Chapter 1169 - Domineering Assault!
Chapter 1169: Domineering Assault!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Before Hular could say anything, an Arab general at his side shouted in rebuke, “Who is it down there? Who dares to speak the Lord Governor’s name!”
“Hahaha, Hular, even you Arabs have a day like this. I have come to deliver a message from the Great Tang’s Qixi Protector-General. Immediately withdraw all your soldiers from Shifan! Otherwise, the Tang will move out from Khorasan in response to your treachery and attack. Just like Qutaybah, all of you will die!”
Jalali looked up to the walls and laughed.
Jalali was a Khorasani, and also a member of the Sassanid Dynasty. For all these years, only Khorasani like him who had been oppressed by the Arabs knew what sort of life they had lived. In front of the Arabs, all the Khorasani were cautious and meek, not even daring to speak so loudly. They were truly second-class citizens. Moreover, all the Khorasani were burdened with an incredibly heavy tax. This was all not too long ago, but now, they could stand in front of three hundred thousand Arab soldiers and exchange words with a powerful governor like Hular.
“Impudent!”
“Arrogant!”
Hular and the other Arab governors and generals were infuriated by these words. A mere seven thousand soldiers dared to act so brazenly before them. They were seeking death!
“Come! Dispatch twenty thousand men and kill them all!” Hular suddenly ordered, his face a sheet of ice.
Complying with Hular’s order, the gates opened and twenty thousand Arab soldiers, their expressions grim and dour, charged out of the city and toward the seven thousand soldiers.
“Hahaha, let’s go!”
Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Jalali waved his hand and immediately led his men away.
“The message has been delivered. It’s best if you behave yourselves!”
Jalali heartily laughed as he jeered.
“Where are you going!”
The leading Arab general, seeing that the enemy was getting away free of consequence, immediately urged his soldiers to move faster.
The two armies swiftly disappeared into the distance.
Several li away, the leading Arab general, Abula, sternly ordered, “Damn it! Hurry up! Don’t let them run! The Tigris River is just up ahead! They can’t escape!”
With a stab of his scimitar into the hindquarters of his horse, his army frenziedly charged forward. But before they could get very far, there was a fierce neighing, and countless soldiers, charging in at an unexpected angle, thrust into Abula’s army like a sharp arrow.
“Not good! Retreat!”
Abula paled and tried to lead his army away, but it was too late.
“It’s too late to think about escape! Hand over your lives!”
Jalali pulled out his sword and turned his seven thousand soldiers around. Rumble! They charged into the Arab ranks and immediately threw them into chaos.
……
“What! Abula’s army was wiped out?”
On the high walls, when Hular received the news, he was struck dumb. In just a few moments, Abula’s twenty thousand men had been vanquished. This was far too fast.
“How many soldiers did they have?” Hular asked, anxious and doubtful.
“Other than the previous seven thousand, the enemy had eight thousand lying in ambush. There were fifteen thousand in total.”
“What? How!” blurted the two Arab governors at Hular’s side before he could say anything.
If the enemy had more soldiers, then the loss was understandable, but there were only fifteen or sixteen thousand soldiers, a smaller force than what the Arabs had dispatched. Just how had they managed to kill so many people in such a short amount of time? Could the legends be true? Were there soldiers from the strongest eastern army in history that were even able to overcome Qutaybah’s soldiers? But how could that be?!
From the information they had gathered, although the Tang army had won, it had been left with only twenty to thirty thousand soldiers. And the force just now had primarily been composed of those rebel soldiers that usually scattered like mice. When did this motley force suddenly become so formidable?
“Pass on my order! Dispatch all the hunting falcons!”
Only now did Hular sense that something was wrong. He had originally believed that the enemy had only sent a small force to make some trouble and show off their might, but it now seemed that this was not the case.
Flapflap! A moment later, countless hunting falcons soared out of Shifan in every direction.
A few moments later, the hunting falcons and scouts returned with an accurate count of the enemy.
Twenty thousand was the number of soldiers they were facing, and this force of Tang and Khorasani was coming straight for Shifan.
“Pass on my order! One hundred thousand soldiers will follow me out of the city. I want to personally test the power of this force.”
Hular was furious. One mistake was enough. This time, he would personally deal with the Tang and the rebels.
Boom! The gates opened, allowing one hundred thousand soldiers to flood out of the city. The remaining two hundred thousand soldiers remained in the rear, ready to move out the moment something seemed off. Although only one hundred thousand soldiers had been dispatched, the two armies were in tune with each other and would not give the enemy any weakness to exploit.
Rumble!
Not long after Hular had brought his army out of the city, he spotted a massive golden dragon banner on the horizon. And then, to the tune of banging war drums, an army of Tang, Khorasani, and other rebel soldiers appeared, marching toward Shifan. In the center of this army was a black-haired and armored youth who immediately caught Hular’s attention.
“It’s him!”
Hular’s eyes narrowed at the sight of this young figure, and his face froze in shock. He had never expected the Great Tang’s young commander to personally show himself here.
Hular and the Arab soldiers had heard far too much about this young Tang commander. They even had detailed information on his appearance, bearing, weapons, and armor. Thus, even though Hular had never seen Wang Chong before, he could recognize him almost immediately.
But this was not why Hular viewed him with such apprehension and regard. The most important thing of all was that everyone in the Arabian Empire knew that he had been the one to kill Qutaybah and Aybak.
“Everyone, be careful! This person is highly likely to be the young commander of the Great Tang, Wang Chong!”
Hular warily stared at the approaching army.
The other two Arab governors, Pahlavi and Karim, said nothing, but both of them were clearly extremely worried.
Gallop!
A few moments later, the two armies approached each other and stopped, entering a distant stalemate.
“Tang, you’ve gone back on your word. You’ve clearly received our gold, but now you’re breaking the treaty. Truly despicable!”
Karim, the Governor of Hamadan, rode forward, his eyes flashing. Although his reputation and prestige were far inferior to the likes of Qutaybah and Abu Muslim, Karim was undoubtedly a member of the second tier of Arab governors. Moreover, Karim had always had an unyielding personality, and even in front of Wang Chong, he was fearless.
“How could it be us who broke the treaty? The first to attack were you, not us!”
Speaking in a mellow and dignified voice, Wang Chong slowly trotted forward on the White-hoofed Shadow. His expression was calm and placid, and his every movement exuded a natural air of admirable strength and character. Any other Imperial Great General of the same level paled in comparison to him.
Buzz!
All the Arab generals grimaced at these words.
Although it had always been the Tang and Khorasani challenging and provoking the Arabs, in the end, it truly was the Arabs that had begun the pursuit in earnest.
“Bastard! You were the one who laid an ambush there and lured us in. This was clearly a premeditated scheme!” an Arab general next to Hular couldn’t help but retort.
“Hmph! If we hadn’t made preparations, you would have killed all seven thousand of those soldiers!” shot back Xue Qianjun, riding out from behind Wang Chong.
“You!”
The Arab general was instantly at a loss for words.
Although everyone knew that those seven thousand men had just been bait, Xue Qianjun’s words were also true. If the Tang had not been one move ahead, those twenty thousand Arab soldiers would have been returning victorious.
“There’s no need to say any more!”
Hular extended a hand and stopped the general behind him. He rode forward and glared at Wang Chong.
“Tang, you are also a renowned general of a generation. Are the words of the Great Tang really this untrustworthy?”
“Heh!”
Wang Chong faintly smiled and urged his horse forward, his face brimming with contempt.
“Trustworthy or not, complying with the treaty or destroying it—these are things that I should be asking you! Didn’t I already tell you? In one day, you must withdraw from Shifan. Since you’re not complying, you are naturally the first to go against the agreement, and I can’t be blamed for ordering my army to advance westward and go on the offensive.”
“You!!”
Hular instantly paled at these words. When had the strongest empire of the west ever been forced by another into this kind of situation?
“I will count to three. If, after three seconds, you still haven’t started to retreat, then prepare to die!”
Wang Chong extended a finger, his body exuding a domineering aura.
“One! Two! …Three!”
Before Hular could react, Wang Chong had announced the countdown and extended his third finger. A moment later, the twenty thousand soldiers of the coalition army bellowed and charged.
Domineering!
Too domineering!
Wang Chong had said that he would give the Arabs three seconds, but there had been no break. Without any time for the Arabs to react, he had counted down to three and ordered his army to attack. The Arabian Empire had conquered countless foes and encountered so many formidable Great Generals, but not a single one of them had ever been so domineering and so ironfisted, exuding such a powerful pressure that one could barely breathe.