Chapter 177 The Uighur Special Envoy

Like other nomadic peoples, the Gelulu people pay attention to high maneuverability and flexibility in combat, and they appear on the vast grasslands, looking for the best fighter jets to hit the enemy with one blow. However, the Tang army also has powerful cavalry, which is no less than the nomadic people in terms of maneuverability and flexibility, and its excellent equipment makes the Gelulu people far beyond the reach.

The Gelulu people also knew this well, so since the Tang army entered their control, the Gelulu people tried their best to avoid confronting the Tang army head-on. They had been detouring hundreds of miles away, waiting for the loopholes of the Tang army to appear.

But the actions of the Tang army were beyond their expectations. After three days of marching north, the main force of the Tang army suddenly turned around and returned to Bazhayi City and set up a camp. The five thousand rear troops led them back to Tingzhou, which was obviously to prevent them from taking a detour to attack the rear. The rhythm of the battle suddenly slowed down.

Three hundred miles east of Xuanchi, next to a small lake called Bayanghai by the locals, Gelulu and the Uighur coalition were stationed here. Gelulu's troops were different from the Tang army. There were no Yingzha trenches, and a cowhide tent was connected into one piece, and the horses were tied next to the tent to ensure that they set out at any time and came and went like the wind.

A larger tent in the middle was their central army tent. At dawn, a beast-like howling suddenly broke out from the central army tent. In the large tent, Massiluo was furious and wielded his long sword like a slash on the cowhide tent like crazy.

"My woman, my treasure! The Tangren who was cut into pieces."

Miaoshuluo was almost crazy, running back and forth in the big tent, yelling hysterically, swinging a long sword, and cutting the big tent with holes. He had just received the news that his tribe was discovered by the Tang army on the way to the Uighurs, and the guards were wiped out, and all his property and women were abducted by the Tang army.

He can get new things when a woman is gone, but the gold he has accumulated for eighteen years is gone, which makes him extremely angry and lose his mind.

"Tell me my order, the whole army will go on horseback and kill the Tang army, and kill all the Tang army!"

Mutaroduo swung his sword and rushed out of the tent, but his feet were tripped by the carpet and fell heavily to the ground. More than a dozen subordinates next to him finally found an opportunity and rushed up, holding Mutaroduo firmly and seizing the knife in his hand.

"Big Prince, calm down."

"Let me go! I'm going to kill them." Mushuludu shouted vaguely.

As soon as the curtain was lifted, Chief Geluo was about to stab Heishan and walked in quickly from outside. He also received news and was about to comfort his son, but he saw that he was disheveled like a madman, with a snot all over his face. He couldn't help but frown and scolded: "Do you still look like a deputy coach like this? I've lost all my face."

Moussoudu's eyes were red and he was breathing heavily, and he couldn't say a word. At this time, Ashina, the chief of the Uighur Bayegu tribe, also rushed over after hearing the news.

"What's going on?" Asina was stunned.

Moutao Heishan sighed and said, "My son's wife and daughter were captured by the Tang army, and I don't know how to live or die."

Ashina was shocked and stammered: "How is it possible? How could the Tang army arrive in Jinshan? You are not wrong!"

The wife and daughter who were trying to assassinate Luodu was sent to his tribe for protection. He had already arranged people to be accepted on the other side of Jinshan. How could he be captured by Tang army? He felt a little disappointed. He thought he could be his hostage, but he disappeared out of thin air.

"It's not the main force of the Tang army, it's just his vanguard."

He was quite confused when he was plotting to stab Heishan, and he said to several guards: "Take the eldest prince back to the tent first and look forward to him."

After saying that, he turned around and left the tent, and Ashina hurriedly chased after him, "Chief Montenegro, I have something to discuss with you."

"I'm very tired, let's talk about it tomorrow!"

Heishan returned to the tent with concern. The Tang army relaxed the pressure these days and gave him time to think. He began to realize that he was confused for a while and made a big mistake. He shouldn't agree to bring the Uighur army in. It's easy to ask for a god but it's hard to send it to the gods. If the Tang army suddenly was willing to make peace, would these Uighur people honestly withdraw their troops?

Mouta Heishan stared out of the tent in a daze. He thought it was a small conflict, but he did not expect it to eventually turn into a major issue related to Gelu's life and death. He originally thought that Geluo was only facing the threat of the Tang Dynasty, but in the end he realized that there was a evil wolf squatting behind him.

Mou Thorn Heishan lamented, hugged his head, felt regretful, and felt deeply painful for his momentary confusion. What should I do now?

In the Tang army camp, Nan Jiyun's vanguard had also returned and brought back more than 100 carriages loaded with property and nearly a thousand old, weak and weak women and children. When these prisoners of war were transported into the camp, it was the time for the Tang army to eat, which immediately caused a sensation. Countless soldiers came to watch with their jobs.

The Geluo prisoners of war lowered their heads, all of them were uneasy, especially those young women, who showed fear in their eyes as Tang Jun whispers.

Li Qing'an and a group of Tang army generals walked over quickly. Nan Jiyun turned over and got off the horse, stepped forward and knelt halfway and said, "I have captured Prince Gelu's tribe in the middle of Jinshan. I will come back to the camp to investigate the main force of Hu Chief. My subordinates ordered people to continue searching."

Li Qingan glanced at the prisoners of war and nodded and said, "Thank you for your hard work, General Nan, I wonder what the casualties of the brothers are?"

"Report to the general, there were no casualties in the Tang army, but more than half of the Shatu cavalry were injured and half. They were ambushed by the Geluo people."

Zhu Xie Shengyi stepped forward and knelt down, saying ashamed: "I am humble and only care about competing for merit, but I forgot the ambush of the enemy, and so many casualties are heavy. I will apologize."

Although Zhu Xie Shengyi will join the Beiting Army in the future, he is still a reinforcement now. Li Qing'an has no time to say anything, so he quickly helped him up and comforted him: "General Shengyi doesn't have to blame himself. Victory and defeat are common in military affairs. Be careful next time. Please go back to heal the wound first. I will arrange the distribution of spoils."

"Thank you, the envoy!"

Zhu Xie Shengyi led his men back to Shatuo Camp. The camp became busy. Men and women prisoners of war were taken to the back camp to be detained. All kinds of property were handed over to the marching Sima to count and enter the warehouse. At this time, Nan Jiyun saw that there was no one around, and whispered to Li Qing'an: "General, I have seized another batch of gold, about 30,000 taels."

Because the court was really ineffective in providing pensions to the fallen soldiers, the obligation of long-term pensions was pushed to the local government, but the local government had limited financial resources and the civil servants did not pay much attention to it, they often regarded it as a burden. In less than one or two years, this kind of pension would be in name only.

Therefore, in order to give an explanation to the soldiers who died in the Chiling Battle, Li Qing'an decided to establish a pension fund for the fallen soldiers using the concept of later generations. Not only the soldiers who died in Chiling, but also the parents, wife and children will receive long-term pensions and food. His idea was unanimously supported by the generals. At present, the source of money and food is mainly based on war plunder.

Li Qingan was overjoyed and praised: "Good job!"

Nan Jiyun hurried to collect gold. At this moment, an officer on duty at the gate came and bowed to report: "General, a team of Uighurs seeking a meeting outside the tent, saying that it was the special envoy of Uighur Khan."

The arrival of the Uighur envoy was as expected by Li Qingan, but he didn't expect them to come so quickly. He smiled and said, "It seems that they are very anxious. Please ask the envoy to meet in the big tent."

He turned around and returned to the tent.

When Beiting launched a war against Geluo, Uighur Gele Khan happened to be in Dubo Palace, which was not far from Jinshan. He received news from the chief of Baye Gu tribe Ashina. On the one hand, he approved Baye Gu tribe to support Geluo, and on the other hand, he immediately sent a special envoy to Beiting to mediate.

The special envoy of the Uighurs was named Pei Luodagan. He was a middle-aged man in his forties. He was not tall and looked very smart and capable. He was taken into the tent by Tang soldiers, and more than a dozen senior Tang army officials were already waiting for him.

Pei Luodagan stepped forward and saluted Li Qingan, who was sitting in the middle, and said respectfully: "Pe Luodagan, the chief supervisor of the Uighur Palace, was ordered by Khan to go to Beiting to meet with Deputy Envoy Li of Beiting Jiedu."

Li Qingan waved his hand and smiled, "Please sit down with the special envoy!"

Pei Luodagan sat down, and a soldier gave him a cup of tea. Li Qingan asked again with a smile: "Is the Uighur Khan in the palace?"

"That's right, our Khan inspected him and heard that the Tang army had a conflict with Geluo, so he ordered me to come and mediate."

"You Khan meant that we hope we would stop using military force against Gloru, is that true?"

Li Qingan looked at Pei Luodagan with a hint of teasing in his eyes. Pei Luodagan's expression was a little unnatural. He looked at the other officials and felt a little embarrassed: "I have a few words. I want to talk to Li Jun in private. I wonder if it is convenient?"

Li Qingan smiled and gave the others a wink. Everyone stood up and left the tent, leaving only the military supervisor Wang Tingfang.

"This envoy of the king is the supervisor sent by His Majesty to Beiting. If you have anything to say, you don't need to avoid him."

Pei Luodagan smiled and nodded to Wang Tingfang, then said to Li Qing'an in a low voice: "Medaling is just on the scene. I am ordered by Khan, and I want to discuss with Li Envoy Li for something."

Li Qing'an and Wang Tingfang looked at each other, and Li Qing'an said, "What should I discuss with me?"

"It's about the stay or stay of Geluo."

Pei Luodagan sighed and said, "The Geluo of Wudejian Mountain has become a part of the Uighurs, but the Geluo of Jinshan has never been willing to surrender to the Uighurs. Of course, they have surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. I said this a bit rudely, but regaining the Geluo of Jinshan is indeed a major event for my Uighurs. If Beiting agrees to attack the Geluo of Jinshan with the Uighurs, in return, our Khan promised that the land of Geluo of south of Duotanling will belong to the Tang Dynasty. I wonder what the general thinks?"

After a while, Li Qingan laughed loudly, making Pei Luodagan blush and said with anger: "Does Envoy Li think this is funny?"

"No! No!" Li Qing'an stopped laughing and sighed, "I am laughing, Geluo is out of reach. He actually wants to join forces with the Uighurs to fight against the Tang army, but he doesn't know that he is actually bringing the wolf into the house."

Pei Luodagan said embarrassedly: "We Khan did not want to confront the Tang Dynasty, but because the eleven Uighur tribes were independent. The Bayegu tribes were merged into the Uighurs late, and many of their actions were not controlled by the Khan. When the Khan got the news, they had already sent troops south. As long as the envoy Li agreed to the Khan's plan, the Bayegu tribe would immediately become the pioneer in attacking Geluo."

Li Qingan smiled and said, "As me, I naturally want to open up territory for the Emperor of Tang, but I have no right to decide on this matter. After all, Geluo surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. To attack Geluo, I must get the will of His Majesty the Emperor. In other words, I must report to the Emperor of Tang before I can reply."

Wang Tingfang next to him also smiled and said, "What Li Envoy said is very true. This matter must be approved by His Majesty the Emperor."

Pei Luodagan pondered for a moment and said, "I wonder how much time will take?"

"It's about one and a half months! Use eight hundred miles to speed up the news."

"Okay, I will go back to the palace to report to Khan first, and I will come and listen to the news in a month and a half."

Without rest, Pei Luodagan said goodbye and rushed back to the Uighurs. Li Qing'an stood in front of the map and stared at the Uighurs' territory for a long time. From the time when he heard that the Uighurs sent troops, he realized that the real purpose of the Uighurs might not be to help Geluo, and they were most likely to play the role of a fisherman.

Huairen Khan died in the sixth year of Tianbao. Now his son Mo Yanchu succeeded to the throne. He is called Gele Khan. Mo Yanchu was fierce and unruly. Although he still sent envoys to pay homage to the Tang Dynasty, he was no longer as grateful to the Tang Dynasty as his father. As the Uighurs' national strength became increasingly powerful, Mo Yanchu's ambitions grew day by day.

"Eunuch Li, do you really want to cooperate with the Uighurs and destroy Geluo?"

Wang Tingfang was not old, and the reason why he was able to come to Anxi to supervise the army was entirely because he was Gao Lishi's confidant. In fact, he was just a eunuch, had never read any books and had shallow knowledge. He could not understand the overall situation of Beiting. He only cared about whether Li Qing'an would make decisions without authorization and reached an agreement with the Uighurs.

Li Qingan shook his head, "I will not agree to this matter, so there is no need to ask the emperor for instructions."

Wang Tingfang was stunned, "Why? Aren't we here to attack Ge Luolu?"

Li Qingan knocked on Geluo on the map and smiled faintly: "Geluo is a disobedient dog who watches the family. Although sometimes he would come to steal his master's things, he just needed to knock and teach him a lesson. If he really killed it, the Uighurs would have no obstacles and could drive straight into Beiting."

After saying that, he immediately ordered: "Beat the drum! The central army's general."

After resting for five days, the Tang army set out again. This time they did not hesitate at all, and the army rushed straight to the core of Gelulu: Xuanchi.

After several days of marching, the army crossed Duotan Ridge, less than 300 miles from Xuanchi. That morning, the Tang army scout found the main force of the Geluo people fifty miles northeast, and was rushing towards this side.

A large number of elderly, weak, women and children gathered in the Xuanchi area. If the Tang army occupied Xuanchi, it would pose a serious threat to the survival of the Geluo people. The Geluo people could no longer wait for an opportunity and could only use a head-on battle to prevent the Tang army from heading north.

The Tang army stopped moving forward and began to deploy nervously. The logistics supplies were pressing behind and together with the command tower, protecting the rear army formation composed of three thousand spear infantry, while the three thousand crossbowmen were pressing in the front. After the crossbowmen, there were the main cavalry, composed of seven thousand cavalry. In addition, the three thousand Shatu elites were deployed on both sides of the crossbowmen. They would face the first wave of impact after the Geluo people's crossbows.

The Tang army had a disadvantage in number, with a total of 16,000 troops, while the Geluo and Uighur coalition had 30,000 troops. However, in terms of quality, whether in terms of training or weapons and equipment, the Tang army was far superior to the Geluo and Uighur people.

This is a battle of quality versus quantity, and it is also a battle for chips at the negotiating table. Whether the Tang army can open up a channel to the Yibohai, whether Gelu can restore its independence before the war, whether the Uighur forces can successfully cross the Jinshan, whether it is a war or a harmony, and the reorganization of the Gelu region will all be decided after this battle.
Chapter completed!