novelEnd of Taiping Country
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Chapter 524- End of Taiping Country
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Night, cold like water.
As the autumn breeze blew, it brought along a chilly air.
In stark contrast, the current Taiping Country west army base was up in flames, bright as day.
The glow from the fires rose up into the sky and lit up the entire night sky. This light seemed to have awakened the boundless and silent wilderness.
When the Shanhai City Army attacked, a portion of the soldiers had already fallen into deep slumber due to rushing on the road for the entire day. Apart from the soldiers on patrol, it was basically a camp with no defences up.
In all of this, even the heavens were helping Shanhai City. The bright moonlight and the glittering stars worked together to light up the entire camp like it was day, clear for everyone to see.
This was probably luck and prosperity showing its worth, affecting the way the moon and the stars turned and worked. Ever since he defeated Chiyou, Ouyang Shuo's luck had truly formed up in the southwest region and no one could come close to him.
As they say, a son with luck and prosperity would definitely be protected by the heavens.
Taking advantage of the bright night sky, the Shanhai City Army were like wolves and tigers as they engaged in slaughter.
At the same time, the two Cavalry Divisions tailing at the back had finally completed their fake bait mission, so they burst out and charged into the camp.
Facing the pincer of the two armies, the total defeat of the west army was just a matter of time.
Shi Dakai looked at the chaotic camp, as a feeling of desperation rose up in his heart for the first time.
The heavens had forsaken Taiping Country!
This steely man gave out a long sigh; he did not want to give up and tried his best to gather up the troops and break out. As long as he successfully broke out toward the direction of Tianjing City, he would have a chance to live.
Unfortunately, that was not to happen.
The Shanhai City Army had both Baiqi and Han Xin in charge. Once they launched an attack, how would they leave any chance for the Taiping Country Army to breathe? Any way out was tightly sealed.
The various armies worked together, advancing and retreating as one, as they launched a relentless assault, efficiently killing off the entirety of the Taiping Country Army.
In every direction and every corner, they were troops placed around.
The west army camp was like a jail cell, surrounded by the Shanhai City Army with no way out.
The killing shouts reverberated through the wilderness, and the echoes did not fade for a long while.
When Luo Shixin's and Zhang Liao's divisions rushed over, the situation was basically settled. The two elite Cavalry Divisions used the light from the flames to sweep around, killing anyone that tried to put up a fight.
Zhang Liao's forces felt their emotions rise, as they killed the enemies.
The army in front of them had been causing them to be unable to breathe over the past few days.
Who knew that in such a short amount of time, the roles of the two would be completely swapped. Now, the Taiping Country Army was the one getting massacred.
Such a huge difference truly made it hard for one to believe the situation.
In Zhang Liao's heart, he also felt incredibly emotional.
In comparison, the Shanhai City army was really something special.
The soldiers of the Taiping Country Army did consider using the cover of the night to escape into the wilderness.
Unfortunately, how would Han Xin allow that to happen?
Outside the camp, the two legions arranged tens of thousands of archers on alert. If they spotted anyone escaping, they would turn them into living targets.
Facing such an arrow rain, no matter how courageous you were, you would hesitate.
The only way out was to surrender.
Among the spreading flames, there were finally soldiers that gave up and chose to surrender.
They were very clear that they were the last hope of their country.
Now, their hopes were destroyed, and their lives were at risk. Even if they were lucky and escaped, they would not be able to hide from the chasing troops.
Taiping Country was now a broken ship that was about to sink. Rather than sinking along with them, why not board a new ship?
It was with such a mentality that nearing the end, more and more of them surrendered. They were like dominos, surrendering group by group.
At the later stages, if the generals tried to stop them, their soldiers would instantly chop them down. Seeing such a scene, no more generals tried to act as the good guy.
Only till the dead of night did this unassuming slope start to calm down.
All the surrendered soldiers were locked up together, and their weapons and equipment were all taken. The big camp had instantly turned into a temporary jail.
In just one night, everything had changed.
The night sky became darker and darker.
Even the shine from the stars became dimmer and dimmer.
The noisy wilderness regained its previous silence.
Of course, after this period of darkness, the morning quickly arrived.
For the entire night, no one in the camp had any rest.
The Shanhai City soldiers were busy gathering up prisoners, and they did not dare to sleep. Moreover, the Taiping Country soldiers had just become prisoners, so they were feeling really emotional and could not fall asleep.
Two hundred thousand odd soldiers spent four of the hardest hours of their lives together in the darkness.
At 6 AM, the sun finally rose up from the east horizon.
Along with the red sun, the darkness faded away.
The night sky was like a tide, disappearing at a visible rate.
Dawn had once again arrived.
Only at this point did Baiqi and Han Xin have the time to do post battle calculations.
To possess such a high efficiency, one had to thank the professional advisors and talents in the legions.
In the end, the results shocked even Baiqi.
In this battle, out of the 150 thousand forces of the Taiping Country west army, forty thousand died, ninety thousand were captured, and less than twenty thousand escaped.
Out of the four important generals, Shi Dakai was escorted to safety by his personal guards, Li Kaifang was killed, while Xiao Chaogui and Feng Yunshan were captured.
As it was a night battle, the Shanhai City Army had suffered some casualties, but it was a relatively small count.
When the sky turned bright, Zhao Liao and his troops rested for a while before leaving. Since the west army was destroyed, the destruction of Taiping Country was imminent, so they did not need the extra help.
After all, Kunming Prefecture had just become peaceful, and the army needed reorganization. As the legion general, the earlier he returned, the better it was.
Luckily, they were all soldiers, and the military lacked complicated courtesy.
After some simple greetings and goodbyes, they left.
After this period of help, the relationship between Shanhai City and Consonance City had become closer. Not only between the generals but also between the soldiers.
The Cavalry Division led by Luo Shixin naturally returned to their unit. Considering that they had been continuously fighting and were tired, Baiqi decided to let Luo Sixin send the ninety thousand prisoners back to Mulan Stronghold. As they were within the Taiping Country border, he asked the 5th division to follow them to prevent accidents.
When Luo Shixin received the order, he was obviously not happy. He actually wanted to have a look at Tianjing City. Now, it seemed like he would not have the chance.
But as it was a military order, he could only nod his head and agree.
The remaining three divisions of the Dragon Legion and the Leopard Legion would now charge for Tianjing City.
At this point, this battle that had lasted for over a month was finally coming to its end.
11th month, 16th day afternoon, Tianjing City.
Shi Dakai led his remaining troops and fled back to Tianjing City, and their state caused imaginable shock. The news of the west troops being crushed was like a tsunami, shaking the entire Tianjing City.
Despair started to permeate.
The panicky mood was like a virus, spreading as quickly as lightning.
A pessimistic atmosphere instantly enveloped the air of Tianjing City.
News spread that when Shi Dakai went into the palace to meet the king, he wanted to kill himself. If it was not for the guards being a step faster, he would have probably died on the spot.
Seeing that, how could Hong Xiuquan bear to scold this loyal general?
Especially along with the west army falling, the Taiping Country Army, which previously seemed as bright as the stars, now looked a lot dimmer. If they let Shi Dakai die, they really would have no generals to lead them.
And Hong Xiuquan knew that the defeat of the west army was his responsibility.
He arrogantly said that the country was in his control, but he did not expect that Shanhai City had hid everything from him right under his nose.
The humiliation he felt was not something an outsider could understand.
The two of them talked for two hours. As for what they said, outsiders would never know.
They only knew that when Shi Dakai left the palace, he did not even return home. Instead, he went straight for the barracks to organize the troops, packing some clothes and grain.
Those who were sharp would know that the king was getting ready to flee.
That's right, facing such a massive defeat, Hong Xiuquan did not have the confidence to hold and defend the city. Rather than die trying, why not just escape early?
As for the direction of escape, it would naturally be Guilin Prefecture up north.
Taiping Country covered three prefectures. Needless to say, half of Xunzhou had been lost. Zhen An Prefecture was close to Kunming Prefecture, so it was not safe either.
Hence, the only choice was to flee to Guilin Prefecture.
Although Ouyang Shuo had taken down the two passes, Hong Xiuquan had run Xunzhou for close to a year after all. As such, he had a way to break out of this lock.
Furthermore, including the twenty thousand troops of Shi Dakai, Hong Xiuquan had one hundred thousand men at his disposal.
Even if they forcefully attacked the pass, they would still have a chance of winning.
The unusual actions of Shi Dakai caused an uproar in the city. All of a sudden, rumors started flying and the city was about to get out of control.
Helplessly, Hong Xiuquan could only forcefully administer lock down and use the military to calm the situation.
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