Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2104 Gu Jiantang betrays Cang and joins Song; two divine generals are defeated and perish.
The third year of the Yuan Shi era.

The seventh day of July.

It was raining that day.

At the vegetable market on the south side of Tianjing City, prisoners dressed in white prison uniforms were being escorted in an endless stream to be beheaded.

This beheading took a full seven days to complete.

In total, the number of people who were brought in to be beheaded amounted to tens of thousands.

The last time there was such a large-scale massacre was nearly thirty years ago, after the Siming Incident.

After seven consecutive days of beheadings, the soil in the entire market was completely stained red by the end of the operation.

Among these prisoners, most were members of the Nangong family and their associates, friends and relatives. The rest were loyal officials of Zhongcang, or members of other aristocratic families who had once stood behind Zhongcang.

Moreover, this is only within Tianjing.

In the past few days, mass beheadings have been taking place throughout all the provinces and prefectures under the control of the Han Dynasty, from the provincial and county governments down to the various large and small counties.

The Nangong family's business reach extends to every aspect of Da Cang, and their people are present in every corner of Da Cang.

With the cooperation of the two major imperial merchants, the Dongfang and Beiming families, the economic impact of the destruction of the Nangong family on various parts of the Han Dynasty ultimately did not expand and was eliminated in the shortest possible time.

At least within the territory of the Great Han, there may still be some remnants of the Nangong family, but these people can only barely escape in the gutter now, not daring to show their faces.

As for those outside the Han Dynasty, well, the Han Dynasty can't care about that.

Of course, in reality, the situation of the Nangong family was not good either, even outside of the Han Dynasty.

The Zhao Song dynasty, the Zhennan region, and the Zhenbei region will not give up the lucrative territory controlled by the Nangong family.

They could barely keep up with the leftovers, even though the big man had already eaten the large head of the food.

They won't even eat the fat meat that's already in their mouths; they're not doing charity!

Of these families, Zhao Song was the fastest to finish. With the assistance of the Ximen family, which was also one of the four great imperial merchants, their speed was naturally not slow.

The Zhenbei Lie clan was the one that ate the most ruthlessly.

Given their current predicament, they urgently need to replenish their resources. Shanyin is, after all, a border region. Other things may not be feasible, but border trade is still quite profitable.

Therefore, the Nangong family had some assets in Shanyin. Now that the Nangong family was in dire straits, Lie Feiyang naturally wanted to take advantage of them to alleviate his own predicament.

Anyway, the reasons for kicking someone when they're down are already readily available—who told them to get involved with the demonic disaster!
By nature, they can stand on the side of righteousness!
On the contrary, when Xuanyuan Huang and the Tuoba tribe who entered Shanyin could have easily beaten a dog when it was down, they not only did not beat the dog, but also helped the Nangong family.

In the later stages of the Battle of Henan, Tuoba Gui formally took military action against Shanyin. As for Tuoba Changping, he didn't care about the leftovers from the Nangong family; he valued the family's influence more.

Because he intervened to protect the Nangong family's power in Shanyin. Although this was only a small part of the Nangong family at its peak, what Tuoba Changping valued was the Nangong family's influence in various parts of Dacang.

As for the Great Yan side, it wasn't that Xuan Yuan Huang Xinshan had forgotten their past grievances; it was all based on their own interests.

If it benefits Zhao Song, Zhennan, and Zhenbei to join the Han in devouring the Nangong family, then they will naturally do so.

As for Xuanyuan Huang, it would be beneficial for the Nangong family to help them, so he naturally chose to do so.

Because of the four great imperial merchants, represented by the Nangong family, how badly did the Celestial Masters sect suffer back then?

Does Xuanyuan Huang harbor no resentment at all?

However, this is not the time to vent one's anger. While the people below may act this way, the helmsman of a massive warship cannot indulge in such whims.

Because of that incident, the entire Great Yan Dynasty lost the favor of the powerful families. Consequently, the development of the Great Yan Dynasty was severely affected.

The development of any power cannot rely entirely on aristocratic families. Otherwise, that power will inevitably face constraints everywhere.

However, in such a feudal era, the development of a power could not be completely separated from aristocratic families.

Xuanyuan Huang wanted to use this opportunity to make another statement. After all, the Great Yan Dynasty couldn't possibly completely exclude the aristocratic families from its borders.

In particular, although the territory of Qingbei in Dongcang had fallen into the hands of the Han Dynasty, half of Qingnan and a small part of Heyang were taken over by the Great Yan after Dongcang's military forces were almost completely wiped out.

Previously, the national policy implemented in Dongcang was the Nine-Rank System.

Therefore, the influence of the powerful families in Dongcang was quite extensive.

If Xuanyuan Huang does not ease his ties with the aristocratic families, then the Great Yan Dynasty will not be able to develop in the next few years. Just the infighting with these aristocratic families will be enough to exhaust his mind.

Therefore, for Xuanyuan Huang, helping the Nangong family at this time to express his attitude and ease relations with the aristocratic families is more important for the Great Yan Dynasty itself.

In fact, Xuanyuan Huang's intentions went beyond simply easing tensions with the aristocratic families. He introduced several policies that benefited their development and made his own compromises.

Although the Great Yan Dynasty's foundation is already solid due to its origins in the Celestial Masters sect, making it impossible to implement policies like the Nine-Rank System—which would completely destroy its own foundation—Xuanyuan Huang still needs to find a balance between the two.

He needed to compromise with the powerful families, and at the same time, he also needed to compromise with those who originally benefited from the Celestial Masters sect.

After all, his time is running out.

After the destruction of Dongcang and Zhongcang, the next step for Da Yan in facing the might of the Han army would be to bear the brunt of the attack.

Therefore, in order to cherish the limited remaining time for development, he had no choice but to compromise.

………………

Several months passed, and Gu Ling and Yuan Shao joined forces with the remaining forces of Dou Jiande on the border of Dali, and formally submitted to the Kingdom of Dali.

Gu Ling and Yuan Shao did not show their faces in public, but instead remained hidden, secretly controlling Dou Jiande's remaining forces.

After all, on the surface, they were just like everyone else, remnants of Dou Jiande's forces, and had nothing to do with the Han Dynasty, nor could they contact it.

If these people could establish any connection with the Han Dynasty, would the Dali Dynasty, with its size, dare to accept such a force?

Although Gu Ling wasn't a celebrity, he was still a former third-place scholar in the imperial examinations. As for Yuan Shao, he was somewhat well-known in Cang County, and his defection to the Han Dynasty was no secret. Therefore, at this time, hiding behind Dou Jiande's forces made it easier for them to conceal themselves.

Similarly, hiding in the background is relatively safer for the two of them.

These two men, especially Yuan Shao, were quite concerned about their own safety.

As for Huangfu Long, Huangfu Dou, Liang Lin, and Liang Fang, some of them also appeared one after another as exiled forces of Da Cang. Those like Liang Lin and Liang Fang, who had previously appeared in Da Han, appeared under different names.

As for their identities after changing their names, the Luo Wang (a network of intelligence) will naturally take care of that for them.

As for why the remaining forces of Huangfu Long and Huangfu Dou went all the way to Dali instead of staying nearby, it is not difficult to explain.

What could the Huangfu and Zhao families possibly discuss after the events surrounding Zhao Song's ascension to the throne? If these men were to go to Zhao Song, Zhao Kuangyin would have them executed in a heartbeat.

As for Xicang, does that mean that Zhongcang and Xicang can coexist peacefully?

The feud between the royal bloodlines of Zhongcang and Xicang has been going on for decades.

The Dali Dynasty at this time naturally welcomed these exiled forces from Da Cang. Those who had managed to escape all the way here were, to varying degrees, quite capable.

At that time, Dali lacked such capable and battle-hardened individuals. Although these people were some losers and exiles in Dacang, for the Dali Dynasty, they were like a long-awaited rain after a drought.

As for Dou Jiande's remaining forces, they still had some influence, to a certain extent.

Among them were Dou Jiande's two most important advisors, Song Zhengben and Ling Jing. These two men were able to help Dou Jiande establish a great career, although it ended after a short time. However, one of their attributes was still above 90.

In addition, there were generals such as Fang Tianding, Fang Jie, Fang Jinzhi, Deng Yuanjue, Shi Bao, Li Tianrun, Si Xingfang, and Lou Minzhong, who together protected Dou Jiande's orphaned daughter, Dou Xianniang, and helped her reach Dali with great difficulty.

This group of people also received considerable courtesy from the rulers of the Dali Dynasty.

This force, if placed within the Great Wu Dynasty, would naturally be insignificant. Dou Jiande's entire power had been wiped out by Great Wu, let alone this remnant army left behind.

However, ten thousand soldiers, all of whom were veterans who had seen blood for over ten thousand years, constituted a formidable force within the Dali dynasty.

It should be noted that the entire Dali region, even with the combined strength of the entire nation, only had 50,000 troops.

Both were dynasties, but the once-powerful Jian Sheng Lan Hao dynasty didn't limit its forces to 50,000; they simply didn't want to engage in excessive military expansion. Most importantly, while they had ample funds and provisions to support their army, they lacked sufficient iron ore reserves, which restricted the development of their military.

However, supporting so many soldiers in Dali would be quite a challenge.

In truth, Dali is still not as prosperous as Jian Shenglanhao.

The Dali Dynasty had exhausted all its resources to raise 50,000 troops, but Dou Jiande's remaining forces brought over 10,000 troops directly, so they had no choice but to pay them respect and treat them with courtesy!

Moreover, given the current situation in Dali, they desperately need the addition of this force.

Several months have passed, and the battle situation on the Zhao Song side has clearly improved. With the Zhao Song side making progress, the pressure on Dali naturally increases as well.

The Beggars' Sect was ultimately just a rabble. Although they were numerous, they could manage to gain momentum and boost their morale in a favorable battle. However, they couldn't withstand the pressure in a high-intensity fight.

Moreover, compared to the organized and strong civilians, this group was relatively more difficult to control.

Therefore, while the Beggars' Sect helped Xicang a lot, it also became a weakness for Xicang, leading to another defeat for Xicang.

Fortunately, this defeat was not on the main battlefield, but only on a flank.

Furthermore, after the city fell, a group of heroes, including Hong Qigong, Yan Nantian, and Ke Zhen'e, assisted in the fight, and after suffering heavy casualties, they managed to give the Xicang army a chance to break out.

Therefore, although Xicang suffered another defeat, apart from losing a large number of Beggars' Sect disciples, their actual troop losses were not significant.

However, this battle brought a series of negative consequences.

Of all these, the biggest blow to Xicang was the defection of Gu Jiantang, a key general.

Although Gu Jiantang's father was loyal to the court and played an important role in the restoration of the Xicang court, it did not mean that his son, Gu Jiantang, was equally loyal to the court.

At the very beginning, the Xicang court suffered a series of defeats, especially the two counties that were originally in Guandong, which were easily recaptured by Lian Po. At that time, Gu Jiantang began to hesitate.

However, not long afterward, the overall situation began to change again.

The addition of the Beggars' Sect and a large number of chivalrous heroes indeed strengthened the power of Xicang.

The Dali Dynasty's military intervention further increased the border pressure on Zhao Shuang.

Even after the battle in Henan was decided, the Liang Pass, which led from Henan to the Three Passes and One Mountain, was still in the hands of the Song Dynasty, allowing them to attack or defend as they pleased. However, it was clear that the Song Dynasty was already feeling the pressure at that time.

Therefore, even in the midst of a major battle, 10,000 troops were still mobilized from the front lines to strengthen the defenses of Liang Pass.

Even Gao Yanping, a legendary general, returned to Liangguan with the army.

At that time, although Xicang was still suffering losses in the overall battle, it was at least developing in a positive direction.

It was precisely because of this situation that Gu Jiantang, who was initially hesitant, gave up his wavering resolve.

However, this previous defeat caused that slight hesitation, which had been put aside, to rise again for no apparent reason.

It was precisely at this time that the Imperial City Guard secretly contacted Gu Jiantang. The Imperial City Guard's persuasion became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Although this defeat did not cause any fundamental loss to Xicang, it exposed the fact that Xicang was a paper tiger, making Gu Jiantang give up on this last bit of luck.

At least at this point, Xicang still had the power to resist, especially from the outside, with the Dali Dynasty as a reinforcement. Xicang had not yet reached the point of complete collapse. If Gu Jiantang sold Xicang at this time, Xicang still had some value and could be sold for a decent price.

If they wait any longer, Gu Jiantang might not be able to sell Xicang for a good price when he wants to buy it again.

The defection of Gu Jiantang, a top general of Xicang, also brought irreparable losses to Xicang.

Even though Huang Tian and others who escaped from Tianjing fought back at the crucial moment, two powerful generals, one old and one new, still died in the battle in Xicang.

After this battle, Xicang was completely doomed, with only 20,000 troops and one county left for them to put up a last stand.