Not long after returning to the military camp, Lan Xu summoned the generals to discuss matters, until a general walked in from outside the tent. The man saluted Lan Xu and then said: "General Lan, our soldiers are participating in the battle tonight." There were 25,000 in total, 8,546 were wounded and 3,632 were killed; more than 30 generals, both senior and junior, were injured, 13 were wounded, and seven were killed."
When Lan Xu was discussing with other generals just now, this general had been counting the casualties outside. Now when he reported the number of casualties on his side, both Lan Xu and the other generals in the tent felt frightened.
Counting the casualties during the day, the number of people killed on their side was close to 7,000, equivalent to one-fifth of the entire camp's strength. There were still so many wounded, and their star army was now severely weakened.
Fortunately, the Feng Army withdrew its troops in time, otherwise they might have suffered more casualties. After everyone in the tent was silent for a while, considering that the leader of the Feng Army had formally issued a letter of challenge to them, a star general said slowly: " General Lan, the enemy's vanguard tonight just came to test our army's combat power, but it has already caused heavy casualties to our army. Now our army's morale is low. If the enemy attacks again, what should our army do?"
"General Lan, in order to prevent the enemy from advancing again, I suggest you first withdraw your troops to Yanguan in the west, where the border city is located. There is a city defense available. Our army can use the terrain to fight the enemy again and restore the defeat in one fell swoop."
"General Lan, please withdraw your troops. Feng State has officially started war with us. There is no problem in losing a fortress. The priority is to defend the border and city defenses!"
…
Based on the current situation in the army, a number of star army generals have put forward suggestions to retreat to the city defense. No matter what Lan Xu's plan is, in their opinion, retreating to the city defense is the wisest decision at present.
"Confused, the fortress is where our army's position is. We have to retreat to Yanguan after only two battles. Doesn't it mean that we are afraid of the enemy? If this affects the morale of our army, how should I lead the entire battalion to fight against the Feng Army in the future? "From the perspective of those generals, what they said does make some sense, but considering the overall situation, Lan Xu doesn't want to do this.
The main force of the Feng Army has not yet arrived, and there is only one vanguard unit that is not more numerous than them. If they withdraw now, it will undoubtedly mean that they are showing weakness to the Feng Army, which will definitely boost the morale of the Feng Army. Based on this consideration, Lan Xu He directly and fiercely rejected the suggestions of all his subordinates.
"General, once the main force of the Feng Army arrives, we will not be able to hold the fortress with our existing military strength. If we can take advantage of Yanguan's geographical advantage, wouldn't the chance of winning be greater?"
"Just the Feng Kingdom's vanguard troops are so fierce. If the Feng Kingdom's army presses on the border, how can we resist?"
Seeing that Lan Xu was unwilling to adopt their suggestions, some generals directly tried to persuade him. Maybe they were not as comprehensive as Lan Xu thought, but they were all based on reality and looked at the problem from an objective perspective. Their suggestions were not wrong.
Now half of the generals in the camp advocate retreating to the rear city gate, and half of the generals have not expressed their opinions for the time being, but it can be seen that many of them are in favor of the proposal to retreat to the city gate. Of course, it is Lan Xu who has the final say whether to withdraw or not. After all, As the leader of the generals, he has absolute authority in the army.
"There is no rush to withdraw the troops for the time being. It will still take some time before the main force of the Feng Army arrives here, and there is no definite reply from Kyoto. If we withdraw directly, it may violate the emperor's order. It is better to wait for two days and see how the situation goes. "Frowning, Lan Xu felt a lot of pressure from the generals below about withdrawing their troops.
Those generals want to withdraw their troops. It is not a good thing if he insists on his opinion again and again. However, the Star Army's performance on the battlefield is weak today. Their morale is no longer comparable to that of the Feng Army. If they show cowardice again, Lan Xu is worried that problems will occur in the future. .
"General Lan, the situation at the border is urgent and the war is about to break out. No matter whether the ruler of the country will change his original decision later, it will not be wrong for us to retreat to Yanguan first. Why bother to stick to a fortress?" In order to convince Lan Xu, another general Continue to persuade.
"The ancient Yuan Dynasty gave the king one month to consider. The king's refusal to surrender has been carefully considered and will not be changed easily." The tone was cold, Lan Xu did not want to change the decision.
"What if we wait two more days and the main force of the Feng Army arrives at the fortress?" But in order for Lan Xu to give them a proper explanation, another general asked directly.
"In tonight's battle, the casualties on the Feng Army side are also not small. They also need to rest and recuperate. They will not attack our camp again in a short time. Now their main force has not arrived yet. I will wait patiently and wait patiently for Kyoto. Just message.”
"There is no need to say anything, generals. Everything will be done in accordance with the general's instructions. Before the general makes a decision to withdraw the troops, the generals are not allowed to discuss the withdrawal of the troops in private, which will cause the morale of the troops to be scattered. Anyone who disobeys the order will be executed." The final word was given. As the defending general, Lan Xu directly conveyed his unthought-through decision in the form of a military order.
"Yes," the generals said no more when they saw that Lan Xu insisted on waiting for news from Kyoto.
Then, under Lan Xu's instructions, they left the camp one after another and went back to rest. In a blink of an eye, Lan Xu was the only one left in the entire camp. Only then did he forcibly stabilize the will of the generals, which could ensure that everything in the camp would be as normal in a short period of time, but Lan Xu Xu could also think that if the Feng Army marched again, even if they could barely remain invincible at that time, the morale of the army would definitely be shaken. When the troops were withdrawn, they would be hastily withdrawing and there would be no morale at all.
Once they lose their morale, even if they retreat to Yanguan in the rear, they will still be unable to block the Feng Army's follow-up attack. After thinking about it, he also feels that retreating to Chengguan as soon as possible is the best way, but he has not received any clear instructions from Kyoto. instruct.
Because he didn’t know how determined the leader of the Star Kingdom was to resist the war, Lan Xu decided to write a letter to ask his brother Lan Wu for help. Lan Wu was the real commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In Lan Xu’s understanding, only Lan Wu could help at the moment. to him.
In addition to mentioning the battle situation tonight, the content of the letter was more about asking Lan Wu for help. When Lan Xu wrote the letter, the royal family of the Star Kingdom was already in chaos.
It turned out that both the Luotian Holy Kingdom and the ancient Yuan Kingdom sent letters of surrender to Lan Ce. After Lan Ce decided to refuse to surrender to the two countries, the courtiers persuaded Lan Ce to withdraw his orders and choose another country to surrender. This might help the Star Kingdom avoid the destruction of the country. danger.
But Lan Ce did not accept the suggestions of those courtiers, and actively contacted the surrounding countries with the same ancestry and origin as their star country. If several of these countries can form an alliance and unanimously communicate with the outside world in the future, then their overall strength will be at least equivalent to that of a medium-sized country.
Different from the Feng Kingdom, the Star Kingdom has a much longer history than the Feng Kingdom and can be traced back to thousands of years ago.
During the last global war, after a big country called Xuanxing collapsed, it split into many countries, and Xingguo was one of them. As the royal family of the Xuanxing country, Xingguo also had several brothers. The kings of the same clan but different countries have already sent an alliance invitation to Lan Ce, inviting the star country to form an alliance with them to jointly deal with this global war, and even rebuild the prestige of the Xuanxing country.
Moreover, there are several countries between their Star Kingdom, the Gu Yuan Kingdom and the Luotian Holy Kingdom. Lan Ce originally thought that the two major countries would not attack the Star Kingdom in such a short period of time. He had enough time to form an alliance with the royal family of the same clan. Who could He had thought that he had received news from the border army the day before yesterday. Now that the border situation was tense, he had to make a decision as soon as possible.
The royal family is now in a state of tension. Due to internal differences of opinion, some people advocate war and others advocate surrender. For the time being, he cannot make a final decision, but his previous reply to Lan Xu was that the Star Kingdom would not surrender.
As for the Feng Kingdom, its origin is different from that of the Star Kingdom. The Feng Kingdom was a small country established after the last global war, with a total history of less than a thousand years.
During the last global war, wars continued between countries. In the end, their strength was greatly reduced. There was no extra force to occupy those unclaimed lands. As those unowned lands gradually developed, small countries were born. , and when those countries wanted to conquer those places after they had rested and recuperated, they had already come out of nowhere.
All in all, the background of the Feng Kingdom is very simple, and its own strength is at the bottom level among the countries. It is natural that they would choose to surrender to the ancient Yuan Kingdom.
A month ago, before the situation in the south changed dramatically, the five major countries had already issued surrender letters to their surrounding countries. Fighting without surrender was the main strategy of the five major countries to start the war. Many small countries surrendered to them after receiving the surrender letters. But there are always some countries that are unwilling to surrender.
