So what was the reason?
It was impossible to say that none of the forces had given the matter any thought. After such a disastrous defeat and the loss of the first pass, everyone was bound to feel deeply discouraged and reflect on what had happened.
Some believed the forces were too disorganized and too large. Even if they investigated themselves, they simply couldn't do it efficiently. A self-investigation would take at least three to five days. Who could have expected the enemy to strike so quickly? They had only discussed the matter earlier that day, and the spies had already made their move that night.
It wasn't that the forces had let their guard down. There simply hadn't been enough time for the investigation to cover everyone.
The only one to blame was the enemy, for being too cunning and planning too far ahead.
That was a completely blame-free way of thinking. No matter how many mistakes had been made, they certainly couldn't have been theirs.
Jiang Yue said irritably, "What? Before this, you all made confident promises and guarantees. Now I haven't even held anyone responsible, and you don't even have the courage to reflect on what happened?"
"I'll make this clear: if you don't even have the courage to take responsibility and reflect, we'll only suffer more defeats if we keep fighting."
"I'll tell you why we lost this battle."
"Everyone here and I bear some responsibility for failing to lead effectively. But when all is said and done, do you know why we lost?"
"We lost because of our lack of experience and our inability to read the battlefield."
"Look at our forces. Most were assembled in haste, only after the fighting began. When war came, we scrambled to organize and then scrambled to fight."
"Now