Chapter 22: The Less Satisfactory Results
After sending away the wayward Yan Ruchao, the men in the Chinese military tent began to discuss the successful counterattack that night. However, to Yan Chongren's surprise, in the face of an almost one-sided victory, Qian Yuanshan, Zeng Zhilin and others did not seem to be very happy. When he vigorously praised how novel and powerful the weapons used by the other party were, Qian and Zeng even frowned and shook their heads.
Yan Chongren was puzzled by this reaction, and he asked: "Commander Qian, Commander Zeng, we won a complete victory in this battle, and the weapons used in the 'Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion' have such a miraculous effect, why do the two commanders look worried, aren't they still dissatisfied with such a big victory?" As the saying goes, 'those who are content are always happy', but if you are too strict with yourself, you will suffer from it, which is the so-called 'too much'. β
Seeing this, Qian Yuanshan shook his head and said, "Yan Gongzi misunderstood, it is not that he is dissatisfied with the result of tonight's battle. Although the specific numbers have not yet been counted, there is no doubt about our victory in this battle. What was not satisfied was the process of the battle, or the means by which the soldiers of my 'Wyvern Pioneer Battalion' killed the enemy. β
Speaking of this, seeing that Yan Chongren was still at a loss, Qian Yuanshan continued to explain: "Don't hide it from Yan Gongzi, our pacification of the 'Baihua Village' this time, on the one hand, is to eliminate harm for the people and settle our grievances with us for many years. On the other hand, it is to increase the experience of his soldiers in actual combat, especially in close combat. After all, in the current 'Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion', recruits account for a large proportion. These recruits had never participated in similar battles, and had too little experience in combat, and if we wanted to fulfill our brothers' wish to 'do the right thing for heaven,' they would not be able to rely on such soldiers.
We had planned to rest here for a day or two, and then go straight to the 'Baihua Village' and fight a serious battle with Bai Fei, so that all the brothers under our command could see the blood and know what it was like to fight for their lives. Unexpectedly, although this Bai Fei was outnumbered, he didn't dare to confront us head-on, but wanted to rely on some intrigues to win. Moreover, he chose the night raid, the last thing we want to see. After all, our soldiers were far less familiar with the terrain than their opponents, and it was too dangerous to fight hostile battles in the dark, so we had to give up our plans to fight a major battle and rely on the firearms in our hands to win. However, in this way, although our army won a complete victory, our original purpose of training through this could not be realized. β
"Yes," Zeng Zhilin agreed on the side, "I think that Bai Fei has been defeated like this, if he is lucky enough to escape his life, even if he will not abandon the village and flee, I am afraid that he will shrink into the 'Baihua Village' and dare not come out to fight against us again." This trip to Baihua Mountain, we are afraid that we will return with regret. β
"What, are you righteous men going to collect their troops and go down the mountain?" Yan Chongren exclaimed--Although the 'Baihua Village' has been hit hard, it has not been completely eradicated, if the "Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion" goes down the mountain, and Bai Fei is as the commander said, he did not die in the battle just now, and he will inevitably make a comeback. When the time comes, Qiulinzhuang, who had helped the "Flying Dragon Pioneer Camp", was afraid that he would be the first to be retaliated against. Therefore, the words of Qian and Zeng could not help but make Yan Chongren nervous.
Seeing that Yan Chongren obviously misunderstood what he meant, Zeng Zhilin hurriedly added: "Yan Gongzi misunderstood. In other words, judging from the current situation, our pacification of the 'Baihuazhai' can only achieve the purpose of eliminating harm for the people, but cannot achieve the purpose of military training, which inevitably makes people feel a little regretful. As for the thieves of the 'Baihua Village', we will never let them go. β
After listening to Zeng Zhilin's explanation, Yan Chongren relieved himself and said, "That's good, that's good." β
After speaking, he paused again and asked, "However, if that Bai Fei escaped the catastrophe just now and led the remnants to flee back to the 'Baihua Village' and couldn't hold on, how do you righteous soldiers plan to attack." After all, although the minions of the 'Baihua Village' are newly defeated, they are still likely to fight the trapped beasts when there is no way to retreat. If you lead your army to attack its fortress, I am afraid that you will suffer great losses. β
"Please rest assured that Yan Gongzi will never do such a laborious and unpleasant thing," Qian Yuanshan replied.
"Brother Eleventh is right," Tang Chao continued, "If the remnants of the 'Hundred Flowers Village' are willing to go out of the village to fight with me, it will naturally be the best, then they can die like a man, and my 'Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion' can also take this opportunity to train well." If they can't come out of the battle and defend the camp to the death, then it's okay to say, we can only give up the opportunity to train the troops this time, and just do what we did just now, just set up artillery to bombard his mother. I don't believe that the wall of his 'Baihua Village' can withstand our shells. β,
Although Yan Chongren didn't quite understand what Tang Chao was talking about about the cannons and shells, he could guess that it should be one of the various so-called firearms that had caused heavy casualties to the soldiers of the "Baihua Village" just now. Having seen the power of firearms, he naturally believed that what Tang Chao said was not an exaggeration, and he was full of confidence in these capable and righteous people who calmed down the "Baihua Village" in one go.
However, at this time, he suddenly remembered a rumor, and hurriedly said to Qian Yuanshan and others: "I suddenly remembered one thing, and I need to tell you in advance." β
"Yan Gongzi has something to say, please speak," Qian Yuanshan replied.
"That's right," Yan Chongren explained, "There has always been a rumor among the people in this area of Baihua Mountain, saying that after Bai Fei assassinated the previous owner of the village and became the new owner of the 'Baihua Village', he once ordered someone to secretly dig a tunnel under the 'Huguo Xianguang Temple' where he lived, leading directly to the back mountain outside the village, in case he could not hold the cottage, or someone in the village wanted to flee for his life when it was unfavorable to him." Therefore, if you think that if you righteous soldiers lead your troops to attack the village and use powerful firearms, then Bai Fei will see that the village cannot be defended, and it is likely to escape from the tunnel. In that case, I am afraid that you will not be able to reap the full credit of pacifying the 'Baihua Village' this time. β
Hearing that Bai Fei may have dug a tunnel in the "Baihua Village", Qian Yuanshan and others felt that this matter must be taken seriously. Qian Yuanshan ordered someone to find the dust that was participating in cleaning the battlefield, and asked Yan Chongren: "Is what Yan Gongzi said reliable, has anyone ever seen this tunnel with their own eyes?" β
Yan Chongren shook his head when he heard this, and said, "I've heard from other people here, and this kind of rumor is usually difficult to distinguish between true and false. As for whether anyone has seen it with their own eyes, I can't say below. However, thinking about it, this kind of secret for his own escape, Bai Fei could not show it to others. Even if someone had seen this tunnelβsuch as those who had dug it in the first placeβthey would have said that it had been destroyed by Bai Fei. β
After listening to Yan Chongren's answer, Qian Yuanshan also knew that his question was a bit redundant. As Yan Chongren said, if there really was such a tunnel, how could Bai Fei let people who knew its specific location survive.
At this moment, Qingchen entered the Chinese military tent. He first saluted Qian Yuanshan and the others, and then said: "Ladies and gentlemen, because the sky is dark and the night is dark, the battlefield has not been completely cleared, and the specific results have not yet been calculated. β
Qian Yuanshan waved his hand when he heard this, and said, "I didn't ask you to ask about this. β
Qingchen was stunned for a moment and asked, "Then I don't know what your uncle has to tell your little nephew?" β
Qian Yuanshan said: "That's the case. Just now, Yan Gongzi told me that there is a rumor among the people in this vicinity that Bai Fei dug a tunnel for himself to escape in the 'Baihua Village'. You have been in the 'Hundred Flowers Village' for a few days, have you heard of this? Or have you heard the minions in the village say something about the tunnel? β
Qingchen was stunned by Qian Yuanshan's question, he recalled it carefully, and replied: "Uncle Yu, the little nephew has never heard of this matter. However, the little nephew originally 'traveled' to the "Baihua Village" four years ago, and the little nephew has not been here since then, so maybe things have changed. After all, the last time the little nephew came, this Bai Fei had just become the owner of the village, and even if he had this idea, it would take some time to really dig the tunnel. Therefore, it is normal for the little nephew not to know about this. β
Hearing Qingchen say this, Yan Chongren hurriedly echoed: "What Qingchen Daoist said is extremely true. As far as I know, this rumor has indeed begun to circulate among the people in the past two years. β
Qian Yuanshan thought for a moment when he heard this, and then ordered: "Clean the dust, you don't have to worry about cleaning up the battlefield, just let the deputy Liu team and Captain Chang do it." Thou shalt immediately take men to interrogate the captured minions, and try to find out from their mouths whether the tunnel really exists. β
"Yes, the little nephew obeys," Qingchen bowed down and said.
Qingchen was assigned to interrogate the prisoners, and Qian Yuanshan and others sat in the tent of the Chinese army and waited for news. However, the first to report to them were Chang Shengjun and Liu Xiaoliu, the deputy squadron leader of the first squadron. At this time, the two of them had already led people to clean up the battlefield and reported the statistical results to the commanders.
Although they did not wait to clean the dust, the people in the tent were also interested in the specific results of this battle. Therefore, at the suggestion of Qian Yuanshan, Chang Shengjun came out to report in detail to everyone the various data of this battle:
In this battle, the "Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion" and Qiulin Zhuang Ding killed and captured a total of 369 enemy leaders and minions. Of these, 317 were killed and 52 were captured. According to the examination of the corpses of the enemy, about seventy and a half of the enemy were killed by artillery and muskets, about twenty percent of the enemy was killed by their own soldiers with cold weapons, and less than half of the enemy died in various accidents - drowning in the river no more than one meter deep, trampling on each other while fleeing, and so on. ,
In addition, according to the identification of the captured soldiers, the bandit leader who was killed by Zeng Zhilin was Qin Guangfeng, the deputy owner of the "Baihua Village". In addition to him, the other three leaders who commanded a hundred minions also lost their lives.
However, it is a little regrettable that Bai Fei, the owner of the "Baihua Village", is not among the more than 300 people, and must have fled back to the cottage.
In this battle, the first squadron of the "Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion" suffered seven wounds, one of whom was seriously wounded, and one squad leader was slightly wounded. The Ranger squad suffered three wounds, not seriously, and all of them were ordinary soldiers. Four people were injured, one of whom was seriously injured.
Of the seven wounded of the 1st Squadron, four of them, including the seriously wounded one, who had been mistakenly wounded by his own man's flintlock pistol, were wounded by various accidents, and the remaining three were wounded in battle with the enemy.
Of the three wounded of the rangers, only one suffered moderate trauma from being stabbed in the thigh by an enemy spear, while the other two were injured by a misfall from their horses when they could not see the road clearly at night.
One of the four villagers who were wounded in Qiulin was injured in an accident, and the remaining three were all wounded in battle with the enemy.
After listening to Chang Shengjun's report on the results, Qian Yuanshan and the others didn't care much about the casualties of the leader and minions of the "Baihua Village", but they raised their heads slightly when they heard that Qin Guangfeng, the deputy owner of the village, was killed by Zeng Zhilin. But when they heard that ten people had been injured on their side, all the traversers were a little surprised.
You must know that the total number of men who went out to pursue the enemy this time was only a squadron and a squad of more than 200 rangers, so that the casualty rate was five percent, and this was in the case of chasing and defeating the enemy-although six of the wounded soldiers were wounded by various accidents, they were as attritional as battle injuries.
At the same time, the high proportion of accidental injuries in this battle was partly due to the fact that it was dark and the road conditions were unknown, but this also showed that the current "Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion" lacked actual combat experience and could not adapt to the unfamiliar battlefield environment. In particular, the fact that a soldier was injured by his own man's flintlock pistol exposed the weakness of the soldiers' nervousness when they were about to fight and could not give full play to their usual training level.
However, exposing the problem through actual combat is precisely the purpose of this operation. Only when the problem is exposed can the problem be solved more quickly. Therefore, although Qian Yuanshan and others were surprised by their own injury rate, they did not show concern about the high injury rate, but treated Chang Shengjun's report with a very calm attitude.
Of course, the accidental injury of the flintlock pistol still attracted the attention of Qian Yuanshan and others. Therefore, after Chang Shengjun finished his report, Qian Yuanshan immediately asked: "Have you ever investigated the accidental injury of the flintlock pistol, are you sure that it was an accidental injury?" β
Chang Shengjun replied: "Back to the eleventh master, this matter was inquired about by the deputy of Team Liu, and it is better to let the deputy of Team Liu come and tell you about it." β
Hearing this, Liu Xiaoliu hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: "Eleventh Master, my subordinates have personally inquired about the injured, the injured, and other soldiers present at the time. According to the confessions of the people, the incident of the flintlock shooting and wounding friendly soldiers was indeed an accident. The soldier who wounded the person was a private in the eighth squad of the third squad under him, and he had always behaved very well. He and the wounded soldier belonged to different squads, and there were no contradictions or conflicts between the two.
In this battle, the wounded soldier initially shot at the enemy squad that had come to steal the camp from the parapet of the main camp, but later when he went out of the camp to pursue with the team, because of a moment of nervousness, he did not carry the flintlock pistol on his back like other soldiers, but held the flintlock pistol that had been loaded with ammunition in his hand. As a result, during the run, he accidentally fell to the ground for a moment, and the flintlock pistol in his hand misfired, hitting his comrades who were running not far in front of him. Although the soldier who was hit was wearing armor, the projectile still severely injured the soldier due to the close distance. β
Liu Xiaoliu's report made Qian Yuanshan and the others breathe a sigh of relief, for them, as long as it was not the soldiers under his command who deliberately took revenge for personal gain, then in the case of the use of firearms, it was acceptable to be injured by mistake on the chaotic battlefield. In the future, as long as the soldiers' study of combat regulations is strengthened during training, such incidents of accidental injuries and accidental injuries will become less and less common as their combat experience increases.
Therefore, while asking Liu Xiaoliu to write an official report on the investigation results of this incident and hand it over to himself, Qian Yuanshan carefully inquired about the injuries of the soldiers who were accidentally injured. After learning that the soldier was seriously injured and that the conditions in the barracks were limited and could only be bandaged simply, Qian Yuanshan discussed with the other traversers and immediately decided to send someone to send the injured back to the "Feilong Village" for treatment after dawn.
After listening to the report on the results of the battle and arranging the evacuation of the seriously wounded, the Chinese army tent calmed down again, and everyone was waiting for the results of Qingchen's interrogation of the prisoners, so as to formulate the next battle Jihua according to this, and completely solve the remnants of the "Baihuazhai".
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