Chapter 1610: Ishbara Khagan, Grieving and Indignant!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Each of Wang Chong’s words carried such force that they were on the verge of breaching through the paper, and their contents were just as shocking.
A cinnabar seal had been placed at the end of the letter, but it was not the seal of the Great Tang. It was the seal of the King of Foreign Lands.
The Turkic soldier who had delivered the letter could not tell the difference between the seal of the Son of Heaven and the seal of a King, so he had taken Wang Chong’s letter to be a state letter from the Great Tang.
But this was far from what had infuriated Ishbara Khagan.
“This Wang Chong has gone crazy! I think the Great Tang has gone crazy as well! If they want war, I’ll give them war!”
Ishbara Khagan could not contain his rage. A gentleman could not be humiliated. This was something taught in the schools of the Confucian Sect, and even the shepherds on the steppe knew about such things. And if a gentleman could not be humiliated, a sovereign certainly could not! The flames of rage burned within Ishbara Khagan’s heart.
This King of Foreign Lands was far too impudent!
What did it mean that within three days he would be hunting on Mount Sanmi? Mount Sanmi was the Khagan’s mountain, the mountain of the Son of Heaven, equivalent to the Great Tang Imperial Palace. This was not a simple threat, but outright humiliation! Did he really think that the Western Turkic Khaganate was some puny kingdom?
This bastard needed to pay a price for his recklessness!
“Pass on my order! All tribes are to immediately mobilize their soldiers and gather on the border. Let’s see if we will go hunting in the capital of the Great Tang or if he will come to hunt on my Mount Sanmi!”
Ishbara Khagan’s eyes bulged and his body trembled.
“Yes, Khagan!”
A guard in the tent immediately turned to leave. It seemed like the war between the Great Tang and the Western Turks was about to restart, but then suddenly—
“Khagan, no!!”
A figure quickly walked out from the back.
“I accept no advice otherwise. Those who defy this will be… Shaman?!”
Just when he was about to say ‘executed’, Ishbara Khagan saw who had spoken, and his body shivered, his mind growing clear.
The one who had dared to stop him in the midst of his rage was none other than the man with the most unique status and immense prestige within the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Blackwater Shaman.
Amongst the Western Turks, only this man could communicate with the gods and predict the future, and only he could make Ishbara Khagan calm down.
“State Teacher, at a time like this! The Great Tang has already humiliated the Western Turks in such a way, and you still want to persuade me?”
Ishbara Khagan’s chest was heaving, his rage difficult to suppress.
“Khagan must not decide based on emotion! Please look carefully at the letter. I am not preventing Khagan from mobilizing the army, but if Khagan truly does this, not only will it be of no benefit, we might fall into the trap of the King of Foreign Lands!”
The Blackwater Shaman sighed and shook his head.
Ishbara Khagan was dumbstruck, his brow furrowing in confusion.
“Haaa, Khagan only needs to look at them to understand,” the Blackwater Shaman said.
Ishbara Khagan still had doubt in his mind, but as he followed the Blackwater Shaman’s gaze, he saw that all his nobles and generals in the tent were ghastly pale.
“Has Khagan forgotten about the one million elite cavalry the Arabian Empire lost in battle?!” the Blackwater Shaman reminded.
Bang!
Ishbara Khagan trembled in shock and understanding, and his face turned pale as well.
“Between the Western Turks and Arabia, which has the larger territory, the stronger soldiers, the more numerous warhorses, the finer weapons? What we are facing is not some ordinary Tang general, but a War God who has defeated Mengshe Zhao, Ü-Tsang, Arabia, and the kingdoms of the Western Regions! Has Khagan not realized that despite this excellent chance, neither Mengshe Zhao, Ü-Tsang, nor even our neighbors the Eastern Turkic Khaganate and Goguryeo have said a word?”
Seeing that Ishbara Khagan had understood, the Blackwater Shaman sighed.
Ishbara Khagan’s face was alternating between shades of green and white. There was no need for more explanation from the Blackwater Shaman. The fearful faces of his generals and nobles had told him enough.
In the countries around the Great Tang, the name ‘King of Foreign Lands’ was a nightmare that no one could escape!
“Right now, the King of Foreign Lands and the militarists are being suppressed by that man, Li Junxian. The Confucian Sect is strong while the militarists are weak. But if Khagan incites a border conflict, while the Great Tang might be routed at first, this will soon cause a call to arms to resound from within the Great Tang, and the militarists might even replace the Confucian Sect. That King of Foreign Lands will also probably reemerge with the full-throated support of the people and once more gain control of the Tang army. Can Khagan not imagine just how powerful such a Great Tang would be?
“In being provoked by his letter, is Khagan not doing exactly as he wishes?” the Blackwater Shaman said.
“Is there nothing that can be done to him? Within three days of the army’s mobilization, hunting in Mount Sanmi… these words are simply too brash, too impudent!”
Ishbara Khagan’s expression was uncertain, but the fires of rage continued to burn fiercely. The mighty Emperor of the Western Turks, the son of the gods of the sky, would have to be humiliated by a King of the southern Tang? This was an unprecedented disgrace!
“Get in touch with Ü-Tsang, Mengshe Zhao, Arabia… The Great Tang was the first to break their treaty with us. I don’t believe that the other countries joined together can’t do anything to him!”
“Khagan, if you send soldiers now, the other countries will never help you. Until the King of Foreign Lands is thoroughly dealt with, they will not help us! Khagan must swallow your rage!” the Blackwater Shaman said, a deep helplessness in his heart.
For the Khagan to do this was truly suffocating, but until they achieved victory, he would have to swallow it down. Otherwise, he would only bring even greater humiliation on himself!
“Bastard!”
Ishbara Khagan’s heart burned with hatred, but finally, he closed his eyes and fell silent.
The movement on the steppe of so many Western Turkic tribes could not be hidden from the spies of the other countries, and Ishbara Khagan’s infuriated letter to the Great Tang had already been spread to the other countries and caused a great stir. Everyone was waiting for the situation to develop, and countless spies were sending reports back from the steppe every day.
Just when everyone believed that a war would start between the Great Tang and the Western Turks, in the span of a day, the Western Turkic tribes who had begun to gather in the south began to disperse.
This was a great surprise to all the parties watching.
The clouds of war silently scattered without Ishbara Khagan uttering a word. All of the Western Turkic Khaganate was calm as if nothing had happened, to the great confusion of all the other countries.
But several days later, the truth was revealed. The short letter written by the King of Foreign Lands to Ishbara Khagan had begun to circulate within the other countries.
‘Within three days of the army’s mobilization, I will be hunting with the Khagan on Mount Sanmi!’
Upon hearing the contents of the letter, those countries who had been ready to jeer at the Western Turks fell silent, and they ceased watching this matter for any further developments.
In the distant Goguryeo Empire, within the city of Hwando, a high-ranked Goguryeon general laughed at the news, his expression brimming with derision as he held the intelligence report.
“Hahaha, they say Ishbara Khagan is as strong as a tiger, the most domineering sovereign in the history of the Western Turkic Khaganate, thus he wrote that state letter out of anger. But surprisingly, it was all a show, and it was just a cowardly mouse hiding under the skin. These few words frightened him enough to call for an end to the hostilities and disperse the army he had gathered. If more had been written, would he have simply handed over all of the Western Turkic Khaganate to the King of Foreign Lands?”
The Goguryeons were a fierce people, and all of their warriors wielded sabers, creating two-saber styles, three-saber styles, and even six-saber styles. Such ferocity was further proven by the fact that they could resist, and even proactively invade, the Central Plains from their small corner of the world.
In the eyes of the Goguryeons, the conduct of the Western Turkic Khaganate was simply shameful.
Clap!
But moments after that general had spoken, he was struck with a vicious slap that sent him bowling over.
“Your Majesty!”
The general gripped his face, and when he saw the golden-armored man with six sabers on his back standing before him, he was stunned and confused.
“Hmph! Why do you think Ü-Tsang, Mengshe Zhao, and Arabia have said nothing over Ishbara’s matter? They aren’t afraid of these few words, but of the man who wrote them.”
Goguryeo Emperor Yeon Gaesomun’s voice resounded through the hall.
“In this world, strength means everything. Whether it’s Mengshe Zhao, Ü-Tsang, Arabia, or the Western Turkic Khaganate, all of them have been defeated by the King of Foreign Lands, suffering heavy losses. When the King of Foreign Lands makes threats to these countries, he is completely capable of carrying them out! He can go hunting with Ishbara Khagan on Mount Sanmi!”
“Your Majesty!”
All the other generals in the hall paled at these words, and that Goguryeon general who had been slapped was speechless.
They would have scoffed if anyone else had said these words, but it was the ‘God Within the Water’, the Emperor of Goguryeo, Yeon Gaesomun, who was saying such things.
But for these few words to make Ishbara Khagan call back his soldiers and swallow his rage was still somewhat unbelievable for these Goguryeon generals. After all, the King of Foreign Lands had never come to the northeastern region of the Great Tang.
“Haha, but all this makes me want to fight even more! To have a contest of strength with this King of Foreign Lands!”
Yeon Gaesomun suddenly began to laugh, his body groaning and cracking as it exploded with fighting intent.
Yeon Gaesomun, the God Within the Water, the War God of the Peninsula, had forged himself through fire and steel of endless battle, carving a bloody path from the lowest soldier to Emperor of his empire and making it capable of standing against the vastness of the Great Tang.