The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  “Lord Protector-General, enemy attack!”

  At almost the same moment, a horse galloped through the Tang ranks as an officer of the Anxi Protectorate army rushed to report the matter to Wang Chong.

  “Milord, how should we handle this?”

  Wang Chong only smiled, his expression unperturbed as he glanced at the approaching force. A trifling force of around seven thousand would have no effect on the army. Regardless of the legends the Arabs had made in the past, when they arrived on this battlefield, all their myths were bound to come to an end.

  “Tell Chen Bin that he can handle them as he wishes!” Wang Chong said.

  “…Yes!”

  The officer had not expected this order from Wang Chong, and his body suddenly froze as he raised his head. What he saw was Wang Chong’s leisurely expression, his lips curled into a faint smile that seemed certain of victory. As he looked on in a daze, he slowly came around and made up his mind, all his tension vanishing as he affirmed this order and left to deliver it.

  ……

  “Ready!”

  Chen Bin stood at the front lines, his eyes fixed ahead. On the other side, a cloud of dust was rising more than ten zhang into the air and the earth was shuddering. Through the churning dust, Chen Bin could see the Arabian cavalry rapidly approaching like gods of slaughter.

  These were not like the other Arab soldiers. Chen Bin could sense an immense pressure emanating from them, an oppressive storm that followed them as closely as a shadow. But both Chen Bin and the three thousand ballista teams behind him were like stones, rooted to the ground.

  The might of the cavalry charge was unquestionable, and if cavalry like this charged into Chen Bin’s men, grievous casualties were an inevitability. However, everything had its counter, and while cavalry might have reigned supreme, the moment Chen Bin and his ballista teams appeared, everything had begun to change.

  Clang!

  Chen Bin solemnly raised his sword in the air, its cold edge glimmering in the sun. Creakcreak! The Han soldiers of the Qixi Protectorate army standing by the ballistae began to adjust their targets, the sharp points of the ballista bolts quickly locking on to the Bakr Cataphracts.

  Each of the ballista teams consisted of five men. One of them was responsible for adjusting the angle while the other four were responsible for loading and firing.

  “Strangling Formation! Charge!”

  While this was happening, a savage order was shouted from amidst the cloud of dust. In the center of the cavalry force, the blue-eyed and brown-bearded Arab general bellowed as a fierce wave of Stellar Energy exploded out of his body, soaring more than ten zhang into the air. Amur was definitely not the most powerful of the Arab generals, but he was definitely the bravest and most fearless.

  The Bakr Cataphracts were a force that Abu Muslim had recruited from the important Abbasid fortress of Baghdad and were one of the elite cavalry forces under his command. Their defining trait was their extremely thick armor, capable of blocking the majority of arrows and heavy crossbows. Even sharp swords and sabers could only leave shallow marks on their armor.

  In a large and chaotic melee, the Bakr Cataphracts could rely on their thick armor to carry them safely into the most concentrated and formidable group of enemies so that they could scatter and disrupt their formation. Amongst the Arab cavalry, their specialty was in attacking points of resistance.

  And in their repeated charges on the enemy, not only would the Bakr Cataphracts succeed in their task, but would also ride away with trifling losses. This was one of the reasons Abu Muslim had chosen to dispatch them.

  Eighty zhang!

  Fifty zhang!

  Forty zhang!

  Chen Bin continued to calculate as the cavalry approached, his mind utterly focused on the task. These Arab cavalry were extremely fast and powerful, so the slightest mistake could result in the complete loss of his ballista teams.

  “Release!”

  When the tension was at its greatest, Chen Bin swung down his sword.

  Boom!

  The air thundered as a thick ballista bolt flew ahead of the rest, streaking through the air like a bolt of lightning. Neeeeigh! The leading Arabian warhorse cried out as the ballista bolt tore through its thick armor, plunging through its forehead and out from its hindquarters, and blood flew everywhere. This ballista bolt then shot through a second, a third, and finally stopped after hitting a fourth Arab cavalryman. However, it had succeeded in leaving a trail of blood and carnage in its wake, terrifying in its beauty.

  “What thick armor!”

  Chen Bin couldn’t help but widen his eyes at this sight. Ballistae and their bolts were the height of Great Tang craftsmanship, symbols of the empire’s might. Each of the ballista bolts had been hammered and tempered hundreds of times, the forging needing several months to complete. In addition, there were still several dozen steps after that as many inscriptions were added to them. In terms of price, they were literally worth their weight in gold.

  It was precisely this costly process that made the Great Tang ballistae and their bolts possess such terrifying might that could make them the principal heavy weaponry of the empire.

  In the previous battle, each of the ballista bolts fired by Chen Bin’s ballista corps had pierced through seven or eight, at times even ten-some Arab cavalry. But now, in the face of this new force of Arab cavalry, each ballista bolt was spent after piercing through four cavalry.

  Chen Bin had never seen anything like it.

  But Chen Bin needed to only blink to regain his composure. No matter how thick and sturdy this Arabian armor was, in front of the three thousand ballistae, these cavalry were bound to be grasshoppers trying to stop a carriage, failing to know their own strength.

  “Second row! Fire!”

  Chen Bin swung down his sword once more.

  Boomboomboom! Hundreds of ballista bolts were fired, engulfing the Bakr Cataphracts. Neeeigh! Miserable whinnies filled the air as wave after wave of Bakr Cataphracts fell to the ballista volleys.

  “Fire!”

  Volley after volley was fired through the air. Chen Bin had organized his three thousand ballistae into three rows, one thousand ballistae to each row. When one row was finished firing, another one would start, the rows cycling between each other to keep up a constant rain of ballista bolts.

  So severe were the losses of the around seven thousand Bakr Cataphracts that none of them could get within ten zhang. With Chen Bin as the boundary, the field for several hundred zhang in front of him had been converted into a gruesome hell, where the neighing, screams, crashing, and the booming of the ballista bolts created a single discordant din. The corpses of the Bakr Cataphracts covered the ground, with four thousand, five thousand, six thousand losses… the famed Bakr Cataphracts were suffering dreadful losses to the three thousand ballista teams.

  “Retreat! Retreat!”

  At this sight, Arab general Amur turned pale. The Tang assault was too fast and vicious, with their constant cycling giving no chance for his Bakr Cataphracts to approach. His forces were suffering appalling losses, and Amur had never seen such a terrifying force in his life.

  Rumble! The Bakr Cataphracts left as quickly as they had come, but though they had come with around seven thousand men, they left with less than one thousand. The Bakr Cataphracts had been almost completely wiped out in a single battle.

  “Stop!”

  Chen Bin leveled his sword, and the three thousand ballistae behind him immediately stopped firing, their ordered ranks falling silent as if they had never even moved in the first place. Such was their discipline that it left a deep impression upon all who witnessed it.

  Ballistae excelled in attacking with an army and defending an area, but they were very poor for chasing down an enemy.

  The speed at which ballistae could be pushed could never match the speed at which cavalry could flee.

  Chapter 882 - The Arab Commander-in-Chief!

  Chapter 882: The Arab Commander-in-Chief
!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  The army of one hundred thousand Tang reinforcements quickly calmed down. Only the thick odor of blood in the air and the corpses of the Bakr Cataphracts strewn over the battlefield remained as proof of the Great Tang’s might and terror.

  “Don’t worry about the other side. Hurry and get those fortifications up!”

  “Begin to treat the wounded and count the casualties!”

  “Service the ballistae! Check over all the equipment!”

  Order after order was sent down, causing the entire Tang army to get to work in an orderly fashion, all of it according to Wang Chong’s plans.

  Meanwhile, with the retreat of Amur and the Bakr Cataphracts, all the Arab forces had completely retreated, and there were no further attempts to sound out the Tang defenses.

  One of the people at Abu Muslim’s side, Ziyad, noted, “Lord Governor, Amur failed. The Tang did not pursue them!”

  Ziyad was a man of around thirty-six, with a short beard and brown eyes that were as sharp and fierce as swords. As the Deputy Governor of the East as well as Abu Muslim’s adjutant, Ziyad had an extremely important role in this operation.

  Although he was not as powerful as Abu Muslim, Ziyad was still a peak Brigadier General, almost on the verge of stepping into the Great General level. Not only that, Ziyad was also one of those rare strategic generals. His intelligence and mind for strategy had always been traits that made Abu Muslim value him.

  In the previous battle, Ziyad had been handling the withdrawal of the soldiers, doing his utmost to minimize the casualties, so only now did he appear at Abu Muslim’s side.

  For some time, all was silent, and then Abu Muslim finally spoke. “Ziyad, what is your view of the new Tang commander-in-chief?” His eyes shone with a profound light and his expression was calm. No one could tell what he was thinking.

  “I do not know. I have no understanding of him whatsoever…”

  Ziyad frowned, a pensive look in his eyes.

  “This person isn’t from Anxi. Gao Xianzhi brought all the best generals of Anxi with him for this battle, so there shouldn’t be anyone more formidable left in the area. This is probably someone dispatched by the Emperor of the Great Tang. I remember that we dispatched spies deep into the Great Tang’s interior to gather information, but something seems to have happened and we’ve lost contact with those spies. They’ve probably been discovered and eliminated by the Tang, which is truly a great pity at a time like this.

  “Although we don’t have any information on the Tang commander and can’t tell where he currently is, from the movements of his army, we can conclude that he has probably seen through our ambush. In addition, his soldiers are exceptionally powerful. Gao Xianzhi’s Tang soldiers also used those large ballistae, but their might was nothing as frightening. The accuracy and speed at which they fire are on another level compared to Gao Xianzhi’s troops.

  “I sense that this new commander is even more formidable and difficult to deal with than Gao Xianzhi.”

  “You feel that he is even more formidable than the Anxi War God?”

  Abu Muslim slightly frowned, a little taken aback by Ziyad’s conclusion. In these last two months, Gao Xianzhi and the Anxi Protectorate army he led had given the Arabs a serious wound. Abu Muslim and the entire Abbasid Caliphate had lofty ambitions, hoping to use this army of three hundred thousand to sweep over the Western Regions and perhaps even occupy the Great Tang, accomplishing an impressive feat that generations of Caliphs had never achieved.

  But a trifling Gao Xianzhi and one city of Talas had dealt Abu Muslim and his mighty Arab army a serious setback. Abu Muslim had never been one to belittle his enemies, and that Gao Xianzhi truly did have the right to be his adversary.

  Even so, Abu Muslim had never altered his plans of killing the Tang!

  Yet Ziyad was now telling him that the newly-arrived commander was even more capable than Gao Xianzhi.

  “In terms of strength, since I have not had a chance to see him, I cannot make a judgment. But in terms of tactics and strategy, my intuition tells me that Gao Xianzhi… can’t even compare to this new commander,” Ziyad sternly said.

  Gao Xianzhi was a tenacious opponent, his ability to delay the Arab army for two months at Talas being proof enough of his abilities. But this had been because of Talas’s thick and tall walls, not because of Gao Xianzhi’s tactics and strategy. Although the battle had lasted for a long time, the Arabs had not suffered that many losses.

  However, this new Tang commander had not even shown his face, but in the first battle with his forces, Umar had been killed and Amur’s Bakr Cataphracts severely depleted, and nearly one hundred thousand Arab soldiers had been lost.

  And this reinforcing Tang army only had around one hundred thousand people in the first place!

  Just these points alone were enough for Ziyad to regard this new Tang commander with unprecedented importance. After all, this new commander hadn’t even needed to use the walls of the city yet.

  Abu Muslim instantly fell silent, a grim look in his eyes. After fighting alongside Ziyad for so many years, Abu Muslim was extremely confident in his aide’s judgment and intuition. In these ten-some years, Abu Muslim had never heard Ziyad give such a high evaluation of the enemy commander without even seeing them.

  Rumble!

  As he was thinking, rumbling and booming came from ahead, but both Abu Muslim and Ziyad noticed that this was different from the previous rumbling. The two raised their heads and saw that the countless craftsmen and soldiers in the rear of the Tang army were working together to install large rectangular chests speckled with holes on the tops of those steel walls.

  At this sight, the two highest commanders of the Arab army instantly turned furious.

  Although they didn’t know what sort of secret was concealed in those rectangular chests, their experience was enough to tell them that this was unquestionably some sort of formidable defensive tool. Those silvery-white chests and those tall steel walls made the Tang’s intentions blatantly obvious.

  In front of more than two hundred thousand soldiers, they actually had the nerve to brazenly construct defensive fortifications!

  This was nothing but a naked challenge!

  To the west of the Cong Mountains, Arabia was synonymous with dread and destruction, and all the other empires and powers paled with fright at mere mention of its name. Never had any opponent dared to so humiliate an army of more than two hundred thousand Arabs.

  “Bastard!”

  Ziyad clenched his fists, his eyes exploding with killing intent. Abu Muslim said nothing, but his complexion visibly darkened.

  A voice came in from the side. “Lord Governor, let’s push in with all our men and utterly vanquish these Tang! They are simply too arrogant!”

  All the Arab generals had arrived, their eyes blazing with rage. The Arabs were famed around the world for their courage and combativeness. Umar’s death could not be used to represent the entire Arab army, and besides that, the true power of the Arabs was still waiting in the wings.

  Once they were completely mobilized, the war would take on a completely different character.

  “Enough!” Abu Muslim suddenly bellowed, his expression as cold as ice. All the Arab generals instantly fell silent and lowered their heads, awe and respect in their eyes.

  “I understand how to proceed!

  “Pass on my order! All soldiers should retreat for reconsolidation!”

  “Yes, Lord Governor!”

  A messenger left, his body still trembling in fear.

  Abu Muslim’s eyes were splitting flame as he fell silent, but when he turned his gaze to the Tang army, his emotional state became shifting and unfathomable, and no one could tell what he was thinking. These Tang had to be eliminated and the Western Regions had to become a part of the Abbasid Caliphate. He would be the first Governor of the East to defeat the Great Tang.

  But before this, he ne
eded to cautiously consider every decision, not act impulsively.

  Flap flap!

  While Abu Muslim was reconsolidating the army and getting ready for another assault on the Tang, the flapping of wings came from overhead. A black carrier pigeon descended from the sky like a bolt of lightning, closing its wings and landing on Abu Muslim’s arm.

  Gugu! The pigeon called out as it slowly sauntered about Abu Muslim’s arm. Everyone could see the white message tied around its right leg.

  Buzz!

  Before the other Arab generals could react, Abu Muslim and Ziyad shared a glance, each able to see the shock and surprise in the other’s eyes. Abu Muslim removed the letter and slowly unfurled it, but after taking a single glance, his expression turned strange.

  Ziyad stepped closer and asked, “Lord Governor, what did the letter say?”

  Abu Muslim said nothing, only handed the letter over.

  “This…”

  After Ziyad read the letter, his expression also turned strange, his brown eyes slowly beginning to glow.

  “All soldiers, hear my order! The army should remain in place. The operation has been postponed! We will fight the Tang tomorrow!”

  “Yes, Milord!”

  ……

  Meanwhile, just outside Talas…

  “Lord Marquis, they’re retreating; the Arabs are really retreating this time!”

  Zhang Que had a hand over his forehead as he excitedly reported, his eyes fixed on the receding Arab army. Zhang Que was not a fighter, so after the aerial battle concluded, he had remained at Wang Chong’s side. Xu Keyi, Chen Burang, Sun Zhiming, Zhuang Zhengping, Chi Weisi, Zhao Jingdian, and even Wang Chong’s father and brother, Wang Yan and Wang Fu, were all scattered across the front lines, leading the army in setting up defenses. The only people left at Wang Chong’s side were Zhang Que and a few others.

  “It’s not that simple. That battle… has only just begun!”