Chapter 1032: Chapter 1032: Return (Part 2)

August 26th, overcast.

The thirty-five hundred thousand troops from West Liang, led by Ling Zhiyuan, clashed with the five hundred and eighty thousand Yuanjing Army south of Shangqiu.

In this battle, the Yuanjing Army not only held the advantage in numbers but also had the strategic benefits of backing Bear City Guang’an.

Most importantly, the Yuanjing Army had a powerful reinforcement.

That was the fifty thousand Qing State Iron Cavalry from Great Qi!

Great Qi’s Qing State Iron Cavalry was renowned throughout the world for their bravery in battle, claiming an unbroken record of victories, often harassing Great Yan and Great Liang, slaying countless soldiers from both nations over the centuries.

Emperor Yuanjing too paid a considerable price to reach an agreement with Great Qi and borrowed this elite and unmatched Iron Cavalry.

The battle between the two sides first unfolded on the expansive plains.

The Firearm Machine Army from West Liang unsurprisingly became the main focus of this campaign, commencing by using several hundred field guns and a hundred thousand firearms, brutally blasting open the formations of the Yuanjing Army.

In fact, the Yuanjing Army also had a large number of cannons and numerous imitation firearms and even copied West Liang by forming their own Firearm guards.

However, when an imitation comes face to face with the real thing, the well-equipped and trained Firearm Machine Army from West Liang swept away their opponents like deadwood before a raging torrent, then headed straight for the central camp of the Yuanjing Army.

Left with no choice, the Yuanjing Army had to prematurely dispatch their cavalry, attempting to break through the Firearm Machine Army from the flank.

In the end, under the bombardment from shrapnel and buckshot, the cavalry collapsed in disarray. Despite the loss of tens of thousands of men and horses, their objective was not met.

Adding insult to injury, when the prevailing West Liang forces launched a comprehensive attack on the demoralized Yuanjing Army, the Qing State Iron Cavalry, which was supposed to join the battlefield, actually retreated back to Guang’an City.

And they closed off the city gates, blocking the retreat path of the Yuanjing Army!

This inconceivable move by the Qing State Iron Cavalry undoubtedly hastened the collapse of the Yuanjing Army. The latter held out for less than half a day before completely disintegrating, with countless soldiers not perishing from firearms but dying under the trampling of their own.

Blood dyed the earth red, and corpses littered the plains. South of Shangqiu became forbidden ground for commoners for decades to come because there were too many restless spirits unwilling to enter reincarnation, still lingering in the area.

Many more wailed as they threw down their weapons, knelt on the ground, and surrendered, begging for mercy.

Emperor Yuanjing’s rise to the throne was illegitimate, and in recent years his aggressive military expansion, despite having formed a massive army, also contributed to the poor quality and low morale of his soldiers, which was one of the reasons behind this tragic defeat.

In just one day, the West Liang forces secured a victory that determined the fate of Great Liang.

After the battle, the Yuanjing Army, numbering five hundred and eighty thousand, had nearly two hundred thousand dead. Over three hundred thousand surrendered and were captured, with only a few lucky enough to escape the battlefield.

The West Liang Army then thoroughly besieged Guang’an City, trapping the fifty thousand Qing State Iron Cavalry and thirty thousand Yuanjing Army soldiers to death inside the city.

Due to the large number of previous captives, West Liang Army did not immediately attack this famous and formidable city of Great Qi.

Instead, the Qing State Army sent out envoys, offering Guang’an City as ransom, seeking their safe departure.

Having witnessed the power of West Liang’s firearms, coupled with the fact that they were not fighting for Great Qi, the men of the Qing State Iron Cavalry were greatly demoralized.

Still, they carried the pride of Great Qi.

Ling Zhiyuan flatly rejected their offer and summoned the siege cannons from the rear, bombarding the city walls day and night.

Although the walls of Guang’an City were also equipped with cannons both large and small, they were of little use against the seventy-two Death God Cannons personally refined by Wang Chen, falling under the fierce bombardment.

Then, the tall and sturdy walls of Guang’an City were forcefully blasted open, creating a colossal breach, and the Qing State and Yuanjing troops defending the city suffered heavy casualties.

That very day, Ling Zhiyuan personally led his army into Guang’an City and in combat killed the commander of the Qing State Iron Cavalry, the Sixth-tier Martial Venerable Gao Yuan, annihilating the opposition and capturing this crucial city.

With that, the road to the capital Daye of Great Liang was completely cleared.

This battle once again shook the world.

Because the main force of the Yuanjing Army had been completely wiped out, after resting for three days in Guang’an City, Ling Zhiyuan led his troops northward without any further obstacles, with the prefectural governments along the way surrendering at the mere sight of his approach.

The West Liang Army marched northward, smoothly arriving at Daye!

At this time, Daye had completely fallen into chaos. Emperor Yuanjing, who had become despairing and lost all reason, slaughtered the imperial court ministers and the harem concubines indiscriminately, and even sought to burn the entire city down with them.

As a result, his perverse actions hastened his own downfall. The Noble Clans within Daye united to open the city gates, leading the West Liang Army into the Imperial Capital.

That night, Emperor Yuanjing ignited gunpowder in the imperial palace, blowing himself up to the heavens along with his children!

After seizing Daye, Ling Zhiyuan sent troops to take over the territory of the four prefectures.

Thus, except for the three northern prefectures previously ceded to Great Qi, the entirety of Great Liang came under the rule of Martial Venerable Wu Zhao.

[Fate +15000]

In the cultivation chamber of Hanhai Taoist Palace, an enormous fate suddenly descended upon Wang Chen.

He glanced at the conspicuous prompt that popped up in his field of vision, then closed his eyes again to sink into meditation.

Just in that moment, Wang Chen once again touched the source of the world, delving even deeper this time than ever before!

In his Perception, the Taoist Foundation of the Cangqing Domain was still a boundless chaos, without having condensed and given birth to a true world consciousness.

This was to be expected, because if the Cangqing Domain had its own consciousness, Wang Chen’s desire to arrive here with his Golden Core Cultivation Level would be nothing more than wishful thinking.

Moreover, even if he managed to arrive here by some fluke, he could be crushed at any moment by the Heavenly Dao — that is, the world consciousness!

In fact, it is only such a small world that could possibly be controlled by Wang Chen.

And even to refine it as the great feat of his own Taoist Foundation!

However, even though the source of the world was still in a state of chaos, it was not something the current Wang Chen could influence. What he could do was to use the Mountain River Great Array as the carrier, burning fate as the price, to project his thoughts bit by bit within.

To let the source of the world be infected with his essence.

In some ways, Wang Chen was like a virus-like entity!

And while Wang Chen was in seclusion at Hanhai Taoist Palace, the outside world was once again in turmoil, and the great trends of the world changed again and again.

First, Martial Venerable Wu Zhao, the West Liang queen, announced the relocation of the capital to Daye, ascending the throne and changing the nation’s name from Great Liang to Great Zhou.

After establishing the court of Great Zhou, they did not proceed as many people expected to send troops to reclaim the northern ancestral lands; instead, they amassed a heavy military presence and stationed troops at strategic passes, adopting a defensive posture.

On another front, Ling Zhiyuan led a hundred thousand Firearm Machine Army cavalry southward to launch a campaign against the Southern Barbarians.

Compared to the previously vast Yuanjing Army, the Southern Barbarians proved to be more troublesome.

Ling Zhiyuan spent a good half-year sweeping through the southern deep mountains and forests, destroying countless barbarian stockades and caves, and suffered over fifty thousand casualties before completely resolving this menace that had plagued Great Liang for hundreds of years.

As for how many barbarians died in this war, that became a permanent secret.

In any case, the few surviving barbarians all became villagers capable of singing and dancing, warm and hospitable.

At this time, Wang Chen had triggered his Spirit Mechanism to return early!

——-

The second update is delivered.