Chapter 1178: Prepare, Another Battle!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Milord, what do we do?”
Across the Tigris River, countless Arab soldiers were emerging from the icy river in terror. On the shore, Hular’s face was a picture of unwillingness as he turned to the Head of Black Radiance, Fadi.
“There’s no time!” Fadi gloomily said. He glanced up at the sky, where only a dim light was leaking through the dense clouds. At some point, dusk had arrived. In these circumstances, no matter how unwilling Fadi was, he had to halt the battle and wait for tomorrow to restart it.
“Has Jalil’s army still not arrived?”
Fadi turned to a general behind him.
The Arab general lowered his head and reported, “Milord, Lord Jalil is marching as quickly as possible, but the weather is cold and the steel bridges for crossing the river are extremely heavy, so they’ve been slowed down. They probably won’t arrive until tomorrow morning.”
A hint of fury flitted through Fadi’s eyes. Arabia had mobilized almost the entire empire for the assault on this city, preparing much more than imagined.
In the original strategy, the Arabs would have many long steel bridges to cross the river. But Fadi had believed that with all the boats he had, there was no need to wait for those heavy bridges to arrive.
Fadi had never imagined that this decision would come at such a heavy price for his army.
“Order Jalil to hasten his march! At daybreak tomorrow, I had better see those steel bridges!” Fadi ordered.
“This general will go!”
The general bowed.
“In addition, Hular, write a letter to His Majesty. Tell him that we don’t have nearly enough top-class soldiers and that I hope His Majesty can dispatch more Great Generals to utterly vanquish these Tang. In addition, if there is any chance, have His Majesty send Governor Ansari to assist the army at Khorasan!” Fadi said.
Buzz!
Hular shivered at the name of Ansari, his eyes going wide. In the Arabian Empire, Ansari’s reputation was like the noon sun, and even when compared to Qutaybah, he was only a little lacking. In their day, Ansari and Qutaybah had been hailed as the two heroes of Arabia, but later on, in the contest for Arab War God, Ansari had lost to Qutaybah. In a moment of rage, he had retired from the army.
While Qutaybah had spent all these years campaigning across the world and immersing himself in the ecstasy of conquest, Ansari had placed all his focus on cultivation so as to one day defeat Qutaybah and wash away his shame.
After so many years of bitter cultivation, there was a rumor in the outside world that Ansari’s strength had already surpassed Qutaybah’s. Someone had even once gone to see Ansari, but just a glance made his body shiver and drained him of all the will to fight.
If this were just an ordinary rumor, no one would have cared, but the one who made this claim was an Arab governor. Once this matter became known, it set off shockwaves through the empire.
But Ansari had a cruel personality, even crueler than Qutaybah’s, and there were even times when he had thought about attacking his own allies. Almost nobody in the empire wanted to have much to do with Ansari.
The Blood of Black Radiance, Firas, suddenly said, “That’s right, there’s also the Governor of Death of the southern war zone, Adeel. Have him transferred over as well. More soldiers aren’t necessary. Them alone will be enough.”
“But, Milord, Lord Adeel is currently suppressing the Wadeel people of the south and a peasant revolt, with no time for anything else.” Hular’s voice was tinged with hesitation.
Although Arabia was powerful, it had many enemies that needed to be suppressed all at once. The more countries one conquered, the greater the resistance one would encounter. This was also why Arabia could not mobilize all its governors at once. The enemies bordering Arabia were not as powerful as those bordering the Great Tang, but there were many more of them. This was also why Arabia kept so many soldiers garrisoned in various places.
Adeel was powerful, but the place he was in charge of was also extremely important. He could not be recklessly transferred.
“If he is only gone for around ten days, there shouldn’t be many problems. And besides, is a tribe of the south stronger than the two hundred thousand soldiers in Khorasan?” Firas sternly said.
“This…”
Hular silently lowered his head. The threat from the east was far greater than that of any other faction on Arabia’s border, perhaps even greater than all of them added up together.
In addition, even though the Tang only had two hundred thousand soldiers in total, an army that was not too large, everyone had seen the strength they had exhibited. This battle had barely begun, but the Arabs had already lost two hundred thousand soldiers. No other faction on Arabia’s borders could accomplish such a feat.
“Understood! I will do so!” Hular sternly said.
The Three Titans of Black Radiance listed out the names of ten-some more Arab governors. Hular noted each of them down, and a few moments later, an Arabian hunting falcon rose into the air, flying toward Baghdad.
“Hular, pass on my order! Tomorrow, when the steel bridges arrive, immediately begin the assault across the river. Kill every Tang and Khorasani in the city!”
“Yes!”
As darkness settled in, Khorasan began to calm down. The weather was getting colder and colder, and nobody noticed that a thin sheet of ice was slowly forming on the steep walls of Khorasan. It was now even colder than it had been at dawn.
At this moment, however, Khorasan was brightly lit and raucous. The Tang had made a small sacrifice for an enormous victory, but the battle was far from over.
“Lord Protector-General, what should we do next? Although the Arabs have withdrawn, their losses are still far from serious.” Xi Yuanqing spoke up from a corner of the hall as he gravely looked at Wang Chong.
“And based on how the Arabs have usually fought, after their loss in today’s battle, they will be even more prepared for the next assault, and it will be even more ferocious. Not only that, I worry that they will gather even more experts and soldiers. After all, Baghdad isn’t that far away.” Cheng Qianli also offered his opinion, his expression extremely grave.
This was not their first clash with the Arabs. At the Battle of Talas, they had believed that they had vanquished the Arabs, but it turned out that the Arabs still had an endless stream of reinforcements, one wave after the next, each one stronger and stronger.
“In addition, there were originally supposed to be more rebel soldiers arriving at Khorasan to assist us, but I have learned that all the rebel armies on the border of Arabia have recently been harshly suppressed. I sense that Arabia is currently thinking of ways to mobilize more of its border armies to come and deal with us. Arabia and the Caliph have probably begun to regard us as a lethal danger,” Bahram sternly said.
“With just two hundred thousand soldiers, it is impossible for us to oppose all of Arabia! General, without reinforcements from the Great Tang, we cannot hold out. Do you truly plan to defend against the next assault?”
Bahram turned to Wang Chong, his eyes fraught with concern.
The Great Tang was too far from Khorasan. Wang Chong had told him long ago that the Great Tang reinforcements would never arrive so quickly. And yet Wang Chong had not only stated several times that they would hold out against the Arab assault, he had done so with complete confidence and surety.
But Bahram truly could not understand what Wang Chong was basing this conclusion on. He had originally believed that Wang Chong was just being cautious and keeping his plan a secret from him, but he hadn’t expected that not even Gao Xianzhi and Cheng Qianli knew anything about it.
Buzz!
At this moment, everyone in the hall turned to Wang Chong, even the black-armored guard. Everyone stared at Wang Chong, trusting and believing in him.
By now, Wang Chong had become their backbone. Even Gao Xianzhi, the Anxi Protector-General, had unconsciously placed a great amount of trust on Wang Chong.
“Haha, I’ve already taken care of everything. You’ll understand tomorrow at daybreak.”
Wang Chong faintly chuckled.
Everyone in the room appeared stunned by Wang Chong’s words.
There were so many Arab soldiers and Great Generals outside the city, and even holding them off once was extremely difficult. And yet Wang Chong claimed that the Arabs would be dealt with by daybreak. This was simply unbelievable.
If any other person had said this, they would be regarded as a madman, but even if Wang Chong stated something even more absurd, everyone would believe that Wang Chong was serious.
The conference quickly ended. Their trust in Wang Chong meant that once they learned that he had already arranged everything, they questioned him no further. Time slowly passed, and the temperature continued to drop. Even though both sides had ceased fighting, both sides of the Tigris River only became more fraught with tension.
In the southeastern part of Khorasan was a domed and sumptuous hall, dimly lit by a single lantern. Within, Wang Chong was seated cross-legged, motionless. Khorasan was still, and there were no sounds except the rushing of the Tigris River and the neighing of horses.
As time flowed by, even though Wang Chong could see nothing before him, he could sense that all eyes in the city were silently watching him, waiting for him.
But few people knew that Wang Chong was also waiting for something.
Bongbongbong!
As he was thinking, there was a knocking at his door.
“Enter.”
With a deep breath, Wang Chong awakened from his stupor.