Chapter 962: Giants! Meteors Plunge From the Heavens! (1/2)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

”Lord Marquis, in truth… in our current situation, we might be able to build another one.”

An elderly voice came from behind Wang Chong.

The four Tang commanders turned to look at Zhang Shouzhi.

”The greatest difficulty posed by the giant ballistae was that we had no experience building them. It was also partially that the materials were special and we didn't quite understand how to properly use them. But now that we've made two, we have experience that we can rely on. Although building a third will still be extremely difficult, we can do it as long as we have enough time. Moreover, the ballistae that were destroyed can be used as materials. For the rest of the parts, we can forge them on the spot. There's also an easy solution for the ballista bolts…”

With these last words, Zhang Shouzhi turned to the fallen Arabian Behemoths at the first defense line.

The ballista bolts used by the giant ballistae were different from normal bolts. Zhang Shouzhi and his craftsmen had forged them in the capital, gathering together the best artisans and craftsmen from the smithing clans. Moreover, they had been made with the best techniques and materials available, and after they were finished, they had even been bolstered by many formations and inscriptions.

It was precisely all these measures that allowed the giant ballista bolts to pierce through the tough and pliable hides of the Behemoths and then be hammered into their steely skulls. Such ballista bolts could not be casually forged on the battlefield. But these giant ballista bolts were also the thing they needed to worry about the least.

”I understand!” the Vice Protector-General of the Anxi Protectorate army, Cheng Qianli, declared with a sharp light in his eyes. He immediately galloped toward the corpse of the hippo-shaped Behemoth. Jumping onto the head, he reached into a bloody hole and pulled hard. Plush! In a spray of blood, a heavy giant ballista bolt emerged from the slain Behemoth's skull.

Boom!

Cheng Qianli's actions were clean and straightforward, these enormous ballista bolts seeming to be as light as a feather in his hands. One after another, he pulled them out and threw them to a place near one of the giant ballistae. Large clouds of dust churned in the air as he threw them down.

These giant ballista bolts were each extremely heavy. Only elite generals like Cheng Qianli had the strength to pull them out.

In a few moments, thirty to forty giant ballista bolts had been gathered and piled up beside the two giant ballistae.

Bong! Bong! Bong!

War drums began to bang from the Arab camp. Not long after the four Behemoths began to move, the two hundred thousand Arab cavalry that had stood on the sidelines this entire time began to move as well, black waves surging up behind the Behemoths toward the Tang defense line.

”Kill!”

”Destroy them! Kill these heathens!”

The thundering of the war drums was joined by the Arab calls to battle, and a somber and savage wind began to sweep across the battlefield.

The battle was finally beginning!

”Ready!”

A resounding voice carried across the overcast sky, and with this order, the clanging of weapons being unsheathed and readied echoed over the defense line, their edges brightly gleaming.

”Shield men, get ready!”

”Ballista soldiers, get to your positions!”

”Cavalry, assume formation!”

One crisp order after another was sent through the ranks. In a flash, the reinforcements from Qixi and the Anxi Protectorate army, more than one hundred thousand soldiers in all, began to move. The sounds of marching, the clattering of army and weapons, the vibrating of shields, and the hammering of the forges fused into a single din.

The Tang army became an enormous machine, shrouded in an intimidating aura.

The battlefield was so somber that even the distant Tibetans and Turks were affected, all of them so overcome by nerves that they almost forgot to breathe.

Abu Muslim gazed at the Tang defense line and suddenly ordered, ”Masil! Get ready! You should join the assault as well!”

”Heh! Understood.”

Masil had apparently expected this. He looked at the defense line and gave a sinister chuckle, then began walking to the rear. Boom! A crack opened up in the ground, and Masil vanished through it.

Roooar!

The Behemoths roared, their heavy footsteps causing the earth to quiver. As they got closer and closer to the steel walls, their weighty bodies stirred clouds of dust ten-some meters high. Behind the Behemoths, the Arab cavalry waved their scimitars as they charged up in a flood.

Three thousand zhang!

Twenty-five hundred zhang!

The four Behemoths and the sea of Arab cavalry behind them charged at full speed toward the Tang defense line.