The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  While the Great Tang was rebuilding its fortifications and hardening the city, Dalun Ruozan and Duwu Sili were also welcoming a period of peace.

  Flap flap!

  An Arabian hunting falcon flew down from the sky and into Dalun Ruozan’s tent.

  “What did Abu Muslim say?”

  Dalun Ruozan was kneeling in front of a table, his head lowered over the map of the continent as he spoke.

  “This is Abu Muslim’s seventeenth letter.”

  On the other end, Huoshu Huicang had taken the letter from the hunting falcon. After glancing over it, he closed it.

  “It’s the same as the last one. He hopes that we can continue to hold the east and cut off Wang Chong’s path of retreat. It seems that Abu Muslim doesn’t trust us very much.”

  “Haha, we were spectators to the last battle, so Abu Muslim naturally has a poor view of us. That he didn’t curse and berate us in his letters is already very courteous of him.”

  Dalun Ruozan softly chuckled. He lowered his head and continued to study the map before him.

  “But he can’t blame us for that,” Huoshu Huicang argued. “Until the third wave, Abu Muslim didn’t even send out his own troops, so we certainly couldn’t. Moreover, the day before, we had just devoted all our strength and suffered even greater casualties than he had. As for later on, the Arabs had won the battle. Who could have expected the situation to reverse so quickly? The Tang had four Behemoths under their control, so if we charged in then, we would just be delivering ourselves to death’s doorstep. How could he blame us for our actions?”

  This battle had been far too unpredictable. Neither Huoshu Huicang nor Dalun Ruozan had hoped to see it turn out like this.

  “Haaah…”

  Dalun Ruozan couldn’t help but sigh at Huoshu Huicang’s words.

  “You can’t blame Abu Muslim for this either. We truly miscalculated. That person’s division of the battlefield proved effective in the end. All this might have been unexpected for us, but to that person, it was probably inevitable,” Dalun Ruozan said.

  If not for Wang Chong’s two steel defense lines, the Turko-Tibetan army would have joined together with the Arabs long ago and completely surrounded the Tang. The battlefield would have never turned out as it did, where one side attacked while the other could only act as a bystander. The effects of Wang Chong’s division of the battlefield initially had not been obvious, but no one could ignore them now.

  “Send Abu Muslim a letter. In a polite way, tell him that no matter what, we Tibetans and Western Turks will hold the eastern line and not allow the Tang to leave.”

  “This…” Huoshu Huicang hesitated a moment before finally giving a nod. “Fine.”

  “That’s right. How is Duwu Sili doing?”

  Dalun Ruozan suddenly changed the topic.

  This question seemed to relax the mood in the tent, and a rare smile appeared on Huoshu Huicang’s lips.

  “Duwu Sili has completely lost himself in formation phenomena. Ever since that day, he has put everything into cultivating in the hopes of bringing his Celestial Wolf Illusory Formation to the highest level.”

  Huoshu Huicang faintly smiled. Even though they still hadn’t identified the flaw in the version of formation phenomena that Wang Chong had given them, all the elite Tibetan commanders knew that this version was fake. Thus, even with it in hand, no one had read nor cultivated it, and everything was peaceful.

  But their allies, the Western Turks, were different. Twenty li away, their camp was a hive of activity. Countless soldiers were shouting and sweating as they galloped to and fro. This compared to the Tibetan camp was like a different world.

  “Haha, once he realizes that something is wrong, Duwu Sili will stop himself.”

  Dalun Ruozan chuckled.

  “I truly can’t understand it. Duwu Sili is a famous Great General, one of the strongest around. How can he not notice such a simple trick?”

  Huoshu Huicang shook his head.

  There was no such thing as an inexperienced or ignorant Great General. The thought that Duwu Sili was considered one of the best Great Generals made the situation even more confusing.

  “A horse can stumble and a human can make mistakes. Even though Duwu Sili is an Imperial Great General, that doesn’t mean that he can’t make an error. As allies, we should still send him a letter telling him to take caution. In addition, send someone to observe the Western Turks and see what exactly they are doing.”

  Dalun Ruozan lightly smiled. In truth, he was rather curious to see what they had managed to produce from this fake formation phenomena document, that they were still happily working away at it without a moment of rest.

  “Yes! I will handle this matter.”

  Huoshu Huicang gave a knowing smile and left the tent.

  Gallop!

  A few moments later, a horseman rode out from the Tibetan camp, traveling the official road around twenty li to the east. Once he crossed the hill ahead, he would be greeted by the wide and open plain home to the Western Turkic camp.

  Boom!

  Before he could even approach, he heard a clap of thunder. The horseman glanced upward in confusion and saw nothing but clear skies. It did not seem like there was a thunderstorm coming.

  “What’s going on here?”

  The horseman was so surprised that he inadvertently pulled on his reins and slowed down.

  “Are my ears playing tricks on me?”

  The Tibetan horseman quickly came back to his senses and began riding toward the hill.

  Urging his horse on, the horseman quickly reached the top of the hill.

  Chapter 1019 - The Half-Real Half-Fake Formation Phenomena!

  Chapter 1019: The Half-Real Half-Fake Formation Phenomena!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  “Ha!”

  Before the Tibetan horseman could see what was going on, he heard a mighty roar, one made by thousands upon thousands of men shouting in unison. The horseman was stunned as he began to survey the scene.

  On the plain extending several dozen li before him, the tens of thousands of Western Turkic cavalry had formed a whirlpool of steel. Charging back and forth across this region, they bellowed as they shifted formations, all merging into a single whole. On their perimeter, the countless wolves were howling and running with them.

  As all these men and wolves ran together, an enormous aura exploded from their bodies and into the heavens. This powerful aura was almost tangible, like an enormous hand had gripped the air and begun to twist and contort it. Even with his vantage point on the hill, this horseman had no idea what was going on.

  “How could this be!”

  The horseman was given a fierce shock. Not long ago, when he had last come to see what was going on, he had seen none of this aura or energy. The tens of thousands of Western Turks had been running around, drenched in sweat, as if they were all idiots.

  But on this scouting mission, he had never imagined that he would see this.

  “Just what happened? So little time passed, so how did they get this strong?”

  The horseman’s eyes were filled with disbelief.

  At this point, everyone on the Tibetan and Western Turkic sides knew about the matter of the formation phenomena. After all, the thousands of Celestial Wolf Cavalry and Mutri Great Cavalry had been witnesses to the exchange. But while the Western Turks had been brimming with excitement, the Tibetans had been much more muted in their reaction.

  Privately, many of them had speculated that this version of formation phenomena was most likely a complete fake.

  The reason was simply that the Great Minister was far too calm. Even though Ü-Tsang had also received the secret of formation phenomena, the Great Minister had not propagated it or even shown any intention of cultivating it. If it was real, such a thing would have been impossible!

  But it was far from over. As he looked farther above the twisted and contorted air hovering above the Western Tu
rkic army, the horseman saw a sight that he would find hard to forget.

  A thousand meters over the Western Turkic soldiers, countless clouds had gathered. These clouds were surging like enormous pythons, blocking out the sun and casting a dark shadow over the earth.

  Moreover, deep within the clouds, the horseman could see flashes of lightning shuttling and exploding. The explosion he had heard just moments ago had clearly been caused by this lightning. The constant shifting of this lightning seemed to be resonating with the Western Turkic cavalry down below.

  “F… Formation phenomena!”

  The horseman’s jaw dropped, and it appeared like he had been struck by a lightning bolt.

  He had once overheard his superiors mentioning that the Western Turks were too greedy, not even determining if what they had obtained was real or fake before cultivating it, and that it had a high chance of harming them. But the Western Turks clearly seemed to have become more powerful, and there were formation phenomena in the sky above them. What was going on?

  What he had heard was completely different from what he was seeing.

  “There’s a problem! Perhaps the Great Minister’s judgment was wrong, and that version of the formation phenomena was real. Whatever the case, I must report this to the Great Minister!”

  With no time to think, the horseman turned around and galloped back the way he had come.

  ……

  “What? The Western Turks have gotten much stronger while cultivating the formation phenomena?”

  The Great Generals of Ü-Tsang and Dalun Ruozan were all stunned by the scout’s report.

  “Great Minister, this matter is beyond doubt. The scout was our best one who has taken part in hundreds of battles of all sizes, including the battle between King of Generals We Tadra Khonglo and the Great Tang’s Wang Zhongsi. He would not make a mistake here!” a vanguard officer solemnly said.

  After receiving the scout’s report, he had immediately noticed a problem. Before reporting to Dalun Ruozan, he had cautiously sent out some of his best scouts to verify the matter, but all of them had reported the same thing.

  Dalun Ruozan, Dusong Mangpoje, and Huoshu Huicang all glanced at each other in speechlessness.

  “Great Minister, this can’t be. Was that boy this foolish? He gave Duwu Sili the real thing!” Huoshu Huicang said, his brows deeply furrowed.

  Dalun Ruozan said nothing, but there was a pensive look on his face.

  “This matter is not completely impossible. The people of the Central Plains emphasize sincerity with no consideration for time and place. At times, they even make severe errors through their adherence to these conventions. Although Wang Chong is an incredible strategist, he’s still very young. He might have really handed over the real formation phenomena for the sake of sincerity. Moreover, didn’t Gao Xianzhi try to destroy those papers? Perhaps not even they had imagined that we would end up getting the formation phenomena,” Dusong Mangpoje suggested after some thought.

  He had been strengthening the defenses and managing the army when he had heard what had happened and rushed over. It was clear that no matter what the truth was, this matter was very different from what Dalun Ruozan had predicted.

  “Impossible!” Dalun Ruozan muttered to himself, his brow even more tightly furrowed than his two colleagues’. “All of you underestimate him too much. He might be younger than all of us, but his intelligence, strategies, and cunning far surpass ours. He would never make such a low-level mistake.”

  “But Duwu Sili truly has managed to produce results from the version of formation phenomena he has. Facts do not lie. If it were a fake, it would have never produced such an effect, Dusong Mangpoje said.

  Dalun Ruozan fell silent.

  Other than his defeat to Wang Chong in the southwest, Dalun Ruozan rarely questioned himself. But Dalun Ruozan was forced to admit that he might have made an error of judgment in this case.

  “Go! Let’s see for ourselves!”

  ……

  On the outermost perimeter of the Western Turkic camp, Dalun Ruozan, Huoshu Huicang, Dusong Mangpoje, Huoba Sangye, and several other Tibetan generals had gathered.

  The twisted space and the roiling thunderclouds had left them speechless.

  Even Dalun Ruozan felt somewhat uncertain.

  “Great Minister.”

  As Huoba Sangye said these two words, everyone instantly focused on Dalun Ruozan.

  Although none of them said anything, their meaning was obvious. Reality was right before their eyes. After getting those three sheets of paper from Wang Chong, Duwu Sili had really managed to create formation phenomena, and even his Celestial Wolf Cavalry had gotten stronger. If this was all fake, then nothing in the world was real.

  At this time, even Huoshu Huicang, who had always followed and firmly trusted in Dalun Ruozan, had nothing to say. Eventually, however, he decided to speak up for Dalun Ruozan.

  “We must think very long and hard about this matter. I trust that Great Minister’s judgment is correct,” Huoshu Huicang said.

  “Huoshu, you don’t need to speak up for me.” Dalun Ruozan bitterly smiled. “The facts are arrayed before us. Duwu Sili truly has gained some benefit from all this, and it’s no wonder the Western Turks are drilling night and day. Perhaps we had Duwu Sili wrong from the beginning. His conduct is not entirely unreasonable.”

  “Then… Great Minister, should we also begin to drill?” Huoba Sangye asked, clearly itching to act.

  Dalun Ruozan had the papers recording the method to create formation phenomena. If the content was fake, Huoba Sangye didn’t care and wouldn’t even give them a glance. But the Western Turks had their Celestial Wolf Cavalry and the Tibetans had their Mutri Great Cavalry. If the Celestial Wolf Cavalry could boost their strength by putting into practice the formation phenomena method, then so could the Mutri Great Cavalry.

  As the highest commander of the Mutri Great Cavalry, Huoba Sangye could not help but consider his options.

  Dusong Mangpoje and Huoshu Huicang frowned, but they said nothing and looked to Dalun Ruozan.

  “Wait a little longer. Let me think about this,” Dalun Ruozan said.

  He rarely encountered difficulties, but this time, he was forced to admit that he found this choice somewhat difficult to make.

  ……

  As Dalun Ruozan observed from the distant hill, a Western Turkic scout ended his surveillance and traveled through most of the Western Turkic camp to report to Duwu Sili.

  “Great General, Tibetans have been discovered in the distance. Should any countermeasures be taken?” the scout deferentially asked, dropping to one knee.

  “Haha, Dalun Ruozan?”

  Duwu Sili faintly smiled, shooting a glance at the distant hill before giving a nonchalant shake of the head.

  “Let them do what they want. They won’t get anything from it.”

  Duwu Sili naturally knew what Dalun Ruozan and the other Tibetans were thinking. Dalun Ruozan had treated Duwu Sili as far too simple a person. With regards to this formation phenomena, Duwu Sili had been even more cautious than Dalun Ruozan. War was about deception. How could he possibly believe in three sheets of paper that Wang Chong had casually tossed at him?

  Absurd!

  If Wang Chong had given him a real first half and altered or faked the second half, Duwu Sili would have fallen into a trap. Given Duwu Sili’s reputation and status, he would be made a laughingstock if the matter got out. Thus, from the moment he obtained the formation phenomena, he had picked out a group of soldiers to practice according to the methods laid out on the papers.

  If it was fake, had no effect, or had some side effect, Duwu Sili would immediately stop them. At the most, he would lose just a few hundred soldiers. But if it was real, everything would change.

  Duwu Sili was confident that something that was worthy of Anxi War God Gao Xianzhi throwing himself into the fray could not be something as simple as a few faked words!

  “Dalun Ruozan, you were too cautious.
”

  Duwu Sili faintly smiled, a sharp light in his eyes.

  He and Dalun Ruozan had two completely different styles. Dalun Ruozan was so cautious that he never even considered some possibilities, causing him to lose out on many opportunities. But Duwu Sili was an extremely discriminating and meticulous schemer. He did not make actions blindly, nor did he give up on any opportunity. He made all his judgments based on the results.

  Chapter 1020 - Well-Mapped Strategy!

  Chapter 1020: Well-Mapped Strategy!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Duwu Sili quickly cast Dalun Ruozan to the back of his mind.

  “How are Shamask and Chekun Benba doing? Have all the soldiers been inspected? Has anything strange been noticed? I need to know every detail. The slightest discomfort must be reported to me at once.”

  He stared at the captain of his guards, his eyes grim and cautious.

  “Great General, we carefully inspected each soldier six times. Everyone is normal, including Generals Shamask and Chekun Benba. The formation phenomena have boosted everyone’s strength, solidifying and focusing their cultivation without any side effects,” the guard captain next to Duwu Sili deferentially said.

  The Western Turkic camp appeared a hive of activity, but everyone was actually extremely cautious. All the elite experts and the shamans accompanying the army, even Duwu Sili himself, were constantly observing the army’s condition. The slightest sign of activity would be reported back to Duwu Sili.

  But it was increasingly evident that they had been too cautious. There was simply no problem with those three papers regarding the formation phenomena.

  “Very good!”

  Duwu Sili gave a long sigh of relief, a gratified smile appearing on his lips.

  He had finally received a return on his investment. At this moment, he had obtained the solution to the formation phenomena that he had been seeking for more than half his life. Starting from now, the entire Celestial Wolf Cavalry, and even the Western Turkic Khaganate, would take a completely different form.

  “Now, it’s time for me to begin cultivating.”