To be honest, before this decisive battle, Ashoka was actually mentally prepared and might lose this war.

However, the failure scenario expected by Ashoka at that time was that although the Mauryan Dynasty had lost its troops and generals, it still retained its vitality. The main force retreated to the Khyber Pass and continued to confront the troops of the Han Dynasty.

He had never expected that the current situation had become that the middle army had collapsed in such an avalanche-like manner less than half an hour after the battle had just begun.

Especially when the left and right sides were actually fighting fiercely and gaining a slight advantage, the collapse of the middle lane army was equivalent to verdicting the death penalty of the other two lane.

Why do you say so?

In fact, the reason is very simple. The left and right armies are fighting fiercely with the cold weapon troops of the Han Kingdom. It is basically impossible to escape from the battle at this time.

If they cannot escape from the battle, the left and right armies could only watch the soldiers of the Han Kingdom surrounded from the middle and completely cut off their retreat.

Of course, what we are talking about here is that we cannot escape from battle, mainly refers to the separation that cannot be neatly established. For example, Ashoka now, who directly announces the retreat of the entire army and everyone escapes together, it will naturally be different.

This is also the reason why Ashoka still did this even though he knew the consequences were serious.

It is to preserve as many troops from the Mauryan Dynasty as possible, so that some hope can be retained in the possible counterattack in the future.

The third prince also appeared at this time. He knelt in front of Ashoka with a shameful expression on his face, unable to say anything.

King Ashoka sighed. He did not blame the third prince, but said calmly: "This is the ordeal given to us by the Buddha. Now we must find a way to overcome this ordeal, my child.

We must immediately retreat to Fahrenheit and strive for all the strength we can strive for to see if we can hold it."

King Ashoka, with the third prince and the numerous personal guards around him, retreated at a very fast speed.

But even so, there were still a large number of Mauryan troops who had no time to retreat and were blocked by the soldiers of the Han Dynasty.

You should know that the Mauryan army attacked from the narrow Khyber Pass, which led to a problem. When they retreated, a large number of troops were blocked in the narrow Khyber Pass and could not obtain a timely retreat.

This will give the Han Dynasty a shorter time and richer battle results.

Zhao Kuo also smiled as he looked at the Mauryan army intercepted in the entire encirclement.

According to Zhao Kuo's years of battlefield experience, at least more than 100,000 Mauryan dynasty troops were surrounded by troops from the Han Dynasty.

These troops are the main forces of the Mauryan Dynasty. Once they are completely annihilated here, all the main forces of the Mauryan Dynasty will be completely destroyed.

Coupled with the unfavorable engineering gunpowder technology of the Han Dynasty, it can basically be said that the fate of the demise of the Mauryan Dynasty was destined at this moment.

Things were just as Zhao Kuo expected.

At the beginning, some generals were still fighting spirit in the two sides surrounded by the army. They barely assembled some of the troops and wanted to break out of the siege together.

However, the musketeers of the Han Dynasty proved with practical actions that these guys were purely delusional.

Under Li Mu's command, 3,000 people from the musketeers of the Han Dynasty formed 10 different square formations, specifically launching assaults on the densely populated Mauryan dynasty military positions.

In this way, the newly gathered Mauryan troops will be dispersed.

After these troops were dispersed, all the soldiers of the Mauryan Dynasty realized that the musketeers of the Han Dynasty would only attack crowded places, so they completely lost the confidence to assemble and fled in all directions.

Although the war will take a long time to go here, in fact, everyone involved in this war knows that the ending is completely destined.

When night fell, the captives of the Mauryan Dynasty, all over the mountains and fields, entered the camp of their own not long ago, under the escort of the soldiers of the Han Dynasty.

This camp, which was abandoned by the Mauryan army, is now used as a new prisoner of war camp in the Han Dynasty.

The operation to capture prisoners of war lasted for three days. During these three days, Zhao Kuo did not immediately rush to advance, but stopped moving. On the one hand, the soldiers were allowed to rest, and on the other hand, they also made a statistics on the entire battle results.

After statistics, the entire Warring States Period has been initially released. In this war, the Han Dynasty killed more than 30,000 soldiers from the Mauryan Dynasty and captured a total of 110,000 people, and less than 60,000 people left the battlefield.

According to previous data, only about half of the 60,000 people can truly return to the local area of ​​the Mauryan Dynasty and continue to join the army to fight.

Many people will be scared after failure. They will choose to hide in the wild or sneak back to their hometowns and will not continue to fight.

In other words, there are only 30,000 soldiers left by Ashoka now.

Zhao Kuo stood in the southeastern part of the Khyber Pass, and in front of him was the extremely rich and abundant South Asian subcontinent plain.

In history, the Aryans conquered and ruled the place, and even after a long period of trouble, their descendants still occupied the mainstream of this place in modern society.

But now, with Zhao Kuo's arrival, everything has been changed.

The Arians will become conquered people, the Chinese nation represented by the Great Han Kingdom will become the new masters of this place, and Zhao Kuo is very confident that the Great Han Kingdom will rule here for a long time.

There are two plains in Asia, and their terrain is very good. One of them is the Central Plains, which have been occupied by the Han Kingdom, and the other is the South Asian subcontinent in front of them.

Even if you look at the world, you can compare with these two plains, there are actually only the other two.

These other two pieces are the European Plain that spans the entire Western and Central Europe and the eastern Plain occupied by the modern territory of the American Empire in North America.

Today, the European plains are still densely covered with forests, and the Germans are eyeing them and living a life of blood. As for the vast plains in North America, there should be the world of many nomadic peoples.

In short, the only ones that are truly occupied by civilization are actually the Central Plains of the Great Han Kingdom and the South Asian subcontinent plain in front of them. In other words, among all the countries on earth that now have high-level civilizations, the Great Han Kingdom occupies the two best territories.

Is there anything happier in the world than this?

Zhao Kuo thought about it, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

After laughing, Zhao Kuo also issued an order very decisively.

"Let the whole army attack."

With Zhao Kuo's order, many Korean soldiers began to move continuously. They passed through the Khyber Pass and entered this endless plain in the ten continents of South Asia.

There is a small city in the distance, probably a few dozen miles away from the Kaiboer Pass. This is the benefit of the plain. Standing on the high mountains, you can see it clearly, and you can see the cities dozens of miles a year.

This small city will become the first stop for the Han Kingdom to conquer the four continents of South Asia.

Since the capital of the Mauryan Dynasty, Fahrenheit City, is not too far from here, the Han Kingdom will take the lead in conquering Fahrenheit City, and then continue to advance south until the entire Indian Peninsula is conquered.

The news of the Han Dynasty sending troops quickly spread to Fahrenheit City.

Although it is very magnificent in the Royal Palace in Fahrenheit, everyone living here is panic, and many people can't even sleep well at night.

The answer is of course very simple, because I failed at the Khyber Pass recently. Many people have actually started to transfer their property quietly. The gate of Fahrenheit has many carriages out of the city these days, and they basically left quietly in the middle of the night.

The third prince had a serious expression and walked quickly through the palace. His target was the study.

There, Ashoka was already waiting for him.

After a while, the third prince walked into the study room. The guards here had been waiting for him for a long time. After seeing him, they immediately opened the door and let him walk in.

The third prince walked into the study, where Ashoka was already waiting for him.

Ashoka's spirit actually looks pretty good, but in just a few days, he looks much more haggard.

The third prince spoke in a hurry: "I just received the news that the army of the Han Kingdom has begun to move south, and their target should be our Fahrenheit City."

Ashoka doesn't seem surprised about this news.

However, the emperor did not give an answer at once, but fell into some thoughts.

After a while, King Ashoka slowly spoke, "Do you think we can defend this city?"

The third prince opened his mouth and couldn't speak.

Although he wanted to say that he could defend it, after seeing the Han Dynasty's musketeers that day, who dared to say such a thing?

Ashoka obviously understood the third prince's idea, he smiled and said, "Actually, this number is more redundant, right?

Everyone knows that we cannot hold on to it.”

The third prince didn't know what to say, so he could only remain silent.

Ashoka sat in his position and said nothing.

There are obviously two people in the study, but the atmosphere is solidified, which makes people feel extremely uncomfortable.

Finally, the third prince spoke: "I think we should retreat immediately and retreat to the south. There is a plateau. Those invaders may become unadaptable to the climate of the plateau. This is our opportunity."

After hearing this, Ashoka laughed and asked the third prince a question.

"Did you forget, just a few months ago where the level you attacked?"

The third prince was stunned at first, and then quickly came to his senses.

From last year to the beginning of the year, the third prince had been attacking Zhennan Pass, which happened to be the westernmost pass on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

In other words, the Han Dynasty had already controlled the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. How could they know nothing about fighting on the plateau for so many years?

But even so, the third prince still insisted on his judgment.

"The Father can't hesitate anymore. If we hesitate any more, it may be a very difficult thing to retreat and leave here."

You should know that the South Asian subcontinent is all plains, so it is not easy to escape on the plains. You will be caught up by others in minutes.

Ashoka smiled and said, "Take all your troops and retreat as much wealth as possible. From today on, you will be the new king of our country."

After hearing this, the third prince was startled first, then seemed to have figured out something, showing an incredible expression.

"Father, does your words mean..." Ashoka smiled and nodded, and said, "Yes, I have been king for decades, and I am old now, and I don't want to leave this city that I have been running.

I will stay here to obey the Buddha's arrangements for my destiny. If I die, then remember not to think about avenging me. You can surrender or fight, but if you can, I hope you can survive and live better and better."

The third prince looked at Ashoka in front of him, his expression was extremely complicated.

He knew very well what the words of Ashoka meant. If nothing unexpected happened, the father and son would not meet again from now on.

The third prince did not say anything else, but knelt down and gave a big gift to Ashoka.

King Ashoka smiled and waved his hand to the third prince.
To be continued...