Chapter 26: Despicable Plot

  Li Changguo is now the real first general of Anxi Duhu Fu, and only he can live up to the two words "brave and fierce".

  "Thank you, Deputy!"

  Li Changguo bowed and thanked him.

  Everyone gazed at Li Changguo with admiration and envy, wishing they could switch places with him.

  They admired not the title of Colonel, among them many were generals, with a higher military rank than Li Changguo, it was impossible to admire his military rank, they admired Gao Xianzhi's promotion of Li Changguo to Colonel at the city gate.

  This shows that Gao Xianzhi held Li Changguo in extremely high esteem, otherwise he would not have been so hasty to promote him to Colonel at the city gate.

  What an immense honor!

  Gao Xianzhi was a famous general of his time, with many brave generals under his command. With Li Sili also being one of them, no one else could have achieved such glory. Who wouldn't be deeply impressed?

  Li Siye and Duan Xiushi also looked on with envy.

  Upon careful consideration, it seems that only Li Changguo is worthy of this honor. The crowd cheers for Li Changguo once again!

  "Hmm!"

  Gao Xianzhi looked at Li Changguo, the more he looked, the happier he became. He turned his head and said to Li Siye: "Siye, you have captured Gesang Sengong, which is enough to promote you to general. But this general must be reported to the imperial court. After this battle is over, when we return to the Anxi Protectorate, I will report it to His Majesty again."

  Li Siye was originally a school lieutenant, and it was only one step away from the general. The capture of Tubo's great general Gesang Suozhe was enough to promote him to general, which was expected by many people early on.

  Gao Xianzhi was the vice military governor of Anxi Protectorate, equivalent to a deputy commander of a military region today. He had the power to appoint and remove junior officers, but not generals, which required a petition to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

  "Thank you, Deputy!"

  Li Siye finally became a general from a school lieutenant, although he still needs the court's approval, this is just a procedure, it will not be disapproved.

  "Thanks, brother!" Li Siye thanked Gao Xianzhi and then rushed to pay his respects to Li Changguo. If it weren't for Li Changguo yielding to him, this general would have definitely been delayed for a while. He was deeply grateful to Li Changguo from the bottom of his heart.

  "No need to thank me!"

  Li Changguo smiled slightly.

  Seeing his two brave generals getting along so well, Gao Xianzhi felt extremely relieved.

  The crowd swarmed around Gao Xianzhi and Bian Lingcheng as they entered Lianyun Fortress, each face filled with joy and excitement. However, there was one thing that marred the scene: the fortress was dirty and disorganized, offending the eye. Bian Lingcheng covered his nose, his face twisted in distaste as he surveyed the cow and horse dung on the ground, his brow furrowed tightly: "Is this a city? Even a stable in Chang'an is cleaner than this!"

  "These Tubo people have no conscience!"

  Gao Xianzi frowned and was somewhat disdainful.

  "General, you don't know this, but the Tubo people are fond of cattle and like to live in cowsheds!"

  Just as everyone didn't know what to say, Li Changguo made a joke.

  "Hah!"

  This remark was quite interesting, and Bian Liangcheng couldn't help but burst out laughing. Gong Ya's voice was extremely shrill as he pointed at Li Changguo and said: "You're not only fearless in battle, but your words are also quite amusing!"

  "It's impossible for people to always be fighting, right? From time to time, come and have some fun, that's the only way it'll be exciting!" Li Changguo responded with a smile.

  Gao Xianzhi, Bian Lingcheng, Li Siye and Duan Xiushi all nodded heavily in agreement. "One man is always fighting, lacking interest, this life is too dull."

  Entering Gesang Sorchot's command tent, Gao Xianzhi sat down on his throne without any courtesy and began to issue orders. The first thing was to count the casualties and spoils of war.

  The Tang army launched a surprise attack, greatly exceeding the expectations of the Tibetans. With Li Changgui and Li Siye leading the charge, the Tang army suffered minimal casualties, with only over 40 dead and around 300 wounded. The victory was overwhelming, annihilating over 1,600 Tibetan defenders at little cost.

  The Tang army was well-trained, with strict military discipline, excellent equipment, advanced tactics, and extremely strong combat effectiveness. They were good at winning big victories at a small cost, and such victories were common in the Tang Dynasty.

  Li Jing's night raid on Yin Mountain and Su Dingfang's destruction of the Western Turks are all classic examples of this!

  Many generals take it for granted and don't think much of it, as if it's a matter of course.

  "Report to the Vice Commander!"

  Duan Xiushi walked in with a dark face, furious, suppressing his anger and reporting to Gao Xianzhi: "A large scimitar has been found!"

  "Big Eater Curved Knife?"

  The smile on Gao Xianzhi's face vanished in an instant, replaced by a stern frost. His entire being was as cold as the primordial ice of the universe. He suddenly stood up and said, "Present it to me!"

  Duan Xiushi beckoned with his hand, and several Tang soldiers came in, placing dozens of large curved knives on the ground.

  The curved blade of the knife is in a crescent moon shape, with floral patterns all over it, extremely smooth and beautiful, shining brightly, one glance and you can tell how sharp it is.

  "Isn't this the Damascus knife?" Li Changguo's eyes suddenly lit up.

  Damascus steel is a famous sword in the world, with great reputation in history. The term "Damascus steel" was coined by Westerners; at that time, there was no such term, and it was called "Tafur curved knife" during the Tang Dynasty.

  The Damascus steel originally came from Persia, after the Persian Empire was destroyed by the Great Food (Arab Empire), its production technology fell into the hands of the Great Food, and a large number of equipment was equipped with the Great Food army.

  The appearance of the large food curved knife here indicates that the large food provided military aid to Tibet, using Tibet to contain the Tang Dynasty. This is exactly why Duan Xiushi was particularly angry.

  As early as the first year of Tianbao, Tubo and Dashi formed an alliance to attack Xiaoboluo, which was defeated by the Tang army. The strong attack failed, and the Tibetan Zanpu used the princess to tempt Su Shi, who betrayed the Tang Dynasty for beauty.

  Xiao Boluo's betrayal led to the Tang army's expedition, and there is today's southern campaign.

  "Abu Muslim, your hand has reached too far!"

  Gao Xianzhi's eyes gleamed with a fierce light, staring at the giant curved knife on the ground, his voice thundering out one word at a time, like a prehistoric beast roaring in anger.

  Abu Muslim was the governor of the eastern provinces of the Abbasid Caliphate, in charge of handling affairs in the east. The affairs of the east for the Abbasid Caliphate meant dealing with China, and the Abbasid Caliphate had always harbored a fantasy of conquering China and enslaving its people.

  The Silk Road is the main artery of transportation between East and West, promoting trade and exchange between the two. At the same time, it also spread China's wealth to the West, which was called the "Golden Country" by Westerners, making them envious, among whom there were madmen who wanted to conquer and enslave China.

  The first to put it into action was Alexander the Great.

  Alexander's expedition was very famous in history, but its purpose was to fight China. It is said that when he set out, his teacher Aristotle gave him a map of China. The map had errors, and Alexander's direction of attack was wrong, and he fought his way into India instead.

  After Alexander, although there were no lack of madmen who wanted to enslave China, they had no way to put it into action. The ones who really took action were the Great Food Empire.

  The conquest speed of the Arabs was whirlwind-like, quickly conquering the Middle East and entering Central Asia, getting closer to China. As early as the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the Eastern Governor of the Arabs, Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, had thought of conquering China. He told his two top generals, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim and Qutayba ibn Muslim, that whoever stepped foot on Chinese territory first would be made the governor of China.

  The great food was in the third year of Kaiyuan and the fifth year of Kaiyuan, when it launched a large-scale invasion of the Western Regions, attempting to occupy the four towns of Anxi, but was defeated by the Tang Dynasty.

  Although these two eastern expeditions ended in failure, the Great Food Empire is still not giving up!