Chapter Sixteen: A Mix of Laughter and Tears

"If you had encountered the Tang army, you would have fared even worse than me!" Yuguni retorted, his face twisted in frustration.

He was seething with anger. Even though he still did not understand exactly how he had been defeated, he could see that the Tang army was not large. Over a thousand carts of various sizes looked intimidating, but in reality, there were very few soldiers. Being outnumbered and suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of a smaller force left Yuguni absolutely livid.

Had Azizi Tuli treated him with more respect, Yuguni would never have provoked him. But faced with such a hostile attitude, Yuguni decided to play a little trick. Despite his lack of depth, Yuguni was no fool; if he were truly simple-minded, he never could have held onto his position as a tribal leader.

Upon hearing Yuguni’s words, Azizi Tuli’s temper flared instantly. He sneered, "Do not lump us, the Fuli Army, together with trash like you. Without the Fuli Army, there would be no Turkic Khaganate!"

The word "Turk" (Tujue) literally meant "helmet." After the decline of the Xianbei, the Rouran rose to power. The Turks were originally blacksmiths for the Rouran Khaganate, living in the Jinshan Mountains (modern-day Altai Mountains). Later, after Tumen succeeded as leader, he ambushed the Tiele people who were attacking the Rouran. He won a decisive victory, captured over fifty thousand Tiele soldiers, and saw his strength surge. Eventually, he turned against the Rouran, defeated them at Huaihuang (modern-day Zhangbei County, Hebei), and declared himself Khagan, establishing the Turkic Khaganate.

In truth, the original Royal Guard had been incredibly fierce in battle; whether it was the ambush of the Tiele or the battle against the Rouran at Huaihuang, the Turks had consistently defeated larger numbers with smaller forces. However, their status was built on genuine merit. As time passed, it remained to be seen how much combat effectiveness remained in the Fuli Army, which was known only for stealing credit and claiming rewards.

"Fuli warriors!" Azizi Tuli roared excitedly, "Are you afraid of the cowardly Tang people?"

"No! We are not afraid!"

"Show them who the true warriors of the Turks are!" Azizi Tuli shrieked hysterically. "Kill every last Tang slave!"

"Kill every last Tang slave!"

Azizi Tuli led his force of over a thousand men in a charge against the Tang army.

In truth, when Chen Ying led the main force of the Tang army north, the generals and soldiers had been deeply anxious, and morale was low. But after easily defeating Yuguni’s forces and collecting over a thousand heads, the soldiers no longer feared the Turks. Seeing Azizi Tuli charging with over a thousand elite Turkic cavalry, Chen Ying remained calm.

"Prepare the pits!" Chen Ying said casually.

As the saying goes, one clever trick can last a lifetime. Chen Ying continued to use the simplest and most effective method: ordering the laborers to use portable braziers to dig numerous pits in front of the wagon formation, creating thick fog as the heat melted the snow.

As Azizi Tuli’s troops approached the Tang convoy, they saw a dense white mist engulfing the Tang army. By this point, Azizi Tuli was eighty percent inclined to believe what Yuguni had said. When his Fuli cavalry began falling from their horses one after another, he was struck with terror.

In terms of equipment, the Fuli Army was indeed far superior to the average archer. The Turks were originally blacksmiths, and while they knew how to work iron, their mining methods were primitive and inefficient, making steel incredibly precious. Out of forty thousand supposed Turkic archers, only about thirty thousand belonged to the elite Royal Fuli Guard.

Though their equipment was excellent, their fighting spirit was abysmal. After losing only two hundred riders, the Fuli soldiers turned their horses around, screaming, "The Tang people are too powerful! I've been poisoned!"

"Run!"

Azizi Tuli’s force, having just reached the front of the Tang lines, repeated the same mistake as Yuguni. However, Azizi Tuli was quick to react; he lost only two hundred men. The pits did not distinguish between royal guards and common archers; they claimed victims indiscriminately.

Azizi Tuli went out quickly, but returned even faster. The retreating soldiers from both sides gathered within the walls of Bogulü City, sharing their "experiences."

"The Tang people’s sorcery is too powerful! As soon as we charge, they start casting spells, and the mist fills the mountains and plains."

"Yes, yes! The mist is thick, and it’s poisonous!"

"Yes, it’s poisonous. As soon as I entered the mist, my limbs went weak. I’m lucky I escaped fast, or I would have died there!"

"Die? Dying isn't that easy!"

"Oh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let me tell you, that Tang force outside the city can eat people!"

"They don't just eat people; they eat horses too! And they eat so fast—in the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, a live horse is reduced to nothing but a skeleton!"

"Nonsense!" There were those among the Turks who did not believe this, and they immediately refuted the claims: "You are spreading rumors and causing panic. What is your crime?"

"It’s not nonsense! It’s true! Many of us have seen the Tang people’s sorcery!"

"The Tang magic is too strong. If you don't believe it, go out and try it yourself!"

"Oh no, the Tangs are coming!"

"Run! If they cast their spell, the whole city will be poisoned, and no one will survive!"

Some Turks grabbed their gold and silver, mounted their horses, and fled northward, ignoring the bitter cold.

...

At that moment, Chen Ying and the Tang army arrived outside Bogulü City. Standing behind his observation tower, he looked at the city gates, which were wide open, with Turks running about like headless flies.

Chen Ying was baffled. "What are these Turks up to?"

"Do they want to lure us into the city?"

"Impossible," Chen Ying shook his head. "The Turks have the numbers, and we have few. Only the side with fewer men uses such schemes."

"The battle hasn't even started. Why are the Turks in such chaos?" Zhang Huaiwei asked. "Aren't the Turks supposed to be fierce?"

The situation was like a man trying to beat a wolf—both sides were terrified of the other. Chen Ying worried about the Turks' superior numbers, while the Turks feared the "sorcery" of the Tang army.

Chen Ying thought for a long time but could not make sense of it.

"Dig the pits and trap the Turks inside the city!" Chen Ying finally ordered.

Wei Wenzhong stroked his beard and smiled. "General, that is brilliant. This way, the Turks won't be able to easily launch an attack on Lingzhou!"

In fact, at this point, the consensus among the Right Guard was still to try and break the siege.

Over two thousand laborers, carrying braziers, slowly approached Bogulü City. The Turks on the city walls watched the laborers trembling as they approached, having no idea what to do.

However, when the braziers melted the ice and snow, sending up clouds of steam, the Turks on the walls were terrified out of their wits.

"It’s over! It’s over! The Tangs are casting their spells! We’re all going to die here!"

"Mother! I don't want to die!"

"Run!"

"Run? Where to? You can run for a day, but can you run for a lifetime?"

"Then what do we do?"

"Surrender!"

A Turkic commander thought to himself: it made no difference whose dog he was—whether it was for the Turks or the Tang, it was all the same. The nomadic tribes had no concept of loyalty; they lived by survival of the fittest.

Now that the Tang had magic that could poison an entire city, resistance was a dead end. Surrender was the only way out.

Chen Ying watched the Turks pouring out like a tide and immediately ordered, "Prepare for battle!"

Lu Decao said, "Commander, something is wrong! Look, they don't seem to be attacking; it looks more like they are surrendering!"

Chen Ying looked closely and, sure enough, none of the exiting Turks carried weapons. Fearing that the Tangs would poison them, they held their hands high above their heads. Some even knelt on the frozen ground, ignoring the biting cold, and crawled forward on their knees.

Chen Ying was dumbfounded. "Can someone tell me what is going on?"

Wei Wenzhong was speechless. "The Turks must be insane!"

"Who knows?" Zhang Huaiwei said. "What do we do now?"

Chen Ying replied, "What else can we do? If the Turks want to surrender, can we turn them away?"

In Bogulü City, excluding the few thousand who had fled first, over thirteen thousand surrendered. More than half were fit men—about seven thousand—while the rest were women and children. When Chen Ying finally understood that they had surrendered because they feared the Tang army would poison them, he was struck by how absurd the reason for his victory actually was.

Chen Ying could only laugh in disbelief.