Chapter 41: Assault on the Fortresses (II)

It wasn’t long before Li Kuo followed Ni Xin into the room. Seeing Liu Yi lying on his side on the bed, Li Kuo frowned slightly and stepped forward.
When Liu Yi saw Li Kuo approaching, he hurriedly tried to get up and said, “Are you General Li Kuo, the governor of Shule?”
Li Kuo waved his hand to signal him to lie down and smiled gently. “That’s right, it’s me. What urgent matter brings you to see me, brave man?”
Li Kuo’s friendly attitude made Liu Yi feel an unprecedented warmth. He took a deep breath, took out a letter from his inner robe, and handed it to Li Kuo.
“Governor Li, my name is Liu Yi. I was sent by Commander Gao Xianzhi to deliver a message to Suoye. A total of twelve of us rode swiftly from Shenhaizi, but all my comrades died for various reasons along the way. Even my warhorse Ah Hu died of exhaustion when we reached Suoye. I thought I wouldn’t be able to complete Commander Gao’s mission in Suoye City…”
Liu Yi became emotionally agitated and couldn’t control himself, tears welling up.
“Ah, rest for now. Don’t get upset!”
Li Kuo patted his arm gently while taking out the letter from the sealed envelope. Perhaps due to the urgency of the situation, Gao Xianzhi hadn’t spent much time describing the battle conditions around Talas. The entire letter contained only a few hundred words.
Yet to Li Kuo, those few hundred words were like needles and axes, causing unbearable pain. The young man’s face first turned pale, then blue, and finally even took on a faint black tint.
“What does it say? What does it say?”
Seeing his state, Ni Xin grew anxious and kept asking questions.
“Commander Gao is urging me to lead troops to the vicinity of Julan City to welcome the main army.”
Li Kuo let out a deep sigh and shook his head with a bitter smile. Although Gao Xianzhi hadn’t said it outright, such words clearly indicated that the battle was going poorly. Though defeat wasn’t certain, even the ever-victorious General Gao Xianzhi was at a loss in this complicated situation, so he sent Li Kuo to prepare just in case.
“What? You’ve only been in Suoye City for a few days, and now you have to lead troops on a long journey to Julan City, over seven hundred miles away?”
Ni Xin felt resentment upon hearing this. Biting her lip, she said, “The main army isn’t invincible and unstoppable all the time? Why do they need you to rush there now?”
Her words were filled with jealousy; anyone with poor composure might die of envy upon hearing them.

It can’t be entirely blamed on Ni Xin. As Gao Xianzhi led his troops across the Pamir Mountains, he sent Li Kuo with the Tianwei elite to suppress the rebellion of the Turkic people in Suiye. Specifically, Hezhong was the main battlefield, while the Suiye River area was the secondary battlefield. It wasn’t wrong for each to perform their duties, but it was obvious that the merit of capturing Suiye was not as great as that of taking Daliu City.

It’s impossible to say Gao Xianzhi had no ulterior motives. But this is human nature, and Ni Xin gritted his teeth and endured it. Now, however, as he faced troubles in Hezhong, he thought of Li Kuo and sent a letter urging him to rush to Hezhong at full speed—this seemed rather unreasonable.

“Ni Xin, don’t speak like that about Commander Gao!”

Although he was also dissatisfied with Gao Xianzhi’s actions, Li Kuo wouldn’t dwell on such matters. This was a decisive battle between the Abbasids and the Tang Dynasty, and even the slightest action could change the outcome. Whether Gao Xianzhi had ulterior motives to claim all the credit or not, as a soldier, he couldn’t just stand by.

“Brother Liu, what was the situation of the battle when you left Daliu?”

After calming himself, Li Kuo asked Liu Yi for information. Suiye was seven hundred li away from Daliu, so it was impossible to receive updates in time. He needed to understand the situation in Daliu as much as possible to make the best adjustments.

“Commander Li, when I set out from Shenhaizi, Commander Gao was organizing his troops, preparing to fight the Abbasids again.”

Liu Yi clearly had something hidden in mind, speaking hesitantly.

Seeing his uneasy expression, Li Kuo pressed further, “Oh, you say Commander Gao is preparing to fight the Abbasids again? Does that mean our army has already fought them once?”

“Mm… yes, we’ve already fought once.”

Liu Yi’s hesitant tone didn’t resemble that of a tough warrior facing life-and-death struggles. Even Ni Xin, who had remained silent until then, couldn’t help but feel annoyed.

“Hey, you’re such a big man—why be so cautious? I’m not criticizing you, but just speak up. If you don’t explain things clearly, even if he wants to help, he won’t know how.”

Ni Xin’s words might have been rough, but they made sense. Li Kuo didn’t interrupt and simply smiled at Liu Yi, “Speak freely. We’re comrades!”

“Sigh…”

Liu Yi let out a long sigh and said, “Commander Gao had planned a night attack on Daliu City. The entire army moved silently at night, and no one in the city noticed them. We launched repeated fierce attacks—first using the bridge built by Bahwan, then Generals Li Siye and Duan Xiushi each leading five thousand men to attack the north sides of the city.”

Swallowing his saliva, Liu Yi continued, “With Talas City on the verge of being captured, those damned Arabs used trebuchets to destroy the Fish Bridge Road. There were nearly a thousand Arab soldiers up there—how could they really do such a thing!”
Hearing this, Li Kuo had already largely deduced that Gao Xianzhi had failed in his siege attempt. He had been studying siege tactics all these days. Against a fortress as impregnable as this, trickery was clearly unworkable. There were mainly two methods: flooding it with water or digging tunnels to enter the city. The former was mostly used to damage enemy fortresses, while the latter was to seize strategic locations.
Gao Xianzhi’s aim in attacking Talas was clearly to take control of this strategic site, so flooding the city was out of the question. As for digging tunnels, given the sandy and rocky terrain around Talas City, it seemed that as soon as a shovel was dug, the surrounding sand and soil would immediately collapse.
It seemed that the only way to capture Talas City was through a frontal assault. For such an attack, the Fish Bridge Road was essential. With it as a pivot point, it would make it easier to send the vanguard troops to the city walls. This would allow a continuous stream of siege troops to enter the city, giving them a huge advantage.
Similarly, once the Fish Bridge Road was destroyed, the Tang army would lose its pivot point and naturally be at a disadvantage.
Seeing Li Kuo fall silent, Liu Yi gritted his teeth and said, “How could Commander Gao give up so easily? He sent Generals Li and Duan to launch a final assault on Talas, but just then, bad news arrived! The Arab reinforcements had safely crossed the Talas River and were rushing toward the city. Those damned Göktürks didn’t even stop the Arab cavalry in the slightest.”
Boom! Li Kuo’s mind exploded, and his body trembled involuntarily. He certainly knew what it meant to fail after prolonged efforts only to face enemy cavalry. Commander Gao must have been betting that he could capture Talas before the Arab reinforcements arrived. But he lost that bet—he hadn’t expected the Göktürks to be such weaklings.
Those who lost the bet naturally had to pay a price, and the Tang army’s price was to fight against the high-spirited Arab cavalry with their already exhausted forces!
Hiss! Li Kuo took a deep breath, feeling icy cold all over. Although he was confident in the combat strength of the Anxi Tang army, the Arabs had an absolute numerical advantage. No matter how skilled Commander Gao was, how could his force of less than 30,000 exhausted soldiers stand a chance against hundreds of thousands of Arab allied forces?
The area along the Talas River was a flat valley. If a battle were to be fought in formation, the Arab phalanx formation would surely unleash its full power.
“Did Commander Gao engage in a decisive battle with the Arabs when you left?”

At these words, Li Kuo was filled with fear and hurriedly asked Liu Yi.
“No, everyone had just endured a brutal night-long attack on Talas City and was utterly exhausted. General Gao said we should rest for a while and wait until our forces recovered before deciding when to engage the Arabs in a decisive battle!”
Hearing this, Liu Yi replied with a proud chest.
“That’s good, that’s good!” Li Kuo had feared that Gao Xianzhi might be blinded by failure and rush into a decisive battle against the Arabs to prove himself. It seemed now that General Gao had not lost his composure. As long as he could command the battle with a calm mind and wait until his troops regained their strength before fighting the Arabs, they might still gain an advantage.
“You go and rest at the Suiye Military Command now. Focus on recovering your health; don’t worry about anything else.”
Li Kuo nodded at Liu Yi and said, “I’ll select five thousand armored soldiers today. We’ll set out early tomorrow morning!”
Hearing this, Liu Yi was overjoyed and kowtowed repeatedly, saying, “Thank you, Governor Li! Thank you! Now, the lives of thirty thousand Tang soldiers in Anxi depend entirely on you!”