Chapter 654: The Mountain of God! (1/2)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
”If Great Minister has a question, then please, speak.”
The Tsenpo who had been enraged just a moment ago seemed to change into a completely different person, his face filling with joy and amity as Dalon Trinling stepped forth.
Upon saying these words, the Tsenpo shifted his gaze to the two guards.
”You two, withdraw for me!”
”Yes!”
The two royal capital guards quickly withdrew from the hall, shutting the door as they left.
”The Sage Emperor of the Great Tang is rewarding that youngest son of the Wang Clan at this very moment. Do you know of this matter?”
Dalon Trinling's gaze was sharp. He took two steps forward and stared at Dalun Ruozan, going straight to the main topic.
Buzz!
Dalun Ruozan was stunned by this news and raised his head. Dalun Ruozan was well aware of the significance of the Sage Emperor's rewarding Wang Chong. The Ü-Tsang Empire had suffered such a bitter defeat entirely because of the seventeen-year-old Wang Chong.
Now that the Sage Emperor was richly rewarding Wang Chong, that youngest son of the Wang Clan would gradually begin to do more and more for the Great Tang, present more and more of a threat to the Ü-Tsang Empire.
”Hmph, very good. It looks like you've noticed. The southwestern war has already passed. No matter how many warriors the Ngari Royal Lineage lost or how massive is the scope of this plague, all of it is the past. Death is inevitable in war, and prices must be paid. In our past wars with the Great Tang, we have suffered defeats of even greater magnitude. But even so, we did not come away empty-handed. At the very least, we know of a name. Wang Chong, wasn't it?”
Dalon Trinling snorted. His gaze was as sharp as the edge of a saber, its cold light piercing through even the smoke in the hall.
Astonished, Dalun Ruozan hurriedly lowered his head in subservience.
”Victory and defeat are both commonplace for a soldier. Regardless of the price we have paid today, in the future, the Great Tang will pay an even greater price. But before that… why don't you tell us about this Wang Chong?”
”Ruozan understands!”
……
In the clouds of smoke, Dalun Ruozan's voice alone rang out through the hall.
”…Your Majesty, Great Minister, in the southwestern war, Ruozan is undoubtedly responsible for the defeat of the empire. No matter what punishment is issued, this guilty subject is willing to accept it. But that youngest son of the Wang Clan… If it really is as Great Minister says, that he has received the great favor of the Great Tang's Sage Emperor, then in the future, he will definitely become a fatal affliction for all of Ü-Tsang. His demeanor is composed and confident. Even in the most intense and perilous moments of the battle, when the Great Tang army was on the verge of being annihilated, he remained unpanicked and continued to command the army.
”Moreover, his tactics and strategy are mysterious and seemingly limitless, utterly impossible to predict. More importantly, although he is only seventeen, he is farsighted, his methods vicious. This sheep plague is his handiwork.
”For him to have such foresight and stratagems at only the age of seventeen, I'm afraid that if he is allowed to mature, that old incident of the royal capital will repeat itself!”
……
These final words seemed to thud against the ground, throwing the entire hall into an uproar.
Whether it was the Imperial Great Minister Dalon Trinling or the most revered Tsenpo of the Ü-Tsang Empire sitting in the rear, everyone was stupefied. Not even Dalon Trinling, who had begun this line of questioning, had ever expected Dalun Ruozan's assessment of that youngest son of the Wang Clan to be so high.
The old incident of the royal capital!
Any Tibetan understood what this phrase represented.
Ü-Tsang was protected by natural barriers. A lofty altitude and a thin atmosphere were the Ü-Tsang Empire's best defenses. All the foreign warriors who entered this place would find their strength greatly limited. Only the Tibetans, the natural inhabitants of this world, remained unaffected.
As a result, Tibetans also called themselves the 'people chosen by heaven'.
But it wasn't like Ü-Tsang had remained totally undefeated throughout history. At least in the last century or so, the walls of Ü-Tsang's royal capital had been breached twice. The first incident was during the era of Tang Taizong by the War God Su Zhengchen.
The second time was twenty-three years ago by the Great Tang War God, now Crown Prince's Junior Guardian, Wang Zhongsi. Although he had not actually entered the royal capital, there had been scarcely a difference.
This was because all the important officials, the Tsenpo included, as well as all the people in the royal capital, had already retreated far away.
The royal capital they left behind had been an empty city.
It was precisely because Wang Zhongsi saw an empty city that he decided to withdraw his troops. But that unstoppable edge and the large-scale upheaval and panic the incident had caused across the plateau had made it so that all Tibetans would feel a deep fear whenever they heard Wang Zhongsi's name.
In the southwestern war, the entire Ngari Royal Lineage had essentially been crippled, but that was still only a local war. Ü-Tsang had four royal domains and one royal capital, so the losses suffered by the Ngari Royal Lineage were not too great of a wound to the overarching Ü-Tsang Empire.
The true factor was the sheep plague.
However, Dalun Ruozan was saying that this Wang Chong also had the potential to repeat that old incident and breach the walls of the royal capital!
This was an assessment of the highest order, especially since in the past few decades, the Ü-Tsang Empire had done all it could to increase the prosperity of the empire, and had even begun to learn the forging methods of the Great Tang. It had purchased a great quantity of refined iron and weapons, and also begun to raise and breed many warhorses so that it could train a large army of elite cavalry. Dalun Ruozan's assessment in the present seemed even more inconceivable.