Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4868 Tubo Prince
The emperor and his minister sat opposite each other, both puzzled and puzzled by Lun Qinling's unreasonable and rash attack, and at a loss what to do.

After a while, Sambuza asked, "Regarding Serugundun's defeat, what does the Zamp plan to do?"

This is another difficult problem.

Losing troops, losing generals, and losing cities and territory are all serious crimes at any time, and even Sai Rugong Dun, with his status and merits, cannot escape punishment. But now that Lun Qinling is attacking bravely and recklessly, it is likely to cause turmoil within Tubo, and those who are rebellious may be ready to make a move. At this time, dealing with Sai Rugong Dun will inevitably cause a lot of resentment and fear, which will further disturb people's hearts and make everyone feel insecure.

Songtsen Gampo shook his head and said: "The Gar tribe received assistance from the Tang people. The Qinling army is far superior to the Sairu tribe in terms of equipment, weapons and supplies. Although the Sairu Gongdon was defeated, it was not a crime of war. How can it be blamed on him?"

Sambuza nodded. The Zamp now wanted to pay attention to internal unity. Indeed, compared with the internal unity of Tubo, the failure of a war was insignificant.

"So how should we respond now? Why not issue an order to have the leaders of the six tribes in Nacang arrive in Luoshui City immediately to discuss strategies to deal with Lun Qinling?"

Songtsen Gampo pondered for a moment.

Doing so is equivalent to calling the leaders of the six tribes in Nacang to Lhasa City and placing them under house arrest. Of course, it also means forcing them to choose sides.

After taking a sip of tea, he found that it was already lukewarm, so he put down the cup and said, "That's good. These guys always pretend to obey but actually disobey. We can't always be so vague."

Forcing people to take sides is a bit too harsh, but now Lun Qinling is marching straight to the city and is about to attack it, so he has to pay attention to the issue of internal unity. Otherwise, if these people suddenly rebel and rise up in response when Lun Qinling arrives in Lhasa, it will be too much trouble.

We have to do this to prevent it from happening.

Sambuza quickly took the kettle beside him to refill the water and nodded: "I will draft the decree immediately. Please stamp it with the seal of the Zamp and send it to the six tribes of Nachang."

After a pause, he asked again: "Then how do we fight Lun Qinling now?"

Songtsen Gampo fluttered his teacup and said, "Let the prince lead his troops to Dangla Mountain to reinforce Sairu Gongdon, but Sairu Gongdon will still be the commander-in-chief and the prince will be the assistant."

Sambuza was stunned: "This..."

The Tubo prince Gongri Gongzan is eighteen years old this year. He married a Tuyuhun princess and has just given birth to a son. Although the prince is considered to be intelligent, he is sickly, not strong enough, and has no experience in leading an army in battle. How can he take on such an important responsibility?
After all, no matter how weak he is, he is still a prince of Tubo. Although he is nominally an assistant, Sai Rugongdun is a minister after all. It is hard to say who will be the master and who will be the assistant at that time.

But he soon understood Songtsen Gampo's intention. This was to make sure that Serugundun would be able to hold the Dangla Mountain defense line after receiving reinforcements, so as to gain military merit and add to the prince's resume and prepare for his future succession to the throne.

After all, if a weak and sickly prince does not have outstanding achievements, it will be difficult for him to convince the public even if he succeeds to the throne.

But Songtsen Gampo only had this one son...

"Don't worry, Zanpu. I will select elite soldiers to accompany the prince to the battle to ensure that everything goes well."

Songtsen Gampo nodded, feeling worried.

Didn't he know that his son was weak and unfit to lead troops? If his son had an accident, wouldn't his succession to the throne be cut off?
But he had to do so because he did not trust Serugundun, so he could only send his son to lead an army to Dangla Mountain to both support Serugundun and to monitor him, forcing Serugundun not to have any rebellious thoughts.

It's not that he doesn't trust Serugundun, his comrade-in-arms with whom he has fought side by side for many years, but that he doesn't trust human nature in weighing the pros and cons when it comes to interests.

If Serugundun was alone, he would certainly be loyal to the king and swear allegiance to him until death. But after all, he has the entire tribe behind him, and the interests of the tribe are far more important than personal moral integrity.

When personal loyalty conflicts with the interests of the tribe, no one knows what the final choice will be...

*****
The frozen Yak River could not stop the armored cavalry. Sairugundon did not dare to fight and retreated southward until he stopped at Dangla Pass. It was not that he did not want to run, but he was exhausted after escaping from Zishan Pass to this place in one breath. Even if he died in battle, he could hardly move.

Of course, the fully armored cavalry was even more physically demanding. Even though they knew that Serugundun was no longer able to escape, they did not have the strength to launch an attack.

The two sides confronted each other at the Dangla Pass, one at the pass and the other at the foot of the mountain. For the time being, neither could do anything to the other. Fortunately, this gave Sai Rugundon a chance to catch his breath, allowing him to gather his remaining troops and use the terrain to stabilize the defense line, while asking for help from the city of Lhasa.

As for whether he would be held accountable and punished by the Zamp for the defeat, he no longer cared. Looking at the devastated troops in the snow and ice, his heart was bleeding.

The reason why he was able to become a minister of Tubo whose status was second only to Lu Dongzan was not only due to his merits in following the Zamp in his conquests to unify Tubo over the years, but also because of the strong "Seru" tribe behind him, which was the foundation that could guarantee his power and status.

But now more than half of the 20,000 elite members of the tribe have been killed, and countless others are injured. How can he explain this to the tribal elders and how can he continue to maintain his power?

The next morning, the sound of a horn woke up the dazed Serugundun. He jumped up, luckily he had not changed his clothes when he went to sleep last night. He grabbed the scimitar on the table and walked out the door. He looked at his guard and asked in surprise, "What happened?"

The guard said, "Lun Qinling has begun the attack!"

Sai Rugongdun hurriedly walked to the front surrounded by guards, and looked down from a high place. He saw that dense enemies were attacking at the foot of the mountain. Fortunately, the terrain of Dangla Pass was steep, and although horses could usually pass through, the mountain road was covered with ice and snow and difficult to walk on. Moreover, it was difficult for horses to speed up during the charge, so the enemy had to abandon horses and attack with infantry.

Without the might of the armored cavalry, the fighting power of the Gar tribe dropped by more than one level. Otherwise, with the ability of Sairu Gundun, it would not have collapsed at the first blow. It was really that the armored cavalry's charge formation in the field was too unstoppable...

Although they are now only remnants of defeated troops, the Sairu tribe and the simply reorganized defeated soldiers of the Subi Kingdom are defending the mountain pass to the death, making it difficult for the enemy to break through for a while.

But before Sairugongdun could breathe a sigh of relief, he first saw a few puffs of smoke rising from the foot of the mountain, and then a dull explosion reached his ears. It was the enemy using a thunder bomb. Sairugongdun looked down and saw clearly that the thunder bomb exploded in his own ice formation, and the broken shrapnel flew everywhere. A large number of soldiers fell down within a radius of ten feet, which was extremely tragic.

Sai Rugundun gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, pursed his lips tightly, and looked panic-stricken.

It seems that the Gar tribe did not get too many thunder bombs, but even so, thunder bombs, rockets, and armored cavalry made the Tubo army difficult to resist. If the Tang army was equipped with these firearms and armor, what a devastating scene it would be!

Of course, the Tang people could not adapt to the climate of the plateau, and even if they had firearms and armor, they could hardly exert their power... But what if the Tang people fully supported a certain Tibetan tribe?

Whether it is the Zamp or the various tribes, who can stop them?
In a sense, as long as the Tang people are willing to fully support a certain Tibetan tribe, then the possibility of Tibetans changing the world will be infinite...

Sai Rugundun's eyes were deep.

The battle at the foot of the mountain lasted for half an hour. The Gar tribe advanced several dozen feet, but finally could not make any progress due to the numerical advantage and tenacious resistance of the defenders. They had to end the battle and retreat to the foot of the mountain.

The battle is over.

But Sai Rugundon did not feel relieved at all. He returned to the tent with a heavy heart, asked people to prepare food, and ate while thinking about something.

After eating, I drank butter tea, and the coldness in my body was driven away. Just when I wanted to take a nap, a guard came in and reported: "Chief, the prince has led the reinforcements to arrive ten miles away."

Serugundun let out a breath, stood up, took a fur coat and put it on, then grabbed a fur hat with intricate patterns and gorgeous decorations and put it on his head, and said in a deep voice: "You all follow me to welcome the prince, and the rest of you take good care of the enemy, and don't let them sneak up on you!"

"Yes!"

After giving some instructions, Sairugongdun left the tent, rode his horse and led a group of guards along the mountain pass all the way south. After crossing the entire mountain pass, he saw faint flags in the distance in the wind and snow, as well as countless vehicles and horses...

After reporting his identity, he was led by the soldiers to ride forward for a while, and then he saw the Tibetan prince Gongri Gongzan, who was wrapped tightly with only half of his face exposed.

Sairugongtun turned over and dismounted, and walked two steps quickly to Gongrigongzan's horse, knelt on the ground and said loudly: "Your servant Sairugongtun respectfully welcomes the prince!"

"Oh my, we've finally got General Sairu. Please get up quickly."

Gongri Gongzan on the horse actually turned over and got off the horse, but perhaps because he had been riding for too long his legs became weak, and he stumbled and almost fell, scaring the guards on both sides so much that their faces changed drastically. Fortunately, Sai Rugongdun reacted quickly and supported him.

"Prince, be careful!"

Sairu Gongdun supported Gongri Gongzan, but found that the prince was trembling all over, and he couldn't help but feel a little confused...

Gongri Gongzan grabbed Serugondon's arm, his teeth chattering, "Before I leave, the Zamp has something important to tell you, General. Come with me and get on the carriage quickly, and let me tell you in detail."

Sai Rugongdun was stunned. What was there that couldn't be discussed until we reached the mountain pass?
However, seeing that Gongri Gongzan had already been helped by the guards to board a magnificently decorated carriage behind him, he had no choice but to follow.

"Phew! If the general had come a little later, I would have frozen to death!"

As soon as he entered the carriage, the guards wrapped a leather quilt around Gongri Gongzan, put a heater in his hands, and poured a sip of hot water into him. Only then did Gongri Gongzan's pale face slowly turn rosy, and his body did not tremble as violently as before.

Serugondon suddenly realized that the prince was too cold to bear it, but he wanted to maintain the Tibetan man's fearlessness of wind and snow in front of the whole army and refused to get on the car to keep warm. It was not until he saw him that he had a reason to get on the car...

Looking at Gongri Gongzan's thin body shivering in the fur quilt, Sairu Gongdun sighed.

The Zamp was wise and brave, a great hero, but this successor didn't look like a wise ruler at all...