The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  “Great Minister, I share the same view as Huoshu. If needed, I can also go!” Dusong Mangpoje said.

  Dalun Ruozan was publicly acknowledged as one of Ü-Tsang’s finest strategists, only surpassed by Dalon Trinling. For a twenty-some youth of no reputation to be able to outwit Dalun Ruozan could partially be attributed to underestimating him, but even so, all of them still felt him to be a major threat.

  Dalun Ruozan hesitated a moment before shaking his head.

  “There’s no need!

  “These Great Tang reinforcements aren’t as simple as all of you think. As for that boy, he definitely has some reserves. We won’t have much advantage if we fight with him now. Put him aside for now. Once we join the Arabs at Talas, we can exterminate him along with the rest! None of them will be able to escape! In addition, our goal has been reached. Those pits and trenches should delay them for one or two days.”

  Dusong Mangpoje and Huoshu Huicang hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.

  Gallop! Dalun Ruozan quickly led the Tibetan army away, with the Western Turkic army following closely behind them.

  ……

  The tension continued to increase as the Arabs moved closer and closer to Talas. Meanwhile, in a sparse forest some several dozen li to the west of Talas, a scout of the Anxi Protectorate army had hidden himself next to a gnarled tree, disguised beneath leaves and dried grass.

  “Iron Head, do you see anything yet?” the disguised scout said.

  It was only after some time that a voice finally came from overhead.

  “Nothing! Six groups have already gone, but the Arabs won’t get here that quickly. All we need to do is wait for any news, and once we do, we immediately relay it to the rear as quickly as possible.”

  It appeared like the hidden scout was the only person present, but upon looking carefully, one would discover that there was another Tang scout curled up around a branch. From this spot, he was constantly observing his surroundings, particularly the skies.

  Up in the skies, the scout was looking at a rock eagle that was slowly circling in the air.

  Birds could see far more than humans. These rock eagles in the air would use various flight patterns to communicate different kinds of information to the scouts below, though at this time, they were saying that everything was normal.

  Creee!

  A rock eagle in the distance suddenly shrieked, and before the two scouts could react, it plummeted to the ground. After some time, they heard its heavy thump.

  “This…”

  The two scouts glanced at each other in shock. The events had transpired too quickly for the two of them to see what had happened…

  Chapter 1052 - War Approaches!

  Chapter 1052: War Approaches!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  “Iron Head, could it be…”

  The scout below the tree raised his head in anxiety and doubt.

  “Impossible! It can’t be! The Arabs aren’t that fast! If they had arrived, we would have already received the signal. After all, there are six groups ahead of us, all of them extremely experienced. No gaps are possible.”

  On the tree, Iron Head shook his head and immediately rejected the speculations of the scout down below.

  The Great Tang scouts had an extremely rigorous system that had no gaps. Defeating this system wasn’t impossible, but it would require an extremely terrifying strength.

  The two silently exchanged glances for some time.

  “No good! I’ll go down and take a look! Those rock eagles were injured in a previous battle. They might have died because their injuries broke out!”

  Iron Head was quiet for some time, and then he slid down the tree, called his horse, and galloped away.

  But he hadn’t been riding for long when the earth suddenly began to shake and sway.

  “What’s going on here?”

  Iron Head immediately stopped, and the scout behind was even more shocked. Not much time had passed between the plunging of the rock eagle and the shaking of the earth. Not even the enemy army could be this fast!

  But in the blink of an eye, the trembling had reached maximum intensity. The shuddering was so fierce that even the warhorse sensed something and widened its eyes in fear.

  The sound of the shaking was so enormous that it suppressed all other sound in the world. Even the sound of one’s own breathing was drowned out.

  Iron Head seemed to notice something and turned around to shout anxiously at the scout behind him. “Cloud Leopard, go! Hurry!”

  But Cloud Leopard wasn’t able to hear a thing, only determine what was being said by reading Iron Head’s lips.

  Plush! The moment Iron Head turned around, a sharp arrow plunged through his body, causing his voice to suddenly pause. He lowered his head in disbelief to his chest and saw a sharp arrow head poking out of a sea of red, right where his heart was.

  Iron Head’s mouth opened and his eyes went wide as he dropped from his horse.

  “Iron Head!”

  Cloud Leopard was so astonished that he even forgot to breathe.

  Fast!

  Far too fast!

  This scene had completely surpassed his imagination and left him too stunned to do anything. At this moment, Cloud Leopard saw a sight that he would never forget for the rest of his life.

  Rumble! Countless trees on the horizon suddenly began to crash to the ground as a black tide of steel rushed out from behind them. This was a torrent of destructive black flame that filled every corner of one’s vision as it swept over the world.

  Hwoooo! The wind was akin to the wailing of ghosts or the howling of wolves, and the entire world seemed to tremble in fear at the momentum of this army. In a few short moments, the vast flood of soldiers had rapidly closed the distance!

  It wasn’t that Cloud Leopard had never seen a powerful army before. The Anxi Protectorate army itself was such an army. But when he saw this army that was like a sea of flame surging out of the underworld, Cloud Leopard felt numb.

  So many!

  Far, far too many!

  Never in his life had he seen so many elite soldiers. Each of these soldiers had fierce auras, and all of them had been tempered through the cruelest and bloodiest of battles. These were true veterans of one hundred battles! At the same time, this army was marching far too quickly. Barely seconds had passed between the start of the rumbling and the moment of discovery.

  This was an invincible momentum, a wildfire raging through a grassland!

  “How could there be an army of this many powerful soldiers?!”

  Cloud Leopard’s heart was trembling in terror. He suddenly understood the fate of the six scout teams ahead of them, and he also understood why that distant rock eagle had dropped from the skies without communicating any message. This was no ordinary army, but one of unprecedented power.

  And this army must have been marching night and day at this terrifying pace. Otherwise, they would have never arrived so early.

  “I must immediately report this to Lord Protector-General and the Young Marquis!”

  Cloud Leopard’s heart was still cold with fear and only one thought was left in his mind. Without a second thought, he mounted his horse and stabbed his saber into its behind. Gallop!Man and horse immediately charged off into the distance. Behind them, the black tide of four hundred thousand Arab soldiers continued its ceaseless and rapid advance toward Talas.

  ……

  “Reporting!”

  An hour later, the vigilant and focused Tang army in front of Talas suddenly heard an extremely frantic and urgent voice in the distance. An Anxi Protectorate army scout emerged out of a cloud of dust, his body pressed against his horse as he urgently rode toward Talas.

  “The Arabs are coming!

  “The Arabs are coming!

  “An army of four hundred thousand soldiers marching night and day is now only thirty-some li from Talas!”

  The scout’s nervous voice re
sounded over the city. Rumble! The voice was a boulder thrown into the placid lake of the defense line, instantly throwing the soldiers into a frenzy of activity. The city of Talas came to life like a giant machine.

  The city gates opened, allowing countless soldiers to flood out in a tide of cold steel and head to their stations on the first defense line.

  Winds raged and the clouds of war gathered. Countless soldiers appeared on the walls of Talas as well. The tension in the air suddenly increased by hundreds of thousands of times.

  Whoosh! At almost the same moment, a figure galloped out of the city in a flash of light.

  “Milord, Milord… it’s an emergency! The Arabs killed our scouts and are currently approaching.”

  The youthful figure on horseback might as well have been as lofty and steady as a mountain to Cloud Leopard. He rushed forward in agitation, but before he could get far, his body lost its strength, his eyes went blurry, and he dropped from his horse. But he did not fall to the ground as expected.

  Just when Cloud Leopard was about to fall, a young, slender, yet vigorous hand grasped him and held up his body.

  “Milord!”

  That young and familiar face reinvigorated Cloud Leopard.

  “…Be careful of the Arabs. They’re coming.”

  “I understand. Relax. We’ve already made preparations.”

  Wang Chong spoke in a mellow voice as he solemnly looked upon this Anxi Protectorate army scout.

  “Wonderful…”

  Cloud Leopard originally had much more to say, but Wang Chong’s words made him breathe a long sigh of relief, and his mind instantly relaxed. In that moment, Cloud Leopard finally noticed the wave of extreme fatigue washing over him. His eyes slowly lost focus and his body gradually grew limp.

  Wang Chong gently put down the body of this Anxi Protectorate army scout, his eyes turning sharp and fierce as he stared at the sharp blood-stained Arabian arrow protruding from the scout’s chest.

  This wound had been fatal. The destructive power in the arrow had not only shattered his heart but also jolted all the meridians in his body. The scout had only managed to make it this far by sheer willpower, something that the Arabs had probably not expected.

  Be at ease! Those who offend the Great Tang will be punished, no matter how far away they are. All Arabs will eventually pay the price, Wang Chong mentally swore.

  He stood up and looked past the steel walls toward the horizon. Although there was nothing there except the howling winds, Wang Chong could sense a somber aura.

  “Wang Chong…”

  Gao Xianzhi walked out from the city as he also looked west with a solemn expression. Behind him, Cheng Qianli, Xi Yuanqing, the Anxi generals, the Gangke King, and the other commanders also arrived.

  “Twenty-some li!” Wang Chong said. “They’re moving extremely fast, and they seem to be taking precautions against our scouts. Other than this scout, none of our scouts have sent back any news. Their vanguard seems to be extremely formidable. I estimate that we’ll be seeing them soon.”

  The scout had said that they were still thirty-some li away, but this number was the distance the scout had noticed the army at. Based on the time that had passed, Wang Chong was able to provide a more precise estimate of the Arab army’s distance.

  The horizon remained empty and the world remained silent, but Gao Xianzhi, Wang Yan, Cheng Qianli, and all the others could feel a grim mood in the air, and some of them felt their hearts sinking.

  Creee!

  A few moments later, seven or eight rock eagles ten-some li from the first defense line suddenly let out plaintive shrieks and plunged from the sky. Everyone was stunned by this sight while Wang Chong’s expression turned solemn.

  Many people were still confused as to what had happened, but Wang Chong had clearly seen the arrows fired into the sky. Although those rock eagles had undergone training and were extremely nimble, they had still failed to dodge.

  The rock eagles patrolling the skies can see ten-some li into the distance. That the enemy was able to wipe out the rock eagles without any warning means that they have a firing range of ten-some li and are extremely strong!

  Wang Chong’s expression was serene while his mind buzzed with thought.

  Although he still hadn’t seen that Arab army sweeping toward him, this fierce and swift attack as well as the terrifying speed at which the army was marching was enough to threaten everyone here.

  Bzzzz! Not long after the rock eagles had plunged from the sky, a faint shudder came from the distance, upon which the entire world began to tremble. Hwooooom! There was still nothing to be seen, but a fierce wind was roaring out from the west…

  Chapter 1053 - Clash of Titans!

  Chapter 1053: Clash of Titans!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Neigh!

  The shuddering intensified, and after a little longer, everyone could hear the neighing of horses in the wind, a sign that a vast army was approaching Talas.

  “Ready!”

  A loud shout suddenly rang out over the first defense line, soon drowned out by clattering armor and clanging metal as weapons gleamed under the overcast sky. The soldiers of the Anxi and Qixi Protectorate armies together with the mercenaries recruited from the Western Regions all experienced in a shift in aura. They were simultaneously a steel wall as well as a taut bow. The tension was at a maximum as a grim mood swept through the defense line.

  The rumbling and the neighing grew louder and louder as they got closer and closer. After some time, there was a rush of wind as a faint black line appeared on the horizon. It was so faint as to barely be worth mentioning at the start, but it rapidly thickened into an enormous black tidal wave that made all the world tremble.

  Arabs!

  There was no need for any reminders now. Everyone knew what kind of opponent they were facing. This was not their first time facing the Arabs, but these Arabs gave off a completely different feeling from the first Arabs they had faced. The defensive posts that had extended for sixty-some li had been staffed with many scouts and rock eagles, but none had sent back any word except for a single scout who had managed to return only through sheer resolve.

  Such a thing had never happened before.

  All the scouts of the Great Tang had been tempered through blood and fire. In contests with the Tibetans and Western Turks, they could overwhelmingly crush their opponents, and all of them were extremely experienced. That so many elite scouts could have been killed without any of them being able to send back one bit of information meant only one thing.

  This was a foe of unprecedented power!

  “This is the strength of Arabia?”

  Wang Chong’s expression was solemn as he muttered to himself. He had already known from that Khorasani that this army was coming, but seeing and hearing were two completely different things. This army was even stronger and bolder than Abu Muslim’s army, one that had truly been forged through one hundred battles.

  Qutaybah! Although he had yet to see this enemy commander, Wang Chong could already understand what kind of army this was. Wind, forest, fire, mountain—these were the four symbols of the traits which the art of war emphasized. The Arabs did not have a similar saying, but it was obvious that this army before him had managed to achieve the essence of those four words. They were as swift as the wind but could also march as steadily and quietly as a serene forest. They were as aggressive as fire on the offense, but they could also be as immovable as a mountain on the defense. Even Wang Chong was rather astonished at this moment, but only a moment later, his eyes hardened with resolve.

  This was sixty thousand versus four hundred thousand. There was no doubt that the Tang were in extremely dire straits, but Wang Chong could not retreat, nor could the Great Tang. This battle would be a bloody battle until the end.

  “Everyone, hear my order!”

  In a flash, Wang Chong’s eyes had turned sharp and cold.

  “Shieldmen, im
mediately advance to the gaps between the walls! Axemen, hide and wait for orders!

  “Craftsman team, be on standby to repair and fortify the walls! Ballista teams, adjust to 45 degrees, target the enemy ranks, and fire!

  “Fifth unit, sixth unit, and seventh unit, wait for my orders! Be ready to provide assistance at any time!

  “Wushang Cavalry and Mo Saber Unit, listen for my orders. Wushang Cavalry, be ready on the left flank to sortie! Mo Saber Unit, stand in reserve! No movement is permitted without my order!”

  Wang Chong sent out a string of orders, which seemed to restore confidence in the army and soothe the ranks. All the soldiers had determined faces and bright eyes, seeming to find their backbones as they fearlessly gazed at the Arab army.

  “Iron Wall Army, get ready! Second line, get ready to attack!

  “Twenty-third unit, twenty-seventh unit, twenty-ninth unit, stand on the right flank and prepare to attack!

  “Cavalry units, get ready to attack!

  “Banahan, Guli, the third line and fifth line, wait for my orders!”

  At almost the same time, Gao Xianzhi began to solemnly issue his orders as well, putting the Anxi Protectorate army and the mercenaries into motion. In the middle of these soldiers, a unit equipped in green-black armor was particularly obvious.

  This unit consisted of only around four thousand soldiers, but they all exuded dauntless and steely auras. Each of them was like an immovable steel wall that inspired dread simply by standing there.

  The Iron Wall Army!

  This was the most elite force of the Anxi Protectorate army which Gao Xianzhi had needed ten-some years to finally train up. In terms of pure strength, it was an equal to Geshu Han’s Divine Martial Army, An Sishun’s Dragon Stallion Army, and Zhang Shougui’s Heavenly Capital Army. From a certain perspective, it was even stronger than these armies.

  Gao Xianzhi had been able to resist Abu Muslim’s constant barrage of attacks with an army of around seventy thousand, getting past crisis after crisis and barely pushing back the Arabs time and time again, by relying on this elite force.