The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Li Lin was no longer the insignificant officer in charge of the gates. He now commanded a significant number of soldiers in the Imperial Army. Before, he had relied only on the Wang Clan’s prestige, but now, he could rely on his own formidable strength to win the respect of his men.

  Flapflap!

  As he was silently thinking, the flapping of wings came from outside the window. Li Lin turned toward the sound and saw that it was a white pigeon beatings its wings at his window. However, Li Lin had shut the doors and windows while he cultivated, so the pigeon was unable to get in.

  “Mm?”

  A questioning look flashed through Li Lin’s eyes, but he quickly regained his composure and opened the window with a faint smile. With smooth proficiency, he removed the letter from the carrier pigeon’s leg and gently opened it. Glancing at the contents, he was immediately struck dumb.

  The letter was almost completely empty, with only a few words written in the very middle.

  ‘Xuanwu Army’!

  There was no specific address nor the name of any sender on this letter. As Li Lin stared at it, his brow slowly began to crease.

  “Already?” he muttered to himself.

  This was a signal that he had agreed on with Wang Chong that no one except them knew the meaning of.

  Li Lin quickly left his room with the letter.

  Zhao Fengchen!

  If he wanted to complete the matter Wang Chong had hinted at with this letter, he would need the assistance of this marshal of the Imperial Army. Right now, Zhao Fengchen was the Wang Clan’s staunchest and most powerful ally in the Imperial Army.

  In a rush of wind, Li Lin vanished into the enormous Imperial City.

  ……

  Several hundred li away from the capital, an enormous mountain stabbed into the sky like a mighty sword.

  Imperial Heaven Pillar Mountain!

  This was one of the four holy mountains that the Great Tang’s Imperial Army used for training. It was rumored that several hundred years ago, the young Emperor Taizong had made an offering to the heavens and earth and reviewed the troops at this place. From that point on, this mountain became one of the primary camps for the Imperial Army.

  “Hey!”

  “Ha!”

  The shouts and cries of training echoed over the mountain. A group of reserve imperial soldiers dressed in black clothes was running across the lush mountain via a steep road. Higher up the mountain, amidst the cloud and fog, thousands of imperial soldiers were training on the summit.

  At the highest point of the summit, a thin middle-aged man was seated cross-legged on a round stone, silently observing the scenery below. Hwoooo! The wind tossed the man’s hair about, and he gave a relaxed and carefree smile.

  Coocoo!

  At this moment, a carrier pigeon flew down from the skies, breaking out of the clouds as it flew straight at the man’s location.

  “Mm?”

  The man’s brows shifted, and a hint of surprise flickered through his eyes as he stood up from the rock and received the pigeon. As he glanced at the letter it had delivered, his smile faded and his expression turned serious.

  “Chong-er, as expected, you spoke up. Is the situation at Talas so grim that you already need to mobilize that force?”

  A complicated look flickered through Wang Mi’s eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he began to stride down the mountain.

  ……

  No matter how fierce was the quarrel that had been sparked between the civil and military officials by the matter of Talas, this was all about some extremely faraway place to the people of the capital, and the capital retained its usual calm and serenity. In the western part of the city, in Ghost Tree District, crowds rushed here and there. No one took notice that a child of about eight or nine was strolling along, humming a tune while he swung around a wine gourd half a foot tall.

  “Boss, how much does it cost for one tanghulu?”

  “Two strings of cash.”

  “I want one.

  “Boss, give me two taels worth of wine.”

  “Boss, I want a plate of spiced beef.”

  The child shopped as he walked, and in a little while, the wine gourd was full, his basket played host to several appetizers, and there was a tanghulu in his hands.

  The merchant and peddlers would all call out to this child as he passed by. They had all become extremely familiar with this boy. Every day, he would buy a gourd of wine and several appetizers. There had never been any variation in this schedule.

  Bang!

  As he was licking the tanghulu, a figure suddenly rushed in front of him. Caught unprepared, the boy crashed right into this figure.

  “Ah, I’m sorry!”

  The child hurriedly apologized, but when he raised his head and saw clearly who this man was, he froze. It was a tall and bulky man dressed in armor. This was no merchant or resident of the Ghost Tree District, but a soldier of some status.

  Dingling!

  As the boy’s face tensed in panic, a small bell of gold and red suddenly dropped down in front of his face. On the bell, the image of a black ghost tree was extremely obvious.

  Senior brother!

  The child was dazed by this bell and picture, and then he broke into a delighted smile.

  “You were sent by Senior Brother?”

  The soldier nodded and took out a letter from his bosom, offering it with both hands.

  “Lord Marquis is in the northwest and cannot come. He sent me to give a letter to you. He said that Little Brother would only need to see this bell to understand.”

  In the end, the armored soldier couldn’t hold himself back. “Please… offer Senior Su my respects for me.”

  No one could have imagined that this boy of eight or nine was the disciple of the Great Tang’s War God, Su Zhengchen. The mere thought of that godlike existence made the soldier agitated.

  “I know.”

  The boy grimaced before taking the letter from the soldier and hopping and skipping away.

  ……

  One pigeon after another flew into the capital while eagle after eagle flew off to the borders. These pigeons and eagles were all branches from the same tree; all of the Central Plains was rumbling to life according to the plans of Wang Chong and Gao Xianzhi.

  Putting aside the capital for now, in the distant Talas, the clouds of war still hung thick, and the air was still tense. The news from the Khorasani had caused the entire city of Talas to enter a battle-ready state.

  In a study within the northwest corner of the city, the light was dim and weak. Wang Chong sat behind a desk, a mountain of papers piled up in front of him.

  “Wang Chong, you were looking for me?”

  The door opened and the fully-armored Gao Xianzhi walked in.

  “Lord Protector-General, you’ve come.”

  Wang Chong raised his head and rubbed his eyes, fatigue evident on his face.

  “You didn’t sleep last night. Are you still thinking about the Arabs?” Gao Xianzhi said.

  “Mm.”

  Wang Chong nodded with a smile. Abu Muslim had not fully retreated and a new wave of soldiers was about to arrive. He was the commander of this army, so how could he possibly sleep? Wang Chong didn’t even need to think to know that Gao Xianzhi was probably faring little better.

  Wang Chong voiced his concerns. “Abu Muslim, Qutaybah, and Osman—if everything is really as that Khorasani said, then Talas will soon be the gathering place of three Arab governors. If we add Ziyad, Duwu Sili, Huoshu Huicang, and Dusong Mangpoje, we’ll be facing the equivalent of seven Imperial Great Generals. This is an extremely dire situation for us.”

  Great Generals would always be the highest strength of any empire, powerful existences that could alter the course of battle. Four hundred thousand elite soldiers and seven Imperial Great Generals were an enormous and unstoppable force that could crush the Tang army at Talas into paste.

  This was the reason Wang Chong had spent the last several nights
without any sleep.

  “Is there a chance… that the news from Khorasan could be incorrect?” Gao Xianzhi hesitantly asked.

  “Not possible!”

  Wang Chong bitterly smiled as he shook his head.

  “The Khorasani have a deep feud with the Arabs. They would spare no effort to investigate the Arabs. Even if the reported number of soldiers is off, the discrepancy won’t be that great. Four hundred thousand or three-hundred-thousand-some—that’s still a formidable enemy that we can’t contend against.”

  Chapter 1029 - New Plan!

  Chapter 1029: New Plan!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  The Great Tang had just been through a bitter battle. The army had originally stood at more than one hundred thousand soldiers, but now, even with Gao Xianzhi’s Anxi Protectorate army, the Great Tang had only sixty-thousand-some soldiers. Moreover, quite a few were wounded. They could truly be considered to have suffered severe casualties. And this was not even considering the damage done to the primary intimidation force, the ballista army.

  The army of what was once more than three thousand Tang ballistae now had only around one thousand, even after adding the Anxi Protectorate army’s ballistae and doing the utmost to repair the rest. One could easily imagine how severely its fighting capability had been reduced.

  These forces were definitely not sufficient to defeat seven Great Generals and four hundred thousand elites. Moreover, Talas was surrounded by plains. Other than some hills, there was no other usable terrain to speak of. To a general, this was the most disadvantageous geographic terrain possible.

  In this place, one could only rely on strategy, formations, and the abilities of the commanders on both sides to decide the battle.

  “The Central Plains is very far away from Talas. Even cavalry will need a month to get here. We might not have that much time,” Gao Xianzhi said with a bitter smile.

  “We truly don’t have much time, but the Arabs won’t be acting too quickly. Based on what that Khorasani said, the two other Arab governors will need some time to arrive with their troops. Considering that the three armies will then need to reorganize before setting off, they’ll need a lot of time before they’re ready. I estimate that even if we don’t have a month, it won’t be much less.”

  Wang Chong faintly smiled, surprisingly unconcerned by this worry of Gao Xianzhi’s.

  “One month?” Gao Xianzhi said in shock, not daring to believe his ears. Arabia was much closer to Talas than the Great Tang, and Gao Xianzhi’s greatest concern was that there wouldn’t be enough time. If the Arab army finished gathering and descended upon the city with four hundred thousand soldiers, a late-coming army of reinforcements from the Great Tang wouldn’t be able to do a thing.

  “Absolutely!”

  Wang Chong gave a confident smile.

  The Great Tang knew far too little about Arabia, and even Great Generals like Gao Xianzhi knew almost nothing about it. With regards to Tarsus and Cairo, Gao Xianzhi and the other Tang commanders knew only their names and nothing more.

  They didn’t even know how far away they were.

  But Wang Chong did know.

  The Arabian Empire of this period had the largest territory in history, more than one million square kilometers larger than the Great Tang. One could imagine just how huge this empire was. Tarsus was located on the central northern periphery of Arabia and was extremely far away from Talas.

  Marching troops over from such a distant place was certain to require a large amount of time.

  This was why Wang Chong was so certain that the Arabian Empire would need at least one month to renew its assault.

  To the Great Tang, this was still enough time to prepare for battle. At the very least, the situation was not as bad as imagined.

  “Lord Protector-General, have you recovered from your injuries?” Wang Chong said, changing the topic.

  “I’ve recovered about ninety percent of my strength, but it’s still not enough if I want to deal with Abu Muslim.”

  Gao Xianzhi gave a deep sigh.

  Wang Chong’s face darkened, his brow creasing. Gao Xianzhi’s words exemplified the state of the entire Tang army at Talas. The Arabian Empire would be sending three governors in total for this operation. The only person who could face off against them was Gao Xianzhi.

  If not even their strongest, Gao Xianzhi, could deal with them, the rest didn’t even need to be mentioned.

  But Wang Chong quickly turned his gaze to several thin sheets of paper on his desk. He could only depend on the contents of these papers.

  “Milord, in the capital, I once obtained a supreme martial technique, but because it was unsuited to my nature, I’ve never cultivated it. After fighting alongside Milord, I felt that the nature of Milord’s Stellar Energy was rather similar to this technique. Perhaps it can be of assistance to Milord.”

  Wang Chong’s eyes focused as he extended a finger and flicked the two sheets of paper in front of him to Gao Xianzhi.

  “Is that so?”

  Gao Xianzhi faintly smiled, almost subconsciously wanting to refuse. As the Anxi War God and a supreme Great General, he could count on his fingers the number of people in the world who could instruct and assist him. And Wang Chong’s cultivation was even lower than his, so where could he have gotten such a thing?

  But when he saw Wang Chong’s serious and expectant expression, Gao Xianzhi hesitated. Talas was in desperate straits. Any sort of strength would be of enormous help, and besides, Wang Chong clearly meant well.

  “Okay. I’ll take these papers and take a look.”

  Gao Xianzhi casually took the two sheets of paper and put them away.

  At this sight, Wang Chong breathed a light sigh of relief. This technique was one he had chosen after combing his memories for several days, selected from amongst countless other techniques and mantras. And from a certain perspective, it had an extremely close relationship with Gao Xianzhi and would probably be of the most aid to him.

  But not even Wang Chong was sure how it would actually turn out.

  After all, this scene had never happened before.

  It’s enough. As long as he takes it back and looks it over, he’ll naturally understand, Wang Chong quietly said to himself.

  He could sense that Gao Xianzhi didn’t pay much regard to this technique, but Wang Chong did not push the matter. Some situations could only be made worse by rushing.

  “That’s right, there’s one more thing.”

  Wang Chong’s eyes refocused as he came to his senses.

  “Lord Protector-General’s armor was shattered when fighting with Abu Muslim, so I made a special order to have a suit of armor forged from Meteoric Metal for Milord.”

  “Oh?!”

  Gao Xianzhi’s body trembled and his eyes exploded with a bright and enthusiastic light. Meteoric Metal was one of this world’s rarest objects. Even the armor the Sage Emperor had given him did not have very much Meteoric Metal in it. But Wang Chong’s existence went completely against common sense.

  Gao Xianzhi had no idea how Wang Chong had done it, but he had never in his life seen so much Meteoric Metal. In Wang Chong’s hands, this extremely rare material was like common steel. It truly made one gasp in wonder and praise!

  “Heh!”

  Wang Chong softly chuckled. Not keeping Gao Xianzhi in suspense, he extended a finger and lightly rapped it on a wooden chest leaning against the desk. Bang! A wooden slat exploded, revealing a black and red suit of armor. Even someone as experienced as Gao Xianzhi couldn’t help but widen his eyes at the sight of this armor.

  This suit of armor was exceedingly beautiful, each scale polished thousands of times so that it shone like a mirror. Even in the dim light of the room, the suit of armor gave off a dazzling light. The suit of armor as a whole was both intimidating and elegant. Each contour had been carefully designed; each was capable of standing on its own and yet perfectly fused with the others. From a distance,
it exuded a savage strength like that of a dragon or tiger.

  “Impossible!”

  Gao Xianzhi couldn’t help but exclaim upon seeing this suit of armor. The armor that Wang Chong had ordered to be forged for him was different from any other suit of armor he knew. This sort of style and the forging expertise behind it far surpassed that of any other armor he had seen.

  Just a glance made Gao Xianzhi adore and cherish it.

  “How is it?”

  Wang Chong faintly smiled.

  “Unbelievable! Wang Chong, just how did you pull it off?” Gao Xianzhi sincerely said. Wang Chong appeared to be capable of everything and anything.

  “Hah, has Lord Protector-General forgotten? I myself am a formidable master weaponsmith,” Wang Chong said.

  Gao Xianzhi stared blankly at Wang Chong before breaking into laughter. “Haha, I really did almost forget. No one is better at forging weapons than you. Since you could forge Wootz Steel swords, you can naturally forge a suit of armor.”

  In this world, anyone who claimed to be a master weaponsmith would appear to be boasting, but when Wang Chong made this claim, it did not feel like an exaggeration. On the contrary, it felt like he was being a little too humble. The Wootz Steel swords that could cut through iron like mud, the vast and impregnable steel fortresses, and the unstoppable giant ballistae that could kill even Behemoths… Wang Chong’s deeds had far exceeded those of a master weaponsmith.

  With his abilities, he could easily forge a suit of armor.

  Wang Chong silently smiled. He had personally designed this suit of armor and had been assisted and observed by Zhang Shouzhi during the process. Using many of the physical principles and the knowledge that he had from his life in that other world, he had succeeded in creating a suit of armor that was both beautiful and extremely sturdy.

  Wang Chong had even further strengthened the parts of the armor covering the weak points of the body. In this way, he could minimize the threat posed to Gao Xianzhi in his battles with supreme experts like Abu Muslim.