"Submit to the Great Tang, and I will ensure your body remains intact!"
"Submit to the Great Tang, and I will ensure your body remains intact!"
"Submit to the Great Tang, and I will ensure your body remains intact!"
Outside the vast Black Tiger City of the Uyghur Khanate, the roars of 500,000 Tang troops echoed across the sky like a tidal wave.
Between heaven and earth, the tall, golden figure stood proudly on horseback outside Black Tiger City, holding a Longquan sword aloft with one arm. At this moment, he was like a god descending to earth, intimidating the more than 200,000 remnants of the Arab Empire's eastern expedition within Black Tiger City.
These people witnessed firsthand that their faith, the first warrior of the Abbasid Caliphate, and the Imperial General of the Eastern Expedition, Turhong, was killed on horseback after only three moves against the Great Emperor Chen Huai'an of the Tang Dynasty.
In that instant, the last shred of hope and faith of the remaining Arab soldiers in Black Tiger City was shattered and collapsed by the halberd in Chen Huai'an's hand.
On the walls of Black Tiger City, countless soldiers of the Arab Empire raised their swords, spears, and halberds, kneeling in submission to Emperor Chen Huai'an of the Great Tang Dynasty outside the city.
Even Caesar, the right vanguard general of the imperial expeditionary army, and his deputy general, General Haiti, who had just summoned his falcon to land on his shoulder, were like deflated balloons, allowing the imperial expeditionary soldiers on the city wall to kneel and surrender.
The two exchanged glances, and finally mustered their spirits to leave the city and personally surrender to the valiant Emperor Chen Huai'an of the Tang Dynasty.
After all, the 200,000 soldiers in the city still depend on them;
After all, the remains of General Turhun, who was still lying alone outside the city, still needed their efforts to get his coffin back to Baghdad.
Outside Black Tiger City, Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huai'an, who stood between heaven and earth, finally turned his gaze to Turhong, the first warrior of the Abbasids and the leader of the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army, who had died at his hands.
He muttered to himself, "Since I raised my army, I have slain countless generals on the battlefield, but you are the first warrior to withstand three moves from my halberd."
"In that case, your title as the greatest warrior of the Abbasid Caliphate is truly well-deserved!"
Immediately, Chen Huai'an turned to Bisuma, the captain of Turhong's personal guards, who was still standing there in the wind, tears streaming down his face, and said, "What are you all standing there for? Go and collect your general's remains."
"After the Arab soldiers in Black Tiger City have surrendered, I personally approve your escort of Turhun's remains back to Baghdad for burial!"
After saying that, Chen Huai'an didn't care whether Bi Suma understood him or not, and rode away on his own.
Upon returning to the front lines of the Tang army, he completely ignored the praise from the assembled Tang generals, and simply gave a single instruction to Huo Qubing, the Deputy Military Governor of Anxi Protectorate (Southern Prefecture) and Marquis of Champion:
"Champion Marquis, you will go to the city to accept the surrender of the Arab army on my behalf, and take full responsibility for all matters concerning Black Tiger City. You shall return to report after you have finished dealing with these matters!"
"Your subject obeys!"
......
September 21st, the first year of the Zhaowu reign of the Tang Dynasty.
The conflict in the Western Regions, which lasted for more than three months, finally came to an end. It ended with the death of Turhun, the general of the Arab Empire's eastern expedition, the death or injury of more than 300,000 of the 800,000-strong eastern expeditionary army, and the capture of more than 500,000 Arab troops and their vassal armies.
Emperor Chen Huai'an, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, personally led the expedition and once again upheld the glory and prestige of the Tang Dynasty on the Silk Road in the Western Regions with his wisdom and bravery.
Furthermore, after this battle, the Tang Dynasty achieved absolute control over the Western Regions and the Silk Road, and realized the unprecedented feat of unifying the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions.
When news of the great victory in the Western Regions reached Jinling, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, many historians privately remarked that Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huai'an, based solely on this feat, was enough to rival Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han, and become a legendary emperor whose name would be remembered throughout history!
Of course, that's a story for later, so let's leave it at that for now.
At present, although the Tang Dynasty has won the struggle with the Arab Empire in the Western Regions;
However, the problems we face remain severe and urgent.
The primary issue is that, with the surrender of the Arab Empire's army besieging the Uyghur Black Tiger City, the total number of prisoners of war from the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary force and its vassal army held by the Tang Dynasty in the Uyghur Khanate has now exceeded 500,000.
What to do with these 500,000 prisoners of war is a big problem!
Secondly, among the captured Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army and its vassal armies, there were tens of thousands of wounded soldiers, some slightly injured and some seriously wounded. If they were not treated in time, they could easily cause an epidemic in the army and even throughout the entire Western Regions.
Finally, after this "war catastrophe," the reconstruction of the thirty-six kingdoms in the Western Regions and the promotion of the new policy of "separation of military and political power" in the Western Regions were major issues that Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huai'an and the Tang generals who were conquering the Western Regions urgently needed to solve.
That night, inside the central command tent.
Emperor Zhaowu, Chen Huai'an, summoned his generals to discuss how to handle the aftermath of the war.
Huo Qubing, the Marquis of Champion of the Tang Dynasty and Deputy Military Governor of the Anxi Protectorate (Southern Prefecture), was the first to report to the Emperor: "Your Majesty, today the enemy troops in Black Tiger City have collectively surrendered to our Great Tang Dynasty;"
"As of now, the total number of prisoners of war from the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary force and the vassal armies of the Western Regions states that have been counted is 583,437."
"In addition, the number of prisoners captured by the various armies that have been conquering the Western Regions is still being tallied, and the preliminary estimate is at least 50,000!"
Immediately afterward, Guo Dingfang, the Marquis of Zhenxi and Vice Minister of War of the Great Tang Dynasty, stepped forward and reported to Chen Huai'an: "Your Majesty, I have also followed Your Majesty's orders and compiled statistics on the current stock of grain and supplies for the army in the Western Regions."
"Adding to the provisions captured from the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary reinforcements during the Battle of the Warahan Corridor a few days ago, our current grain reserves in the Western Regions are sufficient to support us for six months, enough until next spring."
"However, if we add the rations for these nearly 600,000 prisoners of war, the time the stored grain can last will be halved. If we don't transport grain from the country, the army will run out of food before next spring."
After a pause, Guo Dingfang continued, "Furthermore, among the Tang army and captured enemy soldiers currently concentrated in Black Tiger, Meijian, and Khatun, the total number of wounded, both light and serious, exceeds one hundred thousand. The consumption of various medicines, especially wound medicine, is enormous, and all the medicine reserves of the military medical camp are critically low."
"Following these wounded, those who were lightly or seriously wounded were primarily captured soldiers from the Arab Empire's eastern expedition and their vassal armies, accounting for more than 80% of the wounded and sick."
"This matter still requires Your Majesty's decision!"
Um!
Emperor Zhaowu, Chen Huai'an, nodded frequently from his seat.
The reports from Marquis Huo Qubing and Marquis Guo Dingfang were already within Chen Huai'an's expectations; the military reports on these matters were piled up thickly in his desk drawer.
In the past few days, Chen Huai'an has been thinking about how to deal with the hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war.
Of course, the so-called provisions and wound medicine were no problem at all for Chen Huai'an, who possessed the [Born to Be an Emperor] system; they were just a string of numbers in the system's shop.
However, there was no way Chen Huai'an could use the food and medicine in his system to help the enemy soldiers who were conquering the Tang Dynasty!
It is true that Chen Huai'an governs the country with benevolence, but he is not a saint with overflowing compassion, and he would never support a group of invaders for nothing.
On the other hand, ignoring these prisoners and wounded soldiers is not an option either, as it could lead to an epidemic in the army, which would be a real problem.
As a time traveler, Chen Huai'an had experienced the devastation of plague firsthand. Before he could even achieve his dream of becoming the first emperor of all time, his newly established dynasty might be wiped out by the plague!
Suddenly, a fierce voice came from inside the tent: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, we should simply kill all these captured soldiers from foreign lands and end it all."
"Anyway, the Khanate of the Hegemony is sparsely populated, so we can just dig a few big pits and bury them. Where would we get so much food and medicine for these barbarians from beyond the borders!"
"Just kill him!"
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