"Hmph! Stubborn fool! "
Wang Chong coldly sneered, a harsh light in his eyes. Although Wanhe Peiluo's sudden attack was abrupt, Wang Chong had apparently predicted it. Boom! As Wanhe Peiluo and his tribesmen attacked, Wang Chong's body exploded into the air like a hawk. Clang! The countless plates of armor on his body clattered to the ground. Clang! The WuZi Steel Sword on Wang Chong's body exploded with countless rays of sword Qi that slashed at Wanhe Peiluo.
But while Wang Chong was fast, someone else was even faster than Wang Chong.
"Wanhe Peiluo, you've truly … disappointed me far too much!"
A loud, thunderous voice suddenly rang out in everyone's ears. The voice was filled with deep disappointment. Upon hearing this voice, the savage Karluk leader Wanhe Peiluo seemed to be pricked by something. His entire body trembled, and he almost lost his grip on the giant axe in his hand. He cried out involuntarily, "Who are you?!"
"Lord Protector-General!!"
Wanhe Peiluo was infamous and never admitted defeat. Wang Chong was not qualified to make him utter the words' Lord Protector-General '. In the entire army, only the Anxi War God, Gao Xianzhi, could do so. Rumble! Before Wanhe Peiluo could finish speaking, a storm of destructive energy suddenly appeared in Wanhe Peiluo's perception, approaching him with astonishing speed.
Wanhe Peiluo's face instantly turned as white as paper.
"Boom!"
Two heaven-shaking booms resounded through the air, and as countless people looked on in fear, three figures collided near the gates of Talas. Majestic Stellar Energy surged out like a tsunami, sweeping away the surrounding crowd. In a radius of one hundred zhang, everyone was pushed to the side, none of them able to stand.
"Not good!"
"Be careful!"
"Their shockwaves are too strong! Retreat quickly! "
…
It was chaos all around. Wang Chong, Gao Xianzhi, and Wanhe Peiluo were all peak experts of the Tang dynasty. A battle between experts of this level was not something that experts of other levels could approach, much less interfere in. But the chaos disappeared as quickly as it came. The overwhelming and powerful Stellar Energy waves disappeared in the blink of an eye.
By the time the surrounding people got up from the ground, the clouds had dispersed and the rain had stopped. The battle was already over.
"My lord!"
Xue Qianjun crawled up from the ground in a suit of armor. He was just about to join the battle when he raised his head and saw the scene in front of him. He was stunned. In front of the city gate, Wang Chong stood motionless, his back to him. One hand gripped the Wootz Steel sword, the other gripping Karluk chief Wanhe Peiluo's neck, his feet off the ground as he raised him high into the air.
Wanhe Peiluo struggled as hard as he could, but to no avail. Wang Chong's palm was like a pair of iron pincers, firmly holding him in place. And next to the pair, Gao Xianzhi stood like a towering mountain, motionless and motionless. Everything was frozen in place, as if time had stopped.
No one knew what had just happened, but there was no question that the battle was over.
No matter how formidable Wanhe Peiluo was, he could not possibly contend against two Protector-Generals of the Tang Dynasty working together.
"Lord Protector-General, Lord Protector-General … I've been wrongly accused! Listen to my explanation!"
Wanhe Peiluo's face was pale and his expression panicked as he struggled. Although Wang Chong had gripped his neck, the true lethal attack had come from Anxi Protector-General Gao Xianzhi. Even though he had been greatly weakened by the successive battles, a peak Saint Martial existence like a Great General was not someone that Wanhe Peiluo could compare to.
Gao Xianzhi had not killed him, but he had sealed off all the acupuncture points in his body. Wanhe Peiluo had a body full of strength, but he could not use it.
"Wanhe Peiluo, you've truly disappointed me."
Before everyone's gazes, Gao Xianzhi finally spoke. There was an indescribable coldness on his face. Two months of fierce battle had not broken him, but the betrayal of the Karluks had left this invincible Anxi War God feeling a deep exhaustion.
"I don't mind that you accepted the gold and silver of the Arabs. After all, the Karluks are mercenaries, and there's no reason to reject the gold and silver of a competitor. Even if you take it, you don't necessarily have to work for them. But for the sake of ten chests of gold and silver, you actually wanted to betray the Tang Dynasty, collude with the Arabs, and lead bandits into the pass … you've truly disappointed me. It turns out that ten years of fighting shoulder to shoulder was only worth ten chests of gold and silver! "
"Milord, it's not like this, it's not like this …"
Wanhe Peiluo's face was ghastly pale, his body hovering in the air, his hands struggling against Wang Chong's palms, but to no avail.
"It's not like this … You're right. The Arabs naturally didn't just give you ten chests of gold and silver. If my guess is correct, the Arabs must have promised you that once the Anxi Protectorate army was destroyed, they would do everything in their power to support you and the Karluks in ruling the Western Regions! "
Wang Chong coldly sneered as he gazed at Wanhe Peiluo, his words piercing through his heart.
"Buzz!"
Wanhe Peiluo had been struggling, but these words seemed to deal a heavy blow. His face paled even more, and his hands powerlessly dropped to the ground.
Wang Chong looked at Wanhe Peiluo, his eyes brimming with derision. Mercenaries had no morals to speak of. In their eyes, everything had a price tag, and the only thing that mattered was whether someone could pay it. Wanhe Peiluo and the Karluks had believed themselves to be a secret, but how could they have escaped his notice? If he had not appeared at the Battle of Talas, the Anxi Protectorate army would have been destroyed, and the Tang Dynasty would not have had enough soldiers, quickly losing Anxi, Qixi, and the entire Western Regions.
And the Karluks had defected at the last moment. As the heroes who had dealt a heavy blow to the Anxi Protectorate army, they had truly reaped the greatest benefits after the battle. After the Western Regions, without the Tang Dynasty, they had become one of the strongest factions in the Western Regions. But there were times when the plans of man outstripped those of the heavens. After the Battle of Talas, the Arabian Empire had originally planned to unite the Western Regions, the Tang Dynasty, the Turks, the Ouzan, and any other place it could see.
Alas, the Arabs had made a strategic mistake. After defeating the Tang Dynasty, they had pushed into the plateau, intending to conquer the nearby Ouzan Empire, completely unaware of the 'altitude sickness'. In the end, they had suffered a heavy blow there and had been forced to halt their expansion.
The Karluks' dream of acting as Arabia's agent and ruling over the Western Regions had been shattered. But even so, the Karluks had been the greatest beneficiaries of the Battle of Talas. The entire tribe had flourished like never before.
The honest and trustworthy, the loyal to their country, had been buried in a foreign land, never to have a good end. Meanwhile, the treacherous had grown stronger and flourished. There was nothing in the world more ironic than this.
When the former Wang Chong had heard of the crushing defeat at Talas and the success of the Karluks, he could only clench his fists in helplessness. But now that they had come back to life, the Karluks were delusional to think that they could rely on betraying the Tang Dynasty and the Anxi Protectorate army to obtain glory and wealth!
"Haaah!"
Suddenly, a long sigh came from next to him. Gao Xianzhi glanced at Wanhe Peiluo and shook his head, disappointment in his eyes.
"Wanhe Peiluo, did you really think that you could hide your actions from me?"
Bzzz! Wanhe Peiluo's body trembled as he raised his head, his eyes wide as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning.
"… In truth, I already had a feeling and a few guesses. But after all these years of life and death, I didn't believe that you would betray me. Long before we left for the Shi Kingdom and took Talas, someone told me that you were colluding with the Arabs and preparing to betray the Tang Dynasty. But at the time, I didn't believe it, so I suppressed all those voices.
"After two months of fierce fighting, the Karluks suddenly refused to fight and even deliberately made trouble. I knew all of this, but I pretended not to know. Even at night, when some strange birds flew over the city and landed in the Karluk camp, I didn't investigate. Wanhe Peiluo, do you know why? "
Gao Xianzhi turned his head to Wanhe Peiluo.
All was deathly still. Wanhe Peiluo did not speak, but the light in his eyes slowly dimmed. All this time, he had believed that he had done everything without anyone knowing. He had never imagined that Gao Xianzhi had already known.
"Those who walk different paths can't make plans together. These mercenaries only fight for money and have never received the influence of benevolence, righteousness, or morality. In the end, they're not our kind of people."
Wang Chong finally spoke.
Gao Xianzhi and Cheng Qianli, the two Anxi Protector-Generals, had reacted far too calmly. When he had criticized Wanhe Peiluo, they had not reacted at all, as if they had predicted this would happen. Wang Chong had found it strange at the time. Even if he had been on guard, why had such a thing happened in the end?
But now, Wang Chong understood that it could all be summed up in one word: 'too softhearted'.
Although Gao Xianzhi was known for his callous and unyielding image, that was only to his enemies. To the people at his side, to those he trusted, he had a completely different side, warm and soft.
Gao Xianzhi was a Hu!
But he was a Hu who admired the glory of the Tang dynasty and the culture of the Central Plains. He had also received the most orthodox education of the Han Confucian school and the culture of the Central Plains. In this aspect, although he looked like a Hu on the outside, he was a pure Han at heart. In this aspect, he was completely different from Wanhe Peiluo and the other Hu.
When one interacted with Gao Xianzhi, his bearing and demeanor made it easy for one to forget his identity and feel that he was no different from a Han, inspiring admiration!
But the 'compassionate cannot command soldiers', and Gao Xianzhi's' soft-heartedness' had ultimately led to the destruction of the Anxi Protectorate army, the fall of the Western Regions, and his future death!
A general could not be softhearted, because a moment of softheartedness would lead to an unimaginably massive disaster that would eventually lead to unimaginable casualties.
In this aspect, even though Gao Xianzhi was known as the War God of the Western Regions, he was still not a qualified commander.
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.
