Chapter 524 The Defeat of the West Route Army

Kunming County, Lingxi City.

On November 10, the war gradually subsided. In just three days, one day earlier than expected, Kunming County was unified. After this battle, the prestige of the [Shanhai League] rose against the trend, and it was unparalleled for a while.

After the war, the army returned to the city immediately.

Qin Qiong led the Xunlong City Division, and immediately teleported back to Xunlong City after returning. Bai Hua voluntarily paid for the teleportation fee. Although Lingxi City's finances are tight recently, Bai Hua is still extremely generous in handling affairs.

The cavalry division led by Luo Shixin, after a short rest, will break into the territory of Zhen'an County in the southern Sichuan Province, and follow the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom West Route Army that has withdrawn all the way.

Next, there will be a big battle in Tianjing City, and Luo Shixin doesn't want to miss it.

In order to repay Shanhai City's assistance, Bai Hua arranged for Zhang Liao to lead an elite cavalry division to accompany Luo Shixin's division and enter Zhen'an County together.

Although the lords of the other four counties in Yunnan Province are already preparing to form [Yunnan City-State], Bai Hua is not too worried about it.

The formation of a city-state is no easy task. If there is no authoritative person to take the lead, a delay of ten days and half a month is perfectly normal.

After the formation of the city-state, the formation of the coalition army also took a long time.

Therefore, Lingxi City has enough time to digest the newly occupied territory.

During the three-day battle, Lingxi City captured more than 60,000 prisoners of war, making up for the damage from the previous battle with the Taiping Army in one breath, and even had a slight surplus.

According to Bai Hua's plan, Lingxi City will learn from Shanhai City's army model and formally form three major systems: the City Guard Division, the Field Army Corps, and the Kunming County Security Division.

The City Guard Division is led by Hong Ying and is responsible for defending Lingxi City. According to the latest organization of Shanhai City, the field army set up five divisions with a total size of 70,000 people, with Zhang Liao as the commander of the army.

As for the Kunming County Guard Division, it is naturally used to guard the entire territory of Kunming County.

Such a large army is also Bai Hua's biggest trump card against [Yunnan City-State].

The only disadvantage is that Kunming County borders the other four counties in Yunnan Province, and the borderline is too long, which puts a greater burden on the defense of the territory.

Second, even if the [Yunnan City-State] is formed, with the current power of the [Shanhai League], they would not dare to launch an active attack on Kunming County at this time.

In a sense, [Yunnan City-State] is just a strategic defense alliance born in time.

Don't look at the establishment of [Lingnan city-state], the word city-state instantly became popular on the land of China. In fact, there is only one city-state in the true sense [Lingnan City-state].

Even in the adjacent [Shonan city-state], there are still problems of one kind or another that have yet to be resolved.

Every lord has ambitions.

The existence of the city-state, although it defended the security of the territory, made it free from the invasion of the big lord. However, at the same time, it also weakened the possibility of the lord's expansion again.

Within the same province, the lords coexist peacefully.

This way of getting along with the main tone of the wilderness really seemed a bit out of tune.

The weak are able to protect themselves and naturally rejoice. The strong man felt a little uncomfortable because his hands and feet were bound. Once the external pressure disappears, the internal contradictions will burst out.

Unless there is a real strongman who can integrate the internal resources of the city-state and truly link the interests of the lords into a whole. Otherwise, the city-state cannot last long.

In the five years of the previous life, there were less than three real city-states in the entire China region.

***********

Ten days have passed since Shanhai City sent troops to Xunzhou County.

In just ten days, more than half of the territory of Xunzhou County fell. The three-way army is firmly advancing towards the capital city, and the largest battle in the southwest theater is about to break out.

At the same time, the West Route Army led by Shi Dakai was only one day away from Tianjing City. Behind the West Route Army, the two major cavalry divisions followed like ghosts.

Zhen'an County, after all, is still the territory of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Therefore, Luo Shixin's division and Zhang Liao's division did not really escape Shi Dakai's eyes. It's just that the imperial orders of the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan come one by one every day, and each one is more urgent, so Shi Dakai has no time to pay attention to him.

Shi Dakai could only pretend to turn a blind eye to the "tail" following behind. It's just that some defenses have been strengthened in the arrangement of the rear army. Shi Dakai's prudence in using troops can be seen in general.

To the north of Xunzhou County, the Shanman Independent Division led by Ouyang Shuo has taken over the defense of the two major passes. The Imperial Guard Division that had previously attacked the pass suddenly disappeared from the sight of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

To the south, the east and west armies led by Bai Qi and Han Xin are still in full swing. Considering the current situation, Hong Xiuquan had already withdrawn all the local garrison troops in the south to Tianjing.

Just like this, the south of Xunzhou County, if all fell in advance, became the hunting ground of Shanhai City.

From this point of view, Hong Xiuquan was determined to rely on Tianjing City's fortified city and sharp guns to defend the city. It is reported that Hong Xiuquan deployed a total of twenty-four artillery pieces at the head of Tianjing City.

When Ouyang Shuo heard the news, he couldn't help but tremble in his heart.

Just wait for the 150,000 West Route Army led by Shi Dakai to arrive at Tianjing, plus the 50,000 garrison in Tianjing city, and the local garrison troops who arrived one after another during this period, the siege of Tianjing will be easily solved.

Maybe, the Kingdom of Heaven can defeat the army of Shanhai City one by one.

It has to be said that Hong Xiuquan's arrangement basically has no flaws. The only flaw is that he underestimated Shanhai City, and also underestimated Shanhai City's powerful think tank and powerful team of famous generals.

It was this flaw that dragged the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom into hell.

On this night, the West Route Army that Hong Xiuquan had been looking forward to could no longer wait.

As early as when he learned of the scale of artillery deployed in Tianjing City, Ouyang Shuo completely stopped his plan to storm Tianjing.

Facing such a fortified city, there is only one way to outsmart it.

Therefore, as early as when the West Route Army began to evacuate, a huge conspiracy had long shrouded Xunzhou County. And just as the West Route Army was about to arrive in Tianjing, the final step of the plan was already in place.

***********

That night.

Forty kilometers away from Tianjing City, there is a hillside that stretches for tens of miles. The West Route Army led by Shi Dakai slept here. The army rested overnight and could reach Tianjing City tomorrow.

At this point, Shi Dakai should have breathed a sigh of relief.

But for some reason, Shi Da felt a sense of uneasiness in his heart.

In the night, the sky is full of stars, dotted all over. The Milky Way in the sky is also rarely suspended in the sky. The bright moon hangs high, covering Nuo Da's camp in the hazy moonlight, which seems real and unreal.

After inspecting the camp for the last time, seeing that everything was normal, Shi Dakai suppressed the uneasiness in his heart, turned around and returned to the tent, ready to rest. After tomorrow, there will be a bitter battle waiting for them.

At this time, Shi Dakai must recharge his batteries.

To be honest, Yang Xiuqing's house arrest cast a shadow over Shi Daxin's heart.

The kingdom of heaven seems to be calm, but the internal struggles are getting more and more intense. The heroic hero who appeared in the wilderness at the beginning seemed to be slowly deteriorating with successive victories.

During the Western Expedition, Shi Dakai actually had contact with many players.

Even in his army, he once took in the player lord. From their mouths, Shi Dakai learned about the scenes of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in history.

Could it be that the tragedy of history is about to be staged again?

Shi Dakai shook his head, tried his best to shake off the distracting thoughts in his mind, and prepared to rest.

Just when Shi Dakai was about to fall asleep, a rumbling sound of horseshoes suddenly sounded in the silent night, which was deafening and made people panic.

What followed was the sound of killing shouts that shook the sky.

Shi Dakai was startled, got up quickly, and walked outside the tent. Because of the anxiety in his heart, Shi Dakai didn't even take off his armor when he fell asleep.

"What happened?"

Shi Dakai grabbed a guard and asked anxiously.

"General, general, look!"

The personal guards outside the tent were also in shock at this time, and their words were a little awkward, and they pointed out of the camp gate tremblingly, their eyes were full of incomparable surprise, or endless fear.

When Shi Dakai heard this, his heart sank.

Looking up, I saw a dense army suddenly appearing outside the camp. There were cavalry and infantry, before the army arrived, the rain of arrows was pouring down towards the camp.

In addition, there are a series of rockets that burst through the air.

The entire camp began to burn raging fires, illuminating the clear night more and more brightly.

Based on Shi Dakai's experience, the army that appears now is no less than one hundred thousand, and behind the vast cavalry, there are still groups of black shadows, and then advance towards the camp.

Obviously, this is an elaborate conspiracy.

With Shi Dakai's prudence, he never dreamed that the real surprise attack was not from behind, but from the front where the sea looked calm and there was no possibility of accidents at all.

After all, according to the information sent to him by the king of heaven, there should be peace in front of the army. Logically speaking, the three armies in Shanhai City are still some distance away from Tianjing City.

In fact, as early as Hong Xiuquan withdrew the garrison troops to the south, the east and west armies of Shanhai City were almost empty shells.

The real main force first retreated quietly to avoid the local eyes and ears of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, then secretly assembled in the rear, turned to move west, and ambushed on the only road that the West Route Army must pass.

At the same time, the Imperial Guard Division, which had suddenly disappeared before, also appeared here.

The two major legions plus the Imperial Guard Division, a total of 140,000 troops, jointly ambushed the West Route Army.

Ouyang Shuo's strategy is to destroy Shi Dakai's army outside Tianjing City. In this way, even if the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom really came to an end and guarded an empty city, they could only surrender obediently in the end.

"Deal the deadliest blow to the enemy at the most unlikely time."

Such practices are not Shanhai City's consistent style of doing things.