Chapter 2061: An Expeditionary Force of Eight Hundred Thousand!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“The wood has already been built into a boat. This is our only option!” Gao Shang said after a few moments of silence.
Though he was calm on the surface, the Great Tang’s declaration of war had also caught him off guard. He originally believed that once the news was leaked, the gravity of the matter and the involvement of the Andong Protectorate meant that the Imperial Court would need a long time to make a decision. Moreover, to avoid causing chaos amongst the people and fracturing the empire, the Great Tang would not be able to act against them so quickly.
But Gao Shang had underestimated the new Emperor. His actions were fierce and decisive, far more than Gao Shang had predicted.
This was not the mediocre Son of Heaven Gao Shang had anticipated!
This isn’t right! He alone doesn’t have so much daring! Even if he does, this reaction is too fast. Someone must be instructing him from behind the scenes, facilitating all of this!
With this thought in mind, Gao Shang quickly came up with a person.
Wang Chong!
The King of Foreign Lands was good friends with the current Son of Heaven. In fact, he had helped Li Heng onto the throne. If one said that this was all Li Heng’s decision, Gao Shang would never believe it!
Of course, what truly allowed him to conclude that this Wang Chong’s work was that declaration of war.
An Yaluoshan was a meritorious official of the Great Tang!
The Great Tang truly did not dare to act against him!
But the declaration had perfectly avoided this point, causing Gao Shang’s previous calculations to completely miss.
This truly is too rushed. Four months is a vise around our Youzhou army that will swiftly force us into passivity. In truth, His Excellency’s unease is already clear.
Truly the King of Foreign Lands! Gao Shang couldn’t help but think.
But if Wang Chong thought one declaration of war was enough to deal with him without bloodying his blade, he was being a little too simpleminded.
After some thought, Gao Shang finally said, “Your Excellency does not need to be anxious!
“Our concern should not be the lack of soldiers, but the attitudes of the other countries. Dalon Trinling is a very formidable individual, and the other countries also have their own ideas. But I believe that Your Excellency should go and see Genesis Supreme. I sense that he must have a way of fulfilling Your Excellency’s desires and making the other countries willing to join your side!”
There was a bright flash in Gao Shang’s eyes when he mentioned Genesis Supreme. This matter was caused by Genesis Supreme, so his organization’s strength was naturally needed to address it.
Even if Genesis Supreme said that gods should not intervene in the wars of humans, nor should they reveal themselves to mortal dynasties, Gao Shang would not be fooled.
These people were extremely mysterious, and not even Gao Shang had been able to gather any information on them. How could it be possible that they had never before intervened in the human world?
Gao Shang sensed that these people’s involvement in the human world was already at a frightening level.
The generals fell silent, their eyes looking toward An Yaluoshan.
Only their liege could communicate with Genesis Supreme.
“I’ll deal with this matter!” An Yaluoshan said after a few moments of silence.
……
Putting aside the response from Youzhou, the Great Tang’s war machine began to spin to life.
All the world knew of the Great Tang’s strength, but in the Sage Emperor’s era, quality was emphasized over quantity so as to reduce the burden on the common people. The regular army only numbered six-hundred-thousand-some soldiers, which took up not even ten percent of the country’s strength to maintain.
But Li Heng did not have time for such concerns.
Extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures.
Li Heng recalled the words Wang Chong had spoken to him. An Yaluoshan was certain to be the Great Tang’s greatest threat in the future.
Li Heng didn’t know why Wang Chong had such a ‘high’ evaluation of this man, but those words had a massive influence on Li Heng. Wang Chong’s judgment had never been wrong before.
And this wasn’t even considering that An Yaluoshan had stolen Dragon Qi.
These treasonous scoundrels should be wiped out with the full force of the country and not given a single chance to rise up.
This was Li Heng’s style.
As for Wang Chong, in the Sage Emperor’s reign, he was somewhat more restrained and unable to act as he pleased. Moreover, he had the war of the southwest, the Battle of Talas, the raids from Ü-Tsang and the Western Turks, and the war of the northwest keeping him occupied, leaving him unable to deal with An Yaluoshan.
Now that Li Heng had taken the throne, Wang Chong no longer had such fears.
All levels of the court, even the imperial censors, had approved of Wang Chong, and there was no one left to suppress him.
The massive war machine of the Great Tang began to exert its full and terrifying strength for the first time.
Not long after Li Heng’s war declaration, Wang Chong began the empire’s first large-scale recruitment. He wished to recruit eight hundred thousand soldiers, even larger than the regular army.
Even so, the standards for recruitment did not drop. On the contrary, they were even harsher.
There were tens of millions of Tang, and in Wang Chong’s view, the number of outstanding soldiers had to be greater than six hundred thousand.
As Wang Chong issued his call, the realm came alive with countless Tang rushing to report for duty.
These eight hundred thousand new soldiers together with the six hundred thousand regular soldiers would add up to an army of one million, four hundred thousand soldiers.
In past dynasties, such large-scale recruitment would place an immense burden on the people and encounter fierce opposition from both within and without the court. It might even result in castigation from the people, with accusations of militarism and cruelty. The people might even rise up in rebellion.
But this time was different.
Not only did Wang Chong’s call not result in any denouncement, the people enthusiastically welcomed it. Even the imperial censors had few objectors, and those were drowned out by the cheers and cries of approval.
A war was clearly imminent, but it received such a positive reaction. Wang Chong was probably the only person in the history of the Central Plains who could accomplish this feat.
Any war led by Wang Chong had resulted in victory!
And in the last few wars, Wang Chong had brought back great wealth that had benefited all the people of the realm. This was the reason for this change in response.
Wang Chong was no longer just the War God of the Great Tang, but the supreme War God of the continent, the source of confidence for everyone in the realm.
“Wang Chong, we’ve already recruited three-hundred-thousand-some True Martial realm soldiers, and the number is continuing to climb. We still haven’t even counted the one hundred thousand soldiers offered by the great clans. If this continues, we might not have enough staff!
“In addition, we can also transfer soldiers from the reserves and the prefectural armies!”
Zhangchou Jianqiong sat in an armchair in the King of Foreign Lands Residence, sipping tea as he gave the report from the Bureau of Military Personnel.
Around him were Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian Wang Zhongsi, Tongluo Great General Abusi, Beacon General Jiang Yunrang, and numerous titled generals and critical figures from the Bureau of Military Personnel.
From the moment Wang Chong received the Emperor’s orders and was appointed as Supreme Marshal of the ‘invasion’ against Goguryeo, granting him control over all the soldiers of the empire, his personal residence started to become the center of the Great Tang.
Almost every important member of the military was present.
The response from the people was much more enthusiastic than anticipated. None of the generals had expected this, and they were all elated.
Wang Zhongsi finally spoke. “I don’t have any objections to the expansion of the Bureau of Military Personnel, but the military is not the martial arts world, where only one’s strength matters. Once we recruit these soldiers, what is most important is their training.”
Wang Chong turned to Beacon General Jiang Yunrang. “General Jiang, how is this being handled?”
Jiang Yunrang was no Great General, nor did he have any illustrious achievements. However, he was considered the most outstanding of the titled generals.
In truth, the fact that he could enter Taihe Palace and participate in court affairs was proof enough of Jiang Yunrang’s esteemed status.
“Your Highness, everything is taken care of. According to Your Highness’s previous orders, we have already transferred out thirty-thousand-some high-ranking officers of various ranks from various armies. A significant number of these officers have fought together with Your Highness or participated in other foreign wars.
“Once the recruitment is over, these officers will join the training and make sure that the new recruits are properly incorporated into the army,” Jiang Yunrang sternly said.
He was not as good in combat and campaigning compared to Wang Chong or Zhangchou Jianqiong, but when it came to managing and training an army, he was outstanding. This was one of the reasons Wang Chong had brought him in.
“Very good!”
Wang Chong gave a slight nod. There was no disputing Jiang Yunrang’s abilities. With him managing things and the assistance of thirty-thousand-some high-ranking officers, the recruits could probably be trained up into basic soldiers.
“Old Eagle,” Wang Chong suddenly said. “Order Li Siye and Su Hanshan to each select five thousand experienced officers and soldiers from their ranks to participate in the training of the recruits!”
“Yes, Your Highness!” Old Eagle respectfully replied.
“In addition, Lord Junior Guardian, is the forward base in the northeast ready yet?” Wang Chong said.
As major figures of the Bureau of Military Personnel, Zhangchou Jianqiong and Wang Zhongsi both had important roles to play.
Zhangchou Jianqiong was primarily focused on recruiting soldiers while Wang Zhongsi was in charge of setting up the forward base in the northeast.
According to Wang Chong’s plan, in order to ‘deal with Goguryeo’, the Great Tang was to set up a large forward base and armory that was located within the Hebei Circuit, nearly one thousand li from the Cang Province, Ying Province, and the Heng Province. All the weapons and provisions would be stored there first.
At the same time, to protect these weapons and provisions, the Great Tang had sent two hundred thousand soldiers to garrison the base.
Of course, all of this was only the explanation given to outsiders. Everyone in the know understood that this base was meant to deal with An Yaluoshan.