The noise became louder and louder. It was already dusk, the tents had been set up, and the soldiers were making pots of rice, which they had captured from a town yesterday.
Li Shan listened for a moment, then walked down the hill, his voice cold, "Have you counted clearly?"
"More than two thousand four hundred people?"
"Yes." Xue Wanche's eyes were red and his face was ferocious.
"Your Highness, Your Highness!" Zhang Gongjin's mouth twitched, "This is a prisoner, not a corpse!"
Li Kai also whispered advice from the side: "Huairen, it is unknown whether we will kill or capture the prisoners."
Li Shan's eyes swept over one by one. The battle formation was a place where corpses were erected. Life and death were not in his hands. Merciful people would die here. No one would sympathize with those who once held scimitars and rode horses to fight into the east of the river. The beasts that plunder the people.
But since ancient times, there has been a saying that the killing of prisoners is unknown. This is largely because this is a tacit understanding in the cold weapon era. On the one hand, once the prisoners are killed, it is likely to lead to the other party's revenge. On the other hand, there will be nothing after that. If you are captured, you will die anyway, so you might as well carry it to the end.
But Li Shancai is too lazy to care about this. With the current situation of the Turks, internal strife is inevitable. Even if there is no internal strife, it will be difficult to break through Yanmen Pass... And to be honest, the Turks invade mainly for food and population, and will not deliberately kill. They are more willing to take people captive to the grasslands, which is determined by the lack of population in the grassland tribes.
If it had been the Zhenguan period, Li Shan might not have done it. Li Shimin was thinking about becoming Tian Khan... This title was said to be jointly recommended by the grassland tribes, but the truth is unknown.
But now in the Wude period, if you kill, you will kill.
"Kill them all, and pile their corpses into a temple. Let the grassland tribes know that this is the fate of those who violate the law."
Liu Shirang hesitated, took a few steps forward, and whispered: "I'm just afraid that the courtiers will impeach you... Your Majesty..."
】
Among Li Shan's direct descendants, Liu Shirang is the most special one. His personal relationship with Li Shan is not deep, and this stubborn old man now knows very well that Li Shan is the strongest support behind him.
"There are three thousand soldiers in Guji Town, but there are only a few hundred survivors." Li Shan smiled miserably and said word by word: "Who has no parents, who has no family?"
The surroundings became quiet, and everyone knew that there were many reasons for Guji Town to hold on for many days, but the top priority was the hundreds of personal guards brought by Li Shan and Xue Wanche when they went out to inspect the fortress, and most of these people died in the battle at the top of the city. .
For example, Li Kai and Su Dingfang knew more about how many Zhu family members there were among the guards and how many villagers there were in Sun Moon Lake. If the news spread back to Chang'an, they were afraid that the entire Zhuangzi would be in trouble.
Although he knew very well in his heart that killing prisoners wantonly would probably lead to impeachment by the courtiers, Li Shan was unwilling to think about that. When he thought of the tragic situation in Guji Town, his teeth itched and his hands itched. Only blood and corpses could Let the boiling blood in his body calm down a little.
Li Shan even subconsciously felt that provoking impeachment from courtiers might not be a bad thing.
He has not yet reached the age of 10, but he has made many meritorious deeds, been included in the clan, and been enthroned as a county king. This time he defeated the Turks even more, and he pursued and defeated Jiejie several times. It is bound to spread throughout the world. If he does not cause some negative turmoil, it will be a bad thing.
Li Shan never thought about creating an image of being a civilized, military and omnipotent person. He was forced to do so today. He was really forced to do so. From a small perspective, by causing trouble, he might be able to avoid some whirlpools.
From a big perspective, whether it is for Li Yuan or Li Shimin, a perfect subordinate... is not necessarily a good thing. Just as Li Yuan has an omnipotent son, he himself fell into a trap after a brief period of excitement. Worried?
What's more, he has been canonized as a county king, although it is not... but it does mean that he can't be sealed.
Li Jing watched coldly and said nothing. The first one to take action was Xue Wanche, and then Su Dingfang, Kan Leng, Zhang Zhongjian, Xue Wanjun, Zhang Shigui and others walked down the hill one after another.
On the bank of Cangtou River, under the shining of the setting sun, a massacre began.
The unarmed prisoners howled miserably, the excited Tang soldiers kept firing arrows, and the armored Kan Leng led the Jianghuai soldiers holding Mo swords, knocking down the defenseless prisoners one by one.
Hundreds of prisoners tried to flee eastward, but Zhang Baoxiang and his cavalry were already ready and did not waste any effort to charge into the formation. They only fired arrows from a distance and started killing in the way that the Turks were most familiar with.
The only escape route was the Cangtou River, but not a single Turk could swim. Even if they did not drown, they would not be able to escape the life-threatening arrows of the Tang army on the bank.
Gradually, gradually, the huge bonfire has been lit, and the moonlight is shining down. On the bank of the Cangtou River, more than two thousand corpses have built a Beijing temple that is enough to scare ordinary people.
Li Shan watched this scene with satisfaction and happily smelled the smell of blood in the wind. Li Jing glanced at the young prince from a distance and returned to the tent silently.
"Third Uncle." Li Kai was a little uneasy, "Although Huairen killed a lot of people, but..."
"You mentioned before that the King of Handan intends to return to the court..." Li Jing, who had regained his composure, stroked his beard and murmured in a low voice, "Maybe it's possible, maybe it's possible."
"Although Huairen is young, he must practice what he preaches..."
Li Jing sneered, "Did he personally promise to you that he would not use his military exploits to serve as the general manager of Daizhou, or did he have no intention of making Zhang Shigui and Zhang Gongjin the general manager of Daizhou?"
"What Sanbo means is..."
"I thought that the King of Handan had a fierce temperament, but today it seems that he has quite a strategy." Li Jing seemed to understand what Li Shan meant, and said softly: "Such a great victory is enough to boast of, but killing thousands of prisoners is not enough... "
After a pause, Li Jing glanced at Li Kai, "What did he say just now?"
Li Kai was stunned and asked tentatively: "Huairen, is this self-destruction?"
"It's not self-defeating." Li Jing shook his head, "It's just a small trick, please elaborate."
It's true that it's not self-defeating, but Li Jing was able to quickly glean something from it. If Li Shan had intended to become the acting governor of the state, he wouldn't have acted so recklessly, and it was clear that he was giving people an excuse.
Li Kai began to slowly describe Li Shan's arrangements. Li Jing frowned and asked questions from time to time.
After a while, Li Jing unconsciously touched his knee with his right hand, tapped his index finger lightly, nodded and said: "If you have the means, look around Daizhou, and Xia City is the most important."
"In the past few months, grain and salt have been transported to Yunzhou. My nephew was very puzzled. He once asked Huairen..." Li Kai coughed twice, "I didn't know until a few days ago that the Duke of Xihe County sent a message to Yunzhou a few months ago. The holy order to inspect Daizhou is actually to sign an alliance with Tuli Khan."
"Well, Jieli will be defeated in this battle, and sudden gains will be made." Li Jing thought in his mind and said slowly: "Grain and salt are suspended, but the trade routes in Xia City cannot be cut off, and the grain storage cannot be cut off."
"I'm afraid it will be a little difficult." Li Kai shook his head and said, "The reason why Xia City can store a large amount of grain is because of Yu Hu Chun and Ma Yin."
Li Jing was also a little helpless. If it hadn't been for Li Shan being trapped in Guji Town, based on the relationship between his nephew and Li Shan, and the relationship between Li's Danyang House in Longxi and Li Shan, Ma Yin would have definitely stayed in Xia City.
Li Jing would not think that Li Shan had no way to bring the horse into the court. One end was in Xia City and the other was in the hands of Princess Pingyang's husband Chai Shao. Li Shan could do it with just one sentence.
After asking about Daizhou's affairs, Li Jing once again confirmed that even if Li Shan did not pry into the position of Daizhou's general manager, he would most likely be ignored if he remained as acting governor.
Will he return to court?
Li Jing felt that he needed to take another look. If he really wanted to return to the DPRK, there should be some action later.
