stand back, let me come

Chapter 1287: One Battle to Decide the Southwest (Twenty-four) [Seeking monthly votes]

Being a scapegoat is almost inevitable.

  How could Mei Meng not know this?

"If she really found a scapegoat to divert the contradiction of the failure of the battle, it proves that she is not too stupid. The allied forces suffered heavy losses in this battle, and Qi State is really at the crossroads of life and death. As the head of the country, she will naturally prioritize preserving her own status and life when facing the questioning of allies from various countries and the doubts of domestic civil and military officials, and ensure that she will not be pulled off the throne by external forces." Mei Meng's response exceeded Qi Cang's expectations. Under the other party's surprised gaze, she smiled with relief and said, "How can this not be a means of self-protection?"

A dead Taoist friend is not a poor Taoist.

This sentence can be used at any time and in any place.

Of course, Mei Meng expected the emperor and his subjects to know each other, and expected the people she served to firmly choose her and trust her, but this expectation itself was a luxury that violated human nature. When Mei Meng realized that her master was not on the same path as her, she no longer expected it.

Without any more expectations, there will naturally be no real disappointment.

"She can protect herself, can you?"

"Between the ruler and his subjects...how can there be both?"

Not knowing what she was thinking of, Mei Meng sighed as if in self-mockery.

The king and she share the same suffering and sympathize with each other. They have been through similar situations before, and they should look at each other like a mirror. Therefore, they should be king and subject as well as close friends who can support each other.

Mei Meng underestimated the charm of the word power.

It is something that can change people beyond recognition even more than time.

She also underestimated human nature.

However, Qi Cang, who was acting crazy all day, saw it more clearly than anyone else.

Pushing out an insignificant pawn would only anger the public, so she could only push out someone with enough weight to show her "sincerity". The only people who could be scapegoats right now were her and Cui Zhi. Cui Zhi had deserted the battlefield, and Cui Shi had secretly stabbed him in the back, so she should be the best choice.

but--

If this battle hurts the master's vitality, he will not be able to deal with Cui, and will have to look at Cui's face. Facing the impending predicament, Mei Meng was as calm as an outsider. No, rather than being calm, it would be better to say that she was numb.

Qi Cang rolled his eyes: "You are also a stubborn person."

Back then, Yan An knew that this was a dead end, but he still went all the way to his death. Now, Mei Meng is also willing to go all the way to her death. Did Yan An not know that Zheng Qiao was hopeless? Did Mei Meng not know that her master was not the one she really expected?

Mei Meng wanted someone who could walk side by side with her, so she tried her best to assist and support her, but others only wanted a subordinate.

Both of them know the truth, but they both want to die.

Qi Cang sincerely suspected that Wen Xin and other scholars were all seriously ill.

Mei Meng pursed her lips and remained silent.

After a while, she gathered her strength and cleaned up her mess. When she was about to leave, the guard who had survived the melee came over. Mei dreamed that he was covered in blood, with wounds of all sizes on his body: "Where are the others?"

The guard choked with sobs and said, "It's gone. It's all gone."

Although she was mentally prepared, when she heard this reply, Mei Meng's heart seemed to be squeezed by an invisible hand, and the intense pain spread throughout her body. It took a long time to ease. She said in a hoarse voice: "I already know about this matter. I will meet up with the army first."

The navy led by Mei Meng was entangled, and both sides had to fight a life-and-death battle, and they had no energy to keep in touch with other battlefields. She also didn't know what the situation was like on the main force side.

The river breeze died down and the thick fog dissipated.

The sky finally began to turn pale.

For many people, the long and horrific night finally came to an end, but the nightmare-like fight had not ended and was even getting more intense. A dagger poked out from the darkness and pressed against the deserter's waist.

The other party was so scared that his crotch was filled with smelly, warm urine.

"Please spare my life, good man. I have elderly parents and young children to take care of, and my whole family depends on me for food. Please be kind and have mercy on me!" His legs went weak and he knelt on the ground. He didn't care about the gravel on the ground and kowtowed several times.

Ordinary soldiers who were hurried to the battlefield after simple training for ten days or half a month could not withstand high-intensity combat. Some people would become deserters if the war situation was slightly unfavorable, and this man was no exception. He was afraid of being captured by the Allied Forces, and even more afraid of being chopped off by the brutal Kang Guo as a military merit.

I dare not take the main road, and only choose those rural paths with dense vegetation, rugged and steep. But when people are unlucky, even drinking cold water can make their teeth ache... Just out of the tiger's den, into the wolf's den.

A hoarse female voice came from above his head: "How is the front line?"

The deserter said timidly: "...I lost, I lost everything."

These words almost made Mei Meng drop the dagger: "Lost? All lost? Which group are you from? Tell me everything!" The deserter was not from the Qi State.

Coming from a small country, he followed and hid behind the main force. As a rower, he was relatively safe. However, Kangguo was full of treacherous schemes and repeatedly attacked them from behind. It would have been fine if it was just a sneak attack, but Kangguo used its warships as siege vehicles in the water battle, exchanging their own warships for theirs. After losing their warships, most of the soldiers had to go into the water. The troops of both sides fought over the underwater battlefield, but Kangguo actually drove its warships underwater...

People were dumbfounded when they saw the strangely shaped warships moving freely in the water, ramming or strangling anyone they wanted.

If you can’t win underwater, you can’t win on the water.

It is difficult to distinguish between friend and foe in the chaotic battlefield.

The main force received the information and sent troops to rescue, but they were deceived and delayed by Kangguo's illusion and missed the best opportunity to fight.

When Mei Meng heard what the deserter said, she closed her eyes in despair.

In terms of the number of warriors and the average level, the Southwest Alliance is superior to Kangguo. Before leaving, Mei Meng told the king that no matter how strong the enemy is, once they meet, they should send brave warriors to clear the way, rely on the number and average advantage to suppress the enemy's morale, and at the same time maintain the integrity of their own army formation, and do not easily divide the troops to fight. Ignore the enemy's provocations and temptations.

  Take it step by step and strive for stability!

In the melee, in terms of efficiency in killing the enemy, there is no essential difference between the 20th-rank marquis and the last-rank duke. As long as the defense of the own side can be maintained as a whole, the three armies are closely connected, and all actions can be unified, it will not be easy for Kangguo to bite off. But if it is beaten into a mess, and the troops of the two sides are mixed together...

Then the situation is completely different.

  Mei Meng initially guessed that Kangguo would use tactics and strategies to achieve this goal, so she repeatedly warned them to be steady. However, she did not expect that Kangguo would not take the usual approach and would use the most violent means to forcibly dismantle each other's warships and fortifications, and they wanted to fight with swords!

The means were so violent that the Allies had no room to refuse.

Mei Meng herself also suffered a great loss from this.

The deserter was just a pawn. Not to mention the details of the front line, he couldn't even remember the name of the enemy leader he was fighting against on the battlefield.

Mei Meng did not force him to do anything. After asking him the direction he came from, he let him go. Along the way, he met several more deserters and learned some details from them, but not much. Halfway through, he received news that the main force of the Allied forces had fled. It was already noon.

Before nightfall, the allied troops were finally found.

The allied troops were driven ashore by Kangguo and retreated to a place more than ten miles away. The original camp fortress was lost and burned down by Kangguo. Seventy to eighty percent of the baggage and food were also lost...

When Mei Meng came back, the Queen of Qi State did not smile at all. She did not care and only told her the news: "We fought with Kang State last night, and Zhongli Fu rebelled and defected."

The loss of troops was nearly 70%.

After daybreak, most of the remaining soldiers who had gathered along the way fled again.

The King of Qi also told her some bad news.

"Roben's father died in the battle."

When he said this, the King of Qi State also turned his gaze to Qi Cang who came back with Mei Meng. When everyone was in a mess, Qi Cang looked decent, and his breath was as long as usual. In this state, he was probably not working hard at all.

I really didn't see him take action last night.

Mei Meng was shocked: "Died in battle?"

How could a nineteenth-rank Guannei Marquis die in battle so easily?

The King of Qi would not use this to deceive her.

If Mei Meng went out to ask now, someone would definitely tell her that in the early morning, Luo Yuan's headless body was lifted up by a young general with a spear, and the head was still in the young man's hand. The young man showed up with a long weapon carrying the body. When this person appeared, the allied forces lost their gritted teeth and their morale plummeted, and they gradually lost to Kangguo.

Mei Meng asked again: "Where is Gong Yang Yongye?"

The King of Qi said, "Someone saw him coming back last night, but for some reason he suddenly attacked and injured someone, and he has never been seen since."

Mei Meng endured the pain in his forehead and asked about the losses of the Allied forces.

"The damage is more than 40% in all. The most damaged ones were completely wiped out, with no one left alive. Only six of the allies are left."

There is no baggage and food to appease the people, and there is the mad dog Kangguo watching covetously outside. The army's morale is broken, and there will be more deserters in the next few days.

The specific losses are still being counted and the situation is not optimistic.

Mei Meng had no more questions to ask, but the King did.

  |ω`)

My aunt came back from the plane in the early morning, so I rushed to pick her up at the airport, so this is all the update for today_(:з」∠)_