Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2287 The Han army occupies the entire Hexi Corridor, and a million soldiers press towards Guandong.

"Ding! Lan Yu has killed Emperor Gaozong of Song, Zhao Gou. The reward is a random three-attribute bonus of +1: current martial prowess +1, command +1, and charm +1."

Blue Jade's attributes are permanently increased to Command 98, Strength 101, Intelligence 79, Politics 58, and Charisma 77.

Even though Emperor Gaozong of Song, Zhao Gou, had many flaws, he was still the founding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty and had a certain charisma.

Therefore, Lan Yu still received system rewards after killing him.

Moreover, the reward is quite substantial.

At least, it's much better than the rewards given to people like Shi Hu who were killed back then.

Zhao Changfeng and Zhao Gou were both killed by Lan Yu. Xuan Jinhu, who was already on the verge of death, was filled with grief and indignation after witnessing this scene and wanted to perish together with Deng Jiugong.

However, putting aside the difference in strength between the two sides, the opponent's moves are inherently defensive rather than offensive, so trying to achieve this is simply a pipe dream.

Xuanjinhu, who wields only a shield as his weapon, is not so easy to kill even if someone weaker than him tries to avoid him, let alone someone stronger than him.

Therefore, less than three rounds later, he was killed by Deng Jiugong with a single blow.

In addition, more than 20 Song Dynasty officials, including Xu Yuanjie, Wu Shugao, Zhou Tan, Xu Yanfu, and Fu Xingjian, died in this battle.

Although these people were all officials of the Zhao Song dynasty in the Hexi Circuit, they voluntarily followed Zhao Changfeng to retreat to the Guandong and Guanxi regions when Zhao Changfeng was preparing to withdraw from the Hexi Circuit.

However, in the midst of battle, where swords flash without warning, these civil officials, who had little martial skill, clearly had no chance of survival in such a chaotic battlefield.

Many people died inexplicably under the iron hooves of cavalry, not knowing who killed them.

When Lan Yu and his men were taking stock of the battlefield after the war, they had the captured Zhao Song officials identify the items among the captured relics. That's when they discovered that there were actually these people among the dead.

Meanwhile, as Lan Yu and Bai Qi pursued Zhao Changfeng, Chang Yuchun and Feng Yi were also quickly dealing with the rearguard left behind by Zhao Changfeng.

After all, the four rearguard troops left behind by Zhao Changfeng totaled 80,000 men. The importance of leaving these 80,000 men behind was no less than that of Lan Yu and Bai Qi's pursuit mission, and was even more important.

In the month of September to October of the fifth year of Yuanshi, Chang Yuchun first used Fu Youde as general to defeat Zhong E, the commander of the first army among several rearguard forces, in a head-on battle. Gan Ning then killed the veteran general Zhong E in battle amidst ten thousand troops.

Of the 20,000 Song soldiers, 3,000 died in battle, and almost all the rest were captured.

Afterwards, Chang Yuchun personally led his troops to defeat Pan Mei at Huyue Gorge with an overwhelming numerical advantage, and General Xiong Kuohai personally killed Pan Mei in the melee.

Two of the three rearguard troops responsible for blocking Chang Yuchun's advance were wiped out by Chang Yuchun in less than twenty days, leaving only Yang Guangyi at the very back.

Zhao Huan, a member of the Zhao Song imperial family, was dejected and tried to persuade Yang Guangyi to surrender to the Han Dynasty. However, Yang Guangyi killed him without hesitation to restore morale.

Unfortunately, although Yang Guangyi acted with unparalleled decisiveness, even Zhao Heng, who was born into the Zhao Song imperial family, had already developed the intention to surrender to the Han, which caused the hearts of the Zhao Song generals present that day to waver.

Three days later, a mutiny broke out in the Zhao Song army. In this mutiny, the commander-in-chief Yang Guangyi was killed, and the remaining generals, with 20,000 troops, surrendered to Chang Yuchun, who was already leading his troops to attack. Meanwhile, Feng Yi on the southern route did not adopt a direct assault strategy like Chang Yuchun. Han Chongyun's rearguard troops occupied fortified cities, a situation quite different from Chang Yuchun's. A direct assault would inevitably result in significant losses.

Feng Yi believed that the battle in Hexi had already progressed to this point, and there was no need to suffer such unnecessary losses.

Given their current overwhelming advantage in the Hexi Corridor, they could win this battle without shedding a drop of blood.

Therefore, although Feng Yi besieged the city with a large force, he did not launch a direct attack, but instead adopted a strategy of winning hearts and minds.

Until Bai Qi brought news of Zhao Changfeng's death, along with Zhao Changfeng's own sword.

From then on, Feng Yi's psychological warfare strategy had an equally unstoppable impact on the 20,000 troops.

Deputy General Tian Chongjin, because Han Chongyun and Zhao Kuangyin were sworn brothers, worried that Han Chongyun would lead 20,000 brothers to fight to the death, which would lead all 20,000 men to their doom.

Therefore, citing problems with the city's defenses, he urgently summoned General Han Chongyun.

However, on the way, he led a group of confidants to ambush and kill Han Chongyun and his two sons, Han Chongxun and Han Chongye. Afterwards, Tian Chongjin quickly took control of the entire army and formally surrendered to Feng Yi with 20,000 troops.

From then on, of the 200,000 Zhao Song troops in Hexi, more than 150,000 were wiped out by the Han army in half a year since the start of the war. In the end, less than 50,000 Zhao Song troops were able to retreat to Guandong and Guanxi.

Among them, the Han army in the Hexi Corridor alone captured nearly 100,000 prisoners.

Adding to the prisoners who surrendered during the Battle of Liangguan, the total number of prisoners in the Han army at this time reached a terrifying figure.

At the peak of the Song Dynasty, its 600,000 troops were almost half wiped out by the Han army in just about six months.

Even if Zhao Kuangyin included the prisoners he captured after defeating the Eight-Nation Alliance, the total military strength of the Song Dynasty would not reach 400,000.

After this battle, Chang Yuchun and Feng Yi officially joined forces. On one hand, they sent people to take over the remaining counties in Hexi Circuit that had not yet been taken over, and on the other hand, they used the prisoners of war who surrendered in this battle to replenish the troops they had lost, so that the army could quickly recover to its peak combat strength.

October of the fifth year of the Yuanshi era.

After a brief rest, Chang Yuchun and Feng Yi discussed and decided to leave the Fierce Whale Legion troops to garrison Hexi Road and take care of this large number of prisoners.

At the same time, the Fierce Whale Legion can also quickly communicate with various battlefields, including the campaign against Song, Su Dingfang, and Zhongxing Pass in the north.

The routes through the two passes of Kanto and Kansai differ from those of the Four Rivers region in that they have relatively fewer waterways.

If the Fierce Whale Legion reaches the Two Passes, then it will be completely useless.

It was precisely because most of the territory occupied by the Song Dynasty did not have dense waterways that the hundreds of thousands of Song troops were all infantry and cavalry, and not a single naval soldier could be found.

Chang Yuchun and Feng Yi led the remaining 280,000 troops, officially dividing them into three routes to advance towards the Zhao Song's main base, the Liangguan Pass.