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Asia in 820s Before the war of rebellion of Niu (not showing Dabuyid occupation )
other kingdoms

East Asia
Light orange : Kingdom of Balhae
Dark blue: kingdom of Silla
Brown: Kingdom of nanzhao


India and south asia
Cream: Kamarupa Kingdom
Orange : Pala empire
Mustard :Rashtrakuta empire
Lighter brown: Gurjara-Pratihara empire



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Battle of Suiyang
As the western troops began to arrive Niu ordered part of his army to move south of the Yellow River and connect with the survivors of the battle there and finally conquer the whole of Henan and to then take Huainan and Henan, with the new reinforcements the rebels took quickly the city of Bian and then moved to lay siege to Suiyang and the nearby forts, despite the rebels now having the upper hand the emperor was still hopeful that the troops from Hexi and Anxi would along with the remnant of the forces of the Jiedushi be enough to defeat the red turbans this is why he rejected the proposal of the Uyghur Khaganate to assist him so the Khagan sent word to Niu but he to rejected the proposal.

He didn't trust them if he was going to give him mercenaries then he would have to divide the spoils that he needed it to share to the people to gain their trust and if they don't like they share they and most likely would like all mercenaries at worst raid towns and thus alienate the people he needed to gain the support of and in the worst cases they might destroy his armies and then burn the countryside, with that the Khaganate watched how the situation would develop, for now, there occurred the siege of Luoyang and Suiyang went on simultaneously but the latter was becoming more bloody.

As the first three weeks passed by the defenders had coordinated with the other nearby fortresses for these two weeks the defenders of Suiyang had probed the rebels in the night putting them in high alter that they might sally out after a failed assault or while they slept, on that night the tang commander did the same, getting a mixed reaction from the red turbans seeing this as another fake attempt to keep them alert and sent a small force to guard the part of the camp that faced the city while the rest of the men rested, unknow to the rebels the other forces of the fortresses had reunited to attack them.

Later the garrison of Suiyang under its commander Jai Chao led this charge the men who were on watched soon alerted the rest and they quickly moved to a defensive position and braced for the impact and were pushed back as the battle raged but the charge soon died out and then fighting continued but the tang had not the numbers to breakthrough and when the odds began to change Jai ordered a retreat with the red turban cavalry chasing them almost the city inflicting substantial casualties, the morale of the troops rose and having the tang pushed back he didn't expect any attack soon and lowered his guard just leaving guards in the part of the camp who faced the city.

But later that night he would be proven wrong as the ground shook with the other tang forces attacking from the rear when the rebelled commander realized his mistake and tried to organize a defense but it was too little too late as the tang cavalry killing every red turban they found it less than a quarter of an hour 6000 of the 20 000 tang force laid dead, the commander and the remained of the force was another disaster for the red turbans but the complete slaughter was avoided as commander managed to retreat with his force in the darkness moving back to Bain, but when news arrived to Niu he had just broken through Luoyang and took the city, the emperor regretted his decision to continue the war with Persia as when he heard the news of the fall of the Easter capital he was shocked and filled with anger and horror.

The armies of the west had not fully arrived and he blamed them and ordered the troops to attack now, but his commanders insisted that they could do nothing now and the best course of action is stop them in the Tong pass and defend it at all cost so he retreated to the palace, while in the eastern capital there was no slaughter or mass chaos rather quite the opposite, Niu knew that he needed to gain more support, so he gave an ultimatum to the courtiers and bureaucrats join him and keep their position, power and some of them been forgiving of their crimes redeeming themselves by helping the cause of the red turbans, if they refused they would be met with the sword, he would give them some time to make their choice, those who flat out rejected were publicly executed while others were tortured for information.

But those who joined them where treated with kindness and respect some even pardon of their crimes this caused more people to join him others joined him out fear due to the public executions , to not loose the support of the of the peasants he ordered for the granaries of Luoyang like the ancient great tang emperors that later where hoarded by corrupt tang officials , saying to the peasants that the era of chaos and corruption was at an end , with that he gained support of both rich and poor , then news of the defeat of Luoyang arrived he quickly send 10 000 more men to the area and gave order for other peasant red turbans to join them as well to overwhelm them and it worked with the 10 000 professional soldiers and 20 000 other of many peasant soldiers joined the survivors.

these took Suiyang and the surrounding fortresses in quick fashion , massacring the defenders , then they moved and pushed to the Huai river and then moved to help the defenders at Hangzhou they quickly defeated the tang forces and then with help of the other peasants broke rough and conquered most of the north of Jiangnandong and pushed deeper in to Jiangnanxi , by mid 827 Niu had conquered most of east china from the Korean peninsula to the Yangtze river and now prepared to take the jewel of china the capital city of Chang'an.
 
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Siege of Xiangyang
After the fall of Luoyang and the conquest of the east of the empire, there was no other movement, despite holding much of china the tang generals were correct Niu didn't move to attack Chang'an as the tong pass was a location that one could easily defend and Niu didn't think he could afford the men that would need it to be sacrificed to have a chance of winning, so he began using the months to train more professional soldiers like the old Fubbing system of the tang, the red turban peasant soldiers were not the best despite some of them having good training and armor these where rare, so Niu now having time and the funds he like the tang before him began to train many of them to become professional soldiers.

But unlike the tang, he didn't disband the peasant soldiers as they still comprised the large majority of the troops spread out across China, during this time the tang managed to bring their armies to Chang'an but had left the western regions exposed with only 18 000 tang troops left and 30 000 at max with heir Turkic vassals and mercenaries, despite that many others tribes took the opportunity to raid, at least they where saved from invasion from the west as the Persians where still at war with the roman empire but an invasion could still occur from the south the Tibetan emperor waited when he heard the forces where leaving he prepared his troops to finally take the Tarim basin for himself.

But history would not follow the emperors plan to when his nobles heard the news they tried to change the emperor's mind to just launch big raids so that they might gain something but the emperor wanted to invade they fearing that they might lose money on a costly war and knowing that any other type of objection would result in the emperor attacking them they plotted against him in may 827 at the age of 58 Muné Tsenpo was assassinated sparking a succession crisis, with that the west would be saved but in china proper, the situation was in a stalemate as the tang were fortifying the capital and the tong pass while the red turbans were training a new professional army.

Niu also tried to bargaining with the emperor to get him to abdicate as when he took Luoyang he took 3 valuable prisoners the cousin of the emperor Li Xuan and the two youngest sons of the emperor the 14-year-old Li Yong and the 5-year-old Li Zu, in return of their safety and promising his safety if he abdicated but the emperor refused, but Niu despite his advisers telling him to kill all 3 as they were seen as too dangerous he saw them for now as too valuable and kept them in house arrest at the palace especially Li Xuan as he was the biggest potential threat to them, with those matter settled the rebel leader used the months to prepare for his new government leaving the matters to the army to Ciu.

He began to see possible reforms he first need to distribute land to the people apart from giving grain and other goods to the the peasants but redistribution of wealth could and would alienate the very powerful nobility and courtiers for now he need it pander to them and slowly take away their power they got from the near three decades of corruption, as he began reforming china by may the training of new troops was finished at least for 25 000 men these where sent to the southeast to finally complete the conquest of north Jiangnandong which by late July they did taking Caishi and Xuanzho in rapid succession the rebel army continue to march to the south but they had to stop by October when they reached the Xianxia range which the tang had fortify , in the same month he had also sent 15000 men to help the armies in the south to take the city strategic of Xiangyang , the tang knew that they would not win in open battle so prepared he was confident that despite the city's defensible position that it would fall in some months.

the siege began "well" the 40 000 red turbans half them were soldiers with the other half being peasant soldiers laid siege to the fortifications bringing their massive trebuchets pounding the city day and night aside from that the soldiers waited and a week went by then another and another yet the city held on, then a month went by and the city still held on, what they thought it was a minor inconvenience turned out to be a major flaw being the river, they thought that the enemy ships would not be enough to supply the city the tang had prepared and concentrated many ships and in the night resupplied the city.

With that, the commander knew he had wasted time he didn't lose his patience he ordered sappers to dig and ordered and pounded the city with their siege engines, but the tang had prepared they set up their own siege engines in the walls to target the enemies while for the most part ineffective it did force the red turbans to move them around in fear of them been damaged, the day was a back and forth between both sides with the defenders rebuilding the damages, seeing as how the red turbans attacked the defenders tried to sally out in the night to do something similar to the siege of Suiyang, at first they tried to sally out in the early morning and failed then they tried a night attack and despite some initial success they were pushed back.

So the tang commanders planned to use their navy they attacked during the night and as excepted the red turbans pushed them back while a smaller tang force crossed the river and then attacked the rebel forces from behind this produced panic in their camp as the chaos grew with the fire and it seemed like collapse would have been inevitable, had it not been for the quick actions of the rebel commanders who managed to rally their forces to stand their ground while others ordered for men to stop the fire, this saved the red turban and with their bigger numbers they pushed the tang back with both sides having many casualties, despite this it was a victory the red turbans desperately need it, their morale rose but despite this and the many tang corpses the commanders knew that the siege was not yet over.
 
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Siege of Xiangyang part 2
The siege dragged on and despite orders to dig in and hold out till spring, there was already a lack of supplies, and due to his victory, and with the tang have fewer numbers, the red turban commander believed that he could take the city before winter, so he prepared to pound the city with her trebuchets each time with more intensity finally he ordered smaller assaults to probe the defenses of the city, after this, he sent a vanguard of part of his best soldiers to attack, these managed to breach the walls and the defenders were pushed back from the gates and the red turbans moved in, but the tang counter-attacked and some of them quickly closed the gate, with the vanguard trapped they tried to fight back to open the gate.

As they had no option but to win the red turbans trapped inside the city tried to attack once more but failed as most of them were later killed, still, despite this defeat, the rebel commander continued to pound the city with his siege engines and used his sappers to try to undermine the walls but the tang forces had constructed tunnels of their own undermining the red turbans, but the tunnels and attack of the siege engines produced a breach in the walls and entered, to their surprise they saw a hastily build a second wall, the red turban commander was running out of patience.

So he reunited his forces and rested and in the late afternoon he began his next attack, the tang defenders resisted for as long as they killing many attackers but despite their bravery, soon the weight of numbers proved too much for a hasty defensive structure and the rebels entered the city, moving closer to the center of the city but the tang attacked from the sides in the dark, many were killed in both sides the rebels knew if they won most of china would fall on their hand, but the tang forces many of them who were from the city fought with more ferocity for their city and knowing that if the city falls china would fall.

The fighting was in very close proximity with chaos erupting and spreading as much as the flames did, in many factions cohesion broke off and street to street fighting with the civilians fleeing the fire and soldiers while others helped to calm the flames or joined the tang soldiers, finally after nearly 2 hours of fighting the red turban commander and many others were captured while many others were killed, with that the red turbans retreated from the city more than half of the force where dead while many other where captured, a few weeks later a letter came from Ciu ordering the new commander to lift the siege, with most their force dead and nothing to show for it he quickly left in mid-November before winter fully set in.

For the tang this was one of their greatest triumphs, news spread to the east where the tang defenders were preventing the red turbans from crossing the Xianxia range which by that time Xinzhou had already fallen, with the arrival of winter the stalemate would continue in all frontiers as both sides used the time to train new troops, Niu continued his policies of making both the peasants and nobility happy and take power from the corrupt institutions, Niu had used the defeat at Xiangyang to deal with many problems, conquering the coastal regions in a quick manner, Niu had part of the tang fleets and with them, he could make more but for this, he need it money, so he implored the courtiers in Luoyang and the parts of china he had conquered that they who already showed their loyalty to him and the people be turning to their side.

This is why he publicly said that despite this loyalty he implored them to give funds to help him conquer the corrupt tang dynasty, now the public expected them to do and they did, with that he managed to take care of many problems and with the funds he began to construct and upgrade his navy to add to this he used the tang ships and tang sailors in the conquered territories the latter flocked to his side, most them seeking an end to the corruption and better pay, with the money he also continued training of new troops, around this winter he also connected more with the kids of the imperial family especially the youngest one.

With his preparations by spring 828 he had gathered a navy of 800 ships and he had 6000 sailors with this he sent a bigger army of 35 000 to take Xiangyang as the army nearly took the city and was confident that with these numbers they would win, with that the navy moved to block the rivers to starve out Xiangyang with a great part of the army going south the emperor insisted that now was the chance to attack, despite that many not wanting to they were forced too, crossing the tong pass, Niu and Ciu moved most of their force to Luoyang and the laid siege to it but both leaders had prepared the defenses of the city, after a short siege the tang where attacked from the rear and the defenders sallied out causing many casualties, the tang retreated back to the safety of the tong pass with them loosing by some sources 1/5 of their force with the emperor not even receive the generals back.

But soon good news that the red turbans would not attack, as Niu himself chased the tang force till the tong pass wherein minor engagement he was defeated and retreated back to Luoyang, to the south the red turban navy started the blockade of the of Xiangyang fighting some tang vessels once defeated the army crossed by that time the defenders had rebuilt the city walls and the red turbans now prepared for a long siege.
 
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The hope of the future
With the possible fall of the Xiangyang and his failed attack on Luoyang the tang emperor accepted Chonde Qaghan proposal and he joined the tang in promises of richness and tittles they joined the remnants of Shuofang, this at first surprised the rebel as they were pushed back from the bend of the yellow river but the Niu had sent reinforcements and these halted the Uyghurs advance, but the main Uyghur force under the khagan went for the east to attack Pinglu but the red turbans were better prepared here do to fear of the tribes or the kingdom Balhae attack them.

But most of the tribes remained loyal to the red turbans, for recognition of the land they captured alongside with promises never to invade the peninsula they got the king of Balhae to join them against the tang and Uyghur, the red turbans also thought that the Persians would attack but after the war with the Romans ended they had no intention to do so, the war stayed in a stalemate but with the red turbans clearly on the cusp of victory so he kept concentrating on internal reforms.


He kept the tang legal code and began enforcing the law again with the pressure on them from the public he forced the courtiers and other rich and powerful institutions to give his money to him this gave him the funds to make many of his many projects, to undermine one of the most powerful and rich monopolies of china this been the monopoly on salt, filled with corruption and his state not strong enough to control it he dissolved it, accusing the men to conspire with the tang, with that he created the Salt Commission.

This new system sold salt to private merchants at a price that included a low but well-regulated tax, as the trade was well supervised by the best local government officials, the rebel leader would also begin to fight against the sneaky ways the aristocrats were still using to get more land the main one been using land owned by monasteries, as these depended on them giving them money for their operations in exchange the land in everything but the name was theirs, Niu made laws against these loopholes adding that these religious buildings could not own more than a certain amount of lands, with that more was free for the peasants to have more territory to work with.

But the Niu knew that even this was not enough and he could not at once take the lands of the corrupt men since it would create another rebellion so he again talked to the public about his future projects and how grateful was he with the aristocrats for helping him, putting an expectation on them, so with their money he began massive land reclamation projects one of his courtiers said:

In the first year of the reign of Niu Sian, in the fifth month...he sent the most competent of men to view the spread of a standard model of the chain pump to the people of Duji, were ordered by the highest authority to make machines to be spread to the canal and Huang Ha (yellow river) for irrigation purposes.

Stability was coming back to china many of those early skeptics now were flocking to their side, joining them or speaking very highly of them, among them was the great poet Du Shenyan which writes:

The endless dust-storm of troubles has no end
I and this land have already suffered 28 years
decades of turmoil and hardship
I and the boys in fancy clothes never starved
I hoarded ten thousand books in reading
While they in fancy clothes hoarded 10 000 Jin of gold and silver
While the Jackals and wolves in the court took 10 000 Jin of the peoples wheat
their rooms filled with treasure drowned out the uttering harsh cries


But now they cry alongside that pitiful "son of heaven" scurry to escape the "barbarians"
When those who lain hidden in brambles called upon the khan.
For their golden whip has cracked those whose only tongue was desperation.
Those who begged to become slaves are now skilled warriors.

The dragon leads them and makes the jackals tremble.
Yet travel in tyrants domain is hard, the frontier passes are perilous.
Yet the news shall spread and the letters received, He and the stench royal of blood travels west.



The poet also wrote about how his change of heart:
When I was younger I was honored as a guest though by the great Li Bo
my rhymed essays were always inspired by gods
The courtiers looked for a chance to meet me.
And would meet the great chancellor
I thought I was an outstanding person
It is only with age and travels that I understood the truth.
For Wherever I went, I found the lingering cries of miserly
And men unworthy of power due to their lack of sincerity.

These sights made me an honest and simple man again
as my ambition withered the Hermit bard was born.


As Niu gained more support his navy had blockaded the rivers leading to Xiangyang with the stabilization of the northern frontier he sent more reinforcements to the south, by mid-June 15 000 more troops arrived rising their army to 50 000, as before that there were no assaults, the tang defenders used the winter months to prepare fixing the walls and upgrading them especially the new inner walls, they also used this time to store massive quantities of food before the new rebelled navy blocked the rivers, the red turbans had been constructing massive siege engines the tang constantly sallied out to slow down their construction, despite this the rebelled siege engines pounded at the walls, but the tang had captured many siege engines from the rebels retreat and used them.

This caused the siege to slow down, but with the new arrivals the red turban commander gave the defenders one more chance to surrender or be massacred till the last man, the tang response was that of defiance and the rebel commander promised to not even leave the animals alive.
 
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Blood ,sweat and mud
In Xiangyang seen how the newly arrived reinforcements were tired from marching and as they encamped many of those reinforcements and the men who were already there began to get sick, as many of the soldiers were from the north while some of them that lived close to the desert could deal with the 27 to 30 degrees of the heat waves of late spring they were not ready for the rain which was more than the north as well as the humidity all these made many men sick especially the reinforcements who were setting up their camp in another side of the city as a way to not concentrate most men in one side to not be all attacked at once.


Due to this all tang commanders agreed to attack the reinforcements some 5000 men to attack the rebels who were busy constructing their camp as they sallied out and took them by surprise they began to cut off droves of the Sickly and tired red turbans, due to this the tang sent reinforcements to press the attack with these they managing to drive them out of their unfinished camp, hearing of this the red turban commander himself with a contingent of cavalry moved attacking them from their rear forcing them to retreat, the rebels gave chase but then the tang counterattacked pushing them back but the red turban commander rallied his troops and finally forced the tang back the safety of their walls.


With that, the bombardment of the city intensified but the tang countered with their own trebuchets, the red turbans waited till the reinforcements recovered and got adapted to the climate after 12 days of failed sorties the camp was constructed and many of the soldiers got better the red turbans quickly began to fill the moat under heavy fire of tang projectiles and some even sallied out, this slowed the rebel works the weather also did not help as the blazing early summer sun tormented the soldiers, despite all of this the rebelled trebuchets forced the tang ones to not attack constantly with this the red turbans filled the moat in a week by that time as well the massive siege engines where constructed and the rams and siege towers prepared to attack.

However the early summer rains arrived this combined with the earth used to cover the moat made more mud than there should have been, any assault would have been useless as some accounts even said that the mud swallowed men horses and siege engines whole, as the men fell trying to walk to the slogging ground while in some other cases their livestock also got stuck in the mud.


The rains continued for some days adding to the misery of the rebels while the tang commanders used this as a sign that the heavens were with them, once the rain stopped the heat of June quickly made the ground hard again in a matter of days, with that and with the preparations the first assault began, the battering rams arrived at the gates the thudding of the rams gave hope to the red turbans while it was a rallying point to the defenders.

The tang gave a shower of arrows and bolts and their stone-throwers aimed at the rams while many sallied out due to this the rebels brought out 2 massive siege towers that were too heavy to be overturned and had metal sheets to make them fireproof, but these were used as mobile defenses and used for close fire support to the men with the rams, yet despite this, the tang fought on targeting the rams while the red turbans defended them with their might the fighting was nothing short of sheer brutality, where the defenders and men the siege towers rained bolts and arrows to those below them and the men fight every ram destroyed cost the life of dozens in both where sword, lance, and clubs sprinkled the blood of men and horse to the ground and siege engines.


The fighting only stopped when exhaustion arrived or when darkness covered the sky, this continued till early July where after the same bloodshed of the past weeks the heavy bombardment of the red turban siege engines with some attacks had made a narrow breach in the walls sensing the opportunity to end the siege once and for all the red turban commander decided for a full attack despite that the veterans of the last attack on the city advising caution, the red turbans entered this narrow gap and where surprised by the silence, with caution they moved deeper into the breach they were met by a defining battle cry.


The red turbans panicked and were attacked from all directions the trap was almost perfect, the tang unleashed bolts and arrows to the thigh rebel formation as other defenders attacked anyone unlucky or foolish group that strayed too much from the main one, the rebels retreated but due to its narrowness, it became a choke point, wherein the panic just as many men died from trampling than from the tang swords and lances, as the rebels retreated the tang got back to the walls targeting them with their missile units, while their forces sallied out chasing the fleeing troops as the unfortunate souls who where trapped inside the city fought till the sun vanished from the sky in a vain hope that they could flee, but none of them survived.


The rebels tried to prepare another assault but the July rains arrived, the mud had come back many rams and massive siege towers who were still returning from the front line became stuck or partially sank, as many men tried to get them out in the unsure ground and under heavy fire, their oxen and horses had no luck as they too could not save them, with no option they alongside the corpses of both sides where abandoned, the tang cheered as the rains cast misery upon the rebels.
 
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The prelude
The rains continued the days the sun shined the heat tormented the soldiers but gave hope for the commanders to attack yet despite the harness of the sun some of the heavy rams still got stuck in uneven ground, with lack of siege support almost none of the assaults result in anything close to a breach, they only resulted in the pointless deaths of hundreds if not thousands worse yet is one the rains would come back after a failed assault.

Moaning would be heard from the troops the wounded had the worst fate of all as due to their injuries the men tried desperately to move in the in mud but to no avail, as they despise with all their remaining strength trying to save themselves, the lucky ones would be saved by their commanders and the ones who had blessings would be managed to crawl to the camp, but most lost their strength and drowned in the sea of mud.


In August arrived the weather got better, at first this brought hope, but this one quickly faded as the better climate only allowed only for more failed assaults it was when September arrived did the misery of the red turbans became worse, as the ninth month arrived the weather only became worse the rains intensified, even in the days where the clouds that gave the red turbans so much dread faded into the sun, the symbol that at first brought relief, now one that brought misery to the rebels since it signaled the start of the useless attacks on the city walls.

But after the fifth failed attack, protest forced the rebel commander to promise that he would not send any more attacks, despite that the soldiers were tired the rains and the fear of the tang attacks didn’t let them sleep, sickness began to spread and was becoming near epidemic, due to this and the length of the siege morale was reaching an all-time low, the only thing that was preventing massive desertion was the navy bringing them supplies making hunger a small issue, even though it took a massive effort to move them from the river to the camp, one rebelled commander trying to uplift his troops said:

Will this drizzle extinguish the fire that was to cleanse and heal the whole of China?

Despite the commanders trying to uplift his troops and the advantage of the navy bringing supplies, as September progressed, the commanders began to implement harsher forms of capital punishment to prevent desertion; still, the tired soldiers began expressing their discontent and demanded to know if they would retreat or the siege would continue, it was decided that they would wait, in the meantime, he sent word to Niu and Cui to send reinforcements and siege engines.

The troops then waited finally October came and the heavy rains stopped and the temperature dropped, the commander tried to prepare new assaults but the troops mutinied and said that they would not attack till reinforcement arrived, he didn't listen and brawl resulted from this but after this and before the situation got fully out of control the red turban commander caved in to their demands, finally in mid-October did the reinforcement arrive.

Some 10 000 men with siege engines and more material to build, the morale of the red turbans rose and they were even happy to build or do anything as during September boredom was one of the biggest enemies of the troops, with the arrival of the new troops the assault could begin in haste, but the tang had not used this time idely they had by now fixed the breach and even had sent small sorties to torment the enemy soldiers.

They had also concentrated their forces on the places where the last assault had nearly breached the walls, they were also good on food due to their massive reserves, the tang had also used the time to press and rotate civilians to defend the walls, to prepare them just in case the army lost significant numbers and so they waited.

By early November with all preparations set the assault began, but like the tang, the commander had anticipated they attacked the areas that they nearly breached, the fighting was bloody with bolts and arrows flying through the sky as siege towers and the men defending the walls shot each other, while the men in climbing up the walls to met the cold steel of tang blades, as corpses fell from the top of the walls while blood painted the defensive structure.

Only when dusk was nearby did the red turbans retreat this was the same for the next 2 weeks of siege, on the 15th day the fighting commenced it turned out like any other day but on the west side of the city there was nearly a breach and troops moved there, do to this on the other side one of the massive siege towers hit the walls combined with an assault from the men with siege ladders began to fight tooth and nail for the control of the walls, seeing this both sides kept sending men ones with hope and others with dread if there could be a breakthrough.

After a full day and night of brutal fighting that had surpassed the carnage of the last days the numbers won out and the men who entered the city opened the gates, in a matter of minutes thousands of men flooded into the city, the defenses in many places collapsed as they retreated to the second walls, brutal fighting in the streets commenced as somewhere under the vain hope that they could kick the defenders out like in the first breach, but the red turbans massacred anyone they saw on the street soldier or not, men, women, children or animal none where speared from the sword and fire, as the commanders did little to stop the soldier's actions.

It was finally early December when the first layer of walls were taken but the second layer was still very well defended with a smaller space to concentrate more troops the siege of Xianyang was not yet over
 
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the fall
When news arrived that the first wall was breached everyone assumed it was the beginning of the end with this and been clear that he would be victorious the men at the court declared Niu Sian as emperor Gaozu the first emperor of the new Qi dynasty as he kept focusing on the internal reforms, while in Xiangyang with the first wall taken there was debate whether to destroy the walls or keep them and the latter was decided, but they destroyed any building to make flat ground to the men and siege engines, still some days of rest were given and the men celebrated their victory, but soon the siege would continue but the Qi had a new approach to breach the city walls.

The area of the inner wall were smaller and the troops had concentrated to conserve their strength and Maximize their damage as they could rebuff their attacks, the Qi numbers were not a massive advantage, the Qi also knew that assaults would result in a massive bloodbath, so the Qi commander ordered that they began to dig, as he ordered divisionary assaults to the city these were met by nearly innumerable arrows, bolts, and stones with this firepower the Qi had to use their own stone-throwers and had to upgrade their defenses to the rams, this meant that the tang sent sorties to try to destroy them, while in the back and later in the day the men began to dig, as the days went on every day the men dig and progressed on making their tunnels, due to the numbers men took turns to dig, in other fought or rested but there were cases of men who went from fighting to digging hoping that the this could be the end of the siege.

After 23 days of desperate work their job was nearly done, but unknown to them the tang had dug a counter tunnel with weak foundations, when the tang send another assault they burned the last part of their foundations due to this the ground gave way as a chasm opened swallowing the rams and siege towers the Qi quickly moved to put out the fires but then tang sallied out to burn the immobilized siege engines, the Qi soldiers resisted but were pushed back and set alight the siege engines, seeing their work been burned the Qi rushed in to fight and save what they could, but more tang soldiers sallied out and a battle commenced, with more tang soldiers coming out they managed to destroy most of the siege engines were destroyed, seeing this the demoralized Qi soldiers retreated the tang quickly attack as an attempt to end the siege, but the Qi countered attacked and beat them back to the chasm and walls.

Few soldiers got to sleep that night as the fire that burned down their progress and hope continued to shine in the darkness that surrounded them, the morale of the soldiers were low while the tang one surged and they need it as the city was starting to run out of food, In order to keep his soldiers busy and recover the lost morale told the navy to gather materials and force the men to construct new siege engines, he inspired his troops to not give up that they could still win and the men continued on, as January came and went with minor attacks from the Qi as they began to notice that the city was running out food, so now they need it to wait.

By late February their emperor had sent 5000 reinforcements to the city with more building material and siege engines, as march arrived the city was starving and the citizens began to kill the animals including pets to sustain themselves, the assaults on the city began again concentrating on their weak points that the tang had barely fixed due to the lack of materials, but yet the tang still managed to repel their attacks, this continued by early April the soldiers and civilians began to eat the dead at first, each assault was repelled which more difficulty, some still had the vain idea that the tang emperor would send reinforcements or like last time they would win, but many knew that this was not the case and the best they tried to do is hold out as long as possible to inflict as many casualties as possible and give time to the tang to prepare.

By May only 4000 men of the original 20 000 were still alive and by now the soldiers began to eat the civilians who at first tried to protest , but those who did were killed and eaten , most accepted their fate , the commander himself killed his father and used gave his corpse to feed his soldiers , some of them even cut their own fingers to eat something , they knew that they could not flee as many did not have the strength to run and all awaited their deaths , despite this the city held by June only 1000 men remained with some 8000 starving civilians , but it the weather that had saved them before came to condemn them , most surviving soldiers and stone throwers were concentrated on few parts but as the June heavy rains came with the tunnel and the weight undermining it the front part of the wall crumbled, the tang had anticipated this some weeks ago and had already made a wall to cover the breach but it was made of wood , in the nigh the Qi soldiers attacked the tang resisted but by some men where to weak to even shot a bow or lift their weapons .

The Qi broke in some of the soldiers attempted to fight in the streets but to no avail, the fire began as the Qi at the end gave way to their instincts of frustration and rage, the starving civilians, whether it be women, men, the children, old, could not flee the lucky ones where trampled as the other where tortured by bloodthirsty Qi soldiers who were so bloodthirsty to find anyone to kill that they trampled their own comrades, the commanders did little to stop them and the only thing that matched their bloodthirst was their greed as anyone looked for treasure and the love of flames to clear and kill anyone in the city, not a single tang soul survived the massacre as the flames continued for days, the city was reduced to a smoking ruin, despite their success 40 000 Qi soldiers had died to take the city.

Despite the casualties the victory was absolute and the path to the south was now opened the fall of the tang was inevitable and a fire had burned down the rock that stood between them and new china.
 
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Blood of the tong pass
After the fall of Xiangyang the new emperor was very pleased with the progress, Cui was holding off the Uyghurs and the forces of Shoufang, with the fall of the city reached Chang'an it was a blow to their morale, at the age of 61 emperor Xianzong retreated to his palace took out his belt and proceeded hang himself, his son Li Zhan became emperor Xuanzong here Niu gamble began , he had ignored the many reports of Li Xuan treason against him , with the generals in the west asking him to overthrow the emperor and takes his place if they freed them , but the generals in the south also asked them to lead them if they could free them , he accepted but kept a friendly connection to the Qi emperor so much so that now he was allowed to walk around the city with guard , in one of his walks they were attacked in the streets of the city , the tang royal was taken and dressed like a simple merchant thus he managed to leave the city debate broke out where to go but since his cousin suicide he received no news from them and assumed that they didn't need him anymore and most likely would impresión or murder him do his escape .


So he moved south, it had been a month since the fall of Xiangyang and the army that had conquered took a long and well deserved rest for some weeks but now it was moving slowly to avoid any losses to the weather their target was the city of Jiangling on the Yangtze river, as Xuan moved to the south the tang defenders were still holding out in the Xianxia range but every new attack began to slowly chip away at their defense, but by late July Xuan had arrived and many accepted him but disagreed with his plans he wanted to go to the offensive but he was convinced to keep in the defensive, as this was going on due his string of victories Niu had prepared for his second attack on the impregnatable tong pass, moving a 40 000 strong army to finally take it.



He wanted to force the tang defenders to move out from their defensive position but to no avail, so he sent a force of 1000 men to skirmish with the force, after a small engagement they retreated but the tang did not follow, this continued for 10 days after this debates began to form on what do next, some said that they need to outflank them the yellow river was a good defense this is why they never tried to outflank it because even if they succeed it was still a great distance would leave plenty of time to the tang to prepare for a siege, he need it a way to force them out, over the next two weeks he sent smaller parties to skirmish and he himself entered to bait them, But the tang did not abandon their powerful defensive position where they could hold them at bay.


As August was coming to an end The emperor of Qi was frustrated that nearly a month had passed with little progress he now attempted larger assaults losing more men ,despite this after just a few weeks of this the tang forces pushed back the tang after a bloody engagement retreated despite the warnings of their commanders he chased them and the battle commenced both send their infantries to clash with cavalry in their flanks despite the higher number of the tang both sides were evenly matched as the battle ragged when one side pushed back the other would react and push them back the corpses filled the field, as time went by there was still no clear victor but as the afternoon was coming to an end.

But at this time Niu himself sent all his reserves while he attacked the center and pushed back the tang killing many, it seemed like their force would soon collapse but the Jeidushi of Hexi rallied the troops and due to Niu been so focused to break the center he didn't notice that the tang cavalry had pushed his cavalry back this led his army been outflanked, the Qi emperor realized too late and ordered them to retreat, in this chaos the tang forces began to pursue them all the way to the tong pass where more men waited to attack them, thousands would die the emperor himself bearly managed to escape with his life.

Half his force was dead or captured, but unlike last time the tang did not follow them fearing that any attempt to take back Luoyang would end in disaster, still, it was a victory the dying empire need it but it produced some problems.

When news reached the south it lifted their morale but Xuan wanted to imitate what they had done so against the advice of his commanders after weeks of some small fights the tang forces retreated with the Qi forces closely following them here the battle began, little is know about the engagement but after a feint retreat the tang cavalry who was chasing the Qi were attacked and destroyed then with no cavalry support the Qi attacked the whole tang line and it collapsed, as the cavalry cut then down like animals who were fleeing the slaughter, the Qi commander gave chase for nearly a quarter of an hour when they decided that they should return in fear of an ambush or counter attack.

The survivors retreated from the Xianxia range to defend their home the ones that remained, despite their brave defense couldn't hold back the tide, not this time, in a mere week they were forced to flee, in a few weeks the Qi took many towns and then in October they laid siege to Fuzhou, despite his defeat Niu allowing Xuan to escape had brought great results.
 
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Hey yeah happy Christmas Eve got nothing to do with alternative history or anything but to beanstalk and mane or some of the 4 guys reading

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Even if you can't afford or don't want one please share them it would really help her and she is truly in need
 
Siege of Guangzhou
As winter arrived despite his defeat in tong pass the first emperor of Qi still was in a favorable situation, his forces were besieging Jiangling and Ezhou, while Cui and good news reached him that the city of Fuzhou had fallen, but most of the tang navy had fled, despite this Niu was still with joy over the news as he knew how they would move south, therefore he returned to internal matters he began to reinstitute the Equal-field system, following the same dynastic cycle that the tang had used before them, as the new year arrived and went he kept his internal reforms and news finally arrived that Cui had pushed the Uyghurs all the back to the bend of the Yellow River , while in the east the Kingdom of Balhae and the tang forces maintained the line.

As preparations for the Qi to take the south were going on, he with more free time began to travel and meet people in his realm he even met Du Shenyan , whose work was lost but surviving fragments said that he physically was tall with a long beard and imposed respect,he talked with great wisdom and inspired fierce determination, he also met his commanders and other governors to inspect and congratulate or reprehend his subordinates,after he returned to Luoyang, he spent more time with the son of the late emperor Li Yong, the old book of tang said:

He made a point to engage in conversation with him about politics, philosophy, economics as he was eager to hear his replies to challenge his understanding and trail his intellect, he found out that his replies were conscience in his replies and his words cut deep as sword proving his loyalty to him and that his intellect not only matched his peers but even matched the men in court, he grew fond of his opinions and became very fond of him.

As winter drew ever close to an end the Qi which had slowly marched taking most of the countryside now saw the city of Guangzhou, the city had prepared for a siege, the foreign merchants were told to leave or be conscripted, many left but those who had lived the in the city for years and the brave stayed to fight , from Arabs to Indians, Sogdians many more and lastly Romans and Persians, who despite been recent enemies in the war know reunited, those who were old soldiers wearing their respective armors, while others had made armor and weapons.


While the men prepared food while most of the tang navy arrived to defend the city, the forces of the kingdom of Nanzhao who was ruled under the great-grandson of Meng Piluoge, the 32-year-old Meng Xungequan, had sent forces that raided when the rebellion broke out but seeing how the new Qi dynasty was on the verge of victory they knew what that could mean, when the tang took power they began to expand and subjugate their neighbors, the king could not allow this so for payment and annual tribute for 10 years in return for sending 10 000 troops to the aid of the city.

When 35 000 Qi forces arrived with their fleet entering the yellow river however the Qi fleet moved in the pearl river but kilometers from the city and its port the ships drew up with the first line of ships moving toward the Qi line who saw this as desperate last stand to their shock they were met by an inferno as the flames began to engulf their ships, as men cried in agony and others threw themselves in the water in their panic they retreated crashing into the line and making chaos.


The few ships with their flamethrowers kept pushing setting alight the ships that were in hasty retreat and the ones that were stuck due to the other ships ramming In to them destroying 50 ships however they knew that this was not all of the fleet , while the few ships that had flamethrowers had expended much of their fuel , beside that these flamethrower were hastily made based upon early Chinese prototypes with help with some Romans they bribed , they were faulty as some pistons failed and the fire would not come out , while in others the oil leaked , the worse case was that the siphon-hose broke spreading panic and fire , still they had managed to push back the navy for a while , thus they retreated back to the harbor and the siege continued , the rest of the Qi navy arrived and blocked the city however there was no attack as no sailor wanted to engage the tang after what they just saw, the army heard the stories and despite this they know began to send men to infiltrate the city to get the new weapon or their schematics.


As spring arrived great news came from the north as Cui had moved to the join the eastern fighting and with help of the kingdom of balhae also promises of clemency and riches to the khitans and other nomadic groups they switched sides and drove out the Uyghurs , with this realized ,as he was still winning in all fronts he decided that he would recall his best generals to finally drive off the tang off the tong pass to finally march on Chang'an, the general gladly accepted his friends request for his and his own glory and to finally put an end to the war , as the new emperor still traveled with the child of the man he so hated , he continued to surprise him and despite him winning the loyalty of courtiers , generals , some soldiers and especially the eunuchs , still many other important men still distrusted him do to his linage and feared that he might be chosen as his successor, especially since Niu son had no interest to succeed him ,the emperor knew these worries and had many meetings with the important men , in one of these parties he began to eat his sweets which he enjoyed in his youth which he now grew even more fondly of and his tea with spices , he was visible pain but he ignored it as he heard Li Yong addressing the men.
 
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Seeds of chaos
In late spring the situation of the remaining tang holdouts began to deteriorate, in Ezhou, the citizens and soldiers starved while they pushed back their assaults, while in Jiangling the defenders like the defenders of Xiangyang resisted with all their might, however not all tang cities were about to fall, in Guangzhou, the Qi navy just blocked the city while the infantry did as well but periodically ordered assaults, here the Tang,dabuyids, and Romans drew out their respective weapons and fought against the Qi pushing them back from the top of the walls.

It was around this time that the forces of the kingdom of Nanzhao finally arrived to aid the city, the arrival caught them by surprise as the army moved to engage as they used their navy to cross the river, it was now or never the tang ship moved to the engage, the ships began to retreat but the ones had been used as the bridge could not the tang unleashed fire on them, the men in desperation tried to board but were just met with a giant flame, many soldiers in the mere sight of the ships threw themselves of their ships while the cavalrymen forced their horses to jump to the waters, most of them weight down by armor and in a panic didn't make it to the shore, despite this some Qi ships did successfully destroy the tang ships with via ramming, still for many of these the fires sooner or later consumed them.


the few thousands that had already crossed could do little except try to help those men close to the shore, but they were soon faced by the Nanzhao forces, in a few hours nearly a quarter of the Qi fleet was turned in to driftwood with this both sides prepared for the inevitable battle that was to occur, the Qi sprits dwindled like the fire that had just burned down their fleet and despite this, the commanders still told their men that defeat was impossible, on the next day the forces of the kingdom of Nanzhao crossed the river, the Qi navy didn't even bother to attack due to the events of the last day, the Qi moved to intercept the forces but it was too late the forces of Nanzaho had already crossed, the battle commenced and the Nanzhao forces charged against the Qi.

These were pushed back but the weight of numbers turned the tide and the men were been pushed back to the river, how ever the garrisons of the city sallied out to meet the Qi, they had anticipated this obvious maneuver and dispatched forces to deal with them as minutes passed it seemed like slowly but surely the battle was turning in favor of the Qi, but the tang had still a force of 2000 mostly forces of the south waiting they began to cross the river to the west , after nearly half an hour of resisting and when collapsed seem inevitable did the forces arrived to attack then from the right flank this spread panic and soon the tang forces ordered a counter-attack, as they pounced for an easy kill.

The victory was complete and the Qi forces soon retreated, there was a great feast in the city celebrating the lifting of the siege as the soldiers as some others collected what they found in the abandoned Qi camp to pay the forces of the kingdom of Nanzhao, which they barely managed to pay off, still, it was a great victory so much so that the tang opened the harbor and resumed commerce thinking that the Qi would not attack again based on the disaster that had occurred.

The Qi were slow to respond as preparations were made for the attack on the tong pass, Niu at first reacted poorly due to complications in his health, the emperor always felt tired and thirsty, his vision had blurred and some of his teeth had rotten when newly arrived of the defeat he said to prepare a new attack, as he was busy with internal matters and the plan for the attack of the tang capital, he also some times didn't listen what his generals said in the meetings as he was too tired or was distracted by the pain of his rooting teeth.

He in a reunion got another fit of pain so great was it that he left and sought a professional to remove his tooth, which they did he saw these men as better than his other doctors after all they had promised to treat his xiāo kě which his best doctors told him to stop drinking alcohol and eat his sweets to instead consume bitter herbs, which in many occasions he ignores them as he was clearly not getting better, this situation did not get better with the removal of his back tooth, the wound kept bleeding more than usual, but he ignored it and kept planing the invasion leaving more civil responsibilities to the courtiers and his probable successor.

However the emperor could not ignore it, the fever he had the warmth around his removed tooth, the doctors had seen it, the pus-filled would be very red and has swollen up and the smell of rotting flesh escapes his mouth, the emperor doctors tried everything but they could do little, knowing that his life was to be cut short he said and decreed that Cui no matter the circumstances and even after he died had full authority on the campaign against the tang.

He knew what could and most likely would happen after his death, so he at least wanted to make sure that the tang was destroyed first, After this, the emperor spent his time writing his will, and by early June after some weeks of fevers, pain, and desperation that made him Drink what we now know to be poisoned, the first Qi emperor died at the age of 60.
 
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Bloodshed at tong pass
With the death of the emperor, the struggles began however succession was not one of them as Li Yong was made emperor by Nui as he adopted him as his own, despite the late emperor efforts many did not trust him due to his family linage, the struggles were on to end the war with the tang which the new emperor tried to end quickly to end the war and prove his loyalty, even before the death of Niu he had prepared to finally break the defense at tong pass, he had called for his old ally to lead it many courtiers didn't like Cui but they knew that to contradict the words of the late emperor especially in Li Yong position was not an option.


As the days passed Ciu arrived at Luoyang and his footsteps were heard in the palace many courtiers and eunuchs could only stare, as the general prostrated himself to the emperor who saw him with reverence, the courtiers and eunuchs began to whisper one of them went to the emperor he pushed him aside, Li Yong stood and had a private conversation with the general and approved his campaign to finally drive out the tang, he sent the general with 30 000 men, the news of the army quickly reached the tang which were not that worried after all they held out but some were concerned after all Cius reputation reached far and wide, therefore, they began preparations against him, once he arrived he set up camp and began to prepare.


As the days passed Ciu began his first probing attacks on the sending many scouts and then a few hundred men these had few encounters, with some bigger fight with tang soldiers, still, the tang commanders refused to take the bait, Ciu could not afford to wait but the scouts had told him of possible weakness the northern part was the weakest in their defense, however, the river was very wide and any delay in communication could end horribly and he had to wait he barely had any vessels that carried vital supplies he could not risk disembarking his supplies and have a tang force target them and even if he did the ships would not accommodate for the large vanguard that he wanted to send.

The general had to think on that night, one of his subordinates entered his tent saying that one of the many siege engineers wanted to see him , he entered and told the general that he could use the siege engines strip them down and make emergency rafts to help cross part of the army , without hesitation he sends order to one of his officers " prepare your men have them prepare an attack on the fortress of the pass make them shout but make sure not to engage " he then said to another officer "reunite your best siege engineers and strongest soldiers to follow this man" as his warriors distracted the tang the men worked their sound and any probable scout rushed back to figure out what the distraction was about , as the dawns rays broke through the sky the emergency rafts had been completed as 5000 soldiers had already moved to cross with clear instructions by Ciu.

They left just as the men from the attack of the tong pass returned tired but with minimal casualties as they won a deserved rest, Ciu gave one last warning to the Tang even though the original letter didn’t survive the fragments of quotes give a clear message if they surrender they would be spared and be accepted to the Qi army and even their leaders might not only be giving clemency but they too might kept their position, some did defect to his side but many didn’t still been confident of their earlier victories , Ciu organized 4000 heavily armored cavalrymen as vanguard with some infantry to attack the pass the tang were surprised and send part of their force to engage these manage to push the Qi back but the men countered attack as Ciu encouraged his men but as news spread that the Qi general was commanding himself messengers were sent to bring more forces.


These marched out and charged the Qi vanguard was pressed with limited space and been pushed back and kept been pushed back ever slowly as attacks launched at Ciu position intensified despite that the tang commanders were still cautious as they wouldn't advance beyond a certain point fearing an ambush, despite the overwhelming numbers the narrow pass allowed the Qi force to not be routed still they kept retreating ever slowly, seen how in a matter of minutes the tang commander was thinking of retreating but then it occurred Ciu was struck by a crossbow bolt and knocked off his horse and as rumors of his death spread the Qi broke and made a hasty retreat as the tang ordered a full attack to finally end the battle.

The vanguard was cut to pieces as the screams of men and horses were heard only to be drowned out by the screams of terrified men and horses along with the sound of them running and galloping, the disorganized vanguard crashed with the main force and like a small flame becoming a forest fire the panic spread to the other troops, Ciu after getting some help quickly got into his horse and threw his helmet off so that the troops might recognize their general.

By this point, the vanguard had almost been killed to a man but he managed in time to organize his main just in time, still, the tang had killed so many and didn't know that Ciu was actually alive so charged to end the battle, like hammer the tang lines crashed now with more space but the Qi wall resisted still outnumbered it would not last long, his commanders urged him to flee before the lines collapsed but he just told them to hold the line and retreat slowly.

Men began to collapse but the line didn't break as even the mortality wounded grabbed their weapons and killed as many as they could before they were killed just as all seemed lost, screams were now heard from the back,Ciu outflanking force had finally managed to attack now the tang began to panic and disintegrate as Ciu ordered a counter-attack, in one last desperate move a cavalry contingent tried to attack Ciu position but the spearman held and cut them down in mere minutes the 40 000 dispersed and now the Qi soldiers began to slaughter the fleeing survivors.

One later chronicle says that on that day a stream of blood rushed from the tong pass to the river.

The victory was a heavy one Ciu had lost 10 000 men still with the fall of Tongguan the door to Chang'an was now wide open and with it the fall of the Tang dynasty.
 
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The flight of a dynasty.
Ciu victory was outstanding and a testament to his leadership and the courage of the Qi soldiers but also a massive gamble that impressed many commanders but just as many were jealous, everyone wanted to climb up the ranks especially after the death of Nui , this made the other commanders take more risk in Jiangling the commander had to debate the senior one wanted to attack while the second in command was more cautious putting saying that they should wait till they starved like Xiangyang but after Ciu victory at tong pass he used this as an example to attack and won the debate, little is now about the attack only that it was hard-fought and the Qi on the next 3 days made breaches but in all of them the tang beat them back with great casualties while inflicting many to the Qi, on the third day the first in command himself was shot by a crossbow in the neck killing him instantly, with his death the second in command called off the attack.

With this the besiegers in Ezhou didn't even attempt anything, in the east, the situation was different after the failure to conquer Guangzhou the tang pushed back conquering some towns and in the next months after the siege, pushed back all the way to Zhangzhou here they took the city and continued moving as they crossed the Zhangjiang river , the armies had been so focused on retaking land that they ignored the word of possible counter-attack it was a surprise when they attacked as 1/4 of his force crossed the river and were attacked the tang commander fled upon his big warhorse while many others drowned, the victory combined with the news of the victory in tong pass made the Qi commander, who was a rival of Ciu and his faction in court do to this and wanting to end the war the Qi pressed their advantage but pushed to far and handed an easy victory to the tang.

As these events went on the survivors of the massacre of tong pass told the emperor the news and a debate broke out as the tang emperor didn't want to flee as he believed that if Chang'an fell the dynasty would fall with it , but his loyal generals and courtiers told him that they could still win if he was still alive as they could reunite their remaining armies with the Uyghurs , the emperor told his courtiers that he was no coward and that he would not be seen as such especially with the the traitor who became the "emperor" of the Qi, but after a week was convinced to flee, by this point Ciu already crossed the tong pass and had taken Weinan, with this panic struck the citizens of the western capital especially after what remained of the army and the emperor left ,with most of the army gone men began to raid the great market of the city ,others fought against the tang soldiers that remained as they began to conscript the men , but many just reunited what ever they had to flee fearing the fate of Xiangyang.

Two weeks later Ciu arrived with his army , he gave the ultimatum to the city to surrender or be destroyed, the tang soldiers were afraid of this but also wanting to resist for as long as they could lied to the inhabitants of the cities saying that they due to the capital been a symbol and wishing vengeance on the tang for their Nuis defeats near the tong pass, this was partially true as the general did want to cleanse the city, after 10 days Ciu learned that the soldiers, in reality, were conscripted peasants, the general who was not great in negotiations and feared that he might alienate them, they successfully convinced the men and then they learned the truth, as they open the gates the conscripted men rioted and captured the tang officials as the tang soldiers fought the Qi,the "battle" didn't last long as the city quickly fell to them and the officials were publicly executed to a jeering crowd.

Still the was partially sacked for the few recourses due to all these calamities the great capital glory was greatly diminished to a ghost city, When news of the city fell the tang emperor then executed what he saw as incompetent courtiers by this time the emperor had already arrived at Lingzhou , even though it seemed as the new Qi dynasty had won Xuanzong had not yet given up, the promised the Uyghurs even more special privileges and titles so that they might still stay in the war and it worked, he also sent word to his rivals asking for warriors of the Tibetan empire which they could not send as much due to their own ill situations.

The emperor also sent word to the Dabuyid empire who did send more warriors as like the kingdom of Nanzhao they chose the devil they knew, still the tang with peace assured in the west more Chinese and Turkic vassal troops from the protectorate, the tang emperor would need all the warriors he could get, as with the fall of his capital many governors in all but name declared their Independence from the tang dynasty, but not all as the governor of Guangzhou still said that he was loyal to the tang, the same was the case with the general protector of the west.

Due to this, the emperor made an official alliance with the kingdom of nanzhao promising them many titles and trade deals making the governor even more powerful, with these alliances the tang dynasty could still have hope, Xuanzong himself promised that before he died he would return, retake his two capitals and murder Li Yong.
 
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Battle of Chaozhou
As Xuanzong began to prepare what he had to save his dynasty, the greatest general of the new Qi dynasty was taking a break as they cheered and celebrated or at least tried to but the ghost city was an eerie place, still, the Qi had both capitals and the tang even sent word for a truce for 3 months, the general disliked this but what option did he have? he had barely 16 000 men and with them, he knew that he could not march to the north to defeat the tang emperor, he with his current force could pivot south and help take Jiangling but he knew the emperor told him to attack the west and he need it approval so he sent word to him if he could move south and if he couldn't that he please sent reinforcements.


As he waited he lead he already sent many scouts and some hundred cavalrymen to raid to the north, while he waited the other fronts were also in stalemate, but with full support from the kingdom of nanzhao , the tang went on the offensive as the Qi responded and the decisive battle would be in the Han River some 10 kilometers from Chaozhou, here the 14 000 tang and 6000 nanzhao forces met the 35 000 strong Qi force, the tang force managed to cross the river, the battle commenced with the 1800 nanzhao cavalry with their leather and rhinoceros hide armor, with their spears and bows send to skirmish and probe the Qi forces who in turn responded with their arrows and bolts this caused them to flee, after this the tang then sent their cavalry and clashed with the Qi cavalry and were pushed back as the tang commander of the cavalry was nearly killed.


Here they retreated despite the Qi commander telling him not to follow the heavy cavalry which they did, the Qi commander quickly moved his troops but the tang sent the nanzhao cavalry to slow them down , when the Qi cavarly pushed to far the trap was set and the tang infantry and cavalry quickly encircled the force the slaughter was quick as the men tried to fight for their lives to no avail , with no space to charge the men were grabbed and thrown of their horses , the luckily ones would get a sword or lance trough their neck or another exposed part , but most suffered a painful death as the sounds of swinging maces and spears ,broken bones and screams were heard.

Some others gave up and those with extreme fear threw themselves of their horses , with their destruction the Qi still had a 5000 advantage in numbers but the men were broken and as both armies clashed as the Qi had few cavalry support , the Qi wings were pushed back and then broke as the tang and nanzhao cut down the fleeing as others were showered with arrows , but most deaths were do to trampling as some tried to surrender while others tried to flee , still many were captured including the Qi commander the same one who had less the siege of guangzhou and the subsequent battles , he was promptly was executed along with other high ranking officers .


With the Qi force nearly destroyed the tang began to expand to the north and in the next month they began conquering many towns , they took the city of Zhangzhou and moved to take Quanzhou as some other contingents moved north to probe the defenses of the Qi, when news arrived to the Li Yong was furious he ordered reinforcements and his navy to go save the city, he recalled half of the army of the 20 000 men he was sending to Ciu and gave the rest of the reinforcements he was going to give for the siege of Jiangling and Ezhou amounting to a 25 000 strong army which he ordered to march south immediately , he also sent word for the defenders telling them to resist as much as they can ,the Qi general had not spent his time idly he had recruited 4000 men of Chang'an and the surrounding region when the arrival of reinforcements with new commanders among them, Shi Lang a officer who became a cavalry commander in the fighting in Shoufang and most importantly a courtier named Gu Guangyan he was one of the many officers of the late emperor who helped him in his battles and spent his time in the Yellow river keeping the Uyghurs at bay but with frontier stabilized he was sent to deal with what remained of the tang .

However now the Gu and Ciu argued they had the troops and the latter knowing it was early September knew that he could still have enough time to push up to finally destroy the tang the generals and commanders agreed, But Gu while been a commander he was a great courtier he knew that the general had sworn an oath to the tang emperor and he feared what might happened if the broke his oath, so instead he proposed to wait to gather more troops and wait for more reinforcements, send raids and that one of them should go south and take Jiangling, but the general was not going to waste more time he had in his mind already waste to much time, the men Ciu accused Gu of beening cowardly and not finishing the tang before winter arrived would be an absolute failure of command, while Gu said that him breaking an oath would have grave consequences for their allies and potential allies the Qi could have.

Ciu used the emperor word that he could do as he wished in terms of command for the interest of the Qi dynasty, Gu been trained as a politician and argued that his attack would not be in the interest of the Qi Empire, there was no guarantee of victory and the potential consequences, this convinced many generals to join his side, so fearing a bigger conflict with the second in command he agreed to attack Jiangling and thus the cracks began to spread.
 
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The prelude
The Qi army left Chang'an under the joint command of Ciu and Gu even though they marched separately taking half of the army leaving Shi and other locals commanders, But Ciu forced marched his troops and went ahead of Gu army he disapproved, but Ciu correctly told him that there was no tang army to take advantage, his forced march made him arrive in almost 18 days but loosing some 2000 men in the march, still with his numbers the Qi commander attacked the defenders were nearly on the verge of starvation and like Xiangyang they began to eat their animals, the siege barely lasted 2 days after Ciu arrival and like Xiangyang the soldiers and civilians were massacred with that completed Ciu told the men to thank Gu for this and left and told Gu who still marching of the fall of the city, as he marched north to meet with him .


With the fall of Jiangling part of the forces moved and Ezhou, as Ciu returned north he cought up with Gu nearly 200 kilometers north of Jiangling by this time the city of Ezhou had already fallen and the troops were resting before pushing south when it was finished Ciu wanted to do another force march but Gu didn't approve and a normal march ensued still they went faster and arrived back at Chang'an in half a month.


Then the news of the scouts told him that the tang had prepared an emergency ambush force to attack them in the mountains but when they heard that they moved south they left and continued to prepare, these news created the debates begin again the two months had yet not passed, Ciu argued that they need to attack now before the tang army could fully prepare and entrench themselves, but Gu argued that they still need to wait till the emperor's reinforcements arrived and so that even if the tang prepared a defense they could still shatter it, the troops also became divided, those who had attacked the tong pass were loyal to Ciu he was their best general and he led them to crush the tang and take their capital, but the reinforcements preferred Gu after all his call for the attack was a success they conquered the 2 cities in a matter of days and the scouts proved that the march north could have ended poorly.


But after some days of debate Gu relented and accepted the army moved however again the armies marched separately Gu, Ciu and Shi went west to take Baoji they arrived 3 days later and the siege began, but even here they disagreed Ciu wanted to take it and March north before winter truely set in but Gu argued that the forces could take it and they meanwhile could get reinforcement in the winter and not risk starvation by moving north, most of the generals agreed with the latter after all it was already mid-October, during this time the events on the south were getting dire after the fall of the two cities they began to push south, even though the area in name belong to Jiangnan circuit, in reality, it was divided into 4 with their respective capitals in Guizhou, Wuzhou, Yongzhou, and Luling the men helped but also bickered and at many times nearly fought but with the Qi know pushing they all reunited and agreed to set aside their own squabbles.


This was also great news to the governor of Lingnan after all when the Qi invaded his territory the governor of Luling couldn't help as he was stuck in a squabble with the other governors and now he received reinforcement with these the conquered Quanzhou before the Qi army and navy could arrive and he waited there were some more movements but in general, once November arrived all operations in the north stopped, in the south, the Qi army and navy finally arrived and they laid siege to the city just captured by the tang, the recent besiegers had become the besieged, to make matters worse not all of the governor's army was there as he sent a part of his force to the other governors for in their words a decisive battle, therefore the tang governor could do little except wait for the other governors to save him.


To the west the Qi armies continued their march show still believed that the squabbling governors would not figth them and the governor of Yongzhou even told the army that he would join them in Tanzhou as the tang armies marched they like they arranged met near the city and then the other tang armies attacked them , the battle began and was a drawn out both sides started out with their archers and crossbowmen attacking and sending the lighter cavarly to the sides , then both armies clashed , the Qi had a slight advantage in numbers still battle was a hard one were the Qi slowly but surely took the field , but at the height of the battle the governor of Tanzhou betrayed the Qi charging at them from the left with chaos they spread was met with a charge from the tang armies , the Qi army collapsed , some scholars still debate whether the governor actually did want to join the Qi basing themselves of the fact that the betrayed them very late in the battle , while other argued that this was planned , what ever the case the Qi army was broken and only 1/3 of the 30 000 strong force survived with the victory the tang moved to relieve the siege of Quanzhou there was debate on what to do .

But the army decided to stay and face the relive
Force, little is know about the battle but despite the sallies of the besieged army the Qi managed to halt them and pushed them back to the city while fighting the tang , after hours the tang force retreated with heavy casualties but at least they managed to also inflict great damages the Qi victory even though it was pyrich one still raised moral due to the recent string of defeats of the area, despite this the seeds of destruction were about to bloom
 
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the cracks widen
As 831 arrived the winter made the stalemate continue, however, recent actions made some allies distrust the Qi, the Khitans heard that Ciu broke his oath to the tang was this not the same general that gave an oath that no harm will come to us, said the Khitans to their leader he knew that the most likely explanation was that he wanted to end the war quickly but it still produced doubt, when this war was over what would happen to them would they become more than vassals of the Qi Empire, the thought of this hunted him and the same ideas spread to the other nomadic tribes.


The rumors spread to the Qi and like rumors usually do these were exaggerated they said that the Ughyurs made a deal with the khintans and other tribes so that they might betray them others said that the tang emperor made a separate deal with them and other said that the kingdom of balhae wanted more chaos so that they could take advantage of the power vacuum, the rumors spread to the emperor but the young ruler didn’t buy in to them however he need to kill the rumors and suspicions that could potentially lead to conflict , so he send 2 courtiers with small escort and told them to be amiable with his ally and vassal and merely ask he told them to arrive as fast as possible so that these rumors might not spread, they arrived a few weeks later by early February , by this point to the west the tang emperor had received the reinforcements he need 6000 warriors from Persia and mostly from their eastern domains along with more troops for the tang western holdings , but the emperor didn’t attack it was still winter and he had used this time to raise a new armies he used every able men who was not making weapons or farming for his new army.



By this point the Qi had just taken the city the city of Baoji and were making the spring preparations, back to the North West the courtiers had arrived they reunited with the leader of the Khitans and other tribes they warmly greeted them they were invited to a banquet and the leader of the Khitans began to explain the situation to the courtiers, but then the senior of the two dropped dead most likely a heart attack due to his age, but rumors spread fast that the Khitans poisoned him and despite the other courtier efforts saying that he drank the same drink and didn’t die, it still put many in the area in high alert and to others it validated the rumors, to add to their misery and these rumors put the men in high alter near the frontier with the Uyghur the Qi raiding party found an unknown raiding party and in their fear of the enemy force or because of the rumors of betrayals, unknown to them they killed a raiding party of their own allies.

Distrust now filled both sides to make matter worse the stubborn official tried to justify his actions the courtier wanted to punish him to avoid a bigger conflict but if he did he would cause troubles but if he didn’t he would also cause troubles for the Qi, what could he do?

So he told their superiors to detain the group and paid some sort of compensation to the families and a formal apology to the leader of the Khitans and other tribal leaders, however when they were detained there was a brawl, there are two explanations the first being that the soldiers simply resisted what they saw as an arrest the other reason and the one most sources cite as is that they believed that they were been detained and be executed to avoid a bigger problem so the men not only resisted and reunited with their allies and attacked a local post overwhelming them but avoided to kill anyone sadly in the chaos some did die among them Qi soldiers and nomadic soldiers.

The leader of the Khitans believed this to be a hostage situation as unknown to them his cousin and other leaders and another leader of another tribe, so he sent word to the courtier to resolve this however one commander would not stand this because he saw this as insubordination, as he didn’t know that this the men feared that they were going to be sentenced to death, but now that they killed other soldiers they were, so he sent a group of 800 men to attack the fort and bring the 150 men to trail but they had permission to kill them, whatever the case as they need to avoid killing the two tribal leaders and save as much Qi soldiers, these attacked and these explicitly told the men to surrender either way they were dead men, this confirmed in the minds of the 150 that they were originally going to be sentenced to death due to this a small battle started but the outnumbered men soon got overrun but a fire started in the chaos this fire consumed the fort.

To add to the misery as if the heavens themselves cursed them the fire killed the cousin of the leader of the Khitans and gravely injured the other tribal leader with smoke inhalation before this death he said that they purposely set the fort a light, not specifying if it was the 150 in an act of desperation or it was the 800 to force them out of the fort, with these news the leader of the Khitans patience ran out and called for the punishment of the troops who took the fort and the commander who sent him to give an explanation but the courtier told him that he commander told them to not attack and if they did it was not his responsibly, but by this the leader of the Khitans had had enough the courtier tried to calm the situation down and the leader noticed and tried to be patient but at the same time he knew that squabbling would lead to no where , so he sent word to the emperor to resolve the matter.
 
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Siege of Tianshui
As the tension grew in the north and the news to resolve the matter were going south the rumors had spread already that the leader of the Khitans set the events up as justification for war, of course, Li didn't believe it because if that was the case he already should have attacked, but some courtiers who already didn't like him began to doubt him more,he ignored them and waited for news of the western front, here spring started out well the armies marched to Tianshui which had a small force that didn’t even engage due to mistrust of the locals and fled.


But all of the commanders knew what this most likely meant that the tang were preparing a siege, the Qi commanders began to improve the fortifications and stocked grain, just a couple of days later the massive 35 000 strong force under the command of the emperor's cousin moved, the massive army had the Dabuyid warriors, tang armies from the north along Sogdians, Turks and other tang soldiers from the west with direct orders to what to do and when to retreat.

The tang didn’t attack instead they made camp, every time Ciu sallied and retreat they were met by Uyghur and other nomadic horse archers who chased them to a certain point but the tang refused to take the bait, it was on the 23rd of march that the tang began their first assault, large siege towers, rams and catapults and missile units against the city, were moved to the city walls, the Qi responded with arrows, bolts, and their own catapults, these made the eastern attack a failure.

But the tang moved to the western side of the city, the attack was swift that the tang quickly used their ladders and began climbing up , due to the angle the Qi catapults could do little and some tang soldiers made it to the top of the walls but were killed, the defenders to try to drive them off they carried the stones and drop them, it worked as they retreated the Qi catapult stopped attacking, this convinced some that they ran out of stones.


With this, they attacked and managed to breach the outer walls but as they were committed the Qi cavalry charged as Shi had Sallied out killing many and routing the tang as the cavalry didn’t chase for long as Shi burned their siege engines, the first day ended with hundreds of deaths, however on the next days debate began on what to do next, no commander wanted direct assaults but Ciu and Gu debated on how to attack.

Ciu argued to do minor engagements while preparing traps, he said for their cavalry to strike attacking their camp doing minor engagements and fleeing there they would chase and they would see a weaker part of the wall and attack while he prepared the cavalry to attack them once they committed, Gu, on the other hand, argued that it would be better to send horse archers and cavalry to attack, the tang would most likely respond with archers and crossbowmen then they could attack them with their cavalry quickly and retreat slowly but surely withering them down.

After these debates, the cavalry went out they like Gu had instructed went on daily attacks showering the camps with arrows but their following attacks would vary, if they responded with archers the cavalry would attack killing them, if they responded with cavalry and infantry like Ciu ordered they would charge engage for a while and run back to the city where the catapults and missile units made short work of the men in some occasions the men got to walls attacked only to be driven back by a Qi sally, in these hundreds of tang soldiers died while Qi causalities were more limited.

These engagements continued for 25 days these engagements convinced all commanders that the time agreed after another successful lure the force sallied out killing the force that chased them and then attacked, however, the tang force was just preparing for an assault and met the force, despite the causalities they still had the advantage in numbers, the Fighting was brutal the tang pushed their force back but at great cost, even so as the corpses mounted up the Qi had to retreat leaving their most elite and armored spearmen to allow the rest of the army to retreat.

Once the tang called up the chase, Despite this been inclusive the tang knew that it was over their emperor with 7000 losses and no prospect of taking the city any time soon that very same night the tang force left, Ciu and Gu both thought this might be a trick so they waited after four days it was clear that they had left, the Qi had only lost 2800 men, with the victory the preparations to strike deeper into the north were made.

The emperor was very glad at the news of victory sadly he couldn't afford to send many reinforcements to them as from the south the "tang" governors kept pushing back and even laid siege to the two cities they captured just recently, while to the east the situation was still a stalemate as the siege of Quanzhou still continued, still by this time the events that had also begun on March were reaching its conclusion when the news finally arrived about it the emperor quickly reunited with some of his trusted courtiers and made an agreement.

That the soldiers who rebelled would be killed, that the other soldiers would face light punishment, the commander that sent the attack not stripped of his rank but moved to another area, and that the leader of the Khitans and others who were attacked or lost something would by the mutineers be given wealthy compensations.

Once the news arrived in mid-June the leader of the Khitans and other tribal groups agreed as they saw it as a fair deal, however, it had arrived too late as more episodes of violence had occurred and the men demanded more compensation which their leader agreed but he said that could be fixed but they first they need to agree to the first proposal by the emperor which some did and some didn't these tensions were at least seeming to calm down after the emperor's decree, but harvest time was nearly here.
 
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Disaster of Qingzhou
As the events in the east were still ongoing the war in the west was reaching its climax after the victory of the siege in the first days of May, the commanders moved to the northwest but they as they did debated, the cities of Yuanzhou, Pingliang, Qingzhou were still tang bases, after all the tang army had prepared to launch their attack they were lucky that the tang were cautious as to not attack, both commanders wanted to deal with this they didn't even disagree with the others because both men and their subordinate were at a lost.


If they moved for a siege that would take time and they would be closer to the areas of power of the tang, also the distances were short enough for the tang army to at least wipe one army if they made three sieges at the same time if they only attacked on they risked many attacks from the tang army, it is here when Shi Lang spoke he told his superiors that he could take part of the cavalry and move to the north, this would make it seem like that they would attack and keep them there as Gu and Ciu could move to take Minzhou, so just a few days as they moved Shi moved with 3000 cavalry to take the towns close to Tianshui, he ordered some of his men to go on foot to make it seem that they were a vanguard rather than a raiding force.


He also sent word to the garrisons of Baoji and Chang'an he news reached Baoji in two days and they quickly accepted as Gu and Ciu gave him authority to do as he wish if he deemed it necessary for the success of campaign part of their garrisons moved to attack once news reached Chang'an on the fifth day they also moved to the north , unlike most plans in military history this one went almost exactly liek they planned the tang believed that they were going to attack as the main force moved to take Minzhou, it was on the sixth day that news had arrived from Qingzhou , the garrison disillusioned with the tang and fearing that the Qi attack sent word to Shi that they not only wanted to surrender the city to him but also part the garrison, the cavalry commander didn't know what to think of this it could be a trap but then again if he could take the city he could distract the tang so he accepted, he reunited with the garrison Baoji and moved as the part of the garrison of Chang'an also moved with all of them being cavalry they moved quickly arriving in a mere 4 days once they on the night of their arrival the defenders fulfilled their promise and opened the gates.



This made the tang forces panicked and the reinforcements moving to Minzhou returned with this they soon laid siege to it, however, the distraction went perfectly as without the reinforcements the city fell in a short while but now Shi was under trouble, and like most decisions the two generals disagreed, Ciu wanted to quickly march to the area surprise the tang forces and annihilate them, Gu disagreed even if they forced marched their troops they would not arrive on time it would be best that if they sent word to him to abandon the city, they bickered for 3 days until were the book of the tang said:


As soon as the bickering was over he had sent his part cavalry with a thousand horsemen, by traveling more quickly so that they might arrive at first Qingzhou and he directed them to maintain the tang in their place, he thought that his two thousand horsemen, attacking and with the rest of the army, would do their enemy great harm and make them abandon the siege.

The cavalry arrived only to see smoke and the dogs eating what corpses were not burned, two days later the main Qi army arrived the few survivors told them that the city had fallen some three days before the arrival of the cavalry, among the survivors was Shi who told his superiors that they debated whether to leave or not, the tang had burned all the supplies, therefore, they were stuck and starving finally he committed a sally which some managed to break through, with this news the Ciu was quick to accuse Gu of being responsible for this because of his cautious behavior which he called cowardly.


However he refuted him that they took even with the force marched took 10 days and the cavalry arrived in 8, even if he had agreed the main army would never have gotten in time, but Ciu argued that the cavalry could have arrived on time and Gu partially agreed, Ciu also blamed him for not marching faster but he argued that if they did the greater part of his force would have died and they would have been utterly exhausted he told him that while it was a tragedy they to quickly attack, however, Ciu patience reached a limit he wrote a letter to the emperor the letter did not hide who he believed was in fault and send it to Li, two weeks later it arrived the emperor was surprised due to the anger the general expressed anger that he had never seen before, he recalled Gu and sent a word that the army that Ciu was in charge, however, he didn’t punish Gu as he told his story still he knew that these two in the same place was a disaster waiting to happen.

So he sent the general south to deal with the siege that was still ongoing, still, the emperor was happy despite this setback the tang were on the verge of collapse and the situation and no more news of the north came they must have fixed the issue the thought but unknown to him the cracks were soon to ripple.
 
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Battle of Yingzhou
After Gu left Ciu quickly moved to take as much land as possible so that the reinforcements when they would come he could use them to finally end the campaign, but the city of Qingzhou stood against him he had no time to waste for a siege but he knew the city had no supplies of food, so he ordered to his men to not assault the walls but get close and do lots of noise in one area of the wall while he told another part to wait and do the same, this continued to the night as he ordered his men to scout constantly if tang reinforcements would to arrive as these had left to attack Minzhou.

After two days the tang who were sleep deprivation and lack of food the scouts reported that many reinforcements were arriving in reality they were part of the garrison of Chang'an who he ordered that they would arrive in in sets of ten to make it seem like large army, with these news the garrisons of Qingzhou with no prospect of help they left the city in the darkness of night, with this victory Ciu left a small garrison and quickly moved to take Pingliang.

Here the book of tang said he used the same tactics as in Qingzhou and took the city in 3 days with no casualties while Du Shenyan wrote that on the night they arrived Ciu ordered his men to light 4 camp fires per each person and the scouts reported the massive army of the Qi ,this caused many to desert with that the Qi general sent an attack the next day and took with city with minimal casualties whatever the case might be he took both cities in a week and news had just arrived to the Tang army who had just arrived to lay siege to Minzhou,the army debated whether to go back and help or go north and they decided that Yuanzhou was a lost cause .

As the events went in the northeast the situation had been going well once the emperors decree had arrived they had all agreed and went to resolve other issues since the emperor’s letter arrived when other episodes of violence had occurred between the Qi and their nomadic vassals and some of the high ranking nobles pressured their leaders to demand more from what the emperors resolution offered them which many of them refused among them leader of the khitans which nephew saw as an act of cowardice , so the general invited them to a friendly meeting to settle the matters , both men agreed and the meeting turned in to a celebration were many men became drunk.

Here the two leaders the nomadic vassals were assassinated as well as well as the Qi general quickly their respective successors blamed each other and violence erupted all around the area with some even joining the Uyghurs and moved to attack but some switched side and kept their loyalty but another accident made it so that one tribe that wanted betray their leaders but were killed by a force in the border who didn’t know about it or though they would betray them, making many tribes that doubted their loyalty to join the Uyghurs , the tribes attacked raiding the cities and towns of the north the Uyghurs with the help of the tribes went and attacked pushing as far as Yingzhou were they met the Qi army.

The battle began with extensive exchange of arrow shots but as the wind was favorable to the nomads these inflicted heavy casualties after this the Uyghurs then attacked the center as the wind were still favorable to them their volleys caused massive casualties to the center which retreated, seen the hole left by the retreat of the Qi the latter quickly moved to fill the gap as the Uyghur’s had entered and attacked them from the flank and rear however the Qi general with his reserve and men who had retreated pushed them back seeing this the rest of the nomadic groups that were not engaged in hit and run tactics against the Qi sides charged as the Uyghurs redeployed some of his cavalry to his left wing without the Qi general noticing it .

With this extra pressure the left routed, this exposed the center right of the Qi army and despite some resistance they were cut to pieces, as the rest of the Qi army fled and the Qi general failed to reform his line, Du Shenyan stated that the generals was killed with other commanders in the hail of arrows trying to reform the lines while the book of tang stated that he died attempting to flee , whatever the case the Qi army fell in to full route and the horse archers pounced for easy kills.

By the end of the day of the 45 000 Qi men that took the field 1/3 of them died while the nomadic armies 28 000 took minimal casualties, the khagan son who led the battle found the Qi general and order his head to be cut off and put on pike then to be showed to the terrified defenders of Yingzhou the siege didn’t last long where the population was killed and the survivors been enslaved, while the many buildings were razed, with the defeat of the Qi army and the taking of the city the kingdom of Balhae also joined the raids to the Qi provinces ,in a matter a month and a half the situation which seemed stable had crashed ,the Qi emperor smiled in his palace as news came that the army he sent to the west had arrived and joined Ciu , he began to think that soon all of china would be his and he even began to think that once this was over he would punish the Uyghurs just as the tang had done with the eastern Turks , but a messenger arrived he quickly asked for paper and pen his dream of uniting china faded as he was now a man trying to understand what happened.
 
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