"Pat, pat."
Every time he lifted his foot and set it down again in the pools of blood, there was a faint, sticky pull.
The drizzle was as fine as needles, falling drop by drop onto Luo Xiao's face beneath his raised visor, bringing traces of coolness.
The heavy stench of blood kept assailing him. He looked up, and everywhere he could see lay sprawled corpses, streams of crimson blood trickling away with the rainwater.
Many of the corpses belonged to the Han Army, their faces almost all marked by despair and horror, but still more belonged to the Taiping Army, their faces filled with indignation.
These were not the final years of the dynasty. The Han Army's elite troops were indisputably the finest under heaven.
Had timing, terrain, and human support not all favored Luo Xiao, had Huangfu Song not been caught unaware by the change in who he faced, a victory this great would have been impossible with the Taiping Army's fighting strength.
Somewhat hurried footsteps approached. A moment later, several Canal Commanders appeared before Luo Xiao, their faces filled with excitement. "General, the preliminary results are in. The Han Army's Yulin Guards have been almost completely annihilated, and all the Three Rivers Cavalry attached to them have perished.
"The Han Court hasn't suffered a defeat like this in many years.
"General, shall we march straight into Luoyang?"
The Han Court's casualties did not surprise Luo Xiao. The Taiping Army's losses were greater, probably around fifty thousand.
But that would not happen again!
The Taiping Army's grassroots organization was actually already quite good. After all, its predecessor had been an enormous religious organization capable of mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people to rise in revolt. Moreover, the Way of Great Peace did not consist solely of young, able-bodied