Thunder Yun decided to ask Silver Shuke and not Cloud Yi. This was because in the first fight with Zhao Hai, Silver Shuke was the first to fail, and he had been feeling bad about it.
In the beginning, Thunder Yun didn't look too highly on Silver Shuke. But after these few days, Thunder Yun changed his mind. Zhao Hai really did have the strength to cause them losses. In this case, it wasn't surprising for Silver Shuke to fail.
Because of this, Thunder Yun decided to help Silver Shuke out. He used this opportunity to ask him the question, giving him some credit and making it known that Thunder Yun wanted to use him in the future.
Silver Shuke didn't expect Thunder Yun to say his name. He was stunned for a moment before a flash ran by his eyes, he immediately replied, "Yes, General. I noticed something strange."
After seeing Thunder Yun choose Silver Shuke, Cloud Ying and Cloud Yi couldn't help but have a momentary look of disappointment in their eyes. Although their faces were serious, the change didn't escape the eyes of Thunder Yun.
Thunder Yun didn't say anything, he just looked at Silver Shuke and said, "Tell me."
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Silver Shuke immediately replied, "General, from what I can see, the number of undead this time isn't right. Zhao Hai has more than ten million undead, but the ones attacking us right now seem to number in the few millions. The number was just too small, and the others were nowhere to be seen. I think there are only two possibilities for this, the first one being the undead attacking our headquarters. Now that our army has departed, the forces back in the Radiant Empire wouldn't be as good compared to before. Even if they couldn't break the camp, they could at the very least cause some damage. However, we haven't had any rescue letters in the past couple of days. This might be because the base hasn't been attacked, or they couldn't send a rescue letter. I think the former is more plausible. We still have a lot of strong soldiers in the camp, and it would be impossible for them to be unable to send a letter in case of the attack. Therefore, the base is still safe."
"The other possibility for the undead's disappearance might be because they are dealing with the barbarians and the winged pegasus people. If they could indeed see our actions, then it is possible that they are already aware of the two armies. If that is really the case, then we might be in even more trouble."
Thunder Yun nodded, Silver Shuke's analysis coincides with his own. But Thunder Yun discovered that Cloud Ying was still frowning, he probably had some words to say.
Thunder Yun looked at Cloud Ying and said, "Cloud Ying, do you have any other ideas? Say it."
Cloud Ying looked at Thunder Yun and nodded, "General, I have thought of another possibility. We know that the Demons have also come to the continent, and their fighting strength is also quite good. It's certain that the Demons would dispatch their troops once they discover that we have made out more. Zhao Hai might have brought his undead to deal with the Demons."
Thunder Yun looked at Cloud Ying, then he smiled faintly and said, "That is correct as well. However, you have missed something. Zhao Hai replaced those cavalry units with the undead. And where are those cavalry units now? It would be impossible for Zhao Hai to just have them lying around. If he can harass us, then why can't he do the same with the Demons? It's more plausible that he had the cavalry deal with the Demons while his undead goes on and attacks the barbarians and the winged pegasus people. Zhao Hai's only enemies are us and the Demons. And this time, I'm sure the Demons didn't split their army like us. They arrived in the Ark Continent much earlier than us, so they should be more experienced when it came to Zhao Hai's capabilities. And I also heard that the Demons aren't as strong as us, therefore they couldn't afford to split up their army. At this moment, in the Buddha Empire, Zhao Hai has four groups of enemies. The strongest two of those four are us and the Demon Army, the weaker ones are the barbarians and the winged pegasus army. Zhao Hai would surely eat the weaker ones first before going to deal with us. This is his safest and most beneficial method right now."
Everyone who listened to Thunder Yun's breakdown started to believe his words. After all, Thunder Yun already had the qualifications to make speculations like these. Although he had eaten a loss lately, his status remained unchanged in the hearts of these people.
Therefore, everybody nodded at Thunder Yun's analysis, nobody voiced opposition. Cloud Ying said, "The General is right, forgive me for being wrong."
Thunder Yun just waved his hand. Although he just said that the barbarians and the winged pegasus people were going to eliminated, he still had a calm look on his face. This made everyone confused.
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Cloud Ying looked puzzled at Thunder Yun's expression, so he asked, "Isn't General worried about the barbarians and the winged pegasus army? Is the General confident in them beating Zhao Hai?"
Thunder Yun actually laughed before he answered, "How is that possible? Although I haven't we haven't had a true clash with Zhao Hai, his recent actions are already proof enough to how strong he is. How could the barbarians and winged pegasus armies be able to beat a person like him? If I haven't guessed wrong, then the barbarians should have already been eliminated while the winged pegasus army shouldn't last for long. However, this is exactly what I want."
Thunder Yun's words made everyone present stare. Some of the more intelligent among them immediately understood what Thunder Yun meant.
Thunder Yun smiled faintly and said, "Does everyone understand? Cloud Yi, tell them. You look like your ass is on fire, you tell them what I mean." As soon as they heard Thunder Yun, the group couldn't help but chuckle. The heavy emotions that they carried all this time seemed to slowly vanish.
Cloud Yi stood up and bowed to Thunder Yun before saying, "The general is talking about how vengeful both the barbarians and the winged pegasus people are. After the Divine Race subjugated them, they were still quite resistive to our rule. Therefore, when we asked them for troops this time, they initially refused. Although they gave us some troops, they only gave us two of their ordinary armies, no elites were included. But now that Zhao Hai had killed their people, these two would surely bear a grudge and send their elites over. When that time comes, we would be more relaxed in dealing with the Ark Continent."
Thunder Yun laughed and said "Good, correct. Just as Cloud Yi said, both the barbarians and winged pegasus clans bear deep grudges. They will surely retaliate against Zhao Hai now that he has killed their people. Once they send their forces, then we would have more powerful cannon fodder for our army."
The people in the hall smiled, their low morale had surged up. On the other hand, both Cloud Ying and Cloud Yi were looking at Thunder Yun with admiration. They knew that Thunder Yun's purpose today was to raise morale.
Cloud Ying also understood Thunder Yun's idea, he looked at Thunder Yun and said, "General, what do we do next?'
Thunder Yun's voice turned serious as he said, "In the last two days, the Ark Continent showed that they don't intend to go directly against us, just resorting to harassment tactics and forcing us to be on the defense. Because of this, I plan to withdraw the troops tomorrow and see if the barbarians and winged pegasus people are indeed killed. If they are, then I will immediately send word to the two races, making them dispatch their troops. The winged pegasus mounts are insanely fast, there would be no way the mounts of the Ark Continent's cavalry would catch up to them. Moreover, the barbarian elites are vastly stronger than the people in the Ark Continent. As long as the elites come, then we can deal with the Ark Continent in one go!"
If Thunder Yun hadn't said his plan, then the morale might've drop when he suggested retreat. But since he made a cushion for himself, the situation became different. Now, instead of dropping, the moral actually increased. Those present were thinking that their retreat this time was done in order for them to mount an even stronger attack. They had been feeling suffocated from the attacks coming from the Ark Continent. Now, they couldn't wait to go all out, this was the result that Thunder Yun wanted.
Being a good General doesn't only depend on how many wins one can get, it also depends on how one deals with their adversary. Cloud Ying and Cloud Yin knew that if they were in Thunder Yun's shoes, then they wouldn't have a spectacular result as this. There were some times where a strategic defeat meant losing. But their retreat this time was different, they would retreat only because they were preparing to launch a better attack.
An example of this happened in the civil war after the Sino-Japanese war. It was when the party had to give up the headquarters at Yan'an. This might look like a big defeat. But this retreat had conserved the party's strength. Moreover, it didn't affect their morale at all. In the end, this move was marked as the party sacrificing Yan'an in order to acquire the whole of China.