Chapter 356
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Chapter 356: Examining the Corpses
The beastman army’s retreat was within expectations.
This battle could not be called a victory or defeat for either side.
Luo Ji, Zhao Pan, and the other generals clearly understood this.
But the soldiers didn’t understand.
When they saw the beastmen army retreat, they only assumed they had won, and they cheered and celebrated.
Luo Ji and the others didn’t correct them.
Boosting morale was a good thing, and there was no need to dwell on such minor details.
The focus was on Li Yuanjie’s next move.
Whether the enemy had been misled by them and chosen to remain and continue assaulting Shangyuan City became the crux of Luo Ji’s entire plan.
To be safe, Luo Ji decisively sent out a squad of scouts, signaling them to exit the city from another side using scaling ladders and discreetly follow to confirm the situation.
If the enemy intended to retreat, the scouts might even be able to disrupt them at a crucial moment, possibly ruining Li Yuanjie’s timing for withdrawal.
Of course, before the scouts departed, considering the beastmen’s keen, animal-like sense of smell, Luo Ji certainly had to repeatedly caution them.
He instructed the scouts to be careful and treat the beastmen like wild animals with acute senses.
They had to guard against the enemy’s eyes and ears, and also their noses, and absolutely not relax their vigilance.
After giving the instructions, Luo Ji used his binoculars to confirm twice that the enemy had indeed retreated, then ordered the soldiers to fetch sand and soil to extinguish the large fire outside the city.
The fire ignited by oil had an astonishing temperature.
Previously, the Elephantman slingers’ several stone throws had already created several craters on the wall.
Now, with such burning, after this battle, repairing Shangyuan City’s wall would likely be another massive project.
The head of the Construction Department would probably be spitting blood again.
After extinguishing the fire with sand and soil, clearing the battlefield was naturally an urgent matter.
The arrows and heavy crossbow bolts that had been fired were to be recovered as much as possible.
Although they were consumables, they shouldn’t be treated as single-use items.
However, this time, Luo Ji and the others’ main focus was clearly not on the recovered arrows and heavy crossbow bolts.
Watching the beastman corpses, laboriously carried in by several soldiers, the generals and soldiers in the city let out gasps of surprise.
Seeing these beastmen, whose appearances were vastly different from their own, at such close range, was undoubtedly a different experience for everyone.
Even Zhao Pan couldn’t help but scrutinize them a few more times.
However, no one made any rash moves.
Everyone still harbored some apprehension towards these unfamiliar creatures.
Luo Ji, on the other hand, felt more interest than apprehension.
These were beastmen, beings that, for him, a modern person, only existed in fantasy, movies, and games.
To say he wasn’t curious would definitely be a lie.
With a sense of curiosity, Luo Ji’s gaze quickly shifted to a Kobold corpse.
This corpse had evidently died from multiple arrows, covered in blood.
After signaling a soldier to bring a bucket of clean water and simply washing off the bloodstains from the corpse, Luo Ji finally saw the Kobold’s true appearance.
To be honest, it wasn’t quite like the Kobold image he had imagined.
If anything, it was uglier than he expected.
Its entire face was wrinkled, and from its appearance, it somewhat resembled a shar pei dog, with a massive nose and two prominent fangs protruding from its lower lip.
It looked quite ferocious.
Luo Ji reached out and rubbed the Kobold’s skin.
The texture was exceptionally rough, yet also quite tough.
Unlike humans, for a Kobold, its natural hide alone was equivalent to a layer of leather armor!
Realizing this, a sense of pressure welled up in Luo Ji’s heart.
“Damn it! Humans are at a huge disadvantage physically when clashing head-on with these beastmen.”
“We definitely have to rely on equipment and coordination, otherwise, we’ll just have to rely on numbers…”
The last method was undoubtedly what Luo Ji least wanted to see.
His civilization’s military strength had already reached a limit.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t recruit more soldiers or afford to support them, it was that he couldn’t recruit them.
Although he had already decided to annex this beastman civilization at any cost, he still wanted to minimize military losses as much as possible.
After confirming the appearance of the Kobold, Luo Ji’s gaze turned to the Minotaur next to it.
The Minotaur’s appearance was largely similar to what he had imagined, and it was undoubtedly more robust than the Kobold in terms of physique.
Even without fighting it head-on yet, he could already clearly sense that this was a troop type capable of both taking and dealing damage.
The physical strength of the beastman troop types truly exceeded his imagination, subtly making his mood heavy.
In this battle, he probably had to pay a considerable price.
Not lingering there, after confirming the condition of these beastman corpses, Luo Ji immediately turned and returned to the military camp.
He needed to think carefully about countermeasures.
After Luo Ji left, the generals who had already gathered around naturally flocked closer, and a discussion quickly ensued.
“These Minotaur horns are real!”
“Nonsense, they’re called Minotaurs. Look at their heads, they look almost exactly like the old black oxen ploughing in the fields.”
“How strong are those old black oxen in the fields? Are these Minotaurs as strong as the old black oxen?”
“Maybe even stronger.”
The soldier said, instinctively glancing at the Minotaur’s exaggerated muscles.
Just looking at them, one could tell how powerful they were.
The soldiers were all discussing the unfamiliar beastman corpses, feeling a sense of novelty, while the generals felt pressure.
Undoubtedly, Zhao Pan and the others had thought along the same lines as Luo Ji.
Without needing to say more, a group of them tacitly walked towards the war room in the military camp.
Upon entering the war room, everyone immediately noticed that Luo Ji was already sitting in front of the massive tactical sandbox.
For a moment, all the generals felt ashamed.
Luo Ji, however, didn’t overthink it.
Seeing Zhao Pan and the others enter, he casually asked.
“Any thoughts?”
The generals dared not be slow and quickly spoke their thoughts and analyses.
Luo Ji nodded repeatedly after listening.
After all, those he could promote to general naturally couldn’t be incompetent.
They basically thought along the same lines as him.
“At the earliest tomorrow, and no later than 2 to 3 days, the beastman army will certainly attack again.”
“Before that, we must quickly think of strategies to deal with this army.”
