Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 5346 Why Fight a War
The thunderbolts exploded upon landing, and the shrapnel that flew everywhere struck the enemy soldiers and horses, but was blocked by their bronze armor, creating a clanging sound. Apart from a few unlucky ones who were hit in the weakest parts of their armor, very few were injured.

Adad was overjoyed. His estimation was indeed correct. Although the Tang army's firearms were powerful, they could not penetrate heavy armor!
However, before the joy in his heart could dissipate, a scene that horrified him occurred.

The Thunderclap Bomb used shrapnel to kill the enemy. Although the shrapnel could not penetrate the bronze armor, the flash and smoke from the explosion caused the warhorses to panic. Many warhorses, startled, suddenly slowed down, reared up, and let out panicked neighs. Some warhorses even turned suddenly in panic, collided with their companions, and fell over. The soldiers behind them could not get out of the way in time, and their horses were tripped, breaking their legs and tendons...

The once neat and orderly charging formation instantly fell into chaos.

The second and third waves of thunderclaps followed one after another. When they exploded, flames and smoke filled the air, plunging the entire Imperial Guard camp into chaos.

Adad, who was nearly thrown off his warhorse, was furious. He saw that he was only a dozen feet away from the Tang army's position. If he rushed over, he could unleash a massacre and annihilate them. However, that dozen feet seemed like an insurmountable chasm.

Looking around, men and horses were scattered and overturned. The soldiers still had the strength to fight, but most of the warhorses had been lost.

The entire Imperial Guard camp was disoriented and in complete chaos, and the Tang army seized the opportunity to launch a surprise attack. It was neither a one-man charge nor a neat formation, but rather three people in a group, working together. Some used lances to stab soldiers from a distance, while others used swords to slash horses' legs at close range.

Adad was the first to be affected.

This time, the Tang soldiers learned from their experience and instead of fighting to kill the enemy's commander, they surrounded him in two groups of six men each. They cut off the horse's legs and waited for Adad to fall to the ground before rushing forward to capture him alive.

This guy could probably fetch a good price...

The remaining Imperial Guards were routed.

The heavy bronze armor provided excellent defense, but it also made it difficult for soldiers to move and less flexible. The Tang soldiers worked in groups of three, coordinating perfectly and slaughtering indiscriminately like dogs and sheep.

Even the most elite army is no different from pigs and dogs once its morale wavers and its fighting spirit collapses.

The Assyrian royal guard was routed and, without caring whether Adad had been captured or killed in battle, abandoned their weapons and horses and fled westward.

Even though these soldiers were slow to move because they were wearing heavy bronze armor, the Tang army let them go without pursuing them.

Wang Xiaojie grabbed a prisoner, ordered his personal guards to hold him down, and swung his sword to cut off one of his fingers. Then, pointing at Adad, he asked in Arabic, "Who is this man?"

The prisoner was in so much pain that he was sweating profusely, but he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and remained silent.

"Ok?"

Wang Xiaojie was immediately curious. It was obvious that this guy was no ordinary person, otherwise the prisoner wouldn't have reacted this way.

He chopped off another finger and demanded sternly, "Will you talk or not?"

The prisoner's face was contorted, but he stubbornly refused to utter a sound.

Wang Xiaojie laughed heartily, saying he had the most experience dealing with this kind of "tough guy".

"Pull down his pants, grab his penis, and I'll castrate him!"

"Here!"

"Wow, this guy's got quite a big bird!"

"Quick, grab him!"

"Why don't you pluck it? It's filthy!"

"Take a rope, tie a knot, and put it on, like you would a snare a wild rabbit..."

"This is good!"

The prisoner was terrified and struggled desperately.

Although he couldn't understand what these Tang people were saying, the sight of them pulling down his pants, pointing at his genitals, bringing out a rope, and then seeing the Tang general waving a knife in front of him... this kind of fear was far more intense than having his fingers chopped off!

Because of Adad's status, he dared not speak, so even though he was terrified, he tried to hold on. But when these guys held down his limbs, tied a rope around his penis, and pulled hard, as if killing a turtle...

He finally couldn't hold on any longer.

"I said! I said!"

Others couldn't understand the Arabic language, but Wang Xiaojie could.

He sneered as he placed the knife on the sparrow; with just a slight effort, the sharp blade would slice it off. "Think carefully before you speak. If you lie to me, you know what will happen."

The prisoner cried out in terror, "He is Adad, the eldest son of Chief Denilari! The general you killed earlier was the chief's youngest son, Salma!"

"Is this Chief Denilari the lord of Mosul?"

"Yes."

"Are you Assyrians?"

"Yes."

"How many troops do you have in your city?"

"All troops combined, around ten thousand... Waaah! Have mercy! Take the knife away, it's going to break!"

The prisoners, who had been open and honest, were now screaming and begging for mercy in terror.

Wang Xiaojie looked down and realized that he had inadvertently lowered his wrist, causing the blade to cut the sparrow's skin and draw some blood...

He raised the knife slightly and said to the prisoner, "Go back to the city now and tell your chief that if he wants the life of one of his sons and the corpse of the other, he should stay in the city and not come out. Also, prepare... 10,000 gold coins, which can ransom both of his sons. We will leave immediately."

The prisoner was taken aback: "Didn't you come here to attack Mosul?"

Wang Xiaojie shook his head: "We are merely passing through, but if your chieftain is ungrateful, when our army arrives, we might as well conquer your city, kill all the men, enslave all the women, loot all the money, and burn all the houses!"

He pointed to the watchtower on the opposite bank of the river: "I heard that it used to be a big city over there, but it was razed to the ground because of the war. You don't want Mosul to become a ruin like that, do you?"

"I definitely don't want to!"

"Then hurry back, and don't say a single wrong word."

"Pants……"

"Go back naked like this, or if you dawdle any longer I'll send someone else!"

"Ugh!"

The prisoner, disregarding his shame, took off running as fast as he could...

One of the soldiers asked in surprise, "Are we really just passing through and not going to attack this city?"

Wang Xiaojie picked up his water pouch, took a sip, and first had the chieftain's eldest son tied up securely before saying, "How could we not fight? It's just a matter of fooling the enemy; perhaps they'll believe it? Mosul is the largest city in northern Mesopotamia. Beyond this city, across the Fris River, heading southwest, lies the Syrian steppe. And at the southern end of the Syrian steppe is Damascus, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate... Once we capture this city, and wait for our navy to conquer Ctesiphon, our combined land and sea forces, one in the south and one in the north, will not only intimidate the entire Mesopotamia but also point their spearhead directly at Damascus. How could the Caliph sit idly by? He will surely come to us for negotiations."

"But we've gone through so much trouble to get to the heart of the enemy's territory, why should we negotiate with them? Let's just march straight to Damascus, kill that Caliph, destroy the Abbasid Caliphate, and annex this vast territory into the Tang Dynasty. We can all conquer the country, achieve great deeds, and make a name for ourselves! Wouldn't that be wonderful!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers' comrades nearby became excited.

"That's right! If we could achieve such merit, we would at least be promoted to the ninth rank of merit, right? General, you might be promoted three ranks and becoming a viscount wouldn't be a problem!"

Wang Xiaojie threw the water pouch aside, stood up, and started punching and kicking the group of guys who were spouting nonsense, yelling, "Shut up! How dare you few question the Grand Commandant's strategy? Have you forgotten military discipline? If you want to die, just say so, and I'll grant your wish!"

The soldiers were in a sorry state and begged for mercy repeatedly.

Seeing Wang Xiaojie sitting down to catch his breath after fighting, the soldiers crowded around him, each with a shameless grin: "We're just lowly soldiers, how would we know anything about strategic stuff? But we can all read now, General, if you explain it to us, maybe we'll understand?"

"That's right! Although we'll be fearless in the face of fire and water at a single command, if we knew how to fight this battle and why we were fighting, even dying would be a less painful experience!"

Wang Xiaojie sat there scratching his head, trying to organize his thoughts. After a while, he gave an embarrassed smile: "To be honest, I don't really understand either! I only know that our Great Tang Dynasty is currently going through a very crucial period, requiring a long-term stable and prosperous environment to nurture some changes... You just need to know that as long as these changes succeed, your children will all have access to education, and those who do well can become officials. If they get sick, they'll have money to see a doctor, the elderly will be supported, and the young will be cared for. The world of Great Harmony will not be far away..."

After a pause, seeing the soldiers around him looking on with eager eyes and longing expressions, Wang Xiaojie straightened his back and said loudly, "But there are always some bastards who won't let us live in peace! Let's not talk about those barbarian tribes and small countries; they can't cause any trouble. But the Abbasid Caliphate is different! It is the only country in the world that can rival our Great Tang Dynasty, and it is greedy and constantly waging war, repeatedly causing us trouble!"

"So even if it's a long and arduous expedition, even if it results in countless casualties, we must fight this battle!"

"But the Abbasid Caliphate is too large and too far from the Tang Dynasty. It's impossible for us to occupy all of its territory. Even if we did, we would be plunged into endless turmoil and war, which would require huge military expenditures and constant bloodshed and sacrifice from soldiers like us, ultimately dragging the country down..."

"Why bother? As long as the enemy knows that we can attack their capital at any time, they will have to sit down and negotiate with us! We will have time for peaceful development. When the country is transformed and stands tall among the world, we can fight however we want, whenever we want!"

The soldiers were very excited. They had only known how to fight before, but they didn't know why they were fighting. They were not afraid of dying, but they were afraid of dying in a meaningless and worthless way.

Now we know that the war was fought for the development of the country, and that the development of the country will benefit everyone, and their descendants will be prosperous and happy for generations to come.

that's enough.

"The enemy is coming!"