Three days later, they were getting closer and closer to the frontier.
After crossing a mountain and traversing a forest, you will reach the location of the frontier military camp.
Gu Mu didn't sit inside the carriage; instead, he rode his horse to get some fresh air.
He saw several small dots ahead, slowly descending from the foot of the hill.
When the dots got closer, Gu Mu could see that they were several people with tattered clothes and blood gushing from their bodies.
Some of them were wearing full armor, but their helmets were nowhere to be found.
Some of them were still holding a long spear, but there was no blood on the spear.
They looked as if they had just been through a war; their faces were ashen and they looked quite disheveled.
“Your Highness, they are deserters,” a battle-hardened veteran immediately reported.
This place is very close to the frontier, which is currently the frontier of the main battlefield. Yet those people have abandoned their armor and weapons and left the military camp. What else could they be but deserters?
The deserters trembled when they heard the word "Your Highness".
Looking up again, I saw a soldier pull out his token to identify himself.
The person in the very center was dressed in a black python robe, exuding a cold and ruthless aura.
They knew that His Highness would personally lead the troops into battle.
But they never expected to be so unlucky; they had just escaped the main battlefield when they ran into the regent who was heading to the frontier.
Their legs buckled, and they all knelt on the ground: "Your Highness, spare us! The battlefield is too cruel. Our 20,000 men were fighting against an enemy force of 100,000, and we were retreating one after another. Even General Shen Ci and General Meng were wounded. We were worried about our families back home, and that's why we were confused for a moment..."
"Yes, Your Highness, spare my life!"
"Your Highness, spare my life!"
All six deserters begged for mercy.
They were all covered in wounds, not because they hadn't been on the battlefield, but because they had experienced such brutal warfare firsthand and were so terrified that they fled.
This shows the brutality of the frontier battlefield at this moment.
Gu Mu recalled the wounded soldiers who risked their lives to deliver penicillin, and also the young boy Wang Shiqiang who swore to defend his country to the death.
Where there are warriors, there are also deserters.
"They fight on the battlefield, risking their lives at any moment, while you choose to desert, using their lives to buy yourself time to escape." Gu Mu spoke slowly, his tone icy: "If I spare you, will the enemy spare those soldiers who fought on the battlefield?"
Once on the battlefield, he would absolutely not tolerate deserters.
Those men stared wide-eyed in despair as a blade flashed. Their heads fell to the ground, blood gushing from their necks, their mutilated bodies crashing to the floor.
Only if these deserters die will it be fair to those who sacrificed their lives for the country.
Only then can the atmosphere in the military camp be properly maintained.
Gu Mu stood with his sword drawn, blood droplets sliding down the tip of the blade and falling to the ground.
It hit the tiny, sprouting blades of grass on the ground.
Then it seeps into the soil and disappears.
With a flick of his wrist, he sheathed the sword back into the scabbard of the elite soldier beside him.
In the blink of an eye, the original six deserters in front were reduced to six corpses.
"The situation on the frontier must be extremely dire." Gu Mu gazed ahead. Behind the hilltop, 20,000 soldiers from the frontier were fighting against 100,000 enemy soldiers.
Moreover, three full days had passed between receiving the news in the capital and Gu Mu arriving at the frontier.
"Giddy up!" Gu Mu pulled on the reins and quickly headed towards the border.
Even without seeing the scene on the battlefield, he could imagine that it must be a terrible sight.
Gu Mu led two hundred elite soldiers on horseback at full gallop.
They forgot all the fatigue from traveling day and night.
They knew that their brothers on the frontier needed them.
They knew they couldn't back down now.
Once they retreat, not only the frontier will fall, but also several cities bordering the frontier.
And, eternal shame.
Fortunately, not only their two hundred elite soldiers, but also twenty thousand soldiers were about to arrive.
Gu Mu rode his horse into the military camp.
Unlike the previous bustling atmosphere.
After a short period of absence, the military camp was filled with a deathly atmosphere.
It was deserted, with hardly any people around.
After several days of fighting, more than half of the soldiers in the camp were killed or wounded.
"Your Highness." General Meng was sharpening his knife outside the tent when he saw Gu Mu. His eyes lit up, and he immediately stood up and saluted.
"How is the battle going?" Gu Mu's expression hardened; the empty military camp seemed to say it all.
Sure enough, General Meng's expression quickly darkened: "Of the 21,323 soldiers, 14,950 have died, leaving 6,373."
More than two-thirds died!
Shen Ci also walked out of the military camp at this moment. His expression was calm, but there was still a deep sorrow in his eyes. When he saw Gu Mu, he suddenly knelt down and held his sword with both hands: "Your Highness, I failed to win this battle and am willing to accept my punishment!"
“Running away is not the way to blame yourself,” Gu Mu said calmly.
He knew that Shen Ci was blaming himself for the soldiers who had died.
"These days, facing the enemy's fierce onslaught and sudden attacks, it's quite good that you've managed to hold your ground without retreating even a single step."
With 20,000 against 100,000, they held out on the main battlefield for three days without being completely annihilated or retreating even a single step.
In Gu Mu's mind, he was a qualified general.
"What's going on now?" Judging from the enemy's offensive of sending out 100,000 troops at once, they must be planning to take advantage of the situation and invade the Southern Dynasty in one fell swoop.
It is absolutely impossible for soldiers to take a temporary rest in the military camp.
At this point, General Meng and Shen Ci's expressions improved slightly.
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