“Relax. Duwu Sili will not attack me.”
Dalun Ruozan waved his hand as he walked out from the protection of Dusong Mangpoje and Huoshu Huicang, confidently and leisurely going to welcome Duwu Sili.
“Irkin, welcome back!”
Duwu Sili stared at Dalun Ruozan, his eyes constantly shifting, but in the end, he broke into a hearty laugh.
“Haha, good! Great Minister is quite the bold one!”
After this long bout of laughter, the tension between the two sides greatly eased. The Five Great Ministers of the Ü-Tsang Empire were on the Western Turkic Khaganate’s must-kill list, a result of long grudges that no one knew the exact details to anymore. But for Dalun Ruozan to so frankly and unconcernedly meet him on this first meeting showed a daring that Duwu Sili had to express his admiration for.
“How is it? What is the situation of the Tang?”
As Duwu Sili spoke, he looked over the hills to the distant city of Talas. The sight of those two long lines of steel walls made even someone like him slightly arch his brows in surprise.
“What a swift reaction! Someone of Great Minister’s abilities was not able to sneak past their defenses?”
“Great General should not be too careless,” Dusong Mangpoje cautioned in his mellow voice as he walked out from behind Dalun Ruozan. “That fellow might be young, but he is the Young Marquis of the Great Tang, so favored that the Sage Emperor personally conferred upon him a courtesy name, making him the Son of Heaven’s disciple! We’ve already lost to him several times, and even your Black Wolf Yabgu died at his hands.”
Duwu Sili said nothing, but his brows slightly furrowed. It had been the Tibetans that had lost several times, not the Western Turkic Khaganate, and Tibetan failures did not mean the Turks were incompetent. But when he thought to speak these words, the phrase ‘Black Wolf Yabgu’ immediately made him swallow them back down. In the battle over Qixi Armory, he had lost a Brigadier General in the Black Wolf Yabgu, and the Khagan’s Fourth Prince had even been captured, forcing the Khaganate to pay two hundred thousand of their finest-quality horses. Ü-Tsang was probably well aware of this entire affair.
It was like the pot calling the kettle black. Neither side could really claim that they had fared any better!
“There’s no need for you to worry about the Black Wolf Yabgu. After all, I came this time for his sake. No matter what, I’ll be killing that brat personally!”
Duwu Sili’s hawkish eyes swept over the land, quickly locking onto Wang Chong in the sea of Tang soldiers.
“Haha, then it seems like we are all agreed!”
Dalun Ruozan faintly chuckled. Ü-Tsang and the Western Turks, mortal foes in the Western Regions, were joining together in an unprecedented alliance. And before this, Dalun Ruozan had only communicated with Duwu Sili once through messenger bird.
Although they had heard of each other, they had never met.
But at this moment, Dalun Ruozan was confident that Duwu Sili would be his firmest ally in this battle.
“What have the Arabs said?”
Duwu Sili did not argue or quibble, immediately getting to the point. While the Tibetans and Western Turks had allied, the crucial part was still the Arabian Empire on the other side of the battlefield. It was precisely by the invitation of the Arabian Empire that this alliance had come to be in the first place.
The alliance had also been one of Duwu Sili’s conditions for agreement.
Otherwise, once the Western Turkic Khaganate helped the Arabs in dealing with the Great Tang, the Arabs could turn around and attack the Western Turks, and the Turks would have accomplished nothing but dropped a rock on their own feet. The Turks were a nomadic people who lived over an expansive area, so they also had an understanding of the Arabian Empire.
This was an existence even stronger than the Ü-Tsang Empire!
If it hadn’t been necessary, the Western Turkic Khaganate would never be willing to fight for the sake of the Arabian Empire.
“Be at ease. Everything has been taken care of. I’ve already written to the Arab Governor of the East, and he has guaranteed that if we emerge victorious, he will divide up the Western Regions with our Ü-Tsang and the Western Turks,” Dalun Ruozan calmly said, his every move suffused with confident assurance.
“But the Arabs have always been exceedingly ambitious. If we win and then they turn against us, won’t we have invited a wolf into the house? Has Great Minister thought about what to do then?” Duwu Sili straightforwardly asked.
“Hah, I naturally considered this possibility.”
Dalun Ruozan gave a soft chuckle, apparently having expected this question.
“Thus, I’ve already agreed with the Arab Governor of the East that if we win this battle, we will maintain this alliance and work together through Anxi, Qixi, Longxi, and finally assault the capital of the Great Tang, in the end dividing up all of the Central Plains between us!”
Bang!
Like a thrown rock stirring a thousand ripples in a lake, Dalun Ruozan’s soft chuckle caused Dusong Mangpoje, Huoshu Huicang, and Duwu Sili to shudder as massive waves raged in their mind. Dalun Ruozan knew the languages and writing systems of many countries, and his correspondence with Abu Muslim had been carried out in purely Arabic.
Dusong Mangpoje and Huoshu Huicang only knew that both parties had agreed to fight against the Great Tang, but Dalun Ruozan had not spoken about the exact details, leaving the pair ignorant. They had originally believed that this collaboration would stop at just defeating the Great Tang here. They had never expected that Dalun Ruozan had agreed to continue the advance together with the Arab Governor of the East to partition the Great Tang!
So bold was this idea that even Great Generals like Dusong Mangpoje and Huoshu Huicang felt a deep shock.
If this venture succeeded, the Tibetans, Western Turks, and Arabs would be forming an alliance of unprecedented power. This alliance of three empires might really succeed in discarding the old map of the continent and creating a completely new one, realizing the ambitions of both the Western Turkic Khaganate and the Ü-Tsang Empire.
“Haha, okay!!”
The Celestial Wolf Great General Duwu Sili heartily laughed in response, his excited eyes erupting with a dazzling light.
“Dalun Ruozan, I truly did not judge you wrongly. You have guts! The Arabs haven’t stabilized their position, haven’t even defeated Gao Xianzhi, and have even less understanding of the Central Plains. That Abu Muslim would never propose such a condition. It was probably your idea, right? A wise minister indeed… of the Four Great Ministers of Ü-Tsang’s Four Royal Lineages, you are ranked first. I was not wrong in agreeing to your alliance. Relax. I can agree to this alliance in Ishbara Khagan’s place. Once we win this battle, let us divide the whole world!”
Bang!
With these final words from Duwu Sili, the thousands of Western Turkic cavalry, including the elite Celestial Wolf Cavalry, surged forward to take their place on the hills closest to Talas. The silver-armored Celestial Wolf Cavalry and the golden-red-armored Mutri Great Cavalry stood to the left and right, an unprecedented array of forces exerting an enormous pressure from those hills.
At this moment, two mortal foes had become true allies!
……
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Outside the walls of Talas, at the second line of defense, thousands of craftsmen were hammering away at the steel walls, sending countless sparks into the air. With each blow, the steel defenses grew tougher and tougher. As the beehives were installed atop the walls, this fortification in these foreign lands to the west of the Cong Mountains became a wall of death.
Thousands of steel modules, thousands of beehives, and all other kinds of armaments…
It was only at this moment that Wang Chong’s ample preparations over the last two months finally showed their true power. But despite all this, the atmosphere failed to relax, only growing more tense. Everyone could see that new banner of the golden wolf on the hills as well
as that destructive storm of energy rising from the Western Turkic Great General.
The formidable figures of the Mutri Great Cavalry and Celestial Wolf Cavalry were like hungry wolves, their presence making the hearts of the Tang sink. Those three Great Generals standing side by side with Dalun Ruozan were even more demoralizing, the pressure so heavy that they found it difficult to breathe.
To the west, the Arabs continued their slow and confident advance. The Gangke King and thousands of Tang soldiers stood ready behind the first line of defense, all of them focused and attentive. But at the second line of defense, Wang Chong, Wang Yan, Li Siye, and Cheng Qianli, four of the highest Tang commanders, stood in a row, none of them paying attention to what was going on behind them.
The atmosphere was heavy and tense.
“Lord Protector-General, what is your strategy for this battle?” Gao Xianzhi asked as he looked forward.
The Anxi Protectorate army had only around ten thousand soldiers left, and if one added the mercenaries in the city, they had around thirty thousand, a far smaller force than the Qixi Protectorate army. In terms of troop strength, there was no doubt that Wang Chong was the true commander-in-chief of this battle. Gao Xianzhi was only an assistant.
“Hah, soldiers are used to block an enemy and earth is used to dam the waters! This battle was inevitable,” Wang Chong indifferently said. “The Great Tang has remained quiet for far too long. A war is needed so that everyone understands that the Great Tang still stands tallest amongst all the countries of the world, is still the strongest existence in this world!”
His words caused the eyes of Gao Xianzhi, Wang Yan, and Cheng Qianli to fly open in surprise. Their hearts began to stir as if a long-silent flame had suddenly blazed to life.
It was true! The Great Tang had been silent for far too long!
After all, that Great Tang in all its sharpness had once dared to rely on some several hundred thousand soldiers to vanquish all its surrounding foes and conquer all the nearby capitals. With eight thousand cavalry, it had dared to pursue the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the Great Turkic Khaganate, causing them to flee in such panic that they even abandoned the Khagan’s court!
If this were still that most valiant, elite, militant, and domineering Great Tang, would there be so many trifling foes who would dare to recklessly test its edge?
Chapter 899 - Open Scheme!
Chapter 899: Open Scheme!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Haha, good words! Whether it’s the Turks, the Tibetans, or the Arabs, when has the Great Tang feared any of the countries on its borders? Lord Protector-General, whatever you plan on doing, I will do everything as you say, so do whatever you wish. I will do my utmost to cooperate!” Gao Xianzhi declared, his eyes twinkling. In this seventeen-year-old youth, he could sense that passion that he had lost long ago.
Who cared about the Tibetans? Who cared about the Arabs?
In the past, hadn’t he relied on himself, rushing to and fro across the Western Regions, impulsive and aggressive, in the end gaining the favor of the Sage Emperor and becoming Anxi Protector-General and Western Regions War God?
“Haha, okay!”
Wang Chong felt his confidence swell at these words. Perhaps in terms of elite powerhouses, the Great Tang could not compare to the Arabs, Tibetans, and Turks, but one War Saint from another timeline and one Anxi War God was quite impressive. And when had the Great Tang ever conquered its enemies with overwhelming numbers?
Moreover, in the art of war, it was said that while direct methods could be used to begin the fighting, indirect and unconventional methods would be needed to win the battle. On the battlefield, one could not always rely on ‘surprise soldiers’ to win. A proper commander, whether on level ground or outnumbered, would have to rely on an outstanding ability to command to utterly crush their opponent in a direct confrontation.
This sort of battle had no tricks. It was the ultimate manifestation of strategic and military skill!
This was a true clash of commanders!
Wang Chong turned to the distant Turko-Tibetan army and indifferently asked, “Zhang Que, have you been able to find out the total number of enemies?”
“Replying to Lord Marquis: we don’t have enough rock eagles to contend with the Tibetan vulture army and were unable to get close, so we could only get a rough estimate. The Tibetans have seventy-thousand-some people while the Turks have forty-thousand-some. All of their soldiers are elites!”
Zhang Que’s young voice came from behind the four Tang commanders. He was kneeling respectfully on the ground, his rock eagle Little Sha perched on his shoulder.
The Tibetans had brought a vast number of vultures with them, their flocks blocking out the sun and casting a dreadful shadow. Coupled with the Arabian Empire’s hunting falcons, the Great Tang’s aerial surveillance was now under incredible pressure. Only by relying on master archers on the ground to intimidate enemy birds were the rock eagles able to obtain a little space to maneuver.
Just this forty-thousand estimate for the Turkic army had required Little Sha to personally fly into the skies on a risky surveillance mission.
“Seventy-thousand-some Tibetans and forty-thousand-some Turks, making for an army of around one hundred and twenty thousand. That’s good enough! Since the Tibetans and Western Turks aren’t willing to attack for now, we’ll force them to attack!”
Amidst the fierce winds, Wang Chong held his hands behind his back and gazed at the distant hills. His entire body naturally exuded an intimidating aura, the identity of the supreme War Saint of the Central Plains melding with his current identity as Qixi Protector-General. The current Wang Chong carried none of the immaturity of a seventeen-year-old youth. This was a commander with a domineering gaze and foundation that stretched deep into the earth. Wang Yan and Gao Xianzhi could not help but widen their eyes in astonishment.
“Senior Zhang, begin!” Wang Chong said without turning his head.
“Zhang Shouzhi begins now!”
Zhang Shouzhi and the foremen quickly boarded carriages and set off.
Bang!
There was a massive boom as the two defensive lines suddenly seemed to gain a life of their own, beginning to rapidly extend. Boomboomboom! Under the machine-like laboring of the craftsmen, one massive steel wall after another was erected on the earth.
The black smoke surging into the skies and this sudden construction activity immediately attracted the attention of both the Arabs and the Tibetans.
“What are these Tang doing? Don’t they already have two defense lines? Do they have some sort of scheme?”
At the top of a hill, Dusong Mangpoje couldn’t help but arch a brow at this sight. Although he had only one experience with Wang Chong’s steel fortresses, these steel walls had left an indelible impression on this Ü-Tsang Imperial Great General. After all, Dusong Mangpoje had suffered the greatest defeat of his life before them.
Those steel defense lines made Dusong Mangpoje instinctively wary, casting a shadow on his heart.
Dalun Ruozan said nothing, but his eyebrows slowly began to crease.
“He plans to completely cut us off from Abu Muslim,” Dalun Ruozan finally said, his eyes narrowing.
He was probably the only person in the world who could understand Wang Chong’s thought process. Though he had lost in the war of the southwest, he had pushed Wang Chong to the very end of his limits. And in those several months in the royal capital’s prison, he had reviewed, analyzed, and researched that battle multiple times.
Dalun Ruozan well understood that Wang Chong would never do anything without meaning. His every action was for the purpose of some particular goal.
“What do you mean? Aren’t we going to coordinate with the Arabs to attack the Tang from the east and west? What’s the point in his doing that?” Duwu Sili confusedly asked.
Long before he had set off, Ishbara Khagan had sent him a great deal of information regard
ing Wang Chong. But information was information, while the person himself was an entirely different matter. Duwu Sili actually didn’t have much of an understanding of this person who had extorted two hundred thousand high-quality warhorses from the Western Turkic Khaganate.
“This is different.”
Dalun Ruozan shook his head, his expression turning grave as he stared at the billowing smoke.
“When we and the Arabs coordinate and attack from the east and west, our three forces can combine into one allied force. We will be one side while the Great Tang will be another side. If he uses those steel walls to divide us, the Great Tang can stand in the middle and deal with us separately, turning two parties into three parties. We will make up one party, the Arabs will be another, and the Great Tang will be the third.
“In addition, if the Great Tang succeeds in dividing us, our ability to communicate with the Arabs will be hampered. This is extremely disadvantageous to us, and we might only be able to communicate with Abu Muslim by messenger bird,” Dalun Ruozan said.
“So, you were originally hoping that if the battle seemed to be proceeding poorly, we could change strategies and join with the Arabs to attack the Tang together?” Duwu Sili asked.
“I did have this idea, but it seems like that’s not possible now,” Dalun Ruozan softly said, his eyes still gazing into the distance.
Wang Chong always had a way to use the simplest method to make a clear situation complicated. Even as an enemy, Dalun Ruozan had to admire this feat.
In his grasp of strategy, he’s probably the finest mind in the Central Plains. Everyone says that Wang Zhongsi is the War God of the Central Plains, but not even he could compare to him in understanding of the art of war!
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 587