Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1201 – Destruction of Great Qing
Apart from feeling frustration and regret, Di Chen also had to face an even more difficult situation. Their conquest of Great Jin had failed, so how would Great Zhou face the retaliation of Great Xia?
“It’s time for the six country alliance to take out some sincerity.”
Di Chen looked out at the China region map on the wall. He was deep in thought. In the event that Great Zhou could not go against Great Xia alone, he could only strengthen the alliance and hug together to survive.
Although it was frustrating, it was the only feasible idea.
…
8th month, 13th day, just as the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps went around Handan City, the Leopard Legion Corps led by Hanxin was only a day away from Fallen Phoenix City.
When he received the report, Lianpo did not dare to remain in Phoenix Castle. He brought his remaining palace guards to flee toward the east.
Who would have expected the 10 thousand Great Xia Guards Legion Corps infantry scattered at the outskirts to suddenly charge out and fearlessly block their way to the east?
Following which, the Great Jin Guards Legion Corps under the leadership of Meng Tian aggressively charged out, surrounding the palace guards. The Leopard Legion Corps vanguard forces also arrived on the quickly battlefield to join in.
This time, the Great Zhou palace guards was surrounded by dangers.
Lianpo broke out in cold sweat. He did not dare to waste time with the enemy. The moment the Leopard Legion Corps pounced on him, all the palace guards would die here. Helplessly, he could only be vicious, abandoning his troops to save himself. He arranged a legion as the backlines while bringing the remaining 200 thousand troops to retreat toward the east.
Through this battle, the Great Zhou palace guards lost close to half of their numbers, hurting their essence.
Due to the grain route being destroyed, the palace guards suffering heavy casualties, and the entry of the Leopard Legion Corps into the Great Jin battlefield, Wuqi judged that they would not be able to wipe out Great Jin. As such, he requested to retreat the troops.
When Di Chen got the report, he helplessly nodded in agreement.
The bad defeat of the palace guards let Di Chen realize that in the Great Jin battlefield, Great Zhou did not have the initiative. They control not over their fates. If this dragged on, they would not even be able to smoothly pull back their main force into the country.
The army was one of the pillars of the country and was also the biggest chip in Di Chen’s hands. Once the army suffered heavy casualties, the foundations of the country would be shaken.
This was a risk that Di Chen did not dare to take.
Especially during such an uncertain and weird war situation.
However, before they retreated, Wuqi organized another strong campaign on the blazing legion corps, once again killing close to 70 thousand of blazing legion corps before leaving the battlefield with satisfaction.
As expected from the God General Wuqi, his foresight was not limited to the battlefield, as he also knew how to think from a strategic point of view. He knew that under the circumstances that Great Zhou was unable to take down Great Jin, greatly weakening their troops would mean that they would be able to protect Great Zhou and let them be helpless in taking revenge against Great Zhou.
Such strategic foresight was what Lianpo lacked.
If not, after the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps managed to breakthrough, Lianpo would have led the palace guards out of the canyon, either going toward the border or gathering with Wuqi’s forces. No matter what, he would not have slipped up so badly in the end.
If it were not for him being decisive at the end, the palace guards would have totally been crushed.
First, Lianpo had underestimated the courage of the 10 thousand Guards Legion Corps infantry. After all, with so little men, how would they dare to block the path of the palace guards? However, he did not know that the Guards Legion Corps had the courage to fight to the death.
Secondly, Lianpo underestimated the ability of the soldier saint to capture opportune moments. The Leopard Legion Corps vanguards arriving on the battlefield did not give the palace guards any room to breathe and caught Lianpo off guard.
The root of the problem was that Lianpo had underestimated his opponent.
The price of this mistake was the army that Di Chen relied on the most suffering heavy casualties.
Along with the Great Zhou army retreating, the Battle of Great Jin that lasted for close to a month finally came to an end.
After paying a heavy price, Great Jin managed to barely hold onto their land. Through this battle, the blazing legion corps was totally wasted, and the Guards Legion Corps also suffered heavy casualties, losing close to 100 thousand men.
After this battle, Great Jin went from 600 thousand troops at their peak to around 400 thousand. In terms of numbers, they could not compare with even Qin, Tang, and Song, falling down the rankings of strong countries.
Apart from the casualties, under the flames of war, Great Jin territory was riddled with holes. Civilian life was chaotic, and many raiders and bandits rose, causing both direct and indirect economic losses of no less than 15 million gold.
The dynasty economy would definitely go through a period of pain and even backward movement.
Considering the new background of the China region and the future China landscape, Great Jin would have no chance to rise up.
A dynasty was facing a fall just like that.
…
Although they had badly hurt Great Jin, Great Zhou themselves was not in a good state.
A million troops sent out, not to mention the enormous amounts of grain used, but they had also lost troops, with 200 thousand of them dying. In the end, they did not even gain anything.
To make matters worse, Di Chen had to fulfil his promises.
The moment the news of Great Zhou pulling their troops out of Great Jin was spread, Song and Ming both sent envoys to rush Great Zhou into fulfilling their promise to give Jingchu Province to Song and Donghai Province to Ming.
Di Chen argued that since Great Jin was not taken down, the promise had to be delayed.
Song and Ming did not agree, arguing, “We have already helped Great Zhou defend the border. As for Great Zhou not taking down Great Jin, that is your problem and does not concern the promise.”
Di Chen was speechless. Although, he wanted to argue, the two envoys made a final statement, “Your country has a week to move out from the land. If not, do not blame us for forcefully occupying it.”
This was not an empty threat.
As the envoy gave this statement, the Great Song Guards Legion Corps had already surrounded Pill Sun City. Meanwhile, the Great Ming Guards Legion Corps defending Jianye had sent out 50 thousand men to move toward Blood Red City.
The situation in the mid plains instantly became nervous.
Both Song Taizu and Ming Taizu knew that under such a situation, Great Zhou had nothing to rely on, and for them to continue to rise up in the wilderness, they had to have enough land.
To take down a province of land, the two countries did not mind going to war.
When Di Chen received the report, although he was so furious that he gritted his teeth, he could not act up.
Currently, Great Zhou was at its weakest. They were lacking in troops, and their entire border was defended by Song and Tang. If they flipped on them, Great Zhou would not have the ability to fight back.
Even if the Great Zhou army smoothly returned to Handan City, Di Chen did not dare to take the risk to teleport them to Pill Sun City or Blood Red City to engage with Song and Ming.
If that really happened, Great Xia would be the biggest winner.
After considering everything, this bitter pill was something that Di Chen had to swallow no matter what.
In the end, after the war, not to mention them not getting anything in return, they even lost two provinces, what a huge loss. Di Chen could only hope that they could strengthen the six country alliance using this chance.
Of course, it should now be called the five country alliance because Great Qing was just two to three days away from being wiped out.
8th month, 15th day, Huo Qubing led 200 thousand Guards Legion Corps troops and galloped unrestrained across Jingdu Province and into Great Qing territory.
What happened next was surprising, but it was also not.
The 200 thousand Guards Legion Corps and the 210 thousand Eagle Legion Corps troops led by Li Mu surrounded the 200 thousand eight banner iron cavalry outside Jingdu City.
Two against one, it ended in total defeat for the eight banners army.
This battle lasted for a full three days and three nights. 600 thousand troops engaged in a life and death battle. In a radius of 10 miles, everyone could hear the rumbling horse hooves and the clashing of blades.
War horses neighing, heroes buried in the dirt.
On the afternoon of the 3rd day, of the 200 thousand Qing troops, 70 thousand were dead. The remaining ones were totally exhausted, their morale was low, and their fighting spirit had been lost.
Seeing that, Huo Qubing and Li Mu tried to convince them to surrender.
In front of a heaven like power, human strength could change nothing. Since Great Xia gave them a staircase to step down from, the 130 thousand Qing troops did not need to make any unneeded resistance and cleanly surrendered.
Some of the loyal ones were unfortunately murdered by their brothers and used to ask for credit.
The next morning, Huo Qubing led his troops to accept the prisoners. Li Mu’s forces became the spear to head right for Jingdu. The Guards Legion Corps had charged for so long, and it was time for them to rest.
On the contrary, Li Mu’s forces had been resting up and desired to fight.
Huo Qubing knew how to act. He knew that the Guards Legion Corps had collected enough war contributions. If they went to attack Jingdu, it would be too greedy.
Such an overbearing nature would be looked down on by others.
…
Great Qing Dynasty, Jingdu City.
After learning that the 200 thousand troops were wiped out, the Imperial Court was stunned and everyone was terrified. A week ago, Li Jing had led the main force to blow open the Jingdu city wall and entered the city to fight an alley battle against the Qing army.
The army outside of the city was the last hope of Jingdu.
“Now that hope was extinguished.”
Kangxi Emperor laid paralyzed on his throne. Currently, he was filled with unspeakable exhaustion.
Since he had entered the wilderness, due to having a neighbor like Great Xia, he had never had a comfortable day. He lived in trepidation and worry about how to keep the foundations of his ancestors going.
However, the game rules of the wilderness were really unfair for emperors like him.
Gaia gave the imperial city a really strong army but did not give them comparable land and power. They barely lasted till they could interfere in the battle of the wilderness, and by that time, China was under the shadow of Great Xia, and they had no room to expand.
“So difficult.”
Kangxi gave out a similar exclamation to Di Chen.
Along with the Great Xia Army charging into the city, the way the Jingdu civilians looked toward the nobles became unusual. Their gazes were filled with darkness, making one panic.
“Anyone not from my race would not be on the same side.”
Thinking about this phrase in ‘Zuozhuan(left turn),’ Kangxi did not feel good.
In history, Han Chinese were filled with unhappiness and resistance toward the Manchu. They were long cleaned out during Shunzhi’s rule and Kangxi did not need to worry about them back then. The current wilderness was the land of the Han Chinese, so the situation of the Manchu people was understandable.
The moment Great Xia attacked Jingdu City, the Jingdu civilians might even take out fireworks to celebrate.
Just as Kangxi was at a loss, the 8th month, 20th day quickly arrived. On that morning, Li Mu led 200 thousand Eagle Legion Corps troops and appeared on the west outskirts of Jingdu City.
Jingdu City was in a hard to bear silence, and the Imperial Court was totally silent too.
When Kangxi received the report, he gave up on his last bit of hope. He did not wish to drag the entire Manchu royal family into the abyss. That day, he surrendered to Great Xia and ended his short rule of Jingdu Prefecture.
In the China region, another country had been wiped once again.
