Chapter 1026: King Songs Worries! (1/2)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The court debate lasted from morning to dusk, with the quarreling reaching unprecedented levels. As night fell, a golden carriage decorated with dragons rode out of the Imperial Palace. Within, King Song was beside himself with concern.
His old butler, hands shrouded within his sleeves, worriedly asked, ”Your Highness, the matter of Talas is not proceeding smoothly?”
King Song had often encountered obstructions in court, but he was rarely ever this worried.
”Mm.”
King Song nodded, making no attempt to hide it from the old butler.
”Your Highness, be at ease. The matter of Talas will definitely turn out fine. King Qi has always opposed you, but haven't your proposals been passed anyway?” the old butler comforted.
”Haaah…”
King Song couldn't help but give a long sigh at these words.
”If only it were so simple as King Qi making things difficult and drumming up the ministers of court into opposition. This time, however, King Qi isn't opposing anything, just watching from the sides. The true opposition are the civil officials of the Great Tang!”
Bzzz! At these words, the old butler fell silent in shock. Even though the old butler rarely paid attention to matters of court, he still knew that the political conflict between civil and military officials was even more vicious than factional disputes. If it was the civil officials and not King Qi that were opposing further deployment of soldiers, this matter was of a completely different nature.
King Song continued in an extremely grave tone, ”After decades of peace, everyone has grown too used to these peaceful days, grown increasingly disgusted by war. I worry that this is only the beginning.”
……
The debate in court intensified, and as it dragged on, the name of Arabia began to echo through every street and alley of the Great Tang. Arabia, Ü-Tsang, the Western Turks, and Talas were now terms frequently used within the restaurants and tea houses.
While the capital was buzzing with chatter over this trilateral alliance, a golden-clawed eagle flapped its wings and took off like a lightning bolt to the northeast. Several days later, in the Andong Protectorate of Youzhou, the cross-legged Zhang Shougui extended his hand and took a letter from one of his guards. The tent fell silent as everyone in the surroundings turned to this War God of the Great Tang's northeast.
”Haha, these lowly scholars! Without the conquests of the soldiers, how would the Great Tang have achieved its current peace? That boy in Talas has miscalculated. If he had lost this battle, the Imperial Court might have immediately raised soldiers, but since he had to win, getting any soldiers out of the court is far easier said than done.”
At this moment, a voice came from behind Zhang Shougui, belonging to Zhao Kan, a deputy general of the Andong Protectorate army, who had an expression of deep respect on his face. ”Milord, the matter of Talas is currently the talk of the capital. Wang Chong and Gao Xianzhi claim in their letter that the Arabs have four hundred thousand soldiers about to descend upon Talas. Moreover, once the Arabs win, they will send an unending flood of soldiers. Can one Arabia really have this many soldiers? Just how much truth is there in this matter?”
”It's all true, of course!”
To his surprise, Zhang Shougui confirmed the news without even thinking.
”When I was presiding over Longxi, I heard that the Arabs were a ferocious people who loved war and that they had conquered many countries west of the Cong Mountains. At the time, I even privately sent some people to gather intelligence and determine if this was true. Thus, I had already concluded at that time that one mountain would not be able to hold two tigers, and that a war between Arabia and the Great Tang was inevitable in the future! Everyone in the Imperial Court believes that Gao Xianzhi and that boy are exaggerating, but I know that they definitely don't have this daring… Deceiving the sovereign is no minor crime!”
The generals of Youzhou were all stunned by this conclusion.
Talas was incredibly far away, and the entire court was in a fog about the situation there. No one had expected that in the faraway northeast, on the other end of the world, their own Protector-General would seem to know the situation like the back of his hand. But they quickly began to come around.
”Haha, given how Gao Xianzhi and Wang Chong are acting, they definitely don't have more than sixty thousand soldiers. If it's really as they say, then when the four hundred thousand soldiers of Arabia come, won't they be doomed if they don't get any reinforcements from the court?”
”Hmph, who can they blame for that? Gao Xianzhi is a junior who simply can't compare to our lord in seniority and martial arts. But after winning a few victories, he dares to call himself a War God, believing that he has the right to stand on equal level with our lord. He didn't even think for a moment. Our lord's achievements are not something that one can compare to! As for that boy, he relied on the backing of his clan to oppose Protector-General in the capital. How utterly absurd! I'd like to see how these two try and compete against our lord after this crisis in Talas!”
”Hahaha, that's what you call bringing trouble on oneself!”
The people in the tent were all laughing and jeering, delighted looks on their faces. To the Andong Protectorate army, neither Gao Xianzhi nor Wang Chong were good people. Gao Xianzhi had never displayed much respect to Zhang Shougui, and Wang Chong had humiliated the Protector-General by killing Ashina Sugan in the capital. No one here had a good impression of them.
Zhang Shougui sat in the tent, one hand lightly tapping on the table as he silently smiled.
”Reporting!”
At this moment, a messenger rushed into the tent, a letter held in his hands as he got down on one knee.
”Lord Protector-General, a letter has arrived from Talas. Milord, please examine it!”
Buzz!
The tent became eerily silent. Everyone turned as one to the messenger, and even Zhang Shougui raised an eyebrow and turned his head.
Talas was a land beyond the borders of civilization and had never been ruled over by the Great Tang. A few months ago, no one would have even heard its name, but now, even everyone in Youzhou had heard of it.
”Milord, what's going on? Why would we receive a letter from Talas at a time like this?”