Chapter 757 - After Action Report!
Chapter 757: After Action Report!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The Tsenpo’s letter had already reached Dayan Mangban’s hands. It was simply the very same letter that Wang Chong had left at Zhangzhung Recruit Training Camp, without any additional commentary. ‘Five thousand Tang were killed and General Pulan slain’. Others might not understand the meaning of Wang Chong’s words, but Dayan Mangban did.
Wasn’t the person Wang Chong was referring to in the letter him?
By just giving him the letter, the Tsenpo’s meaning was loud and clear. This matter had started because of him, so he was responsible for solving it.
“Wang Chong, I’ll definitely make you and that Great Tang of yours regret this!”
Dayan Mangban clutched Wang Chong’s letter, his teeth clenched and madness in his eyes. Zhangzhung Training Camp had been destroyed, Dayan Pugyal killed, seven thousand Qinghai Soldiers still in training killed… Even Dayan Mangban’s heart was bleeding.
He was particularly grief-stricken by the seven thousand Qinghai Soldiers. If they had completed their training, they would have become an elite Tibetan force on par with his White Braves, but Wang Chong had killed all of them, not letting a single one escape. This had stunned all of Ü-Tsang and was the true reason for Dayan Mangban’s madness.
He had only killed one Pulan He and five thousand Qixi soldiers, but Wang Chong had destroyed Zhangzhung Training Camp, killing Dayan Pugyal, seven thousand Qinghai Soldiers, and twenty thousand additional recruits… Such vengeance had completely surpassed his expectations.
Even though Dayan Mangban was often called the Asura of the Battlefield, even though he was a veteran of countless battles, he still found this result difficult to bear.
While he had dealt a heavy wound to the Qixi Protectorate army, Wang Chong had heavily wounded an entire empire!
“Wang Chong, I will kill you. I will definitely kill you!” Dayan Mangban swore through clenched teeth, an indescribable madness and impulsiveness surging through him.
“Pass on my order! Gather the army and prepare to attack the City of Steel!”
“But, Milord, the City of Steel’s walls are both tall and sturdy. As cavalry, we do not have enough siege weapons, nor are we suited for attacking a city. In addition… in the last assault, we provoked Qixi Protector-General Fumeng Lingcha. He is currently putting all his strength into defending the Qixi border, and I’m afraid that our strength won’t be enough to bypass them.”
“So what? If Fumeng Lingcha dares to stop me, then we’ll attack Fumeng Lingcha! No matter what, I will have the Great Tang pay the price!!”
Dayan Mangban’s voice was a furious bellow by this point.
Fumeng Lingcha was an Imperial Great General of the Great Tang, an existence who stood at the same level as Dusong Mangpoje, and might even be a little stronger in terms of pure strength. Not even Dusong Mangpoje dared to recklessly exchange blows with him, much less a Brigadier General like Dayan Mangban. But Dayan Mangban no longer cared about such things.
Who cared if it was Fumeng Lingcha? If he wanted to kill, he would kill!!
Gallop! A few moments later, Dayan Mangban had mounted his warhorse and rumbled off toward Qixi with his forces.
……
At the same time, in the distant Big Dipper City of Longxi…
“Reporting! Lord Protector-General, there’s strange activity on the plateau. We’ve discovered that the Tibetan armies are moving strangely!” A horseman hurried into Big Dipper City, bearing news that immediately stirred a turmoil within.
“What are the Tibetans up to? The previous battle just concluded. Are they already looking to start a new one?”
The Big Dipper Army had stood sentinel on the Longxi border for many years, in a constant standoff with the Tibetans, so it was extremely sensitive to the movements on the plateau. These strange movements meant only one thing to the Big Dipper Army: another war was about to begin!
The Big Dipper Army didn’t fear war. The only thing that infuriated them was that they had just forced back the Tibetans not too long ago, and now they were coming back again. Did the ambition of the Tibetans have no end?
“Milord, let’s ready the army and prepare to welcome them!”
“The Tibetans can never learn. This time, we have to give them a savage lesson!”
The Big Dipper Army generals were all infuriated by this news.
“Wait a moment. Don’t rashly make conclusions before everything is fully investigated,” Geshu Han said with furrowed brow.
Although the movements of the Tibetans instinctively made one think that a new war was about to start, as Longxi Great General, Geshu Han sensed that something wasn’t right. Although the Tibetans were a combative people, they would usually only mobilize if they were confident. This time, their Great General We Tadra Khonglo had already withdrawn and no longer had any decisive advantage, and their other Great Generals would fare no better against Geshu Han, so the Tibetans shouldn’t have been so impulsive.
“Scout, find out more!” Geshu Han said.
“Yes!”
The scout rider quickly left with his order.
Around an hour later, a new piece of news entered the city, leaving everyone stupefied.
The Ü-Tsang Zhangzhung Recruit Training Camp had been destroyed, twenty-seven thousand recruits killed, including the seven thousand elite Qinghai Soldiers, and their commanding general Dayan Pugyal slain in battle, leaving corpses carpeting the ground. It had already been confirmed that it was five thousand Tang that had attacked the camp, and the Tibetans were currently investigating just how the five thousand Tang had managed to get up the plateau!
Let alone the veteran generals of the Big Dipper Army, even Geshu Han was dumbstruck by this news.
As the garrisoned army of Longxi, the Big Dipper Army had a far greater understanding of Ü-Tsang than any of the other armies. Thus, it was deeply aware of the significance of Tsongkha’s Zhangzhung Recruit Training Camp to Ü-Tsang. There had even been many times when Geshu Han had wanted to launch a raid and destroy Zhangzhung Training Camp, but the large distance and the size of the necessary force made it easy to be discovered and have his retreat cut off… This and various other reasons had forced him to give up on the idea.
After engaging in a round of discussion, simulation, and debate with his veteran officers, Geshu Han finally reached a conclusion.
Zhangzhung Recruit Training Camp was not impossible to destroy, but one would need a force of at least thirty thousand soldiers, and at least ten thousand of them had to be cavalry. At the same time, an Imperial Great General like Geshu Han would also have to take part, as the current presiding general of Zhangzhung was Dayan Pugyal, a Saint Martial realm expert, which needed to be dealt with by a Saint Martial realm expert.
But if Dayan Pugyal were to discover that Geshu Han was amongst the army, he would immediately flee. Moreover, the Big Dipper Army, as an army of primarily infantry, simply wouldn’t be able to catch him, only sigh and lament. And Dayan Pugyal would definitely create various measures to delay them.
When the time came, the price they would have to pay for attacking Zhangzhung Training Camp would probably be far too high.
In other words, attacking Zhangzhung Training Camp was simply unrealistic.
But now, Zhangzhung Training Camp had been destroyed, and it had been done by a force of five thousand Tang cavalry.
No one was more stunned by this than the Big Dipper Army.
In normal circumstances, the Big Dipper Army would have never believed it. After all, Zhangzhung was very far, so news about it was bound to be unreliable. But the news had come from within Ü-Tsang itself, and the Big Dipper Army had learned the news from a captured Tibetan horseman, so it couldn’t be wrong.
After frowning for a while, Geshu Han finally said, “Were they from Qixi?”
“No. The captured Tibetan also didn’t know that much, but based on what he said, they were from Wushang!” the kneeling scout said.
Buzz!
The word ‘Wushang’ was like a giant boulder crashing down from the sky, and all the officers widened their eyes.
“Wushang? How could that be?”
“Perhaps you misheard?”
Their first reaction was denial. They all knew that Wushang had only one person of note and belonged to only one person, and this was someone the Big Dipper Army had had many interactions with. But this person was only a seventeen-year-old youth. How could he have ventured so deep into the interior of Ü-Tsang and killed so many Tibetan cavalry, including seven thousand of the strongest and most elite Qinghai Soldiers?
Crucially, how had he managed to do this without the Big Dipper Army knowing?
The kneeling scout lowered his head and hurriedly said, “There can’t be a mistake. The scout on the front is proficient in Tibetan. He can confirm that Wushang was mentioned.”
Everyone in the hall, even Geshu Han, fell into a deathly stillness.
Wushang City… Wang Chong… five thousand cavalry… the destruction of Zhangzhung Recruit Training Camp…
All these things were far too shocking.
They had all viewed that boy of Wushang with some disdain, none of them expecting that he would be able to accomplish such an astonishing feat!!
This news had given them too great of a shock!
……
“I didn’t think that it would be him again!”
In the southwest of the Tibetan Plateau, Huoshu Huicang stood on a prominent cliff, gazing at the turbulent flows of air below, his gaze just as unsettled. The shocking news from Tsongkha had stunned the entire plateau, and he had also received the news. At this moment, no one felt a more complicated mixture of feelings than Huoshu Huicang. He had never expected that so soon after that war had concluded, he would once again be hearing the name ‘Wang Chong’.
“It seems like it’s still us who have to bring an end to all this!”
Huoshu Huicang raised his head and sighed. Snatching a scimitar from the top of a pillar-like rock, he strode away.
……
Neigh!
Within Longxi, the area near Heaven Pillar Mountain was bustling with activity. Not caring for the turmoil the incident in Tsongkha was causing on the Tibetan Plateau or in the headquarters of Qixi and Longxi, Wang Chong had chosen to stop and rest near Heaven Pillar Mountain after the battle.
The lush foliage and thick forests near Heaven Pillar Mountain blocked out the sky, so anyone looking down from that plateau soaring four to five thousand meters into the sky would notice nothing.
“What were the losses in the battle? Have you gotten the count?”
Underneath a twenty-some-zhang-tall tree, Wang Chong had gathered his officers.
This was the first expedition of the Wushang Cavalry. Although Wang Chong also regarded the result with great importance, he placed even more importance on the process.