Chapter 1069: Arabias Ally, Dalun Ruozan Arrives (1/2)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The hall was still as Wang Chong's words echoed through the room and through the minds of everyone present. The suppressed and heavy mood was instantly revived and galvanized by Wang Chong's rallying cry.
The Divine Prison Army, the Xuanwu Army, the Dragon Stallion Army… There was also the second batch of reinforcements from Qixi. No one except Wang Chong knew the exact composition of the reinforcement army; even Gao Xianzhi was not clear on all the forces that Wang Chong had called from the interior.
At the very least, Gao Xianzhi had never heard of any Xuanwu Army or Divine Prison Army in the Imperial Army, nor did he know how powerful they were.
But Wang Chong, as the manager of the entire plan, naturally understood what was going on more than anyone else.
'Quality is greater than quantity when it comes to soldiers.' This was not merely a saying, but a principle that Wang Chong had believed in for his entire life.
As someone who had reincarnated and had experienced so much, he was accustomed to winning battles while outnumbered. The number of soldiers was very important, but the overall quality of a soldier was the most important.
The Great Tang had been able to rely on an army of six hundred thousand soldiers to conquer the surrounding empires and forge a mythical golden age and empire of unprecedented size precisely because of the quality of its soldiers!
”Wang Chong, what sort of idea do you have?” Gao Xianzhi suddenly asked.
For Gao Xianzhi, this battle had already completely surpassed his expectations from when he first set out to attack the Shi Kingdom. But Wang Chong was different. He was still very young, but he had a deep understanding of war and had thoroughly planned out this entire battle, including the reinforcements.
That the reinforcements had been able to reach sixty thousand, all of them elite soldiers, was undoubtedly because Wang Chong had prepared for this before the battle had even begun.
”Heh.”
Wang Chong chuckled in reply.
”The Arabs are not as powerful as imagined. Although I can't guarantee the final result of this battle, I can at least guarantee that no matter what the Arabs want, they won't be leaving Talas without suffering an unprecedentedly severe wound!”
Wang Chong's eyes flashed with steely resolve.
……
Talas quickly entered a tense preparation phase as all the reinforcements entered the city to undergo strict training. All the elite armies that had come were existences on par with the Iron Wall Army, but on the battlefield, what armies needed the most was teamwork.
Now that the reinforcements had arrived and the Arabs did not dare to attack, Wang Chong began a consolidation of these elite forces, an extremely tense training session. Wang Chong was personally handling the training of this army. As the strongest War Saint of the Central Plains, Wang Chong had not fully trained an army like this for a very long time. He did so now because he regarded this battle with utmost importance.
……
As Wang Chong began his training in Talas under the darkness of the night, in the distant Arab camp, all the Arab commanders except Qutaybah had gathered together.
”What do all of you think about this battle?”
They all stood around an Arabic-style table. Abu Muslim stood up and looked around at his comrades.
The tent was quiet as everyone silently pondered the topographical map of Talas on the table. Osman and Aybak had the most complicated expressions. Yesterday, they would have definitely scoffed at Abu Muslim's question. Aybak and Osman rarely used any special tactics when dealing with infidel empires, and the Arabian Empire rarely used any special strategies or formations in its foreign wars.
When one side reached a certain overwhelming level of power, all strategies and wisdom went out the window. Strength was the greatest wisdom and the greatest strategy.
”This empire is very difficult to deal with. It might even be stronger than the Sassanid Dynasty. If I didn't see it for myself, I would truly find it difficult to believe that they could have someone who could stand on the same level as Qutaybah, and that it would be an old man,” Osman sternly said, a pensive look on his face.
”Not only that. The reinforcements they brought appear to be extremely powerful, on the same level of power as the Anxi Protectorate's Iron Wall Army,” Aybak grimly added. ”If they're all that strong, then even though they only have around one hundred thousand soldiers, it won't be as easy as we imagine to destroy them.”
As the Mameluke Commander, the most unique commander in the entire empire, Aybak rarely concerned himself with the exact situation of the battlefield, nor would he intervene in these large-scale clashes of armies. But the army behind the defense line was now so powerful that not even Aybak could ignore it.
”Overall, our greatest advantage is the initiative provided by our cavalry,” Ziyad sternly said. ”The Tang defense line makes it very difficult for our soldiers to exert their full power, but it restrains them as well. Without that defense line, their defensive abilities are far too weak. For the short term, as long as we still hold the initiative, they won't dare to leave their defense line to attack, giving us the liberty of choosing when to strike.”
As the Deputy Governor of the East, Ziyad was for the first time counting himself lucky to have been born in a horseback empire. Otherwise, he would find it very difficult to imagine any other faction that could contend against this empire. Not only that, Ziyad had an intense feeling that this opponent they were facing at Talas was second in power only to Arabia, a true 'Number Two Empire'.
”This battle is already very hard to judge. Until we determine the true strength of the Tang reinforcements, we won't be able to engage in a full-scale offensive,” Abu Muslim said. ”Right now, we must wait for the Tibetans and Western Turks to arrive. Although these two empires of the east aren't as strong as our Arabia, their understanding of the Great Tang might bring us some unexpected aid.”