The 200,000 strong allied army instantly started a monstrous massacre in Guilin County.
Strictly speaking, the garrison of Guilin County still existed and had not been transferred to Tianjing City by Hong Xiuquan. After all, Guilin County was Hong Xiuquan's backup plan. He would not destroy his own future.
In addition to the garrison, there was also a field army of more than 20,000 people stationed in Guilin County.
Following Yang Xiuqing's control of Kingdom of Heaven, Guilin County instantly became a mess. This was because the field army stationed in Guilin County could be said to be Hong Xiuquan's trusted subordinates.
Seeing that the Heavenly King had passed away, his successor, Yang Xiuqing, had actually immediately surrendered to Shanhai City.
The enraged army was naturally unwilling.
However, they did not have the guts to attack Tianjing City.
The soldiers had nowhere to vent their anger, so they could only vent it on the people in the county.
On the other hand, the attitude of the local garrison troops of Guilin County was much more ambiguous. Their loyalty to the Heavenly King had not reached the point of risking their lives to avenge him.
In addition, most of the soldiers in the local garrison were from Guilin County, and they were responsible for defending their territory. Naturally, they would not tolerate the field army acting recklessly in the county.
The two military forces were quietly competing in Guilin County.
This was precisely the reason why Ouyang Shuo arranged for the Mountain Barbarian Independent Regiment to be stationed at Gui Ping Pass and Xuan Wu Pass. It was precisely to prevent this disturbance from spreading to Xunzhou County.
Originally, Ouyang Shuo could lead his troops to quell the unrest in Guilin County.
Unfortunately, the situation in Tianjing City was still unstable, and Ouyang Shuo was urgently needed to oversee it. After weighing the pros and cons, Ouyang Shuo decided to put Guilin County aside for the time being.
Once Han Xin arrived with his troops, all the problems would naturally be solved.
Apart from that, Ouyang Shuo had another sinister motive. He wanted to take advantage of the chaos in Guilin County to let the irrational field army destroy the hearts of the people gathered by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
As the saying goes, the hearts of the people are against him.
Ouyang Shuo did not want the people under his rule to have any nostalgia for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Wasn't the chaos of the field army digging their own graves?
As for the civilian casualties caused by this, it was not within Ouyang Shuo's consideration.
As a king, how could he be softhearted all the time?!
Ouyang Shuo might even be extremely pleased with himself for this plan of his.
Who would have thought that such an inconspicuous oversight would allow the cunning enemy to seize the opportunity.
The chaotic Guilin County was no match for the two hundred thousand strong army.
In addition, there seemed to be an expert guiding the enemy and a great general leading them. Naturally, they were invincible and victorious.
In just three days, more than half of Guilin County had fallen.
At this moment, the commander of the allied forces unexpectedly split the army into three.
The 60,000 strong army stayed in Guilin County to continue their unfinished mission. The 80,000 strong army marched straight south, heading straight for Gui Ping Pass.
The remaining 60,000 soldiers went to attack another pass, Xuanwu Pass.
It was this act of splitting up the troops that completely established the coalition army's chances of victory.
If the allied forces were to cross the pass, break into Xunzhou County, and engage in a fierce battle of life and death with the army of Shanhai City, the allied forces naturally did not have the confidence or strength to do so.
However, it was necessary for them to occupy these two passes and completely block off the path that Shanhai City's army could take to the north. Otherwise, the newly conquered Guilin County would have to face the constant threat of Shanhai City's army.
Just thinking about it made people feel uncomfortable.
Therefore, only by occupying the pass could their battle plan be considered to have achieved complete success.
Precisely because of this, everything had to be done quickly.
The allied forces had to complete the occupation of the two passes before the army of Shanhai City returned to reinforce them.
Otherwise, there was no need to mention anything else.
Thus, both the allied forces and the army of Shanhai City were in a race against time.
Two days ago, on the 20th of November, Gui Ping Pass.
More than eight thousand elite barbarian soldiers were stationed in Gui Ping Pass, and the one in charge of leading this barbarian army was the young general that Ouyang Shuo thought highly of, Shi Hu.
On the second day after the allied forces invaded Guilin County, a secret letter from the Military Intelligence Department was sent to Gui Ping Pass.
Whether it was the Military Intelligence Department or the Black Snake Guard, the infiltration of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was mainly concentrated in Xunzhou County, with Tianjing City as the core.
Because of the limited manpower and energy, their infiltration of Guilin County and Zhen 'an County was somewhat insufficient. Even so, it was already not easy for the Military Intelligence Department to obtain accurate information on the second day.
Shi Hu was shocked when he received the news.
The sudden attack of an elite army of two hundred thousand had come without any warning.
The sudden heavy pressure pressed down on this young general to the point that he was almost unable to breathe.
Strictly speaking, this was the first time Shi Hu was leading an army alone, and he had to face such a test of life and death. For a young general, this was indeed too cruel.
Without experiencing it personally, outsiders would not be able to understand this kind of pressure.
Some of the generals in the army even instantly collapsed under the heavy pressure. On their shoulders were the lives of thousands of people. The slightest mistake would probably cause them to fall into a bottomless abyss.
Fortunately, there was still a capable person in Gui Ping Pass at this time. He was Pei Ju.
At the crucial moment, Pei Ju stood up and became the temporary military adviser of the garrison. During the attack on Xunzhou County, Ouyang Shuo had always kept Pei Ju by his side and often asked him for advice.
Thus, Shi Hu trusted his old subject Pei Ju greatly.
It was Pei Ju's consolation that allowed Shi Hu to quickly calm down and think of a countermeasure.
Compared to the young Shi Hu, Pei Ju's insight was very shrewd. He immediately concluded that the enemy's move to Guilin County was unusual. As long as the enemy was not stupid, they would eventually attack Gui Ping Pass.
Thus, Pei Ju immediately arranged for several messengers to ride on fast horses to inform the Marquis army that was already on the way. At the same time, he ordered for Gui Ping Pass's defense facilities to be improved.
Gui Ping Pass was the same as Southern Town Pass, a fortress built in the wilderness.
The basic defense facilities inside the pass were quite complete. After Hong Xiuquan took over Xunzhou County, he had also arranged for craftsmen to repair the pass.
The resources inside the pass were also considered sufficient.
The only regret was that Hong Xiuquan's treasure, the cannons, were not placed at the pass.
Thus, Pei Ju's so-called repair was only to repair the damage caused by the Mountain Barbarians' attack on Gui Ping Pass. At the same time, a large number of defensive resources were moved to the city walls.
November 21st, noon.
Strong sunlight shone through the red clouds and roasted the wilderness.
On the distant horizon, a cavalryman in light armor suddenly appeared. On the side of the cavalryman, there was an empty warhorse, galloping along the way, stirring up clouds of dust.
At this moment, a hint of joy appeared in the cavalryman's eyes.
In front of him, there was an army of tens of thousands of people marching forward.
"Marquis, urgent military news!"
As the cavalryman galloped, he constantly waved the flag on his back and shouted loudly.
"Marquis, urgent military news!"
… …
On this ordinary afternoon, the messengers Pei Ju sent only used a day and a half to catch up to the main force led by Ouyang Shuo. Because of this, a total of three excellent warhorses were exhausted to death along the way.
Even the messengers fainted after completing the task.
While marching, Ouyang Shuo could not receive secret letters.
Thus, he was late by a full two and a half days before receiving the news that the allied army was attacking Guilin County. At this time, Ouyang Shuo was less than two days away from Tianjing City.
According to the time, the Leopard Tao Corps led by Han Xin was at least three days away from Gui Ping Pass. On the way, they could not be contacted, so they could not be counted on for the time being.
Hearing the news, Ouyang Shuo's heart trembled, and then he flew into a rage.
"Little thief, you actually dare to mess with the Tai Sui!"
Ouyang Shuo did not expect the lords of North Sichuan Province to collude with Xiangnan City so quickly. What was more hateful was that they dared to take the initiative to provoke Shanhai City.
On second thought, Ouyang Shuo could only smile bitterly.
He had to admit that the enemy's timing was really ingenious.
At this time, Shanhai City seemed to be at the peak of hegemony, but it was also at its weakest. It had an extremely vast territory, but it did not have a matching army.
Only after completing the reorganization of hundreds of thousands of Taiping soldiers could Shanhai City be considered really powerful.
However, the enemy seized this opportunity.
It seemed that the enemy was sure that Shanhai City did not dare to start a large-scale war with them at this time.
"I'm afraid there is an expert behind the allied army."
Ouyang Shuo gradually calmed down and pondered.
What he did not know was that when the allied army broke into Guilin County, the 100,000 allied army of Lingnan City frequently stirred up trouble at the border. Obviously, they were cooperating with Xiangnan City to be responsible for restraining the Lingnan war zone.
There was no doubt that this was a well-planned plot.
After Shanhai City destroyed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the fear of Shanhai City's Lord's players toward Shanhai City reached an all-time high.
This time, a total of three provinces had joined forces for the sake of curbing the rise of Shanhai City.
Ouyang Shuo got rid of his thoughts and immediately ordered the army to turn around and go straight to Gui Ping Pass.
The allied army knew the importance of the pass. How could Ouyang Shuo not know? That was why he didn't even think about it and led his troops back without any regard for the consequences.
He hoped that Gui Ping Pass could hold.
Unfortunately, the two Mountain Barbarian Independent Divisions led by Ouyang Shuo were out-and-out infantry. Even if they rushed all the way, it would take at least two days to rush back to Gui Ping Pass.
By then, it would be too late.
Fortunately, Ouyang Shuo still had a cavalry, which was the 3,000 Divine Martial Guards.
Ouyang Shuo immediately decided to personally lead the Divine Martial Guards and set off first. As for the Mountain Barbarian Independent Division, they followed behind and advanced toward Gui Ping Pass at the fastest speed.
Everything was really a race against time. (To be continued.)
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