In fact, ever since news of the Battle of Talas reached Nanjing, Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huai'an had been planning how to resolve the chaos in the Western Regions once and for all.
After much thought, he actually found a solution—that is, to replace all the troops of the thirty-six kingdoms in the Western Regions with private soldiers who are absolutely loyal to him, Chen Huai'an, and to separate the military and political power between the so-called monarchs of the thirty-six kingdoms and only be responsible for political affairs.
In this way, the issue of ownership of the system troops he summoned during this western expedition can be resolved, as well as the problem of frequent mutinies and rebellions in the Western Regions due to their distance from the Central Plains dynasties. It can also accelerate the process of ethnic integration and lay a solid foundation for the Tang Dynasty's western expedition against the Arab Empire.
This is a perfect strategy that kills three birds with one stone, or even more birds with one stone. Just thinking about it makes Chen Huai'an excited.
If it weren't for the Arab Empire's eastward expedition, which resulted in the surrender of all thirty-six kingdoms in the Western Regions except for the Uyghurs, Chen Huai'an would have had a real difficulty in implementing this strategy.
After all, as the emperor of the Celestial Empire, and as the Khan revered by the rulers, ministers, and people of the Western Regions, Chen Huai'an still had to have a legitimate reason for his actions.
It's not reasonable to strip all the military power of the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions on trumped-up charges and replace all their armies with his private troops.
Furthermore, those soldiers from the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions, whether they were discharged and returned to their fields or executed on trumped-up charges, would pose a significant hidden danger and destabilizing factor.
Only by executing all the armies of the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions on the battlefield under the pretext of suppressing the rebellion could Chen Huai'an have a legitimate reason to send private troops to the various kingdoms of the Western Regions.
That sounds like a rather cruel method!
But which emperor throughout history hasn't had the hands stained with the blood of countless lives?
Otherwise, there wouldn't be the saying, "One general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand."
Therefore, in order to accomplish this great feat, Chen Huai'an has remained silent for days, whether it was seeking help from the valiant Khan of the Uyghur Khanate or from Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty.
Even so, the Uyghur Khanate, which has not yet surrendered, is almost on the verge of extinction. Chen Huai'an has not responded to the requests for help from the valiant Khan Moyanchuo and the Marquis of Anxi Lanyu.
He's still waiting!
On the one hand, they were waiting for the troops led by Marquis Huo Qubing, the commander of the Imperial Guard Zhao Zilong, Marquis Guo Dingfang, and Marquis Zuo Liangcai to be deployed and deliver a fatal blow to the Arab Empire's eastward expeditionary army at the crucial moment.
On the other hand, they were also waiting for all the surrender factions in the Uyghur Khanate to be exposed.
This time, Chen Huai'an, with the help of Turhun, the Grand General of the Arab Empire's Eastern Expedition, carried out a thorough and complete purge of the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions from top to bottom.
It can be said that, apart from the people of the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions, he could purge everyone else, from the kings to the lowest soldiers, without leaving a single one alive.
It's nothing more than establishing a puppet regime after the war.
Anyway, he didn't expect these thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions to achieve anything earth-shattering. He just regarded them as a "copy" of the Tang Dynasty's Silk Road in the Western Regions and a springboard for the Tang Dynasty's westward expedition against the Arab Empire.
This astonishing "chess game" has now almost reached the point where it can be perfectly concluded.
Next came Chen Huai'an's hunting moment.
Inside the central command tent, after Chen Huai'an finished processing all the military reports and memorials, he dismissed everyone in the tent and summoned the [Born to Be an Emperor] system once again, all by himself.
[Ding!]
[The Innate Emperor System is Activating...]
As the familiar mechanical synthesized voice rang in his mind, a virtual projection appeared in Chen Huai'an's mind once again.
This time, Chen Huai'an used the unlimited troop production permission he had unlocked for the first time in the system's troop production permissions.
Chen Huai'an: "System, summon (one million) private soldiers!"
[Born to Be an Emperor System]: "Respected host, are you sure you want to summon your private army?"
"Sure!"
Chen Huai'an answered "yes" without hesitation!
......
On the 22nd day of the eighth month of the first year of the Zhaowu reign of the Tang Dynasty, the tenth day of the Arab Empire's eastern expedition against the Uyghurs.
After ten days of fierce fighting, the Uyghur Princess City garrison, which was subjected to a fierce attack by an enemy force that outnumbered them by dozens of times, suffered more than 70% casualties.
After a fierce battle, all four gates of the Princess City have been captured by the Arab army that is on an eastward expedition. General Lan Yu and the remaining three thousand soldiers have retreated to the inner city, preparing to fight to the death with the enemy in a final battle.
In order to capture the small city of Princess, the Arab Empire's army paid an extremely heavy price, suffering more than 150,000 casualties. Almost every day of fighting, nearly 20,000 Arab Empire soldiers died under the walls of Princess.
Such casualties represent the second largest casualty cost suffered by the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary force, second only to the casualties they incurred against the elite Anxi Iron Army of the Tang Dynasty at the Battle of Talas.
For this reason, after successively conquering the three cities of Black Tiger, Meijian, and Khatun, Turhun, the Arab Empire's general in the eastern expedition, who could have bypassed Princess City and directly attacked the Uyghur capital of Harabalgas, insisted on challenging this small Princess City and Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, determined to break through the city!
On the tenth day of the fierce battle, Turhong once again dismissed the vanguard commander, Aini, and personally took command of his army in the siege.
At this time, the total strength of the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army, along with the allied forces of thirty-five vassal states of the Western Regions, which were gathered and waiting outside the Princess City, exceeded 500,000.
The garrison that retreated to the inner city of Princess City, including the lightly and seriously wounded, numbered only slightly over three thousand.
It is no exaggeration to say that even if each of Turhong's 500,000 troops were to be reduced to a single sword, they would be able to breach the city wall of Princess City and chop the 3,000 defenders, including the Tang Dynasty's Marquis of Anxi, Lan Yu, into mincemeat.
In addition, the other three Arab armies that had conquered the cities of Black Tiger, Meijian, and Qadin had joined forces outside the capital of the Uyghur Khanate, Harabalqas, with a total strength of over 300,000.
In other words, the Arab Empire's army and its vassal armies, which are now gathered within the territory of the Uyghur Khanate, number as many as 800,000, which is almost all of Turhong's troops except those guarding the granaries in various places.
This shows that Turhong of the Uyghur Khanate was determined to win.
As the army besieged the city, both Princess City and the capital Harabalgas became isolated cities, completely cut off from the outside world.
On the walls of the Princess City's barbican, the exhausted General Lan Yu leaned against the broken crenellations and fell into a deep sleep.
Beside him, the soldiers who had not eaten or drunk anything for two days lay haphazardly on the narrow city wall, resting and making the most of the last moments before the great battle to recover their strength.
Not far away, at the crenellations of the city wall, the young Uyghur general Aba Baikli leaned against a pillar, gazing blankly toward the capital city of Harabalgas.
The bitter and fierce battles of the past few days, the countless times he had crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and the countless times he had been forcibly pulled back from the brink of death, had rapidly transformed this young man in his early twenties into a battle-hardened veteran. His still-childish face already showed a mature indifference to life and death.
The only regret for Abba Bekri was that he was about to die on the battlefield before he could see the true face of Chen Huai'an, the Heavenly Khan of the Tang Dynasty!
Yesterday, when the four gates of Princess City were successively captured by the enemy and the defending soldiers had no choice but to retreat to the barbican, General Lan Yu, in order to boost morale and give these dying soldiers a glimmer of hope for survival, finally couldn't help but inform the three thousand remaining soldiers in the barbican of the news that the Great Emperor of Tang, the Heavenly Khan Chen Huai'an, was personally leading an expedition to the Western Regions.
The expectation that Heavenly Khan Chen Huai'an would descend from the heavens and save the Princess City's defenders from the brink of death became the last hope of these three thousand remaining soldiers before their deaths.
However, looking at the menacing and murderous Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army outside the city, the young Abba Bekri thought that he probably would never have the chance to see the true face of the legendary Heavenly Khan Chen Huai'an in his lifetime!
Not far from Abba Bekri, there is another Uyghur general, Mawlani, who has held out to this day.
Mawlani, who was well past the age of fifty, appeared much calmer than Abba Bekri when facing life and death.
Leaning against the city wall, he meticulously polished his Western Region scimitar—a blade worn smooth from slaying too many enemy soldiers—on a whetstone he had somehow acquired, silently awaiting his fate.
"Report—"
"Reporting to the General, the enemy has begun their attack on the city again!"
At this moment, Tan Li, the deputy general of the Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty, dragged his exhausted body to the side of General Lan Yu and informed him that the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army, which had gathered a large force under the city, was beginning to prepare for the siege.
In fact, even without Deputy General Tan Li's notification, Lan Yu, who had been dozing with his eyes half-closed, was awakened when the Arab army below the city sounded the horns and beat the war drums.
He instinctively tried to stand up, but found that his knees buckled and he couldn't muster any strength.
Lan Yu then remembered that he had injured both knees in yesterday's battle and could no longer stand up.
However, Lan Yu's face still wore that domineering expression, exuding a powerful aura of "I am the only one who can do it," and his sharp eyes, like those of a hawk, stared straight down at the city below.
Then he ordered, "Deputy General Tan, go find a rope and tie me to the flagpole. Go now!"
ah--
Lieutenant General Tan Li's expression froze, and he said with a heavy heart, "General—"
"Stop talking nonsense!"
Before Tan Li could finish speaking, Lan Yu rudely interrupted him, continuing, "This general's knees are injured and he can't stand up, but this general absolutely cannot let the soldiers guarding the city see this scene;"
"As long as I, the general, can still stand, as long as the soldiers can still see my figure, the morale of the defending troops will not waver, and their fighting spirit will not falter."
"Even if Turhong wants to swallow Princess City whole today, I will break one of his teeth before I die! Hurry, it's too late!"
"Your humble servant obeys!"
A moment later, Deputy General Tan Li found a rope and tied General Lan Yu, who was no longer able to stand and fight, to a flagpole about the thickness of a bowl.
On that flagpole, fluttering in the wind, was a battle flag of the Tang Dynasty.
General Lan Yu's heroic act of leading from the front indeed inspired the morale of the three thousand remaining soldiers defending the city. The soldiers mustered their last breath, gripped their swords tightly, and stood proudly on the ruined walls of the Princess City, their eyes revealing a resolute determination to die for their cause.
"The Tang army is mighty!"
Suddenly, Lan Yu brandished his ring-pommel sword, whose blade had already curled up, and raised his arms and shouted under the battle flag of the Tang Dynasty.
"The Tang army is mighty!"
"The Tang army is mighty!"
Immediately afterwards, the remaining soldiers of the garrison behind Lan Yu began to echo him, roaring with the last of their strength.
"The Tang army is mighty!"
"The Tang army is mighty!"
"The Tang army is mighty!"
Soon, the sound was amplified, and even the Uyghur soldiers guarding the city couldn't help but roar in unison, echoing throughout the entire Princess City.
Such actions by the remaining defenders on the city walls naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the Arab Empire's army attacking the city from outside.
General Turhong, who personally led the siege, glared fiercely at the remaining soldiers on the city wall and sneered, "Hmph, they're already facing death, and they still have the mood to shout slogans!"
"Someone, pass down the order: the army is to attack the city!"
"After the city falls, leave no one alive!"
"After the city falls, leave no one alive!"
The orders of Turgun, the Abbasid Caliphate's general in the eastern campaign, were amplified by the messengers so that every soldier of the Arab Empire participating in the siege could hear them.
"Kill them!"
The next moment, accompanied by deafening battle cries, the Arab Empire soldiers, assembled into battle formations, carrying ladders, battering rams and other weapons, and wielding various swords, spears and halberds, surged towards the inner city of the princess city like a tide.
"Brothers, killing one is enough, killing two is a bonus, let's fight those bastards to the death!"
"Let's give it our all!"
On the inner city wall, General Lan Yu and three thousand remaining soldiers also uttered their final farewell song!
The moment the attacking and defending sides clashed, shouts of battle echoed throughout the entire Princess City.
Turgun, the Abbasid Caliphate's Grand General in charge of the eastern expedition, gave the order to attack the city, but instead of watching the battle from the central watchtower, he returned to his central command tent.
He ordered his servants to bring him clean water and prepare a clean set of clothes. Even his white horse was led away by its groom to be thoroughly washed, all so that he could ascend the Princess City in the cleanest and best condition and personally plant the Arab Empire's battle flag on the city walls.
Soon, Turhun, having removed his armor, changed into a traditional white Arabic robe and admired his own majestic and imposing appearance in the bronze mirror.
"Report—"
"Reporting to the Great General!"
Suddenly, a messenger's panting voice came from outside the central command tent.
Um?
Inside the main tent, Turhong smirked at the bronze mirror and muttered to himself, "So they've captured the inner city of Princess City so quickly? Did they capture Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Great Tang, as I ordered?"
"General, the inner city of the princess's city has not yet been breached—"
Outside the main tent, the messenger's voice was choked with sobs as he continued, "Yes, our army's supply lines have been attacked by the Tang army. The granaries located in Wusun, Chesha, Xiye, and Pishan have all fallen into the hands of the Tang army."
"Furthermore, several Tang armies are on their way to Princess City, and their vanguard cavalry is less than ten li away, arriving in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."
"The Tang army that launched a surprise attack on our army's rear supply lines and reinforced Princess City numbered a staggering one million!"
"What, what did you say?"
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