Chapter 18 Double Victory
The brightly lit camp was noisy.
It has been nearly two hours since the counterattack began out of the city. After a series of fierce battles, no matter whether on foot or on horseback, everyone was very tired, but the joy of victory dispelled the fatigue without a trace, and the spirits of the soldiers were still in a high state of excitement.
According to Sun Jie's earlier order, fight back with all your strength, destroy Guan Shengyun's main force and break through his camp, then burn it to the ground. Then all soldiers should immediately gather back to the city to help defend, so as not to be bypassed by thieves from other directions and steal the city. Taking advantage of the opening, Sun Jie was a little worried. As for the enemy's direct reinforcement of Guan Shengyun's camp, Sun Jie didn't think so: even if the thieves from other directions wanted to reinforce, the sky was getting dark and the surrounding fields had been plowed into puddles, and no one could do it in a hurry: they could only raise fire. Marching, the numbers are clear at a glance. If there are too few reinforcements, it won't help. If there are too many, Lieutenant General Shen Chenggang in the city is not blind. He will definitely take the opportunity to destroy his lair... In this way, as long as we can choose an opportunity in the future to defeat one or two groups of thieves from other directions, we can relieve the siege of Luzhou. , you can achieve complete victory in this battle.
In the twilight, I saw fires burning to the north and south one after another. Although the city was separated from the east, the sky was also red. Shangguan Fei, Ishi Jingsheng and others were all veteran military officers who climbed out of the dead with one knife and one shot. Look at the location and You can guess from the size of the fire that for some reason, the enemy's forts in the north, south, south, and south are in great trouble and may have collapsed.
The two of them were guessing whether reinforcements had really arrived or whether the enemy had abandoned the camp on their own initiative. The messenger soldiers sent out to report the victory to the city and the Zaoli officials sent by Song Mingyi to report the good news of the enemy's complete collapse were already running back happily, shouting and screaming. …
The two generals discussed it and concluded that since the threat from other directions had disappeared, they sent an order to camp on the spot tonight and complete the matter. Then Shi Jingsheng took half of the cavalry and set off to find Sun Jie, while Shangguan Fei stayed in the camp to take charge.
Like other battalions, the infantry of Changjie Battalion was divided into four teams: A, B, C and D, as well as a group of crossbowmen. They did not participate in this counterattack and stayed in the city. In this annihilation battle against the Poxiao Battalion, it was Team C and Team D's turn to take the lead at the front, which required the greatest physical exertion. Naturally, they were given the priority to get the rest order to lift the alert, and Shangguan Fei's cavalry was responsible for the peripheral security tasks.
The soldiers who had slaughtered all the wounded soldiers in Gangfeng Battalion were laughing and helping each other to take off their armor, sitting on the ground and drinking the cool well water sent by the cooks and prisoners. The other soldiers and prisoners were busy sweating profusely, setting up a long improvised earthen stove (there was no concept of a canteen at that time, and most people would set up their own stoves to cook in units of fruits), and the large iron pots were boiling with large amounts of food. Big pieces of bones, fat pieces of meat, steaming steam - there are hundreds of fat pigs raised in the pig pen of Guan Shengyun's camp (yes, there were no canned food in the past, and the general would march with various livestock when possible) , but it made everyone very happy.
The soldiers of Team A, who were responsible for guarding the prisoners in the inner camp, cast unwilling glances at their comrades who were holding big cakes in their hands and snoring and wolfing down the broth. They licked their lips and swallowed their saliva, and looked at the busy people. The prisoners vented their envy, jealousy and hatred with gratuitous punches and kicks.
Team B is supervising the prisoners' disposal of the bodies.
Arrange the belongings of our own people one by one. When Sun Jie comes back, there will be a simple memorial ceremony and then they will be transported back to the city. Finally, after all the comrades who died in this battle have been laid to rest, a formal and solemn ceremony will be held.
The enemy's corpse is handled much more casually.
First, officers and ordinary soldiers were separated. Several veterans took Master Yuan to identify them one by one and write down their names and positions - the list of enemy generals and commanders killed in formation together with the captured command flags were indispensable solid evidence for reporting merits. Except for those wearing straw sandals or those that were really tattered, all the corpses were barefoot without exception: the combat boots had long been taken off and put on by themselves, and the extra ones were hung around their necks. No one found it smelly - a good armor for a general. The soldiers are not worthy, and it will be useless if they are stripped off; as for the shoes, whoever takes them off belongs to whom - the court does not need this to record merit, and the infantry marches and fights rely on iron soles, which is very expensive for shoes.
Ordinary soldiers don't care about names. The processing of these corpses is similar to the assembly line operation of later generations:
First, peel off the armor and put aside the ones that can still be used. Let the blacksmith repair it and then directly replenish your equipment. Pile the pieces that are too badly chopped and pricked, and then remove the complete armor pieces and cowhide ropes to use as repair materials. , and other scrap iron that was completely rusty and damaged was returned to the furnace.
The body with its armor removed was dragged to the next process: stripping off its clothes. Of course, you must not let go of the scattered silver, copper, coins, and cloth in your arms. They should be piled in a pile alone (you can definitely hide them secretly when no one is paying attention), and the clothes on your body should be piled in a pile. Generally speaking, whoever cuts off the head on the battlefield will get the corresponding trophies. This is an unwritten rule. However, the seizures from this kind of annihilation war are considered public property. After the generals keep their own share, they will distribute the rest to everyone according to their level, seniority, and their own likes and dislikes.
The third process is to cut off the head. This is a technical job: in order to prevent killing good people and taking credit, the court inspection must see the Adam's apple. Under the guidance of experienced soldiers, more than a dozen enemy auxiliary soldiers carefully cut off the heads with special head-cutting knives, neatly stacked them in large baskets, placed a layer of heads and sprinkled a layer of lime... Most of the auxiliary soldiers The first time I did this job, I vomited all over the place - I had to do it, otherwise my head would be thrown into the basket soon...
There is also a group of prisoners who continue to expand the excavation along the trench outside the camp. All the headless corpses with their heads cut off will be thrown into this big pit and buried on the spot. From time to time, the supervising soldiers scolded: "Dig deeper, and you will have your heads cut off and buried at the top later! If you don't want to be dug out by wolves, dig deeper!" Those who were scolded did not know whether it was true or not, and exchanged tears with each other. He knelt down and begged, and was then beaten down with a riding crop and a wooden stick. He was then cursed again and again: "You bitch, you dare to slow down your work! I will kill you right now..." Torturing the captives was both a way of venting and entertainment. .
Of course, it was also a common practice in this era to let the captives dig a hole for themselves first and then kill them all together, so the captives could not help but be afraid.
Outside Team B's warning circle, dozens of rangers were patrolling with guns blazing.
By the time Team C and Team D were full and switched defenses, these tasks were almost complete. Team A and Team B finally took off their armor and sat down comfortably to chew bones and drink broth.
Shangguan Fei, Sheng Degong, Shi Erlei and other generals, as well as officers from the Qian Corps, also sat down by the campfire. In front of each of them was a wooden bowl filled with broth, with white fat floating in the soup - this In this era, people generally lack fat and protein intake, so fat meat is the most popular. Large chunks of freshly cut meat were placed on the wooden table beside them. Two or three of the thieves' accomplices shuttled between the bonfire and the meat table, swallowing their saliva while busy roasting meat for them.
Several prisoners of the chief executive were held in solitary confinement. These people are secretly wondering how they should behave in order to join the winning side and save their lives. On the one hand, they are officers, and the other party often kills them all out of fear of starting a rebellion, and their heads can be exchanged for silver rewards. On the other hand, because their ranks are too low, there is no place for them in the loyalty chain. Who can He is not willing to die like this - even if he is an auxiliary soldier, with his own experience and skills, he will be able to become a combat soldier sooner or later, and then once again become the leader of the small boss: the purpose of being a soldier is to eat. As long as there is food to eat and one can survive, no matter whether it is an officer or soldier or a former comrade, who can be killed?
The ordinary prisoners who were not sent to hard labor consciously tied each other's hands and feet and sat huddled together. They know that if they can save their lives, it is God's blessing. Even the literate Master Yuan does not expect to have food tonight - well, not only tonight, the old rule is that the captives will be hungry for two or three days: you are sure I no longer have the energy to think about running away or revolting. Of course, you still have to do physical work! No energy? Haha - only people who have never been severely beaten would think so. After receiving a few whips, they will naturally become more energetic.
There was a faint sound of rapid horse hooves outside the camp, and under the moonlight, two torches in the distance were galloping towards here. Shangguan Fei's expression tightened, and he looked at each other with Sheng Degong, Shi Erlei and others. They all stood up and hurried towards the entrance of the camp to greet them. A few people tacitly agreed: they only care about things here, don’t worry about any accidents happening with the commander...
The cavalry galloped closer, and when they saw clearly the smiling faces on the other side, several of them felt relieved.
Excited shouts came from a distance:
"General Shi Shen captured the thief's grain depot"!
"A full three hundred thousand shi of military rations"!
What? Three hundred thousand stones? Great news!
However, saying "captured the grain depot" is obviously a bit of an exaggeration.
Mr. Ishii was blessed with good fortune today: a hundred cavalrymen carried Guan Shengyun's camp ahead without any bloodshed, and when they went to pick up Sun Jie, they saw a light from a distance and rode over to check what was going on. As a result, they accidentally hit each other. I accidentally discovered Guan Shengyun's grain station ten miles away!
General Shi Shen was worried that the guards would set fire to the food, so he decisively gave up his plan to find Sun Jie and led his team to rush over. The people guarding the grain depot were all old, feeble and weak soldiers who had never seen blood. Earlier, they were frightened when they saw the broken troops all over the mountains and plains from a distance. They immediately opened the camp gate after receiving the guarantee that they would not surrender.
After entering the grain station, Shi Shenjiang was very angry: Not to mention setting fire to the grain, there was not even firewood piled around the warehouses - it turned out that these guys never thought that they would be in danger!
However, after struggling for such a long time, most of the murderous intention in my heart had gone away, and then I thought: Even if Zaicai's garrison is protected by the camp wall, even if it is captured, a few brothers will be lost, not to mention that our own side only has a mere Bai Shiqi... Thinking of this, Ishii pretended to be angry and whipped the grain officer a few times before he felt relieved.
Having to keep an eye on hundreds of grain guards and patrolling Nuo Da's grain depot to prevent accidents, manpower was stretched thin. Ishii sent eight armored cavalry to continue searching for Sun Jie, and then sent two rangers to report the news to Shangguan Fei, and guarded it himself. Looking at the grain depot, he kept having fun looking at the tall grain stacks: As a senior general, General Shi Shen certainly knew that the city of Luzhou was about to run out of grain. There was so much high-quality military ration falling from the sky that it was beyond words to offer charcoal in the snow. .
