Chapter 333 Annihilation War

The pocket had been quietly tightened, and Gao Yuan was no longer prepared to continue scattering bait.

General Ma Zhiyuan and the others suddenly discovered that the Yue Army, which had been retreating all the way, had abruptly become firm, and their smooth offensive was suddenly halted.

Although they felt a faint sense of unease, they still believed it was because their previous success had made the soldiers arrogant and complacent, which was why the attack had faltered.

At the end of the first month of the fourth year of Qiande, the northern route of the Qian Army, led by General Ma Zhiyuan, had reached the borders of Nanchang.

What he didn't know was that an encirclement centered on his army had already formed, and Gao Yuan had arrived with the main force.

Although the Beiwei Army was somewhat exhausted after marching over a thousand miles, the soldiers' morale was high, and they were all eager to devour General Ma Zhiyuan's force of over twenty thousand troops.

Having reached the walls of Nanchang, General Ma Zhiyuan was urging his soldiers and craftsmen to build siege engines, completely unaware that Gao Yuan's encirclement was gradually tightening.

Just as the Qian Army had painstakingly finished building their siege engines and launched the first day of the siege at noon, Gao Yuan finally opened his bloody maw and bared his ferocious fangs to strike.

After all, they had been through several major battles; even though they were all defeats, they had still managed to cultivate a group of elites within the Qian Army.

The siege was progressing smoothly. On the first day, soldiers had already scaled the city walls. Although they were quickly suppressed, it was a good start.

General Ma Zhiyuan sat steadily on the observation platform, watching the smooth progress of the siege with a smug smile on his face.

At that moment, the ground suddenly trembled without warning, and the rhythmic sound of "thundering" echoed from the distance.

Finally, on the distant horizon, a black line appeared in their vision. As the line rapidly approached, General Ma Zhiyuan finally saw what it was, and his smile froze on his face.

"Cavalry! Where did this Cavalry come from?"

Someone sharp-eyed quickly answered his confusion with a shrill scream.

"It's the 'Xiao' banner! It's the Xiaoguo Army! It's the Yue Army's Xiaoguo Army!"

A terrifying thought quickly surfaced in General Ma Zhiyuan's mind.

"It's Gao Yuan! Gao Yuan has returned. He's been holding back all this time just for this moment!"

Without a moment's hesitation, General Ma Zhiyuan immediately gave the order.

"Sound the gongs for retreat! Sound the gongs! Immediately adjust the formation to block this Cavalry!"

The rapid sound of gongs echoed across the battlefield. The Qian Army soldiers engaged in the siege were dazed; this momentary pause caused them to suffer heavy blows, with many being struck in the head by stones and bleeding profusely.

Before they could adjust their formation, Gao Yuan had already taken the lead, charging in with the Cavalry.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..."

Close-range shooting compensated for the repeating crossbows' lack of power. A large number of Qian Army soldiers were wounded by arrows and lost their combat effectiveness. Then, the thick lances, carrying immense kinetic energy, skewered the Qian soldiers like candied haws.

Three corpses were already skewered on Gao Yuan's lance. He discarded the incredibly heavy lance, took down his Tiger-Head Gold-Inlaid Spear from the weapon hook, and entered slaughter mode.

Looking at the formation that had been scattered into pieces, General Ma Zhiyuan knew in his heart that he had lost this battle. At this moment, his only hope was that the only reinforcements were this Cavalry.

He knew very well that if Gao Yuan's infantry had arrived, it meant he was trapped in an encirclement, and these twenty thousand plus troops would be doomed.

However, his last shred of hope was soon shattered when he noticed several large "dark clouds" appearing in the distance. He knew they weren't clouds, but infantry phalanxes, slowly advancing.

"Retreat! Retreat quickly! Retreat at all costs!"

At this moment, General Ma Zhiyuan had only one thought. He knew it was impossible to retreat unscathed; all he could do was bring back as many soldiers as possible.

Otherwise, if this army was wiped out, not only would all the gains from this expedition go down the drain, but Fuzhou would also be hard to defend, and even Raizhou would be in imminent danger.

What he didn't know was that the several county towns occupied recently had already been recaptured by Chen Dao and the Imperial Guard Division.

Below the walls of Poyang, seeing the "Yue" banner flying over the city and the Baier Soldiers standing in neat ranks outside, General Ma Zhiyuan knew his desperate flight had come to an end.

With blockades in front and pursuers behind, even if he had three heads and six arms, he couldn't possibly break through.

Looking back at the dejected remnants of his defeated army, General Ma Zhiyuan sighed deeply, threw his weapon to the ground, and accepted his fate of becoming a prisoner once again.

Although General Ma Zhiyuan's surrender saved him a lot of trouble, Gao Yuan still looked down on the man. To be precise, no one respected a turncoat.

Therefore, upon learning that General Ma Zhiyuan wished to retire, Gao Yuan promised to help bring out his family and arranged a residence and a business for him in East Pass to live out his years.

In less than ten days, General Ma Zhiyuan's entire army was wiped out and he was captured. This news quickly reached the ears of Zhu Song and the others who were fighting in Jiangzhou, leaving them stunned and speechless for a long time.

The group, who had just been high-spirited and laughing, now had only one thought in their minds: Retreat, retreat quickly!

If they didn't retreat now, their thirty thousand plus troops would likely follow in General Ma Zhiyuan's footsteps—either becoming wandering ghosts or Gao Yuan's prisoners.

Only then did they discover with horror that the border between Shuzhou and Jiangzhou had been blocked by the Beiwei Army. Now, they had only one direction to retreat: east toward Raizhou.

At this moment, Gao Yuan had already appeared within the borders of Raizhou with the Xiaoguo Army. With his vengeful nature, how could he let these people, who had caused such a mess on his territory, escape unscathed?

Zhu Song and the others were retreating for their lives, but unfortunately, they were infantry; two legs could never outrun four.

Gao Yuan also pushed hard to catch up, finally cutting off the rear of the Qian Army and effortlessly wiping out this weak auxiliary force.

Having lost over five thousand auxiliary soldiers and eight thousand laborers for nothing, along with a large amount of baggage, Zhu Song and the others somehow felt a sense of relief instead.

Immediately upon returning to Raizhou, Zhu Song and the others returned to their respective stations with their own troops. As for Raizhou, Zhu Song decided to hand it over to Mao Biao, believing that with Mao Biao's ability, he should be able to hold it.

Having taken a bite of meat, Gao Yuan did not push his luck. Instead, he turned around, preparing to devour the two "fat pieces of meat" that were Fuzhou and Yuzhou.

For this proactive strike, General Ma Zhiyuan had drained Fuzhou of all its elites. Now, only fewer than two thousand old and weak soldiers remained in the entire Fuzhou, completely unable to stop the surging Yue Army.

As for the provincial inspector of Yuzhou, he was Gao Yuan's old acquaintance, Wang Mian. Since learning of General Ma Zhiyuan's defeat and capture, he knew Yuzhou could not be held.

While Gao Yuan was heading north to pursue Zhu Song and the others, he moved as much of Yuzhou's population, troops, and supplies as possible to Tingzhou and Jianzhou, which reduced the losses for the Great Qian.

With the five thousand troops from Yuzhou, the defensive lines of Tingzhou and Jianzhou were stabilized, halting Gao Yuan's eastward advance.

From the South of the Ranges to the Guanzhong, and then from the Guanzhong to the Jiangnan West Circuit, the soldiers had traveled thousands of miles back and forth and were already exhausted after several major battles.

Thus, Gao Yuan did not aggressively attack Tingzhou and Jianzhou. Instead, he quit while he was ahead and withdrew his troops to Guangzhou.

Although this expedition was costly and the losses were not small, the gains were immense—it could simply be described as a massive profit.