Wu Lai's guess was absolutely correct. Date asked him to discuss the defense of the gap zone.

After hearing what Date had to say, Wu Lai frowned and glanced at Shelley, then asked Date, "General Date, you should know that our Salt Marsh Army is a relatively new organization. Don't you think it's a bit unreasonable to entrust such an important task to me?"

Dai Te sighed and shook his head, saying: "General Wu Lai, I know this, but firstly, you are good at defense, and secondly, the Woye Army suffered heavy casualties this time and urgently needs to rest."

"General Date, there will always be casualties during a march and a battle. Rest and recuperation cannot be an excuse. Besides, the enemy has just been defeated, and they may not dare to show up for a while." Wu Lai said with a smile.

"General Wu Lai, please consider the overall situation of Assyria." Dai Te said sincerely, "In fact, I am also considering this matter from your perspective. As you said, the enemy army has just been defeated and it is difficult for them to take any action in a short period of time. It is most appropriate for your Salt Marsh Army to defend."

"No, I refuse." Wu Lai folded his arms. "General Date, don't forget how I was forced to leave. I learned from the previous experience. Even if I don't consider whether my soldiers have the ability to defend this defense zone, I should also consider the issue of food and grass. If they play such a trick on me again, where will I put my face? How can I lead the troops in the future?"

"If General Wu Lai is only worried about this, I will guarantee it in the name of the Second Legion's Kayikede City garrison, and I will personally organize the grain transport team to ensure that the Salt Marsh Army has adequate supply of food and fodder." said Date.

"Alas, General Dette, I can only appreciate your kindness, but the defense is too difficult. The Woye Army is strong and is actively defending. Of the 20,000 soldiers, only half are probably alive. My Salt Marsh Army has only a little over 10,000 soldiers at most. To be honest, I'm not sure. General Dette, you are making things difficult for me." Wu Lai said helplessly.

"I can allocate 2,000 soldiers to you." Dai Te said hurriedly. Howell had just made it clear that the troops must be withdrawn for rest. Not to mention that the Woye Army did not belong to Assyria, even if it did, according to Assyrian practice, Howell's request for rest was understandable, because the Operations Department of the Supreme Council had a rule that if an army lost half of its troops and there were alternative troops to perform combat missions within its defense zone, then the army could and should withdraw for rest.

"Then why don't you come and guard it yourself?" Wu Lai asked.

Dai Te smiled bitterly and replied, "General Wu Lai, you asked this question. I am a garrison soldier in Kayikede City. My main responsibility is to defend the city. Today's reinforcements can be regarded as abandoning the city."

After that, Date turned his gaze to Shelley.

Shelley naturally understood. Before Wu Lai came, Date had begged her to help persuade Wu Lai, but Shelley was still thinking and hesitating at that time. After all, she was just a priest and didn't know how to march and fight. In addition, the Salt Marsh Army was Wu Lai's private army, so Wu Lai had to make the decision.

However, Shelley also realized that although Wu Lai repeatedly refused verbally, his words did not block all the way.

"General Wu Lei, I think the Salt Marsh Army is the best choice to defend this place." Shelley spoke with her beautiful eyes, and her gaze fell on Date. "The premise is that General Date can guarantee to give you everything you want."

Wu Lai nodded calmly.

"General Woolley, just let me know if you need anything." Date was delighted and said quickly.

"Well..." Wu Lai's expression suddenly became awkward...

When it was completely dark, Date walked into Howell's tent. A moment later, the guards standing outside the tent heard Howell's roar.

"General Date, isn't it too much for Wooleglinddo to make such a request?!" Howell asked angrily.

Dai Te shrugged and said, "General Howell, there is nothing I can do about it. You know, my reinforcements have violated the regulations of the Legion and the Supreme Council. Even if you change your mind and continue to stay here to defend, I can no longer help you."

Defend? Of course I can't defend anymore. If I continue to defend, there will be no soldiers left. Howell gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and said through gritted teeth: "General Date, I can agree to all of Wullegrindo's requests, but I hope you can remember what happened today."

Dett frowned, but did not answer. He thought that you did not have the ability or courage to continue guarding the place. Now you have come to Wu Lei for help. Is it too much for him to ask for a little? "General Dett, please tell Wu Leilin that I will prepare it tonight and ask him to send someone to take over tomorrow morning." Howell turned around after saying that, and did not even bother to look at Dett again.

At the same time, in Shelley's tent, Wu Lai pushed away the plate with a smile, touched his stomach and said, "It's only High Priest Shelley that your people know how to cook. I almost ate too much." After discussing with Dat, Shelley invited him to dinner. Wu Lai thought about it and felt that there was no need to refuse, so he nodded and agreed. What he said just now was not a courtesy. Shelley's chef was specially brought from the Assyrian temple. Although the conditions are limited at this moment, the taste of the food he made is extraordinary.

"What does it have to do with them? It's just that the seasonings in your house are good, General Woolley." Shelley answered while eating slowly.

Wu Lai took the napkin handed to him by Shelley's maid, wiped his mouth, and asked, "It seems that High Priest Shelley has full confidence in our Salt Marsh Army, otherwise he would not have urged our army to defend so hard."

Shelley smiled and replied, "Look at what you said. You clearly wanted to fight, but you pushed the responsibility onto me. And you took the opportunity to blackmail the Woye Army. Aren't there enough of you?"

"High Priest Shelley, don't say anything careless." Wu Lai laughed and shook his head, saying, "That wasn't extortion. What is extortion? Extorting money and goods by threatening or forcing is called extortion. What I did was negotiated and has nothing to do with the word extortion."

Wu Lai's crooked words made Shelley chuckle, and he simply put down the spoon in his hand: "General Wu Lai, I'm curious, how bad can you be?"

"Bad? What a disgusting word, Archpriest Shelley. I am an upstanding citizen." Woolley patted his chest in a pretentious manner.

"No decent citizen would pinch my thighs as he carries me down a tree." Shelley met Woolley's gaze.

"I..." Wu Lai was stunned and thought to himself, I'm just curious.

"So, I think you should be a bad person." Shelley said with a smile on his face.

"Then you have to be careful. Arrange a few more sentries at night. Otherwise, I will..." Wu Lai laughed and said.

"General Woolley, are you teasing me?" Shelley asked with a smile.

…

"Report to General Howell, a large number of ships suddenly appeared on the river." A scout of the Woye Army quickly walked into Howell's tent.

Ships? Enemy reinforcements? Howell was startled, but he did not hesitate. He lifted the curtain and walked out of the tent quickly. He led several guards and rode with torches towards the wall of the gap defense zone. Halfway through, he happened to meet Date and Woolley who were also riding horses to check the situation.

"General Date, the enemy should have reinforced its troops." Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, Howell took the initiative to move over and said, without even looking at Wu Lai.

"Yeah, let's go and take a look first." Date replied.

…

When Liehuo saw Hugo Simon walking towards him with a smile, he felt uncomfortable because he felt that there was something else in Hugo Simon's smile, such as sarcasm.

"Hahaha, old Liehuo, we meet again." Hugo Simon is only two years younger than Liehuo, but since ten years ago, he has repeatedly put the word "old" before Liehuo's name. Only he himself knows what the specific intention is.

"I read the battle report. You fought well in Dongbiling." Liehuo said casually.

"You're not bad either." Hugo Simon laughed and patted Liehuo's shoulder, "You're just a little bit worse than me."

Judging from the conversations and expressions between the two of them, others would certainly think that Liehuo and Hugo are old friends. However, in fact, they are by no means friends, but out-and-out competitors. In the past, it was not uncommon for conflicts between the left and right armies to lead to fights between the soldiers of both sides. Liehuo and Hugo even had a fistfight at a legion meeting, but in the end, neither of them gained the upper hand.

"Hmph, there's no need to say these words. I just lost a battle." Hugo Simon would know about it anyway, so Liehuo decided to speak it out without hesitation.

"Defeated?" Hugo Simon was stunned, and was a little bit unconvinced in his heart. It was not because he had great confidence in Liehuo, but because he knew what kind of team his legion was, and he knew how powerful the 3,000 Kimo archers assigned to Liehuo were - if you thought they were only proficient in archery and intended to attack at close range, then you were absolutely wrong.

If they were defeated like this, it meant that the enemy was definitely not ordinary. Therefore, Hugo Simon's expression became cautious.

"Well, if you are willing, tell me everything you know. Also, don't blame me for scolding you, Liehuo. If you were not so eager to take credit, and if you and I had joined forces to charge forward, you would not have been defeated." Hugo Simon said.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

"Is it still useful to say this now?" Liehuo asked with a frown.

"It's useless to say it. We are soldiers. We should be good at learning lessons from failure instead of complaining." Hugo Simon immediately put on a gesture of teaching a lesson.

Seeing Hugo Simon's smug and gloating look, Liehuo couldn't help but clench his fist and reminded him: "Hugo Simon, the opponent is a tough nut to crack, so you'd better be careful..."

…

The next morning after an uneventful night, a messenger from the Hulett army climbed up the gap, and was taken to Woolley's tent with a black bag on his head, and a letter was handed to Woolley - from today on, he was the supreme commander of the gap defense zone.

Liehuo's letter was concise and clear. First, it claimed that his side would take the initiative to cease fire for five days to deal with the remains of the fallen soldiers. Second, it demanded the remains of the soldiers who had not been brought back in time because of the hasty retreat.

At the end of the letter, Liehuo wrote: "I believe your army also needs to deal with the remains of the fallen soldiers."

"Given that you have many fallen soldiers, I will give you two days to hand over the bodies, and then another day to prepare for battle." Wu Lai said to the messenger after reading the letter, "No more."

"I will definitely convey the general's intention truthfully." The messenger bowed and replied.

"There is no time to lose. Go back and deliver the letter to your commander." Wu Lai waved his hand, and the messenger was put into the black cloth bag again, and then led out of the tent by two guards.

"General Wu Lai, why three days? Five days is also good. So many people died in the Woye Army. Wouldn't it be better to have two more days to deal with it?" The second regiment commander Huo Yi couldn't help asking.

Wu Lai shook his head: "The enemy's five days are intended to test us. If we agree, they will be able to determine our approximate strength."

So that's how it is. Huo Yi scratched his forehead.

"Captain of the First Regiment, go and notify General Date and General Howell and ask them to send people over. Also, remind General Howell that I only give him two days, so tell him to hurry up and deal with the bodies of the fallen soldiers." When he said this, Wu Lai could not help but frowned, thinking that it was a good thing that the weather was not too hot, otherwise there would really be a plague.

After Red took the order and left, Wu Lai assigned tasks to the other commanders. Many fortifications in the defense zone were almost destroyed in yesterday's battle, and they had to be restored and renovated as soon as possible. As for the protective wall that was broken into several sections, it would be better to put it to other uses.

At noon on the third day, the last unit of the Woye Army also withdrew. During these two days, a huge bonfire on a large open space on the right side of the Gap Defense Zone continued to burn day and night. The crackling sound of burning firewood and the occasional crying sounds from the bonfire mixed together. Fortunately, the bonfire was quite a distance away from the main camp and was downwind. It would be a very uncomfortable thing if the smell of burnt corpses filled the entire camp.

In the end, the fallen soldiers of the Woye Army turned into a pile of ashes, which were then poured into a large natural pit near the fire. When all the ashes were put in, Howell had a tombstone made.

"I'm sorry." Howell said this while crying during the memorial service.

There was sadness and anger in Howell's tears, but he concealed the latter very well so that no one noticed.

Before the Woye Army retreated, the task of the 4th Regiment of the Saltmarsh Army was to build warehouses, because the most important of the three conditions Woolley gave to Howell was to keep half of the equipment of the fallen soldiers.

Woolley was preparing for his own growth, and at the same time was also paying back for being cut off from food supplies last time. Of course, in fact, every one of his conditions was met with Date's silence, Howell's anger and Shelley's helpless contempt.

His second condition was that the Woye Army leave 500 men to serve as laborers.

His third condition was that 20% of the military merit gained by the Woye Army in this battle should be given to him.

In the end, Howell agreed to everything, which surprised Wu Lai a little, because he had thought that Howell would bargain. In order to prevent this, Wu Lai even deliberately raised his demands.

After watching all the Woye troops enter the forest, Wu Lai turned his horse and galloped towards the front of the gap. According to his plan, the new fortifications there would be completed in half a day.

When Shelley walked out of the tent, she saw Wu Lai's back as he rode his horse. She had stayed in her tent for the past two days because she didn't want to see those horrifying corpses, bloodstains, and body parts. However, all these things had been cleaned up before yesterday evening. Wu Lai even arranged six regiments to be responsible for disinfection.

If you don't look closely at the defense zone now, you can't tell how brutal the battle was three days ago.

"Wu Lai, you are such an interesting person." Shelley was a little absent-minded as he looked at her.