After cutting off the head of Shibi Khan, Tuoba Shishu said to the soldiers next to him: "Take down the head of this mediocre Khan and circulate it to the three armies, and then use him to sacrifice the flag to comfort the souls of the soldiers of the three armies who died in the sky." ”

At this time, he suddenly knelt down on one knee and said to him: "The three armies cannot be without a commander for a day, and the steppe cannot be without a khan for a day. Ashina Jishi has lost the protection of the Immortal Heaven for him, and now he has been duly punished. I am now willing to nominate Lord Tuoba as the new Khan of the steppe, and I hope that Lord Tuoba will not refuse, after all, only you can afford to lead the Turks to revival now. I am willing to entrust my life to you, and I am willing to obey your command. ”

At this point, the onlookers knew the details of what was going on. So he also knelt on the ground in the same way as Liversher, and Zhentian shouted: "We are all willing to elect Lord Tuoba as the new Khan, and meet the Khan!" ”

Tuoba Shi Shu hurriedly stepped forward, supported him with both hands to help him up from the ground, and said to everyone in the audience: "I have understood everyone's intentions, and I am willing to take over your entrustment." As long as we are all united, then the matter of herding horses south when the cold winter arrives in the future is just around the corner! It's just that the place we are in is not safe now, and the Han pursuers will arrive here soon. At this time, it is obviously an unwise decision to stay here and carry the sharp offensive momentum of those Han Chinese troops, so I now order the three armies to immediately withdraw their camps and withdraw to the territory of Liang, and then rest and recuperate after joining up with the army of Liang Shidu. ”

After Tuoba Shishu's order, the entire military camp began to get busy again. Although the Turks did not plunder a lot of wealth during their westward journey, the people of Wuwei County evacuated in a hurry, so it was inevitable that there was nothing left. Therefore, the wealth scavenged from the various abandoned villages in Wuwei County is indeed a large amount. At any time, only when you have money in your pocket can you realize some of your ideas. Tuoba Shishu also understood these truths at this time, so he sent his henchmen to escort these belongings to the east to the territory of the Liang army.

At the same time, the Turkic cavalry outposts scattered outside also sent back news that a Han army had been spotted in the northwest and southwest of the camp marching towards their camp, and from a distance they could see that their march was very neat and orderly. Presumably, it must be the elite of the army sent to pursue it. So Tuoba Shishu did not hesitate to order to abandon all the materials that had not been packed up, ordered people to pile them together, and then set a fire to light them all, and then led the army to move towards the territory of Liang with the rear of the army that had previously escorted the treasure. At the same time, in order to delay the pursuit of the Han army as much as possible, Tuoba Shishu ordered the army to set fire to every village after passing through it; After the army crosses the bridge, the bridge is also destroyed. He also ordered that the entire army was not allowed to dismount until it reached the territory of Liang, and that all eating, drinking, and resting should be carried out on horseback.

Fortunately, these things were commonplace for the Turks, and resting on horseback was not as pleasant as resting on a warm woollen blanket in a tent. But at this time, the Turks could not take much care of themselves in order to survive. On the contrary, in the eyes of the Turkic soldiers, Tuoba Shishu's order turned into an image of a benevolent general who valued the lives of his soldiers.

"Chief of Staff, the soldiers pursuing at the front have sent back a message that the Turks on the opposite side have retreated, and the supplies left over from the previous camping site have been burned, and now they are retreating in the direction they came. And, in order to slow down the pursuit of our troops, they set fire to all the villages they passed through and destroyed the bridges on their way to evacuation. The military owl walked into the command post and reported to Zhuang Fudi.

"Well, it's good that the Turks have withdrawn. The army was ordered to abandon the pursuit of the Turks, and now immediately proceed to extinguish the fires in the villages and immediately begin to repair the damaged bridges. Step by step, it is good to slowly advance towards the border with Liang State. Remember to take every step of the way, and never take the enemy lightly, giving the Turks a chance to counterattack. In this battle to defend Wuwei, we have already won, and the next thing is just a matter of how many results there are. At this time, we must not let the results of our victory this time be curtailed because of underestimating the enemy. Zhuang Fudi nodded, and then said to the military owl.

At this time, the stone that had been hanging in Zhuang Fudi's heart finally fell to the ground. After issuing several orders to rearrange the defense line of Wuwei County facing the border of Liang State, he handed over the rest of his army to Li Wen, the county guard of Wuwei County, and asked them to cooperate with Li Wen to send the people of Wuwei County who had fled west back to the villages where they had previously lived. At the same time, he assisted in repairing the parts of the villages that had been destroyed by the war, which also needed manpower, and where after all, he had strategically abandoned for the sake of victory. Therefore, at this time, the losses caused by these damaged parts fell on the heads of the government, and the losses of this part were not large, because after all, the army provided labor to repair the damaged parts. Therefore, the government only needs to compensate these people for some losses that cannot be repaired, and at the same time bear the materials and funds used in the repair and the three meals a day prepared for the repair man.

What really made Zhuang Fudi frown was the list of nearly 2,000 killed in his hand, although it was inevitable that there would be no deaths in the battle, but only in Wuwei County, which was not a long tug of war, so many people were lost, even if it successfully repelled the attack of the Turks, it was not a good record. The reason for such a large loss was that the risk of using too many recruits during the defense of Wuwei County, and then because of the addition of new recruits when the army was formed, the proportion of veterans in the army was diluted to a very dangerous bottom line. The backbone role that the veterans in the army could play was very limited, and the ferocity of the Turkic offensive was far beyond Zhuang Fudi's expectations.

Li Wenyuan's rule was that once a soldier was killed, the government would be responsible for raising the soldier's children until they reached adulthood. If they don't have children, they will support their parents for the rest of their lives. If there are no parents and no children, the soldier's salary for the next twenty years will continue to be paid to his widow on a monthly basis until the widow remarries. Although Li Wenyuan does not advocate the custom of folk women under his rule to observe festivals for their deceased husbands, the deep-rooted concepts in people's minds cannot be reversed in a moment, so such a rule was introduced.

(End of chapter)