Chapter 1189: Coincidentally Sharing the Same View! (1/2)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
”Actually, I have an idea.”
At this moment, a hesitant voice came from the corner of the hall. All the rebel leaders and Bahram turned to the speaker.
Bahram faintly recognized this person to be a rebel leader from Arabia's southwest region.
This rebel leader, who had a scar across his left brow, explained his idea. ”The Tang don't plan to stay as of now because our languages are different. We don't understand each other, so we naturally can't communicate either.
”In this battle, we could only work through Milord to understand each other, but the lower-level soldiers have never communicated with each other, much less understood each other. If we can learn the language of the Great Tang to have them understand us, so that we understand each other a little, everything will be different.”
”This truly is a good idea, but if we want to do this, we need many Tang teachers who can teach their language, and they would need to travel all the way to Khorasan. I'm afraid that the Tang might not agree,” another rebel leader said.
Everyone in the room became hesitant.
With communication and understanding, this coalition would be able to last longer, but the area between Samarkand and Khorasan, as well as the regions the other rebel leaders had come from, required a vast number of language teachers, and learning a language required a very long time. It would clearly be a rather costly endeavor, and the Great Tang was not guaranteed to agree.
Moreover, the rebel leaders had begun to vaguely understand a little about the Great Tang. This was a strong and prosperous country with a powerful army. In terms of living a comfortable life, Khorasan simply could not be compared to the Great Tang. Those Tang language teachers would probably not be willing to travel so far.
All the people in the hall once more revealed worried expressions.
Bahram spoke once more. ”Leave this matter to me. The problem of teachers is easy to solve. We can offer money to pay the expenses, and I'm sure that with sufficient reward, some Tang would still be willing to come. As long as we take on the burden of the expenses, the Great Tang will not obstruct us. But this matter will still require the agreement of the Tang.”
Under expectant and worried gazes, Bahram stood up and walked out of the hall.
Not even Bahram was sure if he would succeed. After all, this was a war between the Arabs and the rebels!
……
As Bahram and the rebel leaders worried and fretted, Wang Chong pushed open the door to the conference, bringing with him a gust of icy wind. Raising his head, Wang Chong immediately spotted Gao Xianzhi seated at the conference table, his head lowered and his brow furrowed as if he had encountered some impossible problem.
”Lord Protector-General, you were looking for me?”
Wang Chong strode in and got straight to the point.
Gao Xianzhi's body trembled as he shook himself from his pensive mood and raised his head.
”Wang Chong, you're here. Sit.”
”Milord, what's happened? Is there something that not even someone as capable as Milord can address?” Wang Chong said, sitting next to Gao Xianzhi. ”Does it have to do with the Arabs?”
”After this defeat, the Arabs won't be able to launch an attack for the next few months. What is there to worry about?”
Gao Xianzhi poured Wang Chong a cup of tea, but the clouds of worry on his brow had still not dispersed.
”You know that military affairs don't trouble me, but anything outside military affairs is not my expertise. I invited you over to discuss state affairs.”
”State affairs?”
Wang Chong's brow rose in concern, but he quickly thought of something and smiled.
”Milord is worried about the matter of Khorasan?”
”Correct!”
Gao Xianzhi nodded and proceeded to explain.
”Attacking a city is easy while holding it is difficult. For us to have campaigned all the way here from Talas is far beyond our initial expectations. But you also know that the situation at Talas was complicated. Here, we are unfamiliar with both the people and the land, and we are severely lacking in manpower. No matter what, managing this place is a major problem.”
Gao Xianzhi's eyes revealed deep concern. This problem had circled around his mind for some time, but with a powerful enemy before him, he had had no time to carefully ponder it. But now that the Arabs had been defeated, he had no other choice than to ponder it.
”What does Milord mean?” Wang Chong asked, his expression serious.
”I still haven't thought about the exact details, but we essentially have two choices, leave or stay,” Gao Xianzhi said heavily. ”We've already reached our goal in this war. The spirit of the Arabs has been severely wounded and they have lost countless experts. It will be a very long time until they can finally start thinking about the east again. And in this war, we've obtained more than one billion taels of gold from the Arabs, and the entire Imperial Court is reeling in shock from the magnitude of these spoils. With this gold, we can return to the capital in triumph and be cheered on by all. At the same time, we can pay out a rich compensation for those soldiers who died in battle. In all my years in the military, this is undoubtedly the finest conclusion to a war I have ever experienced.”
”But Milord is not prepared to retreat, right?” Wang Chong said.