Shen Hao didn't stay in Wu Kai's camp for too long. He asked all the questions he needed, and staying here would only delay Wu Kai's rest time. According to the order, Wu Kai only had one night and half a day to temporarily rest in the military camp, and he passed by having a good sleep.
When we returned to our tent, it was already past Hsien time, and there was a musty smell in the tent.
"Sir, the military supervisor Xu Jie wants to see you." As soon as he sat down, the bodyguard came in to report.
"Let him in."
Xu Jie, the supervisor in charge of the upper military camp, is an old man among the supervisors. He was from the same hometown as Shen Hao's adjutant Li Jiang, and he had been in the military for many years before joining the Xuanqing Guards. Therefore, after Li Jiang's strong recommendation, Shen Hao sent Xu Jie to the front line as the supervisor.
Not long after, a man of medium build and handsome appearance walked in from outside. After greeting him loudly, he stood a foot away in front of Shen Hao with his hands tied.
"No need to be polite, just tell me about your situation."
Xu Jie was relieved when he saw that Shen Hao didn't mean to blame him at all. Shen Hao arrived in the afternoon, and Xu Jie was supposed to come to see him immediately, but as soon as Shen Hao entered the stronghold, he was called away by Cheng Jinhou. After that, he went to Wu Kai's place. Xu Jie pounced several times, and the last one stayed near Shen Hao's camp until he came back.
"Sir, the situation in the upper camp is very bad. The supervisor died on the fifth day after my subordinates arrived here. After that, three more supervisors were added one after another. Two died, and now one is seriously injured. He is in a coma. My subordinate would have been in the same miserable condition as the unconscious supervisor, but thanks to General Cheng's timely rescue, General Cheng even injured his right arm."
Shen Hao narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard this. There was a lot of information in these words.
"If Cheng Jinhou didn't save you, would you end up like the seriously injured supervisor? Were you standing together at that time?"
"Yes, sir, we are standing together. The incident happened suddenly. I only felt a few strong winds coming, and then I saw General Cheng standing in front of me, and the supervisor next to me was lucky. Unfortunately, he happened to be hit by that strong wind, and now it seems that half of his bones have been broken, I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to survive."
Let's not talk about how Cheng Jinhou was touched by someone under the heavy protection of the Chinese army. According to Xu Jie, he and a supervisor were standing together at the time, that is, they were next to each other, but Cheng Jinhou only saved Xu Jie. Instead of saving the supervisors nearby. Was it intentional or was it too late?
Shen Hao was sure that Cheng Jinhou deliberately did not save the supervisor. If it were him, he probably wouldn't be able to save her. At this time, the disadvantages of being disliked by the supervisors became apparent. No one cares about you in times of crisis, and no one cares about you even if you die.
"Do people often come to Cheng Jinhou?"
"Yes, sir. Some monks among the barbarians are very powerful. They will disguise themselves as ordinary soldiers and blend in with the attacking skirmishers, and then become violent and attack when they get close to the military wall. Some of them run extremely fast, and it is difficult to kill them in advance. Stop it."
"The person guarding Cheng Jinhou is a monk from the Jingying Mansion? What's his background?"
"There are mainly two people. One is an elder named Wu from Tianchan Sect, who is said to have cultivated to the second level of Xuanhai Realm. The other is an elder from Qinghua Valley, surnamed Yuan, who is said to have cultivated to the first level of Xuanhai Realm."
"Hiss!" Shen Hao took a breath. It was not that he was frightened by the cultivation of these two elder-level high-level monks, but that he was frightened by the skills of those barbarian monks. The two dignified Xuanhai Realm monks and guards still couldn't protect Cheng Jinhou Wanquan, this...
"Then what? Were the barbarians who attacked Cheng Jinhou killed?"
"Three were left, and two of them escaped unharmed after their assassination attempts failed."
Shen Hao didn't know what to say. No wonder he and Cheng Jinhou were setting up formations outside the military stronghold to dispose of corpses before, so they didn't see any masters from the Xuanhai Realm showing their faces. They were probably protecting Cheng Jinhou in the dark with their dull faces.
"Any other news?"
"My lord. According to my subordinates' observation, the troops in the upper military camp are seriously insufficient. Take yesterday's battle as an example. There were only 6,000 people in the military camp who could fight at that time. As a result, after the battle, Nearly 2,000 people were lost, and even more were injured. The defense line roaming outside was said to be 20,000, but only 15,000 could actually fall to the front line, and they were extremely scattered, often infiltrating and killing with small groups of barbarians. The losses in field battles were also huge.
But I heard General Cheng mention before that the next batch of reinforcements will not arrive for another five days. If during this period the barbarians make another raid on the scale of yesterday..."
He left half of his words unfinished, but Shen Hao understood what Xu Jie meant. They were worried that if the barbarians attacked again, the upper military stronghold would not be able to defend it.
The five days seemed to coincide with the time Wu Kai had mentioned before. This is not a good phenomenon, because even if reinforcements come, there will be no extra time to adjust, and there is no room for maneuver to deal with emergencies. This is a big loophole for a layman like Shen Hao.
Wouldn’t Cheng Jinhou know? What's his plan?
"Are there any countermeasures?"
"Cheng Jinhou didn't say that. Even when people below warned him of the danger, he didn't ask Cheng Jinhou to explain. He still maintained a tough defensive posture of being strong on the outside and hard on the inside. He had no intention of shrinking his manpower."
"Have the monks from the Jingying Mansion given any advice in this regard?" Shen Hao felt more and more strange as he listened. Would a general known for his stability in the military have so hastily allowed loopholes to spread without making any adjustments? The people below can't influence Cheng Jinhou's thoughts, and the supervisors are also seriously injured, so the monks in Jingying Mansion should have something to say.
But Xu Jie shook his head: "No. The monks in Jingying Mansion basically don't talk to the people in the army, let alone interfere in military strategy."
"Then the Supervisory Army didn't complain about this matter before? Or did you reject it?"
"The supervisor has mentioned it, more than once. The subordinates also know what is good and what is wrong. It is impossible for the subordinates to jump out and reject this obvious shortcoming in military strategy. It's just that Cheng Jinhou ignored it, and after the supervisor's letter was sent out, he Lost and no news."
The supervisor's letter would not fall into disgrace, and Cheng Jinhou would never have the guts to go his own way despite the supervisor's withdrawal restrictions. The only explanation is that the supervisor's letter did not have the same effect as usual after it was sent out, or that even their own consul and supervisor did not support it.
The conversation lasted until the end of the day, and Xu Jie didn't leave until the end of the day was almost over.
But Shen Hao was not sleepy at all. He sat in the big tent and looked at the Jianchuan topographic map spread out on the table without saying a word for a long time.
On the contrary, the three guards outside the tent were communicating quietly.
"Things are looking bad here."
"Yeah! It's not an exaggeration to say that it's extremely dangerous. I don't know where Cheng Jinhou got the confidence to continue to stick here. Such huge battle damage will probably destroy the morale of the army in a short time."
"Listen, if something cannot be done, the best thing to do is protect Shen Hao and retreat."
