The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 290 The Future Generation
The morning light in the Tianshan Mountains comes very late. The army has no idea how long they have been running in the dark night. When the morning light appears faintly in the east, under the gray sky, the ground is already covered with snow like white frost.

The bodies lay silently on the ground.

"Gee!" Liang Jianfang rode his horse in front, leading the team all the way to the depths of the Ili River.

They originally thought that their troops were the closest to the deep Ili River. As the war horses passed by the Ili River, the water reflected the figures of the Tang army.

But as he saw corpses everywhere along the way, Liang Jianfang felt that there was a troop ahead that was running faster than his own.

After walking a few more miles, Liang Jianfang saw a group of tents in the distance.

The soldiers of the Tang army were resting here.

When Liang Jianfang got closer, he could see that many soldiers were covered with furs and lying outside the tents with their eyes closed.

A soldier came hurriedly over, "Greetings, General!"

Liang Jianfang dismounted, and the cavalrymen in the rear also breathed a sigh of relief and dismounted one after another. They had been charging and killing all night, and everyone was exhausted.

"Which army are you from?"

"Replying to the general, I am a subordinate of General Xue."

There are about 600 people in the camp. Although they are not many, they are very brave.

Some soldiers were sitting by the fire, cooking barley, waiting for food with hungry stomachs.

There were also soldiers who had seized some dried meat from somewhere and were gnawing on it.

The Tianshan Mountains were just around the corner. All the soldiers had worked very hard. This day and night had almost exhausted all their energy. Now they had to rest and use all the time to recover their strength.

Even the war horses were lying on the ground, some even chewing grass with their eyes closed.

The camp was very quiet. Liang Jianfang walked into a tent and saw Xue Rengui writing a military report. He asked, "Xue Rengui? I heard Pei Xingjian talk about you."

Xue Rengui looked up and saluted, "General!"

"Yeah." Liang Jianfang responded, picked up the water bag beside him and poured a mouthful of cold water into his mouth. After frowning and swallowing it, he let out a sigh of relief, took off his heavy armor, sat down beside him, and said, "I am so tired."

After Xue Rengui finished writing the military report, he handed it to the soldier outside the tent and asked him to ride back quickly to deliver it to the camp in the rear.

After doing all this, Xue Rengui munched on the baked naan, staring outside the tent with his bright eyes, also silent.

After eating and drinking, he lay down to rest.

The camp was very quiet and no one spoke loudly. If it weren't for the occasional smoke rising from the camp, one would have thought that the camp was full of dead people.

Five miles to the rear, a large camp was being built where Liu Renyuan, Su Dingfang and Pei Xingjian’s armies would join forces.

Inside the big tent, Pei Xingjian was drinking boiled barley. This kind of barley didn't taste like porridge, maybe it was not cooked well and was difficult to swallow, but it could be used to fill the stomach.

I don't know how the Tibetans eat barley. Pei Xingjian looked at the map and said, "General Xue and General Liang's camp is in front of us. Behind us are Qibi Heli and Ashina She'er. The Uighurs are still clearing out the remaining enemy troops on the periphery."

The three of them sat in the tent, and Su Dingfang said solemnly: "After a day and night of rest, Xue Rengui will advance to the hinterland of Tianshan. Yugu has at least 30,000 soldiers stationed there."

Liu Renyuan hesitated and asked, "Thirty thousand?"

Su Dingfang nodded and said, "According to the news sent by the scouts, there are at least 30,000, and as many as 40,000 or 50,000."

Killing is a very laborious task. Pei Xingjian verified this fact time and time again during his two Western Expeditions. If both sides of the enemy had no weapons, it would take at least a quarter of an hour to subdue an enemy army.

Now that they have the advantage of cavalry, the Tang army is exhausted from fighting all the way through the Tianshan Mountains.

Pei Xingjian poured all the highland barley in the bowl into his mouth, chewed it and swallowed it, then picked up the bacon and swallowed it, feeling full and relieved.

After discussing the current situation, they all took a rest.

After sleeping for about three hours, Pei Xingjian came out of the big tent with loud snoring. The wind and snow in Tianshan Mountain had stopped. He rubbed his face with the snow on the ground as if it was washing his face.

After letting out a long sigh, Pei Xingjian felt a little more sober.

In the darkness of night, Pei Xingjian walked past one tent after another and was about to take his horse out to take a look, when he met Liu Renyuan.

Seeing that he was about to leave the camp with his horse, Pei Xingjian asked, "What is General Liu going to do?"

Liu Renyuan said: "If Yu Gushe knew that the Tang army was resting, he would not dare to attack the camp, so he would think of escaping."

Pei Xingjian said: "It turns out that it is not just a certain family in the army who thinks this way."

Liu Renyuan didn't say anything more. Instead, he put on a poker face, jumped on his horse, and led a group of people out of the camp.

General Liu has always been like this in the army. He speaks very little and makes his own decisions. Most of the time, his judgments are correct.

Pei Xingjian also mounted his horse and left the camp with a team of 100 soldiers.

First of all, Yu Gushe knew that his front army was defeated. Now he had only three choices. One was to fight a desperate battle with the Tang army in the hinterland of Tianshan Mountains. The second choice was to leave a large army in the hinterland to delay the Tang army while he escaped from Tianshan Mountains. The third choice was to offer sacrifice and beg for protection so that he could destroy the Tang army in the final decisive battle.

The final choice is obviously psychological comfort. Judging from the current situation, Yu Gushe will definitely lose this battle. The most valuable option for him is to leave a large army to delay the Tang army and give himself time to escape.

Liu Renyuan didn't want to give Yu Gushe this opportunity.

Pei Xingjian felt that since it was an opportunity set by Yu Gu, it was also an opportunity for him to make merit, and this opportunity to make great merit might not fall into Liu Renyuan's hands.

Pei Xingjian rode his horse through the night until dawn and arrived at a valley south of the Ili River.

This is a valley. Although it is not the ancient Wusun Road, it is the only way for Yu Gushe to retreat westward.

"General Pei, we found General Liu's troops one mile away."

"It seems that they want to go together." Pei Xingjian dismounted and observed the terrain. According to the direction indicated by the scout, Liu Renyuan chose another valley. He was in the south. If Yu Gushe wanted to pass through this valley, whoever captured Yu Gushe would get the great credit.

A day and a night passed, and when the sky brightened again, the Tang army "revived", with war horses neighing and teams of soldiers marching towards the hinterland.

Xue Rengui and Liang Jianfang mounted their horses, pulled the reins and ordered the troops to march towards the heart of the Tianshan Mountains.

The army marched, the horses stepped on the snow, and marched again along the banks of the Ili River.

The cold wind whistled past, but there was no snow to blind the eyes today, and the view of the river valley at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains was wide.

A lightly-armed scout came back to report: "General! We have spotted a large number of enemy troops three miles ahead!"

Xue Rengui's expression froze. He waved the whip and the horse sped forward.

Liang Jianfang in the back thought to himself that Xue Rengui was a reckless man.

Because Xue Rengui rode his horse very fast, he kept a distance of more than a hundred steps from the army behind him, and he could see the enemy troops in front of him.

Before he got close, the opponent's arrows whistled towards him.

Xue Rengui bent down on his horse and continued to move forward. He drew his bow and aimed at the enemy standing in front of him. He shot an arrow and knocked down one of them.

Liang Jianfang, who was following behind, sighed inwardly, this man is good at archery. He saw that the enemy troops were frightened by Xue Rengui's momentum and retreated one after another.

Xue Rengui drew his sword and rode his horse, shouting, "Where is Yugushe?"

The roar echoed in the valley, and many enemy soldiers had already discarded their bows and scimitars and fell to the ground.

The Tang army was like a god of war. The Western Turks, who had been trapped in this valley for a long time, had long lost their will to fight.

Seeing that they had thrown away their bows and scimitars and prostrated themselves on the ground, Xue Rengui no longer paid any attention to them. He cut through the enemy troops and headed deep into the valley.

Liang Jianfang was speechless when he saw the enemy soldiers kneeling on the ground after being yelled at by Xue Rengui. Where did this person come from?

With a shout, Liang Jianfang followed Xue Rengui, leaving a team behind to guard the surrendered soldiers.

As a result, a ridiculous scene took place in the heart of the valley. Tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers knelt on the ground, while the Tang army passed through the valley as if they were in an empty space.

Xue Rengui rode his horse in front and saw that there were quite a few children around eleven or twelve years old among the people kneeling.

Cursing Yu Gushe in his heart, he marched deeper into the valley.

When Su Dingfang arrived at the valley, he saw the surrendered soldiers kneeling on the ground. There was only one corpse hit by an arrow, and there was no large-scale fighting.

Su Dingfang asked, "What's going on here?"

"Reporting to the general, it was General Xue who shot down a man and yelled, 'Where is Yu Gushe?', and these people surrendered."

Su Dingfang sighed: "It can be seen that the Ili River under Yugu's administration has lost the hearts of the people."

At the front of the battlefield, a scout came to report: "General Xue, there is another enemy force thirty miles ahead!"

The sun rose higher and higher, and it was already noon. Xue Rengui arrived in front of the Western Turkic camp and shouted, "Where is Yugushe?"

No one responded. Most of the people here were women and children protecting their sheep. They were all terrified and trembling as they bowed down before the Tang army.

Xue Rengui changed direction and did not stay here for long, continuing to go deeper into the valley.

On the other side of the battlefield, at this time, Pei Xingjian gave up the idea of ​​an ambush. He once again mounted his horse and prepared to follow the valley all the way to the camp set up in Yugu.

Liu Renyuan also came down the valley, and the two met on horseback.

Pei Xingjian said, "I don't want to wait any longer. By now, most of General Xue and General Liang's troops have already entered the camp set up in Yugu."

Liu Renyuan also said: "Yu Gushe is more foolish than I thought."

The reason why he is said to be stupid is that the enemy did not come to this valley, which also means that Yu Gushe has not figured it out yet and the situation is hopeless.

It is a fact that a leader who cannot understand the current situation is bound to fail.

Liu Renyuan whispered: "If you and I can capture Yu Gushe, we will share the credit!"

Pei Xingjian nodded and said, "Okay."

The two teams headed towards Yu Gushe's camp. If they didn't ambush here, they would attack Yu Gushe from behind.

At the vanguard of the Tang army, Xue Rengui broke out from a group of Western Turkic cavalry. He and Liang Jianfang rushed to the front with long spears in hand.

Behind them were corpses everywhere. Anyone who refused to surrender would die at the hands of the war-like Tang army.

Seeing another group of soldiers, which numbered about two thousand men, Xue Rengui took the lead and chased after them.

Just as he was about to catch up with the other party, Xue Rengui shouted, "Yu Gushe, don't run!"

The roar echoed in the valley, and Yu Gushe, who was riding a horse and fleeing, was frightened and almost fell off his horse.

Afterwards, Yu Gushe discovered something that made him even more desperate: there was a Tang army approaching him.

The whistling sound of arrows continued to be heard from behind. Yu Gushe looked back and saw that the warriors behind him fell off their horses one after another. After falling off, they were trampled to death by the pursuing horses.

This last defeated Western Turkic army was dispersed by the Tang army attacking from the front and back.

Yu Gushe was thrown off his horse by the Tang army's warhorses. When he was about to stand up, two long spears were pressed in front of him.

Liu Renyuan raised his long spear and pressed it against Yu Gushe's neck, and asked, "Is it him?"

Pei Xingjian took out a portrait and said loudly, "It's him."

Liu Renyuan smiled knowingly and said, "Very good!"

Xue Rengui came close, stood up immediately, and asked, "Why are you here?"

Liu Renyuan explained: "I thought he would run away early, but someone overestimated him."

The defeated soldiers from the Western Regions surrendered one after another. At this moment, Liang Jianfang could finally appreciate the scenery of the Ili River at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

Liu Renyuan and Pei Xingjian escorted Yu Gushe all the way to the camp. When the Western Turks who surrendered along the way saw the escorted Yu Gushe, they once again paid tribute to the Tang army.

Three days later, Guo Luotuo, with a group of people from Chongwenguan, began to take over the management of the Ili River.

In the cold winter of December in the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, Su Wan walked in the East Palace with one hand on her waist. She could already feel the movement of the unborn baby in her belly.

Empress Changsun stroked her daughter-in-law and said, "The baby will be born next year, so you will have to work harder."

Su Wan shook her head and said, "Not tired."

Empress Changsun whispered, "When the child is born safely, he will definitely be the most powerful of his generation."

Su Wan smiled happily.

Just as the queen said, the Li Tang family already has three generations. The third generation is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Princess Changle, Princess Dongyang, His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin... and the baby she is pregnant with is the fourth generation of the Li Tang.

With the achievements of the first three generations of the Li Tang Dynasty, the next generation, as the Queen said, the future heirs, should be the most powerful generation of the Li Tang Dynasty.

Dongyang has been in the East Palace these days because Sister Ning'er is three months pregnant.

Today, military reports were delivered to Chang'an. The Tang army won a great victory in Tianshan and captured Yu Gushe alive.

The Guande Hall in the western garden of the imperial palace is a newly built palace intended for the emperor to reflect on himself and be vigilant.

My father and Duke Zheng got along better and better, probably because my father had reached an age where he could listen to advice. Duke Zheng made repeated remonstrances, and my father accepted them all.

Li Chengqian sat on one side, listening to Lord Ying reading the military report.

After reading it, Li Ji explained: "Yugushe has been taken, the southeastern part of Tianshan and its hinterland have been pacified, and Qibi Heli is currently wiping out the remaining tribes around Tianshan."

Li Chengqian listened to Lord Ying's explanation of the military report and roughly understood that after this great victory, the Tang army would have to clean up the anti-Tang forces around the Tianshan Mountains and sweep all the way to the Pamir Mountains.

(End of this chapter)