sbdcsierra Chapter 497: The Complete Destruction of the Pseudo-Qi Regime
Chapter 497: The Complete Destruction of the Pseudo-Qi Regime
Ma Ling led 20,000 Zhennan troops and galloped across the battlefield, bypassing the enemy's circular formation, and then took bows and crossbows and shot at the enemy.
When cavalry charges, they target the enemy's weak points in defense in order to disrupt the formation.
Instead of attacking the enemy's strongest defense line head-on, that's something only a fool would do.
If we want to win, we can do so, but we will suffer heavy losses, exchanging one cavalryman for one infantryman. No one with a normal mind would do such a thing.
The advantage of cavalry lies in its mobility. Ma Ling uses the mobility of cavalry to reduce the number of enemies. This is what he did when he fought Nie Bei before.
Moreover, the Zhennan Army did not only have bows and arrows. Many cavalry teams were also equipped with fire mines. These cavalrymen were ruthless. They lit the fire mines and threw them forward, then ran away immediately. They did not even look back when they heard explosions behind them.
Because a real man never looks back at an explosion.
Tong Xuan's remaining 10,000-odd soldiers were beaten terribly and kept dying. Their defense line was thinned out layer by layer, and they kept dying.
When the Southern King was circling, a scout from Li Bohan came running over on horseback. After catching up with the Southern King, he said as he ran,
"Your Highness, the Marshal has sent me to tell you to quickly withdraw with your cavalry. He has prepared two cannons, which are already aimed at Tong Xuan and can be fired immediately. Even if they can't kill him, they will disrupt the enemy's formation. It won't be too late for you to charge then."
"understood!"
Ma Ling immediately turned his horse around and led the 20,000 Zhennan troops to run far to the east.
Tong Xuan, who was sitting on the dragon chariot in the middle of the army, holding a sharp sword in his hand, was about to fight the Yan army to the death, but suddenly found that the Yan army had run away.
"Your Majesty, the Yan army has escaped. We can retreat now!"
A general shouted excitedly.
"Retreat? Where else can we retreat to?"
Tong Xuan glanced towards the south and saw several cavalry regiments chasing after their fleeing soldiers.
If he ran, he would inevitably collide with the enemy.
Moreover, it is impossible for the enemy to retreat when they are sure of victory. There must be something fishy going on!
At this moment, Tong Xuan suddenly saw two black spots appearing quickly in the northern sky and rapidly enlarging in his pupils.
what?
I want to see what you are up to.
Boom boom!
Oh, it's gunpowder.
This was the only thought left in Tong Xuan's mind. Immediately afterwards, a huge explosion occurred two meters in front of him, and with a loud bang, his dragon chariot was overturned.
The dragon chariot broke into pieces, and Tong Xuan turned into a graceful parabola and smashed heavily on a soldier's head.
A lucky soldier was randomly killed, and his helmet directly broke his lumbar vertebrae.
The shock wave of the explosion and the intense pain in his lumbar spine caused Tong Xuan to faint.
The soldiers were thrown into chaos by the two artillery shells and immediately fled in all directions.
"The Emperor is dead!"
"The Emperor has passed away, run!"
"Run, don't kill me, I surrender, don't kill me!"
Those thousands of soldiers completely collapsed and fled in all directions, and were killed or killed alive by the Yan army.
By the time Ma Ling arrived with his cavalry, there were no humans left here. Only a few loyal guards were left, carrying Tong Xuan and trying to escape.
Ma Ling went up and killed all the guards without saying a word.
A soldier dismounted and came to Tong Xuan, who was covered in mud and blood. He checked his breath and pulse and said,
"Your Highness, this old thief is not dead yet. He just fainted."
"Bring him along and have him executed by slow slicing in Xuzhou City someday!"
"As ordered!"
"Let the Second and Third Corps go into Xuzhou City to eliminate the remaining enemies. Let the Pingnan Army Corps that did not participate in the encirclement also dispatch 20,000 men to eliminate the remnants."
"As ordered!"
The Southern King acted quickly because the Zhennan Army took away a great deal of the pressure from the Pingnan Army and eliminated most of the enemies. Therefore, on the entire battlefield, the first to eliminate the enemy were the Pingnan Army, which was located in the east.
While they were taking the captured prisoners back to the camp, they also sent people to take control of Xuzhou City.
The news that Tong Xuan was captured alive was also conveyed to the other two groups of soldiers who were fighting through messengers.
The Yan army was shouting, "Tong Xuan has been captured, and he will not be killed if he surrenders."
The news that Tong Xuan was arrested became the last straw that broke the camel's back.
The pseudo-Qi army, which was already divided and surrounded and struggling to hold on, completely lost its fighting spirit and determination after hearing this news. Some of the surrounded troops could not even see their generals and could only lay down their weapons and surrender.
The enemy troops in the central and western parts surrendered one after another, and the Battle of Xuzhou City ended with the complete victory of the Yan army and the complete demise of the Qi regime.
The prisoners were imprisoned in prisoner-of-war camps in batches, and most of the Yan army withdrew to the main camp.
The captives previously captured from the four cities came in handy. Under the supervision of the Yan army, these people were responsible for cleaning up the battlefield.
At this time, it was almost evening.
The war was over, and the firemen in the camp had already prepared steaming hot meals.
The Yan army returned to the barracks and ate while boasting about how brave they were and how many enemy soldiers they had killed.
There were also people who silently stayed beside their fallen comrades, prayed silently for them, and looked at the sky blankly.
Shen Changgong also returned to the commander's tent in the main camp. Each unit was counting the number of enemies killed and the casualties, which took time.
He didn't wait for the commanders of the various armies, but Ma Ling arrived first with Tong Xuan.
Tong Xuan was awakened by the Yan army by being splashed with several buckets of water. His armor was stripped off, and the yellow dragon robe underneath was covered in mud and wet. He looked extremely miserable.
The guards threw Tong Xuan to the ground in the general's tent, then kicked him and cursed,
"Damn it, stop playing dead, stand up and kneel down!"
Tong Xuan said nothing and lay there with a look of despair.
He could no longer feel his lower body.
The guards helped him up and made him kneel down, but he fell to the ground again with a thud.
"Is his lumbar vertebra broken?"
Shen Changgong asked with narrowed eyes.
Ma Ling nodded and said,
"When we found him, he was already like this. After waking up, he couldn't stand up. He was probably useless."
"what happened?"
"Bombard him with artillery."
"It's so brutal."
Shen Changgong shook his head and sighed.
A good person was actually bombarded. The scene is cruel just thinking about it.
Then, Shen Changgong asked again,
"What did you bring him here for?"
Ma Ling was surprised.
"You captured the enemy emperor, and you won't interrogate him?"
"What is there to interrogate him about? His last remaining troops were annihilated, and he himself is a prisoner. What important information can he possibly have? There's no point in capturing him. I'll just torture him to death tomorrow."