"Don't argue about these things first, I'll wait for the merits, and I will write a military report later and send it to Wu'anhou, and then Wu'anhou will decide."

Seeing that Yang Jing was going to continue to argue because of his merits, Lu Yuan hurriedly stretched out his hand to interrupt him and leave the matter open for the time being.

Then he looked at the two people beside him, and said in a deep voice: "Now that the city of Guining Mansion has been uprooted in one day, the defender of this city will return to Lianyun and die, and the 50,000 Zhou soldiers in the city will surrender if they die."

Now this place is going north, to the boundary of Fangling Mansion, there is no longer the slightest Zhou soldier to stop it.

Therefore, the king intended that it was late today, and the soldiers were tired from fighting for a long time, so they would rest in this city for the night.

At dawn the next day, the king led his troops to Fangling Mansion again.

What does Wu Xuanhou think? ”

Speaking of this, Lu Yuan looked at Yang Jing.

Now he has an army of 100,000, 80,000 of which are his descendants. But the remaining 20,000 were the imperial court soldiers and horses commanded by Yang Jing.

In addition, the other party represents the Marquis of Wu'an, who is the imperial court, and he is also a congenital grandmaster.

The sum of these strengths and identities also made Lu Yuan formulate various operational arrangements, which could not be decided by one person, and he had to discuss it with Yang Jing.

However, Yang Jing is also very compelling on weekdays, and he basically does not raise any objections to Lu Yuan's various orders, as long as they do not involve core interests.

will follow the manager's ideas and will not do anything against him.

At this time, after hearing Lu Yuan's arrangement, Yang Jing said: "The king's arrangement is very proper and steady, and there will be no objections in the end." ”

"Good, since Marquis Wu Xuanhou has no opinion, then it is so decided."

Seeing that Yang Jing did not object, Lu Yuan showed a smile on his face, and then turned his head to look at Lan Cai'er next to him, and said: "Queen, the city of Guining Mansion has been lowered, and this important place is not only the key pass separating the Zhou people from the two places, but also the back road of my surprise army, so I have to leave someone to guard it."

Therefore, I intend that after the Japanese king and the army left, he would lead 20,000 soldiers and horses to stay in this city.

While guarding the rear of our army, he also guarded the prisoners in the city.

Does the queen have any opinions? ”

In fact, in reality, on the side of Wushan Mansion and Jingmen Mansion, the Zhou people in both places were restrained by imperial court reinforcements.

Even if they received the news that Guining Mansion had been breached, it was basically impossible for them to send reinforcements under the watchful eye of the imperial army.

Therefore, here in Guining Mansion, there is no need to leave 20,000 soldiers and horses, as well as a congenital grandmaster.

But who made Lan Caier hurt at this time?

His wife worked hard for herself, but she was seriously injured, so if there are conditions, how can Lu Yuan be embarrassed, and how can he be willing to let the other party continue to go to the battlefield again?

Therefore, it is reasonable to leave Lan Cai'er behind, recuperate and recuperate in the rear of Guining Mansion City, and take care of his back road by the way, just in case.

And it's not just for Lan Cai'er to cultivate, this time going north, although it is unprepared, but it is still extremely risky.

The slightest carelessness is in danger of total annihilation.

Now of the remaining 80,000 troops of Lu Yuan's Northern Expedition, 30,000 are his descendants, and the other 50,000 are Miao.

The original 100,000 soldiers, the loss of 10,000 in this Northern Expedition has already made Lu Yuan feel distressed.

Now that he is going north to attack Xiangyang City, he is of course reluctant to take risks with his own soldiers and horses.

Therefore, leave 20,000 soldiers down and put them in the rear of Guining Mansion, and there will only be 10,000 soldiers left who continue to go north.

In this case, even if something goes wrong with the surprise attack in the north, it will lose at most 10,000 soldiers and 50,000 Miao people.

Although this result still hurts him, it can save the vitality of 20,000 soldiers, which is somewhat acceptable.

So under these considerations, Lu Yuan made this arrangement.

As for her husband's considerations, Lan Cai'er, who didn't know the details, naturally only thought that her husband cared about herself, and while her heart was warm, she didn't refuse her kindness, and nodded and said, "The concubine listens to the king." ”

Yang Jing next to him saw this scene, hesitated in his heart, but after all, he still didn't open his mouth and said something against it.

What are the reasons for opposing it?

Lu Yuan's reason for leaving Lan Cai'er is indeed very legitimate.

Guarding the back road of the army, and by the way, blocking the connection between the Zhou people on the east and west sides is a very important thing.

You can't say that it is difficult for the Zhou people on the east and west sides to send reinforcements, so you can conclude that it is impossible to be attacked here, right?

After all, they can all surprise attack Guining Mansion at this time, how can you conclude that the Zhou people can't do it?

Therefore, leaving 20,000 soldiers and horses here, a congenital grandmaster, is indeed a safe policy.

It's just that there is one less innate grandmaster, 20,000 soldiers and horses. There are still more than 70,000 people in the remaining army, and with me and this Lu Yuan, it is enough to complete the surprise attack. Yang Jing sighed in his heart and completely accepted his fate.

Lu Yuan glanced at Yang Jing, and when he saw that the other party did not object, he also nodded in his heart, and then said with a smile on his face: "Since this is the case, then the matter is decided."

Tomorrow, the queen will lead 20,000 soldiers and horses to stay in this city and guard the back road.

Wu Xuanhou and I led the rest of the troops and continued north. ”

At this point, the military discussion came to an end.

Then Yang Jing returned to his camp and began to prepare for tomorrow's expedition. Lan Cai'er was injured and tired, and was forced by Lu Yuan to go back to recuperate.

Lu Yuan continued to stay in the big tent, writing the battle report that would be sent to the Dangyang camp later, while dealing with post-war military affairs.

was so busy for more than an hour, and when it was almost late at night, Zhou Qing hurried over.

"The King."

Lu Yuan raised his head, looked at his disciple, a smile appeared on his face, and then reproached: "Didn't you say that when there is no one in private, you still call me Master as usual?" ”

"Master."

Zhou Qing listened to his master's kind words, his heart warmed, and then he immediately changed his words: "The disciple counted in the middle of the night, and he had already counted the number of captives who had captured Zhou.

In today's battle, a total of 13,000 Zhou people were killed. Among them were 8,000 soldiers, and 5,000 were men.

Another 56,000 Zhou soldiers were captured. Among them were 41,000 soldiers and 15,000 people.

In addition, there are more than 1,000 defeated soldiers, or they are still hiding in the homes of the people in the city, and they need to be cleaned up.

Or some of them have fled from the city and are nowhere to be found. ”

Zhou Qing reported the results of a busy night.

"Forty-one thousand!"

When Lu Yuan heard this number, he couldn't help but be slightly surprised.

He directly ignored the people, and directly locked on the number of soldiers.

This kind of thing is basically useless, it can't fight a tough battle, it can't talk about much damage, and it's just used to strengthen the momentum.

If you want it, there are more than 2 million people in Changsha country, and you can pull out 3.5 million at any time.

But does it work?

Useless.

Like the South China Sea and Ninghai, 200,000 soldiers and horses were pulled out this time, which seems to be huge.

But most of them are people, so what's the use?

This time to launch a surprise attack, Bai Mengyang's first thought was Lu Yuan.

The other Yan Wangqiu and Su Xuange had never appeared in the consideration of that Wu Anhou.

Why is that?

It's not that he saw through the fact that the other party's army of people is unusable, so he never counted on the other party.

Therefore, Lu Yuan's side was making a surprise attack on Guining Mansion City, while Yan Wangqiu and Su Xuange could only command their soldiers and horses to act as cannon fodder on Dangyang's side.

relied on the hard accumulation of human lives to fight for opportunities for him.

From this differential treatment, we can see how big the gap between the soldiers and the people is.

So at this time, when he heard Zhou Qing's report that his side had captured 41,000 soldiers from the Zhou people, Lu Yuan's heart was full of surprise.

At the same time of surprise, he immediately said: "These 41,000 soldiers, you immediately arrange for me to be escorted back to the land south of the Yangtze River." Let Li Liang and the others tidy up for me, and take these people for their own use as much as possible. ”

His side has just lost 10,000 soldiers, and Lu Yuan is still in pain?

At this time, 41,000 soldiers were sent, and they were simply hungry, and someone sent chicken legs.

Although those Zhou soldiers are all people from enemy countries, it is basically impossible to really use them with confidence like their original descendants.

But as long as these soldiers are not sent to the places bordering the Zhou state, but to stay in the land south of the Yangtze River, and plant them in the places bordering the Yue state, or the border with the southwestern Yi, then these people are still very reliable.

Anyway, send people to Jiangnan first, and then across the river, and thousands of miles away from Zhou.

No matter how reluctant these Zhou soldiers were, in the face of such a situation, they could only obediently die and resign themselves to serving themselves.

When the time comes, they will rearrange their marriages in Jiangnan, let them settle down in Jiangnan, and then their wives and children will be hot on the kang, are you still worried that these people will not return to their hearts?

Picking up these captives, Lu Yuan has a lot of means of his own, and he doesn't panic at all at this time.

The only thing that worries him a little is the question of how to raise these 40,000 soldiers?

However, at this time, he still has a lot of silver taels, even after experiencing the double cost of founding the country and the wedding, there are still 20 million taels of silver in the account.

With so much money, it is not a problem to raise these 40,000 soldiers for eight years.

Not to mention, Lu Yuan also had the funding of the two countries of Ninghai in the South China Sea, and at this time he opened up the territory of Xiangyang County of the Zhou State in Jiangbei, and the taxes on these territories could raise more soldiers and horses.

So at this time, raising an extra 40,000 people can support it.

Zhou Qing heard his master's command, thought about it, and immediately said, "That disciple will arrange five thousand people tomorrow to escort these captives back to Jiangnan." ”

Guining Mansion borders Tianmen Mansion.

For example, today, all the prefectures and counties have been recovered by the coalition forces, and the army passes there, but there is no need to guard against the attack of the Zhou people.

Therefore, all it takes is to send 5,000 people to watch the captives, and they can be safely sent to the land south of the Yangtze River.

"So let's do it."

Lu Yuan nodded, then thought about it, and said, "By the way, you can send someone to ask again, among these prisoners of war, there are local people." If so, let them report the location of their families and move to Jiangnan with them.

You make it clear to these Zhou people that this time you go south, and there is no chance to return to the north in this life.

If you don't take your family with you at this time, then it will never be possible to see each other again in the future. ”

Xiangyang County, as the southern important town of the Zhou people, has more than 100,000 soldiers and horses stationed here all year round. Therefore, among the captives this time, there should be many natives of Xiangyang County.

Anyway, bring these captives back to Jiangnan, and give them wives and children, and settle down in the local area again. Instead of being so troublesome, it is better to take their families with them.

This is also more time-saving and labor-saving, and it can enrich the population under his rule, which is simply the best of both worlds.

As for other prefectures and counties that are not under their control, how can the families of the local Zhou captives be taken away?

Lu Yuan felt that when he spoke to Bai Mengyang, the other party should not refuse, and he would send someone to pick him up and capture the request of the families of the soldiers.

So it's not a big problem.

And for this matter, Zhou Qing naturally nodded again: "The disciple understands, and he will do it later." ”

In this way, the question of the treatment of prisoners of war has been brought to fruition.

……

In the early morning of the next day, because of the temporary decision to escort the prisoners of war away, Lu Yuan arranged for 5,000 people to transport the prisoners of war back to Jiangnan.

In this way, there are only 15,000 soldiers and horses left in Guining Mansion.

These people were led by Lan Cai'er, who stayed in the city and guarded the back road of the army.

As for the remaining 15,000 prisoners, they were sent a sum of money by Lu Yuan and sent home directly.

Now that Guining Mansion has been captured by him, according to the previous agreement with Bai Mengyang, this mansion will become the territory of Changsha in the future, so the 15,000 people who were forcibly recruited from all over Guining Mansion are naturally his people.

For the people under his rule, Lu Yuan naturally would not be too harsh, let alone kill at will.

In addition, there is no need to worry much about the Zhou people coming back at this time, so there is not much risk in releasing these ordinary people.

In this way, it can not only reduce the killing, but also add a little bit of benevolence and righteousness to himself, and he is naturally willing to do it.

After making these arrangements, Lu Yuan led the remaining more than 77,000 people, together with Yang Jing, to go north to Fangling Mansion.

All the way north, the soldiers are fast.

Lu Yuan left more than 50,000 main forces, let Zhou Qing lead them, and slowly chased after them from behind with the heavy baggage of the army.

And he, together with Yang Jing, took more than 20,000 elites, rushed lightly, day and night, and killed towards Fangling Mansion.

On the way, it took two days and two nights to cross the mountains and mountains, passing through Gaoyang, Yongqing, and Baokang counties, all of which were overcome.

Then, on the third day, we arrived at Fanglingfu City.

At this time, in the city of Fucheng, there was no news that Guining Mansion had fallen and that a county town in the south had fallen.

In the entire city, there were only more than 1,000 soldiers guarding it.

This point of people, in the face of Lu Yuan and Yang Jing, the two innate grandmasters, is naturally vulnerable.

The two of them only used their martial arts bodies slightly, and after killing hundreds of people, the defenders of the city collapsed, and then the city fell.

After conquering Fangling Mansion City, the soldiers were exhausted, and Zhou Qing arrived with his troops, Lu Yuan did not continue to send troops to Xiangyang, but led some people to continue to attack westward.

It took three days to conquer the cities of Xichengfu west of Fangling one after another.

At this point, the entire west of Xiangyang County, Guining, Fangling, and Xicheng were all captured by Lu Yuan.

Then he led his troops back to Fangling, and after several days of pursuit, Zhou Qing finally arrived with the main force.

Lu Yuan left him with more than 20,000 soldiers and horses who had been exhausted after days of fighting.

Then he instructed his disciple to continue to attack the Hanzhong County of Zhou to the west of Xicheng Mansion while cultivating the army, and to try to capture the city.

It is best to conquer, but if it can't, it can also plunder the local population and move back to the south of the Yangtze River.

Now Dongting County, which is under the rule of Changsha State, has lost more than two-fifths of its population after several years of war.

The local prefectures and counties are full of desolate people.

Such a bleak scene, of course, is not very pretty.

And the more the population, the stronger the national strength, and the more luck Lu Yuan can gather.

Therefore, in this Northern Expedition, his original purpose was not only to recover Tianmen Mansion and remove the threat of Zhou.

He also had the intention of taking the opportunity to rob some of the population of the Zhou State and then move back to his own territory.

At this time, the behavior is nothing more than the implementation of the set goal.

After arranging the task for Zhou Qing, Lu Yuan did not continue to stop, but led the 50,000 soldiers and horses that Zhou Qing had just brought, and took advantage of the large and small ships collected from Fangling Mansion in these days, all the way down the Han River, and then went down to the east and headed for Xiangyang Mansion.

And at this time.

After a few days of buffering, Xiangyang Mansion finally got the news that a Vietnamese army had come from the west and had conquered Fangling Mansion at this time.

When this matter was reported, it immediately caused great fear in Xiangyang Mansion.

The Xiangyang County Guard immediately ordered that in the entire Xiangyang Prefecture, each county recruited people, mobilized county soldiers, and gathered in the county town. At the same time, strong men were recruited in the county town to participate in the defense of the city.

This response can be said to be extremely swift and correct.

But in a hurry, how many people can be gathered in the county town?

In the end, when Lu Yuan's soldiers came to the city, the entire Xiangyang County only gathered more than 50,000 people.

Although the number of soldiers and horses under Lu Yuan's command is the same, the defenders in the city are basically all people. There are only more than 7,000 soldiers from counties, prefectures, and counties.

This kind of combat power can be called weak.

The only thing worth paying attention to is that in the past few days, Xiangyang County urgently asked for help from Nanyang County, which is adjacent to the north, and then the general of the Zhou State Dongzhu Guoda, who was stationed there, came urgently and had settled in Xiangyang City at this time.

With this innate grandmaster here, with more than 50,000 defenders, it is a little difficult to break through this city.

But it doesn't matter.

The real role of Lu Yuan's strange army is not to break through Xiangyang City.

At the beginning, Bai Mengyang's plan was only to come to Xiangyang, and then cut off the back road of the Dangyang Zhou people, so that the army was terrified and it was difficult to fight again.

At this time, Lu Yuan had reached Xiangyang, and this strategic goal had been achieved.

Now the next thing to see is the reaction of Wu'an Hou Bai Mengyang.

Therefore, Lu Yuantun troops outside Xiangyang City, tentatively attacked a few times, and after finding that this city was difficult to fight, he did not continue to attack.

Instead, they camped outside the city, surrounding the city, and waiting for news from Danyang.

……

At this time, hundreds of miles south of Xiangyang, there was a battlefield in Dangyang.

In the camp of the coalition army, because of the long distance, after being a few days late, Bai Mengyang finally received the news from Lu Yuan's side.

After learning that he had conquered Fangling Mansion City, this Marquis of Wu An saw the opportunity for a decisive victory, and under the joy of his heart, he immediately gathered all the generals to discuss the military.

"Ladies and gentlemen, four days ago, the king of Changsha sent back the news that he had conquered the city of Fanglingfu.

According to the time calculation, the king of Changsha should have led his army east at this time and approached Xiangyang County. ”

Bai Mengyang held a brocade silk in his hand, looked at everyone and smiled.