Historically, the Northern Expedition to the Turks was divided into Western Front and Eastern Front battlefields.
The Western Front battlefield was dominated by the nine surnamed tribes of Ogusi. Since they conquered Bahmi first and it took a lot of time, the Turks defeated them and Baimei Khan was beheaded. It happened in March of the fourth year of Tianbao.
On the eastern battlefield, the Shuofang Army of the Tang Dynasty was the main force, mainly attacking the eleven armies controlled by Apodagan. In the history books, the Turks were defeated in succession against the Shuofang Army and had no intention of fighting. Therefore, in the battle of Sahe Neishan, a large number of enemy troops surrendered.
, which made the Eastern Front campaign end earlier, around the end of December in the third year of Tianbao.
But right now, there are some slight deviations in history.
At the end of January in the fourth year of Tianbao's reign, Shuofang's army and the eleven Abodagan troops were still facing each other in the Sahe Neishan Mountains. Both sides stood still and the outcome was undecided.
On this day, Zhou Jun sat cross-legged on the group banquet in the tent, put down his book, and looked at the purple chilblains on his hands. The texture was faintly visible on the skin, but the itching was unstoppable.
Sun Aying, who was cleaning up Kan Lu, saw this and said to Zhou Jun: "Your Majesty, I have cold gangrene and cannot scratch it. There is turtle tendon powder here, just apply it."
Zhou Jun applied the medicated powder to the affected area as instructed and sighed. Fortunately, Shuofang's army was well prepared for war. Otherwise, due to the terrible weather here in the Henei Mountains, many troops would have been lost.
Seeing Sun Aying busy packing the tent, Zhou Jun asked him: "Aying, who else is in your family?"
Sun Aying did not stop, but replied: "My parents died, so there is an elder brother and a younger sister in the family."
Zhou Jun: "Originally?"
Sun Aying: "After my parents passed away, my elder brother took my little sister and me to wander around."
"During that time, my brother was able to find all the food expenses for my little sister and I."
Zhou Jun asked: "What about your brother?"
Sun Aying: "One time he went out to look for food, but never came back. That was the last time I saw him."
Zhou Jun was silent for a while, then asked: "What about your little sister?"
Sun Aying: "Even if you get the epidemic, you will go away."
Zhou Jun let out a long sigh and said nothing more.
Sun Aying looked at the book in his hand and whispered: "Brother, when he was here, he knew that I loved reading, so he told me that in life, a person may be as humble as an earthworm, or as big as a Kunpeng. He knows how to make progress and value honor and disgrace.
Keep this thought in your heart, don’t let down the expectations of others, you will always make a difference.”
Zhou Jun looked at Sun Aying, and after a long time, he said, "That makes sense."
Standing up from the regimental seat, Zhou Jun took off his fur coat, hat, shoes and other items, dressed neatly, and said to Sun Aying: "I'm going to pay a visit to the Chinese Army."
When the curtains were opened, a biting cold wind made Zhou Jun shiver.
After tightening his clothes and hat, Zhou Jun stepped out of the tent and walked slowly towards the Chinese army camp.
After walking a few steps, Zhou Jun heard the sound of horse hooves and turned around to see several horses parked far outside the gate of the camp.
Several riders dismounted and walked quickly towards the camp.
Zhou Jun hurried a few steps and entered the camp. He saw a military general standing on the lower peak, bowing and talking to Wang Zhongsi about the war: "At two o'clock this morning, smoke rose from the mountain road in the west.
Riding four banners, six banners, and thirteen banners, we pursued them and engaged more than 600 Turks from the Moluo tribe. We killed half of the enemy and captured half of them."
Wang Zhongsi looked at the map of Sahenei Mountain in front of him and asked, "Who are they?"
The general replied: "They are all young and strong soldiers, but there are no old, weak, women or children."
Wang Zhongsi was stunned when he heard this: "Abandoning your fellow tribesmen and ignoring them, are you asking for help? Or are you asking for a breakout?"
The general hesitated and did not answer.
Zhou Jun stepped forward, first sang "O" to Wang Zhongsi, and then asked: "Protector, can you allow me to inquire?"
The latter looked at Zhou Jun and nodded.
Zhou Jun walked up to the general, raised his hands and saluted.
Everyone in Shuofang's army knew Zhou Jun's name, and the general was no exception, and he quickly returned the courtesy.
Zhou Jun asked: "May I ask if the six hundred Turkic soldiers are on foot and on horseback, or are they all mounted?"
The general replied: "There are no more than a hundred people with mounts, and the rest are all foot soldiers."
Zhou Jun nodded and asked, "Are there any prisoners?"
General: "Yes, I'm just begging for surrender, but I can't ask anything useful."
Zhou Jun thought for a while and then asked: "Are there any letters, quotations or tokens among the accompanying items?"
General Zi: "I sent people to search carefully, but found nothing useful."
Zhou Jun: "Can I take a look?"
General Zi nodded and sent people to fetch some of the belongings of the Turkic prisoners and put them in the tent.
Zhou Jun squatted down and inspected the items.
I saw horizontal knives, single bows, horse bowls, flints, salt bags, animal skins, dry food bags, etc., all of which were ordinary things.
Zhou Jun looked around, and finally his eyes fell on the bulging dry food bag.
He opened the mouth of the bag and dumped all the contents on the ground, but there was a pile of minced dried meat of different sizes.
Zhou Jun looked at the pile of dried meat and frowned.
Later, he rummaged through the pile of dried meat, picking out pieces and putting them aside.
Seeing that he had almost found it, Zhou Jun started to piece together the broken pieces again, and finally pieced it together into something that was in a state of disrepair but whose shape could barely be discerned.
Wang Zhongsi came closer, looked down, paused, and asked, "Is this... a human hand?"
All the generals were shocked when they heard this and quickly came forward to watch.
The five fingers and palm of the thing were chewed into shape, but it could be vaguely seen that it was a human hand.
Zhou Jun cast his gaze on the pile of dried meat and said, "If someone guessed correctly, these are probably human breasts."
Wang Zhongsi stroked his beard and said in a deep voice: "Abo Dagan ordered the eleven troops to move north. They were pursued and surrounded by our army along the way. Most of the supplies they brought were discarded, and there may be a shortage of food and grass."
Zhou Jun nodded and said: "It's winter now. We can't go up the mountains to hunt or go down the rivers to catch fish. We can only slaughter people to get military rations."
Wang Zhongsi smashed his fist on the table and shouted angrily: "To eat the people is worse than animals. The barbarians are here, how can we talk about enlightenment?!"
Zhou Jun said: "There is a shortage of food and grass, and people's hearts are floating. In the past few days, many Turkic tribes may have fled."
Wang Zhongsi said to the general: "Guang Bi, please pass on the order. There are many hidden sentries at the entrance of the mountain, and your cavalry is on standby. Don't let down your guard!"
The general takes the order.
Zhou Jun got excited and quickly stopped the general who was about to retreat, and asked: "Is your surname Li?"
The boy looked at Zhou Jun and nodded in agreement.
Zhou Jun swallowed his saliva and asked again: "Is your lord the great general Zuo Yulin?"
The general nodded again.
At this time, Zhou Jun really wanted to slap himself. The person in front of him was Li Guangbi. How could he almost forget about this person in Shuofang's army?
Li Guangbi, posthumously named Wu Mu, was a famous general in the Mid-Tang Dynasty who was as famous as Guo Ziyi and was the first official to put down the Anshi Rebellion.
After the Anshi Rebellion was put down, Li Guangbi was "ranked as the first in the ZTE for his military exploits" and was awarded an iron coupon, which was named in the Imperial Ancestral Temple and painted in Lingyan Pavilion.
Wang Zhongsi saw Zhou Jun's expression was different and asked, "Does Zhou Lingshi know Guangbi?"
Zhou Jun quickly shook his head and said, "I've only heard of General Li's reputation, but today I finally met him."
Li Guangbi was also a little confused. In Shuofang's army, he was only promoted to the rank of general, so how could he have any prestige?
But since Zhou Jun said this, Li Guangbi could only humble himself before leaving the camp.
Wang Zhongsi looked at the map and fell into deep thought.
Zhou Jun approached Wang Zhongsi and said: "Protector, the Turkic tribes are short of food and grass, and there are many people fleeing. I'm afraid they won't be able to hold on for long."
Wang Zhongsi: "As for Apodagan, I'm afraid there is only one possible way at the moment."
Zhou Jun: "Look for an opportunity to show off, and quickly decide the winner."
Wang Zhongsi: "Yes, it is better to fight to the death than to sit back and wait for death."
Zhou Jun knew in his heart that the day of the decisive battle was probably just around the corner.