Chapter 633: Coda!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
In his decades presiding over the southwest, Dalun Ruozan had never lost to Zhangchou Jianqiong, nor had he ever lost to Mengshe Zhao and Geluofeng. But in the end, he had lost to a teenager from the Great Tang.
The achievements he had built up over the decades had only ended up fueling that youth’s rise.
To Dalun Ruozan, this loss was completely unacceptable.
“No, there’s still a chance. There must be a chance…”
Dalun Ruozan desperately clenched his fists.
Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang had still not lost. Although Geluofeng had already fallen, they still had the soldiers. Their combined numbers far exceeded the Great Tang’s.
As long as he could gather together the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army… No, the Mengshe Zhao army was impossible to gather. Without Geluofeng, the army from top to bottom had lost the will to fight.
But Ü-Tsang still had a chance!
As long as the Tibetan cavalry could gather together and restabilize, at the same time luring the Annan Protectorate army from the summit, the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army still had a chance. There was still a hope of defeating the Annan Protectorate army.
Cavalry below ten thousand was insufficient, but invincible above ten thousand.
The Tibetans definitely had more than ten thousand cavalry! Gathered together, as long as they weren’t fighting on the mountain, they still had a battle in them.
“All soldiers of Ü-Tsang, heed the signal and gather.
“Blow the horns!”
Dalun Ruozan fiercely rode his horse forward as he attempted to constrain the crumbling army. As people of the plateau, the Tibetans were a fierce and pugnacious people, and much more disciplined than the people of Mengshe Zhao.
In a few short moments, Dalun Ruozan had gathered a large number of fleeing Tibetan cavalry at his side.
But just when Dalun Ruozan wanted to lead his troops in a counterattack, his dreams were utterly shattered.
“Kill!”
A roar came from the rear and the earth trembled. Dalun Ruozan turned his head and saw a sight that he would never forget, one that made his blood run cold.
Far in the distance, a vast and dense army was rushing toward this place. And he could clearly make out the dragon banner of the Great Tang flying within this army.
Great Tang reinforcements!
As this thought flashed through his head, Dalun Ruozan felt his blood almost freeze. After all this time, the Great Tang reinforcements had finally arrived.
“It’s over!”
All his hopes instantly turned to dust. On the summit, the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army was falling apart, the Annan Protectorate army in pursuit. At the base of the mountain, he could see reinforcements approaching from the distance.
With enemies approaching from both the inside and the outside, although he felt an extreme reluctance, Dalun Ruozan still knew that the matter was settled. Even if he wanted to rally the troops and continue the battle, it was too late.
“Withdraw! Withdraw!”
Dalun Ruozan mentally sighed as he finally gave the order to withdraw.
In this battle, he had truly lost!
Ü-Tsang had also lost!
For the first time, he had been dealt a crushing defeat in the Great Tang’s southwest, experiencing the greatest loss he had ever known.
Rumble! As the army collapsed, Dalun Ruozan’s order removed the last sliver of hope for Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang. In the war of the southwest, the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang side no longer had any chance to reverse the situation.
Gallop!
All the Tibetan cavalry followed Dalun Ruozan, taking advantage of the chaos to ride off into the distance. The Annan Protectorate army and Li Siye’s nearly one thousand Wootz Steel cavalry followed closely behind.
The Tibetans did not dare to turn their heads or dare to try and defeat the Great Tang reinforcements approaching from the distance.
After many days of eating Mengshe Zhao rice, these warriors of the plateau had become extremely weak. No longer were they those fierce and brave warriors!
“Obey Great Minister’s orders! Retreat!”
The army continued to collapse, and countless Tibetan soldiers fled in panic, wails and screams rising behind them. With the battle settled, everyone had lost their initial bravery.
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……
A string of messages rang out in Wang Chong’s mind. At this stage of the battle, Wang Chong no longer need to issue any commands. None of the enemies on the battlefield, including the Tibetans, had any will to fight.
All the Tang had to do was pursue.
Countless Mengshe–Ü-Tsang soldiers were falling. Wang Chong’s tactic of using his cavalry to divide the army had been incredibly effective. Although the enemy was trying to flee, at least half of the army had not been able to effectively flee because of the chaos in front of them.
In the end, they were only stalks of wheat to be reaped!
The entire battlefield was covered in corpses, rivers of blood fertilizing the earth. One could see the bodies of Skyquaking Giants, Erhai elephants, warhorses, soldiers, and all sorts of shattered weapons and armor.
But at this moment, Wang Chong reined in his horse at the middle of the mountain, his attention on the distant reinforcements.
“Elder Ye, Elder Zhao, Elder Hu, Su Hanshan, Huang Qian-er…”
Wang Chong was stunned.
Although the army was incredibly majestic in its vastness, Wang Chong could tell at a glance that it was no proper army. Other than the dragon banners representing the Great Tang, Wang Chong could also see banners representing various clans. He even spotted the banner of Kunwu Training Camp’s Deflecting Blade Manor.
Su Hanshan, Huang Qian-er, Sun Zhiming, Chen Burang, Xu Gan, Fang Xuanling, Zhao Yatong, Bai Siling, Youngster Wei… all of these familiar faces could be spotted at the head of the army. Wang Chong even spotted an additional familiar face…
“Little Sister?!!!”
Wang Chong’s eyes widened in disbelief as he saw that small and thin figure wielding two large metal hammers in the air. Those hammers were even larger than her own petite body.
“What’s going on here? How did she end up here?!”
Wang Chong found it impossible to believe that his little sister would appear here. Wasn’t she on the spirit vein mountain, restrained and checked by his master the Demonic Emperor Old Man?
How had she managed to get herself to a dangerous battlefield like this?!
“She’s gone way too overboard!”
Wang Chong’s eyes began to twitch as he cursed. Although his little sister was born with a divine and peerless strength, she was still very young, and a place like the battlefield was no joke.
“Li Siye, bring a few men and follow me!”
Wang Chong pressed on the flanks of his horse and rode the White-hoofed Shadow into the distance.
The war of the southwest was now settled, with no one capable of altering the course of this battle. Not even Dalun Ruozan had the strength to go against the heavens. As for striking while the iron was hot and chasing down the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army, the lack of his individual fighting power was of little significance.
“Hear my order! Protect Young Master!”
A bellow rose over the mountain. Li Siye had long ago rejoined his troops with Wang Chong’s force. Upon hearing this order, he turned his horse around and brought a group of Wootz Steel cavalry to follow Wang Chong.
……
Putting aside Wang Chong’s side for the moment, on the other end, the personal soldiers of countless clans of the capital were being led by Elder Ye, Elder Zhao and the others toward the battlefield.
“I really can’t believe that Young Master Chong managed to defeat Dalun Ruozan and Geluofeng!”
“We’ve won the southwest—we actually won!”
“Charge! Don’t let this chance go by! Work with Young Master’s forces and chase down the Tibetans and Mengshe Zhao. No matter what, we can’t give them another opportunity to invade the Great Tang!”
“Kill! Let’s help Young Master Chong!”
……
In the distance, the reinforcements were all energized upon seeing that the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army had been routed. The Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army was not weak, particularly the Ü-Tsang army. A single charge from its tens of thousands of cavalry was enough to smash them into dust.
In the past, they would have first discussed and pondered how to move in this battle, what moment they should choose to appear, and how they could help Wang Chong and the Annan Protectorate army.
But none of them had expected to see the sight that they were greeted with upon their arrival.
Wang Chong and his Annan Protectorate army, a force of only tens of thousands, had actually managed to deal a devastating defeat to a force several times their number and were now in frenzied pursuit.
By the time they had arrived, the war of the southwest had already concluded.
Against the powerful pressure of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army as well as figures like Dalun Ruozan, Huoshu Huicang, Duan Gequan, and Geluofeng, the Great Tang had actually managed to pull off a victory.
If they hadn’t personally seen this sight, they wouldn’t have dared to believe it.
“Young Master Chong truly is a descendant of Duke Jiu! Everyone, hurry up and assist Young Master Chong!”
Elder Ye was so excited that his beard was trembling.
It had been no secret that Wang Chong and the Annan Protectorate army were besieged by the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army. Elder Ye had never imagined that when he arrived, the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army would be crumbling.
All their previous discussions had become meaningless.
At this time, all they needed to do was assist in the pursuit!
Rumble!
The army pursued the defeated. The already defeated Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army now instantly fell apart.
……
“Elder Ye, Elder Zhao, why did you come?!”
At the edge of the battlefield, the bright-eyed Wang Chong led Li Siye and several hundred Wootz Steel cavalry to meet up with Elder Ye and Elder Zhao.
The elders were his grandfather’s old subordinates. Wang Chong had never imagined that he would see them here.
“Haha, it was Duke Jiu’s order. The war of the southwest concerns the lives of the nearly one million civilians of the southwest. How could Duke Jiu pay the matter no mind?”
“Young Master Chong has grown up. If Duke Jiu were to know of what happened here, he would definitely be relieved.”
……
In the middle of the army, Elders Ye and Zhao looked at Wang Chong, getting more and more elated as time went on, cherishing his existence more and more. Besides Duke Jiu, it had been a long time since the Wang lineage had produced this kind of talent.
Duke Jiu’s eldest son Wang Gen had not reached this level, and his second son Wang Yan was also not up to par. Even his grandsons Wang Li, Wang Fu and Wang Bei were all lacking. But now, in completely unexpected circumstances, the originally naughty and incompetent Wang Chong who no one had expected anything of had fulfilled everyone’s dreams and expectations.
To be more accurate, his performance had far exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Even Duke Jiu at this age had not put on such an astonishing display.
“Oh yes. Elder Ye, Elder Zhao, what about my little sister?” Wang Chong suddenly asked. His little sister was too young, this gruesome battlefield unsuitable for her. She had to be taken away.
In addition, if something happened to her, Wang Chong had no idea how he would explain things to his mother back at the capital.
“Isn’t Young Lady Yao-er right here…”
Elder Ye was prepared to say that Wang Xiaoyao was right here when he turned his head and instantly froze. Just where exactly was she?
Wang Chong’s face instantly sank.
Seeing the complexion on the faces of the two elders, Wang Chong immediately knew that his little sister had spotted him and was attempting to hide from him. The plains were different from the mountains, and vision was greatly restricted.
Not even Wang Chong could easily find a single person in the middle of a large army.
Especially when his little sister was intentionally attempting to hide from him!
“She’s truly gone overboard!”
Wang Chong was fuming with anger.