Chapter Thirty-Three: The Occupation of Jinzhou

“Damn it!” Robin glared darkly at the retreating ranks of his army.

“Hmph. Now let them witness the valor of the soldiers of the Great Song Empire! All troops, advance! Charge with bayonets! Send three thousand lancer cavalry around the flank and disrupt the enemy’s charging formations!” Robin ordered.

At once, Song’s reserves and lancer cavalry began moving in unison. This force truly deserved to be called the main army, for all of Song’s lancer cavalry had been assigned to it.

“Long live the Emperor! Song shall triumph!”

The newly committed Song reserves shouted their battle cry, gripping their bayonet-equipped flintlock rifles as they charged headlong into the enemy.

The Song troops who had earlier been stunned by the volleys of musket fire found their courage rekindled by the reserves’ high-spirited cries. Turning back, they collided with the colonial forces advancing behind them.

For a time, screams and cries of agony rang across the entire battlefield.

The colonial militia could not withstand the immense casualties of such brutal close-quarters combat, where every blade found flesh. After resisting for only a brief while, they were driven back by the counterattacking Redcoats. Had the colonial regulars not arrived in time to reinforce them, the battle might have ended in a spectacular reversal.

Using their numerical advantage, the colonial army firmly halted Song’s charge. Tens of thousands of soldiers became embroiled in a chaotic melee across the broad battlefield. The colonial commander was clearly intending to wear down the Redcoats’ main force through sheer numbers. To force the Redcoats into such a deadlock was no small achievement.

Unfortunately, if the Redcoats had not possessed those three thousand cavalrymen, the English might truly have won a crushing victory.

The three thousand hard-hitting lancer cavalrymen drove straight into the flank of the colonial regulars. Infantry without an orderly formation had no answer to a cavalry charge advancing like a solid wall. They were cut apart with ease—and then they broke.

Once the lancer cavalry began trampling through the flank, the already demoralized colonial army started to scatter and flee. Defeat was contagious, especially among colonial forces whose organization was far from solid.

Before them stood Song infantry determined to fight to the death; on their flank thundered cavalry with flying hooves. Those cavalrymen seemed invincible. Whoever encountered them died.

The tide of battle shifted toward Song step by step. Even while suffering terrible losses, the Song soldiers gritted their teeth and maintained the integrity of their lines. The colonial army, by contrast, was continually thrown into disorder and smashed apart.

After half a day of fierce fighting, the colonial army finally retreated under the weight of its devastating casualties. The equally battered Song army, however, had no strength left to pursue them.

Had the battle ended in a draw?

Although the English main force had withdrawn, Song’s twenty-thousand-man army had been utterly crippled. Fewer than ten thousand remained, and they had essentially lost their combat effectiveness. Without the absolute loyalty of the system’s soldiers, even the elite troops of any other nation would have collapsed long ago.

Robin had no choice but to order a defensive withdrawal and halt the advance.

The colonial government, however, proclaimed the battle a glorious victory, despite having suffered far more deaths than its opponent.

After this unexpected battle ended, Robin and the other commanders abandoned their contempt for the enemy. They assembled the three armies, rested and reorganized, and then advanced once more toward Jinzhou.

This time, Song’s army numbered fewer than forty thousand, while the colonial forces had doubled to a full two hundred thousand.

The number of regular troops had not increased, however. Almost all the newcomers were merely armed civilians who had taken up weapons out of a desire to defend their homes and country.

The disparity between the two sides had grown even greater, yet the outcome was completely different.

The colonial army suffered a crushing defeat.

After learning from their earlier mistakes, Song’s forces advanced steadily and cautiously. Volley after volley of musket fire shattered the colonial militia. Though the number of colonial casualties in each engagement was not particularly high, being broken again and again inflicted devastating damage on their morale.

Once the colonial regulars were also defeated by several Song volleys, the armed civilians lost the last of their hope.

The Redcoats were invincible.

Seeing that the enemy had lost its nerve and shrank back, unwilling to exchange musket fire, Robin once again ordered a bayonet charge. This time, the colonial army—already battered and exhausted—collapsed like an avalanche.

Song’s army achieved a tremendous victory and captured more than one hundred thousand enemy soldiers. Nothing like that had ever occurred in the previous battles.

This victory greatly encouraged the Wood Elf warriors in revolt. With the cooperation of hundreds of thousands of Wood Elves, Song’s army of several tens of thousands soon threw the entire Jinzhou colony into chaos.

The repeated defeats on the main battlefield exhausted what little regular army the colony possessed. After Song won a single decisive victory, almost all the forces it faced were armed civilians. Naturally, Song went on to win battle after battle.

The problem before Sun Li was no longer how to win victories, but that he lacked the manpower to take control of Jinzhou’s vast territory.

Fortunately, he had a capable wife. With Su Yunyun’s full assistance, the Wood Elf Alliance became Song’s greatest ally in occupying the land, completely making up for the Great Song’s shortage of manpower.

With Song’s formidable military strength and the Wood Elves’ immense population, the transfer of colonial rule over Jinzhou was only a matter of time.

After negotiations, Sun Li claimed only the areas occupied by the gold mines. Aside from a few major transportation hubs, all the other cities and regions were placed under Wood Elf rule.

The Wood Elves’ overwhelming victory also elevated Su Yunyun’s prestige to an unprecedented height. The Wood Elves honored her as the Holy Mother.

Su Yunyun naturally ascended the throne as Queen of the Wood Elves, and the alliance between Song and the Wood Elves became firmly established throughout Jinzhou.

After suffering defeat after defeat, Jinzhou’s colonial government had long since collapsed. Only scattered guerrilla fighting remained. The identities of the Wood Elves and the human colonists had been completely reversed. As for how long the human colonial guerrillas—whose population was far smaller than that of the Wood Elves—could hold out, that would depend on the mood of the old Light God.

After fully unifying Jinzhou and seizing its vast gold mines, Sun Li began to prepare for war. He constantly squeezed the human miners, exploiting the gold mines to the greatest possible extent and contributing every ounce of strength toward Sun Li’s dream of raising an army of one hundred thousand.

After a year of peace on the continent of Europa, Song finally occupied the entire Jinzhou colony. The English Empire and the hollow shell of the Francian Empire were driven from that fertile land.

The entire continent of Europa was stunned by the newly risen power of Song. The Elf Empire and the Dwarf Empire, which had been poised to expand, simultaneously halted their advance.

Sun Li’s rise undoubtedly brought peace to the continent of Europa once again. In that respect, he had made a tremendous contribution to world peace.

Yet Sun Li himself was preparing for a war on an even greater scale.