705 Temporary Defea (2/2)

However, the young Yan Soldier was taken aback. Throwing away his knife, he escaped while screaming and shouting.

In the north-eastern direction of Chengjing City.

Outside the residence previously owned by Prince Long Qing.

Hundreds of Yan Soldiers and grassland cavalries besieged the princely residence to a watertight extent.

There were many corpses of the Tang Army lying dead in front of its gate, with most of them strewn fully with feather arrows all over their bodies. A few Tang Soldiers attacked forward to the upper stone stairway, however not being able to move any further.

There were also a few other Tang Soldiers standing on the street, engulfed in layers of tight encirclement.

They placed Xian Zhilang amid their protection.

With blood all over his body, Xian Zhilang's face was devoid of any expression.

Moments later, there were a few other Tang Soldiers falling to the ground out of exhaustion.

Now there only remained Xian Zhilang and two generals from the guards camp.

Looking at the enemies pressing on from their surroundings, the general commander asked all of a sudden, ”Great General, if we die at this time, would we fail to live up to the domineering reputation of the Tang Empire?”

Xian Zhilang said, ”All of the mistakes were made by Her Highness and me, and have nothing to do with you.”

That general said, ”Then all is good. Kindly see me off, Great General.”

Xian Zhilang laughed till he coughed and said, ”Is it not you who will see me off?”

With a grave expression, the general said, ”According to the military rules set up by the Tang Empire laws, I must die before you, Great General.”

Restraining his smiles, Xian Zhilang drew out his sword and said, ”You know how terrible my swordsmanship is, kindly forgive me.”

The general then said, ”After the Great General came to Tuyang City, we held too much disrespect toward you. Kindly forgive us.”

Giving the general a nod, Xian Zhilang hacked off his head with one sword slash.

Then he looked towards the direction of The Royal Palace of the Yan Kingdom, with a somewhat regretful expression written on his face.

With the main gate of the Prince's residence opening up, Crown Prince Chong Ming walked out shorly after.

Prince Long Qing walked over from the outer-ring as the military groups were dividing up gradually.

They both looked at Xian Zhilang who stood with a sword in his hands. It was exactly them who had succesfully schemed against this grand general of the Tang Empire, who was known for his resourcefulness. It was also them who had eventually won. But they just could not feel any sense of joy at all.

Staring at the frail-looking general, Long Qing felt even somewhat cold.

His shoulder suffered from a grievous knife wound from the battle last night.

The strength of the Tang Cavalries was so horrifying. Their final irrational and fitful counterattack had almost ruined all of his plans, to his surprise.

Even fighting to the end, when the situation for the Tang Army had all gone awry, Xian Zhilang still successfully organized a head-hacking activity in such an extremely short time. If there had not been two powerful Martial Arts masters sent out by the West-Hill Divine Palace who had been by their side and who had protected him with their own lives, he could have died during the assassination. The whole battle situation would have definitely changed again then.

Looking at Crown Prince Chong Ming, Xian Zhilang asked, ”How do you feel about being a traitor?”

Of a graceful bearing as before, Crown Prince Chong Ming said, ”Anyone is qualified to say I am a traitor except for you the Tangs. For years, the Yan Kingdom has been bullied and beaten. Till the time of Xia Hou, the Yan Kingdom was at an even more miserable status that no words could describe. For how many innocent civilians had died under the cruel oppression of Tang Cavalries, nobody can tell. It would be an authentic betrayal if I had teamed up with you.”

Walking toward Crown Prince Chong Ming, Long Qing looked at Xian Zhilang and said, ”Your Tang Army's bravery and strength are indeed extraordinary. But what I do not understand is why you haven't commited suicide yet. What are you waiting for?”

Xian Zhilang said, ”I just want to ask a few questions.”

”What questions?”

”The same ones as those in the beginning. I cannot understand why Crown Prince Chong Ming would team up with you to set up such a trap. I believe that Her Royal Highness in Chang'an City will feel the same as I do once she knows the truth.”

”You the Tangs always like to flaunt great harmony all across the world. You believe that by accepting people from other countries to take official positions in your dynasty, and do some teaching in your Academy, you can disregard the countries differences genuinely. Actually, it is just due to the fact that you have been powerful enough in these passing years that you can hold such an attitude. You have no idea as to what other people are thinking about in their hearts at all.”

Crown Prince Chong Ming said, ”After so many years of being a hostage in Chang'an City, I had been well acquainted with sister Li Yu. There were even some Tang Officials who had persuaded me to stay in Chang'an to take a government position. But have you ever thought about all the time spent in Chang'an City mean to me on earth? Have you never thought that I am a Yan person at the core?”

Xian Zhilang said after being silenced for a while, ”The reason why I would believe the Her Highness' plan was that I was willing to trust you, because I clearly knew that you could not co-exist with Prince Long Qing. Whether for the throne position of the Yan Kingdom or for survival, you should have liked him dead.”

Crown Prince Chong Ming said, ”All of these were just fake illusions. As brothers, we had been on good terms ever since our childhood; even when the families on our mother's sides were hostile later, it was none of our concern. We both had known exactly what we wanted for each other from our early childhood. What I wanted was the throne position from the worldly perspective, but what he wanted was something far beyond the world and the earth. There was one thing we, as two brothers, both had been yearning for, that was to root out the Tang Empire.”

Shaking his head, Xian Zhilang said, ”There is no limit to lust and desire. The fact that Crown Prince Long Qing sees beyond the world does not necessarily mean that he is willing to give up all prosperity in the earthy world. Otherwise, why does the West-Hill Divine Palace have to meddle around on earth? Moreover, your clansmen have been in too bloody a feud to forgive each other at all. One day, you will regret your own decision today.”

It was not until this time that Long Qing spoke up, after being in silence all the time. He said, ”You are indeed worthy to be the smart general in the Tang Empire, who is famous for his wisdom and cleverness. You won't leave a chance to plant one prick between us brothers' hearts, even while on the brink of death.”

Crown Prince Chong Ming said, ”Even though there will be someday when we meet each other with swords, I won't regret over the current decision I have made. For thousands of years, you the Tangs have never been defeated and you have no idea as to how this kind of humiliation will drive people crazy. The humiliations you have been imposing on us for hundreds of years will now turn into power that will destroy you. To make this goal come true, we both are willing to give out all we have, whoever it is Long Qing or me.”

”Exterminating the Tang Empire?”

Xian Zhilang began to smile. He looked at this pair of Yan Kingdom Brothers with signs of emotion and said, ”After all, you have overestimated yourselves too much. The Papal Cavalrymen who came from the West-Hill Divine Palace and backed you up all have died. I believe that all of the strength you have been collecting over the years has been gambled on this battle as well. What you can do finally is to perish together with us.”

The face of Crown Prince Chong Ming became somewhat dull. He knew that there was no mistake in Xian Zhilang's judgment. To annihilate all of the cavalries of the Tang Empire's Northeast Border Army, the Yan Kingdom had paid an extremely heavy price.

After last night's battle, though the possibility that thousands of dreadful Tang Empire's Black-Armored cavalries would show up again on the earth was small, the death toll on the Yan Army and the grassland cavalries was actually almost ten times larger than that of their enemies.

What was more shocking was the fact that, in the final decisive battle, the thousands of Papal Cavalrymen from the West-Hill Divine Palace whom Long Qing and he both had regarded as the determinining factor for victory or defeat were all completely wiped out by the relentless Tang Cavalries who had been going through the long-timed war!

Could a victory that bitter be really counted as a victory?

”I know what you want to say. What you want to say is that there still remain a lot of soldiers of the Northeast Border Army who have not entered Chengjing City, but I have to tell you in regret that I did not bring all the grassland cavalries into Chengjing either. Now the grassland cavalries are teaming up with the United Armies coming from the Song Empire and the Chen Empire to root out your armies.”

”Moreover, you now should have calculated that the number of Papal Cavalrymen from the West-Hill Divine Palace is far much more than a thousand. That's right, the total number of Papal Cavalrymen exceeded 10 thousand as early as five years ago.”

”Now with the people and the armies in the Yan Kingdom being of one mind, moreover with the additional help of such strong back-up, how can't we root Tang out?”

Looking at Xian Zhilang, Prince Long Qing said, ”For thousands of years, with powerful armies and strong horses, you the Tangs have been bullying the weak around and fully enjoying all the glory. Did it ever come to your mind that there would be day when you would beaten this badly?”

”People will all die in the end. Even the most powerful empire will be doomed one day. I do not know on which exact date the Tang Empire will end, but it will never be now, and it is impossible that it will be you the Yans who will put an end to the Tang Empire.”

Xian Zhilang said, ”People all refer to the Tang Army as the Invincible Army... As a matter of fact, that is wrong. Tang Army will also go through some failure; there will also be some taste of defeat while battling with you Yan Kingdom. Unlike what the hearsay has been gossiping, we have never been that invincible. However... it will always be us who will gain the victory in the end.”