Chapter 271- You Win Some You Lose Some
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Jun
The last minute arrival of Zhao Kuo's forces saved Zhao Zhuang, who was on the verge of collapsing.
The high capabilities and body qualities of the Zhao army were displayed to the fullest. Even though they were always in danger and suffered heavy casualties, no one escaped and all of them fought courageously.
One had to say that this was a huge miracle during the Warring States Period.
After Zhao Kuo arrived, he took over command and made the scattered Zhao Zhuang forces gather up again. With the addition of 150 thousand men from Zhao Kuo's forces, it created a lot of pressure for the Qin army.
Seeing that things weren’t going smoothly, Baiqi immediately ordered his troops to split off.
Zhao Kuo didn't chase them, and after gathering together with Zhao Zhuang's forces, they waltzed back to Gu Pass.
This huge battle occurred in 3 waves, and lasted an entire day with both sides losing over 100 thousand men. The Changping Valley became a deathland; fresh blood stained the ground, and it would never be used to plant crops.
After the battle, the Qin army arranged to gather the corpses and bury them. They collected all the weapons and armor that could be used and found the horses that were scattered around.
The sky of Changping was terrifyingly gloomy, signifying that the war was far from over.
When nighttime came, rain started to fall. Slowly, the rainfall got bigger and bigger and became a storm, enveloping the entire Changping region.
The rainwater washed off the blood on the battlefield, and the red water now flowed into the Dan River, staining it red too. The red rainwater was the best description of this battle.
After the storm, there was a huge change to the land, and it seemed like nothing had even happened.
In this battle, the Zhao army had successfully broke through from the cage that the Qin army had set up. Although their lost much, they had succeeded.
The Qin army was feeling depressed. Not only did the enemy escape, but their general Wang Ling had also died. His whole army going under was definitely a sad thing.
Based on the battle settings, when non camp leaders like Wang Ling died, after the battle ended, they would have no chance of appearing in the wilderness and were completely gone.
In the Lang Mountain manor, Baiqi's face was dark and gloomy.
All the generals and advisors sat on 2 rows of 6 stone stools, looking extremely serious. Ouyang Shuo, as the player representative, was invited to this meeting. He sat quietly at the corner, not saying anything.
Based on the military advisor's calculations, apart from the total annihilation of Wang Ling's forces, Huan He had lost over 10 thousand, Wang He lost 40 thousand, Meng Ao lost 30 thousand, and in total, the Qin army lost close to 150 thousand.
On the side of the player force, Ouyang Shuo made his own calculations. Of the 7000 infantry led by Chen Tang, there were around 4000 who successfully left the battlefield.
Out of the 24 thousand cavalry, around 20 thousand were left. Shanhai City's 10 thousand cavalry were in charge of attacking and suffered heavy casualties, losing 2000 men, paining Ouyang Shuo’s heart.
In the Battle of Changping, the 10 thousand cavalry that Ouyang Shuo brought was half of what Shanhai City had, and to lose 20% in a day was definitely heartbreaking.
"We lost this battle because of the 40 thousand player force that rushed out of Gu Pass. Yesterday Qiyue Wuyi told me about it, but I didn't place much importance on it and hence we lost."
What was surprising was that Baiqi didn't blame his generals or advisors and took up all the blame.
Wang He and the others shifted their gazes towards Ouyang Shuo, who was sitting in the corner. Out of all of them, Huan He's gaze was the most friendly as he had witnessed the strength of the player force.
Being the focus of all these generals and leaders, Ouyang Shuo trembled. He stood up and said, "Baiqi, the players landing in Gu Pass wasn't expected and couldn't have been predicted. In a short day for them to take action was impossible to defend against."
"That's right!" Everyone agreed.
Ouyang Shuo wasn't trying to find excuses for Baiqi, even though his planning was poor, but his commanding and leadership was what turned everything around.
Zhao Zhuang's forces had 50 thousand men left, a shocking number similar to the number of men that Wang Ling's forces had lost.
"Wu An Lord, the Zhao Army has gotten out, so what should we do next?" Wang He asked.
Baiqi looked at the map, and a long silence followed.
The meeting just ended like this. With Baiqi's ability, he also couldn't craft a shocking plan in such a short time, so he could only look on at the map.
After Ouyang Shuo got off the mountain, he reported the situation to the allies, and everyone were similarly speechless.
Since it was like this, Ouyang Shuo asked Qianshou to do a prediction for what was going to happen. Only until the dead of night did Qianshou leave from Ouyang Shuo's tent.
The contents of their secret conversation was something that outsiders would not find out about.
After rushing to Gu Pass, apart from the 70 thousand that were left there, the Zhao army had around 300 thousand men left.
Compared to the Qin Army, they had lost far more, close to 170 thousand. Purely Zhao Zhuang had lost over 100 thousand. Including those who attacked Wang Ling's camp, they had paid a heavy price.
Gu Pass wasn't able to keep such a huge army.
Helplessly, Zhao Kuo arranged a general to lead 50 thousand men to take over Wang Ling's camp and also Zhao Zhuang to take 150 thousand men and camp at the foot of Gu Pass. The remaining 100 thousand would remain there.
Zhao Kuo moved his base to Gu Pass, and after resting, the first thing he did was to clear the path to Handan. This was to obtain a continuous grain supply.
Gu Pass' grain supply could only last them for a month.
Compared to Zhao Kuo, Baiqi's reaction was faster and more decisive.
Just as Zhao Kuo had arranged 100 thousand men out of the pass to destroy Ying Bai's forces, he had received Baiqi's orders and had taken his men out of Changping Pass.
Baiqi knew that the main force of the Zhao army was the one attacking, and with only 40 thousand men, Ying Bak would definitely not be able to defend the Hukou Pass. Since that was the case, why not just retreat and reduce unwanted casualties?
With that, the two armies seemed to have went back to the situation of the 3 year faceoff between Wang He and Lianpo.
In truth, be it Zhao Kuo or Baiqi, they wouldn't make such a decision. A 3 year standoff, regardless of whichever country it was, the burden that war had on the nation was far more than what it could handle.
With large amounts of grains sent to the war front, numerous civilians enlisting to serve, numerous people helping to transport resources, and many young men sent to war, the country's economy was on the verge of collapse.
This was especially the Qin, who were fighting a war far away from home, making a long transport route. With every unit of grain sent, 4-5 units would be wasted.
If they continued to standoff, even a strong country like Qin wouldn't be able to hold on, and their country's power would be lost in the war.
Gu Pass, Di Chen’s tent
"The first step is successfully completed, isn't it time for the second step?" Xiong Ba asked.
Di Chen nodded. "I'll suggest it during the meeting tonight."
"Great!"
"Do you think Zhao Kuo will agree with our plan?"
"He definitely would. Today's victory is definitely enough to show the problem."
"Zhan Lang, what do you think?"
In the battle, Zhan Lang led the player forces to destroy Wang Ling, even taking Wang Ling down. In the battle contribution points ranking, he was second, only behind Ouyang Shuo.
The reason Ouyang Shuo was higher was because of the kills by Shanhai City's 10 thousand cavalry.
Hence, Zhan Lang's prestige in the Yanhuang Alliance grew.
Zhan Lang laughed. "Based on what I see, even if we don't raise it, Zhao Kuo would have already thought of it."
"How so?"
"Don't underestimate him. In history, under the pressure of the Qin army, Zhao Kuo could defend 46 days without grain and the army didn't riot. He would definitely learn his lesson from this battle and find another way to break the Qin. With his character, he definitely won't defend like Lianpo." Zhan Lang analayzed.
"Smart!" The allies commended him for his great analysis.
"It seems like we have a 60% chance of winning this battle." Di Chen said happily.
The news about the Zhao army killing Wang Ling had spread all over and gained the awe and uproar of every country.
Before that, the 400 thousand troops of the Zhao were trapped by 500 thousand Qin men. Zhao had sent men to request help, but as they couldn't see the situation, they wouldn't put their stakes on either side.
Now that the Zhao army had escaped and even killed a general, it had undoubtedly changed the heart of the 5 countries in Shandong.
The dream of the Qin to take over Shangdou was becoming more and more distant.
The various countries of Shandong were afraid of the Qin. At this point, the Zhao sent out people to persuade them to send troops to fight the Qin together.
This time, their attitudes changed and they started to prepare their troops.
Seeing the situation starting to become bad for the Qin, the prime minister Fanju started to use heavy rewards to bribe the Shandong countries for them not to send troops to attack the Qin.
With such a situation, a storm started once again amongst the states.