Chapter 41: The Old General Takes Action, The Territory of Four Countries

  Upon hearing Yang Zhengxiong's request, Zhang Liao fell into deep thought for a moment before saying: "Since the old general wants to achieve merit, how could I not comply? Yang Zhengxiong, listen to my orders!"

  "The end is near!"

  Yang Zhengxiong knew it was time for him to make a meritorious deed and without any hesitation, he knelt down on one knee and clasped his fists.

  "Leading three thousand long spear soldiers, one thousand bow and arrow soldiers, and the original six thousand captives from Chēn Tù Guó, a total of ten thousand troops, bringing their own food and fodder to sweep through the unsubmitted towns of Yuán Chēn Tù Guó, and deploying troops in Huǒ Tù Town to defend against the great army of Chē Pí Guó!"

  Although the Totoro Kingdom has already been destroyed, there are still some towns that have not surrendered. Yang Zhengxiong is a former general of the Totoro Kingdom and his name is well-known far and wide. It's only fitting for him to lead troops to persuade those towns to surrender!

  "I will obey your orders!"

  Yang Zhengxiong was overjoyed in his heart, this achievement was given to him for nothing. He had been operating in Tutuo Country for many years, and although he had retired and returned to his hometown at the end of his life, his foundation still existed, and if he accepted the surrender of those towns, it would be very easy.

  Yang Zhengxiong took away Zhang Liao's elite 4,000 soldiers and horses, leaving his army with only over 10,000 people. Fortunately, Ding Yuan had already sent an edict to order Zhang Liao to take down Che Tu Guo after taking it, and then replenish the troops on the spot. In this way, Zhang Liao can recruit troops from Che Tu Guo again, supplement the army of 20,000, and merge with Xiang Lang who is attacking Che She Guo, and wipe out Che Ji and Che Ma two countries!

  At this moment, Lang's army is also attacking and capturing cities, and will soon be able to reach the capital of Chebi Country!

  Zhang Liao was the commander-in-chief of all the troops, so in addition to submitting a report to Ding Yuan, who was stationed in Che Lung Country, he also provided one to Zhang Liao. Therefore, Zhang Liao knew very well about the movements of Xiang Lang's army.

  In this way, the old general Yang Zhengxiong of the Xingzhifu army swept through the towns and villages that had not yet surrendered in Che Tu Guo. At the same time, Zhang Liao was urgently training his troops when Xiang Lang led his generals Chen Ying and others to formally start their journey through the capital of Che She Guo.

  Zhang Liao's policy was different from that of Xiang Lang. Zhang Liao was a rapid march, a lightning war, a surprise attack on the capital of Che Tu Guo, Che Tu City, and a decisive victory in one battle, while Xiang Lang was constantly pulling out various towns in Che She Guo, recovering all these towns before besieging the capital of Che She Guo.

  Although this approach is much slower, the good thing is that it is stable and can train the army, slightly weakening the enemy's morale. After all, Lang is also a military general, but his ability to lead the army is far inferior to Zhang Liao's talent. He can only rely on his thick and large army, and his subordinates are attacking one by one.

  However, after experiencing several small battles, the 40,000-strong army of Xiang Lang gradually underwent a transformation. By the time they besieged the capital of Che Snake Country, all the soldiers had become seasoned veterans with extremely strong combat capabilities. To put it simply, ten of these veteran soldiers could take on a powerful warrior from one of the three kingdoms. In this way, Xiang Lang's 40,000-strong army was equivalent to an army of 4,000 elite warriors, with morale as high as smoke. When they besieged the capital of Che Snake Country, although Che Snake Country had assembled all its troops in the city and had a massive army of 40,000 soldiers, they were mostly defeated soldiers and newly recruited troops. Although their numbers were not inferior to Xiang Lang's army, their morale was far inferior.

  The 40,000-strong army was divided into three gates, leaving only one city gate. This is the famous "surrounding three and lacking one" in the art of war, which has three advantages.

  Firstly, military forces should not be overly dispersed, leaving room for mobile troops to support any route of troops attacking the city.

  Leaving a gap will give the defending soldiers hope and prevent them from becoming desperate and fighting to the death.

  The third point is to make the vacant gate a variable, pinning down the enemy's forces.

  These three advantages are the positive strategy in the army, making people even if they see through it, can't help but follow Xiang Lang's idea.

  At this moment, the city has been besieged for three days. In these three days, the morale and physical strength of the defending army have plummeted rapidly. Although the king and generals of Cheon Snake mobilized everything, the soldiers gradually developed a sense of war weariness.

  Covered by the Lang army of 40,000, although some personnel were killed or injured along the way, after replenishment, not every soldier was a seasoned veteran, but even newly recruited soldiers in this situation where victory is certain, morale has also increased, like the sun at noon, combat effectiveness is also stronger than that of the Che Snake State army.

  In this way, the army of Che Long Guo has taken the initiative on the battlefield. The 40,000-strong army took turns attacking the city, and neither their physical strength nor morale suffered any losses. On the other hand, the defenders of Che She Guo could only respond passively, which naturally led to lower morale and faster physical exhaustion in comparison.

  The moon is bright and the stars are sparse. After a day of battle, the soldiers of the Car Snake Kingdom have all fallen into a deep sleep. Even the night watchmen are exhausted, constantly yawning.

  "Brother, sneak in a nap, anyway it's been several days, the Ryūjin army won't launch a surprise attack at night!"

  A night patrol soldier said to another soldier in his group.

  "This... this is terrible! If the general finds out, we're done for!"

  The soldier was obviously timid and sleepy, but still didn't dare to sleep.

  "What's the big deal, you're not sleeping but I am. This war is really not something humans should be doing. Anyway, even if we lose, what does it have to do with us? I've heard that Cheolong-guk treats the people of Cheohwa-guk well and doesn't enslave them. Even if Cheosah-chon falls, our families will be fine."

  The soldier apparently heard some news and whispered.

  "Really?"

  The soldier who was unwilling to go to sleep exclaimed, "I knew that the fall of Che Snake City would be in these few days. Now, even if we fight to the death, it's just a last struggle not to let our families become slaves." Hearing that Che Long Guo wouldn't enslave the people of the defeated country, the soldier relaxed and whispered: "Then let's sneak off to sleep, the generals have been exhausted for several days, I'm afraid they won't have much energy to patrol at night!"

  The two soldiers who were patrolling a section of the city wall immediately found a watchtower and secretly went to sleep.

  This scene was performed on many parts of the city wall of Cheznia, although the content of the dialogue was different. However, through the spread of news by some well-informed soldiers, most soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and no longer had much of their original die-hard resistance ideology, but instead entered into a dream.

  The Chezhou Kingdom actually had many generals who were bribed, although they were only leading thousands or even hundreds of soldiers, but the number was too large. As a result, these generals did not dare to openly rebel, but could provide some help to the Chezhou Kingdom's army, such as opening the city gate at midnight.

  The quiet night sky suddenly, the city gate was quietly opened, and some people and horses quietly entered the city gate, and the number of people entering grew more and more.

  At this moment, Lang He and a group of young generals put on their armor, covered the horses' mouths with sacks, and led the most elite soldiers into Che Snake City through the open city gate!

  "Charge!"

  Seeing that almost everyone had entered, Lang drew out his long spear and shouted loudly.

  At once, the entire army drew their weapons, torches ablaze, and charged towards those Car Snake Nation troops who had not surrendered.

  It was then that it was deep in the night and people were sleeping most soundly, many of the defending soldiers of Chēguó had not yet woken up when they died in their dreams.

  However, as the noise grew louder and louder, the defenders of Cheznia couldn't help but be woken up.

  "Enemy attack......!"

  The defenders of Cheonjuguk finally let out a shrill cry, these troops knew what it meant for the great army of Charyeonguk to enter the city.

  A shrill cry pierced the sky, and the great generals of Che Xiang Guo were awakened by the shouting. Suddenly, they were greatly frightened, knowing that Che Xiang Guo would be destroyed tonight.

  However, these generals were not bought off by Lang's meticulous work and were all loyal and righteous men of Che Shouguo. Although they knew that Che Shouguo would be destroyed tonight, they still chose to resist.

  With their loyal troops, these generals began to gather their forces and prepare for a final showdown with the army of Cheolong.

  However, at this moment in the night, the defenders of Cheonma-sung were already in a state of panic and chaos. Under the attack of the elite soldiers of Charyeong-sung, they fled for their lives without any regard for their general. For them, escaping with their lives was the top priority. Of course, there were also many soldiers who surrendered by kneeling down and begging for mercy, which could spare their lives.

  Of course, there were also some soldiers who were more disciplined, which allowed the generals of Che Shouguo to gather some troops.

  At this time, under the protection of several great generals, the ruler of Che Shou, Nieke, knew that things had come to an end and there was no turning back, prepared to escape, escaped to other countries, and called on his people to resist.

  However, at this time, Xiang Lang launched a decisive battle to attack the city. Naturally, all aspects were considered, and the three gates that were short of one side finally came in handy. Na Ke led his own prince, princess, heart generals, and guards towards the east gate where there was no Car Dragon Kingdom army.

  Originally, everyone was nervous and on edge, but after walking a mile outside the city gate, there was still no movement, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

  But just as they thought there was no more danger and were escaping with ease, when they arrived at a forest, a large number of cavalry suddenly emerged from inside, these people all holding big knives, wearing the military uniform of Cheolong Country, this is the ambush troops left by Hwang Rang, specially waiting for the king of Cheonhae, Na Si-il and his party.

  He thought he could escape, but instead, a large number of soldiers rushed out, and Niek, who was eager to escape with few troops, suddenly felt regret in his heart. If he didn't escape, he could still die with the dignity of a king, but now he can only be killed by the chaotic army!

  At this time, some of the generals also had weak legs. These halberdiers were the most elite soldiers and were rare veterans in Lang's army, only two steps away from becoming one of the strongest forces in the Three Kingdoms, with unparalleled strength. Moreover, their long-handled knives were also a powerful weapon, forming a phalanx to launch a siege. Although these generals were all skilled fighters, they were no match for these battle-hardened veterans.

  Naike was so frightened that he could hardly move, and then reluctantly said: "I surrender!"

  That night, Xiang Lang's army fought a fierce battle for one night, killing 10,000 enemies and capturing 30,000 prisoners. The Che Snake Country was officially destroyed, and the ruler of the Che Dragon Country, Ding Yuan, thus possessed four countries, with more than five million people under his command, becoming the true overlord of the Sheng Xiao Valley, and no country could be compared to him alone!