Chapter 406: Heroic Soul Sacrifice

On the fifth day of the lunar month, the old battalion of the Jiaozhou battalion and the Dengzhou army both took a short rest and recuperated, and finally recovered from the fatigue of the two-day battle.

After years of famine and the passage of the army, there was basically no population in the various prefectures, counties and towns in Beizhili, and even the peasants who cultivated the land were relying on the surrounding towns, which was also a helpless move, and the population of the small villages in the past was greatly reduced after the great famine and disaster.

The side effect of the population decline is a significant reduction in the village's self-preservation and production capacity, and if you live in this village, there are many thieves who are as vicious as tigers and wolves.

These thieves, who may have been peasants in the past, were extremely vicious to the peasants who had done their duty, and after the robbery of the money and women, the remnants of the entire village might be slaughtered by them.

The soldiers and horses of the Beijing division of Beizhili were scattered by foreign armies several times, and they had to take the young and strong soldiers from the local area, which was actually a more vicious destruction than the bandits, and the peasants of Beizhili in desperation, those who had not yet become homeless bandits, could only rely on the cities and towns with relatively large populations and relatively complete city fortifications.

This situation has caused many results, basically all of which are bad and cannot be worse, and what is in front of Li Meng and the Jiaozhou battalion army is that the position where they are stationed is surrounded by hundreds of miles, which can be described by the words "cut off from people", and the states and counties on both sides of the canal in the north of Dongguang County have been broken by the Tartars, and the civilians in the city have fled, which has exacerbated the situation.

The Lingshan Commercial Bank and the Shandong Salt Gang were mostly natives from Beizhili, and they all had to walk for a day and a night or even longer to see the population of the town.

Horse meat and horse skin, in such a year, are indeed good things that are coveted by the poor, and the price of these things in exchange is just to provide labor for the Jiaozhou battalion, such a good thing is indeed a good thing. But it will take several days for these people to come to the vicinity of this battlefield.

It was too much of a delay, there was not enough manpower, the sorting and transportation of the loot, the sorting and transportation of the loot, the sorting on the battlefield, and even the return of the army, which was a big problem.

After a bitter battle with the Tartars, the troops of the Dengzhou army forcibly recruited from Jingzhou broke and fled. And the soldiers and horses of the old battalion, in order to pursue the speed of the march, and in the territory of Shandong, there is always an internal line of supplies, leaving Shandong with only five days of supplies, and they did not bring any people.

The army is not only able to operate with soldiers, but also needs a large number of auxiliaries and civilian men to help operate, and the Jiaozhou battalion, which has won a big victory, has encountered a shortage of civilian soldiers. The dilemma of supply delivery not keeping up.

Of course, according to Li Meng's estimate, Kuaima sent a message to Shandong to report the victory, and as soon as the news arrived in Shandong, the logistics team would definitely be prevented from following according to the plan. And the personnel of the Lingshan Commercial Bank and the Shandong Salt Gang sent to Hejian Mansion, Baoding Mansion, and Zhending Mansion are estimated to move smoothly, after all, they have opened favorable conditions and have this big victory to rely on.

But the problem lies in this time difference. There is a difference of about two days between the time when those people need to arrive and the time that those people can approximately arrive.

In these two days, it was impossible for the victorious Jiaozhou battalion to wait hungry on the cold North China Plain, which would greatly affect the soldiers' physical and morale.

Although the battle had only lasted for two days, the Dengzhou army had nearly 10,000 casualties, and the old battalion was extremely tired, if it was in accordance with the regulations in the drill code. At least you have to rest until the eighth day of the lunar month to recover, but because of the existence of this time difference, if you are forced to rest in place, I am afraid that it will have a negative effect in the end.

Li Meng simply ordered to rest until the fifth day of the lunar month, and then after holding the necessary ceremonies, the whole army was directly pulled back to Shandong, perhaps the soldiers did not recover. But return to Shandong as soon as possible. You can get more rest and recuperate, and let them endure it for the time being.

It's amazing. On the sixth day of the lunar month, the people who were recruited from all over the place did not arrive, but a large caravan from Shandong and near Beijing came to the door.

Commerce at the end of the Ming Dynasty was a kind of deformed prosperity, and the more the end of the world, the more so, and the environment like Shandong cultivated some powerful merchants and businessmen.

Some of these merchants and businessmen are local to Shandong, but more of them are small and medium-sized merchants from other places, and their wealth has gradually swelled through the development of Shandong over the years, and they are called powerful wealthy businessmen.

They have a keen sense of business, know what goods to sell and when, what the Jiaozhou battalion needs, and the Jiaozhou battalion's munitions department, Lingshan trading house, and ordnance manufacturing bureau often issue large purchase orders with astonishing amounts, and as long as they can meet this need, they can make a fortune.

What's more, Shandong also has foreign ports, and the Zheng family and other maritime merchants have also begun to purchase goods sold to foreign countries in Shandong.

North-south traffic business is also one of the most lucrative transactions in the world, Shandong is in the north and south between the direct subordination, and rely on strong strength to ensure the safety and smoothness of this road, relying on the benefits of this transportation hub, Shandong businessmen go south to the north, buy and sell, but also made a fortune.

Of course, the people of Shandong, because of the illegal salt trade, because of the canal's gold, because of the various government-run industries and commerce, many people have become rich because of the existence of the Jiaozhou camp, and even those who have become rich, and their purchasing power is also the reason why the Shandong merchants made a fortune.

According to the words of the people of the time, these wealthy businessmen are all rich, and their wealth comes from the strength of the Jiaozhou camp, no matter what they think in their hearts, they have great confidence in the Jiaozhou camp in their hearts, which is the root of their wealth.

These businessmen judged the Jiaozhou battalion's every move, and judged how to do business next according to the Jiaozhou battalion's military operations.

However, what made Li Meng and the generals of the Jiaozhou battalion laugh and cry was that the caravan that arrived in time this time did not bring the most urgently needed grain, grass and supplies, but other commodities.

To say that this commodity is also needed by the Jiaozhou camp at present, that is, it is used to nitrate and preserve the first grade of lime and some necessary medicines, as well as a large amount of white cloth.

This caravan that came over is really a business with a keen sense of smell, and it is really what the Jiaozhou battalion needs to bring in the ground, so many corpses of Tartars and the corpses of the Jiaozhou battalion's own soldiers, the head of the enemy. The bodies of the generals, although it is cold, need to be embalmed sufficiently.

As for the white cloth, so many people died, when the memorial ceremony was held, it was always used, and incidentally, this business also brought a large number of incense candles and burned paper. All kinds of memorial supplies are available.

According to the second shopkeeper who led the team, their boss believed that the Jiaozhou battalion would win, and when Li Meng led the old battalion to march in Shandong, there was no internal secret.

Because I prepared early. So they arrived early, and they really caught up, but the second shopkeeper was sincerely afraid and honored to tell these words in front of Li Meng, which made Li Meng quite emotional, and he was captured. The world shook, and everyone thought that Shandong, which was right, would be overturned, but the businessmen in Shandong were so confident that they were so compared. It's really emotional.

Lime, medicinal materials, white cloth incense candles for memorial services, is indeed the Jiaozhou battalion needs, several battalion officers of the quartermaster department immediately ate all of them, and the price does not care about the other party, after all, the other party also has the hard work of preparing for the road, and the military expenses of the Jiaozhou battalion are sufficient, so it will not be difficult for the businessmen in this regard.

After this incident, Jiaozhou Camp purchased all these kinds of expenses from this firm. This businessman was originally a second-rate wealthy businessman in Shandong, but after fighting this time, he directly caught up with the military, a big financier, and became rich suddenly, and in less than ten years, he was already among the rich.

Thanks to the goods prepared by this businessman, the ceremony held by the Jiaozhou camp on the sixth day of the lunar month can be more formal and not so sloppy.

It's also a bit strange to say. A few days before and after the Great War. The weather in Kita-Naoli is very sunny except for the occasional fog in the morning and evening. On the sixth day of the lunar month, it was cloudy from the morning, and the sky seemed to be filled with lead.

The soldiers of the battalions, who had long been prepared, had white cloths wrapped around their heads, and under the supervision of the officers, they left the camp and lined up in the open ground by the canal.

On the first night, the old battalion and the quartermaster and baggage battalion of the Dengzhou Army demarcated the positions of the battalions on the open space by the river, and built a civil structure platform on the north side. On the morning of the sixth day of the lunar month, all armies only need to settle down in order.

General Zhendong and Shandong General Li Meng came out earlier than everyone else, and he and his personal army commander Wang Hai, Ma Army commander Tang Er, Dengzhou Army General Zhao Neng, Dengzhou Army Deputy General Wang Tao, chief bookkeeper Yuan Wenhong, artillery commander Guo Liang, and Yiying's personal soldiers and strategists, stood there.

As the coach, Li Meng's clothes are also different from yesterday, he is usually wearing a dark red coat and is not on his body at this time, and he has a belt made of white cloth around his waist, and a strip of white cloth on his head. Li Meng watched the troops rushing out of the battalion, lined up in front of the wooden platform one by one.

He didn't have any expression on his face, just looked at the troops standing there for a while, and then looked at the wooden signs placed in front of the wooden platform, in front of which were densely stacked wooden signs less than a foot long and two inches wide, and each wooden sign had the names of the fallen soldiers written in black letters.

The general practice of the Jiaozhou battalion is to exclude bandits and thieves in Shandong, fight in other places, and kill officers and soldiers below the general level, cremate their bodies, and hand over the ashes to their families, and transport the remains back to Shandong when they are above the general level.

The cremated ashes were placed in a wooden box, and there were two wooden plaques that read the soldier's unit, position and name, one nailed to the wooden box as a label, and the other used as a substitute for the body in the memorial service.

Large-scale casualties were all seen in the battle between the Dengzhou army and the Tartar army, and about 5,000 people were killed on the battlefield that day, but the medical conditions of this era, many injuries that could not be counted as fatal injuries in modern times, were enough to take human lives in this era, and more than 2,000 soldiers died in pain.

In the battle between the old battalion and the Tartars, it was always an absolute advantage, and it was always oppressive to the other side in the battle, but in the battle, the swords and guns were blind, and there were also a small number of casualties.

The number of spirit cards is so huge, and a lot of volume is piled up in front of the wooden platform, in Li Meng's eyes, this is the corpses of the soldiers stacked on top of each other.

After the victory of the Great War. The joy and pride in my heart burst out, it is indeed the most satisfying and happiest moment in life, but today I look at this pile of wooden cards that seem to be a hill, and I know how difficult this victory is, and how many soldiers' lives have been exchanged for it.

Li Meng's whole body stood there solemnly, but he was thinking in his mind if he hadn't come to this era. What would be the fate and fate of these soldiers in front of them, these simple and lovely young people, if they did not have themselves, these young people would either die in the miserable famine, or be killed by the Tartars and officers and soldiers, and their parents would have died miserably before them.

Things will indeed be like this, Li Meng has a habit of thinking about things, that is, secretly comparing himself. In this era, what would happen if I would have it, what would I have without me, thinking of the end, without him. The situation is definitely going to get very bad.

But this kind of thought can't explain the heaviness in Li Meng's heart, the sky is gloomy, and the wind is much stronger than the previous days. Li Meng looked at the wooden plaque in front of him with wide eyes, and then looked at the troops on the other side of the wooden plaque, and there was a lot of emotion in his heart, and he always felt that he might shed tears for these fallen soldiers.

But Li Meng found that he had no tears to shed, and his heart was heavy and a little sad, but in fact he was extremely calm, and in front of him were the soldiers who had died for the Jiaozhou battalion and for him Li Dashuai. What about the soldiers who are solemnly marching in the line, how many will be killed in the future......

No one would know this exact number, but there was one thing Li Meng could know, the spirit cards piled up in front of him would definitely be higher.

Before it was time to sigh, Li Meng took a deep breath, and suddenly thought of a sentence that was very suitable for the situation at this time, and it was also very suitable for the future - it will be a success, and this is true.

The rhythm of the snare drum and the forward drum are similar. After the first rush sounded. This is followed by a monotonous rhythm of banging at regular intervals. With the rhythm at this time, it makes people's hearts even more depressed and uncomfortable.

Each battalion did not display its own flag, except for the white cloth belt tied to the axe and gun of the battalion commander, and each soldier was tied with a white strip of cloth on his waist, and his head was the same as Li Meng's.

The joy of the victory has faded a little, and the thoughts and sorrows for the dead comrades-in-arms have gradually appeared in the mood, the old battalion has nearly 40,000 soldiers and horses, and more than 10,000 soldiers and horses of the Dengzhou army are solemn and solemn.

Some of the soldiers who were patrolling between the battalions ran to the wooden platform, and whispered to the general on the wooden platform that the following parade was over, and the commander of the personal soldiers, Wang Haihai, stepped forward and reported in a low voice:

"Marshal, the armies have finished leaving the camp, let's start!!"

Li Meng raised his hand, and the drumming behind the wooden platform stopped abruptly, and the soldiers and horses of the battalions in front of the wooden platform, who were still slightly commotionous, were also silent and quiet.

On both sides of the wooden platform, there were pro-soldiers on horseback, arranged in a certain order between the battalions, they were actually to give voice to Li Meng on the wooden platform, in the absence of a loudspeaker, this way could be heard by every soldier.

"In a battle with the Tartars, my Shandong soldiers and horses, annihilated the thief army, killed the thief chieftain, my Shandong soldiers and horses, and won completely!!"

Li Meng stood in front of the wooden platform, and first said this sentence loudly, and his words were passed on to every corner of the military formation in front of the wooden platform by the soldiers one by one.

After a slight pause, the cheers of the mountains and tsunamis rang out everywhere, and the officers and soldiers were all shouting: Wan Sheng!! Wansheng!! Victory !! The sky was gloomy but could not hide the joy of the victory of the soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion, such joy was understandable no matter how it was vented.

After shouting a few times, even a few people on the stage shouted along, and Yuan Wenhong, who has always been graceful and magnanimous, shouted excitedly.

After a while, Li Meng raised his arm again and slowly pressed down, this action seemed to have some magic power, and the cheering military formation quickly quieted down, and returned to the state of Fang Cai.

Li Meng groaned for a while, nodded at Wang Hai on the side, and said softly:

"Bring it on!"

Wang Hai immediately shouted there and said:

"Military law team, with the former Dengzhou Army Fifth Battalion Qianzong Jiang Chong, with the former Dengzhou Army Eighth Battalion Qianzong Wang Zhao!"

Hearing this order, the last trace of commotion and noise in the square also quieted down, and from the left side of the wooden platform there were people from the barracks of the great marshal, four people escorting one, a total of two people, staggering. The cloaks were dragged to Li Meng's stage, and the clothes on these two people were tattered, and they could vaguely identify that they were the clothes of Ying Qian.

Although these two people had just been escorted up, their sins had already been reported to the whole army, and Jiang Chong and Wang Zhao's sins were very rare in the Jiaozhou battalion, and they escaped from the battle.

Among the brave and loyal soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion, many people regarded the escape from the battle as an incredible thing and a great shame. What is usually unthinkable, no one thought that in the Dengzhou Army, there were actually two thousand generals who did this, and no one sympathized with the two of them, and they were all spurned.

After the two Qian Zong were escorted up, they were directly thrown to the ground by the soldiers who escorted them behind them, and the two of them looked unharmed. But he struggled to get up from the ground, but he didn't dare to stand up, he just curled up and knelt there like a shrimp, and he didn't even dare to raise his head.

"Jiang Chong and Wang Zhao, when the Tartar horses were charging on the flank. Instead of taking the lead in fighting against the enemy soldiers, they abandoned their duties and fled! ”

The flank of the Dengzhou army was shot by the Mongolian light cavalry with bows and arrows, and it was already in disarray. The cavalry of the Eight Banners charged the battle with great momentum, and the power was abnormal, at that time it was already a mess everywhere, and every direction was struggling to support, many people felt that the battle would be lost, but the vast majority of the generals were still there to lead the soldiers and horses to fight to the death, because they had the honor and belief of the soldiers, and there were things to surround.

Fire refines real gold. The Dengzhou Army, which had been in peace for a long time, held on to such a bitter battle, many people persevered, but some people couldn't.

At that time, there were four battalions of Qian Zong who ran first, and they did not flee outward, but ran inward, and the commander of a battalion fled, and the consequence was of course the collapse of the battalion and the flight of the officers one after another. The soldiers, who had lost their command, were at a loss. It's a mess.

At that time, the result was that the left flank of the Dengzhou Army collapsed one after another, and was killed by the cavalry team full of eight banners. If Wang Tao hadn't stood up in time to stabilize the morale of the army and gather troops and horses into a formation, I am afraid that the end would really be out of control.

The thousand commanders of these four battalions fled, and two of them also died in the chaos, and the officers of these four battalions ended up in the same way, under the situation of the Tartar cavalry advancing step by step, the infantry array collapsed, and the fate of the stragglers was only death.

When the troops were collected and returned to the camp, the two deserter officers who did not die in battle were immediately controlled, and no matter how good Zhao Neng, the general of the Dengzhou Army, was, such a major matter of military law was never sloppy.

When the battle is won and the heroic souls are honored, these officers who violate military law will of course be severely punished by the public.

"Jiang Chong, Wang Zhao, you are also my own soldiers brought out, and you were sent out to the local area to be a general, but I didn't expect that this situation would be like this, harming your subordinates and yourself, and the commander is also responsible!"

In the system of the Jiaozhou battalion, in addition to the role of the guards and the army, the functions of the officers and non-commissioned officers training school are even greater, Li Meng is naturally the principal of this military school, but under his own education, there is such a coward who escaped from the battle, and indeed Li Meng is also blaming himself.

The two sinners below were ashamed and couldn't say a word, just kowtowed desperately there, and after Li Meng finished speaking, Wang Hai shouted loudly again:

"If they escape from the battle, they will be investigated and punished by military law, beheaded, their bones and ashes will be scattered, and the families of the criminals will be removed from all preferential treatment for military families, and they will be the primary tuntian households of Tuntian Grange within five years from now on."

Tuntian households according to the time of entering the Tuntian Grange, divided into several classes, the higher the level, the more the burden is pleased, this primary Tuntian household is the latest to enter the Tuntian household, the burden is extremely heavy, and there is no personal freedom, almost similar to the serf, because his means of production and production tools are all provided by the Tuntian Grange, but after this year, the assets and information provided by the Tuntian Grange can be relatively relaxed, and so on every year.

You must know that the battalion of the Jiaozhou battalion is always in the locality, and his family, even the county governor and the governor of the prefecture must be polite, and the military salary and dividends are enough to ensure the rich life of their family, but now all this is gone, and their family members have to bear the charge of escaping from the coward's family.

These are status and economic punishments, and of course, the gap and change in status and status, this kind of spiritual punishment is also cruel

The two deserters, who were kneeling in front of the wooden platform, heard this disposition and knew that their actions had affected their families. Naturally, it was extremely uncomfortable, but such a situation was created by his own cowardice and incompetence, who is to blame, what else can they do besides kowtowing again and again!

Looking at the two thousand presidents who kowtowed below again and again, Li Meng was angry in his heart, and said sharply on the stage:

"Look up at these spirit cards in front of you, how many people have died because of you. These sons and daughters also have parents and families, because of you, how many families in Shandong will cry! ”

After saying this, the pro-soldiers in charge of passing the word in the audience obviously paused, and only then did they spread Li Mengdi's words, and there was a commotion in the military array, and then it was even more silent. If one could observe the expressions of each officer and soldier, one would see that the faces of these men changed from sympathy to hatred.

The two battalion commanders finally raised their heads. Looking at the pile of spirit cards, his spirit collapsed, and he cried out with remorse there:

"Brothers, sinners, I'm sorry for you. Damn me!! ”

Li Meng sighed, waved his hand and ordered:

"The Law of March!!"

Fang Cai's sharp rebuke, the two officers who escaped calmed down and educated the generals in the Jiaozhou battalion. The two of them no longer buried their heads on the ground, solemnly kowtowed to Li Meng a few times, and then the execution of the pro-soldiers turned the direction of their bodies and faced the direction of the army.

The pro-soldier raised the big knife in his hand, slashed down fiercely, and with a "plop" sound, his body and head separated. Blood gushed out from the broken neck and splattered far away.

In the direction that these two people were facing, the soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion in a neat formation all involuntarily took a step back, and their soldiers were-for-tat even in the face of the fierce Tartars on the battlefield, but the public beheading of Fang Cai made them very shocked.

Li Meng put his hand on his forehead, and he also felt sorry in his heart, these two generals were members of his personal barracks, and in a sense, they were also students he taught by hand. But today he will be killed with his own hands. How can you be willing to give up, but for the sake of serious military discipline. But it had to be killed!

After the beheading, the soldiers withdrew from the wooden platform, Li Meng quieted down a little, and said loudly again:

"These Tartar beasts have entered the Central Plains, except for my Jiaozhou battalion army fighting to the death to resist the enemy here, but other officers and soldiers have come to help us, you answer!"

The old battalion soldiers and horses galloping to the aid of the starry night are good to say, the soldiers and horses of the Dengzhou army who set out from Jinan to enter the territory of Beizhili to fight against the Tartars have a personal experience, and the territory of the Ming Dynasty is a national war against the Tartars, but the result is a lonely attack, a lonely battle, even the people Ding Zhuang are relying on force to recruit, really not fighting in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, why is this, everyone is holding a bad breath in their hearts.

As soon as the commander asked, the question quickly spread from the platform to the ears of the soldiers of each battalion, starting from the Dengzhou army, the officers and soldiers replied with a tsunami:

"Nope!"

"Behind you is Shandong, if you are defeated, you and your family will disappear all these years of good life on the earth, your property will be robbed by the Tartars, and your family will become slaves!!, will you be willing?"

The same cry of the mountains and tsunamis:

"No!!"

"The world is so chaotic, but Shandong is a peaceful paradise, we and our families have no worries about food and clothing, if we lose, all this is gone, if we lose, except for the Tartars, around Shandong, there are all red-eyed tigers and wolves, all coveting this piece of fat in Shandong, if we lose, I am afraid that we will immediately become the food in the mouths of birds and beasts, throw away the current good situation, let yourself and your family suffer, are you willing!?"

"No!!"

"Every time we fight, we don't fight for ourselves, for the hometown behind us, for the parents of our hometown, for the wealth and peace that we have fought for with our lives and flesh, every time we fight, we must move forward bravely, not afraid of swords, think about who you are fighting for, you are for yourself, for your parents and family, for your peaceful days, for Shandong, for Ben Shuai!!"

Li Meng shouted in his mouth, the emotions of the officers and soldiers in Shandong below were more and more excited by him, no one felt that Li Meng's sentence was for the sake of the commander, the soldiers understood in their hearts that all this was given by the commander, without the commander, there would be no all this, naturally they were fighting for him.

Li Meng, who was standing on the wooden platform, was also excited, took a deep breath, beckoned to the back, and immediately a personal soldier stepped forward with a jar of wine, and another person carried a wooden plate, and there were several bowls on the wooden plate. When he arrived at Li Meng's side, a personal soldier reached out and smashed the mud seal on the wine jar, filled several bowls on the wooden plate, and presented them to Li Meng.

"If there is no death battle for you, these beasts will definitely wreak havoc in the Central Plains, you are the heroes and martyrs of my Jiaozhou battalion, you are the benefactors of Shandong, you are the benefactors of the Ming Dynasty, you are the benefactors of the world......"

Li Meng picked up a bowl of wine, his eyes felt a little damp at this time, he raised the wine bowl high, calmed down, and said loudly:

"All of you in my Jiaozhou battalion are in Tianyingling, drink this wine first, go on the road with peace of mind, and protect me in the sky in the future, Shandong soldiers and horses will win a hundred battles!!"

As soon as the words fell, Li Meng lifted the wine bowl, and then splashed it on the spirit card below, and after a few bowls of wine were sprinkled, Li Meng took the torch in the hands of the soldiers next to him and threw it on the spirit card pile.

This wine is a very strong liquor, and the combustion effect is very strong, and when the torch is thrown, the dry wooden plate immediately burns rapidly.

Looking at the blazing flames in front of him, Li Meng didn't know if it was the smoke and dust or some other reason, he reached out and wiped the corners of his eyes, and said in a slow tone:

"Don't worry about your family, their life in the future will definitely be much better than before, watch from the sky, where will Jiaozhou Camp and I go in the future!!"

The fire fueled by the spirit card was burning, and the soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion seemed to see that the corpses of their comrades were being incinerated, and the emotions that had been tense were finally uncontrollable, and many soldiers were crying loudly there, and Wang Tao on the wooden platform also didn't care about the etiquette, kneeling on the wooden platform and howling.

The officers and soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion are crying, and the brave and fearless soldiers are shedding tears, but there is no shame in this, this is the cry of the victor!

They are glorious!!