The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 528 Humanity's Historical Perspective

The old land of Persia is now the territory of the Arabs. There are many low green plants on the yellow land. Groups of barefoot Persians wearing thin clothes are pulling carts with a lot of goods on them.

An Yanyan recorded these goods, which included gold, wood, and stone. When the wind blew, a cloud of yellow sand was blown up. The people pulling the goods were Persian prisoners of war captured by the Arabs twenty years ago.

A lot of Persians were captured that year. Out of more than 200,000 people, only tens of thousands were left. When An Yanyan heard Ali's words for the first time, he was shocked.

An Yanyan looked at the transport team in the valley. Someone was whipping the slaves. An old slave fell to the ground and was dragged away. No one paid any attention to him.

Due to the defeats in Pamirs and India, Ali wanted to go back, but the various forces in the Arab Empire still wanted to fight with the Tang army.

An Yanyan felt that Ali was actually a very innocent young man, at least he was not as cruel as the previous caliphs. He wanted to withdraw his troops and return to his hometown in his mind.

Now, Ali was still young, he was not a cruel man, he was very respectful to the elders of the Arabs, and because of this, although he was domineering, he did not have much power.

When he decided to withdraw his troops, all the forces in the Arab world opposed it.

An Yanyan stood facing the wind. He was wearing the black robe unique to the Arab nobles. He understood the reason. The Arabs had been fighting for more than twenty years, and many forces had benefited from the wars. But now, with just one word from Ali, he wanted to withdraw the troops and go home. Would all the forces in the Arabs give up their immediate interests?
How is this possible? So this matter is not something that Ali can decide alone.

An Yanyan looked back and saw Ali talking with several old Arabs. If Ali could be cruel at this time and kill all those who opposed the withdrawal of troops, no one would stop him.

But Ali is Ali. He is not the first three generations of caliphs of the Caliphate, or no one taught Ali how to become a cruel caliph.

An Yanyan successfully joined the powerful class of the Arabs and began to assist in transporting Ali's property, which was brought out from the Persian royal city. Among them were two very large statues. It was said that these two statues were originally Buddhas, but were later smashed and no longer looked like Buddhas.

Because of the defeats in the two places, Ali is no longer trustworthy among the authorities of all parties.

This is how war works. Ali is the next successor to the caliph. Even if he is not the decision maker of the war, as the successor to the caliph, decision makers from all sides want to hold Ali accountable.

Ali had asked this question before, and An Yanyan still remembered what he said.

"You know the Tang people very well. If the Tang people encountered this kind of thing, what would they do?"

In fact, if An Yanyan asked himself, he didn't know much about the Tang people. What would the Tang people do if they were in his place?
An Yanyan, on the contrary, was more aware of the way the Hu people did things. Most of his understanding of the Tang people came from the stories told by his parents. He heard that the Tang people had changed a lot now.

In order to rely on Ali, Anyanyan could only talk about the Tang people's conquest of Tianshan Mountains.

Ali was like a helpless child, surrounded by all kinds of scheming forces. As the Arabs continued their conquests, they suffered two major defeats.

In fact, everyone knows that the spirit of conquest was long gone after the Arabs defeated Persia.

The Arabs who stayed behind became the beneficiaries of various forces. They no longer wanted to fight or leave.

An Yanyan watched the slaves pulling carts of goods away, and followed Ali's team back to Mulu City.

The former Mulu City was very beautiful. An Yanyan had been here when he was a child. It was a very wealthy and prosperous place, where one could even see silk being sent from the East.

But now these prosperous scenes can no longer be seen. The former Persians have become slaves of the Arabs, and the former wealth has become the wealth of the Arabs. The Arabs do not know how to build here, and they don’t know how to restore the prosperity of this city.

Originally, An Yanyan liked the murals here very much, but now they are all covered with a layer of black ash after the fire.

Originally, everything here was beautiful.

In the palace, Ali and the old man from the Arab Empire had another dispute, and both sides argued loudly about whether to leave or stay.

An Yanyan looked at the kind-hearted Ali and sighed secretly.

In mid-July, Ali held a ceremony in the city of Murug and became the fourth caliph of the Caliphate.

It was also during this period that Ali was once again tied to the chariot.

The Tang army crossed the Amu Darya River with cavalry from the Tianshan Mountains, soldiers from the Western Regions, Tibetans, and even Hu soldiers conquered from all over the Pamir Mountains, as well as remnants of Persian soldiers and Saka cavalry.

This team grew from 100,000 people at the beginning to nearly 200,000 people. With the new and old grudges of the Pamir Army and the Arabs, they launched a counterattack against the Arabs.

Just after the 200,000-strong army crossed the river, a Persian came to the Tang army camp, claiming to be the Persian prince Alohan.

Inside the camp, Pei Yan hesitated and asked, "He said he was a Persian prince, but who is that Persian prince in Chang'an?"

Di Renjie ate grapes and said, "Bring it here and you'll know."

Compared with Pei Yan's speculation and skepticism, Di Renjie is more inclined to practice.

A well-dressed Persian was brought into the camp and walked in front of several Tang army generals.

He was wearing decent clothes and had a large white beard. He looked young. His dense beard covered his chin and mouth. He looked young, but his beard had a large white patch.

Since the prince returned, Cheng Chumo's personal guards, Prince Jin, and Prince Ji have all returned. Liang Jianfang has been feeling particularly comfortable these days. He asked, "Are you the Prince of Persia?"

The other party nodded and explained in awkward Tang dialect: "I am the Persian prince, A Luohan."

Di Renjie asked back: "There is also a Persian prince in Chang'an, his name is Perus."

A Luo nodded and said, "He should have come with you."

Regardless of which of the two was the real Persian prince, the Tang army did not want to fight this war in the name of revenge or restoration of the Persians. The Tang Dynasty had never thought of helping Persia restore its country.

Liang Jianfang came to fight and gain merit, not to help the Persians restore their country. Besides, what benefit would he get from helping Persia restore its country? Would it make his merits even greater?
In other words, if the credit was diluted due to the restoration of the Persian prince, Liang Jianfang would be willing to kill the Persian prince, no matter whether he was real or fake.

Pei Yan asked, "Do you still know each other?"

A Luohan took out a necklace with a beautiful sapphire on it and said, "Perus and I are both princes of Persia."

Then he brought many witnesses, including a Persian priest.

When A Luohan sought help in various places in the Pamir Mountains, Tana recognized him, so this prince of the Persian Empire could not be more real.

But then again, the Tang army had no intention of restoring Persia.

Although Alohan wanted to restore his country, he had no other soldiers except his more than a hundred Persian guards.

After sending the Persian prince away, Li Mengchang walked to Liang Jianfang and asked, "Are we still going to fight?"

Liang Jianfang said with a straight face: "Fight. Since we have come this far, of course we have to fight."

Li Mengchang clasped his fists and said, "I obey your command." When the Tang army defeated 100,000 Arabs outside the city of Anguo, the Hu people in the Pamirs all surrendered to the Tang army and joined the expedition against the Arabs.

This also turned the war against the Arabs into a major war that the Pamir Hu people had to join, and they called it the Western Expedition.

Three days after the Tang army crossed the river, there were still endless streams of Hu people riding their war horses across the river and rushing all the way to the Tang army's camp. During this time, they did not require any food or fodder from the Tang army, nor did they require any military merit or weapons. They did not even want anything, they just wanted to join the war.

After that, the Tang army just ignored it and allowed these Hu cavalrymen from all over the Pamir Mountains to follow behind.

In just a few days, the size of the army expanded again and again until it reached nearly 300,000 people. Fortunately, the Tang army did not need to provide them with food or weapons.

The army was still marching towards Mulu City. Looking eastward, the densely packed army seemed to have no end in sight.

Perhaps decades later, when later generations come to this land again, the people here will be able to remember that they participated in the largest war of their lives. This war did not distinguish between the Hu people, the Sai people or the people of the Western Regions, because everyone had a common enemy, the Arabs.

Perhaps a hundred years later, people here will be grateful to their ancestors for having fought with the Tang army and defeated the Arabs together with the Tang army.

In the memory of future generations a hundred years later, this can be considered a war that will go down in human history.

When the sky just got bright, the Indian troops crossed the Shiquan River and headed towards the city of Mulu in the old Persian territory. Along the way, they wiped out the remaining forces of the Arabs.

The flames of war once again swept across the old land of Persia. Whether in the south or the east, the Tang army was conquering the Arabs.

That night, Zhang Da'an took advantage of the army's rest to write a military report. A corner of the paper was blown up by the night wind, and he wrote: On July 25, the eleventh year of Qianqing, the army conquered five cities in the old Persian territory and killed more than 60,000 enemies. The morale of the army was high, and the soldiers and equipment were sufficient.

On July 26, the eleventh year of the Qianqing reign, an urgent report came from Tianzhu that Wang Xuance, the commander-in-chief of the Tianzhu Road, was leading 150,000 troops and was heading north to capture Mulu City.

On the first day of August in the eleventh year of Qianqing's reign, the army had marched more than twenty miles when they learned that the Arab Caliph had moved westward.

On the third day of August in the eleventh year of the Qianqing reign, the Tubo Protectorate sent 6,000 troops into the territory of India.

On the fifth day of August in the eleventh year of Qianqing's reign, General Liang Jianfang met with General Wang Xuance, and the two armies joined forces, with a total of more than 400,000 soldiers and horses.

After Zhang Da'an finished writing the military report, he stood up and reported to General Liang Jianfang.

After reporting to the general, Zhang Da'an planned to arrange for someone to deliver the report to Chang'an, but he met Liu Rengui at the newly built granary.

Liu Rengui was a very patient person, and he personally monitored the grain transportation routes along the way.

"Tianzhu has sent so much food, you don't have to worry about the army running out of food and fodder."

Liu Rengui patted the war elephants beside him. These were the war elephants brought from the royal city of An State. Previously, these war elephants were covered with wounds, and now it seemed that the old wounds had formed thick scabs.

He looked at the tall war elephants and said, "Actually, they are very docile."

Zhang Da'an nodded and said, "Yes, this kind of creature is really rare."

Liu Rengui saw the military report in his hand and asked, "Send the message to Chang'an?"

"Exactly."

Liu Rengui also took out a scroll of documents and handed it to him, saying, "Take this with you, and go in person."

Zhang Da'an was a little confused and was about to ask when he heard Liu Rengui speak again.

"You and I have worked together in the Western Regions for two years. It will probably be winter when you return to Chang'an, or maybe next spring. I don't know how long it will take to get back to Chang'an from here. They say it will be faster to take the route that Xuanzang took, but the route Xuanzang took is not easy."

"You have talent, you should go further than I have. I will recommend you to the court and have you serve as the next Jingzhao prefect."

Zhang Daan bowed and said, "Thank you, Governor Liu."

Seeing that the young man was not going to refuse, Liu Rengui said loudly: "You are more capable than me. Go back. Things here are almost over. Maybe we can meet in Chang'an next year."

Zhang Daan's nose felt a little sore.

Liu Rengui said: "As a person from Jingzhao Prefecture in the Western Regions, you should obey my orders. You should go there in person to deliver the documents and military reports."

Zhang Daan bowed again and said loudly, "Yes."

On August 15th of the eleventh year of Qianqing's reign, the Tang army finally launched an attack on Mulu City. The huge crowd almost overwhelmed the place. This was a war that was bound to be won.

A Arab noble holding a saber stood on the street of Mulu City. When he saw countless people pouring into the city, he was so scared that he knelt on the ground.

Rulaijie sat on the back of a war elephant, standing on a high slope, watching the Arabs fleeing westward out of the city. He laughed and said, "Haha! The Arabs will never dare to invade again."

Murong Shun, who was also sitting on the elephant's back, whispered, "I will let my children continue the Western Expedition."

The war ended quickly. Facing an attack by 400,000 people, Mulu City was easily breached, with not even many casualties.

When the Arabs saw this scene, they ran away before fighting.

The generals of the Tang army were supported by the people as they entered the city. Inside the royal palace of Mulu City, there were many reliefs on the palace walls. These reliefs were very exquisite, as if they were depicting one story after another. Later, someone would also carve the stories of the Tang people on these reliefs, including the appearance of Sai people, Hu people, people from the Western Regions, and Indian people.

In the city, people cheered one after another. Wang Xiaojie stood on the round roof of the palace. Every time he raised his hands, people cheered.

I don’t know who found a lot of flowers and sprinkled them on the crowd from a high place.

The original war turned into a carnival. Liang Jianfang occupied the royal palace of Mulu City and didn't even bother with the Persian prince A Luohan.

The carnival lasted for three days. When all the people who needed to disperse had gone back, the Tang army also prepared to go home.

Hearing that Wang Xuance was going to take his wife and children back to Chang'an, Pei Xingjian said puzzledly: "You can live happily in Tianzhu."

Wang Xuance shook his head and said, "The affairs of Tianzhu are handled by the people of Chongwenguan. The King of Tianzhu is just a figurehead. His Majesty has also issued an order, hoping that the King of Tianzhu will go to Chang'an City."

The conversation of the two was interrupted by a few angry curses. Looking sideways, they saw Liang Jianfang pointing at the Persian prince A Luohan and cursing him.

Since the Persian prince wants land and wants to restore his country, let him fight for it himself. Everything conquered by the Tang army belongs to the Tang army.

Pei Xingjian sighed. When the Tang army returned, they would take away everything here, including people and livestock, and would not leave a single thing for the Persian prince.

(End of this chapter)