The new era and the old era would inevitably collide. Zhou Chong was the first to feel the power of this impact. When he led three thousand men and over ten thousand livestock onto the road to Greater Feichuan, Jishi Mountain had already erupted in towering flames. The thick smoke rising from the mountain—even from fifty li away, he could see it crystal clear. That place must surely be a purgatory.
“General, stop looking. The attack launched by the Grand Commander is devastating. The Tubo people on Jishi Mountain have no possibility of surviving. Where the Camel City passes, not a blade of grass grows—this saying isn’t just talk.” The crossbow camp colonel, carrying his large pack on his back, reminded Zhou Chong in a low voice. This was no time for being dazed. His words were somewhat blunt, because without command authority, his speech had become casual.
Zhou Chong wasn’t angry. He raised his head to look at the thirty-two hot air balloons above his head, painted with fierce patterns. Not detecting any warning signal from them, he raised his voice in a great shout: “Let’s go! Brothers, we’re moving! The brothers at Greater Feichuan are waiting to eat noodles!”
Everyone was on foot. Zhou Chong himself carried especially many things—even two jars of wine hung around his neck. These were for the Grand Commander. After over a year without alcohol, the Grand Commander had begun to love drinking mare’s milk, which was very wrong. The Grand Commander should drink liquor, not some mare’s milk. Only women and young children would like that white, insipid stuff.
Yun Ye received the message transmitted from the hot air balloons. The observation soldiers had already reported that Zhou Chong’s convoy had drilled into the mountains. This stretch of road was extremely difficult to traverse. The narrowest places could only allow two horses to pass side by side. As long as they made it through this treacherous area, Yun Ye didn’t believe that Tubo’s roving cavalry could block his fully-equipped and fully-staffed crossbow camp on open ground.
The raging flames on Jishi Mountain melted the accumulated snow on the mountain peak. Turbid snowmelt spread down from the smooth mountaintop and drilled into the flames. Gathering fire oil that hadn’t yet burned clean, it slithered about everywhere like fire serpents. The Tubo people’s magnificent encampment had already been completely devoured by the great fire. Two thousand Tubo people hadn’t even had time to shoot a single arrow before they turned to flying ash.
From the first moment they saw the Camel City, they immediately chose to hold fast. Jishi Mountain couldn’t be considered large, but it excelled in steepness. Li Jing’s main army had launched three fierce attacks without being able to pull out this nail stuck in the plain, so the Tubo commander was extremely confident, believing that if he could defend against Li Jing, he could certainly defend against Yun Ye.
He was wrong. Different equipment created different results. After the menacing hot air balloons flew to the mountain peak, countless fire oil jars fell from the sky. Following closely were small iron balls with sparks. The terrified Tubo people hadn’t even recovered from the shock the hot air balloons brought them before being swallowed by flames that could burn on bare stone.
The great fire on Jishi Mountain was also clearly seen by Gar Tongtsen, who was at Xingxing Gorge. From the moment the hot air balloons appeared, he clearly knew that Yun Ye had come. Although he didn’t know why Yun Ye would come from Luanshi City to here to launch an attack against him, as an excellent commander, he smelled the scent of danger.
Xingxing Gorge had always been a place that military strategists contested. Xingxing Gorge was not a valley but rather a pass—that is, a mountain pass. One side was mountain, one side was river. The mountain wasn’t so high and the water wasn’t deep either. Heading west out of Liuyuan, once you passed Xingxing Gorge, you were considered to have thoroughly entered the Western Regions. It was the only passage from the Hexi Corridor into the frontier province, known as the first throat of the Western Regions. Inside the gorge, cliffs rose a thousand zhang, the roads were rugged, precipitous and terrifying—it was the only traversable passage, at its narrowest point only a dozen meters wide.
If Tubo were to send out troops, going east they could directly attack Shazhou, going west they could reach straight to Khotan and Kucha. Therefore, as long as they held Xingxing Gorge, they could choke the Great Tang’s throat for ruling the Western Regions, occupying an extremely advantageous strategic position. Li Jing’s main army had at its furthest point broken through Xingxing Gorge and marched to Blackstone Mountain, but were blocked by the treacherous terrain there. The main army couldn’t station all forces there, so they only left two thousand soldiers at Blackstone Mountain to build a fortress. Because the mountains here were all red sand mountains lacking the stones necessary for fortress construction, they failed to successfully build it. Blackstone Mountain fortress only completed the corner towers on four sides before being seized by Gar Tongtsen. The two thousand soldiers fought as they retreated. When they reached Xingxing Gorge, they were finally completely annihilated. So this place was also Li Jing’s place of sorrow.
Yun Ye was famous for setting fires. Gar Tongtsen had long since made adjustments to Jishi Mountain. To prevent the Tang people from using fire attacks, he specifically had all the sparse vegetation on Jishi Mountain removed. He hadn’t expected that they still couldn’t escape a fire disaster.
“The Camel City cannot enter Xingxing Gorge!” Li Jing sat in Yun Ye’s main tent and said wearily.
“I never planned to go in. I just plan to drag Gar Tongtsen firmly for ten days. I also didn’t plan to interfere with your theater of operations. However, for my Uncle Cheng to be able to eat a full meal, I’ve taken this great impropriety upon myself.” Yun Ye was also utterly exhausted throughout his body, speaking listlessly and lazily.
“Do you know that Jishi Mountain was a place I specifically left for Gar Tongtsen? As long as someone was defending there, he wouldn’t dare leave lightly. I always wanted to have a great battle with Gar Tongtsen at Jishi Mountain, not choose to have a great battle at Xingxing Gorge. You’ve destroyed my entire plan.”
“When people are anxious, they think less. When they think less, mistakes are inevitable. I’m young and hot-tempered, without your composure of sitting steady as a rock. Being able to devour two thousand Tubo people, I already consider it a victory.”
Li Jing picked up his sword and walked out of Yun Ye’s command tent. After a short while, he walked back in and asked: “You’re already covered in troubles—arrogant and tyrannical, devastating the world, crossing borders to wage war, burying surrendered prisoners, forcing a prince to death. Each of these charges is enough for you to bear. Why add this crime of acting without orders? You’ve always been a clever person. You can’t not know that all the civil officials in Chang’an are waiting to deal with you. I heard that the censors and remonstrance officials at the Western Pavilion keep memorials impeaching you in their sleeves every day. As long as they discover a suitable opportunity, they’ll memorialize. Although His Majesty wholeheartedly protects you, don’t you yourself know to restrain yourself a bit?”
Yun Ye raised his teacup and saluted Li Jing, saying: “If I restrain myself and repent, do you think those remonstrance officials will let me go? These charges aren’t enough to make His Majesty chop off my head, right? As long as my head isn’t chopped off, it doesn’t count as a major matter.”
“You’re truly not suitable for commanding large armies, truly not suitable. A qualified commander must first be cold-blooded—not only cold-blooded toward enemies, but when necessary, cold-blooded toward one’s own people as well. You can’t do this, so this old man says you’re unqualified. That you can lead a great army across ten thousand li and win a hundred battles in a hundred engagements is Heaven protecting you.”
“After returning this time, don’t command large armies anymore. Focus on being your Minister of War. I’ve already memorialized His Majesty to recommend you. You’re not suitable for leading armies, but you’re the most suitable candidate under heaven for Minister of War. On this point, your principle of not abandoning, not giving up will greatly benefit the Great Tang military. Your honor and favor will also bring blessings to the soldiers.”
“This time you attacked Jishi Mountain and Xingxing Gorge because you received my invitation. I lacked siege equipment, so I invited you to join the battle. Remember, when others ask you, say it like this.”
Yun Ye remained silent and saw Li Jing off. Watching his silhouette disappear on the Gobi, for a peerless famous general to admit inferiority—how much courage did that require? Only then did Yun Ye raise his head, but he quickly lowered it again. Li Tai had once said that doing this was useless—tears that flowed out couldn’t seep back in.
“Take out all our remaining fire oil and gunpowder. Release the hot air balloons to their farthest tether range. The Camel City will attack forcefully forward until it can advance no further. I want to see if Xingxing Gorge truly cannot be conquered. Even if it cannot be conquered, I will set a fire here the likes of which this world has never seen.”
Since the Camel City appeared, Gar Tongtsen had not left the observation platform. For a full two hours he stared fixedly at the Camel City, preparing to watch carefully how this invincible fortress actually operated. Last time in the great sandstorm, he only felt terror without truly watching carefully how the Camel City operated. This time, looking down from above, everything could be seen very clearly…
The Camel City formed into a square fortress suddenly began to move, like playing with building blocks, transforming from a square fortress into a long strip. The shape changed but its formation remained solid. Changing from square to a long strip—this was planning to drill into Xingxing Gorge.
Gar Tongtsen had never been a stubborn person. On the contrary, he was very open-minded and liked to accept new things. He had gone to the Great Tang three times in succession to seek a marriage alliance for Songtsen Gampo. His purpose was to acquire various advanced crafts. He even dreamed that the Tang Emperor would provide the princess with a dowry of all kinds of craftsmen. Unfortunately, that country hadn’t given him even the slightest respect or trust.
He purchased many books. No matter what books they were, they were all on his purchase list. Many times, he regarded these books as his greatest gain in the Tang state.
Ever since Yun Ye began using fire oil, Gar Tongtsen also began pondering fire oil. Several times he lurked near that military camp by the Ba River to spy. He spared no expense trying to purchase a set of such refining equipment through other channels. He bought the item but had no way to transport it out—the checkpoint inspections at Sanyuan County were extremely troublesome.
These were all regrets, regrets almost impossible to remedy. If he could also refine oil, Xingxing Gorge would be the Camel City’s burial ground. He greatly yearned for that fire oil that burned the Turkic people into fleeing in panic.
The hot air balloons rose—only five of them. Where did the rest go? A question suddenly arose in Gar Tongtsen’s mind. The hot air balloons swaying with the wind, dragging long tails, wobbled ahead into Xingxing Gorge. Their flying height was such that even eagle-shooting archers could do nothing about it.
The eight-ox crossbows on the Camel City were adjusting their elevation angles. The crossbow arrows on the eight-ox crossbows could be triggered at any moment.
Gar Tongtsen’s eyes didn’t blink as he watched his mortal enemy at his feet open its great mouth full of fangs. His own attack hadn’t yet arrived, but the enemy’s attack had already fallen on the attack points he’d arranged.
Extremely accurate. With just one volley of gunpowder crossbow arrows, countless people howled and fled backward. Gar Tongtsen angrily struck the stone wall once. These warriors who had just come down from the Tubo plateau still didn’t know what gunpowder crossbows were—they thought this was the thunder of the great gods.
Although angry and ashamed, Gar Tongtsen wasn’t nervous. The Camel City was too large—it couldn’t enter Xingxing Gorge.