Chapter 588: The Decisive Battle! Geluofeng’s Killing Intent!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Bastard! This brat is too cunning!”
In the Mengshe Zhao army, Fengjiayi tightly clenched his fist. He felt sure that Wang Chong had only moved those ballistae during Tumi Sangzha’s assault.
Because in the previous battles, those ballistae simply hadn’t been there.
“He’s even used the sea of fire to his advantage. This fellow is truly terrifying. The Wang Clan is praised as a clan of ministers and generals, but this sort of reserve is simply absurd.”
The Mengshe Zhao generals were all stupefied, a profound apprehension emerging in their minds.
What sort of person was Dalun Ruozan?
What sort of person was Huoshu Huicang?
Although Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang were not enemies, there was no one in the southwest who didn’t understand who these two people were. If either one of this pair appeared on the Mengshe Zhao border, everyone would immediately act like they were facing down a powerful foe.
But this boy called Wang Chong was taking them head-on, succeeding in both attack and defense.
He had even used Dalun Ruozan’s fireballs to protect his own forces, neutralizing the Tibetan weapons.
They even suspected that this Wang Chong had intentionally made the Tibetans gather forces around the base of the mountain, and waited for the ground to be saturated with Tibetan troops before bringing out the Great Tang ballistae.
In normal circumstances, the Great Tang ballistae at their most effective would only kill three or four people with each shot, and this would be if the enemy was charging straight at them. But right now, the cavalry were so packed together that a single bolt was enough to kill ten or more.
A few of the ballista bolts had even punched through fifteen or sixteen cavalry before finally stopping.
Under this short rain of ballista bolts, the Tibetan casualties had already climbed to four or five thousand. Rumble! Another volley of bolts howled down from the mountain. The results were not as obvious as the first wave’s, but still two or three thousand Tibetans were sent crashing to the ground along with their horses.
Blood gushed down the mountain in bubbling streams while the anguished whinnies of horses filled the air. The entire mountain was in chaos.
This sight caused Huoshu Huicang’s eyes to twitch.
Even after all his years in the southwest, all the battles he had fought against the Tang, all the times he had witnessed the power of Great Tang weaponry, Huoshu Huicang still found it hard to remain calm in the face of the might being displayed by Wang Chong’s ballistae.
Although the Ngari Royal Lineage possessed more than two hundred thousand cavalry, so the loss of several thousand cavalry was not really that significant, these two-hundred-thousand-some cavalry had taken more than thirty years to build up on Ü-Tsang’s part, had required a massive amount of time and energy to forge.
It would be no easy to task for the Tibetans to forge another such army.
Huoshu Huicang suddenly raised his arm and firmly ordered, “Change the target. Destroy those Great Tang ballistae!”
“Yes, General!”
But before this order could travel out of the rear, the situation on the slopes changed once more. Without the slightest hesitation, after firing two waves of bolts, the Great Tang ballistae were quickly pushed back behind the steel walls.
It took only a few seconds for the ballistae to disappear, just as quickly as they appeared.
Tumi Sangzha, Ciren Xiangxiong, and Zhajie Xiji, these three mighty tribal generals, felt a deep fear. The Great Tang withdrawing these ballistae was far more terrifying than if they had continued firing.
Because nobody knew when they would reappear and resume the barrage.
This was simply impossible to defend against.
Moreover, the Great Tang ballistae needed to be reloaded and tightened every two to three shots. By withdrawing them now, Wang Chong could have the ballistae reloaded and ready to go when he next needed them to appear.
And that occasion would inevitably be yet another slaughter!
As they gradually began to understand Wang Chong’s strategy, all of them felt their hearts turn ice-cold. The Great Tang ballistae were certainly not new weapons, but no one had ever used them to such terrifying effect as Wang Chong had.
“Damn it! Hold them down for me. As long as we can hold them, they won’t be able to fire down at us!”
“Someone, get soldiers up there and destroy those ballistae!”
“Remember to use their steel walls to avoid any volleys!”
……
The Tibetan army did not lack smart individuals. A few had immediately noticed the crucial point of the matter.
If they were engaged in close melee with the Tang, then the Annan Protectorate army on the slopes above wouldn’t fire for fear of shooting their own forces. At the same, the steel walls that Wang Chong had established around the mountain could also be used to avoid ballista fire.
But the Tibetans were famed for their cavalry charges and were skilled in offense. Defense and holding the line were the field of the Great Tang infantry. If the cavalry were hiding behind the steel walls, they would have lost sight of their objective.
“Bastard! Follow me!”
Wrapped in his massive giant of steel, Tumi Sangzha suddenly roared, his pitch-black Halo of Thorns vibrating in response. The Tang soldiers cried out in alarm as their armor was ripped from their bodies and transformed into hundreds of metal men who immediately crossed the sea of fire and charged at the location of the ballistae.
At the same time, Tumi Sangzha broke free of Old Eagle, Luo Ji, and Lin Wushou, his small mountain of a figure leaping up the mountain. That scorching sea of fire couldn’t even reach the giant’s knees and thus posed no threat to him.
Boom! The mountain trembled under Tumi Sangzha’s feet, but Tumi Sangzha was only able to take a few steps before he suddenly stopped, his body shivering as he raised his head up to the sky.
In the dark clouds, a massive fireball was rapidly expanding like a miniature sun. Crash! It landed in a place ten-some zhang from Tumi Sangzha, sending out ripples of energy and flames.
But with the landing of this fireball, the heavens fell silent. No more fireballs were plummeting out of the sky.
After some time, the siege weapons in the rear had finally used up all their fireballs, bringing this rain of fireballs to an end.
For a moment, the entire mountain was completely devoid of sound.
“It’s over!”
On the summit, Wang Chong smiled as he watched that final fireball crash into the ground. Everything was as he had expected. No matter how wise Dalun Ruozan was or how much he had planned, he would have never planned for Wang Chong’s appearance or for the fact that Wang Chong would build both Lion City and this steel fortress in the southwest.
The short time available guaranteed that Dalun Ruozan would not have sufficient reserves.
So this rain of fireballs was guaranteed to not last for long.
Caressed by a gentle breeze, Wang Chong looked down the mountain and indifferently said, “Move out!”
Roar!
A roar that could shatter mountains rose from the mountain. As if time had stopped and was now beginning to flow once more, the deserted mountainside was instantly covered in soldiers.
It was finally the Annan Protectorate army’s turn to counterattack.
“Kiiiill!”
Cries of battle echoed into the horizon as the Tang soldiers hiding behind the steel walls charged out, forming a flood of steel as they swept down the mountain.
Their momentum was enough to sweep over the world, to topple mountains and reverse the seas!
“Foreign swine! Hand over your lives!”
Fierce shouts rose from the mountain as countless officers of the Annan Protectorate army fell in with their soldiers and charged down the slope, powerful auras bursting from their bodies.
Even someone as brash as Tumi Sangzha widened his eyes in shock at this moment.
Although the Great Tang had spent these recent years indulging in peace and pleasure and was no longer as strong as it used to be, a starving camel was still stronger than a horse, and its army was still bursting with talent. It had far more generals than Ü-Tsang or Mengshe Zhao.
Old Eagle, Luo Ji, and Lin Wushou were already hard enough to deal with, and now even more people were charging down.
“Retreat! Retreat! Hurry!” Tumi Sangzha suddenly bellowed.
Thirty thousand Tibetans were no match for all these Tang. Without the cover of the fireballs, the Tibetans had lost their advantage.
Neigh!
The ballista barrage had already caused the morale of the Tibetans to plummet. Now that the tides of battle had suddenly reversed, the Tibetans at the base of the mountain were beginning to flee.
The cavalry further up the mountain also began to turn their mounts around and flee.
Tumi Sangzha and the other generals brought up the rear for a little longer before turning around and fleeing down the mountain.
In this sort of battle, getting caught up in battle was a death sentence!
“Ha!”
Seeing that the Tibetans were fleeing, the mountain instantly exploded with cheers.
……
In the middle of his army, Geluofeng looked up at the summit, his eyes flickering to and fro. After a long time, he finally spoke up. “Huoshu Huicang has also failed!” His gaze was deep and thoughtful, but nobody could tell what he was thinking.
“In constructing these things for Dalun Ruozan, we invested a large number of resources. In the end, however, their killing power was limited.”
A cold voice came from behind Geluofeng.
“It wasn’t because Huoshu Huicang was too weak.”
“Yes.”
Another voice added, “The crux of the issue is that child. He is even harder to deal with than we imagined.”
“The Great Tang is already strong enough. It was enough that they had Duke Jiu back then. They don’t need a second or a third…”
Geluofeng’s eyes began to glimmer with cold light. Like Dalun Ruozan, he had not experienced last night’s battle. He had only heard the recounts of the people who had returned.
But those few recounts were enough for Geluofeng to want to kill that boy.
“In this battle, it’s no longer important to annihilate the southwest’s protectorate army. But this boy called Wang Chong must be killed!”
With these final words, Geluofeng’s eyes shone with a shocking killing intent.
“Your Majesty, be at ease. He will not be able to leave alive.”
With these last words, nothing more could be heard from behind him.