Free Web NovelChapter 2326: Chapter 2301: Joint Deliberation
Junior General Meng brought back a large number of injured soldiers. The entire camp was bustling, and the eight assistants in the medical tent were simply not enough. Bai Shan picked some people from his own guards and Assistant General Nie’s troops to help out.
Bai Shan was busy triaging patients and could only point Junior General Meng in the direction of Junior General Guo before continuing with his work.
When Junior General Meng went inside and saw General Guo and his son, he couldn’t help but wipe away tears.
Junior General Meng turned and left Tent No.1, only to see Zhou Man squatting on the ground with scissors in hand, treating a wound. He wanted to step forward and ask about Junior General Guo’s situation, but Bai Erlang squeezed past him from behind, saying, "Make way, don’t stand in the middle blocking the road..."
Bai Erlang placed hot water beside Zhou Liru, glanced at her sutures, and when he saw she was finished, he found hemostatic medicine in a nearby basket, applied the medicine, and then bandaged the wound.
Liu Huan was on the side, using scissors to cut away clothing stuck to wounds, then cleaning them. Upon examining a wound, he judged it didn’t need suturing, so he provided a complete package of hemostasis and bandaging.
Manbao’s speed was even faster than Zhou Liru’s. The two assistants she brought couldn’t keep up, so she had to find another person to help.
Watching this, Junior General Meng suddenly clutched his stomach. Bai Shan, having just finished triaging the wounded, passed by him, then stepped back to check his abdomen. The dark color of his armor made it hard to see anything, so Bai Shan pulled his hand away, saw the knife wound, then opened his clothing fragment to take a look and said, "It’s a minor injury. Wait outside for a bit."
Upon looking up and realizing it was Junior General Meng, Bai Shan thought they still needed him to charge into battle and communicate with General Li. So he pulled Meng aside and pushed him down, saying, "Take off the armor, let me check first. If it needs suturing, I will have Manbao stitch it up for you later."
Junior General Meng: ...
Junior General Meng’s abdomen was slashed by a knife, but fortunately, his armor blocked some of the impact, so the wound wasn’t too deep, though it was still oozing blood.
Bai Shan cleaned his wound, and Manbao came over with needle and thread, instructing him to lean back as she stitched him up, asking, "So Wang City has fallen now?"
Junior General Meng confirmed, "General Guo... once the general recovers we will retake Wang City."
With no leader, they wanted to command the entire army but couldn’t. Moreover, with the ambush, morale was quite low.
Manbao frowned and asked, "How are the soldiers’ casualties?"
She saw so many wounded herself, but didn’t know how many had died on the battlefield.
Junior General Meng replied, "Four hundred ninety-eight were killed in action, and the injured... you’ve seen it."
In silence, Manbao completed the suturing, then turned to tend to other wounded soldiers.
Manbao and the military doctors worked until dusk to treat all the wounded, while Bai Shan and Junior General Meng had already discussed and reorganized the camp layout with General Li. The official road from the camp to the city gate now had checkpoints every three miles.
Today, no enemy troops came to harass them. Bai Shan said, "In the city, there are rebels, but naturally there are also those unwilling to join their ranks. Moreover, the Kucha King has borrowed the Turks’ power, so they’re likely tangled in their issues, giving us a breather."
Junior General Meng was eager, "If we attack the city now..."
"Impossible," General Li objected, "Last night we suffered heavy casualties. With General Guo unable to lead and morale low, sending troops would only result in death."
Junior General Meng was full of regret, "Then when should we act? In a few days, once they’ve sorted out their internal issues, they might launch an attack, and by then we’ll be forced into a passive position, which will be even more unfavorable for us."
General Li was aware of this but insisted, "We are not suitable for battle at this moment."
Bai Shan said, "It’s because morale is too low. If morale is restored, we could mount an attack."
They still had around two thousand personnel available, capable of making a powerful strike.
General Li said, "Unless General Guo comes back to life."
Bai Shan and Junior General Meng: ... That was asking too much of General Guo, as it was impossible for the dead to come back to life.
The situation was temporarily unresolved, so they could only prepare for defense while sending people to investigate what was happening in Wang City.
In the evening, six people sat wearily by the fire, too tired to eat much.
Manbao couldn’t help but sigh, "It’s true what they say in the books, when you’re extremely exhausted, not only do you lose your appetite, but you also don’t want to sleep."
She felt hungry but didn’t really want to eat anything; she felt tired, but her mind refused to rest, unable even to relax for a moment.
Bai Erlang and Liu Huan were in slightly better condition. They mostly engaged in physical labor today, not using much mental effort, so they were both extremely hungry and tired, their heads buried in their food without lifting them.
Bai Shan was also exhausted, having been using his mind constantly, leaving him with little appetite.
At that moment, he was mentally reviewing all the military strategies he had read, asking, "What strategy should we use? Ideally, one that causes disruption within their ranks and prevents them from attacking us within the next five days. Or, one that boosts our morale so we can strike back before they make a move."
Manbao, with her mind full of thoughts about hemostasis, amputations, and sutures, couldn’t find room to think about these matters and casually said, "Shout loyalty to the emperor and charge forward."
Bai Shan looked at her and asked, "Would you charge forward if I shouted that?"
Manbao shook her head.
Bai Shan said, "Likewise, others wouldn’t either."
His gaze swept across the orderly patrolling soldiers and sighed, "If we want them to fight to the death, either General Guo must come back to life to give them confidence in victory, or they must be promised great rewards that leave them no choice but to fight."
Manbao struggled to finish a bite of rice and said, "But you’re not a general; you probably can’t offer them great rewards." freēwēbnovel.com
Bai Shan nodded, "That’s right. The promises I make they might not believe, and even if they believe them, they might not be valid. So we’re left with the strategy of lamenting soldiers."
Finally managing to clear her bloody thoughts from her mind, Manbao considered briefly and said, "But what if this backfires?"
A lamenting army, if its belief remains, could indeed fight back desperately. But if not well-handled, a lamenting army’s spirit could break, leading to a complete collapse.
Bai Shan knew the risks of this method, "So we can prepare in advance. We have some time over the next couple of days, and it’s not like we have no options for dealing with Wang City."
"What options?" frёeωebɳovel.com
Bai Shan said, "I’ll have Junior General Meng take apart General Guo’s belongings and tent, and tell the soldiers that General Guo feels he has let them down and has decided to live and eat with them until Wang City is retaken."
Of course, having General Guo really live and eat with them was impossible because he was no longer alive, but the gesture could be made.
The soldiers living in ordinary tents, and he’d be in the medical tent; the soldiers eating with ordinary clay bowls, and his porcelain bowl would be put away, using clay bowls just like them...
That would make them appear the same.
The soldiers would recognize this attitude.
