To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

That meant death, the annihilation of the entire army, it meant defeat.

Now these terrible endings were looming, they were in a situation where they were just waiting to die, how could they not panic?

How could they not be anxious?

Therefore, upon receiving the news that day, Zhao Cheng, the main general of Zhao State on the front line at Baima, immediately assembled two hundred thousand elite troops and quickly headed back, rushing towards Liang City.

After that, he engaged in a do-or-die decisive battle with the Chu Army that had been waiting in leisure here.

When Huang Lin set off from the southeast, he brought with him two hundred thousand elite Chu soldiers, along with eight hundred thousand captives.

Another two hundred thousand captives went to the main battleground at the front line of Baima, to be used as cannon fodder.

After taking Watign City, about one hundred thousand of the captives had died.

Huang Lin left fifty thousand elite troops, along with approximately one hundred thousand captives, to guard this city.

Then, with the remaining people, he rapidly advanced towards Liang City.

He encountered several large cities along the way, some of them crucial to the army’s supply line, so he left several batches of elite troops separately, each overseeing one hundred thousand captives, to forcefully attack these cities and secure the army’s line of retreat.

By the time he arrived at Liang City, all he had left were one hundred thousand elite troops and about three hundred thousand captives.

After the battle for Liang City, only about one hundred and fifty thousand captives remained.

The elite remained mostly intact since they had always been supervising the battles, maintaining a force of one hundred thousand.

As a result, when Zhao Cheng led his army’s arrival, what Huang Lin had in hand were one hundred thousand fierce and high-spirited Chu elite soldiers and about one hundred and fifty thousand captives with low fighting capability and nearly broken morale.

Such strength, compared to the two hundred thousand death-defying and formidable Zhao troops, was naturally unbeatable.

Huang Lin didn’t intend to clash head-on with the opponent either.

When Zhao Cheng led the breakout army’s arrival, he directly led his people into Liang City and started to play a game of attack and defense against the Zhao people with the help of this logistical city’s fortifications.

Defending a strong city with two hundred and fifty thousand men, including one hundred thousand elites and a considerable number of Inborn Grandmasters.

Without a doubt, this was another Mengshan Pass.

Previously, when Lu Yuan had led the main force of the central Chu army, it took five hundred thousand soldiers, including thirteen Innate Princes, and a full ten days to break through Mengshan Pass.

Now, the number of Chu troops in Liang City was no fewer than the Liang Army back then, and the count of Inborn Grandmasters was not much different either. The fortification of Liang City was comparable to Mengshan Pass, both being of the same level of strategic importance.

But what about the Zhao Army outside the city?

They numbered only two hundred thousand, with Inborn Grandmasters roughly the same as those inside the city, around five or six in number.

With such strength, even if he bashed his brains out, Zhao Cheng couldn’t breach Liang City.

After ten days of fierce assault, losing more than half of his troops and horses, Liang City was still impregnable, showing no signs of falling.

And after such a long time, the various detachments that Huang Lin had left behind to attack cities along the line from Watign City to Liang City had successively achieved results and captured those cities.

At this point, seeing that the Commander was fiercely battling the Zhao Army at Liang City, these detached armies, after leaving some men to guard the cities, also led their troops and horses to come one after another for reinforcements.

On the tenth day, the first wave of reinforcements had already arrived.

Ten thousand elite Chu troops and about thirty thousand captive cannon fodder joined the main camp at Liang City.

It was precisely the sight of Chu reinforcements arriving that caused Zhao Cheng to stop the crazed siege activities, no longer continuing the meaningless loss of life.

The Chu military strength was far superior to that of Zhao State.

They could afford to launch relentless assaults on cities regardless of losses, but Zhao’s weak foundation could not sustain such wastefulness.

So, after using one hundred thousand lives to probe the Chu Army’s depth and vent his own panic and rage, Zhao Cheng quickly calmed down.

He stopped the meaningless attack on the city.

After ten days of fighting, his troops and horses had lost one hundred thousand men, but the casualties inside the Chu ranks were a mere fifty thousand.

Moreover, according to the captured Chu people, out of the fifty thousand who died, the majority were originally prisoners from Zhao.

After fighting for half a month, and with so many people dead, it turned out that they were all Zhao people, caught in their own infighting.

The thought of this fact further fanned the flames of Zhao Cheng’s anger.

"The Chu thieves have no martial ethics, treating prisoners so contemptuously; truly, they are not behaving as human beings."

In private, he couldn’t help but curse furiously, his heart boiling with rage but also tinged with envy.

If possible, Zhao Cheng too would like to use prisoners as cannon fodder.

He had done so before.

However, the problem was that ever since engaging in battle with the Chu army, Zhao had been at a disadvantage and had hardly won at all.

Even if some prisoners were captured, there were only a few hundred or a few thousand of them, not enough to be used as cannon fodder.

Naturally, such a scheme was no longer possible.

Now he could only stand on the moral high ground, privately denouncing Chu State; practically speaking, it wasn’t very useful.

But Liang City couldn’t be taken, and their way of retreat was cut off; the nearly one million men under his command at the White Horse main camp couldn’t just wait there for death.

At this time, news came from the White Horse front line.

It was reported that after sensing he was leading troops to reinforce the back lines, the Chu army launched a fierce attack the next day.

The Chu army, regardless of the cost, attacked like madmen, assaulting the White Horse front line.

In just a few days, the Chu army suffered losses of over a hundred thousand men.

The Zhao Army defending the front line, upon interrogating the prisoners they captured, discovered that those who had been fiercely charging their front line these days were Wei people sent over from Nanyang.

These former Wei soldiers, sent to the front line by the Chu people, had now become the main force attacking the Zhao people.

Under the impact of the Wei people, the White Horse front line had already lost over a dozen camps, and the Zhao people suffered sixty to seventy thousand casualties and the defensive line had been somewhat destabilized.

Even now, the Chu onslaught continues unabated, showing no signs of stopping.

With the front line in crisis, it was time for this Commander to make a decision.

"Retreat!"

Seeing the front still holding strong, and over the past two days, with several batches of Chu reinforcements arriving, the Chu troops in Liang City became even more robust, gradually even showing the posture of actively coming out to engage him in a decisive battle.

Despite feeling a cold and painful sensation in his heart, Zhao Cheng ultimately couldn’t help but make this decision.

On their arrival, two hundred thousand strong, their spirits were high.

On departure, one hundred thousand troops left, unspeakably bleak and desolate.

He knew.

This time, failing in the counterattack to retake Liang City, his White Horse main camp had lost its last way of life.

Although they could still hold out for the moment, they were but withered bones in a tomb, powerless to turn the tide.

At least, relying solely on the strength of his White Horse main camp was powerless to turn the tide.

"The only chance is over at Diqiu!"

While leading the troops in retreat, Zhao Cheng looked back to the east toward Diqiu, harboring the last vestige of hope in his heart.

If Diqiu could react in time, amass a strong force, and launch a fierce attack on Liang City.

Then, he could dispatch a detached army from the west to encircle the enemy.

Perhaps then, there might still be a chance for recovery.