Chapter 1178: Prepare, Another Battle! (1/2)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

”Milord, what do we do?”

Across the Tigris River, countless Arab soldiers were emerging from the icy river in terror. On the shore, Hular's face was a picture of unwillingness as he turned to the Head of Black Radiance, Fadi.

”There's no time!” Fadi gloomily said. He glanced up at the sky, where only a dim light was leaking through the dense clouds. At some point, dusk had arrived. In these circumstances, no matter how unwilling Fadi was, he had to halt the battle and wait for tomorrow to restart it.

”Has Jalil's army still not arrived?”

Fadi turned to a general behind him.

The Arab general lowered his head and reported, ”Milord, Lord Jalil is marching as quickly as possible, but the weather is cold and the steel bridges for crossing the river are extremely heavy, so they've been slowed down. They probably won't arrive until tomorrow morning.”

A hint of fury flitted through Fadi's eyes. Arabia had mobilized almost the entire empire for the assault on this city, preparing much more than imagined.

In the original strategy, the Arabs would have many long steel bridges to cross the river. But Fadi had believed that with all the boats he had, there was no need to wait for those heavy bridges to arrive.

Fadi had never imagined that this decision would come at such a heavy price for his army.

”Order Jalil to hasten his march! At daybreak tomorrow, I had better see those steel bridges!” Fadi ordered.

”This general will go!”

The general bowed.

”In addition, Hular, write a letter to His Majesty. Tell him that we don't have nearly enough top-class soldiers and that I hope His Majesty can dispatch more Great Generals to utterly vanquish these Tang. In addition, if there is any chance, have His Majesty send Governor Ansari to assist the army at Khorasan!” Fadi said.

Buzz!

Hular shivered at the name of Ansari, his eyes going wide. In the Arabian Empire, Ansari's reputation was like the noon sun, and even when compared to Qutaybah, he was only a little lacking. In their day, Ansari and Qutaybah had been hailed as the two heroes of Arabia, but later on, in the contest for Arab War God, Ansari had lost to Qutaybah. In a moment of rage, he had retired from the army.

While Qutaybah had spent all these years campaigning across the world and immersing himself in the ecstasy of conquest, Ansari had placed all his focus on cultivation so as to one day defeat Qutaybah and wash away his shame.

After so many years of bitter cultivation, there was a rumor in the outside world that Ansari's strength had already surpassed Qutaybah's. Someone had even once gone to see Ansari, but just a glance made his body shiver and drained him of all the will to fight.

If this were just an ordinary rumor, no one would have cared, but the one who made this claim was an Arab governor. Once this matter became known, it set off shockwaves through the empire.

But Ansari had a cruel personality, even crueler than Qutaybah's, and there were even times when he had thought about attacking his own allies. Almost nobody in the empire wanted to have much to do with Ansari.

The Blood of Black Radiance, Firas, suddenly said, ”That's right, there's also the Governor of Death of the southern war zone, Adeel. Have him transferred over as well. More soldiers aren't necessary. Them alone will be enough.”

”But, Milord, Lord Adeel is currently suppressing the Wadeel people of the south and a peasant revolt, with no time for anything else.” Hular's voice was tinged with hesitation.

Although Arabia was powerful, it had many enemies that needed to be suppressed all at once. The more countries one conquered, the greater the resistance one would encounter. This was also why Arabia could not mobilize all its governors at once. The enemies bordering Arabia were not as powerful as those bordering the Great Tang, but there were many more of them. This was also why Arabia kept so many soldiers garrisoned in various places.

Adeel was powerful, but the place he was in charge of was also extremely important. He could not be recklessly transferred.

”If he is only gone for around ten days, there shouldn't be many problems. And besides, is a tribe of the south stronger than the two hundred thousand soldiers in Khorasan?” Firas sternly said.

”This…”

Hular silently lowered his head. The threat from the east was far greater than that of any other faction on Arabia's border, perhaps even greater than all of them added up together.

In addition, even though the Tang only had two hundred thousand soldiers in total, an army that was not too large, everyone had seen the strength they had exhibited. This battle had barely begun, but the Arabs had already lost two hundred thousand soldiers. No other faction on Arabia's borders could accomplish such a feat.

”Understood! I will do so!” Hular sternly said.