Immortal Road.

Chapter 298: The King's Tent
Mr. Bei always felt that Lin Shan's smile was malicious, but he still kept a stern face at the moment.

"Master Lin, instead of chasing after the enemy, you stayed here. Do you want to see me make a fool of myself?"

Lin Shan was personally appointed as the military advisor and chief priest by the Kuihu Demon King, and at the same time led a cave of soldiers. Logically, he should have two titles, but he should generally be called Military Advisor Lin or Mr. Lin, as the Kuihu Demon King called him that.

However, Mr. Bei only called him Lord Lin Dong, which showed that he did not recognize his identity as a military advisor. He thought that his advice was not sincere and that he might have other intentions.

Of course, there is also the reason of different ideas.

Mr. Bei always seeks stability. The series of adventures proposed by the three Linshan brothers always go against his ideas, making him very uncomfortable.

Lao Bei is also a demon who shows his emotions on his face. He can be called a "demon in temperament". His dislike and disgust are clearly shown on his face, and he is quite narrow-minded.

But Lin Shan didn't care at all and still had a smiling face.

At this time, three black shadows rushed out from the dense forest, so fast that the monster was dazzled and almost scared Mr. Bei.

Looking closely, it turned out to be three balls of black fog with green bean-sized eyes flashing inside. The three evil spirit brothers came back to report to their master.

"Sir, the guinea pig demon spirit has been captured, please have a look!"

Lin Shan took a small bottle, pulled out the cork and looked inside. It was indeed the guinea pig demon general from before. He was now trapped inside and unable to move, grinning at him.

Put the stopper on and throw the bottle into the storage bracelet.

"Well, you did a good job. I'll let you off this time. This won't happen again. Go back now!"

The three evil spirit brothers finally felt relieved, as it seemed the matter of stealing the demon pills was exposed. They jumped into the spirit beast bags one by one and disappeared, joining the saplings of the ancient phantom tree.

Mr. Bei outside stared at him with his eyes wide open, and pointed his furry paws at him.

"You... You are still raising evil spirits? Are you an evil cultivator?"

Lin Shan said "hmm" without comment, then waved his hand.

"Follow!"

"Ow~~~"

A group of demon soldiers surrounded him from behind and went away, chasing after the defeated soldiers of the Yuanlu Demon King.

Mr. Bei looked at Lin Shan's receding back with a gloomy face. He didn't expect that Lin Shan could actually kill the guinea pig demon general. His strength should not be underestimated. He couldn't help but feel worried and frowned.

Just at this moment, another voice came.

"Hey, isn't this our great military advisor Mr. Bei? Why is he so embarrassed?"

Mr. Bei suddenly turned his head and looked towards the direction where the sound came from.

Zhong Shenxiu came with a cave of demon soldiers, holding the head of a pig demon in his hand, surrounded by stars.

"Pig Demon General! You...you...you killed it alone?"

Mr. Bei stuttered when he spoke. This kid was so thin and weak that he suffered from tuberculosis. How could such a sick guy capture and kill a general under the command of the Yuanlu Demon King?

"Take it!"

Zhong Shenxiu threw the pig's head aside, and a group of little demons hurriedly helped the boss carry the spoils. They looked as respectful as possible, probably because they were impressed by his strength.

"Mr. Bei, I wasted half an hour's opportunity to fight, causing the king to suffer heavy losses. What do you think is the crime?"

Zhong Shenxiu had a playful look on his face as he looked at him with a cynical look.

Although Mr. Bei felt a little nervous, he still pretended to be calm.

"Although I arrived late, I finally completed the two-pronged strategy and defeated the Yuanlu Monster King's army. Minor losses do not affect the overall situation. Considering my years of service to the King, I think it is nothing!"

"Oh? Really?"

Zhong Shenxiu nodded without arguing with it. He just waved his hand, and his little demons followed him and chased away into the distance, leaving a word in the distance in the wind.

"I hope that by then, you can still remain so calm, sir."

Mr. Bei watched the ceremony from afar as it left, a gloomy feeling rising in his heart.

The next moment, the sound of galloping came from behind again.

“Tap tap tap tap~”

"stop!"

Mr. Bei turned his head in confusion.

The young master of Jiuyou was waving a folding fan in one hand and playing with a jade-white demon pill in the other. There was a group of little demons following behind him, carrying two huge tusks, and they were all exhausted and panting.

It seems that the rock-skinned elephant monster finally died at the hands of Young Master Jiuyou. This is enough to show that Young Master Jiuyou is very well hidden and has many unknown means.

"Hey, isn't this our great military advisor Mr. Bei? Why is he so embarrassed?"

This was the third time Mr. Bei had heard these words today. He always felt that there was something else going on in the words of these three people, so he began to be extremely cautious and even began to test them.

"What do you mean, Master Wei? I just fought desperately to defend the enemy, buying you time to kill the enemy's elite troops. I served the king, so what's wrong with being a little embarrassed?"

Young Master Jiuyou smiled, pointed at the interception troops behind him that had lost more than half of their troops, and shook his head slightly.

"If you had been able to ambush according to the established plan, the result would be far different from what it is now. After this battle, the Yuanlu Demon King was certainly seriously injured, but the King also suffered heavy losses. Even the Flying Bear Army was almost destroyed by you. Tsk tsk tsk."

Mr. Bei was startled, for he knew that the Flying Bear Army had always been the treasure of the Kuihu Demon King, and he pampered them so much on weekdays that he was afraid that anything might go wrong, so he specifically let the soldier go along for the long-distance raid this time.

As a result, in order to resist the Zhulu Sword Formation of the Yuanlu Demon King and block the defeated troops' way back, it destroyed this trump card.

However, the relationship between the monarch and his subject over the years made Mr. Bei mysteriously confident. He felt that the Kuihu Demon King would not do anything to him, so he raised his head and responded with courage.

"Master Wei, there is no need to ridicule me. The right and wrong will be judged by the public. It was obviously because the king acted prematurely and did not launch the general attack according to the established plan, which caused me to be late. I have always kept my promise to ambush at the time and place, and finally came to support you. The king will understand me!"

Young Master Jiuyou curled his lips and nodded seriously.

"Oh, I see. So it's the king's fault. I'll make a note of this."

"Uh"

Mr. Bei was dumbfounded. Before he could say anything, Young Master Jiuyou had already led his men away to reap the defeated soldiers.

On the dense forest road under the night sky, there were not only the echoes of the sound of swords and horses, but also blazing flames in many places, shining flickeringly on Mr. Bei's face.

……

The chase lasted until the afternoon of the next day.

The army of the Kuihu Demon King chased to the outside of Hongya Cave, the lair of the Yuanlu Demon King, and gave up only when they saw the mountain protection formation that was ready for battle.

The Yuanlu Demon King fled back in a panic, with only one tenth of his troops left alive. There were over ten thousand corpses left on the road, and the whole place was filled with wailing. It was a horrific sight.

However, there are many demon soldiers among them, who must have been separated while fleeing. They will most likely return gradually in the future, but it would be considered good if at most 30% of the organization could be retained.

The battle of Jingqilin finally came to an end.

"Report!"

A brand new royal tent was built in the military camp outside Hongya Cave.

The Kuihu Demon King was in high spirits, sitting on the throne with a big horse and a golden sword. Two rows of demon generals and cave masters from all walks of life gathered together, listening to the reports from their subordinates, and the braziers around them were burning brightly.

In the past, the report should have been given by Mr. Bei.

But this time, it was Zhong Shenxiu who was rarely replaced.

"In this battle, we killed more than 10,000 Yuanlu demon king's troops, destroyed 15 elite tribes, 8 demon generals, seized more than 20 battle flags, and captured more than 5,000 enemy cattle, sheep, elk and deer."

The demon king Kuihu was delighted, and all the generals under his command were also smiling.

"More than a thousand of our demon soldiers were killed or wounded, 300 are missing, three Jindan-stage demon generals have died, the seven cave formations have been completely disbanded, and more than half of the Feixiong Army has been killed or wounded."

Having said this, Zhong Shenxiu's tone gradually became quieter.

A chill suddenly rose in the big tent, and the face of the Kuihu Demon King began to look bad again.

It was clearly a great victory, and the Yuanlu Demon King was seriously injured, but I didn't expect that our side would also suffer such heavy losses.

You have to know that the carnivorous monsters are not at an advantage in terms of numbers, and their strength lies in their individual strength. This time, in addition to the troops left behind in his hometown, the Demon King Kuihu only brought out 5,000 elite troops for the expedition. Now a quarter of them were killed in one go, so he was naturally in a bad mood.

This is totally different from what was planned before!
Simply put, it is the gap between expectation and reality. When the three brothers Lin Shan first came to offer advice, their original intention was to annihilate the Yuanlu Monster King's army.

As a result, the plan could not keep up with the changes. The Yuanlu Demon King divided his troops and left them to guard the Xuanwu Corpse Pit, and only led most of the troops back. Then, although they were attacked from both sides in the Jingqi Forest, in order to break through by force, they used their bloodline magical powers to attack Mr. Bei's position.

The Kuihu Demon King happened to have lost his magic treasure in the Xuanwu Corpse Rejection Land, and did not dare to resist the Yuanlu Demon King's Zhulu Sword Formation. He could only watch his subordinates suffer heavy casualties. The Yuanlu Demon King opened a gap and led the remaining soldiers to break out. This was also unexpected.

Of course, if there is any mistake, it is impossible for the leader to bear the blame. Someone below him must bear the blame.
What's more, there is indeed a link in this battle where there are some problems.

The might of the tiger demon king Kuihu was revealed, and his huge aura overwhelmed the place. All the demons felt uncomfortable and their hearts began to tremble. They could all feel the boss's dissatisfaction.

The flames in the braziers around began to dormant again, and the sound of a whistling cold wind could be heard outside the tent.

The first person to be questioned was Zhong Shenxiu who was giving a report.

“Military Advisor Zhong, the result you planned for me before doesn’t seem to be this. The Yuanlu Monster King’s strength has only been half destroyed, and I have also lost a quarter of my troops. Tell me what went wrong!”

Post-war review is a necessary part of the military.

Zhong Shenxiu came from a prominent family and had the composure to remain calm even when faced with a huge crisis. When faced with questioning, he calmly bowed.

Of course, this blame cannot be put on the demon king Kuihu. If we have to blame him, we have to blame
"Your Majesty, sometimes man's plans are not as good as God's plans. God's will is hard to predict and things go against one's wishes. It is all due to the lack of favorable time, place and people."

"In my opinion, I had everything in my hands in this battle, but I made some mistakes that shouldn't have happened because of the people."

"We could have achieved more results, but because of that small error, we ended up in the current situation."

……

The Kuihu demon king was intimidating without being angry, and asked calmly:

"So where does Military Advisor Zhong think the so-called mistake lies?"

Zhong Shenxiu bowed deeply and said, "Your Majesty, I dare not say anything!"

Monsters: "."

The Kuihu demon king was impatient to begin with, so he couldn't pretend to be calm anymore, so he just coughed and said, "Why not? Just say it!"

Zhong Shenxiu pretended to be shy, hesitant and sighed: "This person is the king's confidant, and an old minister who is second only to the monster and above all the monsters. He dragged his feet at the critical moment. In fact, there is no need to say it clearly on the spot."

At this point, the direction is very clear.

Before the Kuihu Demon King could say anything, Mr. Bei couldn't help it and jumped out to question him.

"Zhong boy, who are you accusing?"

Zhong Shenxiu suddenly shrank back at this moment, his eyes filled with fear, and his tone became even weaker:

"No, no, I have absolutely no intention of disrespect, but... maybe I said something wrong before."

Mr. Bei was furious: "Humph, boy, why are you pretending? You are talking about me in a veiled way. Do you really think I can't hear it?"

Zhong Shenxiu was timid and did not dare to argue with him.

The young master of Jiuyou slammed the table and stood up, his hair standing on end with rage!

The two of them exchanged glances secretly, one played the good guy and the other played the bad guy, with a clear division of labor.

"You old bastard! How dare you bully my third brother!"

The whole hall was shocked.

The Demon King Kuihu doesn't know what has happened yet, and the other demon generals are also waiting for the follow-up of the incident.

The prestige that Mr. Bei had cultivated over the years was also revealed at this moment. Except for the Kuihu Demon King, he had always been the leader, and it had been like this for hundreds of years. This was the first time that he was outwitted by a junior, and there were people who dared to challenge him face to face!
"Young man, do you have any manners? Haven't your elders taught you how to respect the elderly?"

"Ah! Are you worthy enough?"

The young master of Jiuyou had an extremely explosive temper and lost his temper on the spot, which was in stark contrast to the tuberculosis ghost Zhong Shenxiu who was standing next to him, submissive and with a look of grievance on his face.

"Your Majesty, this time when you went to war, you were sure to succeed by making a feint to the east and attacking in the west. But because you missed the opportunity, you wasted more than three quarters of an hour, nearly half an hour, and failed to achieve your goal. You are shameless!"

The old man angrily scolded on the spot:

"What nonsense! Although I arrived late, I have blocked the army of the Yuanlu Monster King. The two-pronged attack is ready. The reason why I failed to achieve my goal is because the Yuanlu Monster King is no longer restrained by force majeure. Otherwise, I would have blocked the way with my battle array and it would have been a sure win!"

At this moment, Mr. Bei was still loyal and knew to cover up for the Demon King Kuihu, so he spoke vaguely.

However, who is the young master of Jiuyou? He was born in a top sect of the magic world and is well acquainted with intrigues and deceptions, not to mention this kind of conceptual confrontation. He immediately seized the language loophole and began to fight back.

"Mr. Bei, do you know that you are late? Because of your late arrival, many of our demon tribe members have been killed or injured. Have you ever considered the consequences?"

"As for the so-called force majeure of the Yuanlu Demon King, it's not your fault. What do you mean by bringing it up?"

"Do you know that during the time when you were not here, the Yuanlu Demon King's army fought all the way from the entrance to the exit of the Jingqi Forest, wasting hundreds of miles of precious terrain!"

“If we had followed the original plan and ambushed at the entrance of Jingqi Forest, even if the Yuanlu Demon King cooperated with the army to defeat your army, we would have been restricted by the dense forest terrain. We could have relied on our hunting talents to hunt it down and annihilate it along the way!”

"But once they are out of the jungle, the cattle, sheep, deer and stags will run like the wind on the plains, escaping in all directions without any hindrance. How can you stop them?"

……

"I"

Mr. Bei was confused for a moment, and suddenly felt that what the other party said seemed to make sense?

But something just doesn't feel right
Zhong Shenxiu also echoed weakly at this time:
"Brother is right. Mr. Bei, not only did you arrive late, but you also insisted on forcing the enemy to line up even though you knew you couldn't stop them. As a result, thousands of demon tribe members were slaughtered, and even the Flying Bear Army suffered heavy losses."

What he said immediately aroused the anger of a demon next to him.

It was the other right-hand man of the Demon King Kuihu, General Xiong!

The Flying Bear Army was its own clan and was usually under its command. But they were taken out by Mr. Wolf and came back to destroy it. How could it not be angry?
"Roar!!!"

General Xiong roared to express his dissatisfaction.

Zhong Shenxiu quickly retreated and bowed to General Xiong to apologize, claiming that he did not intend to reveal the scar.

The demon king Kuihu hurriedly comforted his trusted general.

Mr. Bei was a little flustered and no longer as tough as he was at the beginning.

"Then, then, wasn't the situation extremely urgent at that time? I was trying to buy time for you to annihilate the Yuanlu Demon King's rear guard. By the time they broke through my formation, you had just removed the stumbling block and were able to chase after the remaining bandits who had escaped."

This is indeed true. Mr. Bei has always been steady and thoughtful. He has maximized the consideration of the battle situation at that time and there is nothing wrong with it in order to annihilate more enemy forces.

However, another person in the tent spoke up and hit the nail on the head.

"That's wrong. It shows that Mr. Bei doesn't know anything about military affairs. He is really a mediocre fool!"

This statement directly and forcefully denied Mr. Bei's intelligence and was a naked insult, which immediately angered Mr. Bei.

"Who? Who is it? How dare you look down on me?"

Lin Shan slowly left his seat and walked to the middle of the big tent. He slowly shook hands and saluted the Kuihu Demon King, then shook his head.

"In the art of war, morale is of the utmost importance. In a desperate situation, fighting with all one's might can inspire a strong desire to survive and bring about immeasurable changes to the battle situation."

"Therefore, any general should adapt to circumstances and assess the situation, rather than being rigid and reckless."

"At that time, you could have surrounded them on three sides and left one side open. While forming a battle array in front, you could have left a small gap as a passage, giving the Yuanlu army a chance to escape. Then they would not have attacked forcefully, but would have rushed to try to grab that glimmer of hope."

"At that time, all friendly forces will become stumbling blocks on their way to escape. In this situation of crowding, pushing, trampling, tripping, and pulling their legs, we will take advantage of the situation to attack from behind, while they will fight against each other in the front.

You can also harvest as you please without any pressure, and achieve the same results as now, but without causing such heavy casualties on our side, right?"

……

"This"

After hearing this, Mr. Bei was stunned and kept his mouth open without saying a word for a long time.

There was silence in the tent for a moment.

Zhong Shenxiu's compromise, Jiuyou Young Master's aggressiveness, Lin Shan's calm sarcasm, three different styles of spearheads, all pointed at Mr. Bei.

A drop of cold sweat slid down its face.

(End of this chapter)