The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 441 Cyprus
Wars broke out in the countries surrounding the Tang Dynasty. Cheng Yaojin sat down by the fire, exhaled a puff of white mist into the cold air, and said, "It's getting cold so fast."

Pei Yan tightened his clothes and sat down, also frowning as he looked at the falling snow.

Suye Water City is located in the Suye River basin, which is a must-pass place for merchants from the East and the West.

At this moment, Suye Water City was in a mess. Hu people kept fleeing the city. The Tang people had broken through the city gates, and wailing and screaming were heard everywhere.

Bai Fang rode into the city and said to Cheng Chumo, "General Chumo, the people of the Sai region call this Xiaoye City. When Xuanzang came here, it was the Yehu Khan of Xiaoye City who gave him a pass, a set of scarlet silk hair clothes, fifty pieces of silk, and escorted him for more than ten miles with his ministers."

After a pause, Bai Fang continued, "After Yehu Khan died, this place became the territory of the Sogdians."

Cheng Chumo rode his horse through the city, the horse moving very slowly, and he seemed to be admiring the chaotic scene in the city.

It took the Tang army only one day and one night to capture Xiaoye City and seize the important road connecting the Pamir Mountains and the Ili River.

Bai Fang continued to speak, saying, "When Xuanzang came here from Qiuci, he traveled 25,000 miles. It was not easy to travel westward from the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain to the valley of Zhuhu. If the Tang army had not taken Tianshan Mountain, I'm afraid Xizhou City would not be so prosperous. That was the territory that King Gaochang and Yu Gushe had not conquered."

In the distance of Xiaoye City is a large snow-capped mountain range. Looking at the snow-capped mountains that reach the sky is daunting. If the Hexi Corridor is the main road from the Western Regions to Guanzhong.

Then Xiaoye City and Suye River are the Hexi Corridor leading from Persia to the Western Regions.

This piece of land is of great significance.

At the westernmost part of the city stood a dome-shaped castle, into which Tang troops constantly rushed, captured prisoners, and then led them out.

There were screams coming from the other side of Xiaoye City. It was the monks from the Western Regions who overturned the temple here.

Cheng Chumo asked, "Are there many temples here?"

Bai Fang replied: "There were temples here when Xuanzang came, and there are more temples here after Xuanzang left."

Soon, the imperial censor Lou Shide, who was accompanying the army, rode forward and scolded these Western monks, accusing them of destroying the temple without permission.

Cheng Chumo ignored these things and led the Tang army behind him towards the palace of Xiaoye City.

Li Jingheng rode over quickly and said in a loud voice, "Chu Mo, General Xue has taken the other two city gates and is collecting prisoners. His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin wants to change the name of this place to Suiye City."

Cheng Chumo smiled and said, "Okay! This place will be called Suiye City."

More and more Tang troops poured into the city and the Tang people took over the city.

The next day, when the city returned to peace, if you looked up from outside the city, you could see the Tang army walking on the earth wall.

Pei Xingjian led the rear army to this place and laughed, "Brother Xue! You are so courageous. You have conquered it so soon?"

Xue Rengui stood on the city wall and responded loudly: "It's just a small earthen city, no problem."

Compared with attacking Goguryeo, attacking these earthen cities in the Western Regions was really easy and not a difficult task for Xue Rengui.

The city gates opened and more and more Tang troops entered the city.

As one of the few civil servants in the team, Lou Shide recorded recent events, whether good or bad.

The civil servant Di Renjie who came here was a military officer, so he was considered a civil servant. Pei Duhu could also be barely considered a civil servant.

After entering Suiye City, Di Renjie was not very happy. He missed the siege. He could only blame General Xue for being so powerful. He took the city in just one day and one night.

Li Zhi rode into the city and saw Bai Fang leading a group of prisoners. He stepped forward and asked, "Are they Sai people or Sogdians?"

Bai Fang explained: "The Serbs are relatively white and have blue eyes. Well... there are also some with black eyes. They like to wear pointed hats. The Sogdians like to wear white clothes and are not that white."

Li Shen gained a lot of insights after hearing this.

Bai Fang added: "Among the Hu girls, the Sai girls are more marketable because they are good at playing music and dancing, that kind of dance... In the past, there was even a Sai king."

Li Zhi and Li Shen understood each other's intention.

Bai Fang continued, "But this kind of business is not good for production. The scholars at Chongwenguan think that this kind of business is stifling productivity."

Li Zhi said: "It seems that you have learned a lot in Chongwenguan."

Bai Fang said respectfully, "My Lord, I am a student of Chongwenguan, and I am loyal to the Heavenly Khan."

The two brothers laughed again when they heard this.

Bai Fang continued to explain to King Jin and King Ji the characteristics of the people of the Western Regions, such as their craftsmen, horsemen, hunters, and polo players.

Li Zhi only understood half of what was said, but Li Shen was very interested.

The king of Suiye City had already fled. It was said that he fled to Ashibulai City and was going to continue fleeing westwards.

Suiye City is still fifty miles away from Ashibulai City. Even if the army wants to catch up, it will take two days.

Pei Xingjian, Xue Rengui, Di Renjie, Li Zhi and others gathered in the palace. A fire was burning in the brazier and everyone sat around it to keep warm.

At night, the wind howled outside and the cold wind was raging.

Several people were talking in low voices, and there was a dull echo in the palace.

The dome-shaped palace looks very tall. Looking up, you can see the round and high arched roof.

Everyone was still listening to Bai Fang's description of the situation in the Western Regions.

"From here, go west for 300 li to reach the city of Kulan. Go another 60 li to reach the city of Asiyan. Go another 60 li to pass the city of Bahuan. Cross the Bahuan River to reach the country of Xiaoshi. Go west again to reach the city of Dashi. This is how Xuanzang traveled back then."

Listening to Bai Fang's description of these place names, Li Zhi frowned and asked, "When Xuanzang was in the Western Regions, was you really the only disciple?"

"I don't know how Xuanzang got to India after leaving Qiuci. Only the small countries along the way know it."

Now the White player can confidently call himself the last general.

But when it comes to his bravery in attacking Suiye City, this man really deserves to be called a last general, because he has always wanted to be someone like Qibi Heli.

Now Qibi Heli was sitting at the gate of the palace, drinking milk tea alone and listening to everyone's conversation.

Bai Fang added: "In fact, if there are enough horses, it is still possible to travel a hundred miles a day, but the Congling Mountains are vast. If you don't follow the Hu merchants who are familiar with the road, you will most likely get lost."

Li Zhi sat cross-legged. He was feeling a little homesick. Looking at the flames burning in the brazier, he wondered if his father, mother, and brothers and sisters were all right.
"Everyone!" Lou Shide interrupted everyone, stood up and said, "In this battle, we captured 1,000 men and women, 300 war horses, 600 camels, 300 dan of food and grass, 9 golden Buddha statues, 5 dan of five-color salt, and 6,000 gold coins in the underground vault."

Of course, there are also countless flocks of sheep.

The result of this battle was pretty good. Although Suiye City was not big and had a small population, it was very rich. Six thousand gold coins and five-color salt were enough to feed the Tang army.

Just as Bai Fang said, the Hu people value wealth very much but do not value population.

Seeing Li Shen looking at the map of Suiye City, Li Zhi came forward and asked, "What are you looking at, Brother Shen?" "Royal brother, this is the map of Suiye City."

"Ah."

"Suiye City is in a good location. Since the Tang people will be in charge of this city in the future, we might as well build it up."

Li Zhi said: "What do you want to build it into?"

"Like Chang'an City."

Li Shen had a soft black beard and spoke with an extremely serious expression.

A cold wind blew in from outside. Li Zhi felt the chill and whispered, "So Brother Shen also missed home and built Suiye City to express his homesickness."

Li Shen said: "Actually, there is no need to worry since my mother has joined the Dao sect. My sister sent me a letter earlier asking me to collect more gold coins from the Western Regions."

Li Zhi nodded.

The two brothers leaned against the pillar and felt sleepy.

Bai Fang handed over the blanket and said, "This is used by the Hu people for decoration. I heard that Hu women would bring it with them when they got married. King Jin and King Ji can use it to keep warm."

Li Zhi took the blanket and said, "Thank you."

Bai Fang bowed respectfully and then sat back down.

Di Renjie and Pei Xingjian also went to rest, and everyone found a place in the palace to sleep.

The next morning, Li Shen led two hundred captives to start the construction of Suiye City. He ordered people to overturn many earthen houses and even found some gold and silver from the overturned earthen houses.

When the wall of the earthen house was pushed down, a cloud of dust was raised. Even though the military censor Lou Shide was wearing a mask, he was still choked by the dust.

When the dust had settled a little, Lou Shide walked into the stone pestle and saw a little golden light in the sunlight. He picked up a golden bean from it, suddenly smiled, and said, "Please ask King Ji to overturn all these houses and find all the gold they have hidden."

Li Shen liked things like demolishing and building houses the most. He said loudly, "That's exactly what I meant."

Except for the four walls of Suiye City, all the houses in the city were to be demolished so that King Ji could build Suiye City into a small Chang'an City to express his homesickness.

Bai Fang took a chisel and carved on a stone tablet. From then on, the Tang people also had a story in Suiye City.

This kind of story is the most touching. Bai Fang feels that more and more Hu people will pass on this story by word of mouth in the future.

But for the censor, Lou Shide's job was much simpler. As a censor, he needed to record military affairs and the money transactions here. In the city of Suiye that the Tang army had just conquered not long ago, any hidden gold or silver cakes, even copper coins, would not escape the eyes of this censor.

With prisoners, there is manpower, which is enough for Li Shen to display his strengths.

After the earthen houses were demolished one by one, a lot of open space was left, and Xue Rengui was able to train his soldiers on these open spaces.

The Tang people would give food to the captives, but not this much.

Bai Fang naturalized the slaves here, and from then on the Anxi Protectorate also had the status of a Hu people.

Di Renjie wrote a letter and handed it to a messenger, saying, "Ask the Anxi Protectorate to send another teacher to build the Chongwen Hall here."

"Yes." The messenger rode away quickly after receiving the letter.

Outside Suiye City, Pei Xingjian found some rice by the river and said, "Brother Xue, we can cultivate the land here."

Xue Rengui dismounted and said hesitantly, "But the climate here is quite cold, I'm afraid the rice grown here won't be very good."

Pei Xingjian squatted down, picked up a few more grains of rice, and whispered, "We can ask the Anxi Protectorate's Production Guard to come over. They are from the Sinong Temple and can probably make some arrangements."

Xue Rengui looked at Cheng Chumo who was riding his horse away into the distance. They were going to investigate the situation ahead.

In fact, there is no need to worry about their counterattack. The capture of the city is a foregone conclusion. The Hu people are accustomed to this kind of thing, and they will not go to great lengths to retake Suiye City.

They would find a new place to settle down. For the Hu people who were used to traveling, they rarely had a place to settle down. Perhaps when the Tang army attacked, those Hu nobles all ran away, leaving behind only these wealth that they could not take away.

Going west from Suiye City, passing through Julan City and Ashibulai City, to the end of Talas City, that is the "Hexi Corridor" of the Pamir Mountains. The four cities run through the eastern section of the Pamir Mountains, forming a prosperous place.

The Tang army rested in Suiye City for two days. It snowed heavily here as well. Most soldiers crowded into the only remaining mud houses to keep warm. The rest of the mud houses had been demolished by His Royal Highness Prince Ji.

The cold wind was howling, bringing with it heavy snow, and there was still no news from the army in the rear.

The Pamir Plateau is very cold. The snow on the distant mountains never melts all year round. Until the snow stops, the place is shrouded in clouds and mist, like a fairyland on earth.

Li Shen asked, "Bai Fang, did Xuanzang see this kind of scenery back then?"

"Replying to Prince Ji, it should have been summer when Xuanzang came to Suiye City, and he had never seen such scenery."

The Tang army now has to march along the route that Xuanzang took across the Pamir Mountains, but the general's order has not arrived, so the army can only stay in Suiye City and not move for the time being.

After being out for so long, people have become confused about the seasons. It should be autumn in Guanzhong now.

Bai Fang told the story of the Sai people again, "King Ji, the previous King of Sai was very cruel. In comparison, the Tang army treated the prisoners very kindly, and even gave them food and a place to live."

"Isn't this bad?"

Bai Fang saluted and said, "The Tang people gave the captives food and clothing to make them partners of the Tang army, so that more Sai people would join the Tang army. This is naturally a good thing."

Li Shen said: "Will they be loyal to the Tang Dynasty?"

Bai Fang smiled helplessly and said, "The Hu people rarely have loyal subjects, but the Chongwen Hall educated the people of the Western Regions, so most of them can be educated as well. However, this is a very long process. I hope the Tang army can kill them all."

"Once and for all, huh?"

Bai Fang added: "Killing people is very tiring."

Li Shen nodded in agreement.

Cheng Chumo, Li Jingheng, Xue Rengui and Pei Xingjian each led a troop of more than a hundred men to wipe out the Hu forces around Suiye City, and as a result, they brought in more and more captives.

On this day, outside the city of Suiye, war horses came on the snow. A Tang army arrived at the city of Suiye. The number of soldiers in this army was not large, about thirty people.

The leader was Pei Yan. When he arrived at Suiye City, he handed over a document saying, "I am here to help Protector Pei on the orders of the general."

The soldiers in front of the city gate heard the military order and led their men into Suiye City.

Pei Yan was accompanied by a Western merchant who spoke fluent Guanzhong dialect. He saluted Di Renjie and said, "I am Murong Shun."

(End of this chapter)