"Buzz!"
Following Wang Chong's order, tens of thousands of craftsmen rode their carriages to the eastern defense line of Talas. Furnaces blazed, black smoke billowed, and metal clattered as the massive steel modules were hammered into the eastern wall by the craftsmen. Streams of molten steel poured down and fastened the steel walls to the eastern wall.
For the sake of today's City of Talas, Wang Chong had spent more than two months preparing. All the smithing clans of the Central Plains, including the swordsmithing shops and smiths, had received Wang Chong's order. Countless steel modules had been transported to Wushang day and night precisely so that they could deal with today's situation.
Modular construction was completely different from ordinary defense line construction. Its biggest advantage was speed.
The area behind the more than one hundred thousand soldiers of the Qixi Protectorate had originally been empty, but a few moments after Wang Chong gave the order, a long and straight steel wall had appeared on the ground, establishing a firm defense line for the more than one hundred thousand soldiers.
Just like how Wushang had been able to erect a thirty-foot-tall steel fortress in a single night, only Wang Chong was capable of such a miraculous feat.
Tens of thousands of craftsmen were still pouring and perfecting the second defense line, and there was still some time before they were finished. On the other side, the more than one hundred thousand soldiers had begun to move according to Wang Chong's order.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
In front of the first defense line, Chen Bin, clad in Meteoric Metal armor and wielding a WuZi Steel sword, was constantly issuing orders. The ballista army, consisting of three thousand ballistae and fifteen thousand soldiers, quickly divided into two. The seven thousand and five hundred soldiers stationed there quickly boarded the tall transport carriages and began to control the fifteen hundred ballistae. They were arranged into three echelons of five hundred soldiers, each of them aiming at the five hundred gaps in the steel walls.
When the cavalry charged, these steel walls were the best obstacles and obstacles. If the Arabs wanted to charge in, they would have to split up and come through the gaps in the steel walls. This was where the ballista was most lethal.
While more than one thousand five hundred ballistae were swiftly taking up positions, the shieldbearers of the more than one hundred thousand Qixi soldiers were swiftly approaching the first defense line. Row after row, row after row, they took aim at every gap. Throughout the entire process, even the troops of Greater and Lesser Balur were mobilized.
The troops of Greater and Lesser Balur weren't as elite as those of the Tang dynasty. In this era where cavalry dominated, Greater and Lesser Balur didn't have much of a presence. However, their spearmen and spearmen were extremely elite. The spears they were equipped with were far more elite than the spearmen of any other faction.
This was also why Wang Chong had hired soldiers from Greater and Lesser Balur. The spearmen of Greater and Lesser Balur and the shieldbearers of the Tang dynasty were almost perfectly coordinated. This defense line was also extremely intimidating and perfectly suited to restrain cavalry.
Bzzz! The earth quaked as the soldiers of Greater and Lesser Balur, Qixi, and Wang Yan's infantry and shieldbearers completed their defense. Meanwhile, the King Of Gangke, mounted on a red horse, led the fierce Gangke people and the other mercenaries of the Western Regions into position.
"Everyone, hear my order! Without my order, no one is allowed to retreat! Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"
The King Of Gangke's eyes were like stars, his sharp gaze sweeping over the steel walls to the surging black tide of the Arab army. All the Gangke people around him were lined up in square formations, their eyes vicious and brimming with fighting intent. Arabia and the Tang dynasty, this was a battle between a lion and an elephant.
In this battle, each person needed to make their stand clear and make their own choice.
There was no question that the Gangke people had chosen the Tang dynasty.
"Come! Even if I die in battle today, I will have no regrets! "
The King Of Gangke's eyes were bright, his black cloak flapping in the wind as a powerful aura blazed around him. Among Wang Chong's subordinates, the King Of Gangke was one of the few Saint Martial experts, and he was even stronger than the Invincible Great General Li Siye.
The King Of Gangke was a proud man. In the Western Regions, he had never lowered his head. But now, this illustrious King Of Gangke had lowered his head for Wang Chong.
The once lowly Gangke people, the Gangke people known as' filthy boars', could finally wash away their shame and live with dignity. The King Of Gangke could only repay the Tang dynasty and Wang Chong with his life!
"Come! Let's fight … "
The King Of Gangke fiercely clenched the Barbaric God Axe, all the blood in his body boiling.
… …
"Rumble!"
While the King Of Gangke was preparing to fight to the death, on the other side, more than one hundred thousand soldiers were rapidly mobilizing. If one looked down from the sky, in the vast region in front of the City of Talas, the more than one hundred thousand soldiers of the Tang dynasty were like a surging river. They seemed fierce, but not disorderly, all of them moving in unison, following some sort of rule.
To be able to mobilize more than one hundred thousand soldiers in such an orderly manner in such a short amount of time without the slightest hint of chaos was something only Wang Chong could do.
While tens of thousands of craftsmen were rapidly constructing the second steel wall to the east of the City of Talas, one thousand and five hundred ballista teams were moving behind the gap. At the same time, the soldiers of the Qixi Protectorate, the Annam Protectorate, and the Imperial Court … eighty percent of the Qixi reinforcements were moving in the direction of the Ouzan army.
Using the infantry, spearmen, shieldmen, and ballista squads to stop the more than two hundred thousand Arab soldiers, buy time, and buy time for the other armies to attack. Then, using eighty percent of the army's strength, he would first eliminate the weaker Tibetans in the east, and then turn around and concentrate his forces against the Arabs, defeating them one by one. This was the strategy that Wang Chong had devised in the blink of an eye, and it was also the best way to escape from being attacked from the front and rear.
"Li Siye, follow me."
In the howling winds, Wang Chong mounted the White-hoofed Shadow, and his eyes flashed as he shot past the second steel defense line like a wisp of smoke toward the plains to the east of the City of Talas.
"All soldiers, hear my order! Follow me!"
Without another word, Li Siye waved his hand and led the five thousand Wushang cavalry in pursuit of Wang Chong.
Dust filled the air as Wang Chong rode east in the direction that the Ouzan had come from.
"Milord …"
On the high walls of the City of Talas, the Anxi Protectorate army officers looked worriedly in the direction that Wang Chong had gone, and they subconsciously turned to Anxi Protector-General Gao Xianzhi.
"It's fine. Let him go."
Gao Xianzhi gazed at the five thousand Wushang cavalry, a glimmer of light in his eyes.
"In addition, the one who came this time was an old friend of his …"
Gao Xianzhi had been in the military for many years, so he had a thorough understanding of the various factions. The moment that black yak banner appeared, Gao Xianzhi knew that it was Dalun Ruozan, Wang Chong's mortal enemy in the southwest. Although they were both top-class generals of the continent, one was the wise minister of the Ngari Royal Lineage while the other was the Anxi Protector-General, Gao Xianzhi had never seen Dalun Ruozan before.
In comparison, Wang Chong was far more suitable.
"Rumble!"
As Wang Chong rode off, the shaking of the earth in the distance grew more intense, gradually reaching a peak. Weng, in the distance, behind the hills, smoke and dust billowed like a sea of fog. In that sea of fog, tens of thousands of warhorses suddenly galloped out. In the faint morning light from the east, they were like ghosts stepping out of the underworld.
Caw! With a strange cry like the wail of an infant, hundreds of vultures flew out from the rear of the army and circled in the sky.
In the shadows cast by the vultures, in the center of the thousands of Ouzan cavalry, a black banner of a white yak fluttered in the wind. Beneath this banner, a scholarly figure dressed in an azure robe slowly ascended to the top of the hill.
"Buzz!"
Everyone paled at the sight of the tens of thousands of furnaces in front of Talas, the tens of thousands of busy craftsmen, and the steel defense line that was rapidly taking shape. The Tang people should have been completely unprepared when they were eighteen li from Talas, but by the time they got close enough, the Tang people had begun to construct steel walls with unimaginable speed.
At such a close distance, in such a short amount of time, a steel wall had appeared out of thin air. All the Tibetans were flabbergasted and completely unprepared.
"Prime Minister!"
Everyone turned to Dalun Ruozan, awaiting Dalun Ruozan's decision.
The purpose of the cavalry's advance was to catch the opponent off guard and successfully ambush them. But now, the opponent was already prepared, so all the advantages were gone.
"Prime Minister, what should we do now? He's mobilized his defenses too quickly, and it seems like those steel walls are being constructed even faster than before. "
At this moment, a tall figure rode out from the rear, glancing at the slowly approaching Wang Chong with a hint of worry in his eyes.
Dalun Ruozan said nothing, only slowly creased his brow as he gazed at that figure on the plains.
He had been discovered by Wang Chong when he was eighteen li from the City of Talas, but given the speed of the cavalry, by the time Wang Chong had received the news, he had already broken through to the fourteen li range. Adding on the time it took for the second confirmation and the reaction time, by the time Wang Chong was able to confirm their identities, the seventy thousand soldiers were already within ten li of the city.
At such a close distance, Dalun Ruozan had believed that when he arrived, he would at least cause chaos in Wang Chong's army, but the scene before him was completely different from what Dalun Ruozan had imagined.
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