Chapter 597
Chapter 597: The Decisive Battle! The Great Minister’s Night Probe!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Suddenly, Chen Guanshun took in a deep breath, walked out from the ranks, and bowed in front of Wang Chong. “Young Master, please accept this bow from your subordinate. Your subordinate was rude earlier!” And before he could finish speaking, all the generals behind him, the highest-ranking generals of the Annan Protectorate army, bowed as well.
When they raised their heads and looked at Wang Chong once more, their eyes were brimming with shock, admiration, and deep respect.
The generals of the southwest had all heard rumors of the White Elephant Corps. This was an army highly prized by Geluofeng, and one with a frightening fighting power.
All of them had witnessed this power in the battle just now.
But none of them could have expected that while the rest of them only knew bits and pieces about those massive elephants that lived in the lands south of the Erhai, Wang Chong had already found a method to easily defeat them.
Such abilities were practically divine and had already surpassed their collective imaginations.
“Young Master, can you tell us how you knew that the elephants would be afraid of large sounds?”
Lin Wushou stepped forward, his face filled with admiration.
In the battle of Erhai, if they had known of this method to deal with the White Elephant Corps, things would have been completely different. At the very least, they would not have lost so many soldiers to the charges and crushing of the elephants.
Although Wang Chong lived in the capital and rarely left its borders, his knowledge was so deep and experiences so vast that they made one gasp in astonishment.
“Haha, this actually isn’t that hard to guess. These elephants have large bodies, but their eyes are absurdly small, only a bit bigger than the eyes of normal humans. It’s obvious that the eyes are their weak point. Since their eyes are like that, then maybe the rest of their sensory organs are like that as well, which is when I thought about their ears.”
Wang Chong held his hands behind him and spoke with a faint smile on his lips. No matter what, he could never reveal his memories of the other world in this one.
“Young Master’s talent is truly formidable, standing above the rest!”
The Annan Protectorate army generals were all stunned beyond belief.
Although Wang Chong had explained the matter with just a few sentences, this was completely in line with Wang Chong’s usual performance. As for Wang Chong’s age, they had utterly forgotten about this problem.
……
Biaaaah!
Although the attack had stopped, the problems in the White Elephant Corps were still far from over. The berserk elephants were continuing to crash through the army, with the casualties inflicted on the White Elephant Corps almost totally due to their rampage.
At least two thousand soldiers had died to the berserk elephants.
But even so, the soldiers of the White Elephant Corps still had to do their utmost to calm the berserk elephants.
A White Elephant Corps without elephants didn’t deserve the name.
“Your Majesty, what should we do now? Do you want to dispatch other soldiers?”
“Your Majesty, let this general go!”
“This general is willing to lead his troops and exterminate the Tang!”
……
In the central army of Mengshe Zhao, several generals were in a state of abnormal agitation, anxious to do battle.
“Let us end things here for today!”
Geluofeng gave a deep sigh, a rare hint of fatigue appearing in this ambitious character’s eyes. The defeat of the Whitestone Corps and then the defeat of the White Elephant Corps that he had placed so much of his hopes on, the deaths of seventy to eighty thousand soldiers, had left a very deep shadow on his kingly heart.
“Generals, there is no need to speak of battle for now. Let me meet with the Ü-Tsang Great Minister. Once there is a plan, I will make a decision.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The generals bowed in response.
In Erhai, Geluofeng’s status was similar to that of the Great Tang’s Sage Emperor, and his words truly were law. Any order would be implemented to the last letter.
“By the way, how are General Duan’s injuries?” Geluofeng said.
“General Duan’s condition has been stabilized,” a Mengshe Zhao general reported, knowing that Geluofeng was speaking of Duan Wuzong.
“I’ll go and see how he’s doing.”
With a sweep of his divine robe, Geluofeng took his leave from the central army.
The moment he left, the long blare of a horn came from the southeast. The vast Tibetan army retreated like the receding tide, drawing back from the Tang-occupied mountain.
Mengshe Zhao, with a sense of tacit understanding, also began to retreat.
In just a few moments, an empty zone of land had been created around the mountain.
Amidst the blustery winds at the summit, Old Eagle looked down and reported, “Young Master, they’ve retreated!”
“Mm, as they should.”
Wang Chong sneered as he glanced up at the gradually darkening sky. The initial assault, the rain of fireballs, the White Elephant Corps… the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army had launched three to four waves of attacks in a single day, but he had defeated every one of them.
“Since they know that now is the time to retreat, then perhaps it’s not too late for them!”
Dalun Ruozan, Huoshu Huicang, and Geluofeng were influential figures of the southwest, on the same level as Zhangchou Jianqiong. All of them were people who needed to be regarded with vigilance.
If anyone else had said what Wang Chong had said, they would have been looked upon with contempt. But in Wang Chong’s mouth, no one believed these words to be improper.
His actions had amply proved that he had the strength and qualifications to say such words.
Not even the Annan Protectorate army generals had realized that Wang Chong’s place in their heart had gradually risen above Wang Yan and Xianyu Zhongtong, generals who they had spent the last month fighting to the death for.
“Pass down my order. The soldiers should begin to fire the stoves and begin to make their meals.”
“But Young Master, what if they use this chance to attack?” Old Eagle said.
“Hmph, if they dare!”
Snorting, Wang Chong left with a flick of his sleeve. This sort of tactic was meant to invite them to attack, and Wang Chong looked forward to welcoming it.
……
“This is naked contempt! This child is jeering at us!”
As he saw the smoke of campfires rise from the mountain, Huoshu Huicang suddenly spoke, his eyes turning to Dalun Ruozan with an obvious meaning. While he said that Wang Chong was jeering at the Tibetans, he was actually saying that Wang Chong was challenging Dalun Ruozan.
“What can I do? This is beyond my abilities!” Dalun Ruozan said with a bitter smile.
“Hmph! You will concede?” Huoshu Huicang said, not believing any one of his words. Huoshu Huicang was extremely familiar with the Ngari Great Minister. Anyone who thought that he was actually conceding would be committing a fatal error.
Those people who thought that Dalun Ruozan would so easily concede had already had their bones ground into dust, transformed into a pile of dirt.
At the very least, if Zhangchou Jianqiong were present and saw the expression on Dalun Ruozan’s face, he would have only increased his vigilance.
“However, this brat truly can’t be underestimated! Even Zhangchou Jianqiong wouldn’t have been able to push me to this state.”
With these final words, Dalun Ruozan deeply furrowed his brow.
Huoshu Huicang also fell quiet. The deep understanding he had developed with Dalun Ruozan after working with him for so many years let him know that these words of Dalun Ruozan’s had come from the heart.
With this sort of evaluation from Dalun Ruozan, Wang Chong was allowed to be proud of himself.
……
Dusk began to set in as light continued to gradually seep out of the world.
The entire battlefield had fallen into silence, the campfires blazing in the darkness like little stars. At this time, the Tang, the Mengshe Zhao, and the Tibetans were all minding their own business, descending into a rare calm.
Buzz!
Deep within the darkness, in a place that no one was paying attention to, several figures silently appeared on the northwest face of the mountain.
“This is the place!”
This person had two sabers sheathed on their back and stood next to Dalun Ruozan. It was the valiant Tibetan general who cultivated the Metal element, Tumi Sangzha. With him were Longqinba and Ciren Xiangxiong as well.
All of them had very grave expressions.
The Great Minister never did anything meaningless, much less at a time like this.
“Just what is this brat up to?”
Ciren Xiangxiong slowly raised his gaze from the base of the mountain to the summit. This was a long ‘path’, around ten-some zhang wide. It did not lead to any other place on the mountain, and there were no steel walls here, only an uncountable number of caltrops of all shapes and sizes.
The largest of these caltrops was five feet tall while the smallest was no bigger than a thumb, but all of them were brimming with thorns. These hundreds of thousands of caltrops, perhaps even reaching one million, had been poured down from the summit, forming a long and straight river of black thorns.
On this mountain covered in walls, this river of thorns was extremely striking.
In the rear, a Tibetan tribal general asked in confusion, “Was it because he was lacking in materials to make more metal walls?”
“Impossible! Look at how many metal thorns there are. Do you think that this much material isn’t enough to wall off this path?” Longqinba coldly replied.
Of the Five Tiger Generals, he was essentially the only one left. The rest of the generals were tribal generals like Ciren Xiangxiong and Tumi Sangzha. However, not even Tumi Sangzha dared to lightly provoke Longqinba.
As the leader of the Five Tiger Generals, Longqinba was an extremely vicious existence.
“This being the case, there must be something about this place. That brat must have some sort of plan,” Ciren Xiangxiong suddenly said.
It would be strange if there wasn’t anything strange going on in this conspicuous river of thorns.
“Tumi Sangzha, can you use your halo to transform these thorns into metal men and clear them up?” Dalun Ruozan suddenly said, a profound look in his eyes.
“It’s possible, but it won’t be very easy.”
A troubled look appeared in Tumi Sangzha’s eyes.
“Whether big or small, almost all of these metal thorns have been affixed with toughening inscriptions. Given all the metal thorns, the number of metal men I can make with my ability is extremely limited and would consume a massive amount of Stellar Energy. And if we use the metal men to clear these up, the metal men won’t be harmed by the thorns, but their activity would make a noise that would alarm the Tang on the mountain.
“In addition, there are too many of these metal thorns. What I can do here is extremely limited,” Tumi Sangzha sincerely said, a vague sense of weakness on his face.