Unexpectedly, after the Han troops set off, they encountered the Turkic cavalry who were fleeing in panic. Li Shiji questioned them about the battle and learned that they had caught up with Dadu She's 60,000 troops and had been routed in the first engagement. Li Shiji was furious: "What kind of soldiers are those who flee at the first sign of the enemy?" A Chur shouted in broken Chinese: "The Xueyantuo have 60,000 men. They once defeated Shabuluo Khan, and even General Ashina She'er was defeated by them. The Xueyantuo are the nemesis of the Turks!" Another Tudun cried out in a trembling voice: "We can't win. Even if you add up, you don't have 6,000. They have 60,000! Run for your lives!" More than 4,700 Turkic cavalrymen pulled on their reins and surged down the river, about to scatter the more than 1,000 Han cavalrymen.
Snap! Snap!
Almost simultaneously, two muffled thuds of swords slicing through bone rang out, and two bald heads flew into the air, their blood splattering onto the heads of the fleeing Turkic soldiers.
Huan She and Lu Shuang exchanged a glance, then sheathed their swords. Huan She ordered the flag bearer to use a horse spear to hoist the heads of Chuo and Tutun, who were staring in astonishment with their mouths agape. Huan She shouted in Turkic, "Those who desert the army, behead them! Who else wants to be a deserter under the swords of my Great Tang?"
The Turks were so frightened they dared not move an inch. Li Shiji said in a deep voice, “You Turks were once the Tang Dynasty’s archenemy, raiding and plundering for years, harming the people. The Emperor is magnanimous, settling you in China after your defeat, teaching you to farm and weave, showing you kindness and care, providing you with food and clothing, and treating you like Han people. When you were attacked by the Xueyantuo, the Emperor ordered me to lead the army to your rescue. Is there another Khan in the world who repays evil with kindness?” Huan She loudly translated his words into Turkic, and the Turkic soldiers fell silent.
"Look at your actions today! Abandoning your ranks and fleeing, you not only betray the Emperor's boundless grace and earn the contempt of the Chinese people, but also embolden the Xueyantuo people. We will forever trample you under our feet." Li Shiji's face was solemn. "Are you really willing to abandon your young children and weak women at home, and let your women be humiliated and raped, cursing yourselves as ashamed to be born men?" The Turks began to feel ashamed. "My greatest pride in life is to roam the battlefield, displaying the blood of men, even if it means dying nine times. Han sons, are you willing to follow me to fight the enemy and bring glory to the Tang Dynasty?" "We swear to follow you to the death, my lord!" More than a thousand Han officers and soldiers shouted in unison and marched forward in formation.
Huan She raised his whip high, shouting, "Are there any Turkic warriors here willing to fight alongside my Han people and slaughter all the Xueyantuo traitors who dare to offend the might of the Tang Dynasty and look down on the Turks!"
"We are all followers of the Heavenly Khan, and all of us are warriors!" The Turkic soldiers also drew their swords and shouted, spurring their horses to follow.
***
Both the Xueyantuo and the Turks were nomadic peoples of the grasslands, and their original mounted archery tactics were similar. Later, the Xueyantuo painstakingly studied methods to defeat the Turks and trained their infantry in combat. Cavalry is inherently about agility and flexibility, but nomadic cavalry lacked the superior armor of the Han Chinese, resulting in poor protection. Their arrows were weak, and they lacked the complex and powerful crossbows of the Han Chinese, making mounted archery difficult and unreliable. Furthermore, besides the flat grasslands, the vast deserts and barren wastelands were unsuitable for prolonged horse hooves. Comparing these factors, the Xueyantuo changed their strategy, utilizing the strong defense and endurance of their infantry. They formed groups of five: a leader with five horses to monitor from behind, while the other four fought on foot. Only after a victory did the leader grant them horses, and the five would pursue the fleeing enemy. Those who hesitated to fight would be denied horses and executed, their families confiscated, and the spoils used to reward the victors – a strategy reminiscent of a desperate gamble. Relying on this unusual and novel tactic, the Xueyantuo repeatedly defeated the Turks.
Dadu gathered the remaining forces and deployed 60,000 troops at Nuozhen River (located north of Wuchuan, within the present-day Darhan Mumingan Joint Banner, the site of the story of the grassland heroines), stretching for ten miles. After the initial victory against the Turks, the Xueyantuo army regained its morale and launched a counterattack.
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 banner, and the soldier curiously parted 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 39
39. 【Flower Festival】
At the spot where Cui Yan died for his country, Huan She drew his sword with the speed of water, and with a graceful swing, cut off a branch of a poplar. Willows usually sprout immediately after planting, but could this poplar also sprout in the Central Plains? Upon closer inspection, the branch was faintly oozing a bright red sap, like blood. The poplar branch, along with Cui Yan's clothing, supplies, bow and arrows, saddle and bridle, and weapons, were placed in a military bag inscribed with his name. Lu Shuang, a fellow townsman from Luoyang, solemnly accepted the bag, intending to personally deliver it to Cui's residence.