Chapter 1715: The Imperial Army’s Grand Ceremony!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
In the Battle of Talas, w.a.n.g Chong had led various armies in pus.h.i.+ng all the way to Khorasan. Although the Confucian Sect ended up making a mess of everything, w.a.n.g Chong still had some harvests from the battle, with the city of Talas being one of the important fruits.
Yang Hongchang and his Yang Clan had rendered great service in this battle. Without the information they had supplied and their cooperation within Talas beforehand, w.a.n.g Chong would have had a much harder task for himself in that battle.
Gao Xianzhi would also not have been able to so easily occupy Talas at the outset of the battle, and it was this important fortress that had allowed him to last until w.a.n.g Chong’s army arrived.
Thus, after the battle, while the Imperial Court was still not paying much attention to what was happening to the west of the Cong Mountains, w.a.n.g Chong recommended that Yang Hongchang be made the Lord of Talas, taking control of this vital artery between the east and west.
This was the greatest reward for the Yang Clan’s loyalty to the Great Tang, and it was the last hidden weapon w.a.n.g Chong had planted before leaving Anxi.
With a single letter, w.a.n.g Chong could cut off the fortune of the Guanxi Weis.
“Kill the chicken to awe the monkeys—this is the only way to subdue the other great clans. No matter what, we can’t let this situation continue to ferment!” w.a.n.g Chong said.
“Mm!”
Li Lin nodded. The Guanxi Weis had become too ambitious, and they had brought this on themselves.
The carriage quickly reached the western drilling ground, which was already packed with people.
“Sea Dragon Army, you can do it!”
“The Feather Forest Army will win for sure!”
“Hahaha, thank goodness I pleaded so hard to have Father take me! This compet.i.tion is going to be great!”
“Place your bets! Place your bets! Ten-to-one odds! Who will win the compet.i.tion!?”
w.a.n.g Chong heard an almost deafening clamor from the crowd.
w.a.n.g Chong emerged from the carriage and looked around. He saw many young sons and daughters of the great clans standing at the distant edge of the drilling ground, shouting for all they were worth in support of the army they favored. They clearly knew nothing about the true nature of this compet.i.tion.
Nearby, the patriarchs and n.o.bles had grim expressions. Around the drilling ground, the orderly ranks of the Feather Forest, Imperial Forest, Soaring Dragon, Sea Dragon, and Black Turtle Armies were almost oppressively quiet.
The news that two Grand Marshals had been attacked had clearly already spread through the ranks, and even the slowest of the Imperial Army soldiers could smell the danger in the air. At this time, no one dared to speak a word.
w.a.n.g Chong walked out from the carriage, and for a moment, a spell seemed to be cast on the drilling ground, and it instantly fell quiet. Everyone looked to that corner of the drilling ground in which w.a.n.g Chong stood, respect in their eyes. Every one of them knew that while today’s contest was extremely important, that young figure standing there was the true center of the empire.
“Look! It’s the King of Foreign Lands!”
A young scion of a great clan standing in the southeast corner of the drilling ground couldn’t help but cry out in agitation. But he only got halfway through before a harsh voice shouted him to silence.
“Vile sp.a.w.n, shut up now!”
The clan patriarch’s face was in a pale scowl.
This beast! If they hadn’t been forced to come because they had been invited by the First Prince, and if this beast hadn’t been his eldest son, he would have beaten him to death right here. While today’s compet.i.tion seemed like a lively affair and blindly cheering was fine, recklessly discussing the King of Foreign Lands or the First Prince, even mentioning their names, might send the wrong signals and bring down the death penalty on their clan!
“Starting from now, if you say another word, I’ll break your leg, toss you to the ancestral home in the Jiangnan Circuit, and strip you of your place as successor!” the patriarch loathsomely spat.
The young scion instantly trembled in fear, his face turning a ghastly shade of white.
The distant w.a.n.g Chong paid no attention to this scene. His eyes swept over the western drilling ground. The various divisions of the Imperial Army were clearly distinct and stood on the edges of the ground, their officers br.i.m.m.i.n.g with vigor as they waited to enter.
w.a.n.g Chong looked around and suddenly asked, “Where’s Zhao Fengchen? Why don’t I see him?”
“There’s still some time until the actual fight, so he should be in the barracks,” Li Lin replied as he looked around.
“He’s probably making preparations before battle!”
Li Lin was also a member of the Imperial Army, so he had more understanding of its inner workings.
w.a.n.g Chong slightly frowned, thoughts flas.h.i.+ng in the depths of his eyes. But a moment later, there was a deafening boom from the distance.
Boom!
In the southeast corner of the drilling ground, the crowd seethed and parted, and a force of around five hundred black-armored Imperial Army soldiers emerged. Unlike the other soldiers of the Imperial Army, these soldiers had a hard and tempered aura seething with baneful energy. These men had been on the battlefield and seen blood.
“Heh, speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives! Lord Zhao is here!”
Li Lin looked at the imposing figure leading this force and chuckled.
Very few soldiers of the Imperial Army actually saw the battlefield. The only one who could lead the renowned Xuanwu Army was naturally their commander, Zhao Fengchen.
Zhao Fengchen, riding upon a pitch-black stallion, also noticed the distant w.a.n.g Chong.
Their eyes met, and they imperceptibly nodded. They then looked away, not exchanging a single word.
They had already reached a tacit understanding, and there was no need to talk too much.
Everything that could be done had been done. All that was left was to fight.
Buzz!
At this moment, cheers could be heard from other parts of the crowd. Turning to look, w.a.n.g Chong saw stalwart horses emerging from the other divisions of the Imperial Army and entering the drilling ground.
Unlike the soldiers of Zhao Fengchen’s Xuanwu Army, these men were lacking in something, though their bodies still exuded a tempered and valiant aura, clearly a cut above the average Imperial Army soldier.
“Look over there! It’s the Soaring Dragon Army Marshal, Zheng Wuyu!”
“And also Marshal Sun Jiushan!”
“Isn’t that Huang Xiaotian?!”
The crowd was in an excited uproar. This was a martial compet.i.tion of the Imperial Army, and one in which the posts of the three Grand Marshals were on the line. Such a grand ceremony only came around once every few decades, even for the scions of the great clans and n.o.ble houses, and this was why so many people had appeared today.
Today’s events would be something they could talk and brag about for the next few decades!
On the edge of the drilling ground, the Imperial Army Marshals slowly came forward, their eyes sharp and bright.
“The majority of the Imperial Army doesn’t have any battlefield experience, but they’re all elite soldiers of the army and still extremely strong. It’s just a pity that after today, many people will find it hard to continue in this post!”
Li Lin stood next to w.a.n.g Chong and sighed.
If the First Prince successfully took control of the Imperial Army, there would certainly be a purge, and all of the important officers would be replaced. Many of the Marshals seated upon these stallions would not appear again.
The Marshals were clearly aware of this, as they all had grim expressions.
w.a.n.g Chong only nodded. Given the First Prince’s personality, he would definitely do this. If he couldn’t stop the First Prince today, many people would probably swear fealty to the First Prince.
Boomboomboom!
A few moments later, the earth swayed and buckled as if thousands of horses were approaching. Even Zhao Fengchen and his Xuanwu Army couldn’t help but look over toward the source of this great clamor.
“They’ve arrived!”
w.a.n.g Chong glanced over and immediately narrowed his eyes, a thought coming to mind.
Two more armies were approaching from the northeast in a flood of steel. Unlike the other divisions, the soldiers of these two groups gave off a steely aura, and though there were fewer than one thousand of them, they gave off the feeling of an army of tens of thousands.
Even Zhao Fengchen’s Xuanwu Army had to stand aside in the face of this momentum!
In front of these two forces were two stalwart Imperial Army officers, so clad in armor that only their two cold eyes peeked out. Everything was thickly covered in armor, making them seem like demon G.o.ds who had emerged from the underworld.
“Those two are the two new Marshals of the Imperial Army. They rarely make an appearance, and as you can see, when they do appear, they’re covered in armor so that they don’t even show their faces, making it impossible to investigate them. These will probably be Lord Zhao’s greatest foes in this compet.i.tion,” Li Lin worriedly commented.
Normally, once someone was confirmed in the post of Grand Marshal or Marshal, it was very difficult to change. It was almost impossible to rise from the bottom to the post of Marshal in just a few years, but these two had managed to do it. This was not possible without immense strength.
“There’s a solution to everything. Zhao Fengchen won’t lose to them!” w.a.n.g Chong indifferently said.
He had gotten to know Zhao Fengchen long ago, and Zhao Fengchen had even been through the cruel Battle of Talas with him. He was an elite who had defeated the Arab soldiers amidst a sea of blood, a man tempered in fire, and certainly not an easy opponent.
Moreover, in the apocalyptic era, Zhao Fengchen still ended up as one of the three Grand Marshals. No matter what plans the First Prince had, Zhao Fengchen would not be easily defeated!
In the distance, the two mysterious commanders took up their positions, and the mood became even more enthusiastic. But w.a.n.g Chong only glanced at these two forces before looking away. In the end, no matter how strong these soldiers were, they were just pieces on the board. The player of these pieces had yet to appear.