Chapter 898: Turko-Tibetan Alliance!! (1/2)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
”Duwu Sili, stop!”
Huoshu Huicang's face contorted in shock as he rushed forward to stand in front of Dalun Ruozan. At almost the same time, Dusong Mangpoje unleashed a powerful energy to cloak Dalun Ruozan and keep out Duwu Sili's energy.
Ü-Tsang and the Turks had never been a unified whole. Long before the Great Tang had entered the Western Regions, the two sides had been locked in a fierce struggle. If not for the fact that a third party, Great Tang, had invaded and taken control of the entire Western Regions, taking the focus of both the Tibetans and the Turks, the two parties would still have been fighting.
Although there were no longer many conflicts between Ü-Tsang and the Western Turks, if they succeeded in defeating the Great Tang, the two sides would once again be enemies. In such circumstances, Duwu Sili probably did not mind eliminating Dalun Ruozan.
”Relax. Duwu Sili will not attack me.”
Dalun Ruozan waved his hand as he walked out from the protection of Dusong Mangpoje and Huoshu Huicang, confidently and leisurely going to welcome Duwu Sili.
”Irkin, welcome back!”
Duwu Sili stared at Dalun Ruozan, his eyes constantly shifting, but in the end, he broke into a hearty laugh.
”Haha, good! Great Minister is quite the bold one!”
After this long bout of laughter, the tension between the two sides greatly eased. The Five Great Ministers of the Ü-Tsang Empire were on the Western Turkic Khaganate's must-kill list, a result of long grudges that no one knew the exact details to anymore. But for Dalun Ruozan to so frankly and unconcernedly meet him on this first meeting showed a daring that Duwu Sili had to express his admiration for.
”How is it? What is the situation of the Tang?”
As Duwu Sili spoke, he looked over the hills to the distant city of Talas. The sight of those two long lines of steel walls made even someone like him slightly arch his brows in surprise.
”What a swift reaction! Someone of Great Minister's abilities was not able to sneak past their defenses?”
”Great General should not be too careless,” Dusong Mangpoje cautioned in his mellow voice as he walked out from behind Dalun Ruozan. ”That fellow might be young, but he is the Young Marquis of the Great Tang, so favored that the Sage Emperor personally conferred upon him a courtesy name, making him the Son of Heaven's disciple! We've already lost to him several times, and even your Black Wolf Yabgu died at his hands.”
Duwu Sili said nothing, but his brows slightly furrowed. It had been the Tibetans that had lost several times, not the Western Turkic Khaganate, and Tibetan failures did not mean the Turks were incompetent. But when he thought to speak these words, the phrase 'Black Wolf Yabgu' immediately made him swallow them back down. In the battle over Qixi Armory, he had lost a Brigadier General in the Black Wolf Yabgu, and the Khagan's Fourth Prince had even been captured, forcing the Khaganate to pay two hundred thousand of their finest-quality horses. Ü-Tsang was probably well aware of this entire affair.
It was like the pot calling the kettle black. Neither side could really claim that they had fared any better!
”There's no need for you to worry about the Black Wolf Yabgu. After all, I came this time for his sake. No matter what, I'll be killing that brat personally!”
Duwu Sili's hawkish eyes swept over the land, quickly locking onto Wang Chong in the sea of Tang soldiers.
”Haha, then it seems like we are all agreed!”
Dalun Ruozan faintly chuckled. Ü-Tsang and the Western Turks, mortal foes in the Western Regions, were joining together in an unprecedented alliance. And before this, Dalun Ruozan had only communicated with Duwu Sili once through messenger bird.
Although they had heard of each other, they had never met.
But at this moment, Dalun Ruozan was confident that Duwu Sili would be his firmest ally in this battle.
”What have the Arabs said?”
Duwu Sili did not argue or quibble, immediately getting to the point. While the Tibetans and Western Turks had allied, the crucial part was still the Arabian Empire on the other side of the battlefield. It was precisely by the invitation of the Arabian Empire that this alliance had come to be in the first place.
The alliance had also been one of Duwu Sili's conditions for agreement.
Otherwise, once the Western Turkic Khaganate helped the Arabs in dealing with the Great Tang, the Arabs could turn around and attack the Western Turks, and the Turks would have accomplished nothing but dropped a rock on their own feet. The Turks were a nomadic people who lived over an expansive area, so they also had an understanding of the Arabian Empire.
This was an existence even stronger than the Ü-Tsang Empire!
If it hadn't been necessary, the Western Turkic Khaganate would never be willing to fight for the sake of the Arabian Empire.
”Be at ease. Everything has been taken care of. I've already written to the Arab Governor of the East, and he has guaranteed that if we emerge victorious, he will divide up the Western Regions with our Ü-Tsang and the Western Turks,” Dalun Ruozan calmly said, his every move suffused with confident assurance.