In the headquarters of Dawn City, in a conference room with a gloomy atmosphere, the heads of state and generals sat together with grim expressions.
"headmaster..."
"His Majesty!"
Cheng Guorong stood up and was about to speak when he found a pair of rough and powerful hands pressing on his shoulders, pushing him back into his seat.
"Duke Yan, please speak."
Xia Junao always maintained the utmost respect for Duke Longqiu of Yan. This old minister had done so much for Daliang that when Lin Hai first knew him, he always thought that he would be killed by the emperor for no other reason than because his achievements were too great and he could not be given any more titles.
In fact, this is completely Lin Hai judging others by his own standards.
It is said that when Xia Junao just ascended the throne, the Duke of Yan, who had been stationed on the central battlefield for many years, rushed back to Zhongdu with only two or three personal guards, and chatted with the emperor in the imperial study for a whole night.
As for what they talked about, Xia Junao didn't say, and Lin Hai didn't feel comfortable asking. But now it seems that Duke Yan Longqiu, or the entire Long family, is the "last safety valve" left by the successive monarchs of the Daliang Empire. The Long family has also been responsible for inheriting the history of the continent and the secrets of the abyss from generation to generation.
Therefore, Xia Junao was not worried that Long Qiu would overthrow him. In fact, the Long family was the backup of the Xia family. As long as the Xia family existed, the Long family would exist. If the Long family overthrew the Xia family, he would have to find another backup family for himself. It would be nothing more than swapping the current identities, which would be of no use.
Thinking of this, Lin Hai suddenly realized why, when he had just started his army in Qinghe County, Duke Longqiu of Yan had to use the excuse that the situation on the central battlefield was tense, and then transferred troops from Xichuan, which was not related at all, and directly transferred away all the capable troops, leaving only an empty shell of Jinguan City for Lin Hai.
At the time, Lin Hai had thought this was a reflection of the corruption and incompetence of the rulers and ministers of the Daliang Empire. Otherwise, why would such a foolish "withering" come from the mouth of a battle-hardened veteran and even receive the emperor's approval...
Everything that was unreasonable back then has become reasonable now.
Well, everything is fine, except that Lin Hai is doubting his abilities again...
Of course, this is off topic. Once you become the emperor, you will doubt no one but yourself. This is the nature of power.
"Your Majesty, I believe that our army is large in number and can afford some losses. Your Majesty has no need to worry."
Long Qiu came up and cheered Xia Junao up.
"Our most urgent task now is to resolve the issue of the Abyss collecting the remains of our soldiers and their weapons. Before you arrived, General Cheng Guorong explained that this Abyss is different from previous enemies. They can use the remains of our soldiers and their weapons to replenish their supplies, which almost completely defeats our plan to deplete their reserves."
All I can say is that veterans are veterans.
For Longqiu, a lifelong warrior, losing five thousand men in one day—half of which were at the hands of his old rival, the Chen Dynasty—wasn't a big deal. Back then, during the fierce fighting on the Central Plains battlefield, wouldn't a thousand or eight hundred people have died every day? Not to mention the subconscious plan for population cleansing, which he knew about but could never reveal. That battle must have been a bloodbath, a river of blood...
If the laws of Lin Hai's previous life were followed, every king and minister on this continent who could be named would be convicted of crimes against humanity without fail. Those who could not be named would all be killed, and there might be some who were wrongly accused, but if every other one was shot, there would definitely be some who would slip through the net.
"I have just discussed this matter with Mr. Lin and the other heads of state, and it appears to be the case. The heads of state have always believed that a reckless attack from the outset, despite the Alliance's large population and strong military, would not be able to withstand such a tsunami. It would be better to hold the line and wait for the Abyss to send its troops."
"Your Majesty is wise."
"The king is wise."
"The principal is right..."
Since Xia Junao said that this was the common opinion of the five heads of state, there was nothing they could do. The generals of each family had to stand up and praise their own leaders. As for the "you are right", let's just take it as a kind of praise.
"Duke Yan, there's no need for formalities. The situation is urgent now, so let's not waste time on empty formalities."
Xia Junao quickly asked Long Qiu to sit down, then said, "We say it's a defense, but we're not familiar with the specifics of how to attack. We'll need to ask Duke Yan and the generals to take care of this."
Upon hearing this, Long Qiu didn't respond directly. Instead, he turned to look at Cheng Guorong, who was sitting on his left, and Liu Yuan, a veteran general representing the Chen Dynasty, who was sitting on his right. Seeing both of them nodded at him, he turned back to the generals of Cambodia and Xia and asked, "What do you think?"
"We thought we could give it a try."
Long Qiu nodded, then bowed to Xia Junao and said, "Defense is indeed a solution. Of course, I believe Your Majesty is not talking about blindly defending, but rather launching defensive counterattacks to effectively consume the enemy's forces. However, defense relies most on terrain, and the only place we can defend is that crater."
At this point, Long Qiu spoke in a solemn tone, "Your Majesty, the crater is high up, making it a good place for defense. But it's only a small hill a little over thirty feet high. The terrain isn't dangerous, and it doesn't have much depth. While it's suitable as a tactical defense node, it's too weak to serve as a core support for a campaign."
Upon hearing this, Xia Junao sighed and said, "Actually, this was also our mistake. Although Mr. Lin had described the enemy's weapons as powerful as possible at the beginning, we had never seen them in person. We always had a lucky feeling in our hearts. We thought that although our equipment was not as good as the Abyss, we had more soldiers and more generals. If a fight really came, we would not necessarily suffer any loss.
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