荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

“Ah?!”

Even someone as experienced and knowledgeable as Bahram was momentarily taken aback by Wang Chong’s words, unclear as to why he was so confident.

Wang Chong grinned, and shot an imperceptible glance at the sky. His face was enigmatic.

“In addition, if Great General is still worried, I can reveal a certain matter to Great General. I have already had a large number of ballista and heavy ballista bolts sent over, and the Great Tang’s capital is also beginning to send reinforcements. The first group should already be en route and should arrive at Khorasan in just a few months. There should be no harm if General divulges this matter to the leaders of the rebel armies. This can at least help them dispel their worries and believe in the Great Tang’s resolve!” Wang Chong sternly said.

Bahram was taken aback by Wang Chong’s words, and then he sighed in relief.

“General’s words are enough! I will personally allay their worries.”

Bahram quickly left.

Winds howled over the high walls of Khorasan, like the wailing of ghosts. The weather was clearly much colder than it had been in the past. No one except Wang Chong knew that a crisis without precedent in history was silently approaching, and it would be far more savage and ferocious than anyone could imagine.

“Heh.”

With a soft chuckle, Wang Chong departed the walls.

......

Upon learning that the Great Tang was sending more soldiers, the rebel soldiers in Khorasan quickly ceased to worry. Half a day later, a brief and fierce conflict broke out in Shandar, the city across the Tigris River closest to Khorasan. Cheng Qianli’s army occupied Shandar, vanquished its Arab garrison, and destroyed several dozen buildings before withdrawing to Khorasan.

This was an expression of might to Arabia, an expression of the Great Tang’s will. If Arabia did not accede to the Great Tang’s request, this probing attack would become a complete sacking.

Several days later, when the news reached Baghdad, just as expected, it unleashed a storm of fury in all levels of Arab society.

“Bastard!”

Within his palace, the Caliph was so furious that he even accidentally throttled his favorite hunting falcon to death. But even so, Wang Chong’s plan had proved effective. Arabian gold was shipped out from Baghdad overnight, carried to Khorasan on the backs of more than one thousand horses. A letter of much softer tone was swiftly dispatched to Khorasan.

But at the same time, the speed at which the Arab army mobilized also increased. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were marching from the various war zones of Arabia, converging like thousands of streams on Khorasan. Nearly half of the Arab governors, driven on by the wrathful Caliph, were surging to Khorasan. This was an unprecedented mobilization. The Great Tang’s actions had fully provoked the supreme ruler of Arabia.

......

The Arabian gold arrived much faster than expected. The sight of thousands of horses with small mountains of gold crossing the Tigris River and entering Khorasan had an immense mental impact on the army, causing the soldiers to buzz with chatter.

On the same day, Cheng Qianli composed a memorial in the names of Wang Chong and Gao Xianzhi, reporting this matter to the Imperial Court.

Seven or eight days later, the news arrived at the capital of the Great Tang. As expected, it set off great waves.

“This, how?! The Qixi Protector-General and Anxi Protector-General managed to get one billion taels of gold from Arabia?!”

Upon hearing the news, even Wang Chong’s most ardent opponent, the Grand Preceptor, could not sit still in his chair. War was a burden on the people, and each one would result in terrible losses and consume the country’s resources. But he had never imagined that at the final moment of this war, Wang Chong and the others would send back one billion taels of gold to the Imperial Court.

Even someone as composed and steady as the Grand Preceptor, who rarely showed a happy expression, couldn’t help but drop his jaw in astonishment.

“One billion taels! And in gold! How could this be! Not even ten years of my Great Tang’s tax revenue could reach this sum!”

All levels of the Bureau of Revenue were in a similar state of shock; from the Minister to the lowest secretary, all of them were dumbfounded when they heard the news. Every war had the Bureau of Revenue scratching its head and racking its brains for ways to scrape up enough money. For this reason, of the Six Bureaus, the Bureau of Revenue opposed the military the most.

But one billion taels of gold...

Heavens!

This was an astronomical number. With this sum, the Bureau of Revenue wouldn’t have to complain about wars for a very long time.

“This puny country was actually this wealthy?!”

When King Qi heard about the news from Khorasan, he was completely dumbfounded. In his mind, Arabia was still an insignificant country that wasn’t even worth mentioning. The news that Wang Chong had extracted one billion taels of gold from this country left him in a daze.

As a member of the imperial household, King Qi had never lacked for money, and he would often expend great sums of gold and silver to recruit powerful officials of the court. But no matter how self-assured he was in his wealth, not even he could produce one billion taels of gold.

Even King Qi appeared dim and tiny before such a massive pile of gold.

Even the strictest imperial censor of the Imperial Court suddenly found themselves mute. Meanwhile, back in Khorasan...

“Unlocking ‘Power’ will cost user 10000 points of Destiny Energy. Is user sure?”

Within Khorasan, the Stone of Destiny’s voice resounded in Wang Chong’s mind.

Wang Chong was currently seated cross-legged on the floor, alone in his room. In front of him were five dazzling golden balls of light, showing the characters for ‘Mind’, ‘Body’, ‘Energy’, ‘Techniques’, and ‘Power’. Wang Chong’s eyes were fixed on the last ball of light, representing ‘Power’.

Power represented fortune, terrain, as well as... heavenly phenomena!

Wang Chong had long ago learned from the Stone of Destiny that this final category of rewards involved fortune, terrain, phenomena, and many other complicated things. Time, weather, terrain, and the minds of the people were all things covered by ‘Power’. ‘Taking advantage of the trend’ was the guiding principle of the abilities in this last category.

Whether I can take advantage of the trends or not depends on whether these rewards from the Stone of Destiny are what I think they are,Wang Chong quietly said to himself.

“Confirm!”

With a thought, Wang Chong chose to spend the Destiny Energy to unlock ‘Power’.

Rumble!

The moment Wang Chong confirmed his selection, the room suddenly shook as if the entire world was quaking. In a massive boom and a furious howl of wind, Wang Chong felt like the entire world had vanished. He could see a trembling dark shadow that rapidly began to expand. In the blink of an eye, the continent had appeared under his feet.

Bang!

A vast energy exploded in Wang Chong’s mind. At that moment, Wang Chong felt like time and space had both vanished, and even his own body had vanished, leaving purely his senses.

Down below, the miniature continent ballooned to one hundred times its original size, and then a thousand, ten thousand times. On the contours of the continent, many other objects began to take form. Whoosh! A river swept across the continent, and Wang Chong could even feel the splash of its waters. And even more objects began to appear next to this river.

This is... Khorasan!

Wang Chong recognized at a glance that tiny city emerging on the western end of the continent, next to the river.

Wang Chong was already very familiar with Khorasan, and he soon saw more things that he was familiar with: fluttering banners, many tents, and domed buildings the size of ants. If this was Khorasan, then the river next to it was undoubtedly the Tigris River.

Farther west, Wang Chong could see even more of the continent, the first time Wang Chong had ever seen the entire Arabian Empire in this way. This was an extremely new and interesting sensation for Wang Chong.

I wonder how the Arab soldiers are doing?

With this thought, Wang Chong moved his eyes westward to Baghdad and the other war zones of Arabia. A moment later, as if in response to Wang Chong’s thoughts, he could hear the cries of soldiers and clattering of weapons and armor. On this projection of the continent, Wang Chong could clearly make out tens of thousands of warhorses marching from various parts of Arabia, converging on Khorasan like thousands of rivers.

Countless soldiers were marching day and night across the continent, making the two hundred thousand soldiers in Khorasan appear insignificant.

Seven hundred thousand, no! At least eight hundred thousand soldiers!

Even though Wang Chong had already mentally prepared himself, knowing that his threats were certain to enrage the Caliph, this number still left him stunned. Taking into account the losses related to the Battle of Talas and the Arab militia that had been killed, Wang Chong and Gao Xianzhi had killed nearly eight hundred thousand Arab soldiers.

This number in any other empire would be almost impossible to bear, perhaps even more soldiers than could possibly be mustered. And yet after such a severe wound, Arabia was still able to gather a vast force of seven to eight hundred thousand soldiers in a short time. This sort of mobilization capability and military reserve was enough to make any other faction tremble in fear.

Even if a significant portion were just militia, it was still an astonishing number. From this, one could see why Arabia was known as a country of war.

This time, the wrathful Caliph had mobilized almost his entire military. The two hundred thousand rebels at Khorasan would find it very difficult to stop them.

But to Wang Chong, there was no need to stop them. He had never once imagined relying on the two hundred thousand rebel soldiers to stand against all of Arabia.

History has already undergone a massive change, but I hope that matter hasn’t been affected.

A thought occurred to Wang Chong, and he quickly looked up at the sky. A few moments later, his eyes flashed and he faintly smiled.

The world had experienced a significant change. The Great Tang had not only not been defeated in Talas, but its army had marched all the way to Khorasan and now threatened Baghdad. However, that matter he remembered had not been affected in the slightest.

The more you send, the more will die. This time, you will pay the heaviest price!

Wang Chong’s mind quickly interacted with one of the Stone of Destiny’s ‘Power’ rewards.

“User confirms spending 10000 points of Destiny Energy in exchange?”

“Confirm!”