The lights of the furnaces and torches clearly outlined the hard lines of this general’s face. It was not Huoba Sangye, but just like Huoba Sangye, this man was a Saint Martial expert.
“Careful!!”
The Great Tang general roared, and countless soldiers immediately began to attack the Tibetan Saint Martial expert. But this Tibetan general cared not for their attacks, dodging them as he shot toward a ballista.
Bang!
The shapeless energy of laws emerged from the depths of space-time, gathering in the fist of Abu Sangji, a fierce general of Ü-Tsang’s Yarlung Royal Lineage. Boom! Abu Sangji punched out at the large ballista, which briefly shook before immediately exploding into shrapnel.
It was like it had been made out of paper.
“Don’t worry about them! Hurry and destroy their ballistae!” Abu Sangji fiercely bellowed. After destroying one ballista, he immediately moved to the next, ignoring the attacks of the Tang. A dauntless general of the Yarlung Royal Lineage, Abu Sangji had yet to reach the Brigadier General level of Huoba Sangye, but he was still an extremely formidable warrior.
The gap between him and Huoba Sangye was not large at all!
Although Dalun Ruozan’s expedition to the west to attack the Tang seemed to be a personal venture that went against the Tsenpo’s will, he actually had many supporters. Abu Sangji had come to serve Dalun Ruozan according to the will of the Yarlung King, and he had been closely following Dalun Ruozan this entire time.
The Great Tang ballistae were extremely sturdy as well as repairable, so only Metal element experts were capable of totally destroying them. This was why Dalun Ruozan had sent him on this night raid.
The Tang army at Talas was currently bursting with experts and elite Tang generals. They could arrive at any moment, so not even Abu Sangji could act recklessly. Time was short, so Abu Sangji needed to destroy the ballistae as quickly as possible.
This was the true purpose of the night raid. After all, killing several hundred to a thousand Tang guards out of an army of one hundred thousand was like pouring a cup of water on a burning cart.
Roooar!
“Kill!”
With Abu Sangji leading the way, the Tibetan cavalry braved all sorts of attacks to force their way through the second defense line. None of them stayed to fight, all of them heading straight for the ballistae behind the defense line. Boom! A Tibetan soldier rushed to a ballista and swung his fist down, smashing it into pieces.
“Enemy!”
Cries of warning resounded over the night sky as wave after wave of Tang warriors rushed in. The wisdom in attacking after the Zi Period became evident, because even though Talas and its environs played host to more than one hundred thousand Tang soldiers, the vast majority of them were asleep, which was necessary for the battle tomorrow morning. Thus, not many soldiers were immediately available to rush to the site of the attack.
But despite this, the number of Tang soldiers available was still greater than the number of Tibetans attacking. Wave after wave of cavalry rushed in, their weapons gleaming in the firelight.
“Hurry!” Abu Sangji roared.
The innumerable Tibetan cavalry pushed through the gap in the walls, forcing their way to the ballistae. The soldiers Abu Sangji had brought were all special soldiers with a Metal element ability. Although they differed in the strength of this ability, they could all deal maximum damage to the Tang ballistae.
Bangbangbang!
One, two, three… in a few short moments, Abu Sangji had destroyed ten-some ballistae. Meanwhile, his thousands of Tibetan cavalry had divided into two groups. One group used their shields to hold back the Tang while the other group did its utmost to attack the Tang ballistae.
Although these people were weaker than Abu Sangji, their greater numbers meant that they were able to destroy at least seventy Tang ballistae in the same period of time. Pieces of the destroyed ballistae were soon raining down from the skies.
One hundred, two hundred… This group of elite Tibetan cavalry had only begun the attack a few moments ago, but as their goal was very clear, they quickly managed to destroy nearly three hundred ballistae. To the Tang army, which only had around three thousand ballistae in all, this was an enormous loss, one that was only getting worse.
However, the Tibetans were also paying an enormous price…
“Ah!”
Wretched screams filled the air. More than one thousand Tibetan elites had died behind the second defense line. Too many Tang soldiers were pouring in, and each Tibetan horseman had to contend against four or five soldiers at the same time. Even though they were elite soldiers wearing the best armor, they were still incapable of blocking so many attacks.
Swishswishswish! Sabers and swords found their way through the chinks in the Tibetan armor. Clean swords would stab in through the front and come out the back, dripping blood. Their eyes going wide, the Tibetans made strange gurgling sounds before dropping to the ground. The blood flowed from their bodies, seeping into the earth and dyeing it red. A thick mist of blood rapidly began to rise over the battlefield.
It took only a few moments for more than half of the Tibetan raiding force to be killed, but Abu Sangji did not care.
Chapter 934 - Predicting the Enemy (IV)
Chapter 934: Predicting the Enemy (IV)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Wonderful!”
Abu Sangji’s heart was bubbling with excitement. As of this moment, his troops had currently destroyed more than four hundred Tang ballistae, an almost unthinkable harvest. It had to be noted that a ballista force of this size was easily capable of vanquishing five to six thousand Tibetan cavalry in a single volley. If they were allowed to continue exerting their power on the battlefield, the losses would be unimaginable.
A price must be paid for a result. If we can destroy the Tang ballistae, it doesn’t even matter if all of us die! Abu Sangji quietly said to himself, showing no pity for the slain Tibetans.
Night raids had always been risky operations in which there was a chance of no return. Those who survived were lucky while those who died were reasonable losses. The crucial point was achieving the strategic objective.
“Get ready, retreat!”
More and more Tang soldiers were showing up, and each ballista was now heavily guarded. In this situation, it was now very difficult to destroy a ballista, so Abu Sangji gave the order to retreat without hesitation. Bang! In a twinkling, Abu Sangji had charged twenty steps, the golden Stellar Energy of the Saint Martial realm exploding around him. “Aaaah!” Thirty-some Tang soldiers screamed as they were thrown into the air, bleeding copiously from the heavy wounds Abu Sangji had inflicted on them.
“Run!”
Abu Sangji turned his head and shouted at the surrounded Tibetan cavalry. After doing this, he made a flying leap, stealing a Tang warhorse and immediately charging east, out of the second defense line.
Abu Sangji could already see that the gate of Talas had opened and that the Vice Protector-General of the Anxi Protectorate army, Cheng Qianli, was riding toward him. Cheng Qianli was a peak Brigadier General and one of the strongest men in the entire Tang army, meaning that Abu Sangji was no match for him. Even if Abu Sangji wanted to squeeze a little more out of this night raid, he was now compelled to retreat.
His reaction was very fast, and in mere moments, he and his stolen warhorse had ridden through the gap between the walls.
“All soldiers, hear my order! Do not delay, and retreat as quickly as possible!” Abu Sangji bellowed. This raid had turned out much better than he expected, with nearly five hundred ballistae destroyed. If they repeated this raid a few more times, the Tang ballistae would be finished. All that was needed was to return back to camp to achieve total success.
“Hyah!”
Abu Sangji poured all his Saint Martial Stellar Energy into the horse, galloping into the dark night at a breathtaking speed. Ten zhang, twenty zhang—Abu Sangji broke away f
rom the battle in the blink of an eye. When he was around sixty meters from the second defense line, on the verge of completely getting away, he suddenly spotted a figure.
This figure was tall and slender. He was quietly standing in the night wind, his hair blowing in the breeze. He exuded an air of ease and confidence, of farsightedness that had a grasp over the entire situation. More importantly, when Abu Sangji saw him, he suddenly had a strange feeling that this man had predicted his escape route and had been waiting for him!
“Who goes there?!”
Abu Sangji’s eyes widened as he called out in surprise.
“Haha, the one who is going to kill you!”
A gentle chuckle came out of the darkness, bursting with the vigor of youth. Bang! Before Abu Sangji could react, the images of a sun and moon suddenly sprang from the slender figure’s shoulders, bizarre to the extreme. In an instant, Abu Sangji felt an intense danger.
“Mabo Fist of the Sun!”
Abu Sangji immediately used his most powerful technique. His body immediately exploded with an exuberant golden light that made Abu Sangji appear as a god. At this moment, Abu Sangji was bright and blazing, a sun forged from gold and steel, and in the middle of the sun was an enormous and majestic mountain range.
The Great Mabo Mountain!
This was the Demon Mother Mountain of the Ü-Tsang Empire, said in Tibetan myths to be the manifestation of the Great Demon Mother. Unlike the other Royal Lineages, the people of the Yarlung Royal Lineage worshiped the Mother of All Demons, the Great Demon Mother, and the Mabo Fist of the Sun was one of the strongest techniques of the Yarlung Royal Lineage.
Boom!
Abu Sangji and his horse were a blazing meteor shooting toward that figure, but at this moment, Abu Sangji heard a chuckle at his ear.
“Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art!”
Boom! Sixty meters from the second defense line, in the night sky, the two figures crashed against each other. Time and space seemed to freeze for a brief moment, and then a fierce gale raged, sweeping as far as sixty-some meters, thundering and hammering against the steel walls.
This heaven-shaking battle began with great ferocity, but it ended very quickly. In the blink of an eye, the battle between Saint Martial experts was over.
Wang Chong, dressed in leisure clothes, had a steely hand locked around Abu Sangji’s neck. This fierce general of the Yarlung Royal Lineage was like a strung-up duck, hanging powerlessly in the air. Through the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art, a continuous stream of Saint Martial energy was flowing into Wang Chong’s body.
Wang Chong’s strength swelled as Abu Sangji weakened like a deflating balloon. His muscular body began to wrinkle and dry like an orange skin.
“Evil… evil art!”
Abu Sangji’s eyes were wide open in fear. In his battlefield career, he had always been fearless and unwilling to retreat. He was even willing to die on the battlefield with no regrets. But what had happened to him just now exceeded the bounds of common sense. There was no doubt that this was one of those terrifying evil arts.
Wang Chong only snorted, giving no explanation.
“Too weak!”
With these words, Wang Chong faintly smiled and broke Abu Sangji’s neck. Having finished absorbing Abu Sangji’s energy, Wang Chong tossed him aside like a punctured bag. Wang Chong’s strength had once more increased.
“Saint Martial Tier 6 is still not enough! I originally thought that Dalun Ruozan would send a Brigadier General, but it seems that he’s more cautious than I imagined!”
At his current level of strength, and as long as his opponent was not a supreme Great General, Wang Chong didn’t even need to use the Godking Yama to kill his foes. One Abu Sangji was far from being his match.
“Lord Marquis!”
As Wang Chong slowly collected himself, Sun Zhiming and a few others rode over to him and dismounted.
Wang Chong raised his head and asked, “How is it?”
Sun Zhiming bowed and said, “We’ve killed more than three thousand, but the rest managed to escape. This wave of Tibetans was quite special. They were extremely strong. Dalun Ruozan seems to have carefully planned this out. If Lord Marquis had not seen through his plans and made precautions, we might have suffered devastating losses.”
Sun Zhiming felt sincere admiration for Wang Chong. At Deflecting Blade Manor, everyone regarded Wang Chong as a god and looked forward to the day they could fight alongside him on the battlefield. But only on the battlefield did Sun Zhiming realize just how formidable Wang Chong really was. They had so many people surrounding the Tibetans, but they had only managed to kill around three thousand and even let some get away.
If Wang Chong had not prepared for such an assault, all the ballistae might have ended up destroyed and the Tibetans might have been able to escape nearly unscathed.
When exchanging blows with a legendary figure like Dalun Ruozan, one had to commit all their strength and not show the slightest neglect. This was not a figure that someone like Sun Zhiming could handle. Amongst the Tang army at Talas, only Wang Chong could exchange blows with him, block his attacks, and suppress him.
Sun Zhiming lowered his head and inwardly praised, Lord Marquis is even more powerful than the rumors we heard at Deflecting Blade Manor!
“Very good. Don’t worry about the ones that escaped. Tell Xue Qianjun to have the pursuing soldiers retreat,” Wang Chong indifferently said. “Besides that, what is Li Siye’s situation?”
“Yes, Lord Marquis. General Li and his men have smoothly completed their infiltration. There is no turmoil from the Tibetans, so they probably haven’t noticed yet. But based on the time, General Li should be moving soon!” Sun Zhiming sternly answered.
In this night raid, Sun Zhiming, Cheng Sanyuan, and Kong Zi-an were merely smokescreens, bait. Li Siye’s group was the true attacking force.
Boom!
As if in response to Sun Zhiming’s words, an enormous explosion suddenly came from the direction of the Tibetan camp. A bonfire was tossed into the air by Stellar Energy, transforming into a massive firework that served as a beacon and drew everyone’s attention.
“They’ve begun!” Sun Zhiming blurted out.
The explosion was like a signal, and the Tibetan camp immediately burst into an uproar of fighting. Countless Tibetans poured out from where the firework had risen.
“Dalun Ruozan, you’re still just a little lacking.”
Wang Chong faintly smiled and turned his head.
“Sun Zhiming, pass on my order. Tell Chen Burang that he can begin.”
“Yes, Lord Marquis!”
Sun Zhiming took off with the order. Not long after he left, a massive boulder shrieked through the darkness, drawing a massive arc in the air as it flew toward the Tibetan camp. The firing of this stone from the catapult opened the curtain on this three-sided night battle.
In the distance, the boulder crashed, throwing the Tibetan camp into chaos.
Chapter 935 - Predicting the Enemy (V)
Chapter 935: Predicting the Enemy (V)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“What’s going on! What happened?”
The sounds of fighting caused Dalun Ruozan in the commander tent to bolt to his feet, his face suddenly paling
The group he had sent to raid the Tang ballistae had been dispatched, but before they had even returned, their own camp had come under attack. What made Dalun Ruozan most uneasy was that he had already taken so many precautions, yet despite all the sounds of fighting and all the fire, he had still not received any reports from the messengers.
Given the arrangements Dalun Ruozan had made, such a thing was absolutely impossible!
“Great Minister! It’s an enemy attack! The Tang have attacked the camp!” A panicked Tibetan soldier rushed into the tent.
“The number? Direction? Cavalry or infantry? Why have there been no reports? What of the sentries? Why has there been no reaction from the se
ntries?” Dalun Ruozan sternly said, almost instinctively overcome by an ill foreboding.
“Great Minister! We have no estimate of their numbers, nor do we know which direction they are attacking from. The camp is currently in chaos. All we know is that the Tang have attacked, but we have no clue where they are!” the Tibetan soldier anxiously reported.
“What!”
Dalun Ruozan grimaced. He immediately strode past the iron table and charged out of the tent. Behind him, Dusong Mangpoje and Huoshu Huicang exchanged glances before pursuing him.
Whoosh!
A fierce gust of wind blew a trail of embers toward the emerging Dalun Ruozan and Huoshu Huicang, gleaming for a brief moment before extinguishing in the air. A howl in the air told Dalun Ruozan and Huoshu Huicang to look up, but all they saw was a large black silhouette flying over their heads before it smashed into the campgrounds behind them.
“Aaaah!” Screams filled the air as a blazing fire exploded from the impact of the boulder, sending embers everywhere.
Catapults!
As this thought flitted through Dalun Ruozan’s mind, his face contorted.
“What’s going on?” Dusong Mangpoje walked up on Dalun Ruozan’s right side, his expression extremely grim. “Didn’t we already push the camp back so that it was beyond the range of catapults? Why can the Tang catapults fire so far that they can even hit the rear of the camp?”
All of them had witnessed the power of the Great Tang’s steel catapults during the daytime. Almost all the catapults the Arabs and Tibetans had brought had been destroyed, so when setting up camp for the night, Dalun Ruozan had explicitly taken measures against this. Besides the sentries, eighty percent of the army had been moved beyond the firing range of the catapults.
Yet hundreds of boulders were now raining down across the entire Tibetan camp. This was definitely not normal.
“Because they moved the catapults forward!” Dalun Ruozan said. The unease in his heart had finally been realized. Only now had Wang Chong revealed his true hand.
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