Chapter 89: Day by Day (IV)

The vast plain was entirely red; green light shone over withered bones buried on Hu Mountain.
Monks chanted prayers for the souls of the dead—there were no cowards, only heroes. (Note 1) Under the leadership of Colonel Tao Cheng, the Tang soldiers climbed the sheer cliffs with agility, like raccoons. From time to time, rocks and boulders slipped past them into the abyss, yet the Tang soldiers showed no sign of fear.
Each of them carried a wooden shield and a steel knife, their eyes fixed resolutely on the stone steps ahead. Colonel Wu Hai led his troops in a fierce battle to seize the stone plain as a staging ground for their advance, with over 500 of the 600 soldiers losing their lives. The path they took was paved with the corpses of their comrades; every inch of land was soaked in their blood—how could they give up so easily?
Once they reached the stone steps, they could hide behind the chariots and advance to the foot of the stone fortress. Once there, the swordsmen hidden inside the chariots could swiftly slice the Tubo warriors behind the battlements to pieces!
The narrow stone path couldn’t accommodate many soldiers, so they had to huddle together as closely as possible, searching quickly for a point to gain leverage.
“Just ten zhang left to reach the steps—push harder!”
Tao Cheng grabbed a withered vine protruding from a crack in the rock and pulled hard to pull himself up.
The cliff here wasn’t extremely steep, but it was extremely smooth, making it hard to find a foothold. Some sunken rock pits appeared solid, but beneath them was merely loose soil. A Tang soldier, trying to avoid a boulder falling from the fortress, stepped on a rock. His center of gravity shifted to the right, causing the rock to slide downward under its weight.
“Ah!”
The soldier let out a scream before falling backward off the cliff. The valley was so deep that no sound of his impact could be heard—only more screams echoed through the gorge.
The soldiers around him swallowed hard and took deep breaths before continuing to climb.
From time to time, comrades slipped and fell beside them, and flying rocks knocked down their own men. Yet the Tang soldiers hesitated not at all—their goal was to seize those stone steps at any cost!
These stone steps on the north side of Chiling were originally built by the Tang Dynasty to facilitate climbing by soldiers. After the Tubo captured the stone fortress, they destroyed most of the steps for safety reasons. However, a section near the fortress was preserved due to its critical strategic importance.
“Swish!”
Tao Cheng threw a tightly tied hemp rope at a conical rock. The rope, thick as a bowl, accurately wrapped around the rock and secured itself firmly.

Tao Cheng pulled at the rock; seeing no sign of movement, he tied one end of the rope around his waist.
“Swish!”
“Swish!”
There was hardly anything to climb on the path behind them, so their lives depended entirely on this small rock. The Tang soldiers also stopped and, following their officer’s example, tied the ropes around nearby boulders.
Like a lone boat adrift in a rushing river, the Tang soldiers struggled and swayed on the sheer cliff, striving to reach the stone steps just a few yards away. With each step, they nailed wooden planks into the cracks in the rocks to pave a path for those following.
This distance was now within range of arrows. With the whooshing sound of the wind, sharp arrows flew past the Tang soldiers’ ears and dropped to the bottom of the cliff.
Ten yards, five yards, three yards…
Victory or defeat hinged on this battle!
Seizing the opportunity, Tao Cheng leaped toward a huge rock four feet away!…
Under the soft moonlight, the Tang army’s second wave had successfully moved from the rocky plain to the stone steps. The simple wooden carts were carried up the ridge by the soldiers and then transported to the stone steps using the assembled wooden planks.
A faint smile finally appeared on Zhang Shouyu’s face. The Tang army had taken the hardest step; once they secured the stone steps, they would be halfway there. Due to the terrain, the area within a few yards below the stone fortress became a dead zone for defense. The Tibetan troops’ reliable tactics of using huge rocks and rolling logs would be completely ineffective here. And the arrows that could pose a threat to them would be like scratching an itch against the carts—nothing to fear!
Time—what they needed now was just time.
As long as they could capture the battlements before the Tibetan reinforcements reached the stone fortress from the southern peak, the fortress would fall into the Tang army’s hands.
Conversely, if the defenders of the stone fortress held out through the night, the Tibetan reinforcements stationed along the Chiling line would surely arrive in time, and the Tang army, already so close to the fortress walls, would become easy prey.
So, their greatest enemy was time.
One after another, the carts reached the stone steps and lined up in order.
“Set off!”
The wooden wheels rolled steadily up the steps, emitting a deep sound like a dragon’s roar. The carts slowly advanced toward the battlements, stopping at each step to check the path ahead.
Thousands of swordsmen hid beneath the dark leather tents, waiting for that moment to arrive.
They were daggers meant to kill tigers, swords to sever snakes and pythons—revealed only at the moment of life or death!
The wooden wheels made creaking noises as they touched the rocks, casting a faint yellow glow that revealed a cold, menacing aura.
“The Tang army is attacking! The Tang army is attacking!”

The Tibetan guards on the battlements finally saw what was happening below the city walls with the help of torches and cried out in panic.
“An enemy attack! An enemy attack! The Tang army is attacking the city at night!”
A centurion on duty was awakened by the soldiers’ warnings. Instinctively, he grabbed his curved sword and rushed to the battlements. Still half-asleep, he yawned and rubbed his eyes.
“Tang invaders? Where are they?”
The guarding soldier raised his torch and shone it toward the cliff face, his fingers trembling: “Tang invaders! They’re attacking the city at night using war chariots. We’re doomed!”
Most of these soldiers had seen the strength of those chariots—arrowshots bounced off them like hitting cotton, with no effect at all. With the Tang army attacking at night and relying on such monstrous weapons, how could they possibly hold out?
The centurion followed the direction pointed by the soldier and was horrified, losing all traces of sleepiness.
“I’ll go report to the general and wake up all the men—quickly!”
With that, he rushed toward the stone chambers on the second floor, not daring to delay even for a moment.
“Get up, you bastards! Get up now! The Tang army is attacking! Grab your weapons and follow me to the city walls!”
The sleepy soldiers were pulled to their feet by the Tibetan officers and rushed to the city walls.
After the chaos, the troops in the stone fortress came out of the chambers and lined up with spears in hand.
“Where have the Tang troops reached? How many are there?”
Tien Ren Xino Luo stepped onto the city walls with heavy strides and asked loudly.
“Reporting to the general, there are about thirty chariots, and likely over a thousand men!” replied one of the centurions, bowing to Tien Ren Xino Luo.
Tien Ren Xino Luo’s heart sank—over a thousand Tang soldiers! The fortress already had few troops, and more had been lost in battles against the Tang army. Now, the fresh troops he could deploy numbered just over a thousand. Although the fortress was built on a high peak, the final stretch of the mountain path was quite flat, with almost no natural defenses.
“Tell everyone to guard every battlement tightly. Under no circumstances must a single Tang soldier get in!” Tien Ren Xino Luo gritted his teeth and issued the order firmly.
“Where’s the reinforcements? Why haven’t they arrived yet? Messengers were sent for help two days ago—why isn’t anyone here yet?” Tien Ren Xino Luo demanded impatiently of one of his guards.
“Well… um…” The guard stammered, refusing to reveal anything.
“Stop wasting words! Speak quickly!” Tien Ren Xino Luo glared at him fiercely.
Frightened, the guard quickly replied, “General Luo Erzan… he withdrew his troops and headed south.”
“What? What the hell are you talking about? Say it again!”

Tie Ren Xino Luo grabbed the bodyguard’s collar and shook him violently.
“General, listen to me, let me finish speaking…”
The bodyguard pleaded desperately, his eyes filled with anguish.
“Hmph!”
Furious, Tie Ren Xino Luo threw the bodyguard to the ground with a cold sneer.
“I heard… I heard that Jiuqu City is under siege!”
The bodyguard glanced at Tie Ren Xino Luo before finally revealing the truth: “The Zanpu is trapped by the Tang invaders, and General Luo Erzan had no choice but to mobilize reinforcements from the Chiling region to rescue him.”
“The Tang invaders? Do they have wings? How could they fly across Chiling and reach Jiuqu in an instant?”
Tie Ren Xino Luo couldn’t believe his ears, his words brimming with doubt. Over sixty thousand Tang troops had gathered outside Shibao City, and it was said that another sixty thousand cavalry were assembled near Alsu City in the south. How could there suddenly appear another group of Tang troops at Jiuqu?
“Well, I really don’t know. Anyway, General Luo Erzan said that the safety of the Zanpu is more important.”
Tie Ren Xino Luo shook his head and laughed loudly: “What a claim that the Zanpu’s safety is more important! It seems fate wants me to perish!”
Suddenly, his gaze turned icy. “Even if we die, we must take a few of those Tang invaders with us. Brothers, draw your curved swords and fight for Tubo and the Zanpu!”
“For Tubo! For the Zanpu!”
“Long live Tubo! Long live the Zanpu!”
All the Tubo soldiers wore resolute expressions on their faces. Perhaps they were doomed never to see the sun again, so let them shed their last drop of blood for Tubo.
The northern rivers bear the banners of war; for thousands of miles, the enemy’s flags wave.
The golden drums halt the battle formations; the sound of drums inspires the soldiers. (Note 2) On the first day of the sixth month in the eighth year of Tianbao, the main Tang forces launched a full-scale attack on Shibao City.
Note 1: To forget one’s ancestors is unfilial; to forget history is disloyal. Though I am not talented, I still wish to dedicate this poem to those heroes who sacrificed themselves for the rise of the Tang Dynasty.
Note 2: From “Drinking Horse by the Great Wall, Addressing the Soldiers Going on Campaign,” by Yang Guang. I have always believed that Yang Guang was a great and ambitious emperor, though he was too hasty in dealing with the issue of the aristocratic families.