Chapter 1636 - Revenge on the Plateau!
Chapter 1636: Revenge on the Plateau!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The soldiers at the triangular gap were far from the only ones being mobilized.
Longxi, the border, Big Dipper City.
“Heh, send soldiers to the Ü-Tsang Empire, but they can’t show that they’re soldiers of the Big Dipper Army. Would Ü-Tsang not be able to recognize the traits of the Big Dipper Army? It seems like that man in the capital has begun to fight with Dalon Trinling.”
Geshu Han put down Wang Chong’s letter and gave an amused smile.
Even Geshu Han somewhat feared that head minister who resided throughout the year in the royal capital of the Ü-Tsang Empire. After all, this was a man who not even his former superior and current Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian had been able to defeat.
‘The thunder peal in the silence, the danger lurking in the placid’ was the style of that minister of the plateau. And one also had to consider that the ‘atmospheric pressure’ of the plateau was not suitable for those who lived on low altitudes.
‘Atmospheric pressure’ was the term used by that man in the capital.
Geshu Han had imagined that these two would eventually conflict, but he hadn’t imagined that it would be so quickly.
A hesitant voice spoke up. “Milord, the Imperial Court is keeping a close eye on us, and the Confucian Sect won’t be happy if we mobilize at this time. If the Imperial Court finds out…”
The current Big Dipper Army was not the Big Dipper Army of the past. Not only had their numbers been reduced, there were now many supervisors that made any movement difficult.
“Heh, we naturally need to respect the laws of the Imperial Court. Who said that the army being mobilized would be our Big Dipper Army?” Geshu Han lightly said.
“Milord, you mean…”
The subordinate seemed to realize something.
“Pass on my order! After two days, dispatch five thousand elites for ‘routine training’!” Geshu Han ordered. His smile slowly faded.
No matter what plan Wang Chong had, he would always give his full support.
A false peace was something he had never wanted. Moreover, by deploying soldiers to Ü-Tsang, Wang Chong was actually helping him.
……
The central region of Ü-Tsang was more than three thousand kilometers from the triangular gap. The grass here was lush, and hundreds of thousands of sheep covered the plain like a mantle of snow. Yaks were mixed in with them, and outside of the yak and sheep herds were herds of wild horses.
These were the highland steeds of the Tibetan Plateau. All of them were muscular and stalwart, and galloped across the plain like dark clouds.
After the war of the southwest, the battles against the Big Dipper Army, and the Battle of Talas, Ü-Tsang had suffered grievous losses. And in that plague that had swept over the plateau, many of these muscular highland steeds who were resistant to the climate of the plateau had died.
Ever since then, Ü-Tsang had decided to enter a resting phase, particularly so that they could raise warhorses. Not only that, Ü-Tsang had also bought soybeans from the Central Plains to supplement the wild grasses of the plain.
Breeding a large number of highland steeds was the number one priority for Ü-Tsang. As long as it had enough wild horses, Ü-Tsang could regain its breath and recover from the wounds inflicted by war.
As for the lost manpower…
Every shepherd of the plain was a potential Tibetan horseman. As long as they were trained, Ü-Tsang could have a massive force of basic cavalry in just three to five years. In five or ten years, they would be completely mature, and in ten to fifteen years, all the traces of war would have been wiped away and Ü-Tsang would once more be an immensely powerful empire.
This was the source of Ü-Tsang’s long-term sturdiness. No matter what sort of wound it suffered, it could swiftly recover and threaten the Central Plains again and again.
“Hurry! Focus on your training! There’s no stopping until I give the order!”
Winds howled out from the north, and on the plain, a hardened Tibetan cavalry officer, his rough face seeming to have been cast from steel, was riding upon a tamed wild horse. The group of new recruits he was roaring at still had lingering signs that they were once shepherds.
This Tibetan officer did not have any signs that indicated he belonged to Ü-Tsang, but his determined eyes and fierce aura of fire and blood were things that could have only been refined through bloody battles.
In the militarist-Confucian conflict, the other countries had all signed peace treaties with the Great Tang, and all of them had reduced their armies, with Ü-Tsang being no exception. But these soldiers had not put away their armor and returned to tend to their flocks. Instead, they had used this opportunity to scatter across the plateau so that they could choose the best soldiers from the various tribes and then train them up into veteran soldiers in the hopes of forming a massive army.
The Tibetan army would not shrink. In the future, it would only get larger.
Flap flap! The yak war banners of Ü-Tsang snapped in the wind, and with that veteran officer’s orders, the countless Tibetan shepherds wearing basic armor gripped their sabers and spears, and formed and reformed into Echelon Formation.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As the horses galloped back and forth, dim halos emerged from the feet of the shepherds. These halos began to connect to each other and resonate, and a faint barrier began to emerge in the air.
The renowned Fortress Formation of Ü-Tsang had already reached its basic form.
“Everyone, listen up! The Tang are an enemy that we can never share the same sky with! Just think about how many of our Ü-Tsang Empire died at their hands! Just think about the plague and the deserted plains of the Ngari Royal Lineage that have still yet to recover! One day, we will make them pay a price! Imagine those targets in front of you to be the Tang! For the Tsenpo, for all Tibetans!”
Underneath a nine-meter-tall banner loomed a Tibetan general. He had a brutal gaze and his voice resounded over the entire region.
Roooar!
“Kill, kill, kill!”
Thunderous roars came in response, and these cavalry in the midst of training waved around their weapons as they charged at the nearby targets.
Boom! Boom! Boom! One explosion after another could be heard as those round targets as tall as adult men were obliterated by sabers and spears, showering the surrounding area with debris.
As the training continued, the entire base was enveloped in a somber aura. There were at least six of these bases in the Ü-Tsang Empire, and all of them were set up in sparsely inhabited areas. And there were also many spies and scouts placed along the route to the bases. If there were any strange activity or the base were exposed, these soldiers were to take off their armor and become ordinary shepherds, with the many sheep and cattle serving as proof.
Thwish!
Suddenly, an arrow shot down the banner at the very center of the base.
Swoosh!
This sudden mishap had the Tibetan commander standing in a daze, a hint of shock in his eyes. This was clearly not something he had expected. All those Tibetan cavalry who had been vigorously training also instantly fell silent.
“What’s going on here?”
A Tibetan horseman subconsciously turned his head, his mind a complete blank. But before he could react, thwish! An arrow plunged into his chest. The man stared in disbelief at the shaft of the arrow, and then dropped from his horse.
“Enemy!”
A split-second after this horseman fell, a sharp cry in Tibetan resounded through the air. All the soldiers turned vigilant, but a moment later, they were confronted by a downpour of arrows. Under this dense rain, countless men were shot down from their horses.
Rumble!
A force of cavalry suddenly emerged from the distance, their hooves pounding like thunder.
Most striking of all was the yellow war banner rising from the horizon, the word ‘Tang’ as obvious as could be.
The Tang!
As this thought flashed through the minds of all the Tibetans, their hearts sank like stones.
No one had expected the Tang army to make a long-distance raid and appear in a place like this.
……
Half a day later, a messenger bird flew into Ü-Tsang’s royal capital.
“Reporting! Imperial Minister, the Yarlung Royal Lineage’s training base and garrison in the eastern region of the plateau were both attacked. Both bases were almost completely wiped out. Judging by the traces left behind, it was probably the Tang!”
“What?!”
Dalon Trinling was studying a document when he heard the news, and raised his head in shock.
“Let me see!”
The intelligence report was quickly handed over.
Crack! After looking it over, Dalon Trinling clenched his fists as he crunched the report into a ball.
“Bastard!”
Dalon Trinling had a nasty scowl on his face.
Dalon Trinling knew what was going on without needing to ask any further questions. He had not taken Wang Chong’s earlier warning to heart, but to his surprise, Wang Chong had really carried it out.
“So, this is revenge for the operation in the capital?”
Dalon Trinling raised his head, a cold light in his eyes.
“Reporting!”
A few moments later, there was another flurry of footsteps. A royal capital guard came inside and immediately got down on his knees.
“Imperial Minister, we’ve received a letter from the Great Tang, from the King of Foreign Lands!”
The guard’s report caused the mood in the entire palace to shift.