Martial Arrogance Dragon Soul-Chapter 300 - 288: Sudden Change in the Battle Situation
The army of Great Qian possessed exceptional combat capabilities.
This had a great deal to do with the leadership of the Prince of Zhennan, Zhao Tianyin.
Having defended the Northern Pass for over thirty years, the Jinyin Army that Zhao Tianyin had forged became the top ace of the Great Qian Army.
All the enemy states nearby, upon hearing the name of the Jinyin Army, often turned pale with fear and lost their courage at the mere news.
And now, this Northern Pass army was headed by the Jinyin Army, forming a million-strong force.
"Kill!"
The killing shout shook the heavens.
Morale was as brilliant as a rainbow!
The army of Great Qian, like a steel torrent, broke through the Mohe Pass where the Northern Yuan Kingdom’s army was stationed, within a single day, and they pressed forward with unstoppable momentum, routing the Northern Yuan army and sending them into a hasty retreat.
The third day.
The pass at Mohe Pass had already fallen completely under the control of Great Qian’s army.
"Hahahaha..."
Within the tent, Liao Chong laughed loudly. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
He was still holding a human head in his hand.
It was the head of a general from the Northern Yuan army, which Liao Chong had severed with his spear, and now he had impaled the head on the spear and brought it back to the tent.
"This battle was extremely beautiful. We’ve won eighty percent already!" Wei Huo said.
The vanguard forces led by Wei Huo had slain at least fifty thousand enemy soldiers in the past two days.
Other generals reported their achievements one after another.
"The Northern Yuan army is nothing but a bunch of cowards, not worth a blow!"
"It’s all thanks to General Zhao’s astute leadership, who issued military orders on time and launched a total assault, catching them completely off guard!"
Having won the battle, all the generals were extremely joyful, each one brimming with pride and seeing victory within their grasp.
"Lucky that General Zhao didn’t listen to that Qin Qing..." someone suddenly mentioned Qin Qing.
Upon hearing the name Qin Qing, all the generals showed disdain once again.
"What would that greenhorn know? Disrupting the army’s morale, he’s lucky not to have been executed!"
"No one took him seriously to begin with. What could a green youth who has never fought in a war understand?"
"Heh, haven’t seen him these past few days, have we?"
"He didn’t follow, he stayed in the camp at the rear..."
"It’s better he didn’t come; it actually eases our minds. If that fellow caused any issues on the battlefield, it could have brought unnecessary trouble our way!"
There was a lot of discussion among the crowd.
But just at that moment—
The tent flap of the command tent was suddenly thrown open.
A soldier drenched in blood rushed in frantically: "It’s bad! The left vanguard, the Seventh Army, has been completely annihilated!"
"What?"
"The left vanguard, the Seventh Army... completely annihilated?" Zhao Danchen’s eyebrows shot up as he looked toward Liao Chong, "Liao Chong, how did you command them?"
Liao Chong’s face also looked grim. Hearing Zhao Danchen’s question, he quickly stepped forward, kneeling on one knee: "General Zhao, my left vanguard had absolutely taken the upper hand, having killed at least a hundred thousand enemy soldiers. In theory, there should be no crisis right now..."
"No crisis? Now your Seventh Army, a full thirty thousand soldiers, all annihilated, and you tell me there’s no crisis?" Zhao Danchen was uncontrollably furious.
"Report!"
Almost simultaneously as Zhao Danchen’s voice fell, another intelligence soldier rushed in, knelt on the ground gasping for breath, and said, "The central command’s Ninety-Second Army has been completely wiped out..."
"What?"
The faces of the crowd changed again.
And what followed...
"Report! The left vanguard, the Nineteenth Army, has been caught in enemy slaughter and lost contact; the situation is unclear..."
"Report, the Thirty-Third Cavalry of the left vanguard is surrounded by enemy forces, twelve thousand six hundred dead, thirty thousand wounded, the battle situation is critical, requesting support!"
"Report, the Sixth Army of the right vanguard has lost all contact, it’s feared they have been entirely wiped out..."
...
Inside the tent, the atmosphere was dreadfully tense.
Zhao Danchen’s face almost dripped with darkness.
The generals, who had just been brimming with confidence, as if the victory was in their hands, also had their faces turn ashen.
"How could this have happened?"
Zhao Danchen tried to calm himself down.
He was the first to walk to the sand table, and the other generals hurriedly followed.
Zhao Danchen immediately began analyzing at the sand table...
"Guo Ziyi," he said, "what do you think is the reason? We clearly had an absolute advantage, so why did the situation suddenly reverse?"
Guo Ziyi was the military strategist for the army at the Northern Pass.
In this battle at the Mohe Pass, Zhao Danchen was the commander-in-chief, while Guo Ziyi was in charge of military deployment.
At this moment, Guo Ziyi’s brows were tightly furrowed, his face grave.
"I’m afraid... the situation is different from what we all expected!" Guo Ziyi said solemnly.
"Isn’t that stating the obvious?" Wei Huo blurted out: "Why did this happen! You’re the military strategist, analyze why this happened!"
Wei Huo was also anxious.
News of defeat from the front lines kept coming, one after another; his brothers under his command were likely falling one after the other on the battlefield.
"It’s very likely there’s a problem with the battle array. Everyone, calm down and don’t disturb me!"
Guo Ziyi’s gaze was fixed on the sand table, constantly fiddling with it, deducing various changes.
The more he deduced, the more shocked Guo Ziyi became.
"We were wrong. All of us were wrong."
Guo Ziyi suddenly spoke up.
"Wrong?"
Everyone looked at Guo Ziyi with confusion.
"The battle formation of the Northern Yuan’s troops... we misanalyzed it from the beginning."
"Look, on the surface, their formation is like this... the front is the Single-Line Serpent Formation, combined with the Thunder Snake Formation..."
Guo Ziyi quickly analyzed the Northern Yuan Army’s formation.
"So, they intentionally showed weakness to the enemy, aiming to lure us in deep. In reality, their formation is completely different..."
"We thought the south side was their weakest point, the breakthrough location, but in actuality, they had set up an encirclement with six armies right there. It’s at this point that our cavalry battalion suffered heavy losses!"
"Similarly, here at the Huaiyin Mountain east of the Mohe Pass, it’s the same..."
Guo Ziyi analyzed meticulously.
Having heard him, Zhao Danchen and the others felt as if a blockage in their minds was suddenly cleared.
"Then, Guo military strategist, how should we dispatch our forces now? Command us immediately!" Zhao Danchen said.
Guo Ziyi nodded. He quickly conducted a drill on the sand table, at the same time directing all the generals on how to change the battle array, how to adjust their attack methods...
Time ticked away.
In the blink of an eye, three hours had passed.
The slaughter on the battlefield continued unabated.
"The vanguard force of the left flank, the 27th Army, has been... annihilated!"
"The Archery Battalion... the 72nd Battalion, more than half dead or wounded."
"The central army, the 93rd and 94th Armies, have completely lost contact. It’s highly likely they’ve met with disaster..."
The situation on the battlefield was getting worse.
Zhao Danchen stood on the battlefield, looking into the distance, feeling extremely anxious.
"They’re all useless."
"Useless!"
Zhao Danchen cursed silently.
Guo Ziyi was still continuously analyzing the situation, constantly adjusting tactics, but the tide had completely turned.
Now, the Great Qian Army’s morale was utterly depleted.
The number of fallen soldiers continued to rise...
On the other hand, the Northern Yuan’s troops... their morale was climbing relentlessly.
"Why has this happened?"
"Who can tell me... why has it suddenly come to this?"
Zhao Danchen was like an ant on a hot pan, having been in military campaigns for many years, he had never encountered such a situation.
The Great Qian Army had clearly gained an absolute initiative, with victory in sight.
But when it came time to launch the final assault, how could they be defeated so utterly?
Just as Zhao Danchen was at a loss, Dong Zhongjin suddenly came over, holding the Jade Slip that recorded Qin Qing’s recommendations: "General Zhao, I think... perhaps you should take a look at this Jade Slip..."
