552 Epilogueception 6 300 Years East-West War Part 1 (2/2)
Severus refused and attempted to kill Zuo Ci.
Zuo Ci was offended. He killed a few generals of Severus and returned to inform his failure to Tong.
The 300-Year East-West War took place afterward and was recorded in this world history.
Pu Jing took full responsibility for this war. With the help of Tong's quality generals, he led the Wei Han Legion to attack Rome.
Ten millions of civilians died in the crossfire. Less than ten western cultivators managed to scrap their lives back home.
Some of Tong's elite generals died during the war.
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= Zhang He / The Ghost Legion =
Zhang He brought fear to his enemies and was nicknamed as the ghost of the battlefields. With his 8 wings and his geography insight, his unit of 50,000 cavalries decimated northern European and British Isle cities. He killed 20 8-wing cultivators alone by assassinating them in the dark while his army routed over 100,000 Immortal Praetorian Guards of the Roman Army.
Unfortunately, while trying to kill his 21st target, he ran into the only 10-wing cultivator of the west and a strategist that no otherworlder could believe that he should be here in this period.
The cultivator was the emperor Severus himself, and his strategist called himself as the reincarnation of a great person - Hannibal Barca.
Zhang He, Xun You, Qu Yi, Gao Lan, and Han Hao were killed. Out of 50,000 soldiers, only a thousand managed to return home and informed Tong of the disastrous campaign.
Tong sent all these loyal officers' soul to the karma river, and used the system authority to reincarnate them as his descendants. These men rejoined the war in the later years, carrying Zhang surnames and the royalty banners.
All of them lived on and saw the end of the long war. They moved to Zhang Jiao's dimension several hundred years later after the first festival started.
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= Zhang Liao, the Invincible Rider =
During the first few years of the East-West War, Zhang Liao took the vanguard role to spearhead against Sassanid and Kushan's coordinating invasion.
Sassanid and Kushan bribed their ways through the Xiongnu territories and attacked China from the north. The massive army of 500,000 soldiers reached China's northern borders.
Tian Yu, Wei Yan, and Liu Xie, who were protecting the Pyongyang, were attacked by the coalition of three Korea kingdoms. Combined with the surprise attack of Hannibal Barca, Tian Yu, Wei Yan, and Liu Xie were killed.
Severus breached into the You Province, but they ran into Lu Bu Army.
Lu Bu used the familiarity of the terrain and drove Hannibal's forces back outside of the great wall. But more roman, Sassanid, and Kushan's soldiers kept pouring onto the battlefield.
The northern land was mostly prairie, so Guo Jia sent Zhang Liao and Lu Bu along with 100,000 Red Hare Riders to push back against their attack.
For the first time, Guo Jia and Hannibal Barca competed in their troops maneuvering skills. However, Guo Jia had the upper hands as his soldiers possessed advanced weapons and a firmer foundation.
Lu Bu immediately routed Sassanid Army and Kushan Army. He pushed the battle back further into the Xiongnu land.
Guo Jia placed Zhang Liao behind to protect the supply fortress, so Lu Bu Army's chain of supply wouldn't be cut off.
However, Hannibal sent air forces of 100,000 4-wing cultivators from Kushan's remnants to bomb Zhang Liao's supply camps, using Tong's old tactic, oil barrels, and fire.
Facing against airborne units, Zhang Liao wasn't afraid. He deployed make-shift AA battalions, created by system skills. Tong also adjusted Red Hare's genes and made them into flyable horses to surprise the invaders.
Zhang Liao led the 2,000 Flying Red Hare unit and challenged the cultivator army in the sky while the rifle squads released hell to the sky.
Getting out-teched, Hannibal retreated his air unit, but he drew Zhang Liao away from the base. While he was retreating, he sent another underground unit, which had been digging for 5 kilometers to ambush Zhang Liao's camps from below.
The moles suddenly appeared when Zhang Liao was away. The camps were burnt to the ground, and some of the modern rifles were stolen. The ambush unit also successfully retreated before Zhang Liao could return to kill them all.
At the end of the raid, Lu Bu Army's supply ran out while Zhang Liao's bases were destroyed. However, Hannibal paid a heavy price of 50,000 lives for this result.
Zhang Liao Army suffered much fewer casualties as Hannibal only targeted structures and supplies. Five thousand of his troops died.
However, they got into a predicament the next day. As their ammunition, weapons, and food were destroyed, Hannibal used this chance and isolated Lu Bu. He pushed Lu Bu Army to Siberian, aka modern world Russia.
Lu Bu's soldiers were forced to retreat back home by flight and abandon their precious warhorses and cannons. However, Lu Bu pressed back against Hannibal's weak soldiers and slain over 100,000 men by himself.
But that was Hannibal's trap. Septimius Severus brought 20 8-wing cultivators and 1,000 6-wing demons to hunt down Lu Bu.
Lu Bu killed 500 demons, but their soul-detonation injured him. He was on the verge of being defeated.
But then, Zhang Liao led a small task force of 800 flying riders, breaking through Severus' elite praetorian army.
Zhang Liao saved Lu Bu, who was on the verge of death despite being a 10-wing angel. During the fight, Zhang Liao awakened his 9th and 10th wing, becoming another powerhouse. His warcry, [I am Zhang Liao!], frightened every roman soldier he came across.
Severus saw that his troops suffered too many casualties because of these two men. He decided not to push his luck and didn't pursue Zhang Liao's task force.
The next day, Severus regretted his decision. Zhang Liao came out again with his flying red hare unit and dropped Pu Jing's newest creation, a napalm bomb, onto the roman legions.
While Severus Army was in confusion, Zhang Liao got close to Severus and almost killed him. Unfortunately, by Severus' side, another veteran general, Quintus Anicius Faustus, who had conquered half of the Africa Continent, protected and escorted his liege out of the danger zone.
Anicius Faustus was similar to Zhang Liao. He got his 10th wing during the war.
Zhang Liao and Anicius Faustus got into a duel. Both injured each other, but Zhang Liao had the advantage of weapon choices. His modern rifle and his HE grenades crippled Faustus and Severus, which forced them to run for their lives.
Zhang Liao didn't pursue since he managed to destroy Severus' main forces in Xiongnu and Siberian regions. Severus also retreated his tattered army back to Rome to recuperate from the loss.
During the northern campaign, Severus brought over 500,000 alliance soldiers while Lu Bu and Zhang Liao had 100,000 men.
The alliance army's casualty rate was 80%. Most of Lu Bu's soldiers also died, but Zhang Liao only lost a couple ten thousand men. During the rescue napalm-bomb-charge, he didn't even lose a single man, which became a new legend.
Zhang Liao returned home as a hero. Soldiers, civilians, merchants, and scholars retold Zhang Liao's feat in the battles for generations.
Zhang Liao participated in a counterattack campaign in the middle-east later on, but most of his enemies surrendered because they were afraid of his fame.
After the 300 Years War, Zhang Liao succeeded Li Feihong's Supreme Commander Position. He married one of Tong's daughters and held great influence in the court.
Just like others, he and his men migrated to Zhang Jiao's dimension years later. He never returned to this world again.