Chapter 18 Double Victory

There was a commotion in the brightly lit camp.

It has been nearly two hours since the start of the counterattack out of the city. After a series of fierce battles, everyone was very tired, no matter whether they were riding on foot, but the joy of victory dispelled the fatigue without a trace, and the spirit of the armor soldiers was still in a high state of excitement.

According to Sun Jie's earlier order, he counterattacked with all his might, and after destroying Guan Shengyun's main force and breaking through his camp, he burned it, and then all the soldiers should immediately gather back to the city to assist in defense, so as not to be bypassed by thieves from other directions and steal the city gate and take advantage of the situation - this is what Sun Jie is a little worried about. As for reinforcing Guan Shengyun's battalion directly to reinforce the enemy, Sun Jie didn't think so: even if the thieves from other directions wanted to reinforce, when it got dark, Siye had been cut into potholes, and who couldn't do it in a hurry: they could only march with fire, and the number was clear at a glance. If there are fewer reinforcements, it will not help, and if there are too many reinforcements, Deputy General Shen Chenggang in the city is not blind, and he will definitely take the opportunity to end his old nest...... In this way, as long as you choose the opportunity to break through one or two thieves in other directions in the future and relieve the siege of Luzhou, you can win a complete victory in this battle.

In the twilight, I saw from a distance that the north and south were burning fire successively, although the east was separated from the city, the sky was also red, Shangguan Fei and Ishii Sheng and others were all old military affairs who crawled out of the pile of dead people with a knife and a shot, and they could guess from the location and the size of the fire, although somehow, the enemy's camps in the southeast, south, and north directions were in great trouble, and they were likely to have collapsed.

The two of them were blindly guessing whether there were really reinforcements arriving or the enemy took the initiative to abandon the camp, and the heralds sent out to report the victory to the city, and the soap officials sent by Song Mingyi to report the good news of the collapse of the enemy's entire line had rushed back with joy and shouting......

The two generals discussed, and since the threat from other directions had disappeared, they ordered them to camp on the spot tonight and do the matter thoroughly. Then Ishii Sheng set off with half of the horse team to find Sun Jie, and Shangguan Fei stayed in the camp to sit in the town.

Like the formation of other battalions, the infantry armor of the Changjie battalion was divided into four teams, A, B, C, D, and a team of crossbowmen, who did not participate in this counterattack and stayed in the city. In this battle of annihilation against the Breaking Sky Battalion, it was the turn of Team C and Team D to take the lead in the front, and the physical consumption was the greatest, so it was natural to give priority to the rest order to be released from guard, and the peripheral guard task was undertaken by Shangguan Fei's cavalry.

The soldiers who had slaughtered the wounded soldiers of the Gangfeng battalion giggled and helped each other to unoff their armor, sat on the ground, and gulped down the cool well water sent by the men and captives. The other prisoners were sweating profusely, and they temporarily set up a long earthen stove (at that time, there was no concept of a canteen, and most of them were cooking on their own stoves based on fruits), and the big iron pot was tumbling with large pieces of bones and fat pieces of meat, steaming - in the pigsty of Guan Shengyun's camp (yes, there were no cans in the past, and when conditions permitted, the generals would march with all kinds of livestock) raised a hundred and ten fat pigs, but everyone was very happy.

The soldiers of Team A, who were in charge of guarding the prisoners in the inner camp, from time to time cast unwilling glances at their comrades-in-arms who were snoring and gulping on the broth with large cakes in their hands, licking their lips and swallowing saliva, punching and kicking the busy prisoners for no reason, venting their envy, jealousy and hatred.

Team B supervises the handling of the bodies of the captives.

's own people, one by one, are arranged, and when Sun Jie comes back, there will be a simple memorial service, and then it will be transported back to the city. Finally, after all the comrades who died in this battle are buried in the ground, a formal and solemn ceremony will be held.

The corpses of the enemy are much more casual to dispose of.

First, the officers were separated from the rank-and-file soldiers. Several veterans took Master Yuan to identify them one by one, and wrote down their names and positions—the list of the enemy's generals and the various command flags captured were indispensable and solid evidence for reporting their merits. Except for those who wore straw sandals or were so tattered that they were really unspeakable, all the corpses were barefoot without exception: the combat boots had long been taken off and put on themselves, and the excess was hung around their necks, and no one thought it smelled - the general's good armor and small soldiers were not worthy, and it was useless to pick them up; Shoes, whoever picks them up is whom's - the imperial court doesn't need this, and the infantry and marching troops rely on iron feet to fight, which is very costly.

No one cares about names among ordinary soldiers. The disposal of these corpses is similar to the assembly line operation of later generations:

Peel off the armor first, put it aside if you can still use it, let the blacksmith knock it up and directly replenish your equipment, and the pile that has been cut too badly is thrown together, and then go back and remove the complete armor and cowhide rope as repair materials, and the other scrap iron that is rusted and broken is completely out of shape and returned to the furnace.

The body of the unloaded armor was dragged to the next process: stripping clothes. Of course, the scattered silver, copper coins and fabrics in his arms must not be let go, and they are piled up separately (it is certain that they are hidden while people are not paying attention), and the clothes on their bodies are piled up. Generally speaking, it is an unwritten rule that whoever cuts the head on the battlefield will own the corresponding spoils of war. However, the capture of this war of annihilation is considered public property, and the generals will divide the rest according to their rank and seniority, as well as their own likes and dislikes.

The third process is the cutting stage. This is a technical job: in order to prevent the killing of good and meritorious, the imperial court inquest must see the Adam's apple. Under the guidance of experienced soldiers, more than a dozen enemy auxiliaries carefully cut off the heads with special knives, neatly stacked them in large baskets, and sprinkled a layer of lime on their heads...... Most of the auxiliaries did this for the first time, and vomited all over the ground - that had to be done, or their heads would be thrown into the basket immediately......

Another group of captives continued to dig along the trenches outside the camp, and all the headless bodies that had been cut off were thrown into this pit and buried on the spot. From time to time, the overseer soldiers scolded: "Dig deeper, and then you will cut off your head and bury it at the top!" If you don't want to be gouged out by wolves, dig deeper! The reprimanded person did not know whether it was true or not, and knelt down and begged with tears, and then was beaten by the horsewhip and wooden stick chuck, in exchange for another curse: "That dog's head, dare to slack off!" I'm going to kill you now...... "Torture the captives is both a vent and an entertainment."

Of course, letting the captives dig their own pits first and then unify them is also a very common practice in this era, and those who are not captured are not afraid.

Outside the cordon of Team B, dozens of rangers were patrolling with fire.

By the time the C and D teams had their fill of the shifts, the work was almost complete. Team A and Team B finally unloaded A and began to sit comfortably to nibble on the bones and drink the broth.

Shangguan Fei, Sheng Degong, Shi Erlei and other generals, as well as the officers of the Thousand Corps, also sat down by the campfire, each with a wooden bowl full of broth in front of them, and the soup was filled with white fat - in this era, people generally lack fat and protein intake, so fat meat is the most popular. Large chunks of freshly cut meat lay on the wooden table beside them, and two or three thieves shuttled between the campfire and the meat case, swallowing saliva and busily roasting meat for them.

Several of the chief captives were held in solitary confinement. These people are secretly wondering how to behave in order to join the winning side and save their lives. On the one hand, they belong to the officers, and the other party is often out of fear of taking the lead in chaos, so they simply kill them to save trouble, and the first rank can also be exchanged for silver, on the other hand, because the rank is too low, there is no place for them in the loyalty chain, and no one is willing to die like this - even if they are auxiliaries, with their own experience and skills, sooner or later they can become soldiers, and then once again become a small leader to eat and drink: the soldier is to eat. As long as there is food to eat and live, whether it is the officers and soldiers, or the former comrades, who is not cut?

The ordinary captives, who had not been sent to hard labor, consciously tied their hands and feet to each other, and snuggled together. They knew that God blessed them if they could pick up a life, and even the literate Master Yuan didn't expect to have food tonight - well, not only tonight, the old rule is that the captives starve for two or three days: you will definitely not have the strength to escape or riot. Of course, you still have to do the manual work! Lack of energy? Hehe—only people who have never been beaten would think so, and after a few lashes, they will naturally be in good spirits.

Outside the camp there was a faint sound of horses' hooves, and in the moonlight, two torches in the distance drove side by side. Shangguan Fei's expression tightened, and he glanced at Sheng Degong, Shi Erlei and others, stood up one after another, and hurriedly went to the camp gate to meet him. A few people tacitly agreed: just care about things here, don't have any accidents there......

The cavalry galloped closer, and when they saw the smiling faces of the other side, the hearts of several people relaxed.

Excited shouts were heard from afar:

"General Shi Shen captured the thief's grain depot"!

"That's more than 300,000 stone military rations"!

What? 300,000 stones? Great news!

However, it is obviously a bit of a brag to say that "the grain depot has been captured".

Shi Jingsheng can be regarded as a lucky star today: when the hundred cavalry took Guan Shengyun's camp first and went to meet Sun Jie, he saw a light from a distance and rode over to find out, but accidentally found Guan Shengyun's grain station ten miles away!

General Shi Shen was worried that the garrison would set fire to the grain, so he decisively gave up the plan to find Sun Jie and led the team to rush over. The guards of the granary were all old and weak soldiers who had never seen blood, and they were frightened when they saw the routs all over the mountains and fields from a distance earlier, and immediately opened the camp after receiving a guarantee that they would not be killed.

When I entered the grain station, Shi Shen was amused: not to mention arson and burning grain, there was not even firewood and grass around the warehouses - it turned out that these guys never thought that they would be in danger!

However, after tossing for so long, most of the killing intent in my heart has gone, and then I thought: Even if it is a defender of Zaicai, with the protection of the camp wall, even if it is captured, there will be a few brothers who will be lost, not to mention that there are only one hundred and ten horsemen on their side...... Thinking of this, Ishii Sheng feigned anger and whipped the grain officer a few times and was relieved.

Not only to keep an eye on hundreds of grain guards but also to patrol the grain depot in Nuoda to prevent accidents, manpower is stretched, Shi Jingsheng sent eight armored cavalry to continue to look for Sun Jie, and then sent two rangers to find Shangguan Fei to report the news, guarding the grain depot himself, and vigorously facing the high grain stacks: As a senior general, General Shi Shen of course knew that the city of Luzhou was about to run out of grain, and so many high-quality military rations fell from the sky, and it was far from indescribable to send charcoal in the snow.