Chapter 580: The Decisive Battle! A New Wave of Offense!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited: Michyrr
"All troops, prepare to attack!"
On the mountain, both the Whitestone Corps and the Tibetan cavalry were fleeing. At this moment, not even a fierce general like Longqinba could do anything. Seeing all these soldiers being cut down like weeds, Huoshu Huicang finally issued an order.
"Wait a moment!"
Dalun Ruozan suddenly came to his senses and told Huoshu Huicang to stop.
"There"s no need to send more troops, nor would there be any meaning to it. Didn"t we get a batch of Celestial Wolf Bows from the Western Turks not too long ago?"
"Great Minister means…"
With a thought, Huoshu Huicang seemed to understand what Dalun Ruozan was getting at.
"It"s about time to use those Celestial Wolf Bows anyway. Tell them to move out!" Dalun Ruozan said.
This time, Huoshu Huicang had no objections. Although Dalun Ruozan was somewhat overstepping his bounds by meddling in military matters as a civil minister, Huoshu Huicang had always known that he had never been a purely civil minister.
After all, it was from him that he had first obtained those military texts from the Central Plains.
Although Dalun Ruozan"s methods might have been unsuitable at other occasions, they were ideal at this time. But it did seem a little cruel.
"Didn"t you hear? Celestial Wolf Cavalry, prepare to move out!"
Huoshu Huicang"s eyes gleamed as he made up his mind.
Dust began to rise as the sounds of horses trotting rose from within the army.
It took mere moments for a unit of fully-armored Tibetan cavalry to gallop out of the army. Unlike other Tibetan cavalry, each one of these hors.e.m.e.n was carrying a ma.s.sive Celestial Wolf Bow on his back.
Each Celestial Wolf Bow was made from top-quality Phoebe Zhennan wood, and was four to five feet tall, towering over the heads of the riders. The gray wolf fur used to cover these bows clearly indicated their origins.
Only the Western Turks who lived on the steppe and deserts to the northwest of the Great Tang used this kind of bow.
Although the Western Turks were far inferior to the Great Tang in terms of metal smelting and weapon forging, and had always been lacking in access to metals, they were head and shoulders above the Great Tang in terms of bow-making.
The bows of the Western Turks possessed a power second only to the power of Great Tang ballistae. And compared to a ballista, these bows were much easier to construct.
"Get ready!"
In response to this resounding voice, the Celestial Wolf Bows creaked as they were pulled taut. A forest of arrowheads was aimed at the mountain.
"Release!"
Tw.a.n.gtw.a.n.gtw.a.n.g!
With an almost deafening clatter, thousands of arrows whistled through the sky, dragging out trails in the air before landing on the mountain.
"Aaaaah!"
Screams suddenly filled the air. One Mengshe Zhao soldier had barely walked two steps when an arrow ended his life, stabbing through his throat, penetrating through his collarbone, and sinking into his internal organs.
The Mengshe Zhao soldier thudded to the ground, smas.h.i.+ng into a pool of blood. And as if this was some sort of signal…
Thwishthwishthwis.h.!.+
Thousands of arrows followed, gleaming with cold light as they covered the skies in a lethal rain.
Mengshe Zhao, Tibetan, Tang… Huoshu Huicang"s attack was all-encompa.s.sing. In a circle covering the entire mountain, the intersection of the Tang, Mengshe Zhao and Tibetan forces came under an intense arrow volley.
There was no friend or foe, no particular target. Everyone within this area was struck down!
"Aaaaah!"
Screams resonated through the mountain slopes as countless Mengshe Zhao, Tibetan, and Tang soldiers immediately collapsed under this sudden rain of arrows.
"Enemy attack!"
"Careful!"
……
When they discovered that these arrows were not coming from the Great Tang, but from their own side, all the Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang soldiers fighting were stupefied. They could understand firing at the Annan Protectorate army, but why were they also the target of this attack?
"What in the world is going on?"
Soldier after soldier crashed to the ground, their eyes wide in confusion.
"It"s the Celestial Wolf Bows and Celestial Wolf Arrows of the Western Turks!"
"Careful!"
"Hurry, dodge!"
On the slope, the Annan Protectorate army soldiers began to get out of the way of the Celestial Wolf Bows. The charge in the rear was also beginning to come to a halt.
"Your Majesty, what are the Tibetans doing? Have they gone crazy?"
"They"re attacking their own!"
"d.a.m.n it, these madmen!"
……
As they watched the warriors of the Whitestone Corps fall to arrows from their own side, the Mengshe Zhao generals" eyes went red from rage. The Whitestone Corps was the primary force in this offense, with the Tibetans only looking to lose around ten thousand soldiers on the mountain at maximum.
The majority of the people dying under this attack were Mengshe Zhao soldiers. Moreover, the Tibetans were wearing plate armor, which had a defensive power that surpa.s.sed even the armor worn by the Annan Protectorate army, let alone the Mengshe Zhao army.
Their plate armor and their few numbers meant that the Tibetans suffered far fewer casualties.
"Your Majesty, let me bring some people to talk with the Tibetans!"
"What if I lead the army to save our brothers? That would be fine as well!"
……
The Mengshe Zhao generals were all extremely distraught at the sight of so many casualties on the slope.
"There"s no need!"
Geluofeng waved his sleeve, his expression hard and cold.
"Given the state of the Whitestone Corps, it doesn"t matter if we send any troops. The method employed by the Tibetans is the best one. This method will actually result in the smallest number of casualties. Otherwise, the Whitestone Corps might truly be wiped out!"
"Ah!"
The generals" jaws dropped, all of them dumbstruck.
"His Majesty is correct. Right now, this is truly the best method!"
A cold and indifferent voice came from behind.
This voice silenced all the generals. If even the Great General approved of Geluofeng"s words, then it truly was the case.
……
"Geluofeng is truly an excellent partner!"
On the other side, Dalun Ruozan nodded and smiled upon seeing the Mengshe Zhao generals so quickly pacified.
Geluofeng had a burning ambition, and he also had the insight necessary to carry out such ambition, the ability to see the essence of the problem at a glance. There were many things that didn"t even need to be explained to him. As a partner and ally, Geluofeng truly was quite suitable.
"Get ready. We"re done probing. It"s time for the real battle to begin!" Dalun Ruozan said as he slowly turned to Huoshu Huicang.
"The righteous do not grasp for profit and the kind do not command soldiers." A general required a callous heart and a prioritization of the overall situation. Although the battle on the summit had seemed extremely fierce, this was barely the beginning for people like Dalun Ruozan and Huoshu Huicang.
All of this was merely the prelude.
With these words, Dalun Ruozan quickly turned around and began to walk toward the rear. The moment he turned around, behind him, a resounding voice came from the distant summit.
"Get ready! Fire!"
Dalun Ruozan quickly turned back around, just in time to see a volley of arrows descend like locusts over the earth. This time, however, this dense volley of arrows was not fired from the Tibetan army, but from the Annan Protectorate army.
"Aaaaah!"
Screams filled the air as a great number of Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang soldiers at the base of the mountain were felled.
Dalun Ruozan froze for a moment, and then he raised his head to glance at that thin figure on the summit, a hint of surprise in his eyes. But he quickly smiled and vanished into the army with a wave of his sleeve.
"Congratulations to user for killing 6780 Tibetans!"
"Congratulations to user for killing 49861 Mengshe Zhao soldiers!"
……
At the summit, a string of messages rang out in w.a.n.g Chong"s mind. As he gazed down at the minor turmoil within the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army, a faint smile crept onto his lips.
He had killed more than fifty thousand Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang soldiers in this battle. He had killed Jiaosiluo and killed almost half of the Mengshe Zhao Whitestone Corps. If it wasn"t for the fact that a significant portion of the Whitestone Corps hadn"t managed to charge very far up the mountain, the casualties would have been even greater.