It was already dark, but the Ming army was still clearing the battlefield with torches.
There were too many materials left behind by the Qing army, and they were scattered along several miles of mountain roads. Therefore, the Ming army needed to search carefully to "pick up" everything one by one.
Ma Sizhong asked people to light a bonfire every hundred steps.
The bonfire not only provided light for the Ming army in the night, but also made their hearts warmer in the cold wind, and at the same time made them feel at ease.
Undoubtedly, this is another exciting victory!
Under the command of Wang Wu, the Ming army who set up an ambush wiped out more than 450 enemies and captured more than 700 at the cost of 58 casualties!
Seven war horses, 19 sets of iron armor, more than 300 sets of usable cotton armor, more than 200 fire blunderbuss, more than 100 bows and crossbows, and more than 400 kilograms of medicine were seized.
There were also a lot of other supplies, so much so that Wang Wu, Ma Sizhong and the others agreed to throw some away, otherwise they would become a burden.
After all, they now want to break through to Laomukong, not establish a base in the area from Suokou to Dachang to maintain a long-term stalemate with the enemy.
The fly in the ointment is that this ambush failed to annihilate the main force of the Qing army Niu Wancheng.
It wasn't that there was any flaw in the ambush plan, but that Niu Wancheng ran too fast!
When this guy saw that the situation was not good, his soles disappeared as if they were oiled.
If Niu Wancheng hesitated even a little bit and retreated a little slower, the Ming army's victory would probably be doubled.
Now, in addition to regrets, Wang Wu still has to worry about the existence of the cow department.
According to the prisoners' confessions, there were more than 2,100 Green Camp soldiers commanded by Niu Wancheng. However, after the war, the Ming army killed less than 400 Green Camp soldiers and captured only more than 200 Green Camp soldiers. The rest were rebels from Ma Tengyun's tribe. , which means that there are still about 1,500 Green Camp soldiers who fled back to Dachang with Niu Wancheng.
This number of troops is still very heavy for the Ming army, which has won two consecutive victories.
Tian Wen counted and found that 307 officers and soldiers of the Ming army were killed in the two battles, and more than 150 soldiers were injured. The total casualty ratio was almost one-third.
The Laoshun Army commanded by Ma Sizhong had more than 460 people before the war, but now only more than 270 people can still fight.
The Ming army commanded by Wang Wu had 487 people before the war, but now only more than 380 people remain.
The Suokou Ming Army commanded by Brother Zhang Tianwang had more than 650 people before the war, but now there are less than 500 people left.
There were no family casualties.
Therefore, nearly one-third of the casualties made the Ming army itself crippled.
The number of troops was also smaller than that of Niu Wancheng who fled back to Dachang.
The newly added troops mainly come from the surrendered troops of Ma Tengyun's tribe. The principle of staying or leaving is still voluntary. A total of 120 people are willing to return to the Ming and Qing armies and fight to the end.
Since the casualties were highest on the side of Laoshun Army, Wang Wu handed over all 120 horse soldiers to Ma Sizhong's command.
Other prisoners who did not want to continue to resist the Qing were allowed to return after daybreak.
The Green Camp also captured more than 200 prisoners. There were differences within the Ming army on how to deal with these Green Camp prisoners.
What Zhang Tianwang means is that this group of Green Camp soldiers are different from Ma Tengyun's troops who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty not long ago. They have all worked for the Tatars for a long time and participated in the encirclement and suppression of the Ming army many times. Which one is unclear? The blood of the soldiers must be executed, and they must not be allowed to serve as accomplices to the Tatars.
Ma Sizhong and others also supported the execution of Green Camp prisoners for the same reason as Wang Wu believed in the principle of "eliminating the enemy's vitality as much as possible".
However, Wang Wu did not agree with the killing of prisoners. He believed that Green Camp prisoners should be treated equally with Ma Tengyun's soldiers. They should stay or leave voluntarily. They should not be treated differently because they have been in the Qing army for a long time.
"...These green soldiers have made us lose all hope of fighting. Letting them go will not pose much of a threat to us, but will be useful to us."
In order to dissuade everyone from killing the prisoners, Wang Wu made a vivid metaphor.
That is, if a person has been bitten by a snake in a place, he will definitely pay attention to his feet when passing by that place again to worry about being bitten again.
And when the snake that bit him actually appears, this person will instinctively feel scared and shrink back.
Zhang Tianfang was thoughtful and said uncertainly: "What the fifth brother Wang means is that if the Green Camp prisoners encounter us next time, they will panic without us beating them? Are they afraid of us?"
"Roughly the same."
Wang Wu nodded and said to everyone: "If we can defeat them once, we can defeat them twice, three times, countless times! Therefore, we do not need to kill the prisoners. If we do that, not only will no Qing army surrender to us, but also We will let the Qing army fight to the death with us!"
Wang Wu could not bear this consequence, and the Ming army, which was currently at a disadvantage, could not bear it even more.
After hearing this, everyone was thinking about the impact of releasing and killing. The result of their reasoning was obviously what Wang Wu said, and they no longer asked for the killing of prisoners.
Seeing that no one objected, Wang Wu asked the blind man Wan Si to ask the Green Camp prisoners if any of them were willing to join the Ming army. The result was that none of them were willing to join the Ming army.
This made Wang Wu couldn't help but smile bitterly, knowing that the Green Camp prisoners were not fools, because the dawn at this time was probably similar to the sun that fell four or five years ago in his previous life.
Potential!
Only by setting off a momentum can people fall like clouds.
Unfortunately, the victory in two battles was far from enough for Wang Wu to start this trend.
The road is still long.
However, good news came from Tian Wen, who was interrogating the prisoners, that Liu Tichun, the Duke of Anhui, might not have been killed, but was still stalemate with the rebels in Laomukong.
This news made everyone in the Ming army breathe a sigh of relief.
The same is true for Wang Wu. He has been worried that Liu Tichun has died for his country. If they fight to kill Lao Mukong, they will not only surrender themselves into a trap, but also make the military morale that they finally built up drop to a freezing point in an instant.
All efforts will inevitably be in vain.
Since Liu Tichun is not dead, the next war is on the agenda.
In fact, it is not a matter of discussion, but discussing how to capture Dachang, an important stronghold leading to Laomukong.
That place used to be an important stronghold of the Ming army and had a complete defense system. If Niu Wancheng's troops were wiped out today, it would be easy to capture Dachang.
The problem is that Niu Wancheng returned to Dachang with his main force, which forced the Ming army, which was eager to go to Laomukong to rescue Liu Tichun, to bite back a hard nut.
This time Ma Sizhong, Zhang Tianwang and others had the same opinion, which was to attack the Niu Department early tomorrow morning while they were frightened by them today!
No matter how many casualties we pay, we must open up this rescue lifeline!
Since Wang Wu commanded the Ming army to win two victories in succession, he had established his personal prestige among this lone Ming army. Everyone naturally hoped that Wang Wu would still command the battle tomorrow.
Wang Wu slowly scanned the crowd, picked up a wooden stick and poked the fire in front of him, and said: "This battle will definitely be fought, but is there a possibility that we can lure Niu Wancheng out and ambush him again?" ?”
"What? An ambush?"
Zhang Tianfang, who was opposite him, had a look of astonishment on his face.
His brother Zhang Tianwang also looked confused, and Ma Sizhong and the others had similar expressions.
They all thought it was ridiculous. Niu Wancheng was not a three-year-old child, so how could he have been ambushed by the Ming army again?
"Don't look at me like that, I think it's feasible."
Wang Wu stood up with a smile and patted his butt, "Soldiers are deceitful. The art of war says that victory cannot be restored. It emphasizes flexibility and maneuverability due to the enemy's changes, so the method of defeating the enemy should not be repeated... But today my king The Five Sides are going to risk their tactics and use their troops in the opposite direction, and they will defeat the bull again here!"
The voice was decisive and full of confidence.
Because he knows that a person will not be bitten by a snake twice in the same place, but an army will ambush people in the same place twice!
The reason is disbelief in evil.
Everyone was dumbfounded by Wang Wu's words, and none of them knew what to say.
After a while, Xu Deyi scratched his head: "It will definitely be good to lie down again, but what if Niu Wancheng doesn't come out?"
"He'll come out,"
Looking at the torches of the Ming army dotted like stars in the distance, Wang Wu said confidently: "People are all curious."
