The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 38 Negotiation
These cavalrymen were carefully selected capable fighters, and they were all experienced soldiers of Anxi. Seeing their leader so brave, they all gritted their teeth, shouted and rushed forward.

The general leading the Tibetan army was no incompetent. When he saw Feng Changqing and his men coming to kill him, he shouted, "Archers, release your arrows! Infantry, stand in formation! Cavalry, mount your horses!"

When the Tibetan soldiers heard the general's voice, the archers immediately drew their bows and started shooting.

However, facing the arrows from the cavalry's charge, a well-coordinated arrow formation was needed to create lethality. The hasty counterattack had limited attack power. In a blink of an eye, Feng Changqing had led his men to the front, killing the archers in front, and the archers behind were dispersed.

But even if the Tibetan archers were either killed or dispersed, it bought some time for the infantry and cavalry.

The infantry hastily formed a simple square formation to resist, while the cavalry mounted their horses, ready to launch a flank attack on Feng Changqing and his men.

Feng Changqing was extremely brave. He swept his spear across, killing several people along the way, and went straight to the Tubo general.

Seeing how brave Feng Changqing was, the Tibetan leader did not dare to fight him head-on. He retreated while commanding the people around him to encircle Feng Changqing.

After all, with five thousand against one hundred and nine, they had the advantage of numbers. Feng Changqing was about to be surrounded and killed by the Tubo phalanx. At this moment, an arrow came through the air and killed the spear-wielding Tubo soldier behind Feng Changqing.

Then came the shouts of killing that resounded through the sky, and the sound of horses galloping that shook the earth.

Feng Changqing glanced back at the attack in front of him and saw that it was Gao Xianzhi who had brought his men.

Gao Xianzhi also led the cavalry charge, with the infantry following closely behind.

As a result of Gao Xianzhi's arrival, the Tibetan cavalry who had originally intended to attack Feng Changqing from the side were attacked from the side by others.

In a blink of an eye, hundreds of Tubo soldiers were killed or wounded.

During the Tang Dynasty, if the casualty rate of a unit exceeded 10%, the morale of the army would be weakened, and if the casualty rate exceeded 30%, the army would basically start to flee.

And if they escape, more people will die.

After two rounds of charges by Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi, the Tubo army suffered thousands of casualties. Moreover, Feng Changqing arrived first and Gao Xianzhi arrived later. The Tubo army felt that they had been ambushed, and their morale was greatly reduced, and they began to flee.

When the general leading the Tibetan army saw this situation, he knew that he was powerless to save the situation, so he rode away on his horse.

Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi saw that the enemy general wanted to escape, so they rode their horses to chase him.

Gao Xianzhi rode his horse while drawing his bow, and shot an arrow at the back of the Tibetan general. Feng Changqing, who was closer to the Tibetan general, took this opportunity to rush forward and knocked the Tibetan general off his horse with a shot, then drew out the broadsword he carried with him and cut off the general's head with one stroke.

The setting sun was as red as blood, and the Tang soldiers cheered for victory. The brothers Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing smiled at each other under the stain of blood.

……

……

……

After this battle, Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing never encountered large groups of Tibetan troops again.

But even so, they did not move fast because they needed to pay attention to the enemy situation while waiting for news from Wang Zhongsi.

It was not until the news of victory came from Wang Zhongsi that they arrived at the front line where Bukhara and the Arabs were confronting each other.

This battle for Bukhara was related to the life and death of the country, so their Khan, Ashita Khan, was personally in charge of the front line.

At this time, Bukhara and the Arabs were separated by the Pearl River, facing each other from afar. Ashida Khan was happy at first when he heard that the Tang Dynasty had sent people to support them, but when he saw Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing, he learned that they were just unknown little-known figures and only brought 3,000 soldiers, and he couldn't help but feel disappointed.

However, despite his disappointment, Ashida Khan was still quite polite to the people from the Tang Dynasty and immediately hosted a banquet in their honor.

But Gao Xianzhi saw Ashita Khan's disappointed expression and was unwilling to attend the banquet. He said, "I came here to make the Arabs withdraw their troops. Please prepare a celebration banquet for me and my brothers. I will eat at the banquet across the street this time."

After saying this, he asked the troops to stay and only took Feng Changqing across the river to the Arab-occupied area on the opposite side, requesting to meet the Arab supreme commander.

The supreme commander of the Arabs across the river was the prince of the Arabs, Abu Sirin.

Abu Silin agreed to Gao Xianzhi's request and invited Gao Xianzhi to meet him.

Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing came to the main tent of the Arab army. In addition to Abu Silin and his personal guards, there were also envoys from Tibet.

Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing glanced at the Tubo envoy, then walked straight to the left and prepared to take a seat.

Abu Silin said: "You two, I am the prince of the Arabs, you should pay respect to me."

Hearing this, Gao Xianzhi took out the token given by Li Heng and said, "This general travels everywhere on behalf of His Royal Highness Prince Shou of the Tang Dynasty. If His Royal Highness Prince Shou comes in person, the Arabs will always be vassals of the Tang Dynasty. Logically, Prince Abu Silin should pay respects to His Royal Highness Prince Shou of the Tang Dynasty, and only then can this general pay respects to Prince Abu Silin."

"How arrogant!" Before Abu Silin could say anything, the Tibetan envoy slammed the table and shouted at Gao Xianzhi, "This is no longer Tang territory. Wherever you go, you should follow the customs of the Arabs and pay respect to Prince Abu Silin."

"Everywhere the sun and moon shine, wherever the rivers flow, is the Great Tang. Since the Arabs have pledged their loyalty, they should abide by the etiquette of monarch and subject." Gao Xianzhi replied calmly and asked the Tibetan envoy, "Who are you? How can you have the right to speak here?"

The Tibetan envoy said, "I am a special envoy from Tibet, and I have come to lend a helping hand to the Arabs."

"Oh?" Gao Xianzhi looked directly at the Tubo envoy for a moment, then gave Feng Changqing a look.

Feng Changqing nodded, untied the cloth bag from his waist and threw it in front of the Tubo envoy.

The cloth bag fell to the ground, and bloody heads rolled out.

The head belonged to the Tubo general that Feng Changqing had killed along the way.

The Tibetan envoy was shocked when he saw the head and said, "You, you..."

When the Tibetan envoy was in panic, a general under Abu Sirin walked in and whispered something in Abu Sirin's ear.

Gao Xianzhi saw the expressions of Abu Silin and his generals and guessed that they must have learned the news of Wang Zhongsi's great victory over Tubo.

Then Gao Xianzhi gave Feng Changqing another look.

Feng Changqing understood what he meant and quietly approached the Tibetan envoy. Then he suddenly drew out the dagger he was carrying and killed the Tibetan envoy and his two followers on the spot with lightning speed.

The Arabs present had not expected that these two men were so brave that they dared to kill people in the Arab camp. After being frightened, they drew their weapons and surrounded Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing.

The atmosphere suddenly dropped to freezing point.

Gao Xianzhi remained calm and said to Abu Silin: "Your Highness, you can kill both of us right now, cut us into pieces, and send our bodies to Tubo to seek Tubo's forgiveness, or..."

Gao Xianzhi held up Li Heng's imperial seal and said, "Please pay your respects to our Highness the Prince of Shou of the Tang Dynasty, and then we can sit down and talk properly."

(End of this chapter)