Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 514 A fly in the ointment
"The chief steward... Madam Zhuo and two of her clansmen request to see you."

Song Lingwen, holding a huge Mo Dao in his hand, interrupted Chen Qingsi's thoughts.

Many nobles and powerful people in Tubo fled quickly, not caring about the loss of the Lu family, and went directly south to the Tang Dynasty.

Chen Qingsi did not meet them first, but asked them to meet Chimalo.

Chen Qingsi hasn't figured out how to deal with Tubo yet, but Chimalo is a very good hand, it just depends on how he uses it.

Letting Ji Yixing and Shang Jing go to see Chimalo was to tell Chimalo that they had no other choice without Lu.

This will brand them as traitors, and not exterminating their entire clan would be considered merciful. Who would dare to use them?
The Lu family had no other choice but to surrender to the Tang court.

"Let them come up."

Chen Qingsi heard footsteps behind him and turned around.

Chimalu walked in front, and Ji Yixing and Shang Jing followed behind her.

In terms of bloodline, Chimalo is the most noble bloodline of the Meilu clan.

After several rounds of purges and suppression, the one in charge of the Lu family has now moved to a side branch.

The bloodline of Chimalo has been cut off...

In terms of bloodline alone, Chimalo can take over the Meilu family directly, but he also needs the branch in charge of the Meilu family to be willing to hand over the power in their hands.

The power of Chimalo's line has been transferred, and the status of Ji Yixing and Shang Jing is far above that of Chimalo.

Now they follow Chimalo, obviously supporting Chimalo to take charge of the Meilu family.

Chimalo looked at Chen Qingsi in front of him with mixed feelings.

Although she hated Galdongzan, she was convinced of his abilities.

Although Chen Qingsi is powerful, it is not an easy task for him to defeat Galdongzan.

Chimalo also thought that if Chen Qingsi could not do anything to Galdongzan, she could help and negotiate conditions to gain certain benefits for the Meilu family and Tubo.

result……

The Tang Dynasty defeated Tubo with great ease, and Gal Dongzan even forced Chen Qingsi to death. The Mei Lu family was forced to surrender without caring about the tribesmen who were still on the plateau.

Chimalu was completely convinced. Now not only her, but the life and death of the entire Meilu family was in the control of the other party.

At this point, Chimaro found himself with no choice.

Whether for himself or for his family, he had to choose between Tubo and the Tang court.

Chimalo grew up in Tubo and had deep feelings for the country. She originally wanted to negotiate terms with Chen Qingsi, asking Tubo to submit to her for generations in exchange for Chen Qingsi's mercy.

As a result…she found out that Lu’s fate was worse than she had imagined.

They paid a lot to be loyal to the Zamp, but ended up in this situation.

Chima Luo was also disappointed. He did not hesitate any longer and bowed and said, "Mr. Chen, the Tubo army has been defeated. I wonder when they plan to go to the plateau? I am willing to be the vanguard and help you conquer Tubo..."

Chen Qingsi shook his head upon hearing this and said, "I have no intention of advancing my troops for the time being, so Madam Zhuo, please do not worry about this."

Chima Luo hurriedly asked, "Sir, do you not believe us? Or do you not believe that we have the strength?" She said anxiously, "Although my Lu family is in decline, we still have the connections we have accumulated over the years. Tubo is in chaos and it won't be long before there will be a trend of mutual aggression. Many small and medium-sized nobles will become fish on the chopping board. I am confident that I can gather them together and work for the court together."

Chen Qingsi did not doubt Chima Luo's methods, and nodded, "I believe this. I still approve of Madam Zhuo's methods."

Chimalo couldn't help but feel a hint of joy in his eyes, and he was a little happy.

But then, Chen Qingsi's words made her heart sink to the bottom.

"I don't think it's a good idea to attack the plateau now..."

Chen Qingsi said: "The Tubo suffered heavy losses in this battle. I don't know the exact number. But it is certain that there will be a serious population shortage in Tubo, with empty fields but no one to cultivate them."

This time, Tubo was gambled with its national destiny in a battle where the men were responsible for fighting and the women for luck.

The defeat in this battle meant the end of the country, and Tubo would not be able to recover for decades.

Chima Luo immediately responded: "This is a good opportunity. Tibet is now the weakest in decades."

Chen Qingsi shook his head and said, "My opinion is exactly the opposite."

He said word by word: "The Tubo is the most difficult to deal with right now."

"The Tubo collapsed too quickly in this battle. The powerful tribes rushed to save their lives and had no intention of resisting. The first to flee back must be the powerful nobles and their private soldiers. The newly recruited soldiers of the Tubo were left behind to serve as their bargaining chips. These nobles will be on guard against our attack when they go to the plateau."

"Attacking at this moment, killing our way up to the plateau, and seizing their fiefdom directly involves their core interests."

"It's not that these people can't fight, they just don't want to fight. If their interests are involved, the situation will be completely different."

"Among my troops, only Xi Junmai's troops are slightly adapted to the plateau climate. This is the climate in Qinghai. If we really go to the plateau, we may not be able to withstand it. Not to mention that most of my soldiers are from Henan and Hebei."

"How foolish it would be to fight to the death against a group of indigenous people who know the geography well on the plateau?"

"On the contrary, if I didn't attack, reorganized Qinghai, and chose to return, the situation would be different... Let alone fighting for justice. From a private perspective, their population has dropped sharply this time, and the big tyrants have no labor to farm, let alone to support private soldiers. If they want to survive, they can only swallow up the small and medium-sized tyrants to make up for their losses."

"No matter what, they have to attack and devour each other. After they kill each other till the sky is dark, our army will clean up the mess. Isn't it better?"

Chen Qingsi openly stated his plan. He was not afraid at all that the news would spread to Tubo.

Even if everyone on the plateau knew every word he said today, the outcome would still be the same.

Things have come to this point. Those who have soldiers at their disposal will not give up the power that is within their reach, and will not miss this opportunity in vain.

When Chima Luo heard this, his eyes turned red and he said weakly, "But there are still my people on the plateau. What should we do with them?"

Seeing Chimalo, who had always been strong, showing the demeanor of a little girl, Chen Qingsi couldn't help but secretly laugh and said, "This is simple. Now each family has to take care of their own business. In the short term, they have no time to care about you. If you are not like the Lu family, you really have to be willing to come down the mountain and surrender. I will accept as many as you come, and I can accommodate you in Qinghai Lake and Hequdi. If you don't want to, then I can't do anything."

"In this world, how can you get benefits without paying any price?"

Chimaluo pursed his lips and compromised: "In that case, Chimaluo thanks Mr. Chen for taking me in."

Chen Qingsi nodded approvingly. This was the Tubo Queen Mother who had supported three generations of wise rulers, eliminated powerful ministers and brought order to the government. She knew when to advance and when to retreat, and how to compromise.

The one who owed the Lu family was the Tibetan king, not the Tang Dynasty, and even less so Chen Qingsi.

It is wishful thinking to expect the Tang Dynasty or Chen Qingsi to save the Lu family.

We have done our best by allocating a piece of land on the vast land for their resettlement.

For the next ten days, Chen Qingsi was receiving news from the pursuing armies from all directions.

Nearly 100,000 pigs would take ten days or half a month to catch in Qinghai, not to mention living people...

Chen Qingsi analyzed the results every day. As he thought, in all the results, the majority were from the Tibetan militia, and there were some elite troops from the major powers, but most of them were of small and medium levels.

There are not many private soldiers of the San Shang family, some of them ran away late, or were left behind by the threatening rear guard.

They ran the fastest and earliest, so naturally they suffered the least losses.

Chen Qingsi picked up a victory report and took a closer look. It was the result of the battle sent by Zhang Rendan's order.

This time the three armies were mobilized together. In this kind of battle where merits could be gained, Chen Qingsi also asked Zhang Rendan to lead a team of soldiers to share a share of the spoils.

He really liked this nephew who was extremely intelligent and had both literary and military talents. He was very concerned about his battle achievements and sat up straight to watch.

Looking at Zhang Rendan's battle record, Chen Qingsi couldn't help but grin. Is this kid so lucky?
Chen Qingsi originally wanted Zhang Rendan to have a sip of the soup, but he ended up snatching a piece of meat away.

It’s not that he is young and can’t compete with the experienced generals, but that he has received special attention from the goddess of luck.

Zhang Rendan was in the last wave of the central army he was in, and because of this, he met Shimid ibn al-As of the Arab Empire.

The most tragic thing is this one...

After Tubo decided to retreat, no one cared about the envoy from the Arab Empire anymore.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Arab Empire was taking advantage of Tubo.

If Tubo had not been forced by the Arab Empire, it would not have been willing to fight a war that would stake its national destiny.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to develop quietly on the plateau and watch the fight between the Tang Dynasty and the Arabs?

The Arab Empire threatened to cut off all trade, the mainstay of its economy, in order to force Tubo into war.

Schmidt said it was support, with more than 2,000 black legionaries and 3,000 infantry and cavalry, but in fact they were just monitoring.

If Tibet did not contribute, Schmidt could immediately cut off all support from the Arab Empire to Tibet.

The Tibetans also understood that the funding from the Arab Empire was not free, and once they lost their usefulness, all funding would be cut off.

Since they had decided to withdraw their troops, they were prepared to not receive any assistance from the Arabs.

Since they are well prepared, what does Schmidt's life or death have to do with them?
Everyone in Tubo knew that Schmidt would not agree to their withdrawal, so they didn't tell him.

So when the Tubo people were scrambling to retreat, Schmidt was still sleeping.

By the time they realized that something was wrong, the Tibetan nobles and powerful people had almost retreated.

Schmidt wanted to find anyone to ask about the situation but couldn't find anyone, so he could only retreat with the Tibetan militia.

The Tibetan militia had no fighting power at this time. They had already lost their minds and were terrified. When faced with the Tang army's attack, they did not resist at all. They either fled for their lives like crazy or just hid their heads in their hands and waited for death.

Schmidt wanted to command the rebellion, but no one listened to him except his soldiers.

In order to avoid being implicated, Schmidt had no choice but to lead his troops away from this group of Tibetan militia.

Then Schmidt's tragedy...

He was a Arab who was unfamiliar with the vast Qinghai River. At first he could still identify the directions, but after several battles with the Tang army, he immediately lost track of east, south, west and north.

We had no choice but to walk blindly based on our feelings, circling around in the hills but unable to get out.

But this team is very powerful and the ordinary Tang army is no match for them.

Zhang Rendan, who happened to be drinking soup nearby, encountered the Tang army defeated by Schmidt and learned about this powerful enemy.

Zhang Rendan immediately led his troops to chase after them.

Zhang Rendan was young and had a great talent for commanding troops. He had learned that Schmidt's group had amazing fighting power and that a strong attack would be disadvantageous, so he hid far away and watched. He found that Schmidt's group had fled in a hurry and did not carry much food and water. After a few days of fleeing, they had almost consumed all the food and water.

Zhang Rendan then became unscrupulous and did not launch a large-scale attack, but just continued to harass the enemy in this way.

Anyway, just don't fight, just consume and consume again.

The two sides confronted each other for four hours, and Schmidt was thirsty and hungry.

Zhang Rendan was so wicked that he even went to the upwind vent to roast lamb and eat meat...

One side was starving and shivering in the strong wind. The other side was eating meat with big mouthfuls...

In the end, Schmidt collapsed and chose to surrender to Zhang Rendan.

Looking at Zhang Rendan's battle results and his methods of deploying troops, Chen Qingsi realized that he had really found a treasure.

In military terms, being able to speak and being able to use are completely different.

What’s the use if a scholar knows the military strategy by heart but his legs become weak when he goes to the battlefield?
Zhang Rendan was able to skillfully and flexibly force the enemy to surrender based on their weaknesses when he led troops for the first time. This ability was truly amazing.

Chen Qingsi was filled with emotion. He read Zhang Rendan's victory report again before he felt satisfied and put it aside.

Then he took out another piece of military intelligence, looked at the contents, was stunned for a moment, and sighed softly: "Maybe it's not my fate!"

This news came from Xi Junmai, who had been trying to get the Tibetan king Mangsong Mangtsen all the way, but still let him go into the mountains.

The mountains surrounding Qinghai Lake are connected to the entire Kunlun Mountains, including Mount Everest.

Even if a million troops were deployed and there was no response, Xi Junmai did not dare to go too deep and had to give up.

If we can capture Mangsong Mangzan alive, it will be a great achievement.

Now that he has run away, I can't help feeling a little regretful.

This "hunting" lasted for half a month before it subsided.

This battle was the most brilliant victory of the Tang army since the war with Tubo. The 100,000-strong Tubo army was routed. More than 13,000 people were beheaded, 38,000 people were captured, 500,000 cattle and sheep were seized, and countless food and supplies were seized. It was a glorious victory.

The key point is that the Tang army suffered no more than 2,000 casualties, pure slaughter...

The only flaw was the passing of the Tubo King Mangsong Mangtsen.

According to the latest information, Mangsong Mangzan has fled back to Wuhai.

Upon hearing this news, Chen Qingsi felt very strange, called Xi Junmai over and asked, "Junmai, are you sure that Mangsong Mangzan has entered the mountains to the west?"

Xi Junmai was so depressed that he said, "I saw him go in with my own eyes. If he was faster, he could catch up with him."

Chen Qingsi asked: "What's the situation in the mountains?"

"It's an unknown mountain. All you can see are animal paths. There's no way to find a way."

(End of this chapter)