Chapter 1830: The Decisive Battle Begins!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
On the Arab side, countless falcons flew through the air, constantly gathering information on the Great Tang.
While the Arabs might not have had a military text stating ‘by knowing yourself and knowing your enemy, you will win one hundred out of one hundred battles’, there was no doubt that they had already put that principle into practice.
Three days went by quickly, and soon, the curtain of darkness fell on the last day. Only one night remained until these two armies would clash, and the tension was only rising.
Buzz!
The day of the decisive battle had finally come!
As the first ray of sunlight shot out from the east, gradually illuminating the world, the tension in the northwest suddenly began to rapidly thicken. Bwooooom! A resounding metal horn was blown, and the earth began to tremble as if some enormous beast was waking from a long slumber.
s.p.a.ce seemed to freeze as the horn’s blare resounded over the earth. Looking down from the sky, one could see countless Arab cavalry charging out of their base in mighty rivers of black steel.
Roooar!
The Behemoths roared as they stood up, their enormous bodies like mountains rising from the middle of the sea of soldiers.
A few moments later, the millions of Arab soldiers had taken up formation like an immense war machine, their weapons gleaming with cold light.
At the same time, to the southeast, drums began to pound within the City of Steel, rising to the heavens and shattering the calm of the city.
Clang!
With clattering armor, a soldier strode out of his tent, spear in hand, and just a few moments later, he had marched into the torrent of steel flowing past his tent and soon arrived at the steel walls set up outside the City of Steel.
With a clang, his long spear was tilted forward.
Behind him were countless infantry, cavalry, ballista soldiers, master archers… The six-hundred-thousand-some elites of the Great Tang were marching to the front line.
Their orderly marching rumbled like thunder!
Buzz!
w.a.n.g Chong, dressed in full armor, was seated on a raised platform in the City of Steel’s main hall. His eyelids twitched, and then his eyes flew open, blazing with dazzlingly bright light. At the same moment, an energy heavier than a mountain erupted from his body.
“Your Highness!”
Li Siye, Su Hanshan, Guo Ziyi, Old Eagle, Young Master Qingyang, Zhang Que, Xu Keyi, Su s.h.i.+xuan, Chen Burang, Sun Zhiming… all of his subordinates had gathered in the hall, and they bowed in reverence.
“Move out!”
With no other words, w.a.n.g Chong rose from his chair and swiftly walked out of the hall. With a neigh, the waiting White-hoofed Shadow raised its hooves and shook its mane.
w.a.n.g Chong mounted his horse, grabbed the reins, and made for the front line.
His subordinates closely followed behind him.
Whoos.h.!.+
As the air rushed past him, w.a.n.g Chong could see his vast army, as impregnable as a fortress, arrayed before him. The mighty figures of w.a.n.g Zhongsi, Gao Xianzhi, Cheng Qianli, An Sishun, Abusi, Chuluohou, Zhangchou Jianqiong, and Xianyu Zhongtong were mounted upon divine stallions and in full armor.
Upon seeing w.a.n.g Chong, everyone turned to await his orders.
w.a.n.g Chong nodded and slowly rode the White-hoofed Shadow to the very first row, to the thousands of steel walls forming the defense line, and looked to the northwest.
Bwoooom!
Clouds of dust billowed into the air. Those millions of Arab cavalry that had lain in wait in the Western Regions for more than twenty days were now charging toward the City of Steel, the earth groaning and shuddering at their approach.
Those mountainous beasts within the army had also awoken, their powerful and brutal bodies blocking the sun, their imposing auras terrifying to behold.
But w.a.n.g Chong ignored all these figures and focused on that elephant Behemoth, on that golden tent on its back and that hallowed and divine silver-robed figure standing there.
The moment of the decisive battle has finally begun! w.a.n.g Chong said to himself, a sharp light in his eyes.
“Ready!”
Clang! w.a.n.g Chong roared as he pulled out the Origin Immortal Sword and pointed it toward the skies.
With w.a.n.g Chong’s thunderous roar, the Tang army suddenly transformed. It was like a vast cloud of iron sand suddenly coalescing into a forest of steel, as tough as a fortress.
To the northwest, that distant figure sensed the change in the Tang army, and Khatabah slightly grimaced. These eastern infidels were clearly not easy opponents. But a moment later, Khatabah regained his composure.
“Move out!”
This sharp and resounding cry swept through the skies of the Western Regions, and countless horses neighed in response. The greatest army ever gathered by the western world, more than two million elite cavalry, surged toward the front line in a great flood.
“Kiiill!”
Savage war cries rang out as the cavalry erupted with killing intent and stirred up a great cloud of dust that blocked out the sun.
This was the greatest and most experienced force of cavalry on the continent. Whether it was the Turkic cavalry or Tibetan cavalry, they all paled in comparison to the Arab cavalry. Theoretically speaking, two million Arab cavalry could easily crush an army of six to seven million infantry on flat terrain, perhaps even ten million infantry. In any world, this was an overwhelming force.
The world was drained of any other sound, and the only thing that could be heard was the rumbling approach of millions of cavalry.
Behind the steel defense line, not a single person spoke. The six hundred thousand soldiers silently waited. Even though they couldn’t sense what was happening far in the distance like w.a.n.g Chong, these soldiers could sense the north wind getting stronger and stronger, the grim and somber mood getting thicker and thicker. But the soldiers remained resolved and fearless.
“The battle will begin soon!” someone softly muttered.
In the surrounding area, numerous spies from various countries were watching the northwestern region, watching that enormous ‘beast’ get closer and closer. Four hundred li, three hundred li, two hundred li, one hundred and fifty li… the long distance was swiftly covered, and soon…
“It’s here!”
Zhangchou Jianqiong suddenly turned to the northwest, and a second later, Li Siye, Su Hanshan, Cheng Qianli, Chuluohou, and the many t.i.tled generals all turned in the same direction.
Rumble! The thundering was so great that it seemed like a hole had been torn in the heavens. A moment later, tens of thousands of Arab cavalry flooded over the horizon, extending all the way to the edge of vision.
One hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, one million, one and a half million… the Arab soldiers coming out of the north seemed endless.
Around five minutes later, all the Arab soldiers stopped around eighty thousand feet from the Tang defense line, and the world suddenly stopped trembling.
Rumble! The army parted, and a ma.s.sive elephant Behemoth slowly came to the front. Atop the Behemoth was a golden tent, and in front of the tent was the Hierophant, Khatabah.
His expression was cold and utterly devoid of emotion.
“Infidels, today is the last day, and also your last chance. Before your utter destruction, is your choice still to pointlessly struggle?”
Khatabah’s voice rumbled over the world.
“Heh, Khatabah, this is your last chance. Do you still choose to bring Arabia down the path of destruction?” w.a.n.g Chong sternly said.
“Hmph! I understand. Since that is the case, I will fulfill your wis.h.!.+”
Khatabah waved his hand, anger flas.h.i.+ng in his eyes, and he said no more. Raaaa! The elephant Behemoth roared and quickly retreated to the rear.
“Get ready! The battle is beginning!”
As Khatabah vanished, w.a.n.g Chong’s face chilled and the smile on his lips disappeared.
At the same time, Khatabah shot a murderous glance in the direction of the City of Steel.
“Begin!”
Khatabah waved his hand and gave the order to attack.
Bwoooom!
Horns began to blare from the army, heralding the beginning of this unprecedented war in the northwest. Raaaa! The skies suddenly darkened as those ma.s.sive ‘mountains’ suddenly moved to the front of the Arab army and began to approach the defense line.