Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 212 Disastrous Failure
The bodies piled up like mountains.

Huan Bao and Gao Xun fought fiercely, gradually suppressing the enemy's momentum. The Northern Army behind them, also elite troops who had been on the battlefield, were greatly encouraged.

But at that moment, the powerful sound of war drums came from the warships.

Boom, boom, boom...

Mixed with rain and mist, it felt even more desolate.

"With the Three Officials above, may you transcend water and become an immortal!"

Several loud shouts echoed across the battlefield.

The previously listless demon thief instantly became excited.

The Celestial Masters sect reveres the three immortals of Heaven, Earth, and Water. Today, spring rain is falling and the land is covered with a dense network of rivers, which is exactly what the Celestial Masters believe in.

The demon bandits surged forward like a tide, shouting "Water can transform you into an immortal!" They were completely unafraid of the Northern Army's swords and spears, and some of the old and weak even charged straight into the blades.

Before dying, he laughed wildly at the Northern Army, "I've become an immortal! I've become an immortal..."

His frenzied appearance terrified even seasoned veterans.

The bloody battle has raged on, blades are dulled, spears are broken, but the demonic bandits continue to surge in endlessly, fearless of death.

Despair...

"General Huan!"

Gao Xun shouted to Huan Bao in front of him, "We can't win if we keep fighting like this. The demon bandits have obviously set up an ambush and are waiting for us to fall into it."

Huan Bao stood motionless atop the pile of corpses, seemingly terrified by the sight before him. Hearing Gao Xun's shout, he slowly turned his head, his eyes seeming to hold a thousand unspoken words, but before he could utter a single one, he collapsed to the ground...

Gao Xun's heart sank. The fact that they had been able to hold out until now was entirely due to Huan Bao's valiant fighting on the front lines.

Now that he has fallen, the great battle is over.

Looking back, Xie Yan's figure was faintly visible, but the rebel army advanced by land and water, with countless rebel soldiers pouring down from warships and fishing boats.

Their escape route was also cut off.

The demon thief came with the intention of annihilating them all...

With Huan Bao's fall, morale immediately collapsed, and the soldiers scattered and fled.

"General Wei, it's not too late to break through now!"

Zhang Mengzi's shout came from behind.

But then came the sound of a whip cracking and Xie Yan's cursing: "Damn it, you pigs and dogs all deserve to die! My more than ten years of illustrious reputation will all be buried on your bodies."

He was completely flustered at this point, only cursing without gaining any support or having any way to deal with the situation.

The sound of whipping grew louder, followed by a roar: "Die!"

A cold glint suddenly flashed in the rain and mist, and the sounds of whipping and insults abruptly ceased.

Xie Yan remained motionless, a cloud of blood mist bursting from his body, before he slowly fell from his warhorse. Startled, the warhorse galloped toward Gao Xun.

Zhang Mengzi also went berserk, shouting at his soldiers: "The Xie family all deserve to die, all of them deserve to die! If you won't let me live, I won't let you live either!"

The voice was shrill and mournful, like that of a vengeful ghost, as the long sword in his hand slashed incessantly.

Xie Yan's two sons, Xie Zhao and Xie Jun, were also hacked to the ground.

The rain grew heavier, engulfing their figures.

The battlefield suddenly fell silent.

Gao Xun wiped the rain from his face, wondering why things had turned out this way. Before, when he followed Liu Daogui, he was always full of fighting spirit and handled any difficulties with ease...

"Transform into immortality through water, and slaughter all the Northern barbarians!"

"Kill all the bastards!"

The shouts of the thieves grew louder and louder.

"Sima!" The surrounding retainers all looked at him.

Gao Xun suddenly mounted his horse, shouting, "Follow me and fight your way out! Survive!"

"kill!"

The morale of the three hundred-odd men improved somewhat, and they followed Zhang Mengzi southward. Zhang Mengzi was also a fierce general, and his troops were all elite armored soldiers. The enemy army was unable to do anything about them for a while and was eventually broken through their encirclement.

Gao Xun followed closely behind and charged out, but only a hundred or so of his retainers remained, and seven or eight out of ten of his men were gone.

With a long sigh, he broke through to the east and disappeared into the Tianmu Mountains.

"Why doesn't Sima return to Shanyin?" his cousin Gao Shouzhi asked.

"The enemy's navy is formidable and can penetrate deep into South Lake. If we return to Shanyin, we will only be courting death. Before the enemy blocks the Qiantang River, we should escape back to Wuxing and wait for the imperial reinforcements."

"Does the imperial court have any reinforcements?"

The soldiers all raised their heads, their eyes filled with utter desolation.

Xie Yan's defeat dealt a severe blow to the morale of the army.

"Yes...there will be." Gao Xun reassured the soldiers, but now they could only take it one step at a time.

He led his soldiers in a northward escape.

They encountered many defeated troops along the way. The families of the Northern Army were in the Jingkou area and naturally did not want to stay in Kuaiji.

The thief pursued and killed them.

Screams echoed all the way, and they finally managed to escape to Wucheng, only to be blocked outside the city. "The governor has ordered that the defeated troops are not allowed to enter the city!"

After days of fleeing for his life, Gao Xun was exhausted and could only huddle under the city wall like the other defeated soldiers to avoid the wind and rain.

After a night of hunger, just as dawn broke, they heard cries coming from the city walls.

"We...are utterly loyal to the court, why is the governor acting this way?"

Gao Xun looked up and saw that the city wall was filled with strong young men kneeling, each with two soldiers carrying swords behind them.

One of them said loudly, "I have always known your loyalty. To prevent you from being misled by the evil thief, please take your leave first!"

At a command, heads and blood rolled down from the city walls.

The routed soldiers were all stunned.

When Sun En first rebelled, those who wanted to join him had already left. After Sun En retreated, the people who had fled to the mountains returned to the city.

But while he escaped Sun En's clutches, he couldn't escape the government's blade.

Gao Xun stared blankly at the human heads on the ground. They were all honest, simple farmers, their faces still showing fear.

Another shout came from the city wall: "Prefect Yu has ordered that, in order to prevent the scoundrels from joining the rebels, they should be killed first to deter the people!"

Then heads rolled down the city wall, and the naked corpses were also thrown down.

From morning until noon, nearly six or seven thousand heads rolled to the ground, and the headless bodies quickly piled up into a small mountain.

The stench of blood was even stronger than that of a battlefield, like a ghostly realm.

The garrison on the city wall cursed, "These Southern barbarians are all poor bastards; they don't have a single copper coin on them."

Another person chuckled and said, "It doesn't matter if they don't have money, they still have their wives and daughters, don't they?"

"Hahaha, yes, yes, yes..."

A burst of lewd laughter immediately came from the city wall.

Gao Xun stared at the countless unseeing heads scattered on the ground, remaining silent for a long time.

"The Prefect of Wuxing doesn't treat us like human beings at all!"

"What is this governor's name? How can he be so cruel as to harm even the common people under his jurisdiction?"

"It seems to be Yu Heng, from the Yu clan of Yingchuan, a prestigious family that has attached itself to the Prince of Langya and his son."

“Yu Heng can even slaughter the people under his own rule, he certainly won’t take us in…”

Among the routed soldiers, some knew the background of the governor of Wuxing and were stunned by this method. Fearing that the city's garrison would also cut off their heads, they left on their own.

"Let's go, Wuxing can't be defended." Gao Xun's eyes dimmed. It was the first time he had ever seen someone kill indiscriminately out of fear that the people would join the bandits.

In fact, if we just give them a little compensation and treat the people a little better, how could these hardworking farmers who have worked hard all their lives turn to the evil bandits?

The sky and earth were shrouded in a gray haze, a cold wind howled, mixed with spring rain, making Gao Xun shiver involuntarily...

(End of this chapter)