The God of War Who Protects the Nation: Starting with Saving a Mother and Daughter in Distress

Li Mi and Xu Mao parted on bad terms, leaving Shan Tong caught in the middle, unsure of what to do.

Seeing Xu Mao leave in a huff, he instinctively wanted to chase after him.

But seeing Li Mi's unpleasant expression, he stopped and quickly tried to comfort her.

"Your Majesty, Xu Mao is just upset because his brothers have suffered heavy casualties. Please don't take it to heart."

Dan Tong's persuasion gave Li Mi a way out, and he waved his hand dismissively.

"It's understandable that everyone is in a bad mood after the war has reached this point. Don't worry, I won't take it too seriously."

Although Li Mi said those things, only he knew what he was really thinking. Shan Tong understood this as well, but as long as things looked good on the surface, everything was fine.

He then bid farewell to Li Mi and quickly caught up with Xu Mao.

Seeing that Xu Mao's expression was still grim, Shan Tong could only try to persuade him gently.

"Your Majesty is also considering the overall situation. We have been fighting for so long, and our morale is severely depleted. If we don't withdraw our troops soon, we are likely to collapse. Your Majesty is also worried about our brothers. Please understand."

Xu Mao didn't need Li Mi's superficial gestures; he simply sneered, "How could I possibly be qualified to understand Your Majesty?"

However, he couldn't vent his resentment on Shan Tong.

He sighed heavily and said, "I'm just a little unwilling. This is a hard-won opportunity to eliminate the threat of Qin An's cavalry. If we miss it, it will be difficult in the future."

As a renowned general on the battlefield, he naturally knew the terror and threat of cavalry.

This is why he was willing to sacrifice 20,000 elite troops to completely eliminate this cavalry force.

Despite having made all the necessary preparations, Li Mi chose to back down at the crucial moment.

This made him doubt for the first time whether the lord he followed truly had the qualifications to achieve great things.

In fact, before this, Xu Mao was very satisfied with Li Mi.

Compared to the previous rebel leaders, Li Mi is far superior.

Whether it's his temperament, his strategies, or his decisiveness, he exudes the aura of a powerful and ruthless leader.

This is why, even though Li Mi joined the rebels halfway through and ousted the former leader, Xu Mao, as a veteran of the rebel army, still firmly stood by Li Mi's side.

The excellent character that Li Mi had previously displayed gave him hope that the other party could lead Li Gangzhai to grow stronger and rise to power, and even conquer the world.

But today's events have made Xu Mao realize that his understanding of his lord is not so comprehensive.

Dan Tong vaguely sensed that Xu Mao's tone was a bit off, so he quickly tried to reassure him.

"No, no, after today's battle, Qin An's cavalry is almost half-crippled."

"As long as they want to stop us from taking Yangkoucang, they are destined to fight to the death. If this trend continues, it will not be difficult to completely eliminate them."

Dan Tong, who was on the battlefield, was very clear about the extent of the damage suffered by both sides in today's battle.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that more than half of the cavalry led by Qin An were killed or wounded.

As is well known, the larger the cavalry force, the greater the threat.

Now that Qin An is only leading two thousand cavalry, the threat has been greatly reduced.

What Shan Tong said seemed to make sense on the surface, but Xu Mao shook his head.

"You don't understand. In this kind of bloody battle, the key is to strike while the iron is hot, then weaken, and finally exhaust yourself. Qin An's forces have indeed decreased, but they will only become more and more troublesome."

As Xu Mao said this, he felt an indescribable sense of heartache.

As a man with the potential to become a great general, he knew all too well that cavalrymen were not something that could be trained simply through training.

Instead, it requires going through a real bloody battle.

After each battle, the cavalry only becomes stronger, not just by looking at the numbers on paper.

The more he thought about it, the more exhausted he became, and he was too lazy to say anything more.

……

On the rebel side, the atmosphere was tense because Xu Mao and Li Mi had a falling out.

Qin An, on the other hand, was extremely suppressed.

After withdrawing from the battlefield, he immediately conducted a census.

When he saw that he only had a little over two thousand cavalrymen under his command, his eyes instantly reddened. This battle had been far too brutal.

In previous battles against the rebels, his men suffered occasional casualties.

But those injuries are completely within the acceptable range.

Anyone who knows how to lead troops understands one thing: there are no safe havens on the battlefield.

A compassionate leader is not a good commander; this is a quality that every excellent commander must possess.

But today, two thousand men were wiped out in a single battle, a number he simply could not accept.

Not only Qin An, but all the other generals also had faces so gloomy they could practically drip water.

Yesterday's brothers, laughing and joking, are today fallen souls on the battlefield.

This was a huge blow to everyone.

Fortunately, although Qin An was very sad, he knew that now was not the time to be sad.

"Gather up all the bodies of our brothers and bury them."

When they received Qin An's order, no one said much, and they all got to work in silence.

They found a huge pit, piled all the bodies of the fallen soldiers into it, and buried them.

The atmosphere was unusually somber throughout the process, with everyone silently watching their brothers who had fought alongside them in the pit.

Many people's eyes were already red, but they dared not cry out loud.

At that moment, Qin An stepped forward.

He stepped forward, but didn't say anything. He simply uttered two cold words: "Revenge."

Upon hearing those two words, everyone who had been feeling down all looked up.

"That's right, we must avenge our fallen brothers and never let those rebels get away with it!"

"Captain Li died at the hands of the enemy while saving me. Even if it costs me my life, I must avenge him!"

"Those sons of bitches killed so many of our brothers! We swear we won't rest until we avenge them!"

"..."

At first, everyone was just talking in hushed tones.

But as they talked, only two words remained in everyone's mind: revenge.

Ultimately, the sounds of these two words merged together.

A unified cry of "Revenge!" echoed throughout the land.

Stimulated by this shared sense of righteous indignation, the previously low morale quickly soared.

Everyone silently channeled their grief into the motivation for revenge.

When it was time to eat, they ate heartily, hoping to recover as quickly as possible.

After eating and drinking his fill and resting enough, Qin An did not intend to wait passively.

"I'm going to avenge my brothers. Who among you is willing to come with me?"

Hearing Qin An's words, all the generals were very surprised.

"General, what's wrong...?"

Although Luo Sheng already had some guesses, he still couldn't help but ask, wanting a definite answer.

Qin An had no intention of hiding anything: "Since we said we wanted revenge, we can't just sit and wait. We've suffered heavy losses, and the rebels have suffered the same fate."

"Right now, their morale is at its lowest point. They're all busy licking their wounds, and they have no idea that we would take the initiative to attack."

"I just wanted to take this opportunity to cause some trouble, as a way to collect some interest for the brothers who died in battle."

Everyone was very surprised to hear Qin An's words. No one expected that he would take the initiative to provoke a major battle so soon after a fierce battle had just ended.

While surprised, everyone became excited at the same time.

Even they themselves hadn't expected Qin An to make such a decision, and the rebels probably hadn't anticipated it either, so they weren't on high alert.

If we can catch the opponent off guard, we might actually achieve a great victory.

The soldiers below didn't think that far ahead.

Upon hearing Qin An's urgent desire to avenge his fallen brothers, he stepped forward, his blood boiling with patriotic fervor.

"General, I'll go with you! My brother died at the hands of those beasts, I'll fight them to the death!"

"General, although I'm injured, mounting a horse is no problem at all. I want to go too!"

"How could I miss out on revenge? I'm all full and have plenty of energy now!"

"..."

One soldier after another stepped forward, their eyes filled with intense fighting spirit.

Faced with this situation, Qin An didn't say much, but simply mounted his horse.

Everyone remained silent and remounted their warhorses.

Soon, the two thousand remaining soldiers had assembled.

Except for those who were too badly injured to fight, everyone who could still pick up a weapon followed Qin An's lead.

When Qin An led his cavalry to the rebel army, the rebels were still resting.

The rebels also suffered greatly in the previous fierce battle, and everyone was exhausted.

Now that they've relaxed like this, many people just slump to the ground, not wanting to move at all.

All they can think about right now is when the cooks will finish preparing the meal.

When the sound of horses' hooves rang out, Xu Mao, who was sulking in his tent, instantly changed his expression.

He rushed out of the tent and shouted, "Enemy attack! Everyone stand up! Get ready!"

As he shouted, Xu Mao was extremely anxious.

He never expected Qin An to be so crazy.

The army had just suffered heavy losses and had not had much time to rest before leading its troops to attack again.

As the sound of approaching hooves grew louder, a question flashed through Xu Mao's mind: "How exactly did Qin An manage that?"

Losing more than half of their players is a fatal blow to any team, and they simply cannot recover without a period of buffer time.

But Qin An was able to reorganize his forces and launch an attack in such a short time, which was truly unbelievable.

But Xu Mao truly lived up to his reputation as a great general; in an instant, he knew the answer: "Will a desperate army always win?"