The generals on the border were far from the only ones to receive the news of the upheaval at Talas. While everyone was focused on the developments in the Imperial Court, few people noticed that several carrier pigeons were flying into the capital amidst the eagles of the military.
Unlike the other letters, these were all letters from Wang Chong's family.
In the northwest of the Imperial City, in the Imperial Army's educational institute, a middle-aged man was seated cross-legged in a room. The extravagant armor on his body clearly showed that he was a commandant of the Imperial Army.
The room was quiet, but the middle-aged man exuded a powerful aura that was constantly growing like bamboo after the rain. White steam was rising from the man's head, and his forehead was beaded with cold sweat. It was obvious that he had reached an extremely critical juncture in his martial cultivation.
Heart as calm as an abyss, heart as deep as a lake …
A mantra flashed through the middle-aged man's mind, and he instantly calmed down. Bzzz! After some time, the white steam above the man's head began to lessen and the cold sweat on his forehead began to dissipate. Finally …
"I've finally broken through to Tier 7 of the Imperial Martial realm!"
Li Lin opened his eyes and gave a long sigh, his expression like he had been relieved of a great burden.
Ever since Wang Chong had given him that technique, Li Lin had been diligently cultivating it. For some reason, the technique Wang Chong had given him seemed to be extremely compatible with him, as if it had been tailor-made for him. Through the use of this technique and a few external opportunities, Li Lin's martial arts had advanced by leaps and bounds, allowing him to reach his current level.
Clap!
Taking a violet embroidered box from a nearby bed, Li Lin gently opened it and took out a white pill the size of a pigeon egg. He stuffed it into his mouth and swallowed it. Boom! The pill melted, and a majestic medicinal energy erupted from Li Lin's abdomen like a volcano, rushing into his meridians. Under the effect of the pill, Li Lin's energy swelled, and he firmly stabilized his cultivation at Tier 7 of the Imperial Martial realm.
"Chong-er, thank you. If not for you, Uncle-in-law would have never been able to make a name for himself in the Imperial Army. "
After a long time, Li Lin digested the medicinal energy of the pill. He raised his head with a gratified look in his eyes.
After three generations, the Wang Clan had finally produced another Qilin son, and he had been made the Young Marquis, the Son of Heaven's disciple. There was no one in the capital who did not know of him, and Li Lin, his uncle, had benefited greatly from this.
Li Lin's talent wasn't too outstanding. If it was just his cultivation technique alone, it would have been very difficult for him to grow so quickly in such a short period of time. However, with the large number of pills left behind by Wang Chong, Li Lin's strength skyrocketed, completely stabilizing his position in the Imperial Army.
The current Li Lin was completely different from how he had been when he was just a lowly commandant at the city gate. He now commanded a considerable number of imperial soldiers and horses. In the beginning, Li Lin had only relied on the Wang family's prestige, but now, he had won everyone's respect with his own great strength.
Hualala!
Just as he was deep in thought, the sound of fluttering wings suddenly came from outside the window. Li Lin turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound, only to see a white messenger pigeon fluttering outside the window. But because Li Lin was cultivating, he had closed the doors and windows tightly, so he could not enter.
"Hmm?"
A hint of doubt flashed across Li Lin's eyes, but he soon recovered. With a smile, he opened the window and welcomed the white messenger pigeon in. He skillfully took the letter from the pigeon's leg and opened it. With just a single glance, Li Lin was immediately stunned.
The white letter was completely blank, and there were only three words written at the very center:
Xuanwu Army!
The entire letter did not state the purpose, nor did it state the sender. But when Li Lin looked at the letter, a deep frown gradually formed on his forehead.
"So fast?"
Li Lin muttered as he looked at the three words. This was a secret code that they had agreed upon many years ago. Other than him and Wang Chong, no one else knew the meaning of these three words.
Holding onto the letter, Li Lin pushed open the door and walked out.
Zhao Fengchen!
The quasi-marshal of the Imperial Army. If Wang Chong wanted to accomplish what Wang Chong had said in the letter, Wang Chong would have to obtain his help. At this moment, Zhao Fengchen was the strongest ally of the Wang Clan in the Imperial Army.
A gust of wind blew, and in just a moment, Li Lin disappeared from the massive royal capital.
… …
Several hundred li outside the capital, a massive mountain had been thrust into the earth like a heaven-shaking sword.
The Imperial Heaven Pillar Mountain!
This was one of the four sacred training mountains of the Tang dynasty. It was rumored that several hundred years ago, the young Emperor Taizong had once offered sacrifices to the heavens and earth and inspected his troops. Thus, the Imperial Heaven Pillar Mountain had become the main training camp of the Imperial Army.
"Hey!"
"Ha!"
Shouts of training resounded throughout the mountain range. On the lush surface of the mountain, a group of reserve Imperial Army soldiers dressed in black uniforms ran along a rugged mountain path toward the summit. Even higher up the mountain, hundreds of Imperial Army members were training at the peak of the mountain, shrouded in mist.
At the highest point of the summit, a thin middle-aged man was seated cross-legged on a round rock, silently looking down at the scenery below. Hu, a gust of wind swept up the man's hair. In an instant, the man looked down the mountain, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He looked calm and relaxed.
Coocoo!
Just at that moment, a messenger pigeon flapped its wings and flew across the sky. Suddenly, it descended from the clouds toward the man's location like a bolt of lightning.
"Mm?"
The thin man's eyebrows twitched, and a trace of astonishment flashed through his eyes. He suddenly stood up from the rock and caught the pigeon that flew down from the sky. With just a glance, the man's smile faded, and his expression turned extremely serious.
"Chong-er, as expected, you still spoke. The war at Talas is already so grim that you need to use that force so soon?"
A complicated look flashed through Wang Mi's eyes, and he immediately began to walk toward the belly of the mountain.
… …
No matter how fierce the civil and military struggle at Talas was in the Imperial Court, it was an extremely distant matter to the ordinary people of the Central Plains. The capital remained calm and peaceful. In the western part of the city, in the Ghost Tree District, there was a bustling crowd. No one noticed that a child about eight or nine years old was carrying a half-foot-tall wine gourd in his hand, humming and swinging it as he strolled around.
"Boss, how much for a skewer of tanghulu?"
"Two copper coins."
"I'll take it."
"Boss, give me two taels of wine."
"Boss, I'd like a plate of braised beef."
… …
The child bought as he walked, and it didn't take long for the gourd to be filled with wine, a few more dishes in his basket, and a skewer of tanghulu in his hand.
The peddlers along the way all greeted the child. After spending so much time here, everyone was very familiar with this child. Every day, he would come here to buy a pot of wine and a few dishes.
Bang!
As the child was licking the tanghulu, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. Caught off guard, the child ran headfirst into this figure.
"Ah, sorry!"
The child panicked and hurriedly apologized. But when he raised his head and saw the figure in front of him, the child was instantly dumbfounded. The person before him was tall and burly, wearing armor. He was not one of the common merchants or commoners of the Ghost Tree District, but a soldier of high status.
Jingle!
Just as the child was panicking, a golden-red bell suddenly hung down. The black image of a ghost tree was extremely conspicuous on the golden-red bell.
Senior!
Seeing the bell and the image, the child was stunned, and then a look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face.
"You were sent by Senior?"
"Marquis is in the northwest and can't come. He sent someone to deliver a letter to you. He said that you'll understand once you see this bell. "
The soldier nodded. As he spoke, he took out a letter from his pocket, held it with both hands, and handed it over respectfully.
"Send … my regards to Senior Su."
In the end, the soldier in armor couldn't help but say it out loud. Who could have imagined that this child of eight or nine years old was actually the disciple of the Tang dynasty's God of War, So Jung-son? Whenever he thought of that god-like existence in the Tang dynasty, the soldier couldn't help but feel excited.
"Got it."
The child made a face, took the letter from the soldier's hand, and skipped away quickly.
… …
One carrier pigeon after another flew into the capital of the Tang dynasty, and one eagle after another flew to the border of the capital. These carrier pigeons and eagles were like wooden poles plunged into the ground, and the entire Central Plains began to move according to the plans of Wang Chong and Gao Xianzhi. Meanwhile, in the distant Talas, the clouds of war were thick and the air was fraught with tension. The news from the Khorasani had caused the entire City of Talas to enter a state of readiness for war.
In a dimly lit study in the northwest corner of Talas, Wang Chong's eyes flickered. Wang Chong was seated behind a desk, and before him was a pile of letters piled up like a mountain.
"Wang Chong, you were looking for me?"
Suddenly, the door opened and Gao Xianzhi, dressed in martial attire, walked in.
"Lord Protector-General, you've come."
Wang Chong raised his head and rubbed his eyes, a hint of exhaustion on his face.
"You haven't slept all night. Are you still thinking about the Arabs?"
Gao Xianzhi said.
"Mm."
Wang Chong smiled and nodded. Abu Muslim had not retreated, and a new wave of soldiers was about to arrive. As the commander-in-chief of the army, how could he possibly sleep? Wang Chong didn't even need to think about it to know that Gao Xianzhi was probably in the same state as him.
"Abu Muslim, Qutaybah, and Osman — if everything is really as that Khorasani said, then it won't be long before three Arab governors gather at Talas. If we add Ziyad, Ouzan, and the Western Turks' Duwusili, Huoshu Huizang, and Dusong Mangpoje, then the eastern Cong Mountains will have seven enemy Great Generals. This is extremely disadvantageous to us. "
Wang Chong's words voiced his concern.
Great Generals would always be the supreme fighting force of a country, and they were also powerful existences that could alter the course of the battlefield. Four hundred thousand elites and seven Great Generals were a force that could crush the entire Tang Dynasty army into powder.
This was also why Wang Chong had found it hard to sleep these last few days.
"Is it possible … that the information from Khorasan isn't accurate?"
Gao Xianzhi hesitated for a moment before asking.
"Impossible."
Wang Chong bitterly smiled and shook his head.
"The Khorasani have a blood feud with the Arabs. They will definitely spare no effort to investigate the Arabs. Even if there's a discrepancy in the number of soldiers, it won't be by much. Even if they don't have four hundred thousand soldiers, they have at least three hundred thousand. This is still not something we can fight. "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
