World-Ending Demon Emperor
Chapter 680: Triad Seven: Total annihilation of forces! Zhi Wei captured!_2

Chapter 680: Triad Seven: Total annihilation of forces! Zhi Wei captured!_2

A grand army of 150,000 men, it had taken him a full seven to eight years to build this force.

Over the years, nearly a million Gold Coins had been invested in this army.

Train soldiers for a thousand days, use them for one.

Yet when it truly came time to utilize this army, it faced complete annihilation.

His seven to eight years of hard work, the entirety of the soldiers from Southeast Province, all were lost beneath the Wind Thunder Fortress.

It was not that the army lacked fighting prowess; in fact, although not the elite of the world, both the soldiers and the generals were exceptional.

On the battlefield, the soldiers were fearless in the face of death, bravely engaging in combat. Even when confronting a horrific situation, there were no significant mutinies, with surrender coming only in the final moments as they knelt.

The senior generals were meticulous, having made no mistakes in command or strategy.

The only one who erred was he, the supreme commander, time and again.

First, in his eagerness for glory, he did not wait for the arrival of Duke Turing Tuo’s army, and without even time to set up camp properly, he directly attacked the Fenglei Fort Defense Line.

After a colossal defeat, he could not accept reality. He should have led the remaining army to retreat to Baiyun County, which, although it would be a great blow to his reputation and future prospects as Zhi Wei, at least it could have saved the surviving sixty thousand or more troops.

But for his selfish interests, he decided to remain and lay siege to the Fenglei Fort Defense Line.

Then, he had Suo Lun destroy the bridge over the Tianshui River at their rear and eliminate the defenders on the river’s west bank. Henceforth, the retreat for the grand army was completely cut off. From that moment on, the fate of Zhi Wei’s army’s destruction was sealed.

"The soldiers are not to blame, the generals are not to blame, the only mistake lies with me, Zhi Wei!"

"It pains me so deeply..."

A cry of anguish rang out as Duke Zhi Wei clutched his chest, his face contorted in pain, and as he spat out a mouthful of black blood, he collapsed onto the ground, his life hanging by a thread.

"Father, father..."

"Your Grace, Your Grace..."

Dozens of Samurai rushed forward and picked up Duke Zhi Wei.

"Princely Heir, we must flee immediately, take His Grace and flee at once. If captured by Suo Lun, the consequences are unimaginable!"

So Crown Prince Zhi You quickly changed clothes, and with over a hundred loyal Samurai and dozens of Dragon Archers, they covered the now unconscious Duke Zhi Wei and Prince Zhi You, fleeing amid the chaotic army towards the tall mountains in the south.

In fact, days before, there were those who urged Zhi Wei to flee, but he had refused them all.

He, a noble Duke, could not afford to lose face. The battle had not ended, and to abandon tens of thousands of soldiers and run would be too disgraceful for him to bear.

But in the end, he still had to run, and it was a run so hasty and pitiful.

Prince Zhi You felt an utter desolation in his heart. Such a crushing defeat, even if he escaped, he feared he might only remain as an idle royal family member.

Originally, he had wanted to succeed his father as the Governor of the Southeastern Province, but now it seemed a total loss.

From now on, he would have to live like a turtle shrinking back into its shell, watching the Turing Clan strut about with pride.

But to have escaped was the most important thing!

Under the protection of over a hundred loyal Samurai, Prince Zhi You clambered up the mountains using both hands and feet, soon covered in blood from the abrasions.

With tremendous effort, he finally climbed to the top of the mountain, which was seven to eight hundred meters high.

Looking down upon the entire battlefield!

Indeed, it was like the collapse of an army, for the battle below was nearly at its end.

From the moment the first soldier knelt to surrender, tens of thousands of soldiers, like wheat before the wind, all knelt down.

From Suo Lun’s Cavalry’s charge to the end of the battle, it lasted probably less than two hours in total.

In two hours, twenty-five thousand Cavalry had completely crushed a fifty-thousand-strong army.

While Prince Zhi You’s heart ached, he also felt an immense fear.

Nearly two years ago, when he first met Suo Lun at City Lord Gui Xingfu’s Linhai mansion, Suo Lun, despite his unparalleled beauty, was as destitute as a stray dog with nowhere to stay.

Back then, Prince Zhi You did not take Suo Lun seriously at all. He simply joined forces with Gui Xingfu to bully and humiliate him.

And in just under two years, Gui Xingfu had become the stray dog, with Linhai City taken from him.

And he, a royal scion and future Duke of the Southeast, was now fleeing like a stray dog as well.

How fate plays with people!

All hope now lay solely with Duke Turing Tuo.

Compared to his father Zhi Wei, Duke Turing Tuo was truly a battle-hardened strategist. He commanded a grand army of two hundred thousand, triple the size of Suo Lun’s forces.

Furthermore, Suo Lun’s army had been through two major battles in a short period, and was exhausted. He believed they would be no match for Duke Turing Tuo’s two hundred thousand strong force.

It seemed the fate of Tianshui City’s fall could not be changed.

However, all the glory and honor would now belong to him, Duke Turing Tuo alone.

His father, Zhi Wei, was to become that tragic stepping-stone!

...

At this time, over a hundred faithful samurai were protecting Duke Zhi Wei and Crown Prince Zhi You, who had already traveled far from the battlefield, eyes set on escaping to safety.

Crown Prince Zhi You said, "Everyone says Suo Lun’s strategies are unmatched, but I see they are nothing special after all. We have escaped so far, and he has yet to send anyone after us!"

The military advisor beside him laughed and said, "Your Highness, after you escape, do not go to the royal city. Head directly to Duke Tuling Tuo’s army, and tell him everything that happened here in detail. Then, assist him in annihilating the Suo, and you will still have your share of the credit."

Crown Prince Zhi You’s eyes lit up, "Good, when the time comes, I will surely flay Suo Lun’s skin, pull out his tendons, crush his bones and scatter them to the winds!"

Just then, suddenly, a top expert from Heibing Mansion’s face changed, saying, "Someone’s coming!"

The words had barely left his lips!

"Boom boom boom boom boom..."

A series of earth-shattering explosions.

"Protect the Duke, protect the Princely Heir..."

Dozens of samurai, with their very bodies, wrapped themselves around Duke Zhi Wei, wrapped themselves around Crown Prince Zhi You.

In this narrow valley, explosions erupted everywhere, and debris flew chaotically.

To safeguard Zhi Wei’s safety, to prevent him from being slain by Gao Yin with the Dragon King Staff, Zhi Li had dispatched dozens of dragon samurai and other experts for protection.

And now, amid these devastating explosions,

Even the dragon samurai and higher-ranked experts could not avoid being shattered to pieces, limbs broken and mutilated.

If they had been in a more expansive area, these experts could have dodged at the fastest speed.

However, the terrain here was extremely dangerous and narrow, leaving no place to dodge, with tall cliffs blocking both sides.

"Boom boom boom..."

The earth-shattering explosions continued without end.

Huge rocks flew about, and the cliffs on both sides collapsed one after another.

These samurai, tasked with protecting Zhi Wei and Zhi You, could not flee.

In the blink of an eye, they were buried under countless tumbling boulders.

Moments later, Suo Lun, Zhi Yan, Zhuang Zhixuan, and several dozen high-ranking members of the Shadow Cabinet appeared.

Gazing at the canyon cliffs that had been blasted to ruins, Zhi Wei, Zhi Yan, and many samurai were already buried under myriad boulders.

They had fled quickly, but could not escape the palm of Suo Lun’s hand.

He had long ago set up a deadly trap here, burying astronomical amounts of gunpowder.

How did he know Zhi You and Zhi Wei would definitely take this path in their escape?

It was simple, Yan Yan’s army was on the other side of the river.

They were blocked by the Nu River to the north, with nowhere to go.

To the south, the mountains led directly towards the border, allowing them to meet up with Tuling Tuo’s army. Therefore, in such haste, Zhi You and others would surely flee in this direction, where there was only one extremely treacherous narrow mountain path – a necessity to cross.

Of course, just in case, Suo Lun had also buried explosives and stationed Shadow Cabinet experts on the northern mountain path.

However, the focus was still on the southern mountain ranges, and, sure enough, Zhi You and the others walked straight into Suo Lun’s trap, delivering themselves to him.

Seeing the buried Duke Zhi Wei, Crown Prince Zhi You, and more than a hundred samurai,

Suo Lun first took out a type of poison smoke concoction and poured it through the crevices of the buried stones.

It was a highly toxic anesthetic, causing confusion and weakness upon inhalation.

Now with the people inside buried, cramped for space, trapped under tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of pounds of rocks, they had no choice but to breathe in the anesthetic gas.

After losing their combat capabilities, these people could only be captured in entirety, left at the mercy of Suo Lun.

...

After an indeterminable amount of time passed,

Duke Zhi Wei slowly regained consciousness, his body numb, throbbing with pain, and ice-cold.

Struggling to open his eyes, the first thing he saw was... Suo Lun!

He felt as though he were dreaming, and shook his head desperately, trying to open his eyes again.

This time he saw clearly, it was still Suo Lun!

The most terrible thing had happened, he had been captured.

The Governor of the Southeastern Province, the right-hand man of Zhi Li His Highness, Duke Zhi Wei, had been captured by Suo Lun!