The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 800 The Great Northern Expedition
The following morning, three hundred scholars stood before Yingtian Gate, listening to Duan Wenjing, a senior official of the Ministry of Rites, announce the names of the successful candidates in the imperial examinations: "The first place goes to Cui Yuanli from Jingzhao Prefecture, the second to Gao Jifu from Bohai County, and the third to Chu Suiliang from Luoyang Prefecture. The seventeenth place is awarded the title of Jinshi, namely Lu Minyuan from Wu County and Yan Liben from Jingzhao Prefecture."

In the palace examination, the scholars from the north clearly had the upper hand. Of the top 100, 62 were from the north and 38 were from the south. This also reflects the difference between the northern scholars who focused on policy questions and the southern scholars who focused on poetry and classical texts.

Although southern scholars performed well in the provincial examinations, northern scholars dominated the palace examinations. Only one scholar, Lu Minyuan from Wu County, ranked in the top ten. His "Sound Strategies for Population Growth" was insightful, discussing five aspects: food, taxation, healthcare, concubinage, and employment.

Chu Suiliang proposed building large military cities on the south bank of the Suoling River in the center of northern Mongolia, at the northern foot of Jinshan Mountain, and in western Liaodong, to station heavy troops for a long time, and to build a straight road to the three military cities. At the same time, he proposed building a secondary military city in Yinshan.

This was even more radical than the three cities that surrendered during the Tang Dynasty, but the prerequisite was to completely defeat the Turks and control the northern grasslands.

The regret of the Tang Dynasty was that after defeating the Turks, it withdrew its troops from the grasslands, handing over the dominance of the grasslands to the Tiele tribes, which led to the rise of the Uyghurs.

Next came riding through the streets, receiving the congratulations of the entire city of Luoyang. This was the most glorious moment for the scholars. Then came the emperor's banquet, and finally the selection of officials by the Ministry of Personnel.

The imperial examination season, which lasted for half a month, finally came to an end in mid-March.

Almost at the same time as the imperial examinations began, 200,000 Sui soldiers split into two groups and marched toward the grasslands. All the soldiers rode horses, and another 200,000 camels carried supplies and followed.

The Turks were different from the Xiongnu of the Han Dynasty. The Xiongnu were elusive and difficult to find, but the Turks basically lived in the most fertile and golden area of ​​the northern desert, which is the grassland area of ​​hundreds of thousands of square kilometers composed of the water system of the Suoling River, the Egen River and the Duluo River. This area is also the heart of the entire northern desert grassland.

Occupying this place means controlling the entire northern grassland, just like a large landowner who owns the best land, and other nomadic peoples have to become tenants of the large landowner.

This was also Xiao Xia's grand plan: to build a large city in the most fertile land of the northern desert, garrison 30,000 troops, use powerful firearms as the foundation of his rule, and relocate the families of the 30,000 garrison troops to this place to farm and live.

In late March, Li Jing and Pei Xingyan's 200,000-strong army met in the northern part of Yinshan. The reason for splitting the army into two routes was mainly to prevent them from missing the Turkic army. Now that the two armies had merged, the location of the Turkic royal camp was only 80 miles to the north.

Over a thousand Sui scouts were divided into dozens of teams and sent to various places to investigate news of the Turkic army.

Soon, the first news arrived: the location of the Turkic royal tent was deserted; the royal tent and its accompanying tribes had vanished.

With no other option, the 200,000 Sui troops continued northward along the Egen River. Two days later, they encountered their first Turkic tribe. The tribe was unable to escape and was surrounded by 10,000 cavalrymen, who captured 8,000 herdsmen and hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep, greatly improving the Sui army's supplies.

Li Jing ordered his chief clerk Zhang Gongjin to conduct an interrogation. This was the territory of Ashina Kelu, a Turkic nobleman. Ashina Kelu himself led three thousand troops to retreat north with the Khan, while the remaining elderly, weak, women and children prepared to retreat westward.

They hadn't expected the Sui army to arrive so quickly, leaving them no time to escape. They captured a noblewoman who was Ashina Kelu's wife. According to her, the Turkic Khan was likely in the triangular area between the Suoling River and the Egen River.

Three days later, the Sui army captured two more large tribes in Fugui City, taking nearly 60,000 people prisoner.

At this point, all the Sui soldiers realized that they were very close to the main force of the Turks.

The next morning, several scout teams simultaneously reported that a Turkic cavalry force of over 100,000 men was located a hundred miles to their east.

In fact, while the Sui army was launching its northern expedition against the grasslands, the Turkic Khan Chuluo was also amassing troops to prepare for a southward attack on the Sui. However, he had only gathered a little over half of his forces when the Sui army of 200,000 men arrived. The Turkic army was unprepared and had to hastily retreat north.

Of course, the Turkic army was highly mobile; they could retreat at any time and escape far away, making it impossible for the Sui army to find them.

However, the Turkic army could not retreat; their families and property prevented them from leaving. When the Sui army captured a second batch of nearly 60,000 families, the Turkic army could no longer hide and had to fight the Sui army. If they continued to hide, their families would all be captured by the Sui army.

Li Jing left 50,000 troops to guard the camels, cattle, sheep, and prisoners of war, and ordered Pei Xingyan to lead another 50,000 troops to bypass the enemy's rear and cut off their retreat.

Li Jing personally led an army of 100,000 to attack the enemy.

The deep sound of horns echoed across the plains, and the boundless Turkic army surged southward like black waves, one after another. Spears were densely packed like a forest, exuding a murderous aura, and the thunderous sound of horses' hooves spread in all directions, clearly audible for dozens of miles.

The Turks maintained their traditional formation, with 30,000 cavalry on each flank protecting 80,000 troops in the center, charging towards the Sui army 20 miles away with unstoppable momentum.

This was a decisive battle concerning the fate of the Sui Dynasty and the grasslands, and it came unexpectedly so quickly, arriving on the grasslands in April.

No one could afford to lose this decisive battle. Whether they were Sui soldiers or Turkic soldiers, they carried the fate of their nation on their shoulders and fought to the death.

Ten miles away, the 150,000 Sui troops had also completed their preparations and were deployed in a flat open field. One hundred thousand infantrymen were arranged in a crescent formation with their blades pointing outwards, forming a huge crescent-shaped formation covering several miles. The infantrymen were concentrated in the middle, and the outer perimeter was a large arc-shaped crossbow formation of 10,000 men.

The essence lies in these five thousand double-strand crossbows. These crossbows require the user to use their feet to draw the string, which is extremely strenuous, but they have a range of three hundred and forty paces, and an effective killing distance of three hundred paces.
But that's not important. What's important is the arrow mine, which is the Sui army's trump card. In order to inflict greater casualties on the enemy, the arrow mine will only be revealed at the most critical moment.

Sui general Li Jing calmly watched the Turkic army slowly approach from afar. He was filled with anticipation, commanding 150,000 men in coordinated battle. This was the most glorious moment of his life, and he was filled with gratitude for the emperor's trust. This trust made him willing to give his life to serve him.

"Marshal, the three Turkic armies have merged!" came the shouts of soldiers from the watchtower.

Li Jing immediately understood the enemy's intention: they wanted to concentrate their forces to break through.

He immediately waved his hand and ordered, "The entire army, switch to arrow and lightning formation!"

The Arrow and Thunder Formation was Li Jing's original formation. It was a "one" formation, with a huge infantry square in front and two cavalry units behind.

At the very front of the infantry formation were 10,000 heavily armored infantrymen, flanked by infantrymen armed with spears, and in the middle were 5,000 double-barreled crossbowmen.

In addition, there are 5,000 throwing soldiers who used to throw steel short spears, but now they throw wooden-handled iron fire bombs. Each of them can throw a two-pound wooden-handled iron fire bomb forty or fifty paces away.

Each of the five thousand throwing soldiers carried ten wooden-handled iron fire bombs and ten tinderboxes.

At this moment, the Turkic army slowly stopped three miles away and began to deploy its troops, without continuing to advance. The enemy's caution was within Li Jing's expectations.

After all, this is a large-scale conflict, a decisive battle that will determine the fate of two great powers.

Both sides waited silently, the tension so palpable that even the air seemed to freeze; a major battle was imminent.

(End of this chapter)