Chapter 1603 - Interception and Counter-Interception!
Chapter 1603: Interception and Counter-Interception!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“An Sishun, why are you here?”
Jiudu Fuluo had a nasty expression on his face.
“The Sanmi Great General no longer needs to pursue. This is the Great Tang border. Great General, please return!”
As he spoke in his rumbling tone, An Sishun rode forward on his bluish-gray steed. He was now only a few hundred feet from Jiudu Fuluo.
“Was it the King of Foreign Lands who sent you?” Jiudu Fuluo sternly said.
“There’s no need for you to concern yourself with that,” An Sishun calmly replied, at the same time flourishing his spear. “Great General has been riding at full speed, but this is the end. Please go back.”
“An Sishun, it was your side that broke the treaty first this time. Soldiers of your Great Tang crossed the border and attacked the vanguard of the Western Turks, killing six thousand of our people, even capturing two. No matter what, the Great Tang must give an explanation!” Jiudu Fuluo sternly said.
“Since you have brought this up, you would have to ask why it was only those two who were captured. Six thousand were killed, so why were only these two spared? And they even caused Great General to come across a thousand li to come and save them!”
An Sishun softly chuckled.
“You!”
All of the Great Tang’s capital was in a great stir over the massacre of those four hundred villagers, so how could those countries watching the Great Tang not know of this incident?
“This is just a delusion of that King of Foreign Lands, but there’s no evidence, right?”
“Ah, but then the four hundred men who Great General said attacked the Western Turkic vanguard is also nothing more than a false rumor, yes?” An Sishun countered, immediately rendering Jiudu Fuluo speechless.
An Sishun had used his own argument. Truly, if he had captured the Great Tang soldiers with the hostages, he would have had the evidence, but right now, it was just a one-sided accusation from the Western Turks.
“An Sishun, it seems like we have nothing more to talk about!”
Jiudu Fuluo’s expression turned cold, and then he shot from his horse like a cannonball.
A fierce wind howled toward the heavens, and a massive image of Mount Sanmi appeared behind Jiudu Fuluo, appearing even more grandiose and solid than it had in their last meeting.
Jiudu Fuluo had clearly gotten stronger in the time that had passed, learning from his lessons and improving himself.
But while An Sishun’s smile faded, he showed no fear against this fierce assault. In a flash of light, An Sishun vanished, and then a boundless energy that was as hot as the sun collided with Jiudu Fuluo.
Boom! Boom!
The steppe quaked as a brief yet fierce battle took place between the Sanmi Great General and the Beiting Protector-General.
A few moments later, boom! Jiudu Fuluo shot into the distance like a shooting star.
“An Sishun, this isn’t over between us! One day, your Beiting Protectorate and the Great Tang will pay the price!”
Jiudu Fuluo’s voice rumbled like thunder, but the man himself was gone.
An Sishun stood his ground and did not pursue. Gazing in the direction Jiudu Fuluo had gone, he muttered, “King of Foreign Lands, this is all I can do. The rest is up to you.”
It was the north where the uproar over this incident had started, not the capital, and as the commander of the Beiting Protectorate, An Sishun was the one with primary responsibility. Thus, he had been roundly criticized, and he had even received a letter of harsh criticism from Wang Chong not too long ago.
As they were both Great Generals, An Sishun was not bound to serve Wang Chong, and the King of Foreign Lands had no authority to meddle in the affairs of Beiting. But An Sishun knew his errors and couldn’t even muster a word in his own defense.
It was his responsibility as Beiting Protector-General to oversee the northern lands and guard the people on the border. For four hundred people to be massacred while he remained completely unaware was clearly a dereliction of duty.
Even though he did not share the same political views as Wang Chong and had even quarreled with him, An Sishun was forced to admit that he had gravely sinned in this incident.
But An Sishun was also the only one who could possibly understand just how much pressure he was under. The militarist-Confucian conflict had placed immense pressure on the entire military, including the Beiting Protectorate.
After the incident, An Sishun had considered an assault on the Western Turks, but the Imperial Court had fiercely resisted. Li Junxian had sent six or seven decrees through the Imperial Court banning the use of the Beiting Protectorate soldiers against the Western Turks so as to avoid an even greater conflict.
Even though An Sishun was the Beiting Protector-General, he was not able to defy these decrees, so this was all he could do.
Neigh!
An Sishun turned his horse around and vanished into the steppe.
……
With Jiudu Fuluo being intercepted by An Sishun and forced to return in defeat, the news of the Great Tang’s raid grew wings and spread to the surrounding countries, setting off great shocks.
“What? A force of four hundred defeated a force of twelve thousand?! And they took away the army’s general and an officer!?”
Flapflap! Countless messenger birds had arrived in the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. Within his tent, Ozmish Khagan was stunned.
Not even Ozmish Khagan believed that he could take a force of four hundred and come out the victor against a foe thirty times his size, but not only had this army succeeded, they had even captured the two ‘ringleaders’ they had sought.
The other countries had all believed that the Great Tang’s army had been greatly reduced through the militarist-Confucian conflict, but through these four hundred soldiers, they once more witnessed its terrifying strength and resources.
“Where are they now?” Ozmish Khagan suddenly asked.
“They’ve already crossed the border and are traveling day and night for the capital,” the kneeling scout reported.
“Pass on my order. Mobilize all our men in the Great Tang to intercept those soldiers. No matter what, we can’t let those two reach the Great Tang capital alive,” Ozmish Khagan ordered.
Whoosh!
Amidst flapping wings, the news from the steppe was also being sent to the kingdoms of the Western Regions, Goguryeo, Mengshe Zhao, Ü-Tsang, and even Arabia and Charax Spasinu. That unbelievable battle that had taken place on the steppe stunned all the countries.
“Pass on my order! Mobilize all our experts in the Great Tang! No matter what, we can’t let those two reach the Great Tang capital alive!”
These countries all gave the same order as the Eastern Turkic Khaganate.
The Great Tang stood high above all the other countries, and it was one thing if Wang Chong had killed those two at the border, but it was another thing entirely for him to have them brought back alive.
That man not only wanted to seek justice for those four hundred slain villagers, he also wanted to kill the chicken to cow the monkeys, using those two as an example to intimidate the other countries.
The other countries could not possibly accept this. The wax of the Great Tang would mean the wane of the other countries. Those two needed to die.
After receiving the orders from their respective countries, the hidden experts laid out all sorts of traps on the road to the capital, creating an invisible net that threatened to entrap that force of four hundred cavalry.
At the same time, Wang Chong’s residence in the capital was brightly lit. Wang Chong was seated behind his desk, and almost all his subordinates were gathered here.
“The news from the north has leaked, and the other countries have probably begun to move. I only have one order. No matter what, those two must reach the capital alive.”
Wang Chong opened his eyes, which exuded an intimidating light.
“Yes, Milord!” everyone replied in unison.
With this order, another set of orders began to reach out of the capital and sweep over the north.
The lands between the northern border and the capital were fraught with dangers. Countless disguised experts were converging on the four hundred cavalry, heedless of the consequences.
At the same time, countless soldiers and experts, including the martial artists of the evil and righteous paths, were also converging on the north. In places out of sight, the two sides engaged in a fierce and bloody battle.
Many of the foreign assassins were slain before they could even get close, dying in the mountains, forests, rivers, and shrubs. The Great Tang side also paid a price.
In this unseen clash between the martial artists of the Central Plains and the experts of various countries, many people entered their eternal slumber in obscure and unknown places.
The foreign countries suffered grievous casualties from the constant harassment of the Great Tang forces, and in the end, they were forced to give the order to retreat.
Several days later, the four hundred cavalry went through the final pass. Unhindered by further attacks, they smoothly rode toward the capital.
……
At the same time, it was not just the foreign countries who were keeping an eye on this incident.
Flapflap! Within the Secretariat Advisor Residence, Li Junxian was receiving countless pieces of information.
“Bastard! What is he trying to do?!”
Li Junxian was infuriated by what he was seeing.
That force of four hundred soldiers was not merely linked to that village on the border, but also to the millions of people living in the Great Tang and in all the other countries. The Confucian Sect had gone through herculean efforts to make these countries sign treaties that would end war forever, but Wang Chong’s four hundred men had destroyed it all with one attack.
Taptaptap!
A flurry of footsteps came from outside his door, and a few seconds later, a Confucian Sect expert came in, with a black eagle belonging to the Western Turks perched on his hand.