NFBE Chapter 348 Dreams Shattered in an Instant
Chapter 348 Dreams Shattered in an Instant
Three days later, Liang Changping was forced to withdraw his troops from Fengcheng and return to reinforce Chuyang City.
In the northern border of Xia, Qin Shao has led his army to defeat the Rongdi tribe and captured their king, bringing the war situation in the north to a more stable state.
Qin Shao immediately ordered Ma Da and Ma Er to lead 150,000 troops to reinforce Fengcheng, leaving only 50,000 to guard the northern border.
The Yue Kingdom Palace.
In the royal study.
Tian Shang sat on the throne with a face full of anger, while Liang Changping stood in front of Tian Shang, also filled with righteous indignation.
He felt extremely unwilling when he recalled how he kept looking back as he withdrew his troops from Fengcheng, watching the duck that was about to be beak fly away!
After years of forbearance, he finally gained Tian Shang's trust and allowed him to lead troops to attack Fengcheng, hoping to wash away the shame of the defeat years ago. But then the Song army interfered again.
He was so angry that his teeth were itching!
but……
Liang Changping let out a long breath, feeling he had to get it off his chest.
"Your Majesty! The Song army is utterly despicable! When I fought them, they desperately fled to the sea. When I withdrew my troops, they secretly slipped ashore and began to spy on my Chuyang City!"
The anger in Liang Changping's chest was almost solidified, crackling and burning fiercely in the air.
"Your Majesty, the Song Kingdom must have joined forces with the Xia Kingdom to tie down the main force of our Yue army, forcing us to ultimately abandon the attack on Fengcheng! I can't swallow this bitter pill!"
Tian Shang snorted coldly and directly retorted to Liang Changping.
"What can you do if you can't eat? Do you dare to go out to sea and fight them?"
"I……"
Liang Changping was speechless.
joke!
Even if his troops are adapted to the sea environment, does he have warships?
We can't exactly let him row his fishing boat while we row our oars to fight against the Song army's warships, can we?
That's like an egg hitting a rock, courting death!
Some things are understood without being said aloud; everyone knows them implicitly.
Seeing that Tian Shang was angry, Liang Changping didn't want to tell the truth, as that would be a direct slap in Tian Shang's face.
"When did the Song Kingdom train such a powerful navy? It's unbelievable!"
Isn't that obvious? How would I know? If I had known it would turn out like this?
However, Tian Shang only grumbled inwardly, but said it aloud.
"It seems I underestimated them before. That Song Emperor is no pushover! Now Qin Shao has sent a large army to reinforce Fengcheng. Even if we want to attack Fengcheng again, we must reserve half of our troops to deal with the Song army..."
Thinking of this, Tian Shang couldn't help but rub his forehead, his face full of worry.
Upon hearing that Tian Shang had plans to attack Fengcheng again, Liang Changping sighed inwardly.
Now or never.
The Song army has ruined a great opportunity. It seems His Majesty still hasn't grasped reality. Liang Changping had no choice but to speak up and remind him.
"Your Majesty, there is one more matter. Even if Qin Shao did not send reinforcements, we have missed the last opportunity. If we want to take Fengcheng, we will probably suffer heavy casualties and be severely weakened!"
Tian Shang looked up at Liang Changping, completely bewildered.
"Why is this?"
"Does Your Majesty still remember? When the Rongdi King asked us to help him find the person who shot him, he provided us with a blueprint for an arrow. Later, we found out that it was made by the Princess Consort of Xia?"
"Of course I remember! He's looking for his enemy, and I'm fighting my own war; they're completely unrelated!"
Tian Shang was even more confused.
It's no wonder that Tian Shang's mind was in a mess at this moment. Back then, he was sitting at home, full of expectations that Liang Changping would win a battle.
With the Rongdi tribes holding back the Xia Kingdom in the north, the Yue army captured Fengcheng, followed by Fucheng and Jinyang, and then marched straight into Huanglong and captured Liyang!
What a perfect plan!
Unexpectedly, a gleaming, sharp knife fell from above his head and nearly chopped off his head.
The Song army seemed to appear out of thin air, suddenly arriving at the gates of Chuyang City, eyeing it menacingly.
So frustrating! So frustrating! So incredibly frustrating!
Then came immense anger!
The soft persimmon that he had always held in his palm has not only grown fangs, but is also determined to bite him to death!
In the end, all the grief and resentment turned into a sigh.
In Chuyang City, the only capable fighters were the two thousand imperial guards he kept by his side, and the rest were only two thousand garrison troops, while the Song army numbered at least one hundred thousand.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Normally, he wouldn't have taken this army of 100,000 seriously, but the Song army seized the opportunity too well, and he put almost all of his troops under the walls of Fengcheng.
If Chuyang falls, how can he, as the ruler of a country, have the face to live in this world? He might as well just slit his own throat!
In desperation and with no other choice, the only way to save Chuyang City was for him to issue an imperial edict to recall Liang Changping.
Upon Liang Changping's return, he immediately clashed with the Song army. Today marks Liang Changping's first audience with the emperor since returning to reinforce the city.
Liang Changping had not yet had time to report the battle situation in Fengcheng to Tian Shang.
Unexpectedly, the Song army is so difficult to deal with. Half a month has passed, and Liang Changping, like a cat, has not even caught a mouse. The Song army is as slippery as a fish. You attack, they retreat; you fight back, they chase. They are relentlessly pursuing the Vietnamese army.
Tian Shang believed he still had the strength to fight the Xia army. Why did Liang Changping say that the Xia army would suffer heavy casualties and be severely weakened?
Tian Shang stared intently into Liang Changping's eyes, waiting for Liang Changping to give him an answer.
Feeling a little uneasy under Tian Shang's gaze, Liang Changping had to say something, even if it boosted the other's prestige and dampened his own.
"In the battle of Fengcheng, although Fengcheng's troop strength was far inferior to ours, it still managed to defend the city for many days. The reason for this was the new weapon that could shoot these kinds of arrows, a crossbow that could fire three shots in a row! It was made by the Queen Consort of Xia Guoxian!"
Liang Changping paused here, and seeing that Tian Shang's face was ashen and he was listening attentively, he continued.
"This crossbow not only has a long range, but it is also extremely lethal; it can even pierce through the bodies of two soldiers with a single arrow..."
Recalling the brutal battle, Liang Changping still felt lingering fear.
He claimed to have an army of 500,000, but in reality, it was only 300,000. However, in the Battle of Fengcheng, about 5,000 soldiers were killed or wounded by this type of crossbow.
Not counting the soldiers who were killed or wounded and rendered incapable of fighting during the siege, his army had already suffered losses exceeding 50,000.
Seeing Tian Shang remain silent, but his eyes grow colder, Liang Changping wanted to keep quiet, but as a general, he could not remain indifferent to the deaths and injuries of his soldiers.
Liang Changping spoke again, his voice filled with helplessness and resentment.
"Your Majesty, the arrows fired from these crossbows are coated with a strange poison. Anyone struck by an arrow will immediately fall unconscious and completely lose their fighting ability."
At that time, I relied on exhausting their crossbow bolts to gain a rare opportunity to capture Fengcheng, but I had no choice but to retreat to Chuyang.
Now that we've been tied down by the Song army for so many days, the garrison at Fengcheng has probably received a lot of new crossbow bolts, and our army can no longer withstand another wave of human wave attacks! Besides, Qin Shao's reinforcements have arrived..."
"Hahaha!"
Tian Shang suddenly burst into laughter, laughing so hard that tears almost streamed down his face.
Liang Changping felt as if his body had fallen into an ice cave. He didn't know why Tian Shang was laughing, but he could hear the strong sense of hostility hidden in Tian Shang's laughter.
Suddenly, Tian Shang stood up abruptly and raised his arms, shouting.
"Heaven is against me! Heaven is against me! Is my great dream of unifying the Qiankun Continent... destined to be shattered just like that?!"
Liang Changping was unable to answer Tian Shang's question.
No one in this world can answer that.