Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 667 Slaying Generals and Seizing Flags, A Great Victory (First Update)
At the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

Corpses littered the fields and rivers of blood flowed.

The fighting is about to end on the west bank of the Awat River.

Guo Xiaoke, half-covered in blood, threw his spear to his personal guards, then mounted his horse and looked around.

On a small "hill" not far away, Zhu Xie's broken body stood alone.

A long sword was pressed against the ground behind him.

However, his head was not on his body.

On the distant battlefield, Xue Rengui continued his frenzied charge back and forth.

Zhu Xie's head, a desperate act, was hanging on his saddle.

As long as people are still fighting, Xue Rengui will immediately rush over with Zhu Xie's head, and blood will flow everywhere in an instant.

Throughout the entire battlefield, Xue Rengui was the most ruthless killer.

After Zhu Xie died, his tribal guards disregarded their own lives and charged towards Xue Rengui.

For a moment, Xue Rengui was almost completely overwhelmed, but soon he broke out again.

They're incredibly fierce.

As time passed, the fighting on the battlefield gradually came to an end.

After Zhu Xiegu was killed by Xue Rengui, the entire Turkic army immediately fell into chaos.

Meanwhile, from the direction of Shule in the west, one could faintly hear endless sounds of fighting and shouting.

Everything told them that Ashina Helu, the Western Turkic Khan who was rushing toward the battlefield, had been ambushed.

No one knows the specifics of the situation over there, but there is no doubt that He Lu cannot get here again in a short time.

Just then, Guo Xiaoke seized the opportunity to attack the river, causing even more chaos among the Turks.

Interweave from front to back, cut from side to side.

Every army of the Tang Dynasty was carrying out its battles and purges in an orderly manner, according to pre-arranged plans.

Without unified command, the tens of thousands of Turkic troops were like a pile of loose sand.

They either had to escape or be slaughtered little by little by the Tang army.

Xue Wanbei, Wang Fangyi, and Guo Daizhao were all leading their men in a desperate fight, while also ruthlessly accumulating military merits.

But wars always come to an end.

……

"Protector!" Wang Xuance caught up from behind and bowed respectfully to Guo Xiaoke, saying, "General, it's time to persuade them to surrender."

Guo Xiaoke raised his head and looked across the entire battlefield.

At this moment, those who deserved to die were already dead, and those who were supposed to surrender had long since laid down their weapons, jumped off their horses, and lay on the ground. Most of them rode away in a panic, but there were still some who were gritting their teeth and holding on. However, in this desperate situation, as long as someone shouted "Disarm and you will not be killed," they would have a way to survive.

But no one shouted.

Guo Xiaoke calmly looked around, then turned to Wang Xuance and said, "Look at General Xue. He has made countless contributions this time. I'm afraid that the next time we see him, we should call him the Great General."

Wang Xuance looked at Guo Xiaoke, and for a moment he did not understand what he meant.

Xue Rengui is currently the General of the Left Jinwu Guard. No matter what, if he wants to become the Grand General of the Sixteen Guards, he will have to accumulate several years of experience.

He would even voluntarily ask to stay for a few more years.

Because once someone becomes a general, not only will they lose real power, but they will also have few opportunities to achieve military merit.

Therefore, even the emperor would not allow Xue Rengui to become a great general too quickly.

Guo Xiaoke glanced at Wang Xuance and finally spoke: "Pass down the order that all Western Turkic troops lay down their weapons and not kill each other immediately. At the same time, all troops should prepare for battle. We must march on Shule immediately. The Duke of Yanmen and his troops are probably fighting fiercely right now and are waiting for our support."

Previously, Ashina Helu was leading the central army towards this place, which was only thirty or fifty li away.

But he just couldn't catch up with this part of the journey.

General Liang Jianfang of the Left Guard, Governor Li Dejian of Xia Prefecture, and General Pei Xingjian of the Left Guard led an army of 50,000 and suddenly attacked from the Western Tuyuhun.

He Lu had no idea that someone had such a thorough understanding of his whereabouts.

At the most unexpected moment, they shifted their battleground from Xituyuhun to the desert, launching a fierce attack from his flank and delivering the most fatal blow.

This move was a military strategy jointly formulated by the Emperor, the Ministry of War, Li Ji, Changsun Wuji, Cheng Zhijie, Yuchi Jingde, Liang Jianfang, Qibi Heli, Xue Rengui, Xue Wanbei, and others.

Pei Xingjian, Wang Fangyi, and others also filled in the gaps and made up for any deficiencies.

Finally, Li Dejian took it to Xituyuhun for Li Jing to see, and only then was the matter completely settled.

Countless veterans have schemed for years; how could they possibly escape so easily?

"Yes, sir!" Wang Xuance solemnly cupped his hands, and immediately instructed his soldiers to convey the order.

On the entire battlefield, the various military forces quickly gathered together and began to systematically recruit surrenderers and carry out the final purge.

At that very moment, countless hooves thundered from the direction of Kucha.

Everyone turned around to look, and couldn't help but tighten their grip on their weapons.

But soon, everyone relaxed, because what appeared before them was Cheng Zhijie, who had arrived with 20,000 cavalry.

No, it was 20,000 infantrymen on horseback.

Under the black banner, Cheng Zhijie shouted, "Leave a group to control the prisoners, and the rest will reinforce the Duke of Yanmen and kill He Lu."

"Kill He Lu! Kill He Lu!" Countless people responded in unison.

The Turkic soldiers squatting on the ground were all terribly pale.

"Kill!" Cheng Zhijie led his troops westward, followed closely by the others. Only less than two thousand infantrymen remained to guard the prisoners.

Even Guo Xiaoke led his men to charge forward.

But none of the Turkic soldiers squatting on the ground dared to move.

……

Under the cover of night, countless torches illuminated the entire world.

Countless soldiers were engaged in fierce fighting at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

Dressed in white robes and silver armor, Xue Rengui, wielding a halberd, charged recklessly through countless Turkic cavalry.

His eyes were fixed on the golden wolf flag halfway up the mountain.

The tall golden wolf flag stood on the northern side of the army, on the mountainside of the Tianshan Mountains.

At the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, densely packed Turkic cavalrymen galloped and charged across the wilderness. However, with 100,000 Tang troops attacking from both sides, the Turks' encirclement was quickly and severely restricted.

The battle from the desert came suddenly and quickly, splitting the Turkic army in two in a very short time.

Fortunately, the Turks bravely blocked their way, preventing Liang Jianfang and his men from directly reaching the Golden Wolf Banner.

After realizing they could not advance any further, the Tang army immediately turned west and charged toward the weakest point of the Turkic cavalry's rear flank.

The distance between them and the main force of the Turks was immediately widened.

Just as He Lu was ordering his army to turn around and pursue, Cheng Zhijie, who had already annihilated Zhu Xie's desperate attempt, led an army of countless soldiers directly from the direction of Kucha.

The Turks were forced to turn back.

More chaos ensued.

Upon Cheng Zhijie's arrival, the two Tang armies were immediately brought under unified command.

The familiar drumbeats resonated throughout.

With the help of more people pulling and tugging, several warriors charged directly into the heart of the Turkic army.

The one that came from the east and had the fastest and deepest impact was Xue Rengui.

It was precisely because He Lu suddenly led the Golden Wolf Banner to retreat to the Tianshan Mountains that Liang Jianfang's surprise attack failed.

Now, Xue Rengui led his men in a fierce attack on the mountainside, heading straight for He Lu under the Golden Wolf Banner.

His eyes were terrifyingly cold, and as he swung his halberd, one Turkic cavalryman after another fell to its blade.

A passage was quickly cleared ahead, and Xue Rengui spurred his horse forward, unstoppable by anyone around him.

From a distance, Xue Rengui appeared frighteningly relaxed.

Even so, even after a series of battles, Xue Rengui was still full of energy.

Amidst the fierce battle on horseback, Xue Rengui slightly turned his body and glanced to the west.

There, several groups of cavalry were also charging forward at breakneck speed.

At the forefront were not Liang Jianfang and Pei Xingjian, whom Xue Rengui had previously assumed, but rather a relatively unfamiliar middle-aged general.

Li Dejian, Governor of Xia Prefecture.

The eldest son of Li Jing, Duke of Wei.

The Emperor's Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guard in the Eastern Palace.

Xue Rengui had met Li Dejian. Although Li Dejian did not return to Chang'an often, the emperor would talk with him until late at night each time.

The emperor trusted him more than anyone else.

Unfortunately, the emperor had no intention of transferring him back to Chang'an...

The thought flashed through his mind, and Xue Rengui immediately continued his charge, but his eyes still occasionally swept over Li Dejian.

Two long spears were hung on either side of the warhorse. Gao Jun's warhorse charged at top speed. With just a slight swing of the sharp spear blades, all the Turkic cavalry in front of him fell to the ground.

Compared to Xue Rengui's invincible prowess, Li Dejian was much more cautious, with a troop of elite cavalry closely guarding his rear.

The surrounding Turkic cavalry couldn't get any closer, allowing him to focus entirely on his charge. A little behind him was Pei Xingjian, and then Liang Jianfang.

Just like Xue Rengui's side, Wang Fangyi's sprint position is even deeper than Xue Wanbei's.

As for Guo Xiaoke, he was placed even later.

On the contrary, Wang Xuance led five thousand cavalrymen and charged right behind Wang Fangyi.

Further back, Cheng Zhijie systematically directed his army to break in, entangle, surround, and annihilate.

Arrows flew incessantly, and as time passed, the Turks shot arrows at a slower and slower pace.

Moreover, the arrows of the Turks had difficulty penetrating the armor of the Tang cavalry.

The situation has completely fallen into Cheng Zhijie's control.

In the end, only that golden wolf flag remained.

……

The sharp halberd blade deftly slipped into the gap of the longsword, then with a swift slash to the left, blood began to gush from the throat of the Turkic general opposite him.

The towering golden wolf banner was just three zhang away, and in front of him were densely packed Turkic guards.

Xue Rengui spurred his horse and charged forward with all his might.

His armor was covered in wounds, but it remained sturdy.

Xue Rengui glanced to the side and saw that behind the sharp spears, Li Dejian had also led his men to break through the enemy lines.

The others further back were also not far from the Golden Wolf Flag.

Xue Rengui wielded his halberd even more fiercely, while He Lu, standing under the Golden Wolf Banner in full armor, gripped his long sword and led his personal guards in a fierce charge.

With a sudden, sharp turn of his halberd, the six Turkic warriors in front of Xue Rengui fell backward. At that moment, Xue Rengui leaped off his horse, and in an instant, the halberd flew from his hand.

He Lu had just raised his long sword when the halberd plunged deep into his chest.

Blood splattered.

For a moment, everyone was stunned.

At this moment, Xue Rengui had already drawn a sword from his horse and, while everyone was still stunned, quickly slashed the throats of several Turkic guards in front of him.

Then, his left hand gripped the halberd handle, and he pulled it out forcefully.

He Lu had already collapsed to the ground.

"Kill!" Li Dejian, on the other side, had already led his men to charge over at this moment.

Li Dejian didn't even glance at Xue Rengui and He Lu before his long spear slammed into the golden wolf banner on one side.

With a loud "boom," the Golden Wolf Flag snapped in two.

"Kill!" More black-armored cavalrymen charged out from behind Li Dejian, scattering all the nearby Turkic guards.

A soldier handed the broken Golden Wolf Banner to Li Dejian. After taking it, Li Dejian turned to look at Xue Rengui, who was inspecting He Lu, and said indifferently, "No need to look. That's not He Lu. He Lu is a coward. How could he dare to personally command the battle? That's just a stand-in."

Xue Rengui suddenly looked up, staring at Li Dejian in disbelief.

Li Dejian shook his head slightly and said, "Didn't you notice? He never fled, nor did he command the army to flee. He was buying time for He Lu to escape."

Xue Rengui's expression changed slightly.

In this operation, they used Anxi as bait to hold off Helu, while Liang Jianfang, Li Dejian, and others broke out from Xituyuhun, crossed the desert, and directly attacked the flank of the Western Turkic army, ultimately annihilating the main force of the Western Turkic army.

The main objective set by the emperor and his senior officials was to annihilate the main force of the Western Turkic army, because they knew at the time that it would be difficult to annihilate Helu.

At this point, Li Dejian added, "Of course, it's also possible that He Lu told him to hold on for a while longer and wait for reinforcements to arrive."

At this point, Li Dejian couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.

When He Lu realized that he had been outmaneuvered by the Tang Dynasty and that even an army of hundreds of thousands was powerless to save the day, he ran away faster than anyone else.

Xue Rengui calmed down and bowed to Li Dejian, saying, "Governor Li, congratulations!"

Slay the general and seize the flag.

When it comes to slaying generals and capturing flags, the priority naturally goes to the generals.

Xue Rengui originally thought he had won the merit of beheading a general, but unexpectedly, his merit was empty. On the contrary, Li Dejian directly cut down the flag and seized it, which was real.

“No need!” Li Dejian shook his head lightly and said, “The man has already been killed, so he should still be used. General Xue, please carry He Lu’s corpse around the room.”

Xue Rengui's brow twitched, then he cupped his hands and said, "Yes!"

Turning around, Xue Rengui had already used his halberd to lift up He Lu's corpse, quickly rushed down the mountainside, and then roared angrily at the entire battlefield: "He Lu is dead, why don't you lay down your weapons and surrender?"

Instantly, countless Tang soldiers roared across the battlefield, "Helu is dead! Helu is dead! Helu is dead!"

For a moment, all the Turkic cavalry on the battlefield looked up at the mountainside in astonishment.

The Golden Wolf Flag is broken.

Xue Rengui, carrying the corpse clad in the "Helu" armor, rushed down quickly, and surprisingly, no one around him tried to kill him.

Everyone immediately knew that He Lu was dead.

The next moment, the entire battlefield erupted in a thunderous roar as countless Turkic cavalrymen began to charge wildly in all directions.

Similarly, a considerable number of Turkic cavalrymen were engaged in even more frenzied fighting.

However, they died even faster when surrounded and attacked by more Tang cavalry.

The entire battlefield fell silent at an alarming rate.

……

The black banner moved forward.

Cheng Zhijie, dressed in red robes and black armor, appeared in the center of the battlefield. The many generals around him surrounded him, cupping their hands and saying, "General!"

"Hmm!" Cheng Zhijie nodded lightly and asked, "Where is the Duke of Liang now?"

Liang Jianfang cupped his hands and stepped forward, saying, "General, the Duke of Liang should have arrived in Shule by now. If He Lu is slow to escape, he might just catch up with him."

“Helu!” Cheng Zhijie couldn’t help but sigh, saying, “How could someone like him become the Khan of the Western Turks!”

"General!" Li Dejian stepped forward and cupped his hands, saying, "General, if Helu is smart enough, he will realize that this time we have not only mobilized our own 100,000 troops, but also mobilized 50,000 Uyghur troops. With 150,000 against his 170,000, even in a head-on battle, he has no chance of winning, not to mention that he has already fallen into a trap."

This battle went by far too quickly, from start to finish.

From Wang Fangyi's defeat of 15,000 Turkic cavalry in the Battle of Xizhou, to Ashina Dieyun's death, to Zhu Xie's desperate defeat, and the recent killing of Wuzhile, who was Helu's double, everything was like a domino effect, and Helu couldn't even react in time.

It can also be said that after the Tang Dynasty dealt with Quan Gaisuwen, the overall combat strength of the Tang army had exceeded He Lu's original expectations.

In the end, they suffered a complete defeat.

Or to put it more directly, this battle was originally a harvest that the Tang Dynasty had been meticulously preparing for for many years.

For many years, the Western Turks had repeatedly surrendered to the Tang Dynasty only to rebel again, and then surrender once more, in a back-and-forth manner.

The Tang Dynasty had long since figured out their patterns and had even prepared for them, with countless traps waiting for them.

Five or six years before He Lu raised his army, Li Chengqian had already sensed something was amiss. He was using Li Ji to intimidate He Lu in order to fight against Goguryeo, but this could not curb He Lu's ambition.

His movements quickened, but unfortunately, the battle in Pyongyang ended even faster, and the Tang Dynasty had already begun to turn back.

When Helu gathered enough troops to rebel against the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty had already prepared a trap for him. In fact, every move Helu made was within the Tang Dynasty's calculations.

Therefore, he lost.

Even Qibi Heli had already outflanked them from behind.

Cheng Zhijie nodded calmly, then looked up and said, "In that case, we hope that the Duke of Liang can hold off He Lu. Now, regardless of whether the soldiers have rested or not, everyone mount up and head west to Shule to pursue and kill He Lu."

"Head west to Shule, pursue and kill Helu!" Countless soldiers inside and outside shouted suddenly.

The Turkic cavalrymen crouching on the ground did not react much.

When they realized that the person who had been leading them was just a stand-in, their will was broken.

"Kill!" Cheng Zhijie waved his hand, and the army immediately sprang into action.

Just after the entire army had marched west, snowflakes suddenly fell from the sky, landing on the wasteland.

……

On the city wall of Shule, Cheng Zhijie looked at the heavy snow falling all around him, sighed helplessly, and said, "He Lu is really lucky."

Liang Jianfang, Guo Xiaoke, Qibi Heli, Li Dejian, Xue Wanbei, Xue Rengui, Porun, Pei Xingjian, Wang Fangyi, Wang Xuance, and others all looked helpless.

The snow had been falling for three days and showed signs of getting heavier, forcing them to halt their pursuit.

Cheng Zhijie turned to Li Dejian and asked, "Governor Li, how long do you think this snow will last? Do we have a chance to emulate the Duke of Wei's destruction of Jieli back then, and take advantage of the heavy snow to destroy Helu?"

Li Dejian stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "General, this snow will probably continue for a few more days. If it were in the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, I think it would be fine, but if we pursue them to the Congling and Daxueshan areas, I think it would be better to be cautious."

However, General, you can take advantage of the bloodshed to send men to attack the Five Dulu tribes of the Western Turkic Left Wing. I believe there is still a chance.

West of Congling and Daxueshan lies the Pamir Plateau, a terrain that the Tang Dynasty was truly unfamiliar with.

Unlike Anxi, the main battlefield of this battle, the Tang Dynasty had been preparing for it for at least ten years.

"This humble general is willing to go to the Western Turks." The Uyghur Khan, the Governor of the Han Sea, Po Run, couldn't help but step forward.

Cheng Zhijie suddenly laughed and shook his head, saying, "Let's wait until the snow has melted a bit. If we go now, your casualties will be too great. Besides, Ashina Buzhen and Ashina Misha will be arriving soon. It will be more convenient then, and the Western Turkic tribes won't be able to escape anyway."

"Yes!" The old woman bowed, a hint of disappointment flashing in her eyes.

"Alright, that's settled then." Cheng Zhijie's expression turned serious. He said, "Immediately draft a memorial and send it to Chang'an to report to His Majesty. This is how the war is going this year. As for what happens next, we'll see when spring arrives next year. At that time, we'll kill He Lu."

"Yes, sir!" The generals bowed in unison and responded with a resounding roar!

(End of this chapter)