The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  “Haaah…”

  Dalun Ruozan’s only reply was to give a very long sigh.

  Chapter 1082 - A Battle Between Top-Class Armies (VIII)

  Chapter 1082: A Battle Between Top-Class Armies (VIII)

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  How could not Dalun Ruozan not understand what Dusong Mangpoje was feeling? Ü-Tsang was itself a very formidable existence of the east, but in front of supreme empires like the Great Tang and Arabia, it instantly appeared insignificant. Although Dalun Ruozan possessed superb intelligence, even he could only sigh when confronted by this discrepancy in strength between countries.

  In the distance, in the howling wind, the battle was still continuing!

  The entrance of the Death Army had made an enormous impact on the course of battle. In a few short moments, the Great Tang had lost several hundred of its best soldiers. The Divine Prison Army, the Divine Martial Army, the Dragon Stallion Army, and the Roaring Tiger Army had all taken casualties… but gradually, a subtle shift was taking place. Plush! In a cold flash of light, a sword around three feet long plunged through a gap in the defense of a Fearless Army soldier and thrust through his armor, stabbing right through his heart.

  Without even a grunt, the Fearless Army soldier dropped to the ground as a corpse.

  Elsewhere, a Blood Beast Army soldier fighting a Divine Prison Army soldier was suddenly stabbed through the neck and his body was instantly pockmarked by Sword Qi. After trembling for a few moments, he dropped to the ground, his eyes wide open. Thudthudthud! One after another… For the first time in this battle, the Arabs had a higher casualty rate than the Great Tang.

  Although the number of people killed still wasn’t that obvious, the trend had already emerged and was increasing. There was no questioning this.

  “Pass on my order! Concentrate the army; close the ranks! Have the Ultimate Martial Army serve as the core while the other armies surround it!” Wang Chong coldly ordered as he stared ahead.

  “Yes!”

  A signal banner waved through the air, quickly passing on this order. The Divine Martial Army, the Divine Prison Army, the Roaring Tiger Army… the five armies immediately adjusted their formation into a dense circular defensive formation. Their soldiers were no longer fighting one versus one or one versus two.

  As the twenty thousand elite soldiers closed ranks, the Death Army found the area available for them to attack decreasing. The change in formation had minimized the impact of their numbers.

  Swish! Swish! Swish!

  Sharp swords flashed through the air like lightning bolts, instantly piercing through the bodies of the Death Army soldiers. Scarlet tips emerged from their backs, the edges of the swords dripping blood, and these soldiers of prodigious strength began to fall.

  Thudthudthud! The soldiers of the Blood Beast Army also began to topple. The power of the Ultimate Martial Army’s halo began to rapidly show its effect as the Arab losses began to rapidly climb. Although there was a gap of four thousand men, the Great Tang forces were able to stabilize the situation through their defensive formation and their teamwork.

  This sight caused a ripple of emotion to appear in Gao Xianzhi’s eyes.

  “The hard is easy to break! The strength, Stellar Energy, and fighting power of the Arabs clearly can’t keep up!”

  Cheng Qianli also began to realize what was going on. He gave an admiring glance at the composed Wang Chong.

  The Divine Martial Army, Ultimate Martial Army, Roaring Tiger Army, and the Arab Death Army were all top-class forces of this world. When they were fighting against weaker opponents, they wouldn’t encounter many problems, but when they were fighting powerful opponents on the same level, they would consume large amounts of both physical strength and Stellar Energy.

  But the Great Tang had the power of the Ultimate Martial Halo. Its armies could recover their physical and Stellar Energy far faster than the Death Army and the other Arab armies. As time passed, this advantage would grow more obvious.

  There was no doubt that this had been a part of Wang Chong’s plan.

  The battle was still continuing and the number of dead on both sides was continuing to climb.

  “Pass on my order! Deploy the Mo Saber Unit!”

  Wang Chong’s eyes flashed as he suddenly gave the order.

  The Ultimate Martial Army’s halo was proving effective, but the army was still suffering under enormous pressure elsewhere. The tens of thousands of Arab soldiers were crashing against the Tang defense line in endless waves.

  The Arab advantage in numbers was still a hole they could not cross. There were even many places where the Arab cavalry had managed to break through the defense line and charge into the Tang ranks.

  “This subordinate will deliver this order!”

  A messenger turned and left to deliver the order.

  The Mo Saber Unit was not to be recklessly deployed, but Wang Chong was forced by the situation to use them early. There were times when routs could happen almost instantly. If one could not notice them ahead of time and stop them in a timely manner, a local rout might turn into a wholesale defeat.

  But once the Mo Saber Unit entered the battlefield, Wang Chong wouldn’t have many cards left available to him.

  Clang!

  Cold light glimmered under the overcast sky as the soldiers of the Mo Saber Unit raised up their nearly eight-foot Mo Sabers and marched forward. The gleaming of their weapons instantly drew the attention of everyone present.

  Rumble! The ten thousand Mo Saber soldiers advanced like an unstoppable torrent, causing the entire battlefield to quake. Even before the Mo Saber Unit had marched past the defense line, their imposing and majestic aura had already caused the enemy warhorses to neigh in fright.

  “Haha, it’s about time. Faisal, let’s move out!”

  Under the black war banners, Aybak turned away from the battlefield and toward his subordinate.

  “Qutaybah and Abu Muslim have deployed all their soldiers, so it’s time for our Mamelukes to go in. Let’s give those infidels a taste of our power!”

  Both sides in this battle had committed nearly all their soldiers to the battlefield, but the finest force of cavalry in Arabia, as well as to the west of the Cong Mountains, had still not entered the field. But now that the situation had changed, the Mamelukes would finally have to step onto the stage of Talas for the first time.

  Clang!

  Behind the black crescent moon war banner, a pitch-black warhorse snorted and stomped a hoof down. Boom! At this moment, an icy power, heavy and red, shot out from under this horse’s hoof.

  The aura of the entire Arab army changed with it.

  Buzz!

  This heavy energy that seemed to come from another world swept through the battlefield like a storm. The temperature instantly plunged, and at the same, everyone heard an inhuman shriek, like the howling of departed spirits.

  Creee!

  This heart-rending noise did not resound through the real world, but in everyone’s souls.

  Everyone immediately paled. Even Dalun Ruozan, Huoshu Huicang, Dusong Mangpoje, and the nearby Duwu Sili couldn’t help but turn to look at that force of pitch-black soldiers, seething with killing intent. These soldiers seemed like they had ridden out of the abyss.

  Neeeigh! The highland steeds seemed to sense something and began to back up.

  “Bastard!”

  Huoba Sangye was infuriated at this sight.

  “What are all of you doing? Restrain the warhorses!”

  This time, it was actually the Mutri Great Cavalry that was drawing back. The riders were all pulling on their reins to restrain the horses, but their efforts were in vain. These highland steeds which had been strictly trained and had experienced many battles seemed to be overcome by fear.

  Bang!

  The Mutri Great Cavalry was not the only force affected. On the other end, the Celestial Wolf Cavalry also began to back up, and even Duwu Sili was jumpi
ng around as he cursed and bellowed, though his efforts were similarly useless.

  Clangclang!

  There was a metallic clattering as the ten thousand Mamelukes rapidly appeared before everyone’s eyes. The halos under their feet were black embedded with gold, and spewed forth a black mist suffused with the stench of death. But these icy halos were also suffused with a power that made every Mameluke seem dignified and majestic beyond compare.

  Darkness, decay, death, majesty, divinity… these completely opposite energies were all gathered on this army.

  Buzz!

  Above the Mamelukes, space twisted, forming a majestic and masked figure in the air. This mask was made of pure gold and embedded with all sorts of jewels, agate, and jade. But its most striking feature was that terrifying cobra on the forehead of the mask. Its icy eyes seemed to look down upon the world like a god, piercing through time and space to judge all living beings.

  And behind this figure was a massive four-sided golden building looming into the air. This was a pyramid!

  The Pharaoh Halo!

  This was that most powerful halo that Aybak had obtained from the High Priest.

  Countless ancient and powerful civilizations had once existed to the west of the Cong Mountains, and the civilization of Pharaohs1 was one of them. This was a powerful empire that worshiped the god of the underworld and the god of the sun. The rulers of this civilization were known as Pharaohs, and were believed to be avatars of the gods, so powerful that they could communicate with the world of the dead and the god of the underworld.

  This was the origin of Aybak’s Pharaoh Halo.

  Gallop!

  The dense ranks of the Mamelukes slowly trotted to the sides, allowing Deputy Commander Faisal to slowly emerge. Faisal slowly raised his head and swept his gaze over the Mamelukes, a savage and cold smile appearing in his eyes.

  All of them were equipped with armor and weapons forged from Meteoric Stars, and with the brand-new Pharaoh Halo, the Mamelukes were stronger now than they had been at any time in the past. Whether it was the Sassanid Aswaran Cataphracts or the eastern Wushang Cavalry, all of them were bound to be no match.

  These were foes of unprecedented valor, but in the end, their corpses would be used to forge the invincible legend of the Mamelukes.

  ______________1. The Pharaohs were the rulers of ancient Egypt. They were considered to be manifestations of Ra, the Sun God, and in death, they were associated with Osiris, the god of the underworld. The mask as described above refers to the death masks worn by the Pharaohs after they died and their mummified bodies were entombed, with the most well-known being the Mask of Tutankhamun. The upright cobra featured on these masks is known as the Uraeus and is a symbol of the serpent goddess Wadjet.↩

  Chapter 1083 - The Mamelukes!

  Chapter 1083: The Mamelukes!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Clang!

  Faisal slowly drew the scimitar from his back and held it high over his head.

  “Move out!”

  Boom! Faisal swung his scimitar down and charged forward. Behind him, the ten thousand Mamelukes who lived to fight and kill roared and charged forward in a mighty wave.

  ……

  Whoosh!

  The Great Tang commanders were on constant guard, and so the moment the Mamelukes began to move, Wang Chong, Gao Xianzhi, and Cheng Qianli immediately sensed something and turned to look.

  “Milord, the Mamelukes have moved out!” Xue Qianjun said.

  The Sassanid emissary from Khorasan had given the Great Tang a great deal of information. Thus, even though the Mamelukes were appearing in Talas for the first time, almost all the elite commanders of the Great Tang were able to recognize them at a glance.

  “Banahan, I’ll have to trouble you to move out,” Wang Chong suddenly said.

  “Haha, I’ve also heard much about the Mamelukes of Arabia. To exchange blows with them at Talas can be considered fulfilling one of my dreams.”

  Banahan faintly smiled and rode off.

  The greatest weakness of the Wushang Cavalry was that it lacked a Brigadier General commander. This was because Wang Chong had spent too little time in the military and did not have this kind of individual under his command. Thus, selecting an appropriate Brigadier General commander for the Wushang Cavalry was a decision that Wang Chong had needed a very long time to make.

  Banahan was very powerful, a famed general of the Western Regions. More importantly, Wang Chong had helped Banahan by fulfilling this Ferghanan Chief’s long-cherished wish of upgrading the Great Fire Crow Art to its highest level.

  This was also the reason Wang Chong had chosen him.

  Gallop!

  In the rear of the Tang army, a warhorse snorted and stomped the ground, its mane fluttering in the wind. Banahan and Cui Piaoqi stood side by side, while behind them were the ten thousand Wushang Cavalry. Tempered by war, this force of cavalry had grown even stronger. The clashes with the Mutri Great Cavalry and Celestial Wolf Cavalry in particular had honed the skills of these soldiers and endowed them with an aura which seemed to hold the entire world in disdain.

  There was no one in the world that the Wushang Cavalry could not defeat.

  “Everyone, hear my order! Move out!”

  Cui Piaoqi had a somber expression as he pulled out his sharp Wootz Steel sword, which coldly glimmered beneath the overcast sky. Rumble! The ten thousand Wushang Cavalry took up formation and charged out from the rear with a thunderous momentum.

  Neeeigh! As the cries of the horses rang through the air, time seemed to stop. In this moment frozen in time, a black warhorse completely covered in armor shot through the gap in the steel defense line, its mane blowing in the wind while its pitch-black eyes reflected the dense ranks of the Arab cavalry and the countless scimitars in their hands.

  Boom!

  The warhorse collided with one of the Arab horsemen beyond the defense line, sending both the rider and horse flying. At the same time, an inky-black war halo exploded from beneath the hooves of the horse. In a flash of light, the sharp edges of this massive war halo cut two approaching Arab horsemen asunder.

  Rumble!

  As this warhorse landed on the ground, time regained its normal flow. Ten thousand Wushang Cavalry surged into the Arab cavalry like a horde of beasts, a torrent of water.

  “Ah!”

  Shrill screams resounded through the battlefield as the Wushang Cavalry charged through all opposition in their way, knocking down the Arab cavalry like dominoes. Four thousand, six thousand, eight thousand… the Arab losses were climbing with dizzying speed.

  Not since it had been established had the Wushang Cavalry ever reached the scale of ten thousand men, and now that it had, it underwent a quintessential transformation. The ten-thousand-strong Wushang Cavalry possessed completely different levels of momentum, offense, and ferocity.

  “Out of the way! Out of the way! It’s that force of Great Tang cavalry!”

  “Run! We’re no match for them!”

  “Have the Mamelukes deal with them!”

  The Arab cavalry outside the defense line were in complete disorder, with the forces under Abu Muslim especially already beginning to flee.

  All the soldiers under Abu Muslim had already experienced the horror of the Wushang Cavalry, with many of their fellow soldiers having died to the swords of these cavalry. In terms of lethality, the Wushang Cavalry were tantamount to a moving group of Great Tang ballistae.

  Rumble! The ten thousand Wushang Cavalry kicked up a cloud of dust as they charged at the Mamelukes, throwing the surrounding Arab soldiers into chaos in the meantime.

  “Huoba Sangye, you should move out as well! We can’t miss out on this feast!” Dalun Ruozan suddenly said.

  A few moments later, the earth rumbled and clouds of dust billowed as the six thousand Mutri Great Cavalry transformed into a blazing torrent and followed behind the Mamelukes.

  “Shamask, Chekun Benba, go
as well!”

  Not far from the Tibetans, Duwu Sili gave a similar order, his eyes flashing.

  Of the three parties in this alliance, the Arabs had already committed nearly ninety percent of their soldiers, and even the Tibetans had dispatched their men. Duwu Sili naturally couldn’t open himself up to criticism by doing nothing.

  A few moments later, there was yet another massive rumbling as the five thousand Celestial Wolf Cavalry charged out.

  The tension of the battlefield once more increased. Ten thousand Wushang Cavalry, ten thousand Mamelukes, six thousand Mutri Great Cavalry, and five thousand Celestial Wolf Cavalry… This was a battle between some of the finest forces of cavalry in the world, and it instantly became the focus of everyone’s attention.

  Rumble!

  As the armies approached, the quaking of the earth intensified and the air practically groaned with tension.

  Cui Piaoqi, it’s time for you to show your abilities! Wang Chong thought as he gazed at that heroic figure.

  All of the officers at Wang Chong’s side had served him for a very long time, with a significant number having served with him in the war of the southwest, experiencing that cruel and bloody battlefield. It was precisely because of their shared experiences that Wang Chong deeply understood them and was confident in giving them command over soldiers.

  A case like Cui Piaoqi’s, where someone who Wang Chong had no relationship with whatsoever was given command over his most elite Wushang Cavalry, was simply unheard of. But even though Cui Piaoqi had no astonishing achievements on the battlefield, Wang Chong trusted him the same as he would Li Siye or Xu Keyi.

  Cui Piaoqi was different from the other people at Wang Chong’s side. When they had first met at Wushang Village, Cui Piaoqi had already been very strong, but this was not the reason Wang Chong had selected him. The most important reason was that Cui Piaoqi was born to be a most outstanding and most valiant commander.

  His ability to observe and learn was on a level that most people would find difficult to imagine. In his last life, Cui Piaoqi had been the strongest war general under Wang Chong’s command. He was completely capable of commanding an army and holding his own, and his abilities were only a little less than Wang Chong’s.