Without killing Dang and Ta, Wang Wu would have no way to seize their old troops, and even the remnants of the army he led would have to be controlled by them.
There is no way, who can let one of them be the Duke of the country and the other a Marquis, and they are both high-ranking officials of the Laoshun Army.
And within the "system" of the Ming army, Wang Wu was just a Jingzhou general in name only.
The actual power has just been promoted from a "battalion commander" to a "regiment commander".
How can this position be competed with by the Dang and Ta, whose qualifications are comparable to those of Ming army coach Liu Tichun?
Ma Sizhong, Xu Deyi and others who came from the old Shun Army will definitely follow the lead of these two people, so Wang Wu will lose his influence on the old soldiers of the Shun Army.
Rather than being constrained by these two surrendering factions who were already wavering, or even splitting the team he finally managed to pull together, it would be better to eliminate the root cause to avoid future troubles!
As long as they can successfully control the two men who stayed in Lao Mukong's old army, even if the two rebel generals Tian Heng and Wan He did not retreat in panic, Wang Wu would still have the strength to confront them head-on!
Therefore, if the subordinates of Dang and Ta were willing to stay and work with him, Wang Wu would naturally welcome them.
If you don't want to, he won't force you.
But what Wang Wu didn't expect was that dozens of party and tower subordinates all chose to go to Laomukong with him.
Including Ma Changyuan, the registered commander-in-chief of Ta Tianbao.
"If the general goes to rescue Liu Shuai, I am willing to lend a helping hand to the general!"
Ma Changyuan was not only willing to work with Wang Wu, but also took the initiative to salute Wang Wu, without even mentioning that he was the Jiangxi commander-in-chief appointed by the Yongli court.
This person also had some eyesight. When Wang Wu said that they were going to Laomukong, he immediately realized that he might be able to make a great contribution after returning to the Ming Dynasty.
This credit is to help Wang Wu collect Lao Mukong's old party and Tajia troops.
"If you sincerely help me, you will be my brother in life and death!"
Wang Wu naturally wanted it. After all, it would be risky to use the heads of Dang Shousu and Ta Tianbao to intimidate their old subordinates into obeying him.
If someone refuses to accept it, a fight will inevitably begin.
With the help of Ma Changyuan, a general who is familiar with the situation, the success rate will be greatly improved.
Let Ma Changyuan organize the team now, and go to Laomukong with him later.
There was still about an hour before dawn, but Wang Wu couldn't wait any longer.
He also asked Gou Sheng and Wan Si to count the casualties and snatch out all the Manchu soldiers' armor and arrows that could be used in the village.
He planned to arm his subordinates to the teeth as much as possible, and wear double armor if they could.
One more suit of armor means one more life.
Unfortunately, the fire burned so fast that only more than 60 sets of usable cotton armor, 13 sets of iron armor, and a dozen helmets were snatched from the village.
It was impossible to count how many Manchurian soldiers were killed at the scene, because many of the dead Manchurian soldiers were swallowed up by the fire.
The Ming army lost 17 people killed and 21 wounded.
The casualty ratio was more than one sixth.
Even if they took advantage of the surprise attack at night, the casualty ratio was still too high, which made Wang Wu very distressed.
But no one will die in a war!
At present, there was no condition to dig graves and bury the dead, so they asked the mute Zhu San and his people to carry the fallen soldiers together and burn them on the spot.
The bodies of these fallen soldiers should not be insulted by the Qing army after the Ming army left.
Zhao Jinzhong saw that Ma Changyuan was talking to the group of surrendering soldiers, so he reminded Wang Wuda: "Boss, will these people rebel?"
Wang Wu thinks not.
Regardless of whether it was a misunderstanding or not, Ma Changyuan and his gang killed many Manchurian soldiers. They couldn't hide the matter even if they wanted to, because although the Ming army successfully killed Du Min, the deputy commander of Manchuria, no fewer than two Manchurian soldiers escaped. Hundreds of people.
After those Manchurian soldiers returned, because they could not understand the situation, they would only attribute Du Min's death to the rebellion of the Party and the Tajie Army!
Therefore, regardless of whether Ma Changyuan and others are sincerely working with him, Wang Wu, there is no possibility of these people betraying him.
At least not right now.
Zhao Jinzhong nodded after hearing this, but he still kept an eye out. If the situation went wrong, he would shoot Ma Changyuan first with one arrow.
"Master, I..."
Kang Enbei came to Wang Wu hesitantly and hesitated to speak.
Wang Wu glanced at him, pointed to the distance, and said calmly: "You can go."
"Um?"
Kang Enbei was stunned for a moment, not expecting the other party to let him go so easily.
Wang Wu knew what he was thinking and said: "I always keep my word. Since you helped me seize this stronghold, I will fulfill my promise and let you go...Why, do you, a Manchurian, still want to kill the Tatars with me?"
"Huh?...Thank you, sir!"
Kang Enbei was excited. After thinking about it, he knelt down and kowtowed to Wang Wu three times, and said sincerely: "I wish you a long life!"
"Okay, let's go."
Wang Wu waved his hand, "See you on the battlefield in the future. Let's all settle down to our destiny."
Hearing this, Kang Enbei shook his head hurriedly and said: "Young people don't dare to be enemies with the master, never dare!"
"Everything is unpredictable."
Wang Wu smiled and signaled Kang Enbei to leave now, lest Ma Changyuan and his gang discover his existence as a real Tatar.
"Yes Yes."
Kang En couldn't hide the joy in his eyes. He bowed his waist and took a few steps back before turning around and walking towards the outside of the village.
He didn't miss it, and his figure disappeared into the night before long.
It seems that he is returning home as quickly as possible.
Looking at the other party's disappearing figure, Wang Wu's lips curled up slightly. Just as he was about to order the team to assemble, Xu Lin came over to report that many corpses were found under the east slope.
It should be the Ming army that was originally stationed here.
Only then did Wang Wu remember that his sworn brother Wang Si was the garrison commander of Cizhulong, and he quickly took people over to check.
When we arrived at the hillside, there were several soldiers looking through the mountains with torches.
Wang Wu also took the torch from Xu Lin and went down the hillside. Later, he discovered that none of the Ming army corpses here had heads.
Apparently he was beheaded after being captured, rather than died in a fight with the Qing army.
This made Wang Wu's heart ache, but he did not want to believe that his sworn brother Wang Si would be killed after surrendering to the Qing Dynasty.
However, none of the corpses here had heads, and it was impossible for him to tell which corpse belonged to his adopted brother.
After walking around in vain, Wang Wu sighed and shook his head, preparing to return to the slope to lead the team.
Just halfway up the slope, my body stagnated.
Not far away, there were human heads hanging on the big tree behind a soldier holding a torch.
One of them is Wang Si!
The expression on his face was not one of resignation, but one of extreme horror.
Xu Lin and the others also saw the heads hung on the trees by the Manchurian soldiers. Even if they were not afraid of death, their hearts trembled at this gloomy scene.
Blown by the wind, the heads kept turning in mid-air.
Sometimes the face is forward, sometimes the face is backward.
Some began to curse the Tatars for their cruelty, while others remained silent.
Wang Wu was also silent. He knew that his sworn brother Wang Si must have surrendered to the Qing army in order to survive. After surrendering, he found that the Manchus still wanted their lives.
The look of horror fixed on his face before he died said it all.
After a long time, he withdrew his gaze and continued climbing up the slope without saying a word.
When the figure poked his head out from the slope, his face was already filled with frost.
Here, he wants to win the handsome man!
