The ballista bolt had left behind a crimson path of blood through the battlefield.
Everyone’s faces were stricken with fear by this sight.
“Watch out! Giant ballistae!” someone shouted, their voice shrill.
Giant ballistae!
These were giant weapons that Wang Chong had developed during the war of the northwest to deal with the Arabian Behemoth Army. Their lethality was several hundred times greater than ordinary ballistae.
And the ballista bolts used by the giant ballistae were also massive, possessing astonishing strength.
The soldiers of the northeast had never before clashed with Wang Chong, but they were all familiar with Wang Chong’s superweapons.
From the day they understood that Wang Chong would be their opponent, all the alliance soldiers knew that they would eventually face these terrifying weapons.
But to hear of something was different from seeing it with one’s own eyes, experiencing it with one’s own body.
The faces of countless alliance soldiers twisted in fear, their complexions paling as they stared at that bloody line carved out of the center of the army.
Tiny!
Weak!
This was what all of them felt.
The things Wang Chong had created were enough to make many martial artists express sorrow. This was because it didn’t matter whether one was strong or weak. No one could resist this giant ballista bolt.
Boomboomboom!
Boomboomboom!
Boomboomboom!
One boom after another came from the steel fortress, like the skies over the battlefield had erupted with thunder.
Forty-some giant ballista bolts erupted out of the fortress, tearing forty-some bloody paths through the alliance army. There were no survivors, only mists of blood and scattered gore.
For a moment, the battlefield fell silent.
Everyone had been shocked into silence by that overwhelming power, that lethality leaving their hearts thumping in fear.
“Such frightening strength!”
In the alliance army, the powerful and stalwart Khitan King muttered, his eyes wide open.
Wang Chong had yet to take action, but simply two weapons under his command had left an indelible shadow over his heart.
Wang Chong was like a nightmare that had branded itself into his mind.
Meanwhile, the arrogant and sneering Divine Works Elder had lost his cockiness and gone silent.
“Pass on my order! Press the advance!” An Lushan suddenly ordered from ahead, clenching his teeth and glaring savagely.
The giant ballista had far too much power, even shaking the morale of the army. But his greatest advantage at the moment was that the alliance army had almost reached the walls. Once they got onto the walls, it wouldn’t matter how powerful the giant ballistae were.
Bwoooom!
A plaintive horn blared across the battlefield, tinged with urgency.
The soldiers on the front line received the order, suppressed their fear, and bellowed as they charged forward once more. Welcoming them were the giant ballista bolts, and the stench of death washed over the battlefield.
Abusi, who appeared like a god in his heavy bronze armor, suddenly turned to Wang Chong.
“Wang Chong, I truly have to hand it to you. I thought that it was too much to bring these giant ballistae to the front line, but it now seems that you expected something like this, right?”
As a peak Great General, he could clearly sense that the mood on the battlefield had subtly shifted once the giant ballistae began to fire. The morale of the alliance army had been dealt a blow, and though the alliance army was still charging at the steel fortress, they had clearly slowed.
Forty-some giant ballistae had achieved such a result. From this alone, it was apparent that Wang Chong’s decision had been absolutely correct!
Affecting the morale of the army was not something that could be done by just killing a few people.
Wang Chong smiled at these words.
He had naturally expected this sight. Though he hadn’t guessed at the exact details, there was no doubt that the giant ballistae that had once slain Behemoths would be useful on this battlefield.
“Forty-some giant ballistae won’t be enough to stop them. It’s time for us to take action!” Wang Zhongsi said in his deep and mellow voice, his brow creased.
While Wang Chong’s giant ballistae possessed extremely frightening strength, they were barely doing anything to the millions of alliance army soldiers. Moreover, they were few in number and fired very slowly. These giant ballistae were far from enough to stop the alliance army.
Wang Chong merely nodded in reply.
Meanwhile, the enemy was getting closer and closer!
One thousand feet!
Eight hundred feet!!
The Youzhou soldiers at the front were less than sixty meters from the soldiers arrayed in front of the steel fortress, but the forty thousand Tang soldiers continued to stand tall like stone pillars, fiercely glaring at their foe.
…Even though the alliance army was like a great wave that could obliterate them at any moment!
Fifty meters!
Forty-five meters!
The army still did not move!
Even the alliance army generals were taken aback by this sight.
This was not a normal response.
At this distance, cavalry could no longer charge. This wasn’t the Great Tang’s style, as it handed the initiative to the enemy.
Rumble! The shield carts continued to advance, and the alliance army bellowed as it charged right behind them!
But a moment later, the alliance army finally understood why the forty thousand soldiers had not moved.
Rumble!
Screams of alarm came from the front as a giant moat, twenty meters across, suddenly appeared about thirty meters in front of the Tang soldiers, encircling the entire steel fortress.
The alliance army had been intent on attacking the fortress, hoping to annihilate the forty thousand Tang soldiers with their thunderous momentum. But they had paid no attention to the ground, and in a flash, shield carts, cavalry, and infantry all fell into the moat.
The steel fortress encompassed a vast area, stretching between the Cang Province and Ying Province. This had led the alliance army to attack across an extremely broad front, and in the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of soldiers plunged into the moat.
The bottom of the moat was not dirt, but a metal pathway that had been cast from steel. Sharp metal spikes, each more than ten feet long, protruded from the bottom, a dense forest of spears aimed at the sky.
“Aaaah!”
The alliance army soldiers shrilly screamed as they were pierced through by the spikes.
Before the two armies had even begun fighting, the alliance army had already suffered significant losses.
The front line fell into chaos, and even worse was that the soldiers in the rear couldn’t see. Their continuing advance pushed even more people into the moat of spikes.
Bang!
At this moment, the forty thousand Tang soldiers suddenly roared, took hold of their giant swords, and began to strike.
But even before that, the tens of thousands of master archers on the walls began to strike.
Thwishthwishthwish!
The whistling of tens of thousands of arrows through the air collected together into a deafening howl. The master archers unleashed their specially crafted, armor-piercing arrows in a great deluge, and they left deadly arcs in the air before descending into the moat on the ground.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The sounds of arrows piercing through flesh were constant. Within the moat, there had been some alliance soldiers who were still alive, with most of them being heavily injured.
But with this assault, the giant steel pit was instantly silenced. Under this all-encompassing attack, there were no survivors.
At this distance, it was basically impossible for a master archer to
miss!
Moreover, the massive spiked moat had become a barrier that halted the alliance army in its tracks and made it so that anyone who tried to cross became a target.
Such a close distance!
Such a high concentration!
The master archers couldn’t miss even if they wanted to!
More importantly, the master archers, unlike the ballistae, had almost complete control over their arrow trajectory. While the shield carts could block ballistae, they could not stop the arrows of the master archers coming from above!
Chapter 2165 - City Defense Battle! (I)
Chapter 2165: City Defense Battle! (I)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Thwishthwishthwish!
With another deafening howl, the Great Tang master archers loosed another volley, their faces cold and confident, as if they were performing a regular training drill.
This time, however, their targets were not wooden dummies, but the sea of alliance army soldiers outside the fortress. And they were aiming not at the soldiers in front of them, but the rear of the army, more than three thousand feet away.
Boomboomboom!
Shrill screams erupted from the rear. Tens of thousands of Youzhou soldiers, Goguryeon soldiers, Eastern Turkic cavalry, and Khitan and Xi braves were nailed to the ground, splashing snow and blood into the air.
The charging alliance army had already been thrown into disarray by the moat, and the tens of thousands of losses inflicted on the rear further expanded the chaos. The region between five thousand and seven thousand feet from the fortress also fell into disarray.
Although the alliance army was vast, the hindrance at the front momentarily rendered it unable to advance.
But things were far from over.
Bang!
With a great rumble, two steel mechanisms on the sides of the fortress suddenly broke out of the ground, sending dirt and snow flying through the air. Thick metal plates more than thirty meters long extended over the spiked moat to the other side.
The forty thousand armored Tang soldiers took up their heavy swords and crossed the steel planks to do battle with the disorderly front ranks of the alliance army.
Clang!
With a metallic clanging, dazzling war halos appeared beneath the feet of a Tang soldier and swiftly radiated to the rest of the army.
A defensive halo, a speed halo, a heavy sword halo, a strength halo, the White Ape Halo, the Boulder Halo… Under the power of these various halos, the forty thousand Tang soldiers swelled in power, and as they crossed over the moat, they plunged into the opposing army like tigers.
“All those who offend the Great Tang will be punished, no matter how far away they are!”
“Kill!”
These simple words fully displayed their indomitable will and power.
Boomboomboom!
The Tang soldiers were unstoppable, cutting down the opposition like they were blades of grass.
Clang! In a cold flash of light, a surprised Youzhou soldier was struck on the shoulder by a giant sword. The terrifying strength in the sword carried the blade through his armor and cut off half his body.
The Youzhou soldier had no time to shout. His face froze in panic, the life drained out of him, and he toppled over like a wooden pillar.
More and more alliance soldiers fell to the ground, none of them able to take a blow.
On one side was a chaotic force without any formation, and on the other side were Tang elites who had been ready and waiting. When the two sides clashed, the result was obvious.
“Kill!”
With heaven-shaking war cries, the Tang army unstoppably pushed forward, plunging into the alliance army like two sharp knives.
Under the assault of the Tang army, the alliance soldiers on the front fell into even greater disarray. Several thousand soldiers were almost instantly killed, and as more and more Tang soldiers crossed, the alliance casualties soared.
In this first clash, Wang Chong finally allowed the alliance to experience the Great Tang’s formidable strength.
In a clash of infantry, the Great Tang was completely on par with Youzhou, even surpassing it in some aspects.
“Four!
“Three!
“Two!”
Atop the walls, Wang Chong half-closed his eyes, his lips softly counting down.
No one knew what Wang Chong was thinking, but when the count reached ‘one’, everyone understood.
Bang!
The forty thousand soldiers had all crossed the bridges, and they now raised their swords in unison. Their swords flashed with cold light like so many fish scales, and then they came down as one.
After a massive boom, the entire battlefield became much quieter.
With one strike, thirty thousand alliance soldiers had been cut down.
The sight of all those alliance soldiers falling together was truly shocking to behold!
A crimson mist swiftly spread out, and rivers of blood flowed across the ground, dyeing the snow red.
Amidst the blood and corpses, the heavily armored Tang soldiers marched out like Asuras out of hell, seemingly invincible.
Though it was forty thousand against several dozen times their number, not only did they not shrink back, they went on the offensive. In fact, they had an overwhelming advantage and completely suppressed their foe, radiating a frightening pressure.
An Lushan’s eyes widened as he stared in speechless shock.
“Bastard!”
Finally, An Lushan cursed, his face turning white. “Nothing but trash!”
He had already sent the shield carts to neutralize the Tang ballistae, and his men were only facing forty thousand Tang soldiers. The full offensive and the momentum of the charge should have been enough to utterly crush the soldiers Wang Chong had arrayed in front of the fortress. He had never expected these forty thousand soldiers to slaughter their way through his army unopposed.
An Lushan had never imagined this scenario, and he was left completely humiliated.
Behind An Lushan, the sovereigns of the various countries were also stunned.
“A hundred rumors do not compare to a single meeting. I originally believed that the rumors were somewhat exaggerated, but today, I see that I deeply underestimated him.”
Yeon Gaesomun stood beneath the banner of Goguryeo, his eyes twitching as his mind reeled.
As the most renowned War God of the Goguryeo Empire, Yeon Gaesomun did not merely like fighting—he longed for it. Very few generals could earn his regard, and on the Great Tang side, the only one he had truly admired was Andong Protector-General Zhang Shougui.
Back then, Zhang Shougui had been able to stand firm in Youzhou against the other countries. When it came to both individual strength and military tactics, Zhang Shougui stood above the rest. Other Great Generals could only look up at him.
But Wang Chong…
Yeon Gaesomun didn’t know how to describe him.
In this battle involving so many countries, Wang Chong had only sent forty thousand soldiers, and the alliance had already suffered more than eighty thousand losses. Meanwhile, the losses on Wang Chong’s side were negligible.
Yeon Gaesomun had believed that the recent expansion of the Tang army would lead to weaker soldiers overall, but that hardly seemed to be the case.
His ability to train soldiers might even surpass Zhang Shougui! Yeon Gaesomun internally remarked.
Eighty thousand deaths was acceptable to the alliance army that numbered in the millions. The ability that the War Saint of the Great Tang had exhibited in this first clash was what had truly won their attention.
“It seems he’s not called the War Saint for nothing. He will always be a headache of an opponent!”
Not far from Yeon Gaesomun, Ozmish Khagan slightly frowned.
He clearly had a steel fortress from which he could defend, but he had decided to sortie his soldiers, not backing down in the face of an opponent several doze
n times his number.
Ozmish Khagan could sense a broad and sweeping fighting style from Wang Chong. This man definitely ranked as one of the most aggressive and militaristic individuals in the Great Tang.
Although only a few moments had passed since the battle had begun, the Great Tang’s War Saint had already left an extremely deep impression on him.
Ozmish Khagan quickly blessed his fortunes. Compared to Ü-Tsang and the Western Turks, the Eastern Turks were somewhat farther from the Great Tang, so they had avoided the trampling of the War Saint.
More importantly, when the Great Tang had truly begun to stir trouble, the countries had already joined together in alliance. Otherwise, the Eastern Turks alone would have never been a match for the Great Tang.
The Khitan King and the Xi Queen did not have as much on their mind. They were simply stunned by the force and lethality of the Great Tang.
“Xi-erya, the opposing side is much harder to deal with than we imagined!”
The Khitan King pulled at his wolfskin clothes, his beard trembling as he spoke. In his eyes, one could see the burning flames of fighting resolve.
“Only this sort of opponent is interesting, right?”
The Xi Queen giggled, a light flashing in her eyes as she looked at Wang Chong with an amused look on her face.
The Xi Queen softly bit on her lip as she muttered to herself, “Truly, a man that moves this woman’s heart.”
The Khitan King frowned, but he said nothing.
Meanwhile, at the front, the Youzhou commanders frowned.
The forty thousand Tang soldiers seemed unstoppable, and this sort of momentum spelled ill news for the army. If morale collapsed, then this war on which they had gambled the fate of so many countries would be halfway lost.
“Gao Shang!” A voice broke the silence as An Lushan turned to Gao Shang.
At almost the same time, Yeon Gaesomun, Ozmish Khagan, the Khitan King, and the Xi Queen also turned their heads.
Chapter 2166 - City Defense Battle! (II)
Chapter 2166: City Defense Battle! (II)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 1305