荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

Neeeigh!

Several dozen warhorses were so alarmed by the burst of sound that they reared up on their hindlegs. All the warhorses of the Tongluo had gone through rigorous training, but there was clearly something special about this booming voice.

“General, look over there!”

A sharp-eyed Tongluo general spotted something and pointed into the distance.

Abusi immediately followed that man’s finger. Several thousand feet away, deep into the darkness, several men were standing atop a palace wall and watching him.

It was apparent that they had been waiting for some time.

Abusi couldn’t make out who those people were at first, but then a flickering torch on the wall revealed a man’s face for the moment, and Abusi instantly grimaced.

Zhangchou Jianqiong!

Abusi was stunned. Although he had never interacted with Zhangchou Jianqiong very much, he was no stranger to the Great Tang’s Minister of War.

Not long after King Song was poisoned, Zhangchou Jianqiong had claimed illness and retreated to his home, spending every day gardening. He had even temporarily handed his position as Minister of War to Wang Chong, becoming as inconspicuous as possible.

Zhangchou Jianqiong had not appeared in court since then. Abusi had never imagined that he would reappear at a time like this and obstruct his army.

“Milord, look there, over there! Zhangchou Jianqiong has come with soldiers!”

“Hmph, he’s definitely come to stop us, but it’s only around two thousand men at most. Can that really stop our ten thousand Tongluo Cavalry? Charge in there! Kill them so that not even a shred of armor is left intact!”

“Anyone who dares to oppose the Tongluo can look forward only to death!”

Not far from Zhangchou Jianqiong, numerous soldiers awaited in disciplined formation.

These men all wore black armor, making them hard to pick out in the darkness. Moreover, the Tongluo had been initially distracted by the three thousand brightly-armored soldiers of the Penal Court at the gate.

However, they could tell that there were only around two thousand soldiers there, nothing but dust in front of the ten thousand Tongluo Cavalry.

“Great General, the King of Foreign Lands knew long ago that you had joined the First Prince, and he also knew that your soldiers would pass through here, so he had me wait for you. Why doesn’t Great General come over to chat?”

Zhangchou Jianqiong’s voice boomed in everyone’s ears.

“Milord, you can ignore him. We can just charge over and kill him!” one of the Tongluo generals sternly said, his eyes surging with killing intent.

He pressed his legs against the flanks of his horse, spurring it into a charge so that he could slay Zhangchou Jianqiong and his two thousand men.

The Minister of War possessed authority over all soldiers in the realm, and he also enjoyed the right to raise more soldiers than normal, but even this was a mere two thousand.

Those soldiers near him were probably those private soldiers of his.

But even though they were private soldiers that were all former elites of the Annan Protectorate, they were still lacking compared to the Tongluo Cavalry. A few charges would leave nothing left.

“Wait!”

To the general’s surprise, Abusi waved his hand, calling him to stop before he could get very far.

“Milord!”

All the soldiers stared in shock at Abusi, and those who had ridden out immediately began to slow down.

Orders were to be strictly obeyed. If Abusi ordered them to stop, all the Tongluo Cavalry would come to a halt!

A gale swept over the palace gate, and following it was a silence so eerie that one could hear a pin drop. Those war cries that had once soared to the heavens had almost instantly vanished.

Abusi sat motionlessly upon his horse as he stared at Zhangchou Jianqiong, his eyes constantly shifting.

From the moment the Tongluo chose to join the First Prince, there had been no going back. No matter who stood in their way tonight, even Zhangchou Jianqiong, Abusi would charge in and kill all who stood in his way. But what had truly caused his firm resolve to waver and pull on the reins of his warhorse was the King of Foreign Lands.

Abusi’s relationship with Wang Chong could never be described as good. Even when the Tongluo Cavalry had been ordered by the Sage Emperor to fight alongside Wang Chong against the Arabs, Abusi’s impression of Wang Chong had not improved.

But deep down, one of the people Abusi feared the most was the young King of Foreign Lands.

The City of Steel, the Wushang Cavalry, the Mo Saber Unit...

This youth had wrought countless miracles. The Tongluo had spent generations of sweat and blood, years upon years of training and research, to finally create the Tongluo Cavalry whose name shook the world.

But in just a few years, Wang Chong had created the Wushang Cavalry, which was not one bit inferior to the Tongluo Cavalry. It had even defeated the renowned Mamelukes of the Arabian Empire on the battlefield.

In front of the King of Foreign Lands, the legends of the Tongluo instantly lost their luster.

But what Abusi feared the most was Wang Chong’s intellect and calculation ability.

When the Arabs had brought their vast army to the walls of Khorasan, Abusi had believed that Wang Chong’s defeat was certain. But to his surprise, this youth had seemingly predicted that extremely cold blizzard, digging out underground rooms in the city where his troops could weather the storm. He had even used the blizzard to launch a devastating attack on the Arabs that resulted in losses of hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

This sort of blizzard was almost unprecedented in the Arabian Empire, an event that was rare even once every one hundred years, but Wang Chong had apparently known about it. This was truly unbelievable.

And besides that, there was the border incident, the Public Order Squad incident... Wang Chong had proved multiple times that he was one who made plans first and then moved out, who always had confidence in any venture he set out on. For each step he took, he had already calculated three steps, even ten steps ahead.

In this rebellion, the First Prince had taken control over the one hundred thousand soldiers of the Imperial Army, and also the three garrisons of Beiting, Big Dipper, and Anxi. He had also taken control of the city gates, but he still feared Wang Chong.

Even though the news of the Tongluo Cavalry’s betrayal had been leaked, Wang Chong should have known nothing about the exact time and route. But Zhangchou Jianqiong had apparently known and been waiting. This made Abusi extremely uneasy.

There was nothing wrong with being careful, and Abusi simply didn’t care to act carelessly with Wang Chong.

“Wait here while I meet with him. No one is to move around without my order!”

Abusi narrowed his eyes as he sternly spoke. He gestured, calling over some of his more powerful generals, and then slowly trotted forward.

Zhangchou Jianqiong, surrounded by ten-some old subordinates from the Annan Protectorate, had been watching Abusi and the Tongluo this entire time. Upon seeing Abusi ride over, one of the subordinates whispered, “Milord, the King of Foreign Lands was right. He really did stop!”

Zhangchou Jianqiong subtly nodded in reply.

The Tongluo were simply too powerful. No single army in the capital was their match.

If they charged over without a word, not even Zhangchou Jianqiong could stop them, and any scheme or plan he had concocted would have been useless.

“You, come with me. The rest of you should stay here.”

Zhangchou Jianqiong rode forth on his longtime steed, ‘Cloud Swallower’, descending from the palace wall with several of his subordinates.

The two groups stopped around a hundred feet apart and silently stared at each other.

Even though the Tongluo had stopped their advance for now, the atmosphere was only more nervous. Everyone knew that the moment this talk was over, the battle would begin.

“Lord Zhangchou, what does the King of Foreign Lands have to say?!”

Abusi broke the silence as he warily stared at Zhangchou Jianqiong.

Zhangchou Jianqiong smiled and said, “Heheh, Great General, the King of Foreign Lands long ago predicted that you would move out at this time. The message he had me convey to you is this: this battle has nothing to do with the Tongluo. Great General still has time to pull on the reins to stop yourself from going over the cliff.”

The Tongluo generals frowned at these words.

“The King of Foreign Lands sent you only to say this?

“If that’s all, then please forgive this Abusi for finding it difficult to comply!” Abusi declared.

There was no taking back a loosed arrow. At this stage, how could he just fall back because of some words from Wang Chong or Zhangchou Jianqiong? He would become the laughingstock of the world.

“Haha, the King of Foreign Lands also predicted these words ,” Zhangchou Jianqiong said. “The King of Foreign Lands also wanted me to ask you this: Great General has only thought about joining the First Prince, but did Great General not think about what would happen to the Tongluo... if the First Prince failed?”

Buzz!

Abusi and the Tongluo generals instantly paled.

The First Prince currently held the overwhelming advantage. The entire Imperial City was under his control and he had the assistance of Army-Shattering War God Hou Junji. Meanwhile, the Sage Emperor was confused and withdrawn. This was why Abusi had chosen to join the First Prince.

But if the First Prince failed...

Abusi didn’t dare to imagine the consequences.

“What does the King of Foreign Lands mean!?” Abusi coldly said as his pupils constricted.

Abusi wouldn’t care if anyone else had said these words, but if Wang Chong had said them, he had to be concerned.

“Heheh, Great General, until the dust has settled, one must never make reckless decisions. At the Battle of Talas, didn’t everyone think that the Great Tang’s defeat was certain?” Zhangchou Jianqiong said.

Abusi and the Tongluo generals at his side turned grim.