At the same time as Zhang Xutuo returned to the camp, Shan Xiongxin and others also returned to Wagangzhai.

When he left, he rode a full eight hundred, but only one hundred and fifty came back.

Zhai Rang had been waiting on the city wall, ready to welcome Shan Xiongxin and the others back victoriously, but he didn't want to see such a picture, and his face instantly fell.

If it were ordinary generals, Zhai Rang might shoot them outside the village in a fit of anger. But Shan Xiongxin and Xu Shiji have always been his right-hand men, how can he do it? What's more, the two of them are martial arts, and it is impossible for Zhai Rang to really punish them.

"Brother Bodang, I really regret not listening to your advice." Zhai Rang tried his best to remain calm, bowed down to Wang Bodang, and said apologetically.

Wang Bodang hurriedly helped Zhai Rang up and said, "Brother Zhai doesn't need to be too sad, Brother Shan and Brother Xu are defeated this time, which is not necessarily a bad thing." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Zhai Rang was slandered, but he didn't show it, and asked with a puzzled face: "Do you know that I have a total of 1,200 horsemen?" Now there is not even half of it left, which is not a bad thing, so how can it be counted? ”

Wang Bodang looked at Zhai Rang's left and right, Zhai Rang understood and retreated, and even Jia Xiong was sent by him to greet Shan Xiongxin and others. There was no one else on the walls except the immovable soldiers.

"Brother Zhai, in your heart, what do you think of them?" Wang Bodang looked at Shan Xiongxin and Xu Shiji, who were dejected outside the city, and asked casually.

Zhai Rang thought for a moment and understood that his mind might not be able to hide from Wang Bodang, and if he was pretending to be polite, he might be disappointed. So, Zhai Rang held the wall tiles with both hands, looked at the gray distance, and said: "Have courage without strategy, be stubborn and self-serving." ”

Wang Bodang didn't feel the slightest surprise, nodded, and said, "It's not a secret, Bodang also commented on them in his heart." After a pause, Wang Bodang continued: "But this defeat must have dealt a big blow to the two of them, at least, it can make them rein in for a while." ”

Zhai Rang understood, but when he thought of the loss of more than 600 war horses, he was still very sad in his heart.

The imperial court strictly supervised the war horses, and most of the war horses in Wagang Village were bought from the Turks at a great price.

Wang Bodang looked at Zhai Rang's expression, guessed that he was still distressed about the lost war horse, chuckled, and said: "Brother Zhai, if you were asked to choose between two single brothers and hundreds of war horses, would you choose the two of them or the war horse?" ”

"Naturally, I chose the two of them." Zhai Rang sighed and said, "Thousands of troops are easy to get, but good generals are hard to find!" ”

"In that case, why did Brother Zhai snub them because of what he lost?" Wang Bodang bowed and said: "Please also ask Brother Zhai to greet him in person under the city." ”

Zhai Rang is also an open-minded person, smiled slightly, and went down the city tower hand in hand with Wang Bodang.

Since the establishment of Wagang Village, the Wagang Army has developed rapidly, and it has repeatedly defeated the imperial army, which will inevitably make everyone arrogant. Now in the hands of Zhang Xutuo, he has suffered defeats one after another, although there are losses, but it also makes Zhai Rang and others sober.

Shan Xiongxin and the others returned to Wagangzhai, and when they saw Zhai Rang personally greeting them, they showed shame on their faces, dismounted one after another, knelt on the ground, and said that they were willing to accept punishment.

Zhai Rang helped them up one by one and comforted: "Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, as long as we take this as a warning and act cautiously in the future, why worry about big things?" ”

When everyone heard this, they were aroused, swept away the previous decadence, and expressed their determination to follow Zhai Rang in unison.

Zhai Rang's face was moved, and asked everyone to go back to rest earlier, seeing that Xu Shiji was hit by an arrow in his arm, he cared again, and the gate of the village was closed again and quieted down.

Xu Shiji was also unlucky, he raised in Wagang Village for a period of time, and finally recovered from his injuries, but he was injured again when he left the village for the first time. Fortunately, the injury is not serious, and it only needs to be recuperated for a while, and it will not be a major problem.

As soon as the sky was bright, ordinary people began to get up and work, but Zhang Xutuo's camp and Wagang Village seemed to have just entered the night.

Shan Xiongxin and the others fled for nearly two hours, extremely tired, returned to the mansion, too lazy to wash, and directly lay on the bed and fell asleep. Zhang Xutuo won the battle and got hundreds of war horses, so he naturally slept more steadily.

After noon, Zhang Xutuo woke up from his sleep, his face was not very good-looking, I don't know if he dreamed of something.

The first thing Zhang Xutuo did when he woke up was to summon Qin Qiong and Li Xuanba into the big tent.

Qin Qiong was fine, her face was calm, and she couldn't see a trace of uneasiness, but Li Xuanba had dark circles under her eyes and didn't seem to have slept all the time.

In fact, Li Xuanba understood that even Yang Guang had issued an order to praise him, and it was impossible for Zhang Xutuo to really punish him. What's more, in the two camp tents next door, there were piles of gold, silver and white money, which were personally guarded by the Praetorian Guards under Li Xuanba.

The reason why Li Xuanba didn't sleep well was to give Zhang Xutuo an explanation, just as Niu Jinda violated military regulations at the beginning, he always had to give Zhang Xutuo a step down.

Moreover, he wanted to pretend to be pitiful in order to win Zhang Xutuo's sympathy, after all, Zhang Xutuo had an upright temperament, and he might not be able to care less about his violation of military regulations.

However, what Li Xuanba didn't expect was that Zhang Xutuo didn't mention his transfer of ships at all, but kept asking about military training.

Qin Qiong has always been in charge of military training, and naturally Qin Qiong answered, and Li Xuanba seemed to be in the air, being left aside. It wasn't until Zhang Xutuo asked nothing to ask and asked Qin Qiong to retreat first that he set his eyes on Li Xuanba.

The two looked at each other for a long time.

Zhang Xutuo was grateful to Li Xuanba in his heart, but after all, Li Xuanba violated military regulations first, if he opened his mouth to praise, he always felt that it was inappropriate, and Li Xuanba didn't know Zhang Xutuo's thoughts, and he didn't dare to speak casually, so he could only smile stiffly.

"If you can defeat the cavalry of the Wagang thieves this time, I will give a credit to Lord Zhongyongwei." After all, Zhang Xutuo was not as thick-skinned as Li Xuanba, and said with a little discomfort: "Although you violated military regulations, after all, you did not cause trouble, and obtained a large amount of money and silver for the imperial court, and your merits and demerits are offset." Therefore, Ben will only be credited with your contribution to helping to exterminate the rebels. ”

"It's all for the imperial court, and Xuanba doesn't care about merit." Li Xuanba smiled wryly and said, "Thank you for not blaming the general." ”

Zhang Xutuo is dedicated to the imperial court, and in the past few years, he has been exterminating rebels outside, and he has realized some things. But he was upright and unwilling to embarrass the people because of the affairs of the court, so he could only rely on the soldiers under his command to support him.

Yang Guang has already decreed that the money and silver earned by Li Xuanba will be distributed by Zhang Xutuo himself, and these silver can be described as a charcoal in the snow for Zhang Xutuo, drying up and encountering dew, how can he not be grateful to Li Xuanba?

But Zhang Xutuo is a military general after all, so he really can't say polite words, so he was silent for a while, and said: "When ambushing the Wagang thieves at night, the soldiers shot and killed some enemy horses. Xuanba, you were born in a wealthy family, and it is inevitable that you will suffer some hardships in the army, so you will eat more to replenish your body. ”

Li Xuanba's current body has been raised relatively strong, how can he look like he has suffered hardships? However, he did not refuse Zhang Xutuo's kindness, bowed down and said, "Thank you, General." ”

Zhang Xutuo's camp was cooking horse meat, and the fragrance wafted far away, and it could be smelled outside the camp.

The spies in Wagangzhai sent the news back, and as soon as Zhai Rang woke up from his sleep, he heard that Zhang Xutuo was cooking their war horses, and his throat was so sweet that he almost vomited blood.