"So that counts as destroying a nation in a single war."
Liu Bei's voice had gone a little dry.
At the beginning, he had felt admiration for Tang's achievements.
After that came shock.
And now—
Looking back at the road they had walked together with history laid bare before them:
Tuyuhun, Xueyantuo, Eastern Turkic Khaganate, Gaochang, Kucha…
Liu Bei's heart had already grown as calm as an ancient well.
Just as Wen Mang had said—
The victory of this war was beyond doubt. It was only natural.
"This can also be considered the lingering momentum of Tang Taizong's great vigor," Kongming said, turning his head slightly.
From the results alone, Tang seemed to win battle after battle.
But the danger hidden within, and the sheer number of coincidences and gambles, could not be ignored.
For example—
Tang Taizong borrowing the title of Heavenly Khagan to remotely manipulate the internal politics of the Western Turks.
Supporting the weak to restrain the strong, provoking brother against brother,
and then seizing the opportunity to intervene in the affairs of the Western Regions.
Kongming could almost see it—
One delegation of Tang envoys after another, riding along these rugged roads.
Their names never recorded in history, yet little by little prying open the balance of power across the Western Regions.
And the more he looked back, the more he sighed in admiration.
"Tang Taizong lived barely fifty years," Kongming said slowly.
"He pacified chaos, governed the realm, recovered the Western Regions, and struck Liaodong."
"For ordinary men, completing even one of these would count as a great achievement."
"As for him… no wonder later generations hailed him as an emperor for the ages."
Zhang Fei felt the same admiration—
but suddenly remembered something.
"Speaking of which, I recall Big Brother's age is al—"
Liu Bei didn't even look at him before cutting him off.
"That is why we must emulate his courage and strive forward!"
"We must also learn from Su Dingfang and Li Jing—
men who, past fifty, still rose to action. It is never too late!"
Zhang Fei was left speechless. After a pause, he muttered,
"That's… that's what I was trying to say."
Liu Bei chuckled, clearly unconvinced.
Kongming watched the scene and burst into laughter, clapping his hands.
Fa Zheng, meanwhile, was studying Su Dingfang's tactics against the Turks.
"It seems the Tang army is not only skilled at commanding cavalry," he said,
"but also at restraining cavalry."
When Fa Zheng had returned to Chengdu alongside Zhang Fei,
he had asked about the situation in Yong and Liang.
Now Han Sui had fled far away. Rumor had it Pang Tong intended to trick him onto the plateau—
No.
More accurately, to invite him to the plateau, to serve as the vanguard for the Han, fully exercising the authority of General Who Conquers the West.
Only Ma Chao remained in Yong and Liang.
He and his subordinates held Jian Yong in high regard,
and with Pang Tong's eloquence added to the mix, the region could be considered stable.
Which meant the real problem now—
Was Xiahou Yuan, stationed in Chang'an, and the ten thousand cavalry under his command.
Kongming understood what Fa Zheng was thinking. After a brief consideration, he said:
"Su Dingfang commands relatively few troops,
so he deploys long spears throughout—first seeking invincibility, then seeking victory."
"If we fight on the Guanzhong Plain, and are not inferior in numbers,
we could adopt the infantry formations the Former Han used against the Xiongnu, combined with Tang's formation techniques."
"In the center: bows, crossbows, long spears, and blades in four layers.
Light cavalry on both flanks to meet the enemy."
Fa Zheng nodded slightly and committed it to memory.
[Lightscreen]
[The Tang dynasty spent a very long time, step by step, gnawing away at its old friend—the Western Turkic Khaganate.
Fortunately, the final rewards were considerable.
Over four hundred thousand people and livestock were taken in total.
But the greater reward, of course, was territorial expansion.
Between the Western Regions and the Aral Sea, Tang established the Mengchi Protectorate and the Kunling Protectorate.
The dividing line between the two protectorates was the Chu River.
This river's name came from the Chu region of China.
Today, it flows through what is now Kyrgyzstan—and it carries a story belonging to the mighty Han.
Before the Western Han, it was called the Sai River.
In the early years of Emperor Yuan of Han, the already crippled Xiongnu fell into internal strife.
Chanyu Huhanye submitted to Han.
Chanyu Zhizhi expanded westward.
Seeing Huhanye enter Han service, Zhizhi thought,
"Well, I figure nobody wants this land anyway?"
So he began to encroach on Huhanye's territory.
What he didn't expect—
Was that Huhanye would soon return to the Western Regions alongside Han forces,
and wipe out every group that dared bare its fangs at the Han.
Unwilling to accept this, Zhizhi fled west again.
But before leaving, he did something major.
He wrote a pitiful letter, convincing Emperor Yuan to release his son.
Then—perhaps out of spite—he killed the Han envoy Gu Ji,
and fled to Kangju.
Zhizhi resolved to rest his horses and sharpen his blades there.
He would focus on development, on building strength—
on making a stunning comeback and reclaiming his status as lord of the steppes.
What arrived instead—
Was Han's punishment.
In the third year of Jianzhao, Protector-General Gan Yanshou and Deputy Commandant Chen Tang led an expedition straight into Kangju.
Zhizhi Chanyu had a chance to flee.
But, as history so often repeats itself, he made a familiar judgment:
"The Han army has come from far away—they cannot sustain a long siege."
The Han army answered him with thunder.
Encirclement on all sides.
The outer city fell. Then the inner city.
Fires rose from every direction. War drums shook the sky.
Zhizhi was forced into the inner palace,
where he was beheaded by Acting Commandant Du Xun.
When Chen Tang returned to the capital to report his merits,
he submitted that memorial which would echo through the ages:
"Let his head be hung at the Barbarian Lodge on Gaoshi Street,
to be displayed across ten thousand li.
Those who offend the mighty Han—
though distant, must be punished."
After the battle, Chen Tang ordered a city built near the Sai River to guard the frontier.
Many soldiers of the expedition were from Chu.
To commemorate their homeland, they renamed the river—Chu River.
Seven hundred years later, the Tang dynasty recovered this land once more,
and again used the river as the boundary between two protectorates.
Across time and space, two great dynasties reached out to one another in Central Asia.]
Liu Bei nearly burst into tears.
And everyone present felt the same.
Their mighty Han was no weaker than the glorious Tang that came after!
And the reason they had gathered here—
Was because of such a mighty Han.
And for the sake of such a mighty Han.
Zhang Fei clenched his fist, his goal suddenly crystal clear.
Even if they couldn't restore the borders to that extent right away—
at the very least, he would lead troops there someday,
find a few blind fools to draw blood,
and use it to honor those ancestors!
Kongming, knowing the matter well, recalled it and smiled helplessly.
"Strictly speaking," he said,
"Gan Yanshou and Chen Tang were also envoys."
Liu Bei composed himself and spoke slowly.
"At the time, the two led escort troops on a diplomatic mission to the Western Regions."
"When Chen Tang met Zhizhi Chanyu,
he proposed seizing the moment—mobilizing frontier garrison troops,
summoning forces from vassal states of the Western Regions,
and launching a surprise attack."
"Gan Yanshou agreed with the idea, but insisted on submitting a report to the court first."
"Chen Tang believed the opportunity would vanish if delayed,
and that such rigidity would ruin everything."
Fa Zheng took over with a grin.
"And before they could even finish arguing—Gan Yanshou fell ill."
"Chen Zigong was decisive."
"He forged an imperial decree, used Gan Yanshou's name,
conscripted garrison troops and forces from Wusun, Cheshi, and others,
gathered forty thousand men—
and wiped out Zhizhi Chanyu in a single battle."
Fa Zheng shook his head in admiration.
He found it hard to judge such extraordinary actions.
After all, even Cui Shi once criticized Emperor Yuan as the root of Han's misfortunes.
Still—
Fa Zheng deeply admired Emperor Yuan's tolerance afterward.
The emperor issued an edict pardoning both men for issuing a false decree.
Gan Yanshou was ennobled as Marquis of Yicheng and appointed Commandant of Changshui.
Chen Tang was made Marquis Within the Pass and appointed Commandant of Shesheng.
Each was also granted three hundred households and one hundred jin of gold.
"It's just a pity later generations didn't include this river within—"
Liu Bei stopped mid-sentence.
He shook his head.
"After Song's southern retreat and the Mongol invasion,
the Hexi Corridor withered away. It's not something that could be forced."
After all, as Wen Mang had made clear—
by the Ming, even Hexi had turned into desert.
No farmland. No water. Survival itself became a problem,
let alone defending such territory.
Which only strengthened his resolve.
"Now that Hexi is still rich in water and grass," Liu Bei said firmly,
"we will never be content to lag behind others!"
Everyone roared in agreement.
[Lightscreen]
[A man cannot be unlucky forever—and Su Dingfang was proof of that.
After the Western Turks were destroyed in 658,
the following year Su Dingfang received news:
Someone had rebelled again beyond the Pamirs.
After watching Little Lu take the male lead role for the second time,
Su Dingfang could no longer sit still.
And in Li Zhi's mind, Su Dingfang was exceedingly reliable.
Thus ruler and minister hit it off at once.
Su Dingfang was ordered to command ten thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry—
all elite troops—and march west.
Officially, it was called suppressing rebellion.
In reality, it was another campaign of annihilation.
Su Dingfang set out in high spirits.
What he didn't expect—
Was that halfway through Qinghai, he ran straight into the Tibetans.
By this time, relations between Tibet and Tang were long gone.
After all, Songtsen Gampo and Li Shimin—the father-in-law and son-in-law—
had both been dead for years.
Tibet's script, on the other hand, was all too familiar.
Songtsen Gampo died suddenly, his son still young.
Naturally, the state affairs fell into the hands of the chancellor—Gar Tongtsen Yülsung.
A name even more familiar to us: Lu Dongzan.
Lu Dongzan's ambitions were no secret.
The annexation of the Bailan Qiang,
the occupation of Tuyuhun—
all were quietly carried out under his direction.
In 656, after leading one hundred and twenty thousand troops to completely swallow the Bailan Qiang,
Lu Dongzan stationed forces at Jishi Mountain—within modern Qinghai—
and began sharpening his knives against the remnants of Tuyuhun.
Naturally, Tang was neither informed nor consulted.
And Su Dingfang, pushing for rapid advance,
happened to pass right through this very area.
Thus, the two sides encountered one another at Wuhai
(near modern Longyang Gorge, south of Qinghai Lake).
Both sides were startled.
Tibet's commander was Vice Chancellor Dayan Mangbu Zhi,
leading eighty thousand Tibetan troops.
Tang's commander—
Was Su Dingfang himself, with thirteen thousand elite soldiers.
Startled but decisive, Su Dingfang executed several rapid maneuvers,
trampled the enemy formation, and shattered them completely.
After the unquestionable victory, he hurried west without pause—
He still had a rebellion to suppress.
In Tang histories, this battle merited only a single line:
"At Wuhai, with fewer defeating more, he routed Tibet."
Not even the number of kills was recorded—
very likely because Su Dingfang himself didn't know.
Tibet's records, however, were meticulous.
Because the battle caused significant upheaval within Tibet.
Dayan Mangbu Zhi was killed on the spot.
Lu Dongzan was held accountable and dismissed as chancellor on grounds of age.
Womeidai Leizan became the new chancellor.
This unlucky fellow was soon assassinated.
Lu Dongzan returned to power—
a major political incident in Tibetan history.
Su Dingfang paid it no mind.
This general, shelved for half his life, had only one thought left:
Finish the KPI.
He never wanted to sit on a cold bench again.
Driven by this urgency, Su Dingfang launched a forced march—
three hundred li in a single day and night.
And thus the rebel chief, Sijie Que Sijin Duman,
was delighted to discover—
He went to sleep,
and when he woke up, Tang troops were already surrounding the city.
Duman was forthright.
He bound himself and surrendered outside the city.
It was, by far, the easiest nation-annihilation battle Su Dingfang ever fought.]