Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
"Everyone else, stand aside!"
Thirty-some zhang from the most intense area of fighting, several black-armored soldiers kneeled on the ground, the swords in their hands pointed straight ahead.
"Ready!"
"Fire!"
Tw.a.n.g!
A bowstring vibrated and there was a ma.s.sive boom as a long black arrow pierced through the air, instantly crossing the thirty-some zhang of distance. It struck a White Brave who had just climbed onto the wall, the enormous power bringing him over the wall and plunging him into the darkness.
A stalwart White Brave on the wall saw the large machine next to the black-armored soldiers and immediately paled. "Ballistae! Careful!"
On the battlefield, ballistae would always be one of the greatest threats to cavalry. No matter how many toughening or defensive inscriptions were added to their plate armor, they would never be able to stop the nightmarish ballistae.
No one could have imagined that w.a.n.g Chong would use these inflexible, direct-firing, and rather inaccurate ballistae to defend the walls.
In contrast to an open battlefield where two armies clashed, the walls of the City of Steel were narrow, with no s.p.a.ce to turn around. In addition, the distance of thirty-some zhang was far too little for the White Braves to dodge the bolts.
"Dodge!"
"Careful!"
……
The White Braves were all astonished and startled. Although w.a.n.g Chong only had four ballistae on the walls, the terror of these four ballistae was far more than any number of soldiers could bring.
Anyone struck by a bolt was certain to die.
All the White Braves instantly felt a helpless fear and found it difficult to fully utilize their strength.
"Rah! Let me do it! I"ll kill them all!" a White Brave growled in Tibetan, his expression savage as he pulled out his scimitar and leapt forward. He wanted to convert his extreme speed into a jump that would bring him to the black-armored soldiers so that he could kill them all and destroy the ballistae.
But the White Brave could only make it several zhang before, boom! A pitch-black bolt thundered through his chest, sending his corpse flying and bringing it down almost one hundred zhang past the wall.
"Next one!"
"Ready!"
The officer commanding the four ballistae had an ashen complexion, but he remained extremely calm. After shooting down that White Brave, he immediately ordered for the next bolt to be loaded and aimed for the next shot.
The soldiers operating the ballistae seemed ordinary, but they were all elites that w.a.n.g Chong had selected from the Annan Protectorate. They were also involved in one of w.a.n.g Chong"s new ballista experiments.
The greatest flaw of ballistae was the fact that they could only fire straight and lacked flexibility, making them very easy to dodge. Moreover, the manufacturing costs for the ballista bolts was extremely high. Thus, w.a.n.g Chong was attempting an experiment.
He had selected the soldiers from the army who displayed incredible talent in operating ballistae and formed them into small teams. In this way, he could somewhat resolve the problem of accuracy. In addition, this team of talented ballista operators would be able to display the might of the ballistae to their maximum extent.
From the current situation, it seemed like w.a.n.g Chong"s experiment was bearing results.
The only problem was that ballistae were still a weapon under the control of the Imperial Court. w.a.n.g Chong could construct as many ballista bolts as he wanted, but he could not do the same for ballistae.
Even transferring these four ballistae had required w.a.n.g Chong to use King Song"s influence in the court and a special application.
Tw.a.n.g!
Boom after boom filled the City of Steel, echoing far into the darkness. There might have been only four ballistae on the walls, but operated by those ballista teams, they fired very frequently.
The frequency of ballista fire made it seem like there were thirty or forty ballistae rather than just four. The White Braves on the wall were almost completely suppressed.
A few of the White Braves attempted to use other soldiers to cover them, but it was clear that all the White Braves had underestimated the accuracy of these four ballistae. Once the ballistae were visually calibrated, the White Braves would be shot the moment they revealed themselves.
The appearance of these four ballistae instantly altered the course of the battle on the walls.
……
"Wonderful! I knew Lord Marquis would have a way!"
"No wonder Lord Marquis didn"t move. He already predicted all this!"
"Haha, Lord Marquis is a divine strategist. Not even the Tibetans or Mengshe Zhao were a match for him. I was just saying that these enemies could never stop him!"
"Heheh, and just who was trembling in fear just now?!"
The more than one hundred thousand workmen had been silently observing the battle from within the city this entire time. When they saw this sight, they instantly became confident. w.a.n.g Chong was the nail that kept the entire City of Steel firm.
Although they had all been somewhat dissatisfied to see w.a.n.g Chong just standing on the wall, by now, no one dared to doubt him.
In the distance, w.a.n.g Chong"s back was illuminated in the swaying light of the fires, his clothes flapping in the wind. At this moment, the crowd saw w.a.n.g Chong"s back as a majestic and stable mountain.
Plans made in the tent can decide victory one thousand li away. Whether it"s the southwest or the northwest, no matter what it is, as long as he wants it, nothing can escape his grasp. It"s no wonder so many great clans in the capital want to build relations.h.i.+ps with him, giving him whatever he wants, whether it"s people or money.
Because if they follow him, they"ll always be able to succeed!
While the workmen in the city were chattering, nearby, no one noticed that Zhang Shouzhi was silently watching w.a.n.g Chong, mentally sighing in emotion.
Of all the craftsmen, he had been the first to follow w.a.n.g Chong and had experienced life and death with him. Thus, Zhang Shouzhi had a rather good understanding of w.a.n.g Chong.
But the more he understood w.a.n.g Chong, the more admiration and respect Zhang Shouzhi felt for this teenager.
The intelligence and resolve he had shown far surpa.s.sed his age. The more one interacted with him, the more one would trust him, would want to follow and a.s.sist him.
On the walls, w.a.n.g Chong had no idea what these people were thinking. His thoughts were on the strategic level, far above the battle before him.
It"s about time. Just where is it…
w.a.n.g Chong"s mind was currently whirring with thoughts.
No matter how formidable the White Braves were, using them to besiege a city was putting the cart before the horse, so w.a.n.g Chong had never regarded them as a true threat. His thoughts were on other matters.
Did I overestimate them? Someone who could think about using cloth to wrap hooves and bring battering rams from the Great Snow Mountain Holy Temple shouldn"t be an ordinary opponent. Just what are you up to…
w.a.n.g Chong"s brow furrowed as he silently thought. From the very start, he had noticed that something was wrong.
Dingdingding! A metallic clattering rang out in his ears, and w.a.n.g Chong focused. In front of him, several hooks had flown up and latched onto the wall.
In just a few moments, there was a roaring at his ears as red-eyed White Braves began to climb up the walls and appear before w.a.n.g Chong. Without a word, the White Braves pulled out their scimitars and began to hack down at w.a.n.g Chong.
"Hmph, not knowing your own strength!"
As w.a.n.g Chong broke his train of thought, he sneered. It was true that each White Brave was a Profound Martial expert, armed to the teeth and with incredible defensive capabilities.
But even though they could contend against the powerful Mamelukes, they were just gra.s.shoppers trying to stop a carriage to him. Against these charging White Braves with eyes of bloodl.u.s.t, w.a.n.g Chong didn"t even move, allowing them to slash at him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each White Brave slashed with all his strength, thunderous blows aimed at w.a.n.g Chong. A full-strength blow from these White Braves could even cleave apart mountains. But against w.a.n.g Chong, their scimitars seemed to strike an invisible wall several zhang out and were frozen in the air.
"What"s going on?"
"What evil art is this fellow using?"
"Why can"t I move my scimitar?"
"Pull it back! Back!"
"Everyone, work together to kill him! He can"t deal with all of us!"
The White Braves were both shocked and furious, caught completely off-guard by this sight. Not in all the battles they had partic.i.p.ated in had they seen a sight like this.
But what frightened them the most was that flat and unconcerned voice.
"Is that so?"
These words were not spoken in Han, but in the Tibetan that they were all familiar with.
"It"s that Han!"
All the White Braves stared in fear at w.a.n.g Chong, and when he raised his head to look at them, all of them felt an ill foreboding.
"Run! Run!!" one of the Tibetans shouted out, and in the blink of an eye, all of them felt an intense danger that made their scalps go numb.
Driven by some instinct, they abandoned their scimitars and fled, but it was already too late.
Boom! w.a.n.g Chong blinked, and there was a cold flash of light. A powerful energy instantly began to pull all the White Braves back toward w.a.n.g Chong.
"Careful!"
"My Stellar Energy! He"s absorbing our energy!"
"Evil art! He knows evil arts!"
"Ah!!"
The strongest warriors of the Tibetan Plateau were now in complete panic, a primordial fear emerging in their eyes. Before the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art, the White Braves were helpless, unable to even move a muscle as their Stellar Energy flooded out of them and surged into w.a.n.g Chong"s body.
Not only that, even their thick plate armor, inscribed with so many defensive and toughening inscriptions, began to twist, crumple, deform, and constrict under the force of w.a.n.g Chong"s technique.
"Ah!"
There was a short burst of screams before all eight of the White Braves were compressed into b.a.l.l.s of flesh and metal, dropping around w.a.n.g Chong.
The battle had begun quickly and ended even more quickly. Eight fierce White Braves had not even managed to get close to w.a.n.g Chong before having all their energy absorbed and being killed.