On the first day of the Year of the Field Mouse, supplicants from the west reached the capital, begging the Glorious Emperor Tai Dai for assistance. The lowly Gok Turks did submit to the Emperor, acknowledging him true Ruler of the World, and humbly requested that he send forces west to assist them against the encroachments of the Greasy Ones from the distant West. Tai Dai smil'd benevolently upon them, and decreed that the 831st Field Army should set forth immediately, to drive these Greasy Ones back to their caves, and free the Gok so that they may resume paying the customary tribute. He further decreed that their neighbours, the Turfan, should send thence an allied contingent to assist in this operation.
Lord Wei Dun, torn from his three-year contemplation of the carp pools, cursed the barbarians and set forth, seeking the Greasy Ones. Joined by the Turfan under their Prince Tsin tin tin, he found them lurking on the Silk Road, in a narrow vale. After rejecting their messages of amity and negotiation - for their underhanded dealings were a byword to all the westerners, he ordered his army, sending the Turks under their chieftain, Llap Gok, to sweep around the vale and spring upon the right flank, posting the Turfan in the centre of the line, where any defection or betrayal would be least possible, and dividing the true Han into two corps, one on the left that he took direct control of, and one to the right, whom he entrusted to his close friend Lo Fat.
Riding ahead of the army, accompanied by Lo Fat and Prince Tsin, Wei
Dun stopped, struck by the beauty of the vale, and composed a brief poem
on the brevity of beauty, and the carnage to follow:
The leaf poises trembling
on its twig, stained with sunset
fearing the clash of lances:
Lets kill them all
and then held a brief colloquy with his assistants. The battle seemed
straight forward - the Greasy Ones had posted their foot, well supported,
away to the north, with a long, thin line of superbly mounted cavalry stretching
across the vale. 'Obviously, the Greasy Ones either fear that we will turn
their northern flank, or plan themselves to rush forward there. Lo Fat,
ensure that you send sufficient horse archers to slow them to a crawl there.
We will rely on the weight of our cavalry, and the archery of the Pu-ping,
to rend their line in pieces, but approach not too eager, for we must leave
time for the Gok to complete their encirclement'. The commanders assented,
and returned to their troops.
Chanting hymns to victory, the Han ground forward: the Pu-ping vaulted from horseback, and blackened the air with the storm of their arrows, while the Yu-chi spurred their mounts, and crashed into the line of the enemy. With the first onset, the corps of Wei Dun pushed their foes back, breaking their line twice, while the flaming brand of the Turfan pierced the centre of their line, enfolding the enemy general opposing them. Lo Fat's command were flung back from their assault, as the line of enemy was there thicker - and Lo Fat did deem it perilous to bring his troops too close to the orchard.
As the vale echoed to the first crash of lance on breastplate, the horns sounded to the south, presaging the arrival of the Gok. The Greasy Ones did dispatch their reserves hastily thence, to try and slow the onrush of the Turks. Wei Dun, locked sword to sword with the enemy, witnessed a brave charge by the Greasy Ones, riding down many of the Pu-ping, so that they fled in terror. Still, this was not enough to stop the Yu-chi breaking the enemy into small and shattered bodies flying hither and thither.
Lo Fat's corps rallied and charged again, and with the assistance of some of the knights of Turfan, started driving back their enemy. The Greasy Ones tried to circle around the end of the line, but many stout volleys from Lo fat's Pu-ping emptied the saddles, leaving the foe bewildered.
With the onrush of the Gok, and seeing Wei Dun and the Turfan victorious,
the intact infantry started a hasty withdrawal, being all that was left
to the enemy command.