novelhk Chapter 20 A Defeated Soul
Chapter 20 A Defeated Soul
"The city gates are open!"
"The city has fallen!"
"Kill them! Don't let a single one escape!"
With a series of roars, the Crimson Cherry Army, like an ancient beast, tore a huge gap in the city gate.
The massive cavalry charge rampaged like a flood, instantly shattering the sternums of several Jurchen soldiers who tried to stop them. They were sent flying backward, coughing up blood and dying on the spot.
"Ning Yuanfeng, take your men to the garrison camp immediately," Zhao Yingluo shouted as she pierced the chest of a Jurchen soldier with her sword.
Vanguard General Ning Yuanfeng hesitated for a moment, but still immediately led a cavalry unit towards the city defense army camp.
There, 30,000 city defense troops of Beining City are imprisoned. Once they are rescued, they can join forces with the Chiying Army to annihilate all the Jurchen troops.
Meanwhile, Tu Lan's army finally returned to Daman City.
Looking at the devastated city walls and the thousands of corpses on the city towers, Tu Lan roared to the sky in fury: "Qin Xuan, I swear that one day I will tear you to pieces!"
"Imperial Advisor, General, you've finally returned!"
Royal Army Commander Modo stepped forward, his expression solemn.
Tu Lan gave him a cold glance: "What were our losses?"
"We're still counting, but we expect it to be no less than 10,000 people," Modo said with a deep breath and a sigh of relief.
"Tu Lan Army, listen to my command! Prepare your troops immediately and follow me..." Tu Lan suddenly gave the order, but the Grand Preceptor Gurna immediately stopped him.
He shook his head and said solemnly, "This is not the time to act rashly! As the saying goes, don't pursue a desperate enemy. If we chase after the Shence Army now, we will only be in greater danger."
"Are we just going to let him get away like this?"
Tu Lan was somewhat unconvinced.
Gulna nodded helplessly: "If we go after them, and the Shence Army has set up an ambush, our army will surely fail. If the Shence Army has not set up an ambush, given their marching speed, they are probably already close to Beining City by now."
This was originally a well-intentioned strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao," gambling on whether Tu Lan would be willing to return to Daman City to carry out the rescue.
But the consequences of this gamble were far too great, so great that not only Tu Lan, but even the Jurchen emperor Fuchahar dared not take the risk.
“This young King of Chu of Daqi truly lives up to his title as a military genius, but Tulan, you don’t need to be too discouraged. Today’s loss was entirely due to our lack of preparedness. If we were to face it again, we might not necessarily lose.” Gurna was afraid that Tulan would carry this burden in his heart, so he tried to comfort him.
But he knew in his heart that even if they fought a hundred times more, the result would be the same.
Qin Xuan seized the opportune moment early on, blocked the news, and with Daqi indirectly hindering things, the current outcome is already the best possible result.
"Fortunately, Beining City is still under our control, so as long as the Great Qi Allied Forces arrive in the North, the Shence Army will surely perish." Gulna had already planned ahead and said with a smile.
Tu Lan snorted coldly, but also gave up the idea of pursuing them.
Just then, a scout rushed in with an urgent report: "The north gate of Beining City has been captured. We request reinforcements!"
At that moment, Tu Lan's head exploded with a buzzing sound, and even Gulna was stunned.
"Impossible! The army left 30,000 troops to guard the city before they left. How could Beining City have fallen?" Tu Lan grabbed the scout by the neck, his eyes looking like he wanted to devour him.
"I dare not conceal the truth, it was indeed reported by express messenger from 800 li away." The scout was terrified and turned pale, but he still continued, "An hour after the main army left, a cavalry force wearing silver armor suddenly launched a surprise attack. Our soldiers suffered losses yesterday... and thus the city was quickly breached!"
The scout dared not elaborate on the specific reasons for the loss of combat strength, but Gulna and Tulan both knew the truth.
The two of them never dreamed that simply doing the same thing as usual would result in such a terrible price.
"Mount up and follow me back!"
Tu Lan was furious; he absolutely could not watch the city he had personally conquered be handed over to others.
But Gulna stepped forward again, angrily shouting, "Nonsense! Do you think you can take back Beining City if you go back now?"
"As far as I know, there is a cavalry unit in the Shence Army that wears silver armor and is extremely powerful. It is led by a woman and is called the Crimson Cherry Army."
"Only the Crimson Cherry Army possesses such combat power, enabling them to capture a city in an extremely short time."
“Tulan, this time we have been utterly defeated, and we accept it wholeheartedly.” Gulna sighed, paused, and said, “Come back to the palace with me to apologize!”
If leading the army back to reinforce was a last resort, then the loss of Beining City was due to the carelessness of Gurna and Tulan.
Gulner only thought of the open strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" from beginning to end, but he never thought that Qin Xuan would actually divide the Shence Army into two routes and play a trick of cutting off the fuel supply.
At this moment, the Jurchen national advisor felt a deep sense of powerlessness!
With a king like Chu in the Great Qi Dynasty, the Jurchen state's future prospects are probably not good.
"Are we just going to abandon those 30,000 Tulan soldiers like this?" Tulan knew that Gulna was right, but those soldiers had fought alongside him through thick and thin, like brothers, and he couldn't easily sever ties with them.
“You are a soldier, so you have to learn to accept the punishment of failure. If I’m not mistaken, Qin Xuan has already arrived in Beining City with the Shence Army, and he will definitely attack from the south gate.”
"Given this situation, how many men do you think you need to bring to rescue those 30,000 soldiers? Or, by the time you reach Beining City, how many of those 30,000 soldiers do you think will still be alive?"
A hint of sadness was also revealed in Gurna's cloudy eyes; after all, they were also citizens of the Jurchen Kingdom.
Tu Lan fell silent; he couldn't think of any words to refute him.
"Let's go. Once bitten, twice shy. I look forward to the next encounter with this young military genius." Gulna, as expected of a national strategist, had already emerged from the shadow of defeat in just a few minutes.
Moreover, the battle situation he just analyzed for Tu Lan was indeed accurate.
At that very moment, Qin Xuan's Shence Army had already breached the southern city wall of Beining.
The reason it was able to move so quickly was twofold: firstly, a large number of the troops defending the southern city had been redeployed, and they had long since lost the will to resist.
Secondly, Ning Yuanfeng rescued the original garrison of Beining City. Although these scoundrels were weak in combat, at least some of them were still full of courage and capable of killing the enemy.
With the addition of the Crimson Cherry Army, the three forces converged, and the remaining Jurchen troops were swallowed up in the blink of an eye.
In this battle, the Red Cherry Army suffered more than 3,000 dead and more than 5,000 wounded, while the Shence Army suffered even greater losses, with more than 10,000 killed in the attack on Daman City alone.
However, such battle losses are almost negligible when considered in the context of the overall battle.
"Your Highness, Luo Ying has fulfilled her mission."
The two reunited, and although only a few hours had passed, it felt like an eternity.
Zhao Luoying's silver armor was now covered in knife marks and mostly stained with blood.
"Thank you for your hard work." Qin Xuan wanted to pull Zhao Luoying into his arms, but the war was not yet over and there were many generals around, so it was inconvenient.
Moreover, he had the most important thing to do at the moment, which was to "punish the city's garrison"!