The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 446 Cold Wind
At night, the wind howled on the Pamir Plateau, and heavy snow drifted into the city of Talas in waves.

The weather was so cold that it made people shiver, but in the city of Talas, fires could be seen everywhere, and Tang soldiers could be seen sitting around the fires everywhere.

The Hu people and Hu girls were dancing by the fire, not afraid of the severe cold here at all.

The Tang army cheered for this great victory and defeated the Arabs who came to the Pamirs, and captured Suiye, Ashibulai, Kulan and Talas.

In the city of Talas, the Hu people who originally lived here became forced laborers of the Tang army. They carried food and fodder and led war horses or cattle into the city.

Inside the royal palace of Talas City, a group of soldiers sat against the earthen wall of the palace, drinking wine and eating meat.

Exhausted, Li Zhi and Pei Yan had already gone to bed.

Li Shen rode his horse towards the snowstorm. He stepped forward and asked, "Did you win?"

Liang Jianfang held up a wine jar and shouted, "We won!"

The Tang army in the city cheered: "Tang army will win."

Li Shen was so moved by the atmosphere in the city that he covered his face and cried for a while. It was not easy to travel thousands of miles from Anxi Protectorate to Issyk-Kul Lake and then to Talas City.

The coalition forces of the Tang army entered the city one after another. The Hu people from the Little Bolor Kingdom wore colorful clothes and danced around the fire among the crowd. Some of them also beat small drums.

The wind and snow got stronger. When everything became quiet and daybreak came, the soldiers who had been fighting all day were resting.

Pei Xingjian led his troops and escorted a group of Arabs into the city.

The city of Talas was particularly quiet at this moment. Every room was crowded with sleeping soldiers. When you approached the earthen houses, you could hear snoring of different tones.

The snow was still falling heavily, and these barefoot Arabs were taken to the dungeon of Talas City. Only a dozen or so were captured alive.

If it weren't for the strong wind and snow, we could have caught more.

When the snowflakes fell on his body, they were melted by his body temperature and turned into water, soaking his clothes. Pei Xingjian hung the wet clothes by the fire and waited for the work to be done. He took off his boots and placed them by the fire, revealing his feet that had been wet for too long and were wrinkled and white.

Di Renjie walked into the dungeon and saw Pei Xingjian, who had just returned, sitting naked by the fire. He placed a pot of wine and meat beside him and said, "Eat something."

"Thank you." Pei Xingjian took a piece of beef, spread some salt on it and started to tear it into pieces.

Di Renjie saw the Arabs in the dungeon and said, "After a night of traveling, I hope you can return safely."

The firelight shone on Pei Xingjian's face, and he whispered, "The wind and snow were too strong, and many Arabs who tried to escape froze to death outside."

Di Renjie also sat by the fire and poured some wine into a small pot. While the wine was boiling, he said, "This is the Xinfeng wine we brought from Guanzhong. This is all we have left. The soldiers in the army cried when they drank the wine from Guanzhong."

As he spoke, he poured the warm wine into the bowl and continued, "During the celebration, I heard Jiang Shiren and the Tibetan old man say that they had seen the Arab army in Tianzhu."

Pei Xingjian, still chewing beef, asked, "An army?"

"Yes." Di Renjie looked at the flames and nodded. "They said that they were the Arabs who were endless. The Pamir Mountains were extremely cold at this time of year. The Arabs were used to the warmth and did not dare to continue to advance into the Pamir Mountains at this time of year. The Arabs we defeated were only part of the vanguard."

Pei Xingjian looked a little more worried.

Di Renjie added: "But you don't have to worry too much. The Arabs will not come to Congling again in the next few years. It seems that the situation behind the Arabs is also very complicated."

Pei Xingjian asked in return: "What about the future?"

"Hmm..." Di Renjie threw the stick in his hand into the fire and whispered, "I don't know. The Tang army killed 100,000 Arabs. They will come to take revenge. I heard from the Indians that the Arabs will definitely take revenge."

Pei Xingjian asked: "How many troops do they have left?"

Di Renjie shook his head again, "Another 300,000? 500,000? No one can tell."

Seeing Pei Xingjian still eating, Di Renjie said, "For now, we can only fight this far. Prince Ji brought the military order from General Cheng Yaojin, ordering us to rest and then withdraw."

Pei Xingjian nodded, "The soldiers are indeed very tired."

Di Renjie patted him on the shoulder and said, "We have made enough money. Besides, it will not be so easy for the Arabs to attack the Pamirs again. There are many small countries here. In the future...someone from the court will come here again."

There were gradually voices outside, and it seemed that the soldiers in the city had woken up.

Pei Xingjian drank some wine, wrapped himself in a Sogdian blanket, and fell asleep beside the warm fire.

After the great victory, many people felt unprecedented fatigue, and many soldiers woke up and then fell back asleep.

In addition, the wind and snow had been falling for two days and two nights, with no sign of stopping, and the city was extremely cold.

On the third day, the wind and snow were still there, but they were much weaker than the previous two days, and at least the vision was much clearer.

The gate of Talas City slowly opened, and Jiang Shiren and the Tibetan old man Ru Laijie each led a team of people out of the city.

The war horses exhaled hot air in the cold wind and walked on the snow.

Jiang Shiren pulled the reins to slow the horse down, and asked, "After this battle, are you willing to go back to Chang'an with us?"

Ru Laijie straightened his tall hat, the fur on the edge of the hat fluttering in the cold wind. He replied: "Even if the Khan of Heaven lets me go, Lu Dongzan will kill me."

Jiang Shiren was somewhat reluctant to part with this old friend. He couldn't be said to be a very good person, but at least he would do his best to help in every major battle.

They arrived at the battlefield three days ago. The wolves here noticed the approaching troops and fled.

Jiang Shiren ordered the soldiers behind him to pack up their weapons and clean up the battlefield.

Ru Laijie sighed and said, "The powerful Tang people have defended the Pamir Mountains, and the Arabs have also learned about the power of the Tang Dynasty. The warlike Arabs will come again."

Jiang Shiren raised his head and laughed, "Haha! Let them come, kill as many as they come."

Jiang Shiren, who had been holding back his anger in India for two years, was particularly happy at this moment. At that time, he had just defeated Alonashun, and the shadow of the Arabs was lingering in his heart.

Now that I have finally gotten rid of this anger, I feel extremely relieved.

Ru Laijie led his Tibetan soldiers to the far end of the battlefield, where he saw more Arabs who had frozen to death, still curled up in a huddled position.

Many Arabs fled in this battle, and many were killed along the way, and some were frozen to death.

Jiang Shiren looked at the tragic scenes along the way and said, "Fortunately, this kind of tragedy did not happen to the Tibetans."

Ru Laijie clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and looked extremely pious.

"Since you are not going to Chang'an with us, I need your help with something." Ru Laijie whispered, "General, please speak."

Jiang Shiren was puzzled and said, "I thought you would say that you have helped Tang Jun enough and don't want to help anymore."

Ru Laijie opened his eyes again, exhaled a breath of hot air in the cold wind, and said: "I am helping the Tang Dynasty and also helping the children of Tubo. If there is a conflict between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo in the future, I hope that the Tang people can remember that the Tang army and the Tubo soldiers fought together in the past."

Jiang Shiren smiled and said, "Of course I will remember it."

"What does the General want me to do?"

Jiang Shiren handed over a portrait and said, "This is a Sogdian. His name is Anyanyan. He was the lord of Julan City. When we attacked Julan City, he escaped. We originally thought that he would be in Talas City, but when we arrived in Talas City, he escaped again."

Ru Laijie nodded, "I'll ask someone to look for it."

"Good work."

Ru Laijie smiled with relief, his gray beard swaying in the wind, and said, "This is enough. If the Tang people want to continue to fight in the future, the Tibetan children will continue to fight with the Tang army."

Jiang Shiren wanted to say something else, but when he noticed the old man's age, he realized that he was already very old and he didn't know how many years he could live. This was all he could say about the future.

Although this old Tibetan man had sinister intentions and wanted to support another Tibetan king, everything he did was for the Tibetan children.

Putting himself in his shoes, Jiang Shiren gradually understood why he spared no effort to help Tang Jun.

Jiang Shiren also felt that he was not a very smart person, nor did he have the wisdom far beyond ordinary people like His Majesty or those people in Chongwenguan.

But he simply believed that this old Tibetan man had no selfish motives.

It took the soldiers a whole day to collect all the weapons here and load them into more than ten carts. There were also strong men among the Arabs who used very heavy hammers.

After the Tang army left, the wolves came to the battlefield again.

In the winter of the fourth year of Qianqing's reign, when the wind and snow stopped, Xue Rengui and Liang Jianfang led their troops out of Talas City again. They needed to wipe out the remaining forces around Talas City.

Murong Shun disappeared again, and Di Renjie searched for this merchant in Talas City for a long time but couldn't find him.

When the sun finally shone through the Pamir Mountains and the ice and snow melted, the Tang army burned the corpses on the battlefield, and Murong Shun returned to Talas once again.

Di Renjie saw someone coming back and asked, "Where have you been?"

Murong Shun smiled and said, "Why is General Di so wary of me?"

Di Renjie looked up at him and said, "Looking at the whole city of Talas, you are the only one whose background is unclear. Don't think that you can gain my trust just because you gave us so much food and goods."

Murong Shun smiled, feeling envious and happy for a young man like Tang Ren. He bowed and said, "My children bought Baishui City."

"Whitewater City?"

As Murong Shun put the goods in the ox cart, he explained: "After the Arabs went to Baishui City, they looted the city and killed everyone in the city. The Tang army has never been there, and you don't know how miserable it is where the Arabs have been."

Sitting beside the ox cart, he narrated a brutal massacre in which the entire Baishui City was littered with corpses and all the property and food were looted.

Just like when the Arabs massacred the Persians, the corpses were hung up, and many were even hung in the wilderness. In this way, the Arabs used this behavior to express the horror of their conquest.

It was dusk when Murong Shun arrived at Baishui City. At dusk, countless corpses were hung under the wooden stakes.

Later, Murong Shun asked his children to burn the corpses as well.

And the other nobles who stayed in Baishui City sold the city to Murong Shun at an extremely low price, only thirty gold coins for one city.

Murong Shun said: "In fact, I can offer a lower price, but my children are very kind. I gave them thirty gold coins and drove them away. Now Baishui City is an empty city. My children will run it in the future. When the Tang army comes to Congling again, Baishui City will be the outpost of the Tang army."

He smiled and said, "Baishui City is just west of Talas City, adjacent to Dayuan State. It is separated from the Arabs by a mountain range and two rivers."

Di Renjie asked in confusion: "Aren't you going to offer it to the Tang Dynasty?"

Murong Shun said calmly, "I told you that in the future, Baishui City will be the Tang Dynasty's outpost in Congling. It belongs to the Tang Dynasty, but my children will help the Tang Dynasty govern it."

"There are still many Persians and Hu people to the west of Baishui City, right?"

Murong Shun nodded, "Further west of the Congling Mountains, there are all kinds of people."

The army is now very eager to return home. They left Anxi Protectorate in the autumn and have been fighting now in deep winter. It will probably be next summer before they can return to Guanzhong.

Murong Shun continued to sort out his goods and said, "Tang people are all homesick. You are neither Sogdians nor Persians. My child... go back. You can come to Pamirs anytime you want in the future."

Di Renjie really missed his parents. He said, "I don't know how my father and mother are doing."

Murong Shun smiled and hummed an unknown song.

The Tang army in Talas City was packing up. They were going to take all the property, livestock, and people here to the Western Regions.

Pei Yan distributed food to the prisoners of war here. No matter whether they were men or women or Hu children, everyone got a piece of cake.

Pei Yan said loudly, "As long as you eat the bread, you must follow us to the Western Regions and cannot stay here."

A Hu man repeated Pei Yan's words in Hu language. The prisoners in front of them were already starving. They ate their food and sat together.

Li Shen counted the prisoners and said, "There are more than 5,000 men, 10,000 women, and 1,000 children."

"Are these the only young men in Talas?"

Li Shen nodded and said, "Many people fled, and these are the only ones left. When we were in Suiye City, the Anxi Protectorate sent a message saying that since not much cotton was sent to Guanzhong this year, more people will be needed to grow cotton next year."

Pei Yan took the booklet handed over by King Ji and looked through the records on it. Including the city of Julan, the city of Ashibulai and the city of Suiye, there were a total of 50,000 men and women, not counting livestock.

"Prince Ji, isn't this correct?"

Li Shen said: "It can't be wrong. These are the only people we have captured. It's good enough to capture these people given the vastness of the Congling Mountains."

Pei Yan said: "Move all these people to the Western Regions."

Li Shen smiled and said, "The Western Regions, especially the banks of the Ili River, are in urgent need of population."

Qibi Heli listened to these words with a smile, drinking grape wine and humming songs.

(End of this chapter)