Chapter 303: The Calamity of the Westward Migration

The defection of Abu Si in the 11th year of the Tianbao era was merely a minor incident for the Tang Dynasty. Apart from provoking the emperor’s wrath, it did not cause any major upheaval, nor did it attract much attention. Yet for the Uyghurs and Göktürks, it was a monumental event. The Tongluo tribe was once a powerful branch of the Turks, and Abu Si was the second most important figure in Eastern Turkic lands after the khan. His defection to the Tang Dynasty was a boon for the steppe tribes, as it deprived the Uyghurs of a formidable rival, allowing them to eventually replace the Eastern Turks as the dominators of the steppes.

However, the Tongluo tribe’s betrayal of the Tang Dynasty would, to some extent, alter the power balance on the steppes. In particular, the alliance between the Tongluo and Göktürks would pose a serious threat to the Uyghurs’ dominance. This was something the Uyghurs could absolutely not tolerate.

The Uyghur encampment was located at the northern foot of the Wudijian Mountains, upstream of the Akun River. This place served as the center of Uyghur power. After numerous hardships, Külüg Bilge, Khan Huai Ren, finally defeated Bai Mei Khan, the last ruler of the Later Turks, in the 5th year of the Tianbao era. Thereafter, the Uyghur Khanate replaced the Later Turkic Khanate, unifying the steppes and becoming the dominant force in the northern steppes. Yet Khan Huai Ren passed away unfortunately in the 6th year of Tianbao, and his son Moyan Chuo succeeded him, being crowned as Khan Gele.

The area where the Uyghur encampment stood was a vast grassland rich in pastureland and water sources. Thousands of Uyghur herders’ tents were spread across both banks of the river, with Khan Gele’s tent located among them.

In the morning, the area around the khan’s tent was under strict surveillance. Inside the tent, Khan Gele was convening an emergency meeting with the leaders of various tribes and the main generals of the Uyghur tribe. The topic of the meeting was how to deal with Abu Si’s tribe’s westward migration.

Khan Gele was in his early thirties, tall, robust, and exceptionally strong. Ten years earlier, he had already been hailed as the greatest warrior among the Uyghurs, which enabled him to stand out among Külüg Bilge’s many descendants and become the new generation of Uyghur khan.

The grassland tribes led a nomadic life, following the water and grass, which doomed them to instability. When the climate in the north became too harsh for survival, these tribes would ride south in search of new opportunities. This was true for both the Turks and the Uyghurs. However, out of fear of the powerful Tang Dynasty, the Uyghurs remained wary until the An Lushan Rebellion broke out and the Tang Dynasty sought their help. Only then did their attitude toward the Tang gradually change—from fear to contempt, and eventually to ambition. They began sending troops south to harass the Tang and seized Beiting. During the An Lushan Rebellion, they even demanded women from the two capitals in exchange for their military support. Li Yu, the King of Guangping at the time, realized that with so many powerful families in Chang’an, allowing the Uyghurs to seize their women would cause the Tang Dynasty to lose their support, so he stopped them from attacking Chang’an. But Luoyang, the eastern capital, was not so lucky. The Uyghurs raided the Han women and looted property in Luoyang, leaving the people in extreme terror. Tens of thousands took refuge in the White Horse Temple in Luoyang, but the Uyghurs set fire to the temple, killing over ten thousand people in what became the infamous White Horse Temple Massacre. In the end, hundreds of thousands of women were taken from Luoyang.

After six years of rule, Khagan Gele had grown stronger. Although he continued to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty each year, he was growing impatient, and his ambitions were expanding. Abu’s migration reignited his desire for Beiting. He remembered their failed attempt to explore the area south of Jinshan a few years earlier. Why not use this opportunity to test the Tang Dynasty’s attitude?

“My decision is firm!” Khagan Gele declared decisively to everyone. “The alliance between the Tongluo tribe and the Jiluolu tribe of Jinshan poses the greatest threat to us Uyghurs. We cannot tolerate it. We must strike hard while they are still unsteady.”

With that, Khagan Gele glanced at Ashina, the chief of the Bayegu tribe, and said slowly, “We need to take things step by step. The first step is for the Bayegu tribe to create trouble, giving us an excuse to move south.”

……

On the vast grasslands south of Jinshan, inside and outside the newly set up tents, Tongluo herdsmen were busy everywhere. Groups of horseback riders raced around, searching for open spaces to pitch tents. This was a branch of the Tongluo tribe, consisting of about two thousand people. Their leader, Hemir, was in his sixties, a man with tanned skin, rough and bold, known for his hearty laughter.

HeMiler rode on his horse, looking contentedly at the pasture. To the north lay the vast Golden Mountains, with the Doros River flowing through it. The grass here was lush enough to feed tens of thousands of sheep. Moreover, the great chief Abus had told him that, after negotiations with the Northern Court, the Shatuo tribe in the south had agreed to let them stay there through the winter, as it was warmer there than here.

Of course, Tongluo’s ultimate goal was to migrate westward to the Yibop Sea and establish their own khanate on the vast lands north of it, so as not to be vassals to anyone else. But this required permission from the Tang Dynasty—more precisely, permission from the Anxi Military Governor, as the Tang court would not interfere in matters north of the Yibop Sea.

HeMiler narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the grassland. At that moment, a group of young men rode up, smiling warmly and saying, “Uncle HeMiler, we’re here to help you set up the tents!”

“You little horses, why didn’t you go patrolling around the grassland? What are you doing back here?”

“What’s the point of patrolling? It’s better to come back and help everyone set up the tents.”

A young man named Kazagu said with a smile, “Uncle HeMiler knows that my mother can’t set up the tent by herself, so I had to come back.”

“Kazagu, don’t worry about your mother. The whole tribe will help her. Look!”

HeMiler pointed to a tent in the distance and said with a laugh, “Isn’t your mother’s tent already set up? Don’t worry!”

Seeing his mother milking sheep beside the tent, the young Kazagu waved excitedly at her before saying to HeMiler, “Uncle, then I’ll go patrol.”

He waved at everyone and said, “Let’s all go with me!”

The group of young men turned their horses and headed north. HeMiler watched their energetic figures and shook his head, smiling to himself, “Another group of young horses has grown up.”

He glanced at the sky—it was already dusk. He turned around and shouted, “Everyone, hurry up! We must set up all the tents before it gets dark!”

……

It was mid-April, the season when the grass on the grassland was at its most lush. Under the night sky, a warm southern wind blew gently over the grassland, with insects chirping everywhere. A bright full moon hung above the Golden Mountains, casting a thin layer of silver light over the grassland.

The herders of the Tongluo tribe had been busy all day and were exhausted. In the quiet night, they all fell into deep sleep. Suddenly, the sound of hurried horse hooves came from afar. It wasn’t the sound of herders returning. The hooves were rapid, as if something serious had happened, waking many people from their dreams.

“Run!”

In the night, faint cries could be heard: “The Uyghurs… they’re coming!”
“Ah!” Many people jumped up from their sleep, filled with shock, not knowing what was happening. Soon, even more people awoke, not because of the cries, but because the ground was trembling slightly. Having grown up on horseback, they all knew that only the charge of thousands of warhorses could cause such an earthquake-like sensation.
“Run away quickly!”
The sound grew louder. Many recognized it as the voice of the young warrior Kazaghu. Even the soundly asleep Helmir was awakened by his wife.
“What’s going on?” Helmir shouted as he strode out of the tent.
Outside, chaos reigned. Men, women, and children were frantically gathering their most valuable possessions. Suddenly, a warhorse rushed over, and its rider fell to the ground with a thud. Someone shouted, “Uncle Helmir, it’s Kazaghu! He’s covered in blood!”
“Run… the Uyghurs are coming!”
As soon as Kazaghu finished speaking, a large group of cavalry appeared hundreds of steps away. Thousands of horses charged forward like raging waves, with swords gleaming and cries of battle filling the air.
Helmir’s face turned pale. He screamed, “Run! Don’t worry about anything!”
He rushed to his horse beside the tent, cut the reins with a slash, and at that moment, his wife ran out barefoot, “Helmir, what’s happening?”
He had no time to explain. He mounted his horse and galloped away, grabbing his wife and pulling her onto the horse as they fled for their lives. Less than fifty steps away from the tent, the Uyghur cavalry surged forward like a tide, instantly engulfing their tent. Faint screams of those who couldn’t escape could be heard.
Heartbroken, Helmir pulled hard on the reins and fled westward at a speed he had never achieved in decades.
In mid-April of the 11th year of the Tianbao era, six thousand cavalry from the Uyghur Bayegu tribe crossed south of the Golden Mountains and launched a night attack on a tribe of the Tongluo people. They killed over a thousand people, including the elderly, women, children, and some young adults. Nearly a thousand others managed to escape and fled to the main camp of the Tongluo people, two hundred miles to the west.
…
Two days later, Li Qing’an learned of the Uyghurs’ night attack on the Tongluo people.

Li Qing’an returned to Anxi ten days ago. His wife was temporarily staying in Kucha. As soon as he returned to Anxi, he began preparing for the war against Tubo. Of his nearly 200,000 troops, more than half were deployed in Lingxi, while only 40,000 new troops were stationed in Anxi’s Beiting region—clearly not enough. Therefore, he had to transfer the elite troops from Suiye to Anxi. In this campaign against Tubo, Geshu Han from Longyou would be the main force, and Li Qing’an only needed to support him from the flanks. Thus, he planned to send 50,000 troops, so as not to disrupt military farming.

Food shortages also troubled Li Qing’an. Although he decided to exchange Persian prisoners for grain from Xinde, this would take time. Fortunately, half of his 200,000 troops were non-Han soldiers from the Western Regions, who could be fed with the abundant beef and mutton in Anxi. Even so, he only had 300,000 dan of grain stored, which meant each soldier would receive only 3 dan—enough to last three months. He needed at least half a year’s worth of grain until the autumn harvest. The imperial court agreed to send 100,000 dan of grain to support Anxi, leaving a two-month shortfall. If the Persian grain could be delivered in time, the problem would be solved; otherwise, they would have to rely on beef and mutton to make up for the shortage.

With this, the grain supply would just barely suffice. But then, Li Qing’an received news that the Uyghurs had attacked the Tongluo tribe. This unexpected event disrupted his plans, and he suddenly realized that the Uyghurs behind him had already begun to show their claws.

“General, I think there are two possibilities,” said Feng Changqing, the deputy governor of Anxi, analyzing the situation for Li Qing’an. Feng Changqing would be the commander of this campaign against Tubo. He had been stationed in Beiting and had since moved south to Kucha to accept Li Qing’an’s appointment.

“Perhaps the Uyghurs have no intention of attacking Beiting. They may simply feel threatened by the Tongluo tribe’s westward migration. Their goal is to take advantage of the Tongluo tribe’s unstable situation to wipe them out in one fell swoop.”

“And the other possibility?” Li Qing’an asked.

“The other possibility is that they are using the Tongluo tribe as a pretext to test Beiting’s strength. If we respond weakly, they will cross the Jin Mountains in force and attack the Tongluo and Gelao tribes. If they win, they might even sweep south and capture Beiting outright.”

Feng Changqing offered two analyses, but Li Qingan favored the latter. He paced slowly around the room with his hands behind his back, his brows deeply furrowed. Beiting had only 9,000 troops, all of them recruits. He was not afraid of the Uyghurs, but if they truly intended to attack Beiting, he would have to send troops north, facing the pressure of fighting on two fronts. Although he had gunpowder, his gunpowder weapons were still in their most primitive stage, suitable only for siege warfare and fighting against large groups like the Arabs. Against nomadic tribes that attacked swiftly with dispersed cavalry forces, their killing radius was too limited. Even adding iron balls or shavings to the gunpowder packets didn’t help much. Moreover, they couldn’t yet forge cannons, and at the high altitudes of the Tibetan Plateau, gunpowder was equally ineffective.

In the end, to deal with the Uyghurs and Tibetans, they still had to rely on traditional bows and arrows, cavalry, and the unique Mo Dao troops of Anxi.

As Li Qingan pondered, another general nearby, Cui Qianyou, said, “General, I think the Uyghurs are unaware that we are preparing to launch a campaign against Tibet. If they knew, they would take advantage of our full focus on fighting Tibet to launch a surprise attack, putting us in an even more vulnerable position. Now, by launching a night attack on the Tongluo tribe, they are giving us a warning. I believe this is just a prelude, an attempt to find an excuse to start a war. If we counterattack, they will surely launch a full-scale assault on Beiting. But if we don’t, they will use this opportunity to concentrate their forces against the Tongluo and Gelaoguo tribes, occupy the area west of Jinshan after the battle, and eye Beiting covetously.”

“What do you suggest then?” Li Qingan stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Cui Qianyou.

“In my opinion, we should abandon passive defense and instead unite the forces of the Tongluo, Gelaoguo, and Shatuo tribes, along with 10,000 Han troops, to cross Jinshan and launch a preemptive attack into Uyghur territory. We should seize their supplies, burn their forage, and prevent them from launching a large-scale attack on Beiting.”

Li Qingan pondered for a moment. Cui Qianyou made a good point. Fighting on two fronts was indeed very difficult for him. The best approach was to crush the Uyghurs’ ambitions to advance south before the campaign against Tibet even began. With that in mind, he turned to Feng Changqing and said firmly, “Changqing, continue preparing for war and do your best to gather provisions!”

He then said to Cui Qianyou, “You and I will head to Beiting right away!”

Four days later, Li Qing’an and his party arrived at Beiting City. Among the three armies in Beiting, the commander of the Tianshan Army stationed in Gaochang was Zheng Cheng, who was originally Li Qing’an’s personal guard commander. The commander of the Yiwu Army was Yang Zaicheng. Each of these two armies consisted of 2,000 soldiers. The largest army, the Hanhai Army, was led by General Nan Jiyun, with Pu Gu Huaien, a general sent from Longyou, serving as his deputy.

Pu Gu Huaien had originally been the commander of the Shuofang Army. He led his troops to support the Battle of Shibao City. After the battle, his troops were held back by Ge Shu Han and not returned. Later, Li Qing’an borrowed them for use in Beiting. Relying on his past achievements and seniority, Pu Gu Huaien refused to obey Li Qing’an’s orders, so he was not given important responsibilities. During the Battle of Talas, his troops were transferred to Suiye, while he remained in Beiting. Without his troops, he lost his support. By now, he only served as a deputy commander, acting as Nan Jiyun’s subordinate, which annoyed him but left him helpless.

This time, upon returning from Anxi, Li Qing’an held an emergency military meeting, to which Pu Gu Huaien also attended. He sat in the back row, silent and with a cold smile, listening to the discussions.

Before setting out, Li Qing’an sent messengers to Beiting, ordering the leaders of the Gelaoglu, Shatuo, and Tonglu tribes to gather in Beiting City to discuss military action.

The Uyghurs’ invasion south of Jinshan not only threatened the interests of the Tang Dynasty but also posed a serious threat to the survival of the Gelaoglu and Shatuo tribes. The Tonglu tribe, being a victim, became even more determined to launch a retaliatory attack.

Dozens of people gathered in a large hall. Li Qing’an sat at the central command seat, with General Cui Qianyou standing beside him. The commanders of the Hanhai, Tianshan, and Yiwu armies sat separately. Also present were Heishan and Sihan, the assassins from the Gelaoglu tribe; Zhuya Guduzhi and Zhuya Jinzhong, the assassins from the Shatuo tribe; and Abusi from the Tonglu tribe.

In the center of the hall lay a sand table map showing Beiting and its surroundings. Next to it, a young man from the Tonglu tribe named Kazagu loudly recounted what had happened that night.

“We were fifteen people patrolling at the foot of Jinshan when the Uyghurs suddenly appeared at the mountain pass—over 6,000 of them. Out of the fifteen of us, only I managed to escape.”

“Were they from the Uyghur main force or another tribe?” Heishan asked loudly.

“They were from the Bayegu tribe. I saw Kunbu, the son of Ashina,” he replied.

Heishan snapped, “A mere Bayegu tribe dares to be so arrogant! I’ll destroy them!”

Abusi sighed and said, “Great chief, the Bayegu tribe is not a serious threat. They are just the vanguard. The real danger comes from the Uyghur main force. We should follow the general’s plans.”

Everyone fell silent. At that moment, Li Qing’an let out a deep snort and said, “I called everyone here today to make one thing clear: whether it’s the Bayegu tribe or the Uyghur tribe, whether they attack the Tongluo tribe or the Gelaolu tribe, as long as they step beyond Jinshan, it’s a provocation against my Anxi region.”

Since Li Qing’an had said this, everyone understood his intention—he was about to go to war with the Uyghurs, which was exactly what everyone hoped for. On the steppes, only the strong ruled. Whether it was the Gelaolu, Tongluo, or Shatuo, they were all branches of the Turkic tribes. In the third year of the Tianbao era, the Gelaolu and Tongluo tribes joined forces with the Uyghurs to defeat the Later Turkic Khaganate’s Usumish Khan, only to have the steppes taken away from them by the Uyghurs.

This had long been a source of resentment among the other tribes. Now, the Gelaolu, Tongluo, and Shatuo had decided to unite to attack the Uyghurs, with support from the Tang army. They were eager and ready for battle.

Li Qing’an continued, “This counterattack against the Uyghurs will be carried out jointly by us all, but the supreme command will be in the hands of the Tang army. I entrust General Cui Qianyou to represent me as the commander of this campaign. His orders are my orders—none of you may disobey!”

Hei Shan, Zhuya Guduzhi, and Abusi all stood up at once and said, “We shall obey!”