Chapter 524: Chaos! The Army in Danger! (II)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
I hope that I'm overthinking it, I hope that I'm overthinking it…
Wang Chong stared at the summit, his brows rising, hoping beyond hope that he was being overly concerned.
Please, stop!
As long as the chaos on the mountain stopped spreading, it would mean his conjecture was wrong. Perhaps that was only a momentary occurrence.
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
Although the formation on the northeastern side had maintained its basic structure, it was continuing to grow more disorderly. The break in the formation was growing larger and larger.
Boom boom boom!
The drums rapidly beat as the northeastern line was torn away, continuing to retreat. One Tang soldier after another fell, and the northeastern defensive line was retracting much faster than elsewhere.
"This isn't good!"
Even Old Eagle was frowning now. Although he was not as perceptive as Wang Chong that he could determine that there was a problem in the chain of command, he could still determine that the northeastern defensive line could no longer hold, which would soon begin to affect the rest of the defensive line. The Tibetan cavalry could burst in through the break in the northeast and swiftly wipe out the rest of the Annan Protectorate army.
Bwoooom!
Seconds flew by, the horns of Ü-Tsang began to blare through the curtain of rain, and the Tibetan offensive quickly began to change. Like surging waves, the cavalry began to move northeast, more and more people charging over.
"Not good!"
Wang Chong paled at the change in the Tibetan formation. The opposing commander was far more intelligent than he had expected. He had clearly noticed the change in the northeast and ordered the horns to be sounded so that the army could surge in. Once the Tibetans finished gathering, the defensive line on the northeast would completely crumble.
Boom!
There was no time to hesitate. The moment the horns blared, Wang Chong urged his horse to charge forward.
"Old Eagle, have an eagle guide Xu Shiping and Xu Andun to get here as quickly as possible. Remember to have them stay hidden and not rush out. They need to wait for my order! Everyone else, come with me!"
Before his voice had faded away, Wang Chong and his forces had vanished into the storm.
……
In this intense and large-scale battle involving tens of thousands of soldiers, a battle in one zone seemed unremarkable and unimportant.
"Aaaaah!"
In the pouring rain, a Tang soldier screamed as he was run through by a spear. At the same time, clangclangclang! Three shield soldiers who had been forced to retreat ran into each other. The weapons and shields of the three were stuck together and all of them lost their balance.
Such a mistake was fatal on the battlefield.
Screams rang through the air as the Tibetan scimitars swung down like fangs. The three Tang soldiers only had time to scream before they were cut to pieces.
The line began to bend, the formations began to deform. The axemen couldn't find their own positions and the shield soldiers couldn't feel the support of the comrades at their sides.
The entire army was starting to lose shape.
Many soldiers were dying with every passing moment.
"Hold!"
"No matter what, we can't let them break through the defensive line!"
"What about Milord? Milord? Why hasn't Milord given an order!"
"Hold the line! Our 80,000 brothers are behind us! If we let the Tibetans break through here, the entire army will be finished and we'll have committed crimes against the Annan Protectorate army!"
"Messenger, please send a message to Milord!"
……
War halos reverberated in the rain, and on the mountain, a Tang commander roared with all his power, his eyes red with bloodlust. He had personally entered the melee and killed two Tibetan cavalrymen, but this was meaningless in a battle of tens of thousands of soldiers.
The army was going to be routed, and this defeat wasn't far off!
Upon thinking about this, the Tang commander felt so nervous that he felt like his chest was going to explode. In these last few days, he had seen far too many of his brothers die. The elites of the Annan Protectorate, the brothers at his side, had fallen one after the other. The air over the Erhai plains stank of his brothers' blood.
Far too many had already died!
No more could be allowed to die!
This faith had been propping him up this entire time.
But he couldn't understand what had happened on the summit. Glancing back, he could still see that massive banner fluttering in the wind, and beneath that banner sat the golden-armored figure of one of the leaders of the younger generation of the Great Tang, second only to Li Zhengyi. He was kneeling on the ground, his head bowed, seemingly in deep thought.
"Milord, give the order!" the Tang commander shouted. But with a peal of thunder, that full-throated roar was instantly lost in the din. In this downpour, all noises were scattered and couldn't travel very far.
Buzz!
The disorder in the ranks was spreading, and the Tibetans were redoubling their offensive, more and more rushing toward this area. Only several dozen zhang from the commander, another position was being torn to shreds by the Tibetans. Despair instantly began to emerge in the commander's eyes.
It was too late!
Too late!
After all their effort to break out, after how long they had held out, would their entire army still be lost?
……
Just when the commander was feeling downcast and helpless, almost about to give up, he heard a neighing horse at his ear. Boom! A white horse leaped into his field of vision, flying over the Tang formation like a rainbow.
"Axemen, attack! Right wing, fifty steps forward and strike! Shield soldiers, retreat and assume Turtle Shell Formation! Pikemen, work with them in the rear! Archers, target the enemy and work with the axemen! Full-out assault!"
A young and bright voice rang out overhead, imbued with a calming power.
"Careful, it's a Tibetan!" somebody suddenly shouted.
"Bastard! Do Tibetans know how to speak Tang? And look just like us?" the Tang commander harshly rebuked.
Although that figure had arrived too suddenly for the commander to make out who they were, there was one thing he was sure of. That person could have been anyone, but they certainly weren't Tibetan.
Few Tibetans knew how to speak the language of the Central Plains, and if they did learn it, it would be in the thick accent of the plateau, an accent that was impossible to conceal.
Besides, that white horse was clearly not a highland steed of Ü-Tsang.
Gallop!
The rider was moving so quickly that they quickly vanished into the rain.
Just who was that person?
A thought flitted through the commander's mind, but he quickly put the matter aside.
"Axemen, attack! Right wing, fifty steps forward and strike! Shield soldiers, retreat and assume Turtle Shell Formation! Pikemen, work with them in the rear! Archers, target the enemy and work with the axemen! Full-out assault!"
Not long after Wang Chong vanished, the commander repeated Wang Chong's order word for word. In the current circumstances, the commander had little option, so he could only try.
Boom!
The axemen attacked, the shield soldiers retreated and assumed the Turtle Shell Formation, and the archers fired!
Everything was completed in a short time. The disorderly and panicked army quickly calmed back down. Soldiers regarded it as their duty to follow orders, and commanding troops was not something ordinary soldiers could dabble in, nor was it their expertise. When the situation was unfavorable and there were no orders being issued, soldiers would also panic.
But once an order was issued, the soldiers would uni
te and begin to work like a precise machine, rumbling to life to accomplish the objective.
The army was temporarily out of danger, and the opposing Tibetan army began to show a little turmoil.
The several thousand axemen happened to strike exactly where the Tibetan ranks were most diffuse, their defense the weakest!
The Tang commander watched this scene and wondered in shock, Just who was that fellow?
……
The warhorse galloped. The White-hoofed Shadow was a divine steed, its speed and jumping ability far surpassing those of ordinary warhorses. When its hooves hit the ground, Wang Chong immediately removed all the Tibetan armor he was wearing. There was no more reason to disguise himself. On the contrary, it would only bring him unnecessary trouble.
"Make way, make way! I'm carrying military orders! Everyone, stand aside!"
Wang Chong was soaked from top to bottom, his hair slick against his forehead. Rain flowed in streams down his brow and over his nose, lips, and chin, eventually dripping down onto the White-hoofed Shadow and from there, to the ground. Wang Chong raised King Song's token, the golden dragon exposed in all its dazzling brilliance, as he charged toward the banner on the summit.
Wang Chong's plan showed its efficacy. The dragon on the token caused everyone to give way and open a path for Wang Chong.
The tactics I gave just now can only hold the front line temporarily. The Tibetans still have at least 160,000 soldiers that aren't here. Time is short. I have to solve this problem as quickly as possible!
Wang Chong's nerves were taut, his mind filled with a deep worry.
One person's strength had its limits, but since he had already entered this battle he had once longed to take part in, since the heavens had already given him this chance to change the empire's fate, he couldn't let this opportunity go!
"Hyah!"
Wang Chong's eyes were firm as his horse leaped over a large rock and continued to charge toward the summit.
"Who's there? Stop!"
Just when Wang Chong was about to reach the commander's tent on the summit, he heard a thunderous voice. At some point, a tall and sturdy mountain of a man, dressed in armor, had unsheathed his shining saber and pointed it at the distant Wang Chong.
Though the wind was gusting and the rain pouring down, all of it was jolted away before it could even approach him.
Wang Chong could sense an abnormally powerful aura from this man's body!
Chapter 525: Crisis! The Unconscious Wang Fu!
Chapter 525: Crisis! The Unconscious Wang Fu!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Wang Chong had never felt such a ferocious energy. The man's saber energy was thick and boundless, like a toppling mountain, yet all of it was restrained, gathered up in a single point.
At this moment, Wang Chong had a feeling that if his answer did not satisfy this man, he would be immediately cleaved in two.
What a frightening expert!
Wang Chong's heart shivered as he prepared to state his identity. But then, he heard a completely different tone of voice, one of pleasant surprise.
"Young Master Chong! How could it be you? How did you get here?"
Zing! Before Wang Chong could react, there was a metallic whistle as the saber expert turned his saber around and put it back in the sheath.
"You are?"
While Wang Chong watched in bewilderment, the tall and muscular man took off his helmet and shook his head, revealing a bearded and sharp-eyed face.
"Uncle Chen!"
Wang Chong's heartbeat quickened as he suddenly recognized the man.
This bearded man was one of his father's old subordinates, Chen Shusun. Both brave and wise, he was one of his father's trusted aides and had apparently been a follower from the start of his father's military career. Wang Chong's father had always been a most harsh and demanding person. It was normally very rare for him to bring his subordinates into the capital.
The Wang Clan guards had all been soldiers whose injuries on the battlefield made them incapable of participating in any further wars. As a result, Wang Yan had come and recruited them for his own residence so that they could make a living. But other people wouldn't even be able to dream of getting a meeting with the people of the Wang Clan.
As for this Chen Shusun, Wang Chong had met him once, when he was a child. It had only been that one time, yet Wang Chong had always had a very good impression of his father's old subordinates. Chen Shusun had even given him a gift once. Back then, his father was very harsh and didn't permit him to have any toys. Thus, Chen Shusun had used his saber to carve a flying bird as a gift for him. This had been Wang Chong's first toy, so it had left a very deep impression.
Of course, the most important thing here was that Wang Chong clearly remembered that, many years ago, his father had placed this old subordinate at his big brother Wang Fu's side. His father hadn't done this to promote him, as most people would imagine. Instead, his father was worried that his big brother would use the name of the clan and his own influence to make the army show him favoritism, so Chen Shusun was dispatched as a supervisor.
Of course, his big brother ended up using his own strength to prove himself, to prove that he didn't need to rely on the clan's resources and influence to make a very good name for himself. Thus, Uncle Shu became a through-and-through subordinate of his big brother.
"Young Master Chong, weren't you in the capital? How did you get here?"
Chen Shusun rushed over with several messengers and held Wang Chong. As he looked him over, his face was both nervous and concerned.
"This is no game, and it's certainly no place for you to lose your temper. Why did you come here? Are you crazy?"
This was simply too surprising!
This was no longer any pleasant surprise, but a surprise scare! The southwest battlefield was already a land of certain death. He couldn't even remember how many soldiers of the Annan Protectorate army had died here, and even a few of his own comrades had died. The 300,000 soldiers of Mengshe Zhao and the 200,000 soldiers of Ü-Tsang presented a suffocating pressure.
Every day, they were living on the edge of the line, none of them knowing if they would be able to make it, none of them knowing when they would die.
The situation was already awful enough, but Chen Shusun had never expected Wang Chong to arrive at this time and in this method.
"Young Master, your attitude is too impulsive!" Chen Shusun said with exasperation.
"Uncle Chen, there's no time to talk about this. Why isn't Big Brother commanding the army? What's happened to him?"
Wang Chong pushed away Chen Shusun's hands and began to stride toward the golden-armored figure under the banner. That banner was Wang Fu's emblem, so there was no doubt that his big brother was commanding the army on this mountain.
"Big Brother…"
The massive banner flapped in the storm, battered to and fro by the wind and rain, but the golden-armored figure seated under the banner was unmoving, apparently unaware of all the ruckus going on behind it. Wang Chong walked over, circling around to the front of the figure, but as he passed that person's shoulder, the words on Wang Chong's lips froze, and he stared at the person in a daze.
The figure under the armor was very young, certainly below the age of twenty, but though he looked very similar to his big brother, Wang Chong was sure that this wasn't Wang Fu.
"You aren't my big brother. Who are you? Where's my big brother?"
After a few moments of silence, Wang Chong suddenly reached out his hand and seized that person's clothes.
This was clearly his big brother's army, and his banner was the one being raised, but the one leading it wasn't his big brother. For a few moments, Wang Chong's mind had been completely blank as he struggled to understand what had happened. For a second there, Wang Chong's mind had even dwelled on the worst-case scenario.
The siege of Lion City had lasted for almost a month now. Had something happened
in that long period of time? Or had his big brother not actually succeeded in breaking out of Lion City with the rest of the army… Countless ideas flew through his mind. Although Wang Chong did his utmost to keep calm, his wan complexion betrayed his true emotions.
"Eldest Young Master is fine, Young Master Chong. Don't make things difficult for him. It was I who had him wear Eldest Master's armor!"
Chen Shusun's voice came from behind as the old officer strode over with a grim expression.
"Young Master Chong, my apologies. In truth, I also didn't want to do this."
The young-looking officer spoke up soon after Chen Shusun finished talking, his expression a little nervous and embarrassed, though it quickly returned to normal. But it was still possible to tell that he was struggling over whether he should leave or stay.
"Zhang Qi, you keep sitting there for now. Don't move! Morale is still unsteady, so without my order, you're not allowed to do anything reckless."
Chen Shusun seemed to understand what the young man was thinking and immediately put a stop to the idea.
"Yes, Milord."
The young man obediently sat back down.
"Uncle Chen, what in the world happened?"
Wang Chong's solemn gaze rested on Chen Shusun.
"Ah, Young Master Chong, follow me!"
Chen Shusun sighed and gestured for Wang Chong to follow him. Wang Chong followed him to the white commander's tent at the summit of the mountain. This was the only such tent on the summit, and the rain battered its white canvas walls.
However, the canvas had been coated with a layer of grease, so no water was able to leak in.
Within the tent, a tall and thin young man dressed in his inner clothes was lying on a bed. He had a rather stubbly beard and a handsome face, and his pursed lips were imbued with coldness, perseverance and resolve. His eyes were shut, and he wasn't moving. Several bodyguards were attending on him, their eyes filled with worry.
"Big Brother!!"
The moment Wang Chong stepped into the tent and saw the cold and handsome youth, he shivered and hastened to his side.
"How could this happen? What's going on here?"
Wang Chong gripped his big brother's hands as he turned to Chen Shusun.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 360