Chapter 657: Paying a Visit to the Xu Clan! (1/2)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The people from the Western Regions, the Characenians… one group after another appeared around the mountain. But it wasn't just the Hu and the foreigners who were paying attention to this war. Zhang Shougui, Fumeng Lingcha, Geshu Han, Gao Xianzhi, An Sishun—these protector-generals and Great General of the Great Tang had dispatched their best and most trusted scouts to investigate the truth in the southwest.
More than a month had passed since the conclusion of the war, but to these supreme commanders of the Great Tang, it was still a complete enigma how Wang Chong had managed to defeat the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army.
Although they had received all the information concerning the war, there was some information that could not be explained through words on paper.
To many of these Great Generals, the name of Wang Chong was that of an insignificant nobody. Many of them had even prepared themselves for a major defeat in the southwest and peril coming in from all sides.
But at this time, the southwest was actually won!
This caught everyone by surprise.
Wang Chong was just a simple name, but now, even those Hu Great Generals who hated him to the bone from the Regional Commanders incident like Fumeng Lingcha, Gao Xianzhi, Geshu Han, and An Sishun did not dare to look down on him.
”I can't believe it!”
”What a desperate battle!”
”Even the soil has turned red. Just how many people died here!”
”Milord might be wrong. This Wang Chong is even scarier than we imagined.”
……
Countless scouts, investigators, and spies gazed at the scars of the southwestern war in shock. They were all people that lived on the hellish landscape of the battlefield, so they had a deep understanding of it.
Far too many people had died on this battlefield. Whether it was the northwest, the northeast, or Beiting, these places were embroiled in war throughout the year. But none of those wars had ever had this sort of desperate aura. To these veterans, this cold and sinister stench lay far too thick on this land.
And unlike those generals who resided high above, all these lower-level veterans could feel the intense struggles and screams of these soldiers in their final moments.
One hundred thousand soldiers of the Annan Protectorate army had contended against five hundred thousand soldiers of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army. When they first heard of this news, they found it very difficult to believe, because conflicts on the border rarely reached this scale. But when they saw the size of the battlefield and the layers of red soil that extended several feet into the ground, none of them had any more doubts.
Shock was the only emotion that all those who arrived here felt.
Just the thought of that boy called Wang Chong, leading the one hundred thousand soldiers of the Annan Protectorate army in carving a bloody path through and defeating the five hundred thousand soldiers of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army, made these soldiers feel a deep respect for this youngest son of the Wang Clan.
Flap flap!
Countless pigeons took off in all directions, bringing new information to their masters, whether it was the generals of the border or the foreign powers around the Great Tang…
The intelligence reports of these powers had all added a name with extremely great weight: Wang Chong!
……
Putting aside the activity on the Great Tang's southwest and its borders, the empire itself was shrouded in an air of celebration and liveliness.
Gallop!
”Make way, make way!”
Not long after Wang Chong's reward ceremony concluded, red-uniformed cavalry galloped out of the gates of the palace to various places in the capital.
Swish!
The leader of this unit of cavalry dismounted and quickly strode toward the city wall, upon which he pasted a pronouncement written on yellow paper and stamped with the seal of the Six Bureaus.
After doing this, the unit of cavalry quickly departed.
”Hahaha, Wang Chong has been made a marquis, a marquis!”
”The Young Marquis? I've never heard of it before. Did His Majesty make this position just so that he could make him a marquis?”
”Hey, just based on his achievements in the southwest alone, what does a marquis matter? This is a young hero! A grand reward is only expected!”
”That's right! Hear, hear!”
”Hahah, it seems like His Majesty greatly favors him! This is a blessing for the empire!”
……
Once the cavalry left, a large group of people gathered around the announcement—peddlers and carriers, merchants and porters, restaurant owners, performers, calligraphers and painters.
”Make way, make way!”
A voice suddenly came from outside. At some point, an old man who appeared to be a teacher squeezed his way through the crowd and to the proclamation.
”Let me take a look.”
”Haha, old man, what are you squeezing in for? Is someone of your age trying to learn how to be conferred the title of marquis?” someone jeered, eliciting roars of laughter from the crowd.
But the old teacher appeared to not hear. He squinted at the announcement, his expression focused, a finger pressing against the word that he had seen from a distance.
”A fief! A fief! I didn't see wrongly! In the three hundred years of the Great Tang, His Majesty actually broke tradition and conferred upon him a fief!”
The teacher's voice was loud, his expression fraught with excitement.
Buzz!