Chapter 620: The Decisive Battle! The Final Negotiation! (1/2)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
”Your Majesty, I understand what you're saying. The mountain springs will run out one day, but when will that day come? Ten days from now? A month? Maybe longer? What if it is ten days or a month?”
Dalun Ruozan appeared calm, but even the nearby messenger could hear the shaking in his voice.
Geluofeng had nothing to say.
What a frightening youth!
As Geluofeng looked up at the gushing water, he suddenly understood something. This was a show of power, a silent pressure. And he had to admit that Wang Chong had truly succeeded.
He could take the risk, but Ü-Tsang and Mengshe Zhao could not wait.
”Great Minister is correct. We cannot wait!”
A voice came from the side. Duan Gequan's voice had decided things once and for all.
Bwoooom!
The blaring of a yak horn sounded across the skies. After three days, thick smoke once more began to rise from the base of the mountain as the entirety of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army gathered.
The dark clouds of war once more clamored over the earth!
This was yet another battle between the Great Tang and Mengshe–Ü-Tsang forces, and it was certain to be the last. This time, no one could retreat. They would fight until death or victory, until the final soldier, until they bled the last drop of blood… the decisive battle!
……
Bongbongbong!
The thundering of a drum rose up from the mountain, followed by a second, a third, a fourth… The sounds of drumming gradually spread over the mountain like drops of rain, spreading as far as one hundred li.
The dark clouds of war began to writhe and roil.
The remaining sixty thousand soldiers of the Great Tang's southwest whirred to life like some massive war machine.
This war of the southwest had left all sides, whether Tang, Mengshe Zhao, or Ü-Tsang, extremely fatigued. Their strength was far from what it had been at the start.
The Great Tang had experienced a severe water shortage.
The Tibetans had experienced a severe food shortage and then been troubled by diarrhea.
But even so, the air was even tenser than it had been on the first day. Whether it was Ü-Tsang, Mengshe Zhao, or the Great Tang, all sides were well aware that this conflict over the southwest involving three countries had finally come to an end.
There would be no more probes or battles. This would be the! Final! Battle!
”Young Master Wang, before we begin the battle, can I ask you a question?”
In front of the dense ranks of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army, two ornate golden chariots stood. Dalun Ruozan and Huoshu Huicang stood in one of them, while in the other stood Geluofeng and Duan Gequan.
Dalun Ruozan and Huoshu Huicang stood slightly in front, Geluofeng and Duan Gequan slightly behind!
Unlike their first meeting, Dalun Ruozan had put down his feather fan. He was no longer as easygoing as he was on that first day, and he was now even more sincere and calm. Both sides had used every method at their disposal, and Dalun Ruozan had nothing more to say.
Wang Chong was a suitable opponent!
And he was a powerful foe, one who could sit on the same level.
In his heart, Dalun Ruozan had already put aside his age and was treating him as an existence similar to himself!
”Great Minister, please speak!”
On the summit, Wang Yan stood calmly in front of the banner, Wang Yan and Xianyu Zhongtong standing to his left and right, and the rest of the Great Tang generals behind them.
With this last and decisive battle, all the commanders and high-ranking generals of the Great Tang stood together, in a distant standoff with the high-ranking generals of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army.
At this stage of the battle, all of them had understood something.
This would be the final such conversation held between the two sides!
”At seventeen years of age, no one can reach the level of military strategy that Young Master has achieved. The resolve, breadth of mind, daring, foresight… these are all not things someone of this age should have. Dalun Ruozan believes himself to be well-read in all the classics of the Central Plains, knowing all of them by heart. In this aspect, few can compare. But Dalun Ruozan has never seen anything like Young Master's art of war.
”Before the decisive battle, does Young Master mind saying where Young Master learned this art of war from?”
Dalun Ruozan looked up to the summit, his voice resounding through the sky.
Wang Chong's appearance was like a comet streaking across the sky, appearing out of nowhere and completely altering the course of the war. He had dragged the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army away from its certain victory and brought it to this point.
And the art of war he utilized was itself an enigma. No one could match the strategies and insights he had revealed, and they served to wrap his body in a befuddling fog.
Just what sort of person could raise this sort of disciple? Where had this understanding of military thought come from?
All these questions formed a fog that had lain thick over Dalun Ruozan's heart from the start of this battle until the very end.
Dalun Ruozan had no hope of hearing an answer, but he was surprised.