Chapter 382 - Time and Opportunity, A Million Kilograms of Ore (1)
Chapter 382: Time and Opportunity, A Million Kilograms of Ore (1)
When Zhou Shu appeared in front of everyone again, it was already the next day.
On this day, everyone was busy cleaning up the battlefield, so not many people paid attention to what Zhou Shu and Yin Wuyou were doing on the day they disappeared.
“What are our casualties?”
In the Huaxia Pavilion’s Ten Nations Martial Arts Tournament branch, Zhou Shu met Meng Bai, Wang Mu, Tang Chengshi, Cao Chenyang, and the others.
The scene should be considered a four-nation conference.
Meng Bai, Wang Mu, Tang Chengshi, and Cao Chenyang’s expressions didn’t look too good.
On the surface, Zhou Shu had captured the commander of the Demon Realm Army alive, and the Demon Realm Army had withdrawn. The human army should have won a complete victory.
But in truth, things were not as good as they seemed.
Apart from capturing the enemy commander alive, the four-nation alliance army had suffered heavy casualties.
The one with the least losses was Great Liang…
The main force of Great Liang had long been wiped out. There had been less than ten survivors, including Cao Chenyang and Han Dazhi.
They had lost another man in this battle…
As for Great Xia, Great Qin, and Great Jin, almost 30% of their soldiers had died in the battle!
……
Moreover, all three nations had lost first-rank martial artists. Great Xia had even lost two!
Hearing this tragic number, Zhou Shu turned solemn.
He was silent for a moment. “I came out of seclusion late.”
“This is not your responsibility, King of the South.” Meng Bai shook his head. “This situation is already better than we imagined.
“Although we suffered many casualties, so did the army of the Demon Realm. It’s fine as long as their casualties are twice as many as ours.”
“That’s right. If not for you, we might have been completely defeated this time,” Tang Chengshi said.
Before coming here, the Great Jin army had already fought the Demon Realm army many times, but they had never won.
Otherwise, Tang Chengshi wouldn’t have rushed over after receiving the contact signal from Great Xia.
There were only ten thousand people left from Great Jin. If they had continued to fight independently, they would probably have been completely wiped out.
“Your Highness, now that the great demon Yao Lian is in our hands, do you think we can force the Demon Realm army back to the Demon Realm?” Wang Mu asked earnestly.
The goal of the Ten Nations Martial Arts Tournament was to kill the Demon Realm army as much as possible and reduce the strength of the Demon Realm, thereby reducing the pressure on the protective barrier of the Ten Nations Continent.
But it was too difficult to destroy the Demon Realm army now. Even Wang Mu didn’t dare to think about completely destroying the Demon Realm army.
He only thought that when this world opened again, it would be considered a success to drive the Demon Realm army back to the Demon Realm and prevent them from invading the Ten Nations Continent.
Although they had captured Yao Lian, the Demon Realm army still had nearly a million soldiers and more than a hundred first-rank commanders.
Even without Yao Lian, they still had powerful strength that humans couldn’t compare to.
No matter how strong Zhou Shu was, it was impossible for him to defeat an army of a million demonic beasts.
“Tough.” Zhou Shu shook his head. “Although the Demon Realm army will take Yao Lian’s life into consideration, if they really reach a dead end, they might fight to their death. That would be very troublesome.”
After a moment of silence, Meng Bai asked. “King of the South, you kept Yao Lian because you wanted…?”
The commander-in-chief was indeed important, but it wasn’t that easy to make a million troops listen to him.
The army had its own rules. It was impossible for the entire army to lose its combat strength because of a commander.
“Great General, what do you think will happen to the Demon Realm army if I really kill Yao Lian?” Zhou Shu asked.
Meng Bai pondered for a moment before saying, “If the commander-in-chief dies in battle, and the main force of the Demon Realm army is still around, they will probably fight to the death.”
Wang Mu and Tang Chengshi also nodded.
At that time, killing Yao Lian might not scare the Demon Realm army. Instead, it would arouse their fighting spirit. Even if it was to avoid punishment, they would fight to the death.
And how many demonic beasts could Zhou Shu kill alone?
In the end, it would probably be an internecine outcome. It might even be that the three armies would be completely wiped out.
No matter how strong Zhou Shu was, he was still human. His spiritual essence would be exhausted, and his body would be exhausted. In an army of hundreds of thousands, he might not be safe.
“If Yao Lian doesn’t die, we still have hope to defeat the Demon Realm army,” Zhou Shu said.
“If we keep Yao Lian alive, the Demon Realm army won’t dare to act rashly for the time being. There’s still a chance for development. When our human army gathers and is ready, we can destroy the Demon Realm army in one go.
“Of course, this is just my opinion. All the generals are experts at leading armies into battle. If my opinion is wrong, everyone can just say so.”
Zhou Shu had always believed in leaving professional matters to professionals.
He had no experience in waging war in both lifetimes. He had never won a war game in his previous life.
Now, he naturally didn’t think that he could directly lead tens of thousands of troops and become invincible on the battlefield.
If he thought so, he was being naive.
To Zhou Shu, his sense of self had always been very clear. He was a forger.
Everything else was a side-line…
“Now, we did buy some time,” Meng Bai said grimly. “But almost a year has passed in our three years here. We won’t have reinforcements for the remaining two years…”