My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 330 You guys have really put me in a terrible situation!

The camp was deathly silent.

The atmosphere started to get strange.

The generals looked at Li Xuanba with awe. The moment Li Xuanba threw the hammer in his hand, he outshone all the fierce and powerful generals of the Sui Dynasty. At that moment, he was the strongest among the generals, the one who was willing to step forward.

To be a leader of generals, one does not necessarily need the greatest fame or the deepest seniority; what is most needed is courage—courage that surpasses that of everyone else.

Because of the emperor's decree, Generals Yuwen Shu and Yu Zhongwen could only compromise and retreat time and time again, letting the emperor torment the troops at the front. However, Li Xuanba stepped forward and proposed an extremely explosive plan.

Li Xuanba's suggestion is a bit outdated.

The young generals felt their hearts pounding with excitement, while the older ones already saw glimpses of their idols in him.

This is a pure example of the style of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, where military men were in power and whoever had the troops made the decisions.

Li Xuanba was directly calling on everyone to ignore the emperor's orders from the rear and break through the city. He even criticized the emperor's behavior, saying that some villains had misled him. The meaning was clear: after breaking through the city, everyone would definitely go back and deal with the villains around the emperor.

Yuwen Shu gasped and looked at the people around him.

Yu Zhongwen looked at Yuwen Shu warily, his eyes full of vigilance.

Yu Zhongwen probably considered Yuwen Shu to be the mastermind.

As for Liu Shilong, the real supervisor sent by the emperor, he was trembling all over and looked pale with fright.

Yuwen Shu had never been so afraid.

He had always thought he was very brave, until today, when Li Xuanba opened his eyes. It was also today that Yuwen Shu realized that compared to people with such ancient ways, he was simply a coward!

"Go and guard the gate! Don't let anyone near!"

Yuwen Shu gave the order.

Two young soldiers rushed to the door, drew their swords, and stood in the way.

Yuwen Shu sized up the generals in front of him, his eyes sweeping over them one by one.

"We're all on the same side, so I'll be frank about some things here and let's discuss them together."

"Since the start of the campaign, many veteran generals have died on the way, and the soldiers have suffered heavy casualties. This is not because the enemy is too strong, but for other reasons."

“When we besieged Liaodong City, every time we were about to break through the city, the people inside would come out and surrender, and we would be forced to stop. This is the fifth time this has happened.”

“The people around His Majesty are not all fools. Such a feigned surrender can succeed once, but it shouldn’t be able to succeed so many times in a row. And if it is always like this, then there is only one explanation: someone may not want us to break through the city, and does not want us to defeat the enemy.”

Yuwen Shu's voice was very loud, and the generals all frowned and fell into deep thought.

Yuwen Shu then said, "If we don't go and defeat the enemy, who will?"

"There is a detachment of troops, all of whom are southerners from the Jianghuai region. While we were fighting a bitter battle in Liaodong, they had already approached the enemy's capital. The Duke of Rong's army was less than a hundred miles away from the enemy's capital."

"The enemy's elite troops are all confronting us here, leaving our rear relatively undefended."

"Therefore, the greatest credit for capturing the capital belongs to this group of southerners. As for us, we are merely diverting the enemy's main force, depleting their numbers, and forcing them to continuously send reinforcements here."

General Xin Shixiong flew into a rage and cursed, "So that's why we keep getting fooled! General Li was right! There are indeed treacherous people in the court! The enemy isn't in front, it's behind us!"

Yuwen Shu reached out his hand and stopped the rioting crowd.

He calmly said, "As generals, whether it's defeating the enemy or containing them, it's our duty to carry out these tasks without complaint! But our brothers also have families and households; they are the pillars of their families. How can they just die on the frontier like this?! If we had directly ordered them to contain us, how could we have suffered such heavy casualties?!"

Yuwen Shu looked at Yu Zhongwen beside him and asked, "General Yu, what do you think?"

Like Yuwen Shu, Yu Zhongwen was also one of the leaders of the Guanlong nobles. Yu Zhongwen's grandfather, Yu Jin, was one of the Eight Pillars of State. Yu Zhongwen was still somewhat hesitant at this moment, but after Yuwen Shu asked, he nodded and said, "That's not untrue."

Yuwen Shu then pointed to Li Xuanba standing to the side.

"Everyone knows Li Lang's character. He is definitely not a villain who doesn't know loyalty and filial piety. He is an upright man. Previously, he was willing to offend the Prince of Qi for His Majesty's sake, and later, he disobeyed the imperial edict to save Mai Tiezhang! This time, he killed the envoy for everyone's sake!"

Yuwen Shu pointed at Liu Shilong, "Liu Jun, you come from a prominent family in Hebei and are well-read. You should think about this carefully. If we just stay here under the city walls and Liaodong City remains unconquered, it will be fine if Lai Huer wins. But if they fail, who will bear the blame for this defeat? Will it be the villains around the emperor? Or will it be us?!"

Liu Shilong immediately fell silent.

He naturally knew who would bear the blame. Yuwen Shu and Yu Zhongwen were too influential; even if they were defeated, they might not be taken out and beheaded. But for a scholar like him, would the emperor hesitate to kill him?
Yuwen Shu said with great sorrow, "General Li did all this for all of us!"

"However, now is not the time to purge the court of corrupt officials. The army's supplies are all in the rear. If a villain falsely accuses us of something amiss, and our supplies are cut off, we will be fine, but it will also implicate so many innocent soldiers under our command. How can we do that?"

Yuwen Shu suddenly drew his sword, walked a few steps to Li Xuanba's side, and the next moment, he stretched out his sword and thrust it downwards, piercing through the corpse of the Goryeo envoy.

He drew his sword and shouted, "The Goryeo envoy spoke arrogantly and has been killed by me!!"

The next moment, Xin Shixiong walked a few steps to the messenger's side, drew his sword and stabbed him.

Then he shouted, "The Goryeo envoy is spouting nonsense! I will kill him too!"

Li Jing stepped forward and stabbed the corpse as well.

Duan Da, Shi Xiang, Tu Wanxu, and other generals from Guanzhong stepped forward and pierced the corpse one by one.

In the end, everyone looked at Yu Zhongwen.

Yu Zhongwen slowly stood up, walked a few steps to the envoy's side, stabbed him with his sword, and then threw the sword to Liu Shilong, who was standing to the side. Liu Shilong trembled and stepped forward to kill him.

Yuwen Shu simply watched these people calmly, and only after everyone had done so did he put away his sword.

"Gentlemen, the Goryeo envoy was arrogant and rude, and was killed by the soldiers. This is something we all witnessed. If anyone dares to speak nonsense and betray General Lee, who acted for us, then we can all kill him together!"

Having done all this, Yuwen Shu then asked everyone to sit down.

Yuwen Shu sat in the high seat, looking at the crowd before him, and said earnestly, "Goryeo, having learned from their previous experience, will surely mistakenly believe that we will stop. This is our best opportunity to conquer Liaodong! Later, I will personally lead the charge, and all of you generals will work together to take this city as soon as possible!!"

"Lord Liu! I trouble you to send someone to inform His Majesty that after the Goryeo envoy arrived here, he spoke arrogantly, was disrespectful to the generals, and disrespected the emperor. The soldiers were enraged and killed him indiscriminately. They then requested to attack the city and fight to the death to atone for their crimes! The generals were unable to stop him!"

"General Yu, you can submit another memorial after Liu Jun, informing His Majesty that the soldiers at the front have been away from their hometowns for too long, and the siege of Liaodong has dragged on for too long. They are all complaining, gathering together, discussing things in private, killing the messenger, and clamoring to attack the city. Please order a retreat immediately!"

"Generals, return to camp immediately and prepare! Await my command!!"

"Here!!"

Everyone left, but Yuwen Shu took Li Xuanba with him. Yuwen Shu walked at the front with a stern face, becoming more and more anxious as he walked, and his complexion grew worse.

Finally, when the two entered Yuwen Shu's own tent, Yuwen Shu suddenly turned around, grabbed Li Xuanba's arm, and glared at him angrily.

"You brat! Are you trying to murder me?!"

Li Xuanba remained expressionless, meeting his gaze sharply. "General, if this continues, we will surely lose this battle, and it will be a crushing defeat! If the army suffers a crushing defeat, we generals can still protect ourselves, but can you and General Yu protect yourselves?!"

Yuwen Shu gritted his teeth and shoved Li Xuanba away again. His face was full of helplessness, and he was so anxious that he kept stamping his feet.

He was a veteran of many battles, and he understood perfectly well that something was wrong with the war. Millions of troops were piled up at the front lines, and every day there were large numbers of casualties. The elite troops at the front were also suffering heavy losses due to the emperor's misguided command. Not to mention anything else, just in these few battles of siege, many people had died, and all of them had died in vain!
However, Yuwen Shu dared not blame the real scourge.

He simply shouted:
"That brat has caused me so much trouble!!"

(End of this chapter)