……
In a few short moments, two scouts came from different directions to report to Huoshu Huicang.
"What?!"
Despite Huoshu Huicang wielding the cultivation of a Great General, even he had to knit his brow in astonishment upon receiving these two conflicting reports.
"Attacked by the Tang army? What's going on here? Didn't they have almost eighty thousand soldiers? And they were all cavalry, so how could they be attacked? What sort of force still exists in the southwestern territory that can attack almost eighty thousand cavalry on flat land?"
"Milord, forgive me, but this subordinate does not know. However, Generals Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo truly have been attacked."
The Tibetan messenger immediately grew nervous and kneeled on the ground as he spoke.
A rough and wild voice, yet one that was also quite entrancing, came from Huoshu Huicang's side. "Milord, why don't we send someone to take a look or send out some reinforcements? Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo had said that they were pursuing the Annan Protectorate soldiers, but now they've appeared in the northwest, in the complete opposite direction from the one they had set off in. Unless something happened, they shouldn't be coming from that direction."
A muscular man wearing a horned helmet, his appearance like that of a giant python, was the one who had spoken. His eyes were bright and his forehead was pronounced. He exuded a majestic energy that was even more powerful than Jiaosiluo's.
The only person who could stand so close to Huoshu Huicang's side was the leader of the Five Tiger Generals, Longqinba.
It was rumored that Longqinba was an orphan of the plateau, born from a response to draconic energy. However, his innate strangeness meant that, unlike other infants, he was abandoned in the Great Snow Mountain Holy Land. Later on, he was raised by the high priest of the Great Snow Mountain Holy Temple until he reached adulthood. This meant that Longqinba had learned all sorts of profound martial arts from the Great Snow Mountain Holy Temple.
Of the Five Tiger Generals, Longqinba knew the most techniques from the Great Snow Mountain Holy Temple and had the deepest understanding of them.
Boom!
Splitting up the army was a taboo, and while Huoshu Huicang was pondering his decision, a massive explosion came from the southeast. He could hear the sounds of fighting and shouting at the base of the mountains, the clash of sabers and swords.
This was so unexpected that both Huoshu Huicang and Longqinba turned their heads to look.
That area wasn't even close to the Annan Protectorate army. Logically speaking, nothing should have occurred there.
"Reporting!"
The report from the lines on the southeast came faster than expected. A slightly plump Tibetan quickly arrived and dismounted.
"Milord, there's news from the front that they've been attacked by a large Tang force!"
"What?!"
Huoshu Huicang's expression darkened as his face twisted into a nasty grimace. A Tang army had appeared, Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo had been attacked, and now his own army of one hundred thousand was under attack. In this torrential downpour and with his forces scattered, not even Huoshu Huicang would be able to know how many enemies there actually were for a while.
"There are so many soldiers there; how could they be attacked by the Tang? Longqinba, immediately go and see what's going on!"
"Yes, Milord!" Longqinba forcefully replied, and leaped onto his giant horse, galloping off.
……
In the southeast, a few moments ago…
Rumble!
Thunder rumbled overhead as a searing bolt of lightning arced across the clouds. The silvery lightning bolt allowed one to clearly see the dense ranks of the Tibetan cavalry lined up along the base of the mountain, suffused with a somber air as they prepared to charge to the summit.
The earth quaked as these soldiers suddenly heard a rumbling in the distance. Through the rain and the dim light, one could faintly see countless figures riding toward them on large horses.
"Who goes there!"
The commander of these forces immediately turned his head and shouted warily at those approaching figures.
"Your own! General Jiaosiluo and Crown Prince Fengjiayi sent us!"
After a while, he heard a soft and vaguely indistinct Tibetan voice from the distance. This familiar language caused that officer to lower his guard. The Great Tang regarded Tibetans with extreme contempt and very few of them knew how to speak Tibetan. This he was sure of.
"Crown Prince Fengjiayi? Didn't they receive Great General's orders to go ahead and chase down the other part of the Annan Protectorate army?" the commanding officer said, inwardly somewhat surprised.
"Those people were too formidable… We've come on behalf of the two generals to request reinforcements."
That person spoke softly, his response coming in bits and pieces.
Gallop!
The officer still seemed to want to say something, but those people had already made their way through the rain. The Tibetan armor they wore was obvious, even in the rain.
"They really are on our side. It looks like I was thinking too much, too wary."
The officer gave a long sigh of relief and completely let down his guard.
But right when he put down his guard, when he was most defenseless, a cold glimmer of light, the tip of a spear, quickly expanded before his eyes. Ploosh! The spear stabbed into his neck and burst out the other side, covered in blood.
Such… such a fast spear!
With this final thought, everything went dark and he knew nothing else.
"Striiike!"
A roar reverberated through the dark clouds as Wang Chong cast the corpse of the Tibetan commander from his spear and gave the order to attack.
"Kiiiill!"
The four-thousand-some 'Tibetans' instantly roared and leaped upon the surrounding Tibetan soldiers. Squelchsquelchsquelch!Sharp edges plunged into flesh. Many soldiers were run through by spears and flung from their horses before they could react.
"Damn it, it's the Tang!"
"They weren't our people at all!"
"Careful! Kill them all!"
……
The Tibetan soldiers were both astonished and furious, bellowing as they attacked these 'Tibetan soldiers'. But for most of the soldiers, who had missed the moment when Wang Chong had struck, they simply couldn't distinguish their side from the enemy.
"What in the world happened? Why have our forces started fighting amongst themselves?"
"What in the world happened?"
"They aren't our people but the Tang?"
"Which one of them is Tang!"
……
Shouting in alarm, the army quickly fell into chaos. The focus of the main army had been on Xianyu Zhongtong and the Annan generals on the mountain, and very few people besides the soldiers involved had realized what had happened. Perhaps such a mistake would not have been made in normal circumstances, but the downpour covering the battlefield had hindered their vision.
Other than the soldiers nearby, the majority of the Tibetan soldiers only saw their own side killing their own side.
"Don't stop! Scatter them!" Wang Chong once more ordered.
The surrounding Tibetans vastly outnumbered the Tang soldiers, but as long as they didn't stop, the Tibetans wouldn't be able to distinguish Tibetans from people of the Central Plains. The current result was exactly what Wang Chong had hoped to create.
Clangclangclang!
Sparks flew everywhere as the Tang army charged through the Tibetans. The Tibetans in the southeast had been focused on the mountain, so none of them had expected an attack to come from behind. The impact of the four thousand soldiers of the Annan Protectorate army had created an expanding region of turmoil in the Tibetan army.
Chapter 541: Transformation! Martial General Halo!
Chapter 541: Transformation! Martial General Halo!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
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br /> The people of the Central Plains normally had a very distinct height difference when compared to the Tibetans, making it difficult to confuse the two. But Wang Chong had long ago ordered all of his soldiers to press their bodies to the backs of their horses. This way, Tibetans would not be able to distinguish at first glance the Tibetans from the people of the Central Plains.
"Damn it! Damn it! Where is the enemy… Ah!"
Before he could finish speaking, the Tibetan was run through. His body twitched twice before dropping from his horse.
The four-thousand-some cavalry had killed two-thousand-some Tibetans by this point and had successfully mixed into the army of twenty-thousand-some soldiers! And if not for the fact that Wang Chong's goal wasn't pure slaughter, this number could have been even higher.
"Go!"
Wang Chong didn't continue the fight. The four thousand cavalry ran through the southeast Tibetan lines and then reined in their horses and took off.
"Don't fight! Everyone, follow me!"
Mud splashed into the air as the warhorses galloped off. Before the Tibetans even had time to react, the Tang soldiers had left.
"After them!"
The Tibetans were furious at this sight.
Four thousand Tang soldiers had run through an army of more than a hundred thousand Tibetans like it was nothing! When had it been possible to humiliate the fierce and courageous Tibetans like this!
"Follow me! Kill them all!"
In the pouring rain, a Tibetan officer's eyes went red from bloodlust. With a fierce wave of his scimitar, he pulled on the reins of his horse and charged through the rain like a lightning bolt. Rumble! Behind him, a wave of enraged Tibetans howled and followed behind.
Two large forces, one in front and one behind, quickly vanished into the rain.
……
"Hurry!"
In the curtain of rain, Wang Chong urged his horse forward as he urged his army to hasten their speed. The curses behind him traveled far, and Wang Chong could sense that several thousand Tibetans were charging up from behind him.
"Milord, they've taken the bait!"
Old Eagle's familiar voice came from behind him. He was riding a highland steed, urging it forward in a gallop.
Old Eagle's body was clearly not suited for Tibetan armor, and Wang Chong had to kill a tall Tibetan officer to get one that barely fit him.
"Can you determine how many people?" Wang Chong asked.
Old Eagle said nothing, only looked up in the sky. As the bean-sized raindrops slapped on his face, Old Eagle's gaze continued to flit about the skies, watching as the massive eagle made circles.
"Six to seven thousand!" Old Eagle replied after muttering to himself.
Birds weren't so intelligent that they could count people one by one, but Old Eagle had used various methods to train his eagles to determine the number of people by levels and to express them by drawing images in the sky.
"Hmph, it looks like the Tibetans aren't looking down on us too much!" Wang Chong said with a grim smile.
Although their charge had killed around half their number in Tibetans, the Tibetans clearly thought that this was not a problem with their own strength, but because it had been a surprise attack.
"Ah, Milord!"
Old Eagle's eyes were still fixed on the sky, though he was no longer watching the eagle he had raised. He had noticed that a gyrfalcon had appeared in the thunderclouds. Gyrfalcons were a bird of prey originating from Ü-Tsang that were used to control the skies. The ones Old Eagle had captured and tamed, however, were for another purpose.
In terms of training birds, the Tibetans were still beginners, a far cry from Old Eagle's mastery.
Although time had been short and Old Eagle had not been able to train the Tibetan birds to the level of his giant eagles, it had been no problem to teach them some simple lessons.
"Huoshu Huicang has begun to move! Although I can't tell if it's Huoshu Huicang himself that's begun to move, there's definitely activity in that region." Old Eagle's voice was extremely stern.
The advantage to using these hastily trained gyrfalcons was the ability to deceive the Tibetans and make them let down their guard. They could not tell which were their birds and which belonged to the enemy—though these birds had originally all been theirs.
"It would be stranger if Huoshu Huicang didn't react to such a ruckus. However, the army is currently in battle with Xianyu Zhongtong and his Annan Protectorate army. He won't be able to free up the time to deal with us, so there's an eighty to ninety percent chance that he's sending one of his Five Tiger Generals. We won't need to go over to that area for the time being!"
Wang Chong's eyes glowed. Although he couldn't see it, he was mostly confident in his judgment of the Tibetan army in that area.
"Ignore them. Let's go and bring those fellows behind us to the target area!"
With these words, Wang Chong urged his horse onward.
Rumble!
"Don't let them escape!"
……
Warhorses thundered forward, the thousands of furious Tibetans charging forward in a black flood of steel, all of them charging at maximum speed.
One thousand zhang!
Five hundred zhang!
Three hundred zhang!
One hundred zhang!
……
The Tibetans were getting closer and closer, and their eyes were fixed through the gloom on the Tang soldiers ahead of them. None of them noticed that the hills around them were growing more numerous or that they were getting farther and farther from the main army.
Boom!
When they were less than sixty zhang from their target, the situation suddenly changed. Roar! Nearby, in a pitch-black spot that they had taken to be mud, a bellowing axeman leaped out of the water. Clang! In a flash of cold light, an axehead had cut off a horse's head at the neck.
Neigh!
Horses neighed in alarm, this sneak attack throwing the Tibetans into chaos. The slain warhorse continued to move forward through inertia, throwing its rider smashing into the mud. Splooshsplooshsploosh! One, two, three, four… in the gloomy hills, one soldier after another began to pop out, using their spears to stab, axes to hack, shields to beat. More and more soldiers were coming out to attack the horses.
At such close distances, not even the Tibetans could dodge.
One Tibetan after another was thrown from his horse. Cold glints could be seen in the gloom as thousands of Tang infantry closed in from both sides.
"Aaaaah!"
"Careful! It's an ambush!"
"Tang soldiers, Tang soldiers!"
"We've been fooled! Retreat!"
……
Shrill Tibetan screams filled the air, the faces grimacing in fear within the gloom. They had been so focused on exterminating the four thousand Tang cavalry that they had never imagined so many Tang infantry to be waiting in ambush nearby.
"The Annan Protectorate army! It's another part of the Annan Protectorate army!"
Panicked and fearful voices echoed through the skies as the Tibetans finally realized what was happening. It had been no secret that the Annan Protectorate army had split into two in the rain. And the messengers had sent word that Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo had been sent to chase them some time ago.
Logically speaking, that part of the Annan Protectorate army should have been far away from this area, but they had inexplicably appeared here.
"Run!"
The morale of the Tibetan soldiers had crumbled. Many of them wanted to flee, but it was too late. The earth quaked and warhorses neighed. Wang Chong had turned around with his four thousand cavalry and returned for the counterattack.
Swish!
Wherever the spear passed, a rider would be unhorsed. In this battle, Wang Chong was no longer observing from the sidelines, but personally participating. With each fallen Tibetan, a stream of pure energy would flow into Wang Chong's body. In this torrent of rain and blood, Wang Chong's Stellar Energy not only did not dec
rease, it grew even more plentiful.
"Leaping Dragon Spear!"
A flood dragon seemed to soar into the dark skies, creating a splash in the rain. Then it crashed back down, as fast as a lightning bolt, a spear stabbing into a Tibetan officer twenty zhang away. With Wang Chong's True Martial Tier 9 cultivation and the power of the Leaping Dragon Spear, warriors below the Profound Martial realm were no match for him.
This Tibetan officer's body swayed, his eyes wide as he toppled from his horse. In a serious competition, he wouldn't have been so easy to defeat. But on the packed and intense field of battle, one person's strength was greatly reduced. With just a single spear, Wang Chong had managed to bring him down.
"Congratulations to user! For killing five foreign officers, user has unlocked the Martial General Halo, 【Bane of Generals】!
"Note: 【Bane of Generals】 makes you the enemy of all generals. Whether of the Central Plains or a foreign kingdom, as long as you regard them as your enemy, they are your enemy and will be weakened by the halo!
"Functional range: All generals! As the halo is an advanced version of the 【Bane of the Battlefield】 Halo, the Bane of the Battlefield's limit to only soldiers below the general level has now been broken!
"Notice! User has only unlocked the Martial General Halo. If user wishes to officially activate the 【Bane of Generals】 Halo, user must complete an additional mission!"
……
A string of messages suddenly appeared in Wang Chong's mind. Rumble! It was like a peal of thunder. Right when Wang Chong was preparing to take care of another Tibetan cavalryman, he was dumbfounded by this sudden transformation.
The Martial General Halo? What's that about? Does the Bane of the Battlefield not count as a Martial General Halo?
Wang Chong was frozen in a stabbing motion, his hands still gripping his spear.
The might of the Bane of the Battlefield Halo on the battlefield could reverse the tides, so Wang Chong had always believed that this was a strength that only a general could possess. But this was clearly not the case.
"Stone of Destiny, what do you mean by the strength of a Martial General Halo?"
Wang Chong used the Single Character Consecutive Slash to immediately depart the noisy battlefield while his mind reached out to the Stone of Destiny. Although the Stone of Destiny couldn't respond like a person, it would always reply as long as the answer didn't involve anything too critical.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 371