Do Not Offend the Reborn Wicked Wife-Chapter 150: Advancing by Retreating

"Hiss—"

After Luo Xie finished speaking, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. Long Yue had been a bit too rough, even someone as tough as him couldn’t handle it.

This little girl!

He glanced at the young couple with interest.

Long Yue was applying bandages to his wound with a cold expression, while Li Qingmu sat quietly nearby, looking innocent: "General Luo, I shot that arrow, but I didn’t instruct anyone to pursue!"

Uh...

Luo Xie had intended to have some fun at Li Qingmu’s expense, but he realized his words hadn’t intimidated the man; instead, they left him feeling embarrassed.

Luo Xie’s old face turned red, somewhat awkward.

"General Luo, yesterday I injured the enemy’s main general just to quickly end the siege. I couldn’t bear to see more casualties among our soldiers. It’s you who saw the enemy general leaving with his troops and thought you could pursue and gain recognition, thus launching an attack! But I had tried to stop you at the time, and you didn’t listen. How can this be blamed on me?"

Luo Xie looked at Li Qingmu’s innocent face and suddenly felt a bit guilty.

Indeed, how could someone who isn’t even twenty years old have such deep scheming to outsmart them? This was all an accident.

Driven by greed and anger with Cao Yin at the time, he had made such a foolish decision. Reflecting now, he felt remorseful.

If this battle were lost, the Emperor would undoubtedly be furious, and his Luo Family might have...

Luo Xie shook his head, dismissing the unpleasant idea, and asked, "What do you think of the upcoming battle?"

A main commander personally asking for his opinion was a great honor; others might be moved with excitement, but Li Qingmu remained silent.

"What’s wrong? Don’t want to speak?"

Luo Xie frowned, feeling this young man was looking down on him, making him angry.

Li Qingmu was silent for a long while before saying, "The enemy will definitely continue their siege of the city. After this battle, we lost twenty thousand elite soldiers, and morale is low, making it very disadvantageous to face the enemy now!"

"So what do you think we should do?"

Luo Xie was a bit impatient, feeling the young man was just stating the obvious; everyone knew this, but he wasn’t being sincere!

"Report—bad news, General Luo, the enemy is attacking the city again!"

"What? So soon? Let’s go, head over to the old man’s side!"

"General Luo, you should be careful with your injury!"

Long Yue reminded him, but Luo Xie waved her off, "In times like this, who cares about such things? Li... boy, help me up!"

Luo Xie initially wanted to call for Long Yue but noticed Li Qingmu’s gaze was off, so quickly switched words.

"General Luo, General Cao has already gone to the city wall!"

"Then to the city wall!"

On the wall, Cao Yin and Chang E were present, along with Long Yue’s uncle Cao Jing, and others like Luo Xiaoxiao and Chang Yao.

"Great General, the enemy’s morale is soaring, continuing the assault like this won’t work, our forces will eventually give in!"

A worried officer spoke, Cao Yin was silent for a moment and said, "Even if we can’t hold on, we must! If we can withstand this wave, we will have a moment to breathe, so hold fast!"

Seeing casualties continue, Chang E was ashamed, knelt on one knee: "I was wrong, please punish me, Great General!"

Cao Yin waved it off: "We’ll discuss your matters later; the most important thing now is the battle! If we fail, none of us will fare well! Right now, the more people, the more strength, if it really can’t hold then..."

"Retreat!"

A voice came from one side, everyone turned and saw it was Li Qingmu.

He helped Luo Xie come over, surprising everyone, since Luo Xiaoxiao was previously fighting tooth and nail with them, yet now suddenly...

Luo Xie hadn’t expected Li Qingmu to say such a thing, he turned vigilantly towards him: "What do you mean, boy?"

"Nothing special, my husband is suggesting we should retreat from Hanshui Pass at this point!"

"Nonsense!"

Chang E was furious, rushed over to grab Li Qingmu’s collar, "You brat, what nonsense are you talking about? This battle is critical for us, withdrawing would mean failure, how could we face the Emperor with such disgrace! Better to die fighting!"

Li Qingmu let him go and answered indifferently, "But just by withdrawing from Hanshui Pass, how is it a failure? If that’s the limit of your foresight, I really wonder if your General rank was purchased!"

"You... little punk, seeking death!"

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

Chang E drew his long blade, intending to strike Li Qingmu with the back of it, stopped by Long Yue’s knife.

"Chang E, this is Xinan Camp, not your Northwest. If you dare lay a finger on my son-in-law, I’ll fight you to the death!"

Cao Yin protected him, blocking in front of Li Qingmu.

"Hm! Fine, let him speak, I want to see if he can say anything impressive!"

"Indeed, let him explain, how to break through this situation?"

Luo Xiaoxiao raised her proud head, quite smug, wanting to see Li Qingmu embarrass himself.

"Boy, speak quickly!"

Luo Xie urged, earlier he hadn’t managed to speak key points, having been whisked to the city wall by the report, now was a good chance to hear his thoughts.

Li Qingmu said: "We should retreat first! From Hanshui Pass to Mountain Gate Pass, there are seven checkpoints, spanning two hundred miles. The surrounding area has few people, no farmland, even water sources are scarce. If the enemy advances deeply, their logistics will become an issue!

As long as we withdraw and take all the provisions, destroy the few farms here and contaminate all the water sources, when they lack supplies and the soldiers thirst with nothing to drink, by then, won’t the enemy be ripe for slaughter?"

After Li Qingmu finished speaking, silence enveloped the area, everyone stared at him, shocked.

This strategy... seems quite viable!

"The problem is, they have brought supplies, how could..." Luo Xiaoxiao wanted to say something, but halfway through, she hit a block, looking up in surprise, "We can leave a team of light cavalry to burn their supplies in the rear!"

"That... could work, but how to contaminate the water source? Poison maybe?"

"Poison might not work, only affects a few..."

"No, if we poison, then we can’t drink when we return, how about using croton seeds!"

Uh...

Everyone looked at Li Qingmu again, with small glances seeming to say: You, boy, are really cunning?

"Lure the enemy deeper, retreat to advance, and leaves behind empty defenses, hahaha, this method is excellent!"

Cao Yin, being the Great General with vast experience, immediately understood after Li Qingmu laid out plans, applauded with approval.

"Have the front-line soldiers hold fast! You, several people, quickly act, prepare to withdraw!"

"Wait!" Li Qingmu spoke, "Grandfather-in-law, make it as messy as possible, let the enemy believe we’ve been frightened, so they chase us all the way down."

Cao Yin was stunned, pointed at him: "You darn brat! Fine, we’ll do that! Also, select a batch for the rear guard, and tell them, if they die in battle, their achievements will be reported back, ensuring their deaths won’t be in vain!"

"Yes!"

After instructions, Cao Yin looked at everyone: "Besides retreating, there’s another urgent task, bypass the enemy, and burn their supplies at their rear; who will go?"