Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2301 Li and Xue join forces to conquer Yangxi; the old general sacrifices himself to fulfill his duty.
In the Battle of Yangxi Road, the Song Dynasty lost Lian Po, one of its most skilled generals, and Xuanwu, another of its most formidable warriors.

In particular, the Song Dynasty lost four god-level generals in one fell swoop in this battle: Xuanwu, Zhao Kuangwu, Zhao Bifang, and Gao Siji. In addition, three generals, Gao Chong, Xia Shuyan, and Zhao Changling, were lost in the Hexi Road battlefield.

It can be said that even though the Zhao Song Dynasty still possesses vast areas of Guandong and Guanxi, Li Jing has not yet completely conquered Yangxi.

However, these battles have essentially broken the backbone of the Song Dynasty, leaving only a handful of its most capable generals.

Upon receiving news of the battle situation from Lian Po's side, Shi Shouxin acted quite recklessly, without even consulting Zhao Kuangyin, and directly retreated back to the Guandong Road, leaving Zong Ze alone to fight on the south side of Yangxi Road.

Shi Shouxin's 50,000 troops were originally intended to block Xue Rengui's army, prevent Xue Rengui's army from advancing south, and cooperate with Li Jing to outflank Lian Po's rear.

However, before they could even begin fighting, Lian Po's side had already been defeated by Li Jing alone.

Now, it's not just that Lian Po's escape route might be cut off, but that if he doesn't run, he will constantly face a surprise attack from Li Jing from behind.

Although Lian Po left behind 30,000 troops after the decisive battle, those 30,000 troops were merely prisoners of war captured by Zhao Kuangyin after defeating the Eight-Nation Alliance.

If their main force is present, they can naturally suppress them and make this part of the troops obediently serve as their auxiliary troops.

However, Lian Po's main force was gone, and Zhao Song's generals had also been almost wiped out. Next, these 30,000 troops would not be able to stop Li Jing, and would probably surrender to the enemy first.

After all, what great use can you expect from a group of prisoners who have just been captured?
As for Zong Ze, he still has some troops on his side.

However, he was in charge of the southern defense line of Yangxi Road, which did not affect Li Jing's attempt to outflank Shi Shouxin from the north.

Moreover, Zong Ze himself was already in a precarious situation under the combined attack of Deng Qiang and Guo Ziyi.

In fact, Shi Shouxin was indeed glad that he ran away quickly. Almost at the same time that he escaped, the 30,000 prisoners of war left behind by Lian Po before the decisive battle had already launched a rebellion with the support of Han Meng. After killing Zhao Song officials Jiang Chongzhen and Jia Junwen, they led the 30,000 prisoners of war to surrender to Li Jing.

Han Meng was originally brought to the Dali Dynasty by Yuan Shao and his men. However, he was also captured during the decisive battle between Zhao Kuangyin and the Eight-Nation Alliance.

Therefore, he simply took the opportunity to be incorporated into Zhao Kuangyin's prisoner army.

Originally, after Luo Wang contacted him, they planned to use him as a hidden pawn, so that he could outmaneuver Lian Po at a crucial moment.

However, the situation developed too quickly afterward. Due to the influence of the battle in Hexi Road, he didn't even have a chance to use this hidden move. Lian Po was defeated by Li Jing in a direct confrontation.

Therefore, Han Meng, who was originally hiding, decided to stop lying low and directly began to contact some of the key figures in this prisoner army.

It was precisely because of this that after Li Jing officially defeated Lian Po, his troops had not yet arrived, and even this last insignificant obstacle could no longer be considered an obstacle.

If Shi Shouxin hadn't escaped in time, Li Jing would definitely have launched a light cavalry attack at that moment, cooperating with Xue Rengui to outflank Shi Shouxin's rear. On Shi Shouxin's side, although he had privately led his troops away, he not only betrayed the veteran general Zong Ze, leaving his army completely isolated, but this action also practically handed Yangxi Road over to the Han army.

However, there were reasons for everything. Even if Shi Shouxin's 50,000 troops continued to garrison Yangxi Road, it would not change the overall situation. It would only mean losing an additional 50,000 troops.

Furthermore, the war has progressed to this point, and now is precisely the time when manpower is needed.

Therefore, even though Zhao Kuangyin was somewhat dissatisfied with Shi Shouxin's behavior, he did not punish him too severely, but merely symbolically demoted him by one rank in the military.

Without Shi Shouxin's obstruction, Xue Rengui's troops quickly marched south, joining forces with Li Jing's eastward-bound troops. In less than a month, the combined forces of over 100,000 men swept away the entire Yangxi Road.

Apart from the lone army led by veteran Zong Ze, the entire resistance force in Yangxi Road was wiped out by them.

Meanwhile, apart from the Jiulian Mountains guarded by the veteran general Zong Ze, the vast territories of Yangxi Circuit had fallen into the hands of Li Jing and Xue Rengui.

At this time, the veteran general Zong Ze had only 20,000 soldiers and 20,000 prisoners of war from the Eight-Nation Alliance left in his hands.

However, even without the arrival of Xue Rengui and Li Jing's troops, the veteran general Zong Ze still faced an army of 60,000 infantry and cavalry, including Deng Qiang and Guo Ziyi.

With 40,000 men against 60,000, veteran Zong Ze appears to be defending his position by relying on the mountain, thus gaining a geographical advantage.

However, putting aside the combat effectiveness of the 20,000 prisoners of war from the Eight-Nation Alliance, the very question of whether he could trust his 40,000 troops was already a major problem.

With the example of the 3 prisoners of war led by Han Meng, it was even less likely that these 2 men could be trusted.

If such a large army were to experience internal strife at a critical moment, it would directly interfere with the entire battle.

Zong Ze's decision on this issue was very straightforward: since he could no longer trust these 20,000 men, and their combat strength was indeed not very useful.

So, after confiscating the weapons and equipment of these 20,000 people, he simply drove them out, effectively abandoning them completely.

Most importantly, expelling such a large number of people they could not trust would actually alleviate his food crisis at this time.

After all, although his defenses could hold off the enemy in front, they could not stop Xue Rengui from attacking from behind. As a result, all the counties behind him had fallen, and Zong Ze could no longer get supplies.

The food supplies in his camp are only enough to support his troops for one month. By throwing away the burden of 20,000 men, the food supplies saved can at least help him last another month.

On the other hand, Guo Ziyi and Deng Qiang did not choose to continue their offensive against Zong Ze. Instead, when the enemy was already at his wit's end, they sent envoys to persuade him to surrender.