Chapter 587
Chapter 587: The Decisive Battle! Ballistae Show Their Might!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Huoshu Huicang’s assault arrived much earlier than anticipated.
Huoshu Huicang stared at the summit and suddenly ordered, “Ciren Xiangxiong, you go as well!”
“Yes, General!”
A voice came from behind him, and armor clanged as a burly and fierce Tibetan general mounted his horse and quickly took off.
“Follow me!”
With this order, the stalwart figure of Ciren Xiangxiong charged forward, thousands of cavalry following behind.
“Young Master, the Tibetans have moved.” Chen Shusun turned his head and notified Wang Chong.
Once more, Chen Shusun felt an indescribable admiration. Wang Chong had once more predicted everything.
“Have all my orders been passed on?” Wang Chong said as he calmly surveyed the battlefield.
“All your orders have been passed on.”
“Then begin,” Wang Chong indifferently said.
Boom!
Sounds of fighting could be heard all over the mountain. Thousands of Tibetan cavalry were charging up the mountain, madly rushing up to the barricades, steel walls, and soldiers of the Annan Protectorate army. At the same time, waves of fireballs were continuing to crash down, cutting off the front of the Annan Protectorate army from the rear.
“Push aside the barricades! Use ropes to pull them aside!”
“Some of you, dismount and push aside the barricade!”
“Go over to where General Tumi Sangzha is and attack them from the rear!”
……
The Tibetan officers hollered out their orders, wanting nothing more than to tear open the Tang defenses. At the same time, the Annan Protectorate army soldiers on the lower half of the mountain were sacrificing their lives.
“Hold! Hold! Milord has ordered that no one is allowed to retreat!”
“Shieldmen! Shieldmen!”
“Guard the barricades—don’t let them get dragged away!”
“If they’re allowed to breach the defenses, we’ll all be dead!”
……
The atmosphere was fraught with tension. One side was attempting to push its way to the summit and sweep away the final obstacle to the southwest, while the other side was doing all it could to defend and survive, and neither side was backing down.
As Huoshu Huicang viewed the intense melee, he suddenly furrowed his brow and ordered, “General Zhajie! You go as well!”
“Yes, General!” another tribal general of the Tibetan Plateau quickly replied.
“Follow me!”
With this order, another plume of dust rose into the air as nearly ten thousand Tibetan cavalry charged toward the mountain like a bolt of lightning. With this, Huoshu Huicang had committed thirty thousand soldiers, a significant number.
Cavalry was a more powerful force than infantry, and thirty thousand cavalry was enough to deal with three hundred thousand infantry on flat terrain. But at this moment, their opponents were the approximately one hundred thousand soldiers garrisoned on the mountain.
Boomboomboom!
The slams and kicks of horses against clanging shields filled the air, as did calls to hold the line. A single shield of the Annan Protectorate army had at least two or three people holding it, sometimes even five or six.
All of them were packed behind the shields, using all their power to stop the Tibetan charge.
Huoshu Huicang frowned and issued yet another order. “You go as well!”
In this mountainous terrain, the simultaneous charge of forty thousand cavalry was essentially complete saturation. Any more soldiers would not be able to insert themselves into the fight.
Not until they broke the first defensive line of the Annan Protectorate army!
“Kiiiill!”
Fierce roars filled the air as the fourth wave of Tibetan soldiers arrived. If one looked down from the sky, one would be able to notice that the base of the mountain was completely covered by Tibetan soldiers.
“Slaughter them all!”
Similar shouts in Tibetan could be heard all across the battlefield. Against these terrifying waves of Tibetan attacks, all the Annan Protectorate army soldiers on the front lines felt an unimaginable pressure.
The fragile defensive line could crumble at any time.
And the worst of all was that path opened up by Tumi Sangzha. An endless stream of Tibetan soldiers were charging through this gap and up the mountain. One second, two seconds, three seconds… every moment of time seemed to last for an eternity.
The Great Tang’s defensive lines swayed, on the verge of breaking.
“Redouble the assault! They’re about to break!”
Tibetans continued to launch endless waves of attacks, but the true person to break the first defensive line was someone no one had expected.
Boom!
At some point, Tumi Sangzha had thrown off Luo Ji, Old Eagle, and Lin Wushou, breaking out of their encirclement and sending a fist flying toward a heavy metal wall.
Buzz! As if this was some sort of signal, all the barricades and shields in the surrounding area were suddenly destroyed. Before anyone could react, the first defensive line had been broken.
“Kiiiill!”
After a momentary silence, the Tibetan cavalry noticed what had happened and were filled with energy. Even the Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang soldiers watching the battle felt excited and energized.
“Wonderful, kill them all!”
All of them could smell victory. It seemed like they had finally found a method to defeat the Tang. But in the next moment, before those forty thousand Tibetan cavalry could charge up, before the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army’s joy and excitement had lasted more than a few moments, the greatest change of all occurred.
With their barricades dismantled, shields destroyed, and defensive line broken, all the Annan Protectorate army soldiers immediately hid behind the steel walls to their sides.
Swish!
With a metallic howl, a thick bolt flew through the sky, piercing through a Tibetan horseman. The muscular highland steed barely had time to neigh before it was sent crashing to the ground with its rider.
That thick bolt continued behind them. Bang! It struck a second rider, and then a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth…
In their frenzied assault, a massive number of Tibetan soldiers had gathered at the base of the mountain, densely concentrating their ranks. And at this moment, this Tibetan strategy had become a fatal error.
Bangbangbangbang!
Only after this bolt had run through ten-some Tibetan cavalry, leaving a straight and bloody path, was its strength finally expended.
“Tang ballistae!”
A panic-stricken voice rang out, a voice that caused all the other soldiers to tremble. At this moment, all the Tibetans at the base of the mountain felt like their blood had frozen in their veins.
The Tibetans were famed for their thick plate armor, but this plate armor had a mortal foe: the Great Tang ballistae.
The massive bolts fired by these ballistae could easily blow a straight line through the Tibetan ranks.
That dreadful sound was one that all of them recognized: the sound of Great Tang ballistae.
Thwishthwishthwish!
In a flash, and before they could react, Wang Chong revealed his hidden hand. The sounds of countless ballistae firing rose up from the upper half of the mountain.
Countless ballistae lined up on the mountain were currently firing.
The blazing flames and plummeting fireballs could block the Annan Protectorate army soldiers, but they could not block the famed ballistae of the Great Tang. Bangbangbang! Thousands of ballista bolts howled through the air, piercing through countless Tibetan cavalry.
The dense ranks of cavalry barely had time to make a noise before a thick bolt would shoot through them. Bodies toppled to the ground like wooden pillars, impacting with a heart-chilling thud.
All went according to plan as the Tibetans arrayed before the metal walls were shot down.
Slaughter!
This was a true slaughter!
In a few seconds, these ballista bolts had killed more Tibetans than the number that had been charging the Tang defense line.
The bolts came one after the other, callous and determined.
And that blazing sea of flames was a barrier that protected the ballistae from the Tibetan cavalry!