Chapter 530- A Massive Blunder
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
Suddenly, the two hundred thousand alliance army troops engaged in endless slaughter in the Guilin Prefecture.
Strictly speaking, the defence troops in Guilin Prefecture were not moved to Tianjing City by Hong Xiuquan. After all, Guilin Prefecture was the escape route that he had planned. Naturally, he would not cut off his own escape routes.
Apart from the various protection squads, there was even a twenty thousand strong unit housed there.
Along with Yang Xiuqing taking control of Taiping Country, Guilin Prefecture had fallen into chaos. After all, the troops housed in Guilin Prefecture were the most trusted troops of Hong Xiuquan.
Seeing their king die and the successor to the throne actually instantly surrendering to Shanhai City, the army felt furious.
However, they were not bold enough to try and kill their way to Tianjing City.
The troops had no place to let out their frustrations, so they could only vent it out on the people.
As for the various protection squads in Guilin Prefecture, their attitudes were much warmer. Their loyalty toward the king had not reached the level where they would risk it all for revenge.
Furthermore, most of these soldiers were born in Guilin Prefecture, so they had a duty to protect their own land. Naturally, they would not allow the other soldiers to fool around and do whatever they wished.
As a result, both sides had ended up facing off.
This was also the reason why Ouyang Shuo had arranged for the independent mountain barbarian division at the two passes. It was to prevent this chaos from spreading to Wuzhou Prefecture.
Originally, Ouyang Shuo could have led his troops into Guilin Prefecture to stop this chaos.
Regretfully, the situation in Tianjing City was not stable yet and urgently needed Ouyang Shuo over there. After weighing the pros and cons, Ouyang Shuo still decided to put down Guilin Prefecture first.
When Han Xin led his troops there, all the problems would be solved easily.
Apart from that, Ouyang Shuo also had another nefarious intention. He wanted to use the chaos in Guilin Prefecture to let the army there that had lost their rationality destroy the reputation and people sentiment that Taiping Country had built up in the location.
Ouyang Shuo did not wish for the people under his rule to still have any good thoughts and emotions for the old Taiping Country.
Wouldn’t this chaos help dig the grave?
As for the casualties and damages that this choice would cause, it was not within the considerations of Ouyang Shuo.
As a Lord, how could he be so soft hearted in dealing with every single matter?
Needless to say, Ouyang Shuo also felt really gleeful about his plan.
He did not expect that his neglect would also give the enemy a chance to strike.
How would the chaotic Guilin Prefecture be the opponents of two hundred thousand tigers and wolves?
Furthermore, among the enemy army, there was seemingly a great commander and many generals. Naturally, they could not be locked, and they won all their battles.
In just three days, half of Guilin Prefecture had fallen.
At this time, the alliance army commander unexpectedly split the army into three.
Sixty thousand would remain in Guilin Prefecture to complete the unfinished business. Eighty thousand would continue south and head straight for Guiping Pass.
The remaining sixty thousand would attack the other pass - Xuanwu Pass.
It was this splitting up of forces that completely nailed the victory of the alliance army.
Naturally, the alliance army lacked the ability to cross the pass, head into Xunzhou, and fight a life and death battle with the Shanhai City Army.
However, it was necessary for them to occupy the two passes and block the way up north of Shanhai City. If not, Guilin Prefecture would be under the threat of takeover at any moment.
Just thinking about that made one feel uncomfortable.
Hence, their only path to success was conquering the pass.
They had to complete everything quickly.
The alliance army needed to occupy the two passes before the Shanhai City Army sent reinforcements.
If not, their whole plan would fail.
Hence, be it the alliance army or the Shanhai City Army, both were racing against time.
Turning back time to two days ago, 11th month, 20th day, Guiping Pass.
Within the pass, there were eight thousand elite mountain barbarian soldiers. In charge of them was the young general Shihu that Ouyang Shuo had high hopes for.
Moreover, on the 2nd day that the alliance army had attacked Guilin Prefecture, the intel from the Military Intelligence Division had already reached Guiping Pass.
Be it the Military Intelligence Division or the Black Snake Guards, their infiltration of Taiping Country was mainly focused on Xunzhou with Tianjing City.
As they had limited manpower and energy, their infiltration of the Guilin and Zhen An Prefectures was lacking. Even so, they were able to gain the actual intel on just the second day.
When he received the news, Shihu was stunned.
Two hundred thousand troops suddenly attacking without any prior signs.
Such a sudden pressure pressed onto him, making it hard for him to breathe.
This was also the first time that Shihu was leading troops alone, yet he had to face such a test. To such a young general, it was really too cruel.
If one did not go through it yourself, you would not be able to understand such pressure.
Some of the generals in the army even instantly collapsed and broke down under that pressure. Their were thousands of lives on their shoulders. One slight mistake would cause many people to die.
Luckily, within Guiping Pass, there was another talent, Pei Ju.
At the crucial time, he stepped out and took the role of advisor. During the period of time when Ouyang Shuo was attacking Xunzhou, he had brought Pei Ju along and often sought help from him.
Hence, Shihu trusted Pei Ju a lot.
Thanks to the advice and comfort of Pei Ju, Shihu managed to calm down and think of a plan.
Compared to the young Shihu, Pei Ju's vision was incredibly sharp. He instantly guessed that the enemy attacking Guilin Prefecture should not be simple, and as long as they were not dumb, they would definitely attack Guiping Pass.
Hence, he immediately assigned numerous messenger soldiers to ride the fastest horses to inform the Lord that was on the road. At the same time, he started to order them to complete the defence facilities of the pass.
Guiping Pass and Zhennan Pass were similar, there were both stronghold type structures in the wilderness.
The basic defensive facilities in the pass could be said to be complete. After Hong Xiuquan took control of Xunzhou, he arranged smiths and artisans to modify and improve the pass.
It also contained a sufficient amount of items and resources.
The only regret was that Hong Xiuquan’s precious baby, the cannon, was not fixed in the pass.
Hence, the so-called completing of defence facilities was just repairing the damage caused when the mountain barbarian army attacked. At the same time, they needed to move defence resources up onto the city wall.
11th month, 21st day, noon.
The blistering sunlight shone through the red clouds and scorched the earth.
On the horizon, a cavalry soldier wearing light armor suddenly appeared. Alongside him was a bunch of war horses galloping away, causing the dust on the ground to be swept up in the air.
Just at this moment, joy appeared in the cavalry's eyes.
He finally saw the army of many tens of thousands of men before him.
"Lord, emergency!"
He charged forward, continuously swinging the flag by his back and shouting.
"Lord, emergency!"
……
On this usual afternoon, Pei Ju sent a messenger soldier. In just a day and a half, he caught up to the troops led by Ouyang Shuo. Because of this, three elite war horses were tired to death.
Even the messenger soldier instantly fainted after completing his mission.
When he was travelling, Ouyang Shuo was unable to receive letters.
Hence, he only obtained news about the alliance army's attack a full two and a half days later. The current Ouyang Shuo was less than two days away.
Based on calculations, Han Xin's Leopard Legion was three days away from Guiping Pass. As they were still on route, he could not contact them, so they could not be depended on for this battle.
After getting the news, Ouyang Shuo was shocked, and a sense of anger slowly arose.
"Those stupid thieves actually dare to step on my land!"
Ouyang Shuo really did not expect the Lords of Chuannan Province to link up with the Xiangnan City-State. The worst part was that they actually challenged Shanhai City together.
Thinking about it another way, Ouyang Shuo could only laugh bitterly.
One had to say, the enemy truly chose a perfect moment to attack.
The current Shanhai City looked like it was at the peak of its rule. However, it was actually at its weakest point, as it had so much empty land without a suitable amount of troops to defend it.
Only after completing the reorganization of the one hundred thousand Taiping Country troops would Shanhai City become truly strong.
However, the enemy had grasped this opportunity to attack.
It seemed like the enemy had predicted that Shanhai City would not dare to start a large-scale war at such a time.
In all likelihood, the enemy has someone amazing commanding them.
Ouyang Shuo slowly calmed down, as his mind fell into deep thought.
What he did not know was that just as the alliance army entered Guilin Prefecture, the one hundred thousand Lingnan City-State soldiers also started to cause chaos at the border.
Without a doubt, this was a carefully planned scheme.
After Shanhai City took down Taiping Country, the wariness and fear of the players around Shanhai City had reached its peak.
This time, a total of three provinces worked together to curb the rise of Shanhai City.
Ouyang Shuo tossed aside his thoughts and immediately ordered the troops to turn around and head back to Guiping Pass.
Since the alliance army knew of the importance of the pass, how could Ouyang Shuo not know? Hence, he directly led his troops back without hesitation.
Hope, he could only hope that Guiping Pass could hold on.
The part that left him feeling helpless was that the two mountain barbarian divisions that he led were all infantry. Even if they rushed back, it would take two days.
At that time, it would be too late.
Luckily, Ouyang Shuo had cavalry on hand, the three thousand Divine Martial Guards.
Ouyang Shuo immediately decided to lead the Divine Martial Guards to head out first. As for the mountain barbarian independent divisions, they would follow behind and rush back at their quickest speed.
Everything was a race against time.