Chapter 513: Fierce Battle Against the Infantry Division

The explosions on the river could be clearly heard from dozens of miles away—this was the signal for the Tang army’s attack. Fifty thousand Tang soldiers from the west set forth toward Bushi City. At the same time, thirty thousand Tang soldiers from the north, under the orders of their commander Li Qing’an, advanced southward. Together, these two forces encircled the Tubo troops in Bushi City.

Inside Bushi City, panic reigned. Families locked their doors, and the streets were empty. Only groups of Tubo soldiers went from house to house, breaking down doors under the pretext of searching for Tang spies. They looted everything—grain, money, livestock—and some young and beautiful women were raped. The Tubo used their brutality toward the local population to conceal their own fear, indicating that they saw little hope for Bushi City’s fate. They decided to carry out one last plunder before the Tang army captured the city.

On the city walls, Lun Xizhu, the Tubo commander of Bushi City, stared despairfully into the distance. He seemed to already see the main force of the Tang army. Although he ordered the repair of floating bridges, it would take at least three days to complete them, and dozens of small boats could not transport many reinforcements across the river.

The Tang army was already approaching. What should he do? Fight them head-on or defend the city and wait for reinforcements? The crisis was imminent, yet he still hadn’t decided how to respond.

In times of panic, people tend to retreat rather than strive forward—this is a weakness of human nature. Only those with extraordinary courage dare to challenge themselves in adversity. This Tubo commander clearly lacked such courage. Hesitant amid the pressure of the Tang army, he never had the bravery to fight them outside the city. He carefully examined the city walls—only six feet high with no moat. Though not very tall, they were thick and built entirely of large bluestone blocks. Perhaps they could hold off the Tang army for a few days, long enough to wait for reinforcements.

He sought comfort in various assumptions, but the arrival of the Tang army was real, not an illusion.

“Uuu~ Uuu~”

A deep, distant horn sound rose from the west. A long black line appeared in the distance, like an echo. Horns also sounded in the north, as the Tang army from the north arrived as well.

Black lines gradually spread out, forming a vast curtain of darkness. Flags fluttered like clouds, armor shone brightly, and the troops were neatly arranged. Swords and spears resembled an endless forest. Cavalry led the way, followed by infantry. The marching speed wasn’t fast, but every step was breathtaking. The rhythm of the march was accompanied by the sound of horns, with the thunderous drumbeats rolling across the sky like distant thunder.

This was an army primarily composed of Han people, who still retained the distinctive order and strict discipline of the Han forces. Yet, there was no trace of the gentle demeanor associated with the Han armies in the Central Plains. Instead, they carried the spirit of blood and fire unique to Anxi, along with an unyielding, steel-like toughness. They were like high-density steel—invincible.

The Tubo army had retreated into the city from all directions in a chaotic manner. They were so disorganized that they abandoned many of their supplies. As the 10,000 Tubo soldiers stationed on the north bank of the floating bridge withdrew to Bushi City, its gates slowly closed.

All 40,000 Tubo soldiers entered the city. They had no heavy defensive weapons such as trebuchets or ballistae—only bows and arrows, along with the most primitive methods of using rolling logs and stones. Obtaining stones was easy; they demolished all the stone buildings near the city walls, gathering a large amount of stone.

In Qiemo City, it was the Tubo army that attacked the city, but today the situation had reversed—80,000 Tang soldiers were attacking Bushi City. Chaos reigned inside the city. The commander, Lun Xizhu, directed his soldiers to block the city gates with huge stones. Tubo soldiers brought in massive stones weighing several thousand pounds and piled them densely behind the gates. The city gates were the weakest point of Bushi City’s formidable defenses, making them easy targets for the Tang army to breach.

Lun Xizhu’s voice was hoarse. Pointing at an open section of the gate, he shouted hoarsely, “Quick! Here, here—block this place!”

More than 200 Tubo soldiers used levers and rolling logs to slowly move a large, square stone and block the gate. Several more large stones were brought in and stacked on top of it.

At that moment, Tubo soldiers drove thousands of elders, women, and children from all directions onto the city walls. Many of these people were holding children, with cries and pleas filling the air. Yet the Tubo soldiers mercilessly drove them onto the walls using whips and sticks. These elders, women, and children would serve as hostages, preventing the Tang army from advancing.

The drumbeats outside the city gradually subsided. The Western and Northern Tang armies arrived at Bushi City almost simultaneously. They stopped about two li away from the city, waiting for further orders.

Li Qing’an rode on his horse at the center of the army. He gazed coldly at the familiar city. Although he had prepared plans for various possible scenarios, he never expected the Tubo army to choose to trap themselves inside the city. The city’s thick walls might slow down the Tang army’s advance for a while, but the Tubo soldiers couldn’t hold the city at all. On the contrary, the walls would hinder their escape.

If it were him, knowing he was outmatched and with no reinforcements coming, he would rather try to break through and head west. After all, they had an army of 40,000, and at least 20,000 could break through the encirclement. Trapped in the city, they would be more likely to be wiped out entirely.

“General, look!” one of his bodyguards shouted, pointing at the city walls. “They’ve brought all the women and children inside.”

Li Qing’an sneered lightly. He could already sense the Tubo army’s cowardice. Bringing women and children inside as shields only proved their fear.

These Tubo soldiers didn’t understand what war was. War was a struggle where soldiers turned into beasts, with no mercy. In the face of war, human life was the least valuable—whether soldiers or the old, weak, women, or children.

“Pass my order: send the war chariots into battle!”

The loud drumbeats rang again. Two hundred war chariots appeared behind the Tang army. These were heavy weapons crafted over many years in Anxi. Massive in size, they had six wheels for support. The entire chariot body was made from a special kind of ironwood found along the coast of Yibohai—extremely fine and thick, used by the Anxi army to make shields. This ironwood was actually a type of oak that was fireproof, resistant toknife cuts, and incredibly hard. Only a crossbow could penetrate it from 150 paces away. The armorsmiths had added an outer layer of iron to make it even stronger. Each chariot was about 30 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 10 feet high, pulled by 24 large and strong horses from Dayuan. In the Central Plains, such extravagance with horses was unimaginable, but in Anxi, it was easily achievable.

Each chariot could hold 30 archers, with shooting holes all around. Inside, there were also crossbows and small winch-based stone cannons—i.e., catapults, not lever-based ones. These stone cannons could launch objects weighing 20 jin up to 300 paces away. In essence, these war chariots were ancient heavy tanks.

Although it appeared somewhat bulky and not fast, it could exert tremendous power in cluster combat. Especially after the artisans of the Anxi army invented fuses that ensured even combustion, this had a crucial impact on controlling the distance and timing of the thunder bombs, making it possible to launch them from afar and doubling the effectiveness of the war chariots.
“A craftsman must first sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well!”
The thunder bomb was not invented by Li Qing’an; it was created by military artisans during the Song Dynasty, more than two hundred years later. It was an inevitable outcome of the advanced use of gunpowder. Through relentless efforts by the Tang army and repeated experiments by hundreds of experienced gunpowder artisans over several years, it would have been invented anyway—Li Qing’an merely pointed out the direction of using an iron shell.
In fact, the Tang army’s gunpowder artisans had also invented the thrust gun the previous year, which fired iron sand from bamboo tubes. However, this weapon was impractical, with a range of only about ten to twenty zhang, complicated to use, and prone to damage after just two or three uses. It was far less effective than the Tang army’s bows and arrows. At that time, Tang Dynasty forging techniques were not advanced enough to produce seamless gun barrels, so they abandoned further development of the thrust gun and focused on creating the simpler and more practical thunder bomb.
Compared to the battle against Khwarazm last year, thunder bombs now came in smaller and larger versions. The smaller version weighed eighteen jin and resembled a flattened small watermelon, designed specifically for use with war chariots. The larger version weighed about two hundred jin and looked like a large vat, highly effective for destroying city walls.
Today, the two hundred war chariots did not carry archers but were equipped with small stone-throwing machines fixed inside the carriages, operated by three soldiers each.
At Li Qing’an’s command, the two hundred chariots roared forward toward Bushi City. The Tang army’s scouts had already confirmed that Bushi City had no trebuchets, and the Tubo army had no long-range weapons. The Tubo army was not skilled at defending cities. Although they had learned many techniques from the Tang Dynasty—such as crafting sharp weapons, making bows, and producing sturdy chainmail—they lacked the ability to produce various heavy weapons and high-quality arms like the Tang army, nor did they have a comprehensive military manufacturing system.
For defense, the Tubo army still relied on the most primitive methods—using rolling logs and stones to engage in close combat with the Tang army. But today, they were fortunate enough to see the most advanced and deadly weapons in the world: the two hundred six-wheeled war chariots used by the Tang army for the first time.

Six wheels, carriages as large as rooms, twenty-four magnificent warhorses—only dust billowed, blocking out the sun. The momentum of the two hundred war chariots charging forward left the Tubo soldiers on the city walls stunned. When the chariots were about 250 steps away from the city walls, they stopped, turned their horses around, and faced the city walls with their rear ends. Then, the covers at the back of the carriages were lifted, revealing pitch-black stone cannons. Two Tang soldiers tightened the winches, placing dark red, disc-shaped thunder bombs on top of the cannons, ready to fire. A two-foot-long slow-burning fuse was attached, and a Tang soldier lit it.

The fuse had markings for distances of 200 steps and 250 steps, but the positioning of the chariots wasn’t that precise. To prevent the thunder bombs from exploding prematurely on the city walls and being extinguished by enemy water or having their fuses cut, a craftsman invented a special design: an iron cover around the thunder bomb, allowing the fuse’s last 30 steps to burn inside the iron shell.

Each thunder bomb bore the name of its craftsman. If it failed to explode or exploded prematurely, the craftsman would be held accountable. This accountability system wasn’t only applied to important weapons; all Tang weapons had the craftsman’s name engraved on them for recognition or punishment. This ensured that craftsmen worked diligently on every weapon. Slogans like “Sweat more in peacetime to shed less blood in war” were useless—only strict systems and streamlined division of labor could truly ensure effective management and quality.

The fuse began to burn with a “whoosh!” sound, emitting plumes of white smoke. The Tang soldiers operating the cannons narrowed their eyes as the fuse reached the 250-step mark. They pressed the handle firmly, and the winches released their stored energy. A powerful thrust sent the dark red thunder bombs flying. With a series of “click! click! click!” sounds, two hundred smoke-emitting thunder bombs traced parabolic paths toward the city walls.

The chariots set off. After just a few steps, deafening explosions erupted from the city walls, shocking everyone to the point where their hearts seemed to stop beating. Thunder bombs exploded one after another, sending flames flying and black smoke billowing into the sky, forming a massive mushroom cloud.

Large sections of the city wall were flattened, and the dense crowd on the walls vanished. Countless fragments of stone and bloody debris flew everywhere. The air was filled with choking gun smoke and nauseating stench of blood. Only screams of the dying and cries of extreme fear could be heard, resembling a scene from hell.

The 80,000 Tang soldiers several miles away were also stunned by the power of these thunderous bombs. Although these smaller bombs had limited strength, their simultaneous explosion created an earth-shattering effect that filled the Tang soldiers with fear.
Silence reigned on the city walls. Amidst the massive explosions, thousands of Tibetan soldiers disappeared. All of them were terrified, filled with despair, as if death itself had seized their hearts.
At that moment, Li Qing’an issued his second order: “Attack the city!”
The thunderous drumbeats rang out once again. Hundreds of siege vehicles and scaling ladders were ready, and they began to advance toward Buxi City with a rumbling sound. 60,000 Tang soldiers surged forward like a tidal wave. Though the Tang army possessed the most advanced and deadly weapons, it was still people who fought. They needed to temper themselves through blood and fire, to grow through death, and to become the strongest army in the land through the trials of war.
The Tang soldiers were high in morale. One by one, the scaling ladders reached the city walls, and the Tang soldiers climbed up. Arrows rained down from the walls, and boulders and stones fell like hail. One Tang soldier had his skull shattered and fell screaming from the wall. Another soldier bravely charged forward, fighting against the Tibetan soldiers on the walls. Below, 20,000 Tang soldiers fired arrows from their powerful bows, creating a dense rain of arrows that prevented the Tibetan soldiers on the walls from lifting their heads. The Tibetan army suffered heavy losses, with many soldiers falling from the walls after being hit by arrows.
By then, the 50 siege vehicles of the Tang army had finally reached the city walls. Equipped with wheels, hundreds of soldiers pushed them forward. The walls of Buxi City were not very high, so the siege vehicles were level with the top of the walls. Each vehicle contained 200 soldiers. Iron plates were raised using chains to defend against the Tibetan arrows.
With a loud crash, the iron plates were placed on top of the walls, sending debris flying. 200 Tang soldiers shouted in unison, rushed out of the vehicles, and charged into the ranks of the Tibetan army, fighting fiercely. As 10,000 Tang soldiers from the vehicles climbed onto the walls, it gave the soldiers who were scaling the ladders an opportunity. They surged upward, full of fighting spirit and loud in battle cries. Meanwhile, the Tibetan army remained trapped in the shadow of the earlier explosions, unable to recover. Their morale was low, and they were forced to retreat under the onslaught of the Tang army.
At this point, Buxi City had become a prison for the Tibetan army, preventing them from escaping.

Seeing that the gates of Bushi City were open and the Tang army was waving the banners of the Anxi army, Li Qingan immediately pointed his sword at the city gates and ordered his 20,000 finest cavalrymen, “Charge into Bushi City! Kill anyone who resists!”
With the thundering sound of hooves, the 20,000 cavalrymen surged like a mighty wave toward Bushi City.