Chapter 542: Constantly on the Run! Wang Chong's Harassing Attacks!
Chapter 542: Constantly on the Run! Wang Chong's Harassing Attacks!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
"The Martial General Halo, as seen from its name, is targeted against elite experts at the General level. It can be overlapped with the Bane of the Battlefield Halo."
The Stone of Destiny's voice resounded in his mind.
Wang Chong frowned and asked, "Does the Martial General Halo have any other halo effects besides the Bane of Generals? Or is the Martial General Halo only the Bane of Generals Halo?"
"The Martial General Halo is not limited to the Bane of Generals Halo. It can also target other categories, such as the Arabian Halo and the Charax Spasinu Halo, but user must first obtain these!" the voice once more replied.
"The Arabian Halo…"
Wang Chong's heart pounded at the mention of this name, and thousands of thoughts ran through his mind for a second. Wang Chong had vaguely grasped something, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt like he had grasped nothing at all.
"How do I officially activate the Bane of Generals Halo?" Wang Chong sternly asked.
The Bane of the Battlefield Halo was extremely powerful, its existence on the battlefield almost heaven-defying. But this halo's flaw was also very obvious: it had absolutely no effect on general-class individuals. Thus, whether it was Bachicheng, Batunlu, or Fengjiayi and the other elite experts, Wang Chong's halo was completely useless against them.
But if he had the Bane of Generals Halo, everything would be different.
Although the 'Trial of Destiny' had temporarily stopped Wang Chong from gaining any Destiny Energy and thus any avenues of gaining strength through the use of Destiny Energy, the other avenues remained unaffected. If he could activate the Martial General Halo, it would be a great boon to him on the battlefield.
"The Bane of Generals Halo requires: 1. Killing ten foreign commanders; 2: Killing one Profound Martial realm expert on the battlefield; 3: Reaching level three in the Bane of the Battlefield Halo! Only once all three conditions are fulfilled can user officially activate the Bane of Generals Halo!"
Buzz!
Wang Chong's heart immediately sank. The first condition was bearable, but the other two conditions were very difficult. The requirements to improve the Bane of the Battlefield rose exponentially with each level. In the last battle, Wang Chong had led the Annan Protectorate army in killing more than fifty thousand of Fengjiayi and Jiaosiluo's soldiers.
But Wang Chong's Bane of the Battlefield Halo still had not reached level three.
Wang Chong could only feel that he wasn't far off from reaching level three, but as for exactly how far? Wang Chong had no idea.
And even so, he still needed to defeat a Profound Martial realm expert, and the Stone of Destiny had also specified that it had to be on the battlefield. In other words, this condition required Wang Chong to rely on his own strength to defeat a Profound Martial realm expert. It wasn't like Wang Chong hadn't killed such experts before, but he had killed the majority of them when they couldn't resist, stabbing them with the Little Yinyang Sword to absorb the last bit of Stellar Energy in their bodies.
This was clearly different from the condition that the Stone of Destiny had specified.
There's plenty of time. As long as this war goes well, I can definitely fulfill the conditions to activate the Bane of Generals Halo!
With this thought, Wang Chong calmed down.
In normal circumstances, the Stone of Destiny's conditions would have been impossible to fulfill, but in this large-scale war involving three countries, everything was possible. And if he could succeed, the Bane of Generals could play a pivotal role in altering the course of this war.
Wang Chong returned to his senses and ordered with a wave of his hand, "Get ready and prepare to depart! The Tibetans could realize at any moment that something has gone wrong. We have to start the next phase as quickly as possible!"
Around him, the battle in the rain was already dying down. For this ambush, Wang Chong had prepared twenty thousand soldiers. Twenty thousand elites of the Annan Protectorate army and four to five thousand cavalry was a force completely capable of dealing with six or seven thousand Tibetan cavalry. It had been far too easy.
The battle concluded much faster than he had imagined.
Under Wang Chong's command, the warriors of the Annan Protectorate army stripped the deceased Tibetan cavalrymen of their armor. The highland steeds were excellent mounts, and the surviving horses were given to the infantry to ride. With these Tibetan suits of armor and highland steeds, Wang Chong's four thousand 'Tibetan cavalry' swelled to eight thousand.
"That's enough!"
Wang Chong gazed at these energetic 'Tibetans' who clearly did not have faces belonging to the people of the plateau, and nodded his head. The art of war emphasized the need for the proper time, geography, and the unity of the people. In normal circumstances, Wang Chong's tactic would have been very difficult to utilize, but this downpour had allowed for the possibility of success.
As long as his soldiers kept their bodies pressed to their horses, they could achieve the 'perfect disguise'.
The greatest flaw was the language. The inability to speak Tibetan would easily expose the scheme, but Wang Chong himself could resolve this problem.
It was impossible to proficiently learn Tibetan in a short time, but it was a simple matter to pick out a few of the more intelligent soldiers and teach them a few simple phrases to reply with when being questioned.
"Time is short. Let's go!"
After picking out a few leaders and splitting the army in two, Wang Chong quickly led the army forward once more.
Rumble! The Annan Protectorate army split into two, one group of cavalry riding south and the other riding north. In a few short moments, they had vanished into the rain. The entire process was as smooth as flowing water, and it felt like they had never appeared.
……
Gallop!
Warhorses could be heard in the distance as black silhouettes approached through the rain.
"Who goes there?"
At the base of a mountain, a five-man Tibetan commander emerged from the army and led his horse out to meet this approaching group, his voice harsh.
"It's us! We didn't manage to catch those Tang. They were too fast, damn it!" the leader of the 'Tibetans' yelled back, his fist clenched in the air, a look of rage and helplessness on his face.
"They escaped?"
The five-man commander frowned, apparently a little unwilling to accept the result.
"But wasn't your position over there? Why did you come over to our side?"
"Eh! The wrong place?"
The Tibetan commander seemed shocked, only now realizing that he had gotten 'lost'. He lowered his head and began to mutter to himself.
"What did you say?" the five-man commander asked, approaching closer.
"I said 'gula'…"
The Tibetan commander's voice was a little garbled.
"What did you say?"
"I said that we…"
The storm was truly too loud, and that Tibetan commander's voice became harder and harder to catch. The five-man commander's brow furrowed, so he stopped asking and rode his horse forward.
"Hmph!"
At this moment, no one noticed a scornful look flash through the Tibetan commander's eyes as he inwardly sneered.
His Tibetan had its limits, as he only knew what Wang Chong had taught him. The rest had been random muttering. However, this distance was enough.
"Brothers, charge!"
With a shout, the Tibetan commander shed his disguise, his right hand suddenly raised over his head as he gave the order to attack. Rumble! As if receiving a great shock, the dejected 'Tibetan cavalry' suddenly raised their heads and began to explode with an astonishing aura.
"Kiiiill!"
The horse flew forward, send
ing rain splashing everywhere. The several thousand Annan Protectorate soldiers instantly smashed into the unprepared Tibetan army.
……
At the same time, in another place…
"Who?"
"On the Great General's orders, we have come to reinforce the northwest!"
Under the thunder clouds, a Tibetan rode his stalwart horse forward, a banner held high as he led thousands of cavalry through the rain.
Boom!
And then, under countless stupefied gazes, those thousands of soldiers charged into the army…
To the southeast, southwest, northeast… several places were suddenly attacked by their 'own side'.
These people were as unpredictable as ghosts, all of them dressed in Tibetan armor, making it impossible to distinguish between Tang and Tibetan. Moreover, they appeared with all kinds of reasons, leading the Tibetans to be completely defenseless. Their way of fighting was also fast and decisive.
Before soldiers could arrive from elsewhere, they had already retreated.
In this chaos, there were even cases where actual Tibetans attacked actual Tibetans. This continuous turmoil caused the soldiers to panic like easily startled birds. The chain of command began to fall apart, as nobody knew if the ones giving the orders were their officers or the Tang officers.
"Damn it! Just how many Tang are there?"
"How can we defend against it? They're even wearing our armor!"
"It's impossible to see anything clearly in this rain! And it's getting darker and darker, making the task even more difficult!"
……
The Tibetan commanders clenched their fists in irritation.
At any other time, this tactic would be suicidal. But right now, the army was attempting to exterminate Xianyu Zhongtong's army on the summit. There were no troops available to hunt down the enemy at their rear. Moreover, there was also an inescapable and objective fact: although the army had set out at dawn, with all the chasing, fighting, and getting lost, it was now approaching dusk. Even if the thunder clouds dispersed, it was no longer the right period to do any searching.
More importantly, despite all the times the Tang army had attacked, the Tibetans still didn't know how many soldiers they had.
At the start, the Tibetans had believed that there was only one group. Even though multiples place were being attacked, their opponents were just using the rain to deceive the Tibetans. But this wasn't the case later on, because there were times when three places were under simultaneous and large-scale assaults.
Coupled with the fact that these people left as quickly as they came, not even the valorous generals of the Ngari Royal Lineage could determine how many people were hidden in this dark night, much less the ordinary soldier.
……
"What are these Tibetans doing?"
At the same time, on the peak of a high mountain, a fully-armored general of the Annan Protectorate looked down the mountain, his brows furrowed in thought. He had a scar on his left brow and gave off an aura as thick and heavy as a mountain.
"Or are they playing a ruse so as to bait us out?" proposed another general, tall and thin. His armor was spattered with blood and covered in scars left behind by scimitars. It was obvious that he had experienced many fierce battles. In the southwest, veterans like these were fierce and courageous generals.
"They're not!"
The general with the scar on his left brow shook his head and said profoundly, "Although I also thought that the Tibetans were trying to bait us out or make us put down our guard, it's clearly not the case! Huoshu Huicang has a very high opinion of himself, and given his personality, he would never lower himself to use such tactics while he holds the upper hand. It would be like drawing legs on a snake. And besides… this certainly doesn't look like any play!"
Chapter 543: The Fierce Tiger Leaves the Gate! Huoshu Huicang's Strike
Chapter 543: The Fierce Tiger Leaves the Gate! Huoshu Huicang's Strike
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
"But right now, who in the southwestern territory can help us? Could it be the Wang Clan father and son? But shouldn't they be far away by now? Did they come back to help us?"
The tall and thin general grew increasingly doubtful. Subconsciously, he turned to look at his Protector-General, Xianyu Zhongtong.
Xianyu Zhongtong had been appointed by the previous protector-general, Zhangchou Jianqiong. If it wasn't for this incident, even though he lacked the qualifications to completely command the obedience of these soldiers, even though the soldiers still held some objections, all of them would have accepted this result for the sake of Zhangchou Jianqiong. But right now…
Everyone knew that the Annan Protectorate army was only united on the surface while internally a complete mess. Otherwise, a large portion of its soldiers wouldn't have left with the Wang Clan father and son.
However, despite this, there were still many people in the protectorate army who were willing to follow Xianyu Zhongtong, the successor appointed by Zhangchou Jianqiong.
Victory and defeat were both commonplace for a soldier, and a defeat in battle was not necessarily the fault of a soldier. In the view of a general, the mobilization of both Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang, a total of over five hundred thousand soldiers, was not something the Annan Protectorate army could ever have dealt with.
Mengshe Zhao had never before worked with Ü-Tsang. Even if Protector-General Zhangchou Jianqiong were here, he would probably be similarly helpless.
"I don't know…"
Xianyu Zhongtong looked down the mountain in silence. To tell the truth, he had rather complicated feelings about the Wang Clan father and son, but these feelings were far from anything that could be described as hatred. On the contrary, he felt some gratitude. If the youngest son of the Wang Clan hadn't built Lion City, and if the Wang Clan father and son hadn't brought soldiers and rallied the morale of his own troops, the southwest army would have probably already been wiped out.
Xianyu Zhongtong had always understood that while his talent and understanding of the art of war was more than enough to be a general, it was also far from enough to be an influential Imperial Protector-General whose words could shake the world.
But everything had been decided by Lord Zhangchou Jianqiong, and even Xianyu Zhongtong could only accept it.
However, no matter what, he was solely responsible for the current plight of the Annan Protectorate army.
"Although I don't know what's going on, there's one thing that I can be sure of. The one commanding the troops below isn't Wang Yan or his son!"
Xianyu Zhongtong took in a deep breath as he broke free of his stupor. Even if these generals might only be loyal to him on the surface, as the commander-in-chief, Xianyu Zhongtong still had the duty of leading his soldiers out of this predicament.
"…Wang Yan's style is clean and excessively cautious. Given his temperament, he would never use this sort of surprise-attack strategy. As for Wang Fu, his intelligence and flexibility surpass his father's, as well as mine, but… he still wouldn't be able to pull off such a feat!"
Xianyu Zhongtong had followed the Lord Protector-General for many years, and though his strength hadn't reached that level, his insight had.
"But if it isn't the Wang Clan father and son, who else could it be?" the southwest general with the scar on his left brow asked in surprise.
Of all the generals of the southwest at present, those who could match or exceed Xianyu Zhongtong's level in strategy and tactics were only the Wang Clan father and son. But if not even they could pull off this sort of strategy, just who was it that was leading these attacks against the Tibetans?
The general with the scar on his left brow was stupefied, this answer completely catching him by surprise.
"Could it be that another formidable figure has appeared in the southwest? Could it be Li Zhengyi? But didn't he die in battle?"
This general's mind was in turmoil.
"There's
no need to overthink it. No matter where he comes from, there's one thing we can be sure of: he's a friend, not an enemy! Pass on my order! All soldiers should do their utmost to hold the Tibetans down."
Xianyu Zhongtong's eyes flashed as he raised his right arm and gave the order.
And with Xianyu Zhongtong's order, the entire army rumbled to life.
Although he was no master of reckless offensives and proactive assaults, he was a mighty general when it came to infantry defense. Thus, even though Huoshu Huicang had double Xianyu Zhongtong's number of troops, he was still unable to break down Xianyu Zhongtong's forces.
"Kiiiill!"
War drums thundered as cries of battle filled the sky. The army once more plunged into an intense battle.
……
"Milord, we've been attacked in the southwest!"
"The enemy disguised as our own forces and we've been dealt heavy casualties!"
"If this continues, the army will collapse!"
"Milord, the southeast has been attacked again!"
……
At the base of the mountain, Huoshu Huicang was seated on a highland steed that was taller than a man. Around him, messenger after messenger was riding forward. At the start, Huoshu Huicang had not really cared about these irritating attacks. If battles could be won through these troublemaking methods, battles wouldn't need to be fought. Everyone would just use these strategies.
As the personal commander of one hundred thousand soldiers and the commander-in-chief of the more than two hundred thousand elites of the Ngari Royal Lineage, Huoshu Huicang thought of these methods as childish tricks, or to describe it more accurately, self-destruction.
But what happened next was completely beyond his expectations.
The southeast, the southwest, the northwest… his army was being attacked from every angle, and the order of attack had been completely disrupted.
The army in four places was in absolute turmoil, and there was no way to order them to attack.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 372