The Human Emperor
chapter-754

Chapter 754: First Battle (III)

“Gather the Qinghai Soldiers! Deal with these enemies in a single exchange!”

Flames of anger seethed in Dayan Pugyal’s eyes, fueled by the deaths of more than eight thousand Tibetan warriors. No soldier of any people could act so wantonly on the Tibetan Plateau, especially the primarily-infantry Tang.

No matter who these people were, if they thought to show off their strength by defeating these recruits and crisscross the plateau without fear, then they were gravely mistaken.

He would let them know what it meant to be a true overlord of the plateau!

Rumble! Following Dayan Pugyal’s order, a change immediately occurred in the remaining twenty thousand Tibetan cavalry. As if anticipating something, the recruits swiftly retreated to the sides.

Behind them, a storm of energy was rapidly advancing in a cloud of dust. In the blink of an eye, a force of around seven thousand soldiers, all of muscular and doughty constitution, rode out.

Unlike the other Tibetan recruits, who wore semi-finished suits of armor or even just a few pieces, these soldiers were equipped with the full suit of regular plate armor.

But in terms of quality, the dark red armor these soldiers wore was even better than those worn by regular soldiers. None of the other recruits received this sort of treatment.

Their most unique trait, however, was on their foreheads. In the center of each of their foreheads, right between the eyebrows, was a white symbol the size of a thumb.

The seven thousand red-armored soldiers seethed with killing intent as they galloped toward Dayan Pugyal.

‘Qinghai’!

In Tibetan¹, the word ‘Qinghai’ had been written on the chests of the red-armored soldiers.

The Qinghai Soldiers!

This was the strongest force in the Zhangzhung Recruit Training Camp, the troops that Dayan Mangban had desired in his letter.

The Qinghai Soldiers were different from the White Braves, and different from all the other soldiers of Ü-Tsang. They were not elites chosen from the Four Royal Lineages, but soldiers selected from the area around the Qinghai.

The Qinghai had always been one of the sources of the Ü-Tsang Empire’s best soldiers. The soldiers there were particularly strong and gifted, on a completely different level of cultivation and martial arts. They were much faster and achieved far more than ordinary soldiers.

The soldiers of Qinghai had always served as the source for all of Ü-Tsang’s elite cavalry and guards for its generals.

And the ‘Qinghai Soldiers’ were even more special, because they were the best of the best of the soldiers from Qinghai. The number of soldiers in total that came from Qinghai was already very small, and seven thousand Qinghai Soldiers was already the limit.

It was only by distinguishing himself through his decades of training recruits that Dayan Pugyal had been selected by the Tsenpo to train these seven thousand Qinghai Soldiers.

Dayan Pugyal treated them with great care. Although they were still in training, he had fully equipped them with everything a normal soldier should have.

Soldiers were trained for a thousand days to be used in a single moment, and for these seven thousand Qinghai Soldiers, that moment was now.

“All soldiers, hear my order! Follow me and kill the Tang.”

Dayan Pugyal led the charge, leaping toward Wang Chong’s forces.

Meanwhile, Wang Chong’s forces were still sweeping through the Tibetans and throwing them into disarray. The Tibetans were constantly attempting to regroup and launch a counterattack, but all their efforts were futile. Wang Chong’s Cutting Formation gave no chance for the Tibetans to regroup, instantly scattering any attempts.

Wushang Village was the source of the Great Tang’s strongest soldiers. All the Wushang were far stronger than ordinary soldiers, and the vast majority of them were near the Profound Martial realm. Coupled with the buffs of the Wushang Halo and the Halo of Dusk Stallion, the Wushang Cavalry were heads and shoulders above these Tibetan soldiers.

Even the Tibetan regular army would find it difficult to hold the line, much less these recruits who were still in training.

Rumble! Group after group of Tibetans fell. Buzz! As the Wushang Cavalry continued to beat down their foes, they suddenly felt something strange.

Wang Chong immediately turned his head. To his left, the Tibetan general on his striking red horse was charging toward him in a cloud of dust. Behind him were thousands of Tibetan cavalry wearing dark red armor, roaring and charging with a heaven-crushing momentum.

These red-armored Tibetans were particularly striking amidst the regular black-armored Tibetans.

The Qinghai Soldiers!

Upon seeing the white symbols on their foreheads, Wang Chong immediately recognized them. Unlike the White Braves, Wang Chong had seen the Qinghai Soldiers. The range of their activities had included both Qixi and Longxi, and though he had only gotten a brief glimpse, they had left an extremely deep impression.

Although these Qinghai Soldiers were not those mighty soldiers that had been tempered and baptized in the fires of war, they were clearly showing the signs.

Ü-Tsang had three elite fighting forces. Each one was capable of doing incredible damage, and on the battlefield, each was capable of deciding victory or defeat.

The Qinghai Soldiers had been active over such a large area that in the waning days of the Great Tang, they had dealt immense damage to the Great Tang. But he had reincarnated, and while the renowned Wushang Cavalry had reappeared, the Qinghai Soldiers were still in their nascent stage.

Since he had the chance, Wang Chong would not permit the Qinghai Soldiers to wreak havoc across the world and harm the Great Tang.

“Ten thousand streams return to the source!”

The moment he saw the Qinghai Soldiers, Wang Chong immediately gave the order. His fifty groups of one hundred that had been madly weaving and assaulting the Tibetan soldiers suddenly began to gather together. In but a second, the five thousand Wushang Cavalry had somehow formed up while still charging at high speeds.

“Kill!”

“Charge!”

The warhorses galloped toward each other, the clash coming much faster than expected. There was a heaven-shaking boom as these two elite cavalry forces rammed into each other like enormous beasts.

Boom!

As the two forces clashed, a massive white Halo of Thorns, different from any other kind of halo, burst out from under Wang Chong’s feet with a metal clatter and expanded like a hurricane to cover the entire battlefield.

Unlike his other halo, this milky-white Halo of Thorns did not attach itself to his own soldiers, but to the Tibetans.

There was a flash of light as milky-white halos appeared at the feet of all the Tibetan soldiers. With the appearance of these thousands of halos, all the Tibetans, including the Qinghai Soldiers, experienced a rapid plunge in strength.

“Not good!”

Dayan Pugyal was stunned by this sight. His determined Qinghai Soldiers had paled as well, their composure and confidence instantly evaporating.

A single stone could cause a thousand ripples, and this massive shock caused a slight turmoil amongst the seven thousand Qinghai Soldiers. A few Qinghai Soldiers, noticing the change in their bodies, instinctively slowed, but the cavalry behind them maintained their high speed, producing a contradiction.

Horses whinnied and neighed as hundreds of Qinghai Soldiers crashed into each other. Under the force of inertia, the soldiers were thrown from their mounts and to the ground, amidst galloping hooves of charging horses.

But this was only the beginning. The Wushang Cavalry bellowed, their orderly formation immovable as a mountain and as aggressive as fire as it cleaved into the Qinghai Soldiers.

Rumble!

There were no fancy techniques and no retreat. A Wushang cavalryman fiercely crashed into a Qinghai Soldier, and though this was flesh against flesh, it sounded like a mountain toppling. Bang! The red-armored Qinghai Soldier was thrown into the sky.

The Qinghai Soldiers originally could have fought a battle with Wang Chong’s Wushang Cavalry, but with the Bane of the Battlefield weakening all of them by several tiers, they were now simply no match.

Thudthudthud!

The Wushang Cavalry continued to surge forward, and the crashes, clattering, whinnies, and screams mixed together into an unending cacophony. In this clash, the future-renowned Qinghai Soldiers instantly crumbled, their muscular highland steeds falling as they were routed.

“Bastard!”

The most shocked and furious of all at this moment was Dayan Pugyal. The Qinghai Soldiers were the strongest force in the Zhangzhung Recruit Training Camp, in all of Tsongkha, and they were to be one of Ü-Tsang’s strongest forces in the future.

Their strength was far higher than the normal soldier.

He had never expected that not even the Qinghai Soldiers could stop these Tang. When had a normal army of the Great Tang become so formidable?

“Just who are you all?”

His furious bellows shaking the heavens, Dayan Pugyal flourished his scimitar and began charging to the head of the Wushang Cavalry formation. Rumble! A bright wave of energy instantly began to explode from his body.

This wave of energy rapidly expanded, spreading to cover an area with a radius of several hundred zhang.

Neigh!

“Ah!”

Horses whinnied and people screamed. In a radius of one hundred zhang, the Wushang Cavalry were sent flying for ten-some zhang before crashing to the ground.

Buzz!

Wang Chong’s face flickered as he sensed the wave of energy. Turning his head, Wang Chong immediately saw that stalwart Tibetan general riding a red warhorse, his gaze chilling, his face determined. He appeared like an invincible demon god of the underworld, barring his army’s path.

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^{1. In Tibetan, the name for Qinghai Lake is apparently ‘Tso Ngonpo’, or ‘Teal Sea’.↩}