Chu Feiyang's eyes were stern and his aura was intimidating. Not only was Mei Ye's heart trembling, but even Xi Lin beside him became nervous.
"Your Highness, that was indeed the order given by the princess." Mei Ye lowered her head, not daring to meet Chu Feiyang's intimidating gaze, and could only state the facts.
Xi Lin stood aside, watching the scene in front of him. Seeing that Mei Ye was about to leave the tent, he was about to speak to help Mei Ye, but he saw Chu Feiyang suddenly close his eyes, and then slowly opened them after a while.
"Since that's the case, let's pack these muskets and store them first. Don't forget, these muskets and gunpowder must be stored in a dry tent, and they must not come into contact with water." Chu Feiyang naturally took Yun Qianmeng's earnest instructions to heart. Seeing Mei Ye covered in dust, he knew that transporting the muskets from the north was extremely difficult, and he wouldn't get angry. He was just a little annoyed by Yun Qianmeng's actions. With hundreds of thousands of troops around him, he was much safer than Meng'er's situation, but that girl had actually transported all these life-saving weapons to the battlefield. How could he not be worried?
"Yes, I'll do it right away." Seeing Chu Feiyang's expression turned calm, Xi Lin immediately called in the guards and carried several large wooden boxes of muskets out of the tent.
"What's the situation in the north now? Have you encountered any danger along the way?" Chu Feiyang waved for Mei Ye to sit down, and then asked with concern.
Mei Ye's expression was serious. He always showed respect when facing Chu Feiyang, and he habitually stood up when answering questions. Fortunately, Chu Feiyang raised his hand to signal him to sit down, thus avoiding a set of tedious etiquette. "Your Highness, compared to the south and the east, the north is much calmer. It is not as troubled as the south and the east. Although we encountered battles along the way, fortunately, we were taken care of by the Chu King's army along the way, so we arrived safely."
Hearing this, Chu Feiyang nodded slightly, and then asked, "Are there many bandits on the road?"
Mei Ye lowered his head and thought for a moment before answering seriously, "Very few. There are only a few scattered civilians who rob people out of the pressure of survival. True bandits are rare."
After hearing the news that Mei Yeshi brought back, Chu Feiyang's face gradually gathered a murderous look, his thin lips pursed tightly, and he fell into deep thought...
In Emperor Dexi’s military camp.
Having just retreated from the battlefield, Jiang Muchen and his subordinates were discussing the next battle situation in the tent.
After fighting battles of all sizes in the past few months, generals and soldiers on all sides have shown signs of fatigue.
Although he had millions of troops under his command, Chu Feiyang only dispatched 500,000 troops.
But Chu Feiyang was resourceful and had rich combat experience. He could often turn defeat into victory unexpectedly and often caught them off guard, causing many generals to suffer a series of defeats and the number of people under his command was also greatly reduced.
Moreover, apart from Chu Feiyang, there was also Hai Quan fighting for the city of West Chu, which made Jiang Muchen even more busy. He was often too busy to even take a rest.
"Your Majesty, there's an urgent message coming from the capital, eight hundred miles away." At this moment, the messenger rushed in from outside. Seeing Jiang Muchen, he immediately knelt on the ground and reported: "Your Majesty, there's an urgent message coming from the capital, eight hundred miles away."
Ning Feng walked forward quickly, took the letter from the messenger, returned to Jiang Muchen, and handed it to Jiang Muchen respectfully.
Jiang Muchen raised his hand, pausing the discussion. He took the letter, opened it, and read it carefully. His handsome brows instantly frowned, but his thin lips were tightly pursed, and he did not speak immediately.
"Your Majesty, has something happened in the capital?" Qu Yan was very good at observing people's expressions. Seeing that Emperor Dexi had a somewhat unfriendly look on his face, Qu Yan carefully guessed the emperor's intention and asked softly.
Jiang Muchen had already closed the letter, tightly gripping it in his right hand, preventing anyone from seeing the message inside. However, his expression was extremely grim, as if something serious had happened.
When the people who were discussing the battle situation enthusiastically saw that the emperor looked unhappy, they all stopped. The tent was as silent as night for a while, and the atmosphere was so depressing that people dared not breathe.
"Yesterday morning, General Xuanwu found Emperor Yugan's head on the city wall. I think someone must have hung it on the city wall at night." Jiang Muchen saw that the tent was quiet. He glanced at all the soldiers in the tent and said the contents of the letter in a deep voice.
Everyone's faces paled as they heard this. They were all bewildered as to how Emperor Yugan, who had disappeared for over three months, could have his head hung on the city wall? And who had the audacity to evade Emperor Dexi's elite city defense forces and have his head hung on the city wall?
All these questions flooded everyone's minds, but no one dared to speak out. After all, regardless of whether Emperor Yugan was dead or alive, the fact that the enemy had hung his head on the city wall was enough to prove the city defense army's mistake.
"The city defense forces also learned that the night before yesterday, a loud fighting sound was heard in a hidden valley a hundred miles away from the capital. When our people rushed over, the valley was full of the corpses of the Imperial Guards." Jiang Muchen repeated the news in a very cold voice.
Hearing this, all the generals and counselors were stunned. If the news of Emperor Yugan's death had already shocked them, then this Chapter 372 was also very shocking.
But everyone didn’t know that what made Jiang Muchen even more angry was another matter.
"Report..." At this time, a soldier ran in from outside. His face was pitch black, and his armor was covered with a thick layer of war ash. Even the gaps between the fingernails of his hands, which were clasped in salute, were covered with black dust.
His face was heavy with grief, his eyes filled with tension as he reported to Jiang Muchen, "Your Majesty, our third attack was repelled by Bai Wuhen again. Bai Wuhen even killed one of our lieutenant generals."
"Bai Wuhen..." After listening to the soldier's report, Jiang Muchen narrowed his eyes suddenly and squeezed out the name from between his teeth.
Bai Wuhen is one of the four most powerful generals under Hai Quan.
Hai Quan was the first to initiate the war, and naturally he captured several large cities with the most advantageous and best geographical locations in Western Chu. He also ordered his four most powerful generals to guard the four most important cities in the southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest, namely Yicheng, Tongzhou, Chaocheng and Zhengzhou.
He personally led his troops to attack Tongzhou, located in the southwest. Tongzhou was closest to the capital and was also a key route for the Yuan family to transport supplies and rations to the city defense forces. If Tongzhou was not captured quickly, Haiquan would cut off the city defense forces' food supply, which would likely cause the army's morale to waver.
"Your Majesty, we have spent such a long time in Tongzhou, fighting against the King of Chu and the King of the Sea, and we have lost 70,000 to 80,000 of the 200,000 troops. Although we besieged Bai Wuhen in Tongzhou and annihilated nearly 100,000 troops under Bai Wuhen's command, it is really heartbreaking to kill 10,000 enemies and lose 8,000 of our own. If we don't take Tongzhou as soon as possible, I am afraid the morale of the army will be weakened. Your Majesty, since our attack during the day is ineffective, why not switch to night? There may be unexpected results." Ning Feng lowered his head and thought for a moment, then expressed his opinions and views to Jiang Muchen.
After all, if a battle takes too long, the soldiers will definitely think that the general is incompetent, especially since the emperor is personally leading the army to attack Tongzhou this time. If they fail to win the battle, it will easily cause low morale in the army and affect the overall fighting momentum.
"Your Majesty, I think what Guard Ning said is absolutely right. Bai Wuhen is a general brought up by the King of the Sea, and his combat methods are highly appreciated by the King of the Sea. The King of the Sea can hand over such an important city to Bai Wuhen, which shows that he has great confidence in his abilities. Moreover, this man is extremely good at defending existing cities. He once held a city for half a year in a battle with foreign tribes, and finally won the victory. For such a general with rich combat experience, we have no choice but to find a new way, otherwise it will be extremely difficult to win." Ning Feng's words were immediately agreed by the first counselor beside Jiang Muchen.
Jiang Muchen calmed down his anger and listened to the opinions of all parties with a cold face. After a while, he slowly said, "Everyone, stand up. I was also negligent in this matter of Emperor Yugan. The capital has been in my hands for so many years, and I didn't know there was such a valley hidden there. It allowed Chu Feiyang and others to take advantage of it. You don't need to blame yourselves. Stand up and discuss the important matters."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and stood up from the ground.
"Pass on my order, let the soldiers retreat first. Let's have a truce today so that everyone can have a good rest." Jiang Muchen already had a solution in mind.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com