Chapter 437: Are These Karluks or Later Jin Troops?

The Karluks were originally a branch of the Tiele people.

Like the Uyghurs, the Basmyls, and the Oghuz, they were a nomadic people who spoke Old Turkic.

That said, it may not be entirely accurate to call the Karluks a nomadic people. One can only say that most of them lived in a nomadic state, while a small number had learned agriculture.

The main reason for this, of course, was that during the Great Tang period the global climate was comparatively mild, and small-scale farming was possible even north of the Altai Mountains.

But after the Little Ice Age arrived at the end of the Tang, the Karluks were forced by the bitter cold to migrate south.

When everyone moved south and there were too many people for too little land, unrest was inevitable. So they joined with the Uyghurs and the Basmyls to destroy the Western Turkic Khaganate.

In fact, it was not only the Central Plains dynasties that were vulnerable to steppe raids during the Little Ice Age. Before that, the steppe peoples themselves had already gone through a round of survival of the fittest.

However, the fall of the Western Turks did not bring the Karluks to power. Leaderless, after Pang Tegin's westward migration they submitted to the Uyghurs and became an important component of the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

And because the region where the Karluks lived had always been north of the Altai Mountains and east of Lake Balkhash, the climate there was cold and dry, and living conditions were harsh.

So while this gave the Karluks two traits — hospitality and prowess in battle — it also endowed them with the cruelest characteristics of a steppe people.

To put it simply, their favorite tactic was clinging to powerful patrons.

To the steppe peoples, this was nothing more than the wisdom of survival. But to others — especially to a Han man like Zhang Zhao — the Karluks' defining trait was that they were fickle and untrustworthy.

They had backstabbed Gao Xianzhi, the Military Governor of the Four Garrisons of Anxi in years past, and they had also backstabbed the Western Turkic Khaganate that had taken them in.

So when he prepared to kill Satuq and the fifteen thousand Karluk cavalry at Tingzhou, Zhang Zhao made no contingency plan, because he had no intention of winning over many Karluks at all.

Xianquan Town was about forty li from Tingzhou. For cavalry, that distance was not far; if they spared no horseflesh, they could arrive within a single two-hour period.

So Zhang Zhao did not appear hurried. Instead, he had the soldiers eat their fill at the beginning of the yin hour, and at the end of the yin hour the whole army set out, closing in on Tingzhou.

Of course, there was another reason Zhang Zhao was so unhurried: his main objective in this battle was to swallow the entire Gaochang Uyghur Khaganate.

As for the Karluks far away in the Land of the Seven Rivers, Zhang Zhao had no intention of bringing them under his rule for the time being.

Those fellows in the Land of the Seven Rivers numbered over a hundred thousand households in all — no small force in the Anxi of this moment.

If Zhang Zhao brought them under his rule, it would be very difficult to impose an effective blockade and restrictions on them.

Once these people found a way to obtain iron tools through Anxi, they would likely become a huge threat to Tingzhou. So Zhang Zhao simply decided not to take them in.

That way, he could build a blockade network against the Karluks around Tingzhou and Luntai — that is, the area near Urumqi.

Not even the smallest piece of ironware would be allowed to flow into their tribes, thereby weakening and controlling the Karluks.

As a steppe people, the Karluks' favorite color was black — a preference shared by many steppe peoples.

Because on the steppe, the easiest and most conspicuous color to obtain was black; red was still too much of a luxury for them.

So when Bai Congxin and Murong Xinzhang each led two thousand elite troops to Tingzhou, the first thing they saw was not the low walls of Tingzhou, but a long line of black-topped tents strung out along the Baiyang River outside the city.

As a highly warlike steppe people, the Karluks had not all huddled inside Tingzhou.

Because they were entirely cavalry — if they were trapped inside a city, how could they maneuver?

Therefore only Satuq's two thousand most trusted men were in the city; everyone else was camped outside the walls.

According to the plan laid out before departure, Bai Congxin led his force to a position about five li from the Karluk camp and lay hidden without moving.

Murong Xinzhang handed over his one thousand cavalry from the Left Yulin Guard to Bai Congxin, then personally led one thousand elite riders around to the other side.

Then, at the agreed time, the two forces attacked together from the southwest and the northwest.

For Murong Xinzhang's one thousand men, every warhorse's hooves had been wrapped in thick animal hide or white cotton cloth — a severe test of the horses' training.

Because with an ordinary horse, if you wrap its hooves, its first reaction is fear and panic; at the very least it tries to shake off whatever is on its hooves and simply cannot obey commands.

But Murong Xinzhang's two thousand warhorses had long grown accustomed to this, and not a single horse was restless.

At the same time, each of the one thousand cavalrymen held a wooden stick with his name carved on it in his mouth. Upon reaching the designated point, the first thing the officers checked was whether the stick was still in each soldier's mouth.

Anyone whose stick was missing was stripped of one rank of merit. Those with no merit rank were thrown into the suicide squad; if they survived, the offense was canceled — though generally it was very hard to survive.

At the same time, while the men held sticks in their mouths, the horses' mouths were also bound, to keep them from making too much noise.

Bai Congxin's three thousand men all dismounted and, with perfect coordination, took out salt-fried soybeans and began feeding their warhorses. Bai Congxin himself took out an exquisitely crafted hourglass.

This was a timekeeping device Zhang Zhao had begun promoting among senior officers after arriving in Liangzhou.

Compared to the outflow-type water clock now in common use, the hourglass — a timekeeper that would not appear for another hundred years or so — had one great advantage: it was extremely rarely affected by the weather.

Mainly, it would not evaporate or freeze, which would affect the accuracy of timekeeping.

The hourglasses Zhang Zhao had the Ministry of Works produce were even more accurate than ordinary ones. Even the weight and grain size of the sand inside had been screened and weighed by Ministry of Works craftsmen, so the margin of error was tiny.

Bai Congxin looked at the little hourglass. It was a two-quarter-hour hourglass. When it ran out, whether Murong Xinzhang was in position or not, Bai Congxin had to launch the attack immediately.

If Murong Xinzhang arrived early, he would set off specially made thunder bombs as a signal.

The time had reached the end of the mao hour — seven in the morning. Along the Baiyang River, Karluks were beginning to rise and move about one after another.

The first thing the officers did upon rising in the morning was check whether the small cavalry detachments posted on outer watch had returned.

The Karluks generally had three great clans: the Moulo, the Tashili, and the Chigil.

After Satuq arrived in the Land of the Seven Rivers, he promoted the weakest of them, the Moulo, to be his trusted followers.

From then on, the Moulo became Satuq's staunch supporters, so most of those who stayed with Satuq in Tingzhou were Moulo people.

Genaluo was just waking from a pleasant dream. He was a short man, but every inch of him was muscle — a "brawny man."

Men of this build were often the best riders: strong but light, simply born for the saddle.

As a young prince of the Moulo, he had also been among the first to pledge allegiance to Satuq. So after Satuq became the de facto Yabghu of the Karluks, Genaluo received an extremely generous reward.

The herders under him quickly swelled from two thousand households to seven thousand.

A low sobbing came from beside him. Genaluo paid it no mind at all; instead he grinned and let out a loud laugh.

This was the eldest daughter of the Gaochang Uyghur Tingzhou Governor. After Satuq entered the city, he ignored the fact that the woman was already married and casually gave her to Genaluo.

"You Uyghurs have had too many good days. Your women can't even bear this little grievance. Let's hope your little sister isn't so tender-skinned that she can't withstand a bit of handling."

Hearing Genaluo's words, the woman, who had been weeping while clutching a cotton blanket, suddenly widened her eyes.

She was a petite beauty with fair skin, a stark contrast to Genaluo, who was dark all over and as ugly as a Panzi.

"No!" the little Uyghur beauty suddenly cried out in alarm. "Yina is only thirteen — you promised me you wouldn't bully her!"

Genaluo turned his head with a lewd chuckle. "I did promise, but I've changed my mind now.

Among us Karluks, a girl of thirteen is already married. You Uyghurs still need an elder sister to protect a thirteen-year-old girl — how fragile you are."

"You promised me! You promised me!"

The little Uyghur beauty on the bed was still in the stage where her sense of safety had been utterly shattered, crying out in terror.

Genaluo had already finished dressing. He turned back with a lecherous grin.

"Tonight, I want to see a Yina dressed up beautifully. Otherwise, no one will be able to guarantee your father's life."

"Yinale, the five ten-man squads on the northwest and northeast sides haven't returned again today. Ahad Subashi wants to take five hundred riders to scout."

Just then, a guard's shout came from outside the tent.

"Yinale" means "prince" — the Oghuz and Karluks use it for the chief of their own tribesmen, while "Subashi" is a title for a commanding general.

Genaluo strode quickly out of the tent, frowning. The two hundred-man squads that had gone out patrolling the day before yesterday had not returned, and now five ten-man squads on outer watch had lost contact as well.

This could no longer be explained by going out to plunder. Enemies must have appeared somewhere unknown.

"Report to the Yabghu at once! Have Subashi take a thousand men — five hundred is not..."

Before Genaluo could finish speaking, a tremendous boom rang out.

Startled, he rushed out of the tent and looked up at the sky. A few white clouds drifted in the early morning sky, with no sign of rain at all. Where had that thunder come from?

But his confusion did not last, for the orderly sound of hoofbeats had already risen, and even the earth seemed to tremble faintly.

Genaluo's camp was pitched on a low hillock, because that made it easier for him to command. Snatching a guard's horse, Genaluo galloped out beyond the main tent.

A mile or two away, two cavalry forces had formed up in neat wedge formations and were sweeping down on both flanks like sudden thunder, leaving only a passage open to the west of his main tent.

Murong Xinzhang had crept to within less than two li of the Karluk camp before giving the signal and charging in with his troops.

At this moment the Karluk camp was laid out in a ¤ shape, with the main tent in the center on higher ground.

Beyond the main tent, scattered tents extended outward in all four directions, serving as a screen for the main tent — when enemies attacked, they could act as obstacles.

Murong Xinzhang and Bai Congxin had chosen an extremely bold approach: they chose to pass through the gaps between the scattered screening tents and strike directly at the main tent.

The advantage of this was that they could quickly drive most of the people in the main tent out of this position of terrain advantage amid the chaos.

But the disadvantage was that it was equivalent to plunging headfirst into the enemy's belly.

They might rip the enemy's guts open, but they might also be devoured by the enemy.

The first to close in was still Murong Xinzhang's thousand men, because Bai Congxin was waiting for his signal about five li away, while Murong Xinzhang launched his attack from less than two li out.

So he charged into the Karluk camp before Bai Congxin did.

The Karluks reacted quickly as well. After the initial panic, the scattered tents that had not been directly hit soon recovered.

Of course, one reason for this quick reaction was that the warriors in the outer scattered tents basically had no armor.

Their weapons were nothing more than a bow, a quiver of arrows, and axes or hammers made of various materials — so they could react very fast.

Open your eyes, mount your warhorse, grab your bow — that counted as being ready.

Of course, this was convenient, but their killing power was still pitiful.

Watching Murong Xinzhang's thousand men slip through the gaps, they immediately howled and attacked from both sides.

A sky-filling rain of arrows came flying in, but the five hundred men at Murong Xinzhang's front were all half-barded — that is, the riders wore padded armor, and the horses had a hanging strip of lamellar armor protecting their bellies.

The total weight of man and horse armor did not exceed fifty jin, which provided a certain degree of protection while sacrificing as little speed as possible.

As for the Karluks, many of them did not even have an adequate supply of iron arrowheads. What looked like a sky-filling swarm of locust-like arrows came flying in, but apart from causing a little psychological tension, they did not even manage to shoot a single rider off his horse.

The five hundred riders behind Murong Xinzhang were commanded by his trusted fierce general Zhang Xibao.

These five hundred riders were light cavalry wearing three layers of composite cowhide armor underneath, with tightly fastened chain mail over it.

Although this chain mail had been captured from the Samanid Persians, after arriving in Hexi it had been improved to a certain degree, making the gaps between each iron link even smaller.

This made the Persian-style chain mail, which had originally tended to catch on arrowheads, even finer and denser, so that even ordinary armor-piercing arrows could not easily penetrate the small holes of the mail.

The composite cowhide armor underneath greatly reduced the impact force of the arrows as well.

What Zhang Xibao and his men carried were also horse bows of relatively light draw weight.

These bows for mounted combat generally had a draw weight of only six or seven dou. The advantage was that they greatly increased the number of arrows a rider could loose and his rate of fire; the disadvantage was that their power was too small.

But then, for shooting these armorless Karluks, it was more than enough.

Moreover, the power of an arrow depends not only on the bow's draw weight, but also on another factor: the quality of the arrow shaft.

Generally speaking, the straighter the arrow shaft, the more kinetic energy it can carry.

Crooked, warped shafts often dissipate most of the kinetic energy imparted by the bowstring in flight.

The quality of an arrow's flight attitude is also one of the decisive factors in its power.

This is why, with bows of the same draw weight, sometimes an arrow can pierce armor and sometimes it cannot even stick into it.

Likewise, making an arrow shaft straight — in ancient times, without industrial machinery such as lathes — depended entirely on the craftsman's personal experience and skill, which was also a reflection of a state's comprehensive national strength.

The arrow shafts in Zhang Xibao's men's hands were far straighter than the Karluks', and the arrowheads were forged of fine steel.

So although both were arrows loosed from horse bows, the killing power of Zhang Xibao's men exceeded the Karluks' by an order of magnitude.

The Karluks were shooting at the five hundred riders led by Murong Xinzhang, while Zhang Xibao was shooting at the Karluks on both sides.

The former did almost no damage; the latter's damage could only be described as terrifying.

The Karluks, crowded together in disorder, were shot down one after another. After losing over a hundred men and being unable to bear the casualties any longer, they broke with a roar and scattered. Making them block the enemy with their lives was simply not the Karluk way.

Genaluo on the hillock by the main tent saw more than two thousand of his men below routed by five hundred riders, and knew at once that these newcomers were no easy prey.

He had two choices: hold the camp and wait for the two thousand cavalry under Chengwei Saketu to come to his aid, or sally out now and smash the enemy before him.

But at this moment, Murong Xinzhang's men had come too fast. In the rush, Genaluo could not form up his troops, and sallying out was not very realistic.

Thinking this, Genaluo immediately ordered Subashi Ahad to lead a thousand guards to delay the enemy at the entrance while he went back to muster his men and form ranks.

As soon as he finished speaking, Genaluo hurried off toward the rear. Ahad, who earlier had been clamoring to take five hundred elite riders to scout, now turned somewhat timid.

Just looking at the men opposite, after the arrow storm from over two thousand men had passed through, there were barely even a few arrows stuck in their armor — he knew at once that every one of them was wearing precious armor.

Against iron cavalry like this, what did Ahad's horsemen in oxhide armor have to resist with?

But he didn't dare disobey Ganaluo's order, so he quickly came up with a "little clever trick!"

Ahad had all the cavalry under his command dismount and form an infantry formation.

Because if they all mounted up to intercept, at the speed the enemy was coming, they'd be on top of them in no time.

With the equipment his men had, if iron-armored cavalry closed in and started hacking away, he, Ahad, might well die right here himself.

But dismounting changed things. These cavalrymen were clearly charging straight for the main command tent and wouldn't pay any attention to slow-footed infantry like his.

Then, if Ganaluo managed to organize a defense, he'd mount up and charge in with the rest, overwhelming them with numbers.

If Ganaluo couldn't gather many troops, then his own unit was still intact, his horses were still there — fleeing for his life would be no problem at all.

No sooner said than done. Ahad quickly sent two ten-man squads to watch the horses, while he himself led the seven or eight hundred men he'd gathered into ranks, forming an infantry square.

Murong Xinzhang, charging in at full speed, had expected to meet resistance from enemy cavalry. After all, there were at least seven thousand men in the Karluk main camp — surely they could organize a few hundred or a thousand cavalry first to delay his attack.

But when he came crashing in, he was utterly astonished.

Apart from the frightened wretches running wildly in every direction, he actually ran into an infantry square of several hundred men.

A small number of them held long wooden spears, while most carried infantry bows, all staring nervously at him.

For a moment, Murong Xinzhang almost doubted whether he had charged into the Karluk camp at all, rather than plunging headlong into the main camp of a Later Jin army.

A sparse scattering of arrows came flying over. Just as Ahad had predicted, Murong Xinzhang's target was the main command tent — he wanted to capture the leader first. He had not the slightest interest in this strange infantry square.

These five hundred half-armored cavalry didn't even have the inclination to return a single volley of arrows; they simply shot right past them.

Ahad had just breathed a sigh of relief and was preparing to lead his whole force in pursuit to see what was happening, when unexpectedly Zhang Xibao's five hundred riders came charging straight at them.

Zhang Xibao's task was to create chaos, and a formed-up, organized body of seven or eight hundred men like this was the greatest enemy of chaos. He naturally would not go easy on them.

The iron cavalry swept past like a whirlwind, volley after volley of arrows flying into them. Ahad's men, just about to mount up, were instantly struck by disaster.

Armor in tatters, no shields, no bows or crossbows, no obstacles, and their formation just beginning to move.

Every element of infantry passively taking a beating from cavalry was now assembled in one place.

Zhang Xibao had originally only wanted to scare these men into fleeing, but the posture the enemy presented was simply the most perfect target imaginable.

Zhang Xibao felt that if he didn't strike, he'd be letting down this heaven-sent opportunity.

Five hundred light-armored cavalry circled Ahad's infantry square, wheeling continuously and shooting from every direction.

The Karluks huddled together in disorder, constantly being shot down by the incoming arrows, screams rising one after another.

Zhang Xibao and his men loosed five volleys of arrows in an extremely short time, and these wretched Karluks immediately broke.

Someone let out a shriek and led a dash for the small gap Zhang Xibao's men had deliberately left open. The formation, which had barely been holding, collapsed in an instant, with fleeing figures everywhere.

Seeing this, Zhang Xibao immediately changed his force from circling horse-archery into a dispersed charging formation. The first two ranks carried cavalry lances, the rest carried sabers, and they slammed into the enemy.

Under the left and right hammering of the cavalry lances, the fleeing Karluks quickly fell into even greater chaos.

This allowed the Liang Kingdom's rear-rank cavalry to spur their horses forward; they needed only a light swing to easily cut down the Karluks who had exposed their backs to them, while their own side suffered almost zero casualties.

Murong Xinzhang, advancing forward, still encountered some resistance in this maze-like Karluk main camp.

But cavalrymen with no armor at all were utterly unable to stop them. Often a single charge was enough to send these Karluks fleeing in defeat with heavy casualties.

However, by the time he reached the main tent where the great banner symbolizing the Karluk Yabghu stood, Ganaluo had already gathered four thousand cavalry amid the chaos, and they were drawn up in relatively orderly ranks as—

A fucking infantry square again.

"Heh heh!" Ganaluo laughed coldly twice. Surprised, aren't you? I'm not going to fight you with horse-archery.

Those warhorses of yours are carrying dozens of jin of iron armor, they've galloped over five li, and at full speed at that. Do you really think you can still punch through my three thousand bows?

Ganaluo hadn't dismounted everyone. He had kept a thousand men as cavalry, distributed on both flanks, to serve as a mobile reserve ready to move out at any moment.

Murong Xinzhang grinned. This was the classic Great Tang style of warfare — or, you could say, the Central Plains style of warfare!

The main central force was an infantry formation of bows and crossbows, with elite cavalry on both wings.

Seeing this, not only Murong Xinzhang laughed — even Wu Guo'er, Yue Saonu, and the others beside him laughed too.

The Left Yulin Guard fighting on foot was no joke, because they had been split off from the Hanshan Capital.

"Zhang Xiaobiao, Wen Buchao — you two watch out for cavalry harassment on the left and right wings.

Everyone else, form the bow-and-crossbow grand formation. Divine Arm crossbowmen to the front. Yue Saonu, lead the Flying Fire troops and get the pear-blossom guns ready!"

Murong Xinzhang shouted out his orders. Zhang Xiaobiao of Lower White Horse Village was also in Murong Xinzhang's army — he wanted even greater military merit.

If he could rise to the forty-fourth rank, the Senior Envoy rank of Gentleman of Martial Cultivation of the eighth grade, his son could be shielded into the Imperial Academy and study alongside the future princes and princesses.

Then the Zhang family of Lower White Horse Village would move from being a military household to touching the edge of the military-merit aristocracy.

Wen Buchao thought the same. He was one of the twelve elite riders who had followed Zhe Deyuan into the city of Yunzhou.

And his ambition was even greater — he wanted to become Great King Zhang's brother-in-law.

This was the highest reward Zhang Zhao had offered when setting out: he would select five warriors of the greatest merit from the army, regardless of birth, and marry five of his sisters to them.

They were cousins, but everyone knew that the Great King's direct line was sparse — he had no full sisters at all.

These cousins had been brought by Great King Zhang to live in the Yongxun Palace in Liangzhou, and would be married off according to the standard of the Great King's full sisters. Each would receive the title of commandery princess and a corresponding dowry, making them much the same as full sisters.

At first Ganaluo didn't understand what the enemy's sneering laughter meant, but once the fighting started, he understood.

These five hundred men opposite were no mere armored soldiers — they were killing machines.

When the bows and crossbows exchanged fire, his central force of three thousand archers actually couldn't hold out for long under the concentrated volleys of the enemy's three hundred archers.

The several hundred men facing them head-on in particular were quickly shot into a concave dent.

The reason was simple: the enemy not only had thick armor, but also a very strange kind of bow-crossbow. It looked like a bow, but its power was about the same as a crossbow bolt.

Once the two sides exchanged fire, his own side could loose ten arrows without wounding a single enemy, while the enemy's ten arrows practically killed ten of his own men. No one could endure such a terrifying casualty ratio.

Ganaluo had no choice. He waved his command flag and ordered the cavalry on both wings to attack.

But the two officers Murong Xinzhang had placed on the left and right wings were almost all top-tier killing machines selected from across the Liang Kingdom.

Zhang Xiaobiao, who had shot dead over a hundred Dingnan Army soldiers, and Wen Buchao, who had dared to charge through a Khitan battle formation with only twelve riders, were typical examples.

For ruthless men like these, fighting Qarluq cavalry was almost effortless.

As the flanking cavalry struck in from both wings, men like Zhang Xiaobiao were not the least bit afraid. The arrows loosed from their divine-arm crossbows still had over a hundred paces to travel, yet they already checked the Qarluqs' charging momentum.

Even when the cavalry had charged to within twenty or thirty paces, they remained unruffled. A series of thunderous booms rang out as flames sprayed from the pear-blossom lances, lighting up a morning that was not particularly bright.

The charging Qarluq warhorses, startled by this, instantly fell into chaos.

Some panicked horses easily mistook such violent noise and flashing brightness for the arrival of a tiger or some other large predator.

Indeed, there were tigers in Qarluq territory. Near rivers, lakes, and certain mountain regions, on the steppe east and south of Lake Yibo (Lake Balkhash), lived great numbers of the tigers later generations would call Persian tigers.

Horses that were poorly trained, or that had never experienced the pear-blossom lance, collapsed at a speed far beyond human estimation.

Think about it — even a dog at home, or an ox, when badly frightened, what state does it fall into?

Warhorses, as large herd animals, only react far more violently.

Shrill, wretched screams, stampeding in every direction, throwing the riders from their backs, then turning and trampling straight through their own battle lines.

Even Murong Xinzhang had not expected that two volleys of pear-blossom lances could produce such terrifying results.

In his astonishment, Murong Xinzhang drew the pair of iron maces he carried at his side, let out a great roar, and was the first to charge furiously at the Qarluq infantry square.

He would seize this moment, while the Qarluqs were being thrown into chaos by their own horses, to shatter them completely.

The pear-blossom lancers under Yue Saonu also fired their weapons at once. The damage was not great, but the atmosphere of terror intensified sharply. Even Genaluo was on the verge of losing control of the situation — four thousand men were being rocked and staggered by a mere five hundred across from them.

Just as he was about to steady the line, Zhang Xibao and the others, having slaughtered several hundred of Ahade's men, arrived at exactly the right moment. They had even taken the trouble to switch to fresh horses, and their charging power was at its peak.

The moment they arrived, Genaluo knew it was over. This Inal of the Qarluqs did nothing else — in a few quick motions he stripped off his conspicuous armor, had his guards throw away the battle standard, abandoned his army, and fled.

With his flight, the Qarluq formation, into which soldiers had still been pouring, collapsed completely.

On the other side, Bai Congxin's three thousand men had also finished clearing out the several thousand Qarluqs on their flank and were now closing in on the main camp from the other direction.

The total collapse of the Qarluqs had arrived.

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