荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

The hall was still as Wang Chong’s words echoed through the room and through the minds of everyone present. The suppressed and heavy mood was instantly revived and galvanized by Wang Chong’s rallying cry.

The Divine Prison Army, the Xuanwu Army, the Dragon Stallion Army... There was also the second batch of reinforcements from Qixi. No one except Wang Chong knew the exact composition of the reinforcement army; even Gao Xianzhi was not clear on all the forces that Wang Chong had called from the interior.

At the very least, Gao Xianzhi had never heard of any Xuanwu Army or Divine Prison Army in the Imperial Army, nor did he know how powerful they were.

But Wang Chong, as the manager of the entire plan, naturally understood what was going on more than anyone else.

‘Quality is greater than quantity when it comes to soldiers.’ This was not merely a saying, but a principle that Wang Chong had believed in for his entire life.

As someone who had reincarnated and had experienced so much, he was accustomed to winning battles while outnumbered. The number of soldiers was very important, but the overall quality of a soldier was the most important.

The Great Tang had been able to rely on an army of six hundred thousand soldiers to conquer the surrounding empires and forge a mythical golden age and empire of unprecedented size precisely because of the quality of its soldiers!

“Wang Chong, what sort of idea do you have?” Gao Xianzhi suddenly asked.

For Gao Xianzhi, this battle had already completely surpassed his expectations from when he first set out to attack the Shi Kingdom. But Wang Chong was different. He was still very young, but he had a deep understanding of war and had thoroughly planned out this entire battle, including the reinforcements.

That the reinforcements had been able to reach sixty thousand, all of them elite soldiers, was undoubtedly because Wang Chong had prepared for this before the battle had even begun.

“Heh.”

Wang Chong chuckled in reply.

“The Arabs are not as powerful as imagined. Although I can’t guarantee the final result of this battle, I can at least guarantee that no matter what the Arabs want, they won’t be leaving Talas without suffering an unprecedentedly severe wound!”

Wang Chong’s eyes flashed with steely resolve.

......

Talas quickly entered a tense preparation phase as all the reinforcements entered the city to undergo strict training. All the elite armies that had come were existences on par with the Iron Wall Army, but on the battlefield, what armies needed the most was teamwork.

Now that the reinforcements had arrived and the Arabs did not dare to attack, Wang Chong began a consolidation of these elite forces, an extremely tense training session. Wang Chong was personally handling the training of this army. As the strongest War Saint of the Central Plains, Wang Chong had not fully trained an army like this for a very long time. He did so now because he regarded this battle with utmost importance.

......

As Wang Chong began his training in Talas under the darkness of the night, in the distant Arab camp, all the Arab commanders except Qutaybah had gathered together.

“What do all of you think about this battle?”

They all stood around an Arabic-style table. Abu Muslim stood up and looked around at his comrades.

The tent was quiet as everyone silently pondered the topographical map of Talas on the table. Osman and Aybak had the most complicated expressions. Yesterday, they would have definitely scoffed at Abu Muslim’s question. Aybak and Osman rarely used any special tactics when dealing with infidel empires, and the Arabian Empire rarely used any special strategies or formations in its foreign wars.

When one side reached a certain overwhelming level of power, all strategies and wisdom went out the window. Strength was the greatest wisdom and the greatest strategy.

“This empire is very difficult to deal with. It might even be stronger than the Sassanid Dynasty. If I didn’t see it for myself, I would truly find it difficult to believe that they could have someone who could stand on the same level as Qutaybah, and that it would be an old man,” Osman sternly said, a pensive look on his face.

“Not only that. The reinforcements they brought appear to be extremely powerful, on the same level of power as the Anxi Protectorate’s Iron Wall Army,” Aybak grimly added. “If they’re all that strong, then even though they only have around one hundred thousand soldiers, it won’t be as easy as we imagine to destroy them.”

As the Mameluke Commander, the most unique commander in the entire empire, Aybak rarely concerned himself with the exact situation of the battlefield, nor would he intervene in these large-scale clashes of armies. But the army behind the defense line was now so powerful that not even Aybak could ignore it.

“Overall, our greatest advantage is the initiative provided by our cavalry,” Ziyad sternly said. “The Tang defense line makes it very difficult for our soldiers to exert their full power, but it restrains them as well. Without that defense line, their defensive abilities are far too weak. For the short term, as long as we still hold the initiative, they won’t dare to leave their defense line to attack, giving us the liberty of choosing when to strike.”

As the Deputy Governor of the East, Ziyad was for the first time counting himself lucky to have been born in a horseback empire. Otherwise, he would find it very difficult to imagine any other faction that could contend against this empire. Not only that, Ziyad had an intense feeling that this opponent they were facing at Talas was second in power only to Arabia, a true ‘Number Two Empire’.

“This battle is already very hard to judge. Until we determine the true strength of the Tang reinforcements, we won’t be able to engage in a full-scale offensive,” Abu Muslim said. “Right now, we must wait for the Tibetans and Western Turks to arrive. Although these two empires of the east aren’t as strong as our Arabia, their understanding of the Great Tang might bring us some unexpected aid.”

Throughout the course of this war, he had understood that the Tang were not as feeble as he had imagined. Arabia had to think of every method and gather all its strength to completely crush the Tang. Otherwise, the Arabs might be the ones facing the predicament the Tang were currently dealing with.

“I’ve never met these Tibetans and Western Turks you speak of, but if you insist on waiting until they arrive to begin the decisive battle, have you thought about how to explain this to Qutaybah?” Osman loudly asked as he stared across the map at Abu Muslim.

This conference in the middle of the night had gathered together all the other Arab commanders as well as the governors Abu Muslim and Osman, but Qutaybah was missing. With the quarrel in the daytime still fresh on everybody’s minds, nobody dared to offend Qutaybah again. Qutaybah was a true battle maniac. The retreat during the day had already left him extremely dissatisfied. If Abu Muslim insisted on waiting several more days for the Tibetans and Western Turks to arrive, everyone would find it hard to imagine Qutaybah’s reaction.

Not even everyone here together was a match for an enraged Qutaybah.

Osman’s words plunged the tent into silence. Qutaybah was like the sun in the noon sky. One could lower their head to not see it, but it was impossible to ignore its existence.

If Qutaybah stubbornly insisted on an attack, not even Abu Muslim could stop him. This was the predicament everyone in the tent was pondering.

Boom!

This moment of silence was suddenly shattered by the thundering of hooves emerging from the rear of the Arab camp. Everyone in the tent was stunned by this sound. They could truly think of nothing that might appear from the rear of their army.

“Could it be...”

An idea suddenly occurred to Abu Muslim.

“Reporting!”

At almost the same moment, an Arab messenger rushed into the tent and got down on one knee.

“Lord Governors, a large number of soldiers have been spotted on the perimeter. They sent a message saying that they are our allies, Tibetan and Western Turk soldiers. Their commander is someone called Dalun Ruozan.”

“What?!”

Abu Muslim’s face was a picture of astonished ecstasy.

“Wonderful!”

Without any time to explain, Abu Muslim rose and strode out of the tent. Behind him, Aybak and Osman exchanged glances before following.

......

At the same time, a group of soldiers was riding in a vast cloud of dust, crossing a narrow stone bridge as it proceeded toward the Arab camp.

Gallop!

A scholarly figure dressed in a blue robe rode a highland steed across the bridge.

“Haha, Huoshu, it seems like we didn’t get here too late. The Arabs and Tang still haven’t started the decisive battle.”

Dalun Ruozan waved a sleeve at the distant torches glimmering in the darkness like stars in the sky as well as the looming walls of Talas.

“Just as Milord predicted, it seems that the trenches and pits we ordered to be dug proved useful. The Tang reinforcements arrived around two days late.”

Huoshu Huicang rode out on a mighty Tibetan steed in a gust of wind.

Although they had lost in a direct battle with the Tang and that boy called Su Hanshan, Dalun Ruozan had still managed to succeed in delaying the Tang reinforcements by using pits and trenches. This had delayed their arrival and bought their own side enough time to make their detour. Although it had been a particularly large detour, the Tibetans had still not arrived late for this battle.

“Milord, look—the Arabs are moving!” a slightly plump deputy officer next to Dalun Ruozan suddenly called out.

These words made everyone turn to the north. There, the orderly and vigilant Arab soldiers had begun to show signs of turmoil. As they watched, the Arab ranks fell to the sides, allowing a stalwart figure leading many other Arab generals to emerge and head in their direction.

“Haha, an old friend has come. Come; let’s go and see Abu Muslim!”

Dalun Ruozan urged his horse forward and galloped toward the Arabs.

On the other side, Abu Muslim looked toward the Tibetans with a faint smile in his eyes.