The Chu army finally retreated.

But before retreating, the Chu general Zaifu ordered his infantry to make a final advance.

When advancing to the range of the Wei soldiers in the Wei camp, Zaifu ordered several thousand people to wave the flag back and forth in front of the Wei camp with a white flag in one hand and a shield in the other.

Seeing this, the Wei soldiers on the wall of the Wei camp couldn't help but stop shooting.

『……』

Gong Yuan, the Wei general in charge of commanding the Wei soldiers, also raised his hand to signal the nearby Wei soldiers to stop firing, and he looked intently at the enemy generals holding high the white flag.

Of course, it is impossible for the Chu army to surrender with white flags, and what those white flags represent is just that the Chu army admitted the defeat of the war and asked the Wei army to allow them to collect the corpses.

This is an unwritten rule at war between the two armies since ancient times: when one side raises a white flag to admit defeat and demands that the corpses of the dead be collected, the other side is not allowed to take the opportunity to attack.

The reason why such an unwritten rule has been handed down is that it was first said to be because of a plague.

It is said that the armies of two countries fought fiercely in the field, and many soldiers died in the war, and because the battle dragged on for a long time, the corpses of the two soldiers who died in the battle showed signs of decay and stench, which led to an outbreak of a plague in the area.

As a result, the number of soldiers and civilians of the two countries killed in this plague far exceeded the total number of people killed in that battle by dozens of times, and it almost wiped out a radius of thousands of miles.

From then on, when the two armies were fighting, the generals of both sides tacitly began to fulfill an unwritten rule: the victor collected the corpses of the battlefield, whether they were friends or enemies, and burned or buried them on the spot, and the corpses were not allowed to be thrown in the wilderness, let alone discarded near water sources.

Later, as Confucianism began to spread throughout the country, the idea of "benevolence" gradually changed or perfected this unwritten rule: if the defeated party raised the white flag. The victor should obey benevolence and acquiesce to the demands of the other side in the hope of reining in the soldiers who have died in battle, and should not take the opportunity to attack.

This is also the reason why Wei General Gong Yuan ordered to stop the attack in time.

However, beside Wei General Gong Yuan, Wei Jiao and Lu Mu didn't seem to understand this unwritten rule, and saw that the Lord General ordered to stop the attack. Puzzled, he asked, "Why did the general order to stop the attack?" …… Could it be that the general really believed that the Chu army outside the camp would surrender? ”

Gong Yuan shook his head and said lightly: "Those few white flags don't mean that the Chu army wants to surrender. As he spoke, he told Wei Jiao and Lu Mu the true meaning of those white flags.

Wei Jiao and Lu Mu suddenly realized, and immediately looked back.

Sure enough, I saw that outside the camp, the only longbowmen who threatened their Wei camp had gradually retreated. And those Chu infantry who were still slowly advancing only held their shields in front of them. Step by step, he walked towards Wei Ying.

"There's no going to be a fraud, is it?"

Wei Jiao couldn't help but mutter.

Gong Yuan shook his head when he heard this, and said: "No matter how cunning the Chu people are, they will not cheat on this kind of thing, if they really dare to do this, they will definitely be despised by the people of the world...... I believe that the Chu people understand what it means to lose a big because of a small one. After a pause, he continued: "What's more, the longbowmen of the Chu army have already retreated. Without the suppressive cover of those longbowmen, on these infantry alone. Even if you arrive in the area of the gun forest, you can't help this barracks, it's fine. ”

Wei Jiao and Lu Mu nodded in disbelief.

At this time, Zhao Hongrun saw that the Wei soldiers on the camp wall had generally stopped attacking, and he wondered, so he went up to the camp wall with Meng Kui, the left attendant of the Ministry of Works, to take a look. So I came to the location where Miyabuchi and the others were.

"What's the matter, General Miyabuchi, why did you order the attack to stop?"

"His Royal Highness King Su." Hearing Zhao Hongrun's voice, Gong Yuan glanced back, and hurriedly clasped his fists in salute. Then explained the scene to Zhao Hongrun.

"Raise the white flag and demand the collection of the corpses of the soldiers who died in battle?" Zhao Hongrun looked suspiciously at the Chu soldiers who were slowly coming outside the camp, frowned and said, "In my opinion, I'm afraid it's to recover those weapons and armor, right?" ”

Gong Yuan shrugged his shoulders when he heard this, after all, he also knew that there were still 30,000 former Xiong Hu soldiers released from their Wei camp under the command of Xiong Tuo, the commander of Xuancheng, so it was not difficult to speculate on the purpose of the Chu general's plea to restrain the corpse of the dead soldiers.

"Can't you attack?" Zhao Hongrun frowned and asked.

Gong Yuan licked his chapped lips and said with a wry smile: "It's not that you must not attack...... However, this is immoral and may be criticized......"

Zhao Hongrun frowned when he heard this, and was silent.

The so-called morality can be understood as the public opinion of the world, whether it is for a person or a country, it is a very important criterion, which is related to the views of the people of the world and the diplomacy with other countries.

After pondering for a moment, Zhao Hongrun exhaled and said with relief: "That's it, let them bring back the corpse with weapons and equipment...... Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, probably planned to distribute the equipment of these Chu soldiers who died in battle to the 30,000 Xiong Amber army, but it didn't necessarily go as he wanted. ”

In all fairness, Zhao Hongrun was reluctant to let the Chu soldiers use the excuse of reining in the corpses of the dead soldiers to recover those weapons and armor by the way, but since this matter has risen to the moral level of the country, he does not dare to make a mistake easily.

However, when he thought that there was a good chance that these weapons and equipment would be distributed to the 30,000 Xiong Hu soldiers, his mood was slightly better, after all, in his estimate, most of the 30,000 Xiong Hu soldiers would probably have conflicts with the soldiers under Xiong Tuo's command after returning to the Chu camp.

If the two Chu armies get along with each other peacefully, then Zhao Hongrun can only consider himself unlucky, but if the 30,000 Xiong Amber soldiers and Xiong Tuojun's soldiers have a conflict, then now those people have obtained weapons and armor, in case there is any friction between the two Chu armies, I believe that the scene will be very exciting.

The matter has come to this, Zhao Hongrun can only comfort himself like this.

At this time, the army led by the Chu general Zaifu was still advancing, but when the army was only more than 20 zhang away from the gun forest, all the infantry stopped and stood in place, only a battalion of 5,000 Chu soldiers was still holding shields and walking towards the Wei camp step by step.

Obviously, Zai's father was also taking into account Wei Jun's reaction. Therefore, he did not dare to let the whole army go to carry the corpses, so as not to misunderstand the soldiers in the Wei camp.

I saw that under the close gaze of the many Wei soldiers of the Junshui Army on the wall of the Wei camp, the five thousand Chu soldiers slowly came to the vicinity of the gun forest with their scalps on their heads and shields in both hands, and what made them breathe a sigh of relief was that the Wei soldiers in the Wei camp did not take the opportunity to attack them. It's just pointing a crossbow at them, guarding against their tricks.

Seeing this, those Chu infantry did not dare to make a mistake, and honestly picked up the corpse of Tong Ze on the ground, turned around and returned to the army.

5,000 infantry, all the same.

And when the 5,000 Chu infantry made several trips back and forth to empty the corpses and weapons in the area of the spear forest, and tried to continue to carry the corpses at the foot of the Wei camp wall through the spear forest, finally a thousand people of the Junshui Army couldn't help it and snatched the machine crossbow from the hand of a nearby crossbowman. Pulled the trigger.

Hearing a whoosh, the crossbow bolt shot from the machine crossbow was directly nailed into the ground in front of a Chu soldier, and the whole crossbow bolt was inserted on the ground and trembled slightly.

"That's it! …… If you dare to move forward again, kill it! The Thousand Men General threatened angrily.

Zhao Hongrun and Gong Yuan turned their heads to look at the thousand-person general, but saw that the thousand-person general was facing Wei Bing, who had a worried look on his face, and scolded indignantly: "What are you afraid of? I didn't shoot them, what kind of military regulations did I commit?! …… When these Chu dogs killed my Great Wei soldiers and civilians, did they follow any morality?! ”

Seeing this, Gong Yuan opened his mouth. As if trying to scold something, but in the end nothing was said.

And Zhao Hongrun thought expressionlessly.

He didn't think the thousand people were going to say anything wrong. But the problem is that the state of Chu can not care about their public opinion or reputation between countries, but Great Wei can't care.

Take Zhao Hongrun as an example, it is undeniable that he has always had the intention of revenge on Chu State in his heart, but at most it only caused Chu State to suffer huge losses. Could it be that when he counterattacks into the territory of Chu one day, he will also learn the same way as the Chu people, and connive at the soldiers under his command to burn, kill and loot?

What is the difference between that and those Xiong princes and nobles in the Chu State.

"Forget it...... It's better to go back to the account and think about the next step, after this battle. Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, should not attack our military camp again."

After saying hello to Gong Yuan, Zhao Hongrun, who was a little tired, went back to the tent by himself, after all, he persuaded himself with the so-called morality not to take the opportunity to shoot those Chu soldiers, but to let them move the corpses with their equipment, this kind of thing he actually couldn't accept, so he simply couldn't see it.

The Chu army finally retreated slowly.

Because of the threat of the thousand-man general, the corpses of those Chu soldiers at the foot of the camp wall, those Chu soldiers did not dare to carry them in the end.

And the Chu general Zaifu didn't care about the weapons and equipment of so few hundred people, and seeing that most of the corpses and weapons of the soldiers who died in the battle had been recovered, he immediately ordered the whole army to retreat.

In this battle, the Chu army lost nearly 17,000 soldiers, and at least 15,000 of them were infantry.

However, when Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, heard this casualty figure, he was not satisfied.

It was not because of the excessive number of casualties, but that the number of casualties did not meet the standard of 30,000 that he had given to his father.

No, as soon as the generals returned to the camp, Xiong Tuo called these generals to the tent and asked the reason with a calm face.

Zai's father and Zi Cheyu have been colleagues for many years, so they did not shirk their responsibilities, but just kept silent.

Seeing this, Zi Cheyu clenched his fists and said to Xiong Tuo: "Childe, this matter is not about the father, it was the last general who forced him to order the withdrawal of troops, because the last general judged the battle situation at that time, and it would be difficult to conquer the Wei camp no matter how strong the attack was, and it would only add unnecessary casualties...... Instead of wasting the lives of the generals, it is better to think of other ways. ”

"Something else?" Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, was happy when he heard this, and said in his heart that if there was another way to try, would my son still ask those soldiers to die in vain?

But just when he stared at Zi Cheyu with his eyes, he saw Zi Cheyu hugging his fists and whispering: "If Gongzi doesn't count the casualties of the generals, the last general has a strategy here, you can try it." …… If it goes well, then the Wei camp is useless; But if it doesn't go well, tens of thousands of soldiers will die in an instant......"

"......" Xiong Tuo opened his mouth, looking at Zicheyu's serious face, he was speechless for a while. (To be continued.) )