Chapter 523- Collapse of the West Army
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Kunming Prefecture, Consonance City.
11th month, 10th day, the huge battle ended. In just three days, one day faster than they had estimated, they united Kunming Prefecture. From this battle, the prestige and might of Shanhai City exploded, and they were now unchallenged.
After the battle, the armies returned to the city.
The Xunlong City Division led by Qinqiong immediately teleported back to Xunlong City after they returned. Bai Hua paid for their teleportation costs. Although Consonance City was tight on finances, Bai Hua truly acted in a magnanimous and generous manner.
Luo Shixin's division, after a short rest, entered Chunnan Province Zhen An Prefecture and tailed the west army of the Taiping Country.
Following which, there was a battle that Luo Shixin did not want to miss out on.
To repay the help of Shanhai City, Bai Hua arranged Zhang Liao to lead an elite cavalry division to follow them and enter Zhen An Prefecture.
Although the other Lords of the four prefectures in Yunnan Province were preparing to build the Yunnan City-State, Bai Hua was not too worried about that matter.
Firstly, it was not an easy matter to establish a city-state. Without a great leader leading the way, it was normal for the whole situation to drag on for half a month.
After the city-state was established, the organization of an alliance army would also take a long time.
Hence, Consonance City had enough time to digest the territory that it had just occupied.
After three days of monumental battles, Consonance City had captured sixty thousand prisoners, making up for the losses in the battle with Taiping Country all at once. They even gained some additional numbers.
Based on Bai Hua’s plans, Consonance City would borrow the organization of Shanhai City Army, building a city protection division, a wild fighting legion, and a Kunming Prefecture Garrison Division.
The city protection division would be led by Hong Ying, and it would be in charge of defending Consonance City. The fighting legion would have five divisions like Shanhai City for a total of seventy thousand men. Zhang Liao would be their general.
As for the Kunming Prefecture Garrison Division, it was naturally used to defend Kunming Prefecture.
Bai Hua would use this huge army to go against the Yunnan City-State.
The only negative element would be that they were connected to the other prefectures, and the borders were long, making it a burden to defend.
Moreover, even if the Yunnan City-State reached completion, with the current might of the Shanhai Alliance, they would not dare to attack.
In some ways, Yunnan City-State was only a strategic defense alliance.
It might seem like along with the establishment of Yunnan City-State, many city states were being built up in China. In actuality, there was only one proper one, the Lingnan City-State.
Even the Xiangnan City-State still had unsettled problems.
Every Lord had their ambitions.
Entering a city-state agreement strengthened the safety of the territory, preventing other Lords from invading. However, at the same time, it reduced the chances for the Lords to further expand.
Within a province, all the Lords would live peacefully.
Such a model did not seem to fit into the style and way of life of the wilderness.
The weak being able to save themselves, they naturally liked it. However, the restraint made the strong feel a little uncomfortable. The moment the outside threat lessened, internally conflicts might rise.
Unless there was a truly strong person that could integrate all the resources of the city-state and join up all their interests, the city-state would not last for long.
In the last life, there were only three true city-states in the entire China Region.
Ten days had passed since Shanhai City sent troops to Xunzhou Prefecture.
In a short ten days, half of Xunzhou Prefecture had already fallen. The three armies had resolutely pushed up toward Tianjing, and the largest battle on the southwest region was about to explode.
At the same time, the west army led by Shi Dakai was only a day away from the city. Behind them, the two cavalry divisions tailed closely behind like ghosts.
Zhen An Prefecture was still the territory of Taiping Country.
Hence, their two divisions had not escaped Shi Dakai's eyes. However, because Hong Xiuquan's orders were growing more urgent day by day, Shi Dakai did not have a chance to deal with them.
Toward his ‘tail’, Shi Dakai could only turn a blind eye to it. He could only add some additional defenses on the back lines. The wariness and care in his use of troops could be called average.
On the north of Xunzhou Prefecture, Ouyang Shuo led the mountain barbarian independent divisions. They had already taken over the defense of the two passes. The Guards Division that had taken down the passes had suddenly disappeared from the eyes of Taiping Country.
On the south, the armies led by Baiqi and Han Xin were still pushing forward quickly. Considering their situation, Hong Xiuquan recalled all the city protection squads in the south back to Tianjing.
Which was why the South of Xunzhou Prefecture was like a hunting ground for Shanhai City, completely falling apart.
With that, one could see that Hong Xiuquan was determined to use the cannons and city walls of Tianjing City to defend. Based on information they received, Hong Xiuquan had set up twenty-four cannons on the city walls.
When Ouyang Shuo heard this news, he felt a shiver run down his spine.
When Shi Dakai led the 150 thousand troops back, along with the fifty thousand housed inside, and the city protections squads, Tianjing City would reach a safer situation. Who knows, Taiping Country could even destroy the Shanhai City Army.
One had to say that Hong Xiuquan’s plans were basically flawless. The only flaw was that he had underestimated them; he had underestimated the strong intelligence forces and the strength of their army.
This flaw was going to drag them down to hell.
That very night, the west troops that Hong Xiuquan was waiting and yearning for would never arrive.
When he had heard of the cannon defence set up in Tianjing, Ouyang Shuo gave up on sieging it.
Facing such a strong city, he could only use an intelligent method against it.
Hence, when the west army retreated earlier, a huge plot started to develop. And when they were about to reach Tianjing City, the plan was in place.
That night.
Forty kilometers from Tianjing City spanned a several kilometer long mountain slope. Shi Dakai led the west army to rest there. After tonight, they would be able to reach Tianjing City tomorrow.
At this step, he should have heaved a sigh of relief.
But for some reason, he had a feeling of unease that would not disperse from his heart.
In the night sky, the stars scattered across the skies. The rarely hung up galaxy glowed in the sky. The moon covered the entire camp in a mystifying white light, creating an illusionary feeling.
After patrolling the camp one last time and seeing that everything was normal, Shi Dakai placed down the worry in his heart and returned to his tent to sleep. Tomorrow, a huge battle awaited them.
At this moment, he needed to be well rested.
In truth, the house arrest of Yang Xiuqing had added a layer of unease to his unhappy heart.
The country might seem peaceful, but the internal struggles were getting more and more intense. The brotherhood that they showed when they first appeared had started to change after the victories.
During his western conquest, Shi Dakai had actually come into contact with numerous players.
He had even accepted some player Lords into his army. From their mouths, he understood the history of Taiping Country. After he learned of the entire matter, he had mixed feelings.
Would the tragedy of history repeat itself?
Shi Dakai shook his head, trying his best to toss out all these complicated thoughts, as he prepared to sleep.
Just as he was falling into slumber, thunderous horse hooves rang out in the night. It was deafening and built up fear and unrest in one's heart.
Following which, killing shouts and roars erupted.
Shi Dakai was alarmed, and he quickly got up and exited the tent. Because he was feeling so uneasy, he did not even take off his armor when he went to sleep.
"What happened?"
Shi Dakai grabbed a guard and asked nervously.
"General, general look!"
The guard outside the tent was also alarmed; he was lost for words, so he just pointed outside of the camp. His eyes were filled with astonishment and fear.
When Shi Dakai heard these words, he felt his heart sink.
He raised his head and looked out and saw a closely packed army outside their camp. There was both cavalry and infantry. Before the army arrived, a rain of arrows had rained down first.
Apart from that, a flurry of fire arrows had also rained down on the camp.
The entire camp started to blaze, and the night sky became brighter and brighter.
With his experience, he knew that there were no less than ten thousand troops. Moreover, a cluster of shadows had entered the camp behind the cavalry.
It was obvious that this was planned out.
With how careful he was, he could not have imagined that the real sneak attack would not come from behind but would come from the front where everything looked calm and nothing could possibly happen.
After all, based on the intel from the king, the area before the troops should be totally peaceful. Based on logic, the three armies of Shanhai City were a distance away.
In truth, when the south city protection squads moved long ago, the two armies of Shanhai City on the east and west were left as empty shells.
The real main forces had sneakily backed off, away from the eyes and ears of Taiping Country. Then, they gathered in a secret location and subsequently moved west and laid in wait at a route where the west army had to pass by.
At the same time, the Guards Division that disappeared reappeared once more.
The two legions, plus the Guards Division, added up to a total of 140 thousand men for this attack.
Ouyang Shuo's plan was to sink Shi Dakai's troops outside of Tianjing City. With that, it would truly be sending them to the end of their path. Taiping Country would be guarding an empty city, and they could only surrender peacefully.
"At the most impossible timing, give the enemy the most lethal blow."
Such an act was always the way that Shanhai City liked to do things.