Chapter 2262: Resolving the Cold Wave!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Confucian Sect Leader Li Junxian was momentarily dazzled.
At this moment, he felt an extraordinarily complicated mixture of emotions.
He suddenly understood Wang Chong, understood this King of Foreign Lands whom he had once fought to the death with!
“A harmonious world…” Li Junxian’s lips muttered as he looked up at the sky.
In the militarist-Confucian conflict, he and Wang Chong had been at odds with each other, the factions getting along like fire and water. Their strife had even almost thrown the entire realm into disarray.
But what the Confucian Sect had worked toward for several thousand years and multiple generations, which they had sacrificed countless lives for yet failed to achieve, had been brought about under the hands of a militarist leader.
Gaining peace through war!
Gaining war through peace!
How ridiculous was this?!
But none of this was important, because a Harmonious World was really about to descend!
All of the countries would fuse together, all the people would work for a common cause, and all war would cease!
Was this not the world the Confucian Sect had always dreamed about and anticipated?
Li Junxian felt all sorts of emotions.
The young man standing in front of him possessed a mind for strategy, vision, leadership ability, and aspirations that few people could match.
This was perhaps the mightiest existence in the history of the continent!
On the other end, the Tibetan generals, including Namri Songtian, were all overcome with gratitude.
“Thank you, Your Highness!”
“Ü-Tsang is willing to serve Your Highness, is willing to serve the Great Tang!”
All of them instantly prostrated.
For these numerous generals and Tibetan people, Dalon Trinling was a supreme existence. By showing mercy to Dalon Trinling, Wang Chong had essentially made the entire Ü-Tsang Empire owe him and the Great Tang a favor.
Perhaps he really can fulfill that prophecy.
As he looked at the energetic youth before him, Dalon Trinling thought back to that prophecy that the Great Snow Mountain Holy Temple had passed down from ancient times.
Whoosh! In the middle of the conversation, a large snow eagle penetrated through the snowstorm.
Taken aback, Young Master Qingyang instinctively reached out his hand to receive the eagle. Upon opening the letter, he trembled in shock.
“Your Highness, Generals Gao and An have sent word from Arabia.”
With the letter, Young Master Qingyang swiftly stepped forward.
“They’ve successfully defeated Fulin, which was invading from the west. By using the effects of the cold wave, the two generals were able to successfully subdue the entire Fulin army.
“The King of Fulin has formally surrendered and joined the Great Tang.”
The Tibetan generals and Dalon Trinling trembled in shock as they stared at Wang Chong.
Young Master Qingyang also looked up at Wang Chong.
“Haha, okay!”
Wang Chong’s eyes brightened in joy.
He had previously written a letter asking Gao Xianzhi and An Sishun how things were going in Arabia. If needed, he could reinforce them at any time.
But to his surprise, they had already overcome their foe and pacified all the rebellions within the Arabian Empire.
After all these wars, there was truly no one left on the continent that could contend against the Great Tang.
“Haha, Imperial Minister!”
With joy in his heart, Wang Chong turned to Dalon Trinling.
“There is no need to thank me just yet. The death penalty can be put off, but suffering in life is difficult to avoid. The damage Ü-Tsang inflicted on the Great Tang in this invasion cannot be wiped away with a few words.
“You should know my habits, yes? The Great Tang is not in the business of running losses. I know that Ü-Tsang is not as prosperous as Arabia, but that is fine. I have already thought of a way for you to repay me. All of the debts will be paid in the future.”
Dalon Trinling knew what Wang Chong was referring to.
With each victory, the Great Tang was certain to demand compensation from the countries it had fought with.
But this time, Dalon Trinling merely smiled and hardly seemed concerned, not even asking how much Wang Chong was asking for in compensation.
“Everything is as Your Highness says.”
Dalon Trinling bowed.
Matters in the northwest came to a close, and with the news of Gao Xianzhi and An Sishun’s victory in Arabia arriving in the capital, the people of the Central Plains celebrated once more.
At the same time, at the Andong Protectorate headquarters in Youzhou…
Under Wang Chong’s command, the joint supervision of Zhangchou Jianqiong, Wang Zhongsi, Zhang Shougui, and the other high-level commanders, and the cooperation of Yeon Gaesomun and the other sovereigns, Youzhou had become peaceful and harmonious.
The various armies were showing signs of melding together! This was a nascent form of the future unification of the world.
But Wang Chong’s mind was entirely elsewhere.
In the Andong Protectorate headquarters, Wang Chong had spread out a map on the metal fretwork desk that both Zhang Shougui and An Lushan had once used.
Behind him stood Bahram, Zhangchou Jianqiong, Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian Wang Zhongsi, Zhang Que, Old Eagle, Xue Qianjun, Zhao Fengchen, Ozmish Khagan, and Yeon Gaesomun.
All of them were focused on the map.
They were all people who normally kept their emotions to themselves, but not even they could hide the sliver of curiosity in their eyes.
Amidst the mountains, they had no way of seeing the entirety of the mountain for themselves. Despite being powerhouses or sovereigns of the continent, they had little idea what the entire world looked like.
Wang Chong’s map was probably the most complete map of the continent.
Not only did it contain the countries of the east and west, it even contained the lands of the extreme north.
Before the cold wave’s eruption, Wang Chong had sent several thousand elites under Xue Qianjun to travel through the Western Turkic steppe and enter the lands of the north.
This operation was not purely to observe the activity of the cold wave, but also to chart out the regions of the extreme north.
This was what allowed him to have such a complete map.
“Your Highness, is this the world that we’re in? Isn’t the continent bigger than the ocean? How is it that the continent we live on is not even half the size of the ocean?” Eastern Turkic Great General Tiechi Bileli couldn’t help but ask as he frowned.
The heavens were round and the earth was square!
The part of the world where humans lived was the true center of the world and was far larger than the ocean. This was how people understood the world to be.
But the map Wang Chong had drafted had completely overturned their understanding.
Wang Chong smiled. Even someone as strong as Tiechi Bileli had a very weak understanding of the world, like a small child of the world that Wang Chong had originally come from.
Moreover, while the Eastern Turkic steppe was vast, in the end, it was an inland country where it was difficult to see the shore. Tiechi Bileli couldn’t be blamed for his lack of experience.
Tiechi Bileli didn’t seem very concerned. At this time, he and all the Eastern Turkic generals shared the same thought.
Wang Chong’s map had opened up a new world to them.
The ocean was this vast?
There was land on the other side of the ocean?
Could it be used as pasture?
Many ideas appeared in their minds.
Ozmish Khagan remained silent in order to retain his dignity as a sovereign, but his face said everything. Just like with Tiechi Bileli, this map of the world had been a major shock to him.
“This world is far larger than you’ve imagined. Once you take a boat and leave the continent, you’ll understand.”
Wang Chong slightly nodded, but he didn’t linger long on this point.
“But this is not the topic of our discussion today.”
Wang Chong refocused the conversation, pointing at a red flag positioned on the northern extremes of the map.
This small action instantly drew everyone’s attention.
“The war is over, and I’m sure everyone has realized that the cold wave is showing no signs of stopping. On the contrary, the weather is only getting colder.
“If the weather doesn’t start to warm back up, not only will the other countries be unable to pasture their herds on the steppe, we Tang won’t be able to grow any crops.
“If we can’t pass through this winter, everything we have discussed will be meaningless.”
Everyone instantly turned grave.
The Great Ice Age!
They had learned of this term for this weather phenomenon from Wang Chong.
The world had frozen over, and even though they had all entered the relatively mild climate of Youzhou, all of them understood that their circumstances were not optimistic.
Though Wang Chong had brought a great deal of food into Youzhou from the Great Tang that had temporarily staved off starvation, this did not mean that they would be safe so long as they remained here.
Youzhou’s food was limited. Wang Chong had only calculated the amount of food needed to fight this war, and it had only been enough to supply the Great Tang’s million-man army.
Now that the alliance had come in with so many people, it meant that the supplies would run out early.
“This is a natural weather phenomenon. Humans have no way of affecting it,” Ozmish Khagan said after some hesitation.
Who wouldn’t want to get rid of this cold wave if they could? But it covered such a vast area, wreaking havoc across the entire continent. The strength of humanity was pitifully puny in comparison.
Even the strongest armies and strongest countries were helpless in the face of this extreme weather.
“Not necessarily! This is truly extreme weather, but it is not necessarily natural. Is it not strange for a cold wave that would only happen once in several thousand years to appear now?” Wang Chong said with a smile.
Everyone exchanged pensive glances.