But now, the test was over, and there was no longer any need to keep hiding.
Boom!
As An Lushan gave the order, the rear of the alliance army once more became restless.
The Tang soldiers watched as the ranks of the alliance army opened up, allowing tens of thousands more shield carts to rumble out.
Compared to the first batch, this wave of shield carts was even more complete, the wheels larger and sturdier, the steel plates thicker, denser, and larger.
Not only that, on the horizon, mountainous silhouettes emerged with a deafening rumble.
“Siege towers!” Abusi blurted out in shock.
The siege towers behind the alliance army were each several dozen meters tall, as high as the walls. They appeared like miniature moving mountains.
The metal luster from these siege towers indicated that these massive constructions had been reinforced with steel.
The Youzhou army had clearly taken countermeasures against Wang Chong’s steel fortress, with the siege towers and shield carts being two of them.
The siege towers were very spacious, providing passage for ten-some soldiers to move up them and jump onto the walls while shielding them from attacks.
The tops of the siege towers also had compartments that already contained twenty to thirty soldiers. Once the siege towers got close to the walls, these elite soldiers could make the jump and sow chaos on the walls so that the rest of the army could assault the city.
Roooar!
And with furious roars, tens of thousands of siege ladders rose up from the alliance army, and the soldiers roared as they began to charge at the steel fortress.
Having prepared both siege towers and siege ladders, An Lushan had ensured that his Youzhou army could surmount the Tang walls and render Wang Chong’s steel fortress useless.
“Kiiill!”
As the shield carts and other siege equipment began to move, the dense ranks of the alliance army swept forward.
At the very front were the tens of thousands of shield carts, which rapidly accelerated.
Bongbongbong!
Bwoooom!
The pounding of war drums and blaring of horns resounded over the battlefield, stirring the spirits of the soldiers.
Now that he had finished testing his shield carts, An Lushan had ordered a full-scale offensive.
Casting aside skirmishes and probes, An Lushan had brought this unprecedented war of empires straight into the main event. With his many shield carts, siege towers, siege ladders, and millions of soldiers, he would crush this Great Tang army in the first wave.
As the saying went, morale was greatest at the first beat of the drum, but was spent by the third!
The army was currently in peak condition, and the alliance army had a complicated internal organization. Even though all the armies had assembled, if they were ordered to go out separately, then regardless of who went first or last, someone would object, believing that their strength was being intentionally expended.
Only by mobilizing everyone in a full-scale assault would any arguments be avoided and internal unity maintained.
Clang!
As the army mobilized, in the rear of the left flank, Goguryeo Emperor Yeon Gaesomun stomped forward, his eyes coldly flashing. With a metallic clatter, a resplendent war halo spread out from his feet and swept over the army.
Amongst the various countries, Yeon Gaesomun was the most aggressive sovereign. There had never been an Emperor like him, who enjoyed joining the soldiers on the front line.
As Yeon Gaesomun made his move, the Goguryeon generals unleashed their own war halos. Amidst metallic ringing, halos of various colors spread out to the nearly one million Goguryeon soldiers.
With the aid of these war halos, the Goguryeon soldiers grew stronger by several tiers.
The morale of the Goguryeon army reached its peak, and it appeared like a steel wall.
“It’s our turn!”
The Eastern Turks’ Ozmish Khagan also stepped forward, his eyes flashing with sharp light.
Bang!
Flecks of snow shot several dozen feet into the air, and the vast amount of strength in the foot made the ground fiercely quake like it was a plank on the ocean.
Boom! A few seconds later, a massive war halo suffused with law energy radiated outward.
Ozmish Khagan was one of the most inconspicuous sovereigns, but that did not mean he was the weakest!
Clangclangclang!
With a metallic clatter, the halo spread to the Eastern Turkic soldiers and instantly boosted their speed, strength, and agility. This effect was equal to Yeon Gaesomun’s halo, even surpassing it in some aspects.
Bang!
After Ozmish Khagan, the Khitan King and Xi Queen unleashed their own war halos.
The ringing of metal filled the air, and numerous dazzling halos appeared under the feet of the millions of soldiers of the alliance army, their bodies erupting with a frightening energy.
Such immense scale!
Such powerful energy!
So many experts!
The power and momentum unleashed by the alliance army was enough to alarm anyone. In certain aspects, it even surpassed the Arab army.
The first battle was the decisive battle!
An Lushan wanted to use this mountain-toppling momentum to crush Wang Chong’s steel fortress!
“Let me see how you stop my army!”
An Lushan squinted up at Wang Chong, his soldiers roaring and bellowing around him.
The moment he was waiting for had finally come. This time, he would annihilate Wang Chong.
“Kiiill!”
The alliance army seemed to have become a completely different army as it charged.
All of the Tang generals grimaced at this display.
Only Wang Chong maintained his composure.
“Sortie!”
When everyone believed that the Tang army would remain turtled up in the steel fortress, Wang Chong waved his hand, upon which a loud ‘clack’ could be heard.
A giant gear beneath the steel fortress began to turn, and giant steel plates, each weighing hundreds of thousands of jin, were pulled up to reveal tunnels, each one several hundred meters long and ten-some meters tall.
Within the tunnels, countless armored Tang soldiers in orderly ranks marched out, their steps slow but firm.
Five thousand!
Ten thousand!
In short order, at least forty thousand soldiers emerged from the steel fortress. Even though they were vastly outnumbered, they remained sharp and fearless.
“What’s happening here?”
Though An Lushan had made all sorts of preparations, he was still taken aback by this sight, instinctively turning to Gao Shang.
That bastard Wang Chong didn’t really think forty thousand soldiers could stop his army, did he?
“He’s making a show of force!” Gao Shang solemnly said.
“He’s telling us that he won’t wait to die, won’t just passively defend. He will engage in his own kind of offensive against us!”
Whether it was the war of the southwest or the Battle of Talas, Wang Chong had never just sat back and defended, and the Great Tang was even more powerful now. Through this method, Wang Chong was showing off his strength in the face of their provocations.
He had no intention of being purely the defender in this battle!
Chapter 2163 - The Frightening Defenses of the Shield Carts!
Chapter 2163: The Frightening Defenses of the Shield Carts!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Bastard!”
An Lushan’s body shivered at Gao Shang’s words.
“Divine Works Elder, what did the Venerable Genesis Supreme say? When will he arrive at the battlefield?”
An Lushan suddenly turned to the Divine Works Elder.
Genesis Supreme had given him a black flute, but he could only passively receive and could not use it to get in touc
h with Genesis Supreme. If he wanted to get in touch with the man, he would have to rely on the Divine Works Elder.
After all, the two of them belonged to the same organization, and the Divine Works Elder had come on Genesis Supreme’s recommendation.
It had been Genesis Supreme’s idea to start the war early, but he himself had not appeared. However, if Genesis Supreme did intervene, the war would be much easier.
“Sir, don’t be impatient. Venerable Genesis Supreme promised you that he would make it in time and personally take action, so he will. Sir merely needs to quietly wait,” the Divine Works Elder breezily replied.
An Lushan’s face darkened.
Make it in time?
He had said the same thing three days ago, when he had last asked the question, but there was still no exact time!
If he weren’t so apprehensive about Genesis Supreme and the men in black, he would have truly slain this man already.
An Lushan suppressed his rage and turned to Tian Qianzhen.
“Tian Qianzhen, how long until the Great Tang’s primary force arrives?”
Tian Qianzhen lowered his head and respectfully said, “Master, the Tang army is marching at full speed. I estimate that they should arrive in one day.”
Even though the alliance army was cut off from Cang Province and Ying Province by the steel fortress and were unable to enter the Central Plains, it still had many spies in the Tang interior that were able to provide Youzhou with a constant stream of useful information.
“Very good!”
An Lushan gave a slight nod.
He would have been able to delay another day to wait for Genesis Supreme, but out of consideration for the fact that Zhangchou Jianqiong, the Wushang Cavalry, and the other elite armies of the Great Tang had yet to arrive, An Lushan decided to start the war early.
“We’ll just have to see if we can take this steel fortress within a day!”
An Lushan quickly turned his attention to the other side.
The alliance army, bolstered by numerous halos, approached the steel fortress with astonishing speed.
The distance was shrinking!
The air within the fortress had long ago become saturated with tension.
“Your Highness!”
Su Hanshan looked gravely at Wang Chong.
“Decide on your own. I leave this matter to you!” Wang Chong confidently said.
The current situation looked extremely grim for the Great Tang, with the ballista army completely suppressed. Even so, Wang Chong trusted Su Hanshan.
Su Hanshan was one of the most dazzling general stars of the apocalyptic era, and Wang Chong believed in his ability to handle this situation.
“Mm.”
Su Hanshan firmly nodded and quickly turned to command the ballista army.
“Get ready!”
“Yes!”
With a metallic boom, tens of thousands of ballista bolts were fired from the walls.
Boomboomboom!
In a terrific din, the ballista bolts collided into the front row of shield carts, but the same thing happened. The normally unstoppable ballistae had been rendered completely ineffective.
“The Great Tang’s ballistae have been crippled!”
“They can’t do anything to us!”
The Youzhou soldiers behind the shield carts excitedly yelled at this development.
“Brothers, charge!”
“Today is the day we make a name for ourselves! Today is the day we all become nobles!”
“Master has decreed that the first to mount the walls will be awarded one hundred thousand taels of gold and be made a hereditary marquis!”
The alliance army was also stimulated and accelerated.
“Ballista army, hear my orders! Three-team volley fire!
“Adjust tactics! Five ballistae to a team! Focus fire on one shield cart!”
Su Hanshan’s sharp eyes surveyed the battlefield, watching the approaching shield carts.
Following Su Hanshan’s order, the ballistae began to change tactics.
Kaclack!
Numerous sharp ballista bolts aimed in a single direction.
Boomboomboom!
With a deafening roar, the third wave of ballista bolts hurtled toward the shield carts.
Five ballista bolts slammed into a single shield cart in swift succession, finally producing a different effect.
Clang! The tough steel plate suddenly caved in, but the ballista bolts still failed to break through the link formation.
Su Hanshan and his officers felt their hearts sink. The toughness of these Youzhou shield carts had far surpassed their expectations. Su Hanshan had never imagined that even five ballista bolts would fail to break through them.
The foe this time was much harder to deal with than before!
But Su Hanshan quickly came to his senses.
“All soldiers, change targets! Aim at the wheels and hubs of the shield carts!”
The gears groaned once more as the ballistae changed targets.
Bang!
Crack! There was a splintering sound as one of the shield carts at the front was struck. Wooden shards sprayed everywhere as the cart wheel flew more than one hundred feet into the air.
Cries of alarm came from behind the shield cart.
Although the front of the shield carts had been reinforced with many inscriptions and formations, these reinforcements did not extend to the wheels. And not even the strongest link formation could withstand such a targeted attack against the wheels.
Boomboomboom!
In a series of explosions, the wheels of the shield carts were blasted into the air, and without their wheels, the shield carts were paralyzed. In short order, thousands of shield carts were turned into immobile piles of steel.
Moreover, the link formations consisted of twelve shield carts each. If even one cart was crippled, the entire formation would lose effect.
An Lushan’s smile quickly faded.
“Who is the opposing commander?” An Lushan sternly said.
“Su Hanshan! A newly promoted young officer of the Great Tang and the leader of the ballista army!” Gao Shang said, his expression grave.
Wang Chong no longer just had his personal strength and intellect. He was surrounded by formidable officers, and Su Hanshan was one of them.
It wasn’t hard to find the flaw in the shield carts. After all, they were not perfect. But what was most frightening was that only five minutes had passed since the first volley, and Su Hanshan had already found a way to deal with the shield carts. This sort of reaction speed was possessed by only the finest of generals.
There were few generals of this caliber in the world!
Putting aside the reaction from the rear, as the shield carts were crippled, the ballista soldiers quickly noticed this flaw and changed targets. Soon, with deafening booms, more and more shield carts were crippled, all of them still more than a thousand feet from the walls.
But even so, the battle did not stop.
“Get some more people! Lift up the shield carts and advance!”
“The formation has been disrupted! Bring out more shield carts from the rear and continue!”
“Stay on your guard! Don’t let them hit the wheels!”
Orders were bellowed across the battlefield.
The clash was imminent, and the soldiers behind the shield carts could already see the rows of Tang soldiers.
Even now, those soldiers simply stood in place like statues.
At this distance, their killing intent was already stimulated. With success right before them, how could they just give up?
A shift took place with the shield carts. The circular shield cart formations reconsolidated into new formations to continue their advance, leaving the crippled shield carts abandoned where they were.
The formations and inscriptions on the shield carts were essentially identical, so they could stand in for each other. This was done precisely because it had been understood that the shie
ld carts would suffer losses in the battle.
This method would minimize the impact that the loss of shield carts would have on the overall plan.
“Mortals are still mortals, thinking of everything so simply. If link formations were that easy to break, why would they even be used?”
The Divine Works Elder couldn’t help but coldly chuckle as he watched the shield carts reform and continue their advance.
As the elder in the organization that excelled in construction, the Divine Works Elder was not some peerless expert like the twelve Supremes or even the Divine Lords, but he nevertheless had an irreplaceable and transcendent status in the organization.
The reason was very simple. The craftsmen he led were primarily meant to target secular powers and secular wars. This was an immense force that could cause a shift in dynasties. Most importantly, Heaven’s Purification plan required elite craftsmen like him.
As servants of the ‘gods’, they had a power that mortals could not match.
But while the Divine Works Elder was still smugly smiling, there was yet another development on the front lines.
Chapter 2164 - Trap! Barrage from All Sides!
Chapter 2164: Trap! Barrage from All Sides!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Bang!
With what sounded like a crack of thunder, a giant ballista bolt that was more than one hundred feet long howled out from one of the passages that had opened up in the steel fortress.
With a mighty boom, a heavy shield cart more than one thousand feet away was blasted into pieces, as if the thick steel plate was made of paper. The link formation formed by the twelve shield carts had barely seemed to exist to this ballista bolt.
But this was only the beginning. Without the protection of the shield cart, the soldiers behind it miserably screamed. The bolt’s monstrous strength obliterated them into clouds of fine mist, and the remaining force in the ballista bolt struck a second, third, and fourth shield cart… and all the soldiers behind those shield carts were instantly annihilated without question.
The ballista bolt’s immense strength carried it more than ten thousand feet, tearing through shield carts, shield cart soldiers, other kinds of soldiers, and even generals and their formidable halos.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 1304
