"Let's go! Marquis is definitely getting impatient from waiting. He'll definitely be very happy to hear this news! "
Li Siye said.
Six thousand jun of Hyderabad ore was equivalent to six thousand invincible WuZi Steel swords, more than enough to equip five thousand Wushang cavalry. Qixi now had a truly terrifying force that could decide the outcome of a battle. The weight of this was not something a normal person could imagine.
"Rumble!"
The two groups of Wushang cavalry quickly joined together and escorted the carts of Hyderabad ore up the plateau, passing through the northern border of the Ouzan Plateau to head toward their own territory. Not to the Qixi Protectorate, but to the City of Steel. There were many craftsmen, smiths, and even furnaces there. Zhang Shouzhi had even prepared a large factory, and the pine trees cut from the capital had already been sent over. Only there could the Hyderabad ore be forged into the famous WuZi Steel swords!
Caw!
As the two thousand Wushang cavalry and the massive convoy traversed the northern border of the Ouzan, Ouzan vultures were constantly appearing and circling in the sky. At the same time, one group of Ouzan scouts after another appeared in the distance and then vanished. From start to finish, Li Siye and the others ignored them. And those Ouzan scouts only dared to watch from a distance, disappearing after a single glance, not daring to approach.
After the battle of the triangular gap, the entire northern border of the Ouzan Plateau paled at the mere mention of the City of Steel and the army of Qixi. Moreover, Ouzan was currently in the northern border, so it could no longer mobilize any more soldiers to deal with them.
Bang!
Several hours later, when Li Siye and the others escorted the six thousand jun of Hyderabad ore to Wushang's City of Steel, the entire city was in an uproar. Everyone welcomed them with a hero's welcome. Zhang Shouzhi, Zhao Jingdian, and even Cheng Sanyuan and Su Shixuan, as well as Xu Yi-qin of the Qixi Protectorate, hurried over.
The most important part of Wang Chong's plan had finally arrived, and it was like a stabilizing needle that calmed everyone's hearts.
"What!"
Wang Chong was in the middle of recruiting soldiers from the various mercenary tribes in the Western Regions. Upon hearing these words, he immediately left the recruitment to the King Gangke and Xue Qianjun and rushed to the City of Steel. Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Chong immediately used steel modules to set up a massive swordsmithing factory in the western part of the City of Steel. He then recruited more than one hundred elite blacksmiths and began to forge swords of WuZi Steel.
More than six thousand jun of Hyderabad ore!
This was probably the largest Hyderabad ore transaction in the entire Central Plains, perhaps even the entire world, since Wang Chong's reincarnation!
But this was not the only cause for excitement. On the Western Turkic Khaganate's side, when the three thousand Wushang cavalry had swept through all the water sources and routed the thirty thousand elite soldiers, destroying the Western Turkic Khaganate's forces in the Qixi region and beginning to threaten the shepherds and Turkic tribes deeper into the region, the Turkic Khaganate of Mount Sanmi finally responded.
The Western Turks were willing to provide two hundred thousand high-quality Turkic warhorses in exchange for the Fourth Prince and the Qixi Protectorate's withdrawal from the Western Turkic region! All the warhorses would be sent to Qixi as quickly as possible, but Wang Chong and the Qixi Protectorate would have to withdraw from the Turkic steppe first, and they were not to attack any more Turkic shepherds!
When this news reached the City of Steel where Wushang had imprisoned the Turkic Fourth Prince, everyone was dumbfounded.
For the Turkic Fourth Prince to be worth so much left everyone slack-jawed and slack-jawed! Although Hulayeg had said that the Fourth Prince was extremely favored, or else he would not have had the Black Wolf Yabgu personally escort him and help him gather merit, this value was still beyond everyone's expectations.
"I really did pick up a treasure!"
In the City of Steel, Xu Keyi muttered to himself. It took a long time for him to come back to his senses.
He was the one who personally experienced the whole thing. He had participated in the battle of the Qixi Armory and had even personally captured the Turkic Fourth Prince. Moreover, he had been the one to personally report the news of the Turkic Fourth Prince to Wang Chong. But two hundred thousand warhorses still made him feel like he was in a dream.
He clearly remembered that Hulayeg had sent a letter to the City of Steel stating that the Western Turkic Khaganate's bottom line was one hundred thousand high-quality Turkic warhorses. And now, the price was double that.
"Hulayeg! It must be that bastard … "
In a flash of inspiration, Xu Keyi suddenly recalled that fat Turkic horse merchant. That bastard had to be the one to do this. Otherwise, even if the Turkic shepherds on the western front were threatened and the soldiers wounded, they would never have paid such a price.
"This fellow is truly worthy of respect!"
But this was not the end of the good news. A few days later, with the rumbling of wheels, one carriage after another loaded with steel modules appeared outside the City of Steel. The cement road from the capital to Wushang was unprecedented in the history of the Tang Dynasty, greatly reducing the time needed to transport the steel modules.
With the arrival of the first caravan, a steady stream of caravans carrying countless steel modules arrived at Wushang's City of Steel.
Everything was ready, and after nearly a month, Wang Chong's orders were gradually beginning to show their effects. Large quantities of resources, weapons, and warhorses were gathering in Qixi, and even farther away, sacks of grain were being transported from Jiaozhi to the capital and then to the City of Steel.
Wang Chong had sent Zhang Munian to Jiaozhi to research hybrid rice, and the results were gradually beginning to show. The rice in Jiaozhi could be harvested three times a year, and the grain produced there alone was enough to support a local war. There was no need for the Bureau of Revenue to allocate any grain.
Not only that, with Wang Chong's support, Zhang Munian's research on hybrid rice began to expand from Jiaozhi to other areas.
Everything was progressing in a good direction.
The various developments Wang Chong had painstakingly developed after the southwestern war were gradually beginning to show their results.
… …
Creee!
The shrill cry of an eagle came from the sky several li away from Wushang's City of Steel. The three-foot-long eagle circled once in the sky, then immediately turned around and flew away. In the direction of the eagle's cry, one could see an Ouzan scout mounted on a warhorse in the middle of the northern region of the Ouzan Plateau, gazing in the direction of Wushang's City of Steel.
From his angle, he could see thick plumes of smoke rising into the sky from the City of Steel. Countless soldiers, craftsmen, and merchants were gathered there, bustling with activity.
The Tibetan scout gave all this a profound stare. After catching the eagle, he silently turned around and began to gallop into the depths of the Tibetan Plateau. Translated by: Hypersheep325 Edited by: Michyrr
A few moments later, there was a shrill cry as the massive eagle once more took to the air. This time, however, it did not fly in the direction of Qixi. Instead, it flew over the plateau toward the capital of the Ü-Tsang Empire.
Time passed slowly. The giant eagle passed through the layers of dark clouds and thunderstorms. After a day, it once again flew down from the clouds. The eagle did not enter the royal capital, but flew over it and landed somewhere else. On the ground, a stalwart figure was silently waiting.
"You've worked hard. Eat."
A thick palm caught the eagle flying down from the sky. At the same time, the other hand tore off a large piece of meat and fed it to the huge eagle. After doing all this, Huoshu Huizang took the intelligence report from the eagle's leg. After glancing through it, he walked over and handed it to another figure.
"That brat truly is the greatest foe of our Ouzan Empire. As expected, he's going to take action again now that Anxi is in trouble."
Dusong Mangpoje took the letter and carefully read it, his expression turning even more unsightly as he gave a deep sigh.
"Alas, in the battle of the triangular gap, we lost all our soldiers in the north. We no longer have the strength to threaten him. Otherwise, we would have definitely made some trouble for him. "
Dusong Mangpoje's face was filled with regret.
As a famed general of the Ouzan Empire, he had never suffered such a major defeat even when he was in a stalemate with the Big Dipper Great General Geshu Han in Longxi, but he had lost to Qixi's Wang Chong. Now that he thought about it, he realized that he had still been too impulsive. This was the greatest shame of his life.
"It's too late to say these things now. We've lost, and the Western Turks have also lost. There's no one left in Qixi that can threaten him. The Tang Dynasty is now the sole power. If we can't stop them, our Ouzan soldiers will never be able to charge out of the plateau again. "
"Mm."
Huoshu Huizang nodded.
"The current development is exactly the same as what he said back then. Let's go. If we want to defeat that brat, cut off the Anxi Protectorate army's reinforcements, and deal a heavy blow to the Tang Dynasty's power in the Western Regions, he's the only one who can do it. "
A hint of respect appeared in Dusong Mangpoje's eyes as he nodded and walked with Huoshu Huizang toward a nearby steel building on the outskirts of the royal capital.
In the Ouzan Empire, very few buildings made of pure steel could be found, except in one place.
The prison!
After showing their tokens, the two Great Generals of the Ouzan Empire began to descend the stairs into the gloomy prison. The prison was damp and gloomy, the only source of light being the torches that hung on the walls every four feet. In the light of the torches, the jailers pressed against the walls as if they had been petrified. Only their vicious gazes proved that they were still breathing.
Huoshu Huizang and Dusong Mangpoje were in a complicated mood, but they said nothing as they followed the corridors into the depths of the prison. It was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. In the deepest part of the prison, in the only cell, the two saw that person.
Separated by the bars of the cells, they could see that the man was sitting dejectedly, his hair disheveled and his clothes in rags. Because he hadn't washed himself for a long time, his body exuded a pungent odor, but he seemed to be completely unaware of it. He was muttering to himself, his eyes fixed on the ground, oblivious to the outside world.
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.
