"Impossible! We must break through as quickly as possible and retreat to Jiaozhou!" Hannibal's voice trembled, the former prestige of the Marshal of Tianri gone.
This battle had made him utterly comprehend the terror of the Great Gan army!
And the people of Great Gan, incited by the Great Gan Daily, hated the Tianri tribe even more than they had hated the barbaric iron cavalry that once ravaged Yanzhou!
Even the poisonings by the Huichun Sect were blamed on the Tianri tribe.
If they didn't escape this place soon, unimaginable torture awaited them!
"To leave the mountains from the west, through the goat paths? That means abandoning the army!" Dugu Qun said with a distressed face.
Xiao Chang and Xiao Che trembled uncontrollably.
They were still worrying about placating the soldiers of Jiaozhou.
If they abandoned the Jiaozhou army, they wouldn't be able to defend Jiaozhou anymore and would have to flee to the Peacock Dynasty.
Tomorrow, if the Jiaozhou soldiers couldn't gather for a breakout, and Liang Xiao had finished deploying his forces in the south, they would lose their chance to break out completely and become fish on a chopping block, to be slaughtered by Liang Xiao!
"We absolutely cannot let the Jiaozhou soldiers know the casualty situation of the Tianri tribe!" Gongyang Qiu, who was also trembling, finally analyzed calmly. "Once they discover the Tianri tribe is losing power, the twenty to thirty thousand Tianri tribe members will absolutely not be able to control the nearly two hundred thousand Jiaozhou soldiers, and they might be purged!"
Hannibal immediately panicked, "We must organize a breakout tomorrow morning!"
While everyone discussed throughout the night, the Great Gan soldiers had already dispatched troops to the entrances of the two mountain ranges, waving their banners.
"Our army has slain one hundred and forty-five thousand Tianri tribal troops! Jiaozhou soldiers, why don't you surrender quickly and abandon the dark for the light!"
"Marshal An Guohou, on the emperor's orders, respectfully informs our Jiaozhou compatriots that surrender will spare you death. Those who actively abandon the dark for the light will be rewarded with at least twenty taels of silver each!"
The shouts from outside the mountains woke the Jiaozhou soldiers, who were already on high alert. Countless soldiers, ignoring the prohibitions, rushed to the eastern and southern mountain passes to listen. The more they listened, the more shocked they became.
The Tianri tribe was almost annihilated?
The entire army descended into chaos!
"These beasts are exaggerating their achievements!" Hannibal was so angry he could barely speak coherently.
Their losses exceeded one hundred and twenty thousand, not much less than one hundred and forty-five thousand.
But with the Great Gan soldiers' announcement, the surviving Tianri soldiers went from over twenty thousand to five thousand, a reduction of four to five times!
The attitude of the Jiaozhou soldiers facing over twenty thousand Tianri soldiers would be vastly different from facing five thousand!
"The Tianri tribal army still has one hundred thousand men. Do not believe the enemy's false reports!"
Xiao Chang immediately sent people to notify all the soldiers.
The Jiaozhou soldiers were skeptical but dared not act rashly, only hoping to escape alive as soon as possible.
"No matter what, as long as we surrender, the Great Gan army won't mistreat us?"
This thought crossed the minds of almost all the Jiaozhou soldiers.
They had joined the army either by force or to earn a living, and they didn't want to die in a foreign land for nothing.
The silver promised by Xiao Chang had already become an empty promise!
In the mountain camp, Liang Xiao, under the cover of night, deployed troops to surround the mountains and heavily guarded the Jiaozhou stronghold, while simultaneously arranging for carrier pigeons to notify Gongsun Ye in Yuzhang.
The Great Gan army was prepared for a protracted engagement.
After a night of counting, the Great Gan nation had killed over one hundred and twenty-four thousand enemies on the battlefield and captured countless military supplies.
The Tianri cavalry had perished, but most of their warhorses had survived and become spoils of war for the Great Gan army. The dead horses had also become meat for the Great Gan army!
These live horses, along with spares for replacement, numbered over one hundred and thirty thousand. They might not be immediately usable for cavalry formations, but they could be tamed quickly as reserves.
When the army marched south to reclaim Jiaozhou, these warhorses could be used for transport. If they proved stubborn or difficult to control en route, they could also be directly slaughtered for army rations.
On the morning of the second day, Hannibal commanded twenty thousand Tianri infantry to retreat from the west of the mountains, while he personally led over five thousand Tianri cavalry to break out from the southern mountain, attempting to breach the encirclement. However, they were forced back into the mountains by dense volleys of crossbow bolts, losing over a thousand cavalrymen, and had to recall the infantry.
If they couldn't break through, even if the infantry escaped, he and the cavalry would be trapped in the mountains and left to their fate. Furthermore, it would solidify the news that only five thousand Tianri remained.
With twenty-five thousand Tianri troops, they could barely maintain the current situation, at least preventing the Jiaozhou soldiers from making any rash moves.
In just three days, the Great Gan army had formed a four-sided encirclement of the entire mountain range.
Even the rugged mountain path on the west was patrolled by cavalry, ready to pursue any enemy soldiers.
The allied forces of Jiaozhou were helpless and could only remain trapped in the mountains.
Over these three days, Gongsun Ye received intelligence from the front lines and was so delighted he couldn't close his mouth. He immediately sent people to inform the capital and various regions in Jiangnan.
The people of Jiangnan were all invigorated!
However, to ensure stability, the martial law in various regions was not lifted. They patiently awaited the news of the complete defeat of the Jiaozhou allied forces.
On the southern bank of the Hengjiang River, the Great Liang army was stationed, preventing any sudden crossing of the river by the Great Gan nation.
That night, Ye Chengxiu happened to be on patrol in the area when he suddenly discovered a large amount of sawdust floating down the river, and was greatly alarmed.
"The Great Gan nation must be accelerating shipbuilding and plans to march south soon!"
The fast horse dispatched by Ye Chengxiu immediately reported back to the Great Liang capital, alarming the Great Liang emperor and his officials.
Zhirou was somewhat beside herself, but seeing Qin Feng's head full of white hair, she felt pained and dared not disturb him.
Faced with the current situation, no matter what choice her Qin Lang made, it was destined to be infamous. After all, regicide was a fact, and supporting his wife to ascend the throne was tantamount to usurpation, even if he currently had the reluctant support of the populace.
In normal times, she would have wept day and night, but from the moment she ascended the throne, she dared not cry, lest she add to Qin Feng's troubles.
Qin Feng's suppression of the noble families and powerful clans in the country had consequences that Great Liang could not bear.
Talent was not so easily cultivated. Many prefectural and village governments in Great Liang were nearly paralyzed.
In the south, barbarians colluded with the remnants of the Huichun Sect to invade, requiring the army to suppress them.
Internal and external troubles!
The only thing that brought Zhirou comfort was that those noble families still did not support the unification of the two nations.
The more powerful Liang Xiao became, the more they feared him.
"Your Majesty, your minister believes we should concentrate our forces to suppress the southern barbarians."
While civil and military officials were whispering amongst themselves, Qin Feng, sitting beside Zhirou, finally spoke.
"Granted..." Zhirou agreed without hesitation.
The officials, emboldened, tried their best to dissuade her.
"Your Majesty, your ministers believe we should station troops at the Hengjiang and absolutely not allow the Great Gan army to march south!"
Zhirou could only brace herself and reply, "The two nations share the same ancestors. Even if our country is defeated, there is still room for maneuver to protect our soldiers and people. But the barbarians are different. Once our land falls, there will inevitably be widespread suffering!"
The officials were both angry and anxious, but also helpless.
The military and political power was firmly in the hands of this couple. They were no different from puppets now.
If Qin Feng could resolutely decide to purge the noble families, killing them would only require him to make the same resolute decision.
Great Liang, which had maintained a facade of prosperity in the past, was becoming increasingly chaotic.
And in the mountains south of Yuzhang, facing the encirclement of the Great Gan army, the Jiaozhou allied forces were also becoming increasingly restless!