Chapter 390: End of the Road

As night fell, the Yue army responsible for blocking withdrew from the battlefield quietly.

Although they did it very carefully, the act of retreating still attracted the attention of the Great Dayu army.

"General Ruan, the opportunity to atone for your crimes has come."

"The rebels are starting to retreat; mix your people into them, take the opportunity to seize the city gate, and welcome the main army into the city to suppress the rebellion!"

Li Sanqi said with a smile.

If it weren't for taking Liangshan City faster, the trash fish arranged by the Yue army would have been taken by them long ago.

Deliberately slowing down the advance speed, they were waiting for now.

"Regional Commander, I know them all; bringing the team over is easy to be exposed!"

Ruan Yunxiang refused tactfully.

Choosing to surrender to the Great Dayu army was partly because of the unfair treatment in the army, but more because he was afraid of death.

Letting a general afraid of death execute a dangerous mission like seizing the city was clearly making things difficult.

"Rest assured, we blocked the news from the beginning."

"Your abandonment of darkness for light, the rebels don't know yet."

Knowing them is just right; if you didn't know them, you would have to think of ways to gain their trust.

Recently, there have been many rebel stragglers; adding your unit is not eye-catching either.

Those participating in this operation are all the rear-guard troops from the beginning; they won't discover any problems.

After bringing the team into the city, take action to seize the city gate immediately; there is no need to worry about anyone leaking the news.

Persist for a quarter of an hour, and our people will arrive.

After taking Liangshan City, this official will ask for merit for you from the Marquis and guarantee you an official position."

Li Sanqi analyzed calmly.

Impersonating the enemy to cheat the city gate—these were all old routines.

When suppressing the rebels, Li Mu had performed it, and he had witnessed it with his own eyes.

Following suit now, whether it could succeed, Li Sanqi was also not sure.

To take the Liangshan region in the shortest time, he felt he should gamble.

Success means occupying Liangshan in the shortest time, and by the way, recovering a servant army, laying the foundation for subsequent governance of Annan by Annan people.

Gambling and losing, at most sacrificing a group of surrendered soldiers; the loss is affordable.

"The end general obeys the order!"

Ruan Yunxiang answered with a complex expression.

The time to submit the "name card" (proof of loyalty) had come, and there was no room for refusal; after tonight, he would be a "Yue traitor" hated by everyone in the Great Yue Imperial Dynasty.

If the Great Dayu army won a great victory and successfully annexed Great Yue, it would be fine; otherwise, he would have to bear the infamy of ten thousand generations.

"Don't have psychological pressure; after this battle, Annan will become history, and in the future, there will only be Jiaozhi Administration Commissioner."

"Open the history books; Annan only broke away from the Central Plains dynasty at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the time of independence is not as long as the time of great unification."

"What we are doing now is maintaining national unity."

"After it is done, you and I can both leave our names in history and be respected by future generations."

"News came from the rear that the government troops have successfully recovered Shenglong City and are sweeping through the Hanoi region."

"The rebels are out of Liangshan, and they will find that Annan has changed its sky; they have wings but cannot fly!"

Li Sanqi opened his mouth to soothe.

School wasn't attended in vain; these conventional rhetoric to fool people, he could already use skillfully.

In essence, it was sophistry from another angle.

Changing to another time, Ruan Yunxiang wouldn't be fooled.

But now the situation was different; he had no better choice and could only force himself to believe.

Liangshan City.

"Crying, crying, if you cry again, I will cook your whole family!"

The beauty in his arms kept crying, making Pu Yufeng very angry.

In the past, he liked to train such good family women the most; the more they cried, the more excited he was.

But now it was different.

The enemy troops were about to reach the city; it was the time to release pressure, so there was no energy to cherish the jade.

"Marquis, forgive the crime, the slave..."

"Kill!"

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Shouting and killing mixed with the sound of artillery fire, extinguishing Pu Yufeng's desire.

"Get out!"

Pushing the woman in his arms away, he put on his clothes as fast as possible and hurried to the command post.

The enemy troops were attacking the city; this was a matter of life and death.

"How is the situation?"

Looking at a middle-aged Assistant Regional Commander walking over, Pu Yufeng asked with concern.

"Marquis, something bad happened!"

"Among the troops responsible for blocking in front, some people defected to the enemy troops."

"These traitors impersonated stragglers, and when we relaxed our vigilance, they directly seized the city gate."

"By the time everyone reacted, the Great Dayu army main force had already killed their way into the city."

"Now each unit is organizing a counterattack, but the enemy troops' combat effectiveness is too strong; I fear we won't be able to do anything to them for a while."

The Assistant Regional Commander explained with a wronged expression.

No matter how high the garrison commander's vigilance was, it was useless; the group of enemies who seized the city gate were themselves Yue army stragglers.

Many were familiar faces; verifying them one by one was also their own people.

Recently, they had also received quite a few stragglers, and there hadn't been any trouble before.

No one expected that in such a short time, there would be organized troops incited by the enemy.

"Trash!"

"How great is the influence of the Great Dayu Dynasty—don't you all know?"

"In the country, there are many who want to be traitors to Great Dayu."

"If they are willing to offer conditions to buy them off, there will absolutely be no lack..."

Before finishing the sentence, Pu Yufeng suddenly realized he had made a slip of the tongue.

Some things are facts but cannot be said.

Whether it was claiming the title of Emperor in secret or promoting the Great Yue Invincible Theory, it was all to eliminate the influence of the suzerain state.

If the Northern Expedition war succeeded, then everything would be easy to say.

Now the great war failed, and the previous efforts were all in vain.

Including high-level generals like him, the "fear of Great Dayu" hidden deep in their hearts was all awakened.

The officers and soldiers below probably couldn't be an exception either.

With fear in their hearts, when fighting, they couldn't help but be timid.

The enemy troops adopted political means to win over, and some of the captured Yue army officers and soldiers defected—this was completely normal.

"Marquis, speak carefully!"

The middle-aged Assistant Regional Commander lowered his voice and said.

Poking through this layer of window paper was equivalent to publicly accusing the Emperor of being fond of greatness and success, launching this wrong war.

With the war going on to this point, the dissatisfaction in the army toward Hu Xinbo had indeed accumulated to a critical point, only needing a spark to explode.

But for an individual general, whoever ignited this powder keg would have to follow it to the grave.

"Fine, everyone here is our own people; no one will spread it out!"

"Pass down the order for all generals to return to their command positions."

"If we can't block the enemy troops, then use the buildings in the city to fight street battles with the enemy troops!"

Pu Yufeng ordered while pretending to be calm.

The Great Dayu army's combat effectiveness, he had experienced it.

The enemy had entered the city; wanting to drive them out again was almost impossible.

His mission was to block and drag the enemy troops, not to defeat the enemy troops.

If they couldn't win in a head-on confrontation, then use street battles to delay time.

With buildings for cover, the power of the enemy's artillery could be weakened by more than half.

From the time he entered Liangshan, he had prepared to fight street battles, and a series of tactical deployments had been made beforehand, which could now be put to use.

In the night, bloody slaughter filled the whole city.

After defeating the city defense garrison, the Great Dayu army quickly controlled the city wall, and immediately encountered trouble.

The enemy troops used the night as cover, relying on buildings as bunkers, and launched sneak attacks on the Great Dayu army entering the city from time to time.

The Great Dayu army soldiers who were attacked didn't show weakness and decisively launched the fiercest counterattack.

Both sides unfolded fierce contention around every street and every building.

"Pass down the order not to entangle with the enemy troops, and directly set fire to burn the city!"

Looking at the casualty figures that kept increasing in his hands, Li Sanqi decisively changed the combat plan.

Like most cities of this era, the main buildings in Liangshan City were also wooden buildings.

Once a fire disaster was encountered, it would burn a large area.

Fire attacks are easy to use, but the price that needs to be paid is also very heavy.

Once it burns, the fire does not distinguish between friend and foe.

While striking the enemy, it would also threaten the safety of the residents in the city.

If it were in the country, unless it was a last resort, no one would dare to use such a ruthless method.

But this was enemy territory, so the situation changed.

The Great Dayu army entering Annan needed a bloody slaughter to establish prestige.

Such an order could not wait for the Regional Commander to issue it.

A good subordinate should be brave in taking responsibility and carry the infamy in advance.

"Regional Commander, once the fire is set, we will inevitably be delayed in Liangshan City for ten days or half a month."

"By then, other garrisons will have run to the front, and we will be left here eating dust."

"The soldiers below, I fear, will have complaints."

The Regional Commander reminded.

Entering Annan to fight, the various garrisons of the two Guang provinces were both friendly forces and competitors.

Different from the shirking of other Great Dayu armies when fighting, within the Li Mu group, war had always been regarded by everyone as a ladder to rise in the world.

The generals in the army all relied on battle achievements to rise; everyone's longing for military merit was stronger than any army of the same era.

"If the soldiers have complaints, the generals will do ideological work."

"The enemy troops clearly want to resist stubbornly; according to normal fighting methods, our one garrison cannot eat these twenty thousand enemy troops."

"Now it is night; they don't know how many people we have, so they chose passive defense."

"After dawn, the enemy troops will react, and we will have to break two big teeth."

"If we can't hold it, asking for help from nearby troops will be a great loss of face!"

Li Sanqi scolded immediately.

In his view, being able to eat these twenty thousand enemy troops alone meant this war was not fought in vain.

Wanting to obtain more would lead to choking.

Even if they didn't spare the cost and found someone to join forces to eat this group of enemy troops, they might not necessarily be able to reap many benefits in the subsequent great battles.

There was no way; the landing troops were sweeping through Hanoi and would probably bump into the troops led by the Annan King.

Three garrisons of regular troops, plus large and small righteous troops, the total military strength was probably no less than one hundred thousand.

With so many troops, if they still couldn't block the Annan King's path, then the Regional Commander could go home and hold his children.

Intercepting a bit, the pursuing troops behind would quickly pounce on them.

With so many garrisons competing, the military merit each garrison could get on average would not be as good as eating the enemy troops in front of them with full strength.

With the issuance of the military order, under the blessing of the wind, the raging fire quickly spread into the city.

The Yue soldiers who were originally hiding in the buildings and preparing to sneak attack the Great Dayu army instantly suffered bad luck.

Facing the scorching heat, countless Yue army soldiers fled toward the rear.

The originally tight street battle defense line instantly collapsed.

"Extinguish the fire!"

"Hurry and organize people to extinguish the fire!"

Looking at the soaring fire, Pu Yufeng hurriedly ordered.

This scale of fire, even in later generations, would be difficult to extinguish rapidly, let alone this era.

Without high-tech equipment, relying purely on manual water carrying to extinguish the fire, the efficiency was truly limited.

"Marquis, the enemy troops are all lunatics."

"The fire in the city is already out of control; hurry and order a retreat!"

The Assistant Regional Commander advised hurriedly.

Under normal circumstances, breaking through a city, the next step would be the time to get rich.

Although their street battle fighting method brought some trouble to the enemy troops, it was ultimately just to delay time.

As long as the enemy was steady and pushed forward step by step, they were also happy to slowly give up the position.

Everyone acted in a play, and after a few days, they finished the mission and closed work.

The enemy troops could also not pay a price and completely receive Liangshan City; how one looked at it, it was a win-win.

Never did they expect that the enemy refused their kindness, not only not cooperating with them but instead using ruthless moves as soon as they came up.

Encountering such an enemy that didn't want spoils of war and didn't care about the city, they were considered to have hit an iron plate.

The wind was blowing right toward them, not only was the big fire burning toward them, but even the smoke and dust were brought over.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

While speaking, the smoke rushing toward them choked everyone until they couldn't breathe.

"Withdraw!"

Pu Yufeng suppressed his unwillingness and issued the order.

Now it was no longer a question of whether to defend, but if they didn't run quickly, they wouldn't be able to run.

The mission was important, but their little lives were more important.

Originally, he still hoped to use the Battle of Liangshan to let the enemy know their power and force the Great Dayu army to give up marching south.

Facts proved that these were all fantasies.

Compared to the Great Dayu army with rich combat experience, their troops that only bullied natives were simply incomparable.

The gap between the two sides, from daily training to the commander's command level, was not on the same level.

When the war in Liangshan burned, the Yue army main force finally walked out of the mountains.

Looking at the flat land in front of him, Hu Xinbo's good mood didn't last for a stick of incense before it was broken by the Great Dayu army appearing in the distance.

"Let the elephant troops attack; I want to let the Great Dayu people know the power of our Great Yue!"

Hu Xinbo ordered fiercely.

Having been stifled for so long, it was finally time for him to perform.

In his mind, the picture of defeating the Great Dayu army, recovering Hanoi, and then counterattacking the two Guang provinces had already emerged.

In the blink of an eye, one hundred war elephants appeared in front of the two armies, and the earth trembled.

This kind of behemoth, just the body size alone, could bring heavy pressure to people.

Unfortunately, they had bad luck and encountered the Great Dayu army that had experience in fighting elephant troops.

Even if they hadn't experienced it personally, they had heard the old soldiers brag about it, and the generals had received professional training.

"Cavalry, use muskets to harass from both wings."

"Artillery, aim at the elephant herd and fire freely!"

Wan Zhongxuan ordered instinctively.

In an instant, dense firepower covered the elephant herd.

Countless cannonballs flew out, the sound of violent explosions rang out, followed by the wailing of elephants.

Just one round of artillery strike, twelve war elephants fell unwillingly, and the surviving war elephants also fell into a state of madness.

Not rushing out far, the second round of firepower coverage followed, and there were more than a dozen war elephant corpses on the battlefield.

Followed by a new round of artillery attack.

Compared to the earth-native elephant troops encountered before, the Annan country elephant troops were better trained and also died faster.

The war elephants' big size made them living targets on the battlefield.

No matter how thick-skinned they were, they were ultimately flesh and blood and couldn't withstand cannonball attacks.

"Impossible!"

"This is impossible!"

"How could the Great Dayu people's artillery be so powerful!"

Hu Xinbo, who was watching the battle, couldn't help but roar on the spot.

Witnessing the Great Dayu army's artillery fire, and then looking at his own artillery, the whole world changed.

If the Great Dayu army at Zhennan Pass also used artillery with such great power, he would have ordered the withdrawal of troops long ago.

Compared to the Great Dayu Dynasty, originally their national strength was far behind.

He thought the Great Dayu army was rotten and could go up to pick up a bargain, but never did he expect to hit an iron plate all the way.

"Your Majesty, calm down!"

"Artillery is important, but what determines the outcome of the war is not just artillery; more importantly, it depends on people."

Chen Chuyang advised hurriedly.

At the critical moment of the two armies' confrontation, the Yue army now had no way out.

Either defeat the enemy troops blocking the front and kill a bloody path for the main army.

Or be blocked by the enemy troops, wait for the pursuing troops behind to catch up, and be annihilated here by pincers.

The more critical the moment, the more the Regional Commander needs to remain rational.

Any wrong decision would lead the main army into a path of no return.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 391 =====