荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

“Lord Governor!”

The entire world seemed to be drained of sound for a few moments.

Imperial Great Generals were all supreme figures to ordinary soldiers, untouchable existences. No one had imagined that Pahlavi would be slain in a single clash with Wang Chong. With the death of Pahlavi, the power of the halos exuded by his body swiftly vanished, and Wang Chong’s Bane of the Battlefield and Bane of Generals halos once more began to take effect.

“Kill!”

The twenty-thousand-some Tang, Khorasani, and rebel soldiers redoubled their assault. The death of Pahlavi and Wang Chong’s two powerful halos immediately caused the Arab army of one hundred thousand to crumple.

“Run! Flee!”

The rout was as swift as a landslide, and the Arabs soon began to flee.

“Everyone, hear my order! Kill them!”

Bahram unsheathed his sword and gave the order. His eight-thousand-some Aswaran Cataphracts immediately began to pursue the one hundred thousand Arabs.

Clangclangclang! As they charged, halos erupted from their feet, and each Aswaran Cataphract seemed to become a moving fortress.

Bang!

Wherever these cataphracts passed, they would send seven or eight Arab cavalry flying into the air. The immense impact shattered bones and inflicted severe injuries.

The swords of the Aswaran Cataphracts flickered through the air with extreme speed. Before the Arab cavalry had fallen back to the ground, four or five them had already lost their heads.

“So fast!”

Even the hovering Wang Chong couldn’t help but commend this sight.

These Aswaran Cataphracts of the Sassanid Dynasty had a firm and steady momentum. Their attacks were rapid and brutal, and they could be fast or slow, heavy or light. They had developed their way of combat into an art form, and in certain aspects, they had even surpassed the Mamelukes. They were even comparable to the Wushang Cavalry in a few areas.

And this was even though the Wushang Cavalry had Wootz Steel swords and Meteoric Metal armor that would make any Aswaran Cataphract envious.

“Pass on my order! All soldiers, full-out offensive! Remember! Don’t give these one hundred thousand soldiers a chance to catch their breath!”

Wang Chong lightly dropped back to the ground.

The battle was settled, and all that was left was for Wang Chong to lead his army in doggedly pursuing the Arab soldiers. Wang Chong was in no rush to advance. Instead, he allowed the one hundred thousand Arab soldiers to enter the city so that they could throw the other two hundred thousand soldiers into chaos as well.

Neither Hular nor Karim had expected Wang Chong to be so determined.

While the Arabs had been planning to attack the two hundred thousand rebels, they had at least attempted to conceal their actions, but Wang Chong was heedless. And his enemy’s tactics also made Hular feel extremely helpless.

They clearly had the overwhelming advantage in numbers, outnumbering their enemy by more than ten times, but every time Hular tried to rally his troops and exert this advantage, the enemy force of around twenty thousand would always find the weakness in the Arab ranks. With just one attack, all of Hular’s efforts would be squandered.

Once, twice, thrice... the twenty thousand rebel soldiers cut through the three hundred thousand Arab cavalry like a scalpel, throwing the Arabs into disorder again and again, even using their own soldiers to hinder each other and create even more mayhem.

The pursuit lasted for one hundred li, and after repeated skirmishes, Hular was cast into the depths of despair.

“Withdraw!”

With Hular’s order, the army began to madly flee, completely giving up on any form of resistance. In the end, the army of twenty thousand killed more than one hundred thousand Arab cavalry, pursued them for more than two hundred li, and scattered them in every direction. Only then did Wang Chong and Bahram decide to withdraw their soldiers.

“General, let’s withdraw! Our men have sent word that even more Arab governors and soldiers are converging on this location. Even if we continue the pursuit, we might end up surrounded!”

Several hundred li from Shifan, Bahram on his monstrous horse rode alongside Wang Chong. When he gazed at that young face, a hint of admiration flitted through his eyes. This young commander from the east had a daring, courage, and sharp intuition that Bahram had never seen in his life.

Under his command, twenty thousand soldiers exhibited far more power than Bahram could ever achieve. He was always able to identify the weakest point in the enemy army, predict where it would manifest, and then dispatch the minimum number of soldiers to achieve the maximum effect, neutralizing the enemy’s counterattack.

Although the three hundred thousand soldiers had tried again and again to counterattack, Wang Chong would always strangle their attempts in the cradle. He seemed to practice an entirely different art of war to the one Bahram knew.

When the Empire’s White Corpse Hular was fleeing for the last time, Bahram had been able to clearly see the helplessness on his face. This was a despair that not even being defeated in martial combat could create.

‘Seek knowledge, even unto China!’ The Tang’s art of war seems to be stronger than that of both the Sassanids and the Arabs. Perhaps this Great Tang of the east is the true ally that we’ve always been waiting for!

As Bahram gazed at Wang Chong’s profile, he made up his mind.

This was his first time truly fighting alongside the Great Tang. Even Bahram would have found it very difficult to defeat one hundred thousand with twenty thousand. Wang Chong’s unfathomable art of command and his formidable Wushang Cavalry had left an indelible mark on his mind.

Unaware of what Bahram was thinking, Wang Chong drew his gaze back from the horizon and nodded. “It’s about time. We should quit while we’re ahead. Withdraw!”

This preemptive attack had served an excellent lesson for the Arabs, thoroughly intimidating them. Moreover, the one hundred thousand men the Arabs had lost meant that the final army they could eventually gather would be smaller by that much, placing much less pressure on his own men.

Rumble! A few moments later, all the Wushang Cavalry, Aswaran Cataphracts, and other rebel soldiers withdrew to Khorasan, getting clean away.

“Bastard! We will tear your corpse to shreds!”

In the distant Baghdad, the Caliph of Arabia furiously bellowed upon hearing of what had happened in Shifan. All of Baghdad seemed on the verge of being torn apart by this roar.

An extremely stern letter was quickly sent from Baghdad to Khorasan.

But to everyone’s surprise, Mutasim III, the Caliph of Arabia, soon received an even more sternly-worded letter.

In this letter, Wang Chong bluntly accused the Arabs of treachery. On the surface, they had appeared to be conducting peace talks with the Great Tang, but they had secretly been preparing for war. Hular’s actions this time had been an enormous offense. Wang Chong had directly stated in his letter that if the Arabs did not express their apology through an additional two hundred million taels of gold in compensation, the Great Tang would engage in a full-out offensive and take all the surrounding Arab cities.

“Bastard!”

Upon reading Wang Chong’s letter, Mutasim III felt like his belly was about to explode from the anger he felt at Wang Chong’s outrageous demands.

“Just who do these bastards think they’re talking to? Do they think that our Arabia is like those other weak countries and can be plundered as they please? Two hundred million taels? Impossible! Absolutely shameless!”

But even so, three days later, two hundred million taels of gold was delivered to Khorasan with astonishing speed. Delivered with it was a letter with a much softer tone.

“Hahaha...”

In Khorasan, Wang Chong, Gao Xianzhi, Bahram, the Gangke King, Banahan, Li Siye, Su Hanshan, and the others had all gathered together. They couldn’t help but laugh at the Caliph’s letter.

“The Caliph of Arabia probably wants to kill someone by now.”

Cheng Qianli placed the letter back on the table and chuckled.

“They have to endure. They’re no longer just worried that we might attack their cities, but that we might continue pursuing them, just like what happened after Shifan. Over the last few days, the skies of Khorasan have been covered by hunting falcons. The Arabian Empire has probably sent all their hunting falcons to observe our actions. They’re really frightened this time!” Zhang Que couldn’t help but note, his lips twitching. This had been the most relaxed and pleased he had ever been in his time with Wang Chong.

Wang Chong was playing around with the Arabian Empire, and even though the Arabs were infuriated, they were forced to send piles of gold to him. Such a feeling was impossible to describe, and that oppressive and menacing pressure that used to be exerted by Arabia had long ago been dispelled.

“Milord, why don’t we think of a way to clear the skies of those hunting falcons!”

Zhang Que looked at Wang Chong, aching to try.

“Zhang Que, don’t mess around. Those Arabian hunting falcons are not something we can recklessly touch. And besides, we’ve achieved what we wanted. There’s no need for us to deploy our soldiers!” Xu Keyi said.

“General!”

At this moment, the silent Great General Bahram suddenly spoke, his words immediately making him the center of attention.

“This one has a proposal. At the same time, this is the desire of all the other leaders. We hope to become allies with the Great Tang, creating a long-term coalition headed by the Great Tang to resist Arabia!”

Bahram’s words instantly cast the room into silence. The eight-thousand-some Aswaran Cataphracts and the nearly two hundred thousand soldiers gathered from all around represented an enormous force.

Just like how the Arabs had wanted to use the Tibetans to deal with the Great Tang, if the Great Tang wanted a steady foothold in Khorasan, they needed the help of these people. At the very least, this force was unmatched in its ability to gather information.

There was no precedent for this kind of alliance, and everyone knew that this was no laughing matter. All of them turned to Wang Chong. Wang Chong said nothing, but his eyes held a hint of almost imperceptible shock. He then turned to Gao Xianzhi, who gave a nod, indicating that he would leave this decision entirely up to Wang Chong.

Wang Chong turned to Bahram and solemnly said, “Great General Bahram, are you serious?”