Chapter 1915 - Arabia's Treasury!
Chapter 1915: Arabia’s Treasury!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“An excellent woman worthy of respect! Withdraw!”
Wang Zhongsi dismissed the two generals.
Whether foreigner or Tang, any person with this sort of bearing was worth respecting.
“You should leave!”
Wang Chong couldn’t help but chuckle.
“The Great Tang is not a country like Arabia. His Majesty has no reason to humiliate your Imperial Father, nor do I.”
“Is that true?”
Alia raised her head.
“Of course!”
Wang Chong stepped forward.
“But after all that he’s done, emerging completely unscathed is also impossible!”
Wang Chong placed a hand on Mutasim III’s body.
Bang!
As Wang Chong spoke, he sent a surge of Stellar Energy into Mutasim III’s body, shattering his meridians and dantian.
While Mutasim III was no weakling, he was far inferior to the Subtle-realm Wang Chong.
With Mutasim III’s cultivation crippled, he immediately crumpled to the ground, but Alia breathed a sigh of relief. If Wang Chong was willing to cripple her father’s cultivation, it also meant that her father was really allowed to live.
“Mutasim III, my emperor has decreed that you are to be King of Arabia, but I still must offend you for a while!”
With a wave of his hand, Wang Chong had several experts come forward and escort Mutasim III away.
Wang Chong was not a cruel and unreasonable man, but he was also not soft and merciful. The Arabian Empire had yet to be pacified, and Mutasim III was still the reigning sovereign. Killing him might stir up a new wave of unrest, and if he wasn’t killed, others could use him. He needed to be under the Great Tang’s control.
“Princess Alia, if you are still uneasy, you may accompany your Imperial Father. If you would!”
After taking care of Mutasim III, Wang Chong ordered his army of more than one million soldiers to finally enter the illustrious capital of the Arabian Empire.
Upon seeing the Tang coalition army, all the Arab nobles lowered their heads in fear and respect.
This was the first time a foreign army had ever conquered Arabia and marched into Baghdad!
This was undoubtedly the darkest day in the history of Arabia, but the brightest for the Great Tang!
After passing through more than half of the city, Wang Chong entered the resplendent royal quarter, and when he seated himself on the Caliph’s throne, the entire Tang army erupted with cheers.
At this moment, they had finally achieved true victory in this western expedition.
This was an unprecedented campaign, the first time in the history of the Central Plains that an army had gone past the Western Regions, marched over the Cong Mountains, passed through Samarkand and Khorasan, and conquered the western world.
Not even the Qin Emperor or Wu of Han had ever accomplished such a feat.
This was a massive victory that was more than worthy of entry into the annals!
“Pass on my order! Distribute rewards to the army!”
Bang!
The thunderous cheers of the army could be heard throughout Baghdad.
……
The next day, as all the surrounding countries were still shocked by Arabia’s surrender and as the Tang army was still celebrating its occupation of Baghdad, a surprising piece of news arrived.
In the Imperial Palace of Baghdad, Wang Chong, Wang Zhongsi, and Zhangchou Jianqiong were examining a map of Arabia and discussing how the empire was to be administered and where soldiers should be deployed. It was at this time that Zhang Que rushed in with excitement on his face.
“Milord, we’ve found the Arabian treasury!”
Buzz!
The hall fell silent as everyone turned toward Zhang Que.
“Where is it?” Wang Chong suddenly asked, not trying to hide anything from the others.
The war of the northwest and the following western expedition had been extremely taxing on the Great Tang. The money and supplies needed for the war effort, put together with the compensation paid out to the families of the bereaved, totaled together into an enormous sum.
While the Great Tang was prosperous, fighting a powerful empire like Arabia had still been extremely exhausting on its finances.
Moreover, Wang Chong had always followed the principle of using war to pay for war. After paying such a great price and obtaining such great success, he could not permit himself to return empty-handed.
Arabia was a powerful country known for its ferocity in battle, but Wang Chong also knew it to be a country of immense wealth.
In its ascendancy, Arabia had conquered countless countries and taken their wealth as its own. Fortunes that had been built up over the centuries had all fallen into Arabia’s hands.
This was an unimaginable wealth. After the Battle of Khorasan, when Wang Chong had demanded one billion taels of gold, it had been swiftly delivered.
It was only then that Wang Chong had realized that Arabia was even wealthier than he had imagined.
If he obtained this wealth, it would be an unimaginable boon for the Great Tang. Not only would it cover the losses suffered in the war, there was enough that it could be used on the populace to increase the national power of the Great Tang.
Thus, Wang Chong’s first mission upon occupying Baghdad was to find Arabia’s hidden treasury.
But everyone in Arabia flatly denied its existence, saying that Wang Chong had already plundered everything they had. If Wang Chong insisted, they might be able to scrape together five hundred million taels of gold to compensate the Great Tang.
Others might have been fooled, but not Wang Chong.
Wang Chong could also understand what they were thinking. Nobody could just stand and watch as the wealth of nearly one thousand years was plundered by another.
If they could keep it hidden, Arabia might be able to experience a revival.
But Wang Chong would not permit them this chance!
Zhang Que bowed and said, “Milord, it’s beneath the Imperial Palace, around sixty meters beneath the earth. There’s a seal there that prevents Psychic Energy from finding it. We needed to go to great lengths to finally find it!”
“Let’s go!”
Wang Chong quickly got to his feet.
Bang!
The golden gate to the treasury opened, but when everyone went inside the legendary treasury located beneath the palace, even the perpetually unperturbed Wang Zhongsi was startled.
They had prepared themselves somewhat for the wealth within, but they were still profoundly shaken when they saw the mountains of jewels and gold piled up within.
“Incredible! Truly an empire’s fortune!”
“If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I would have never dared to believe that the Arabs had such immense wealth!”
“Wang Chong, I finally understand why you insisted on taking Baghdad!”
This world of wealth left all of them with unprecedented shock.
The Tang Empire also had many pearls, agates, corals, and jades, but the number of such treasures in this place was uncountable.
There were also many sparkling instruments, crowns, trees, goblets, and scepters forged from gold, many of them with ancient characters carved into them.
As they went farther inside, they saw golden chests stacked on top of each other, precious gems embedded into them.
Even more gems were liberally scattered throughout the treasury like they were grains of rice.
It felt as if they were walking through a desert of jewels.
Even Wang Chong, who was the most prepared of all, had to admit that the treasury of Arabia was still wealthier than he had imagined.
Suddenly, as his eyes glanced over a corner of the treasury, he opened his hand. An ancient bronze wine cup immediately flew into his hand.
“It’s a Sassanid treasure!”
Wang Chong had immediately recognized the familiar Sassanid writing on the cup.
Several decades ago, the Arabs had defeated the Sassanid Dynasty and taken their capital. When the army sacked the city, it had also taken away many of the Sassanid Dynasty’s treasures.
It was clear that all those treasures had been stored here by Mutasim III.
The Sassanid Dynasty was far from the only dynasty to have been plundered. Many kingdoms of varying sizes had been completely wiped out, even their traces of existence wiped away. Their treasures were also to be found here.
Buzz!
A moment later, Wang Chong sent a vast wave of Psychic Energy throughout the entire treasury.
His eyes closed, and after a few moments, they opened again.
“The total value of this treasure is probably between two and three trillion taels of gold. Although the pearls, agates, coral, jade, and ancient treasures can’t be valued, the gold items and ingots alone can be valued at around five billion taels.”
Buzz!
Wang Zhongsi and the others were all ecstatic to hear this. Agates and coral weren’t very useful, and there was probably no one in the world who could use up all of it. But gold could be directly used to fill the treasury.
Five billion taels of gold!
This was several times what the Great Tang had paid.
Even those Confucians and people who were always critical of reckless military campaigns would have no objections about this one.
“Wonderful! Wang Chong, with this campaign, not only have we removed a major enemy of the Central Plains and ensured our entry into the annals of history, we can use all that we’ve gained to truly benefit the people so that future generations can sing our praises! Wang Chong, after joining you on this campaign, we can truly die without regrets!”
Gao Xianzhi’s face was so red with excitement that he seemed intoxicated.
Everything before him was truly an achievement that he had never even dreamed of achieving in his lifetime!
But by following Wang Chong, he had really managed to do it.
Wang Chong smiled and quickly began to issue orders.
“Zhang Que, prepare a letter reporting everything to the Sage Emperor. In addition, have the army begin transporting all this back to the Great Tang to fill the treasury!”
Last time, when the First Prince was presiding over the government, Wang Chong had kept a large amount of the gold for himself. But now that the three Princes had been subdued and the Sage Emperor reigned once more, there was no need to keep this wealth for himself.
Moreover, with the threat of Arabia removed, Wang Chong did not need to keep so much money to prepare for war.
At this moment, Wang Chong felt like giving a long sigh of relief.
“Mm?”
Suddenly, Wang Chong turned his head to the back of the treasury, where a certain object had been tucked away in a corner.