Chapter 1023: A Letter Sent to the Capital! (1/2)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The Khorasani was led into the inner hall, where Xi Yuanqing and Yuan Shusong received him. After carefully questioning him about a few things, they had the Khorasani quietly escorted out of the city.

”Wang Chong, you heard what that Khorasani said. We're in a very bad situation!”

After sending off the Khorasani, Gao Xianzhi seated himself back at the table, his brows deeply creased in concern. Everyone had witnessed Abu Muslim's strength. A single one of his punches was enough to fight against the giant ape. If two more governors of this level arrived, backed by even more soldiers, Talas would be impossible to hold.

Wang Chong said nothing, but his eyes showed the same concern.

He naturally understood what Gao Xianzhi was saying. The Arabs could mobilize far more soldiers than the Tang.

”We only have two choices. The first is to immediately retreat, leaving Talas for the Central Plains before the Arabs are able to complete their large-scale mobilization. Dalun Ruozan and the Western Turks don't have the strength to stop us,” Gao Xianzhi said.

”But if we do this, we will lose Talas. This fortress is a blockade to the Arabs' eastern advance. Once we leave, we will find it very difficult to find as strategic an area. Moreover, once we cross the Cong Mountains, we will be in Anxi. Right now, by stopping the Arabs at Talas, we've prevented any rebellions in the Western Regions, but if we let the Arabs come into Anxi, it will be difficult to say if the kingdoms of the Western Regions will continue to maintain their neutral positions.”

Wang Chong shook his head.

He understood what Gao Xianzhi was saying, but this option was simply implausible. In Talas, they were only facing Arabia, Ü-Tsang, and the Western Turks, but if they fell back to the Western Regions, the chance of defection meant that the Great Tang might have to add the kingdoms of the Western Regions to their list of opponents.

That situation would be even more disastrous.

”Haaa, I actually wanted to discuss this with you, but it seems like you already know. You probably saw on your way to Talas that the Western Regions is in complete disarray. And this was while I was still alive and we hadn't even lost. If we retreat into the Western Regions, the kingdoms will only fall further into chaos. They might even end up being bribed like the Karluks and attack us, which will give us enemies on both the inside and the outside.

”Two hundred years of Tang rule in the Western Regions has only seemed to prove that all attempts at ruling this place will end in failure!”

After saying this, Gao Xianzhi looked up and sighed, a deep sense of disappointment and defeat on his face.

In his ten-some years in the Western Regions, he had gained the title of Anxi War God, but in this Battle of Talas, he could gather no other allies except some mercenaries. None of the kingdoms was willing to enter this war and assist the Great Tang. On the contrary, the Great Tang retreating into the Western Regions risked defection. This could only be described as a sort of failure.

How could someone as proud as Gao Xianzhi accept this?

Wang Chong's mouth opened, but then he stopped himself.

The Great Tang had been far too gentle in its rule of the Western Regions. There was a saying that went, 'The Hu fear power, not righteousness'. This was a principle that the Central Plains had needed several thousand years to understand. The Central Plains was a land that emphasized righteousness and justice, and it believed that the people of the Western Regions thought the same, but this was only wishful thinking.

In the Western Regions, the only principle that applied was 'the strong reign supreme'. The kingdoms of the Western Regions only wished for the most powerful backer. Things like kindness and righteousness held no meaning to them.

These were two different civilizational frameworks, and yet the people of the Central Plains had simply taken it for granted that their principles would be taken up, but it would have been far stranger if they had actually succeeded.

However, a war was imminent, so now was not the time to discuss such things. There were many reasons for the light-handed approach to the Western Regions, and Gao Xianzhi could not be blamed entirely for this.

”Milord should not blame yourself. The Great Tang has not reached that stage, and this battle is not a sure defeat,” Wang Chong comforted. ”As for Anxi, we can think about what to do after the battle is over.”

”Mm.”

Gao Xianzhi nodded and quickly focused himself. In front of outsiders, he was always calm and composed, rarely showing any weakness, not even in front of Cheng Qianli or Feng Changqing. That he could say these words to Wang Chong meant that he now treated Wang Chong as a peer that he could discuss many problems with.

Cheng Qianli and Feng Changqing were excellent subordinates with their own talents, but in terms of strategy, logistics, martial arts, schemes… they were just a little lacking. Thus, Gao Xianzhi still had some reservations when he spoke to them. Wang Chong was probably the only one that he could speak so frankly with, divulging all his worries without holding back.