Chapter 131: The Battle for the Island (Part 2)

There wasn’t a cloud in the night sky. A full moon sailed across the vast blue expanse above Qinghai, casting a cool glow that turned the ice surface silver-white and crystal clear. In the distance, a row of dark dots appeared on the bright ice—hundreds of cavalry riders moving at great speed. Their horse hooves were wrapped in layers of burlap, allowing them to gallop across the ice.

Nan Jiyun led the way, anxiously staring at a bright spot due south. It was already the fourth watch of the night, yet the bonfire on that nameless rock still burned. Now, he spotted another bright spot in the northeast—a beacon tower of the Tang army atop a cliff along the coast. These two beacon towers connected Yinglong City and Shenwei City on Longju Island, serving as mutual support.

With Yinglong City under attack, Nan Jiyun worried whether Shenwei City would come to its aid as agreed. After traveling another dozen miles, the first light of dawn appeared in the east. They were now less than twenty miles from the northeast coast. Suddenly, a soldier shouted ahead, “General Nan, look!”

An army was rushing toward them, getting closer by the moment. The flags of the Tang army could already be seen. Nan Jiyun’s heart sank—what Li Qingan had feared most had happened. The approaching troops were indeed the Tang army from Shenwei Fort. Wang Nande personally led four thousand men to aid Yinglong City, as ordered by Geshu Han. The two forts were meant to support each other; if one was attacked, the other must come to its rescue. Now that the beacon fires in Qinghai had flared, Wang Nande had arrived with his troops.

“Is that General Wang?” Nan Jiyun shouted, speeding forward on his horse. Wang Nande stopped his warhorse and said, “I am Wang Nande. What happened?”

“General Wang, General Li sent me to inform you. The Tibetan attack on Longju Island might be a decoy; the real attack is on Shenwei City. General Li asks you to return immediately.”

Wang Nande was shocked. He turned to look at the beacon fire in the south, finding it strange as well—why hadn’t it gone out? Realizing the severity of the situation, he immediately ordered, “The army must return to Shenwei City at full speed!”

The Tang troops turned and rushed back toward Shenwei City.

A streak of dawn light covered the snow-capped peaks of Chilin. The white mountains glowed brilliantly, but below them, in Shenwei Fort, the sounds of battle echoed loudly. Thirty thousand Tibetan soldiers were launching a fierce attack on the fort. Bodies lay scattered across the slopes, and blood had frozen into ice, turning the entire slope red. Ballistae fired rocks in waves at the city walls.

“A thunderous crash!” came from the city walls, with large sections of the masonry peeling off from time to time. The Tibetan troops used heavy stones to suppress the Tang forces at the top of the walls. Thousands of Tibetan soldiers had already rushed up the mountains, and a ten-zhang-long siege beam was being slowly carried up the hill.

A mile away, Tibetan commander Ma Chongying rode on his horse, observing the progress of the battle. A hint of triumph appeared on his face. With his strategy of feinting attacks, he had successfully drawn the main Tang forces inside the city to Longju Island. How could the thousand defenders inside withstand an attack by thirty thousand troops? The Tang city of Shenwei was now in his grasp.

“Pass my order: whoever enters the city first will be rewarded with a hundred slaves and a thousand sheep.”

The Tibetan forces pressed forward like a tide. The ten-zhang-long siege beam began to strike the city gates. With a dull roar, the sound echoed through the valley. The gates shook violently, and a crack appeared in the wall above them.

Nearly half of the Tang soldiers on the walls were dead or wounded. An officer rushed to General Yang Jinghui and shouted, “General Yang, we can no longer hold on! If we don’t retreat now, we’ll all be wiped out!”

Yang Jinghui’s eyes seemed about to burst with blood. Losing Shenwei meant the Tang army’s plan to attack Chiling from the north would be completely ruined. How could they explain this to Commander Geshu Han?

“Boom!” Another deafening crash shook the castle. Yang Jinghui lost his balance and fell to the ground. He got up and shouted, “Open the back gate! Retreat!”

The drawbridge at the back gate slowly lowered, and hundreds of cavalry horses rushed out of the city, following a path to another mountain ridge. The Tang army finally abandoned Shenwei.

“Crash!” The gates of Shenwei burst open, and thousands of Tibetan soldiers poured in. Ma Chongying laughed heartily. He turned around and ordered, “Turn off the beacon fires! Attack Longju Island!”

…

As the beacon fires gradually went out, the attack drums of the Tibetan forces surrounding Longju Island suddenly sounded. A sea of Tibetan soldiers crossed onto the island—spearmen, sword-and-shield soldiers, archers, cavalry, and infantry, one group after another. Clad in chainmail, they shouted loudly, their murderous intent palpable.

Behind them were over a hundred large siege weapons—ladders and trebuchets, all crafted by Han craftsmen captured from Longyou. When the trebuchets reached the foot of the mountain, their long arms creaked as they were extended. General Lunqi Zang waved his sword and roared, “The first, second, and third thousand troops—charge!”

The Tibetan forces’ first probing attack began.

With the sound of drums echoing, three thousand Tibetan soldiers surged toward the mountain ridge like a tide. But the narrow paths prevented them from advancing in large numbers, turning their massive force into a thin stream that kept flowing upward.

On the castle, Li Qing’an gazed at the distant beacon fires going out, sighing inwardly. The extinguished beacon fires meant that Shenwei City had fallen, and it also meant that Geshu Han’s plan to attack Chiling from the north had failed. A bloody battle for Shibao City was inevitable.

“Qilang, the Tubo army is attacking!” Li Fei Shouyu warned him in a low voice.

Li Qing’an brought his thoughts back to the present. Looking at the arrogantly advancing Tubo army below, he smirked coldly. Yinglong City wasn’t Shenwei City—what did it matter even if 100,000 Tubo soldiers came?

“Prepare the trebuchets!”

On the castle, 100 trebuchets turned their aim toward the mountain path. By now, nearly a thousand Tubo soldiers had reached the path. The path, drenched with water by the Tang army, was covered in a thick layer of ice, making it utterly smooth and impossible to climb. The Tubo army struggled greatly to advance; they had to climb while chiseling their way forward. It took them nearly half an hour to move just 20 zhang.

Lun Qicang flew into a rage and roared, “Beat the drums!”

The loud sounds of the attack drums rang out again, urging the soldiers forward. Just then, an unusual noise came from the air. The Tubo soldiers halfway up the mountain looked up and saw a swarm of huge rocks plummeting toward them. Terrified, they turned and fled. Chaos ensued on the mountain path as many were pushed off. With a loud crash, a rock the size of a millstone hit the path, crushing more than a dozen Tubo soldiers into flesh pies. Their bloody corpses rolled toward the dense ranks of Tubo soldiers, triggering screams of agony. Many Tubo soldiers were knocked over by the rocks, suffering heavy casualties.

One after another, more rocks came crashing down. Like merciless scourges of the mountains, they swept everything in their path and destroyed everything. With just 20 trebuchets firing in the first round, not a single Tubo soldier remained alive on the path. Thousands of Tubo soldiers died under the Tang army’s barrage of rocks.

The drumming stopped, and the Tubo army fell into deathly silence. The Tang army’s fierce defense terrified everyone. All eyes turned to their commander, Lun Qicang. With such a strategically advantageous position, how much chance did they really have of winning?

Lun Qicang remained silent. He was an experienced veteran who could see that the Tang army was fully prepared. He knew it was impossible to take the castle by force. Suddenly, he shouted, “Bring the trebuchets forward and bombard the enemy fortress intensively! Prepare the scaling ladders!”

It was their only option left.

Nearly ten thousand Tubo soldiers pushed hundreds of trebuchets forward with a rumbling sound. The Tubo army lacked the skill to build heavy trebuchets; their trebuchets were all of medium size, with a arm length of twenty zhang. Stones were placed in the rear compartment, and dozens of soldiers pulled short ropes at the front, using the principle of levers to launch the stones high into the air. The maximum range of the Tubo trebuchets was five to six hundred steps, and each trebuchet required forty men to operate.

At four hundred steps away, the Tubo trebuchets began to show their effect. A deluge of huge stones soared into the air and crashed down on the castle with a howling sound. However, the Tang army’s castle was covered by a thick layer of ice, making it impregnable. When the stones hit the ice walls, they only left white marks. The stones struck the walls with a loud “bang! bang!” noise, but had little actual impact.

Strangely, the Tang army did not counterattack. Even though the Tubo trebuchets were within range of the Tang trebuchets, they remained silent, as if waiting for something.

Several Tubo generals found this strange. They went to Lun Qicang and whispered, “General, the Tang army is very odd. Something must be going on. We need to be careful.”

Lun Qicang pondered for a moment before saying, “No matter what happens, we must fight. Otherwise, how can we explain to our commander? Pass my orders: beat the drums to urge battle and use scaling ladders to attack the cliff!”

The Tubo army’s leather drums rang out again, their loud “dong! dong!” sounds inspiring courage. Ten thousand Tubo soldiers rushed toward the cliff, accompanied by dozens of scaling ladders. These ladders were also modeled after those of the Tang army—“made of large wood with six wheels at the bottom.” The main ladder was fixed to a base, while several auxiliary ladders could be adjusted in length as needed, reaching heights of dozens of zhang. Although not enough to directly reach the cliff, they could still reach the middle of the mountain, making it much easier to climb from there.

The Tubo army surged like a tide, but the Tang army remained silent. Thirty scaling ladders were gradually approaching the cliff, each accompanied by thousands of soldiers.

Li Qing’an stood on the city wall, calmly watching the swarm of Tubo soldiers rushing forward. He waved at Li Fei Shouyu and ordered, “It’s time to start!”

Suddenly, the Tubo soldiers at the foot of the cliff noticed something strange happening to the Tang army’s castle. White mist surrounded the castle, and a strange roar came from inside, resembling the low growl of a dragon. This sound pierced people’s hearts, causing each Tubo soldier to feel an unusual sense that something was about to happen.

Suddenly, someone pointed at the castle and shouted. A gigantic blue serpentine body rose from the castle, filling it entirely, covered in golden scales. As two horns appeared, a huge dragon head emerged, its eyes glowing gold, white smoke billowing from its mouth, and its massive body swaying from side to side.

The Tibetan army’s attack stopped, and everyone stared in awe at the azure dragon.

“The Dragon King of Qinghai!”

Someone shouted. The Tibetan army’s formation wavered as they began to retreat, fear evident in everyone’s eyes.

Lun Qicang was filled with doubt. Though he found it strange for an azure dragon to appear from the Tang army’s castle, the fact that it was floating in midair made him somewhat believe it.

The dragon let out another low growl, tinged with anger.

“General, what should we do?” a Tibetan officer asked quietly. “Should we continue the attack?”

Lun Qicang glanced skeptically at the dragon. Seeing it seem to sink slightly, he said, “Wait and see!”

Inside the castle, hot water boiled in over a hundred large pots, with steam filling the air. Hundreds of soldiers stood on the battlements, pulling thin ropes to keep the dragon’s body suspended in midair, constantly swaying. Below the dragon’s hind legs hung a huge basket containing a large pot, with flames blazing inside. A large amount of hot air flowed in from the dragon’s tail. Two soldiers in the basket kept pouring kerosene into the pot. The heat caused the dragon’s body to expand, lifting it slightly above the city. From afar, it looked like a giant dragon coiling in the clouds, its claws and fangs on full display—extremely realistic.

This was a primitive dragon-shaped hot air balloon, carefully crafted by over twenty female nurses using the Tang army’s summer shirts. It couldn’t fly very high, rising only just above two zhang above the city. The Tang army had tested it several times, and it worked almost every time.

At that moment, Li Fei Yuanli waved his hand again. Hundreds of Tang soldiers held metal speakers and roared in unison, producing a sound similar to a dragon’s growl.

“Qilang, hurry! The kerosene is running out!” Li Fei Yuanli shouted softly.

Li Qing’an watched the Tibetan army, seeing that they were almost inside the ambush zone. He then lit an iron rocket and slowly aimed it at a dark pond at the foot of the cliff.

“Fire!” he ordered. Immediately, the dragon let out an angry roar. Its maw opened wide, and two blazing fireballs flew out from beneath its head, soaring high toward the enemy forces as if ejected from its mouth. Just as everyone’s attention was fixed on those fireballs, Li Qing’an’s rockets were launched. In midair, they seemed like embers falling from the fireballs, striking the basin of kerosene that had been placed there beforehand. As the kerosene caught fire, a wave of flames rushed toward the Tibetan army, forcing them to scatter in all directions in terror. At that moment, the gunpowder bombs and firecrackers buried under the debris exploded violently, one after another, beneath the Tibetan troops. Thick black smoke billowed, and fierce flames erupted, mowing down the Tibetan soldiers and filling the air with screams and cries of pain.

“Earthfire thunder! The Earthfire thunder of the Dragon King of Qinghai!”

Fear of the gods shattered the Tibetan army’s morale. They turned and fled frantically, trampling each other in their panic, just like a tide retreating into the sea. They ran desperately toward Qinghai, and even Lunqi Zang couldn’t help but kneel and pray to the gods for forgiveness.

At that time, countless fireballs were launched from the city walls, along with burning gunpowder bombs that exploded above the Tibetan army. The flames soared, and the explosions were thunderous. The earthfire turned into heavenly thunder, causing the Tibetan army to scream in chaos and completely collapse.

Hundreds of scaling ladders and trebuchets were set ablaze, and the fire spread across the island. Countless Tibetan soldiers perished in the flames. In this battle, nearly 5,000 Tibetan soldiers were killed or wounded, and the over 100,000 bushels of grain and countless supplies and tents originally planned for a long-term siege of the Tang army were lost on the island.

The manifestation of the Dragon King of Qinghai in November of the seventh year of the Tianbao era terrified the Tibetans. Even after the Battle of Shibao City and for decades thereafter, no Tibetan dared set foot on Longju Island again.