To be honest, Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, did not have a very good reputation among the Western Regions.
Ever since the incident where Lan Yu insulted the Queen of Wusun in court, leading to her suicide by hitting her head against a beam in the palace, Tibis, the deposed king of Wusun, has sent many people to spread the news in the Western Regions, sparing no effort to expose Lan Yu's vicious true nature.
Furthermore, this was used to slander the Tang Dynasty and Chen Huai'an, the Heavenly Khan.
Especially after the Battle of Talas ended, the Arab Empire's army launched a large-scale invasion of the Western Regions, allowing Tibis, the former deposed king, to regain power. He then publicly announced Lan Yu's past "crimes" throughout the Western Regions.
As a result, the image of Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, among the nobles of the Western Regions has plummeted.
Even within the Uyghur Khanate, which refused to submit to the Arab Empire, many princes and nobles had reservations about Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty.
If it weren't for the pressure from the Arab Empire's army pressing in, which put the Uyghur Khanate at risk of extinction, the princes and nobles within the Uyghur Khanate would have absolutely refused to open the city gates and let Lan Yu and 10,000 Tang Dynasty Anxi Iron Army soldiers into the city, fearing it would be like inviting a wolf into the house.
But now, this Marquis of Anxi of the Great Tang Dynasty, Lan Yu, has actually taken the initiative to accept the mission of defending Princess City. This mission is a matter of life and death!
This, ironically, made the princes and nobles of the Uyghur Khanate look at Lan Yu with new respect.
Even Moyanchuo, the mighty Khan of the Uyghur Khanate, was quite surprised by Lan Yu's initiative to volunteer to guard Princess City.
Originally, when Lan Yu led his troops to reinforce the Uyghur Khanate, Mo Yanchuo thought that he would only help guard the Uyghur capital until the arrival of the Tang reinforcements.
Unexpectedly, before the great battle, Lan Yu volunteered to lead his troops to Princess City to fight against the Arab Empire's eastward expeditionary army. He had already disregarded life and death!
The valiant Khan Moyanchuo was deeply moved by Lan Yu's righteous act.
However, as the ruler of a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty, when faced with the request from the marquis and military governor of the suzerain state to defend the city, he naturally did not agree immediately, and some polite refusals were inevitable.
Who knew that the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, Lan Yu, was "stubborn to the end." No matter what Mo Yanchuo said, he was determined to go to the Princess City and confront the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army head-on.
It's easy to see that the crushing defeat at the Battle of Talas had been a deep grudge for this Tang Dynasty marquis, and he believed that only by defeating the enemy on the main battlefield could he avenge his humiliation.
In the end, Mo Yanchuo could not resist Lan Yu's insistence and could only say, deeply moved, "My lord, in that case, on behalf of the millions of people of the Uyghur Khanate, I thank you for your righteous act."
"I entrust this important task of guarding the Princess City and resisting the Arab army's eastward expedition to you, my lord!"
With that, Mo Yanchuo waved his hand and ordered, "Guards, draft a decree for me, effective immediately, transferring full control of the Princess City's defenses to Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty."
"The former Uyghur commander-in-chief, Mawlani, and the Uyghur garrison soldiers in Princess City, upon receiving the Khan's edict, shall be fully under the command of Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Great Tang."
"Anyone who disobeys this order will be executed without pardon!"
"Yes, Great Khan!"
Then, Mo Yanchuo called over his nephew and said, "General Ababakri—"
"Your subordinate is here!"
"Benhante orders you to lead your three thousand royal guards to accompany the Marquis of Anxi of the Great Tang Dynasty to reinforce Princess City. All actions will be under the command of the Marquis of Anxi, and there must be no mistakes!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
After doing all this, Mo Yanchuo turned his gaze back to Lan Yu and said sincerely, "My lord, I hereby entrust the Princess City and the hope of the entire Uyghur Khanate to your hands!"
Lan Yu cupped his hands in a respectful gesture and solemnly replied, "Please rest assured, Great Khan, as long as we are alive, the city will stand!"
"My lord, thank you for your trouble!"
"Great Khan, farewell!"
......
Thus, Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, became the commander-in-chief of the Uyghur Khanate to guard Princess City. After receiving the edict from the valiant Khan Moyanchuo in the palace hall, he immediately led his 10,000 Tang Dynasty Anxi Iron Army troops, along with the 3,000 royal guards of the Uyghur Khanate, to Princess City, a hundred miles away, without stopping.
The next day.
Despite his sleepless night due to a twitching left eyelid, the valiant Khan Moyanchuo forced himself to go to the palace hall to hold the daily court assembly.
Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the palace hall, the valiant Khan sensed that something was wrong. The ministers all hung their heads, looking at the valiant Khan as he walked through the hall and ascended the throne with a look of utter despair.
"What's wrong with you all?"
On the throne, the mighty Khan Moyanchuo was completely bewildered. He asked in confusion, "Can anyone tell me what happened that makes you all look like you've lost your father?"
"Your Majesty, the Tang Dynasty's reinforcements number only a thousand cavalry!"
"What did you say?"
Mo Yanchuo, the valiant Uyghur Khan who had just sat down on the throne, suddenly stood up again when he heard that the Tang reinforcements numbered only a thousand cavalry. His left eyelid, which had been twitching all night, finally stopped twitching at that moment.
Mo Yanchuo asked incredulously, "Lux, what, what did you say?"
Inside the hall, Lukes, the prime minister of the Uyghur Khanate, replied solemnly, "Reporting to the Great Khan, the Tang Dynasty's reinforcements to aid our Uyghur Khanate number only a thousand cavalry!"
"The special envoy of Turhun, the Abbasid Caliphate's Grand General of the Eastern Expedition, has delivered a letter of surrender to me. The letter clearly states that the majority of the Tang Dynasty's western expeditionary reinforcements remained in Chang'an, with only a thousand or so cavalrymen heading west from Yumen Pass to the Western Regions."
"Turgun also said that if the Uyghur Khanate were to submit to the Arab Empire now, he could, on behalf of Caliph Safah, forgive the Uyghur Khanate's previous resistance."
"otherwise--"
After a pause, Lucas finally forced himself to say, "Otherwise, the day the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army breaches the city will be the day of its massacre!"
boom--
Upon hearing this, the mighty Khan Moyanchuo on the throne felt his head explode with a buzz, and he collapsed onto the throne as if all his strength had been drained.
After a moment, he forced himself to stay alert and asked, "Lux, is it possible that this is a lie fabricated by the enemy commander Turhong before the battle to demoralize our troops?"
"If, if the Tang Dynasty's reinforcements number only a thousand cavalry, why didn't Marquis Lan Yu of Anxi tell the truth at yesterday's court assembly, but instead took the initiative to lead his troops to Princess City to resist the Arab Empire's army?"
"This Khan, this Khan does not believe that the Heavenly Khan of the Great Tang Dynasty would be unaware of the urgency of the war in the Western Regions and only send a mere thousand cavalry to reinforce us!"
"This, this must be a conspiracy by the enemy's commander-in-chief, Turhong!"
Faced with the questions raised by the mighty Khan Moyanchuo, Lukes, the Uyghur prime minister, shook his head helplessly and said, "Your Majesty, I also suspect that the contents of this surrender letter are lies fabricated by Turhong to undermine the morale of my Uyghur army."
"but--"
Lux abruptly changed the subject, saying, "After receiving the letter of surrender from Turhong's special envoy last night, I immediately went to the Tang army camp, which was preparing to depart, and personally verified this matter with Marquis Lan Yu of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty."
"The answer we received was consistent with the Abbasid Caliphate's letter of surrender: the Tang Dynasty's reinforcements to the Western Regions truly numbered only a thousand cavalry!"
"Then Marquis Lan Yu of Anxi of the Great Tang Dynasty did not conceal anything, stating frankly that most of the Great Tang army on this western expedition was resting and stationed in Chang'an Prefecture to guard against the Tibetans taking the opportunity to advance eastward and harass the borders of the Great Tang;"
"The war in the Western Regions can only rely on ourselves and the 100,000-strong Tang Anxi Army of the Anxi Protectorate!"
ah--
After receiving a positive answer from Chancellor Lucas, Moyanchuo, the valiant Khan of the Uyghur Khanate, exclaimed in surprise, his entire body visibly deflated like a punctured balloon.
Inside the royal palace, the other civil and military officials of the Uyghur Khanate also stared blankly at the throne, their faces ashen, worried about the future of the Uyghur Khanate, as well as their own safety and career prospects.
After a long while, the valiant Khan Moyanchuo, seated on his throne, finally came to his senses and asked the assembled civil and military officials in the hall, "Gentlemen, things have come to this point. What should be done for the Uyghur Khanate next? You all need to offer your opinions!"
Inside the main hall, there was complete silence; no one spoke first.
Bang!
Suddenly, the mighty Khan Moyanchuo slammed his hand heavily on the table in front of him and said sternly, "I told you all to speak, are you all deaf!"
"Great Khan, please calm your anger—"
Seeing that the mighty Khan had lost his temper, all the Uyghur civil and military officials in the hall knelt down and begged the Khan to calm down.
Finally, someone stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the attitude of the Tang Dynasty in increasing its troops in the Western Regions clearly shows that they have long intended to abandon the Western Regions."
"If that's the case, why should we persist so stubbornly, only to end up with the destruction of our country and the ruin of our homes?"
"I advocate that we should negotiate peace with the Arab Empire in a timely manner to avoid the massacre of millions of our Uyghur Khanate's people by the enemy!"
"No way—"
The proposal to surrender was immediately opposed by the Uyghur generals: "Bars, to speak of defeat before even fighting, is not the kind of cowardly behavior we have in our Uyghur Khanate!"
"Who said the Tang Dynasty abandoned the Western Regions? Aren't there still 100,000 Tang Dynasty Anxi Iron Army soldiers in the Anxi Protectorate? And isn't the Tang Dynasty's Marquis of Anxi, Lan Yu, personally leading troops to reinforce Princess City?"
"The Arab Empire thinks it can make us surrender without firing a single shot, just by offering a letter of surrender? They're dreaming!"
"Great Khan, I also believe that we should rather die than surrender!"
"Your Majesty, our opinion is that as long as we survive, we can always rebuild. We should negotiate peace as soon as possible!"
"Great Khan..."
"......"
The court of the Uyghur Khanate was thrown into chaos by a fabricated letter of surrender, causing morale to waver.
However, Turhun, the Arab Empire's general in charge of the eastern expedition and the instigator of this, was leisurely leading his army straight into the territory of the Uyghur Khanate.
This strategy of "winning hearts and minds is the best approach, while conquering cities is the second best" originated from Batel, the newly appointed Khan of the Turkic Khaganate, who had just suffered a defeat at Juyong Pass and fled back to the Arab expeditionary force in disgrace.
In truth, Turhong did not expect that Batel's letter of persuasion would make the Uyghur Khanate, the only one of the thirty-six kingdoms in the Western Regions that refused to surrender to the Arab Empire, surrender.
From Turhong's perspective, a Uyghur Khanate that was destroyed and its people wiped out was far more effective in establishing the prestige of the powerful Arab Empire in the Western Regions than a Uyghur Khanate that surrendered voluntarily.
Therefore, he tacitly allowed Batel to send envoys to the Uyghur Khanate in his name to deliver a letter of surrender. On the one hand, he wanted to win people's hearts, and on the other hand, he wanted to shake the morale of the Uyghur Khanate's army so that the Arab army that was going east could take down the Uyghur Khanate with minimal casualties.
Even when Turgun's Arab army, which was leading the eastward expedition, reached the territory of the Uyghur Khanate, they still could not wait for the Uyghur Khanate to surrender voluntarily.
The 500,000-strong Arab Empire army then split into four routes and marched toward the four cities of Black Tiger, Meijian, Qatun, and Princess on the outskirts of the Uyghur Khanate.
Just as the generals of the Uyghur Khanate had predicted, the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary force focused its attack on Princess City, a key Uyghur town of great geographical and political significance.
The remaining three cities—Black Tiger, Eyebrows, and Khatun—were all feint attacks.
The news that Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, had taken the initiative to lead his troops to guard the Princess City had already spread far and wide among the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army.
Therefore, Turhong made a last-minute adjustment to the siege operation plan, amassed 300,000 troops outside Princess City, intending to complete the strategic goal that was not achieved in the Battle of Talas—to annihilate the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty!
August, the first year of the Zhaowu reign of the Tang Dynasty.
The second battle between the Tang Dynasty and the Arab Empire, two super-empires of the East and West, officially began in Princess City of the Uyghur Khanate in the Western Regions.
In this battle, the defenders of Princess City were a combined force consisting of Lan Yu, the Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, and his 10,000-strong Anxi Iron Army and 20,000-strong Uyghur garrison.
Their opponents were a massive Arab army of 300,000 men, led by Turgun, the greatest warrior of the Abbasid Caliphate and the Grand General of the Arab Empire's Eastern Expedition.
Furthermore, there were supply trains composed of hundreds of thousands of people and slaves from various Western Regions countries, providing logistical support for the Arab Empire's attacking army.
On this day, in the central command tent of the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army camp.
General Turhun sat in the main seat in the tent, flanked by his Arab generals and the Turkic advisor Batel.
It is worth mentioning that Tibbis, the king of Wusun who had been restored to power, was among them, with the help of the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary force.
Before the great battle, King Tibis humbled himself and volunteered to General Turhong: "General, in this battle for Princess City, I and my ten thousand Wusun soldiers are willing to join the army to attack the city."
"I only ask that after the city falls, the Great General bestows the title of Marquis of Anxi of the Tang Dynasty, Lan Yu, upon the Wusun Kingdom, so that I may avenge the Wusun people who died tragically at Lan Yu's hands."
"To avenge my queen!"
"I hope the General will grant my request!"
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