The collapse of the battle line naturally began with the collapse of Murong Zhengyan's troops.
But in tactical terms, what truly set off a reaction across the whole battlefield was the simultaneous collapse that followed among Wang Yu's and Feng Duan's symmetrically deployed forces. Their collapse deprived the government army of its anchors on both wings at once, snapping its Crane-Wing Formation into three pieces and all but destroying its cohesion.
By then, the Exorcising the Dragon Army's formations behind the front had already formed up, and were even beginning to deploy their follow-up troops for an encirclement under orders.
At this point, even Heaven's mandate could not save them.
Even though Xue Changxiong had retained his reason and his last shred of dignity under Murong Zhengyan's encouragement, all he could do was order the entire army back into camp before the massed Exorcising the Dragon Army surged up and surrounded them... he was pinning his hopes on the fact that the fighting had not lasted long, and most units still had their commanders and discipline, intending to use the fortifications to buy time and save whatever troops he could.
But even Xue Changxiong knew this was wishful thinking. Trying was better than doing nothing.
After all, once an army was routed, life and death were left to fate.
Sure enough, before the order could reach every part of the battlefield, the collapse beginning at the inner ends of both wings had already triggered a chain reaction. In defeat, officers and soldiers were no longer distinguishable: everyone simply scrambled to get ahead of everyone else, spreading the chaos rapidly.
What left Xue Changxiong helpless was that even his own troops, even his own sons, Xue Wancheng and Xue Wanquan on either side, could not restrain their men... sitting on his