Chapter 305: Perfect Coordination

East of Jinshan lay vast grasslands stretching as far as the eye could see. Low hills were scattered across this expansive plain, and rivers formed by melting snow from the mountains wound their way between the hills. It was late spring, with abundant water and rapid currents. Herds of cattle and sheep grazed leisurely by the rivers. This area belonged to the Bagyegu tribe of the Uyghurs, which numbered around fifty thousand people and lived across the land east of Jinshan.

Tents could be seen from afar, and the herders led a peaceful and tranquil life here. That morning, a dark line appeared in the distance—a massive army was approaching. The herders became panicked and terrified. They shouted loudly to call their families, while packs of hunting dogs barked furiously and charged forward.

Cui Qianyou immediately stared at the hundreds of tents in the distance. This was a small branch of the Bagyegu tribe, located closest to Jinshan. He turned around and ordered, “Abudina, it’s up to you!”

Abudina drew his sword, pointed at the tents, and snapped, “Kill!”

Warhorses galloped, filled with murderous intent. Thousands of Tonglu cavalry drew their swords and charged at the fleeing herders. Hatred surged in their blades as they surrounded and slaughtered them.

…

The tribal camp of the Bagyegu tribe was located 200 li east of Jinshan. A large river flowed through the grasslands, and the area had fertile pastures, supporting tens of thousands of people. It was the headquarters of the Bagyegu tribe.

At that moment, fear reigned throughout the Bagyegu tribe. News that the Geluo, Tonglu, and Shatuo tribes had crossed Jinshan had reached them. Inside the main tent, the tribal chief Ashina paced back and forth anxiously, like an ant on a hot pan. He had already received over a dozen tragic reports: wherever the enemy forces went, they slaughtered his people without mercy, leaving no old people or women and children behind. He never expected the situation to turn out this way. After his last successful attack, he had planned to launch another assault, but he never imagined the enemy’s retaliation would be so swift and brutal. What worried him even more was the alliance of the Geluo, Tonglu, and Shatuo tribes, which had formed a powerful force far beyond what his Bagyegu tribe could handle.

He had already sought help from Khan Gelo, but distant help was of little use. It would take at least ten days for the main Uyghur forces to arrive, while the enemy was already closing in.

No fresh news had come from the messengers yet, but Ashina knew that for grassland cavalry, 200 li was just a one-day journey. The enemy could arrive at any moment. Yet his tens of thousands of tribesmen couldn’t relocate that quickly. Even if they tried, with the elderly, children, and sheep, they would soon be caught up by the enemy. What should he do now?

Regret and anxiety made Ashina’s heart pound in his throat. Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the tent.
“Great Chief!”
It was the messenger’s voice, filled with terror, causing Ashina’s heart to almost stop beating. He vaguely sensed that bad news was approaching.
“The enemy’s vanguard is less than thirty li away from us.”
“Clang!”
Ashina’s long sword fell to the ground. He stood frozen in place—there was no time left. After a long while, he suddenly snapped out of it and rushed outside the tent like mad, waving his arms and shouting loudly.
“Flee quickly! Abandon the tents and sheep—just save your lives!”
But the sheep and tents were the herders’ livelihoods; none of them were willing to give up what they relied on to survive. No one wanted to leave their possessions behind to flee.
Seeing the crisis looming, Ashina had no choice but to order, “Blow the horns! Prepare for battle!”
“Uuuu~” The horn sounded—the call to gather the warriors of the Baguye tribe. Teams of cavalry rushed out from various tents, forming a powerful army from a small group. Ten thousand cavalry were ready to go.
In less than an hour, the combined vanguard appeared at the edge of the grassland. Composed of six thousand cavalry, their leader was the Göktürk prince Mousi Sihan. In this joint campaign, the Göktürks contributed three hundred thousand sheep as military provisions. Moreover, since they were most familiar with the Golden Mountain, they played a crucial role in this campaign, even taking charge of the vanguard.
Mousi Sihan glanced at the thousands of tents in the distance. It surprised him that the Baguye tribe hadn’t moved them. The Göktürks and the Baguye tribe had been in contact for decades and knew each other well. The Baguye tribe originally had more than twenty thousand soldiers, but after being severely defeated by the Beiting army the previous year, their forces were now at most ten thousand.
Ten thousand people daring to confront sixty thousand allied troops? Mousi Sihan sneered. They were overestimating themselves—the downfall of the Baguye tribe was imminent.
“Slow down the march!”
At Mousi Sihan’s order, the five thousand vanguard soldiers slowed down. They were still seven or eight li away from the Baguye tribe’s tents. The ten thousand Baguye soldiers had already gone into battle, forming ranks to confront their invaders.
“Stop!”

Mouci Sihan waved his hand, and the army stopped in its tracks. He stared coldly as the Baguye army advanced, a cruel smile on his face. The Baguye army was already five li away from their camp when suddenly, loud horn sounds came from the north. A large group of Tuyuhun cavalry appeared on the gentle hills less than two li from the camp.

Abudi swung his battle axe and shouted fiercely, “Kill them!”

Tens of thousands of cavalry rushed like a flood breaking through a dam, sweeping over the terrified herders, old and young.

The chief of the Baguye tribe, Ashina, was terrified. He suddenly realized he had fallen into a trap—the enemy cavalry had already invaded the rear camp. Cries of the old and children, screams of women being abused, and various cries of slaughter filled the air.

The Baguye army fell into chaos. The young men, witnessing their wives, children, and parents being slaughtered, roared like beasts, their eyes blood-red as they fought desperately to retreat. Ashina could no longer control his army. In an instant, the army of over ten thousand collapsed. Realizing the situation was hopeless, he turned and fled.

Seeing the opportunity, Mouci Sihan turned around and shouted, “Take the cattle, sheep, and women as you wish. Whoever captures Ashina’s head will be rewarded with two thousand sheep!”

Five thousand Gelaoglu cavalry suddenly charged forward, their battle cries shaking the sky as they rushed at the collapsing Baguye army. At that moment, horn sounds came from all directions. The Shatuo, Gelaoglu, and Tang armies surrounded them from all sides. The Baguye tribe had no way to escape.

The allied forces slaughtered mercilessly. Heads rolled across the grassland, and corpses lay for miles. Young men were killed amidst screams, women were abused, and not even the old, children, or infants were spared. The battle was bloody and tragic, with most of the Baguye men killed.

As the battle gradually subsided, groups of disheveled young women were led out crying, tied up by ropes. There were over four thousand of them. Along with hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep, they became spoils of war. Grassland tribes regarded women as property, necessary for reproducing, and they did not keep the grown-up children either, as they could become sources of hatred.

At that time, a group of cavalry led a large group of men, women, and children to Cui Qianyou’s horse and reported, “General Cui, these are the nobles of Baguye and their families—352 in total.”

Cui Qianyou glanced at them and said coldly, “Kill them all, not a single one left!”

Mouci Heishan, who was nearby, noticed many beautiful young women among them and stepped forward with a smile, saying, “General Cui, how about giving those women to me?”

Chui Qianyou pointed with his whip at the thousands of women in the distance and said, “Those women over there—give me as many as you want; I’ll give them to you. But no noblewomen—they’ll become a threat. Bring them here, and kill them all!” At his command, a large group of soldiers drew their swords and charged forward, slashing wildly. Cries and screams filled the air, but soon everything fell silent. Every noblewoman and child was killed without exception. Seeing the regret on the face of the man who attempted to assassinate Heishan, Chui Qianyou said, “If you want to be a hero of the steppes, don’t act like a rooster, obsessing over a few women. If you destroy the Uyghurs, I’ll give you all the wives and concubines of their khan.” The man who tried to assassinate Heishan was overjoyed and said, “I’ll remember what the general said!” Seeing that the battle against the Baguye tribe had been a complete victory, Chui Qianyou ordered his subordinates, “Send pigeons as messengers to report to the supreme general!” Two soldiers opened the pigeon cages, and several pigeons took off into the sky. After circling twice, they flew southwest. After clearing the battlefield, Chui Qianyou distributed the spoils of war. Various tribes sent people to take the women, cattle, sheep, and other loot back to their bases. The army rested for a few days, after which Chui Qianyou sent people to contact the Xiaghas, inviting them to join forces against the Uyghurs, who had been oppressing them. Three days later, the army set out again, marching eastward in great numbers. …… After the battle against the Uyghurs broke out, Li Qing’an had already left Beiting and returned to Kucha. Although the main forces attacking the Uyghurs were from the Gelaolu, Tongluo, and Shatuo tribes, the Tang army also sent 6,000 troops, and it played a leading role in this campaign. To some extent, Li Qing’an seemed to have overstepped his authority. Initially, Li Longji had only granted him the power to make decisions on the spot regarding the battle against the Arabs, not including the Uyghurs. Of course, he could claim that the Uyghurs attacked Beiting first, or that they colluded with the Arabs or Tibetans—there were always enough excuses. Whether his excuses would be accepted by Li Longji depended on the report from the military supervisor Bian Lingcheng. Bian Lingcheng had been in Anxi for nearly eight years and was very familiar with the region. He had worked under three governors: Fumeng Lingcha, Gao Xianzhi, and Li Qing’an. He was considered a reasonable person who hadn’t caused much resentment in Anxi and hadn’t easily reported the governors’ misdeeds to Li Longji—of course, this was partly because his own desires were satisfied.

Bian Lingcheng was an eunuch. The physical characteristics of eunuchs meant they had no aspirations for a normal career or family life; they had a special fondness for wealth. Even Gao Lishi, who served Emperor Li Longji for decades, had amassed a fortune that ranked among the largest in the Tang Dynasty. Bian Lingcheng was no different—his obsession with money had reached extreme levels. During his eight years in Anxi, he himself didn’t even know how much wealth he had accumulated. He owned a huge mansion in Kucha. The year before last, Li Qing’an sent a thousand soldiers to dig a massive underground warehouse beneath his mansion, paved with bluestone, filled with all sorts of gold and silver treasures belonging to Bian Lingcheng. He didn’t even know how to transport them back to the Central Plains. Moreover, if Emperor Li Longji found out, his treasures would surely be seized—after all, he was just a palace servant with no right to possess wealth; everything he had belonged to his master.

What was more, Bian Lingcheng’s patron, Gao Lishi, had fallen from power, and his relationship with the now-ruling Yu Cha’en was extremely poor. Initially, Bian Lingcheng had competed with Yu Cha’en for the position of military governor in Anxi and defeated him through dishonorable means. Eunuchs were known for holding grudges—would Yu Cha’en spare him if he learned of his vast wealth?

Since Gao Lishi’s demotion, Emperor Li Longji had paid far less attention to their reports than before. In the past, a letter sent by him would always receive a reply, but now there were no replies. According to palace insiders, Yu Cha’en didn’t hold that power, and Emperor Li Longji neglected state affairs, only asking about their reports when he remembered, often ignoring them altogether. In other words, Bian Lingcheng was almost becoming redundant and could be dismissed at any time. Even if he wasn’t dismissed, once Yu Cha’en took control of military governance, his good days would be over. This made Bian Lingcheng feel insecure and further intensified his obsession with wealth.

Perhaps thanks to the money given by Li Qing’an, a tacit understanding had formed between Bian Lingcheng and him. Now, Bian Lingcheng hardly ever left Kucha City. He sent others to carry out various battles in Anxi and then summarized the results to report to Emperor Li Longji. These reports were mostly favorable to Li Qing’an. For example, two months ago, when there were signs that the Tubo army was marching toward Xiaobolue, he actually had no solid evidence and merely sent a brief report to Emperor Li Longji based on reports from scouts in Anxi—this was part of their tacit agreement, as he knew Li Qing’an needed that report.

So when Li Qing’an came to see him today, Bian Lingcheng knew he needed to reach another tacit agreement with him and report to Emperor Li Longji.

But this time it was somewhat different from before, as three days earlier, Prince Qing Li Cong had also arrived in Anxi to take up his post, right in the city of Kucha. This somewhat put Bian Lingcheng in a difficult position.
In Bian Lingcheng’s study, Li Qingan was having a late-night conversation with him by candlelight. The arrival of Prince Qing, in a way, threatened their interests, forcing them to join forces.
“General, the Uyghurs are different from the Tibetans and Arabs. The Uyghurs have always had good relations with the Tang Dynasty. Once they learn that the Tang army is also sending troops to attack them, they will surely complain to the imperial court. Doubts from the court will follow soon. I feel the general hasn’t handled this well. The general shouldn’t send troops; just sending a dozen or so generals as commanders would suffice. This way, the Uyghurs won’t be able to use this as an excuse, and no matter how they complain, it won’t really affect the general.”
Li Qingan also sighed slightly. “I wish I could do that, but without the Tang army’s involvement, the Tongluo and the other two tribes might not be a match for the Uyghurs. I’m worried too!”
At that, Li Qingan took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Bian Lingcheng with a smile. “This is evidence of the collusion between the Tibetans and the Uyghurs. It was captured by my troops from their spies. If we hand this letter to the imperial court and explain that it was the Uyghurs who provoked first, I think that will explain why I had to send troops against them. In fact, it’s to ensure the smooth progress of the war against Tibet, so it can also be considered part of that campaign.”
Bian Lingcheng opened the letter and took a look. It was a letter from the Tibetan ruler Shangxi Dongzan to the Uyghurs, written in both Tibetan and Uyghur scripts, with Shangxi Dongzan’s seal at the bottom. Bian Lingcheng was somewhat skeptical; he suspected the letter was forged by Li Qingan. But even if it was fake, the Uyghurs would have no way to defend themselves, as they were the ones who crossed the border first.
After thinking for a while, Bian Lingcheng smiled and said, “With this letter, we can explain to the emperor that the general isn’t actually attacking the Uyghurs but rather punishing the Baguye tribe for crossing the border and provoking trouble. That’s why the general sent troops to join the battle. Does the general think this will work if reported to the emperor?”
Li Qingan thought for a moment and said, “The supervisor might as well add that our main goal is to prevent the Uyghur Baguye tribe from taking advantage of the conflict between the Anxi army and the Tibetans, which could affect the overall outcome of the war against Tibet. That’s why we sent troops east of Jinshan to establish a defensive line there.”
……