Wang Chong only faintly smiled. This was all within his expectations. The Arabs were extremely crafty. Although they had powerful cavalry and a formidable army, they liked to feign surrender. Only the Arab army would set up an ambush to lure the enemy in while retreating.
In his last life, after the Arabs defeated the Tang Dynasty, they sent their strongest Mamelukes into the Ouzan Plateau to invade the Ouzan Empire. In the end, they were met with the desperate resistance of Dayan Mangpoje and the White Braves. After suffering a severe setback, the Arabs had used this tactic to turn defeat into victory, dealing a heavy blow to the main force of the Ouzan Empire.
Wang Chong remembered this part of history like the back of his hand, and he knew these crafty Arab tactics like the back of his hand. More importantly, as the War Saint of his generation, Wang Chong was extremely sensitive to the various changes on the battlefield. Even the tiniest of clues was enough for him to notice, and the Arab war banners were still standing straight and did not appear to be in the slightest of defeat.
"Pass on my order! Speed up the construction!"
Wang Chong said.
"Yes!"
Xu Keyi received the order, and a group of horses quickly departed.
These Arabs were far more crafty than he had imagined. This war concerned the safety of the more than one hundred thousand soldiers and all of the Western Regions and Qixi. This war was of the utmost importance, and everyone was doing their utmost to assist Wang Chong, carrying out Wang Chong's every order. As far as Xu Keyi could see, Chen Bin, Cheng Sanyuan, Zhang Que, Su Shixuan, Kong Zi-an, and the people of Deflecting Blade Manor were all busy preparing the battlefield.
"Hyah!"
Xu Keyi urged his horse forward, quickly vanishing into the ranks of the Arab army.
"Rumble!"
Not long after Xu Keyi left, the earth quaked and dust churned as a powerful force of Arab cavalry, their warhorses branded with the image of two black crescent moons, rode out from the retreating Arab army. The aura of this cavalry was extremely powerful. Each of the riders on the horses had bulging muscles, and as they galloped, each of them was wrapped in a thick black mist.
In front of this force of cavalry, the other fleeing Arab cavalry paled in comparison, like fireflies before the bright moon.
Seven to eight thousand cavalrymen galloped as fast as lightning towards where Wang Chong and the others were.
"Lord Protector-General, enemy attack!"
At almost the same time, an officer of the Anxi Protectorate army galloped through the army toward Wang Chong.
"Sir, how should we deal with this?"
Wang Chong only smiled and glanced into the distance, his expression unperturbed. A trifling force of seven to eight thousand soldiers would have little effect on the army. No matter what sort of legends the Arabs had in the past, the moment he arrived on the battlefield, these legends were doomed to come to an end.
"Tell Chen Bin that he can deal with this himself!"
Wang Chong said.
"… Yes!"
The officer had not expected Wang Chong to give such an order, and his body trembled. Raising his head, he saw that Wang Chong was calm and composed, a faint smile on his lips as he looked at the distant battlefield, a confident look on his face that victory was in his grasp. The officer froze for a moment, but Wang Chong's mood had infected him. Calming down, his nervousness vanished, and he left to carry out the order.
… …
"Ready!"
At the very front of the battlefield, Chen Bin stood motionless, his eyes focused on the battlefield. Across from him, a cloud of dust was rising more than one hundred zhang into the air, and the ground was also trembling. Through the dust, Chen Bin could see Arab cavalry charging toward him like gods of death.
Unlike any of the Arabs he had encountered before, Chen Bin felt an enormous pressure from this force of cavalry, a pressure that followed him like a storm, suffocating him. But whether it was Chen Bin or the three thousand ballista soldiers behind him, all of them were frozen in place like rocks.
The might of a cavalry charge was publicly acknowledged to be unparalleled in the world. If such a force of cavalry charged over, the three thousand ballista soldiers behind Chen Bin were certain to suffer grievous casualties. But everything had its vanquisher. Whether or not cavalry had once been the number one soldier in the world, everything had changed the moment Chen Bin's ballista team had appeared.
Clang!
A cold light flashed. Chen Bin's expression was solemn as he raised the sword in his hand and pointed it forward. Creakcreak! With Chen Bin's movements, the Han soldiers of the Qixi Protectorate army stood at the very front of the ballistae and began to adjust the bolts. The sharp tips of the bolts were quickly aimed at the Bakr Cataphracts.
Qixi's ballista teams were divided into groups of five. One person was responsible for adjusting the bolts while the others were responsible for loading and assisting.
"Strangle Formation! Charge! "
At the same time, a bloodthirsty and resounding order resounded through the army. In the center of the army, an Arab general with green eyes and a brown beard harshly shouted. Rumble! Stellar Energy vibrated as a powerful wave of energy soared more than one hundred zhang into the air. Amur was not the strongest general in the Arab army, but he was definitely the bravest and most fearless.
The Bakr Cataphracts were soldiers that Abu Muslim had recruited from the strategic stronghold of the Abbasid Caliphate. They were one of the elite cavalry units under Abu Muslim's command. Their greatest characteristic was their extremely thick armor, which could block the attacks of the vast majority of ballistae, bows, and arrows. Even the sharpest sabers would only be able to leave shallow marks on their bodies.
In a large-scale melee, the Bakr Cataphracts could often rely on their thick armor to charge into the densest and strongest areas of the enemy, scattering the enemy and disrupting their formation. They were one of the best offensive units of the Arab cavalry.
In a single charge, the Bakr Cataphracts would not only scatter the enemy's main force, they would also suffer minimal losses. This was an important reason why Abu Muslim had dispatched them.
Eighty zhang!
Fifty zhang!
Forty zhang!
… …
As he got closer and closer, Chen Bin continued to calculate and concentrate. These Arab cavalry were extremely fast and terrifyingly powerful. The slightest mistake could result in the annihilation of the three thousand ballista teams.
"Release!"
Just when the atmosphere was at its most tense, Chen Bin swung his sword down heavily.
Boom!
There was a thunderous boom in the air, and the moment Chen Bin swung down his sword, a thick ballista bolt, one zhang long, shot forward like a bolt of lightning. Neeeigh! With a heaven-shaking neigh, blood sprayed into the air as the Arab warhorse at the very front was stabbed with a bowl-sized hole. The long ballista bolt pierced through the thick armor of the warhorse, pierced through the horse's forehead, emerged from the horse's rear, and then pierced through the second and third Arab horsemen. Only after reaching the fourth Arab horseman did the ballista bolt stop, leaving a long trail of blood in its wake that was both beautiful and terrifying.
"What thick armor!"
Chen Bin's eyes widened at this sight. Ballistae and ballista bolts were the symbol of the Tang Dynasty's finest craftsmanship and the strength of the country. Each ballista bolt had been tempered hundreds of times, requiring at least several months to be forged. Moreover, they had to go through several dozen procedures and be inscribed with many different inscriptions. In terms of value, these bolts were equivalent to a lump of gold.
It was precisely for this reason that the ballistae and ballista bolts of the Tang Dynasty were so terrifyingly powerful that they were regarded as important weapons of the country.
When dealing with other Arabs, Chen Bin's ballista bolts had been able to pierce through seven or eight Arab horsemen, sometimes even ten-some. But against this unknown elite Arab horsemen, each ballista bolt was only able to pierce through four horsemen before reaching their limit.
He had never encountered such a situation before.
But Chen Bin's eyes only blinked for a moment before returning to normal. No matter how thick and sturdy the armor of these Arab cavalry was, they were doomed to be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot in front of the three thousand ballistae.
"The second formation! Fire! "
Chen Bin raised his sword and gave another order.
Boomboomboom! Tens of thousands of ballista bolts exploded into the air, engulfing the Bakr Cataphracts. In Neigh, wave after wave of Bakr Cataphracts fell to Chen Bin's ballista army.
"Fire!"
Wave after wave of ballista bolts rained down. Chen Bin had divided the three thousand ballista teams into three groups, with each group consisting of one thousand ballista teams forming a formation. When one formation finished firing, another would take its place. Round after round, the ballista bolts fired in rapid succession, leaving no gaps at all.
The seven or eight thousand Bakr Cataphracts suffered grievous casualties, none of them able to get within ten zhang of the Tang Dynasty. With Chen Bin as the boundary, the area several hundred zhang in front of him had been transformed into a bloody battlefield. The neighing of horses, screams, collisions, and the rumbling of ballista bolts mixed into one. The corpses of the Bakr Cataphracts were strewn everywhere. Four thousand, five thousand, six thousand … the famed Bakr Cataphracts of the Arabs were suffering heavy casualties at an astonishing rate in front of the three thousand ballista teams.
"Retreat! Retreat! "
The Arab general Amur paled at this sight. The attacks of the Tang people had been too swift and fierce. Moreover, their unique cycle of firing and seamless attacks had made it impossible for the eight thousand Bakr Cataphracts to reach the Tang people's ranks. The casualties were far too terrifying. Amur had never seen such a fierce and frightening assault force in his entire life.
Rumble! The Bakr Cataphracts had left as quickly as they had come. But while they had come from seven or eight thousand, they had left with less than one thousand. The famed Bakr army had been on the verge of extinction in this battle.
"Stop!"
Chen Bin raised his sword, and the three thousand ballista teams behind him immediately stopped firing. All of them silently took up orderly positions as if they had never moved. This sort of strict discipline left a deep impression on anyone who saw it.
The strength of the ballista army lay in its ability to attack and defend with the army, but it was actually less effective in pursuit.
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