At dusk, Liu Yan and Wu Sangui each led their armies back to the Chinese army camp. Then the soldiers from the two towns surrounded the Chinese army camp and set up camp.
At this time, Ma Ke, Tang Tong, and Wang Pu also led their troops back here, arriving one step earlier than Liu Yan and Wu Sangui. The soldiers of the three towns were also building camps.
After hearing the news, Commander Wang Yue came to the guard camp excitedly, and then complained to Liu Yan: "Your Excellency, you left your subordinates here. Apart from leading the troops to protect the Chinese army, they have not gained any military exploits!"
Liu Yan said with a smile: "Why don't you get any credit? If you hadn't led the troops to guard the Chinese army, could the governor have safely sent reinforcements to support the Huangtuling front line? If the governor had not sent troops to support the Huangtuling front line, General Yang and General Yang might have If we can't take Huangtu Ridge, we may not be able to win today's battle. Is this contribution still small?"
Wang Yue immediately beamed with joy when he heard this, and complimented Liu Yan again, making Miao Shao next to him roll his eyes.
"Okay, each battalion will set up camp as soon as possible. After deploying the camp, it is necessary to arrange open and covert sentries. Each battalion will have to work hard if it is not closed at night. They are sent out according to the regulations and cannot be relaxed at all."
"Got the order!"
Liu Yan then prepared to go to the Chinese army camp. After today's battle, Hong Chengchou would definitely summon the generals to discuss matters. Liu Yan also wanted to know the combat situation of the other ministries.
Sure enough, Liu Yan had just rested for a while in the camp when he received an order from a guerrilla general in the Dubiao camp. Then Liu Yan took a group of guards and set off to the Chinese army camp.
"General Liu is here!"
Liu Yan entered the big tent. At this time, Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong Town, Yang Guozhu, the chief soldier of Xuanfu Town, Tang Tong, the chief soldier of Miyun Town, Ma Ke, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan Town, Wu Sangui, the chief soldier of Ningyuan Town, Shanxi general Soldier Li Fuming, Chief of the Relief and Suppression Force Zuo Guangxian, Chief of Liaodong Town Liu Zhaoji, and other generals, as well as Governor of Liaodong Qiu Minyang, Bingbeidao Zhang Dou, Yao Gong, Cai Maode and others have already arrived and are chatting and laughing with Hong Chengchou inside the camp. The laughter continued, as if celebrating the New Year.
When everyone saw Liu Yan striding in, they all looked over, their eyes full of admiration and excitement, and they came over to greet Liu Yan with fists in their hands.
Even Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong, and Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, also came over with a smile and greeted Liu Yan with fists in his arms. Liu Yan naturally did not dare to neglect and hurriedly returned the salute to everyone.
"Haha, in today's battle, the first three should be the first to win!"
Hong Chengchou felt happy. Although Bai Guangen, the commander-in-chief of Jizhou Town, and 12,000 soldiers were defeated by the Qing army today, the Ming army finally saved the situation. Not only did they capture Huangtu Ridge and defeat a main force of the Qing army, but also Liu Yan's troops also showed strong combat effectiveness and defeated nearly 30,000 elite cavalry of the Qing army. It can be said that they were defeated first and then won. It was a great victory!
Although Hong Chengchou still didn't know the specific gains of Liu Yan's troops, he had just heard Wu Sangui describe the scene and process of the battle. Hong Chengchou and everyone expected that the gains of Liu Yan's troops would definitely not be small.
At this time, Hong Chengchou called everyone to take their seats one by one, and then personally took Liu Yan to sit in the first place among the generals, followed by Yang Guozhu in second place, Li Fuming in third place, and then the chief military officers of each town.
Most of the people had no objections to this, except for Ma Ke and Tang Tong, who had gloomy expressions. They fought bloody battles with the Wuzhenchaoha camp of the Han army in the west for a long time. Not only did they lose troops and generals, but they were basically defeated by the two Tatars of the Han army. They fought hard, but in the end the enemy troops withdrew on their own. The two of them only captured a dozen heads of Han military flags. They had no merit in any way. They were reprimanded by Hong Chengchou for being frivolous, and they would be punished if they didn't do it!
Therefore, Tang Tong and Ma Ke were in a very bad mood. They were full of resentment. They sat at the end without saying a word and quietly watched Hong Chengchou speak.
After Hong Chengchou sat down, he took the time to say: "Today our army fought a bloody battle with the slave bandits. Although Jizhou Town was defeated and the commander-in-chief Bai Guangen died in the battle, all the commanders fought forward and were able to capture the victory in the end. Huangtu Ridge, severely damage the army of slave thieves, stop the slave chiefs from being rampant, and boost the morale of our army!"
"Both the governor and the two supervisors have seen it, and will never neglect the meritorious soldiers' desire to serve the country! Today, the governor will write a report of victory and order it to be sent to the capital to report the victory to His Majesty!"
Everyone was overjoyed when they heard this, and Liu Yan was also smiling. Then Hong Chengchou said: "The soldiers of each town have gained a lot today. Before General Liu arrived, the generals of each town had already reported the data to the governor."
Then Hong Chengchou took out a text and read it.
In this battle, Yang Guozhu led the soldiers of Xuanfu Town to capture 1,389 levels, including 418 levels of Tatar heads from Manchuria banners, and the rest were heads of Han banners and Korean soldiers. Xuanfu Town itself lost 2,952 soldiers, and captured many others.
Li Fuming led the soldiers of Shanxi Town to capture 718 levels, including 113 levels of Tatar heads from Manchuria banners, and the rest were heads of Han army banners and Korean soldiers. Shanxi Town itself lost 1,235 soldiers.
However, Shanxi Town only had 5,000 soldiers and horses. Although many gains were made in this battle, Shanxi Town also suffered heavy casualties and had to undergo rest and recuperation. Therefore, it is estimated that it will be difficult to achieve anything in the coming war.
Liu Yan looked at Li Fuming. Although Li Fuming was heartbroken about his loss, with these 718 heads of slave thieves, it was not a problem for him, the chief military officer, to be awarded a title, and his future glory and wealth were also guaranteed, so here he was. At that time, Li Fuming was quite happy.
In addition, Wang Pu led the soldiers of Datong Town to also gain 309 levels, including 58 levels of Tatar heads from Manchuria banners, and the rest were heads of Han banners. Datong Town itself lost 631 soldiers. Although the number of dead soldiers was greater than the number of gains, it was still considered a victory.
As for Shanhaiguan Town and Miyun Town, the results were not so good.
In this battle, the Shanhaiguan Town soldiers led by Ma Ke captured nine levels, all of which were heads of Han banners. Shanhaiguan Town itself lost 2,083 soldiers.
The soldiers of Miyun Town led by Tang Tong captured seven levels, all of which were heads of Han banners. The soldiers of Miyun Town themselves lost 1,991 people.
Liu Yan looked at the dejected Tang Tong and Ma Ke, and thought to himself: "Although they lost a battle, they at least held their position and did not let the Han Army's flag firearms army come from the west. It is estimated that Hong Chengchou will also fight with them." Xinni, the merits and demerits are considered equal to each other, so there will be no further investigation.”
Sure enough, in the context of the great victory, Hong Chengchou said to Tang Tong and Ma Ke with a smile: "Although the two generals suffered a lot of losses and did not gain much, under the suppression of the weapons of the slaves and Han army flags, they firmly held on. We reached the western defense line and did not retreat despite casualties. This is a credit. According to my opinion, the merits and demerits of the two commander-in-chiefs in this battle are equal to each other, and the guilt of losing troops and generals has been written off in one stroke."
After saying that, Hong Chengchou looked at the supervisors Zhang Ruoqi and Ma Shaoyu, and asked with a smile: "What do you think?"
Zhang Ruoqi also had five heads assigned to him by Liu Yan in this battle, so he naturally wouldn't have any objections. And Ma Shaoyu is also a good person, so naturally he will not spoil everyone's interest at this time.
I saw that the two of them agreed one after another, and then they also followed Hong Chengchou's example and comforted Ma Ke and Tang Tong.
At this point, Ma Ke and Tang Tong's faces looked better. They managed to squeeze out a smile and saluted Hong Chengchou, Zhang Ruoqi and Ma Shaoyu with clasped fists and said many words of thanks.
Then there is Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of Ningyuan Town. Including some of the heads assigned to him by Liu Yan, there are 1,032 heads in this battle, which is considered a great achievement.
The number of soldiers and horses lost in Ningyuan Town was not too many. Added together, there were about two thousand.
As for the two generals, Zuo Guangxian, the commander-in-chief of the reinforcements and suppression, and Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, when they were supporting Huangtu Ridge, they also sent some troops to follow Dubiao Battalion to fight in Huangtu Ridge, and each captured dozens of heads. , which is better than nothing.
Hong Chengchou's Dubiao Battalion captured 138 heads in the battle to support Huangtuling. These military achievements were distributed by Hong Chengchou to the generals of the Dubiao Battalion, as well as Liaodong Governor Qiu Minyang, Bingbei Dao Zhang Dou, and Yao Gong. , Cai Maode and others received unanimous praise from everyone, and they all expressed their gratitude to Hong Chengchou.
Afterwards, Hong Chengchou looked at Liu Yan and asked: "This is the situation in this battle. Now I just don't know how much the soldiers of Qinglai Town gained, and how much they lost?"
After Hong Chengchou asked, everyone in the tent looked over, and Liu Yan smiled. Before setting off, the governor Xun Jingyun had led people to calculate the losses and results of each battalion one after another, and reported them to Liu Yan.
In fact, based on the efficiency of the new army in Qinglai Town, these data were almost collected when the battalions returned to the central army in triumph. After all, Xun Jingyun and his subordinates were always with the army in each battalion, and the battle was always in the army. , just need to confirm the data obtained during the war.
Liu Yan said: "I would like to inform the governor that in this battle, more than 60,000 soldiers from each battalion of our new army in Qinglai Town participated in the battle. The soldiers first defeated the slave cavalry who were chasing the defeated troops in Jizhou Town, and then in the hilly area to the east. We formed a formation and started a duel with nearly 30,000 elite cavalry of slave thieves. And with the cooperation of General Wu’s troops, we won the battle and gained a lot!"
"In this battle, our army captured 9,811 heads of slave thieves, including more than 3,300 heads of Manchu Tatars, and the rest were all heads of Mongolian Tatars!"
"Our new army battalions in Qinglai Town lost a total of 252 soldiers, of which 198 were killed and the rest were injured."
After Liu Yan finished speaking, the entire camp was silent. Everyone, including Hong Chengchou, looked directly at Liu Yan.
"More than nine thousand eight hundred levels? Tens of thousands of slaves and thieves were killed by the formation!"
"Less than 200 people were killed in each unit of the New Army in Qinglai Town?"
"Such a result can only be achieved by Marshal Qi back then!"
Everyone whispered in disbelief at first, and then there was a burst of cheers. Hong Chengchou looked up to the sky and laughed. Wang Pu and Yang Guozhu directly hugged Liu Yan's arms, and then laughed loudly.
In this battle, the Ming army lost more than 16,000 soldiers and horses, including the soldiers killed in Jizhou Town, and more than 13,500 slave thieves were captured, including soldiers from Qinglai Town. Ma himself has more than 9,800 levels, accounting for more than half of the credit!
Liu Yan faced the praises of everyone and said with a smile: "This battle in this town is also a fluke. If you hadn't restrained most of the slave bandits' troops, we, the soldiers of Qinglai Town, would not have been able to achieve such a great victory!"
Although the casualties between the Ming and Qing armies in this battle were almost the same, the Qing army lost the strategic location of Huangtu Ridge, and the soldiers and horses besieging Jinzhou, namely the soldiers and horses led by Jierhalang and others, were also defeated by Liu Yan , the siege of Jinzhou was temporarily lifted.
Even with the defeat of Jizhou Town and the death of Bai Guangen, on the whole, the Ming army had the upper hand, which led to the victory of the battle beginning to favor the Ming army.
Hong Chengchou laughed for a long time, losing his usual demeanor. He finally stopped laughing and said to Liu Yan: "Today, the governor is hosting a celebration banquet for you all. I want to congratulate General Liu and all the generals!"
Liu Yan and everyone else clasped their fists and said, "Congratulations to the Governor, and congratulations to the Ming Dynasty!"
That night, in the Chinese army tent, Hong Chengchou invited everyone to serve wine, and Liu Yan naturally became the target of everyone's toast, especially Wang Pu, Yang Guozhu, Li Fuming and others, who even dragged Liu Yan to drink endlessly.
Then Hong Chengchou, Zhang Ruoqi, and Wu Sangui also came over to toast, and then everyone in the tent almost surrounded Liu Yan, and they kept shouting congratulations. Even Ma Ke and Tang Tong came over and complimented Liu Yan with a smile.
Liu Yan did not refuse everyone's toast, which attracted everyone's applause. The celebration lasted until midnight before Liu Yan walked out of the Chinese army tent in a daze and said goodbye to everyone one by one.
Liu Yan then rode out of the Chinese army camp and returned to the New Army guard camp accompanied by a group of guards.
Looking at the stars in the sky at this time, Liu Yan thought of Lu Xiangsheng in a trance, and said to himself: "I don't know how Governor Lu is doing at this time. I wonder how the war in Henan is progressing?"
Some people died, but not completely...
