The Human Emperor
chapter-567

Chapter 567: The Decisive Battle! Duan Wuzong Strikes!

On the fierce battlefield, an individual’s martial strength had much less impact. More emphasis was placed on the strength and cooperation of the entire army. In this war, if the Annan Protectorate army were regarded as a sturdy dike, the Whitestone Corps would be the ferocious waves, endlessly beating against the walls.

Although the Whitestone Corps outnumbered the Annan Protectorate army and had similar training, the individual quality of each soldier of the Annan Protectorate army, the overall strength of the army, and the cooperation between soldiers completely surpassed the Whitestone Corps, creating an absolute advantage.

Along the slope, the tens of thousands of Tang soldiers were using the steel walls Wang Chong had set up and distributing their forces in such a way that they could display an unbelievable defensive power. On this battlefield, it often required three soldiers, sometimes even more, of the Whitestone Corps to put any significant pressure on a single Tang soldier.

And to break through required even more manpower!

Such a fighting style was simply unthinkable on the plains.

“The General has ordered that anyone who dares to retreat will be immediately executed!”

“The General has ordered that each kill will be rewarded with ten taels of gold. Those who kill ten enemies will receive a title of nobility that can be passed on to your heirs!”

……

A Whitestone Corps commander with a scar on his face shouted himself hoarse. Seeing a soldier in the crowd who wanted to retreat, he lashed out with his whip, shattering that soldier’s armor and sending his screaming body flying.

Duba Luochi was a rather famous battlefield supervisor of the Whitestone Corps.

In a battle, whenever he saw someone retreating, he would act without mercy. This time, the commander-in-chief of the Whitestone Corps, Duan Wuzong, had personally stepped onto the battlefield, and all his officers had followed. Duba Luochi was one of them. With the Tang army suddenly becoming like an impenetrable wall, everyone was under immense pressure. There were many generals like Duba Luochi frenziedly overseeing the battlefield.

“Groups one and two, go up together! Use shields to open the path, spearmen behind… The first to break the Tang defense will be richly rewarded!”

“Groups three and four, fill the ranks, and don’t retreat! His Majesty is observing the battle from the rear. Anyone who dares to retreat will have their family and relatives executed!”

“The Tang soldiers are just sheep in wolves’ clothing! They’re simply no match for us. We know everything that they’ve been trained in!”

“If we can defeat them once, we can defeat them twice, thrice!”

“One hundred thousand soldiers, one hundred thousand! Our Whitestone Corps has one hundred thousand soldiers and the Tang army on that mountain can barely manage one hundred thousand at their most desperate. I don’t believe that we can’t break through their defenses with all the soldiers we have!”

“Charge, charge! Steady! Steady…”

……

All the officers of the Whitestone Corps were supervising the battle all along the front line, their Halos of Thorns shining in the air. Unlike in the first wave, the Whitestone Corps was putting all its strength into this assault. Compared to the frequent orders from the officers of the Whitestone Corps, the orders given by the officers of the Annan Protectorate army were much simpler.

“Shield wall!”

“Spearmen, get ready!”

“Reserve forces, prepare to head up at any moment!”

……

As the target of imitation for the Whitestone Corps, the Annan Protectorate army presented a much less complicated picture. In battles of infantry, if the Great Tang claimed to be second, no one in the world would dare claim to be first. In this aspect, Wang Chong hadn’t even needed to give any instructions as of yet.

“Not bad!”

On the summit, Wang Chong nodded at this sight.

The Annan Protectorate army had always been a well-trained army, and the battle of Erhai had eliminated the weaker ones, leaving behind only the elite of the elite. The greatest advantages of these elites were their individual strength, ample experience, and ability to cooperate with each other. Most importantly of all, they excelled in executing tactical maneuvers!

Across the world, not a single general existed who didn’t want to command such a well-trained army of elites.

Wang Chong had always prioritized the quality of his soldiers. Only once he could ensure the quality would he seek out quantity. But if he could only choose one of the two, he would always pick a well-trained army without hesitation. The rest, whether it was logistics, fighting power, or the pressure from the empire, were of minimal importance in comparison.

Across the entire empire, the Anxi Protectorate army led by Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing is probably the strongest. It only has around three hundred thousand soldiers, but with its ballistae and armaments, it’s truly armed to the teeth. Moreover, all of the three hundred thousand soldiers can act as both infantry and cavalry, each of them traveling with a horse. Most importantly, they often work together with the cavalry of the various kingdoms of Anxi and are extremely experienced in dealing with nomads. If you add to that the fact that these are the most elite and courageous troops of the empire, the two hundred thousand reserve soldiers in Qixi, and the around one hundred thousand soldiers belonging to the small kingdoms of the Western Regions who obey the Great Tang, and this army is completely capable of intimidating the hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the enemy countries. There’s no question that the Anxi Protectorate army is the most powerful fighting force.

But below the Anxi Protectorate army… Geshu Han’s Big Dipper Army in Longxi is probably only a little bit inferior, Wang Chong quietly said to himself.

Geshu Han’s Big Dipper Army was also a most powerful one, having stopped the assaults from the Ü-Tsang Empire time after time. From the massive Ü-Tsang Empire’s inability to get past Geshu Han, one could easily imagine the strength of the Big Dipper Army.

Of the various protectorates of the Great Tang, the Annan Protectorate army suffered from the smallest number of attacks, which resulted in the Annan Protectorate army having the lowest level of strength. However, once the 180,000 elites had been filtered through the grinder that was the battle of Erhai, the sixty-thousand-some left over were the elite of the elite.

Their fighting power had not dropped, only risen!

For one person to command sixty thousand elites of the Annan Protectorate army, its hundreds of commanders, and two fierce generals like Wang Yan and Xianyu Zhongtong… this was beyond Wang Chong’s wildest dreams. For such a complete fighting force to have survived until now was something that Wang Chong had never even dared to imagine.

Dalun Ruozan, Huoshu Huicang, Geluofeng, Duan Gequan… As long as I’m here, none of you will ever be able to get past this mountain, much less wantonly run over the southwest like you did in my last life. Ambition has a price to pay, and a great ambition requires an equally great price. Now is the time for all of you to pay that price… Let me see just who will be the final victor of the southwest!

His sleeves flapping in the wind, Wang Chong looked down the mountain, a harsh light in his eyes.

Boom!

With a heaven-shaking boom, a white figure and its dazzling halo cleaved like a massive sword into the defensive line of the Annan Protectorate army. This massive boom sent the massive metal shields, and the shield soldiers and spearmen behind them, flying like aimless kites.

The Great Tang defense line that had persisted for so long was broken in an instant.

“All troops, charge!”

Duan Wuzong raised the sword in his right hand into the sky, his entire body exuding the aura of a mighty god, powerful ripples of energy rising from him. The first wave had failed, so Duan Wuzong, the commander-in-chief of the Whitestone Corps, had finally decided to personally take the field. And with Duan Wuzong’s strike, this second wave pushed toward the Tang army!