The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  "Young Master, Bachicheng has committed his entire army!"

  The officers on the summit were all nervous.

  Bachicheng led his army in a completely different manner from Xiangyang Dalu. His army had a majestic momentum, a powerful and boundless storm. If one described Xiangyang Dalu's army as giant waves endlessly smashing against the rocks, Bachicheng's army was a typhoon or tornado. It spanned the gap between heaven and earth, approaching with an unstoppable momentum. Comparing the two was like comparing a child to an adult.

  "Milord, Bachicheng is not to be looked down upon. All the soldiers under him are elites with exceptional fighting prowess. It was they who broke General Li's Golden Fortress Formation," an officer cautioned.

  None of the officers wanted to see the past repeated. Bachicheng's forces back then had been exactly like this as they broke through Li Zhengyi's defense: nimble as the wind, aggressive as a fire, steady as a mountain. Every person felt an enormous pressure as they attempted to recall those past mistakes.

  "Milord, we should also commit our main forces ," another Tang officer nervously suggested. "Otherwise, the forces we have deployed at present won't be able to hold. If the front lines collapse, we'll all be doomed!"

  Wang Chong raised an arm and lightly said, "There's no need to panic! Listen to my orders!" His calm tone carried a persuasive power, and as the officers looked at each other, they felt their anxiety fading away.

  Rumble!

  As the army approached, red Halos of Thorns began to appear, expanding over the soldiers of the army. As space began to twist, a red flame seemed to engulf the army. Seeing that Bachicheng was moving out, the demoralized Tibetans on the mountain were stirred back into action and began to join Bachicheng's charge.

  Like a rolling snowball, the Tibetan army swelled, its momentum growing to astonishing levels.

  Rumble! When Bachicheng reached the base of the mountain, the mountain seemed to tremble at the weight of his army. The earth quaked and shuddered as if on the verge of collapse.

  "It's this again!"

  "General Li…"

  "Bachicheng, he's coming!"

  ……

  On the mountain, as the Tang soldiers saw that sacred white yak banner and that fully-armored Tibetan general cloaked in scarlet flames, fear began to show in their eyes.

  Other than the forces that Wang Chong had initially led, almost all of the soldiers had taken part in that head-on battle against the Tibetans.

  The flying white yak banner and the black-armored general covered in seething flames had become their most haunting nightmare!

  "Careful!"

  "Steadyyy!"

  ……

  Xu Shiping was worried, his voice tearing as his shouts resounded over the army.

  Ten-some days ago, Bachicheng had used exactly this method to break through the center of the 60,000 soldiers of the reinforcement army. Now, history was repeating, and Bachicheng had come attacking once more. This was a division-level battle between the Great Tang and Ü-Tsang. The only paths were life and death. If they couldn't defeat this army before them, the Great Tang would have no more reinforcements to send south.

  Not for a very long time.

  "Raise shields!

  "All troops, stand ready!

  "Spearmen, axemen, prepare yourselves!"

  ……

  Order after order was issued. At this moment, the most composed was actually Wang Chong, who was experiencing his first campaign.

  "He truly is a fierce general!"

  As gales traveled from the foot of the mountain to the summit, Wang Chong could almost feel the heat and scorching flames. While his entire army was in an extreme state of tension, Wang Chong could be described as the calmest and most composed. But even after all the battles he had experienced, Wang Chong still had to admit that Bachicheng truly was an extremely formidable general.

  Wang Chong had used several hundred ballistae to instantly slay an important general like Xiangyang Dalu, dealing a grievous blow to his army. But Bachicheng's order to charge had greatly minimized the effect and had even inspired fear in Wang Chong's army of eight thousand.

  The advantages gained in the first half of the battle were basically nullified.

  It was incredibly surprising for such an excellent general to arise from Ü-Tsang.

  But that was as far as it would go.

  When facing Wang Chong, no matter how powerful Bachicheng was or how learned in strategy and tactics, he could never change that critical flaw of his. Battles were not won by one man's martial strength, so for Wang Chong, it didn't really matter how powerful Bachicheng was. That flaw was sufficient for Wang Chong to deal with him.

  Wang Chong suddenly opened his mouth and gave his final order. "Pass down my order. The forward army should take up the Crane Wing Formation. The left and right wings should draw close to the central army and be four ranks deep, vacating their current positions. In addition, tell Lord Zhao to arrange his forces into Arrow Formation and prepare to charge!"

  "Yes, Milord!"

  Behind him, that messenger soldier who had seemingly been waiting for a long time to pass down this order seemed elated and quickly left.

  "You should also go!"

  Wang Chong suddenly turned his head to the ten-some Black Dragon Bandit elites that Li Siye had sent to guard him.

  "But what about you, Young Master?"

  "There's no need to worry. The decisive moment is here! There's no meaning in your staying here. Bachicheng won't be able to get here," Wang Chong indifferently said.

  "Yes, Young Master!"

  The elites had no more objections and left with their orders.

  ……

  Boom!

  Like a meteor crashing into the Great Tang formation, Bachicheng's attack had come, far quicker and more violent than anyone had expected. The dense formation that had blocked the Tibetan waves earlier on, that had even managed to inflict a disastrous defeat on Xiangyang Dalu, was now as weak as an ant trying to shake a tree, crumbling away at Bachicheng's assault.

  "Aaaaah!"

  Screams filled the air as the shield soldiers of the Great Tang were flung away like they were made of straw, many of them dead before they had even hit the ground. At the same time, hooks, axes, spears, and halberds came from all directions, but all of these attacks were stopped by the boundless Stellar Energy protecting Bachicheng's body.

  Even though these thousands of Great Tang soldiers were focusing their attacks on Bachicheng, not one of them could stop him.

  Bachicheng only had to stimulate the Stellar Energy in his dantian to cause screams in all directions and fling away countless soldiers.

  "Kill them all. Anyone who kills a Tang soldier will be richly rewarded!"

  Bachicheng's ruthless voice was like that of a vicious beast, emanating waves of almost solid killing intent that struck out like the tide.

  "Kill!"

  "Kill!"

  "Kiiiill!"

  …………

  Behind Bachicheng, the Tibetan cavalry began to shift from Echelon Formation to the piercing Arrow Formation. The Arrow Formation favored by the Great Tang was now being used in the hands of the Tibetans, and their proficiency was not one bit inferior.

  Merely through this aspect, Bachicheng had exceeded the vast majority of Tibetan commanders.

  When charging from high elevations, he used the Echelon Formation, striking his opponent with wave after wave until they collapsed. Charging from lower elevation, he used the Arrow Formation, personally taking the lead to thrust into the middle of the enemy army and burst it apart. In Bachicheng's hands, the army would never invariably follow a single strategy. As long as he could rout his foe, Bachicheng didn't mind using any method, including the formations of the Tang army.

  "Trying to show a fish how to swim!"

  Wang Chong stood on a rock, his lips curling into a smile of ridicule.

  Bachicheng's tactics might have been useful in front of other commanders
, but they were completely laughable in front of him.

  Rumble! Wang Chong's Crane Wing Formation began to move, the dense ranks closing in from both sides.

  "Hmph, naive!"

  Bachicheng sneered. As long as he broke through the center of the Great Tang army, any further tactics were useless against him. The Tibetan cavalry were like carp surging through a river, and Bachicheng paid no attention to his sides as he continued to pierce through the Tang defensive lines, with no one able to slow him down.

  But gradually, Bachicheng's complexion was beginning to change.

  "Damn, why are there so many defensive lines!"

  The Tang army's central army was seemingly endless. He had already broken through ten-some layers, but he still had ten-some layers to go.

  "Plateau barbarian, take my saber!"

  A vigorous and tyrannical voice yelled out, and right as Bachicheng raised his head to see where it was coming from, a giant of a man, his two hands wielding a massive saber, jumped into the air like an eagle and slashed down…

  Boom!

  Bachicheng finally paled.

  Layer after layer of Tang infantry poured in from all sides. Not even Bachicheng had noticed that as his army shifted from Echelon to Arrow, the front of his Arrow Formation was also being slowed, and a large crack had opened up between the front and back of his army. His six thousand troops had suddenly become two groups.

  This change wasn't too big of a deal. Only a moment would be needed for the soldiers to rejoin, but for Wang Chong at the summit, this 'small flaw' was enough!

  "Let's go!"

  With a wave of a sword, the one thousand clan experts and the one-thousand-some cavalry under Xu Shiping, a total of 2600 horsemen, charged down from the summit. The images of the Dusk Stallion entered their bodies, each one of them forming a Halo of Dusk Stallion.

  It took only a few moments for this force to reach maximum speed.

  Wang Chong had finally revealed his hidden cavalry!

  There was only thundering and neighing as Wang Chong's cavalry cut into that crack like a sharp knife before anyone could react. Swishswishswish! Wootz Steel swords shone with cold light as they swept through the air, leaving flying heads in their wake.

  The Tibetan army was instantly thrown into chaos!

  Chapter 514: Major Victory!

  Chapter 514: Major Victory!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Rumble!

  Halos reverberated with the clattering of metal as they enveloped the armies. The battle had finally reached the crucial moment!

  Wang Chong had hidden the 2600 cavalry for a long time, holding them in reserve until they could explode and wash over the enemy like an unstoppable flood. And the one thousand Wootz Steel swords served as the best weapons to clear the way.

  Roar!

  "Kill!"

  ……

  The smack of flesh against flesh and the clang of saber against sword resonated through the air.

  In normal circumstances, Wang Chong's 2600 cavalry would have been no match for Bachicheng's army of six thousand.

  But Bachicheng's advance had been stymied by Li Siye, Old Eagle, and Xu Shiping, and the defensive lines Wang Chong had laid in the central army had still not been broken through. The gap in strategy and tactics had become fatal when facing the War Saint that was Wang Chong.

  Cavalry had never been invincible!

  Wang Chong was well aware of this fact.

  Cavalry without speed was only infantry, perhaps even inferior!

  Wang Chong's 2600 cavalry had become a high wall looming in the middle of Bachicheng's army, cutting the tail from the head. The chaos in the middle also made the Tibetans obstruct each other, completely nullifying their advantage in speed. Wang Chong didn't even need to participate. He just needed to stand on the summit, spreading out his Bane of the Battlefield halo to his army.

  "Congratulations to user for killing 3601 Tibetan regular heavy cavalry!"

  "Congratulations to user for killing 3723 Tibetan regular heavy cavalry!"

  "Congratulations to user for killing 3845 Tibetan regular heavy cavalry!"

  ……

  "Congratulations to user for killing 6561 Tibetan regular heavy cavalry!"

  "Congratulations to user for killing 7831 Tibetan regular heavy cavalry!"

  "Congratulations to user for killing 8843 Tibetan regular heavy cavalry!"

  ……

  Countless messages resounded in his mind. On the blustery summit, Wang Chong's Bane of the Battlefield halo had already become a grade-two halo. Meanwhile, Wang Chong's strength climbed from the True Martial realm Tier 5 to Tier 6, a bonus that came from the advancement of his halo. Ever since his reincarnation, this had been the largest and most fruitful battle that Wang Chong had participated in.

  As he saw the chaos on the slope and his army encircling the Tibetans, Wang Chong knew that he had won.

  The battle ended one hour later.

  As the sounds of fighting faded, the mountain finally exploded with cheers.

  "We won, we won!"

  "We really did win!"

  "HAHAHA…."

  ……

  The exhausted soldiers, counting themselves lucky to be alive, looked excitedly at the corpses of the Tibetans and their highland steeds carpeting the slope. Countless Great Tang soldiers had died in the southwest war, dealing the Great Tang an unprecedented defeat. And in all of this vast empire of millions, not a single extra soldier could be found, not in Longxi, Beiting, Anxi, or Andong!

  At a time like this, a victory like this truly was necessary to boost morale.

  "I can't believe it, I can't believe it…"

  Commandant Xu and his officers stood on an outcropping of rock, looking at the gruesome battlefield in excitement.

  Although they had taken part in this battle, they were still completely baffled as to how this victory had happened. In Xu Shiping's mind, being able to keep his life in a battle of eight thousand soldiers against twelve thousand fierce Tibetan cavalry was already rather decent. But they had won! And it had been a decisive victory.

  And if one added the fact that they were facing a powerful foe like Bachicheng, this victory felt even more inconceivable.

  "A general's son, a true general's son! It's no wonder the Imperial Court sent him!"

  Xu Shiping almost subconsciously turned to look at Wang Chong.

  The merit for this victory unquestionably lay with Wang Chong alone. In Xu Shiping's hands, these same eight thousand soldiers would probably only be able to flee in defeat, but in Wang Chong's hands, they had displayed an unimaginable power.

  At this moment, Wang Chong's unobtrusive figure was comparable to a god's.

  Gallop!

  While Xu Shiping was looking toward the summit, a messenger galloped to the summit on a horse. Dismounting, he strode forward and kneeled at Wang Chong's feet.

  "Milord, we've won! Other than one thousand, we've killed almost all of the more than twelve thousand Tibetan cavalry!" The messenger's voice was suffused with an irrepressible joy.

  "How many dead do we have?" Wang Chong said indifferently, little fluctuation in his voice.

  "Twenty-seven hundred!" the kneeling messenger reported.

  For an army of eight thousand to only have twenty-seven hundred killed when battling more than ten thousand cavalry was simply absurd. Not even Longxi's Big Dipper Army would be able to accomplish this. If one did not take part in the battle, it would truly be hard to believe. And the only reason for their victory had been this descendant of a prestigious clan.

  The messenger felt an even deeper respect for this youth.

  Twenty-seven hundred?

  Wang Chong paid no attention to the messenger's adoring gaze, only slightly furrowing his brow at this number. To fight against a powerful foe like the Tibetans and only lose twenty-seven hundred while killing more than ten thousand, achieving a four-to-one casualty ratio, would have been nigh
inconceivable for any other general.

  But Wang Chong almost imperceptibly furrowed his brow.

  The casualties are a little high! Wang Chong silently thought, his head lowered.

  He had only started with eight thousand soldiers. With twenty-seven hundred deaths, he now had around five thousand. For Wang Chong, who was severely lacking manpower, this casualty rate was a little hard to accept. However, when one considered that his opponent had been a valiant general like Bachicheng and that most of the deaths had occurred on the first charge, this was still a fact that Wang Chong had to accept.

  In the end, these are still reserve troops, not regular soldiers. If it had been the elites of the Annan Protectorate, a thousand deaths might have been the maximum! Wang Chong quietly said to himself.

  The soldiers led by Li Zhengyi had almost all been reserve troops of the Imperial Court, with only a small portion being regular soldiers. Such a force was completely different from a regular army that had experienced many campaigns. In terms of strength, they were still a little lacking.

  Things would have been completely different if it had been the Annan Protectorate army.

  At the very least, one could see the difference in how the Annan Protectorate army had managed to last so long against the joint army of Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang.

  Purely in terms of soldier quality and strength, not considering other factors like warhorses, the Great Tang regular army's composite strength was actually far greater than that of any other foreign country.

  "Milord, we've captured Bachicheng. How do you want to deal with him?"

  Wang Chong heard a set of familiar footsteps as Old Eagle's blood-stained figure came walking over. He seemed to be limping and looked thoroughly exhausted.

  This had been a most arduous battle!

  Old Eagle had the aid of Batunlu's golden gauntlets, and together with Li Siye, Xu Shiping, the other officers, and the surrounding soldiers, they had ganged up on Bachicheng. Even with their advantage, Bachicheng had still managed to kill and injure many of them. Even Old Eagle had almost given up.

  If it hadn't been for a top-notch expert like Li Siye, wielding that massive Wootz Steel sword and wearing that special Meteoric Metal armor, fearlessly fighting with his life on the line against Bachicheng, the rest of them would have been killed.