Chapter 1836 - The Silver Spear Army! (I)
Chapter 1836: The Silver Spear Army! (I)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Crack!
As the Arab army got closer and closer, the soldiers behind the first defense line clenched their weapons, their eyes brimming with the will to fight. This was no ordinary battle, but a battle of annihilation between the Great Tang and Arabia.
In this battle, no one could back down, much less feel fear.
“Ready!”
While the cries of the Arabs were causing the earth to tremble, on the Great Tang side, other than the area where the Behemoths had charged in, the region was eerily quiet, like those nearby Behemoths were in another dimension.
The thirty-some giant ballistae were still thundering as they launched bolt after bolt, but on the left and right flank, all the soldiers were focused on the enemy approaching the steel defense line.
One hundred meters, eighty meters, sixty meters…
The distance was closing!
Boom!
Finally, the tens of thousands of Arab cavalry savagely slammed into the massive shields that were each taller than a man.
“Hold!”
Furious roars could be heard across the battlefield. Behind the massive shields, the stalwart shield soldiers planted their feet and leaned forward, their bodies brimming with muscle and the veins bulging out from their foreheads.
The best shield soldiers from each army had been selected to hold the front line, and this included soldiers from renowned clans like the Chi Clan, Li Clan, Zheng Clan, and Du Clan, and elite soldiers from the Big Dipper Army. These men were all battle-tested veterans possessing formidable strength and experience.
A second later, the Arab attacks came, spears, scimitars, hooves, and Stellar Energy slamming against the massive shields and exerting immense pressure on each shield soldier.
The vast sea of Arab cavalry had already covered every inch of the Tang defense line, and besides that…
“Kill!”
Tens of thousands of Arab cavalry, unafraid of being crushed to death by the Behemoths, charged in straight through the gap that had been created.
Although the Behemoths had not completely opened up the Tang defense line, it was much easier to charge in from the gap than elsewhere. And here, they could catch the Great Tang unawares.
No matter how the Tang tried to defend, the charge of the Behemoths would make their defenses crumble.
“All of you, get in there! Kill every one of these infidels!”
Apolis commanded his soldiers from the center of the army, his black cape dancing in the wind. At the same time, the Governors and Deputy Governors obeyed Apolis’s commands and charged into the fray.
The two-hundred-thousand-some cavalry served as the Arabs’ first high-pressure probe. The full army had yet to attack, but once the Tang line showed signs of faltering, it would signal the doom of the entire Tang force.
Boomboomboom!
The battle had started at an intense pace, and the clashing of weapons and the hollering of war cries mixed together into a deafening din. But outside the point of contention, the outer edge was quiet.
On the Arab side: Khatabah, the High Priest, and Abu Muslim.
On the Great Tang side: Wang Zhongsi, Zhangchou Jianqiong, and Gao Xianzhi.
And farther off, to the northwest of the battlefield, a stalwart figure peered into the distance. This man was none other than Western Turkic Great General Wunu Shibi!
The Great Tang and Arabia had mobilized almost all their forces for this war. This war was far too important, and the surrounding countries could not possibly ignore it. But if they led their armies over, they would create misunderstandings with the warring countries. Thus, Wunu Shibi had only brought a few men with him to personally observe this battle.
He needed to see this battle with his own eyes, see for himself who would be the ultimate victor!
And there were many other people with the same idea as Wunu Shibi.
If one looked down from the sky, one would spot groups in the northwest, southwest, and east, all of them scattered across the region and observing from a distance, not daring to get too close for fear of causing any misunderstanding.
Whoosh!
A wind blew out of the northeast across the entire battlefield. The two-hundred-thousand-some Arab cavalry pressed in, exerting maximum pressure on the Tang forces.
“Beehives, fire!”
With this order, the Great Tang finally launched its counterattack. With a piercing whistle, an innumerable number of arrows exploded from the steel walls.
In the past, when two armies clashed, it was customary for archers to begin firing as soon as the enemy entered their range.
But Wang Chong was different. He had established a unique fighting style with his steel walls. His soldiers would wait until the enemy was right on top of them, when their ranks were at their densest, to begin firing.
At this range, any arrow fired would hit its mark, and the power of archers and ballistae would be maximized.
Thwishthwishthwish!
The beehives began to unleash their salvos, their whistling arrows covering almost every inch of ground.
“Ah!”
Screams tore through the air as the largest losses yet in this battlefield were inflicted.
The cause was not the stomping of a Behemoth destroying the Tang defense line, but the attacking Arabs being shot down by countless arrows, which plunged into their eyes, necks, the chinks in their armor, and even the heads of their horses.
Some of the more experienced soldiers tried to wave around their scimitars to block, but they still failed. When the beehives fired, each soldier had to deal with nearly one hundred arrows. At this distance, the impact of the arrow itself was enough to scatter the energy within the Arab cavalry and simply jolt them to death.
Neigh!
Amidst shrieks and screams, the losses climbed to one thousand, two thousand, three thousand… In short order, the Tang counterattack had claimed eight to nine thousand lives, and the losses continued to rise.
“Ballista units! Ready! Fire!”
Right after the beehives, Su Hanshan swung his sword, ordering half of the ballistae to focus on the Arab cavalry instead of the Behemoths.
Bang!
The air thundered as tens of thousands of ballista bolts howled through the air. Gleaming with the light of death, the bolts cut through the air and vanished into the Arab cavalry.
Boom! An Arab horseman, too slow to react, was instantly punched through by a ballista bolt, his armor lasting less than half a second before giving way like paper.
As the first Arab soldier dropped dead from his horse, the bolt continued into a second.
There was a terrible scream as the second Arab horseman and his horse were punched through, and then a third, a fourth, a fifth…
Massive losses were inflicted. After this single wave, forty thousand Arab corpses now lay strewn across the defense line, their blood drenching the earth. If not for the density of the defense line making it so that these Arab cavalry had each taken several ballista bolts, the losses would have been even worse.
“What terrifying power!”
Wunu Shibi’s eyes gleamed with a hint of fear as he watched from atop his horse.
In the Arab camp, Khatabah, Apolis, and the other Arab Governors and Deputy Governors all twitched in shock at this sight.
Purely in terms of killing power, these Tang ballistae were probably on par with the Behemoth Army, a reaper of souls on this battlefield. This alone made this country of eastern infidels more formidable than any other opponent Arabia had faced.
But no matter how strong the foe, anyone who dared to oppose Arabia could face only death.
“Shield Cavalry, go! All of you!” Apolis ordered, his eyes sharp. Even though the losses in this first assault had already ballooned to one hundred and fifty thousand, he did not care.
The Arabs had brought more than two million elite cavalry for this invasion. While one hundred and fifty thousand seemed immense, it was a minor itch for the massive Arab army. Moreover, in Arabia, the vanguard had always been essentially a suicide corps. Even if they all died, no pity would be felt for them.
Bang!
Following Apolis’s order, his army parted, allowing another force mounted upon bulky horses to charge through.
These warhorses were clearly much bigger than ordinary warhorses, their skeletons more bulky and their muscles more packed with strength.
The most striking feature of all was their armor. All these cavalry wore silver armor that was more than five inches thick, and their horses were equipped with the same armor.
This kind of armor had to weigh five to six thousand jin, and even infantry elites would find it hard to move around. Moreover, these warhorses also had a large silver shield that was half a foot thick.
These shields were half a man’s height and their surfaces were carved all over with the intricate patterns of numerous defensive inscriptions. In addition, the shields were covered in spikes, and in the very center was a massive silver spike that was more than six feet long, essentially serving as a spear. Its cold, gleaming point was frightening to behold.
Uniquely, this giant shield was actually connected to the warhorse’s armor via sturdy steel bars.
This was the Shield Cavalry, also known as the Silver Spear Army!