The Crown Prince of Dawei, Yuan Zhao, had never imagined that one day, Dawei would be surrounded by enemies, especially when everything seemed fine, Dawei would suddenly be in danger.
He led an army of four hundred thousand troops, rushing towards the Lanwan River, compressing a seven-day journey into four and a half days.
Within these four and a half days, the last urgent report he received was that Dawei had lost twelve cities in a row. Yuan Chen had been retreating while fighting. Two days earlier, he had retreated to Fanling City, the city closest to the Lanwan River.
Without hesitation, Yuan Zhao estimated the distance from the Lanwan River to Fanling City and still proceeded to the Lanwan River.
When he arrived at the Lanwan River with his soldiers, he saw the river ablaze with the flames of war. It turned out that two days ago, Yuan Chen was unable to hold out, and Dawei’s soldiers had been pushed back to the Lanwan River by the troops of Daliang. This was the last line of defense that the Dawei Emperor had instructed him to hold against the troops of Daliang.
Just as Yuan Chen’s troops were being suppressed with no chance to fight back by the Daliang army, the reinforcements from Dawei arrived. Someone shouted, "Reinforcements, Dawei’s reinforcements are here!"
This shout was like a thunderclap, inspiring the soldiers of Dawei and boosting their morale.
Someone recognized Yuan Zhao’s banner and shouted, "It’s the Crown Prince! The Crown Prince has come!"
On the battlefield, the cheers followed one another, each more stirring than the last, instantly boosting the morale of Dawei’s soldiers.
At this time, Yuan Chen was busy fighting on the battlefield. If it wasn’t for his guards protecting him, he would have been killed. He was already injured and bloodied, looking extremely disheveled.
When he heard the soldiers’ cheers, his heart trembled. Sure enough, reinforcements had come. He could see Yuan Zhao’s banner clearly. He was almost moved to tears. Never before had he been so eager to see Yuan Zhao.
The reinforcements from Dawei arrived, immediately disrupting the troops of Daliang.
The senior Duke immediately ordered, "Sound the gong to withdraw the troops."
Yan Huisheng was also exhausted from the fight. He had thought that they could take the Lanwan River today, but it turned out that the river was indeed hard to capture. Yuan Chen was determined to defend the Lanwan River. It made this battle more exhausting than any other. Especially now that Dawei’s reinforcements had arrived, led by the Dawei Crown Prince Yuan Zhao himself, it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to capture the Lanwan River today.
He quickly ordered his men to retreat.
As the troops of Daliang retreated like a receding tide, Yuan Zhao did not order his troops to chase them down immediately.
When Yuan Chen met Yuan Zhao, he wiped the blood from his face, and sincerely called out, "Brother."
Yuan Zhao did not reprimand him for his disheveled appearance. Having faced Yan Huisheng and the senior Duke in battle personally, it was already commendable that they hadn’t managed to cross the Lanwan River. He nodded, "First, let the doctor treat your wounds, then we’ll talk."
Yuan Chen nodded, and someone helped him to find a doctor.
Yuan Zhao ordered a head count and for the battlefield to be cleared. After the count, it turned out that Yuan Chen now only had two hundred and seventy thousand soldiers left.
He had left the capital with three hundred thousand troops. When they had arrived at Qiangli City, they had been joined by Helan Ying’s remaining seventy thousand troops. After Helan Ying’s death, he could not resist Daliang and had been forced to retreat. In just half a month’s time, he had lost a hundred thousand soldiers.
Yuan Zhao wasn’t surprised at these numbers. Two hundred and seventy thousand soldiers were within his expectations.
With his own four hundred thousand, plus this two hundred and seventy thousand, he had a total of six hundred and seventy thousand troops to deal with Daliang. He didn’t believe that Daliang, under Yan Huisheng and the senior Duke, could still muster four hundred thousand troops.
When Yuan Chen returned after having his wounds dressed, Yuan Zhao asked him, "Do you know how many troops Daliang has now?"
Yuan Chen, of course, knew and replied to Yuan Zhao, "They should have over three hundred and fifty thousand."
In other words, while Dawei had lost twelve cities and tens of thousands of troops, Daliang had only lost fifty thousand soldiers.
Yuan Zhao nodded; Daliang had three hundred fifty thousand troops, and he now had six hundred and seventy thousand troops, so a counterattack was naturally not a problem.
Yuan Chen said: "Brother, Yan Huisheng is too powerful, with many skilled guards by his side..."
Yuan Zhao nodded, "On my way here, I had already sent messages. The Imperial Court will send royal guards for backup, they will arrive soon."
Yuan Chen breathed a sigh of relief, "Brother, now that you are here, we must utterly defeat Daliang, not only recapture the twelve cities, but also press forward into Daliang’s territory."
Yuan Zhao pursed his lips without saying a word.
Yuan Chen looked at him, "Brother?"
Yuan Zhao said, "For now, we rest for the day. If Daliang does not continue their attack tomorrow, I will send someone to negotiate peace with them."
"What?" Yuan Chen was taken aback, he looked at Yuan Zhao incredulously, "Why negotiate peace? Brother, your reinforcements are here, why do you still want to negotiate peace? Why not continue fighting Daliang? We have enough supplies to support us for half a year."
I led eight hundred thousand soldiers to conquer Nanchu, but I only returned with four hundred thousand. Do you know why?" Yuan Zhao looked at him, "That’s because my campaign against Nanchu did not go well, I was blocked outside the Heiya Pass. Su Rong had five hundred thousand soldiers, but she was surrounded by many masters who destroyed the six siege cannons that I had brought. Moreover, because Heiya Pass held a strong geographical advantage and she kept receiving help from masters, I was unable to capture Nanchu. I lost fifty thousand soldiers. I decided to retreat. Who would have known that after receiving two hundred thousand reinforcements from Daliang, Su Rong would lead her troops to counter-attack Dawei. Now, Helan Jue and Nangong Zheng both have three hundred and fifty thousand troops, they are resisting the attack in Dingnan City at the border of Nanchu. Despite fighting with me for several days, Su Rong has only lost fifty thousand soldiers. But now with the reinforcements, she has in total six hundred sixty-five thousand troops, a number that is twice as many as Helan Jue and Nangong Zheng’s. How long do you think they can hold Dingnan City? If we don’t negotiate peace with Daliang, can we afford to fight on both fronts and risk losing everything in Dawei?"
Yuan Chen didn’t expect this, and his face changed color several times, "Brother, how... how can you fail to deal with Su Rong?"
Yuan Zhao looked grave, "I underestimated the number of skilled fighters around her. I also didn’t expect the Qinghe Cui Family and the Duke Residence to pay so much attention to Zhou Gu. They deployed thousands of secret guards together. Even Cui Xingzhi from the Qinghe Cui family was sent to assist Nanchu. Otherwise, I would have been able to kill her and capture Nanchu, but because of this, I failed."
Yuan Chen was speechless and said reluctantly, "Brother, we’ve lost many lives and suffered such heavy losses, are we really going to negotiate peace? If we negotiate with Daliang, what about Nanchu? Can you accept it?"
"We have to make peace with Nanchu when we negotiate peace with Daliang. unwilling as I am, current situation is unfavorable for us." Yuan Zhao said, "I guess that Daliang’s military supplies can’t be very sufficient. After all, even though Daliang has prepared, they have only did so after Yan Huisheng secured the position of crown prince after his brothers Yan Li and Yan Lin died. If we continue to fight, Daliang’s military supplies probably won’t last. As for Nanchu, they’ve been in chaos for so long. Their supplies are barely enough. I offer them peace. They should accept it. Otherwise, if they insist on fighting, we have no choice but to fight till the end, and then, we will all lose."
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