The Human Emperor

“This old subject obeys the decree!”

The Grand Tutor immediately bowed.

Though Li Heng had only been presiding over the court for a short time, he was already expressing the demeanor and daring of the Sage Emperor. Even an old subject like the Grand Preceptor couldn’t help but love and respect him. On his body, everyone saw a youthful Sage Emperor.

“King of Foreign Lands, starting from now, We give you full authority over the suppression of Youzhou and An Yaluoshan!”

Li Heng’s eyes were cold, and as he spoke, an imperial sword on a nearby table was pulled by an invisible force and flew over to Wang Chong, thrusting into the floor in front of him.

An imperial sword!

The Great Tang did not have such things previously. Li Heng had adopted a suggestion from Wang Chong and had a sword forged representing the Emperor, besides the Sage Emperor’s Sword of the Son of Heaven.

Li Heng had long ago announced that to see this sword was the same as to see himself. Anyone who held the sword held a part of the Emperor’s authority.

“We grant this imperial sword to you. All the generals, including the Great Generals, Protector-Generals, and the Minister of War, are under your command!” Li Heng loudly proclaimed.

“This lowly subject obeys the decree!”

Wang Chong bowed. The two of them were of one mind, so there was no need for superfluous words.

“All generals, obey this decree. Assist the King of Foreign Lands with all your power. Those who defy this decree will be executed!” Li Heng sternly said.

“We obey!”

Everyone in the hall bowed.

Li Heng was no longer the Crown Prince, and in certain aspects, he aligned with the Sage Emperor.

The group discussed many more details, after which this important conference involving the sovereign of the Great Tang and his subjects concluded.

Several hours later, the declaration of war against Goguryeo and Yeon Gaesomun was announced to the realm.

‘Ever since the sovereigns have reigned over the realm, it has always been the case that the Central Kingdom, as the interior, rules over the foreign barbarians, and the barbarians, on the exterior, revere the Central Kingdom. It has never been heard that the foreign barbarians control the Central Kingdom! Since the reign of Emperor Taizong, the Great Tang has exerted benevolence and virtue across the land, showing grace and favor to all parties. It is for this reason that all the surrounding kingdoms submit.

‘Goguryeo is a small country on the shores of the Bohai. Its people are fierce, with war and plunder being common practices. During Emperor Taizong’s reign, they were considered weak and impoverished, so pitiable that Emperor Taizong decided not to go to war with them. But the barbarians respect power, not virtue, and not only has the tiny kingdom of Goguryeo not restrained itself, it has used this opportunity to grow more ferocious and engage in large-scale slaughter. After many invasions, it is now showing signs of becoming an empire!

‘We are the Son of Heaven, mandated by the heavens. The heavens have decreed that Goguryeo is to be pacified, and that all the kingdoms of the northeast should act to pacify this evil!

‘As the Son of Heaven of the Great Tang, We declare to the realm that the army is to be assembled in four months, all the generals gathered, for the purpose of capturing Yeon Gaesomun and defeating the Goguryeo Empire so as to right the wrongs of the world!’

This declaration of war sent shockwaves through the realm.

This was the first large-scale mobilization decree Li Heng had issued as Emperor.

If things really went as the declaration of war said, with the Great Tang gathering a million soldiers and numerous Great Generals, this would be an unprecedented war.

After the Arabian Empire, there was no country on the continent that could stand against such a large-scale assault from the Great Tang Empire.

……

“Bastard!”

Far in the northeast, on the shores of the Bohai, in the capital of Goguryeo, a fist slammed against a table, the veins bulging. His emblematic six sabers on his back, Yeon Gaesomun was deathly pale.

“I was fooled by that An Yaluoshan and that Gao Shang!”

Yeon Gaesomun’s flames of anger shot into the air.

An Yaluoshan was the troublemaker, but he was the one being used as the shield.

In the alliance proposed by An Yaluoshan, the decision to play out that war with him had caused Yeon Gaesomun to suffer a severe loss.

Those soldiers who had died in that war had essentially died in vain.

To his surprise, after An Yaluoshan was done using him as a shield, the Great Tang Empire began to use him as a shield.

This was clearly a matter between sovereign and subject, but the one most affected was Yeon Gaesomun! This was absurd!

Yeon Gaesomun gnashed his teeth, his fingers tearing off a chunk of the metal table.

All of the palace maids trembled in fear and lowered their heads as Yeon Gaesomun raged.

“Your Majesty, what do we do?” a bearded Goguryeo general worriedly said. “A sovereign does not speak lightly. Now that the Great Tang has made this declaration, regardless of what their original intentions are, it is now truth. In four months, the Great Tang will undoubtedly send out its army from Youzhou to deal with our Goguryeo Empire!”

In the past, Goguryeo could have relied on the distance and its high walls. The chances of failure for this expeditionary force were extremely high, and there would be no need to take this threat from the Great Tang seriously.

But now that the Tang Empire had vanquished Arabia, nobody dared to think this way.

Could Goguryeo be farther away than Arabia?

Were their walls thicker than Khorasan’s?

The Arabian Empire’s defenses were on par with Goguryeo’s, and there was no need to mention its doughty people and vast army.

In this situation, regardless of how Goguryeo resisted, it would eventually follow Arabia’s trail.

Yeon Gaesomun scowled even more as he heard his trusted general’s words.

He wasn’t afraid that the Great Tang wanted to deal with Goguryeo. In truth, this was not the first time the Great Tang had made this sort of announcement. Ever since Zhang Shougui, the two sides had engaged in sporadic battles.

What he cared about the most was the news sent from his spies in the capital. The commander of this expedition against Goguryeo was none other than that most feared War God of the Great Tang, Wang Chong.

Yeon Gaesomun had never fought with Wang Chong before, but his achievements alone could make one shiver in fear.

This man was a nightmare to his enemies, and it would be best if one never fought with him!

“Write a letter to Gao Shang!

“These bastards! They were the ones who stirred all this trouble. Tell them that I demand an explanation!”

Yeon Gaesomun was burning with anger.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The trusted general turned to leave with the order.

But before he could get very far, the flapping of wings could be heard.

Yeon Gaesomun looked up in surprise and saw one of the unique black messenger birds of Youzhou flying in through the window. The trusted general received the bird, took off the letter, and passed it over.

Yeon Gaesomun glanced at the letter and immediately obliterated it, sprinkling the remains on the floor.

“Bastard!”

That Gao Shang in distant Youzhou had predicted that Yeon Gaesomun would send a letter and preempted it with his own.

The contents of the letter were very simple. It simply said that Yeon Gaesomun should be patient; that if the Great Tang wanted to advance eastward to attack Goguryeo, it would have to pass through Youzhou; and that no matter what happened, the Youzhou group would serve as the shield and wall for Goguryeo.

An Yaluoshan and the Youzhou army would undoubtedly stand alongside Goguryeo in battle!

An Yaluoshan had stirred up this problem, diverting the floods onto Goguryeo, but in the end, Yeon Gaesomun would have to seek a favor from An Yaluoshan and Gao Shang, even thank them for helping him!

Truly absurd!

……

At the same time, An Yaluoshan had convened with Gao Shang and his other subordinates.

“How is it? Did Yeon Gaesomun respond?” An Yaluoshan asked.

“It won’t be anything much, simply some venting of emotions.”

Gao Shang waved his shabby folding fan, his expression unperturbed.

“Your Excellency does not need to worry about him. Yeon Gaesomun is a beast in a cage. From the moment he agreed to work with us, there was no going back for him. No, to be more precise, Goguryeo’s position ensured that there was never any going back. The moment the declaration came out, he was forced into a dead end, tied to our chariot.

“From this perspective, this could even be considered a good thing!” Gao Shang said.

Yeon Gaesomun was a fierce and rebellious beast that always wanted to bite back. Everyone understood that Yeon Gaesomun was not someone who so easily yielded, but regardless of what he thought, Gao Shang and the Youzhou group would always have a tight grip on his weak point.

From a certain perspective, Yeon Gaesomun and his million-man army were already part of the Youzhou army.

“But what do we do about the capital? We only have four months until the army deploys!”

An Yaluoshan couldn’t bring himself to be happy about Gao Shang’s words.

Li Heng’s declaration of war was aimed against Goguryeo and Yeon Gaesomun, but everyone knew that the new Emperor was simply using this as a pretext. His true goal was not Goguryeo, but An Yaluoshan and the Youzhou group backing him.

The declaration of war had been a massive shock to all of Youzhou.

Until this matter was resolved, An Yaluoshan could not bring himself to relax.

The hall instantly fell silent.

“In truth, this could be predicted the moment Your Excellency allied with Genesis Supreme. Our predictions are simply being realized now. Moreover, Your Excellency will have to conquer the entire realm in the future, so this scene was inevitable,” Gao Shang said.

“But it’s too quick!”

An Yaluoshan finally spoke his mind.

In truth, he had noticed Li Heng’s Imperial Guards some time ago. Given that Youzhou was so well-guarded that even Wang Chong’s spy teams had not been able to gain much advantage, how could those Imperial Guards have found so much of the truth without An Yaluoshan letting them?

The minting, the recruitment, the armories… An Yaluoshan had done all of this according to Genesis Supreme’s orders.

Genesis Supreme’s original intention had been for An Yaluoshan to openly raise the flag of rebellion, but An Yaluoshan had ‘refused’ and used this roundabout method. After all, if they wanted to lure Wang Chong out, they only needed to leak this information to the new Emperor. There was no need to directly start a rebellion.

An Yaluoshan truly did want to rebel, and he even more wanted to occupy the Central Plains and conquer the realm, but this was only after he finished his preparations.

But the Sage Emperor had only recently died and many arrangements were not complete. In particular, An Yaluoshan had yet to persuade the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates, the Xi, the Khitans, Mengshe Zhao, and the kingdoms of the Western Regions.

The Youzhou army alone could never stand against the armies of the Great Tang!

And besides that, Wang Chong was still alive!

Starting a rebellion now was too rushed.

But he could not defy Genesis Supreme’s orders, resulting in this strange situation.