Chapter 1116: This Matter Is A Bit Preposterous

With a single sentence from Zou Sheng, the entire room exploded.

"What did you say?"

"Abandon the Wusun region?"

"General Zou!"

"Are you out of your mind?"

The expressions of these generals all changed, one by one.

The biggest reason they wanted Zou Sheng to take over command now was that they wanted to hold onto the Wusun region! After all, Balkhash Lake had already been lost, and recently, this Wusun region had been fought over until it was a complete mess! Domestic public opinion was already about to explode. Everywhere, people were cursing their Northwest Allied Forces!

The most urgent thing now was to cut their losses in time!

At the very least, they had to hold the Wusun region before talking about anything else!

And yet, now you say...

We should abandon the Wusun region?

Crazy!

Zou Sheng must be crazy!

"Bang!"

At that moment, that Jingchu general slammed the table hard, flared his nostrils, glared at Zou Sheng, and roared: "General Zou, are you insulting us?"

The others also looked on with anger.

They felt that for Zou Sheng to say such a thing was a complete insult to them.

Seeing that the situation had reached this point, Zou Sheng stopped playing games with them and chuckled: "Fellow colleagues, fellow generals, Zou Sheng only wants to ask one thing here: do we want a small victory or a great victory? Do we want to rout this current Tsarist Russia, or do we want to rout the entirety of Tsarist Russia?"

"What?"

Hearing this, they were plunged into shock once again.

A small victory or a great victory?

A victory this time, or a complete rout of the entirety of Tsarist Russia?

This question left them somewhat stunned. Because right now, they couldn't even secure a small victory! How could they talk about the entirety of Tsarist Russia! Good grief, the current situation was that they were being pinned to the ground by Tsarist Russia and rubbed into the dirt! Did they even have any room to choose?

Zou Sheng laughed, finally walked slowly to the sand table, pointed his finger at the Wusun region, and said calmly: "Fellow generals, please look. This Wusu region is considered the most complex terrain in the entire Western Regions. It is surrounded by mountains, yet the interior lacks water..."

The generals looked over one after another.

Hearing this from Zou Sheng, they finally perked up.

That was true.

Although they were not very familiar with the Western Regions, the Wusun region and the Dayuan Kingdom were actually quite unique places in the Western Regions. This included the Balkhash Lake they had just lost. Relatively speaking, the terrain and altitude of Balkhash Lake and the Dayuan Kingdom were both quite high, yet the Wusun region was the other extreme.

That was, the terrain was extremely low.

This difference in terrain was obvious on the sand table.

This was also the reason why, after losing Balkhash Lake, the Wusun region was impossible to defend. Because of the terrain, the enemy Tsarist Russia's Cavalry could almost pour down, leaving them with no natural barriers to defend. They could only fight while retreating.

Zou Sheng continued: "Since that is the case, why are we still clinging to Wusun?"

He gave a cold laugh: "Let's just abandon Wusun and let Tsarist Russia toss and turn here to their heart's content!"

"We will retreat and defend Yanqi!"

"Invite the guest into the urn!"

"And then, pull off a 'catching a turtle in a jar' maneuver!"

This sentence made a thunderous sound in the minds of many!

Good heavens!

Invite the guest into the urn!

Catching a turtle in a jar!

This tactic...

Why hadn't they thought of it before? It was simple: because Tsarist Russia was the invading party, and for the sake of the so-called glory of Longyan, they were unwilling to abandon any piece of territory; such thinking was naturally understandable. No one wanted their own territory to be lost and fall into the hands of the enemy; that would make them a sinner of the nation, a sinner of history!

However...

Their understanding of the Western Regions still could not compare to Zou Sheng's.

The Western Regions, the Wusun region, were inherently very complex.

Zou Sheng had no pity for these Wusun people at all; these Wusun people could not truly be called citizens of Longyan.

Zou Sheng had absolutely no heart of pity for this bunch of Wusun people; these Wusun people could not truly be called citizens of Longyan either.

If their land was lost, so what?

If their lives were brutally slaughtered, what of it?

Zou Sheng did not care at all!

If these Wusun people who caused trouble in the Western Regions every day could satisfy his grand strategy, he would not feel a shred of heartache if they lost their lives!

If these Wusun people, who caused trouble in the Western Regions every day, could satisfy his grand strategy by losing their lives, he would not feel a shred of heartache!

But Tsarist Russia was different...

Their target was Liangzhou! They didn't just want to take Balkhash Lake; they wanted to march on Liangzhou! The Wusun region was a place they had to take! But as long as they wanted to garrison this natural giant pit that was Wusun, they would have to invest a great deal of energy and troops... In this way, the pressure on the Liangzhou front would inevitably be reduced.

In this way, the Longyan side, the Northwest Allied Forces, could pull off a true 'catching a turtle in a jar'!

Everyone, upon hearing this, was filled with shock!

Afterward, they looked at Zou Sheng with disbelief, one by one, their expressions turning very ugly!

Afterwards, they all looked at Zou Sheng in disbelief, their complexions all looking very unsightly!

So this Zou Sheng never wanted the Wusun region from the very beginning! So from the very beginning, he wanted to gift this place to Tsarist Russia! No wonder he had acted so indifferent about the command authority before... because he was more than happy for this group of people to snatch the command authority and then fight a disastrous battle...

So this Zou Sheng, from the very beginning, never wanted the Wusun region! So from the very beginning, he wanted to give this place to Tsarist Russia! No wonder he previously acted so indifferent about the command authority... because he was more than happy for that bunch of people to seize the command authority and then fight a disastrous battle...

Let the pressure of public opinion fall upon their heads.

And as for today...

Even if Zou Sheng orders a retreat and abandons Wusun... he will not be the sinner who bears the brunt of it!

They are the ones standing at the front!

How devious!

This kid, so young, yet so devious!

No wonder he could become the standout of the younger generation under Vice Minister Liu!

They wanted to make Zou Sheng the scapegoat!

Little did they expect, Zou Sheng had long since tossed the black pot for them to carry!

"General Zou..."

"If we withdraw from Wusun... and still fail to block the Tsarist Russia Army at Yanqi..."

"This responsibility..."

Zou Sheng laughed heartily, his face indifferent: "I will bear the responsibility!"

The crowd looked at each other in dismay.

Although they were very reluctant in their hearts, what other Method was there now? The morale was completely unusable; if they continued to hold on stubbornly, the casualties would only increase...

"Good!"

The group finally gritted their teeth hard and agreed to Zou Sheng's decision.

Retreat!

The remaining army of over three hundred thousand retreated overnight, pulling out of the Wusun region!

"What did you say? They retreated?"

Rumyantsev was shocked when he heard this news the next day.

The Scout said: "Marshal, yes, our scout squad went to investigate today, and they had already fled overnight!"

"Fantastic!"

"Hahahaha, this bunch of weak Longyan! I knew they wouldn't last!"

"Pursue!"

"Marshal, congratulations to the Marshal for achieving a great merit!"

"His Majesty will surely reward the Marshal handsomely!"

The group of generals under his command were incomparably excited, laughing arrogantly.

Rumyantsev, however, frowned slightly and fell into deep thought.

They retreated?

They retreated all of a sudden?

When things are abnormal, there must be a demon!

What exactly do these Longyan want to do?

In fact, for the past few days, Rumyantsev had been waiting for the arrival of Longyan reinforcements; he had been waiting for a decisive battle.

After all, this was a proper war of aggression...

Tsarist Russia invading Long

yan!

This Longyan would surely defend the northern gateway of the Western Regions to the death!

But now...

Are these Longyan really that weak?

Rumyantsev felt not.

However...

The facts were laid out before him; when he rode his horse, galloping for dozens of miles to the Longyan Army camp that was still brightly lit last night, it was now a scene of total devastation. The Longyan Army had thrown away what they could, burned what they could, and destroyed what they could... It seemed they had left in a great hurry...

Absurd.

Rumyantsev took a deep breath.

This matter was somewhat absurd. Pop-ups have been frequent lately; you may click to download to avoid pop-ups.