[PS: As promised, this chapter is to congratulate Ji Yinghu for his promotion to the position of Sect Leader. I apologize and thank you for being late!!!]
The night was as cold as water.
The autumn wind blew, bringing with it waves of coldness.
At this time, the campsite of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Western Army was ablaze, and it was as bright as day.
Flames soared into the sky, lighting up the night sky of the wilderness. At this moment, the boundless silent wilderness seemed to have awakened ahead of time because of these balls of fire.
When the army of Shanhai City attacked, most of the soldiers of the Western Army had fallen asleep after a day's journey. Except for the patrolling soldiers, it was an undefended campsite.
It was as if even the heavens were helping Shanhai City. The bright moonlight and the brilliant starlight intertwined, illuminating the entire campsite as if it were daytime.
Perhaps this was the manifestation of fate, which affected the movement of the sun, the moon, and the stars. Since defeating Chiyou's army, Ouyang Shuo's fate had completely taken shape in the southwest area, and no one could rival it.
As the saying went, the Son of Fate would be protected by God.
Taking advantage of the bright night, the fierce Shanhai City army started a monstrous massacre in the campsite.
At the same time, the two cavalry divisions following the Western Army finally completed their 'bait' mission. They turned out in full strength and rushed toward the campsite of the Western Army.
Faced with the attack of the two armies, it was only a matter of time before the Western Army was defeated.
Shi Dakai looked at the chaotic camp, and for the first time, a feeling called despair flashed through his heart.
The Kingdom of Heaven was doomed!
The iron-blooded man looked up at the sky and sighed. He didn't want to give up, so he tried his best to organize the army and break out of the encirclement. As long as they successfully broke out of the encirclement in the direction of Tianjing City, they still had a chance of survival.
Unfortunately, all of this was destined to be in vain.
The army of Shanhai City was guarded by two Divine Generals, Bai Qi and Han Xin. Once they launched a surprise attack, they wouldn't give the Taiping Army any time to breathe. Every battle line of the army was impenetrable.
The various armies of Shanhai City cooperated with each other, advancing and retreating in an orderly manner. They launched continuous attacks, efficiently and quickly slaughtering the ignorant Taiping Army.
In every direction, in every corner, there was an army stationed.
The camp of the Western Army was like a cage, trapping the army and preventing them from escaping.
The battle cries reverberated in all directions and lingered for a long time.
By the time Luo Shixin's and Zhang Liao's divisions arrived, the situation had basically been settled. Two elite cavalry divisions, borrowing the light of the fire, galloped unhindered through the camp. Unexpectedly, there was no one who could match them.
Zhang Liao was in high spirits as he led his troops to kill the enemy.
Just a few days ago, the army in front of them had pressured them to the point of suffocation.
Unexpectedly, in just a few days, the roles of the two sides had completely changed. It was the Taiping Army's turn to be slaughtered.
Such a huge disparity was truly unbelievable.
Zhang Liao could not help but sigh in his heart.
In comparison, the army of Shanhai City was indeed extraordinary.
The soldiers of the Taiping Army had thought of escaping into the wilderness at night.
Unfortunately, how could Han Xin allow them to succeed?
Outside the camp, the two armies had arranged tens of thousands of archers to stand guard. Any soldier who dared to escape would be shot into a sieve before he could go far.
In the face of such a rain of arrows, no matter how brave the soldiers were, they would stop at the sight of it.
The only way to survive was to surrender.
In the sky full of fire, finally, some soldiers could not stand it anymore and chose to surrender in humiliation.
The soldiers knew very well that their army was the only hope of the Heavenly Kingdom.
Now that their hope had been shattered and they could not even protect themselves, even if they were lucky enough to escape, they would not be able to escape the subsequent pursuit.
The warship of the Heavenly Kingdom was already dilapidated and riddled with holes. It was about to sink completely. Instead of dying with the Heavenly Kingdom, it was better to take the opportunity to board a new warship.
With this thought in mind, more and more soldiers surrendered as time went on. Like dominoes, the Taiping Army surrendered in batches.
In the later stage, if a general came forward to stop them, he would probably be immediately hacked to death by his own people. Seeing such a scene, even the most inflexible general did not dare to pretend to be someone who did not know what was good for him anymore.
It was not until late at night that the inconspicuous hillside gradually calmed down.
All the surrendered soldiers had their weapons taken away and were gathered together to be detained. The camp from before was instantly turned to one side, becoming a temporary prison cell.
In just one night, the world had changed dramatically.
The night was getting darker and darker.
Even the starlight began to dim.
The bustling wilderness regained its original silence.
Of course, as long as they got through this dark night, dawn would not be far away.
For the whole night, no one in the camp rested.
The army of Shanhai City had to guard the prisoners of war, so they did not dare to sleep. As for the soldiers of the Taiping Army, they could not calm down and could not sleep at all.
More than two hundred thousand soldiers spent the most difficult four hours together in the endless night.
At about six o 'clock in the morning, the morning sun finally rose from the eastern sky again.
With the red morning sun, the night completely dissipated.
The night receded at a speed visible to the naked eye like a tide.
Dawn finally came to the world again.
It was not until then that Bai Qi and Han Xin had time to do the post-war statistics.
And this calculation went on until noon.
To be able to achieve such an efficient speed, it was all thanks to the professional staff officers in the army.
In the end, even Bai Qi was shocked by the final statistics.
In this battle, more than 40,000 of the 150,000 Taiping West Army soldiers died in battle and more than 90,000 were captured. In the end, less than 20,000 soldiers broke through the siege.
Among the four main generals of the West Army, General Shi Dakai was sent away by his personal guards during the chaos. General Li Kaifang of the Right died in battle. Deputy General Xiao Chaogui and General Feng Yunshan of the Left were unfortunately captured.
Because it was a night battle, the army of Shanhai City also suffered some losses, but they were not seriously injured.
After dawn, Zhang Liao rested for a while and then left with his troops. Since the West Army had been defeated, the destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was close at hand. They no longer needed their help.
After all, Kunming County had just been pacified, and the army was still in the process of reorganization. As the newly appointed Commander of the army, Zhang Liao naturally wanted to return as soon as possible.
Fortunately, they were all soldiers, and they were in the army camp, so there was no need to be polite.
After some small talk, the two sides said goodbye.
Through this period of mutual help, the relationship between Shanhai City and Lingxi City became closer. Not only between the generals, but also between the soldiers began to recognize each other.
The cavalry division led by Luo Shixin naturally officially returned to the army. Considering that the Second Division had been fighting continuously, the soldiers were already exhausted.
Bai Qi finally decided that Luo Shixin's division would lead the troops to escort more than 90,000 prisoners of war to Mulan Fortress. Because it was still within the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Bai Qi also arranged for the Fifth Division to accompany them to prevent accidents.
Luo Shixin was naturally unhappy to receive the order. He had wanted to go to Tianjing City to see for himself. Now it seemed that there was no such opportunity.
However, military orders could not be disobeyed, so Luo Shixin could only nod in agreement.
The remaining three divisions of the Dragon Xiang Army would join hands with the Leopard Army and officially set off for Tianjing City.
Thus, the war that had lasted for more than a month was finally coming to an end.
In the afternoon of November 16th, Tianjing City.
When Shi Dakai led the remnants of his troops and fled to Tianjing City in a sorry state, one could imagine the shock it caused. The news of the defeat of the West Road Army was like a tsunami that shook the entire Tianjing City to pieces.
Despair spread throughout the battlefield.
Panic was like a virus, spreading like lightning.
The pessimistic mood instantly enveloped the sky above Tianjing City.
It was reported that when the commander of the West Road Army, Shi Dakai, entered the palace to pay his respects to the Heavenly King, he wanted to commit suicide on the spot. If the guards in the main hall had not been a step faster, Shi Dakai would probably have died on the spot.
Seeing this, how could Hong Xiuquan bear to reprimand this general?
Especially with the defeat of the West Road Army, the originally bright Taiping Army had become dim. If Shi Dakai died as well, they would really be in a situation where they would not have any generals to use.
Moreover, Hong Xiuquan was very clear that he had to bear part of the responsibility for the defeat of the West Road Army.
To think that Hong Xiuquan had claimed to know the Heavenly State like the back of his hand. He did not expect that Shanhai City would play a trick on him right under his nose.
The humiliation was not something that outsiders could understand.
The two of them secretly discussed for a full two hours. Outsiders had no way of knowing what exactly they talked about.
They only knew that after Shi Dakai left the Heavenly King Palace, he did not even return home. Instead, he went straight back to the army camp to reorganize the army, pack up their luggage, and gather supplies.
Those with a keen sense of smell would probably be able to guess that the Heavenly King was going to abandon the city and flee.
Indeed, in the face of such a great defeat, Hong Xiuquan no longer had the confidence to defend Tianjing. If that was the case, it would be better for him to cut his losses and abandon the city as soon as possible.
The direction in which he fled was naturally Guilin County in the north.
Of the three counties of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Xunzhou County had already fallen by more than half. Zhen 'an County in the west, because it was close to Kunming County in Yunnan Province, was no longer safe.
The only choice was to retreat to Guilin County.
Although Ouyang Shuo had already led his troops to take down two passes, Hong Xiuquan had after all managed Xunzhou County for nearly a year. He still had a way to break through the blockade of Shanhai City's army.
Moreover, with the nearly twenty thousand remnants of Shi Dakai's troops, Hong Xiuquan could mobilize more than a hundred thousand soldiers. This was also a military force that could not be underestimated.
Even if they forcibly attacked the passes, they still had some chance of success.
Shi Dakai's unusual actions immediately caused an even greater uproar in Tianjing. In an instant, rumors spread throughout the city, and it looked like the city was about to go completely out of control.
Helpless, Hong Xiuquan could only impose a curfew and mobilize the army to enforce military control. (To be continued.)
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