Chapter 1255 – Cannot Afford to Lose

7th month, 25th day, Great Xia released a series of general appointments.

Northwest warzone commander great general Li Jing would step down from his position as Bear legion corps marshal. The position would be taken up by Hedong legion corps marshal Zuo Zongtang. Great Tang general Hou Junji would take over as marshal of the Hedong legion corps.

The war of Tibet that was about to begin would be led by the northwest warzone. To reduce the burden on Li Jing and to allow him to focus on this war, the Imperial Court decided to release him from his role as Bear legion corps marshal.

Warzone commanders not being legion corps marshals was necessary.

Zuo Zongtang was familiar with the west and was also a top general. Furthermore, he was good at firearms. All things considered, he was good enough to be the Bear legion corps marshal and stood out from the rest.

Great Xia had an unwritten rule that if the role of marshal of a Warfighting legion corps was empty due to normal circumstances, the new marshal would most likely be chosen from the Border Defense legion legion corps marshals. Unless the new general was really exceptional and could not be replaced, he or she would first be placed in a Border Defense legion corps like the current Hedong Legion corps marshal Hou Junji.

Hou Junji was a famous Tang Dynasty general, official, and minister of the military department.

He did not learn much early on but was known for being courageous and valiant. He joined the Qin king manor to fight alongside Li Shiming, earning a lot of merit. He gradually gained Li Shiming’s recognition. He started the Xuanwu gate incident along with Yuchi Gong.

After Tang was unified, his position got higher and higher, and he started to learn and participate in the selection for talents. He learned from Li Jing about the art of war but reported him for showing signs of wanting to rebel.

During the years of Zuoguan, he following Li Jing to attack the Turkish Khanate, and then he led an army to destroy Gaochang.

After gathering a lot of merit, Hou Junji started to become really arrogant. He was sent to jail because he kept treasures obtained from destroying Gaochang. After he was released, he became filled with vengeance and persuaded general Zhang Liang and crown prince Li Chenggan to rebel.

In the 17th year of Zuoguan, Huo Junji was executed because he was implicated in crown prince Li Chenggan’s plot to rebel.

Evidently, Huo Junji had the ability to lead troops to war. However, his personality was flawed, and he was not morally upright.

Ouyang Shuo could only hope that with the lesson from history, this person would be more careful and humble.

…

In middle of the 8th month, Great Xia’s unusual actions were finally noticed by the Ashoka Dynasty.

As an NPC dynasty, swallowing Tibet was Ashoka’s first time interfering in outside battlefields. At that time, he used Tibetan civilians to build up a Chinese intel organization to infiltrate Great Xia.

One could see how new and inexperienced this intel organization was.

Moreover, since the Shanhai Guards were focused on them, they basically could not do much in China. A Great Xia grain transport operation on such a great scale took the Ashoka Dynasty spies close to a month to find out, truly a massive failure.

At this point, Great Xia’s first batch of grain was already in position. This also meant that Great Xia had met the conditions to start war because the subsequent grain and resources could be transported as the war went on.

India Region, Ashoka Dynasty, New Delhi.

Ashoka was the 3rd generation ruler of the ancient Magadha Country. He ruled during the most prosperous period of Indian history, and he was the most extraordinary king in India history. If it were not for a lack of people to compare him to, his position in India would basically be like Qin Shihuang and the Hanwu Emperor.

At 18 years of age, Ashoka was appointed as the Avanti Province Governor.

Bindusara’s death in 272 BCE led to a war over succession. According to the Divyavadana, Bindusara wanted his elder son Susima to succeed him, but Ashoka was supported by his father’s ministers, who found Susima to be arrogant and disrespectful toward them.

Legends had it that Ashoka plotted and killed close to 99 brothers and sisters before obtaining victory in the end. In 269 BC, he officially ascended.

During his early years, he loved to kill and fight and unified the entire South Asia and a portion of modern-day Afghanistan. In his later years, he started to believe in Buddhism and put down his butcher knife as a result.

The Ashoka that appeared in the wilderness was just over 40, having both the intelligence of his later years and the killing intent of his early years. He was an emperor that one had to pay a lot of respect to.

As such, it was no wonder that prideful people like the Peacock king and the Gupta king showed so much respect toward him.

Such an Ashoka naturally did not know how to retreat without fighting.

Hence, upon learning that Great Xia was actively preparing for war, Ashoka did not hesitate and directly gave the order to mobilize the troops to defend the Tibet that they had just taken down.

One must know that the moment he took down Tibet and stepped on Chinese land, his prestige in India had risen to an all new high. Even the active Peacock and Gupta dynasties were not as eye-catching as him.

This was because this was something that the two dynasties wanted to do but had not managed to accomplish.

This alone meant that Ashoka would stop at nothing to defend this rare honor. If not, what would be the meaning of him reappearing in the wilderness?

After this order was handed down, another 500 thousand guards gathered toward the Tibet border.

Along with the one million troops that were already there as well as the 300 thousand Tibet troops that were swallowed up, Ashoka had a total of 1.8 million troops in Tibet.

With such an army, Ashoka even felt confident about turning defense into attack; he felt that they could attack the Shu Lands Province of Great Xia.

After all, based on the intel from the spies, Great Xia was just transporting resources to the front and had not shown signs of mobilizing troops. The grain transporting news that they found out was limited to the Shu Lands.

The intel ability of the two sides were not even on the same level.

Compared to the spies of the Ashoka Dynasty that were lagging behind, the Black Snake Guards active in India were amazing. Moments after Ashoka gave the order, the spies found out and informed the Imperial Court.

…

8th month, 18th day, imperial capital.

Secret Document Pavilion advisor Juedai Fenghua was dressed in black clothing, appearing very stable and hardworking. She purposely tried to cover her extraordinary looks as she held onto the intel from the Black Snake Guards and sent it to the Imperial Reading Room table.

After taking charge of intelligence as soon as she entered the Secret Document Pavilion, Juedai Fenghua had acted in a really low-profile manner.

She knew that although the decorations of the Xia Palace were similar to Great Zhou’s palace, the two were on entirely different levels. This palace was not only the center of Great Xia but also the center of the world.

Many people focused on every action in there.

There was no way Ouyang Shuo could trust her the way Di Chen trusted her. All she could do was to let her actions speak, and she did not dare do make any high-profile actions, much less wear eye-catching dresses in case she was accused of trying to seduce the emperor.

Time will tell one’s true heart.

Ouyang Shuo naturally did not bother about what she was thinking about and directly accepted the intel file. As the preparation for the war of Tibet made use of a lot of labor and funds, Ouyang Shuo was facing a lot of pressure from the Imperial Court and the civilians.

Although no one dared to stand out to oppose him outright, if they faced defeat in this war, Ouyang Shuo’s authority and prestige in the wilderness would be affected.

If one followed history, Jia Xu who started this would be sacked and become the scapegoat.

Hence, they had to win this war and could not afford to lose.

Looking at the report, Ouyang Shuo smiled in relief. He was worried that Ashoka would not dare to fight. If that happened, just killing the million Ashoka Dynasty troops would be far from reaching their intended goal.

Ashoka did not disappoint Ouyang Shuo.

“Pass this intel to the Grand Council, Privy Court, and the northwest and southwest warzones; tell them that they can begin.” Ouyang Shuo placed down the intel and instructed as such.

“Yes, emperor!”

Juedai Fenghua nodded. Her heart could not help but be filled by emotions. Compared to Di Chen, who was either always anxious or panicky, Ouyang Shuo made difficult decisions like it meant nothing at all.

There was no way to learn to have such a demeanor.