The battle on the North Peak was more difficult than that on the South Peak. Firstly, the terrain conditions were much inferior. Secondly, the fire attack of the Tianjuan Army was effective after all. With the help of the wind, the flames crossed the isolation zone...

Finding that the fire was not put out in time, Sales had to order his men to leave the artillery area and move all the artillery and shells. This manpower-intensive move weakened the halfway point of the North Peak's defense. When everything was properly transferred, the enemy had already attacked two-thirds of the North Peak.

This is the last line of defense of the Beifeng Fort and also the most solid one. It not only has criss-crossing trenches and arrow nests, but also archers and mortars.

But this does not mean that Sares can relax, because the attacking enemy forces, in addition to conventional weapons such as bows, crossbows and javelins, will also throw oil sacs and small explosive packs, especially the latter, which are simply impossible to defend against.

Sareth had forgotten how many times he had repelled the enemy's charge. He only knew that with every attack by the enemy, many soldiers around him would fall down...

Gradually, all the arrows were used up, all the shell boxes were empty, and almost all the soldiers who were still alive were injured, and everyone's face was full of fatigue...

But the smile on Sareth's face grew wider and wider, because the enemy's attack became weaker and weaker, whether it was attacking the North Peak or attacking the checkpoints.

"Colonel, we've lost everything." A battalion commander ran over and said during the enemy's offensive.

"It doesn't matter if we are all killed. We will hold on even if we have to hit them with our fists and bite them with our teeth!" Sares clenched his fists and raised them.

"Yes!" The battalion commander grinned and said, "Colonel, if I die today, I hope you can invite the lord to attend my funeral, of course, if there is still a funeral."

"No, you won't die today." Sareth pointed with a smile, "Look at the enemies below. They are so panicked. What does this mean? It means they are afraid. It means they are not sure of defeating us."

The battalion commander turned around, took a quick look, and nodded heavily.

"Take fifty people to the back to collect firewood immediately. The sooner the better, and the more the better." Sales suddenly had an idea.

The battalion commander was stunned, but immediately nodded in agreement and turned around to gather people.

"You like to use fire, right? Then I will use fire to stop you. If you dare, just step on the fire and rush up." Sarres muttered to himself and raised the telescope again. The sound of the cannons at the checkpoint was still not fast or slow...

…

"Your Majesty, please make a decision as soon as possible." After saying this in unison, all the civil and military attendants knelt in front of Helen.

"Are you forcing me?" Helen's eyes suddenly turned cold.

"Your Majesty, please listen to me. Your Majesty is gifted with wisdom and has led our Tianjuan to dominate the continent and create an unprecedented foundation. I am unable to assist you, but I also know that as a minister, it is my duty to share your worries. Therefore, I dare to make suggestions without any intention of offending you." A civil servant in his early thirties knelt a few steps and said loudly, "Our army prepared for battle at midnight and set out at dawn. Now it is almost dusk. The soldiers have not eaten a single grain of rice in a day and a night. Not to mention that their combat effectiveness must have been greatly reduced, fighting at night will give the enemy an advantage. Moreover, our army has lost more than 40,000 soldiers in battle, and there are many more wounded. There is also Liumu Town..."

"Shut up!" Helen waved her sleeves fiercely. All the civil and military officials were startled and bowed their heads quickly.

The civil servant hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and raised his head again: "Your Majesty, please listen to my last words. Your Majesty, if you don't withdraw your troops, it will be too late!"

"It's too late? How dare you tell me, 'It's too late'?" Helen laughed instead of getting angry. "According to you, I shouldn't have sent out this military campaign?"

"I dare not say that." The civil servant gently avoided Helen's gaze, "I just feel that this battle was fought too hastily."

As soon as these words were spoken, the civil and military officials around him suddenly became anxious. Some of them were secretly worried about this civil servant, while others quietly blamed him for being so reckless. You know, the emperor was a capricious and self-willed person, and he would never be polite when he was angry.

Helen frowned. "Too hasty? Well, tell me, how is it too hasty?"

"I think there are at least five things that were too hasty. First, we rushed into battle without being sure we could restrain or resist the enemy's weapons. Second, we neglected logistical support and did not build supply lines or wait for sufficient food and medicine before going to battle. Third, we did not prepare enough human and material resources for battlefield rescue..."

The other civil and military attendants were terrified when they heard this. As Helen listened, although there was still a hint of coldness in her eyes, her brows gradually relaxed.

"…The above is my opinion." The civil servant said, and kowtowed to the ground. "I beg Your Majesty to reconsider."

"According to what you just said, I am disregarding the lives of my soldiers who are favored by heaven?" Helen asked calmly.

"That is not what I meant."

"Okay, I'll assume that you didn't mean that. Let me ask you, why do you think that the enemy chieftain Wuleglindo is not dead?" Helen asked again.

"According to my understanding, there are rumors that Wulagrindo has a huge white lion. The white lion is invulnerable and extremely brave. It has also accompanied him to garrison the Gap Defense Zone. Apart from Wulagrindo, no one else can drive it. Therefore, I conclude that Wulagrindo is not dead."

Helen's brows knitted again. That day, she saw Wu Lai being shot with an arrow and bleeding. If he could survive, it would mean that Wu Lai had a way to control Tianjuan's poison. But wasn't that too unbelievable? "Your Majesty, Wu Lai is extremely intelligent and has a sharp weapon in his hand. He has the best time and place. So I think that if we fight head-on, although our Tianjuan army is brave, we will be at a disadvantage. It is better to take a step back, fight slower, and fight longer." The civil servant said again.

"Don't we just sit there and watch them grow stronger?" Helen frowned.

"I feel that as long as we encircle and block the enemy properly, even if the enemy grows, its strength will be limited. However, our army should also seize the time to accumulate strength, develop new weapons, and strive to defeat the enemy as soon as possible," said the civil servant.

A hint of admiration flashed across Helen's eyes: "Well, it's rare that a clerk like you can have such insight. Tell me your name and origin." A clerk was only the lowest-level civil servant accompanying the emperor, but the clerk in front of him showed courage and wisdom that was no less than that of a first-rank civil servant or military official.

"Your Majesty, my name is Narsis, and I am from the Xipien family."

"Narsis of the Xipian family, hmm, not bad." Helen nodded. The Xipian family had mediocre financial resources in the Tianjuan territory, but was famous for its large population.

"I am honored to receive your praise." Narcissus bowed his head again.

"I know all of your loyalty." Helen's eyes swept over everyone. "However, the army is fighting fiercely, and we cannot withdraw lightly. Although Liumu Town has suffered a heavy blow, Assyria, Annan, and Menia will soon reinforce us. Although our army has suffered heavy losses, the enemy's casualties are also not small. The soldiers are certainly exhausted, and so are the enemy. For now, we should continue to attack and defeat the enemy completely and drag them to death. If we are reluctant to withdraw our troops because of the loss of life, the morale will be lost. How can we fight again?"

What Helen said made sense, and all the civil and military officials fell silent after hearing it.

Just as Narcissus was about to persuade him again, two summoning attendants suddenly walked in quickly. After kneeling, the two looked at each other, and one of them gritted his teeth and reported loudly: "Your Majesty, the latest military situation, our army is retreating!"

"What?! Are you sure there is no error?!" A trace of horror flashed across Helen's eyes...

The summoning attendant was not wrong. The Tianjuan Army was indeed retreating. No, the word "retreating" was a bit far-fetched. To be more precise, it should be a rout - fleeing without any fighting spirit or order.

Even Wu Lai did not expect the Tianjuan Army to flee, because he understood Helen and knew that Helen would not withdraw her troops so quickly - because Helen not only knew the military strength and defense deployment of Marshalitania, but was also very strong and smart.

A competent commander will not order a retreat when the battle between the two sides is stalemate, because at this time, what is being tested is not only courage and tactics, but also tenacity.

Although the Tianjuan Army suffered heavy casualties after being beaten all the way, it still suppressed the Wulai Army in terms of manpower. Not only did it advance successfully on the two peaks, but it also made considerable gains in the attack on the checkpoints.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Normally, given this situation, the Tianjuan Army would not only be able to fight again, but it was also possible for them to win. However, they chose to retreat, and they retreated without caring about the consequences...

This strange situation was caused by Bailey alone.

The South Peak is closer to the checkpoint than the North Peak and has better terrain conditions, so when the North Peak lost two-thirds of it, the South Peak still firmly guarded the halfway point.

But Bailey soon became anxious because he saw a huge fire on the North Peak. The flames and smoke that shot up into the sky made him think that the North Peak had been captured by the enemy...

The capture of the North Peak not only meant the sacrifice of Sarres, but also meant that the enemy would soon combine the forces attacking the North and South Peaks and pull them all to the South Peak - that's what Bailey thought.

Bailey was not sure that he could hold the South Peak against an enemy force twice as strong, but he knew that if both the North and South peaks were lost, it would only be a matter of time before Marsalis fell to the enemy, because without the commanding heights defenses of the North and South peaks, the pass would not be able to withstand all the enemy forces.

Bailey didn't know what else he could do, but he knew that he couldn't let the enemy defeat him easily, so he immediately ordered his soldiers to concentrate all the shells at the halfway point - the South Peak was not bombarded as frequently as the North Peak, so now Bailey still had more than thirty small-caliber artillery shells and six mortar shells on hand.

When all the shells were gathered, a very risky idea suddenly popped up in Bailey's mind. After thinking for a moment, he picked out thirty soldiers who were not injured, in good spirits and brave, and asked them to change into the clothes of the Tianjuan Army soldiers. The two sides had fought back and forth so many times, and there were corpses of the other side's soldiers on each other's positions.

"Listen carefully. I will use artillery fire and smoke to cover you. You must find a way to get to the enemy side, and then find a way to get down the mountain. After you get down the mountain..." Bailey gave these instructions, and taught the thirty soldiers two sentences of Tianjue Language, then clapped his hands and said, "Go, get ready to go."

After a while, the sound of artillery fire was heard again from the mid-level position of the South Peak. Wu Lai’s army not only bombarded the enemy position continuously, but also threw torches at the enemy position...

After a while, more than 20 Nanfeng soldiers wearing Tianjuan Army uniforms mixed into the rear guard of the enemy attacking the checkpoint on the horse trail. Then, they scattered in all directions and shouted loudly in Tianjuan language...

"The Emperor has ordered! Retreat!"

"The Emperor has ordered! Retreat!"

The soldiers of the Tianjuan Army, who had been fighting all day, tired all day, and felt aggrieved all day, were overjoyed when they heard that it was the emperor who ordered them to retreat. With the chaos all around them, they had no time to distinguish the truth from the false. What was even more exaggerated was that they did not distinguish at all, but joined in the clamor and ran back while clamoring. They wished they could grow wings and fly back.

The chaotic shouts from the back of the team immediately made the soldiers in the middle lose their composure. Many soldiers turned around and saw, "Huh? The ones at the back have all retreated first?! What are we waiting for? Run!"

The rear of the team retreated, the middle of the team retreated, and the front of the team also stopped immediately. Not only did they stop, they also retreated hesitantly. The movement on the horse trail in front of the checkpoint was naturally seen by the soldiers attacking the two peaks...

"What's going on?! Go and ask!" The commanders of the two peaks sent out messengers to inquire almost at the same time.

Soon, they received the "most accurate news" - "The emperor has ordered! Retreat!"

The Emperor's order?! Well then... retreat!

Then the Tianjuan soldiers who were attacking the two peaks also began to go down the mountain in a large group. When they saw from the horse trail that even the two peaks had retreated, they thought, what is there to hesitate about, and they simply threw their arms around and ran wildly. The people on the two peaks also panicked when they saw this, thinking, you guys slipped away before we even get down from the horse trail, so aren't you leaving us to be chased and beaten by the enemy?

So they also ran for their lives, and their running only made the friendly troops in front of them panic-they thought that Wu Lai's army was chasing them from behind.

"My lord, this trick actually works." Bailey was overjoyed and waved his hands quickly, "Quick, quick, quick! Set up the cannon again and shoot at places where there are crowds of people! Kill as many as you can! Quick, quick, quick!"

On the North Peak, Sareth breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the enemy suddenly retreat...

At the same time, Wu Lai in the checkpoint observation tower was stunned.

"What's going on? Did Yiner and Pudong kill Helen?" Wu Lai couldn't help but wonder...