Qi Shi was speechless for a while, okay, it's all my fault. But don't forget to give me credit when you get back.

After three rounds of trebuchet bombing, the battlefield of the two armies was like a white mist, and the Zhou army could still see clearly the situation of the two divisions fighting with each other, but the camp of the Southern Han army was not good, and it was all blocked by the lime powder in the sky. And the more this is the case, the more Liu Mang does not dare to order to send people to support.

Immediately after that, the sound of artillery rang out again, but this time not from the front, but from the side to bombard the Southern Han army that supported later. The weight of the hesitant himself is not large, and the two horses can be transferred, so the six cannons that were withdrawn from the front of the formation were quickly transferred to the front of the third and sixth armies on both flanks, and under the protection of the infantry, they advanced forward to six or seven hundred meters after the opponent, and they bombarded the area of the white fog. After six rounds of shelling, the white fog was about to dissipate, so he hung up his horses again and began to move. And the 3rd and 6th Divisions, which have long been sharpening their knives, can't wait. Looking at the officers and soldiers of the Southern Han Dynasty who were still standing and not dead revealed in the white mist, it was like a wolf pack that had been hungry for a long time saw a lamb, and rushed forward with red eyes.

The battle ended from morning to dusk in the afternoon, and the final result was that the first batch of 20,000 people of the Southern Han army who rushed into the Zhou camp were all annihilated, and the follow-up support was also severely hit, and less than 3,000 soldiers were able to go back intact or back, that is, more than 10,000 were either killed or wounded.

When it was completely dark, the battlefield had not yet been cleaned, and the Zhou army lit torches and continued to clean up the battlefield, placing their sacrificial comrades one by one and bringing them back to the camp, and the corpses and blades discarded by the other party on the battlefield would not be spared, and everything that was useful was brought back.

Although the Southern Han army suffered a heavy defeat, it also sent people to negotiate with the Zhou army to retrieve the bodies of the dead soldiers. Fortunately, Gongsun Jian was reasonable and agreed to the other party's request, but those equipment had to be left. Because the Zhou army has won, these things are naturally the trophies of the Zhou army, and there is no reason to bring them back to you.

The two sides who cleaned up the battlefield were quite friendly and there were no conflicts. After all, the battle is over, and everyone is here to pick up their comrades who died in battle. Although the atmosphere was a little depressing, they were very polite to each other. No, if you meet, you will say a few words.

Soldiers generally do not talk about national affairs, but about their own and their families. For example, how many acres of land do you have, what is the harvest this year, etc. At first, it was quite casual. But later, the officer in charge of leading the team on the side of the Southern Han Army found out about the problem, and hurriedly ordered the soldiers on his side not to talk to the other party, and quickly withdrew to the camp after cleaning up.

The reason is very simple, because during the conversation, everyone seemed to be very interested in everything in the territory of King Zhou, especially when it came to the return of acres of land to the public, and the families divided the land and rented the land.

"How much tax does the government collect from you?" A Southern Han soldier asked curiously the Zhou soldiers who were cleaning up the scattered blades beside him.

"It depends on the place. If it is a good field, you can cultivate a paddy field with a good yield, and the government will harvest 20%, but in the event of a natural disaster and a poor harvest, it will be determined according to the actual situation, and even no tax will be charged. There is also wasteland, which is also considered to be the land of the government, but there is no need to pay taxes for the first three years, and the family can continue to cultivate it in the future, and only need to pay 20%. The Zhou Jun replied with a smile.

"What? Are you stupid for me? How can the government only collect 20%? The young soldier of the Southern Han Army said in disbelief: "Our family has three acres of land, and we have rented seven acres of land from the Wang family in the village. The government side is forty percent, and the landlord's family also has to pay forty percent. If it weren't for the lack of land in my family, the ghost would be willing to rent someone else's land to plant. In this way, my father and my eldest brother farmed at home, and the family could not eat enough all year round. If I hadn't come out to serve as a soldier, I would have starved to death at home. ”

"Hush. You don't believe it. The soldiers of the Zhou army gave each other a blank look.

"Who are we, princes? That is the living bodhisattva who truly saves suffering. In the past, we were like you, we paid the rent of the landlord's family and paid the taxes of the government, and in the end, we had nothing left after a year's hard work, and we had to serve forced labor every year. But since I followed our prince, I don't have to pay the land rent, I only need to pay the government's taxes. We are also exempted from forced labor, and even if the government sends workers, we will be paid, and we will take care of food every day. ”

"Hehe, you just blow it. You're so good over there, so why are you still here to be a soldier? ”

"Humph! You don't understand that. The soldiers of the Zhou army stopped what they were doing, held their heads high and said with a little pride: "It is pride and glory to be a soldier on our side. Many descendants like me want to be soldiers and can't accept it. Let me tell you, as long as we are selected to be qualified to be a soldier, each family will give ten taels of silver for settling-in allowance, and the family's taxes can be halved during my military service, even if I retire in the future, there are still preferential treatments at home. In addition, we think that the salary of a first-year soldier like me will be five cents a month, and the next year will rise to eight cents, and if I can be promoted, it will be at least one or two dollars a month. And that's not even counting wartime subsidies and incentives. Let me tell you this, if I serve as a soldier for three years, and I can participate in three battles like today's within three years, as long as I don't die and return home, the government can give me five acres of land rent-free, and I calculated that the military salary and silver reward I have left every month are at least fifty taels, plus retirement subsidies and so on, and it is more than enough to buy a cow and build three rooms and marry a daughter-in-law after returning home. ”

Looking at the proud look on Zhou Jun's face on the opposite side and Fang Cai's words, all the Southern Han troops who heard it nearby were not calm. It's the same soldier, it's the same farming, why is there such a big difference? It seems that the root cause is still in the question of who to mix with.

Not only did the soldiers of these Southern Han Army begin to waver a little in their hearts, but even some lower-level officers also had a ripple in their hearts. And this kind of topic is not only talked about by these two enemies who have never tasted the same life, but almost everyone who is involved in cleaning up the battlefield. Even some lower-level officers of the Southern Han Army took the initiative to ask about the treatment of the other party's officers.

This situation was soon discovered, so the Southern Han army hurriedly returned to agree after hastily cleaning up. However, these news began to ferment among the soldiers of the Southern Han Army camp in the evening.

Gongsun Jian naturally knew about the above situation, because the soldiers who were sent out to clean up the battlefield were originally selected by him and Huang Wenyuan, some of them were just graduated from the Military and Political Academy, and some were the backbone of ideological work that Huang Wenyuan had cultivated in the army before. And their task is not only to simply clean up the battlefield, but more importantly, to find ways to influence and incite the soldiers of the Southern Han Army. Although it may not be able to immediately disintegrate the opponent's fighting spirit, after a long period of subtlety, the opponent's morale will definitely be hit.

At the end of a major war, the Southern Han army paid nearly 30,000 casualties. On the Gongsun Jian side, only more than 1,000 people were killed in the battle, and only more than 800 were injured. It can be said that it is a complete victory. This result also made Gongsun Jian satisfied. This battle alone narrowed the gap between the two sides a lot, and also tested the performance and quality of the new weapons in real combat. This makes Gongsun Jian more confident in the next battle.

Gongsun Jian had confidence, but Liu Mang, the king of the Southern Han Dynasty opposite, frowned. It's not that he can't afford to lose, it's that he loses too much. thought that the ability to arrange troops and adapt on the spot was not inferior to the opponent, but in the end he was defeated by the opponent's secret weapon. How could such a result not make Liu Mang feel powerless and frustrated. After all, he still underestimated Gongsun Jian's ability.

But how to conduct the next battle, this question was also defeated in front of Liu Mang at the same time. Those strange weapons on the other side are really powerful, and they are overwhelming. Even if he was wearing heavy armor, as long as he was attacked, the result would only be a dead end.

However, Liu Mang soon figured out one point, that is, the number of weapons of this kind in Gongsun Jian's hands was not large, and it must also have its limitations. Otherwise, with such a powerful weapon, Gongsun Jian didn't need to be with his own eyes and scheming at all, and he could win by directly leading the army to push him over.

After coming to this conclusion, Liu Mang's heart finally settled down a little. And then he changed his strategy, focusing on defense, strengthening the periphery of the camp, and waiting for Gongsun Jian to take the initiative to attack. From time to time, cavalry with good mobility was detached from the flank to raid and harass Gongsun Jian's troops.

On the other hand, Gongsun Jian has been standing still since he won a big battle. Since Liu Mang didn't take the initiative to attack, he didn't have to worry. The two sides confronted each other in silence. Stealing a camp or something from each other at night should be an extra meal.

In this way, the two sides have been in a stalemate for almost half a month, and Gongsun Jian finally waited for the good news he wanted, the Vietnamese army going south on the east road actually defeated the army sent by Liu Mang to block it, and successfully captured the five county capitals of the Southern Han Dynasty in one go. At this moment, Liu Mang couldn't sit still.

He was stupidly confronting Gongsun Jian here, but the Eastern Front was lost. If his side can't quickly resolve the battle and divide the victory, then it is likely that the army of the Zhou court will take this opportunity to capture more territory of the Southern Han Kingdom all the way. In the end, he put himself in a very passive situation. Even if Gongsun Jian is defeated in the end, he will still have to face the Vietnamese army. And even if he wins Gongsun Jian, if he can't completely annihilate the other party, then Gongsun Jian on the Western Front may also organize an offensive at any time, and then he will really suffer from the enemy on his back.

As a last resort, Liu Mang had no choice but to start a real battle with Gongsun Jian and resolve the battle here as quickly as possible. At this time, Gongsun Jian made an unexpected decision. The Zhou army actually began to retreat.

Gongsun Jian's approach made Liu Mang a little confused, and he really couldn't understand what Gongsun Jian was doing. But Gongsun Jian gave him the answer. After Gongsun Jian's army retreated fifty miles, a letter was sent to Liu Mang's imperial front. The content of the letter is very simple, my Gongsun Jian took the initiative to retreat, and gave you enough time to destroy the Yue army. I promise not to take a step forward until you return, and there will be no other military action.

After reading this letter, Liu Mang's anger was like thunder.

"Gongsun Jian'er is really hateful. Dare to tease me. Liu Mang kicked over the bookcase in front of him, and scolded with red eyes: "Do you really think I can't see his sinister intentions?" I want to use me to help him weaken the strength of the Zhou State. Besides, if I leave with my troops, will he really stay put? ”

The surrounding ministers of the Southern Han Dynasty were silent one by one, and the key was that they didn't know how to admonish their own majesty at this time. To put it bluntly, Gongsun Jian used Yangmou.

If you don't fight the Vietnamese army, you can only watch your territory being slowly encroached upon and annexed by the Zhou State. But do you really dare to fight the Vietnamese army? It's strange if Gongsun Jian doesn't attack you if you leave. At this time, it was absolutely impossible to divide the troops, and the previous 30,000 horses were defeated, and another 30,000 people were lost in the battle with Gongsun Jian. After dividing the troops in this way, the strength will be weakened little by little. In the end, it is estimated that the Southern Han Dynasty will really perish. But now that you don't fight the Vietnamese army, is there any better way?