The Human Emperor

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Clap!

In the dim and sinister prison, a whip lashed the body of one of the Tibetan assassins. The immense power and sting of the whip immediately tore through the furs the Tibetan was wearing and left a long and bloody wound on his body.

“Talk! Who put you up to this?”

Zhang Que stared at the tied-up Tibetan assassin, his eyes streaked with blood and burning with rage.

“Kekeke, keep hitting! Even if you beat me to death, I won’t talk. This is revenge for our Great Minister. Have you finally tasted a little pain now?”

The assassin’s hair was disheveled and his body was covered in wounds, but his eyes remained cold and sharp, like those of a wolf.

The lashes of the whip only made him more ferocious and defiant, as if the whip was striking someone else.

“Hmph, what revenge? You were just a lackey for someone else. Without someone working with you, how would you know where Master would appear? And don’t you know? My master never took part in the Battle of Talas. He has nothing to do with Dalun Ruozan’s death. Even if you kill him, you’ve avenged nothing… just a bunch of pitiful ants being used by another!” Zhang Que coldly said.

Buzz!

The Tibetan assassin’s face instantly froze.

“Hmph! No matter what you say, I’m willing to do anything as long as I can strike a blow against you,” the Tibetan assassin said, but his expression and tone were clearly not as harsh.

“Hmph, still being stubborn! Come, attend upon him well! Remember, don’t let him die!”

Zhang Que coldly snorted. Passing the whip to a spy team member, he turned around and left. At that moment, there was a deep sense of grief in his eyes.

“Ah!”

Screams began to rise from the cell. No mercy was shown to one’s enemies.

In the main hall of the King of Foreign Lands Residence, Wang Chong, Xu Keyi, Su Shixuan, and Chen Bin were waiting for Zhang Que.

“Your Highness, you were right. Someone really was helping them. Those Tibetans were being used!”

Zhang Que bowed, his eyes dim.

Although the captured Tibetan assassin hadn’t directly said it, his reaction had revealed everything. They had clearly believed that they had been avenging Dalun Ruozan in this operation.

“I understand. Thank you for your service. I understand what’s going on,” Wang Chong indifferently said. As he raised his head, countless thoughts rushed through his mind.

Although he hadn’t gotten the name of the true culprit from the Tibetan assassin, there was no need for Wang Chong to ask such questions. The number of people in the capital who had the means and the motive for such an operation could be counted with one’s fingers.

The First Prince! You again?

A cold light gleamed in Wang Chong’s eyes.

There were three people with the motive for this in the capital: King Qi, Li Junxian, and the First Prince.

But King Qi had only known about Wang Chong, and all his operations had always been targeted at him. As for Old Eagle… King Qi was too proud to even consider him.

As for Li Junxian, although the two of them got along like fire and water, the Confucian Sect was also too proud to lower themselves to such a level.

This meant that there was only one person left with the proper motive. And if one considered what had happened in the Imperial Palace recently, the answer was obvious.

But Wang Chong had never imagined that he would collude with Ü-Tsang.

“No matter who the true culprit is, Ü-Tsang is undoubtedly connected, and the only one who could order these people to mobilize has to be a member of Ü-Tsang’s upper echelons. Zhang Que, write a letter for me recounting this entire incident to Ü-Tsang Imperial Minister Dalon Trinling. Tell him that this king is awaiting his reply.”

Wang Chong’s face was a sheet of ice as he spoke.

Dalon Trinling!

Wang Chong had long known of this name. When it came to reputation, status, and ability, this man was far above the deceased Dalun Ruozan.

Dalun Ruozan was only the Great Minister of the Ngari Royal Lineage, but Dalon Trinling was the true helmsman of that empire. This man had made his reputation almost entirely on several major victories in his early years against the Great Tang. Even when Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian Wang Zhongsi was at his zenith, he was still apprehensive of the Imperial Minister within Ü-Tsang’s royal capital.

In the militarist-Confucian conflict, the surrounding countries and Confucian Sect had conspired together, and all their negotiations and peace talks had gone abnormally smoothly.

Wang Chong had long ago sensed that there was someone pushing these events from behind the scenes. There had to be someone in the foreign countries who was helping the Confucians rise and control the situation. And even though he had no evidence, Wang Chong was sure that this person was the Ü-Tsang Imperial Minister, Dalon Trinling.

If someone claimed that this man knew nothing about this assassination and had played no role, Wang Chong would never believe it!

Whoosh!

Several days later, a letter bearing Wang Chong’s wrath flew across the mountains, over the plateau, and into the royal palace of Ü-Tsang.

“Imperial Minister, a letter from the Great Tang.” The royal capital guard looked at the seal on the paper and froze. “It’s… from the King of Foreign Lands.”

In the Ü-Tsang Empire, Wang Chong’s name was a taboo, and few even dared to refer to his title. Moreover, the Ü-Tsang Empire did not communicate with the King of Foreign Lands, and their relationship was one of enemies. This was the first time it had ever received a formal letter from the King of Foreign Lands.

“Oh?”

Dalon Trinling, who was studying a map of Ü-Tsang, the Great Tang, and the surrounding countries, raised his head.

“Hand it over and let me see!”

Upon receiving the letter and reading through it, Dalon Trinling couldn’t help but frown.

Dalon Trinling had made his name much earlier than Wang Chong, even earlier than Wang Zhongsi. He was one of the most illustrious ministers on the continent.

Wang Chong had become Young Marquis at the age of seventeen and King of Foreign Lands at the age of eighteen, and was the new War God of his generation!

There was no question that Dalon Trinling had been the ‘Wang Chong’ for Ü-Tsang several decades ago, and he had become famous at no less an age than Wang Chong’s.

And his fame at the time was also no less than Wang Chong’s.

This was precisely why Dalon Trinling had always regarded Wang Chong rather highly.

‘Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated.’ This was a quotation from one of the military texts of the Central Plains. Until he was completely confident, until he thoroughly understood who Wang Chong was, Dalon Trinling would never recklessly attack him.

“Interesting! I’d like to see what he can do!”

Dalon Trinling gently smiled as he threw the letter to the side.

That youth in the capital was still too simpleminded. He was merely the new War God of the Great Tang. Not even the invincible War God, now Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian, Wang Zhongsi could make him feel fear, let alone Wang Chong, so why would he be afraid of a mere letter?

The Tibetan Plateau was not the Turkic steppe, and he was not Ishbara Khagan. Wang Chong’s threatening letter held no meaning to him.

“Don’t worry about it! Continue with your tasks.”

After saying this, Dalon Trinling turned his attention back to the map.

……

Not long after the flapping of wings signaled the arrival of a bird, a Golden Guard came in and reported on the letter’s contents.

“Your Highness, Ü-Tsang has sent back a reply. Dalon Trinling says that they know nothing about the incident in the capital and that although those people truly are Tibetans, just like the Great Tang, Ü-Tsang is not able to control all its people. He asks for Your Highness to not develop a misunderstanding of Ü-Tsang because of those people.”

“Is that so?”

Wang Chong coldly laughed.

“There’s no evidence, so Ü-Tsang is uninvolved? Dalon Trinling, this is your reply! It seems that you don’t understand that this isn’t a negotiation, and I certainly don’t need you to admit to it. I only need a price.

“You simply have no idea who you’re dealing with!” Wang Chong coldly said.

There was no questioning Dalon Trinling’s prestige in Ü-Tsang, and he was probably the most troublesome minister still living in this world. But Wang Chong was himself the greatest War Saint in the history of the world!

Wang Chong knew who he was facing, but Dalon Trinling had no idea who his opponent really was.

“Inform the triangular pass. Have Li Siye and Su Hanshan get ready. After so much training, it’s about time they put some work in. In addition, write a letter for me to Big Dipper City’s Great General Geshu Han. Request him to do something for me!” Wang Chong indifferently said, his eyes frighteningly cold.

Rumble!

In the distant northeastern corner of Ü-Tsang, at the triangular gap, hooves thundered and dust billowed. Mounted upon a Ferghana steed, Li Siye folded up Wang Chong’s letter and put it in his bosom. He turned around, sweeping his sharp eyes across the vast plain. Countless soldiers were sweeping across the plain with a thunderous momentum.

“Everyone, hear my order! Move out immediately! Target: Ü-Tsang!”

Li Siye took out his massive broadsword and aimed it straight at the air, his booming voice brimming with energy and resounding across the skies of Ü-Tsang.

Roooar!

The surrounding soldiers thunderously replied, and an immense killing intent and will to fight soared into the air, so dense that space itself twisted and blurred.

Gallop!

In a stampede of hooves, a steel flood formed from thousands of cavalry thundered into the heartland of Ü-Tsang. Right behind the cavalry, Tang ballistae clanked and groaned as they moved along on a newly designed carriage.

After Talas, Su Hanshan had gathered many craftsmen who had remodeled the firing platforms to be more suited for the ballistae, allowing them to move and fire faster while also expanding their firing angles.