On the seventh day of the eighth month, the Holy Lord issued an imperial edict to the Liaodong headquarters and the front-line command of the Expeditionary Force.

The Holy Lord reiterated the strategic significance of the Eastern Expedition and its importance to the future of Central China. Therefore, the Eastern Expedition must be victorious and the Eastern Expedition must continue. Although the Eastern Expedition encountered major setbacks, this does not mean that Central China would give up the Eastern Expedition. On the contrary, this strengthened Central China's determination to carry out the Eastern Expedition to the end. The Holy Lord and the Central Committee required the Liaodong Base Camp and the Front Command of the Expedition Army to comfort the soldiers of the expedition, while developing appropriate and effective strategies in response to the current Far East and the Eastern Expedition, and to fight to win the victory of the Eastern Expedition as soon as possible.

The Holy Lord and the Central Master did not accuse and question the military of Pyongyang in the edict. It is obvious that confrontation will only intensify the contradictions and will not help. Faced with the cruel reality, the Holy Lord and the Central Master wisely chose to understand and compromise. Now the Holy Lord and the Central Master returned to Dong to deal with a series of crises caused by the failure of the Eastern Expedition. The battlefield of the Eastern Expedition was handed over to the military. How to fight the next battle, the Holy Lord and the Central Master no longer had the power. In fact, even if they wanted Yu Shan, they were powerless because the distance was too far, so Yu Qiang delegated power. As long as the military supports the Holy Lord and the Central Master to continue the Eastern Expedition, as long as the expedition forces are willing to do their best to prepare for the Eastern Expedition next year, then the two sides have common interests, and will choose to compromise and cooperate, and will not embark on the road of confrontation and seriously harm each other.

On the same day, the Holy Lord led the palace to speed up the return journey and rushed to the Eastern Capital day and night.

On the same day, the front-line command of the Expeditionary Force retreated to the Liaodong headquarters.

The Minister of Civil Affairs of Liuzhen, General Fan Zigai, General of the Left Wu Guard, General Liu Quan, General of the Procuratorate of the Procuratorate, Duan Da, General of the Left Yi Guard, Minister of War Hu Sizheng, Mingya and other commanders went out to welcome thirty miles. The moment they met, the central officials and commanders of the army were relatively speechless. Everyone faced an unprecedented defeat since the reunification of Middle-earth, the destruction of 200,000 soldiers, and the incredible ending, and was distraught. This was a great shame for the Twelve Guards and a great shame for the old army of Middle-earth.

Fan Zigai read out the Holy Lord’s edict I just received.

The Holy Lord ordered Fan Zigai, Minister of Civil Affairs, Liu Quan, Minister of the Weiwei, Minister of War, Hu Sizheng, Mingya, and General Duan Da, General of the Left Guard, to set off and return to the Dongdu immediately after the expeditionary army withdrew.

He also ordered the commander of the six commanders of the Expeditionary Army, Yu Zhongwen, General Yu Wenshu, General Shangshu, Right Chief Liu Shilong, General Jing Yuanheng, General Wei Wensheng, General Wei Wei Shixionggui, General Xue Shixionggui, General Zhang Jin, General Zhang Xiaocai, General Zhao Xiaocai, General Wuwei Cui Hongsheng, General Liu Hongsheng, and other commanders of the six routes of the Expeditionary Army to withdraw back to the Liaodong base camp and immediately set off for the trip to Dongdu Shu.

He also ordered Li Jing, the General of the Right Wu Guard, and Yang Yichen, the General of the Wu Ben Lang of the Left Guard, to be the chief and deputy commander of the Eastern Expedition Army, to be fully responsible for the Eastern Expedition.

After the edict was read, the tent was silent.

In this edict, personnel arrangements are secondary, and the important thing is central decision-making.

The decision of the Holy Lord and the Central Committee is to continue the Eastern Expedition and conquer Pyongyang again next year, so as to achieve the strategic purpose of the Eastern Expedition.

Since the central government has decided to continue the Eastern Expedition, what strategy should the expeditionary force implement in terms of the current Eastern Expedition? Should we sweep south of the Yalu River before winter arrives, stabilize the front line in Yalu River, continue to implement the "two-step" strategy, or should we stop all military operations, withdraw through the Liao River, and rest within the Sino-Turkish border to accumulate strength and make a comeback next year?

Obviously, with the current situation of the expeditionary force, if the "two-step" strategy is forcibly implemented, the consequences will be unimaginable. Once you suffer another defeat and lose your troops, it will not be a question of whether the eastern expedition will be achieved next year, but a question of whether the security of the northern border can be guaranteed. For the Holy Lord and the Central Committee, the eastern expedition cannot continue and various crises will break out at the same time, which is a political disaster. Even if you use all your strength, you may not be able to survive the crisis.

However, at the critical moment, the Holy Lord and the Central Committee dug a "pit" for the military.

When they should not be involved in military decision-making, they must be involved. Now they need to be involved in it. When they need to issue an order to withdraw the Liaoshui River, they are not willing to take this responsibility.

It is understandable that the Holy Lord and the Central Committee were unwilling to bear the responsibility for military failure before, but now the military has failed, and this responsibility is also borne by the military, and has nothing to do with the Holy Lord and the Central Committee. They can completely order the withdrawal of troops. How much responsibility can they bear? It is just a bit embarrassing and not good-looking in terms of face. But just for the sake of meaningless face, the Holy Lord and the Central Committee were reluctant to even order the withdrawal of troops. They forced the military to make the order to withdraw troops themselves, and then blamed it on the military. All responsibilities from failure to withdrawal were all attributed to the military. Can this avoid their own responsibilities? Can old accounts be settled together, completely liquidated the military, suppress the military, and control the military?

The generals were heartbroken and they didn't even have the intention to curse.

The "two-step" strategy is definitely not implemented now. The expeditionary force will definitely not have the strength to occupy the south of Yalu River this year. What the military needs to do now is to withdraw its troops and withdraw its Yalu River and return to Middle Earth. This is the wisest, safest and most correct thing, but who will bear this responsibility? Who is willing to sacrifice his life and take the initiative to jump into the "pit" dug by the Holy Lord and the Central?

Yu Zhongwen stood up resolutely, pointed at his gray hair, and said in a very calm tone, "Tomorrow, some people will lead the remnants of the expedition to evacuate the Liaoshui River, and all the crimes will be borne by some force."

Then Yu Zhongwen left the commander's tent firmly and never looked back.

The generals stood up and stood solemnly, looking at the old coach's high back, all of them were sad. A legend of a generation died like this.

Yu Zhongwen is the supreme commander of the Expeditionary Force, and the Expeditionary Force commander has no affiliation with the Liaodong Base Camp. Both directly obey the Holy Lord and the Central Committee, so Yu Zhongwen has the right to decide that the Expeditionary Force withdraw from the Liaoshui River. If the Expeditionary Force retreats through the Liaoshui River and returns to Central Earth, the Liaodong Base Camp can command only tens of thousands of troops, and even the Liaodong City cannot be defeated, let alone implementing the "two-step" strategy, so he can only retreat accordingly. In this way, the military withdraws troops without the consent of the Holy Lord and the Central Committee. The responsibility is entirely the military, and Yu Zhongwen, who is determined to take the expeditionary force to withdraw from Central Earth with the Expeditionary Force, naturally bears the greatest responsibility.

Yu Zhongwen has no business, not only because of his serious guilt, but also because of his great guilt towards the fallen soldiers. For him, the end of his heroic reputation is actually not important. What is important is that he has no face to meet his ancestors, face the relatives of the fallen soldiers, and survive without face to live in the world. Anyway, it is all death, so what is the difference between more sins and less sins?

That night, the Liaodong Base Camp urgently reported, accompanied by the front-line command of the Expeditionary Force. The Expeditionary Force had lost its combat effectiveness and had to withdraw to Central China for rest, and the Base Camp had to retreat thereafter. At this point, this year's Eastern Expedition ended and the war temporarily stopped.

On the eighth day of the eighth month, Yu Zhongwen led the expeditionary army to cross the Liao River and retreated to Central Earth.

On the same day, Fan Zigai, Duan Da and others also embarked on the way back to the Eastern Capital.

On August 18, the Holy Lord led the palace to the Linyu Palace in Beiping, and ordered the Eastern Capital to immediately transport grain, grass, weapons and other war materials from Liyang, Luokou and other national warehouses, and delivered them to Luhe Town on the northeastern border through water and land, Wanghaidun and Huaiyuan Town to ensure the needs of the Eastern Expedition battlefield.

The emperor ordered the navy chief to come to Hu'er to rush to the Eastern Capital to report his duties immediately.

In late August, southwest Shandong.

King Yang Nan, Wei Fusi and Wei Baoluan received a secret letter from Dongdu, and the content of the secret letter was very simple: Pyongyang suffered a crushing defeat and failed the Eastern Expedition.

Yang Nan and others were extremely shocked. Li Fengyun's deduction of the battlefield of the Eastern Expedition turned into a fact. The Eastern Expedition actually failed. The incredible result and the incredible facts. How did all this happen?

The content of the secret letter is simple. Obviously, Dongdu didn’t know the specific story of the failure of the Eastern Expedition. At present, he only found out the results through private channels. However, this result was a long-awaited good news for Yang Nan and others. Although from the heart, they were unwilling to see the failure of the Eastern Expedition, the humiliation of the Kingdom, and the damage to the interests of Zhongtu, but it was concerned about the interests of the people, and the moral conscience and sentiment could only be put aside.

If the Eastern Expedition fails, a political crisis will inevitably break out in the Eastern Capital, and the size of the political storm is directly related to the degree of failure. If the Eastern Expedition is only a small defeat, the Expedition Force will still achieve some results and realize some strategic intentions. It is just that the Eastern Expedition will last until the second year, then the political storm in the Eastern Capital will not be too big. On the contrary, if the Eastern Expedition is defeated and the Expedition Force fails to achieve the expected results and fails to realize the strategic intentions, the political storm will be great. Once the political storm is out of control, it is unknown whether the Eastern Expedition can continue.

For Yang Nan, if the political storm is smaller, it will be bad for him, and if the political storm is larger, it will be good for him. However, if the political storm is out of control, it will be harmful to him. Who dares to guarantee that he will not be swept away by the out of control political storm?

However, the news in Dongdu is not a big defeat, but a crushing defeat. What is a crushing defeat? The expeditionary army either lost more than half and lost its combat effectiveness; or it was wiped out and gone. In the eyes of Yang Nan and others, a big defeat in the Eastern Expedition may lead to a political storm out of control. So the consequences of the crushing defeat can be imagined. The possibility of a political storm out of control is almost more than 90%.

Yang Nan thought of Li Fengyun at the first time and immediately made an appointment with Li Fengyun, told him the news immediately, and then listened to his predictions about the future political situation in Dongdu.

Li Fengyun became a god. Yang Nan thought so, Wei Fusi and Wei Baoluan thought so, such a strange person, extraordinary. Perhaps this is the opportunity of the King of Qi. If there was such a person around the King of Qi who could predict the future, the chance of the King of Qi rushing to the top would definitely be greatly increased.

Three days later, Wei Fusi sailed on a boat in Heshui and met with Li Fengyun in secret.

Hearing the news of the Eastern Expedition, Li Fengyun was very depressed and sat in the cabin without saying a word for a long time. He had expected that after the Twelve Lady of the Cui family went north to the Liaodong battlefield, he would use her extraordinary ability to infinitely amplify the effect of his butterfly flapping his wings. However, the fact is impossible. A person's power is too weak, and the power of a group of people cannot change history. Fantasy is fantasy. The history of Middle-earth inevitably leads to division and war with the Eastern Expedition.

Wei Fusi waited patiently for a long time and finally couldn't help but break the silence.
Chapter completed!