The Human Emperor
chapter-906

Chapter 906: The Arabs’ Urgent Assault!

“Hurry! Withdraw the catapults! Get them away from here! We can’t let them all get destroyed!”

An Arab officer reacted quickly, ordering the catapults to be pushed out of the battle zone. Although these catapults were large and heavy, each of them had been fitted with eight huge wheels to make them easy to move. But would Chen Burang allow them to retreat at a time like this?

Boomboomboom! In a few short moments, eighty percent of the catapults that the Arabs had constructed were destroyed. Those prepared piles of metal balls next to the catapults had become their greatest weak point.

The entire region was aflame.

“Damn it!”

In the wake of this unexpected assault, the metal balls being flung toward the first Tang defense line soon vanished, and as the fires were extinguished, so did the flames and smoke, leaving behind only a few embers. Upon seeing this, Abu Muslim and Ziyad, the chief and deputy commanders of the Arab army, both paled.

The advantage they had created had instantly evaporated.

Abu Muslim’s eyes darkened as he ordered, “Fahad, go and kill that Tang commander on the wall!”

The Arab catapults had destroyed many hardy cities before. Not once had they ever been destroyed by enemy catapults, much less been vanquished by their own kerosene. Abu Muslim had immediately identified the source of the problems as the Tang officer on the walls of Talas.

“Yes!”

A fully-armored Arab general stepped out from behind Abu Muslim. Creeeak! The Arab general Fahad gripped an ivory bow taller than a man with his left hand, while his right hand nocked an arrow more than five feet long, its point gleaming like a red jewel. Slowly, he locked onto Chen Burang.

As he drew on the bowstring, all light in a radius of ten zhang began to twist and gather around the jewel-like tip of the arrow, causing it to exude a dangerous light.

Boom!

The sky seemed to explode with a peal of thunder as Fahad unleashed the arrow toward the wall. Such was its speed that one moment, it was in Fahad’s hand, and the next, it was only a few zhang from Chen Burang on the walls.

Buzz!

Chen Burang grimaced at the sudden appearance of this arrow. His ears had already heard the arrow’s approach, but his body was too slow to react.

The enemy was much, much stronger than he was!

A Saint Martial archer!

Chen Burang’s face went as white as paper at this thought. He was a member of Kunwu Training Camp’s Deflecting Blade Manor, and was both an excellent strategist and archer. He commanded these catapults to exhibit a might that few other commanders could reach.

But though Chen Burang was an exceedingly capable commander, his cultivation level was not as impressive. The Arabs had sent a Saint Martial expert to deal with him, and at Chen Burang’s level, he was almost certainly doomed.

It’s over!

This was the only thought in Chen Burang’s mind.

Bang!

Just when Chen Burang had closed his eyes to wait for death, an invisible barrier of energy suddenly engulfed him. Boom!Fahad’s destructive arrow struck the energy barrier like it had run into a steel wall. Clang! A shockwave spread out as the red jewel of the arrow tip along with the arrow itself pulverized themselves against the barrier.

“Protector-General!”

Hearing a noise from behind him, Chen Burang opened his eyes and turned around. Seeing the relaxed figure of Anxi’s Protector-General slowly striding toward him, he gave a sigh of relief.

“Continue to command! With me here, there’s nothing to worry about,” said Gao Xianzhi as he strode forward and placed Chen Burang behind him. Amidst the blustery winds, Gao Xianzhi’s eyes exploded with a dazzling light as his gaze locked onto the distant Abu Muslim and the archer general behind him.

Abu Muslim seemed to sense something, and he slightly leaned forward, his eyes meeting with Gao Xianzhi’s. Over the last two months, these two had become mortal foes, and as their gazes met, both could sense the intense will to fight in their counterpart.

Ziyad took two steps forward and began to speak. “Milord, what if we bring a few more generals…”

“That’s not necessary. With Gao Xianzhi there, we won’t be able to kill him.”

Abu Muslim waved his hand, rejecting Ziyad’s suggestion.

“The catapult unit is finished. There’s no need to worry about it anymore. Inform the soldiers on the front to strengthen the assault. I want the Tang defense line on the west side torn to shreds by sunset, absolutely destroyed! No matter what, we must utterly crush the Great Tang!”

“Yes, Milord!”

Ziyad quickly left to relay Abu Muslim’s orders.

This battle was absolutely critical, the decisive battle between Arabia and the Great Tang. A simple messenger could not properly convey Abu Muslim’s will. Ziyad had to go personally.

……

With the entrance of Chen Burang and the steel catapults onto the battlefield, Dalun Ruozan and Abu Muslim’s strategy rapidly crumbled. The catapult unit that Dalun Ruozan had ensconced behind the hills and Abu Muslim’s catapult unit in the rear of the Arab army were soon completely destroyed.

Meanwhile, behind the Tang defense line, all the fires had been extinguished, and the circumstances of the Tang army had completely reversed once more.

“Fire!”

Grasping this opportunity, Chen Bin swiftly gave the order to his ballista teams to fire on the Arab forces. The first defense line was already in a rather perilous state. During the kerosene assault, Chen Bin’s ballistae had not been able to operate as usual, allowing the Arab cavalry to charge up to the walls.

All the steel walls and infantry were suffering furious waves of attacks, clattering and banging drowning out all other sound. All the Arab cavalry on the front lines were doing their utmost to break through.

Meanwhile, the Tang infantry were clenching their teeth as they did all they could to hold the line.

“Hold! Don’t let them get past!”

“Stop them! This is an order!”

All the infantry were tensed up, the veins bulging from their foreheads, their faces reddening as they exerted all their strength. At this moment, Chen Bin’s ballistae began to fire.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The long ballista bolts howled through the air like the scythes of death as they once more made their presence known on the battlefield. Boom! An Arab cavalryman attempting to break through the infantry lines was readying for another charge when a pitch-black bolt blew through his chest, carrying him off his horse and into a second horseman, a third, a fourth…

A single ballista bolt had blasted through seven fully-armored Arab cavalrymen, and this was only the beginning.

Thwooshthwooshthwoosh! The numerous ballista bolts each took at least six Arab cavalry with them, and in a single round, the Arabs had lost around seven thousand cavalry at the first defense line. Volley after volley ceaselessly descended upon the Arabs.

The Arabs were losing men at an astonishing rate, and the area in front of the defense line was soon covered in corpses of both man and horse, blood flowing freely across the earth. But the Arabs were in a complete frenzy at this point, past caring about any casualties. Close-quarters combat was where the Arabs displayed the height of their legendary ferocity. As long as they could kill their enemies, topple them with fierce and crazed assaults, they did not care what losses they suffered.

This courage and fearlessness had allowed the Arabs to create a legend of invincibility that stretched from the Cong Mountains to the Red Sea.

“Kill!”

Innumerable savage-faced Arab horsemen charged heedlessly at the first defense line. Swoosh! An Arab horseman raised the spear in his hand and threw it over the shields into the dense Tang ranks.

Caught by surprise, several Tang infantry were run through by the spear and nailed to the earth. A rain of such spears descended, rapidly inflicting casualties on the Tang soldiers. Moreover, even though the Arabs were under attack by both the beehives and the ballistae, they continued to press forward, using the piles of corpses to clamber over the walls and jump over the shields.

Squelchsquelchsquelch! Behind the shields, the soldiers of Greater and Lesser Balur thrust out their pikes again and again. Like agile snakes, these pikes were able to find the chinks in the Arab armor and thrust through, impaling the Arab soldiers.

The pikemen of Greater and Lesser Balur were fully displaying their might. In terms of pure armor-piercing capabilities, no one else in the Western Regions could compare to them. But not even this could stop the Arabs.

“Fight! Kill them all!”

An Arab soldier scaled a wall using the corpses and then, gripping his scimitar with both hands, jumped into the Tang soldiers and began to madly hack and slash. One, two, three… countless Arab soldiers, heedless of death, charged at the first defense line.

They came in a ceaseless flood, and not even the beehives or ballistae could stop them.

The situation was not just becoming critical at the first line. On the eastern side of the battlefield, behind the second defense line, the situation of the Qixi Protectorate army was also worsening.