Conquering Myriad Worlds from the Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 972 A fatal blow

On the main battlefield, Ma Long's fierce offensive suppressed the Northern Song imperial guards on the front.

But suppression is just suppression. With the Northern Song imperial guards fighting and retreating, Ma Long's elite troops had no way to break the deadlock.

But this is good news for Wang Jun.

If they can suppress the enemy head-on, they can then free up their resources to do other things.

"Press all your internal energy out of your body and onto it!"

Wang Jun roared and played all his cards at once, his target being the earthen platform built by Houtu's army.

The existence of this earthen platform has kept their ranged units suppressed, and he wants to remove this obstacle.

Led by several martial arts masters who had separated their internal energy from their bodies, an elite legion charged straight toward the earthen platform with surprise and ferocity.

"Want to seize the high ground? Then you can have it!"

Sima Yi calmly organized a retreat, destroying all siege equipment during the retreat.

You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub; this was something Sima Yi intended to give up from the very beginning.

Internal energy leaves the body as the vanguard, and elite troops follow up with a surprise attack.

Such a military force is generally difficult to stop.

His strongest men were either fighting the enemy head-on or had gone to the second battlefield with Wei Yan.

Faced with a small team of internal energy leaving their bodies to form an assault team, the only options are to engage in a direct confrontation with equal combat power, or to deploy a legion with military spirit or three-talent level skills.

Other countermeasures are actually quite difficult to deal with.

Regardless, the strength of those who can separate their internal energy from their body is terrifying. Even if their internal energy is restricted by the cloud energy, their quality is still equivalent to several Qi Refining to Gang. Coupled with the tacit cooperation of the elites behind them, their dual talents are truly unstoppable.

Sima Yi anticipated that the other side would resort to such a ruthless tactic, but there was nothing he could do; the difference in raw strength was simply too great.

He had no choice but to relinquish his advantage of the high platform.

When two armies clash, they always have to give up something.

However, what Sima Yi gave away were all unimportant scraps.

Even though the Jin army's ranged legions occupied the high ground, they still couldn't do anything to the Northern Song imperial guards, and the nearby Thirteen Rose Legions were even less afraid of ranged attacks.

The only force that feared long-range attacks was Xu Huang's army, so when Sima Yi initially deployed his troops, he moved Xu Huang to a position outside the range of the high platform.

Unless the Jin army possessed the capability for beyond-visual-range strikes, they would have absolutely no chance of hitting Xu Huang.

However, if the Jin army truly possessed the capability for beyond-visual-range strikes, they would have already bombarded the Xinghan troops on the high platform; how could they have waited until now?

After capturing the high ground, the assault troops launched a direct charge towards the link between the Thirteen Rose Legion and the Northern Song Imperial Guard, attempting to sever the connection between the central army and the flanks.

This method can sever the connection between the clouds, thus making it easier to deal with the Thirteen Rose Legion.

"Hmph, the same old trick again. Do you really think you can get by with this?" Sima Yi curled his lip in disdain as he saw the Jin army's actions.

The high platform was intended to be abandoned anyway, so it wasn't heavily protected and was simply given up.

But with so many troops at his disposal, if the enemy were to break through, he might as well give up.

As Sima Yi gave the order, the long, drawn-out sound of horns blew across the battlefield.

The Xinghan army immediately dodged the Jin army's vanguard and then launched a frenzied attack on the assault soldiers led by the Inner Qi Departure from the Body by charging from both sides.

Ignore the internal energy leaving the body and use all means to eliminate the soldiers following behind the internal energy leaving the body.

Without the support of his soldiers behind him, he dared not continue his charge as his internal energy left his body.

If you're surrounded, let alone leaving your internal energy, you'll be killed even if you break through the barrier.

Sima Yi managed to hold back the Jin army's assault force, but the situation began to tilt squarely in the Jin army's favor.

Especially as the ranged legions on the high platform began to unleash their firepower, the Star Han soldiers were completely suppressed.

Not only were they suppressed from the front, but their flanks were also suppressed.

Thirteen Roses was also forced to begin to shrink its defensive line and adopt a defensive formation in order to better resist the Jin army's attack.

A hail of arrows rained down, and even the most heavily defended legions couldn't raise their heads for a moment, forced to retreat and launch defensive counterattacks.

"Judging by the time, they should be arriving soon!"

Sima Yi glanced at the time. Nearly two hours had passed since Pang Tong sent the message that the Jin army reinforcements had been spotted on the second battlefield.

The second battlefield should have already been decided, and reinforcements are on their way.

Sima Yi remained completely calm as reinforcements arrived.

He had already witnessed the average strength of the Jin army in Jiangdong; those reinforcements could not possibly be a match for Pang Tong and his men.

Xiahou Yuan, Xiahou Dun, and Wei Yan's three main units were the Imperial Guards, while Ma Chao and Pang De's two main units were the Three Talents.

Ma Chao has even reached the ceiling that is as high as the sky, and can challenge the Miracle Legion at any time.

With their strategic mind and unpreparedness, an ordinary army would be no match for them.

The Jin Dynasty still doesn't realize that their opponent is not some remnant of the Jin Dynasty, but a vast empire from another world.

The disastrous example of the Mongol Yuan dynasty's deadly confrontation with Rome led Xinghan to focus on how to gradually boil the frog in water when developing their plans.

How to severely weaken the opponent's power without them realizing the problem.

Of course, even if they realized it, it wouldn't change the outcome.

Rome also fought head-on back then, but was still destroyed by violence; the two sides were simply not on the same level.

Once war breaks out, it is difficult to maintain a balance.

Of course, Sima Yi's method of "boiling the frog in lukewarm water" was even more ingenious.

At least for now, the Jin army still regards this war as a war to quell a rebellion and has not put in 100% of its strength.

This was also thanks to Jia Xu's role in the rear, which made Sima Yan still have some doubts about Du Yu and Yang Hu.

After all, members of the imperial family and relatives of the empress were eyeing military power, so Sima Yan had no choice but to keep a close watch on any generals who could command a large army.

Du Yu's status as a relative of the imperial family made him an even greater concern.

For Sima Yan, enemies were everywhere, and if he made one wrong move, he would be doomed.

Jia Xu took advantage of this, spreading a lot of suspicious information to make Sima Yan unable to trust anyone.

However, this method of maintaining a state of suspicion can only be sustained for a period of time.

Even the most tangled ball of yarn will eventually be untangled.

Moreover, if the front lines failed, Sima Yan would immediately and swiftly resolve the problem.

In Jia Xu's view, Sima Yan truly possessed the spirit of Wei Wu, and once he awakened, he would definitely be a formidable ruler.

They had to catch their opponent off guard and achieve the greatest possible victory. The fighting on the main battlefield grew increasingly fierce.

The central army's disadvantages are being magnified, and the new recruits, who have been suppressed for a long time, are beginning to waver.

Meanwhile, the Jin army, which had the advantage in long-range firepower, sent out assault spearmen. The extreme attacks of these fragile spearmen were a perfect counter to the Northern Song imperial guards.

They were among the very few troops capable of directly piercing the defenses of the Northern Song imperial guards, and it was precisely because of their participation in the battle that they were able to join the fight.

Not only did the Northern Song imperial guards begin to decline, but even the Thirteen Roses suffered considerable casualties.

Without ranged firepower to suppress them, spearmen are practically invincible. Their extremely long attack range and terrifying attack power are enough to give other legions a real headache.

Just as Ma Long and Wang Jun were getting excited and saw a glimmer of hope.

Both sides in the battle suddenly felt the earth tremble, and the tremors grew more and more intense. Everyone unconsciously looked towards the rear of the Jin army.

Ma Chao took the lead, and the Liangzhou Iron Cavalry naturally stretched into small wedge formations. As the formation took shape, the movement speed of the Liangzhou Iron Cavalry continued to increase until it broke through a certain limit. The entire army turned into a black shadow, swift as lightning.

The distance of more than ten miles would normally take about fifteen minutes, but thanks to the swift charge of the Liangzhou cavalry, the raid took less than a third of the time.

Because of his astonishing speed, by the time the rear guard of the Jin army felt the earth-shaking tremor and began to react, Ma Chao had already rushed to the face of the Jin soldiers.

"The whole army attacks!"

Ma Chao roared and unleashed his full power, increasing the force of his charge at the last moment.

Looking at the endless Jin army before him, Ma Chao was extremely excited.

In his eyes, these 100,000 Jin soldiers were not enemies, but 100,000 blades of grass, and he would crush them in the most direct way.

As a young man, I admired the great achievements of the champion, but now I never thought I would have the opportunity to lead my iron cavalry to conquer the enemy.

Faced with the Liangzhou cavalry, which had already reached full speed, all resistance was futile.

When they were still a few hundred meters away from the Jin army, the Jin army began to fire arrows, unleashing three volleys of arrows and demonstrating a remarkably high rate of fire.

Unfortunately, in addition to their incredible speed, the Liangzhou cavalry also possessed the ability to charge and defend.

All the soldiers stood tall and proud, gripped their spear shafts with both hands, then clamped the back half of their spears between their fingers, and charged into the Jin army with the most resolute posture.

"Pfft!" As Ma Chao became the first Jin soldier to be pierced, countless Jin soldiers were pierced by spears in the next instant.

The Liangzhou cavalry broke through the Jin army's first line of defense from behind, and then, with almost no decrease in speed, broke through the subsequent lines of defense.

The Jin army's rear defense line, which had been hastily organized into three lines of defense, encountered its greatest crisis.

Having chosen the best time, the best tactics, and the most suitable generals, the fierce fighting power of the Liangzhou Iron Cavalry was on full display at this moment.

Under Ma Chao's reckless leadership, the rear guard of the Jin army was directly destroyed by Ma Chao's ships, and the Jin army was completely unable to organize a decent interception.

After Ma Chao broke through the last layer of defense, Wang Jun's central army came into view. The Liangzhou cavalry immediately charged straight in and attacked Wang Jun!
The Liangzhou Iron Cavalry, having broken through the rear guard, had already reached their peak morale. When they charged towards Wang Jun, their overwhelming momentum was almost suffocating.

With absolute confidence, without slowing down in the slightest, the spear pointed straight ahead as before.

Wang Jun was nearly driven mad at this point; he couldn't understand where these cavalrymen had come from.

Moreover, the strength of this cavalry was extremely rare; Wang Jun even felt that the two remaining military legions of the Jin Dynasty were not as good as this cavalry.

Because they had to do everything in their power to suppress Sima Yi, the Jin army was actually in a top-heavy state.

The area behind them was completely open.

Ordinary troubles can be handled, but when facing Ma Chao, there is only one outcome: being completely defeated.

Wang Jun had not considered the possibility of enemies appearing from their rear, as their reinforcements were already positioned along the entire direction.

Sima Yi and Pang Tong seized upon this point, setting a psychological trap for Wang Jun and pushing him into the pit.

"Withdraw! Withdraw! Withdraw!"

Wang Jun had no choice but to sound the retreat, leaving his personal guards to snipe Ma Chao while he led his army back into the city.

However, at that very moment, the city gate was suddenly blocked, and the flag of Xinghan was suddenly raised on the city wall.

"How can this be!"

Wang Jun's mind was in complete chaos. He couldn't understand how the city could be silently blocked from the inside when the army was right in front of the city gate.

"Xiangyang has fallen! Why don't you surrender immediately!"

"Surrender and you will not be killed; our army will treat prisoners of war well!"

Ji Jian stood on the city wall and shouted loudly.

In reality, Xiangyang City has not been completely captured yet, but the city gates have been blocked by Houtu's army. The troops outside the city cannot return for a while, giving them enough time to take Xiangyang City into their possession.

"Counterattack! A full-scale counterattack!"

At this moment, Sima Yi frantically beat the drums, issuing the order to counterattack.

After being suppressed for so long, it's finally time for a comeback.

He sent the Houtu Legion to dig an underground passage leading to Xiangyang City, which was not a difficult task for the Houtu Legion, which was good at infrastructure construction.

The Houtu Legion easily defeated the city's defenders. Even though they were looked down upon by the First Yellow Heaven Legion, the Houtu Legion was still a legion with a strong military spirit, and dealing with the defenders in Xiangyang City was a piece of cake.

They routed the defending troops, blocked the city gates, and completely sealed off the Jin army's last escape route.

At this moment, the army had been thrown into disarray by Ma Chao, and Sima Yi launched a full-scale counterattack, routing the entire Jin army.

The army was defeated like a mountain.

The moment Ma Chao broke through the central camp, the Jin army was doomed, and Hou Tu's surprise attack further extinguished all of the Jin army's future.

"Old bastard, he's pretty tough to kill!"

Li Fentian beheaded Ma Long. Ma Long was caught off guard by Li Fentian's momentary lapse in concentration during the defeat and Li Fentian launched a fierce attack, killing him instantly.

Being distracted on the battlefield is almost tantamount to courting death.

Even so, Li Fenfeng's body was damaged on one side; Ma Long's final desperate attempt was simply too ferocious.

Wang Jun had just fled to the outskirts of the city when a legion attacked from in front of him.

"Enemy general, do not flee!"

Wei Yan charged out laughing, his target Wang Jun.

"My life is over!"

Wang Jun was deathly pale. His army was now a defeated and exhausted force. How could they possibly resist the ferocious Wei Yan?

Completely demoralized, Wang Jun braced himself and faced Wei Yan head-on.

As expected, after only three rounds of fighting, Wei Yan captured Wang Jun, bringing the great battle to a complete end.

(End of this chapter)