Chapter 877: Chapter 372: Uncle-Nephew Night Talk
The cold moon hung like a curved hook, ghostly pale as snow.
After three days of relentless marching, the Ning Army finally came to a halt just as they were about to reach the border, just as they were about to return home.
Running for three consecutive days, engaging in several life-and-death decisive battles, the soldiers’ spirits were stretched taut without a single moment of rest in between.
Under such intense strains, even a man of iron would not be able to withstand it.
Everyone had reached the limit of physical and mental endurance and could not be pushed any further.
...
After realizing this, Bai Yian did not force them to continue; once the main army entered the territory of Yongxing County, he issued the order:
The army was to rest for the night. All food was to be brought out so that the soldiers could have a full meal and a good night’s sleep, restoring their energy and spirit in preparation for the final battle for homecoming the following day.
Thus, tonight, after setting up the camp and having a satisfying dinner, the soldiers of the Ning Army quickly fell into slumber, enjoying a rare moment of peace.
Only those assigned to the night watch had no choice but to fight off sleepiness and fatigue as they kept guard on the perimeter of the camp against a possible sneak attack from the Chu Army.
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The Chu Army had been relentlessly pursuing and attacking in the vicinity, launching small-scale assaults from time to time, which was really annoying, so extra precautions were necessary.
Even though the soldiers on rotation were exhausted, they understood the urgency of the situation and, coupled with promises of compensation from the higher-ups, they mustered their energy without complaints.
However, it wasn’t just the soldiers on rotation who were awake this night. At the heart of the main camp, the acting Commander of the Ning Army, Marquis Wuan Bai Yian, was still up, a light burning, deep into the night.
“Cough, cough…”
Bai Yian coughed lightly, the fiery pain in his lungs subsiding slightly. He covered his mouth with his hand and then turned his dim gaze to the person in front of him, saying, “Has it been confirmed that Ruichang City has been taken by the Chu people?”
Across from him was a young general who bore some resemblance to Bai Yian; this man was Bai Yian’s elder brother’s son, Bai Jingluo.
Upon hearing the inquiry, Bai Jingluo nodded and said, “Uncle, I personally scouted the area and witnessed with my own eyes the banners of the Chu Army raised on Ruichang City, with Chu soldiers crowding the city walls.
Afterwards, I led people to find some of the county soldiers who had escaped from the city and questioned them in detail. Only then did we learn that the Chu Army had suddenly attacked near dusk yesterday, seizing the city just a day ahead of us.”
“A day…”
Bai Yian, upon hearing this timeframe, gave a wry smile and said, “The Chu people are indeed pressing us at every step, having planned everything meticulously, not giving us the slightest chance to survive.”
In the past few days, fleeing for their lives, Bai Yian had been recalling and reviewing past events in his mind, pondering why Ning Country came to this and why the Ning Army fell into their current dire situation.
After revisiting these events, he realized that all the signs were already there quite some time ago.
Back when the Chu Army chose a strategy completely different from the Ning Army, deeming Jiangxia as less important and focusing on battles to the south and the north, dispersing their main forces. The Ning Army failed to seize this critical opportunity to gather strength and decisively crush the main force of the Chu Army at Jiangxia.
The outcome of the battlefield had already been foreshadowed.
The subsequent series of erroneous decisions by the Ning Army were merely steps that accelerated toward this bleak future, bringing them to their current plight.
It was precisely because he understood all this that Bai Yian was more aware than anyone of just how perilous the situation of the Ning Army under his command really was.
To even consider it a situation of nine deaths and one chance of survival would be optimistic.
Ten deaths without life, that would be more accurate.
The Chu Army’s occupation of Ruichang City, cutting off the army’s route home once again, underscored this point.
The promises he made in front of the soldiers, the hopes of “surviving” and “returning home,” were just that—promises.
“Uncle, now that the Chu Army has taken Ruichang City, according to the intelligence I’ve gathered, there are no fewer than fifty thousand Chu soldiers in the city, roughly equal to the strength of our forces.
Now that our route home has been cut off, what should we do?”
Bai Jingluo, anxious and distressed, couldn’t help but probe, “Should we take a detour? The path through Ruichang to the north is blocked, but there are still many routes to the south. Surely the Chu people can’t have taken all of them. If we take a few detours, we’ll surely find a way out.”
In recent days, Bai Jingluo had been following his uncle’s orders, leading the army’s elite scouts around the vicinity to collect information for the army.
Therefore, besides Bai Yian, he was the most informed about the surrounding situation.
He knew that if the army continued to head toward Ruichang City, it would be a dead end with no chance of survival.
Only by fleeing in other directions might there be a glimmer of hope.
“There’s no way out,” Bai Yian said, shaking his head upon hearing his nephew’s suggestion. “The Chu Army spared no effort to corner us to this point, and now they are about to close the net. How could they possibly watch us escape the trap?
In the vicinity, it’s not just the Chu Army in Ruichang.
These past few days, the Chu Army that has been chasing us, though they have only been keeping a ten-mile distance without much aggression.
That Chu force is a convergence of soldiers from Jiangxia City and Luo Kou Du; King of Chu Lu Yuan has already caught up, with the rear pursuers two Inborns, and a force of eighty to ninety thousand men.
With that force present, we can’t simply change direction and flee south at will.
The Chu people are determined not to let us go.
If we continue in the direction of Ruichang City, as they expect, we may gain a little breathing time.
If we switch our path and flee south, Lu Yuan might lead his troops to attack us as soon as he discerns our intentions.”
Bai Yian spoke with a bitter tone, harboring no hope for escape.