"What?! It's already lost?!"
After the cavalry returned to their base, they immediately reported to Riegl and Klein that Foster Harbor had fallen.
Rigel was struck hard, his body stiffening on his horse, while Klein was slightly better off, because when he set off from Port Bruno, he had already prepared himself for the fall of Port Foster.
In reality, the cavalry that rushed to Foster Harbour at full speed did not actually reach the port; they simply encountered a group of fleeing soldiers on their way there.
When the routed soldiers saw that Foster Harbour was about to fall completely, they fled in panic. The only place they could go was Bruno Harbour, which had a large enough army. That's why they encountered the cavalry on the road.
When the news of Foster Harbor's fall spread throughout the army, everyone felt unprecedented pressure. As a reinforcement, their original mission was to help the garrison of Foster Harbor defend the port. For this reason, everyone had been working hard to get there. However, after traveling for three hours in the cold night, they learned that the port had fallen. The heavy blow from this news made it almost impossible for them to move their heavy legs.
Klein was in the same boat; he was deeply frustrated and had begun to hesitate about whether to continue his journey to Foster Harbour.
Unlike his hesitation, after digesting the news that Foster Harbor had fallen, Riegl was filled with rage.
"We can't let Foster Harbor fall into the hands of the Yan Kingdom! We must speed up our advance! Reach the port as soon as possible and take it back!"
He swung his fist into the air while mounted on his horse and roared angrily.
But as soon as he finished speaking, Klein hesitated and said:
"If the port falls, then with the combat strength of our two armies, we may not be able to retake it. If we continue to rush to the port, we might also fall there."
"We may wait for news of the port's fall to reach Bruno before taking further action. Until then, we should remain here and await further instructions."
"General Bernhardt will most likely send more reinforcements."
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Geer angrily said, "How long will we have to wait? Six hours? Eight hours? Ten hours?!"
"With so much time, the Yan people have already fortified Foster Harbor! If we go there then, it will only put us at a more passive position!"
Klein said in a deep voice, "But that way the risk is smaller."
"If we arrive at the scene completely outmatched by the enemy, it will be as if we've accomplished nothing and caused pointless casualties!"
Upon hearing this, Riegl's anger subsided somewhat. He took a deep breath, but still shook his head and said:
"No, you just heard it too. They said the enemy paid a heavy price in attacking Foster Harbor, and the subsequent landing force wasn't very large. After fighting for so long, even if the enemy captures Foster Harbor, they will be exhausted. We should launch a counterattack before they are ready and retake Foster Harbor..."
Before he could finish speaking, Klein interrupted:
"We can't think like that. Although they have fought a high-intensity landing battle, the weapons they have are incomparable to ours. We rushed over there tonight, and everyone is exhausted. I don't think we are much different from them."
Upon hearing this, Rigel turned to look at the army that had come to a standstill. Since most of them were infantrymen, and each of them carried a lot of combat equipment, after three hours of arduous marching in the cold night, almost everyone's face showed signs of exhaustion.
Fighting in such cold weather would greatly extend the time it takes to reload a musket, let alone inflict casualties on the enemy.
But Riegl still said unwillingly, "But the Macedonian military factory is very close to the port. If something happens there, it will be extremely bad."
Klein nodded and said, "I know."
"But the Yan people landed around four o'clock in the morning. They didn't have the energy to go deeper inland. At this time, they could only set up defenses at Foster Harbor to provide security for the landing of other warships."
Before he could finish speaking, Li Geer said urgently, "But what if?"
"If they were to sabotage the Macedonian arms factory, it would be a disaster for us."
"No way! They are made of flesh and blood too, and they need to rest. It's already difficult enough to just occupy Foster Harbor, they will never advance inland in such a short time."
"Trust me, you won't be wrong."
"We must not go to the port again. We must wait until we have sufficient troops before we can launch a full-scale attack on the port and take it back!" Klein said in a deep voice.
Riegl was in a dilemma.
After the cavalrymen brought back the message, messengers were already heading back to Bruno Harbor. Even so, it would take at least two hours for them to deliver the message to Bruno Harbor, and it would take even longer for reinforcements to arrive. However, the longer Foster Harbor was occupied, the more disadvantageous it would be for their side.
Seeing him remain silent and still struggling with his decision, Klein angrily said:
"Wake up! Riegl, don't make the wrong judgment in your haste!"
"The most important thing we should do right now is to stay put! Even if Foster Harbour falls for just one day, we can take it back."
"The premise is that we have enough troops and are confident that we can drive them out!"
Riegl seemed to be convinced, and he nodded.
However, the next moment, he said, "We can't stay here waiting for orders. Staying here is of no use. We'll detour to the Macedonian military factory."
"We'll leave the port to the Yan people for now, but the Macedonian arms factory must not be lost. We'll go and guard it to prevent any unforeseen events."
Klein's face stiffened. He wanted to refute, but he couldn't come up with any reason to do so.
After all, while the Macedonian military factory is not as important as Foster's Port, it is one of the largest military factories in the country. If it is damaged, it will affect the entire army.
Moreover, the most likely scenario is that the Yan people will remain in Foster Harbor. Therefore, detouring to the Macedonian military factory at this time would not only be less risky, but would also prevent the situation from deteriorating further.
Thinking of this, Klein slowly nodded and said:
“Alright, then let’s go to the Macedonian arms factory and set up defenses there.”
The two finally reached a consensus and immediately led their troops to detour to the Macedonian military factory, but this journey was also long, and it would take them at least another five or six hours to get there.
Meanwhile, messengers were rushing to deliver the message back to Port Bruno.
Meanwhile, at sea off the coast of Bruno, the message sent from Foster Harbor had already reached the Yan Army fleet.
Sea routes are always much faster than land routes for communication.
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