Chapter 1601: Captured Alive! Returning to the Capital!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Thwishthwishthwis.h.!.+
At this moment, piercing whistles came from above, and As.h.i.+de looked up, only to see countless arrow tips gleaming in the fire as they engulfed the entire camp.
Plushplushplus.h.!.+ In less than the blink of an eye, dense rains of arrows descended on various parts of the Turkic camp.
The arrow tips burned with flames, and they set aflame any tent they struck. The camp was soon a sea of fire punctuated by screams.
Thud! One of the arrows flew through the sky and hit the ground only a few steps from As.h.i.+de, its shaft trembling from the force of the impact.
As.h.i.+de’s pupils constricted as he stared at the arrow, his face paling.
Divine Meteor Arrows!
As.h.i.+de had seen this kind of arrow before. The Western Turkic Khaganate had once scoured the steppe for the meteors that had fallen from the heavens, mixing this Meteoric Metal with refined iron and making arrows.
These arrows were called Divine Meteor Arrows, and they possessed frightening toughness and sharpness.
Such arrows were limited in number, and As.h.i.+de had only seen them once before. But this force of four hundred Tang soldiers was clearly equipped with these Divine Meteor Arrows.
Even more shocking to As.h.i.+de was that at least a thousand Divine Meteor Arrows had been used in that volley. In other words, this force of four hundred had to be almost entirely made up of master archers.
This kind of force could no longer be judged purely on its numbers.
“Retreat! Retreat now!”
The camp was on fire and he had no idea where the Tang were hiding. As.h.i.+de panicked and finally gave the order to retreat.
This was the first time a force of twelve thousand Turks had ever been forced to call for a retreat against a force of four hundred Tang, but this order was only the first in a string of defeats.
There was less than an hour between the start of the battle and daybreak, but those minutes seemed to pa.s.s like centuries for the Turks.
The four hundred Tang continued to doggedly pursue, driving through the Turkic formation again and again.
This period was like a terrible nightmare. They have never before encountered such a terrifying army. This force of four hundred somehow was even stronger than an army of thousands.
Each time they tried to stand firm and reform their defensive line, the Tang army would promptly catch up and break their ranks.
Although the Turks were more numerous, if they couldn’t take up formation, they were nothing but a plate of loose sand.
The soldiers began to cast aside their armor and weapons as they fled, leaving behind a trail of corpses. The stench of blood drifted as far as one hundred li.
When the sun finally rose, the camp had been burned to ash and was littered with the bodies of warhorses and Turkic soldiers.
The trail of corpses extended all the way to the north, and several thousand li from the camp, a small group of Turkic cavalry was hastily escaping.
Surprisingly, those Western Turkic soldiers that w.a.n.g Chong had sent his force of four hundred after had already run this far.
“Milord, those Tang soldiers shouldn’t still be chasing us, right?!” a pale-faced Turkic horseman asked.
Even though there was nothing behind him, that man looked as if he was being closely pursued by a ghost.
“Relax! Don’t panic. We’ve run so far and the steppe is so big that they couldn’t possibly have noticed us,” Hulugan called out from the front.
His expression was composed, but he himself knew that he was more frantic than anyone else. The night that had just pa.s.sed had felt like a terrible nightmare that even now didn’t feel real.
But those corpses scattered across the steppe couldn’t lie.
Hulugan had never imagined that the force of four hundred soldiers sent by the King of Foreign Lands would be so frightening. In that one night, at least half of the army had been slaughtered.
The remaining six-thousand-some men were in complete disarray and fleeing like a bunch of headless flies.
Fear, panic, and intense remorse… these were the emotions that Hulugan was feeling.
But fear stood far above the rest.
Hulugan thought back to what had happened not too long ago.
After the army had fallen back sixty-some li in disarray, As.h.i.+de had finally managed to reorganize the army and was preparing to wipe out the Tang.
“Foreign dogs, where are you running?!”
At this moment, a roar resounded over the steps. The Tang commander, who wore a helmet with a white ta.s.sel attached to the top, charged forward at the head of his force of four hundred.
As.h.i.+de was no easy opponent, but as the darkness had prevented him from locating his foe, he had been forced to call a retreat.
But everything was different now that it was daytime and his enemies had shown themselves.
In the face of this formidable force of Tang, As.h.i.+de led the charge, several thousand men at his back.
“Cutting Formation!”
Within the Turkic army, Hulugan saw that white-ta.s.seled Tang commander bellow, and then the armies clashed.
To Hulugan’s complete disbelief, the four hundred Tang cavalry scattered like petals on the winds, but before anyone could react, they suddenly turned around and charged back.
They completely ignored the soldiers behind As.h.i.+de and focused all their attacks on him.
Most shocking of all was the cohesion these four hundred soldiers showed, as if they were of one body and mind.
Rather than combat, it seemed more like an exquisite art form.
Although As.h.i.+de possessed a high cultivation level, he was no match for the joint attack of the white-ta.s.seled Tang commander and his four hundred men.
A moment later, As.h.i.+de screamed as he was knocked off his horse.
With As.h.i.+de’s fall, the army’s morale was obliterated and the ranks crumbled.
There was no place to hide on the flat Turkic steppe. Hulugan had thought that he would be safe if he just followed As.h.i.+de and his personal guard of three thousand elites.
But no one had expected even As.h.i.+de to ‘die’ to those Tang.
Upon seeing As.h.i.+de fall, Hulugan cast aside everything else and led his squad away in panic.
Even now, the mere thought of those four hundred soldiers made Hulugan want to run.
As time pa.s.sed, the steppe remained quiet except for the thumping of their hooves. In the light of the morning sun, there seemed to be nothing at all around them.
Hulugan looked around at the empty steppe, his heart calming down.
Whoos.h.!.+
Hulugan exhaled in relief.
“The Tang army probably isn’t coming. Everyone, let’s rest a little. Eat something and drink a little water. After this break, we’ll be on our way. Once we reach the camp of the army in the rear, we’ll be safe!” Hulugan said. After a tense and dreadful night, he finally began to relax, and fatigue began to sweep over his body.
Swis.h.!.+
But a moment later, an arrow whistled out of the blue and thudded in front of them.
The familiar sight of the Divine Meteor Arrow and the words ‘Great Tang’ inscribed on the shaft made Hulugan and his men turn ghastly pale.
……
Flapflap! Messenger birds flew across the steppe. Not long after the four hundred Tang cavalry attacked the Black Wolf Army vanguard, the news spread across the entire Western Turkic Khaganate and the Western Regions.
“What?!”
On Mount Sanmi, in the court of the Khagan, a fist slammed on the table and Ishbara Khagan’s furious voice resounded across the sky.
“A force of twelve thousand was defeated by a force of four hundred, Hulugan and As.h.i.+de were captured, and the entire army has been routed?”
“That’s not all. The Tang force also killed over six thousand of our men. The steppe is covered in their corpses!” the Turkic soldier kneeling in the tent added.
The tent was instantly silenced, an oppressive mood descending.
Ishbara Khagan raised his head, his eyes closed and chest heaving. Even though he wasn’t moving, the churning air seemed to reflect his mood.
Ishbara Khagan finally opened his eyes and asked the scout, “When were Hulugan and the others captured?”
“Around one hour ago!” the scout respectfully said, lowering his head.
“So, As.h.i.+de and Hulugan were both captured by the Tang and are being escorted to their capital?” Ishbara Khagan sternly asked.
“Yes!”
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Does this b.a.s.t.a.r.d intend to humiliate the Western Turks in front of the world?!”
Ishbara Khagan’s face turned pale and the flames of rage he had suppressed once more broke free.
If w.a.n.g Chong wanted to take revenge, killing Hulugan and As.h.i.+de would be enough, but that was not his plan. He had taken them alive and was having them sent back to the capital. It was obvious that he wanted to humiliate the Western Turks in front of all the other countries.
Ishbara Khagan could not accept this.
“One hour isn’t too long. Even at their fastest speed, they shouldn’t have left the steppe yet.”
Ishbara Khagan raised his head. The more dangerous the moment, the colder his voice became.
“Pa.s.s on my order! Notify Jiudu Fuluo on the front to stop that Tang force from returning to the Great Tang capital no matter what.”
The scout swiftly left the tent with these orders.