Chapter 16 Wise Retreat from the Eastern * Turk * Turkic Militia

Just when all the people in the Heifengling Cottage were nervous and busy in response to the large-scale attack of the Eastern Turks, Li Xiu'er took advantage of the fact that Xu Qing and the people of the Heifengling Cottage were not paying attention, and led eighteen of his men to escape from the Heifengling Cottage in the middle of the night. The next morning, the four maids found out that Li Xiu'er was missing, and reported to Xu Qing in a panic. Xu Qing hurriedly sent people down the mountain to find Li Xiu'er, and in a barren mountain forty miles away from the Heifengling cottage, Xu Qing led more than 20 people to catch up with Li Xiu'er and his party on horseback. Li Xiu'er and his party were surrounded by more than 100 Eastern Turks, they were fighting fiercely, and the rest of Li Xiu'er's men were the elite of the Western Turkic Khan's Guard, which had extremely strong combat effectiveness and desperately protected Li Xiu'er. When Xu Qing arrived, half of Li Xiu'er's men had already been killed, the leader of the Arab caravan Abu who had been bought with a lot of money had been killed, and only a few Khan Guards generals and masters such as Tiebumaiti were still fighting bloodily. Xu Qing and his entourage immediately joined the battle, and the Eastern Turks fled and rescued Li Xiu'er. This is the third time Xu Qing has saved Li Xiuer, and since then Li Xiuer's attitude towards Xu Qing has changed greatly, and she is no longer hostile to Xu Qing.

A few days later, thousands of militiamen from the Eastern Turks came to the Heifengling cottage and demanded that the Heifengling cottage hand over Li Xiu'er, but Xu Qing refused. In view of the strong strength of the Heifengling Cottage, the Eastern Turks continued to increase their troops to the Heifengling, and quickly gathered more than 20,000 militiamen. Before the war was about to break out, an alliance composed of dozens of tribal chieftains of the Eastern Turks jointly sent special envoys to promote talks, and sent envoys to the Heifengling Cottage to demand that the Heifengling Cottage hand over the Western Turkic and pro-Tang Dynasty missions headed by Li Xiu'er, which was again rejected by Xu Qing.

After that, the Eastern Turkic militia launched an attack on the Black Wind Ridge Cottage. Xu Qing ordered the drawbridge to be lowered, the gate of the village was opened, and all the people on the city wall were hidden, and the Eastern Turks were allowed to enter the village. The Eastern Turks have long heard the name of the Heifengling Cottage, and the Heifengling Cottage has stood tall under the Tang Army's several large-scale encirclements and suppressions, and its strength is naturally not weak.

At present, the strength of the Heifengling cottage is limited, and it is not suitable to publicize it, so as not to arouse the vigilance of the Tang Dynasty court. Therefore, Xu Qing did not plan to have a big war with the Eastern Turks, but only wanted to make the Eastern Turks retreat in the face of difficulties, and abandon the wonderful enemy annihilation move of "closing the door and fighting the dogs", and instead use gentle psychological warfare moves such as "all soldiers in the grass and trees" and "birds with bows". When the 3,000 Eastern * Turk * Turkic cavalry who took the lead rushed into the cottage, Xu Qing led more than 1,000 people from the Heifengling Cottage to suddenly appear from the city wall, hundreds of fake Chongfeng guns aimed at the East * Turks under the wall to form a battle posture, and 1,000 people with bows and arrows stood behind the people with submachine guns. Many people in the Eastern Turkic army participated in the attack on Li Xiu'er's mission, and recognized that it was the extremely lethal weapon used by Xu Qing, and hurriedly turned around and fled. The Eastern Turkic cavalry turned their horses around and rushed towards their own infantry, trampling on each other, suffering numerous casualties.

Xu Qing's Chongfeng gun didn't have much bullet left, and he didn't plan to use the arrows, and he could shoot a lot of Eastern Turkic soldiers from a high position, but the people of the Black Wind Ridge Cottage couldn't stay on the city wall all their lives, and they wouldn't leave the cottage for the rest of their lives, as long as they left the cottage, they couldn't beat the Eastern Turks if they didn't occupy favorable terrain. The Eastern Turks are hundreds of times larger than the Heifengling cottage, and the cavalry units are skilled in arches and horses, extremely strong in combat, and have a large number of people. The Eastern Turks are nomadic people, with a large number of war horses and good quality, cavalrymen grow up on horseback, are good at riding horses and archery, are herdsmen and hunters in peacetime, and are warriors in wartime, moving quickly and coming and going like the wind. There are only hundreds of cavalry in the Heifengling Cottage, and the infantry is not equipped with a large number of Mo knives of the Tang Army to deal with the Turkic cavalry, and no one understands the specific tactics of the infantry Mo Dao Formation advancing forward like a city wall, how many shield hands, archers, crossbowmen, and knife and axe hands are needed, and how to cooperate in combat, these Xu Qing have only seen in ancient military theory books, and they are only half-understood, and have no actual combat experience. It was inconceivable for the Turkic cavalry to fight a horse battle in a head-on conflict. The outcome is almost certainly the defeat of the Heifengling Cottage, and even if it is a lucky victory, it will arouse the vigilance of the Tang Dynasty court and attract a larger-scale encirclement and suppression. Therefore, Xu Qing did not kill a single Eastern Turkic militia in this battle, but only captured some Eastern Turkic militiamen who were too late to flee due to injuries.

After the Eastern Turkic militia dispersed the cottage, Xu Qing ordered the gate to be closed, the drawbridge closed, and then released a captive and asked him to bring a message to his leader, saying that the Heifengling Cottage was willing to hold peace talks with the Eastern Turks. Most of the armies of the Eastern Turks have been disbanded by the Tang Dynasty, and a small number of armies have been incorporated by the Tang Army to fight against the Western Turks, Tibet, and the Western Regions countries that are hostile to the Tang Dynasty, but the chieftains of the Eastern Turkic tribes raise their own private armed forces to protect their own territories, property and women, and their armed forces are civilian militias, not government troops, and the Tang Dynasty did not interfere.

The Eastern Turks also did not want to expose their strength, causing the Tang Dynasty to worry about it, they surrendered to the Tang Dynasty in order to preserve their strength, not to surrender sincerely, so the chiefs of the Eastern Turkic tribes hit it off with Xu Qing and signed a treaty of peaceful coexistence and non-aggression. Xu Qing promised to detain Li Xiu'er, not to let her go, and not to hand her over to the Tang Dynasty. From the perspective of peaceful coexistence, Xu Qing did not take the opportunity to shoot the Eastern Turks just now, and the Eastern Turks should compensate the Heifengling Cottage to repay the kindness of the Heifengling Cottage by compensating 2,000 taels of gold, 2,000 war horses, and 2,000 cattle and sheep. After bargaining, it was changed to 1,000 taels of gold, 1,000 war horses, 1,000 cattle and sheep, and allowed the Eastern Turks to intermarry with the people of the Heifengling cottage. After receiving compensation, the Heifengling Cottage immediately released more than 1,000 prisoners from prison. After the war, under the leadership of Xu Qing, the Heifengling cottage was completely whitewashed, and five major business sectors were established: horse gang, dart board, inn, money village, and store.

The caravans transport ordinary goods, and the dart board transports valuables and protects people. These five business segments operate throughout the Northwest region, with a focus on the Silk Road.