Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

A fire completely shattered the Qin army's plan to take over Maple Leaf City.

A day later, a troop of soldiers was heading towards the Qin territory in a dejected manner.

Meng Kuo rode his horse forward, his eyes, which were usually determined, now showed a hint of fatigue.

He has always been known for his toughness and never shows mercy to foreign enemies.

But after fighting with Chu Ning several times, he actually felt fear in his heart.

He found that no matter what, he was no match for Chu Ning.

Chu Ning used a trick and he fell for it.

Chu Ning didn't need any tricks, but he was fooled.

Now he has doubts about his life.

He even made up his mind that when he returned this time, he would apologize to the Emperor of Qin and go to resist the barbarians. He didn't want to face Chu Ning.

Yes, he would rather face the brutal and inhumane barbarians than face Chu Ning.

While deep in thought, the warhorse slowly followed the defeated Qin army.

Soon, the deputy general came to report: "General Meng, our army has gathered its forces and only lost more than 15,000 people."

The loss is not too big, and I can report back to my team.

Meng Kuo breathed a sigh of relief.

But then, the deputy general hesitated for a moment and said, "However, all of our army's food and supplies... have been lost."

As soon as these words were spoken, the dejected Qin army around them suddenly became agitated.

It was already hard for them to accept the defeat, and now when they heard that food and supplies were lost, everyone was shocked.

For a moment, the soldiers, who had already lost their morale, began to talk a lot.

"Without food and grass, what should we do next?"

"Yes, the Chu army has an advantage because they occupy the city. Now that our army has no food, how can we take down Maple Leaf City?"

"Since we have no more food and supplies, we might as well withdraw our troops sooner."

"That's right, we can't continue fighting, otherwise we will die here sooner or later."

For a moment, the morale of the army was shaken, and everyone understood that they could not stay here any longer.

Without food, they cannot survive.

Without supplies, they would freeze to death here.

As the weather gets colder, they don't want to be left dead in the wilderness!

Meng Kuo looked at the soldiers who had lost their fighting spirit with a very gloomy face.

As a soldier, he should have died on the battlefield, wrapped in his horse's hide.

But now these elite troops of Qin are actually cowardly and do not want to go to the battlefield.

However, Meng Kuo still suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice: "Comrades!"

The commander spoke, and everyone immediately quieted down.

Meng Kuo said in a deep voice: "I know your concerns, but please rest assured that I will not joke with your lives.

The defeat in this battle is my responsibility, and I have decided to return to Beijing to accept punishment.

Before that, everyone should return to our court and Huifeng City. No one can go to war without the order of His Majesty."

After saying this, Meng Kuo rode his horse ahead. He wanted to rush back to Kyoto as soon as possible to accept punishment.

No one could accept that Chu Ning had defeated them in such a way in such a battle.

What’s more, it was the Qin State that claimed to be the best dynasty in the world!

The Qin army looked at Meng Kuo's departing back with surprise on their faces.

No one expected that their commander would leave in this way.

After a long while, the deputy general finally came to his senses and sighed, "According to what General Mengkuo said, the entire army will retreat back to Fengcheng."

At the command, the Qin army retreated towards Huifeng City.

And three days later, Ying Zheng finally received the news sent by carrier pigeon.

The capital of Qin State, Xianyang Palace.

"Asshole, absolutely bastard!"

Ying Zheng's roaring voice was heard, accompanied by many exquisite vases thrown out from the palace, which scared the guards, eunuchs and maids outside the palace and pushed them away.

Although I don't know what happened, it must be no small matter to make their Emperor so angry.

Inside the hall, the two prime ministers, Baili Xi and Zhang Yi, both had gloomy and extremely ugly expressions on their faces.

They thought of many possible outcomes, but they never expected this to be the case.

Such a good situation was unexpectedly turned around by Chu Ning's strategy.

This is a great humiliation for the Qin Dynasty!

Faced with Ying Zheng's anger, the two could only lower their heads and dared not speak.

Their plan was perfect and did almost everything a civil official could do.

But they never expected that Chu Ning actually deceived Meng Kuo in this way, causing not only the battle to fail, but even the food and supplies were lost.

Although the Qin State was powerful, the food, supplies and siege equipment for these tens of thousands of people could not be thrown away.

Looking at the furious emperor, the two sighed in their hearts but dared not speak.

It was unknown how long it had been, but Ying Zheng seemed to have vented a lot of his anger, and then he remembered that there were two ministers in the hall.

He raised his eyes to look at the two of them and asked in a cold voice: "My Lords, what do you think about this matter?"

Zhang Yi glanced at Baili Xi and signaled him to speak first.

Although Zhang Yi is now a favorite minister, there must be a first come first served order, and he cannot speak before Baili Xi.

Baili Xi sighed, took the initiative to step forward, and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, although this battle is Meng Kuo's responsibility, the punishment will be discussed with Meng Kuo later."

"But the situation on the front line has developed to the point where our army can no longer pass through Maple Leaf City."

"Plus, all our army's food and supplies have been burned, and now we can only defend Huifeng City."

"It is better to stabilize the situation first and make plans after the new year. This period of time can also help our army restore its morale."

What is the most important thing in war?

Of course it’s the morale and spirit of the army!

If the soldiers don’t even have the most basic morale, how can they fight the enemy?

It is obvious that the Qin army on the front line has lost its fighting spirit due to several major defeats and being fooled by Chu Ning.

If we force the front-line troops to attack Maple Leaf City now, it will only backfire. It would be better to take this opportunity to recuperate and restore morale and military spirit.

Although Ying Zheng knew that this was the best way, he was still very reluctant.

He found it hard to accept that Chu Ning had taken advantage of him, and that the Qin State's reputation had been tarnished due to the defeat on the front line.

Thinking of this, Ying Zheng turned his gaze to Zhang Yi and asked coldly: "Prime Minister Zhang, do you think the same as Prime Minister Baili?"

Zhang Yi frowned, stood up and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I think Chu Ning has tricked the Han Dynasty this time, causing the Han army to be defeated by Sima Yi!

It would be better to take this opportunity to sow discord between the Han and Chu, and let Chu go to settle accounts with Chu Ning.

Regardless of whether the Han Dynasty was fooled or not, Liu Che would definitely hold Chu Ning accountable, and this would be the beginning of their split.

We should take this opportunity to recuperate and wait for the right chance to take over Maple Leaf City!

Although the Chu army now occupies the three states, as long as Maple Leaf City falls into the hands of our dynasty, the three states will not be in our hands!

In addition, I have determined that Chu Ning will definitely go to the Zhou Dynasty to participate in the enthronement ceremony. We can create some trouble for him there!"

If you can’t win head-on, then use underhand tactics!

Ying Zheng's eyes lit up and he sneered, "Okay, I'll leave this matter to you, Prime Minister Zhang. I'm going to make Chu Ning pay for this!"