Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 950 – Removing the Roots of the Problem
Lying in wait at the border of Dongchuan Prefecture were the 30 thousand Tiger Leopard Cavalry led by Ma Chao.
The day that the Battle of Yongren City ended, Baiqi used the relay to send an emergency message to Ma Chao to ask him not to rush to Yongren City but to switch paths to the border.
Hence, there was this ambush.
The moment that the Tiger Leopard Cavalry charged out, Wang Meng was totally in despair. He looked toward the north, “Lord, I’ve failed you, and I have no face to return. I can only repay by dying!”
As he said that, before his Personal Guards could react, Wang Meng killed himself. The fresh red blood spurted out and dyed the blue sky red.
A hero of a generation fell just like that.
With a ‘Putong!’, Wang Meng’s corpse fell off his horse. However, his eyes were fully open, and it was obvious that he was not willing to die. It was regret of not achieving his ambitions and also the unhappiness of dying.
There was also the depressed feeling of being worse than someone else.
In front of the star studded Great Xia, any famous general was a level weaker. In the battle against Baiqi, Wang Meng was badly defeated. The effect on him was obvious, and it was also the reason he killed himself.
“General!” The Personal Guards exclaimed.
No one knew that Wang Meng was such an intense person.
The Personal Guard’s face was ashen white. According to military rules, if the main general died, they must die with him. Even if they managed to escape back to Handan City, they would still have to die. The only way they could survive was to surrender.
However, the Personal Guards were not normal soldiers. If they surrender, they would undoubtedly be called traitors.
Hearing the shouts, only then did Little Mutuo and the others react. All of them were stunned, and their hearts leapt out to them.
“When the rabbit dies, it’s a tragedy for the fox!”
Thinking about how confident they were before setting off and comparing it to their current crestfallen state, it was a difference between heaven and earth. Moreover, all of this just happened in the span of two to three days.
The world just changed so quickly, making it hard for one to adapt.
Wang Meng’s death was like a storm on a sunny day to the Alliance Army, which was already in a terrible state. Seeing their main commander dying, the soldiers no longer had the will to fight. Their fates were obvious with an ambush in front and soldiers chasing them from behind.
‘Huadang!’
Some people threw their weapons cleanly onto the ground, “There’s no hope!”
‘Huadang! Huadang!’
In the blink of an eye, half of the remaining 60 thousand Alliance Army troops surrendered. The remaining people were basically all players. Although the natives could surrender, the Xiao Alliance members could not.
Even if they wanted to surrender, the enemy would not want them.
Seeing this, with a ‘Shua!,’ Xiao Nianying pulled out his long sword and loudly said, “Brothers, the failure of this expedition is on me. When we return, I’ll take responsibility. But now, please trust in me one more time and unite together. Let’s kill our way out of this encirclement.”
When the members of Xiao Alliance heard that, they all had complicated expressions on their faces.
Before leaving, Xiao Nianying had used the tragic downfall of Streamer to persuade guild members to support this expedition. The members all recognized his judgement. If not, they would not willingly go out to battle.
However, the result of the expedition was one that the players could not accept.
Wang Meng and the others swore that their plan was spotless, but they were ambushed and lost troops and generals. As they fled to the border, all the members of the Xiao Alliance were filled with grievances toward their guild leader.
However, no matter how much they hated him, just as Xiao Nianying said, that was just an internal problem. Naturally, it should be left for after they returned. The first thing they should do now was to unite together and fight out of this encirclement.
If not, who knows how many more of their brothers would die.
As such, although Xiao Nianying’s actions were normal, it raised up the passion and the hot bloodedness of the members.
“Kill!”
The 30 thousand Xiao Alliance members gathered together and charged toward the Tiger Leopard Cavalry.
Fighting on a narrow road, the courageous would be victorious!
When Ma Chao saw that, he gave out a cold smile, “You think too highly of yourselves!” As he said that, he led the way to engage.
The two armies were like two huge floods crashing at one another, and fresh blood flew everywhere.
30 thousand against 30 thousand; although it seemed equal, in such a large scale, moreover in a scenario of infantry against cavalry, the Xiao Alliance had no chance of winning.
Before the numerous players were able to show off their skills, they were trampled into meat paste.
In less than an hour, victory and defeat was decided. Apart from a few of them that managed to get out and flee back to Dali, the remaining ones all died in battle.
At this point, the Battle of Dongchuan Prefecture basically came to an end. All that remained was to settle the loose ends.
With the battle just ended, Er’Lai and Zhao Po Nu who were chasing rushed over. The three armies of Great Xia met at the border.
Letting their deputies handle the matter, the three of them gathered together.
Zhao Po Nu took out two military orders and said solemnly, “The commander has orders!”
Ma Chao and Er’Lai bowed, “Receive the order!”
Zhao Po Nu first looked at Er’Lai, “Wuwei General will lead the 4th legion to take care of the prisoners and sweep Dongchuan Prefecture while defending Consonance City.”
“Yes general!”
Er’Lai cupped his fists and accepted the order.
During the Battle of Yongren City, the Alliance Army had escaped in all directions. Apart from the prisoners that were already rounded up, there were still many of them scattered around, which needed to be gathered up and reorganized.
During this battle, amongst the 200 thousand Alliance Army troops, apart from the 10 thousand that escaped, the remaining were either captured or killed.
Currently, there were around 60 thousand Alliance Army troops captured. As for how many they would be in the end, it would have to wait till they swept up Dongchuan Prefecture.
This work would take a long time, which was okay since the 4th legion was in Consonance City and could act as deterrence to others. Like that, Er’Lai was able to lead his troops to sweep up the prefecture while also working with the Privy Court to reorganize the troops.
Following which, Zhao Po Nu looked at Ma Chao, “Fenwei General will lead troops into Dali Prefecture to take down Yun City.” Taking down Yun City would help remove one hidden cancer.
“Yes!”
There were only a small number of troops left in Yun City, so it would not be too difficult.
Dali Imperial Court had no reason to interfere. Losing 50 thousand guards had a huge impact on that person in the palace, and he would not be able to affect Dali Imperial Court decisions.
There were restrictions to the power that Gaia gave.
Zhao Po Nu took out a letter and passed it to Ma Chao, “This is an order that the king told the commander to pass to you.”
When Ma Chao heard that, he was really solemn.
Of course, Ouyang Shuo could directly order Ma Chao but that would be obviously disregarding Baiqi’s position. Hence, even if Ouyang Shuo was the king, he had to follow some rules and procedures.
Ma Chao opened up the letter, and he understood immediately.
Ouyang Shuo ordered Ma Chao to not occupy Yun City after he took it down. Instead, he was to destroy it. Like that, the city that much hard work was spent to build up would instantly be turned to nothing.
The entire Dali Prefecture would return to the state of the wilderness.
Hence, before destroying the territory stone steele, Ma Chao would work with the Yunnan Provincial Governor office to move the civilians into Great Xia territory. Anyone who did not follow would be killed.
Ouyang Shuo was trying to empty Yun City.
Naturally, he had his reasons for doing so.
If Ouyang Shuo did not remember wrongly, Gaia would have an update relating to the prefecture which the imperial city was located in.
After the update, unless player territories chose to seek protection from the imperial city, they would be listed as an enemy and could be attacked.
In the end, Gaia was going to make the prefecture where the imperial city was a land for the city. Regardless of if a dynasty had moved in, it was the same.
Hence, there was no meaning in occupying Yun City. Why not move everything out and not leave anything for the Dali Imperial Court?
Considering everything, it could make up for the war expenditure.
The future Dali Imperial Court would have less help than Great Sui.
…
After announcing the military order, Zhao Po Nu also needed to lead to remaining troops back to Yongren City.
The matter of Dongchuan Prefecture was settled. With the Guards Legion Corps 4th legion in Consonance City, Baiqi could focus on going up north into the Shu Lands to command the final battle.
In the end, this battle with the Dali Alliance Army was just an appetizer.
The true battle was in the Shu Lands and in Swordsman City.
Who knows how the battle in Dongchuan Prefecture would affect the China region?
************
Handan City, City Lord’s Manor.
The moment that Wang Meng killed himself, Di Chen received a notification.
“How did this happen!”
His face was ashen white; it was ugly to the maximum.
When Fenghua Juedai saw his reaction, her heart shook. She had rarely seen Di Chen like this, and she asked with concern, “What happened?”
Di Chen said bitterly, “Wang Meng killed himself!”
“What?”
Juedai Fenghua was in disbelief. After a while, she looked at Di Chen with sympathy.
‘Why is fate so unfair to this guy.’
Two days ago, they had gotten news about the ambush. Di Chen’s mood at that time was really bad; he was really depressed.
Luckily, the failure of this plan did not have much of an actual effect on Handan City.
However, the sudden suicide of Wang Meng was undoubtedly a huge hit to Di Chen. It was not easy to get another famous General after Lianpo, but who knew it would be like a shooting star and fade quickly.
Losing Wang Meng was like losing an arm to Handan City.
Seeing Di Chen deep in thought, she consoled, “Wang Meng is a decisive and intense person. He was feeling guilty about the Great Xia defeat, and this was a huge hit to him. Even if he returns to the territory, he would not be able to lead army.”
“Sigh, winning and losing is normal, why did he do this!” Di Chen could not help but sigh, and he also regretted letting Wang Meng lead the troops, “I should have let Lianpo go instead.”
Juedai Fenghua shook her head, “We were too careless this time. We did not expect them to actually use the disarmament to sneakily gather troops. If Lianpo went, it would be a bigger loss for us.”
Lianpo was the symbolic figure of the Handan City Army, and its core person. If he died or was captured in this battle, it would be worst.
Di Chen said viciously, “I’ll definitely take revenge for this!”