My villain wants to save himself, but the yandere heroine disagrees

Martin was also a very martial man. After seeing Litt put down his sword, he also put his sword back, indicating that he would not pose a threat to Litt.

The Antican army was naturally ecstatic to see their commander win, but the Naples soldiers began to feel timid when they saw that Martin, who was usually invincible on the battlefield, could not beat the enemy.

The two men had been fighting for more than ten minutes. If it weren't for the previous conversation and the subsequent duel, this army of a thousand people would have been defeated long ago.

"There's nothing to say. I have to accept the defeat." Martin spread his hands helplessly, then turned to look at his troops.

"Brothers, we cannot defeat this army. For the sake of your lives, we will retreat to the base camp to rest and make plans later."

Following this order, the soldiers quickly put down their weapons and then followed Martin out in an orderly manner.

"Lite... Young Master, is it okay to just let them go like this?" Virgil came up at this time, looked at the peasant soldiers who were leaving, and looked at Litt beside him in confusion.

"Of course it doesn't matter." Litt said this, as if she was still immersed in the exciting battle just now. She let out a long breath and then said, "Orson once taught me that attacking the city is inferior, and attacking the heart is superior."

"This peasant army has only a little over a thousand people. Even if they retreat, it won't be such a big blow to us. On the contrary, when I talked with their commander just now, I realized that what we did before was not enough."

"Not enough?" Virgil asked in confusion.

"We have already reduced taxes in the occupied areas, and we have also maintained good governance and law and order. Even so, haven't we done enough?"

"Yeah, it's not enough." Li Te nodded. "At least, in their opinion, it's not just about what we do that makes them give up resistance."

"We have to wait and see what their superiors will do. Only when their superiors make them feel disheartened will they lay down their weapons and choose to resist." Litt said this and continued his analysis.

"Look, Virgil, this army is clearly the one guarding the outer defense line. If we were to use troops normally, we would put troops above the standard level in the first line of attack, even if we didn't use the most elite troops, right? But the enemy didn't do that. From their equipment to their morale, they are all like peasant troops, which is what we commonly call the third-line troops, cannon fodder."

"Generally speaking, cannon fodder are sandwiched between regular troops and follow the regular troops to charge, so that morale will not collapse. However, this army was able to go to the front line and was listed separately on the outermost layer, which shows that the commander does not want them to survive."

"So, as long as we make them realize this, it will be easy for them to understand that they have been betrayed, and then they will help us."

"I didn't expect that you, Master Litt, could think of this." Virgil did not hesitate to praise.

"Hehe, this is what Orson told me. Virgil, you don't have to be so surprised." When Litt heard Virgil say this, he smiled shyly.

"...Master Lit, you have really grown a lot." Virgil said this with a look of satisfaction in his eyes.

"If you want to praise someone, praise Orson. He taught me well."

"However, this army only has a thousand people at most, and they are mainly peasants. Even if they betray us, the rewards we get don't seem to be that much."

"Virgil, sometimes, we don't just do things for the sake of rewards. Although they only have a thousand people, they still have a thousand lives. We can't save them on the front battlefield, but in this case, if we can make more people repent, it will also be a good thing for the rulers who will take root here in the future."

"Who will be the ruler in the future doesn't seem to have anything to do with us, right?"

"Well... who knows?" Litt said this, jumped on his horse, and continued to lead the army forward to take over the position.

……

Martin retreated with his troops, and on the way, he ran into Wirtz who came with reinforcements.

"Martin? What's going on with you?" Wirtz saw the retreating army. Although everyone was retreating, they were in an orderly manner, with intact military appearance. It didn't look like they had lost a battle at all.

More importantly, the number of people did not decrease and no one was injured.

Is it possible that there was no fight?

"Wilts, is this the reinforcement you brought?" Martin said, looking at the troops behind Wilts.

"Ah... because other fronts were also attacked, so there was no way to spare so many troops from behind. I could only rush here with the general's guards."

"Is that so...there's nothing we can do about it." Martin sighed helplessly when he heard what Wiltz said.

"By the way, Martin, how about you? What's going on?"

Martin told Wirtz about the bet between him and Litt. Upon hearing this, Wirtz sighed.

"Well, that's fine. Otherwise, I would bring 500 people here now, probably just to collect your bodies." He said this and patted Martin on the shoulder.

"It's okay. It doesn't matter if you lose. The lives of our brothers are saved. As long as we have the green mountains, we will not be afraid of running out of firewood. Just don't let the people above know about this, otherwise they will think you are colluding with the enemy and lock you up."

"Of course I know that." Martin nodded after hearing this, and then everyone turned back to the base camp.

As they approached the base camp and saw the flags standing in the camp, Martin looked at Wilts in confusion.

"Wiltz, didn't you say there were no reserves?"

"Indeed, there are no more. These are all the general's guards." Wiltz explained helplessly.

"I wanted them to give me more money at first, but they only gave me 500."

"Didn't you tell them that the enemy number was at least over 10,000?"

"I told them! But they didn't listen." Wirtz also complained.

Just as the two people were complaining to each other about the military system, a man came over from the other side.

"What's going on? How come you came back so quickly?" Garibaldi's adjutant frowned as he looked at the returning peasant army.

"How come we came back so quickly?!" Martin was furious when he saw the other party, and his tone became stern.

"Let me ask you, will you be satisfied only if we fight to the last man on the front line and stop consuming your food supplies?"

"What are you talking about?" The adjutant came up. Of course he knew Martin, the rookie in the army.

After all, Martin has killed more than a hundred enemies since the beginning of the war.

Such a brave warrior had to be promoted, so Garibaldi gave him the position of commander of an army of a thousand men.

Logically speaking, the opponent should be fighting on the front line now, but he actually came back.

It was fine that he had come back, but why was he so angry when he saw me? This made the adjutant very confused.

Just as Wilts was about to step forward and act as a peacemaker to pull the two men apart, he was stopped by Martin.

"Wiltz, don't interrupt me. I have something to ask him personally."

Having said this, Martin looked at the adjutant. The lion-like aura made the adjutant a little scared.

"No... Officer, is there anything we can't talk about peacefully? Why do you have to talk to me like this?"

"Then let me ask you, when the front line was in danger and I sent people to ask for help, why did you keep delaying and only send 500 people to support us?"

"This is what the general meant." The adjutant said this and quickly passed the ball to the supreme commander.

Anyway, no matter how powerful Martin is and how noble he is, he cannot go against Garibaldi's wishes.

Because Garibaldi represents Giovanni's will.

"Whenever you encounter problems, you always blame your boss. Aren't you ashamed?!" Wiltz next to him couldn't bear it any longer.

"At that time, General Garibaldi meant for you to take me to select people, instead of giving you the target of 500 people in advance. After all, these 500 people were selected by you. What does it have to do with the general?!"

"This..." The adjutant was panicked for a moment when he heard what Wirtz said, and then he immediately came to his senses.

"No, that's not the question now. The question now is, shouldn't you be fighting on the front line? I told you at the time that I would allocate 500 people to you and asked you to hold on for a while longer. So what do you mean by coming back now?"

"What do you mean? The front line is impossible to defend. The enemy numbers far exceed 10,000 and their equipment is better than ours. If we are trapped there, we won't be able to hold out for even half an hour before we are wiped out."

"But that was an order! It was an order for you to hold on! Even if you all die in battle, you must follow the order. This is the duty of a soldier!"

At this time, the adjutant looked past the two men and saw the troops behind them. After measuring the approximate number of people with his eyes, the adjutant was so angry that his fingers were shaking as he pointed at the two men.

"You...seem to have withdrawn without any resistance? Wait, I will report to the general."

After saying this, the adjutant turned around and left angrily.

Martin and Wirtz looked at each other, neither of them knowing what to say.

"Anyway, at least we won't be idle now, right?"

"Hmm..." Martin nodded and took his men to find a place to set up camp.

……

At night, the adjutant who had been driven away in anger during the day came here with a few soldiers.

He changed his previous arrogant attitude and came to Martin with a smile.

"Um, Chief Martin, the general wants to see you."

"Also, what happened today was my fault. I apologize to you here." After saying this, the adjutant lowered his attitude to the lowest level.

"Hmph." Martin didn't give the other party a good look, but after all, it was the general's invitation, so Martin still had to go.

When they arrived at the general's military tent, they saw that a stove had been lit and fine wine and meat were laid out, which formed a sharp contrast with the living quarters of ordinary soldiers outside.

As soon as he walked in here, Martin felt uncomfortable.

The soldiers are clearly wearing freezing cold clothes, but these good-for-nothing commanders are enjoying a life no different from usual, or even more luxurious. It is really puzzling.

At this moment, in the central military tent, in addition to Martin and Garibaldi, there were several senior officers. They sat here without touching their meals, seemingly giving Martin enough face.

As soon as Martin entered the military tent, General Garibaldi, who was sitting in the center, immediately smiled.

"Sergeant Martin, long time no see, how are you?"

"…Thanks to the general, it's OK."

"Come on, take a seat." Garibaldi said, pointing to the last seat and motioning Martin to sit down.

Martin didn't refuse and sat down in his seat.

Afterwards, a lot of food and drinks were placed in front of him.

"I don't need it." Martin said, shaking his head. "These things are expensive. Instead of spending the money on them, it would be better to buy the soldiers some more warm clothes and more food."

"Well, it's still our Sergeant Martin who loves his soldiers like his own sons." At this time, a senior officer sitting next to him teased with a smile.

"This is not loving the soldiers like one's own sons. I think this should be the most basic way to control the soldiers. If the gap between the commander and the soldiers is too big, it will only make the soldiers lose their loyalty."

"Okay, today's meal was bought with my own money. Is that satisfactory to Sergeant Martin?" Garibaldi said, picking up a piece of meat and putting it into his mouth.

"Come on, everyone, let's eat."

As Garibaldi finished his words, others began to eat and drink.

Only Martin was still sitting there, looking at the table of delicious food and wine in front of him, without moving an inch.

"Sergeant Martin, why aren't you eating?" Garibaldi had already finished half of the dish when he saw Martin sitting there motionless, and asked curiously.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why the general asked me to come here today."

"Oh, you're talking about this." Garibaldi smiled when he heard this.

"Because of my mistake today, you, Master Sergeant Martin, were put in danger. Fortunately, you were resourceful and calm in the face of danger. You withdrew all the troops in time, which ensured the vitality of our army. Is this a good reason?"

"If that's the reason, forget it." Martin said, shaking his head. "After all, the army's escape was not due to me."

"Oh? What do you mean?" Garibaldi said this, narrowing his eyes.

The reason why he pulled Martin into this place that was not for a low-ranking officer like him was not only because he felt a little guilty about what happened this afternoon and wanted to ease the relationship, but more importantly, he valued Martin's background.

Martin's family was a noble family in Florence. It would not be a big deal if he died on the battlefield, but if what happened in the army was revealed, and his family used it to put pressure on him, it would still disgust Garibaldi.

But now Martin has challenged Garibaldi's bottom line again and again. Even if Garibaldi knows that Martin's family is aristocratic, he can't speak to him in a gentle way.

I respect you and I should be courteous to you as a general, but you must also give me enough respect.

Martin obviously didn't want to show much respect to Garibaldi.

Martin looked at Garibaldi, and remembered that he had told Wirtz this afternoon that the duel must not be told to anyone, so he shook his head.

"Nothing, I just don't think my contribution is that great. As a commander, at least half of the credit on the battlefield goes to my soldiers. They executed well during the retreat and did not disintegrate, which left the enemy no chance to pursue."

"That's true." Seeing that the atmosphere had eased, Garibaldi stated his other purpose.

"By the way, Chief Martin, there is another reason why I called you here this time. Why don't you guess?"

"I'm sorry I don't know..."

"Well, if you don't want to guess, I'll just tell you directly." Garibaldi called his adjutant, took out a letter of commission from behind him, and then asked the adjutant to hand it to Martin.

"This is a recognition for you. From today on, you are no longer the commander of that army. Your talent deserves to blossom on a higher stage."

Martin looked at the promotion letter, which stated his promoted position.

He was promoted from sergeant major to sergeant major, and the troops he commanded increased from one thousand to five thousand.

It can be said that this is a promotion for myself.

Martin looked at Garibaldi in confusion.

I suffered a defeat today, and when I came back I had a big quarrel with Garibaldi's trusted adjutant. I thought today's dinner would be a Hongmen Banquet, but it turned out to be a celebration banquet?

What on earth is Garibaldi doing?

"Sergeant Major Martin... No, I should call you Sergeant Major Martin now. Stop looking at us with such strange eyes. Although the army values ​​seniority, it values ​​ability even more. Your ability is obvious to all. If it were someone else today, this army would definitely not have been able to escape unscathed. That's why I chose to promote you from so many reserve lists." Garibaldi wiped his mouth, stood up, and came to Martin.