The Human Emperor

Side Story Chapter 25: Reversal! Victory!

“It’s this powerful?!”

Let alone the Tibetan army, even Li Taiyi was in disbelief.

Though he had been cultivating for a long time, this was his first time using the Son of Heaven’s Sword.

But Li Taiyi quickly regained his composure. As he felt the Stellar Energy left in his body, he slightly frowned. He had never used this technique before, and he clearly didn’t have the Stellar Energy to use this move a second time.

However, Li Taiyi did not panic. He could clearly sense the morale of the Tang army rising, and control of the battlefield clearly rested on their side.

“Kill!”

Using this chance, Li Taiyi raised his sword and charged.

In a flash, the empty ballistae paired with Li Taiyi’s trained soldiers threw the Tibetans into disarray.

“Retreat!”

“Hurry and retreat!”

The Tibetan soldiers immediately panicked, and they began to turn their horses around and flee back to their camp.

“Kill!”

“After them!”

Seeing the Tibetans falling back, the Tang soldiers rejoiced and immediately pursued them.

Li Taiyi was also intoxicated in the killing, but suddenly, he felt a strange sensation and turned to the Tibetan position on higher ground.

In the rear of the Tibetan army, Huoshu Songren remained motionless.

Even though the Tibetans were being pushed back, Huoshu Songren didn’t seem worried at all. His eyes were aloof and his face relaxed, as if… as if…

“Not good! A trap!”

Li Taiyi’s eyes widened as he suddenly realized what was going on.

He reacted quickly, ordering his men to retreat while at the same time calling to Guo Dingguo, “General Guo, hurry and order your men to retreat!”

In the distance, Guo Dingguo frowned at these words, somewhat confused. But given Li Taiyi’s performance, he trusted him and immediately gave the order.

“Withdraw!”

And the moment after Guo Dingguo gave his order…

Bang!

The thunderous pounding of hooves came from the northern end of the battlefield.

This sudden development made the pursuing Tang soldiers immediately stop and turn to look.

“It’s the Tibetans! Tibetan reinforcements!”

In the distance was a black sea of soldiers mounted atop highland steeds, and when the Tang soldiers saw the banner of Ü-Tsang behind them, they instantly paled.

One hundred thousand!

That Tibetan army rushing toward them had at least one hundred thousand soldiers! Together with that Tibetan army they were facing, there were one hundred and sixty thousand—far more soldiers than the Great Tang had.

Let alone the soldiers, even Guo Dingguo began to panic.

“How could there be a second army?”

Li Taiyi became extremely grave.

From what he remembered, the Tibetans would use their Echelon Formation to charge the Tang army again and again until it was completely scattered. No second army had ever appeared.

What was going on here?

Is it because of me that things have developed somewhat differently?

Li Taiyi furrowed his brow even deeper.

However, he quickly turned his attention back to the battlefield.

As Li Taiyi watched the Tang army execute a fighting retreat and the second Tibetan army get closer and closer, a grim look appeared in his eyes. Through clenched teeth, he said, “If we let them join together, the Tang army might be completely wiped out.”

“Your Highness, let your subordinate lead my men in a breakout!” Wang Haibin suddenly implored.

Li Taiyi’s eyes flashed with surprise. Turning his head, he saw Wang Haibin down on one knee, a determined look on his face.

“This is a suicidal mission,” Li Taiyi sternly said.

“Your subordinate was lucky enough to appear on the battlefield due to Your Highness, and my brothers behind me are the same, all of us having a limitless desire for the battlefield. Now that we have a chance to serve the country, what is there to be afraid of!?”

Wang Haibin turned to the three thousand elites he had brought with him from the capital. “Brothers, isn’t that right!?”

“For the Great Tang!”

“Glory!”

Li Taiyi couldn’t help but be moved by their dominating aura.

Whoosh!

A wind blew out of the south, ruffling Li Taiyi’s clothes and hair, but at that moment, Li Taiyi’s worries were actually soothed.

As he felt the wind blast his face, he suddenly realized something. His eyes flashing, he called over Wang Haibin and whispered into his ear.

Wang Haibin’s eyes also flashed, and he led his three thousand men charging at the Tibetan reinforcements.

……

“A pointless struggle!”

At this moment, at the head of the one hundred thousand Tibetan reinforcements, General Wuji looked at the force breaking away from the main Tang army and coldly laughed.

He had already seen through the Tang tricks. The first volley of ballista bolts had killed many Tibetans, but after some investigation, they had discovered that the Tang had no more ballista bolts. In the end, they had only been using the sound of the ballistae firing empty shots to intimidate them.

“Brothers, let’s use the terrain to break their defense line in one go.”

Wuji drew his saber and led the Tibetan cavalry in a charge against the Tang army.

“Echelon Formation!”

“Halo of Fortress!”

The one hundred thousand Tibetan cavalry had unstoppable momentum as they rushed at the Tang army down below.

Creakcreak!

The sound of ballistae being loaded once more could be heard, but this time, the one hundred thousand Tibetan cavalry continued to charge without hesitation. They already knew that the Great Tang did not have any of those giant ballista bolts left.

Bang!

The strings twanged, and the ballistae fired.

But when the Tibetans thought that this was an empty volley, they saw black silhouettes flying through the sky.

Several dozen ‘ballista bolts’ were shooting through the air.

“What’s going on? Didn’t they not have any more ballista bolts?!”

Wuji looked at the ‘ballista bolts’ in the air and exclaimed. The sudden firing of these ballista bolts frightened his horse, and he was forced to bring it back under control.

As the ‘ballista bolts’ flew overhead, Wuji sniffed and noticed something strange.

“What is this smell?”

He looked toward the source of the smell, and his eyes flew open.

He realized that the ‘ballista bolts’ weren’t ballista bolts at all, but rather wooden stakes that were tied together. Moreover, as he looked more closely at them, he could see dark streaks on them that clearly smelled of oil.

“Oil?”

Wuji went ghastly pale as he realized what was going on.

But before Wuji could shout an order, he heard a loud order shouted in Tang.

“Loose the arrows!”

Thwish!

Thwish!

Thwish!

Arrows whistled through the air, and Wuji could clearly see them in flight.

Like flames burning up the clouds, the fire arrows struck the tied-up wooden stakes drenched in oil. With a whoomph, the wooden bundles instantly erupted into flames.

When the ropes tying these bundles together burned away, these wooden stakes scattered, raining down flames over the Tibetan army.

“Take cover! Take cover!”

This was all Wuji had time to roar before the fire came down.

“Ah!”

A moment later, the Tibetans were set aflame by the burning oil and began to howl in pain.

Burning oil was extremely difficult to extinguish.

In a flash, the one hundred thousand Tibetan soldiers were brought to a standstill.

“Kill!”

Seizing this momentary chaos, Wang Haibin led his soldiers in a charge at the Tibetan army.

Even though he himself was covered in burning oil, he did not care, nor did he worry that his hair was beginning to burn. Beneath his burning eyebrows, his eyes shone with a determination to kill the enemy.

However, before plunging into the enemy ranks, Wang Haibin had followed Li Taiyi’s orders and drenched himself in water, also tying a bag of sand to his body. Though he was still somewhat burned, he was in a much better state than the Tibetans.

An experienced general, Wuji began to immediately issue orders. “Extinguish the flames of the soldiers around you!”

The Tibetan soldiers immediately acted on these orders.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a savage gale ripped out of the south.

Normally, the southern winds of late autumn were nothing to be afraid of, but this situation was entirely different.

Several dozen soldiers who had had their flames put out were instantly covered in flames again, and they began to roll on the ground.

Moreover, the Tibetans had the high ground and were to the north. With the winds blowing in from the south, the flames were able to jump to the soldiers behind them, and the fire increased in intensity, filling the air with the howls of the Tibetan soldiers.

Li Taiyi watched all this from the rear with a smug smile. But this was not the end of it. Li Taiyi turned to a logistics soldier in the rear.

“Light the fires!”

Whoosh! Wooden bundles that had been wet with water were lit aflame, and thick black plumes of smoke began to rise. These plumes of smoke were carried by the southern wind directly into the Tibetan ranks.

The Tang soldiers at the front immediately put on white cloths soaked in water to keep out the smoke, but the Tibetans had no such countermeasures.

The Tibetan soldiers were forced to close their eyes and began to cough as the smoke assailed them. Some of them even fell unconscious after breathing too much of it.

A wind-assisted fire attack!

The Great Tang had only forty thousand people. Considering that the Tibetans had one hundred thousand soldiers reinforcing them, the Tang would need some surprise attack to survive. But when Wang Haibin was volunteering for a suicide mission, Li Taiyi had felt the south wind and had suddenly come up with the idea of a fire attack.

Wang Haibin and his three thousand elites had been specially selected from the soldiers of the capital. Li Taiyi could not possibly actually send them to their deaths.

“Kiiill!”

In just a few short moments, the tides of battle had been turned.