The Prodigal Son

"My lord! We're about to capture Dongyuan, why are we sounding the retreat?!"

Deputy General Song Ling, covered in blood and filled with endless resentment, stormed into Liang Jingzhe's tent.

It was clear to everyone that the defending troops in Dongyuan City could no longer hold out under their continuous and fierce attacks.

After three days of continuous fierce attacks, not to mention the 20,000 troops of Min State, even the 20,000 elite troops of Chu State have lost more than 5,000 men!

In order to conquer Dongyuan today, he even made a pledge and personally led his troops to attack the city!

Give them at most another half hour, and they will definitely be able to take Dongyuan!

But at this very moment, Liang Jingzhe suddenly ordered a retreat!

How could he accept this?

"Do you think I intend to call it quits?"

With a face ashen with rage, Liang Jingzhe roared and threw an urgent military report at Song Ling's face. "Take a look for yourself!"

Faced with Liang Jingzhe's anger, Song Ling's heart skipped a beat.

Could it be that something happened to Sheng Qiao?

Song Ling sensed something was wrong and quickly grabbed the urgent military report to check it.

really!

Sheng Qiao fell into the trap, and of the ten thousand elite cavalry, only a little over three thousand managed to escape. Even Sheng Qiao's fate was unknown.

Although he had already guessed that something had happened to Sheng Qiao, he was still shocked when he saw the contents of the document.

Twenty thousand!

Seven thousand!

In just a few days, they have lost 27,000 soldiers!

If we include their losses as well, of the initial 50,000 Chu troops, more than 30,000 have already been lost!

But they achieved no results!

They couldn't even conquer the broken Dongyuan!

This is such a fucking bullshit war!

Song Ling was filled with anger and resentment. He slammed the urgent report on the table with a loud "bang," and growled angrily, "Even if Sheng Qiao suffered a defeat, the Marquis should not have acted rashly and sounded the retreat when our army was about to capture Dongyuan!"

At least let them conquer Dongyuan!

In this way, at least they won't have achieved nothing, and it will sound a little better to others!

I'm not fighting for a steamed bun, I'm fighting for my pride!

"Do you think I, Marquis, would be so reckless?"

Liang Jingzhe was furious. Pointing at the table beside him, he roared, "Didn't you see there's another urgent military report over there?"

besides?

Song Ling was taken aback and quickly looked over.

It was only then that he noticed there was indeed an urgent military report next to the desk.

Is there any bad news?

Could it be that Yuwang Pass has been breached?

Song Ling was extremely nervous and quickly and carefully picked up another urgent military report.

boom!

Upon seeing the above content, Song Ling felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

Taking advantage of the weakened defenses of Guanzhou, the third prince of Yan, Yan Li, led the Yan navy in a surprise attack on Wugou Port in Guanzhou, and used the navy to transport a large army into Guanzhou...

"This is not the worst-case scenario."

Liang Jingzhe struggled to control himself, his face frosty as he said, "What I'm most worried about right now is those 500,000 shi of grain! Sheng Qiao has been defeated. If Qin Yu were to return to the north bank of the Qujiang River, given Qin Yu's cunning, he certainly wouldn't let go of those 500,000 shi of grain! He might even attack us..."

Sheng Qiao's defeat happened yesterday morning.

A day and a half has passed since yesterday morning.

If Qin Yu's forces did not suffer significant losses, he may very well have already fought his way back to the north bank of the Qujiang River!

Anyway, if he were Qin Yu, he would definitely do the same thing in this situation!

As Song Ling listened to Liang Jingzhe's words, his anger and resentment gradually dissipated, replaced by a deep sense of fear.

That's 500,000 shi of grain!

That's military rations!

The consequences would be unimaginable if those 500,000 shi of grain were burned!

"This war is completely out of control! Even if we break through Dongyuan and kill Yu Jing now, it will probably only benefit the Yan and Ning states!"

Liang Jingzhe stood with his hands behind his back, his face extremely grim. "Now that things have come to this, we need to consider our escape route!"

Now, their situation is extremely difficult.

He had given up all hope for this battle.

The best outcome would be for all their troops to retreat to the south bank of Qujiang River and then destroy Sanli Bridge!

They let the four forces of Yu Jing, Yu Wu, Yan Ren, and Ning Ren fight each other in the four prefectures on the north bank of the Qujiang River, while they occupied Wuzhou and Xingzhou!

Only in this way can we give an explanation to the more than 30,000 soldiers who died in battle!

As for Yu Wu, the son-in-law of the Chu state, he is no longer important!

Understanding their predicament, Song Ling hurriedly said, "This subordinate will immediately organize the troops; we will retreat to Qixia Pass tonight!"

"You weren't in a hurry when you should have been, but now you're suddenly in a hurry!"

Liang Jingzhe stopped Song Ling impatiently, "We're exhausted now. If we retreat tonight, what if Qin Yu launches a sneak attack?"

Song Ling opened his mouth slightly, then lowered his head in shame: "It was my oversight."

Liang Jingzhe composed himself and instructed, "You lead your troops to rest and recuperate first, and then lead them to withdraw in an orderly manner tomorrow! I will set off immediately, take the back road, and return to Yuyang as soon as possible."

Song Ling frowned: "Isn't the Marquis coming with us?"

"I have urgent business to attend to in Yuyang!"

Liang Jingzhe didn't elaborate much, "Also, send someone to inform Huang Dengxing of the situation at the rear! Whether to retreat or fight is his decision!"

Ok?

Song Ling lowered his head in thought.

After a moment, Song Ling said in a deep voice, "This humble general suggests that we not inform Huang Dengxing!"

Liang Jingzhe narrowed his eyes slightly. "What are your considerations?"

Song Ling clenched his fists, saying bitterly, "Once Huang Dengxing finds out what's happening behind us, he'll most likely choose to retreat!"

"But if he didn't know the situation behind him, he would have held Yiling to the death!"

"We've suffered such a heavy loss at the hands of the Ning people; we must at least have the Yellow Lantern Corps wear down some of their forces!"

Not reconciled!

A mere youth led ten thousand men into their rear, completely disrupting their plans.

How could he be satisfied without making Ningguo pay some price?

Even if Huang Dengxing were to wear down ten or twenty thousand of Ningguo's troops, he could still vent his anger.

"Do you think people who walk at yellow lights are idiots?"

Liang Jingzhe glared at him, annoyed. "Huang Dengxing must have sent people to closely monitor the situation in Dongyuan. We've been launching a fierce attack on Dongyuan for several days, and it looked like we were about to break through the city, but then we suddenly stopped. Do you think Huang Dengxing wouldn't be suspicious?"

"this……"

Song Ling paused slightly, then fell silent.

"Furthermore, Huang Dengxing definitely has secret communication channels with Yuyang and Guanzhou!"

Liang Jingzhe spoke again: "Even if they don't have secret communication channels, do you think it would be difficult to send a few experts to bypass Dongyuan and travel over mountains and valleys to deliver messages?"

Song Ling was speechless.

Yes!

It would be extremely difficult for an army of several thousand or tens of thousands to cross mountains and valleys.

It's just that a few experts are crossing mountains and valleys to deliver the message; it's just a little slower.

"But if Huang Dengxing retreats, he certainly won't be able to take the grain supplies from Yiling. Won't we be even more short of food then?"

Song Ling reiterated his concerns.

He hoped that Huang Dengxing would lead his troops to fight the Ning people to the death.

If Huang Dengxing's entire army is wiped out, it will reduce the consumption of some food.

However, if Huang Dengxing leads his troops to retreat safely but is unable to take away the military rations from Yiling, and their two armies merge, with hundreds of thousands of shi of military rations lost, the food, drink and sanitation of so many people will soon become a problem.

"These things are no longer important!"

Liang Jingzhe rubbed his head, sighing, and said, "Right now, all we need is to retreat back to the south bank of Qujiang..."