Chapter 609: The Decisive Battle! Meat Grinder! (1/2)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Boom!
There was no hesitation as two mighty waves of soldiers smashed against each other on the slopes of the mountain, resulting in the most intense clash of the entire battle. Of the more than four hundred thousand soldiers, almost all of them had been committed, with Geluofeng and Duan Gequan holding back a single unit in reserve.
This time, Dalun Ruozan resorted to no tactics or strategy. It was a straightforward advance, one that relied on pure pressure. Once one's soldiers far outnumbered one's opponent's, numbers became the best strategy, the best tactic.
”Kill!”
”Kill!”
Bellows rang out through the sky. The roiling wave of black steel was enough to make anyone pale.
”Get ready!”
”Get ready!”
”Go!”
……
Wang Chong's voice resounded over the mountain. The first to attack was not the majestic Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army but the Annan Protectorate army. Thwishthwishthwish! Countless arrows howled through the air, descending into the center of this flood of steel.
Boom!
It was like a boulder smashing into a river. The numerous arrows pierced through necks, cheeks, knees, and bodies. Hundreds upon thousands of Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang soldiers began to fall, and a small hint of disorder immediately appeared in the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang ranks.
Thwishthwishthwish!
One wave, two wave, three waves… innumerable arrows continued to strike with lethal precision, causing the chaos to continuously expand.
”It's useless. Once the number of soldiers reaches a certain level, local victories are no longer a concern.”
Dalun Ruozan looked at the mountain, his eyes calm.
If a hundred-man army lost a hundred men in battle, the entire army would be wiped out. If a two-hundred-man army lost a hundred men in battle, it would be a severe wound. For a thousand-man army, it would be a setback. But when this army swelled to several thousands, tens of thousands, the effect became triflingly small.
The injuries inflicted by Wang Chong's archers were truly not critical to this army of hundreds of thousands.
However, Dalun Ruozan had still underestimated the objective of Wang Chong's plan. As the arrow volleys threw the flood of black steel into chaos, a tiny flaw was revealed, upon which Wang Chong immediately triggered the Myriad Stars Formation.
The tens of thousands of Tang soldiers were like turbulent streams of water, intersecting, crashing, colliding, wrapping around the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang soldiers like nooses.
”Congratulations to user for killing 3412 soldiers of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army!”
”Congratulations to user for killing 6733 soldiers of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army!”
”Congratulations to user for killing 9188 soldiers of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army!”
”Congratulations to user for killing 12340 soldiers of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army!”
……
In a few short moments, a string of messages gushed through Wang Chong's mind in a veritable waterfall. Meanwhile, countless halos were clashing and clattering below. Attack halos, strength halos, dexterity halos, power halos, defensive halos, charging halos… tens of thousands of war halos, all of them different, covered every inch of ground on the mountain.
The ferocity of this battle had surpassed everyone's imaginations, even Wang Chong's. Wang Chong's Myriad Stars Formation allowed his soldiers to become sharp nooses that cut the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army into pieces, encircling them so that they could be cut down.
The soldiers of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army were hacked down like stalks of wheat, and the constant waterfall of messages in his mind clearly conveyed to Wang Chong the severity of their losses.
Dalun Ruozan had apparently already made the greatest decision he could make. He had determined to exchange a massive number of deaths for the ability to constantly shrink the area in which the Tang army could operate. Even though wave after wave of Mengshe–Ü-Tsang soldiers was being felled, more continued to come up from the rear.
This method was simple and cruel, but rather effective. With this rather significant price, the Tang army was slowly being squeezed, and even Wang Chong was beginning to run out of space to maneuver.
Against this bold and decisive enemy commander who cared not for the sacrifice or price, even Wang Chong's strategies were no longer so easy to use or effective.
Against this sort of opponent, even Wang Chong had to be awed.
……
”Milord, we've paid a very heavy price!”
As he watched the soldiers continue to fall, the tribal elder found it very hard to keep his composure. From his place at the base of the mountain, he could clearly see red rivers of blood gushing down the slopes.
The intensity of the battle had surpassed his expectations. The ground on the mountain was already saturated with blood, and in this state, it was impossible to tell if this blood belonged to the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army or the Annan Protectorate army.
”There's nothing to be done. This is the price that we must pay.”
Dalun Ruozan slightly closed his eyes. He himself found it very hard to remain calm in the face of this gruesome battle. The Annan Protectorate army was putting up far more of a fight than he had expected.
In his decades managing the Ngari Royal Lineage, not even Zhangchou Jianqiong could push him to this state. But all this was necessary, a price that had to be paid.
”Human wave tactics… This kind of Great Tang truly makes one uneasy! If the Great Tang has a few more talents like this, Ü-Tsang might never be able to compete.”
Dalun Ruozan looked up at the summit, a vague anxiety hanging over his heart.
In the course of the southwest war, not even Dalun Ruozan had realized that his original intent of exterminating the eighty-thousand-some soldiers of the Annan Protectorate army had become the intent to eliminate that Wang Chong who had seemingly appeared out of thin air.
Deep within Dalun Ruozan's heart, eradicating Wang Chong was now even more urgent than eliminating the Annan Protectorate army.