Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2200: Unwavering Loyalty Across a Thousand Miles, 100,000 Troops Return to Han Hands
The outcome of the Battle of Zhennan City fully proved Zhang Bin's previous guess: everything behind it was indeed inseparable from the Zhao Song dynasty in the west.

Or rather, Daqian was probably lured here by the other party.

Ma Qianli led an army of 120,000 to reinforce the area, but on the way, they were ambushed by the troops sent by Lian Po.

At almost the same time, Lian Po, who was eager to help Ma Yuan, suddenly stabbed Ma Yuan in the back.

With Jiang Chaoyu's 300,000-strong army in front, and Lian Po, whom he thought was a friend, suddenly stabbing him in the back, Ma Yuan, who only had 40,000 troops, had no chance of survival and was captured by Lian Po on the spot.

Then, Lian Po and Jiang Chaoyu used Ma Yuan to trick the city gate of Zhennan City into opening.

The two sides then engaged in a bloody battle with the garrison of the southern city of Sanwan.

Historically, Zhennan City had its city gates breached before, but during that time, the entire Ma family of Zhennan, men, women, children, and even women and kids, donned armor and went into battle, almost wiping out that generation of Po Jun Tiger Warriors and the entire generation of Zhennan, forcibly driving them out.

This time, it seems like history is repeating itself.

Unfortunately, the outcome was not as expected in history.

In this battle, Zhao Jinlan, the mother of Ma Qianli, at the age of seventy, led the ten thousand elite soldiers who remained in the city, along with twenty thousand ordinary infantrymen and members of the Ma family, against Jiang Chaoyu and Lian Po, who had gone bankrupt, in a brutal street battle.

The alliance between Jiang Chaoyu and Lian Po was not merely a simple advantage in troop strength, but an absolute difference in troop strength of more than ten times.

Moreover, Jiang Chaoyu's army also had valiant generals such as Jiang Xiaohei, Bai Jiwu, and Zhang Xuanliang, yet the two sides still fought relentlessly for three days and three nights without rest.

Only after the bloodshed was immense, and after all ten thousand Tiger Warriors had perished, did the city finally fall into Jiang Chaoyu's hands.

Despite having a numerical advantage of more than ten times and countless capable ministers and generals, Jiang Chaoyu and Lian Po, working together, still suffered 50,000 casualties and fought for a long time before finally achieving victory.

In this battle, thousands of members of the Ma family, including Ma Qianli's mother Zhao Jinlan, Ma Qianli's wife Wang Lanji, Ma Qianli's brother Ma Yili, Ma Teng's son Ma Xiu, and the top-level general Ma Zhao, were killed in Zhennan City.

Although large families like theirs have been developing for hundreds of years, if we really wanted to gather them all, we could find tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of direct and collateral branches, as well as those who had branched out.

However, the thousands of Ma family members who died in battle were not just collateral relatives or those who had separated from the family; they were the direct descendants of the Ma family and the most important branches.

In this wave, it can be said that this large family has directly lost 90% of its important members.

When the news reached Ma Qianli's camp, which had just broken out of the ambush, the impact on the entire army was enormous.

From top to bottom, everyone was determined to fight back with gritted teeth.

Not only the Ma family members, but also the families of many important generals in the army died in this battle.

Of course, it's impossible that all family members had died in battle. Even some members of the Ma family survived, not to mention the other generals and civil officials.

Only a small fraction survived, and even fewer managed to escape.

It can be said that from this moment on, the entire Zhennan Army and the Daqian Dynasty were once again locked in an irreconcilable feud.

Naturally, this hatred also included the Song Dynasty!

It was against this backdrop that Zhang Bin arrived at Ma Qianli's camp.

When Zhang Bin was invited into the main tent, all the generals inside and outside the tent, from top to bottom, stared coldly at him.

Zhang Bin arrived at just the right time, and no one had the time or inclination to pay him any attention. Besides, the relationship between their two families wasn't good either. Just moments before, they had been fighting the Han Dynasty in Guangyin.

"Lord Zhennan, how have you been?" Zhang Bin's voice was steady, even carrying a hint of feigned concern, which sounded particularly jarring in the deathly silent tent.

Ma Qianli suddenly raised his head, and his lifeless eyes instantly flashed with a terrifying ferocity.

In other circumstances, he might have been more inclined to engage in polite formalities to avoid losing his aristocratic demeanor.

But at this moment, all he wanted was to tear apart all the enemies in front of him, rather than maintain any superficial politeness.

Although the Han Dynasty was not behind this incident, the Zhennan Army and the Han Dynasty were never friends, but enemies. One can imagine Ma Qianli's feelings at this time.

"Zhang Mengsun!"

The young Ma Chao suddenly stepped forward, his hand on the hilt of his sword, and said menacingly, "Did that scoundrel Wang Pengfei send you to kick me when I'm down? Believe me or not, I'll chop you up and feed you to the dogs right now!"

This was the opinion of most people present regarding Zhang Bin's arrival; in their view, the big man had come to watch the show.

"Lord Zhennan, General Mengqi, please don't be so angry. If I were here to kick someone when they're down, why would I have come alone?"

"I am not here to kick someone when they're down; on the contrary, I'm here to offer a way out for Lord Zhennan!" Zhang Bin ignored the fierce looks on the faces of most of the people present and instead smiled slightly.

"A way out!"

"What good intentions do you Han people have?"

"To put it bluntly, they just want my 100,000-plus troops, don't they?" Ma Qianli sneered.

Ma Qianli was, after all, the master of the entire Zhennan Army and the patriarch of a super feudal family. He could see this simple truth at a glance.

The two sides were originally enemies, and the other side is not a saint. Why would they help them if there was no benefit to be gained?

Their only value now is the remaining troops under his command.

This force remains an immense temptation for any power.

“Lord Zhennan, you are wise.” Zhang Bin made no attempt to conceal his purpose and continued speaking.

“My lord, the Emperor of the Great Han Dynasty, does indeed want to swallow up the Zhennan Duke’s battle-hardened army, but this does not conflict with giving the Zhennan Duke a way out.”

“Lord Zhennan, the reality of your army is right here. The Song army and the Qian army have joined forces and occupied Zhennan City. Now, most of Yangdong Road is under the control of the Song and Qian armies. The remaining half of Yangdong Road is only a matter of time.”

"Your remaining family, Lord Zhennan, and the rest of the families of the other generals are now in the hands of others. Their life or death is entirely up to someone else."

"Even if Lord Zhennan continues to send reinforcements, how much food and fodder will be left? How much morale will the army have? In front, the Song-Qian allied forces are waiting in ambush, and behind, our great Han army is watching closely."

Without hesitation, Zhang Bin revealed the predicament of the Zhennan Army. Having lost most of Yangdong Road, they had also lost their base of operations.

With these troops, let alone returning to reinforce, they wouldn't even be able to hold onto the remaining half of Yangdong Road.

From the entire Ma family down to the lowest-ranking generals, their families suffered heavy losses in that battle, but some of them still ended up in Jiang Chaoyu's hands.

Many generals, though harboring deep hatred for the enemy, were not deterred, while many others had their lives held in check by the enemy.