It was the dead of winter in the twelfth lunar month, and a fierce wind swept across the north. The Tang army struggled against the wind, their progress faltering. The 60,000 infantrymen of Xueyantuo were already poised and ready, each with their bows drawn, remembering the ancient adage that one should shoot the horse before the rider. At a single command, ten thousand arrows were unleashed. The dense array of iron three-bladed arrowheads resembled a black, overwhelming rainstorm, while the whistling sound of the arrows beneath them was like a swarm of starving and ferocious locusts flying in from afar, instantly engulfing the less than 6,000 Tang cavalrymen.
"Dismount!" Li Shiji ordered urgently. The men leaped from their horses, reducing their visibility to the enemy's arrows, and used leather shields to deflect the arrows. The enemy's arrow rain was intense; the ground was filled with the cries of cavalrymen struck by arrows and the thunderous crash of warhorses crashing on the snow. Over a hundred Tang cavalrymen were killed in the initial engagement, and sixty percent of their horses perished. Le Yan and Yuan Faran, charging at the forefront, were both struck by arrows—one wounded in the left arm, the other in the right leg. Huan She, Cui Gun, and Shang Lue desperately shielded them with their shields, dragging them behind their fallen horses to provide cover.
After the Xueyantuo arrow formation had finally eased up a bit, Li Shiji urgently adjusted his deployment, changing the cavalry to infantry, with every three hundred men tightly packed into a squad, each holding a shield in one hand and a long spear in the other.
"No matter how the enemy shoots arrows, you must not deviate from the formation. You must gather together and rush to charge into the enemy's formation."
The officers and soldiers silently stepped over the bodies of their dead brothers and warhorses, gathering on the blood-soaked snow.
"Xue Sanlang, take two thousand elite cavalry to outflank the enemy from the rear."
Xue Wanche and Huan She discussed the situation and led the Han-Turk cavalry onto their surviving warhorses. "Huan Seventeen, take me with you!" Yuan Faran called out. Huan She cursed, "Get lost, you cripple!" Yuan Faran was furious: "You blind bastard! I can't be an infantryman because of my leg injury, but both my hands are still good. I have no problem controlling a horse and drawing a bow. Le Yan can fight with one hand, why can't I!" Huan She looked at Le Yan, the handsome young man whose left arm was completely covered in blood, already leading the way with a spear. Huan She gritted his teeth, jumped off his mount, helped Yuan Faran onto his horse, and the cavalry turned their horses around to circle around the Xueyantuo formation.
Twelve neatly aligned infantry squads simultaneously raised their eighteen-foot-long lances, three thousand sharp spear tips pointing outwards, instantly stealing the cold gleam of the snow. The gleaming armor merged into a dazzling silver sea, surging and crashing against the shore. Xueyantuo's long arrows fell into this vast ocean as if caught in a whirlpool, like feathers.
Six hundred Tang archers fired from the rear to cover the infantry, their sharp arrows striking down Xueyantuo grass arrows mid-air and slicing through the snowflakes.
Bang! The spear tip shattered the ribs and pierced deep into the internal organs.
*Swoosh!* The steel arrowhead, propelled by the sturdy willow shaft, pierced the eyeball and burst through the skull, the feathered arrow trembling beside the eye socket as blood splattered everywhere.
"Ah!" the Xueyantuo people cried out in terror. "Where did these demons come from?!" Facing an enemy sixteen times their number, they endured the attacks of several men, the desperate hacking and slashing of sabers, and the thrusting and stabbing of spears. Their eyes were bloodshot, filled with deep-seated hatred, as they charged forward and fired wildly. The falling flesh, the spurting brains, and the ripped intestines burned the vast, snow-covered, withered, and desolate desert into a raging inferno!
...
The arrow pierced his throat, and the desperate, mournful sound that rose soared upwards sank and disappeared forever.
Huan She looked back on horseback and saw that the three thousand Tang infantrymen had broken through the Xueyantuo's formation with the power of their long spears and were engaged in close combat with them. The black and gold double-headed bird banners that his troops had erected fell several times and were raised again and flew straight into the enemy's formation.
Deputy Commander Xue Wanche led two thousand elite cavalrymen infiltrated behind enemy lines. Powerful bows and crossbows rained down on the horse handlers, while long spears thrust left and right. The horse leaders, each leading five horses, were too slow to escape; they were no match for these fierce cavalrymen who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Xue Wanche himself was extremely powerful, his hardwood spear thrusting repeatedly without stopping. Huan She and a group of skilled Turks threw out horse snares (not tripwires, but lassoes) to create long loops around the horses' necks. With shouts of "Yo-ho!", the herd galloped off, with Yuan Faran and others urging them on. In an instant, ten thousand horses reared up and surged forward.
"Our horses are lost! We can't get back to the northern desert!" Huan She shouted in unison with the Turks. The Turkic language and the Xueyantuo language were quite similar, and the rough wind carried their cries to the ears of the Xueyantuo people, who thought they had nothing to worry about, causing a rapidly spreading and uncontrollable panic. "Lost!" Shang Lue and Yuan Faran shouted in the same way.
The Tang infantry switched to cavalry, their offensive becoming even more ferocious, and the fighting intensified. Huan She and his two companions charged into the enemy lines, giving their horses to Yue Yan and Cui Yan, who were already covered in blood.
"Seventeen, hurry and chase after them!" Cui Yan was badly injured and could barely speak.
"Cui Jiu!"
Seeing that Da Dushe had already led some of his men to flee north, Cui Yan disregarded Huan She's obstruction and rode off in pursuit.
The Nuozhen River meanders for four hundred miles. In the depths of winter, when the water is shallow, this river, containing golden sand, gleams with an unusual, mysterious light, and thin, dark blue ice swirls and floats. Iron hooves gallop across, crushing the ice underfoot like grinding stones. The Xueyantuo, like cornered beasts, fight on, while the Tang army engages them in fierce battle along the river.
Cui Yan thrust his spear straight forward, his spear meeting that of an enemy general. Suddenly, two arrows flew in, embedding themselves deeply in his abdomen. Holding and parrying heavy weapons relied entirely on a strong waist and powerful breath; in this crucial moment, where even the slightest mistake was fatal, Cui Yan shuddered. His spear touched the tip of the enemy's spear but could no longer advance, and the enemy's spear plunged into his ribs. "Cui Jiu!" Huan She's eyes widened in fury. He killed the enemy with a single thrust of his spear, then used his broadsword to cut the wooden shaft of the spear embedded in Cui Yan's body. Cui Yan fell heavily from his horse.
Le Yan, Shang Lue, and Yuan Faran roared as they fought. Huan She leaped from his horse and embraced Cui Yan, his hands gripping the spear shaft as he tried to pull it out, but only more hot blood flowed out. "Don't move, Cui Jiu, don't move!" Cui Yan reached out and slightly bent his arm, sighing, "...Seventeen, I want to hold..." Huan She removed his helmet and placed it in his arms. Cui Yan's bloodied hands touched the gleaming silver helmet, "The tassel on her hat...it's going to make her a widow..." Strands of snow-white tassel dripped blood, turning into a sticky, filthy mass.
Huan She let out a mournful cry, looked up to the sky and roared, then leaped onto his horse and charged forward with his spear. Amidst the swirling snow, enemies fell one after another beneath his swift, wind-like steed. After fighting for a long time, his horse also fell, struck by an arrow. He then dismounted and fought on foot, sustaining arrow wounds in his back and legs, as well as multiple knife wounds in his shoulders and arms, yet he continued to slash with undiminished force. Yue Yan and Yuan Faran also fought alongside him.
The Tang army gradually forced most of the Xueyantuo army into Nuozhen River, where a main river running northeast to southwest intersected with another tributary running southeast, both flowing into a celestial lake. The Tang army pressed forward with their long spears, driving the Xueyantuo like a flock of sheep. With icy rivers on both sides and an icy lake in front, the enemy, in their terror, trampled each other and fell into the frozen water, resulting in many drowning.
Engaging a general, Huan She discarded his spear and fought him for a long time with his sword. Two other Xueyantuo generals also jumped into the fray to attack him, the three of them taking turns fighting him. He swiftly rushed towards the enemy on his left, his long-handled sword suddenly slashing down on the head of the enemy in front of him, killing him with a single blow. He then continued to sweep away the enemy attacking from his right rear. The enemy, wounded by the sword, lunged at Huan She and wouldn't let go. Huan She, with a leg injury, couldn't withstand the pressure of the lunge and fell with a thud into the lake where broken ice floated. He writhed and struggled in the water, blood churning up and down.
Huan She cut down the wounded enemy general and was about to straighten up when he suddenly felt a chill on his right side. Another cold blade, carrying tiny ice shards, pierced his warm body, penetrating his abdominal muscles. He held his breath and swung his blade back, slashing into the intestines of another attacker behind him. Just as he turned to savor the icy pain inside his body, he suddenly felt a sharp pain under his bright armor. The enemy general had inserted a straight-handled dagger, which pierced below his collarbone but stopped short. He tried again, but still couldn't push it in.
"What kind of hard armor?"
Huan She bent his knee and thrust it into the enemy general's lower abdomen, then pulled out a spare bowstring and slashed the man's throat. Blood spurted from the man's neck, and he fell backward into the icy lake.
Panting, he reached for the hilt of the dagger, trembling as he pulled it out. With a clang, the iron chain around his neck snapped as the force was withdrawn, and the jade bird fell swiftly between his armor and skin.
Another slash came down, but the enemy fell to the ground, struck by an arrow.
Cao Ling?
Blood seeped into my eyes, blurring my vision. What a blizzard! It had turned the world red.
In December of the fifteenth year of the Zhenguan era, Li Shiji led 6,000 cavalry in pursuit for months, covering 1,500 li. On the 17th (Jia Chen day), they engaged the Xueyantuo, numbering 60,000, at the Nuozhen River, beheading over 3,000, capturing over 50,000, and seizing 15,000 horses, along with countless armor, weapons, and supplies. Dadu escaped by leaping, and Xue Wanche, with several hundred cavalry, could not catch him. The remaining troops fled in panic, trampling each other to death, their corpses littering the fields.
In the post-war Nuozhen River, corpses lay scattered, and the Mi River stretched across the wilderness. Several soldiers swept across the frozen battlefield, their blood thick with blood. "Brother, we can rest now." The fallen man who had been carrying the flag was riddled with arrows. Near him lay the original flag bearer and left flag bearer, lying on the ground. Several hands tried to pry him up, but he wouldn't budge. They then saw that his right calf had been severed, the sharp white bone mixed with congealed blood firmly embedded in the deep frozen earth. "Brother Chen, we promise to send you back to Guazhou." One man pried open the stiff fingers of the right flag bearer and carried away the body. Another took the flagpole he was clutching tightly. The black flag with gold embroidery, adorned with a double-headed bird, was stained with blood, yet it resembled a red cloud carrying a soaring bird.
A flash of light appeared under the flag, and the soldier curiously pushed aside the blood-red ice and snow.
"Hey, come look, it's a jade flute."
"It's really, the green is so clear and translucent. If it doesn't break, it'll be a really good thing."
"Look, they even added gold thread, what a pity." Chapter 38
38. [Nuozhen]
As soon as the 6,000 Tang soldiers rode down the northern slope of Qingshan Mountain and arrived at the Wuchuan Plain, Le Yan and Yuan Faran, leading two scouts, reported: "Enemy troops, numbering about 30,000, have been spotted fifty li ahead." Li Shiji praised them, saying, "Such courage and perseverance from scions of noble families on their first battlefield experience; these young men are truly formidable, a blessing to the Tang Dynasty." Huan She looked at the two young men; their once fair and delicate faces were now weathered and roughened by a month of harsh winds and sandstorms. Their former privileged airs and arrogance had been replaced by the tenacity and resilience of warriors. Shouldering reconnaissance duties, they worked even harder than the main army, barely resting, relentlessly pursuing the enemy and rushing back to report. Le Yan winked at Huan She, teasing him about his injured eye; Huan She clenched his fist, laughing back at the split palms on his hands.
According to reconnaissance, the Tang army swiftly pursued the Xueyantuo army, and after a brief engagement, feigned defeat and retreated. The 30,000 Xueyantuo troops, seeing only 6,000 Tang soldiers, were overjoyed and underestimated the enemy, launching a counterattack, only to find themselves trapped in the Tang army's trap. When the enemy was within 150 paces, Tang crossbowmen formed a wedge formation, nocked their crossbows, and unleashed a volley of arrows, felling the Xueyantuo's front-line soldiers. The Tang cavalry then split into three groups. Huan She led the central force in a frontal charge, like a sharp sword cutting through the enemy's ranks, advancing relentlessly and unstoppably. Cui Yan and Lu Shuang each led their troops on the left and right flanks, quickly flanking and attacking, coordinating with Huan She's forces in repeated attacks and splitting the Xueyantuo army into several isolated fragments.
Chen Ti raised the banner, his long-handled sword getting stuck in the body of an enemy rider, who fell off his horse with the sword still attached to him. With a clang, Huan She raised his round shield to deflect a sword from behind that was aimed at Chen Ti by another Xueyantuo soldier. Chen Ti was still stunned on his horse when Huan She casually tossed his own long-handled long-handled sword to him.
"Brother Chen, follow me!" Huan She blurted out.
Suddenly, childhood memories flooded back: the brat in the Guazhou camp, being chased and beaten by his uncle, resisting the temptation of sweet melons and fruits, still pestering Chen Ti to learn archery and horsemanship, thinking that he would never be afraid of his uncle's slaps again. "Brother Chen"—Huan She's throat tightened. When did he feel too embarrassed to call him that anymore?
Holding a long spear, Huan She rode swiftly, deflected another blow for Chen Ti, struck Chen Ti's horse in the belly, and led him out of the enemy's encirclement.
"Why did you save me?" Chen Ti finally drew his sword and fought the enemy, his face turned away, so Huan She couldn't see his expression.
“You taught me that those who go to the battlefield are all brave and fearless warriors of the Tang Dynasty,” Huan She said, his short-handled sword flying out and slicing into the neck of a Xueyantuo soldier. He then used his long spear to deflect the enemy’s long sword and thrust it at the enemy soldiers beside him. “Brother Chen is the most powerful warrior in Guazhou.” These were words that Chen Ti had boasted about years ago, so long ago that even he himself had forgotten them.
"Xiao She..." Huan She vaguely heard Chen Ti's indistinct whispers drifting through the sounds of swords clashing. When he looked at him again, he was already protecting the two-headed bird banner.
Although they had routed 30,000 Xueyantuo troops, the Tang army, with only 6,000 against 30,000, still suffered minor losses. The Tang army rested briefly on the spot, replenishing their own forces with captured enemy horses and treating the wounded. Huan She's left eye, grazed by an enemy blade in the previous day's battle, remained red, swollen, and bleeding due to lack of rest. Reapplying medicine only made it more difficult for him to open and close his eye. Everyone else had minor injuries. Yuan Faran, wounded in the back, saw Huan She covering his eye and immediately forgot his own pain, laughing merrily at his supposed blindness. Before he knew it, Cui Yan flicked his forehead, "How can you joke like that?"
During the Battle of Wuchuan, Xue Dadu was not found. Li Shiji remarked, "Xue Dadu escaped quickly." Because many non-Han people had names but no surnames, the Tang people customarily added their tribal name before their given name when addressing them, such as Qibi Heli during the attack on Gaochang, who was named Heli of the Qibi tribe. Xue Wanche cursed, "Damn it, he doesn't deserve the surname Xue!" Li Shiji slapped his horse and laughed, "Sanlang, go and capture him and force him to never use the surname Xue again."
The Han Chinese army marched 400 li (approximately 200 kilometers) from Bingzhou to Shuozhou, while Lu Shuang's troops, led by Xue Wanche, had already marched over 700 li (approximately 350 kilometers) north from Puzhou, the southernmost point of the Hedong Road, to reach Bingzhou. After a fierce battle in Shuozhou, they marched another 400 li (approximately 200 kilometers) north, crossing the Qingshan Mountains, which were over 100 li (approximately 50 kilometers) wide, to fight in Wuchuan (this is the straight-line distance measured on my map; the actual distance was probably more than double. Of course, compared to the thousands of li (approximately 500 kilometers) of other Tang army campaigns, it was nothing, but recalling every li they traveled, it was still so arduous; every drop of sweat and every drop of blood embodied boundless courage and fighting spirit). The long march and battle in the bitter winter had left the Han Chinese soldiers extremely exhausted, and their casualties were heavier than those of the Turkic army. Therefore, Grand Commander Li Shiji ordered the Turkic cavalry to continue the pursuit, while the Han Chinese remained for an extra hour.