Although the sniper battle of Xujiacun achieved a brilliant victory, Li Yongji did not take advantage of the situation to cover up the battle as in the original battle of Suzhou, but only let the cavalry chase and kill less than ten miles, and then hurriedly recalled the position of Xujiacun and continued to wait for reinforcements.

The main reason for this is that the Qing army at this time was very different from the Taiping army in the Battle of Suzhou in terms of establishment and command system.

Although Seng Greenqin is the commander of this Qing army, he is different from Li Xiucheng at the beginning, and his ability to control all the subordinates is not strong, that is to say, the other soldiers and horses under him are actually fighting independently and have their own independent battalions, and Monk Greenqin is at best the commander of a combined army.

Perhaps because of this, although Seng Lingqin was defeated, he only lost his own troops and horses, and there were independent Qing army camps behind him, such as Zheng Kuishi's camp was still stable, so it was difficult to have the kind of situation where the commander was defeated and collapsed.

In addition, although Li Yongji's troops and horses are advanced in weapons, and he is not afraid of anyone in frontal combat, the time to get started is too short, and the coordination of infantry and artillery is still insufficient.

Li Yongji has now led his troops to fight a lot of battles, the older the so-called rivers and lakes, the less courageous he is, he feels that the more he is in strength, the more cautious and cautious he must be, and he can't underestimate his opponent because he has advanced weapons, after all, he is now carrying too many things, it is not the period of a newborn calf, and there must be no failure.

At this moment, the first division of the main force is desperately coming, and Wang Sanwu in Huai'an City is also resting nervously, so Li Yongji is not afraid of delay.

Of course, the fact that the Qing army did not completely collapse was also the main reason for him to do this, and he felt that before the Qing army completely collapsed, he still had to wait for the first division to come. Then relying on sufficient troops, with their 6,000 troops equipped with modern weapons as sharp knives, it is the best policy to defeat the Qing army in a dignified manner.

However, Li Yongji himself was careful, but he didn't expect the Qing army to be angry, and the commander Seng Greenqin was frightened after escaping from this battle, and even his subordinates were not informed, and went straight to the Liangtai camp in Taoyuan County (modern Siyang County) with his own soldiers, and the other departments did not care about other friendly troops after receiving the news one after another. They all began to camp and flee.

That is to say, in the early morning of the next day, most of the Qing army besieging Huai'an City ran away, and after the rest of the Qing army reacted, they also began to spread their feet and run back.

Of course, this situation cannot escape the ears and eyes of the elite army. Huai'an City, in particular, was particularly sensitive to the escape of the Qing army, and Wang Sanwu had hoped to pursue Kaicheng more than once, feeling that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

But. Li Yongji finally rejected this Jianyi, believing that it was better to let the Qing army escape on their own than to pursue it.

Li Yongji did this based on the following considerations:

The first is the issue of fatigue. Li Yongji's more than 6,000 headquarters reinforcements went through a continuous forced march. Digging trenches and arranging positions and other actions, although the spirit is not bad, but it is already quite exhausting. Especially those horses, they all look a little unsupportable, and if they are forcibly pursued, I am afraid that the body will not be able to keep up, in case of overwork to death, it will be a real joke; As for the defenders in Huai'an City, after many days of fierce fighting, they did not recover, and it was still a bit risky to rashly pursue the 300,000 army at this time, or the gains outweighed the losses.

Second, if they let the Qing army flee on their own, they will still be an organized escape, and they will eventually regroup together, so that they can gather their troops and annihilate them, but if they pursue it now, it will be a rout. Those routs and flee in all directions will inevitably turn into bandits in the end, disturbing the people, not to mention increasing the difficulty of suppressing bandits in the future. 、

Finally, the battle has been fought with Wang Sanwu by himself, what should the first division do? Can't the first division hurry up, you can't drink the last bit of broth, right? Li Yongji is now the boss, he can't think about grabbing credit with his subordinates, but finding a way to share the credit, so the next battle must involve the people of the first division, let them also share a little credit, especially to Zhou Da a little sweetness. After all, Zhou Da is actually Zhang Wei's person, and giving him a little benefit can be regarded as balancing the factional issues within the Jingwu Army.

It was on the basis of these considerations that Li Yongji did not allow the pursuit, watched the Qing army retreat, and then, as Li Yongji expected, reassembled in Taoyuan County, that is, Siyang County, and stepped up the construction of camps, or defensive positions, there.

After the Qing army ran out, Li Yongji did not need to continue to stay in Xujia Village, but led the whole army to dress neatly, and then lined up and marched into Huai'an City with high spirits.

Originally, Li Yongji wanted to accept the cheers and enjoy the feeling of entering the city in victory, but he didn't expect that after he rode a high-headed horse and led the troops into the city, he knelt on both sides of the road in the dark.

But soon Li Yongji didn't have time to care about this, because Wang Sanwu had already brought someone to greet him in person.

Wang Sanwu and the others did not ride horses, but walked over, and after seeing Li Yongji, led by Wang Sanwu, all knelt down on the street, and then Wang Sanwu was the first to raise his head and shouted loudly in public: "Welcome to the city, long live the handsome, long live, long live!" ”

After Wang Sanwu finished speaking, the people behind him also shouted: "Long live, long live, long live!" ”

When these officials finished shouting, Li Yongji was still slightly stunned, the people kneeling on both sides heard it, and they also shouted Long live, long live, long live.

When the people shouted this, they still knelt on the ground, but it seemed that because of the shouting, they finally had the courage to look up at Li Yongji, instead of only daring to bow their heads and prostrate on the ground like before.

And when they saw Li Yongji's general appearance, most of them were excited again for some reason, repeatedly shouting long live, many people kept shouting with tears in their eyes, their voices were hoarse, and they still knelt hard and shouted long live.

It seemed that he also noticed that the feelings of the people around him were a little out of control, and Li Yongji, who was somewhat experienced, immediately asked several guards on horseback around him to dismount, and then ran over to ask Wang Sanwu to quickly lead people to get out of the way, and then continued to lead the troops forward.

As Li Yongji expected, whenever Li Yongji appeared, the voice of the chanter was much higher wherever he appeared. Many people looked at Li Yongji with tears in their eyes, but none of them dared to stand up and touch the two, but they were very restrained.

Even if there are some so-called slightly radical behaviors, it is nothing more than that when Li Yongji passed by, someone kowtowed vigorously, and the bleeding on his forehead still kept coming.

Li Yongji knew very well that this was the people supporting him from the bottom of their hearts, but the way the Chinese expressed their feelings at this time was still very subtle, so they kowtowed and bled and hissed and shouted long live. It seems that this is the best way they can think of to express their love for their superiors.

For these people, it is completely useless for you to play any modern people-friendly activities with them, such as waving your hand and smiling slightly, giving a speech or something, and it will even have the opposite effect, so the best way is to continue to pretend to be majestic and pass by, and then leave as much as possible.

Soon, Li Yongji came all the way from the outer city to the inner city. Then he rested in a large mansion in the inner city that had previously been used as the headquarters of the elite army, and immediately began to formally meet with the high-ranking officials in turn.

The first person to meet was Wang Sanwu, who was naked at this time and carried a thorn on his back. As soon as he came, he fell to his knees, and came to a guilty plea.

Seeing this, Li Yongji shook his head: "Uncle, what are you doing here?" ”

"I'm here to plead guilty." Really. Wang Sanwu bowed his head and said, "I made a big mistake, and I am here to ask for punishment." No matter how you punish me, even if you want my head, I am willing. ”

"Oh? Interesting. Li Yongji smiled, "Then tell me, what big mistakes have you made?" ”

"Crime one, I shouldn't have withheld the silver without asking for instructions." Wang Sanwu said, "It is precisely because I intercepted Caoyin privately that I let you turn your face with the Qing court in advance, and you are suspected of persecution, although you helped me carry it, but I know that this is a big crime and it must not be forgiven." ”

"Hmm." Li Yongji nodded.

"Crime two, I shouldn't have indulged my subordinates in cutting their braids." Wang Sanwu continued, "This is the same as the previous one, it is also to force the marshal to turn his face with the Qing court, and the crime is unforgivable. ”

After a pause, Wang Sanwu said again: "As for the third, I shouldn't do anything to show the enemy's weakness, use Huai'an City as bait, blossom inside and outside, and then completely annihilate the Qing army." Although my original intentions were good, I didn't ask for instructions in advance, and secondly, I was suspected of disregarding people's lives, although I didn't make a big mistake in the end, but just a private action is already a capital crime. ”

"Well, you seem to be very self-aware." Li Yongji said softly.

"Yes!" Wang Sanwu lowered his head and said, "I have made a lot of mistakes, and they are all big mistakes, now I have come to my senses, please don't be embarrassed, in order to be strict with military discipline, in order not to let future generations learn from me, just use me to open the knife!" ”

"Hey, get up." Li Yongji shook his head.

"How can this work, Dashuai, I am sincere, not a show, please take me down immediately."

"Okay, okay, don't kick your nose in the face!" Li Yongji simply laughed and scolded, "Hurry up and get me up and change my clothes, I look like an eyesore when you talk to me like this, do you know?" ”

"Huh? I'm ...... handsome."

"Get out of here, change my clothes, and come back." Li Yongji simply waved his hand, "Even if I want to punish you, I don't have to look like this, go quickly, put on my clothes and come back again." ”

After Wang Sanwu changed his clothes and came back, Li Yongji asked him to stand aside, and asked everyone to retreat, and then sighed: "Uncle, tell me about you, why are you so confused, do you know that you make it difficult for me now." ”

"Yes." Wang Sanwu lowered his head, "So I don't have any complaints about how you treat me." ”

"The punishment must be punished, but if you want your life, I want you to keep this life for me." Li Yongji said, "Although the military law is ruthless, it is not without accommodation, the most important thing is that I can't punish you now, if you leave, who will lead the troops for me?" Not to mention how sad my grandfather and my mother will be.

Of course, I am also at fault, I have only been busy with my own affairs recently, and I have not communicated with you, at least I have not told you about my strategic intentions in advance, and you have misunderstood.

So this time, I will forgive you, and only punish you for three years, and keep quiet to the public, and what you did will still be counted on my head.

However, you remember, this time I was very gracious, but if I don't take it as an example, there will be a next time, and then let me know that you are acting without me, then no one will be able to protect you! At that time, you don't have to play this trick with me, for the good of everyone, you don't have to meet me, just wipe your neck yourself, understand? ”

"Yes, I, I see." Wang Sanwu exhaled.

"Good." Li Yongji nodded, "Okay, that's all for you first, let's go down and rest first, let's talk about it another day." ”

"Yes." Wang Sanwu didn't dare to come out, hugged his fist, and retreated cautiously.

When he exited the room, Wang Sanwu felt relieved, and as soon as the breeze blew, Wang Sanwu still felt a chill on his body, and he was sweating profusely unconsciously! This made him sigh again, the coercion on Li Yongji's body is getting heavier and heavier, and it seems that he will no longer be able to have a pleasant conversation like before in the future.

With complicated feelings, Wang Sanwu returned to his room, and when he looked there, he found that Lin Yongsian was walking back and forth with his hands behind his back, and he seemed to be quite anxious.

Seeing Wang Sanwu appear, Lin Yongsi immediately came over and asked, "How is it, how is the situation?" Did you do as I said? Handsome him, what did he say? ”

"As Mr. expected." Wang Sanwu nodded solemnly, "The marshal forgave me this time, but he was only fined for three years, and as for my private actions, he carried it down himself, and it was all counted on his head." However, he also warned me that if there was a next time, he would not see me again and let me wipe my neck. ”

"Whew, that's good, that's good." Lin Yong nodded.

Whether it was the first shouting of long live at the entrance ceremony, or the later guilt of Jing Jing, it was Lin Yongsi's idea, and it was Lin Yongsi's request for Wang Sanwu to do this, and he never mentioned the matter of begging for mercy and relatives, the purpose was to completely lower his posture, because only in this way can there be a glimmer of life.

According to Lin Yongsi's words at the time, the superiors actually don't like guys who only beg for mercy when they make mistakes, on the contrary, if you completely put down your posture and look like you have the courage to take responsibility, you will be forgiven by Li Yongji.

Lin Yongsian also analyzed that for now, Li Yongji will not give up Wang Sanwu, at least he will not take his life, but if the posture is not done well and the other party has a pimple in his heart, it is difficult to say.

In addition, it is easy to save your life, but it is difficult to protect your power, if you want to keep both, you must completely lower your posture, and win the sympathy and trust of Li Yongji with the image of a loyal, brave and responsible, but simple-minded iron-blooded man.

Although this is also very risky, fortunately, they made the right move. (To be continued......)