Chapter 30: Blood Debts

Cheng Wuting was a general of the Tang Dynasty. He fought with the Turks for a lifetime. There were no less than hundreds of thousands of Turks who died under him. Logically, Mochu and others should hate him to the core. However, what is unexpected is that Mochu and others respect Cheng Wu very much, with their eyebrows down and eyes down, looking trembling and trembling, for fear of being a little disrespectful.

Take the incense candle from the servant, Mochu lit it carefully, held it in front of his forehead, and loudly congratulated: "General Cheng: Mochu leads his army south. General Cheng has knowledge of the spirit of heaven. Please bless us to succeed in the battle, take down the three cities of surrender, and return to his home in Hetao!" He inserted the incense into the incense burner and bowed respectfully three times.

The ministers of the Later Turkic also burned incense like him and prayed in a low voice.

After the sacrifice was completed, Mochuo led the ministers out. Hou Yinsai looked puzzled, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Khan, this is the general of the Tang Dynasty. How do you pay tribute to him?"

Mochu looked at Hussein, saw his confused look in his eyes, and couldn't help laughing: "Brother Hussein, who said that we can't pay tribute to the generals of the Tang Dynasty?"

Hussein was even more difficult to understand: "Khan, is this Tang general who is kind to you?"

As he thought, unless Cheng Wuting had great kindness to the Later Turks, the Later Turks' monarchs and ministers would not be able to go to sacrifice. However, Mochu's answer was beyond his expectations, and he heard Mochu say: "It's not that there is a kindness, it's a grudge, it's a grudge! There are no less than tens of thousands of children of our clan who died in his hands, and he has a deep hatred!"

"This is this..." Hussein stuttered for a while before asking: "Well, Khan still wants to pay tribute to him? In the words of the Tang people, he should be crushed and ashes."

"Haha!" Not only did he smirk, but the Turkic ministers also laughed.

Looking at their expressions, they did not take Cheng Wupeng's killing against the Turks at all. Hussein was completely confused. After laughing, Mochuo said: "Brother Hussein, you don't know that what we, the Great Turks admired were heroes. Whether it was the heroes of our clan or the heroes of the enemy, we admired them. General Cheng led his army to fight with our clan and killed hundreds of thousands of people. We not only did not hate him, but instead admired him. Only a great hero like General Cheng has such ability! It's a pity that the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty did not understand and killed him. The Tang people did not cherish their talents, but we Great Turks pity General Cheng for his unjust grievances, so we established a temple for him and molded a golden body!"

As an enemy, Cheng Wuting killed hundreds of thousands of Turkic people. Mochuo not only did not hate him, but instead built temples for him and molded golden bodies. This is really believed. If it weren't for the historical records clearly, I wouldn't believe it.

"I don't understand, I don't understand!" Hussein kept shook his head.

"You don't understand, because you are not our great Turks!" Mochuo did not explain much, and led his ministers to the front of the army, glanced at his army, and came to a high place. With a wave of his hand, the Turkic army burst into earth-shaking cheers: "Khan! Khan!"

The cheers of 400,000 people were so majestic and astonishing, the sounds were rising up into the sky, shaking the earth.

After calming down, Mochu raised his voice and said, "The warriors of the Great Turks, this winter, our cattle and sheep have frozen to death! It doesn't matter, someone will compensate us! I, Mochu will lead you to the Tang people's territory to plunder and seize the food, tea, porcelain, silk, and the Tang people's watery women we need!"

"Khan! Khan!" These things are all the favorites of the Turks, and they are all excited and shout in unison.

Mochu continued: "This time, we will not come back if we go! We will take down the three cities of surrender! We will return to our home with abundant water and plants, the Hetao land where our ancestors lived! There is the real home of our Great Turks! Warriors of the Great Turks, let's go home!"

"Go home! Go home!" The army burst into a roar that shook the earth.

Regarding the Hetao land, we have to explain it here. "The Yellow River has many harms, only rich ones", this word refers to the Hetao land.

The Hetao area refers to the curved part of the Yellow River east of Helan Mountain, west of Luliang Mountain, south of Yin Mountain, and north of the Great Wall. The Yellow River first flows north along Helan Mountain, but because Yin Mountain blocks flow eastward, and finally flows south along Luliang Mountain, forming a "ji" shape, so it is called "Hetao".

The land of Hetao was fertile and the water and grass were lush. It was a rare place to breed and nurture. The Xiongnu, Xianbei and Turks all used this as their home to raise livestock and were rich for a while.

At the same time, the Hetao land is a strategic place connecting China and the grassland, and it was managed by dynasties of all dynasties. For China, the threat of the Hetao land lies mainly in two directions. One is that the front of the Hetao land is the Guanzhong Plain, the capital of the Qin Dynasty Xianyang, the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, and the capital of the Sui and Tang Dynasties Chang'an are all on the Guanzhong Plain.

The Hetao is only seven hundred miles away from the Guanzhong Plain, and the cavalry can reach Guanzhong in just a few days and threaten the capital. This is a sharp sword hanging over his head. Anyone with a little strategic mind will not be able to sleep well.

The nomadic people entrenched here made good use of the special geographical location of the Hetao area as a springboard to threaten China. During the Western Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu set out from Hetao and marched towards Guanzhong, and once burned down the palace of the Emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, the "Ganquan Palace", which was a very famous "Beacon Fire Ganquan" in history. It should have shocked the world and restless the government and the country.

Shortly after the "Xuanwu Gate Incident", the Eastern Turkic Khan Jie Li led a 100,000 army, and still set out from the Hetao area, approaching the Wei River and threatening the Great Wall of Kyoto. No one could tell what consequences would have happened if Emperor Taizong of Tang had not responded calmly.

Before the Song Dynasty, the Guanzhong region was "the world is victorious" and was one of the central areas of China. If the Guanzhong region threatened it, the consequences would be very serious.

Another threat to China by the Hetao Land is the Land of Yanyun. The Land of Yanyun is a strategic barrier to the heart of the Central Plains. Here is the granary we now call the "North China Plain" and the strategic location "Taihang Mountain". If the land of Yanyun is threatened, the hinterland of the Central Plains will also be subject to police.

Therefore, the Hetao land is very important to China. Only by controlling the Hetao land can the safety of Guanzhong and Yanyun land be guaranteed. It is from this point that after Qin Shihuang unified the country, he immediately invested 300,000 troops to attack the Hetao land. After Meng Tian recovered the Hetao land, the frontal threat from Guanzhong was lifted.

It is regrettable that those scholars who belittled Qin Shihuang denounced Qin Shihuang's wise decision as worthless and called Qin Shihuang a military man.

It is precisely because the strategic position of the Hetao land was extremely important that Emperor Wu of Han immediately built a city here after Wei Qing recovered the Hetao land. Not only did he build the Hetao land into a strategic barrier to protect the Kyoto Chang'an, but he also raised war horses here and accumulated food and grass. The Hetao land became a strategic base for attacking the Huns.

Without these efforts, no one can tell whether the unprecedented "Decisive Battle of Mobei" will fail.

The land of Hetao is important to China and to nomadic peoples. First, it is because it is a good strategic base and can pose a huge threat to China. Second, the water and grass here are fertile and suitable for living. Therefore, the nomadic people always spare no effort to occupy this fertile land.

The Huns took advantage of the war at the end of Qin and reoccupied the Hetao land. At that time, almost one-third of the Huns' war horses were raised here. This shows the importance of the Hetao land to the nomadic peoples.

The most important thing is that the Hetao land is warmer than the bitter and cold northern Mobei, and the possibility of suffering from snow disasters is greatly reduced. A snow disaster often causes countless cattle and sheep to be killed or injured, and it cannot recover its vitality in a few years. After suffering such a large snow disaster this year, the Turks miss the Hetao land even more, and they all want to return to the former home of this Feng Shui treasure land.

Mochuo's words came to the eyes of the Turks. How could they not be surprised? The cheers were hard to stop after a long time of old age. After a while, they stopped.

Mochu slapped his hands and said, "Bring it up!"

The sound of hooves was like thunder, and a team of Turkic troops drove tens of thousands of unclothed Han people. These Han people were border residents captured by the Turks. They were punished for hard labor and had been tortured to death long ago. They were as thin as fire, and could be blown down by the wind at any time.

The cold wind blew on them like a knife and couldn't help but tremble.

Seeing their appearance, the Turkic soldiers had no sympathy at all, their faces were ridiculous and their eyes were filled with contempt, as if these poor Han people were pigs or dogs, and they were not worthy of sympathy at all.

Mochuo just glanced at these Han people lightly and said coldly: "Warriors: These Tang people have been captured by us over the years. They are useless anymore. We don't have to support them like raising pigs and dogs! I will now lead you to the Tang people's place and plunder more slaves, and the Tang people's women will be allowed to enjoy!"

"Khan! Khan!" The specialty of the nomadic peoples is captivity and destruction. This is exactly what they say, and they are all very happy.

"Now, we will use their blood to sacrifice the flag!" Mochu issued a killing order.

A team of Turkic troops held Damascus swords and galloped over. The sound of rumbling hooves made the earth tremble. The snowflakes splashed from the horse's hooves were flying everywhere. The Damascus swords in their hands emitted dazzling light in the sunlight.

This Turkic army was the elite of Mochu, equipped with the great cannibal Damascus sword and iron armor. In just a short while, they rushed into the pile of Han people, and the Damascus sword in their hands flew up and down, and chopped down at the unarmed Han people.

These Han people were weak and powerless. In the face of disaster, they used their strength to escape, but where could they escape? They either cut them to death or trampled them to death by horse hooves.

This is a killing, a bloody killing!

Not long after, the heart-wrenching screams stopped ringing, and all the Han people made dead souls under the knife. The corpses all over the ground, the blood had not been enough to soak in the snow, condensed into ice, and pieces of blood ice were particularly conspicuous in the sun.

If you look from the sky, the background color of this snow scene is red, red stained with blood!

The Turkic army killed many Han people. On the five chapters, they killed 100,000 border residents at one time. To them, ten thousand people were just a minor meaning. Everyone's eyes were red and they were very excited. The Damascus sword in their hands showed sword flowers and cheered loudly: "Khan! Khan!"

Mochuo came to this army and shouted: "The warriors of the Great Turks: Are you going to have the best of your life?"

"No!"

"It doesn't matter if you don't have enough fun!" Mochuo began to stir up: "There are people in the Tang people. You can kill as much as you want! Use the scimitar in your hands to cut off the Tang people's head and listen to their screams before they die!"

"Kill all the Tang people!" The 400,000 army burst into a shocking roar.

"Warriors, hurry up and go home!" Mochu waved his hand, and the Turkic army began to set off and embarked on the journey southward.

The 400,000 army started to move, and the sound of the hooves was trembling.

If you look from the air, the Turks covered hundreds of miles of radius. It was not only the Turkish army that went south, but also the women, children, and the young and old. This was a great migration.

The nomadic war is very different from the war in China. In addition to the army, the war in China is the young and strong who transports food and fodder, and women, young and old will not follow.

The nomadic peoples are just the opposite. They have no logistics. When the army moves, countless women, young and old are often followed by, because they have to live with water and grass.

This is the case with the Huns, but the Turks are still like this. During the Warring States Period, the Huns Khan led an army of 300,000 to head south, preparing to fight with the Zhao army. They followed more than 200,000 tribes, and more than 500,000 people went south.

However, the population of more than 500,000 people survived only tens of thousands, and they were all slaughtered by King Wuling of Zhao. At that time, the Huns did not take the Zhao army seriously. The army was fighting in front of them, and the tribesmen watched the battle from not far behind, thinking that the battle was sure to win. However, they could not have thought that the Zhao army, which had passed the "Hu Clothing and Cavalry", was brave and good at fighting. The Huns' army was no match at all, and countless tribesmen were trampled to death by the defeated Huns.

The Huns who did not trample on death in chaos were eventually deviled by the Zhao army, and only a few people escaped.

Although history has been over a thousand years, the Turks still maintained this habit. After Li Jing attacked Yinshan at night, the Tang army not only destroyed the Eastern Turkic army, but also captured countless Turkic people. After more than 80 years of getting along with the Han people, the Turks also learned some of the organizational disciplines of the Han people. Mochu's army no longer could live with their families when camping like the Huns, but lived in special tents.

Even so, there were still hundreds of thousands of Turkic people following the army.

Hundreds of thousands of people, plus 400,000 troops, and a total of nearly one million people, would not be able to cover hundreds of miles of radius.

To put it bluntly, Chinese history books record wars against nomads, and nomads have hundreds of thousands of people. Many people think they are exaggerating, and this is the reason.

After half a month of march, Mochu's army was not far from Yinshan. Moju arrived and said excitedly: "Khan, you are almost at Yinshan. After passing Yinshan, it is the territory of the Tang people. Khan, please send an order quickly and ask your brothers to work harder and fight a battle with the Tang people as soon as possible."

Moju had the courage, and his hands were itchy when he talked about war. He had long been looking forward to a battle in Sujiang City.

"It's time to send an order!" Mochu nodded: "Moju, go and send an order, no longer move forward, just set up a camp here."

"Set up camp?" Moju thought he had heard it wrong, and looked surprised.

"That's right, it's camping." Mochuo affirmed.

"Khan, why is this?" Moju couldn't figure it out. It was so strange that he was going to fight the Tang Dynasty and stopped before he reached the border of the Tang Dynasty.

"Go quickly!" Mochu shouted coldly, and Moju didn't dare not stop sending the order.

As soon as the order was passed, the army stopped advancing and set up camps. The Turkic people set up tents fifty miles behind the army camp and drove cattle and sheep to grazle. Within a few hundred miles, there were people and flocks of sheep. The originally empty grassland suddenly became lively, with pastoral songs flying and floating above the grassland.

The generals were also puzzled. After receiving the order, they hurried to Mochu's tent. At this time, Mochu had already untied his armor, dressed in plain clothes, and sat on the throne drinking the hot horse's breasts, which was very comfortable.

"Khan, why did you stop moving forward?" the generals asked in unison.

"The Yinshan is ahead!" Mochu put down the wine bowl, grabbed a piece of mutton and ate it: "Eighty years ago, it was in Yinshan that my Turkic army was wiped out. All the people of my Turkic people became prisoners of the Tang people, making cattle and horses for the Tang people, and letting them drive them."

In 630, Li Jing attacked Yinshan at night and drove Jie Li Khan's nest. Jie Li Khan was frightened and fled in a hurry, resulting in hundreds of thousands of troops being uncontrollable. The Tang army seized the fighter's shots and launched a fierce attack, eventually destroying the Eastern Turks.

Yinshan is the place that the Turks yearn for, but after passing Yinshan, they will reach the Hetao place they most want to return to. However, when they think of Jie Li Khan's death in Yinshan, they can't help but feel cold.

The generals were gasping for a cold air and could only stare at Mochu's portion, and they couldn't even say anything. They couldn't understand what Mochu meant, so it would be better to say less.

Jie Li looked at them and then said, "Jie Li Khan was defeated in Yinshan, which led to the destruction of our Great Turks. Now, our Great Turks have risen again and are the dominant grasslands. We will never die at the hands of the Tang people! We must not only cross Yinshan, but also regain the land of Hetao!"

His right hand slammed heavily on several tables, making a bang.

"Khan, please give the order!" When the generals heard this, they couldn't help but be excited.

Mochu ignored them and said, "We went south earlier this year than any other year. Logically speaking, the Tang people would not have any preparations and could attack him by surprise. However, I am worried that the Tang people might expect us to go south early. If this is true, will we fall into the trap of the Tang people? You also know that the Tang people are good at magic and deceitful power, so we have to be careful."

Since the fall of the Eastern Turks, the Turks became a vassal of the Tang Dynasty, which largely prompted them to learn from Han civilization. Although they were not fully sinicized, they were quite high compared to the Turks' original sinicization. They were very afraid of the Tang people's power schemes.

Mochu's words made a lot of sense, and the generals were silent. After a while, Moju asked, "Khan, what should we do?"
Chapter completed!