The sudden news of a million-strong Tang army struck Turhong like a bolt from the blue, leaving him utterly unable to accept it.
Turhun, the Abbasid Caliphate's Grand General of the Eastern Expedition, had just changed into a traditional white Arab robe and had his servants carefully trim his thick beard. He was ready to ascend the Uyghur Princess City as a victor and personally plant the banner of the Arab Empire.
He didn't even care about the dignity of a general or the composure of a superior, and rushed to the outside of the tent in three strides. He roared at the panting messenger, "Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"
"The Tang Dynasty's reinforcements numbered only a mere thousand cavalrymen. How could they possibly have a million-strong army overnight?"
In a fit of rage, Turhong grabbed the messenger by the collar, his bloodshot eyes bulging like copper bells, and roared furiously, "Or are the soldiers of the Great Tang Dynasty all winged birdmen who can fly and descend from the sky?"
"Even if the Tang army were flying birdmen, how could a million birdmen flying through the air escape the detection of my Arab Empire's army?"
After saying this, Turhong threw the messenger, who was being held by the collar and was almost strangled, to the ground, completely ignoring the latter's terrified, fearful, and still-shaken eyes. He then pulled a sharp, gleaming scimitar from the guards standing on duty outside the tent and held it to the messenger's neck.
He shouted sternly, "Speak! Who exactly ordered you to spread this rumor among the Imperial army during its eastern expedition?"
"Otherwise, this great general will have your head chopped off immediately!"
At this moment, Turhong was no longer the confident general who had led the eastern expedition before, in the palace of the Arab Empire. Instead, he resembled a gambler who had lost everything at the gambling table, a complete madman.
Seeing that the empire's eastern expeditionary army had suffered heavy casualties, it was about to unify the Western Regions.
At this moment, someone suddenly came to tell him that the Tang Dynasty's million-strong army had not only raided the imperial expeditionary army's supply lines in the Western Regions, but had also surrounded the imperial expeditionary army within the territory of the Uyghur Khanate, intending to annihilate it completely.
Whether this news is true or false, it is unacceptable to Turhong!
That's why he treated the messenger so irrationally.
"General, General, what I said is true!"
Despite the threat of Turhong's sharp crescent blade, the kneeling messenger was trembling and unable to speak.
However, at this critical juncture concerning the life and death of the imperial army's eastern expedition, the messenger still braced himself and replied: "This news, this news, was brought back at great risk by surviving imperial messengers from Wusun, Chesha, Xiye, and Pishan."
"If the General does not believe me, he may immediately summon the messenger who has just arrived from the front lines!"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Even though the messenger claimed that the message had just been relayed from the front lines in Wusun, Chesha, Xiye, and Pishan, he still failed to convince Turhong.
No wonder, this news would probably not be believed by anyone, not even a general of the Arab Empire, let alone Turgun.
What were the odds of the Tang Dynasty deploying a million-strong army to launch a surprise attack on the Arab Empire's grain supply routes in the Western Regions and sending a large army to reinforce the Uyghur Khanate?
Take the Arab Empire's eastward expedition as an example. The initial 800,000-strong army took two full months to cross the Pamir Plateau from within the Arab Empire's territory and reach the Talas region in the Western Regions. Moreover, it was with the support of the King of Wusun that they were able to quietly infiltrate the Western Regions.
But now, looking at the entire Western Regions, apart from the Uyghur Khanate, all thirty-five other kingdoms have surrendered to the Arab Empire. The Western Regions are already full of Arab scouts, spies, agents, and informants.
The movements of a few thousand Tang cavalrymen were carefully observed by Turhong's spies, who promptly reported their movements to the general. This was even more true for the mobilization of a million-strong army.
Such a large-scale troop movement, the formulation of marching routes, the supply of food and supplies along the way, the order between different marching units and their coordination, are all things that cannot be accomplished overnight. How could they possibly escape the watchful eyes of Turhong's spies and informants throughout the Western Regions?
Just as Turhong said, even if these million-strong Tang army were all winged birdmen who could fly out of thin air and descend like divine soldiers, it would still be impossible for them to leave no trace.
Unless, of course, the Tang Dynasty's army had a sorcerer who could "turn beans into soldiers".
Otherwise, it would have been impossible for a million Tang Dynasty soldiers to appear out of thin air!
However, once he calmed down, Turhong knew that even if all the messengers under his command had eight hundred times the courage, they wouldn't dare to fabricate such a lie to deceive him.
The only possibility is that the 100,000-strong Anxi Iron Army of the Great Tang Dynasty, stationed in Shule and Yutian, has been mobilized in full force.
In order to disrupt the morale and deployment of his imperial army's eastern expedition, he deliberately spread false information about a million-strong Tang army to confuse the public and disrupt the imperial army's formation.
Once he regained his senses, Turhong once again questioned sharply, "There is absolutely no way that the Tang Dynasty could mobilize a million troops to conquer the Western Regions overnight. It must be that the imperial army left behind was ambushed by a small group of Tang troops and lost its composure, right?"
"The Tang army's reinforcements, boasting of a million-strong force, are nothing more than a pretext to confuse our imperial army's eastern expeditionary force!"
"Is that right, don't you think?"
"Great, Great General—"
The messenger's voice was trembling with tears!
He had personally witnessed the tragic state of the messengers who had risked their lives to rush back from Wusun, Chesha, Xiye, Pishan and other countries to report the news. He knew that this could not possibly be a trick by the Tang army to confuse the public, but rather that there were indeed so many Tang troops.
Otherwise, how could the 200,000-strong imperial army in the rear have been completely annihilated by the Tang army overnight?
The messenger, with tears streaming down his face, said, "General, this news is absolutely true! We urge you to make a decision as soon as possible!"
"Report—"
"Reporting to the General, something terrible has happened! A large number of Tang cavalry are approaching our Empire's eastern expeditionary army from different directions!"
Suddenly, Caesar, the deputy general under Turhong, rushed into the central command tent, panting, and said, "General, the Tang Dynasty... the Tang cavalry numbers are simply too many. The scouts on guard simply can't keep up with the count!"
"General, we must make a decision as soon as possible, otherwise if the Tang cavalry gets close to our rear, our army will be at a disadvantage!"
"General Caesar, do you know what you're saying?"
Um?
Turhong's expression froze, and he glared at his deputy, Caesar, with a ferocious look on his face, shouting, "I've said it before, this is impossible, absolutely impossible!"
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