Chapter 484: The People in Panic! (1/2)
Chapter 484: The People in Panic!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
News had begun to spread a few days ago. A scout from Li Zhengyi's army had rushed into the capital, covered in blood. Upon being carried to the Bureau of Military Personnel, he delivered his message, a request for reinforcements, and then fell unconscious.
If the large-scale Tibetan assault on the Longxi border was shocking, the grievous news that the 180,000 elites of Jiannan had lost was even more earth-shattering.
No one had expected such a thing. The Tibetan assault made everyone panic.
”The Tibetans are declaring war against the Great Tang! This is a complete break!”
In the Imperial Court, an imperial censor shouted for all he was worth, his face red, his entire body shaking from the sheer rage flowing through him.
”It's already collapsed! In Longxi and the southwest, Ü-Tsang has mobilized over 100,000 soldiers to invade the Great Tang. If that's not a break, what is! Right now we have to talk about what to do next!”
”Li Zhengyi has already been defeated! Where else can we get soldiers?”
”If we want to help out Xianyu Zhongtong and Li Zhengyi, the Big Dipper Army is the best way!”
”But the Big Dipper Army is being held down by We Tadra Khonglo and Dusong Mangpoje!”
”Lord Wang said a long time ago that this wasn't the time to send soldiers, but none of you listened. Now you know!”
”That's not what I'm worried about right now. What of the hundreds of thousands of civilians living in the southwest! If the 180,000 elites of the Annan Protectorate aren't there to stand guard, the southwest is a completely open field! Who else is left that can stop the combined armies of Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang?”
……
Bzzt! As if all the air had been suddenly sucked out of the room, the noisy hall fell quiet. All the nobles and officials had stopped talking.
A stifling mood shrouded the entire court.
The defeat of the southwest had never been their greatest worry. Their true concern was the almost one million civilians living in the southwest.
As the barrier of the southwest, the Annan Protectorate was the first and final wall against Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang.
It was for this reason that the Annan Protectorate had always had a very large garrison. 180,000 elites far surpassed the number of troops in Geshu Han's Big Dipper Army or in Gao Xianzhi's army.
Not even the Andong Protectorate's Zhang Shougui had 180,000 soldiers.
And it was for this reason that when Zhangchou Jianqiong had been presiding over the southwest, he had always been prudent and cautious, never once daring to take the initiative and start an offensive.
However, Geluofeng's sudden attack and Zhangchou Jianqiong's lack of stability in his new post of Minister of War had caused him to succumb to the pressure, voiding his old concerns.
The Imperial Court would need at least two months to raise a new wave of reinforcements. This time would be necessary whether they transferred these soldiers from the other protectorates or recruited them now.
But right now…
The almost one million inhabitants of the southwest were bereft of protection. When they thought about what would happen when Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang advanced, all the ministers trembled in fear.
Wang Chong…
As King Song looked at the worried yet silent faces of the gathered officials, he suddenly thought of that boy.
No one had expected the 180,000 elites of the southwest to end up in this state. If there was someone who had already predicted all of this, that person was undoubtedly Wang Chong.
For some reason, King Song felt like Wang Chong had always known that this was how things would develop. This made him feel rather strange.
…Perhaps this child has some idea of how to proceed! King Song thought to himself, raising his head up to the carved image of the coiled dragon on the roof of the hall.
……
A roof would leak on the night of a downpour. When the Imperial Court of the Central Plains was still stunned by defeat in the southwest, the Great Tang's north and northeast were also growing restless.
”Hahaha, this is a gift from the heavens! I didn't think that 180,000 Great Tang elites would actually lose to Ü-Tsang and Mengshe Zhao…!”
On a moonlight night, on the vast steppe to the north of the Yin Mountains, a white tent loomed. The tent was surrounded by massive white wolves, almost lion-like. They warily watched the surroundings with fierce expressions.
Within the tent, oil lanterns cast a pitch-black shadow onto the canvas, magnifying it to gigantic proportions.
Although the source of this shadow used no techniques, displayed no martial arts, the shadow exuded a dreadful aura. Like a bottomless abyss, it sucked in all the moonlight in a radius of several hundred zhang.
”Carry out my order. The army will move south and enter a stalemate with the Great Tang's Beiting Protectorate. If the Beiting Protectorate shows any strange movements, we will move south and completely overthrow them!”
Clenching his fist, that shadow spoke with a rough and determined voice.
”But Khagan, won't we be utterly offending the Tang Emperor!”