Chapter 274: Warning the Protectorate! (2/2)

The reason why he rushed over there to attend this banquet instead of cultivating at the spirit vein wasn't to fawn on Zhangchou Jianqiong or pull over the commanders of the Southern Protectorate Manor over to his side. What he wanted was an opportunity to speak before all of them.

It didn't matter to him that this would bring him Zhangchou Jianqiong's hostility.

”Chong-er!”

Wang Gen looked at his nephew with a hint of worry in his eyes. Before this banquet, he had emphasized to Wang Chong not to be rude or get too close to Zhangchou Jianqiong in fear that it would bring them more trouble.

Yet, at this very moment, Wang Chong was challenging Zhangchou Jianqiong.

At this moment, Wang Gen wasn't really worried about Zhangchou Jianqiong—the current Wang Clan wasn't so weak as to need to fear him.

Rather, what he was alarmed by was Wang Chong's current unnatural state.

”You brat, what nonsense are you spouting?”

”Do you think that this is the way you should be talking to our general?”

”Don't think that you can step over our heads just because you're Duke Jiu's grandson!”

The commanders of the Southern Protectorate Manor finally hit their limit. With livid faces, they stepped forward and berated Wang Chong.

It was out of goodwill that their general invited everything to this banquet, and this was supposed to be a joyous occasion, a celebration. Yet, this young master of the Wang Clan just had to challenge them on this occasion.

It was enough that he mentioned that they were at risk of an attack from Ü-Tsang. Now, he was even raising the possibility of a collaboration between Ü-Tsang and Mengshe Zhao against the Southern Protectorate Manor. He was truly going overboard.

Would he only be happy if a war broke out in Jiannan?

”Lord Wang, we respect you as an important official of the royal court, but what do you mean by offending our general like that?”

Wang Chong was young so it wasn't appropriate for them to argue with him. Thus, they turned their attention to Wang Gen instead.

In truth, most of them thought that this was a play staged by Wang Gen.

”All of you, shut up!”

But at that moment, Zhangchou Jianqiong's face suddenly turned cold, and he roared at his commanders as he raised his hand. As the Southern Protector-General, he couldn't be so narrow-minded as to allow such comments to go to his head.

Contrary to the expectations of the others, instead of getting angry, Zhangchou Jianqiong fell into deep thought instead.

Initially, he thought that that lad was just causing a pointless ruckus. But after hearing the full story from Wang Chong's side, he suddenly found his anger evaporating entirely.

That was because what Wang Chong had said was the utmost truth.

It was a recent matter that his scouts received intelligence that the Ü-Tsang Empire's Seventh Tsenpo was currently mass conscripting nomadic tribes to train them to become cavalry near Qinghai Lake.

And Geluo Feng of Mengshe Zhao was gradually cultivating a haughty and belligerent attitude toward Great Tang. He had a far clearer idea of this than anyone else.

Mengshe Zhao was a vassal state of Great Tang. In the past, Geluo Feng had still treated Zhangchou Jianqiong with considerable respect. But now, Geluo Feng was disregarding every single command from Great Tang, even those that came from the Protector-General personally.

The most recent news he had received was that Geluo Feng had sacked the ministers and envoys who were intimate with Great Tang, and promoted younger, more militaristic officials.

This wasn't good news for the Southern Protectorate Manor.

Mengshe Zhao and the Ü-Tsang Empire were already showing signs of defiance and aggression, this was already sufficiently clear to Zhangchou Jianqiong. However, intent on entering the Bureau of Military Personnel, he was hoping to push this responsibility onto his successor.

Who knew that this fifteen-year-old offspring of the Wang Clan would actually point all of this out right before him.

Has the Wang Clan's intelligence network reached so wide?

In that moment, Zhangchou Jianqiong stared deeply into Wang Chong's eyes as countless thoughts flashed across his head. A moment later, he turned his gaze to Wang Gen.

In the depths of his heart, Zhangchou Jianqiong still found it difficult to believe that all of these had come from a man as young as Wang Chong. He would much rather believe that all of this was Wang Gen's idea instead.

And Wang Gen's silence seemed to affirm his doubts as well.

As an important official and a veteran of the royal court, Wang Gen has the privilege to meet the Sage Emperor. Since that is the case, it is unlikely that these words spouted by his nephew came out of nowhere. Could this be... the Sage Emperor's intention?, Zhangchou Jianqiong thought in astonishment.

But of course, he was gravely mistaken this time around. All of these was Wang Chong's own initiative. The only reason why Wang Gen remained silent was due to the astounding trust he had toward his own nephew.

And Wang Gen was far from being the only one, King Song was the same as well.

Thus, no matter what Wang Chong intended to do, Wang Gen and King Song would never stop him.

This was because the both of them knew that this child would never engage in anything pointless.

History had shown this to be the case simply far too many times!

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Tea Horse Road: This is a transportation network for merchants centered around the Southwest of China. The name is believed to have originated from the ancient practice where Tibetans exchanged ponies for Chinese tea.

Just to clarify, the citizens of Ü-Tsang are known as Tibetans.

Tsenpo (赞普 or Zan Pu in Chinese) is a title used for the highest ruler of Tibet.

This term is a phonetic transcription of the Tibetan language under THL.