My Cultivation Starting from Archery-Chapter 324 - 160 The Crown Prince Rebels_2

"Indeed, but there are benefits to this situation as well,"

Li Gong spoke in a deep voice, "They will arrive at Hulaoguan much faster than expected! Although the Sheng people have now taken over the entirety of Lai State, they do not have wings. It takes time to assemble troops, gather forces, and dispatch orders!"

"Not to mention, they will need to dispatch a large number of people to Green Ridge Mountain first, and the ones left behind to surround me wouldn’t dare to diminish their numbers. At most, they could spare a few thousand men to head towards Hulaoguan."

"Nan Xu, a hundred thousand strong army!"

"A few thousand men, can they hold it?"

"All considered, the advantage still remains on our side, it’s just that the Sheng people have been given an opportunity to maneuver,"

"Pass down my command: all troops be on alert and prepare for the Sheng people’s fierce attack."

"Then..."

"Figure out a way to inform Deng Feng to take his own life quickly! There’s no need for him to continue losing face here!"

"A Xuanxiang Realm Great Perfection, someone who could break through to Martial Saint in another two years, has been captured by an Assistant General in the Meridian Passage Realm—how does he even have the face to live until now!"

"Yes!"

...

Outside the city.

The Sheng Army camp.

"The Crown Prince himself is leading the supervisory battle and will arrive in just half a month."

Meng Quji, looking at the newly received message, had an ugly expression, "And just at this time, we have to retreat..."

"Indeed."

Zhan Taoming said, "Isn’t this a slap in the Crown Prince’s face..."

The Hu Ben Army’s Commander Fan Tianfa spoke, "Commander Meng, how about we hold out a little longer?"

"We can’t hold out any longer!"

Meng Quji, pointing at the map, said, "Take a good look. If we don’t retreat now, we’ll really be too late. Let’s pull back first and then reassess the situation. Perhaps there’s still a chance to strike back! As for the pressure from the Emperor, I alone will bear it! It’s the same saying, only by remaining undefeated can we find a chance to exploit the Enemy Army’s weaknesses!"

"However..."

"Considering the time, why haven’t Sha Wenlong and the others brought Chen Sansi back yet? We don’t have the time to wait!"

"Report—"

"Commander, the Young Master has returned with a group of more than twenty riders."

"Twenty people?"

Meng Quji rushed out of the tent.

"Commander Meng."

Cao Fan dismounted to greet him.

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"Where are they?!"

Meng Quji looked toward the rear, "What about the others?"

"Commander, there’s no one else."

Cao Fan answered, "Zhao Tong Prefecture... has been taken."

"Surrounded by cheers of victory, and Deng Feng captured alive?!"

After hearing this, Meng Quji, Fan Tianfa, and including Zhan Taoming were all exchanging glances. With Deng Feng not dead, it seemed too far-fetched to have taken Zhao Tong Prefecture overnight.

"Good..."

After hearing the detailed explanation, Meng Quji couldn’t help but curl his lips upward, "That kid really came up with something!"

"Phew~"

Not far away, Fang Qingyun, who had been vouching for it, let out a sigh of relief.

No matter how much he believed in his junior, it wasn’t the same as being there himself. His understanding of the situation was only conjecture, and as time grew increasingly pressing, it was impossible not to worry.

He couldn’t help but express his admiration, "This General Deng is truly extraordinary, completely resisting the trend of surrender in Lai State by his own strength. We were just a little short of ruining all our previous efforts."

"Indeed."

Fan Tianfa agreed, "Moreover, without this man, it will greatly assist us in the upcoming situation!"

"What a shame!"

Zhan Taoming regretted, "This man was too loyal and just. Even after being captured, he surely wouldn’t concede to our Great Sheng. As per the rules, if a captured military officer does not surrender within seven days and has no further intelligence value, he must be executed immediately."

"All thanks to General Fang’s strenuous persuasion!"

Meng Quji remarked emotionally, "Otherwise, we might have really screwed up big time."

"The situation is still not optimistic!"

Fang Qingyun brought everyone back to the topic at hand, "We still need to carefully plan the subsequent arrangements."

"Right!"

Meng Quji, with one hand, picked up the wheelchair, directly lifting the Confucian scholar along with the wheelchair into the air, and hurried into the Central Army Tent before the map: "General Fang, we currently have two main tasks."

"The first is to do everything possible to take down Li Gong within Yong Yue Prefecture.

"The second is to stop the army from Green Ridge Mountain!

"According to what I know, Qing Country’s Martial Saints are few in number now. They also need to guard their own borders against enemies and can’t spare additional manpower. That’s why the Emperor of Qing is leading the campaign himself."

"Besides Cui Congyi, General Fan also must hurry to Green Ridge Mountain as soon as possible!"

"Here, we still need to wait for the Crown Prince’s reinforcements before launching a fierce attack on Yong Yue Prefecture, but the problem is..."

"What about Hulaoguan?" Your next read awaits at novelbuddy

"Nan Xu Country’s hundred thousand strong army is very likely to arrive soon. How should we respond?"

"Prince Zhen Nan down south has tied up two of their Martial Saints along with half their elite forces. According to the reports, the current leaders of this hundred thousand strong army are two princes of Nan Xu in the Xuanxiang Realm."

"But our Xuanxiang isn’t sufficient, and due to the previous focus on attacking, there are nearly no defenses within Hulaoguan."

"By the fastest calculations, those who could reach Hulaoguan quickest are only General Chen’s three thousand Xuanjia Army. The rest of the large forces will take at least three months to gather and be redeployed."

"This battle is going to be very tough."

"Tough as it may be, we must fight,"

Fang Qingyun, holding a flute, pointed to the location of Hulaoguan: "This pass ranks among the top four formidable passes in the land, known as a pass where one man guards the gate and ten thousand are unable to break through. Along with a hundred thousand strong army, many of which are new recruits trained only in the past couple of years, three thousand Black Armor might just be able to hold out for three months."

"This will carry significant risk."

"The greater the risk, the greater the reward."

"My suggestion is to give up Hulaoguan and make Zhao Tong Prefecture City a node of contention with the enemy forces."

"In that case, this war will have to continue for at least another two years. How much provision will be consumed in these two years, how many Silver Taels will the treasury have to spend? On the other hand, if Hulaoguan can just hold out for three months, during this period, taking down Li Gong’s forces and the Emperor of Qing from Green Ridge Mountain will naturally retreat, and Nan Xu Country will have no choice but to abandon their efforts too. Therefore, defending Hulaoguan is still the best choice."