Seeing this scene, Duke Turingtuo felt cold all over and his eyes almost popped out.
Beside him, Tu Ningchen and countless generals and soldiers saw this scene and felt their blood run cold.
Over a hundred thousand square meters of ground, flames soared to the sky and thick poisonous gas filled the air. Turingtuo's forty thousand soldiers were all wailing and struggling inside before dying a violent death.
No wonder the process of charging towards the city wall was so smooth without any obstruction. It was so that more soldiers could squeeze under the city wall. It was so that this fire could burn more people to death!
Turingtuo looked at the sea of fire and the countless soldiers who died tragically. His face twitched and his expression became even colder.
"Sound the gongs to retreat!" Then, he coldly ordered!
Immediately, the sound of bells rang out.
Of course, this was only a symbolic sound because charging towards the city wall was too smooth. The forty thousand soldiers had already charged into hell and no one returned.
Turingtuo was very decisive and did not hesitate. He immediately ordered the army to return to the main camp and stop the battle.
…
After returning to the main camp, Turingtuo hid in the tent alone and meditated behind closed doors.
After a while, Tu Ningchen said outside, "Father, Søren's handwritten letter."
Turingtuo said, "Bring it in."
Tu Ningchen entered with the letter and handed it to his father Turingtuo.
There were thousands of densely packed words on the letter.
The tone was neither cold nor passionate. It was just a plain and objective statement of the current situation.
In the letter, Søren clearly stated that he still had seventy thousand soldiers and countless captives. If Turingtuo focused on attacking Sky Wolf Pass, then Søren's chances of winning were more than sixty to seventy percent.
If Turingtuo switched to attacking Wind Thunder Fortress, then Søren had more than ten thousand soldiers defending there. Moreover, he had set up strong fortifications by the river.
Turingtuo still had more than a hundred thousand soldiers left. If he left half of them to besiege Sky Wolf Pass, the other eighty to ninety thousand soldiers would cross the river to attack Wind Thunder Fortress. Then, Turingtuo's chances of winning were more than sixty percent.
Therefore, if the battle continued, both sides' chances of winning were fifty-fifty. But even in the best case scenario, Turingtuo would lose at least a hundred thousand soldiers.
Søren didn't want to fight, not because he couldn't win, but because he wanted to preserve more troops to digest the results of the previous battle. If it was a life and death struggle, it would be hard to say who would emerge victorious.
Previously, Turin Tuo might not have been able to win even when he had two hundred thousand soldiers, let alone now that he had lost forty thousand.
In the end, Søren said in a heavy tone, "Duke Turingtuo, are you in such a hurry to kill me because you're afraid that Zhi Li won't keep his bow when he's done?"
After reading it, Turin Tuo closed his eyes!
Søren's last words struck him hard in his heart.
Currently, Søren was Zhi Li's only and final enemy. Once Søren was eliminated, what use would Duke Turintuo have to Zhi Li?
Of course, Turin Tuo felt that as long as he held onto the military power tightly, Zhi Li would not be able to do anything to him.
However, he still had some arrangements that had not been completed. For example, letting his daughter, Turinduo, control Luanyang City, and letting his son, Tu Ningchen, marry into Yingzhou Island's Hai Family. This way, he would have a path of retreat at sea.
After these arrangements were completed, his Turin Family would have nothing to worry about and their power would grow. At that time, even if Zhi Li wanted to settle the score with the Turin Family, it would not be so easy.
Turin Tuo started to reflect. After receiving Zhi Li's promise of a kingship with a different surname, he was blinded by greed and only wanted to eliminate Søren.
Søren's aerial attack with griffins was a warning to him, but it still did not wake him up.
Now that he was badly injured at Sky Wolf Pass, he finally woke up!
After reading it once, he closed his eyes and thought for a while before reading it again.
Then, he passed the letter to Tu Ningchen and said, "You take a look too."
Tu Ningchen quickly finished reading the letter.
Turin Tuo said, "What do you think?"
Tu Ningchen said, "I think that Søren is exaggerating and wants to blackmail us. But his last sentence makes sense. If we really eliminate him early, His Highness Zhi Li will hide his bow after the birds are out. "
Turin Tuo said, "No, Søren did not blackmail us. Everything in his letter is true. If I use all my strength and wisdom, I still only have a fifty percent chance of winning. And even if I win, it would be amazing if tens of thousands of people can live. "
Tu Ningchen said, "Then we retreat back to Fengdu?"
Turin Tuo said, "We do, but not now!"
…
The next day!
The king's trusted eunuch, Gao Yin, took the Dragon King Staff and flew to Turin Tuo's camp on a griffin!
"Long Chengyan, the king declares that the so-called Young Emperor's assassination of An has nothing to do with Count Søren. There are witnesses and material evidence. The Suo Clan of Tianshui City's rebellion is false. Duke Turin is ordered to immediately lead the army back to Fengdu. If there is any disobedience, it will be the crime of rebellion! "
Gao Yin read out the king's decree in front of all the officers and soldiers.
Turin Tuo looked at Gao Yin for a long time while the rest of the army stared at Turin Tuo.
If Turin Tuo disobeyed the decree, it meant that he would continue to fight. He would be the first minister to do so.
If Turin Tuo disobeyed, then to protect the authority of the king's decree, Søren had to use all his strength and fight to the death with Turin Tuo.
Otherwise, no one would respect the king's decree anymore.
Finally, Duke Turin Tuo knelt down and accepted the king's decree, "This subject obeys!"
Gao Yin heaved a sigh of relief. Tu Ningchen and the rest also heaved a sigh of relief.
After Gao Yin left, Turin Tuo gave the order for the army to break camp and return to Fengdu.
Thus, the 160,000 troops broke camp and returned to Raging Waves Royal City in a mighty manner.
At this point, Zhi Li's extermination operation was officially declared a failure.
From the very beginning, he mobilized an army of four hundred thousand to attack Tianshui City from all directions, the momentum was shocking.
After a month of continuous war, Gui Xingfu surrendered in defeat, Linhai City fell, Ming Wei's entire army was beheaded in public, and Turin Tuo retreated with a small setback.
Zhi Li suffered an unprecedented setback!
And his defeat would directly change the power balance of the entire Raging Wave Kingdom, changing the entire situation.
In this battle, Søren consumed more than 900,000 kilograms of gunpowder, more than 30 million kilograms of kerosene, more than 20,000 casualties, more than 200,000 civilian workers, and 350,000 gold coins of military expenses.
And the results of the battle were even more abundant. They killed 130,000 enemies and captured nearly 70,000.
Two of Gui Xingfu's three arms were chopped off. And the territory and power of Søren's side expanded by more than six times.
…
After Turin Tuo retreated, he didn't wait for Jianning to tell on him. He took the initiative to write an emotional letter to Zhi Li.
In the letter, he said that His Majesty the King had ordered him to retreat.
And in yesterday's battle, Søren was crafty and cunning, burning tens of thousands of his troops to death.
Not only that, Søren's words were also threatening, saying that if Turin Tuo didn't retreat, he would tell some of Zhi Li's secrets to the world.
Thus, Turin Tuo was in a dilemma. He didn't know what to do. Should he retreat or not?
Of course, Turin Tuo had already retreated, but he said it nicely and respectfully asked Zhi Li if he should retreat or not.
This letter was quickly sent to Zhi Li. After Zhi Li received the letter, he sat there quietly and didn't say a word for a long time.
It was a huge blow, an unprecedented blow!
In this war of extermination, they had suffered a crushing defeat.
In the last war, they had suffered an even worse defeat. Hundreds of ships and a hundred and sixty thousand soldiers of the allied army were burned to the ground. But to Zhi Li, it didn't cause much harm.
And this great defeat was truly a blow to his bones, making him want to vomit blood.
Seeing Zhi Li sitting there without moving, his wife, Fang Qingzhuo, asked softly, "What is it?"
Zhi Li said, "Turin Tuo retreated. He led two hundred thousand soldiers and traveled for nearly a month, trekking thousands of miles to reach Sky Wolf Pass. He only fought one battle and then retreated. "
Fang Qingzhuo asked, "Why?"
Zhi Li said, "Because he wanted to nurture the enemy to strengthen himself. After destroying Søren, he was afraid that I would hide my bow after all my birds are gone."
Last time, when Duke Qi Wei's army was completely destroyed and the news of Gui Xingfu's betrayal came, Zhi Li vomited blood and fainted.
And this time, Turin Tuo's retreat meant that Zhi Li's plan had completely failed.
But Zhi Li was very quiet because he found that he didn't have the right to be angry or vent.
The failure of extermination this time was already a foregone conclusion.
Zhi Li was furious, sorrowful, and his blood was boiling. But on the outside, he was cold and silent.
Then, he personally wrote a letter to Turin Tuo.
This letter was filled with even more emotions. He expressed his condolences to Turin Tuo and stood at the height of the kingdom, agreeing with Turin Tuo's retreat.
Not only that, he once again brought up old matters, hoping to marry Turin Tuo's daughter, Turin Mo, as his concubine.
At this time, he probably wanted to skin Turin Tuo and tear his tendons to pieces. But the tone of his letter was even more humble and affectionate. It was really hard on him.
… …
After the war, the great eunuch Gao Yin was destined to be the busiest person.
After delivering the edict to Duke Turin Tuo and personally witnessing Turin Tuo's retreat, he rode his griffin back to Fengdu and directly entered Zhi Li's residence.
"His Majesty has an edict!"
Zhi Li walked forward with a cold expression. He only bowed and did not kneel to receive the edict.
Because everyone knew that the current edict was written by either Søren or Jung Yeon.
"According to Long Chengyan, the king says that Young Prince Zhi Li was stabbed and injured because he coveted Gui Qinshao's beauty, but he framed Count Søren instead. This action is absurd and shameless. He disregarded the kingdom's laws and disregarded the king's dignity …"
In this decree, Feng Li was thoroughly reprimanded.
Finally, Young Prince Zhi Li was ordered to reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors and receive three lashes!
After hearing the edict, Zhi Li's face twitched.
Great humiliation, great humiliation!
If Turin Tuo's army was still besieging Sky Wolf Pass, he would not hesitate to resist the edict.
But now, the so-called resistance to the edict was only a breath of air. And if he dared to resist the edict, the new edict would dare to remove him from the position of young prince.
Although his position did not come from the king, he had failed in the mission to destroy Suo. Resisting the edict would not be worth it.
Immediately, Zhi Li gritted his teeth and said, "Your son obeys the edict!"
Then, he stood in the middle of the courtyard. A eunuch came forward with a long whip in his hand.
"Smack!"
"Smack!"
"Smack!"
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, three lashes landed on Zhi Li's back mercilessly.
Zhi Li's entire back was instantly drenched in blood.
After the beating, Gao Yin left with the eunuchs and warriors.
And Zhi Li stood in the courtyard, motionless. Blood flowed from his back as he looked up at the sky.
His gaze gradually became ruthless and cold, and his face gradually became ferocious.
"This great humiliation must be returned a hundredfold, a hundredfold …"
"Pi Bian, Søren, Jung Yeon, I will crush your bones and scatter your ashes!"
…
Eunuch Gao Yin was destined to be extremely busy.
In King City, after Zhi Li received the edict and was humiliated, the next edict could be smoothly issued.
He rode the griffin and once again flew to Tianshui City!
This time, it was Gui Qinshao who received the edict.
"Long Chengyan, the king decrees that the Gui Family's daughter, Qinshao, will be granted a noble warrior medal!"
That was the first edict.
"Long Chengyan, the king decrees that Gui Qinshao will be granted the title of Countess of Linhai and the position of the Lord of Linhai City!"
At this point, Gui Qinshao officially became the Lord of Linhai City and the second female duke in the world!
…
In a manor in the capital of the Yan Empire.
Princess Zhi Ning was nursing the babies. Although they were not yet a month old, the babies already weighed more than ten kilograms. They were white and chubby, and they were so cute that they couldn't be.
At this time, he was holding one baby in his hand and sucking the other one in his mouth, trying hard to drink milk.
"Mmm, mmm, mmm …" While eating, he had to make laborious sounds. It was really hard to eat.
The babies were very strong. They ate a lot every time and sucked so hard that Zhi Ning's sensitive nipples even felt pain.
"Little rascal, just eat. Why do you have to bite so hard?" Zhi Ning said, then gently patted the baby's little face.
At this time, a nanny came in and bowed. "Your Highness, this is a letter from His Royal Highness."
Zhi Ning was stunned. A letter from her brother, Zhi Li?
Ever since she escaped to the capital of the Yan Empire, her brother, Zhi Li, had almost cut off all relations with her. He had never written a word to her. Why would he write a letter now?
While nursing the babies, she opened the letter.
After reading it, her delicate body trembled and her beautiful eyes widened. She couldn't believe the contents of the letter.
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