The Prodigal Son

A day later, Yan Wujiu received a reply from Yan Li.

Yan Li gave Yan Wujiu two choices.

First, retreat to Jianmu, the gateway to Huzhou!

Wasn't Qin Yu supposed to be providing relief to the people of Yan?

They abandoned all the land east and south of Qiyun Mountain, and asked Qin Yu to do his best to provide relief!

Let's see how much grain Qin Yu has!

This can be considered as providing a way for the people of Yan to make a living.

If the Ning army dares to extend its battle lines to places like Yanzhou, as long as they join forces with the Northern Qi army and concentrate their strength to recapture Pangzhou and Xiaxing, you can keep the Ning army trapped inside.

However, Yan Li was also worried that Ning Jun would see through their intentions and wouldn't go too far.

At that point, they will have no choice but to mount a desperate counterattack.

As for the outcome, none of them dared to guarantee it.

The second option was for Yan Li to find a way to allocate another 50,000 troops to him, but there wouldn't be much food or supplies.

This is already Yan Li's limit!

As for how to fight, Yan Li didn't care at all and gave him complete control.

In addition, Yan Li also told him something in the letter.

Because Qin Yu led his troops in a surprise attack on Wulin, giving the Ning army an extra escape route, the Northern Qi's previous plan to encircle the Ning army failed. The Northern Qi is now very angry and does not believe in the abilities of the Yan general.

Therefore, the Northern Qi army will not obey the orders of the Yan state; on the contrary, the Yan state will need to cooperate with the Northern Qi.

If the Yan state does not cooperate, the Northern Qi army will not cross the Panjiang River.

"Shameless!"

After reading Yan Li's letter, Yan Wujiu flew into a rage.

Qin Yu is shameless, and Bei Qi is equally shameless!

If the Northern Qi army does not cross the Panjiang River, wouldn't that be tantamount to the Yan state giving away the land north of the Panjiang River to the Northern Qi for nothing?

"You despicable person!"

"A treacherous person who breaks their word!"

Yan Wujiu continued to curse and swear, completely forgetting that the Yan state had repeatedly broken its promises.

After venting his anger, Yan Wujiu forced himself to calm down.

If they retreat to Jianmu, the Ning army will surely pursue them.

It's hard to say whether they'll be able to retreat to Jianmu by then.

As for the second option, there are 50,000 troops, plus the more than 60,000 men under my command.

110,000 troops!

The main force of the Ning army has already entered Xiaxing.

To defend the Jade Toad, we need to leave at least 40,000 troops!

In other words, he could only lead 70,000 troops to attack Wulin.

According to his assessment, Ning Jun had at least 40,000 troops in Wulin!

Ha ha……

Seventy thousand troops attacking a key location defended by forty thousand troops?

The odds of winning are extremely slim!

If it fails, Yu Chan certainly won't be able to hold on either.

If we lose all 110,000 troops, the Yan Kingdom can simply surrender!

The key issue is that these 50,000 troops might not be able to get through!

Xue Chengdao and Qin Fumeng will definitely try every means to intercept these 50,000 troops!

Indeed, there are two choices!

However, the choice was between defending Yuchan to the death and retreating to Pangzhou Prefecture.

Retreating to Jianmu is a bit difficult!

Let's retreat to Pangzhou Prefecture first, and then we can talk about retreating to Jianmu!

Yan Wujiu was extremely depressed.

difficult!

That's really difficult!

For a fleeting moment, he even considered abandoning everything, returning directly to Huyao, no longer concerning himself with any court affairs, and simply becoming a carefree prince.

After struggling for a long time, Yan Wujiu finally gave up the idea.

When the country is in peril, even he is having second thoughts. How can we expect the generals below to risk their lives for the court?

"call……"

Yan Wujiu let out a long breath, his face frosty, and ordered, "Summon all generals to come for a meeting immediately!"

Before long, a group of generals arrived at the council hall, including Si Rong.

Without wasting any words, Yan Wujiu directly read out the letter of faith that Qin Yu had given him to everyone.

Afterwards, he told everyone about the two choices Yan Li had given him and analyzed the risks involved.

After hearing Yan Wujiu's words, the generals fell silent.

No one expected that Qin Yu's letter would push them to such a point.

The army has been assembled for so long, but it hasn't fought a single decent battle; it's been retreating and relocating all the time!

Frustrated and angry!

"Your Highness, since things have already come to this point, let's just fight the Ning people to the death!"

"If Qin Yu really uses this tactic, we'll just be worn down and killed even if we guard the Jade Toad!"

"But if we retreat further towards Jianmu, our morale will probably be completely destroyed!"

"Why not just abandon Yu Chan and take the 50,000 troops allocated by His Highness the Crown Prince to fight the Ning people to the death!"

"Yes, let's give it our all!"

"Fight? What are we going to fight with? If we dare to abandon Yu Chan, won't the Ning army in Xiaxing come to our aid?"

"Exactly! That's 110,000 men! If they're all wiped out, there's no point in continuing the fight!"

"This humble general suggests we retreat to Jianmu! This humble general is willing to lead the Flying Fang Cavalry to cover the rear!"

"Yes, retreat to Jianmu, and let all the people from various places flee to Pangzhou, thus depleting the Ning army's food supplies!"

"Do you think the Ning people's food tastes that good? If they eat the Ning people's food, they'll have to pick up swords and spears and fight us! How many more soldiers will the Ning people have then?"

"This won't work, that won't work, are we just supposed to wait here to die?"

Soon, the group of generals were arguing fiercely.

Some wanted to retreat to Jianmu, while others wanted to take a gamble.

But almost no one wants to guard the jade toad anymore.

Everyone knew that if they continued to guard Yu Chan and let Qin Yu use his wicked schemes, they would soon be worn down and die, or even cause a mutiny among the soldiers!

No soldier could stand idly by and watch his fellow countrymen starve to death.

If they can't do it themselves, how can they expect their soldiers to?

It has to be said, Qin Yu's move was ruthless!

Simple, yet incredibly deadly!

Listening to the generals' arguments, a strong sense of powerlessness washed over Yan Wujiu, almost crushing him.

These generals would rather take a gamble than continue guarding the Jade Toad.

What's the point of defending this place?

They suffered heavy losses before retreating to Yuchan, only to be easily defeated by Qin Yu with a single move.

It's both laughable and pathetic!

After a long while, Yan Wujiu slowly stood up.

Seeing Yan Wujiu stand up, the generals stopped arguing and all turned their attention to him.

"Let's retreat!"

Exhausted, Yan Wujiu uttered two words.

Ji Ying looked at Yan Wujiu with a bitter expression: "Your Highness! Are we... really going to retreat again? If we retreat now, there will be no way back!"

"Let's retreat!"

Yan Wujiu sighed helplessly, "Let's just leave the people a way to survive!"

"We cannot afford the loss of another 110,000 troops, nor can we afford the consequences of a mutiny among our soldiers!"

"I will write a letter to His Highness the Crown Prince, requesting that he order the troops in Tiger Prefecture to come to our aid..."

After saying that, Yan Wujiu walked out with heavy steps, but he felt a little relieved.

Perhaps, he himself also wanted to withdraw, and wanted to give the people a way to survive!

It's all my fault.

It was his own stupidity as commander that led him to believe Qin Yu would resort to such despicable and shameless tactics.

If they had thought of this earlier, they would have retreated to Huzhou long ago.

In this way, we won't lose 50,000 troops!

Looking at Yan Wujiu's suddenly hunched back, Ji Ying opened his mouth slightly, but ultimately did not say anything.

"well……"

After a long while, Ji Ying couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

What kind of war is this?!

I've never fought such a frustrating battle!

If I had known this would happen, I would have preferred to fight the Ning army to the death in Xing!

They went around in circles and got themselves into a mess!

It's utterly shameful that the war has escalated to this point!

He had previously thought that Zong Bi's defeat was too humiliating!

As a result, they were even more disgraceful than Zong Bi!

Zong Bi at least fought the Ning people in a decent way, but what about them?

It was all a complete waste of time and energy...