Chapter 594: The Decisive Battle! The Danger of Wang Chong!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“But, Milord, if this continues, our defenses at the base of the mountain will be completely dismantled,” Lin Wushou worriedly said.
He had come here for the express purpose of requesting an order to move out. He would not normally have done such a thing, but Wang Chong was inexplicably slow in giving the order this time.
“Mengshe Zhao still hasn’t attacked up the mountain yet. What they want is for us to leave our positions and attack them,” Wang Chong calmly said.
As he peered down the mountain, his mind was a hive of activity, quickly considering countermeasures. He had to admit that Geluofeng and Dalun Ruozan truly deserved their reputation as powerhouses of the southwest border.
The White Elephant Corps was truly a thorn in Wang Chong’s sole.
In a defensive battle, one hundred thousand could contend against five hundred thousand primarily by relying on advantageous geography, terrain, and defenses. Geluofeng, through the use of his White Elephant Corps, was slowly dismantling these defenses and was in no rush to attack.
The Mengshe Zhao soldiers were in no rush to attack, and it was impossible for Wang Chong’s forces to leave the mountain and attack them. And as long as Wang Chong stood by and did nothing, the steel walls on the mountain that he had invested so much of his fortune into, his lifelines in this battle, would eventually all be dragged away.
The Annan Protectorate army would truly be forced into a corner.
“But, Young Master, do we really have to sit here and wait for death?”
Lin Wushou looked at Wang Chong, the disappointment in his eyes difficult to conceal.
“No need!”
After a few moments, Wang Chong suddenly ordered, “Order the master archer square over here for me.”
It took only a few moments for the fully-armored captain of the master archer square to appear before Wang Chong.
“Young Master!”
The master archer captain lowered his head and bowed.
“What methods do you have to deal with the White Elephant Corps elephants?” Wang Chong asked.
“The elephants are covered completely in armor. When the Mengshe Zhao people were forging this armor, they already considered how to deal with a master archer square,” the captain sincerely said.
The White Elephant Corps had only a thousand-some elephants. If they did not have the sufficient defense, they would be slaughtered in a single engagement, so Geluofeng had made ample preparations against this possibility.
“What about the joints? If we can fire at the joints, the elephants’ movements will be hampered, allowing us to slow their operation.”
Wang Chong’s brow furrowed.
“No! Mengshe Zhao chose Tibetan plate armor precisely for this reason, and they made the armor even thicker than Tibetan plate. Besides the defensive capabilities of the plate armor itself, there are also very few places where the joints of the plate armor are linked together, so there’s far too little chance of success.”
The master archer captain sighed.
“What about the eyes? The plate armor can’t be so formidable as to even obscure the eyes, right? If we can fire into the eyes of an elephant, we might even be able to kill it in one shot,” Wang Chong sternly said.
“The eyes of the elephant truly are a potential weakness to be exploited, but their eyes are extremely small, completely unlike their massive bodies. In addition… Young Master also saw that the Whitestone Corps has stationed ten-some soldiers on each elephant devoted to defense. Moreover, these warriors are clearly well-trained. Our chances are very small.”
“If we don’t have a chance, then let’s create one. Since the soldiers are protecting it, we’ll just shoot down the soldiers!” Lin Wushou suddenly inserted himself into the conversation, sweeping down in a cutting motion with his hands as he spoke.
Before the master archer captain could speak, Chen Shusun spoke up. “It’s useless! The White Elephant Corps will definitely have made plans against this possibility. In order to remove that sort of defense, we would have to kill the entire White Elephant Corps.”
Things on the battlefield were never so simple. Since Geluofeng regarded the White Elephant Corps with great importance, he had equipped them with the best armor covered with many defensive inscriptions and even made armor for their underbellies. He had probably already thought of every possibility.
The only part that he couldn’t defend was probably the eyes, because it would do him no good if his defensive measures blinded the elephants as well. Even so, Geluofeng had still prepared an extremely large army to protect them.
From a certain perspective, from the moment the Mengshe Zhao people had begun to develop this corps, they had thought of every possible flaw and developed countermeasures against them.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dust continued to rise from the base of the mountain. While they had been speaking, the outermost circle of steel walls around the mountain had been pulled out. Each under the escort of several dozen soldiers of the White Elephant Corps, the elephants pulled away the heavy steel walls, dragging them step by step from the mountain.
Cries of alarm could be heard all over the base of the mountain. No longer protected by the outer perimeter of steel walls, having lost the tug of war with the elephants, the Annan Protectorate army was forced to move farther up the mountain.
And from start to finish, the Mengshe Zhao soldiers never attempted to pursue. Only when a few Annan Protectorate army soldiers got too close would they attempt to suppress them.
The dismantling of the walls proceeded with almost unbelievable calm.
And from the summit, one could see that Mengshe Zhao had dispatched a great number of generals for this operation. A general would be supervising at every location, immediately bellowing a stern rebuke at the smallest sign of attack. Anyone who seemed to cross a sort of invisible boundary would immediately suffer the lash of the whip.
This entire attack was difficult to imagine.
But this sight failed to alleviate the worries of the people on the summit. It only made their hearts sink like stones.
“The Mengshe Zhao soldiers are now very cautious.”
“It’s even scarier than if they were attacking with all they had.”
“If this continues, it’ll take three days at most for our defensive stronghold to be completely dismantled.”
……
The entire mountain was quiet. Other than a few conflicts that took place during the process, an extremely rare peace was maintained. But this mood on the battlefield was completely different from what one would expect from such a peace.
The atmosphere was many times tenser than it had been during the fierce battles earlier. Worry and anxiety were spreading like a plague through the army.
“Hahaha, the Ü-Tsang Great Minister talked up this brat too much! I’d like to see how he can break my White Elephant Corps!”
In the middle of the White Elephant Corps, the white-armored Duan Yangyan looked up at the mountain and roared with laughter.
The White Elephant Corps had already dismantled an entire layer of the Tang defense, but other than a few scattered attempts at resistance and some tickling volleys of arrows, the Tang had not been able to form any sort of effective attack.
If this continued, he would be able to force the entire Annan Protectorate army into a dead corner and wipe it out without the loss of a single soldier.
In the central army tent of the Mengshe Zhao army, a general looking up at the summit suddenly noted, “Your Majesty, General Duan’s White Elephant Corps has proved useful.”
From the start of this operation until now, all the Mengshe Zhao soldiers had been watching that thin figure on the summit.
Everyone had been waiting for his response.
They could even guarantee that the Tibetans were watching as well.
But the truth was that the mountain was quiet and showing no sign of reaction whatsoever. There was no doubt that they were truly at a loss for what to do this time.
On the other side, a mustachioed and scar-faced Mengshe Zhao general spoke. “We’ve grasped their weak point this time. No matter how formidable the Qilin son of the Wang Clan is in the art of war, no matter how young he is or much talent he has, he can’t possibly have any plan this time.”
As they looked at the summit, everyone appeared much more relaxed.
“At times, one has to be capable of enduring,” Geluofeng lightly said. As the King of Mengshe Zhao, though he wasn’t much for personally overseeing the front lines, Geluofeng surpassed the most outstanding of battlefield commanders, both in insight and bearing.
“Not retreating is sometimes retreating and retreating is sometimes advancing. The Annan Protectorate army’s strength is in its position. By relying on the mountainous terrain and the steel walls on the mountain, they managed to force back our one hundred thousand soldiers, inflicting grievous casualties on them. But if we aren’t in so much of a rush, they naturally have no opportunities to exploit.”
“Your Majesty’s divine wisdom!”
The surrounding generals bowed.
If they still had any doubts about Geluofeng’s plans before, the results before them had completely washed them away.
“Send down my order. Tell Duan Yangyan to maintain the current pace. By no means can he take any risks. Otherwise, everything will be on his head!” Geluofeng said.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The messenger quickly left with the order.
……
“Rather interesting.”
On the other end, Huoshu Huicang and Dalun Ruozan were also watching the tug of war taking place.
“It appears that Geluofeng’s White Elephant Corps is even more effective than our siege weapons.”
Huoshu Huicang’s figure was like that of an imposing mountain, and his face was devoid of emotion.
Dalun Ruozan smiled in response, lightly waving his feather fan.
“It was about time he contributed a little.”
“Does that child really have no way to deal with it?” Huoshu Huicang replied.
“It seems like the Mengshe Zhao White Elephant Corps truly is useful. But before the dust settles, nothing can be known for sure.”
The white feather fan paused for a few moments as Dalun Ruozan fell into thought.
“However, this is also a good chance for us. Send down an order to have Longqinba get his army ready. Once the situation starts looking off, immediately move out! …If we can finish off the Annan Protectorate army in these next few days, it will be of great benefit to us. It was about time that the war for the southwest came to an end.”
Huoshu Huicang nodded in agreement. As long as the consequences of Dalun Ruozan’s opinions were not too severe, Huoshu Huicang normally never interfered.
Rumble! Longqinba quickly set off with his army, mixing into the White Elephant Corps so it could move out at any time. If Wang Chong dared to have the Annan Protectorate army leave the mountain, the only thing waiting for them would be a painful strike from the Tibetan army.
Boom!
Dust plumed into the sky. Another wall had been hooked by countless chains and dragged down and away by those white-armored behemoths.
And this was already the second layer of steel walls.