Guan Yi, deputy director of the Supervision and Pacification Department, quietly came to Li Xiao's side, his face was heavy, and he stopped talking. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

"The casualties of our army should be very serious." It was Li Xiao who opened his mouth first.

"Well, my lord, after this battle, our shield soldiers were killed and wounded 158 people, spearmen killed 165 people and wounded 212 people, 21 people were killed and 32 people were wounded in the rampant team, 33 people were killed and 60 people were wounded in the auxiliary team, 5 people were killed and 12 people were wounded in the Xuanhu heavy cavalry, 7 people were killed and 16 people were wounded in the battle of the Flying Harrier, and in the hands of Lu Mi, there were 6 fire guns in the chest, 3 dead and 3 wounded. Jin Dakui's troops were killed 126 and 210 wounded, and Du Shaoru's troops were killed and 195 wounded。。。。。。 ”

Li Xiao's resolute face suddenly twitched.

In this battle to defend the city, nearly two-thirds of the casualties on the side have been killed, which can be called extremely tragic, and the fate hangs by a thread.

Now that I think about it, although the main reason for the successful defense of the city this time is that the officers and men under his command have outstanding and strong combat effectiveness due to their daily hard training and powerful brainwashing, there are also many elements of luck in the final analysis.

If the enemy army attacked the city for the first time, it would adopt today's siege method, concentrating superior forces to break through the wall and attack the city; If the enemy has more blasting crates made of fire oil and black powder, they will blow more holes in the walls; If the enemy's hundreds of cavalry are dispatched in time to suppress their own cavalry, then, now they are afraid that they have already been killed and wiped out, so they can only summarize the reasons for the defeat of this battle in the underworld.

Speaking of which, it is still the lack of strength in his own troops, and the lack of powerful firearms troops, that makes this battle of defending the city so difficult and lucky.

Li Xiao secretly swore in his heart that in the future, he must do his best to make his soldiers stronger, and give priority to the development of more powerful firearms troops, so that he can no longer be so passive.

After all, not every battle can have such luck.

"All the soldiers who were killed and wounded in the battle were issued bereavement pensions and bounties in accordance with the regulations of our army, including Jin Dakui's department and Du Shaoru's department." Li Xiao, who had a heavy face, let out a long sigh, and then asked, "What about the seizure?" ”

Seeing Li Xiao's question, Guan Yi's face relaxed a lot, and he hurriedly reported: "My lord, our army has captured a lot of people in this battle. A total of 335 captive Ming troops were captured, 256 Jurchen Tartar heads, 143 Mongolian Tatars, and 187 Han Army were captured, and 550 pieces of intact armor were captured, including 45 pieces of white tooth horn armor, 92 pieces of fine iron armor, 171 pieces of ordinary iron armor, and the rest were all cotton armor。。。。。。 ”

"Those who surrendered to the Ming army, surrendered to the Tartars, and dared to be the enemy of our army, this official really wants to slaughter them all!" Li Xiao interrupted Guan Yi's words, he looked hateful, paused and said: "Now that they have rejoined the Ming Dynasty, it is useless to kill them. Then they were all imprisoned on the spot, and after the war, they were redeemed by the governor of the garrison himself. ”

"Heh, my lord has a good plan, I'll do it here." Guan Yi chuckled.

"How much do the people who have given up the Tartars have to gather?" Li Xiao thought for a while and asked.

"My lord, our army has a total of 2,860 people, including 1,140 strong men, 925 strong women, 320 old men, 275 old women, and the rest are children. The students have all asked, and there are about 100 people who are willing to go home. Guan Yi hurriedly replied.

"Then, as previously arranged, those who are willing to go home will be given a week's rations and let them go by themselves, and the rest will all be incorporated into our army's military households. Among them, all the strong men will be organized into auxiliary soldiers, and they will be trained immediately starting tomorrow. Li Xiao said without hesitation.

"The students obeyed." Guan Yi nodded, then lowered his voice and asked, "My lord, what should I do with these people's corpses?" ”

"Collective incineration, ten miles outside the city, set up a righteous mound, and bury it together." Li Xiao said this sentence in a low voice, and he sighed unconsciously.

"Order." Guan Yi also sighed, then said goodbye and went down to make arrangements.

Li Xiao stood on the city wall for a while, then went to the infirmary and took a group of generals to inspect the wounded soldiers.

Due to the tragedy of this battle, there were many wounded soldiers, and the beds of the wounded soldiers in the hospital hall were all lined up outside the house, and the screams of pain came and went, which made people feel heavy.

Some lightly wounded soldiers have been resettled in the barracks, freeing up beds for the seriously wounded to rest.

As for Zu Dale, Li Xiao cleaned up an empty room in the thousand-household official hall for him and let him rest alone.

Seeing Chen Mazi and the guys, with a group of nurses shuttling around inside, Li Xiao didn't bother them much, and after he comforted some of the wounded, he led the crowd to leave.

Li Xiao then wanted to return to the Qianhu official hall to rest, when a lot of noisy voices came from afar.

Li Xiao saw that Wei Zhen pacified An Qian, with more than a dozen fort soldiers, escorting two ragged people, one tall and one short, hurried towards him.

"An, what's the reason for that?" Seeing An Qian and the others approaching, Li Xiao asked loudly.

"Lord Li, according to other people's reports, it was these two people who helped the Tartars make a blasting wooden box, and only then did they blow up the north and south walls of my Jinjiazhuang Fort, so I captured these two people and handed them over to the adults to deal with them." Li Xiao stopped, and An Qian hurriedly introduced him.

Li Xiao's face immediately showed a serious expression.

It's just that his heart suddenly beat wildly.

These two people can make blasting wooden boxes, aren't they talents in short supply in our army.

This is a gift from God!

"So, you two helped the Tartars make this blasting wooden box?" Li Xiao was excited, but he still asked expressionlessly.

The two craftsmen, with a look of trepidation, glanced at each other, plopped down, and knelt on the ground.

"Lord Li, the Han army commander persecuted the two of us, if we don't make this blasting wooden box, they will take the lives of the two of us, and the two of us are afraid of death, so we dare not follow where!"

After the two finished speaking, kowtowing like pounding garlic.

Li Xiao saw that these two people were honest-looking people, and the seriousness on his face suddenly decreased a lot, and he said softly: "You are coerced by others, but it is understandable. And they both arose and spoke. ”

The two craftsmen looked at each other, but did not dare to get up.

"Master Li told you to get up, didn't you hear?" An Qian shouted on the side.

Both of them trembled, kowtowed again, and said thank you again, and Fang stood up.

"I don't know what the two craftsmen called, but what kind of job they did before, and how did they fall into the hands of the Tartars?" Li Xiao asked with a smile.

"My lord, my surname is Song Mingda, and I used to be in the Nanzhen Fusi Firearms Bureau, where I was in charge of refining sulfur. It was only for the imperial court to owe the salaries of craftsmen for many years, and the little helplessness made it easy to secretly flee back to his hometown on Xuanfu Middle Road this year, but he didn't expect that some time ago, the Tartars attacked the village and captured my family. The tall Song Da said first.

"Master Li, whose name is Yu Neng, used to be in the Wanquan Division Weapons Bureau, and his main business was to make coke for refining refined iron. The villain is unlucky, a few months ago back to the east road to visit relatives, on the time of the Tartar invasion, in the next family fled to the mountains, finally heard that the Tartars went to Datong and Shanxi, in the following from the mountains back to the village, I wanted to return to the town, but worried that there were many Tartars on the road, thinking about waiting for the Tartars to exit the pass, and then return. It's just that I didn't expect to stay in the village for a week, and this group of Tartars came to attack the village again, and the little one didn't have time to escape, so he became a prisoner of the Tartars. The short Yu Neng sighed to Li Xiao with a wince.

Including An Qian, everyone was surprised to find that this young Li Qianhu had a happy smile on his face at this time.

"An Qian, stand down, I have something to say to these two craftsmen." Li Xiao made a gesture to An Qian.

After An Qian and the others retreated, Li Xiao smiled and said to the two: "Two, if you want the official to let you go, it will not be difficult, but you have to agree to the official on one condition." ”

"Please show me." Seeing that there was room for manoeuvre, the two of them asked anxiously.

"You two have been serving in our army ever since. Our army is in dire need of two such talents. If you both agree, you can write off all the past things of the two of you, if not。。。。。。 ”

Before Li Xiao finished speaking, Song Da Neng and the two of them were already kneeling on the ground again, and Song said loudly: "My lord didn't kill the two of me, I am already grateful, and now I have to be so valued by Lord Li, take in the army, what else can I say about the two of us." I will do my best for the adults until I die! ”

"Get up, get up, the two of you are willing to join our army, and the officer is very welcome, and he will follow the official into the official hall and talk in detail." Li Xiao smiled brightly and helped the two of them up.

Li Xiaoyan and the two went to the courtyard of the official hall and invited the two to sit down.

The two of them were favored by this, and their faces were very embarrassed, and when they saw Li Xiao's enthusiastic invitation, they sat down obliquely.

Li Xiao then chatted with them about their families, and the two hurriedly told Li Xiao that because the two made the blasting wooden box, the Han army commander decided to leave the two families alive and did not let them rush into battle, so the whole family was retained.

Li Xiao secretly thought, it seems that this technical talent will be treated preferentially wherever he goes. But it's okay, their families are all in the army, and the two will be more dedicated.

At this time, Song Da cautiously asked Li Xiao: "My lord, I would like to ask, will our army stay in this Jinjiazhuang Fort for a long time, or will we return to Shandong after the war?" ”

"Our army is all Shandong soldiers, and after the Tartars leave the customs, they will return to Shandong." Li Xiao replied.

"Oh, that's it." Song Da responded, but his face was very regretful. Yu Neng next to him also looked thoughtful.

Li Xiao noticed something was wrong, and hurriedly asked, "Why, do you two have any ideas?" ”

"My lord, I am thinking that it would be good if my lord could stay in this Jinjiazhuang Fort for a long time." Yu Neng scratched his head and said.

"Oh, why is that?"

"My lord, do you know, when the first few **** two were ordered to make this blasting wooden box, they had explored the boundary of this Jinjiazhuang Fort everywhere. Later, it was found that in the junction area between the boundary mountain and the Tangquan River, in addition to a large number of open-pit coal mines, there were also a large number of concurrent sulfur mines, which were of high purity, and if they could be mined, they could be good raw materials for making gunpowder. ”

Song Da's words made Li Xiao's heart beat wildly.

High-purity sulfur, which is an important raw material for making black powder!

The ingredients of black powder, one sulfur, two nitrate and three charcoal, all three are indispensable. Saltpeter and charcoal, on the other hand, are much easier to obtain than sulfur.

This high-purity sulphur ore is very rare in China, a sulphur-deficient country, but it is quite difficult to find.

You must know that now the Imperial Court Firearms Bureau produces gunpowder, charcoal and saltpeter, all of which are produced domestically, and only the sulfur used is basically imported from sulfur balls and other places, the price is high and the road is long, and there are many pirates hijacking, but it is not easy to obtain.

Such a treasure, I thought it was a place to find when I stepped on the iron shoes, but I didn't expect to find that it had been lying quietly within my control. It's a giant pie falling from the sky!

Li Xiao originally only wanted to return to Shandong, and began to re-move.

After sending Song Da Neng and the others away, Li Xiao was like an anxious lion, pacing back and forth in the courtyard.

In his heart, there was only one thought at this time.

That is, such a treasure land must be firmly controlled in your own hands!

So, what should be done?

Li Xiao paced in the courtyard for a long time, and gradually had a plan in his mind. (To be continued.) )