Chapter 910: The Three Great Cavalry Forces: Wushang Versus Celestial Wolf! (2/2)
Dalun Ruozan immediately nodded.
”That was our agreement in the first place,” Huoba Sangye sternly reminded. Other than assisting Dalun Ruozan in defeating the Great Tang and salvaging Ü-Tsang's reputation, he had another, more important, reason for risking the death penalty by leaving the royal capital and taking the Mutri Great Cavalry with him to Talas. He had to defeat an enemy.
The Great Tang's Wushang Cavalry!
Ü-Tsang had dominated the world through its cavalry, and its Echelon Formation was known in every corner of the land. The plateau was a land of cavalry, and at the apex of this cavalry were the Three Cavalry Kings: the White Braves, the Qinghai, and the Mutri.
These were the most powerful forces of cavalry in all of Ü-Tsang!
However, in the battle at Zhangzhung Training Camp, eight thousand Qinghai Soldiers had died to Wang Chong's Wushang Cavalry. At the battle of the triangular gap, Dayan Mangban and his five thousand White Braves had also been wiped out. Of the three supreme forces of cavalry in Ü-Tsang, only the Mutri Great Cavalry remained.
Never in the history of Ü-Tsang had two of its best cavalry forces been wiped out by a single opponent, and their foe had been the Great Tang, a country that had never been famed for its cavalry. This matter made all the Tibetan cavalry of the plateau feel greatly humiliated, and the Mutri Great Cavalry were no exception!
For this reason, Huoba Sangye had defied the Tsenpo's decree and led his seven thousand Mutri Great Cavalry out of the royal capital to the distant battlefield of Talas.
The Mutri Great Cavalry had a history spanning more than three centuries and were publicly acknowledged as the strongest existence in the entire Ü-Tsang Empire. Whether it was for the empire or for the honor and pride of all Tibetan cavalry, the Mutri Great Cavalry had to defeat the Great Tang's Wushang Cavalry so that all the world could see, so that they could prove themselves!
To fulfill this goal, Huoba Sangye had given Dalun Ruozan his full support. He had even used his network to borrow many soldiers from the other royal lineages for Dalun Ruozan's expedition.
”Ready!”
Huoba Sangye flourished his sword, a scarlet weapon conferred by the fifth-generation Tsenpo. It pointed beyond the hills, blazing with the light of the morning sun. Rumble! The earth quaked and dust churned. With Huoba Sangye's order, the motionless ranks of the Mutri Great Cavalry began to move, and an intimidating aura exploded from their bodies, a scorching wave of heat that caused the grass growing on the hills to wither.
Boom!
The seven thousand Mutri Great Cavalry rode out of the rising sun, floodwaters surging over the tops of the hills, the thundering of their hooves drowning out all noise on the eastern side of the battlefield. The seven thousand Mutri Great Cavalry were fast, but Shamask's eight thousand Celestial Wolf Cavalry were even faster. By the time the Mutri Great Cavalry were charging down the hills, the Celestial Wolf Cavalry were already kicking up a cloud of dust on the battlefield.
At this moment, all the world seemed to lose color at their approach.
”Milord! Look over there!”
Meanwhile, in the middle of the Tang army, Kong Zi-an seemed to sense something and turned his head, his eyes filling with shock as he saw the approaching Celestial Wolf Cavalry. The armor, momentum, and strength of the Celestial Wolf Cavalry were completely different from any other force of Turkic cavalry, and Kong Zi-an felt like he was about to fight against an extremely formidable foe.
”And over there! Ü-Tsang has moved as well!”
Another one of the Wushang officers called out, pointing in another direction. Everyone turned to look and saw that behind the Celestial Wolf Cavalry, a force of cavalry wearing armor of gold and red was charging up from a different angle.
These two supreme forces of cavalry, one in front and one behind, were intending to pincer the Tang between them.
An intense sense of danger immediately swept through the crowd. These were two of the strongest forces of cavalry on the continent, standing at the very peak of power. One alone would be hard enough to deal with, much less two.
Li Siye on his Ferghana steed stood amidst his soldiers, his mind seething with countless thoughts.
Both the Celestial Wolf Cavalry and the Mutri Great Cavalry were long-established names consisting of some of the best cavalry in the world. Their fighting power could not be compared to that of other cavalry and their combined numbers were also far greater than those of the Wushang Cavalry. Advance or retreat, attack or defend—Li Siye had to make his choice as quickly as possible.
”Milord! What do we do?” Kong Zi-an worriedly said.
The two approaching cavalry exerted an incredible pressure on each of the men, one that none of them had felt in any other battle.
Li Siye said nothing, his eyes scanning the battlefield. The battle was still ongoing, and shouts and crashes were still filling his ears, bloody gleams of light flickering in and out of his eyes. The two cavalry forces still had some distance to cover, and there was still time to withdraw.
But when Li Siye spotted Sun Zhiming, Zhuang Zhengping, Chi Weisi, and the others still fighting hard against the Turks and Tibetans, he immediately made his decision.
”We have nowhere to retreat! All soldiers, prepare for battle!”
Li Siye held aloft his massive Wootz Steel sword, allowing the sun to reflect off its edge. He exploded with an energy so vast and powerful that the world itself seemed to move!
Boom!
After a moment of silence, the earth began to tremble, the five thousand Wushang Cavalry going from stillness to lightning-fast speeds. This time, however, their targets were the Celestial Wolf Cavalry and the Mutri Great Cavalry behind them.
At this moment, even though they had long been prepared for such a sight, Shamask and Huoba Sangye still had to look with apprehension at the intimidating aura of the five thousand Wushang Cavalry.