After breaking out of Benliang City, Ajiket made a preliminary estimate of the casualties of the troops. Out of more than 300,000 people, only 150,000 to 160,000 people escaped.
The total number of central troops fleeing to the east was between 60,000 and 70,000, with only 50,000 left, which can be said to be a blessing in disguise.
However, the situation of the central troops fleeing to the west is not optimistic.
The troops he led could still fight against the human troops on the plains and find a way out, but the other small troops that were divided into small pieces were probably in great danger.
Even though the Fifth Western Army's reinforcements were running around like that, excluding his team, they only managed to gather more than 10,000 people.
It will be somewhat difficult to find nearly 20,000 more people in the remaining days.
However, it is really unacceptable to just give up the plain to others.
In spring and summer, even if we cannot completely resist the human offensive and lose the plains, we can still provide a certain buffer for Wansheng Kingdom and prevent the Rose Empire from further encroaching from the plains to the inland.
Without this buffer, I don’t know what challenges we will face next year.
“It was a good time to finalize.
During this time, I will try my best to search for traces of other troops, join up with them, and try to capture Benliang City again.
If they fail, they can give up the attempt and instead build defenses in the Boots region and the cities they have already captured, preparing for humanity's spring and summer offensive.
”
After making the decision, Akito's eyes fell on the human male tied up with ropes.
"Can you tell me what's going on with this human male next to you?"
Wan Luo glanced at the human male beside him, but before Wan Luo could speak, the middle-aged man slowly opened his cracked lips and made a hoarse sound.
"Supreme Commander here, I have some intelligence I want to discuss with you. Can you give me a cup of hot tea so I can sit down somewhere warm and talk slowly?"
The man spoke, and Wan Luo pulled the rope unhappily.
The middle-aged man staggered a few steps towards the monster bear.
The monster bear turned around and bared its teeth at the man, as if telling him that if he didn't obey, it could eat him up at any time.
The middle-aged man looked away subconsciously, the fear on his face clearly revealed.
"You are not qualified to negotiate. Also, I asked you so many times just now, but you didn't say a word. Now that you meet the general, don't try to play any tricks."
"No. No. No."
The middle-aged man frowned and repeated it several times before continuing:
"This is really very important information. If you don't believe it, you orcs may not be able to get far."
“You bastard!”
Hearing the ominous words, Wan Luo curled his lips and knitted his brows together, becoming even more unhappy. He was about to use his strength to straighten the rope so that the human male would suffer, but he was stopped by Ajiket.
"No need to push him like that, just listen to what he has to say."
After saying this, Ajiket organized personnel to accommodate the aid troops from the Second East Army that had come from afar, and asked his subordinates to prepare warm rooms and tea. He then called a few trusted people to interrogate the human male together.
Unexpectedly, Yang Yu was also called in.
The makeshift tent was small and extremely simple.
Yang Yu looked around and found that besides him, there were about ten people, and the lowest rank was a Zhengya general.
Many officers would unconsciously sniff the air when passing by Yang Yu, to confirm the smell of Yang Yu again. They felt it was a little strange, but in the end they didn't say anything.
The ropes on his body were untied, and he slowly walked to the stool prepared for him by the army. He took the hot tea from the soldier to warm his hands, and the middle-aged man's expression eased a little.
Ajiket did not immediately ask the middle-aged man what he knew, but turned to Wan Luo and said:
"Wan Luo, how did you catch this man? I want to hear what happened."
There is no need to hide, Wan Luo said:
“We were ordered to go to this area to provide rescue, and we discovered a group of human troops acting suspiciously, so we quietly followed them.
First, I heard that they received a call to go for support, and then, I heard that they suddenly decided to change their minds and send people to search or something.
My troops and I went up and attacked them.
Those humans are so tight-lipped that they don't want to tell us any useful information.
Fortunately, we orcs have a keen sense of smell.
We found rows of almost buried footprints on the snow. They looked like they were left by some kind of oversized orc, but we could only smell the scent of humans.
I sent my team to pursue the smell.
After that, we caught this sneaky guy.
But I asked him many times, he refused to tell me what his purpose was.
I can only bring him here.”
"Hmm." Ajiket thought for a moment and looked at the man who drank the tea in a leisurely manner. "Sir, is what he said true?"
Slowly putting down the teacup, the man nodded.
"Basically it's like, I'm old enough and I didn't expect to be treated like that.
You are really merciless to humans."
Looking at the marks on his wrist, the man had a complicated expression.
"You are a human being. Don't forget that we are still at war. You cannot be trusted until your true motives are confirmed."
Wan Luo spoke eloquently, and other officers present also agreed with him.
"I never thought that the opposition would reach this point." The man sighed deeply, frowning even more tightly. After a while, he relaxed his brows as if he had suddenly figured it out. "There's nothing we can do about it. This is perfectly normal."
After a moment of silence, the man looked at Akiket and raised his voice.
“Whether you believe what I say next or not, I will tell you my purpose. I am only a human being and I don’t have any decision-making power.
After several years of war, humans and demihumans became increasingly ugly in each other's hearts.
Especially among the majority of people who have no contact with each other.
Alas - perhaps, I shouldn't start here.
But this is to let you know my motivations.
Forget it, I'll just say what I'm doing.
I am dismantling the magic communication jammer on the plains.
The human army intends to divide you into small groups, completely cut off the communication between you, and then defeat you one by one.
They set up a magical communication jammer, but were able to communicate with each other through a special instrument.
You must destroy the magic jammer to have a chance of survival, otherwise you will be caught in a trap.
I know where those devices are located, and I am doing my best to dismantle them.
If possible, I beg you to let me go and I will dismantle the remaining devices."
(End of this chapter)