My Cultivation Starting from Archery

Only after meeting Yu Song and his disheartened men did they finally understand what had happened ahead.

"Colluding with the enemy, colluding with the enemy!!!"

Yu Song's eyes were bloodshot, "At the moment of the decisive battle at Wushui River, the always retreating Red Eyebrow Army suddenly launched a counterattack, and Dong An even led an army of fifty thousand from the rear side of Golden Spring Manor!"

"Luckily... fortunately, General Zhao heeded your advice and was wary of Dong An and his men, not merging the camps; otherwise, our entire army would have likely been annihilated!"

"General Chen, how, how did you know?"

Xie Sishu's face was filled with horror: "No wonder you always refused to move forward, you had already guessed Dong An's betrayal, why could you guess it, do you have any intelligence?"

Lu Shuhua also looked at him incredulously, but he did not speak.

Bai Thingzhi shouted, "If we had made General Chen the Commander earlier, none of this crap would have happened, all those imbeciles, Dong An, Yuan Dai, and that Zhao Wuji, are all imbeciles!"

Chen Sansi was not in the mood to discuss this, he urgently asked, "Vice Admiral Yu, what exactly is the situation?"

"Sky Wolf Camp lost three thousand troops, Main General Yuan Dai, and Assistant Generals of the front, rear, and right, all perished in battle!

"Of the twenty thousand elite troops from the Liangzhou garrison, only seven thousand remain, four thousand of whom escaped back with us, and the other three thousand, including General Zhao, have been scattered and their whereabouts are unknown."

"The Reserve Camp also suffered heavy losses."

"All in all, out of forty thousand troops, over half were lost!"

Over half were lost!

"Quick, we must leave here!"

"A small number of troops laying an ambush won't stop them, with fifty thousand troops pursuing us from behind, move quickly!"

"First, head to Longyang County!"

"Now that Yuan Dai is dead and General Zhao is scattered, Sha Wenlong is the highest commander!"

"Move quickly!"

"If they catch up, none of us will escape!"

"..."

"Retreat——"

The whole army quickly retreated.

Along the way, countless provisions and heavy equipment were abandoned.

Three days later.

They gathered in Longyang County to discuss what to do next.

After such a massive defeat, the morale in the entire camp was incredibly low.

What was even more terrifying was that, after obtaining complete intelligence, they realized it wasn't just a defeat they were facing, but complete annihilation!

After Sword Gate Canyon was sealed off, the sixty thousand army of West Qi Kingdom surged from the west, and to the south, combined forces of the Red Eyebrow Army and the Mingzhou Rebel Army totaled eighty thousand, making a cumulative one hundred and forty thousand of enemy troops!

The entire Ming State had turned into a sealed death trap.

They were all about to be suffocated inside the trap.

None could escape!

Ming State was their burial ground!

"Reinforcements, we still have reinforcements!"

In the dead of night.

A Hai Dongqing returned.

It brought the latest intelligence.

Ten days before, Liangzhou had assembled fifty thousand troops from You State and Daozhou, along with thirty thousand from the neighboring Yan State, including Rong Yanqiu's Vermilion Bird Camp and "Second Brother's" White Tiger Camp.

Feng State was vulnerable, able to muster up less than ten thousand men, but eighty thousand of the Emperor's trusted guards were already on their way from the distant Capital City, ready to traverse the Great Wilderness and join the battle from the most southern reaches of Ming State.

All of this had been hastily arranged by Fang Qingyun and Sun Xiangzong as soon as they learned of the Military Department's deployment.

Even long ago, "Fourth Brother" had mentioned to the court that the Miracle Soldiers Heavenly Book might induce Dong An to rebel, but the court, suspecting that Eight Camps wanted to purge a competing power, ignored it, thereby leading to the current situation.

Moreover, the initiative of the matter was truly in the hands of West Qi Country and Liang Jinian. If the Liang surname refused to hand it over, even if they were defeated in the end, it would be destroyed, and there absolutely would not be a scenario where Dong Anqin personally attempted to seize it.

At last, the final tally between the Great Sheng Dynasty and the West Qi Kingdom was 170,000 to 140,000.

This war, which began with the extermination of the Chi Mei rebels, had transformed overnight into a battle of national fate!

However.

Even with more reinforcements, the earliest batch wouldn't arrive for over a month.

And their current situation was such that they simply wouldn't survive that long.

How to persevere had become the urgent issue at hand.

Chen Sansi examined the map of Mingzhou, looking at the Hongze River and the Wushui River, as well as the southernmost exit of the Great Wilderness, and scarcely found a glimmer of hope, but the precondition was that everyone had to listen to him!

"Go to Yangchun Prefecture!"

Inside the Central Army Tent.

Cao Fan's palm rested on the location of Yangchun Prefecture, "The closest fortress to us that we can defend is Yangchun Prefecture. The rebel army's forces are weak on the east, and we could take this city within three days! There might even be provisions inside, and if we are lucky, we could hold out for a while!"

"No!"

Chen Sansi immediately objected, "General Sha! We must not go to Yangchun Prefecture. I am certain that the provisions that were transported out earlier were meant to deceive us; there are absolutely no provisions there now! If we go in now, we'll never come out again!"

"Oh?"

Sha Wenlong's one-eyed gaze turned towards him, "Then what do you suggest, Mr. Chen?"

"We should cross the river!"

Chen Sansi said, "We cross the Hongze River to the east and attack the towns on the other bank!"

Cao Fan objected, "Mr. Chen, the towns on the east bank of the Hongze River are merely small counties with thin and short walls, long neglected. They simply can't be defended. Once the enemy forces reach the town, we'd only have a dead end."

"Then we don't defend!"

Chen Sansi explained his strategy, "That's better than being trapped. Our goal is to keep maneuvering and then look for a chance to head south, enter the Great Wilderness, and escape to safety!"

"Ridiculous!"

Sha Wenlong coldly said, "Do you think the rebels are fools? The time it would take to cross the river and then head south is ample for the enemy to station heavy troops in front of the Great Wilderness, effectively trapping us!"

"The Young Master is right; our only chance of survival is to quickly take down Yangchun Prefecture and then hold it, waiting for reinforcements!"

"General Sha!"

Chen Sansi stressed, "I implore you to seriously consider this! This battle has been disastrously costly, and continuing this way, the entire army will be annihilated!"

Sha Wenlong slammed his fist on the table, fiercely questioning, "Are you saying that if we don't listen to you, the entire army will be wiped out?"

"It's possible!"

Facing a matter of great importance, Chen Sansi had to persist no matter what.

"Nonsense! Even if I die, there are still assistant generals to take command. When did it become your place to give orders?!"

As Sha Wenlong was about to burst out, he noticed a glance from Cao Fan beside him and suddenly thought of something. He paused, then spoke gravely, "Are you certain you want to cross the river to attack those counties?"

"General Chen, regarding Dong An's rebellion, you indeed had prophetic insight, but..."

Yu Song followed with persuasion, "I also think defending Yangchun is the best strategy right now. You better just obey the orders."

Chen Sansi firmly stated, "I am certain!"

"Fine!"

Sha Wenlong's attitude abruptly changed, "Let's not say that I don't heed advice. Since General Chen is so adamant, I will accept your strategy."
Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

"Yu Song, listen to my command!"

"I order you to lead 3,000 troops from the left wing of the Reserve Camp to cross the Hongze River to the east and find a foothold. If there are major casualties, you two can end it yourselves!"

"Me?"

Yu Song was stunned, "General Sha, I never said I wanted to cross east, and I wish to stay and defend Yangchun as well."

"It's settled!"

Sha Wenlong disregarded him, "Everyone else prepare; we move out immediately to attack Yangchun Prefecture!"

From then on, the Liangzhou routed army was split into two forces.

One force of 3,000 crossed east, and the other 18,000 advanced to attack Yangchun Prefecture.