Lu Dongzan and Tu Shi had long since prepared for a firm defense, precisely to prevent Yun Ye from breaking through the encirclement. Forty thousand troops trapped at the small Wild Horse Beach, surrounded by several hundred thousand enemies—as long as one was human, one would feel tremendous pressure. Therefore, they had already prepared to await the exhausted enemy at their ease. Since attacking the camel fortress would cause massive casualties, it would be better to let the camel fortress actively launch attacks against them.

In the blink of an eye, ten days flew swiftly by. Lu Dongzan watched through gritted teeth as Tang army soldiers drew water at the clear springs. Some people even stripped off their clothes to bathe. On the camel fortress, one could even see garments hung out to dry by women. Apart from cavalry conducting uninterrupted daily patrols, Yun Ye’s side was eerily quiet. He seemed not to care in the slightest about being besieged by so many people.

The longer the time dragged on, the more Lu Dongzan’s heart sank. A camel fortress in motion would have gaps for him to exploit. Now it stood there as a fortified city, like a walnut—to eat the fruit meat, one must crack open the hard shell outside.

The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain had fallen. Thinking of Li Daozong’s ugly face, Lu Dongzan couldn’t help his fury. An arrow once released cannot return. Since he had determined that the situation in the Western Regions was more important than the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, this was the price he should pay.

“I don’t believe Yun Ye’s camel fortress can remain so carefree forever. I even feel this is a trap, deliberately staged for us to see. As long as we wait patiently a few more days, that Yun Ye will be unable to sit still and will actively attack. At that time, we’ll annihilate his entire army in the process of breaking through.”

Lu Dongzan shook his head and said to Tu Shi: “This person Yun Ye has hundreds of clever schemes. He is the Tang nation’s number one intelligent person. One cannot measure him with an ordinary person’s heart. I spent five years in the Tang nation and am quite familiar with that country. I’ve walked through almost all of Chang’an City’s marketplace lanes and alleys. Only one place have I never set foot in even once—that place is Yushan Academy!”

“It’s merely an academy, all scholarly literati studying books. What’s there to worry about? In the future when we break through Chang’an, you wanting to live inside won’t be a problem.” Tu Shi’s answer was quite boring.

Lu Dongzan looked sadly at his ally, suddenly pounding his fist on the table and saying: “That Yun Ye doesn’t attack—he must have something to rely on. These past days I’ve carefully observed the Tang army. Their demeanor is leisurely. This is absolutely not an act. It can only indicate they have no worries about food and clothing in the camel fortress. If we continue consuming resources like this, once Li Jing’s great army joins with Yun Ye’s great army, we’ll no longer have even half a chance. No matter what, tomorrow we must dispatch troops to test them.”

Lu Dongzan spoke these words but didn’t receive Tu Shi’s proper response. He raised his head, looked into Tu Shi’s eyes, and said word by word: “I know what scheme you’re harboring. You feel that besides eastern conquest, you still have the western conquest route to take, isn’t that right?”

“Stop dreaming. You killed Guo Xiaoke and his twenty thousand subordinate soldiers. How could that arrogant emperor of the Tang nation swallow this insult? Once we fail, even if it exhausts the eight wildernesses, he’ll find you and dismember your corpse into ten thousand pieces. In fact, from the moment we began the eastern conquest, no one has had a retreat route. We can only grit our teeth and continue forward.”

“Let’s go to battle tomorrow. Even if we must fill it with human lives, we must probe Yun Ye’s strength and weakness. If you won’t do it, we Tubo people will.”

Lu Dongzan saw the entire eastern conquest situation very clearly—that is, these people of theirs absolutely could not have any retreat route whatsoever. Since they had already betrayed their suzerain state, there was only one path to run into darkness. No one could withstand the punishment from the Tang nation.

Tu Shi nodded helplessly. Annihilating Guo Xiaoke’s forces had already severely damaged the Turkic coalition army’s vitality. Now having to deal with Yun Ye, who was several times more powerful than Guo Xiaoke, he seemed to see again the bones piled like mountains beneath Qiuci City.

The Great Elder’s letter was like a branding iron tucked in his bosom, ironing his heart and spirit at every moment. It turned out Shache was very easy to attack. It turned out the Caliphate people were very weak in this generation. It turned out the Tianzhu people’s army was so vulnerable to a single blow.

After hatred was shattered by cruel reality, all that remained were considerations of vital interests. The Great Elder had told him in detail about the true situation in the rear, also told him of the tribe’s difficult circumstances. Finally, when describing the situation of Boma entering the Shache nation, he used just one sentence to describe it: ten thousand men attacking the city could take it in one drumbeat.

Ten thousand men could level Shache. Why should he, leading over four hundred thousand soldiers, fight desperately against the fiercest enemy in the desert? Only at this moment did Tu Shi understand—the price of revenge was too tragic, so tragic he could hardly accept it.

The desert morning still carried threads of cool air. The camel fortress had already begun bustling with activity, because today was different from past days. Large groups of Turkic and Tubo people crossed the ditch and began attacking the camel fortress.

Because the cavalry patrol routes had already been occupied by the Tubo and Turkic people, Cheng Chumo led his cavalry to stand on the high slope, watching from afar the tide-like surging enemies. Yun Ye did not permit his cavalry to enter that area without much grass. After soldiers cut the grass to feed the camels, they conveniently buried gunpowder in that region. This was also a new type of gunpowder bomb, reportedly made specifically for infantry. Its power wasn’t great and generally wouldn’t cause death, but it could bring tremendous harm to legs.

A soldier discovered that the Tubo people had all entered the gunpowder zone. He lit a thick fuse and fled desperately toward his own formation, running very rhythmically.

The earth thus collapsed. The Turkic people had seen gunpowder bombs before, but how could they imagine that the earth they most trusted would also crack and become fraught with danger? The explosion sounds were so dense that many people thought there was only one blast. After the gunpowder smoke dispersed, wounded soldiers were everywhere. All the elite warriors serving as the forward vanguard lay in pools of blood, emitting shrill screams.

Yun Ye withdrew his telescope and said to Du Ruhui: “In the future on battlefields, the application of gunpowder will reach a state of supernatural skill. I even dare assert that whoever masters the secret of gunpowder will control the greatest initiative for the remaining several hundred years. On this point, we’re temporarily one step ahead. There’s still much road to walk ahead.”

Du Ruhui also put down his telescope and sighed: “This old man worries that when warfare develops to its extreme in the future, everyone will use every possible means. As long as it’s a weapon that can effectively kill enemies, it will be taken out and used, just like how the Turkic people threw corpses everywhere before.”

The explosions in front had just ended when earth-shaking sounds again came from the rear formation. Du Ruhui looked at the rising black smoke and said again: “Was it appropriate after all, the way you wrote your memorial to His Majesty? We’re stable as Mount Tai in the camel fortress, yet you insisted on describing it as precarious as a pile of eggs. Your aunt is getting old. I don’t know if she can withstand this.”

“Old master, this is military convention. If we don’t describe it as critical and tragic, when the soldiers return to Chang’an in the future, it won’t be good for crediting their achievements, right? Look, Tu Shi touched and left immediately, clearly preserving his strength. I dare guarantee this fellow is certainly thinking of returning to Suiye City and Talas, then immediately beginning western conquest.”

“Do you think Tu Shi will pit the Tubo people?”

“That’s hard to say. It depends on whether Tu Shi has an ambitious hero’s wisdom. Actually, right now we’re being held by the Tubo people and can’t leave. He could calmly and unhurriedly withdraw troops, then turn to attack westward with full force. That he still hasn’t made a decision by now shows this fellow can’t achieve great things.”

“Listen, the Tubo people are still attacking without pause. The sound of gunpowder explosions has already rung out three times. Lu Dongzan can be considered a ruthless person. He knows that if he doesn’t continue, all previous efforts will be wasted. But he didn’t expect the Turkic people had already returned to the other side of the ditch.”

Du Ruhui somewhat pitied the single-minded Tubo people. He estimated that by now corpses were already everywhere on the ground.

“Place those wounded soldiers in front of the ditch, so the Turkic people can take them away.” After watching the battle situation for a while, Yun Ye issued orders to Liu Zhengwu.

“Those people can’t live. Getting wounded in high summer, especially gunpowder wounds, are the most difficult to heal. If you pity them, it would be cleaner to kill them with one blade.” Old Du felt Yun Ye’s methods went somewhat too far.

“When I can effectively strike the enemy, I absolutely won’t pass up the opportunity. Dying in one’s own people’s arms is more shocking than dying on the battlefield. These wounded soldiers might be able to help Tu Shi make up his mind earlier.”

After Yun Ye finished speaking, he went directly to the rear fortress. He wanted to see what supported the Tubo people in bravely stepping into a trap they clearly knew was one. Arriving at the rear fortress, he saw a Tubo person brandishing a fox tail on a spear point and understood everything. Whoever retreated, this fox tail would be hung on that fellow’s neck, signifying he was as cowardly as a fox.

“Commander! These fellows are truly ruthless. Up to now, not a single person has retreated past that fox tail. Lu Dongzan is determined to make these thousand Tubo people probe our strength and weakness.” Fan Hongyi was responsible for the rear fortress defense. Facing the Tubo people’s ferocity, he also secretly admired them greatly.

The Tubo people walked every step very carefully. This unconsciously stretched out the skirmish line, causing the gunpowder’s lethality to be not as great as at the beginning. Lu Dongzan’s thousand men weren’t thrown away in vain. He now at least already knew that when fighting Yun Ye’s great army, a loose battle line would definitely be much better than a dense battle formation.

As the Tubo people’s big feet crossed the alert line, the sound of eight-ox crossbows rang out. After just one wave of arrow rain, on the entire battle formation only that fellow brandishing the fox tail could still stand. He hesitated briefly, then actually chose to continue forward. Through his telescope, Yun Ye saw this fellow was crying, his expression extremely fierce. But he discovered this fellow’s footsteps had not the slightest hesitation. He even walked faster and faster. Later, he actually charged forward with his spear through the three-hundred-meter crossbow defense zone.

Yun Ye didn’t give the order. He knew that fellow could pass through the crossbow defense zone entirely thanks to his subordinates’ damned sense of honor. Tang people had this kind of virtue—they liked to respect fierce enemies, and even if dying at an enemy’s hand, they would face them with smiling countenances.

This was just a small child, the childish innocence not yet shed from his face. Standing beneath the fortress, holding a spear, he madly attacked the camel fortress. Apart from being able to carve shallow dents on the giant shields, he gained nothing.

Just as Fan Hongyi was preparing to order this Tubo person killed, a white yak slowly walked out from the Tubo military formation. This was the Tubo people’s most noble ceremony. They wanted to use this white yak to exchange for that brave small soldier.

“Kill him!” Du Ruhui softly gave the order to Fan Hongyi.