When he saw that Xindeng City, the scene of fierce fighting during the previous two eastern campaigns, was also deserted, Yu Shuwen sank into both tremendous anger and fear.
This renowned, veteran general of the Great Wei Dynasty knew perfectly well that the enemy had adopted the most targeted-and possibly the most correct-response.
This eastern campaign had begun with a collapse of morale. That collapse had led to mass desertions from the central army, and those desertions, particularly among the civilian laborers, had caused the main supply line to shrink rapidly at a rate visible to the naked eye. This, in turn, had fundamentally stripped everyone-from the Sage at the very top to the common foot soldier-of confidence.
At the front, this manifested in most officers and soldiers being afraid to advance, while the troops that had crossed Fallen Dragon Shoal were generally short of stored provisions.
At such a time, fortifying their defenses and clearing the countryside was the most correct choice and response for the Dongyi people... yet faced with the enemy's most correct response, Yu Shuwen seemed to have no other way out.
"Shouldn't General Yu withdraw at a time like this?!"
In the open ground before the camp, Sima Huada looked up from the military dispatch at his father with some alarm. "Why is he still pursuing them? And why does he want us to honor our oath and go with him? Has he gone mad?"
Sima Changying wore no helmet. He merely sat on a folding stool with his hands tucked away, gazing at the boundless flatlands around him... Some fields had begun to appear ahead, a sign that the saline mudflats were giving way to ordinary land. The soil was reasonably fertile, too, but all that grew on it now were young shoots, fit