Pu Tong was dreaming, and it was a beautiful dream - in the dream, Wu Lai smiled approvingly, said many words of praise to him, and then held up two epaulettes high in the air. On the epaulettes, there were two golden five-pointed stars.

"I have decided to award Pu Tong the rank of Lieutenant General!" Wu Lai announced loudly, and warm applause broke out around him...

Oddo, Vulture, Puya, Gulu, Iner, Eddie, Date... everyone was smiling at Pudong and applauding and congratulating him.

Pu Tong walked towards Wu Lai happily. Just after he took two steps, someone shouted from behind: "General, General!"

Pu Tong turned around and took a look, and found that it was an unfamiliar soldier waving at him.

Go to hell, can't you see I'm receiving the lieutenant general's shoulder straps? Pu Tong muttered to himself and continued walking.

"General! General! Report to the general!" the soldier continued to shout.

Oh my god, who is this? Why is his voice so loud? Pu Tong turned around angrily. Eh? The soldier had come behind him without him noticing, and was only half a step away from being close to him.

"What are you doing?" Pu Tong said as he raised his hand to slap, because he felt that the smiling but dark face in front of him was particularly mean, so mean that he would feel sorry for himself if he didn't slap it twice.

"Pa..." Pu Tong's slap strangely missed. He was startled and opened his eyes...

Sure enough, there was someone calling him, but it was not a soldier, but the battalion commander who had fought with him for quite some time.

"General, you're finally awake." The battalion commander smiled and moved closer.

Pu Tong glared at him angrily: "If you have something to say, just say it. You finally got a nap and you came to disturb me. Do you want to go to the kitchen?"

The battalion commander begged for mercy: "No, General, I have something important to report, otherwise I wouldn't dare to disturb you. Besides, it's already dinner time, and it'll be dark soon..."

"Stop, stop. Why are you talking so much nonsense? Tell me, what's the matter?" Pu Tong said unhappily.

"Okay, okay, let's get down to business. General, this is what happened. A few days ago, you sent scouts and light cavalry to distribute leaflets everywhere, and played a game of prizes for participating in the war with the people. Now, there are more than 20 people outside the camp gate to receive their prizes." said a battalion commander.

"Receive the award? Oh, yes, that's what I said. Did they bring the spoils or the prisoners?" Pu Tong rubbed his face and asked.

"Five prisoners were brought in, one of whom is lying on a stretcher. But you'd better go and see for yourself, because there seems to be something wrong with the guy on the stretcher," said a battalion commander.

"What's wrong?" Pu Tong frowned.

"Like...like a madman." The battalion commander scratched his head and replied.

"Mad man?" Pu Tong was stunned, then laughed, "Could it be that those people are joking with us?"

…

When the thick clouds covered the twin moons, Ye Jianwu climbed up the city wall. After a while, the deputy general on duty rushed over and said, "I am sorry for not coming to meet you from afar. Please forgive me, General."

Ye Renwu smiled slightly: "You performed your duties faithfully, so how could it be a sin?"

"Thank you, General." The deputy general bowed again and asked, "General, are you here to call the roll or to inspect?"

"No, I just came to take a look." Ye Renwu waved his hand, walked to the edge of a parapet, gently placed his hands on the top of the parapet, raised his eyes slightly, and swept forward...

The deputy general quickly followed to the right of Night Blade Dance and said, "General, the enemy camp is forbidden to use fire at night. Tonight, the clouds are thick and there is no moon, so the outline cannot be seen."

"Are they advancing again today?" Ye Renwu asked with a frown.

"No, they are just building fortifications," replied the deputy general.

"Where are the left and right wings?" Ye Renwu asked again.

"Just like us in front, they are building fortifications twenty miles away, but the number of scouts and small cavalry patrols has increased a lot, making it difficult for our scouts to get close." The deputy general replied.

"They want to trap us and force us to retreat." Ye Renwu couldn't help but frown again. Wu Lai deployed a total of 130,000 troops in front of and on both sides of Titania. After a period of slow and cautious advancement, they have now taken root 20 miles away from the city, using connected camps, criss-crossing trenches and fences to firmly "nail" the Tianjuan Army into the city.

Although he knew the intention of the Assyrian army, Ye Renwu could only "honestly" follow the other party's intention and did not dare to act rashly. Titania now had less than 70,000 soldiers and horses left, and defending the city was undoubtedly the best choice. Although the Assyrian army might not be able to hold the city if they insisted on attacking, the Assyrian army would not necessarily gain much advantage. But if they wanted to take the initiative to attack, firstly, this amount of troops was not enough, and secondly, no matter which side you attacked, there would be at least a division of tens of thousands of troops behind you to "steal the city"...

What made Ye Renwu speechless was that after the Assyrian army of more than 100,000 men had set up the "Perth" that was attacking from three sides, they continued to build and reinforce fortifications while assigning some soldiers to cultivate the fields. There were already many fertile fields between Titania and Annan, and the wave of massacres and burning of villages in Hatra gave rise to a large amount of unowned land. The Assyrian army besieging the city basically cultivated as much as they wanted. This was equivalent to picking the most despicable-looking soldier to yell in Ye Renwu's ear: "I won't fight you, I will grind you to death!"

There are only two options before Ye Renwu now, either to defend or to retreat, but both options are very rugged and muddy. Not to mention the difficulty of defending, if it comes to retreating, even if the empire agrees or even orders a retreat, Ye Renwu knows that it is impossible for her to retreat smoothly.

Because between Titania and Armenia, there was Putun's division active. Unlike the soldiers besieging the city, they were as law-abiding as they could be. Tens of thousands of soldiers gathered and dispersed from time to time, ambushing and harassing in all kinds of ways, causing great headaches for both Titania and Armenia. The most shameful thing was that after they captured the Tianjuan soldiers, they neither killed them nor imprisoned them. Instead, they stripped them naked and threw them into a corner of the wasteland, calling it "releasing them alive"...

Ye Renwu believed that if she abandoned the city and retreated, this Assyrian army "composed of ruffians" would definitely unite into a group and suddenly block her way. Then, another or two Assyrian armies would definitely pounce on her from behind and eat her alive.

"General, as far as I know, the Assyrians in the city are very resentful. Many of them have fled in the past few days, and many have been killed by us," said the deputy general.

Ye Renwu nodded. Actually, she had known this for a long time. After the siege by Assyria, Titania closed the city gates and strictly restricted entry and exit. Even if the people went out of the city to farm, they could only go to the side that was not surrounded. Moreover, they had to be followed and guarded by soldiers. This made the people particularly dissatisfied, because most of the output of farming would be requisitioned, which was just a way to buy their lives, but what was the matter with you shouting and fighting? Did you really treat everyone as slaves? As a result, conflicts, escapes and killings occurred every day. It was not long before the garrison lost more than a hundred people and more than two thousand civilians were killed. However, this not only did not scare the people, but made the order of Titania even more chaotic...

"I have submitted an application to the empire..." Ye Renwu suddenly stopped talking after she blurted out. After a moment of stunned silence, she sighed softly.

What's wrong with me? Why would I want to tell a lieutenant general about my plan? Am I worried that my ability will be questioned? Ye Renwu thought...

…

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

"General Pompey, take a rest." Epicurus handed a kettle to Pompey.

"Thank you." Pompey nodded and took it. As he opened the lid, he said, "General Epi, do you think that the clanging sound of chiseling stones is like the most beautiful music in the theater?"

Epicurus laughed and said, "General Pompey, I am just a warrior and I don't know anything about music. I only know that my mission now is to complete the construction of the Red Valley Bay Fortress Group as soon as possible."

"Oh, then if there is a chance, I will take you to visit the Assyrian theater." Pompey said with a smile.

"General Pompey, we are making good progress. At this rate, in two or three months, one of us should leave here to join the war, right?" Epicurus asked.

"No." Pompey shook his head. "According to the Lord's arrangement, after the fortress complex is built, the Eighth Division will be stationed there, and your Ninth Division will go to the old site of Seneca City and rebuild Seneca together with the civilians who came from Katy Prairie."

"Rebuild Seneca?" Epicurus was stunned, and suddenly felt a little unhappy, because he felt that he had led his troops to surrender, and he and Pompey were both major generals and division commanders, but why were all the arrangements conveyed by Pompey instead of issuing orders together?

"Yes, rebuild Seneca." Pompey stretched out his arm and pointed in the direction of Seneca. "The lord plans to let you Hullets and Kimos settle down in Seneca first."

Epicurus frowned slightly. "General Pompey, as far as I know, Lieutenant General Wei Huo and his men have surrounded Titania, and the Sixth Division is also blocking Armenia and Titania, but why hasn't the lord ordered an attack yet? Also, when we surrendered, we agreed that the lord would help us recapture the Hurrites, but you just said that the lord allowed us Hurrites and Kimos to settle in Seneca. General Pompey, can I understand that the lord does not intend to cross the Assyrian Gorge?"

Pompey's brows also frowned: "What? You can't figure it out?"

"Yes!" Epicurus stood up suddenly. "I just can't understand it. We surrendered, reorganized, and migrated according to your instructions, but..."

"But what?!" Pompey interrupted Epicurus, "But the lord will not attack Titania or Menia, right? General Epicurus, do you know what the overall situation is? Do you know how kind the lord is? Think about it, you were beaten by the Tianjuan Army and fled to the Katy Grassland, where you robbed, looted and killed people. Did the lord ever hold you accountable for all this?"

Epicurus was startled and lowered his head involuntarily.

"It was you who took the initiative to ask for surrender in the beginning, but do you know? It was the lord who overcame all objections and allowed you to surrender smoothly. At that time, the army had decided to send a large number of troops to force the Hatra army into the Kati grassland. Think about it, if the lord agreed, you Epicurus could still build fortifications here with peace of mind, your soldiers could still be so safe, and those women and children you brought to the Kati grassland could still live in peace? I'm afraid they would have become victims of the Hatra army and slaves!" Pompey said angrily.

"But... the situation is clearly very good right now. Let's not talk about attacking Hurricanes first. As for Titania..." Epicurus argued, but was interrupted by Pompey before he could finish his words.

"A good situation? Of course it is a good situation, but you have to know that this good situation was won by the lord in the bloody battle of Caikede and the unity of Assyria. The lord only besieged Titania but did not attack it because there were still 300,000 civilians in Titania. The lord did not attack Menia because there were more civilians in Menia. Moreover, even if Assyria forcibly captured these two places and three cities at all costs, its military strength would be greatly depleted. By then, it might not be able to attack Hurlites within three to five years. Besides, in the Assyrian territory, who else has military capabilities that can surpass the lord? Epicurus, every step and every plan of the lord is meaningful and far-sighted." Pompey said.

"I..." Epicurus said anxiously.

"Don't talk, just listen to me, Epicurus. Do you know why there is no supreme military commander in Katti? Do you know why the first mayor of Katti was not an Assyrian but your Miller priest? Do you know why the lord wanted to entrust Seneca, his ancestral home, to you to rebuild?" Pompey asked.

Epicurus shook his head.

Pompey smiled slightly and said, "Mayor Miller will come to visit the troops in three days. You can ask him then."

Epicurus was stunned...