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Chapter 161:
Chapter 161:
Chapter 161:
Four pairs of eyes locked in a stare. Seated atop White Dragon, Su Lis lips curled into a grin. The cold wind on the plateau was biting, and the copper faceplate over his face felt especially frigid. He had discarded the faceplate before the battle. His face was now smeared with blood, and his smile revealed rows of shiny white teeth. Witnessing this smile, Songtsan Gampo felt an unprecedented chill run down his spine.
Form up! Songtsan Gampo shouted, but his voice quivered uncontrollably, unable to hide his fear. The personal guards he had trained in Central Plains tactics didnt hesitate, rushing to his side. Su Li gently pulled on the reins.
After all the killing, all the way to this point, the Tibetan soldiers surrounding Su Li had been terrified. Though they were densely packed around him, there wasnt a single soul within a four-meter radius of him. Despite being amid a sea of soldiers, he and his horse seemed to be taking a stroll. White Dragons front hooves restlessly kicked at the ground, sending up a mix of mud and blood. Su Li lowered his body slightly and gently squeezed his legs, and White Dragon let out a resounding roar that sounded more like the cry of a dragon than a horse. They accelerated, continuously charging forward. Regardless of how many Tibetan soldiers stood in their way, White Dragon charged forward, undeterred. Countless weapons struck its armored body, producing muffled thuds. Then, those weapons owners were torn apart by the cold gleam of Su Lis battle halberd.
The man and the horse had turned into a massive meat grinder. Where they passed, the sky was painted a deep, bloody red. Crossing this mere hundred-step distance, the ground behind them had transformed into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Finally, Su Li broke through the last resistance of the Tibetan soldiers. Between him and Songtsan Gampo stood only a few hundred personal guards. However, these men were no different from ordinary soldiers to Su Li. With his battle halberd swinging, each of Songtsan Gampos guards was instantly dismembered.
Su Lis bloodlust surged as he charged through the crowd, left and right. In less than two-quarters of an hour, all of Songtsan Gampos guards were turned into souls beneath his halberd. And now, Songtsan Gampo was less than ten steps away!
Surrounding them were countless Tibetan soldiers. Some were afraid to act, while others had already been terrorized into losing courage. They enclosed Su Li and Songtsan Gampo in the middle, yet not a single one of them dared to raise their weapons. Songtsan Gampo gazed silently at his adversary, a hint of despair flashing in his eyes. How did it come to this? He sighed deeply, asking aloud.
As the Tibetan ruler, he had his pride, and from birth, he had been regarded as the pinnacle of talent to emerge from this harsh land over thousands of years. The entire nation of Tibet regarded him as a deity, and everyone believed that Tibet could rise to greatness under his leadership. But now, Songtsan Gampo realized that his supposed deity status was false. Attempting to challenge true gods and demons with the arrogance of a false god had sealed his fate from the moment his delusions took root. He spoke, hoping for clarity before the end, still struggling to comprehend where he had gone wrong.
However, Su Li lowered his head slightly, looking down at him. There was no trace of emotion in his indifferent eyes, only a deep disdain. It was the sort of disdain that Songtsan Gampo had seen in the eyes of many Tang people beforea disdain that originated from the very depths of the heart.
In the past, he had felt this was a complete insult to him and his Tibetans. However, at this moment, seeing that same look again, he finally felt a sense of relief. It was at this moment that Su Li spoke. You never truly understood your identity. The Central Plains are not a place for outsiders to be revered. What we need is the awe ingrained in your hearts, Su Li said with a soft laugh. He lifted his battle halberd and pointed it at Songtsan Gampo, saying in a low voice, Pass down this reverence through generations, and youll survive. Otherwise, youll perish!
Difficult-to-express anger surged from Songtsan Gampos heart. Although he understood that, under the circumstances, Su Li was merely stating a fact, he felt unprecedented humiliation. Songtsan Gampo roared, raised his long knife, and charged towards Su Li. A cold light flashed, and his head flew high, landing heavily on the red snow. Thus ended the era of this remarkable figure of Tibet.
Su Li lowered his head, looking at the lifeless body of Songtsan Gampo without a hint of emotion on his face. The land of the Central Plains had gone through thousands of years of conflict, accumulating a brilliant culture and wisdom that Tibet, a newly unified nation, could hardly imagine.
Songtsan Gampo had questioned why he had reached such a dire state. Su Li had kept to himself that Tibet might have flourished if Tibet had not ventured into the Tang Dynasty, at least during Songtsan Gampos era. Even during the time of Li Er, when Tibet had encroached on Tang territory, they had suffered humiliation. According to Su Li, the twenty thousand Tibetan troops hadnt even encountered the main Tang army but were instead subdued by the vanguard led by Niu Jinda, retreating to the plateau in disgrace. Yet, in this alternate timeline, Su Lis presence was absent.
After weighing the pros and cons, Li Er ultimately accepted Tibets marriage proposal, inadvertently nurturing a tiger that would cause great harm. While Li Er lived, he was the Heaven Khan to whom all nations paid tribute. However, Tibets ambitions could no longer be contained upon his death. Tibetan forces invaded the Western Regions, capturing eighteen Tang commanders.
Decades later, the Battle of Da Fei River marked a monumental war between Tang and Tibet, concluding with Tangs defeat. In the glorious history of the Central Plains before the Tang Dynasty, they had never truly suffered defeat at the hands of foreign powers. But from this point on, Tang faced repeated defeats from foreign nations, and the root cause was Li Ers excessive desire for achievements and his policy of appeasement towards Tibet.
Following these events, Li Ers title of Heaven Khan clouded his judgment, leading to the appointment of many non-Han generals in the Tang military. This, in turn, contributed to the disaster of the An Lushan Rebellion, marking the turning point of Tangs prosperity into decline.
Songtsan Gampo might have believed that his death was unjust, but in Su Lis eyes, he was the source of all these troubles. How could he be allowed to live? As Su Li had conveyed to Songtsan Gampo, the Central Plains required not the respect of foreign nations but their fear. This fear needed to be ingrained in their genes, passed from generation to generation to ensure that no descendant would dare harbor rebellious thoughts against the Central Plains dynasties. And it all began with the fall of Tibet.
Su Li raised his head and surveyed the scene in the sea of corpses and blood. With Songtsan Gampos death, the Tibetan army lost its will to fight. The snowy plain was now filled with fleeing Tibetan soldiers, with ten thousand Tang troops in hot pursuit. Many Tibetan soldiers had cast aside their weapons and were kneeling in surrender. From that moment on, Tibet became history.