Chapter 1866 - Old Enemies Battle Once More!
Chapter 1866: Old Enemies Battle Once More!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Kiiill!”
Abu Muslim swung his sword and instantly exploded forward, leading the charge into the battlefield. Behind him, the countless Arab cavalry suddenly went into motion like arrows from a bow, a steel dragon soaring toward the front line.
One thousand feet, two thousand feet, three thousand feet…
Abu Muslim’s army accelerated, and in just a few moments, they had charged into the spot between the Great Tang’s left flank and center.
At this position, many of the Great Tang’s elite shield soldiers, spearmen, and axemen were gathered, and they were putting up a fierce resistance against the Arab soldiers. The defense line here was like an iron board, stubbornly holding back the Arab charge.
The resistance and counterattacks were so fierce that quite a few Arab cavalry instinctively avoided the area.
“Careful!”
“All soldiers, defend!”
Sharp orders cut across the battlefield. No one had expected Abu Muslim’s sudden assault, and amidst the vast sea of soldiers, it was hard to notice another army advancing through it. By the time the Tang soldiers realized what was going on, it was too late.
Rumble!
In normal circumstances, the entrance of Abu Muslim’s army should have meant a tough battle, but the area between the left flank and center army was already a gathering of elites. The shield soldiers together with the steel walls were completely capable of holding out against additional soldiers.
However, to everyone’s shock, when Abu Muslim’s army charged in, in that brief moment, a massive gap appeared between the left flank and center army.
Rumble! Abu Muslim’s army thrust into this momentary gap like a sharp knife, and what should have been a tight and steely defense became weak and fragile. Moreover, as Abu Muslim’s army charged in, it rapidly shifted formations, widening the gap and separating the Tang left flank from the center.
An army that had once been one was now two, and both sides fell into disarray.
While Abu Muslim’s grasp of strategy could not compare to Wang Chong’s, he was undoubtedly amongst the top tier. Given the regular training standards of the Tang protectorate army, Abu Muslim might not have had this chance, but since this massive gap had presented itself to him, he needed to exploit it.
Rumble! Horses neighed while steel clashed against steel. Before the Tang could react, the area between the center and the left flank had fallen into chaos.
“Not good!”
Gao Xianzhi immediately grimaced.
He had actually been keeping watch on Abu Muslim all this time, but unfortunately, Abu Muslim was too cunning, too patient. His bitter defeat at Talas had been like a poisonous snake hiding in his heart, making him even more difficult to deal with than before. It seemed like Abu Muslim had been guarding against him from the moment he had set out to the moment of the actual attack, doing his utmost to conceal his advance. By the time Gao Xianzhi had noticed, Abu Muslim had already succeeded.
Neigh!
Numerous Tang soldiers were cut down, and in just a few moments, the chain reaction unleashed by Abu Muslim’s charge had caused a large chunk of the defense line to crumble. This began to affect the areas around it, and not only was the left flank showing signs of collapse, even the Nine Dragon Army’s battle with the God’s Ordained Cavalry was affected.
Abu Muslim had remained silent, biding his time for this single blow that was fast, vicious, and accurate. If this continued, the left flank would be utterly lost.
With this method, Abu Muslim took the stage, once more displaying his superb command ability!
Clang!
Cold light flashing in his eyes, Gao Xianzhi took out his sword and pointed it at the distant Abu Muslim.
“All soldiers, assemble and prepare to follow me!”
A moment later, Gao Xianzhi charged forward on his horse, his body exuding an unstoppable momentum.
“Follow the lord!”
“Kiiill!”
Cheng Qianli, Xi Yuanqing, Lou Shiyi, and Gao Xianzhi’s other subordinates cried out as they followed.
Behind them, tens of thousands of Tang soldiers followed like a frenzied dragon.
When the Western Regions were lost, the Anxi Protectorate army had been wiped out, an army that Gao Xianzhi had only recently managed to reassemble. Fortunately, when the First Prince called Gao Xianzhi back to the capital before the Rebellion of the Three Princes, Gao Xianzhi had already transferred away all his elite strength.
And in terms of strength, the Big Dipper Army was on par with the Anxi Protectorate army.
Gao Xianzhi himself was also at the peak of his strength!
“Abu Muslim, your opponent is me! Let’s have a fight!”
When Gao Xianzhi was still two-hundred-some feet away, he soared into the air with his horse, charging at Abu Muslim as his sword cleaved through the air.
“Eight Ultimate Sunderings Art!”
A bolt of lightning cleaved across the sky, Stellar Energy gathering together into dark thunderclouds. Wreathed in destructive energy, Gao Xianzhi’s sword descended onto Abu Muslim.
Meanwhile, Abu Muslim turned upon sensing Gao Xianzhi’s familiar energy, killing intent erupting out of his eyes.
“Gao Xianzhi, you came at just the right time! I’ve been waiting!”
Abu Muslim’s body seethed with energy as he cast aside his sword and took from his back a large black scimitar. Boom! Abu Muslim soared into the air, straight at Gao Xianzhi.
Boom!
The two Great Generals clashed in the air, their Stellar Energies battering against each other and exploding.
Unexpectedly, this clash was a draw!
During the Battle of Talas, Gao Xianzhi had actually been slightly weaker than Abu Muslim, but in this clash, not only had Gao Xianzhi been able to match his strength, Abu Muslim had also sensed a powerful repulsive force in Gao Xianzhi’s body.
“How could this be?”
Abu Muslim was deeply shaken by this.
The majority of people stopped making progress at the Great General level. If they had the ability to reach an even higher level, they would have done so long ago and not waited until now. For Great Generals, getting to higher levels grew increasingly difficult, and even a tiny increase in strength did not come easily.
It had only been a year. For Gao Xianzhi to have improved so much was simply absurd.
But Abu Muslim didn’t have the time to ponder these things. On the other side, Gao Xianzhi was brimming with fighting intent and already making his next attack.
As Gao Xianzhi held down Abu Muslim, Cheng Qianli, Xi Yuanqing, and the others led the Big Dipper Army in charging into Abu Muslim’s army.
“Kill!”
Countless weapons flashed as the Big Dipper Army soldiers swiftly engaged the Arabs.
Neither side backed down in this engagement, and as sparks flew through the air, Arabs and Big Dipper soldiers were cut down in twos and threes.
The Big Dipper Army swiftly displayed their well-tempered fighting power. The area between the Great Tang’s left flank and center had suffered such a heavy shock that even Zhangchou Jianqiong and An Sishun had been affected, and things had been trending toward disaster, but with the entry of Gao Xianzhi and the Big Dipper Army, the situation was stabilized.
Whew!
In the rear, King Song breathed out a sigh of relief.
King Song had exchanged his robe for golden armor at this time, but he was not a real general, nor had he ever commanded a large-scale battle. There was little he could do in a major campaign like this.
And never in his life had King Song experienced such a perilous situation.
Far too many crises had already taken place.
Whoosh!
As a gust of wind blew past, King Song glanced at Wang Z
hongsi and Tongluo Great General Abusi. The Great Tang had already committed nearly four hundred thousand soldiers to the battle. The only soldiers they had left in reserve were those commanded by Wang Zhongsi and Abusi.
Abusi seemed to sense King Song’s gaze, and calmly replied, “The battle’s not at a point where I need to intervene!”
King Song nodded and said nothing, turning his gaze once more to the front line.
On the elephant Behemoth, Khatabah saw that the front line was at a stalemate. His brow furrowing, he immediately shouted, “Pass on my order! Send another three hundred thousand soldiers!”
“Yes!”
Down below, a messenger bowed and quickly mounted a horse.
Khatabah’s expression was cold, his eyes brimming with killing intent.
The Arabs had already lost an estimated four hundred thousand soldiers in this battle, with a significant number of these losses coming from the ballista army. Added together with the losses from yesterday, Khatabah had already lost six hundred thousand soldiers.
This was an astonishing sum!
But for the Hierophant, it did not matter how many people died. As long as he could overcome the Tang Empire and completely subdue the east, he did not care what sacrifices had to be made.
“Let me see just how long you can hold on!”
The Hierophant’s eyes glinted with chilling light.
Chapter 1867 - Wang Zhongsi Makes His Move!
Chapter 1867: Wang Zhongsi Makes His Move!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Rumble! Not long after the Hierophant had given his order, the earth began to rumble and dust began to churn. Three hundred thousand Arab cavalry who had been waiting in the rear surged out in a flood of steel, brandishing their scimitars as they charged toward the front line.Boom!As these three hundred thousand soldiers entered the fray, the battle intensified, and endless waves of Arabs battered at the Tang front line.“Send another three hundred thousand!”Khatabah continued to observe the battle, and just a few moments later, he waved his hand, sending in another wave of Arab cavalry. And a few moments after that, he sent in a third wave. While this wave was smaller, it was still around one hundred thousand soldiers.The pressure on the Great Tang continued to rise.“Release! Release! Release!”Behind the left flank, Su Hanshan continued to issue his orders.On this battlefield, besides Wang Chong and the other five Great Generals, Su Hanshan probably had the greatest effectiveness. Though he only commanded a single army, he needed to remain apprised of the situation across the entire battlefield so that he could provide the necessary support.Su Hanshan’s ballista army had already killed countless Arabs, accounting for the vast majority of the Arab losses.For this battle, Wang Chong had opened up the Qixi Armory and handed over all the ballistae and ballista bolts to Su Hanshan.He had already consumed more than half the ballista bolts, but the Arabs seemed limitless.Not even Su Hanshan had imagined that despite the abundant preparations, the mountains of ballista bolts, he would still be running short on ammo.“These bastards!”As Su Hanshan glanced at the Arabian banners with their crescent moons, his face turned savage, and there was a cruel glint in his eyes.This was the first time he had been forced into such dire straits, but no matter how many Arab cavalry there were, as long as he still stood, he would not let them pass.“Release!”With this order, Su Hanshan swung his sword, and the ballistae thundered in response, countless bolts sweeping through the air.Countless screams pierced through the air, the dirge of death!“I’ve done all I can. The outcome of this battle will depend on the rest of you!”Su Hanshan glanced toward the center, where Arabia’s ‘God’s Ordained Cavalry’ battled the ‘Nine Dragon Army’.The center was where the main force of the army was. The ballista army could only provide support, not decide the outcome.In the center, the battle was intensifying, with both armies sustaining losses at every moment. Halo resonated against halo and weapon clashed against weapon, mixing together with the squelch of blades plunging into flesh and blood flowing out.It was a battle much more arduous than anyone had envisioned!The Nine Dragon Blood War Banner was one of the most powerful ritual artifacts from Taizong’s era, a supreme treasure produced in an era of war and chaos. It existed purely for war, and it required gathering together nine elite armies. These nine armies combined and empowered by the Nine Dragon Blood War Banner created one of the finest fighting forces on the continent.With nine halos, any soldier of the Nine Dragon Army could cleave apart an Arab rider together with his horse.But this time, the Great Tang was facing the most legendary force in all of Arabia, the God’s Ordained Cavalry.These two supreme armies had met their match, and for a moment, it was difficult to determine which was superior.Before this battle, neither army had ever imagined that they would find a foe that was just as powerful as they were.“Kiiill!”War cries resounded through the sky as the two armies continued their fierce melee.Meanwhile, Zhangchou Jianqiong, An Sishun, and Saleh continued their stalemate.“Hahaha, Tang, you can’t hold for much longer! We still have a massive army behind us! I’d like to see how long your Great Tang’s army of six hundred thousand can last!”Saleh brazenly laughed as his two large scimitars whistled through the air with what seemed like lives of their own, slicing up everything in their path.These two scimitars were dark and heavy, and their edges glistened with a purple light. Whenever Zhangchou Jianqiong’s or An Sishun’s Stellar Energy clashed against them, they would create an explosion.It was obvious that these scimitars were forged of some special metal and had the ability to pierce through Stellar Energy. Moreover, these scimitars had no handles and followed unpredictable trajectories. Together with Saleh’s formidable cultivation, they were difficult to defend against. With these two unique weapons, Saleh managed to remain on par with his foes despite being outnumbered two-to-one.Zhangchou Jianqiong said nothing, continuing to throw heavy blows at Saleh. But on the side, An Sishun spoke.“It’s too early to say that! This battle isn’t over, and your side doesn’t have the upper hand! Don’t speak of victory just yet!”Surprisingly, An Sishun spoke in Arabic. Though he spoke rather stiffly, he had enough grasp of the language to convey his meaning.“You know how to speak our tongue?”Saleh was clearly rather surprised, and so was Zhangchou Jianqiong.Geography made it so that some Turks would understand Arabic, but it was truly surprising that An Sishun knew how to speak Arabic. He had never heard about An Sishun possessing this skill.“An Sishun, don’t waste time speaking with him! Kill this western barbarian! Do these invading scoundrels really think that the Great Tang is one of the puny kingdoms of the west? As they dared to come to the east, they need to leave at least half their people behind!”Zhangchou Jianqiong suddenly roared, swinging his sword at Saleh.Roooar!A tiger’s roar resounded through the air, and behind Zhangchou Jianqiong, a massive white tiger manifested.This white tiger rapidly solidified, slamming into the barrier of Stellar Energy around Saleh like a meteorite.Upon receiving this powerful strike, Saleh’s barrier dimmed, causing him to immediately shut his mouth and focus on the battle.Zhangchou Jianqiong coldly grunted and continued his assault.Saleh was incredibly strong, undoubtedly one of the strongest generals in the Arab army. His two scimitars were particularly hard to deal with, and Zhangchou Jianqiong and An Sishun together were just barely managing to stay even.But no matter how strong Saleh was, they simply needed to avoid his scimitars and grind away at his Stellar Energy to defeat him.An Sishun understood, taking up Zhangchou Jianqiong’s tactics and avoiding the scimitars to strike directly at Saleh’s Stellar Energy.A storm stirred up around the three as they once more entered into an intense battle.Meanwhile, across the battlefield, as the Tang battled against the Arabs, more and more Arab Governors, Deputy Governors, and generals were entering the fray, increasing the pressure on the Great Tang.Bang!Suddenly, a muscular black and brown steed with a glossy mane stepped forward, its one hoof seeming to weigh ten thousand jun. Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian Wang Zhongsi was finally about to move out.Everyone instantly focused on Wang Zh
ongsi, with Tongluo Great General Abusi showing a hint of surprise in his eyes.“It’s time for me to move out!” Wang Zhongsi declared, his voice neither too loud nor too soft, almost like he was talking to himself. But the domineering tone in his voice left Abusi deeply shaken.Suddenly, Abusi’s eyes flashed in understanding.Abusi did not interact with Wang Zhongsi very much. Even when Wang Zhongsi retired to the Eastern Palace, Abusi had only exchanged a few words with him. But even so, Abusi had to admit that the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian was far stronger than he was.Pacifying the Eastern and Western Turks, pushing into the Tibetan Plateau, occupying the royal palace of Ü-Tsang… Wang Zhongsi had far too many legendary feats under his belt. And during the war of the southwest, when the Ü-Tsang Empire was threatening Big Dipper City, Wang Zhongsi had gone out alone to resolve the crisis.Alas, despite the two serving under the same ruler, Abusi had only heard of these things and had never witnessed Wang Zhongsi’s power himself, much less his tactics and strategies!Abusi had to admit that he was rather excited to see the strongest Great General of his era in action.But Wang Zhongsi had no attention to spare for Abusi. His gaze was fixed on the battlefield, taking in every development.While Zhangchou Jianqiong and An Sishun were engrossed in their battle with Saleh, they had failed to notice at least seven Governors and Deputy Governors converging on their location.In their current situation, the pair had no strength to deal with these additional combatants. And if something happened to those two, the Nine Dragon Army would collapse with them.“Guan Xuanhai, Fu Fangyi, assemble the army!”Wang Zhongsi’s eyes flashed.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 1137
