"Chong-er, just say whatever you're thinking! No matter what, I and the other generals will support you."
A familiar voice rang out at his ear. Wang Yan, stroking his beard, had suddenly spoken. Even though his voice was cold and indifferent, it felt like a wave of warmth in Wang Chong's ears.
"Let me think!"
Wang Chong raised his head toward the stormy skies, his mind whirring as countless thoughts flew through it. Time was short, and the situation facing the Annan Protectorate army was already a worst-case scenario. Wang Chong had to make a decision quickly.
"Besiege the enemy to defeat the reinforcements!"
After what seemed like both seconds and countless years, Wang Chong suddenly spoke a phrase that none of the officers had ever heard before.
"Lord Xianyu can still hold out for a while without a problem, but Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo are powerful foes that we have to deal with! No matter what, we can't let them join up with the main army. Moreover… whether we can save Lord Xianyu will depend on this battle!"
At the end of these words, an astonishing light shone in Wang Chong's eyes.
The situation in the southwest was at its worst possible state, but nothing in this world was absolute, and there was always a chance for survival. For Wang Chong, after experiencing the calamity of the foreign invaders, there was no such thing as certain death.
"…In addition, the Tibetan cavalry number around two hundred thousand, and if we subtract Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo's seventy thousand, they should have 160,000 or 170,000. But the forces fighting Lord Xianyu are around one hundred thousand, so there are sixty or seventy thousand soldiers missing. There's no doubt that quite a few of their soldiers got lost in this rainstorm, and they won't be able to return for at least a little while. And this is where our chance lies! As long as we can eliminate Fengjiayi's forces and then meet up with Lord Xianyu, our forces won't be much smaller than the Tibetan forces. It's only ninety thousand versus one hundred thousand! I'm sure all of you have experienced such battles before!"
At the start, the officers were still a little confused at Wang Chong's words, but as Wang Chong reached the head, all their eyes began to glow.
He was right. Purely in terms of strength, the Annan Protectorate army had never been lacking when compared to Mengshe Zhao and the Ngari Royal Lineage. On the contrary, they actually had the upper hand. It was true that the loss of 100,000 of the 180,000 elites had dealt the Annan Protectorate army a heavy blow.
But the soldiers that had survived were the elite of the elite. Not only had their strength not decreased, it had actually increased. This point alone made their situation not as bad as it seemed.
"Milord is correct. If we meet up with Lord Xianyu, our strength is absolutely enough to fight a battle with Huoshu Huicang!"
As the officers looked at Wang Chong, their eyes began to burn with the will to fight.
"Okay, move out!"
Wang Chong waved his hand and immediately took the lead.
Rumble! The army followed close behind.
______________
1.'Besieging the Enemy to Defeat Reinforcements' was a military strategy that was a part of 'mobile warfare'. It involved besieging the enemy so as to compel enemy forces from elsewhere to come to the aid of the besieged forces. The goal of the strategy is not to take the city but to destroy the enemy reinforcements.
Chapter 539: Ambush! The Easily Frightened Jiaosiluo!
Chapter 539: Ambush! The Easily Frightened Jiaosiluo!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Rain was pouring down in buckets, and two figures were riding along the rolling hills through the rain.
As Fengjiayi led the remnants of his personal guard, he suddenly rode up to Jiaosiluo's side and broke the silence. "Jiaosiluo, the marshal is up ahead. Have you thought about how to explain this to the marshal?"
"I don't know."
Jiaosiluo's answer was concise. The battle was already over, and Jiaosiluo had dispersed his white tiger transformation. At this moment, one could see that Jiaosiluo was a burly man, 1.8 meters tall, his entire body bulging with muscle. He completely lacked the short and stocky stature of Tibetans.
The nine sons of the dragon all had different shapes, and even among the Tibetans, not all of them were short and stocky. Almost all their generals were tall and imposing figures, completely unlike the ordinary Tibetan.
"Right now, I also don't know what to do."
Many thick black hoops were dangling from Jiaosiluo's right ear, and as they clanged against each other, they seemed to make the atmosphere even gloomier.
In their pursuit of Wang Yan and his son, their almost eighty thousand soldiers had suffered losses of fifty thousand, while the total casualties numbered more than seventy thousand. Such a bitter defeat was unprecedented. Their forces had been in chaos on the battlefield, at least eighty percent of it incapable of reaching the front lines of the battle for more than two hours. However, when the army crumbled, it had suffered many casualties from the pursuit of the Annan Protectorate army.
Such a miserable defeat… To tell the truth, even now, Jiaosiluo still felt a deep shame.
The Tibetans were famed for their ferocity and courage, and had never feared a powerful enemy. But in this battle, from start to finish, they had been like headless flies, completely duped by the enemy strategies. As the commander-in-chief, Jiaosiluo had to bear the brunt of the blame.
"That brat… he definitely wasn't Wang Fu. Who was he?"
Jiaosiluo recalled that the brat had been wearing Wang Fu's armor, but he clearly hadn't been Wang Fu. He clenched his massive fists, as well as his teeth.
Though the battlefield had been a mess and though he had completely lost in terms of wits to his adversary, Jiaosiluo was sure of one thing. Everything had begun when that brat ascended to the summit and took command of the army from Wang Fu.
Although he and Fengjiayi were both hailed as fierce generals, they were tens of thousands of li from that brat in their knowledge of the art of war.
"Although I don't know his background, he's definitely no ordinary person. Given that brat's age, if he didn't have some sort of backing, he would have never been able to command the Annan Protectorate army."
Fengjiayi's eyes glimmered. He had his own doubts on the matter.
Fengjiayi had suffered few defeats in his career. He was the Crown Prince of Mengshe Zhao and had been praised by the Great Tang War God Wang Zhongsi, so he was actually a rather arrogant individual. As a result, even though the Great Tang was far more powerful than Mengshe Zhao, Fengjiayi had been a staunch proponent of this war.
And the battle by the Erhai had only caused Fengjiayi's confidence to swell.
The Great Tang's defeat was certain, as was the defeat of the Annan Protectorate army!
Mengshe Zhao could finally hold its head high and break free of the Great Tang's shadow. He could finally become a true crown prince!
But now, Fengjiayi had suffered a defeat.
And it had been a major defeat!
Fengjiayi had always felt like he could predict how this war would develop, but now, for the first time, a variable had appeared, one that couldn't be controlled and was completely unpredictable.
This war isn't over. We'll eventually clash with them again! Fengjiayi mentally said to himself.
The setback this time had been sudden, and strictly speaking, the Mengshe Zhao soldiers who had taken part in this battle had only been his personal guards. A battle on this level wasn't enough to conclude anything. And he hadn't been the one commanding the Tibetan army. Given Fengjiayi's proud personality, he would never have been willing to so easily concede defeat.
"However…"
Fengjiayi's eyebrows rose as a thought occurred to him.
"The Tang army that appeared at our rear was clearly not the Annan Protectorate army, nor was it the army led by the Wang Clan's father and son. I'm sure that those troops weren't from Lion City.
Jiaosiluo, didn't the Great General defeat the Great Tang reinforcements?"
Jiaosiluo stared at him blankly before finally responding. "Yes, this is absolutely true. Do you think that the Great General would lie?"
"The entire force of sixty thousand was wiped out without a single survivor?" Fengjiayi continued his questions.
"This… How could that be? It's not like those were flatlands, so completely wiping out an army is more easily said than done," Jiaosiluo answered.
"So what you're saying is that he only killed a part of it, and the rest were fish that managed to escape through holes in the net? I understand. Jiaosiluo, the Great Tang's capital has sent us a formidable opponent this time."
Fengjiayi squinted as he attempted to peer through the pouring rain.
The stomping of horse hooves came from ahead as the scouts gave their report. "Milord, there's a report from up ahead. The Great General has already discovered Xianyu Zhongtong's Annan Protectorate army and wants us to hurry over with our troops."
"Let's go! Hurry!"
Fengjiayi's and Jiaosiluo's expressions flickered, and with the wave of a hand, their army began to advance. The rain was still coming down, and as the day grew late, their vision grew worse and worse. More than twenty thousand soldiers continued to advance, their minds distracted and inattentive.
Neither Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo noticed that the surrounding atmosphere had become a little strange. Of the scouts they had dispatched, eight in ten hadn't come back. But none of them had the mind to spare for this sort of thing.
"Kiiiill!"
While the army was traveling through a hilly region, shouts suddenly burst out of the rain. Before the soldiers could react, bangbangbang! Thick ballista bolts howled out of the void. Before the Tibetan cavalry could dodge, they were punched through and carried away along with their horses.
"Not good! All troops, stand ready; it's an enemy attack!"
The guard's warnings spoken in Tibetan resounded through the skies. This attack had been too sudden, and the soldiers were only now beginning to rise up in alarm.
But before they could react, they all heard a familiar voice.
"Hahaha, Fengjiayi, Jiaosiluo, I've been waiting for you for a long time. Did you really think you had escaped? Hand over your lives!"
Rumble! The moment this voice finished speaking, countless Tang soldiers charged out from their hiding places.
"Damn it, it's the brat!"
Upon hearing this voice, Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo paled.
Although they still didn't know who that mysterious youth was, it was impossible to forget that special voice of his.
"What's going on here? How did he know that we would be here!"
Jiaosiluo's alarm was not without reason.
They had been chased far away by Wang Chong's forces and had expended great effort to finally complete their retreat. Afterward, they had taken a long detour in the rain, almost making a complete circle. They had originally believed that they had escaped Wang Chong's grasp, but to their surprise, even after their large detour, they had still managed to run into him.
Of their almost eighty thousand forces, only twenty-thousand-some remained. This army was like an easily frightened bird, its morale at an absolute low.
Not even Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo were willing to meet Wang Chong at this time.
"Quickly, retreat!"
Panicked shouts filled the air, and both Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo, not a single shred of fighting intent in them, paled as they struck their horses and urged their armies to retreat. Their reaction couldn't be described as slow, but since Wang Chong had prepared for this ambush and chosen to strike when they were halfway through the hills, it was no easy task for them to retreat.
"You barbarians, give me your lives!"
Horses stampeded through the mud, four or five thousand cavalry charging out of the rain.
"Careful, it's the enemy!"
The Tibetan soldiers began to yell.
Boom!
Before many people could react, the Tang cavalry struck like lightning, stabbing into the Tibetan ranks.
"Damn it, stop them!"
"They don't have too many people. Don't be afraid!"
"Kill them! Four thousand cavalry dare to charge at us? Don't be afraid! Kill them all!"
……
The ferocity and courage of the Tibetans were rooted in their bones. All of them were enraged at the audacity of four or five thousand cavalry charging into more than twenty thousand Tibetan elites. Clangclangclang! In a flash, the Tibetan soldiers at the tail of the army who were beginning to flee turned around and began to fight with the Tang cavalry.
The two armies immediately fell into a melee. The neighing of horses, shouts and yells, and the clanging of metal formed a giant clamor. No one could stop this battle now.
"Damn it, retreat! Hurry! Everyone, hear my order—don't fight with them! The goal of these Tang soldiers is to slow us down!" Fengjiayi anxiously shouted. How could four or five thousand cavalry defeat more than twenty thousand heavily-armored Tibetan cavalry?
Thus, the goal of this cavalry had never been to kill, but to hold them down. Infantry were much slower than cavalry, so in normal circumstances, the Tibetan army would have been able to escape without casualties. But now, it was too late.
This brat is too cunning! Fengjiayi inwardly cursed.
"Kiiiill!"
The battle developed exactly as Fengjiayi had expected. While several thousand Tibetan cavalry couldn't keep themselves composed and began to fight with the Tang soldiers, the Tang infantry emerged from the hills on both sides and began to charge down. Before they had even arrived, various flying axes, spears, and arrows fired by master archers preceded them.
Thwishthwishthwish!
These projectiles whistled through the air, causing Tibetan after Tibetan to fall.
The Annan Protectorate army came in wave after wave. The four thousand cavalry were the first wave, the arrows of the master archers were the second wave, and the third wave was the axemen, spearmen, and shieldmen… The entire attack was like a flowing river, with no delay between waves. Under Wang Chong's command, the forty-thousand-some soldiers of the Annan Protectorate army were now at a completely different level of strength.
Before those Tibetan cavalry who had turned around to fight the Tang cavalry could react very much, they were surrounded by the Tang soldiers. Crushcrushcrush! As bones splintered, Tibetan after Tibetan was dismounted, and the casualties began to climb at an unimaginable speed.
Chapter 540: Impact! Tibetan Versus Tibetan
Chapter 540: Impact! Tibetan Versus Tibetan
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
"Damn it!"
Jiaosiluo's eyes went red at the sight of this battle. If nothing unexpected occurred, any of his soldiers who had turned around to fight the Tang cavalry were doomed.
"Fengjiayi, lead the rest of the army in retreat. I'll hold the rear! Go!"
Roar!
With this mighty roar, Jiaosiluo's entire body began to shine with a milky-white light. His body began to rapidly expand, and in just a few moments, he had become a massive white tiger that plunged back into the fray.
"Don't worry about Jiaosiluo. If he dares to attack us, just deal with the Tibetan cavalry behind him!"
In the rain, Wang Chong sat on the White-hoofed Shadow, his fiery eyes locked onto the distant Jiaosiluo.
The current Jiaosiluo and Fengjiayi were no longer as great of a threat, and their twenty-thousand-some soldiers were also not much of a danger.
"If this fellow is willing to stay here, then let him die here."
Wang Chong's eyes reflected the figure of the distant Jiaosiluo as a hint of killing intent flashed across his face. At this time and place, if Jiaosiluo dared to act rashly, then the strength of his father, Chen Shusun, Old Eagle, Xu Shiping, Xu Andun, and the other southwest generals would be enough to make this place Jiaosiluo's grave.
> Wang Chong actually hoped that Jiaosiluo would stay and engage in a reckless slaughter, charging straight into the army and toward him so as to cut off the head of the army. Alas, Jiaosiluo still held on to a shred of rationality. After pushing back the pursuit of ten-some Tang soldiers and making some distance between the two armies, Jiaosiluo immediately ran off without the slightest delay.
"Hmph, he runs fast enough!"
Wang Chong sneered, but he didn't pursue.
At Jiaosiluo's level, as long as he didn't make a mistake and resolved himself to flee, not even Wang Chong could do anything about it.
"All soldiers, hear my order! Ignore the fleeing soldiers and quickly exterminate the remaining Tibetans! We don't have much time!" Wang Chong sternly said.
This battle could be considered the easiest battle these soldiers had ever fought. Forty to fifty thousand soldiers dealing with only a few thousand Tibetan cavalry was like the autumn wind sweeping up fallen leaves. It took only a few moments for those Tibetan soldiers who had failed to listen to orders and turned around in rage to be cut down.
As for the fleeing Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo, they were unimportant. Wang Chong had already achieved his goal, so they no longer mattered.
"Our time is running out. Clean up and let's set off. We need to head to the next location.," Wang Chong ordered while seated on his horse.
Whoosh!
A unit of Great Tang cavalry immediately dismounted and began to clean up the battlefield, moving with extreme proficiency.
Everyone had their own duties, and under Wang Chong's arrangements, everything was done in a neat and orderly fashion.
It took only a short time for the battlefield to be swept clean. Wang Chong's forces left the battlefield, departing so quickly that they seemed to have never taken part in this battle.
……
"Reporting! A forward scout has discovered the tracks of Tang soldiers. He suspects that a large Tang force is approaching!"
"Reporting! Generals Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo have requested reinforcements. They were attacked by Tang soldiers!"
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 370