The World Online

Chapter 897 – Jingzhou Defeat

Lianpo’s wrong thought caused the situation in the Qin army to get slightly out of control.

The Qin army originally had a lot of racial disputes and factions being set up. As such, some of them were naturally unhappy about Wuqi’s appointment as chief commander. If not, Fu Jian would not arrange for Fu Rong to accompany Wuqi to Shouyang.

These soldiers did not care about Lianpo. Along with Murong Chui and Yao Chang suddenly being removed, the Qiang and Xianbei soldiers became unhappy. After leaving the main camp, they naturally became bolder and bolder.

When Lianpo realized that the situation was not right, it was too late.

As an old general and famous general, Lianpo knew that the more basic the soldier, the more they liked to create their small circles amongst soldiers. If one tried to suppress them, it would turn against them and the situation would become unsalvageable.

The only way was to allow them to continue and allow them to slowly yield to you.

In ancient times, they were many generals who allowed their soldiers to burn, pillage, rob, and rape. Even some famous generals had that habit as a form of reward for their soldiers.

Between morals and victory, Lianpo chose the latter.

Lianpo’s actions made the Qin soldiers really pleased, and their opinions toward this general changed slightly. However, as no one stopped them, they became bolder and bolder.

Everywhere the soldiers passed, lives would be taken and buildings would be burned. Civilians grumbled and moaned, forming a miserable sight.

Even if it were bandits who entered the city, they were not this brutal. To the civilians living in the south, how would they have faced such scenes? As they felt fear, the hatred and anger in their hearts built up.

As for the refugees who escaped down from the north, they could not help but remember their own paths. This time, however, they had nowhere to go.

Although Lianpo did not want to allow it, he had no ability to stop it. At the later stages, even the player soldiers joined in.

As the main general, the only thing that Lianpo could keep in control was the 50 thousand Handan City soldiers. With that, it caused the Handan City soldiers to complain against their general.

“So unfair.”

This time, Lianpo became public enemy number one.

Along with the army proceeding forward, their brutality spread too, all around Yizhou. When the civilians ahead got the news, they were so afraid that they left the cities and headed into the deep mountains.

Before leaving, they hid the grain. As for the things that they could not hide, they destroyed it with fire. When forced into a corner, even the weak would show signs of fighting back.

Apart from escaping into the mountains, they also acted viciously against the Qin army soldiers. Those Qin soldiers who went out alone, many of them did not return.

The further south they went, the tougher and tougher it was.

At the start, Lianpo sent large amounts of grain back. At this time, even their own grain needed to be scoured from all around to gather the sufficient amount.

The morale of the army was hit.

If this continued on, Lianpo would need to ask from grain from the main camp. This made Lianpo, who loved face, to feel really ashamed.

To gather up more grain, their traveling speed became slower and slower.

Just like that, they walked and stopped. On the 11th day of the Battle Map, Lianpo’s forces finally crossed Yuzhou and entered the Jingzhou region. East Jin’s Yuzhou was not that of the Three Kingdoms Era, and it was only the south portion.

In comparison, Jingzhou was like 10 Yuzhous.

Lianpo entering Jingzhou was like a fish entering the ocean. He heaved a sigh of relief. As long as he took down Huan Chong’s forces, the tough times would be over.

However, the moment the army reached Jingzhou, Lianpo got bad news, “The 30 thousand army sent by Fu Rong into Jingzhou has been crushed by Huan Chong’s forces.”

…

Why would the 30 thousand Qin troops suddenly fall? This matter began on the night that Ouyang Shuo learned that Wuqi was appointed as the chief commander.

That day, Ouyang Shuo and Jia Xu discussed to the dead of night. One of their arrangements was against the 30 thousand troops of the Qin army.

Ouyang Shuo knew that if this 30 thousand were remodeled by Wuqi, they would become a huge problem. On the contrary, before Wuqi came into contact with this force, they were a bunch of scattered sand.

The Battle of Fei River in history has proved the unreliability of this Qin army.

Hence, Ouyang Shuo visited Xie Shi at night to ask him to order Huan Chong to attack and destroy those forces.

Of the current East Jin, the Huan family that Huan Chong was from was a huge family. Huan Chong himself was also an experienced general, and the 100 thousand under him were all battle trained.

Although they could not be compared to the north house army, for him and Xie Xuan to split east and west proved that his army was strong too.

When Huan Chong got the order, he took the initiative to attack. The 30 thousand Qin army was naturally crushed in one battle.

…

When he got the news, Lianpo was speechless and a sense of uneasiness rose up in his heart for the first time. Before arriving, Lianpo had sent communications officers into Jingzhou to contact the forces to settle on a meeting point.

Those officers did not return, making Lianpo confused.

Now that the truth was out, Lianpo felt a bit of respect toward Huan Chong for the first time.

Of course, it was only a little.

Based on the intel provided by Fu Jian, Huan Chong had just 100 thousand troops. Not to mention the 250 thousand troops they had, but even with just the 150 thousand player army, Lianpo felt confident about crushing Huan Chong’s forces.

Their fighting strength was not even of the same standard.

Huan Chong crushing the 30 thousand Qin troops was not enough to cause Lianpo to worry. In the main camp, Lianpo had witnessed how ‘strong’ the million Qin army was.

“At least now it gets a little interesting?”

Gazing at the middle of Jingzhou, Lianpo was really confident. The only thing he worried about was that the Lord said that East Jin also had a force of player troops that came down south.

However, Lianpo did not know their numbers, composition, generals, and the like. On the way down south, the Qin army did not face any resistance, which confused Lianpo.

“Even if you all are fast, how fast can they be?” Lianpo muttered.

If Lianpo knew that East Jin had sent 100 thousand cavalry under Ma Chao’s lead to rush day and night to Jingzhou, he would not be so confident.

Due to the actions of Lianpo’s army, Ma Chao’s forces had arrived in Jingzhou six days in advance.

After Huan Chong’s forces destroyed the 30 thousand Qin troops, they went up north to gather with Ma Chao’s forces.

Four days ago, these two armies had successfully met up.

In such a crucial battle, four days were enough to change the battle progression. Just as Lianpo’s army stepped into Jingzhou, a huge net had already been placed down, and they were just waiting for the prey.

Lianpo’s actions in Yazhou had changed the outcome of the battle.

Originally, Ma Chao had followed the king’s orders to drag Lianpo’s army for as long as he could. Who knew that Lianpo’s army would ask to die, giving Ma Chao’s army a chance.

After meeting, Ma Chao and Huan Chong clicked instantly, and they were preparing to give Lianpo a huge gift.

…

12th day of the Battle Map, Jingzhou, Jiangxia Prefecture, Anlu City.

Jiangxia Prefecture was a place where one had to pass when one went from Yuzhou to Jingzhou. Moreover, Anlu was the governing city of the prefecture. Further south of Jiangxia would be Nanping Prefecture, which was where the famous Battle of Red Cliff happened.

Anlu City was built against water, a strategic location.

If Lianpo’s forces wanted to enter the middle of Jingzhou, they had to go past Anlu.

20 miles out of Anlu City was a luscious forest. Both sides had hills, and only the path in the middle could be traversed.

At 11 AM, Lianpo’s army was walking on the path. Following the mountain path, twisting and turning, a magnificent sight.

“General, it’s too narrow here; there might be an ambush,” the deputy general said.

Although Lianpo was old, his body and bones were still young and fresh. As he rode his horse, he had the aura of a great general. He rubbed his moustache and smiled, “The enemy is hundreds of miles away, what ambush?”

“I’m worrying too much.”

At this very moment, a change occurred.

Thousands of flags rose up from the hills on both sides. Looking out, in the bushes and the forest, who knows how many soldiers were hiding.

“No good, there’s an ambush!” Lianpo was astonished.

The moment he said that, an arrow rain shot down from both sides. The enemy had the height advantage, and they were also ambushing them, catching them off guard.

In an instant, they suffered heavy casualties.

“Form up, archers retaliate!”

Lianpo was an experienced general. He knew that the mountain path was long so charging out was impossible. The only way would be to fight back.

The 150 thousand player army could be said to be calm. After all, they were the elite forces of each Lord. However, the 100 thousand Qin army was bad. When faced with the sudden sneak attack, they were instantly in chaos.

Although they had player communication officers, they could only prevent them from collapsing. As for immediately counter attacking, they could not manage to do that.

To not run away and escape was already a big improvement.

The counter attack of Lianpo’s army was too weak. After all, one side had a height advantage, which could not be made up.

When Lianpo saw that, he looked at the hill of both sides. As it was too long, he could not deduce how many enemies there were.

There might be tens of thousands of even hundreds of thousands.

Lianpo deduced that this army definitely was not only Huan Chong’s forces. With their courage, the only possibility would be the East Jin player forces that went down south.

“In a narrow road, the brave survive.”

Lianpo gritted his teeth. He decided to order the troops to charge up the mountain and assault. To take hits on the path was just stupid. Only by charging up would they have a chance of victory.