realize what had happened. It wasn’t until after the feast that they realized Li Kuo wasn’t in Mingyue Pavilion and then sent troops throughout the city to search for him.
Hearing this, Li Kuo felt extremely ashamed. He hadn’t expected his impulsive actions to disturb the entire Tianwei Army. He had been blinded by anger at the time, and now he realized it was utterly unacceptable.
“It’s my fault this time. I saw things too superficially.”
Li Kuo shook his head and said, “How is Commander Gao? Is he still angry with me?”

Although he was disappointed in Gao Xianzhi, the young man couldn’t help but worry about him. If he just left like this, Li Huaizhong surely wouldn’t let it go easily. Gao Xianzhi was such a prideful man—how could he bear it?
Sigh, it was all his own impulsive anger!
“Are you still worried about him?”
Zhang Yanji sneered upon hearing this and raised his eyebrows. “Do you really think we’re that important in his eyes? After you left, he drank with the king of Kulan all night long, completely unaffected. You still care about him? I think you’d better care about yourself.”
What Zhang Yanji couldn’t stand most was Li Kuo’s temperament. Put nicely, it was called kindness; put poorly, it was called weakness. He treated others sincerely, but did they ever show gratitude?
In his view, Gao Xianzhi was truly worthless. If it weren’t for them rushing here day and night, risking their lives from Suiye City, how could Gao Xianzhi have settled in Kulan City so easily? Thinking he could make Li Huaizhong, that old fox, yield with just over two thousand defeated soldiers was pure delusion!
Brother Kuo had saved his life and the lives of thousands of his comrades, yet instead of being grateful, Gao Xianzhi acted arrogantly and condescending. So what if he was the Protector of Anxi? If Brother Kuo hadn’t arrived in time, he would likely be a skeleton by now.
Li Kuo helplessly waved his hand. “Forget it. Gao Xianzhi must have been suppressed for too long and just vented his anger. Let’s not take it too seriously.”
But Zhang Yanji refused to let it go. “Why can he vent his anger without regard for right or wrong? We’ve done him a favor, and he ought to repay it. Even a child understands this truth—how can he, as the Protector of Anxi, not get it? Brother Kuo, in my opinion, we should just take our comrades back to Anxi and leave him to deal with Li Huaizhong in Kulan City. If we can’t see him, we won’t be troubled!”
He had long heard that Gao Xianzhi had argued with Brother Kuo because of Li Huaizhong’s gift of beauties. What was wrong with what Brother Kuo did? Now that they had suffered a defeat and morale was low, instead of rallying and reorganizing the defeated troops, Gao Xianzhi indulged in wine and women. The Arabs had already been eyeing the four garrisons of Anxi, ready to launch an attack at any moment. What would they use to defend against those Arab cavalry then? Those beautiful Persian women in sheer robes?
“Look at that angry speech of yours—there’s not a hint of a military leader’s demeanor in it.”

Li Kuo knew that Zhang Yanji was speaking up for him, so he didn’t blame him too harshly. Although he was also disappointed by Gao Shuai’s actions, under no circumstances would he do what Zhang Yanji suggested—leading the troops back to Anxi ahead of time. If Gao Shuai’s actions had already pushed the Anxi army to the brink, leading the troops back east without considering the overall situation would push them completely over the edge. Whatever Gao Xianzhi did to him was a personal matter; personal emotions must not affect the entire army. We fall not to stay down, but to learn to stand again! He believed that after some time, Gao Shuai would be able to recover. By then, with the Anxi army united, they could at least ensure the safety of the four garrisons! “This is the most difficult time for the Anxi army. What we need to do is eliminate divisions and stand back up. If anyone thinks of rebelling at such a time, they would truly be traitors to the Anxi army.” No matter what happened, the determination in the young man’s heart never changed… It had been over five days since Gao Xianzhi led his defeated troops into Julan City, and the atmosphere in the city was as calm as the weather by the river. Gao Xianzhi assigned the task of gathering and reorganizing the defeated troops to his trusted general Li Siyeh, while Li Kuo, who had previously been in charge of this matter, was excluded from the process. This greatly displeased the trusted generals of the Tongwu Camp. It was obvious to everyone that Gao Xianzhi was gradually distancing himself from Li Kuo. This was understandable, as Li Kuo wasn’t part of Gao Xianzhi’s inner circle and couldn’t win his complete trust. But there must be a limit—after all, it was Li Kuo who initiated the task of reorganizing the defeated troops, yet now it had to be handed over to Li Siyeh halfway through. How could anyone accept that? It wasn’t that the generals of the Tongwu Camp valued fame and fortune highly, but Gao Xianzhi’s obvious favoritism was disheartening. Of course, their protests had no effect, and everything still proceeded according to the will of the Anxi Protector. As the main figure in this incident, Li Kuo remained quite calm. Either way, reorganizing the defeated troops was inevitable. Since Gao Shuai had chosen someone else, he could use the time to analyze the situation more thoroughly and come up with more solutions. Of course, whether these solutions would be adopted ultimately depended on Gao Xianzhi.

These days, scouts have kept coming in with reports on the movements of the Arabs. Abu Muslim is a military master who would not engage in a battle without confidence. In his view, although the Tang forces in Anxi had been defeated, they would not be completely shattered. Therefore, launching a direct attack on the four towns was not a wise move; if the Tang forces decided to defend stubbornly and clear the area of supplies, the Arab army might return empty-handed. Moreover, winter was approaching, and if the four towns could not be captured before the first snowfall, the Arabs would face dire conditions of hunger and cold. Long-distance campaigns always tested a army’s ability to transport supplies and provide for itself, a concern that also weighed on Abu Muslim.

So he did not send troops in pursuit immediately but instead deployed the allied forces in three groups to advance toward the four towns of Anxi, while also conscripting able-bodied men under 50 and over 16 from Khorasan and Transoxiana to transport supplies and provisions. As a result, the Arabs’ progress inevitably slowed, giving Gao Xianzhi more time to respond.

Under pressure, Gao Xianzhi naturally focused on defending the four towns of Anxi. On one hand, he sent messengers back to Anxi to instruct Xu Huairen, who was left in charge, to train and prepare the local militia. On the other hand, he ordered Li Siyeh to incorporate all the defeated Tang soldiers passing through Julan City. In recent days, soldiers from the west had kept arriving at Julan City, and after some reorganization, about 5,000 men were gathered. Together with the 5,000 elite troops led by Li Kuo, Gao Xianzhi now had over 10,000 troops at his disposal.

Yet such forces were clearly insufficient to confront the powerful Arab cavalry, so Gao Xianzhi urgently needed to strengthen his army. All the able-bodied men that could be conscripted from the four towns of Anxi had already been gathered; the rest were old, weak, or disabled and unfit for battle. Thus, Gao Xianzhi turned his attention to the area around Julan City.

Julan City was located at a strategic crossroads between the east and west, a necessary route for merchants traveling between the two regions, and it was extremely prosperous. Just in Julan State alone, there were nearly 100,000 people, including over 20,000 able-bodied men of fighting age. Even if it were not possible to recruit them all, capturing half of them would greatly strengthen the already weakened Anxi army.

As for the loyalty of the newly recruited mercenaries, there was no need to worry too much. Unlike the Battle of Talas, where identities could change easily, the Anxi army only needed to carry out simple defensive tasks. Without the risk of defeat, capture, or death, who would refuse such a sure thing?…