Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 890 Armistice
"Zamp is right!" Lun Yan laughed, "As long as you are a human, you will lose. Only the gods in heaven can always win!"

Hearing Lunyan's words, Dusong Mangpojie smiled knowingly. In the Tibetan language at that time, only the Zamp was the one who could stand shoulder to shoulder with the gods. Lunyan's words were obviously to show his position.

"Yes! So as a human being, you must be humble and worship the gods and Buddhas with piety!" Dusong Mangbojie smiled and said, "By the way, Lunyan, I remember that your grandfather was a prime minister and assisted my ancestors, right?"

“That’s right!” Lun Yan nodded: “Not only my grandfather, but also my great-grandfather and great-grandfather’s father have all served as prime ministers and served your ancestors!”

"Oh? Is that true?" Dusong Mangpojie pretended to be surprised: "Then where is your father?"

Lun Yan's face showed a look of humiliation. He shook his head and said, "After Lu Dongzan passed away, he also wanted to be the prime minister, but lost to Zan Xiruo! Because of this, he was depressed and in poor health. He passed away five years ago!"

"This is such a pity!" Dusong Mangpojie sighed, "Why is this happening? Your father should be much older than Lu Dongzan, right? Even if he became the prime minister, he wouldn't have been in office for more than two years. Why couldn't Zan Xiruo give in? Anyway, he is still very young even if he becomes the prime minister now!"

"Give in?" Lun Yan sneered, "The people of the Gar family have long regarded the position of Dashang as theirs. Even if Zan Xiruo is no longer in office tomorrow, the person who will take over will probably still be someone from the Gar family. How could they let my father take over?"

"The Prime Minister is from the Gar family? That's impossible!" Dusong Mangpojie said coldly, "The Zanpu chooses a person from among the virtuous people to govern the country for him. This is the Prime Minister. How can he choose from only one family? Lunyan, I can tell you that after Zanxiruo, the Prime Minister of the country will never appear from the Gar family again!"

"It can't be someone from the Gar family?" Lun Yan carefully looked at the Zamp's face and said, "What about Qin Ling?"

"Absolutely impossible!" Dusong Mangbojie said firmly, "Not to mention that he has been leading troops in Qinghai for many years and has not returned to the capital for several years. How can he be the prime minister? Just considering his defeat at the hands of the Tang army this time, it is even more impossible for him to be the prime minister of Tubo. A defeated general cannot be appointed as the prime minister of Tubo!"

"Yes, you are right!" Lun Yan was overjoyed when he heard that. He took a deep breath and asked carefully, "Then who do you think should be the next prime minister?"

"Who should I choose?" Dusong Mangbojie laughed: "First of all, he must be loyal to me!"

"Yes, yes!" Lun Yan responded twice: "Of course, as a minister, I should be loyal to the Zamp, what about the other one?"

"Of course he is strong enough to bring down Zan Xiruo!" Dusong Mangbojie said in a joking tone, "Otherwise, given Zan Xiruo's age, it would not be surprising for him to be the prime minister for another 20 years. I may not be able to wait that long, let alone him? Don't you think so?"

"Yes, yes!" When Lun Yan heard this, a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes.

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Qinghai.

On the meadow, the battle had come to an end, and the noisy battlefield gradually subsided. It gets dark early here, but it was a little dark around 5pm. The sky was covered with thin clouds like gauze, and the stars flickered, the sky was like a canopy, covering all directions, and black smoke rose in the distance, and was gradually blown away by the mountain wind.

"Water, water, bring some water!" Ah Zhiluo almost rolled off his horse. He lifted his visor, snatched the leather bag from the servant, took a few gulps, and sat on the ground, panting heavily, "These slave dogs are really tough! I have led the cavalry to clash with them six or seven times, but the infantry formation is still standing still. They are really as tough as iron!"

"Then why not go around and attack them from the side and back?" asked Da Ting Huai'en.

"It's not that simple!" Azhiluo had recovered a little. He took two pieces of cheese from the slaves and chewed them with a wry smile. "You can only see the first row. There are the second and third rows behind. There are cavalry in the Tibetan infantry formation. If we try to make a detour, we will be trapped in their formation and can't get back!"

"It seems that although they are both Tibetans, there is still a difference between what Qin Ling leads and what his brother leads!" said Da Ting Huai'en.

"Of course!" Ah Zhiluo had recovered by now. A gust of wind blew over his sweat-soaked military uniform, chilling his bones. There were low bushes everywhere, and it was easy to see pairs of bright eyes looking over here. Ah Zhiluo couldn't help but shiver: "Huai En, look over there, what are all those bright things?"

"They should be local jackals, right?" Da Ting Huai En said in an uncertain tone: "The two armies fought during the day and left corpses all over the ground. It's a good time to prepare a good meal for them!"

"You bastard!" Ah Zhiluo cursed, "Should we go and chase it away? We have come thousands of miles, we can't leave even a complete corpse behind, can we?"

"The Tibetans on the other side haven't been driven away yet. If you go to chase away jackals, aren't you courting death?" Da Ting Huai En said with a wry smile, "Forget it. After we defeat the Tibetans, we can collect their bodies and offer sacrifices and pray for blessings!"

"How can that be!" Azhiluo jumped up and said, "We don't know who will win or lose this battle. If the battle lasts for seven or eight days, won't all the corpses be eaten by wolves? At most, I can tell the Tibetans that we can fight during the day and pick up the corpses at night without attacking each other!"

"Hey!" Da Ting Huai En wanted to stop him, but A Zhi Luo had already called the interpreter and several followers to ride away on horseback, so it was too late. A Zhi Luo rode his horse for more than a hundred steps, and saw dots of blue phosphorescence flashing like stars in the distance, all of which were ghost lights on the ground. He remembered the legends he had heard on the road: this place was originally a battlefield in ancient times, and he didn't know how many warriors were buried here. He must have disturbed these lonely ghosts in the past by fighting in the daytime. Thinking of this, even though he was as brave as a lion, he couldn't help but put his hands together and chant Buddha's name, praying for the dead, and promised that if he could return safely, he would dig a Buddhist cave in Maiji Cliff to enshrine Buddha statues and Buddhist scriptures. People who died here would inherit this good cause and not drown in the netherworld, but would receive infinite blessings and be forever supported.

After reciting the Buddha's name, Azhi Luo rode his horse for a while. He was already quite close to the Tibetan army. He heard the sound of chanting sutras and reciting Buddha's name from the opposite side. He thought that they were also praying for the blessings of the deceased today. The scene added a bit of darkness and desolation. Azhi Luo stretched out his hand to call for the interpreter, took a deep breath, and said loudly: "I am Azhi Luo, the archer general of the Andong Protectorate and the Heishui Commandery of the Tang Dynasty! I came here without any ill intentions, but I have something to discuss with you!" At this point, he raised his hands to indicate that he had no bow and arrows in his hands.

The Tibetan army on the opposite side was silent for a moment, and then several riders ran out, led by a bald Tibetan warrior. He looked Azhiluo up and down coldly: "What do you want?" Azhiluo pointed to the battlefield around him: "Although you and I are enemies, those who died here are all our comrades. Since people are dead, they naturally no longer have hatred and sins. Now jackals are gnawing at their corpses. I want to send people to collect the corpses, bury and burn them to prevent them from being devoured by wild beasts, but I am afraid of causing misunderstandings from you. So I informed you!"

The Tibetan warrior looked at Azhiluo, and a hint of warmth appeared on his originally cold face: "What you said makes sense. Well, tonight both sides will send people to collect the corpses, and no one can attack the other. The fight will have to wait until tomorrow morning!"

"Good!" Azhiluo said happily, "We will send out two hundred men, all dressed in white, carrying only sabers, without bows, arrows or spears. How about that?"

"Sure, same here!"

After the two sides reached an agreement, Azhiluo rode back to the battlefield and reported the situation to Da Ting Huai'en. Da Ting Huai'en sent out two hundred military slaves to collect the corpses of their own side, while he and Azhiluo led more than a hundred cavalrymen to support these military slaves in the rear. He saw many people in white clothes coming out from the opposite side to collect the corpses on the battlefield. Under the firelight, he could vaguely see a team of cavalrymen in the rear, who must be the same as himself. He saw the military slaves on both sides mixed together along the meadow, shuttling between the corpses, lighting fires to communicate, and responding to each other from a distance. It was even colder at this time, and Da Ting Huai'en and Azhiluo were already wearing fur coats, but they still felt the chill seeping in.

The two stood there for a long while, and suddenly heard the sound of drums coming from the Tibetan army. After asking the interpreter, they learned that it was the sound of the Tibetan shaman sending souls. The drum sound was deep and vicissitudes, slow and urgent. After listening for a while, a soldier behind him took out a Hujia and played it to harmonize with it. The sound of drums and Hujia mixed in the night, and it seemed that every sound was knocking on their hearts. Unconsciously, tears were already falling on their cheeks.

As soon as the sky got light, the Tang scouts went out. They moved westward along the meadow and found that the terrain gradually became rugged, and the weeds were gradually replaced by bushes and trees. The scouts had to dismount and climb to the top of a slope. They could see the Tibetan flag in front of them, and the infantrymen below were like ants, standing in formation, with spears standing like dense forests, stretching for miles. Seeing this, the Tang scouts quickly turned their horses around and went back on the road.

Tang army camp.

"Scouts discovered that the Tibetan army has a rear guard!" Yan Liang stretched out his hand and tapped on the map: "About this location, there are at least nearly 10,000 infantrymen!"

"It's really not easy to deal with him!" Hu Liang gave a bitter smile: "We've been fighting for three days, and Qin Ling hasn't played his trump card yet. It's not going to work if we keep wasting time like this!"

"Do you want to accept Qin Ling's conditions?" Yan Liang asked.

"After occupying Shudun City, we will no longer be short of food! But although we are not ten thousand miles away from the country, we are still two or three thousand miles away. If we continue to fight like this, every death is a loss. Delaying it will not be good for us!" Hu Liang said, "If we delay for another month or two, the Tibetans will send tens of thousands of reinforcements, and the situation will be different!"

"You mean quit while you're ahead?"

"Yeah, that's about it!" Hu Liang nodded: "If we can bring back the captives from Dayechuan, we can be considered a complete winner this time!"

"Do you think Qin Ling is cheating?"

"We have his son, wife, concubines and daughters in our hands, so why should we be afraid of him cheating?" Hu Liang said with a smile, "We have more horses than they do. If we are pressed to the limit, we can just abandon the baggage and wounded. Qin Ling will definitely not be able to catch up with us, and then his family will be the ones who will suffer!"

"That's right, I didn't expect that!" Yan Liang laughed. The total strength of the Tang army on this expedition was only more than 20,000 people, but there were nearly 50,000 horses accompanying them. Even the infantry had horses to travel with. In the following battles, the Tang army was the winner, and they captured more than 100,000 pack horses and livestock. If Qin Ling forced them into a corner, they could just throw away all the spoils and prisoners and run away. As long as they escaped back to the Huanghe Valley, they would be safe.

After the two men had reached an agreement, they sent someone to summon Gong Ren and said to him, "We have reached an agreement and agree to your father's conditions. As long as you are willing to return the Tang prisoners from Dafeichuan, we can release your family. However, in order to prevent your father from breaking his promise and pursuing us, we must wait until we pass Shibao City before we can release them!"

"Okay, but you have to release half of your family first!" Gong Ren said, "Also, our captives in Shudun City must be released as well!"

"That might be difficult!" Yan Liang said with a smile, "When we captured the city, we promised the soldiers that all the people in the city would be given as rewards. Now they are all in the hands of the soldiers, how can we let them go?"

Gong Ren smiled and said, "There are more than 30,000 people in Shudun City. Aren't you nervous when you retreat with such a heavy burden?"

"Don't panic!" Yan Liang said with a smile, "I have dozens of lives in my hands, why are you panicking?"

"You..." Gong Ren's face was covered with a green aura, which disappeared immediately. "It's two to three thousand miles from Shudun City to Longyou. Even if we do nothing, more than half of these tens of thousands of people will escape or die of thirst and hunger on the road. How much can we get if we sell the soldiers? How about this! We pay the ransom money and redeem these people?"

After hearing Gong Ren's proposal, Yan Liang and Hu Liang exchanged glances. They were not holding on to these prisoners, but were just using them as bargaining chips. Hu Liang nodded and said, "Okay, let's do as General Gong Ren said! When will our prisoners be delivered?"

"We can only send 700 to 800 people at once. The rest can only be sent slowly after you withdraw your troops!" Gong Ren was afraid that Yan Liang would think he was playing tricks, so he said, "I'm not kidding you. These prisoners are now scattered in various farms and pastures. It's already a lot to gather 700 to 800 people at once!"

"Then how can we be sure that you will return the rest of the people?" Yan Liang asked.

"Don't you still have half of our family in your hands?" Gong Ren said, "With hostages in hand, what are you worried about?"

"That's good!" Yan Liang nodded: "When will the first batch of more than 800 prisoners be delivered?"