Um?
Upon hearing this, General Turhong raised an eyebrow and asked with a solemn expression, "Have you found out how many troops the Tang Dynasty's reinforcements for this western expedition number, who is leading them, what types of troops they are, what weapons and supplies they are carrying, and which marching route they will take to enter the Western Regions?"
Faced with a series of questions from General Turhong, the messenger kneeling before the tent hurriedly presented the intelligence he had and also reported on the brief intelligence he possessed.
The messenger reported, "Reporting to the General, according to intelligence reports from scouts and spies stationed along the route to Chang'an, the Tang Dynasty's western expeditionary force that has arrived in Chang'an numbers a staggering 300,000. This is the main force of the Tang army that just participated in suppressing the Youzhou mutiny."
"However, for some reason, after arriving in Chang'an, these 300,000 troops remained stationary, with only a thousand or so Tang cavalrymen departing from Chang'an and heading west."
"According to the intelligence reports from the scouts, these thousand-plus cavalrymen should have already passed through Yumen Pass and begun their journey to the starting point of the Silk Road."
As the messenger reported the intelligence he had gathered in detail, General Turhong, who sat on the throne of the former King Tibis of Wusun, had already quickly reviewed the intelligence in his hands.
When he confirmed the information again and again, he found that the Tang Dynasty's western expeditionary army, as described in the intelligence report, had only a thousand or so cavalrymen set off from Chang'an Prefecture, while the remaining 300,000 troops remained stationary in Chang'an Prefecture.
A rare look of confusion appeared on Turhong's rugged face. Combined with the messenger's report, he was even more baffled.
Turhong first waved his hand, signaling the messenger to leave.
Then, he muttered to himself, "What exactly is the Tang Dynasty trying to do? They dare to send a mere thousand or so cavalrymen to the Western Regions, while hoarding three hundred thousand heavy troops in Chang'an."
"Could it be that they have already made preparations to let my Arab army march all the way to Chang'an?"
"Or is this all a trap?"
"General—"
At this moment, Batel, who had been sitting in the main hall, suddenly stood up and reported to Turhong: "General, those Han Chinese from the Tang Dynasty are known for their cunning and treacherous nature."
"I spent many years in the northern deserts dealing with the Han Chinese on the border; they were truly full of wicked schemes."
"Could this be a cover-up by the Tang army, a feigned attempt to cover up their true intentions while secretly advancing through another area?"
Batel seized every opportunity to prove himself in order to regain the trust of General Turhong and thus "borrow troops from him to restore the country."
Batel had practically given up all his savings to participate in the Youyun mutiny some time ago.
Who would have thought that of the 30,000 Turkic cavalry under his command, only a handful of men would escape back to the Western Regions with him from the battlefield outside Juyong Pass.
It was thought that after the failure of this military campaign to advance eastward into the Tang Dynasty, General Turhong would put him in the cold palace and never use him again.
To everyone's surprise, General Turhong not only did not hold Batel accountable for the defeat, but also appointed him as a left and right advisor, allowing him to directly participate in the Arab Empire's subsequent military operations against the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions.
In this way, Batel saw an opportunity to "borrow troops to restore the country" in Turhong. He seized the opportunity to prove to General Turhong that even without the support of 30,000 cavalry, he was still a useful person to the Arab Empire.
Batel continued, "General, is it possible that the 300,000 Tang troops remaining stationary in Chang'an are merely a feint by Emperor Zhaowu, Chen Huai'an?"
"Will the main force of the western expedition take a detour from elsewhere and directly attack the Western Regions?"
As he spoke, Batel arrived at the combat training sand table inside the palace and pointed to the vast grasslands stretching from the northern to the western desert.
Batel said, "General, there is more than just the Silk Road on land from the Tang Dynasty to the Western Regions; the grasslands of the northern deserts can also lead to the Western Regions."
"I, after my defeat at Juyong Pass, traveled westward from the northern grasslands back to the Western Regions."
"At this time, the grasslands of northern Mongolia are lush and verdant, and the pastures along the way can easily supply the provisions for tens of thousands of cavalry."
"If Chen Huai'an were to use the 300,000 troops in Chang'an as a feint, and instead send his elite forces to bypass the Gobi Desert and directly attack the Uyghurs, he could catch our army completely off guard!"
Um?
Batel's words immediately piqued the interest of General Turhong.
He got up and went to the combat simulation sand table. He squinted and carefully observed the marching route that Batel had pointed out to him, looking at it seriously for a long time.
Then, Turhong frowned and said, "Counselor Batel, your suggestion has actually made me think of something. It's quite possible that the main force of the Tang army's westward expedition might actually detour through the northern grasslands and head west, joining forces with the stubborn and valiant Uyghur Khan, Moyanchuo, to catch me off guard."
"However, the mobilization and march of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of cavalry, even on the lush grasslands, could not possibly leave no trace!"
After a pause, Turhong continued his analysis: "Furthermore, the Tang Dynasty currently has a large army amassed in the Liaodong Peninsula and the Goguryeo Peninsula, plus the recent Youyun Mutiny and the 300,000 troops stationed in Chang'an Prefecture, bringing the total to at least 1.2 million."
"Where could Chen Huai'an possibly gather another cavalry force in such a short time, and take the route through the northern grasslands all the way west to the Western Regions?"
"Does this mean that he doesn't need to station troops in the southwest, southeast, and coastal areas, leaving the gates of the Tang Dynasty wide open for foreign enemies to drive straight in?"
It is not difficult to discern from Turhong's words that he clearly harbors doubts about the opinions put forward by Senator Batel, who had just suffered a defeat.
However, he did not refute it to his face, but instead analyzed it in the same way as Batel.
Ultimately, Turhong, maintaining a cautious approach, issued the order: "Send word immediately to dispatch a scout team of a thousand men to search eastward and northward along the western steppe bordering the Uyghur Khanate, to gather intelligence on the enemy for the main army as soon as possible."
"I refuse to believe that even if the Tang Dynasty wanted to take the route through the northern desert, it would be impossible for them to send tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of troops across the grasslands without leaving a trace!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
Turhong then instructed, "By the way, do not stop the offensive against the Uyghur Khanate. Regardless of whether the Tang Dynasty has ambushes or not, it cannot shake the Abbasid Caliphate's determination to annihilate the Uyghur Khanate."
"It's also a good opportunity to make an example of the mighty Khan, so that those wavering kings of the Western Regions can see clearly that only complete submission to the Arab Empire is their ultimate way out!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
......
Several days later, Turhun, the general in charge of the Arab Empire's eastern expedition, sent out a scout team of over a thousand men to search the northern grasslands, but they found no trace of the Tang Dynasty's western expeditionary army.
Meanwhile, the scouts and spies who were roaming the Silk Road in the Western Regions witnessed the Tang army, which consisted of only a thousand or so cavalrymen, swaggering into Shule City, the location of the Anxi Protectorate (Northern Prefecture).
Subsequently, the Tang Dynasty's Anxi cavalry, who were defending Shule City, actually abandoned the city and instead marched towards the Uyghur Khanate.
After gathering intelligence from numerous scouts and spies, General Turhong finally believed that the Tang Dynasty's western expeditionary reinforcements consisted of only a cavalry force of a little over a thousand men, and there was no deliberate feint.
Turhong couldn't help but sneer, "A mere thousand cavalrymen dare to be so presumptuous?"
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