He did not doubt Wang Chong, but Wang Chong gave off the feeling that he had a card up his sleeve. It was as if this Arab assault could not threaten Khorasan at all. But other than saying that the Arabs would need to hold out for half a day, Wang Chong had said nothing else. Bahram could not understand why Wang Chong was so confident that he could deal with the Arabs.
"Haha, you'll understand when the time comes!"
Wang Chong faintly smiled. There were some matters that could not be explained too much. The more people that knew, the greater the chances of failure would be.
"Su Hanshan, get ready!"
"Yes!"
On the city wall, Su Hanshan bowed in acknowledgement and quickly left.
Kaclack!
A few moments later, Su Hanshan gave the order, and the walls of Khorasan began to rumble with the clattering of gears.
After so many days, Zhang Shouzhi and his craftsmen had worked day and night to repair the ballista bolts they had picked up from the battlefield of Talas. In the end, they had repaired thirty thousand ballista bolts and more than twenty thousand damaged bolts. These damaged bolts were not as powerful as normal ballista bolts, but they still had fifty to sixty percent of their original power and could still play an important role on the battlefield.
The walls quickly fell silent. Wang Chong, Gao Xianzhi, Cheng Qianli, Wang Yan, Wang Fu, The Evil Emperor, Chief Of Wushang, and the other rebel leaders were all lined up on the walls to observe the situation.
The world was overcast, leaving only the howling of the cold winds and the rumbling of the earth.
"Neigh!"
The neighing of warhorses came from the distance, and in the blink of an eye, a spotless black warhorse led thousands of Arab cavalry toward Khorasan. This abrupt change immediately attracted the attention of countless people.
"The Tang people and Sassanid survivors on the walls, listen up! I'll give you one last chance. Open the gates and immediately surrender. Otherwise, the moment the walls fall will be the moment of your death!"
The brown-bearded Arab general on his black warhorse bellowed, appearing extremely ferocious. Kaclack! The Arab general grabbed a golden bow from his back, nocked an arrow, and fired at the walls of Khorasan.
Boom! A streak of light shot through the air, passing over the tributary of the Tigris River and thundering into the walls of Khorasan, only a few feet from the top of the walls.
Buzz!
The walls where the arrow had struck had caved in, and the tail of the arrow was trembling. It was clear that an Arab letter had been coiled around it.
"Interesting!"
Wang Chong smiled and extended his palm. The golden arrow stuck in the wall automatically flew out and landed in Wang Chong's hand.
Wang Chong lightly flicked his finger and shattered the golden arrow. Then, he opened the golden letter of challenge.
The contents of the letter were extremely simple, but they were brimming with a menacing aura.
"General, the Arabs demand that we immediately disarm and surrender the city. Otherwise, once the city is breached, they will kill all the Khorasani inside. The Arabs want to massacre the city! "
Bahram said from behind him. Although Wang Chong understood a little Arabic, only Bahram could fluently read the written language of Arabia.
After reading the contents of the letter, Bahram turned to Wang Chong and awaited his decision.
"Bahram, how much time did the Arabs give us in the letter?"
Wang Chong placed his hands behind his back and asked without turning his head.
"One hour! If we don't receive a reply in one hour, they will attack the city. In addition, they have sent the Three Titans of Black Radiance. "
Bahram's voice was tinged with deep concern.
Rumble! As if in response to Bahram's words, the army in the distance parted like a wave, and three muscular warhorses wearing heavy armor rode out of the sea of Arab soldiers.
The three of them said nothing, but their bodies exuded an enormous and suffocating pressure. For a moment, even the voices on the walls of Khorasan became much quieter. Although the three of them did nothing, even ordinary martial artists could sense the dreadful auras emanating from their bodies.
The Three Titans of Black Radiance!
Bahram recognized them at a glance. The three of them had thunderous reputations, and in terms of fame and strength, these three Titans of Arabia were above Bahram. They had also made their names much earlier than Bahram.
"Heh!"
Although Bahram had a grim expression, Wang Chong's sleeves fluttered in the wind, his expression relaxed.
"Didn't the Arabs give us one hour to consider surrendering? Tell them that we will seriously consider it. "
“！！！”
Everyone on the wall was dumbfounded by these words, and even Bahram was dumbfounded.
"Marquis!"
At that moment, even Chen Bin didn't know what to say.
"… In addition, tell them that one hour is not enough. I need to carefully discuss this with the leaders of the rebel armies, so I need at least six hours!"
Wang Chong added.
Buzz!
The walls were eerily silent at first, but then they slowly began to understand, smiles appearing on their faces.
"Understood! Leave this matter to me!"
Bahram was the first to respond, a smile on his lips. Following that, the others also reacted and laughed.
"How can six hours be enough? Marquis, it should be at least eight hours!"
"That's not enough! I feel like we need at least twelve hours! "
"That won't do! Think about it! We have so many rebel armies!"
… …
The people on the walls began to talk, all of them smiling. At this moment, they completely understood Wang Chong's intentions. A few moments later, a letter personally written by Bahram was wrapped around an arrow and handed to a Khorasani master archer.
"We've already thought it over. Catch!"
Bahram harshly shouted from the wall. He then turned his head to glance at the master archer next to him. Boom! An arrow flew through the air like a lightning bolt, landing in front of the Arab army and exploding into a cloud of dust and stone.
Neeeigh! An Arab horseman charged forward, plucked the arrow from the ground, and then charged back at the Three Titans of Black Radiance and Hular.
The Head of Black Radiance, Fadi, opened the letter with a flick of his finger. After glancing at the contents, he frowned.
"What's wrong?"
Hular leaned over and glanced at the letter, upon which he frowned just like the Three Titans of Black Radiance.
Opening the gates and surrendering had been just empty words. No one had expected the Tang people to actually agree, only that they needed eight hours to consider.
"What do you mean?"
The Head of Black Radiance, Fadi, tossed the letter to Hular. The Three Titans of Black Radiance were powerful Arab governors with extremely high prestige in the army. If it were just a war, the three of them wouldn't even have furrowed their brows. But the contents of this letter left the three Titans dumbfounded, and they didn't know how to react.
"Hular, what do you think?"
The Blade of Black Radiance Imron suddenly asked.
"This … I also don't know, but this general believes that the Tang people are definitely playing a trick!"
Hular's brow furrowed in contemplation.
"So you mean that we should immediately attack Khorasan?"
The Blade of Black Radiance Imron asked. His face was completely shrouded in a black visor, making it impossible to see his expression.
"This …"
Hular opened his mouth, but he hesitated. He instinctively wanted to say 'yes', but he swallowed his words. For a moment, all was quiet. The Three Titans of Black Radiance and Hular were silent, all of them stumped by Wang Chong's simple reply.
"Marquis, look! All four of them are stumped. They definitely didn't expect us to reply and ask them to seriously consider it."
On the distant walls of Khorasan, Xue Qianjun, Xu Keyi, Chen Bin, and even Su Hanshan were all paying close attention to the Arabs on the banks of the Tigris River. The Three Titans of Black Radiance and Hular had stopped their horses as if they had been petrified. It was an extremely comical sight.
"As expected, Marquis's reply has put these fellows in a difficult position."
Chen Bin smiled.
"Wang Chong, do you think they'll agree?"
Gao Xianzhi could not help but ask as he looked into the distance.
"It doesn't matter if they agree or not. Everything will depend on their own choice."
Wang Chong held his hands behind his back and smiled.
Wang Chong and the others didn't have to wait for long. A few moments later, the Arabs replied. Thwish! A golden arrow was nailed to the walls, the quivering tail of the arrow carrying the Arabs' reply.
The Arabs had agreed to the request of the Tang Dynasty, but only for six hours. If the gates were not opened in six hours, the Arabs would immediately attack.
On the walls, the Arabs maintained their composure upon receiving the Arabs' reply, but they were inwardly bursting into laughter.
"Write another letter to the Arabs. Tell them that a portion of the rebel army is intensely opposed and is already preparing for a mutiny. Six hours is not enough. We need even more time."
Wang Chong stood with his hands behind his back as he spoke once more. Bang! With Wang Chong's order, another arrow carrying the letter from the Tang Dynasty shot into the Arab ranks.
Upon receiving the letter from the Tang Dynasty, the Three Titans of Black Radiance and Hular had strange expressions on their faces. They had originally been anticipating a fierce battle, but the development of the situation had taken them by surprise.
In normal circumstances, the Arabs wouldn't even need to think about it. They would just charge into Khorasan and kill all the Tang people.
But everyone knew that Khorasan's walls were high and thick, and there were two hundred thousand rebel soldiers within. This was no small number, and even in normal circumstances, the Arabs would have to pay a heavy price for victory.
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