Lin Tian's words gave the soldiers of Chu a sense of surviving a disaster.
At this moment, many of them were utterly exhausted.
Hearing Lin Tian's answer, they knew they had made the right choice.
Thus, some of them were stunned at first, then wept with joy.
This was a monumental piece of good news for them.
They could go home.
Without any hesitation, they dropped their long swords, shed their armor, and were about to leave.
They had been longing to go home with a fierce intensity, and longed for their families just as much.
Under such circumstances, they had no room for hesitation. Even though it was deep into the night, they wanted to rush home.
However, at this moment, Lin Tian spoke again.
"Wait!!"
This exclamation startled everyone. They were terrified that Lin Tian would say something they didn't want to hear.
If that were the case, they would be completely finished.
Fortunately, at this moment, Lin Tian was not stopping them, but helping them.
"Give them some food, plus a little money, so they don't starve on the road!!"
Upon hearing this, many Chu soldiers couldn't help but shed tears.
They didn't know what to say. After kowtowing to Lin Tian a few times, they headed off to other places, leaving the battlefield and returning to their homes.
Their actions also shocked the entire Chu army.
"No way, they just surrendered like that??"
"Wow, they are too brave! Just running over and surrendering, this is clearly a gamble!!"
"Yes! It's a gamble! But I have to say, they won their gamble! They can go home!!"
At these words, countless soldiers fell silent.
In their hearts, they also wanted to go home, but they were not like those soldiers. They lacked that courage.
Therefore, they could only be envious.
Along with their envy, a strange thought arose in their hearts: they hoped the Qin army would advance as quickly as possible.
That way, they could also seize the opportunity to surrender, and perhaps they could go home too.
As this thought emerged, countless Chu soldiers were moved.
Because of this, many of them lost the will to defend the city.
Countless among them wondered when the Qin army would attack.
While thinking, they also looked forward to it with great anticipation.
However, while they were anticipating, Xiang Yan was filled with dread.
"How can they desert? How can they leave our camp and surrender directly to Qin? Don't they have any sense of military honor??"
At this moment, Xiang Yan desperately wanted to ask where these people's military honor had gone.
But he also knew that the soldiers' reactions were entirely related to the situation in Chu.
If the internal situation in Chu were not so chaotic, with so many Chu civilians fleeing everywhere, these soldiers would never have been so eager to go home.
They would never have chosen to desert the camp in such a manner.
Therefore, Xiang Yan was extremely enraged and also extremely fearful.
"This situation cannot be allowed to happen again. Such a situation must not occur in the army. Once it happens again, our morale will be completely scattered!!"
"Moreover, we cannot fight the Qin army anymore. If we fight the Qin army, those soldiers who want to go home may seize the opportunity to surrender."
"If they surrender at a critical moment, we will inevitably be defeated like a mountain collapsing!!"
Once the Qin army advanced, and a large number of Chu soldiers surrendered at a critical juncture, it was conceivable that their army would be unable to withstand the Qin army's onslaught.
At that time, their losses would not just be those surrendered soldiers, but an entire army.
Their army of three hundred thousand might be annihilated because of this.
Therefore, Xiang Yan decided to avoid fighting the Qin army if it was not absolutely necessary.
At the same time, he also drafted three reports to inform the King of Chu that he must appease the people of Chu.
If the people of Chu were appeased, and they stopped fleeing Chu, and no longer had to worry about survival.
Then the Chu soldiers would definitely not have such a strong desire to desert the army and return to their homes.
This was the root of the problem.
Of course, it was also the most difficult problem to solve.
Earlier, Xiang Yan had discussed this issue with the King of Chu, but the King of Chu was more concerned about his money, and immediately dismissed Xiang Yan's words.
This time, Xiang Yan wrote three consecutive letters, emphasizing the dire consequences, hoping that this issue could be properly resolved.
Only then would their army remain stable.
Lin Tian was unaware of all this.
The day after those Chu soldiers surrendered, Lin Tian led his army to attack a city in Chu.
Under normal circumstances, Chu should have resisted with all their might.
But Xiang Yan feared problems and the possibility of mass surrenders.
When Lin Tian's army attacked, he directly ordered the army to retreat, ceding the city.
This action was a defeat without a fight.
Abandoning the Chu city without any resistance would further lead to impeachment by others in Chu, and perhaps even accusations of treason.
Any other general would absolutely not have done this.
But to minimize the casualties of his soldiers, he did so.
Even so, a significant number of soldiers still laid down their weapons during the retreat and squatted on the ground.
Seeing these soldiers, Xiang Yan's heart ached with rage.
But Lin Tian's army was already advancing. No matter how angry he was, he could only temporarily abandon these soldiers, abandon their city, and retreat from Lin Tian's offensive.
Xiang Yan's intention was to stall, to stall until the King of Chu resolved the chaos within Chu.
However, it was not so easy to stall the Qin army's offensive by retreating.
Although they abandoned the city and allowed Lin Tian's army to occupy it,
Lin Tian's army did not stop after occupying the city but continued to send troops in pursuit of them.
This made Xiang Yan's scalp tingle.
He did not want to retreat, nor did he want to fight Lin Tian's army.
If they continued to retreat, they would inevitably lose more cities.
If they stopped retreating and fought Lin Tian's army, they might be completely annihilated.
After much deliberation, he could only choose to continue retreating.
This retreat resulted in the loss of five consecutive cities.
To take five consecutive cities without losing a single soldier was, indeed, a legend.