The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 445: Showing Off Your Power in Congling Mountains
Pei Xingjian handed over a bowl of hot water and said, "Brother Xue, get rid of the cold first."

Murong Shun further explained: "General Xue doesn't know how much benefit there is, but for merchants, they have goods in Guanzhong. After the Hu merchants are gone, this is the place where merchants from the Western Regions can make a fortune. As long as they follow the Tang army, they don't ask for anything in return."

The soldiers all had fires to keep warm, but the captives could only sleep with the sheep to keep warm. This was quite good for the captives, because the Hu servants in Pamirs had a worse life. With the arrival of the Tang army, they lived better.

As for why the Tang army provided them with food and clothing, it was because the Tang army needed to do a lot of hard labor to fight, including manufacturing weapons, building cities, and feeding war horses.

Xue Rengui asked again: "These items are only available in Guanzhong. Did you have people transport them from Guanzhong?"

Murong Shun waved his hand and said, "How can there be so many people transporting them? I am a merchant and have accumulated a lot over the years. I store them not far from Suiye City."

Pei Xingjian drank the hot water and asked in confusion: "How much did you hoard?"

Murong Shun smiled and said nothing more.

Pei Xingjian asked again: "Could it be that your majesty asked you to stockpile these goods?"

Murong Shun still had a smile on his face and did not answer.

Could Jingzhao Prefecture allow a merchant from the Western Regions to stockpile so much goods?
Without the tacit consent of His Majesty and the arrangement of Jingzhao Prefecture? Pei Xingjian would never believe it. All government affairs must be approved by His Majesty and the court. Only those who can decide on the military expedition can prepare in advance, even several years in advance.

Who has the power to make preparations on such a scale and know about the movements of troops from the Western Region Guard?
Pei Xingjian was increasingly afraid to think further and just assumed that Murong Shun had extraordinary powers.

Everyone was still talking in low voices when the door suddenly opened again, a gust of cold wind blew in, and everyone shrank their necks.

Li Zhi and Di Renjie were so cold that their teeth were chattering. They quickly closed the door and sat in the back to keep warm for a while before speaking: "We went to patrol and there was no human habitation within a hundred miles. There was no trace of the enemy."

Lou Shide hesitated and asked, "Could it be that the Arabs were also forced to withdraw due to the cold?"

Xue Rengui objected: "The whole Congling Mountains are freezing cold, where can they retreat to?"

Pei Yan was sleeping nearby and frowned when he heard the voice.

Liang Jianfang's snoring continued one after another.

What everyone could be sure of was that the 100,000 Arabs would most likely eat up half of the Pamir Mountains. They certainly were not living as well as the Tang army, and fuel and warm clothes were particularly important in this winter.

The Tang army had cotton-padded clothes and honeycomb coal, but the Arabs did not.

Pei Xingjian and his companions had been in the Western Regions for several years and often traveled in the Pamir Mountains, so they had long been accustomed to the climate here.

The Arabs came from the warm south, and they may not be able to adapt to the cold here.

When the freezing rain stopped, the snowstorm came again. The strong wind made it impossible for people to stand steadily. Snowflakes hit people in wave after wave, and the wind and snow made it impossible for people to open their eyes.

This bad weather lasted for half a month before it stopped. When the sun finally appeared in the sky, scouts sent to Talas City brought news that countless people had frozen to death in the city.

Taking advantage of such a good opportunity, the Tang army, which had been hiding in Julan City, finally took action.

Led by Liang Jianfang, the Tang army generals were divided into three armies, with Pei Xingjian, Di Renjie and Li Zhi forming one army.

Pei Yan, Xue Rengui and Lou Shide led a large army.

Cheng Chumo, Li Jingheng, and Bai Fang are the main forces.
Thirty thousand soldiers and horses marched towards the city of Talas.

The army had just advanced three miles when a scout came to report, saying, "General, the Arabs are twenty miles away and are also heading towards Talas."

Liang Jianfang spat and said, "Damn, it's coming fast."

Bai Fang stepped forward and said, "General! I will be the vanguard to stop the Arabs, and you will go straight to Talas City."

Pei Yan rode forward and said, "You are not needed."

Bai Fang was about to say something else when he saw Di Renjie leading a team of Uighur cavalry heading towards the Arabs.

"Gee!" Xue Rengui shouted loudly, and rode out of the army formation at full speed, and the army formation behind him quickly followed.

This is probably the last battle of this Tang army in Pamir Mountains. The city of Talas is no longer in the sight of the Tang army. After this battle, these Tang troops will go home.

There is more snow on the snow-capped mountains in the distance, the surrounding areas are covered with white, and the cold wind is still howling.

But the Arabs had more than just a hundred thousand soldiers and horses. There were even more Arabs behind the Pamir Mountains and even in the former Persian territory.

There will be more wars in the Pamir Mountains in the future, and there will be newcomers who will come one after another. This has been the case for the Tang people in the Western Regions for the past twenty years.

It was because Pei Xingjian killed a Arab general, which made the Arabs feel humiliated and they were full of hatred towards the Tang army.

On the open battlefield, the Tang army was charging forward. The formation of the Tang people was like a cone, with an extremely sharp edge.

When the Arabs saw the Tang cavalry charging towards them, they pushed the cages forward, opened them, and dozens of leopards ran out.

These hungry leopards came out of their cages and ran towards the charging Tang army.

Di Renjie drew his bow and shot an arrow while on horseback, but the nimble leopard dodged it.

Another arrow whizzed from behind and hit the leopard rushing in the front.

"Good archery skills!" Di Renjie shouted, and turned around to see General Xue in a white robe.

The warhorse was still moving forward, and Xue Rengui shot another arrow, and another leopard fell to the ground.

The white man held a long sword in his hand, shouted, and charged towards the enemy.

The war horses knocked away the cheetahs that were charging towards them. Some war horses were knocked down by the cheetahs along the way. Just as the cheetahs were about to bite them, they were trampled to death by the war horses behind them.

The Arabs held shields and sabers in hand, ready for battle.

Behind the black-clad Arabs, there was a large number of cavalrymen ready to meet the Tang army.

Xue Rengui, wearing a white robe, led the way. His horse broke through the Arabs' shield formation, and every swing of the halberd in his hand could knock down one person.

On the open battlefield, the Uighurs on the flank of the Tang army held scimitars in their hands and stepped on the backs of horses. When the horses approached the Uighurs, they rushed towards the Arabs with their knives raised.

The Tibetans shot arrows from the flanks. The arrows were not as lethal in the strong wind, but they could cause great trouble to the enemy.

Xue Rengui rushed to the front, and the Tang army behind him charged forward and broke through the Arabs' shield formation.

The Arab cavalry rushed forward, and the two sides were like two hammers hitting each other, and for a moment, human figures appeared one after another.

On the city wall of Talas, a group of Hu people had already lost their minds when they saw such a great battle. The swords in their hands slipped unconsciously and they even forgot to swallow their saliva.

Fortunately, the Tang army and the Black Arabs did not attack them at this time, so they still had a chance to escape.

On the battlefield that was dozens of miles wide, Xue Rengui took the lead and rushed into the Arab army and charged forward.

Seeing the soldiers breaking into the enemy's army, Liang Jianfang said, "All soldiers, follow me and kill them all."

"kill!"

The Tang army in the rear pressed forward once again. Forty thousand Tang soldiers faced one hundred thousand Arabs, and they fought with the momentum of one hundred thousand against one hundred thousand.

Originally, the Tang army was going to attack the city of Talas, but they encountered the Arabs and had no way to retreat.

Pei Yan didn't know how many of the enemy's swords had hit his armor, and he slashed at every turbaned Arab with the sword in his hand.

Seeing a Arab about to chop him from the side, Pei Yan had no time to dodge, and the knife was about to reach him. Suddenly, a horseman came from behind, and the knife flashed, chopping off the Arab's arm, and the horse was knocked away.

Seeing that the person coming was Di Renjie, Pei Yan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you."

Di Renjie held the reins in one hand and said, "You're welcome."

"Kill!" Bai Fang was like a madman, charging into the formation without hesitation, and for a moment he was invincible with his monk soldiers.

The Tang people broke into the Arab army, but after a while... they suddenly felt the pressure was greatly reduced.

Pei Xingjian looked around and asked, "What's going on?"

"Report! A troop of soldiers rushed to the rear of the Arabs."

Pei Xingjian held the reins in one hand and shouted, "This is truly a surprise force. Go ask which army it is from."

"Here!"

When the White side rushed into the center of the Arab army, they met a Arab with a dark upper body, who was leading a tiger.

The tiger moved around, quite hostile towards the Tang cavalry in front of it.

The Arab loosened the rope, and the tiger rushed towards the white side.

Seeing such a ferocious beast, Bai Fang was distracted for a moment and even forgot to urge the horse.

Just as the tiger was about to pounce on the warhorse, a halberd came from the side and pierced the tiger immediately. Xue Rengui held the halberd in his hand and lifted the tiger high up. Hot blood flowed from the halberd and kept falling on Xue Rengui's body.

Xue Rengui, dressed in a white robe, looked even more ferocious. The Arabs around him did not dare to approach him for a moment and retreated one after another.

"Grandpa! Jiang Shiren is here!" Suddenly a loud roar was heard, and it was the familiar Guanzhong dialect. Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw a team of Tang soldiers rushing over, followed by thousands of fire bulls rushing into the Arab army.

The cold wind once covered up the sounds of fighting, and heavy snow fell again in the changeable weather of the Pamir Mountains.

Pei Xingjian was stunned for a moment when he saw the herd of fire buffaloes, and then he saw that there were many more Tibetan soldiers and Hu people in the Arab army.

"Damn it... who on earth are these troops from?" Pei Xingjian cursed.

Until Jiang Shiren, covered in blood, rushed out again. This man was like a madman in the snow, fighting in and out of the Arab army.

Even Xue Rengui was no less capable.

Pei Xingjian rode forward and said, "Sir, may I ask which general you are under?"

"Grandpa Jiang Shiren, under General Wang's command!"

"General Wang..." Pei Xingjian thought for a moment, then he remembered, General Wang? Good use of the Fire Bull Formation?

Besides Wang Xuance of Tianzhu, who else is there?

The Arabs fought this encounter in a very miserable way. For them, it was not an encounter at all, but an ambush. They were ambushed.

The battle lasted from noon until nightfall. Li Zhi fell behind and felt very tired. He almost had no strength to hold the knife and his right hand was getting weak. Now he finally understood what Bai Fang had said: killing people is very tiring.

The Tang army continued to push forward, leaving behind corpses all over the ground. These corpses were soon buried by the heavy snow, and the battle continued to spread westward.

The Tang army did not stop until the Arabs fled, and instead began to pursue them.

This caused the Arabs' self-confidence to collapse once again.

Wang Xuance led a team of soldiers and horses riding in the wind and snow, and whenever he caught up with someone, he would chop him down.

At this moment, the Tang army once again demonstrated its wartime command capabilities to the Pamirs. After the attack, the Tang army divided into several cavalry groups, followed by their respective generals, and chased after the fleeing Arabs.

Xue Rengui and Di Renjie chased the enemy for dozens of miles, killing hundreds of people along the way. They swung their swords at anyone they saw and chopped them off their horses. The soldiers behind them would catch up and kill them with the sword.

I don’t know how long I chased him, but I waved my hand only when I could no longer see the enemy.

Xue Rengui looked at the team that had also returned and said, "General Wang! Long time no see."

Wang Xuance also smiled and clasped his fists.

The last time the two met was in the first year of Qianqing. At that time, His Majesty summoned various generals, and Wang Xuance, Xue Rengui and Pei Xingjian were all present.

"I am Di Renjie, and I am a military officer of the Anxi Army."

Wang Xuance laughed and said, "Di Renjie? Never heard of him."

Xue Rengui smiled knowingly.

Di Renjie also laughed.

Pei Yan rode up and said, "General Xue, quickly go to Talas City to avoid the snow."

Wang Xuance asked doubtfully, "Have you taken over Talas City?"

Pei Yan explained: "It was the city of Talas that opened the gates. They surrendered before we even fought them."

How can we fight this? Who can stop the might of the Tang army? Even the Arabs were defeated by the Tang army. It would be better for them to surrender directly.

The Tang army entered the city of Talas one after another. Pei Xingjian was angry, and the Sogdian named Anyanyan ran away again.

Di Renjie arrived at the city of Talas and found a house to rest tiredly, with a strong smell of blood on his body.

Inside the house, a Hu mother and daughter were huddled in a corner, hugging each other, and trembling with fear.

Di Renjie took out the crushed coal from his arms and put it into the pits on the ground. The Hu people used these pits in their houses to cook.

Pour the coal into the pit, light it with some sawdust, pick up the dry firewood next to it, wait for the coal to burn, close your eyes, feel the warmth of the flame and rest.

The mother and daughter in the corner realized that this Tang man did not seem so scary, and that he was very young, probably about fifteen or sixteen years old. After the fire started, the house became warm.

Di Renjie listened to the noise outside the house, hearing Tibetan, Guanzhong, and Hu language. He then stood up, took out a cake from his arms, handed it to the poor Hu mother and daughter, and instructed them in Hu language: "After eating, go to the Western Regions."

After saying that, Di Renjie strode out of the mud house. The boots of the Tang army stepped on the ground, giving people a feeling of heavy power.

Torches were lit everywhere in the city of Talas.

"Hahaha!" Liang Jianfang put his arm around Wang Xuance's shoulders and laughed, "Brother Wang! You came at the right time."

Jiang Shiren gnawed on the mutton, took a sip of wine, let out a long sigh, and said, "It's great! You don't know what I ate in India."

Li Zhi laughed and said, "The food in Tianzhu is not tasty. We used it to feed the horses."

Everyone laughed again.

Although Lou Shide had someone submit a letter of resignation to the court, he still wanted to record the results of the battle.

However, there were Hu people from the Lesser Bolor Kingdom in the city of Talas, as well as Tibetans, people from the Western Regions, Uighurs, and Indians. All kinds of voices mixed together, making it impossible for him to write.

(End of this chapter)