My Cultivation Starting from Archery

A dust-covered Teng Le said, "Otherwise, how could the West Qi Kingdom's army appear ahead of us? Don't they fear that the city's defenders and our forces will attack them from both front and back?! As for loyalty, those from Qing Country who were once hailed as loyal warriors over seven generations ultimately surrendered to the White Robe. These people simply wish to exchange their loyalty for a higher position! General Tong, order the retreat quickly, or we'll have no chance to escape!"

"Retreat further…"

Tong Xiaochu grabbed the map, looking at their current location, he heavily swallowed: "If we retreat further, there will be no fortified city left behind to defend. We would have to keep retreating to the east of Cloud Top Prefecture, meaning… the whole state would be lost!"

He had led the troops for two months, smoothly losing a state.

"We still have to retreat," Teng Le insisted. "Otherwise, our remaining army of one hundred and sixty thousand will all be sacrificed here!"

"Let's retreat!!!"

Tong Xiaochu clenched his teeth and threw the map to the ground.

Despite this.

They were continuously ambushed during their retreat.

"Trouble, Commander!"

"There's an ambush ahead!"

"Commander, we lost eight thousand men!"

"Lost five thousand men and a general!"

"Lost twenty thousand!"

"Commander, the front has collapsed!"

"There are enemy soldiers everywhere!

"..."

It was a continuous retreat!

No matter where they went, they encountered ambushes.

The Great Sheng forces continued losing men and officers as they retreated eastward.

A rout spanning a thousand miles!

After a thousand miles.

The defeated army finally managed to rest in a valley.

But suddenly,

the sound of wind and the cry of cranes arose.

The forces thought it was the enemy catching up and fled in panic again.

Every time they passed through forests and came across rustling sounds, they assumed it was another ambush.

It became a case of 'every bush and tree looks like an enemy!'

"Commander, urgent news from Shanhua Prefecture, they have not rebelled!"

"They haven't rebelled?!"

During the retreat, they received this belated information.

Tong Xiaochu almost fell off his horse in frustration.

"Han Xiang is so cunning!"

He felt a suffocating pain in his chest, unresolved and intense. He cursed the Immortal Master under his breath, but his body was already stretched to the limit; even breathing became increasingly difficult, and he felt bouts of darkness before his eyes.

It was the oppression!

The oppression from the Military Immortal!

The battle had reached this point.

Tong Xiaochu felt as if everything between heaven and earth had turned into a chessboard, his opponent was an invisible hand controlling everything. He should have been sitting opposite as the player, but somehow he had also become just another piece on the board.

"General Tong, you, you're okay, right?"

Teng Le noticed something was wrong and quickly went to support him.

"I'm fine…"

Tong Xiaochu took deep breaths and after a long while, he recovered, his voice weak as if he had just recovered from a severe illness: "Keep retreating!"

Another ten days passed.

The forces completely gave up the state and retreated to Cloud Top Prefecture in Jiazhou, finally stemming the tide of defeat.

From then on.

Out of two hundred thousand troops, only half remained.

Less than half a year into the war in West Territory, they had continuously lost three states.

"Quick, here's my resignation," Tong Xiaochu said, no longer caring about the details. "Send it to the Ministry of War with the utmost urgency through Ten Thousand Miles Divine Eagle, and ask them to urgently request Chen Dushi to take command!"

...

Capital City.

Zhongjue Hall.

For twenty consecutive days.

Every day, a different report of defeat was delivered here.

"Ambushed at Yellow Wind Ridge, our army was utterly defeated!"

"The commander of Lishi Prefecture betrayed, our army was utterly defeated!"

"..."

"What is happening, what is going on?!"

Ming Qingfeng angrily threw the petition on the ground: "What is Tong Xiaochu doing? Before the burning of Yiling, wasn't everything commanded well and steadily? Why has he suddenly changed completely? He should be executed!"

"You're right, he must be executed!"

Yan Maoxing burst forth in anger: "Forty thousand! To raise forty thousand soldiers, the court has spent so many years and so much silver, and in less than two months, he has squandered it all! And he's even from the Tong Family of the Qilin Pavilion; if I were him, I'd have no face to continue living!"

"We should execute him, but…"

Cao Huan, whose hair had whitened significantly, sighed: "Under the current circumstances, who can we use if we execute him?"

"Prince Zhen Nan is currently dealing with the bandits of Nan Xu, and he has just accepted a group of bandits into his ranks, so he simply cannot be mobilized in the short term. If we must, should we call Lu Ji over?" the Minister of Revenue suggested.

"Lu Ji? In the end, isn't he also a man of the Governor Mansion?"

Yin Mingchun objected: "This war is still intended to cultivate newer military leaders, isn't it?"

"What about Xu Wencai?"

The Minister of Revenue recommended: "This man is unrivaled in intelligence and might be able to match Han Xiang."

"To send him into death without being a Martial Saint?"

Ming Qingfeng shook his head. "Xu Wencai's intelligence is commendable, but after all, he's just a scholar without any real combat strength. This war has already involved 'immortals;' if someone isn't even at the Martial Saint Realm, he likely won't even know how he died."

"I've told you before."

Cao Zhi, lying on a cool mat with two palace maids fanning him, said: "Invite General Chen over."

"No!"

Ming Qingfeng vehemently refused, fuming: "Are we from the Great Sheng Dynasty truly helpless without Chen Sansi?! Let's wait, give Tong Xiaochu another chance! Tell him, he must stabilize the situation quickly!"

"Alas~"

Seeing this, Cao Zhi just shook his head and sighed, not saying anything more.

Twenty more days passed.

As reports of defeat arrived one after another,

the faces of the Prince Regent and the Cabinet ministers grew uglier by the day.

"General Tong suffered setbacks in Shanhua Prefecture, forcing him to withdraw from the state."

"Along the way, they were constantly ambushed!"