On the other side, because the granary was burned down, the Chu army is now facing a serious food crisis, which means that the soldiers can only rely on the simple cans and compressed biscuits they carry to satisfy their hunger. The soldiers' existing cans and biscuits were extremely limited, and even if they saved on food, they would only be enough for two or three days.
In addition, because of Xiang Mao's incident, Chu Ba now had to adjust his strategic deployment, so he voluntarily abandoned three strongholds in Feng'er City and withdrew all his troops to the large stronghold outside Feng'er City. The concentration of troops can ensure that other resources will not be attacked again. Moreover, there are abundant animal and plant resources outside the city. You can hunt animals and collect vegetables nearby to supplement the army's meals.
However, the consumption of more than 200,000 mouths is very huge, and the surrounding flora and fauna are limited. Chu Ba's staff made an estimate that the temporarily collected food, plus cans and biscuits, could last up to seven days. There are only two roads in front of them. One is to start back to Yecheng immediately. Considering that it is impossible for the Flying Tiger Regiment to capture Yecheng within seven days, going back now can completely break the siege of Yecheng. Another way is to march immediately and attack Nuer City. Because the army carries sufficient siege equipment, it is not difficult to break through the city and enter Nuer City in seven days. Afterwards, the civilians of Nuer City were used as threats to force the Flying Tigers to disband. As for the food needed by the troops, it can also be quickly obtained from looting civilians.
Faced with these two choices, Chu Ba was in trouble. Chu Ba convened some senior officials to discuss the matter, and most people believed that it would be safer to return to Yecheng.
Their reasons are various, but in summary there are only two big reasons. One is that the Flying Tiger Regiment has launched a strong attack on Yecheng. According to the reconnaissance report, the fire in Yecheng has been bright all night. Although theoretically speaking, Yecheng's city defense and garrison can withstand it for ten days and a half, no problem. But considering that there are still some secret service troops inside Yecheng, there are still great variables.
Another big reason is that most of the soldiers' families are in Yecheng, and they are worried and anxious every day. Rather than Nuer City, which was difficult to attack, they hoped to go back and relieve the danger of Ye City. Moreover, no one knew that after capturing Nuer City, the Flying Tiger Regiment would be completely destroyed.
It is true that many soldiers in the Flying Tigers are Nuer soldiers, and they will probably give up the siege for the sake of their families. But there are at least several thousand elite soldiers in the Flying Tigers, some of whom were once spies and have inextricable connections with Yecheng. If these spies take advantage of the chaos to sneak in and disintegrate from the inside, Yecheng will be in trouble.
It is not that Chu Ba cannot understand these generals, but if he really chooses to retreat back to Yecheng, it means that the Chu army will completely lose Nuer City. Without the city of Nuer, the gateway to the east is wide open. Once Ao Lie leads the main force to attack, he can march straight in and approach the capital Yecheng.
"Everyone, have you really thought clearly about how long Chu State can survive without Nuer City?" Chu Ba asked one last time.
The generals did not speak, they all chose silence. In fact, what they want to say is: Even if we spend a lot of money to capture Nuer City, can we sit back and relax? Zhao's comprehensive national strength was stronger than ours, and it was eventually destroyed. In the past month, the Chu army had not been able to deal with Jiang Ze, let alone Ao Lie's main force. Moreover, if we really want to fight Nuer City, we should fight it from the beginning. Now that it has been delayed like this, is it still necessary to fight?
Most of the soldiers had already lost hope, especially because of Xiang Mao's unusual behavior, which made everyone feel discouraged.
Thinking back to a month ago, everyone believed Xiang Mao and Lei Meng. They also felt that as long as they could kill Jiang Ze and eliminate Jiang Ze's main force, the crisis in Nuer City and Ye City could be solved.
However, yesterday, Jiang Ze was right in front of him, but he failed to kill him.
Everything is completely meaningless.
"Why don't you speak? What am I asking you?" Chu Ba stood up so angry.
Everyone was still silent. After a few seconds, Yutong plucked up the courage and said: "Commander, I know that as a soldier, I shouldn't have such thoughts of retreat. However, I still hope to return to Yecheng first to solve the crisis in Yecheng." . Only when my family is safe can I throw my head and blood on the battlefield."
"I already know what you are thinking. Just stop talking. I just want to ask the others, are you all going to give up on Nuer City?"
Everyone, look at me and I look at you. In the end, it takes a five-star general to have the courage to speak. General Hu expressed his opinion: "My family is not in Yecheng, so I don't have such worries. However, I think even if we break through Nuer City, the situation will be similar to Feng'er City. Jiang Ze will still fight with us. Tunnel warfare and guerrilla warfare, the most important thing is that there are too many civilians in Nuer City, so many innocent people will die in this fight."
"Jiang Ze doesn't have many troops anymore. Even if Feng'er City and Nuer City are added, Jiang Ze's troops will not exceed 20,000, and we still have more than 200,000 people. Are we still afraid that Jiang Ze's tunnel battle will not succeed? "
"I'm not afraid, but as long as Jiang Ze continues to harass, how can we repair the big hole in the city wall? How can we appease the civilians, how can we stabilize the security of Nuer City? Have you forgotten? Ye City used to be rich in troops, but it still couldn't hold back a few people. Thousands of special agents continued to harass us. In the end, we paid a huge price to force Jiang Ze and others to leave Yecheng. This Nuer City is no different than Yecheng, and the conditions in all aspects are worse. Of course, if there is no outside interference, we I believe that as long as there is enough time, we will be able to completely eliminate Jiang Ze's troops sooner or later. But, do we have that time? Ao Lie's army has already invaded the capital of Zhao. With the absolute advantage of Lie's army, I am afraid that within ten days, they will The remnants of the Zhao army in the city will be completely eliminated. After that, their next target is Nuer City."
General Tiger said what most people were thinking. To put it bluntly, yesterday was the best opportunity and the last opportunity. Since it has slipped away, it means that the defeat of the front line is certain. Instead of continuing to fight against Nuer City, for example, we could return to solve the crisis in Ye City first. If you want to continue to resist after this, as long as your family members are in the capital, the soldiers will fight bloody battles just to protect their families. Of course, many generals are already thinking of surrendering, but they are not yet at the end of their rope, so no one dares to say it.
Seeing that everyone no longer had the will to attack Nuer City, Chu Ba had no choice but to give up. In fact, for himself, he didn't understand that yesterday was his last chance, and he only regretted that he didn't seize it.
At that time, we should not be greedy, we should directly attack Jiang Ze, either capture or kill him. But it's too late to regret it now, and now we can only go home. By the way, take Xiang Mao back to Yecheng and hand him over to the King of Chu.
The next day, early in the morning, on the hills, the Lieutenant Army scouts were surprised to find that more than 200,000 Chu troops had abandoned their camp.
The scout urgently informed Jiang Ze of the matter, and the lieutenants around Jiang Ze were very happy.
The people cheered, and after working hard for a month, they finally defended Feng'er and the city of Nuer.
In more than a month, the Lieutenant Army lost more than 8,000 people, and their blood was not shed in vain.
However, Jiang Ze frowned. He seemed not satisfied with the Chu army withdrawing like this.
"Jiang Ze, what's wrong with you?" Chen Ling saw Jiang Ze's sadness.
"Everyone, we can't let the Chu army retreat like this. The Flying Tiger Regiment has already contacted the special forces in Ye City. With the civil unrest in the city, the strong attack outside the city, and the public opinion of destroying the country, it will only take up to seven days to invade Ye. City. As long as the two tigers can capture the King of Chu alive, this battle will be a complete victory."
"However, we can only mobilize more than 10,000 troops now. How can we stop the movement of an army of 200,000?" Gu Nian asked.
"It's impossible to stop it. We can only lure Chu Ba and pass on the order. Immediately mobilize all the elites and spare Nuer City and the surrounding cities. You must give me 20,000 war horses..."
Jiang Ze began to give urgent instructions to his subordinates. After receiving the order, his subordinates rode towards Nuer City in great haste.
After a day and night of deployment and assembly, 20,000 heavy cavalry were ready, most of them elite. This is all Jiang Ze's current wealth. The troops in Nuer City have been exhausted, leaving only the militia.
Jiang Ze stood on the watchtower, looked at the 20,000 heavy cavalry, and then looked to the west.
"Chu Ba's 200,000 troops have been gone for more than two days, it's almost time."
Jiang Ze put on his armor himself, mounted his horse, and gave the order: "Let's go."
About half a day later, Chu Ba suddenly felt something strange. At a distance of about one thousand meters from the main army, there are tens of thousands of combat power reactions, with an average strength value of over 100. This is undoubtedly an elite force.
Chu Ba was very worried. He ordered his subordinates: "You continue marching, I will go and check."
After Chu Ba finished speaking, he flashed. Just a few seconds later, Chu Ba arrived at the scene of the incident. He flew above the 20,000 cavalry and watched the heavy cavalry below keep galloping past.
The heavy cavalry actually noticed Chu Ba in mid-air, but they had been reminded before that no matter what happened, as long as the commander did not give orders, they would keep running.
Chu Ba sensed it carefully and found that most people's strength was quite high, but none exceeded 200. In other words, if Jiang Ze is here, he must have deliberately hidden his power. Not only that, he also specially wore the same style of armor as a soldier, so it was simply unrealistic for Chu Ba to target Jiang Ze among so many people. Facing so many heavy cavalry covered with armor, Chu Ba could not fight them alone, so in the end he could only watch as all these heavy cavalry left.
Although Chu Ba didn't do anything, he had been thinking hard about what to do next.
First of all, it can be determined that these 20,000 people are Jiang Ze's entire main force, and they include all the troops in Nuer City. In other words, apart from civilians and militiamen, there are basically no regular soldiers in Nuer City.
Jiang Ze did not hesitate to clear out all the troops in Nuer City and Feng'er City and sent them galloping to the west. It was obvious that he was rushing to Ye City to assist the Flying Tigers.
It seems that Jiang Ze is planning to race against time.
(End of chapter)
