Yun Zhe glanced at everyone and said only one sentence.
“I still have nine uninjured soldiers and two wagons. Lorraine is dead, and Gao is also seriously wounded. Besides him, there are six wounded.”
Yun Zhe spoke slowly, but the news truly shocked everyone present. First, there was the immense casualties suffered by Yun Zhe's troops; second, there was Lorraine's sacrifice. While their troops had suffered losses, the majority had scattered, and at least half remained. But a loss like Lorraine's—considering Yun Zhe's force of only thirty men—was the only one of such a high level. Although they hadn't won a single battle, all the important figures were still alive and well.
Philby patted Yun Zhe on the back to comfort him.
Although Serena didn't want to hear these things the most, Yun Zhe was already in such a miserable state that she couldn't say anything more for the time being.
The atmosphere inside the tent became extremely oppressive.
Everyone is in a terrible situation right now, but relatively speaking, the largest force belongs to Nuremt, who has come all the way here, with a total of 400 cavalry and infantry. Next, Philby and Serena each have about 200 men, and even Sinde has a hundred-man squad with him.
"Where's Andrew?" Yun Zhe turned to ask Philby, who in turn turned to look at Nurrent.
Nyrent cleared his throat and looked around at everyone. "I haven't received any news from Andrew. I didn't see his troops on my way to provide support."
Serena's heart sank completely. Philby and Black Arthas looked at each other, their eyes filled with worry.
Andrew was a stubborn, loyal, tenacious, and most importantly, fiercely independent man. Yun Zhe suddenly had a very bad premonition.
But everyone seemed to be trying to avoid thinking in that direction; they were more convinced that Andrew was already on his way here, or had already fled to Bahrain.
"Are we just going to run south like this?" Serena put a hand to her forehead and looked nervously at Blake beside her.
Blake opened his mouth, momentarily at a loss for words. The elves had split their forces into two groups, each possessing an overwhelming numerical advantage. If they had concentrated their forces for a single battle from the start, perhaps... perhaps they could have lost more gracefully. But now, having lost more than half their troops and, most importantly, their morale, the battle was hopelessly lost.
“Should we try peace talks…” Nyrent tentatively suggested. His heroic actions today had given him some confidence. Besides, peace talks weren't a bad idea; after all, this place was originally looked down upon by the elves, and now that they had suddenly attacked, there was still a need for negotiations.
The group exchanged glances, their faces bearing bitter smiles. What could they possibly offer in negotiations now? Their disastrous battlefield record? Their inability to defend even a single city? Or simply their pointless boast of arriving first?
“Elves love peace, but once they decide to resolve issues through war, it means there is no possibility of negotiation.”
Yun Zhe frowned. "Elves love peace, so why did they suddenly attack?"
“But we have always been on good terms with the elves, and, and…” Newton rubbed his hands awkwardly. He could tell from everyone’s expressions that they did not actually agree to peace talks.
“It’s no use, we have no bargaining chips,” Blake said, shrugging.
"With such a big incident, won't the king send troops to help us?" Yun Zhe asked curiously.
But everyone's expressions were varied and quite strange, especially Serena and Blake's.
Yun Zhe examined the two men's thoughts and couldn't help but find things becoming interesting.
They had planned to seek help from Duke Sald long ago. However, Duke Sald's request put them in a difficult position. The request was simple: Serena wanted to marry Duke Sald's youngest grandson, which was actually a good thing, and the Duke wasn't forcing her. But Serena showed great resistance and said some extremely inappropriate things, completely ruining the whole thing.
Blake and Serena have argued several times about this.
Yun Zhe scratched his head. "The Lunlang family has a daughter who married into the royal family. I'm sure their reinforcements will arrive soon. If Donic loses such reinforcements, things might not be so easy for him in the future."
"The worst-case scenario is that the Lunlang family will use this war to legitimately annex all of the Donic family's lands, and this time it may be even more reasonable and legal. The Donic family has no outside support, so they probably won't gain any benefits."
"Everyone, go and rest. We have to continue early tomorrow morning and set off." Seeing that Serena's expression wasn't good, Blake decisively ended the meeting.
Only then did everyone realize their exhaustion, and they bowed and left the tent.
Inside the Elf King's tent, he had already received a letter from the Left Route Army, from which he deduced which force had attacked them today. Moreover, the Left Route Army would arrive tomorrow. After some deliberation, the prince decided that the two armies would join forces and proceed together.
"Even in such a dire situation, they still managed to ambush us. This tenacity is remarkable. No wonder Nyrent is already a lord at such a young age," a general remarked sincerely after reading the letter.
The Elf Prince Tandras frowned slightly. It was a pity that such an excellent general was actually human.
"Even a cornered beast will fight, especially given that they have such excellent generals. Gentlemen, you must be cautious in your future actions and remember not to be greedy for merit or act rashly."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a guard rushed into the tent, shouting, "Your Highness, something terrible has happened! The Imperial Guard cavalry has launched an attack!"
"Damn it, whose men are they, with such a lack of discipline!"
The soldier hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.
The general stood up. "Tell me," he said, "whose unit is it?"
"Uh, it's Tordron, he led his cavalry out..."
"Toldron?" The general and the prince looked at each other, both somewhat surprised. Toldron was a cautious young man and had never violated military discipline.
"What exactly happened!" Tandras was a little anxious. Tordron was a young general he had high hopes for, and at this moment he was more worried that something might have happened to this promising young general.
The soldier swallowed hard and whispered, "I heard that... I heard his reconnaissance team suffered heavy losses, and his close friend, Philnes, was also killed in action..."
The general and the prince exchanged shocked glances. Philnis was a renowned rider in the elven army; though his command skills were somewhat lacking, his martial prowess was unmatched. He and Tordron had grown up together, both being outstanding figures among the younger generation.
But the most crucial question is: who defeated Philnes?
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