Chapter 1073: The Divine Martial Army Moves Out!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
It really was the right move to give the ballista army to him. Su Hanshan made his name through his vicious attacks, and with the power of the Tang ballistae, he’s practically unstoppable. Not even Chen Bin would be able to get this much power out of the ballistae, Wang Chong inwardly remarked.
Some people were born to be brilliant Great Generals. Even when they were still in training, they shone with a dazzling light. Su Hanshan was one of these people. No matter how powerful his opponent was, he would always be seeking opportunities or creating them so that he could defeat his foe.
The battle with the Arab Earth Shield Army was a fine example of this.
But Wang Chong didn’t have the time to worry about these things. In the distance, the more than one thousand Silver Behemoths were now less than two hundred feet from the Tang defense line. If these Silver Behemoths were allowed to get up close, the entire defense line would immediately collapse and any defense would become impossible.
“Divine Martial Army, get ready!” Wang Chong said suddenly, his eyes coldly glimmering.
Boom! There was an earth-shaking stomp as the three thousand soldiers of the Divine Martial Army stepped forward as one, their bodies exploding with energy that caused space itself to twist.
The soldiers of the Divine Martial Army had serene expressions while the aura around their bodies seemed to be as sharp as a sword.
Geshu Han’s elite Divine Martial Army made their first appearance west of the Cong Mountains. Their eyes shone with determination as their bodies tensed for battle.
Rumble! The more than one thousand silver war machines were now less than one hundred feet from the steel walls.
“Go!”
Starving Wolf War General Wang Sili unsheathed his sword as he gave the order and rode out from behind the defense line. Behind him, the three thousand soldiers of the Divine Martial Army gripped their swords and firmly marched behind him.
“Kill!”
The sight of the three thousand soldiers emerging from behind the defense line immediately had thousands of Arab cavalry converging on the location, their weapons gleaming in the sky. All of these Arab cavalry were elites, all of them powerful. Not only that, they continued to maintain cohesion and cooperation with each other as they charged.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Divine Martial Army strode forward to face this sea of Arab cavalry, no sign of fear on their faces. Clang! As the two armies clashed, the three thousand Divine Martial Army soldiers pulled out their sharp swords, the edges of their weapons reflecting the gorgeous light of their halos. With a single strike, three thousand Arab cavalry along with their horses were cleaved in two.
Before these Arab corpses even had time to drop to the ground, the soldiers of the Divine Martial Army had already resolutely marched past, charging into the Arab ranks with an unstoppable momentum.
Neeeigh!
“Kill them!”
“Their target is the Silver Behemoths! Don’t let them approach!”
The sounds of fighting blocked out all other sound while sabers and swords clashed. It was already impossible to tell which man or horse belonged to which side, or even tell saber from sword. Mists of blood hung heavy in the air, the pungent odor saturating one’s senses.
But no matter how many Arab cavalry charged in, they were incapable of stopping the Divine Martial Army. Clang! A wave of a sword and a flash of light left two Arab riders and their horses in two pieces, the tremendous strength flinging their remains into the air.
Each soldier of the Divine Martial Army was the best of the best and further honed through ten-some years of war. In Longxi, they had stopped the charge of countless Tibetan cavalry. In countless outnumbered battles, they had managed to reverse the tides and save the Big Dipper Army from defeat.
In terms of strength, speed, and agility, these soldiers of the Divine Martial Army had already transcended the realm of elites. Even the elite cavalry of Arabia appeared to be fragile and helpless before them. The attacks of these Divine Martial soldiers were fast and vicious, and all their moves were simple and straightforward. All of this was for the sake of preserving strength and killing many foes over a long period of time.
Boomboomboom!
Wherever the Divine Martial Army went, the Arab ranks collapsed while the feet of the Divine Martial Army never stopped. In just a few moments, they were on the verge of reaching the Silver Behemoths.
“The Tang elites have moved out. We should also send in our men!”
Beneath the four black banners, Governor Osman of Cairo observed the region of the battlefield where the fighting was most intense, a sharp light in his eyes.
“This force is not one bit weaker than the Anxi Protectorate’s Iron Wall Army. Ordinary elites won’t be able to stop them. Have the Beheader Army get ready!”
The Beheader Army, also known as the Wrath of the Nile, was one of Osman’s two strongest forces. It had played a major role in the destruction of the Sassanid Dynasty.
The symbolic weapon of the Beheader Army was the massive black swords they wielded. Each of its soldiers was incredibly strong and had a cruel personality. They were fond of using their weapons to behead their opponents. They believed that this act was an offering to the god of the Nile, a giant crocodile.
The Beheader Army would always leave behind many heads in every battle, with many of the strongest soldiers of the enemy army amongst them.
It was through these many battles that the Beheader Army had made its name. As a result, their original name was forgotten, so Osman simply had the name of the army changed to the ‘Beheader Army’ so as to intimidate his foes.
Qutaybah, seated upon his horse ‘Victor’, suddenly spoke. “Pass on my order! Mobilize the Blood Beast Army!” His expression remained calm and his eyes emotionless.
The generals around Qutaybah had still not responded, but Abu Muslim, Aybak, and Osman were all already slightly taken aback.
The Blood Beast Army was one of the strongest forces under Qutaybah’s command, an existence far stronger than the Crimson Moon Vanguard.
In every battle, Qutaybah would always have the Crimson Moon Vanguard take the lead, but if it encountered any difficult opponent, he would send in the Blood Beast Army.
This army had a ruthless personality and an extremely savage strength. They were as ferocious as wild beasts on the battlefield, not falling back until they had torn their opponents to shreds.
In the northern war zone, this army of Qutaybah’s had crushed countless opponents, including powerful foes like the Army of Tarsus.
“Yes, Milord!”
With this ringing reply, a messenger swiftly left.
Abu Muslim suddenly turned to Ziyad and ordered, “Ziyad, pass on my order. Have the Ironblood Army get ready!”
“Yes, Milord!”
Ziyad waved his hand and quickly dispatched a messenger.
Boomboomboom! With a deafening rumble, an army of soldiers whose suits of armor were covered in complicated patterns and designs gathered behind the four war banners. These soldiers had somber expressions, and their energies were fused into a single whole. They gave off the feeling of veteran soldiers that would be unstoppable on the battlefield.
By the mere act of standing, the soldiers seemed to generate a metallic drone in the surrounding air.
Light and shadow twisted around the Ironblood Army, condensing into Arabian scimitars whose blades were covered with fine patterns.
Although these were merely created through light, the sight of these illusory scimitars would make one feel as if they were real and that each one was capable of cleaving through a mountain.
The Ironblood Army!
This was one of the strongest forces under Abu Muslim’s command. It was essentially equal in power to the Anxi Protectorate’s Iron Wall Army.
They were a tenacious and incredibly skilled fighting force, an extremely effective killing machine. Many of the Iron Wall Army had been wounded or killed by the soldiers of the Ironblood Army.
If not for the high walls of Talas and the fact that the Ironblood Army was not skilled at scaling walls and opening up enemy formations, meaning that a good deal of the force had been left on the ground, the battle might have turned out very differently.
The Ironblood Army was skilled in field battles, not in besieging a city!
Whoosh!
A gale swept through the battlefield from the Arab side, sweeping toward Talas. No one noticed the mood hanging in the air undergoing a subtle shift.
……
Neigh!
As the three thousand soldiers of the Divine Martial Army were endeavoring to break the Arab line, slaughtering a path to the Silver Behemoths…
Turmoil suddenly broke out on the Tang’s left flank, with countless horses neighing and whinnying. Before anyone could react, a powerful force of soldiers charged out of the Arab ranks.
These soldiers were different from the other Arab cavalry. Their entire bodies were covered in thick armor and all of them wore helmets that completely encased their heads, leaving only a thin ‘T’-shaped opening.
Most unique of all was their heavy swords, which were more than four feet long and covered in terrifying spikes.
“Kill!”
A heavily armored soldier gripped his sword with both hands as he jumped off his horse, his eyes bulging with rage as the sword swung through the air. The enormous power of this blow cut diagonally across a Tang soldier, from his left shoulder to his right hip, cleaving open both him and his armor. Before the corpse even had time to drop, the sword swept up and sent the head flying into the air.
More and more of these armored soldiers dismounted, their hands swinging their massive swords and cutting off head after head.
“Careful!”
Cries of alarm resounded through the army. The soldiers on the left flank put up a fierce resistance, but these heavily armored soldiers were unstoppable and swiftly routed the Tang.
This local defeat rapidly expanded into general chaos. Countless soldiers were felled by these large and muscular soldiers.
Mountains of corpses began to pile up.