Love Affairs in Chang'an - Chapter 518
Chapter 518 A Personal Grudge, a Public Grudge?
When Ni Shuchuo received Qin Mubai’s letter, he was lying on the couch with the Turkic magicians treating his injuries. Although he had recovered from his injuries, Xue Rengui’s arrow had directly pierced through him and nailed him to the ground. On the surface, the injuries to his muscles and bones were fine, but this internal injury would probably follow him for the rest of his life. But every winter or summer festival, or emotions, may affect internal injuries, internal organs pain can not be like a bayonet cut.
In front of the marshal tent, a few military adepts circled around the brazier and prayed for victory. There were more than thirty generals standing at the left and right of Norland. Everyone looked at Ni Shuchuo nervously.
Ni Shuchuo opened the letter and opened it. Seeing that there were only a few words on it, “I’m here in Kansai, who dares to fight?”
Ni Shuchuo immediately flicked his body as if he had been electrocuted. His fingers suddenly clenched tightly and pulled the letter into a ball. Then, he shouted and fell to the ground.
“Marshal!” The crowd was shocked.
“Marshal, don’t get angry!!” The adept was scared out of his wits and hurriedly stroked Ni Shuchuo’s chest, filling him with medicinal soup.
Ni Shuchuo’s face was as white as white paper. Even his lips had lost their blood-colored teeth and he clenched his teeth tightly. His eyes were tightly shut and his entire body trembled.
“Marshal, take care!” The generals below were both shocked and worried. They did not dare to step forward and kneel down together.
Ni Shuchuo, once the Desert Eagle, the King of War, had dominated the Desert and Western Regions for twenty to thirty years without losing. Eighty percent of the credit for Norland’s current might rests with this meritorious veteran. Now, he was the pillar of Norland, the soul of the army. At this moment, if Ni Shuchuo fell, Norland would really be finished.
Ni Shuchuo wasn’t completely unconscious, but he had just been blocked by a mouthful of anger in his chest, causing him to feel dizzy. A moment later, he slowly regained his senses and spread out the War Book in his hand. He looked around the crowd and said in a low voice, “Qin Mubai’s War Book.”
“Marshal, our Gongyue City wall is tall and thick, with 200,000 buckled strings on it. Khan is still mobilizing troops in the tooth tent. We are strong enough to fight Qin Mubai!” The general shouted loudly.
Old Ni Shuchuo frowned deeply and shook his head, “How about Bow Moon City, compared to some other cities? Have you never heard of how Qin Mubai forced Gaer Qinling out of the city and fought to the death?”
The generals below suddenly woke up and remembered the rumors they had heard about Qin Mubai holding many ferocious firearms that were comparable to the power of the gods and buddhas. In the battles between the Great Tang and Tibet, such as the Heavenly Tomb Illusion Moon Valley, the surprise attack on Golmud, the flooding of Dafeichuan, and the burning of Luo City, there were figures of such firearms everywhere. In addition, it was said that he also had a mysterious personal troop, known as the “Fire God”. The weapons in their hands weren’t swords or spears, nor were they bows or arrows. Instead, they were firearms that shot iron bullets. The fireball fired by the firearm, let alone its physical body, could not even be blocked by an iron armor.
Apart from that, Guanxi Army’s combat strength was originally formidable. Others did not know that the Turks had personally tried it. Xue Rengui and Su Dingfang had already taught them a lesson.
…
The atmosphere in the handsome tent instantly became incomparably oppressive, and there was a faint trace of panic spreading out.
Facing Guanxi Army, who was so powerful that he could not be defeated, Ni Shuchuo, the famous battle veteran, felt helpless from the bottom of his heart.
“Who dares to fight! What an arrogant young man!” Ni Shuchuo sighed and frowned even more tightly. He shook his head helplessly again, “But he does have the ability to be arrogant!”
As soon as Ni Shuchuo said those words, the confidence and fantasies that remained in the hearts of the generals below were completely shattered as if they were bubbles in the blazing sun!
“Marshal, what should we do now?” The generals asked helplessly.
Ni Shuchuo didn’t say anything and stared at the battle book in a daze.
“How about …” Someone was squeaking.
“How about it?”
“How about … we surrender?”
“Horn!!”
The person who said this was punched by a general beside him and fell to the ground.
The two generals immediately started to fight, causing everyone to be in a mess. Ni Shuchuo narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice, “I’m not dead yet!”
The crowd immediately became solemn, and the two people who were fighting immediately separated. Although they were still angry, they did not dare to say anything else.
“Since Qin Mubai has personally come to the Western Regions, it proves that the Tang Empire’s hegemony over the Western Regions is inevitable.” Ni Shuchuo’s sickly voice was also very weak as he said, “Guanxi Army has just defeated Gaer Qinling to conquer Tibet, shaking the morale of the world like a rainbow.” Our failure to take advantage of their period of recuperation to conquer the Southern Court and dominate the Western Regions means that we have missed a good opportunity. “I only hate Su Dingfang and Hu Luwu. If it weren’t for these two messing up the situation, the Western Regions would already be in my possession!”
Everyone was speechless.
Ni Shuchuo gritted his teeth and covered his chest with his hand. He said with a painful expression, “I’m old. I’m really old.” When the Tianshan Mountain falls, this old man was broken by Xue Rengui’s Undefeatable Body Gold. From then on, I had nightmares day and night. Su Dingfang finally managed to recover his strength, and he waved it again. This time, Nanting was already within his grasp, and Rengui Xue had appeared again. In fact, no matter how powerful Xue Rengui and Su Dingfang were, they didn’t matter. They could only fight for the victory or defeat of a battle, winning or losing for a time. But now, Qin Mubai came. He was the true feudal official, holding the military power of Tang Country and carrying out the policy of remote country. His appearance meant that the Tang Kingdom had officially begun to set foot in the Western Regions. Earlier, when Qin Shubao came, there were only twenty thousand troops, and only Gao Chang was there. “Now … Su Dingfang has laid some foundations first, and then Qin Mubai personally led the 200,000 main troops here. That’s something that he is determined to obtain!”
Hearing this, the crowd became even more stuck in their hearts, and many people could no longer breathe.
‘”If we really want to fight” Ni Shuchuo struggled to stand up with his hands on the couch and shook his head. “I’ve never felt so weak in my entire life. If we really want to fight, our chances of winning will probably be less than 10%.”
When the Commander-in-Chief said these words before the battle, it undoubtedly meant that the army’s spirit had fallen. Actually, it was not that Ni Shuchuo insisted on increasing the ambition of others and destroying his own prestige. Everyone wanted to say these words, but no one dared to say them except him.
How else could they fight this battle?
In fact, only he knew the helplessness in Ni Shuchuo’s heart. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have fainted from anger after seeing the words “who dares to fight”. At that time, his heart was filled with grief, indignation, helplessness, frustration and despair.
It’s not that Ni Shuchuo doesn’t want or dare to fight Guanxi Army. Two days ago, the scene of the 200,000 troops of Norland collapsing without a fight had already broken his heart and left his bones cold.
It was like chasing a bunch of rabbits, how could they defeat a ferocious tiger wolf?
At this moment, a general who was very close to Ni Shuchuo reminded him in a low voice, “If Marshal says this, it will undoubtedly destroy the last bit of morale of our army … Could Marshal also agree to surrender? If this were to be sent back to the dental tent to let Khan know …”
Ni Shuchuo actually smiled and waved his hand weakly with his eyes closed. “There are always some people who have to bear the responsibility and pay the price for the war.” Just like in the past, when we wiped out any tribe, we would bring back a few haired heads as spoils of war. It was time for the dispute between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks to come to an end. Strength is right in front of us. We are indeed no match for Tang Dynasty now. If we fight, the last bit of our Turkic primordial energy will be completely lost, and we will be in danger of exterminating our race. If there is peace, we can still preserve the Turkic race and strength in the hope of reviving in the future-I killed Qin Shubao, and most of the reason why Qin Mubai wanted to destroy Norland is because of the enmity of killing his father. I will personally surrender in front of him and let him handle it. “As long as Norland can retain its vitality, why would Ni Shuchuo, who is already half-buried, have to die?”
“Marshal, no!” The generals panicked and knelt down to plead.
“I’ve decided!” Ni Shuchuo’s eyes lit up and he said in a deep voice, “Go invite the messenger from Guanxi Army to deliver a message to Qin Mubai for me. Tell him … Ni Shuchuo, surrender!”
When the messenger in the army replied, Qin Mubai, Nanting Khan, Bo Bu, and the others were sitting in the king’s tent having a feast.
In any case, the army had already been prepared and was only waiting for the battle. Qin Mubai did not care and casually asked the messenger Ni Shuchuo if he could give an answer. The messenger said that Ni Shuchuo was willing to surrender.
“Surrender?” Many people cried out in surprise. This was clearly beyond the expectations of most people.
“Ni Shuchuo is the strongest owl in the desert. He has never bowed his head to anyone in his life. This time …” Bo Bu was also shocked.
There were also several generals who said whether Ni Shuchuo was cheating, whether this was a delay, and so on.
Qin Mubai pondered for a moment and asked the messenger, Ni Shuchuo, how he intended to surrender.
The messenger replied, “Ni Shuchuo is going to personally come to our camp to offer his surrender in three days.”
“Is there no other explanation for this?” Qin Mubai knitted his brows. “Metaphorically speaking, the army withdrew from Bow Moon City and wiped out the weapons?”
“No.” The messenger shook his head.
“Then what kind of surrender did he throw!” Qin Mubai shouted and slapped the wine table, scaring everyone present.
Everyone could clearly hear the uncontrollable rage in his heart from his slapping and shouting.
After all-Father’s enmity, sworn enmity!
“Go back to Bow Moon City and convey my words to Ni Shuchuo–” Qin Mubai said with his eyebrows raised. “Surrender.” But there are three conditions. First, Ni Shuchuo and all the generals in his hands were bound to our army to offer their surrender. Secondly, hand over all the supplies and ordnance in his army, escort them to our army with Ni Shuchuo, and hand them over to our army for safekeeping and distribution; Thirdly, all the Norland troops were withdrawn from Bow Moon City, leaving no one behind. They were lined up at 20 villages fifteen kilometers outside the city. I will not allow any one of them to have even a small knife to cut flesh–all three of them unless he agrees and does. Otherwise, you’ll be waiting to fight to the death with me! ”
“Yes!” The messenger was also a bold man, otherwise Qin Mubai wouldn’t have sent him out to the enemy. Immediately, he shouted loudly and ran away after receiving Nuo.
Everyone was silent.
Xue Rengui, Yuwen Hongtai, and the others, who were familiar with Qin Mubai, all felt that Qin Mubai’s actions today were somewhat unusual. In the past, Qin Mubai’s diplomacy and methods of dealing with enemies had always been flexible and forceful. Killing people without spitting out their bones with soft knives was his specialty, and he rarely used pure force to force the other party to surrender. Back then, when he was at Yumen Pass, he had already devoured the Tubo, Huihe, Gaochang, and other countries’ 100,000 troops with just twenty to thirty thousand troops, which was the best example of this.
But today, Qin Mubai seemed to be determined to completely annihilate Ni Shuchuo’s 200,000 men. For this reason, he did not hesitate to pay any price and immediately rejected any possibility of making peace.
Seeing that everyone’s expressions were different, Qin Mubai relaxed and smiled. “Don’t be nervous, let’s continue the banquet.”
The atmosphere finally calmed down a little.
Bo Bu hurriedly toasted to the Tang army generals and asked Qin Mubai, “Young Marshal Qin seems to hate Ni Shuchuo very much?”
Qin Mubai smiled and said, “I know what Khan wants to say. That’s right, my father died at Ni Shuchuo’s hands. I don’t know how much I wanted to file his bones. But my father’s last words told me that there is no selfless vengeance on the battlefield. He told me not to take him for granted and to take care of the affairs of the Western Regions with a public heart.”
“Your Excellency’s breadth of mind … is indeed extraordinarily broad.” Bo Bu sighed softly and said, “He probably expected that one day you would set foot in the Western Regions to avenge him. Therefore, he wanted to remind you to be careful with this person, Ni Shuchuo.”
Qin Mubai smiled and said, “Khan is actually trying to remind me not to kill Ni Shuchuo, right?”
“Haha, Young Marshal Qin is wise, then I won’t go around in circles.” Bo Bu said with a smile, “Indeed, Ni Shuchuo is the enemy that my country hates, and also the enemy that killed Young Marshal Qin’s father.” But if I catch him, I won’t kill him. This is because he possesses tremendous prestige and influence among our Turkic people, including our Nanting Turks, and even the entire Western Regions. It was no exaggeration to say that if anyone could defeat Ni Shuchuo, then he would be invincible in the Western Regions. Now that Ni Shuchuo has volunteered to surrender, to be honest, I am quite surprised. Letting him surrender was even more precious than defeating him directly. Why didn’t Young Marshal Qin use this opportunity to establish kindness and prestige in the Western Regions and buy people’s hearts at the same time? If you do that, at least all Turks will respect you in the future. In the Western Regions, our Turkic forces are the largest. This will undoubtedly bring considerable convenience for Major Marshal to conquer the entire Western Regions in the future! ”
“What Khan said is true.” Qin Mubai smiled and nodded, “But Khan, you’re overthinking it …”
“Major Marshal means …”
Qin Mubai drank a glass of wine and punctured it heavily on the table-“I never thought of killing Ni Shuchuo!”
Everyone was shocked when he said this.
Yuwen Hongtai immediately jumped up, “Third Brother, the one to be killed in this world is Ni Shuchuo. Why didn’t you kill him again?!”
“Shut up!!!” Qin Mubai shouted and Yuwen Hongtai suppressed himself and sat down, his face flushed red.
“We’ll know when the messenger answers.” Qin Mubai heaved a sigh of relief and knitted her brows.