As the greatest warrior of the Arab Empire, Turhun was a fierce general who followed Caliph Safah in raising an army in his fiefdom, fighting all the way to the south and north to overthrow the previous dynasty and establish the current Abbasid Caliphate. He also expanded the dynasty's territory across Asia, Africa and Europe. Turhun's life motto was "There is no other way but to conquer!"

In his view, wherever the Abbasid Caliphate took a liking to, wherever he, the greatest warrior of the Arab world, led his troops to conquer, then the banner of the Arab Empire had to be planted.

Little did he expect that this small Uyghur Khanate in the Western Regions would almost become the battlefield where he would suffer a crushing defeat.

Turhong, who was determined to conquer the Western Regions and use it to threaten the Tang Dynasty, was now almost conquered by the Tang Dynasty.

The key point is that if the Tang Dynasty's army were to fight him in a real battle, and it was Turhun and his Arab Empire army that were outmatched and defeated, he would feel better.

The key point is that the defeat of the Uyghur Princess City was not something that Turhong wanted to see at all, and it did not show a clear difference in strength between the Tang army and the Arab Empire army on the battlefield.

It was only because their own scouts and messengers failed to ascertain the true strength of the Tang army that the "misinformation" led General Turhong to make an incorrect judgment on the battle situation, ultimately forcing him to order a retreat. This resulted in the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army retreating on both the Uyghur Princess City and the Uyghur capital, suffering a defeat.

This was unacceptable to the stubborn and headstrong Turhong, who regarded it as a disgrace to his military career.

After a brief respite, Turhong and the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army, which had retreated to the cities of Black Tiger, Meijian, and Qadin, regrouped and resolved to start afresh, engaging the Tang army that had "descended from the sky" in a real battle.

On this day, inside the central command tent of the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army.

Enraged, General Turhun summoned his Arab Empire generals and the kings and generals of the Western Regions vassal armies for an emergency military meeting.

The meeting was triggered by an edict issued by Emperor Zhaowu of the Tang Dynasty, Chen Huai'an. The topic of the meeting was how to concentrate troops and find a way to curb the morale of Chen Huai'an and the Tang army.

At the meeting, Turhong, who sat imposingly in the main seat, spoke first: "Gentlemen, have you all read the edict issued by Emperor Chen Huai'an of the Tang Dynasty a few days ago?"

"Reporting to the General, I have reviewed it!"

Tibis, the exiled king of Wusun, was the first to stand up and said indignantly, "Chen Huai'an is simply shameless. What virtue or ability does he have to dare to claim the title of the Heavenly Khan, the common ruler of all the kingdoms of the Western Regions?"

"If he becomes the Heavenly Khan of the Western Regions, my Wusun Kingdom will be the first to object!"

Tibis's hatred for Chen Huai'an was no less than that of Turhong.

This was not only because of his personal grudge with Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, but also because Chen Huai'an, taking advantage of Tibis's absence from the country, once again ordered the Tang army to invade his country and palace, and also wanted to deal with the affairs of Wusun in the future as the Heavenly Khan.

This, this is unacceptable to Tibbes!

I came out of nowhere thinking I could get revenge and tear Lan Yu to pieces;

Who would have thought that before the old grudges could be avenged, new grudges would be added? He went out for a while and his home was stolen by the Tang army. Who could bear this?

Tibis continued with an air of righteous indignation, "General, none of the kings of the thirty-five kingdoms of the Western Regions will agree to Chen Huai'an's self-proclaimed title of Heavenly Khan."

"I believe that the people of these thirty-five kingdoms in the Western Regions would never allow the Tang army to run rampant in their homelands;"

"General, all thirty-five kingdoms of the Western Regions have already submitted to the Arab Empire and acknowledged the Abbasid Caliphate as the supreme ruler of the Western Regions. We beg you, General, to do us a favor!"

With that, Tibis stood up from his seat, clenched his right fist and placed it in front of his chest, and bowed to General Turhong, who was in the main seat.

Seeing this, the other kings and soldiers of the Western Regions in the central command tent also followed Tibis's example and bowed to Turhong, pleading, "Please, General, do us justice!"

"Please, General, do us justice!"

For a time, the huge central command tent was filled with the pleas of the kings and generals of the Western Regions who had been "robbed" by the Tang army.

This was exactly the scene that Turhun, the general in charge of the Arab Empire's eastern expedition, had hoped for. He had to position the Arab Empire's army as a righteous force to oppose the Tang Dynasty.

The requests of these exiled kings and generals of the Western Regions, as well as the edict issued by Emperor Chen Huai'an of the Tang Dynasty in the name of the Heavenly Khan, the common ruler of the Western Regions, are the best evidence.

In order to obtain more grain, supplies, and military support from the Abbasid Caliphate, Turgun was able to do so.

"Everyone, please quiet down!"

At this moment, Turhong, who was in the main seat, waved his hand, signaling everyone in the tent to quiet down.

After everyone quieted down, Turhun continued, "I am aware of your requests, and after today's military meeting, I will dispatch your petitions back to the Arab Empire by express courier overnight, to be delivered to the Caliph."

"Since you have already chosen the Arab Empire as your suzerain state, the Abbasid Caliph will absolutely not stand idly by and watch the Tang Dynasty invade you."

"God will stand with you!"

Then, Turhong changed the subject, saying, "Right now, in these three places—Black Tiger, Meijian, and Qatun—there are still over 600,000 allied troops of my Arab Empire. If Chen Huai'an wants to command the world as the ruler of the Western Regions, he'll have to see if these 600,000 troops will agree!"

"Are you all willing to join this general in another expedition to Harabalgas, and personally drive Chen Huai'an and the Tang army, who have invaded your homes and people, out of the Western Regions!"

"willing!"

"willing!"

"willing!"

These exiled rulers of the Western Regions, who were eager to restore their kingdoms, stood together on a rare front at this moment, expressing their dissatisfaction with Chen Huai'an and the Tang Dynasty with a shared hatred of the enemy.

Um!

Turhong nodded and said, "In that case, I invite you all to join forces with the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army to fight back to Harabalqas and drive Chen Huai'an and his Tang army out of the Western Regions!"

"Great General, you are mighty!"

Inside the large tent, Tibis was the first to lead the way, raising his arms and shouting.

"Great General, you are mighty!"

The other generals of the fallen kingdom followed suit, roaring in unison.

Long live the Arab Empire!

Tibis once again led the chanting of slogans, pledging his loyalty.

Long live the Arab Empire!

Everyone followed suit once again.

Seeing that morale was high, Commander Turhong seized the opportunity to issue the order: "All generals, listen to my command—"

"Your subordinate is here!"

"This general..."

......

After deploying the mission to counterattack the Tang army within the territory of the Uyghur Khanate, the exiled kings and generals of the Western Regions left the central command tent with high spirits and boiling blood.

It seemed as if the restoration of the kingdom was already within their grasp.

Little did they know that General Turhun did not tell the truth to everyone, nor did he reveal the true situation of the Arab Empire's Eastern Expedition General to these cannon fodder from the vassal states.

After the generals of these vassal states left, only a group of generals from the Arab Empire remained in the large central command tent, all of whom were staunch supporters and loyalists of General Turhun.

Turhong then changed his expression and said solemnly, "Aini, Caesar, tell me everything you know!"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

The two Arab generals who were named answered in unison.

Finally, the Left Vanguard, Aini, stepped forward first and said, "Reporting to the General, the firsthand intelligence gathered by the vanguard scouts indicates that all the key routes from the Pamir Plateau to the Empire are now under the control of the Tang army."

"In the short term, apart from small groups of cavalry that can detour and maintain contact with the empire, it will be difficult to break through the Tang army's blockade if we want to transport large quantities of grain or troops!"

Immediately afterward, Caesar, the Right Vanguard, stepped forward and reported, "Reporting to the Great General, all six granaries and supply depots of the Imperial Eastern Expeditionary Army located in the Western Regions have been captured by the Tang army."

"Furthermore, of the thirty-five kingdoms in the Western Regions that have already submitted to the empire, 17 have been effectively occupied by the Tang army, and the Tang army's presence has also been discovered in the remaining 18 kingdoms."

"Given the strength of these small countries, it would only be a matter of a day or two before the Tang army breached their cities."

After a pause, Caesar continued, "In the past few days, I have visited the supply camps in Black Tiger, Meijian, and Khatun. Based on the current grain reserves, they are only enough to sustain the army for half a month."

Um!

In the main seat, Turhun, the great general of the Arab Empire's eastern expedition, nodded frequently, quickly reviewing the information in his mind.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Turhong asked into the tent, "By the way, it's been a full five days since the Tang army suddenly appeared in large numbers in the Western Regions."

"Did the scouts and spies we sent out manage to find out how this million-strong Tang army that suddenly appeared in the Western Regions managed to sneak up behind our lines without anyone noticing?"

Forehead--

Turhun's question truly stumped the Arab Empire generals present. Even the left and right vanguards, Caesar and Aini, who had been working non-stop for the past few days, didn't know how to answer the general's question for a moment.

"Speak!"

Only after Turhong, in the main seat, erupted in anger, did General Caesar, the Right Vanguard, reluctantly reply, "Reporting to the General, our scouts and spies have not yet gathered any useful intelligence on this matter."

According to the testimonies of surviving imperial soldiers who guarded the kingdoms of Wusun, Chesha, Xiye, and Pishan, the Tang army that appeared in the Western Regions seemed to materialize out of thin air almost overnight.

"The Tang army, which had been nowhere to be seen the day before, launched simultaneous sieges on the kingdoms of Wusun, Chesha, Xiye, and Pishan at dawn on the first day, breaching the cities with lightning speed, leaving the imperial soldiers stationed in each country no time to react."

"Furthermore, the imperial scouts and spies lurking in Chang'an Prefecture have also sent back news that the more than 200,000 Tang troops stationed in Chang'an Prefecture have shown no signs of setting out since entering the prefecture, but have instead remained permanently stationed there."

"Furthermore, they began a massive construction project in Chang'an Prefecture, which looked like a large palace was being built!"

Um?

Upon hearing this, Turhong's expression finally changed, and he couldn't help but frown slightly.

The Tang army in Chang'an Prefecture is undertaking large-scale construction and building palaces. Could it be that they are preparing for the Tang Dynasty to move its capital to Chang'an Prefecture?

Otherwise, how could such a large army be mobilized?

However, Turhong did not have the energy to investigate and think about whether the Tang Dynasty should move its capital to Chang'an. What he urgently wanted to find out was where the million-strong Tang army that appeared in the Western Regions came from.

Turhong shouted sternly, "Send men to investigate again and report back!"

"This general refuses to believe it! Could it be that all these millions of Tang soldiers were created by Chen Huai'an from thin air? There's no way they could have disappeared without a trace!"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

With things having come to this point, the left and right vanguard generals, Aini and Caesar, had no choice but to bite the bullet and accept the general's command.

Although they were also very puzzled as to where these millions of Tang Dynasty troops came from.

However, the truth is that no matter how many scouts and spies they sent out, or how many surviving imperial soldiers they interviewed, the conclusion they reached was the same: the million-strong Tang army really did appear out of thin air overnight.

Perhaps their great emperor, Chen Huai'an, really does have the ability to turn beans into soldiers.

As a result, the two generals who served as the left and right vanguard generals of the empire's eastern expedition both considered whether they should advise the Grand General to negotiate peace with the Tang Dynasty in time, so that the remaining hundreds of thousands of Arab Empire troops could return home safely.

Fighting an enemy that "possesses magic" is simply impossible!

The imperial army's eastern expeditionary force was made up of real, flesh-and-blood soldiers, while others might have been made up of just a handful of soybeans. How could they possibly win such a war?

Even if the Caliph himself came, it wouldn't work!

Three days later, just before Turhong was about to raise an army to march on the Uyghur capital of Halabalgas, one of the scout squads sent out by the Left Vanguard Aini finally found traces of the Tang army on the Moxi Grassland.

This was the marching route of 100,000 Imperial Guards of the Tang Dynasty, led by General Zhao Zilong, who had swept across the northern border town of Shuobei after conquering the Gobi Desert, heading west all the way to the Uyghur capital of Harabalgas.

As Zhao Zilong swept across the northern deserts, he thoroughly understood the thoughts of Emperor Zhaowu of the Tang Dynasty, Chen Huai'an. He adopted an iron-fisted approach to suppress the Turkic people on the northern grasslands. Any Turkic man in the northern deserts who was taller than a carriage wheel was captured by Zhao Zilong and sent to Chang'an Prefecture for forced labor. Those who resisted were all subjected to humane physical destruction.

Along this route, the remnants of the Turks from northern to western Mongolia will not be able to recover their strength for at least twenty years.

As a result, the Tang army left its marching footprints on the grasslands, which were discovered by scouts from the Arab Empire.

When this news reached the desk of Turhun, the great general of the Arab Empire's eastern expedition, the latter finally laughed heartily with a sense of relief.

"This general knew that the Tang army was not some winged bird-men; they could not possibly have appeared out of thin air in the Western Regions."

"So it turns out that Chen Huai'an put on a show of 'openly repairing the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang pass' for me, and almost tricked me!"

Turhong said confidently, "In that case, why should this general and the Arab army on its eastern expedition fear the army of the Tang Dynasty?"

"Issue the order: the Imperial Eastern Expeditionary Army shall set off immediately and launch an attack according to the predetermined battle plan. I, the general, will personally lead the army to attack the Uyghur capital, Harabalgas!"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

......

At the same time, in Baghdad, the capital of the Arab Empire, thousands of miles away.

The Abbasid Caliph Safah, the supreme ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate, also received an urgent military report from Turhun, the imperial general who had led the eastern expedition three days earlier, delivered by express courier from Black Tiger City of the Uyghur Khanate.

In his letter, Turgun truthfully reported to Caliph Safah the Arab Empire's failure in its eastern expedition against the Uyghur Khanate.

However, Turhong concealed the fact that Emperor Chen Huai'an of the Tang Dynasty personally led an expedition to the Western Regions and that a million Tang troops suddenly appeared in the Western Regions.

In the full text of this military intelligence report, Turhong reveals his desire to conquer the east and achieve great deeds for the empire.

Furthermore, it provides a detailed description of the richness of the Western Regions and the endless wealth and resources that the conquest of the Western Regions would bring to the Arab Empire.

In summary, it boils down to eight words: "There is no other way but to conquer!"