Chapter 501: The Rebellion of A’huan

A’huan City in Tocharistan was the largest city there and also the capital of the Yuezhi state. At the beginning of the Tubo army’s attack on Tocharistan, they faced fierce resistance here. After capturing A’huan City, Shangxi Dongzan executed thirty thousand surrendered soldiers and carried out brutal massacres within the city, plundering its inhabitants.

Although A’huan City was in ruins, Shangxi Dongzan still established his governor’s office there because of the city’s vastness and favorable terrain, which made it ideal for governing Tocharistan. He didn’t care about the destruction of civilian homes, but he regretted that his soldiers had ruined the palace of A’huan City. This palace was the largest and most magnificent in Tocharistan, perfectly suited for his king to stay when inspecting the region. With half of the palace destroyed, Shangxi Dongzan felt somewhat disappointed. Fortunately, the foundation remained intact, so he ordered fifty thousand laborers from various parts of Tocharistan to repair and expand the palace.

On the massive construction site, a grand palace was already rising. Though the palace was nearly complete, Shangxi Dongzan had new ideas—he wanted to pave a wide road from the palace all the way twenty li outside the city, so that A’huan City would have the grandeur of a royal capital. He ordered the fifty thousand laborers to continue paving the road, with no permission to return home until the work was finished.

Driven by the Tubo soldiers, the fifty thousand laborers began working hard again on the road. On the dozens of li-long construction site, the figures of the laborers were busy, dust swirling in the air, with the sound of chiseling stones and their shouts echoing everywhere. In the distance, a convoy transported stones brought from the mountains.

On the site, five thousand Tubo soldiers served as supervisors, watching over every move of the fifty thousand laborers. Any sign of slacking off led to whips raining down like rain. Time was running out—rumor had it that the king had already reached Gebel. He would arrive at A’huan City within ten days at most. Shangxi Dongzan grew anxious and ordered that the road be completed day and night, at any cost, within those ten days.

The fifty thousand laborers had been building the palace for two months. Under heavy labor and extremely harsh conditions, four to five thousand of them had already died from illness or exhaustion. The Tubo people hadn’t provided extra food for these fifty thousand people, ordering them to bring their own supplies. Yet even their own food wasn’t enough for two months. Some brought more, some less. The Tubo authorities confiscated their food and provided only two meals a day in the form of porridge. Many died from illness and hunger.

That afternoon, at the construction site at the city gate, Zhou Bi and his companions were checking the flatness of the stones. Unlike others, Zhou Bi and his team had taken the initiative to greet the workers, so they were treated fairly and given the easiest task: checking whether the stones met the standards. Moreover, Zhou Bi was the chief over the 8,000 laborers in the kingdom.

Every kingdom had labor leaders. While the Tubo people managed things with whips, they still had to consult these labor leaders on certain matters.

“Agano! Agano!” Someone was shouting loudly not far away.

Zhou Bi looked up and saw a well-dressed Tocharian calling him by the roadside. He recognized him well—it was a trusted attendant of Alan, the deputy minister in charge of government affairs.

He immediately went over and asked, “What’s the matter?”

The attendant pulled him aside and whispered, “Alan has something important to discuss with you. Come with me quickly!”

“Wait a moment. I need to give some instructions first.”

After returning, Zhou Bi gave a few more orders to his team before following the attendant.

Alan, the deputy minister in charge of government affairs for the Tocharians, used to be a tax official in the Yuezhi kingdom. There, he was one of the three most powerful figures. But throughout the Tocharian region, he wasn’t very important. After the Tubo people invaded, the royal families and nobles of various Tocharian states fled to Anxi or Suiye. Only Alan willingly submitted to them. Relying on his ability to speak Tubo, he was highly regarded by the Tubo people and became their most powerful figure. In the eyes of the Tubo people, he was also the number one traitor.

It’s interesting to note that when the Tang army took control of the Tocharian region, countless Tocharian princes and officials defected to the Tang side, yet they weren’t considered traitors. One important reason was that the Tocharian region had always been a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty. Additionally, the local nobles recognized the rule of the Tang Dynasty and would never accept being ruled by a barbaric and backward small state like Tubo.

Historically, the Tubo people also occupied the Tocharian region for a time, but they were soon defeated by the Arabs, who drove them out. This was largely because the Tocharians refused to acknowledge Tubo’s rule. Since ancient times, the Tocharian region has been extremely difficult to rule. The Tocharian region is what is now Afghanistan. Even today, it’s easy to occupy this weak country, but difficult to conquer.

Although Alan was the number one traitor, he reaped huge wealth from his position. Some estimates suggest that he earned at least 100,000 silver coins just in that winter.

Although wealth flowed in abundantly, Alan’s greatest concern was whether his fortune would last. He knew well that with the powerful Tang Dynasty to the north, the Tibetans could not hold on long, and they were extremely unpopular among the Tocharians—being driven away was only a matter of time. Therefore, finding an exit strategy was Alan’s top priority.

He couldn’t bring his family to the Tibetan Plateau. As a Buddhist, he also couldn’t seek refuge in the Abbasid Empire. The only option was to flee to the Tang Dynasty. But would the Tang Dynasty tolerate him?

Just as he was filled with anxiety, his brother-in-law, Bobola, brought him a glimmer of hope. Some merchants wanted to buy information about the whereabouts of the Tibetan king. Bobola might not understand, but Alan immediately realized it—no ordinary merchant would spend five hundred silver coins on such information. It must be spies from the Tang army, as only they would be interested in the Tibetan king’s movements.

This gave him hope—perhaps these Tang spies could serve as a bridge to his escape route.

At that moment, a servant came in and reported, “Master, Agano has arrived.”

“Bring him in at once!”

A moment later, his trusted attendant brought Zhou Bi in. Alan rushed forward and said with a smile, “I have important matters to discuss with you.”

He waved his hand to send the attendant away and closed the door before saying, “Captain Zhou, please sit.”

Zhou Bi was already dressed in a finely crafted robe. Without hesitation, he sat down and asked with a smile, “What important matters does the administrative official have for me?”

The two had met several times before, and their cooperation had been quite smooth. Zhou Bi had also promised him that if he helped the Tang army, his contributions would be properly recorded. This gave Alan an exit strategy. At over fifty years old, he had seen many things clearly. He didn’t really expect the Tang Dynasty to grant him any official position in the future. He was a smart man; as long as the Tang Dynasty allowed him to spend his old age in Chang’an, he would be satisfied.

Alan took a document from the table and handed it to Zhou Bi, saying, “This is accurate information I obtained this morning during a meeting with Shangxi Dongzan. The Tibetan king crossed the country of Qishi three days ago and is now in Gesimi, west of Gebel. He is accompanied by an army of eight hundred thousand. The Tibetans are facing a shortage of food, so Shangxi Dongzan ordered me to collect two hundred thousand bushels of grain and three hundred thousand sheep from the various Tocharian states within ten days, and one million sheep within two months.”

At this point, Alan sighed bitterly and said, “It’s already extremely difficult for Khotan to support a hundred thousand Tibetan troops. After just one winter, they’ve been nearly drained by the Tibetans. Now they’re asked to provide for another eight hundred thousand people—it’s simply impossible for the Khotan people to do. I reckon rebellion among them is about to start.”

Zhou Bi pondered for a moment before asking, “Then where do you think the Khotan people’s rebellion will start first?”

Alan shook his head and sighed, “Actually, I don’t know. I don’t even know where to begin. Three hundred thousand sheep! It’s the spring breeding season for cattle and sheep. Taking their sheep now would mean killing the people.”

“Sir, I have a suggestion. I wonder if you’d be willing to hear it.”

Alan perked up and said eagerly, “Go ahead!”

“The road construction is almost finished. You could suggest to Shangxi Dongzan that they reduce meals from two a day to one, which would save a lot of food.”

“Well…”

Alan hesitated. He understood Zhou Bi’s intention—to incite the laborers to rebel. He said, “The laborers are already complaining that the food rations are too meager. Cutting them further will surely spark rebellion. Shangxi Dongzan isn’t stupid, and it won’t save much food anyway. He probably won’t accept this suggestion. Maybe we should try a different strategy that will achieve the same result.”

“Then tell me, what strategy?”

“When we first recruited the laborers, Shangxi Dongzan promised to give each one two silver coins as long as the palace was completed on time. It was just to trick them into building the palace. I know he has no intention of paying them, nor will he. How about spreading the news that he won’t pay? The laborers will definitely riot. What do you think?”

Zhou Bi thought for a while before smiling and saying, “That’s a good idea. I’ll spread that news. But you also need to spread it through a channel of your own. As someone representing the rulers, your message will be believed even more by them.”

“I will. The news will spread throughout the construction site by tomorrow.”

……

After leaving Alan’s residence, Zhou Bi didn’t go to the construction site. Instead, he went to an inn in the east of the city, where he found Wang Yiqing.

Wang Yiqing was the only one among their ten who wasn’t a laborer. It wasn’t because of his language skills, but because he was an eagle trainer. The task of passing information to Suiye had to be done by Wang Yiqing, so he needed to remain free.

Wang Yiqing lived in the back of the inn, in a separate courtyard. There was clean water and food in the room. He rarely went outside. When he saw it was Zhou Bi knocking, he immediately pulled him in and asked with gestures, “What’s the matter?”

Since the cave incident, Wang Yiqing had not spoken again. For nearly two months, he had acted as if he were deaf and mute, which worried Zhou Bi. He wondered if Wang Yiqing would still be able to speak when they returned to Suiye. Yet he understood Wang Yiqing’s determination—he didn’t want to put his fellow companions in danger because of him. Zhou Bi sighed silently, then sat down and placed a piece of information in front of Wang Yiqing, writing on the table with clean water: “This is an urgent message. Deliver it immediately.”

Wang Yiqing nodded. He took a thin piece of white silk from a small box and copied the message using a special fine pen. He used the Turkic script, a code unique to the Tang army. Once the recipient received the letter, they would convert the code into Chinese characters, making it difficult for the enemy to understand its contents even if the eagle was captured. After writing it, he checked it carefully twice. Zhou Bi watched as he worked meticulously and couldn’t help but admire him. By then, Wang Yiqing had finished checking. Once the silk was slightly dry, he took a red letter tube, folded the silk into thin strips, and stuffed them inside. He sealed the tube tightly before going outside. On a tree in the courtyard, two hawks stood quietly. He picked one of the hawks, attached the letter tube firmly to its leg, stroked its feathers affectionately for a moment, then threw it high into the air. The hawk spread its wings and flew upward, circling before heading north.

……

The rebellion of 45,000 laborers spread after news that their wages would not be paid. The long-suppressed anger of the Tocharians finally erupted. For two whole months, they had eaten their own rations and worked tirelessly day and night under extremely heavy labor, with many dying from illness and starvation. They had dared not resist, comforting themselves with the thought that two silver coins were enough to keep them from rebelling—they were their only spiritual support. But now, even that last pillar of support had collapsed.

The news that the two silver coins would not be paid had reached every laborer’s ears. Starting with the largest group of laborers from the Yuechi Kingdom, a general strike began. On the nearly thirty-li-long construction site, the busy work was gone. The site was filled with laborers, all of them silent, using silent protest to resist the brutal exploitation by the Tibetans. Even a dog would be given a bone, but they received nothing at all.

News of the strike quickly reached the desk of the governor of Tokharistan, Shangxi Dongzan. Shangxi Dongzan had served as the prime minister of Tubo for two years. Logically, he should have understood that a combination of force and diplomacy was the only way to ensure long-term stability. Yet his actions in Tokharistan bore no resemblance to those of a statesman; his behavior could be described in just one word: conquest.

Conquest meant slaughter. As soon as he set foot in Tokharistan, he executed 30,000 surrendered soldiers, massacred the inhabitants of Ahuan City, Hunmo City, and Huolu City. Anyone who dared resist the Tubo army was purged through rape, murder, and burning. No one could count exactly how many people were killed.

Conquest also meant exploitation. From the first day he occupied Tokharistan, he imposed military provisions, annual taxes, monthly taxes, and taxes for the army’s winter camp. The ever-increasing list of taxes drained Tokharistan of all its wealth. Perhaps a strategy of combining diplomacy with force was only applicable within Tubo itself. With foreigners, there was no need for diplomacy—only conquest and extermination. Before leaving, the king had told him that Tokharistan might soon become a new homeland for the Tubo people. In that case, reducing the local population was part of their strategic plan.

Shangxi Dongzan sat on the golden ivory throne of the King of Yuezhi, his gaze cold as he stared at the urgent report about the workers’ strike. The people of Tokharistan demanded two silver coins each—50,000 people meant 100,000 silver coins. Would he give them that? Even if it weren’t 100,000, he wouldn’t give 10 either.

He actually had another plan: after these workers built the roads, he would send them to the silver mines of the Great Khanate to work as slaves, mining silver for Tubo. Unexpectedly, they rebelled. At that moment, a murderous intent flashed in Shangxi Dongzan’s eyes.

“Pass my order: deploy 10,000 troops to suppress the workers’ strike. Anyone who dares cause trouble shall be executed without mercy!”

…

The workers’ strike lasted less than an hour before a massive, murderous Tubo army rushed into the group of sitting workers. They used whips, sword handles, and fists to beat them. Anyone who resisted was immediately beheaded. The bloody scene caused chaos on the road as the workers fled in panic. But the Tubo army had surrounded them from all sides, beginning a bloody crackdown.

“Kneel! Kneel!”

This simple Tocharian language echoed repeatedly above the construction site. Any Tocharian laborer who refused to kneel, no matter the reason, was killed on the spot. Corpses lay everywhere, and blood flowed like rivers. The brutal killings terrified the laborers, and some began to kneel. More and more people knelt, but soon even those who knelt could not escape. The enraged Tibetan soldiers had no choice left; kneeling only made it easier for them to slash off heads with their swords.

A massacre ensued. By then, tens of thousands of laborers were pushed to the brink of life and death. Forced to resist, they picked up iron picks and chisels, wooden sticks and crowbars, as well as stones, and fought back against the Tibetans. Often, several people surrounded a single Tibetan soldier and beat him to death, or hundreds of Tibetan soldiers surrounded a hundred laborers and killed them in groups.

Chahuan City was in complete chaos, filled with cries of battle and screams of pain. Even the Tibetans could no longer control the situation. The laborers broke through the Tibetan soldiers’ blockade, and tens of thousands of Tocharians fled Chahuan City, scattering in all directions across Tocharistan.

The unrest among the laborers in Chahuan City was just a spark that ignited a full-scale rebellion among the Tocharians. Waves of uprising after waves surged across the land of Tocharistan.

……

At the same time as the unrest in Tocharistan, the Tang army also took action. Their first move was in Xiaobuli. Since it was conquered by the Tang army in the sixth year of Tianbao, Xiaobuli had remained firmly under Tang control. The Tang army established the Guiren Army there, with 3,000 troops stationed there. The first commander was Xi Yuanqing, but after Gao Xianzhi left Anxi, Xi Yuanqing followed him and left as well. The second commander was Yu Guozhang, who had originally been Xi Yuanqing’s deputy. A few months earlier, he was promoted to commander of the Shule troops, while An Baozhen took over as commander of the Guiren Army. By then, the Guiren Army had grown from 3,000 to 8,000 troops, becoming a powerful force of the Tang army.

Xiaobuli had a highly strategic location. It was nestled among towering mountains. To reach the north and west, one had to climb over steep snow-capped peaks, while to the east, it was divided by the Boyi River Gorge, connected only by a narrow vine bridge. Cutting this vine bridge would block Xiaobuli’s path to the Tibetan Plateau. During the battle of Xiaobuli back then, scout officer Li Qingan killed Princess Garan of Tibet with an arrow from this very vine bridge.

Eight years passed in the blink of an eye. Today, Xiaobuli once again became the focus of the Tang army’s attention. The difference this time was that Xiaobuli was not the endpoint of the invasion but its starting point.

Eight thousand Tang troops stationed in Lesser Bactria, with one thousand left to guard Nieduo City, had already assembled outside the city. Under the leadership of their commander An Baozhen, they were set to march thousands of miles to Greater Bactria to cut off the Tibetan king’s return route. The Tang army had received news from Tocharia that the Tibetan king had crossed into Greater Bactria and entered Tocharia, making it the perfect time to strike. Li Qing’an issued the order to march on Greater Bactria. Under the blue sky, the seven thousand Tang soldiers were fully prepared, their armor gleaming, weapons lining up like forests. The soldiers were eager for battle, and their warhorses neighed excitedly. The young queen of Lesser Bactria, Li Xuelian, led thousands of her subjects to bid farewell to the Tang army. She offered a cup of fine wine to the valiant general An Baozhen. “General An, I wish you success in your mission and a swift return!” Looking at this young and beautiful queen, An Baozhen felt inspired. He took the cup and drank it in one gulp, then laughed loudly, “With fine wine and a beautiful lady, our Tang army will surely establish its glory in Greater Bactria!”