Chapter 43: Khagan Shibi's Fury

With the news of the Battle of Lingzhou on the first day of the first month in the second year of Wude—where Chen Ying consecutively defeated Liang Shidu, Ashina Yizhen, and Ashina Shibibi in three battles—spreading rapidly, it was first heard among the commanderies and counties near Lingzhou.

Even the Tang subjects residing in Huaiyuan received the word. However, since Huaiyuan was still located within the royal tent camp of the Illig Khagan, the people of Huaiyuan could only whisper among themselves, not daring to speak loudly for fear of being slaughtered.

"Hey, have you heard? The Turkic jackals were defeated at Lingzhou! Their corpses stretched all the way from Lingzhou to Huaiyuan, piled high, and the dog-blood stained the snow crimson!"

"Mark my words, those Turkic jackals are like a rabbit's tail—they won't last much long!"

Inside a dilapidated City God Temple within Huaiyuan city, a group of ragged commoners was discussing the matter animatedly.

"So what if he is the son of the Illig Khagan? He still got beaten and ran back like a stray dog!"

Inside the Yabgu's tent of Xailifushe outside Huaiyuan city, a burst of uproarious laughter broke out. "Hahaha... The son of the Illig Khagan is nothing much after all!"

Originally, Chen Ying had reduced Xailifushe to the status of a homeless dog, but with the news that Yizhen and Ashina Shibibi had suffered near-total annihilation, Xailifushe had regained his confidence.

Since the onset of winter, the health of Xailifushe's elder brother, the Illig Khagan Ashina Duzhishi, had been deteriorating day by day, and now there was not the slightest sign of improvement. However, Duzhishi's legitimate eldest son, Ashina Shibibi, was only sixteen years old this year and had not displayed any extraordinary talent. Within the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, voices proposing that Xailifushe replace the Illig Khagan Duzhishi as the new Khagan of the Eastern Turks were exceptionally loud.

Yet, following the defeat at Boggulü City, Xailifushe had been routed by Chen Ying, losing his home base and retaining a mere four to five thousand troops. The Turks had always worshipped heroes; someone like Xailifushe, who had fought a battle and been defeated so miserably, would certainly never be supported to become Khagan. Even though he had absorbed the troops under Ashina Yiwuzhenmo and basically recovered his strength, not a single person within the Turkic internal circles proposed supporting him as Khagan. Instead, the support for Ashina Shibibi was overwhelmingly high.

However, with Ashina Shibibi's near-total annihilation, the prospects of Ashina Shibibi, which had previously looked exceptionally promising, took a drastic downward turn.

"The opportunity has come! O Sky God, you are so benevolent to me!" Seeing Ashina Shibibi's defeat, Xailifushe felt sweeter in his heart than if he had eaten honey. He danced joyfully inside the Khan's tent, and if Chen Ying were to appear before him right now, he would gladly kiss Chen Ying's boots.

"Now it's fine, Ashina Shibibi has also been defeated, and even more miserably than this Yabgu!" Xailifushe roared excitedly. "Does he still have the face to be the Turkic Khagan?"

Haidu cheerfully penned his letter on sheepskin parchment, and his trusted guards rode fast horses to begin making connections up and down. There were four Yabgu Khagans and twelve Shad Khagans in the entire Eastern Turkic Khaganate, and only these sixteen people could determine to whom the throne of the Khagan belonged. Now that Yiwuzhenmo had fallen into the hands of the Tang people, whether he was dead or alive, he was no longer worth considering.

As for Yabgu Ashina Shibibi and Yabgu Ashina Sheshiluai, they were full brothers; no matter how badly defeated they were, they would never support him. The only potential allies left were the twelve Shads, among whom his third younger brother Ashina Duobi was the most likely to support him. Currently, Ashina Duobi served as the Mheduo Shad. In addition, Tu Longban Shad and Puo Suo Shad were on good terms with him. Among the twelve Shads, the only ones who could stand on his side without hesitation were one Yabgu and two Shads.

As long as he could secure the support of his sister-in-law, the Turkic Khatun Princess Yicheng—who could directly control three Shads under her command—he would have the backing of five Shads and one Yabgu, or through the Shads on good terms via Princess Yicheng. His chances of ascending to the Khagan's throne would increase dramatically.

Following the successive defeats of Xailifushe, Yiwuzhenmo, Yizhen, and Ashina Shibibi—something that had never happened since the Illig Khagan ascended the throne—undercurrents were quietly churning within the Turkic Khaganate. At this moment, the Turks were clearly divided into two factions. One was the war faction, which advocated throwing the full strength of the Turks into a national war against the Great Tang to avenge the humiliation at Lingzhou.

In fact, the Turkic internal circles had already unified their stance, referring to the defeat at Lingzhou as the Humiliation of Lingzhou. Yet, by the same token, the other faction advocated turning swords into plowshares with the Tang Dynasty.

The two factions began to wrangle and pass the buck. Unlike the Central Plains, the land of etiquette and propriety, the Turks had no such concept as gentlemen using words instead of fists; at the slightest disagreement, they would draw their swords against each other. Within the short span of two hours, three rounds of full-scale brawl had already been staged inside the grand royal tent of the Eastern Turkic Illig Khagan.

This fight, involving the Shad Khagans, was of no small scale. Even the Tegin princes of the respective factions had participated in the brawl. Five people were injured, and one Tegin prince was killed.

Seated upon the main throne of white tiger pelt within the royal tent, the Illig Khagan Duzhishi wore a dark expression, as if brewing a thunderstorm capable of destroying heaven and earth. The immense pressure caused the various Turkic nobles not to dare even draw a heavy breath, sweat beading up and dropping one by one onto the woolen carpet.

The Illig Khagan was furious, and the consequences were grave.

When an ordinary man is enraged, blood stains five steps; when the Son of Heaven is enraged, a million corpses litter the ground.

Although the Illig Khagan was not the Son of Heaven, he was the very sky of the Turks. Even though he was currently ill and his physique was far inferior to what it used to be, the majesty of an aging tiger still remained, and none of the Turkic nobles dared to defy him.

At least as long as the thirty thousand Fuli guards remained under Duzhishi's control, none of them dared to stand up and rebel against him.

Duzhishi was furious, indeed extremely furious. Since the arrival of winter, the Turks had suffered an unprecedented snow disaster, resulting in heavy losses. A massive number of the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled had died miserably in this blizzard. Just as the snow disaster broke out, someone had proposed that taking advantage of the fierce war between Western Qin and the Great Tang, the Turks could lead troops south to invade Guanzhong.

However, Duzhishi had not agreed to do so.

In fact, it was not because Li Yuan had submitted as a vassal to the Great Tang, but because he remembered the consequences of that nation-shoving war years ago. Back then, the Sui Dynasty had also just been established, and Khan Shetu led five minor khagans, commanding over four hundred thousand archers to invade the Central Plains. From the commanderies and counties of Wuwei, Tianshui, Anding, Jincheng, Shangjun, Honghua, and Yan'an, chickens, ducks, fish, meat, and grain—anything that could be carried away—was completely plundered by the Turks, after which the Turks swaggered back home.

Although the Turks won a great victory in this war, a battle took place in Mayi that even Han Chinese history books glossed over in a single stroke, making the Turks remember it vividly despite their victory. The Turkic main force under the Shabolue Khagan engaged in a fierce battle with the Sui general Daxi Zhangru. At that time, the Turkic army numbered over one hundred thousand, while the Sui army had only three thousand. The Sui army gathered together, resisting on all four sides, fighting fiercely for three consecutive days in fourteen separate engagements. When the Sui army's weapons were exhausted, they fought with their fists, the bones of their hands entirely exposed. This brutal battle killed over thirty thousand Turkic soldiers, while the Sui army also suffered casualties amounting to seventy or eighty percent of its force, forcing the Turkic army to retreat and return.

The Turks had used an army thirty times superior in numbers, yet their losses were nearly twenty times that of the Sui army, resulting in nothing to show for their efforts. This battle frightened the Turks to their very bones.

Yet subsequently, Yang Jian launched a counterattack. The initial counterattack was not a military strike, but internal division—first splitting the Turks into Eastern and Western halves, and then concentrating superior forces to strike them piecemeal, resulting in a great victory for the Sui Dynasty. However, years later, when the Turks showed intentions of moving south again, the Sui launched a second attack against them. This time, the Dulan Khagan was killed, and over one hundred thousand men were lost. Then, a third war of the Sui Dynasty attacking the Turks broke out under the command of Yang Guang, completely collapsing the national power of the Turks.

Now, although the Great Tang had replaced the fallen Sui and was newly established, no one could guarantee that the Great Tang would not be another formidable Sui. Once the Great Tang was provoked into launching wave after wave of attacks against the Turks just like the Sui Dynasty did, the Turks would face national extinction as a result.

It was precisely because the Illig Khagan Duzhishi had personally experienced both the second and third Sui attacks on the Turks that, as one of the direct participants, Duzhishi could better appreciate the terrifying nature of the Han Chinese.

The Han Chinese possessed an absolute demographic advantage; they could afford the loss of one hundred thousand or several hundred thousand people. But if the Turks lost one hundred thousand troops, they would undoubtedly suffer a severe blow to their vitality, and losing several hundred thousand troops would mean total annihilation and the extinction of their race.

Yet, not a single person throughout the entire Turkic nation understood his well-intentioned concerns. If the Han Chinese were truly so easy to conquer, they would have been wiped out by the Xiongnu and Xianbei long ago—how would it ever have come to the Turks' turn?

"This Khagan has said long ago, no one is permitted to attack the Great Tang without authorization!" Duzhishi's majestic gaze swept across the crowd, causing the officials to lower their heads to their chests. "Yizhen, Hutubi, Duoluo—do you think this Khagan is muddle-headed and incompetent? Are you trying to find a wise lord to replace me?"