Chapter 938 - Night Battle (III)
Chapter 938: Night Battle (III)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Gao Xianzhi’s appearance had been too timely. From the start of this raid until now, Duwu Sili felt like he was being hemmed in from every direction. Although his opponent had been different every time, he felt like he could faintly make out the same face behind each of them.
The mere thought of that youthful individual left Duwu Sili feeling vexed and irritable.
This was a contest of two different kinds of power, intelligence and strength, and in this contest, Duwu Sili was unquestionably at the disadvantage.
“Duwu Sili, you’re still an Irkin of the Western Turks, a Great General of Mount Sanmi. Isn’t it a little shameful to chase down a single general?”
Gao Xianzhi stood in the darkness, a hand on his sword and a scornful smile on his lips.
“Gao Xianzhi, I won’t mince words with you. Since you’ve appeared, I can’t bother chasing him down. Let’s meet again on the battlefield!”
Duwu Sili suppressed his killing intent, gave one last glare, and turned his horse back around.
Battles between Great Generals were often incredibly exhausting and time-consuming. Now that Gao Xianzhi had shown up, Duwu Sili understood that there was no need to continue the fight. Without the slightest delay, he vanished into the darkness.
Gao Xianzhi smiled as he watched Duwu Sili leave, making no attempt to stop him.
Not long after Duwu Sili left, Cheng Qianli emerged from behind Gao Xianzhi, his hand pressed against the hilt of his sword.
“Milord, it really was as Wang Chong predicted. The Great General Dalun Ruozan sent really was Duwu Sili!”
“Huoshu Huicang and Dusong Mangpoje are both Great Generals of Ü-Tsang and have very close relationships to Dalun Ruozan. Their every move would be restricted by Dalun Ruozan, leaving Duwu Sili as the only Great General of the combined Turko-Tibetan army able to pursue our men,” Gao Xianzhi said with a smile.
As a Great General with a mastery of strategy and tactics, Gao Xianzhi was very similar to Wang Chong, and it was precisely because of their similarities that he appreciated Wang Chong and only wished that they had met sooner.
Gao Xianzhi found it difficult to imagine that the Great Tang had such an individual. If he had known beforehand, he would have used his status as Anxi Protector-General to recruit him to the Western Regions. If they had been able to work together, the Western Regions would have never ended up like this.
“Let’s go! We’ve been gone from the camp long enough. The Arabs should have already started their attack.”
Gao Xianzhi slowly turned around and began to walk toward Talas.
To take, one first had to give. He had appeared here not merely to block Duwu Sili. If one wanted to catch a fish, one first had to bait the hook. This was a principle that would never change.
In the darkness, Huoba Sangye and his golden-red Mutri Great Cavalry stared at Gao Xianzhi’s back. Though unwilling, they could only suppress their desires.
“Withdraw!”
With this order, they departed as quickly as they came.
……
Swooshswooshswoosh!
Gao Xianzhi’s judgment was on the mark. Reversing time to when Gao Xianzhi left to stop Duwu Sili, at the first defense line, arrows poured out of the darkness, each one aimed at a torch or furnace on the steel walls. Bangbangbang! With soft explosions, the Stellar Energy attached to the arrows exploded, and the fires were extinguished, casting the bright first defense line into darkness.
“Careful! Enemy attack!” a Tang guard at the first defense line shouted as he realized what was going on.
Thwish! An arrow shot out of the night like a poisonous snake and pierced through the neck of the vigilant soldier, causing him to fall to the ground with his eyes wide open.
Clangclangclang!
Cold light flashed as the Tang guards began to unsheathe their weapons, their muscles tensing as they looked beyond the walls.
“Shieldmen, on the defense! Use the shields to block the gap!”
A Tang general showed off the fruits of his discipline and training. Even though he had no idea of the number of enemies or the composition of their forces, he had swiftly made the correct decision. In a few moments, the Tang shieldmen began to rush to the gap and plant their tall and heavy shields in the ground, their bodies leaning forward in defensive postures.
No matter how many enemies there were or how they attacked, as long as the Tang forces could block the gaps, they could thwart the enemies’ plans.
But though the Great Tang had reacted quickly, the foe in the darkness reacted even more quickly…
Neigh!
The fierce cries of warhorses broke the calm of the dark night. The earth began to rumble as an unknown number of enemies charged at the first defense line. They had been hiding for some time, waiting for this moment to launch their strike.
“Kill them!”
“Everyone, follow me! Those who don’t will die!”
“Kill all these Tang!”
In the blink of an eye, thousands of Arab cavalry with bright eyes and savage expressions were assaulting the Tang defenses.
Swooshswooshswoosh!
Preceding them was volley after volley of arrows, falling thick amongst the defenses and felling countless Tang soldiers, which the Arab cavalry used to cover their attack. Boom! Two large hooves raised up in the darkness and fell with thunderous momentum on one of the large shields. This clash of horse hooves and infantry shield let out a metallic and deafening bongthat could be heard all along the first defense line.
The shieldman behind the shield groaned, his facing turning white as blood trickled from his lips. He had managed to block the blow, but before he could even catch his breath, another pair of horse hooves was crashing down, and then a third, a fourth…
Five muscular Arabian warhorses smashed against this single shield, and not even a veteran shieldman could hold out against this sheer force. Boom! The shieldman was thrown back along with his shield, allowing the Arab cavalry to surge in.
“Kill!” the Arabs shouted in their language. They had prepared very long for this raid, and they now attacked with utmost ferocity. In a few moments, many of the Arab cavalry had succeeded in breaking through the line and entering the Tang camp.
“Stop them!”
“Light the fires!”
The Tang generals also began to lose their nerve in this chaos.
Fwoosh!
Torches were thrown in from outside the area of battle as the nearby Tang soldiers swiftly worked to aid their comrades. Hundreds upon hundreds of torches were thrown into the area, their light outlining the fierce figures of the Arab cavalry.
“Up!”
The reinforcing Tang soldiers roared as they began to charge at the Arabs.
But before they could reach the battlefield, another surprising development occurred…
Swish!
With a shrill whistle, a dazzling white arc of light, like the pure crescent moon, flew over the first defense line, slashing at the neck of one Tang infantry, and then another, and then it began to dance amongst the Tang soldiers. More whistles could be heard as a second arc of light appeared, and then a third… In a few short moments, countless arcs of light were dancing in the darkness, flashing past the Tang soldiers and leaving them drowning in their blood. These hundreds of arcs of light were both fast and accurate as they enacted a gory dance of death.
Clang! A Tang soldier pulled out his sword and launched a dazzling white sword glow at one of those arcs of light. Ding!The arc of light turned, but not only did it not slow, it increased in speed as it shot toward another Tang soldier. Splush! Light flashed and blood plumed, and yet another Tang soldier dropped to the ground.
“How could this be?”
“What’s going on here?”
“Everyone, be careful! It’s the Arabian scimitars! There’s something weird about them!”
The orderly Tang soldiers behind the first defense line instantly fell into chaos. These brilliant white arcs of light were too fast and too abrupt. Moreover, their small size made them extremely hard to defend against. Grievous losses were quickly inflicted on the unprepared Tang soldiers.
“Haha, die! In this continent, there is no one able to stop my Wings of Death!”
Around thirty zhang from the first defense line, the fierce Arab general Nurman sat tall upon his horse, a savage smile on his lips. The screams of the dying Tang soldiers were the most beautiful music in the world to his ears.
“Come, come! The more you send, the more will die!”
Nurman squinted into the distance, his eyes exploding with a beast-like madness and excitement.
The Wings of Death! This was the elite night raiding force under Nurman’s command. The darkness was their greatest aid, allowing them to display their full power. In countless battles, Nurman had led this supreme raiding force of the east to kill countless foes. Although they were not numerous, they were each extremely lethal. Through the use of baiting tactics, Nurman’s Wings of Death had killed forces ten times their number, even twenty times. Enemies of the Arabs paled at the mention of this name. The more reinforcements the enemy sent, the more concentrated their numbers, the more powerful the Wings of Death were.