Wang Zhongsi turned to his subordinates and asked, "Are there any survivors among those Fans?"
A lieutenant general came out and replied: "The injured person has poison sacs between his teeth, and he is not alive."
Wang Zhongsi nodded and asked again: "What can you see on the corpses of those Fanzi?"
The deputy general reported: "We took a closer look. Many of the corpses have tigers and leopards on them. They should be the elites of the Turks."
Wang Zhongsi: "Where are the weapons and arrows?"
Lieutenant General: "Motie Yingyu is prepared by the Turkic Khan Guard."
Wang Zhongsi frowned and remained silent.
Fan Jinian, the supervisor of the army on the side, said: "What else can I do? Today's disaster is naturally caused by the dangerous troops of the Turks."
Wang Zhongsi continued to ask: "Is there any reference on the body?"
Lieutenant General: "Yes, I used the customs guide of the Tongluo caravan. I also checked the customs entry register and found that the goods were furs. There were a lot more than in previous years, so there were more people entering the customs, and they were divided into several batches. The surety of the commercial bank drew the pledge himself."
Wang Zhongsi raised his head and looked at the deputy general, who quickly lowered his head and said, "We have sent people to arrest him. It's probably time to come back."
While Wang Zhongsi was talking with the lieutenants, Zhou Jun was constantly recalling the history books he had read in his previous life.
In the first year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong sent Nei Shi Yinzhao to the Turks. After the latter saw Usumish, he warned that he was in danger and asked him to join him. The Turks Khan was afraid and asked to surrender.
However, when Xuanzong sent Wang Zhongsi to Mulashan to meet the Turkic Khan Usumish, Usumish unexpectedly failed to arrive.
The reason given by the other party for delaying the arrival was "the subordinates would not cooperate", which meant that the Turkic tribesmen were unwilling to surrender.
However, Wang Zhongsi learned about the actual situation through informants within the Turks.
The real reason why the Turkic Khan was unable to delay his arrival was that he was trying to use diplomatic means to change the unfavorable situation of being flanked by the Tang Dynasty and the Basimi tribe.
In the "Wang Zhongsi Shinto Stele" studied by later historians, there is this passage: "The Zhizhi branch of the right land has resolved its feud and exchanged views. It almost wanted to cause a big disaster, but it was better to have a sound that was not pure. So a room was set up to disperse it. From then on, he spied and broke his promise. The two captives did not get along and fled far away."
The general idea is that Wusumishi had "resolved his grudges" with his previous enemy, resolved his grievances, and planned to unite with that former enemy to go south to invade the Tang Dynasty. Wang Zhongsi later resolved this issue through counterintuitive tactics. An alliance thus resolved the border crisis of the Tang Dynasty.
So, who is the person who resolves the grudges with the Turks?
Naturally, it was the Basimi tribe who joined forces with the Tang Dynasty to attack the Turks.
In the first year of Tianbao, Wang Zhongsi, after receiving the news that the old Turkic Khan died of illness, resisted the pressure of Xuanzong's "Hundred Books from the Heaven" and remained stationary. In fact, it had a lot to do with Basimi's rebellion.
Because at that time, Basimi had already united with the Turks, and the Tang army was in the unfavorable position of "almost trying to cause disaster." If they sent troops hastily at this time, they would only lead to a big defeat.
After Wang Zhongsi used counterintuitive tactics to convince Bashmi, "Bashmi and three other tribes attacked Usumish, and Mish fled."
In the third year of Tianbao (744 years), "at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the nine-surnamed Bashmiye escorted and killed the Turkic Usumish Khan, and passed the news to the capital."
And then, something happened that left all historians puzzled.
"Tang Huiyao·Ge Luolu Biography" records: "In the winter of that year (the third year of Tianbao), (Ge Luolu) and the Uighurs defeated the Bashmi tribe...Ge Luolu and the Jiuxing tribe restored the Uighur Dunye Protect him as Khan."
The meaning of this passage is that after the Turkic Usumish Khan was killed, serious internal strife broke out within the Nine Surnames tribe.
Ge Luolu and the Uighurs actually defeated the Bashmi tribe, their former ally, and made the Uighur Tun Yehu Khan.
From beginning to end, Datang had been sitting on the sidelines watching this internal strife.
Not only did it not intervene, after the Bashmi tribe was defeated, the Tang Dynasty almost immediately recognized the legal status of the Uighur Khan and granted him the Khan Seal without any hesitation or questioning.
Historians of later generations have various explanations for this coup that occurred among the Nine Surnames Tribe.
One of the more mainstream explanations is that after the death of the Turkic Usumish Khan, the Bashmi tribe most likely betrayed the Tang Dynasty again, and eventually led to the disaster of the tribe's destruction.
The sudden attack by Ge Luolu and the Uighurs was probably approved by the Tang Dynasty.
If this is the case, then there is an explanation for today's assassination of military supervisor Fan Nianji.
The mastermind behind this assassination is probably the Bashmi tribe.
The latter had betrayed the Tang Dynasty once in history.
Zhou Jun guessed that the purpose of assassinating the military supervisor this time was to divert Wang Zhongsi away and then monopolize the Turks' original land, wealth and population.
Just after thinking about this, a warning suddenly came from outside the camp.
Wang Zhongsi agreed to the report, and a messenger came into the tent and paid homage to him: "Captain, the troops who went to Tongluo Trading Company have returned."
Wang Zhongsi asked in a deep voice: "Where are the people?"
The messenger hesitated for a moment and reported: "Thirty-one people from Tongluo Trading Company were all killed."
Everyone in the tent took a breath of cold air.
Wang Zhongsi seemed to have expected this result, and asked again: "Kan Xing of the trading company, where is the bill of goods?"
The message to the soldiers was: "They were all burned."
Wang Zhongsi didn't ask any more questions, just said: "I understand."
Then, he asked the visiting soldiers to go out.
The generals in the tent did not dare to speak when they saw Wang Zhongsi's face sinking like water.
The latter thought for a while and then asked: "Tell me, who is the person who plotted to assassinate the supervisory army?"
The lieutenants looked at each other.
Wang Duhu asked this question very strangely. The mastermind behind it was already revealed. Who else could it be besides the Turks?
Wang Zhongsi saw that all the generals in the tent had normal expressions. He knew what everyone was thinking, but he let out a sigh.
At this moment, someone said: "The culprit today is probably the Bashmi tribe."
When Wang Zhongsi heard this, he was shocked, his eyes widened, and he stretched his neck to look around, trying to find who the speaker was.
Zhou Jun was seen standing at the entrance of the tent. Facing Wang Zhongsi's gaze, he just bowed slightly and saluted.
A deputy general refuted Zhou Jun and said: "The Bashmi tribe just killed Usumish Khan not long ago, and it was reported to the leader An. How could he collude with the Turks and murder the supervisory army?"
Another deputy general said: "Zhou Lingshi made alarmist remarks and alienated allies. The Bashmi tribe has made great achievements and has a blood alliance with the Tang Dynasty!"
Zhou Jun turned a deaf ear to these words. He just stared at Wang Zhongsi and asked, "I would venture to speculate that the Protector may have the same idea in his heart."
Wang Zhongsi looked at Zhou Jun and asked: "Zhou Ling Shiyan said that the Bashmi tribe was the culprit. Can you tell me the reason?"
Zhou Jun naturally could not say that he knew what happened after that. He just smiled slightly and quoted Wei Zheng's words: "The Yi and Di are not of my race, their hearts must be different, the strong must be bandits, the weak and humble, regardless of kindness and righteousness,
It’s his nature.”
Seeing that Wang Zhongsi was thoughtful, Zhou Jun said again: "The heat-seeking nature is accustomed to it, and it is easy to die from greed. If you don't follow the tail, you want to mess with the rooster's crow."
"That Bashmi tribe is not true to its word. It was rebellious before, and now it is greedy. It is nothing more than an evil fly."