The camp was now in ruins. Countless tents were blown away. Even the Great General's tent had collapsed. The ground seemed to have been flipped upside down. Wounded soldiers were crying and wailing everywhere. Soldiers were busy treating the wounded and cleaning up the tents.
After interrogating three soldiers, Li Chengfeng finally found out where Long Tenghai and Gao Shenghan were: on a hill at the back of the camp.
Li Chengfeng ignored Zhao Feiyue's attempts to stop him and sprinted all the way to the foot of the hill. It had become a temporary camp, surrounded by guards and elite cultivators patrolling the area.
When they saw Li Chengfeng and Zhao Feiyue, the guards and elite cultivators let them pass without interrogating them.
The Central Great General's temporary tent was set up at the back of the hill. There was no one around it, only a few dozen metres away was there a heavily guarded guard. Li Chengfeng had just climbed up the hill when he used his sharp hearing to pick up a conversation from inside the tent.
"You're crazy … you're … a puppet … you're … dead …"
The voice was extremely soft and intermittent, like a ghost drifting in the dark night wind. Li Chengfeng could not make out the meaning but the closer he got, the clearer he could hear.
At this moment, candles were lit in the tent. Cold wind would occasionally sneak in, causing the candles to sway.
Gao Shenghan and Long Tenghai faced each other in the candlelight. One's face was flushed with anger while the other was calm and composed.
Gao Shenghan said, "General, the best bow is hidden when all the birds are gone!
Are all the tragedies in history not enough to wake you up? "
Long Tenghai slammed the tent's pillar angrily, causing the tent to shake. "Gao Shenghan, do you still remember that you're an official of the Emperor of Qi, the advisor of the Southern Army?!"
The corner of Gao Shenghan's mouth revealed a faint smile that seemed to be mocking and ridiculing. "Great General, I am only the Great General's strategist!
I owe the Grand General a life, but I don't owe the Emperor a life. "
Long Tenghai stared fixedly at Gao Shenghan. His chest heaved up and down, and it was clear that he had gone mad with anger. However, he was trying his best to control the flames of anger and prevent it from devouring him. "Do you know that these words of yours are enough for you to be executed!?
Don't think that just because you're a cultivator, the laws of Da Qi can't be applied to you! "
Gao Shenghan laughed: "Great General does not need to scare this Gao. This Gao knows that the royal family's saber can naturally kill a cultivator's head.
If the Imperial Court blames us today, Grand General can push all the blame onto this Gao. This Gao can be considered to have repaid Grand General's life-saving grace. "
"You!" Long Tenghai was flustered and exasperated, "Who do you think I, Long Tenghai, am!?"
The two of them had known each other for close to 10 years. Long Tenghai saved Gao Shenghan when he was at his most desperate, and Gao Shenghan helped him when he was at his lowest point. The two of them had been inseparable all these years. Even the time that Long Tenghai spent with his most beloved wife and concubine added together was not as much as the time that he spent with Gao Shenghan.
The two of them supported each other on the battlefield and helped each other. They already had a deep trust and tacit understanding. The relationship between them was not something that could be explained by a simple term of comradeship.
Gao Shenghan could entrust his life to Long Tenghai, and Long Tenghai could entrust his wife and child to Gao Shenghan. This was a tacit understanding and trust that the two of them had never spoken about.
But now that Gao Shenghan said this, Long Tenghai felt even more humiliated and angry.
Of course, what really made Long Tenghai angry was not Gao Shenghan's words, but that Gao Shenghan did such an action without telling him.
He could understand Gao Shenghan emotionally because it was obvious that any smart person could tell that Gao Shenghan had colluded with the Puppet Kingdom. Otherwise, it was impossible for the Knights of Holy Light to advance so close to the fortress without any warning. They must have gone easy on them to do so.
If it was only collusion with the other party and allowed the other party to recapture Gray Helm Valley, then Gao Shenghan's treason of colluding with foreign countries would definitely be confirmed. Even if he was a golden body master, he would definitely die.
However, Gao Shenghan used his prestige and power in the army to bypass Long Tenghai and secretly mobilized a few elite cultivators to launch a "meteorite". Not only did it deal a heavy blow to the last trump card of the Puppet Kingdom, but it also completely sealed Gray Helm Valley, so that Long Tenghai could no longer continue to waste time in Gray Helm Valley, and then put himself in a dangerous situation that he could not extricate himself from.
On the other hand, Gao Shenghan's two-way operation sealed Gray Helm Valley. Not only did it make Long Tenghai lose the possibility of continuing to march into the Puppet Kingdom, but it also cut off the possibility of the Puppet Kingdom coming out of seclusion in a short period of time. It was impossible for both sides to have any major war in the next one or two years.
In this way, it ensured that the Puppet Kingdom would not be killed by Long Tenghai because of the defeat in this war, achieving the effect of nurturing the enemy. At the same time, it ensured that Long Tenghai would not overshadow the emperor and avoid being punished by the emperor in the end.
Gao Shenghan's plan of killing many birds with one stone could be said to be playing with the hearts of all the forces and people in the world in the palm of his hand. He even paid for it himself. If Long Tenghai was ruthless and pushed everything onto Gao Shenghan, then all the fruits of victory would belong to Long Tenghai, and Gao Shenghan would die bearing all the blame.
Would Long Tenghai?
As the uncrowned king who controlled the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the southeast provinces, and a general who climbed to the highest position of a great general by relying on countless military achievements and eerie white bones, would he not have the heart to do this?
Long Tenghai was in pain!
Everyone who knew him knew that he was a strong person who killed decisively. He seemed gentle, but in reality, he was overbearing. Gao Shenghan's actions completely crossed all of Long Tenghai's bottom line. If he let him go this time, what about next time?
In the future, if everyone in the army did this, how could he lead the army?
But, did he really have to push Gao Shenghan to the butcher's knife?
No, he, Long Tenghai, could not do it!
He was indeed an overbearing, ruthless, and decisive general, but at the same time, he was also a chivalrous and soft-hearted man, a great man!
If he was really just a selfish martial artist, then why would he march into Grey Helm Deep?
Did he, Long Tenghai, have no political brain at all? Did he not know that marching into Grey Helm Deep was forcing the Puppet Country to use their last resources to fight him?
Did he not know that if he killed the Puppet Country with one blow, he would definitely die?
Long Tenghai knew, but he still did it. Because compared to being a sly old man who nurtured bandits, he wanted to be a great hero who would leave his name in history. He would rather sacrifice himself to engrave his name deeply into the long scroll of history, and he wanted to make his light so dazzling that all the generals could only look up to him!
Now, the person he trusted the most destroyed all of this, destroyed his beautiful dream, and forced him to be a sly old man who nurtured bandits.
He had survived, and his family could also survive. However, he was not willing to give up!
So, he was furious!
He did not want to kill Gao Shenghan, even if he had deeply violated his taboo and bottom line. But Long Tenghai knew that this was a person who was truly thinking for his own good. His every move was for him to survive!
Let Gao Shenghan die?
He could not bear to do that!
This dilemma pained him to the extreme!
Long Tenghai looked deeply at Gao Shenghan. The two of them stared at each other until Long Tenghai let out a deep sigh. He waved his hand and said, "Forget it, forget it. Go talk to the princess."
Long Tenghai and Gao Shenghan turned to see Li Chengfeng and Zhao Feiyue standing at the entrance of the tent. They had obviously heard the intense argument between the two.
Li Chengfeng's expression was extremely ugly, and Zhao Feiyue's expression was also uncertain.