The next morning, there was no sunlight in the sky, and from sunrise onwards there was a strong wind. In the camp of the Ming army, braving the biting cold wind, early in the morning, the soldiers of the various departments of the Ming army came out to clean the battlefield again, although there were many corpses of the Qing army scattered on the ground, everyone did not have the slightest joy. Not to mention the heavy casualties of the brothers in the army, and the reinforcements have not arrived for a long time, where will the Ming army go in the future, even the officials are at a loss, not to mention those ordinary soldiers.

The officers and men of the Ming army just blindly collected the corpses, collected the weapons and flags on the ground, and the Qing army camp in the distance did not move, and even the sentry horses scattered outside were very few, so it can be seen that yesterday's bloody battle also made the Qing army unbearable.

Each battalion is responsible for cleaning up their positions, on the position of the new army in Xiahezhai, the strong smell of blood has not disappeared, looking at the corpses of the Qing army everywhere, as well as the fragments of hands and feet everywhere, several earthen walls and trenches seem to be soaked in blood, and the new army in Xiahezhai is still silently cleaning up. They put away the weapons and banners scattered on the ground, piled up the corpses of the Qing army, stripped off their armor, and cut off their heads.

A group of Ming soldiers around the pile of corpses to cut off their heads, although the scene was bloody, but no one was afraid, and the hearts of the soldiers were unusually happy. Liu Yan stood motionless in the cold wind at this time, quietly looking at his subordinates. Behind Liu Yan, a group of generals also stood still.

I don't know how much time passed, Xun Jingyun, the magistrate of the town, came over and reported to Liu Yanyu: "My lord, a total of 3,156 heads of slaves and thieves have been counted, 5,272 pairs of armor have been seized, 257,542 taels of silver have been seized, and ...... swords and guns of slaves and thieves have been seized."

Liu Yan listened quietly to Xun Jingyun's report, even yesterday, as well as the results of the previous days, that is, the number of the first rank of the Qing army captured in Julu, and more than half of them were Qing army armor soldiers. The armor on their bodies became Liu Yan's trophies. In this way, since Liu Yan went to war, he has captured more than 6,000 pairs of armor from the Qing army, and the number of beheadings has exceeded 4,000.

The hands and feet of the Tartar soldiers of the Qing army are not clean, and they generally have the habit of hiding silver taels, after they were captured in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, each of them had at least a dozen or twenty taels of silver on their bodies, and after searching their bodies, the silver was owned by the new army of Xiahezhai. m.

Liu Yan nodded and said, "All these heads and seizures will be sealed and kept by the heavy soldiers of each department." ”

"Yes!"

After the reorganization, Liu Yan still maintained the independent structure of the cavalry general, and the rest of the generals were temporarily merged with each other: Chen Xun's former general and Wang Yue's rear general merger, with Chen Xun as the main and Wang Yue as the auxiliary; Zhang Yi's left general manager and Wang Bo's right general manager merged, with Zhang Yi as the main and Wang Bo as the auxiliary; Miao Shao's personal health general and Shen Tuo's ACCCIM merged, with Miao Shao as the main and Shen Tuo as the supplement.

Of course, this round of merger is only temporary, mainly to ensure that the various units of the Xiahezhai New Army are fully staffed and organized, so as to facilitate operations, and when the troops of each unit are replenished, they will naturally restore the original independence of each unit.

Now Zhang Yan, the general of Xuanfu Town, has been killed in battle, and his subordinates have also been scattered, and basically all of them have joined Yang Guozhu's main barracks these days.

At the same time, Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei's main barracks and Lu Xiangsheng's superintendent battalion are also being reorganized, preparing for the retreat in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

Of course, at this time, the news of the retreat of the whole army was not issued, and even Chen Xun, Wang Bo and several other hundred generals did not know. Among the Ming army, only Liu Yan, Lu Xiangsheng, Hu Dawei, and Yang Guozhu knew about it, in order to keep it secret and prevent the morale of the army from wavering.

Within a day, there was no movement in the Qing army camp in the distance, and it seemed that it was really as Liu Yan said, those Tartars had suffered heavy casualties, and they were already powerless to attack, and it was a good opportunity to break through now.

"The two military gates, from Julu to Zhending Mansion have three hundred miles, our army only needs to cross the Lu Blup River, in addition to the official road, there are many rivers and canals on all sides, it is not easy for the slaves and thieves to pursue and besiege, although it seems to be far away, but our army can also rely on the terrain to retreat north safely. Then our army went down the water in front of the river, and then went north, and then entered the mountains of Zanhuang County, in the reckless mountains, our army could rest calmly, and then the army entered Baoding Mansion, and then arrived at the Beijing Division. ”

"What worries me the most now is that from the west of Julu to the Lu Bluff River, our army needs to strictly guard the hearts of the army, and the officers and men of all departments must not panic, let alone disperse, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable."

At nightfall that day, in Lu Xiangsheng's Chinese army tent, when Hu Dawei, Yang Guozhu and Liu Yan gathered together to discuss the breakout, Liu Yan suggested this.

Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei are both veterans of the battlefield, so they naturally understand this truth, and Lu Xiangsheng agrees with Liu Yan's suggestion very much. Everyone deliberated in detail, and finally slightly modified the previous decision, and decided to use the new army of Xiahezhai under Liu Yan as the rear army, with Hu Dawei's department as the front army, Yang Guozhu's department and Lu Xiangsheng's department as the Chinese army, hundreds of chariots with the Chinese army, and many chariots and horses, also carrying grain, grass and wounded. The armies echoed before and after, and if they encountered the enemy in the field, the whole army would immediately converge into a car battalion. Even if you walk slowly, you have to take every step steadily.

In addition, the heads and seizures captured in these days must also be taken away, and these are the capital that will be rewarded with the imperial court in the future and impeached with high potential, and must not be discarded.

In the end, Lu Xiangsheng said loudly: "Pass the order: tonight the third watch will make dinner, and at dawn, all departments will set off in turn to break through!" ”

In this battle, thousands of soldiers of the Xuanda and Shandong armies were killed, except for some important officers, the bodies of these thousands of soldiers could not be transported back to their hometowns, and they could not find firewood for cremation, so they had to pack up their clothes and belongings and transport them home to build a clothed tomb. During the day, the officers and men of various departments had already dug several huge pits in the second earthen wall, and the bodies of thousands of officers and men of the Xuanda and Shandong armies who died in the battle were all put into the pit for collective burial.

At this time, it was just night, in the gloomy light, accompanied by the cold breeze, in front of the high tomb, the officers and soldiers of the Ming army stood solemnly, and the new army of Xiahezhai sounded their bird guns.

At this time, there was no tribute, no paper money, only the birds in the army were constantly roaring.

A moment later, amid the sound of birds, a low military song sounded, echoing over the river.

"Wu Gexi, wear rhino armor. The car is wrong, and the short-handed soldiers are ......"

"The sun is shining, and the enemy is like a cloud. The arrows are falling, and the soil is vying for the first. ”

"The days are frightened, and Wei Ling is angry. Kill all the people and abandon the wilderness......"

The armies of the Ming Dynasty generally take Qu Yuan's "National Martyrdom" as the military song, and in the new army of Xiahezhai, everyone will also sing this song. With the melodious singing, everyone couldn't cry. Chen Xun and Wang Yue cried, and the rest of the people also burst into tears.

Seeing thousands of soldiers crying in unison, Lu Xiangsheng, Hu Dawei, and Yang Guozhu were all moved, sighing for a long time beside them, Liu Yan was also silent, but there was a strong killing intent in his eyes.

Liu Yan would no longer shed tears, he said silently in his heart: "Brothers, let's go!" ”

At the same time, Liu Yan turned his head to look in the direction of the Qing army camp and stared for a long time.

At dawn the next day, the order for the Ming army to retreat had been fully issued, and all the officers and men of the various departments had already put away all the camp tents, and loaded them on large carts and mules and horses together with a large number of baggage and capitulation, and all the wounded who could not move were also placed in the vehicles.

The bodies of Hu Zichen, Zhang Yan and other generals were also transported in special vehicles, and the surrounding carriages and horses were guarded by the remaining soldiers of the Supervisory Battalion.

Thousands of soldiers of the Ming army wore helmets and armor, dressed neatly, and just waited for an order to break through and set off. Thousands of soldiers have experienced a series of bloody battles and have become the elite of a hundred battles, it can be said that in this era, this army is the most elite and strong army of the Ming Dynasty, there is no one.

In front of the whole army, Yang Guozhu, Hu Dawei, and Liu Yan stood in front, and Lu Xiangsheng directly agitated to the army, only to see Lu Xiangsheng's voice was violent, and he said loudly: "...... Now our army has inflicted heavy losses on the army of slaves and thieves here, but the reinforcements have not arrived for a long time, and there is no need for us to stay here and die in vain. Beside us is an army of tens of thousands of slaves and thieves, and if we want to return to our hometown alive, we must keep the march clean and orderly, and we must not panic. As long as we cross the land and water, we can live, and on the march, the army must not make noise, and must not leave without permission, and if there is a violator, there will be no forgiveness! ”

The crowd roared like thunder: "Obey the orders of the governors." ”

"Breakout, breakout, breakout!"

"Homecoming, homecoming, homecoming......"

Thousands of soldiers raised their weapons and roared in unison.

Looking at the thousands of soldiers shouting, Liu Yan, Yang Guozhu, and Hu Dawei glanced at each other with satisfaction: In this way, the military heart can be used.

"Governor, let's go."

Liu Yan came to Lu Xiangsheng, Lu Xiangsheng said hello, and then looked at Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei and nodded.

Then Lu Xiangsheng shouted: "The whole army is leaving." ”

The front army led by Hu Dawei took the first step, crossed the Artemisia Bridge, and headed to the opposite bank. Then the Chinese soldiers led by Lu Xiangsheng and Yang Guozhu, as well as dense vehicles and artillery, also passed through the Haoshui Bridge.

Finally, there was the Xiahezhai New Army led by Liu Yan, and there were 1,000 and hundreds of Xiahezhai New Army officers and soldiers in the back.

In this way, the front, middle, and rear armies marched neatly, and it didn't take long for the entire camp on the right bank of the Artemisia Bridge to be empty, just like the fierce battles of the past few days, just a deep dream.

On the left bank of the Haoshui Bridge, along the upstream and downstream of the river, there are some Qing army camp tents, it seems that out of the consideration of encircling three queyi, there are not many camp tents here, and in the middle of the bridge, there is still a two-mile-wide open space, and the whole army quietly passes through the open space.

It seems that he didn't expect the Ming army to break through, and the sky was just faintly bright at this time, and the Qing army here didn't react at all. It wasn't until Hu Dawei's front army had passed that the Qing army camps on both sides woke up, and suddenly their horns sounded, and some sentry horses also forced out of the camp.

Seeing this, the departments of Xuanda and Shandong Army were in a commotion, and Lu Xiangsheng immediately ordered all departments: "Anyone who dares to flee in a panic will be killed!" ”

He also ordered the generals of his own Chinese army to lead some soldiers to meet him, and the same was true of Hu Dawei and Yang Guozhu. There were not many Qing army sentry horses, and they only dared to surround them from afar. More and more Qing soldiers in the camps on both sides were alarmed and came out of the camp one after another.

At this time, the new army of Xiahezhai led by Liu Yan also crossed the bridge, and saw that there were not many Qing soldiers on the left bank, so they completely relieved themselves. For the cavalry to form a charging formation, it takes at least half an hour. And there is no scale of numbers, in front of the well-organized infantry, scattered cavalry is a dish.

As long as most of the Qing army on the right bank did not catch up, it was only a matter of time before they escaped from this place.

The Qing soldiers on the left bank also saw this, and rode quickly to the camp of Dolgon, Yuetuo and others.

Some people died, but not completely......