To achieve immortality, I cultivate using Qi Luck

Chapter 878: Chapter 372: Uncle-Nephew Night Talk_2

“So what should we do? Are we just going to wait for death like lambs to the slaughter?” bemoaned Bai Jingluo, his heart brimming with despair.

“Of course not.”

Bai Yian put away his sorrow, his expression becoming resolute and determined, as he looked at Bai Jingluo with a piercing gaze, “The Chu people want to treat me like a wild beast, lured into the trap they have set, to be hunted at their leisure.

Yet, though a wild beast may be dim-witted, it still possesses the courage to fight to the death.

The desperate struggle before death can also exact a heavy toll on the hunter.

I have decided that tomorrow, I shall continue to lead the army to Ruichang, where we will have our final battle with the Chu army.

They, the Chu people, seek to cut off my path home, do they not?

Then I shall let them know just how great the anger that flares when one’s hope of returning home, one’s route back to one’s troops, is blocked.

Here lie my entire army’s fifty thousand soldiers; I am curious to see just how heavy a price the Chu people are prepared to pay to consume us.”

By the end, Bai Yian’s tone was flat, devoid of emotion.

Warfare is ruthless.

Death in war is inevitable; it is simply a matter of whether you die or I die.

Now that Ning Country has been defeated, as the price, we, the Ning Army, must go to our deaths.

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But how we die, whether it’s with worth, that’s the art of war.

Since it is destined that we cannot bring this remnant of the Ning Country’s Eastern Expedition back home, the remaining consideration is how to make these fifty thousand soldiers trapped in dire straits reach their highest value.

Bai Yian had come to a decision on this matter.

“Uncle!”

Bai Jingluo, upon perceiving the suicidal intent in Bai Yian’s words, immediately exclaimed urgently, “Fifty thousand troops are too many to withdraw, but we are skilled in martial arts. With the sky so vast above and the earth so broad below, if merely dozens or hundreds wish to escape, what difficulty lies therein?

Now our army has been greatly defeated, the peril of our nation is imminent.

At such a critical juncture, we must reserve our capable selves for the future, to protect and defend our homes and country, to resist the Chu, to safeguard our rivers and mountains!”

Bai Jingluo pleaded earnestly.

Having lost his father at a young age, he was personally raised by Bai Yian as if he were his own child.

Because of this, Bai Jingluo also regarded his uncle as if he were his own father, respectful and filial.

Seeing the father figure in his uncle desiring death, he naturally felt heart-wrenching and unbearable sorrow.

“Jingluo…”

Hearing his nephew’s words, Bai Yian’s tone grew heavier, and he solemnly said, “Listen to me. Our Bai family has inherited the position of the Wuan Marquis for generations, with countless famed generals amongst our ancestors, long acclaimed as Jiangdong’s shield, the protectors of the state.

Now that I have led my troops against the Chu bandits and been defeated without even being able to withdraw safely to our own borders,

The promises I once made to my soldiers have turned to empty words.

The defeat of our troops and the death of our commanders are simply the way of Heaven and Earth.

I have already failed my country and my soldiers; how could I also fail my family, my own honor?

As a general, I can no longer face living in this world.

Let me, as the Bai family’s Wuan Marquis, offer the final tribute to this national catastrophe.

Let those Chu people witness that we Jiangdong men also have the valor and spirit to fight, and are not to be trifariously bullied.”

Bai Yian was not afraid to die.

Death comes to all, and no one can escape it.

Some deaths are as light as a feather, while others are as heavy as Mount Tai.

Dying for one’s country, for the soldiers, for the family, for oneself, is to die a death of worth.

Such a death, heavy as Mount Tai, fierce and passionate—even if life ends on the battlefield, it is without regret.

This legacy will also inspire respect in others.

However, if as the Commander, he were to show fear before the enemy, abandon his troops in the face of battle, and flee for his own survival,

Such a life, Bai Yian felt, was no better than death, perhaps even worse.

Because by doing so, what is abandoned is not just one’s own reputation, but the legendary name of the Wuan Marquis passed down through the family, and the last vestiges of Ning Country’s dignity.

He was unwilling to do this.

He would rather use his death to preserve these things.

Moreover, the current situation for Ning Country was too dire.

The Chu Army had entered Yuzhang, and there was no definite news from Lingnan, but it was presumed to have been defeated as well.

With Yuzhang lost, the two forces in Hengyang and Luyang, totaling two hundred thousand troops from Ning Country, probably weren’t faring much better than his own force.

As for the one hundred thousand troops in Changsha, they had been defeated utterly.

In almost an instant, all five routes of Ning Country’s Eastern and Southern Expeditions had been annihilated, routed in disastrous defeats.

Only in the north, where Yang Jing was supported by a large naval force, would it be possible to withdraw successfully and flee back to the country.

Yet, with this Eastern Expedition, Ning Country had nearly exhausted its strength, and all six routes of its army had been defeated, with many obliterated entirely.

The loss of troops probably numbered five hundred thousand.

With so many elite forces lost, relying solely on the mere two hundred thousand left inside the country—who would likely bring back only around one hundred thousand battered survivors—how could they defend Ning Country?

Yes, new soldiers had indeed been recruited within Ning Country, lately.

But these new soldiers had only been in camp for less than a month and were no different from civilian workers.

Without one or two years of training, how could they be expected to serve any significant purpose?

Under such circumstances, Bai Yian had to consider the future path for Ning Country, the future path for their Coastal Aristocratic Family.

After much contemplation, the only strategy he could think of was to launch a desperate counterattack in the face of defeat, to inflict as much damage as possible on the Chu troops, weakening their strength.

After suffering heavy casualties, the Chu army, having gone through continuous battles and exhausted their soldiers, would find it not so easy to invade Ning Country.

In the end, perhaps fatigued from prolonged warfare, they might temporarily halt their assault on Ning Country.

That way, some breathing space of a year or a half could possibly be earned.