In the two battles between Laomukong and Beili Zhuangfang, the Ming army loyal to Liu Tichun suffered heavy losses.
There were more than 3,000 officers and soldiers before the war, but now there are less than 400 left.
Half of them were injured.
The family members who followed Liu Tichun to the village house behind him were also reduced by nearly half, leaving only more than 1,500 people.
In other words, except for the more than a thousand people Wang Wu brought from Wujiayuanzi and Suokoudong, as well as the soldiers from the Party and Ta Divisions who were re-instated, Liu Tichun's tribe has disappeared from the Kuidong Ming army establishment.
Therefore, what Wang Wu tried so hard to save was just a group of remnant soldiers (family members) who had lost their ability to fight.
Not only could they not strengthen themselves by recruiting the remnants of Liu's army, but they also had to escort them to Huangcaoping along the way.
The effort and reward are totally different.
To put it bluntly, these people are a burden to him.
Even the taciturn Zhao Jinzhong understood this clearly, so after Mr. Liu led his men to clean up the mess, he quietly walked up to Wang Wu and whispered: "We really want to bring these old, weak and disabled people with Yuan Zongdi , Hao Yaoqi will meet up?"
"Now we can only send them to Huangcaoping first, otherwise most of the surrendered soldiers will not want to follow me."
Wang Wu had no need to hide Zhao Jinzhong.
He gave him hope and pointed the direction. If he did not move in this direction, the party and the old Tatmadaw would definitely abandon him.
Without the more than two thousand old Party Tower members, it would be difficult to achieve anything with less than a thousand people in his hands.
"Brigade Commander" is always more effective than "Regiment Commander".
After hearing this, Zhao Jinzhong shook his head and said: "If I remember correctly, you once said that only by standing out and changing from passive to active can you have a chance of survival!"
Frankly speaking, if he and Liu Bu's group of old and weak people went to Huangcaoping to meet Yuan and Hao, even if the two parties could stay together for warmth in the short term, they would still be surrounded by the Qing army.
And how many people are there in the Ming army?
A few thousand people at most.
How many people are there in the Qing army?
Two hundred thousand!
The disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves is too great, too great!
Besides, does Huangcaoping have enough food for thousands of people to persevere?
Apparently not.
Yuan Zongdi and Hao Yaoqi were forced to retreat to Huangcaoping, rather than going there on their own initiative.
Therefore, going to Huangcaoping is just a matter of dying early and dying later.
"The only chance now is to stand out from Niu Wancheng, otherwise,"
Zhao Jinzhong did not speak clearly.
Wang Wu knew exactly what it meant.
Before suggesting to Liu Heng to go to Huangcaoping first, he had already analyzed the pros and cons and came to the same conclusion as Zhao Jinzhong - die early, die later!
The wisest thing to do at the moment is to abandon Liu Heng and his gang, and lead the others to "borrow" a path out from Niu Wancheng who is following behind.
If you can't borrow it, just fight your way out!
Even if only a few hundred or even a hundred people stand out, they may not be the kindling that can start a prairie fire in the future!
After all, nine years later, the drums of war were beating in the southwest.
If we don't rush out now, once the main force of the Sichuan Qing army commanded by Sichuan Admiral Zheng Jiaolin crosses Wujiayuanzi and seals the Suokou Cave line, they will never have a chance to escape from the western front.
Opportunity, last chance!
But can he, Wang Wu, really just walk away?
There is no doubt that most of the old members of the Party and Tajikistan will not follow him.
The only motivation for those veterans who had their braids cut off and mustered up the courage to fight again was the hope pointed out to them by Wang Wu.
Even if this hope is somewhat illusory or even unrealistic, it is ultimately a direction worth their efforts.
If this hope was extinguished by Wang Wu himself, how many people would follow him?
Abandoning women and children, abandoning friendly armies, what do we call the world?
The pie is not drawn like this.
Ma Sizhong and Xu Deyi will not follow him.
Because he is a veteran soldier of Liu Tichun's direct lineage.
It was because he wanted to win over this group of Lao Shunjun and try to keep Liu Tichun's banner that Wang Wu decided to rescue Lao Mukong with them.
Otherwise, he would have run away long ago.
Liu Tichun is dead, but his son Liu Heng is still alive.
If Ma Sizhong and Xu Deyi knew that Wang Wu had abandoned Liu Heng, what would they think of him?
Will you continue to follow him?
No need to guess the answer.
Even Brother Zhang Tianwang, who was hostile to Shunying, would probably never trust him again.
Even Wang Wu's direct descendants will have questions about his actions.
It’s like we’ve already crossed the snow-capped mountains, why do we have to come back?
After all, Wang Wu has always established an image for himself not only as someone who would rather die than surrender, but also as a loyal minister and righteous man.
If this image collapses, it will undoubtedly be a fatal blow to Wang Wu.
Go to Yellow Lawn, dead end.
If you don't go to Huangcai, it's still a dead end.
How to choose Wang Wu?
"Today I realize that things are difficult in the world."
Wang Wu thought of Li Guo, Gao Yigong and the others back then.
If you don't connect with each other, you will die, if you connect with each other, you will die.
Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu also came to mind.
Keeping the light is death, not keeping the light is still death!
But in the end, these leaders of the Shun and Xi camps all chose to protect their lives, and ultimately sacrificed everything for this choice.
Including life.
Why?
Without it, I don’t want to be a slave!
Take China as a heavy ear!
Never change your clothes or betray your ancestors!
In this day and age, how many choices are allowed for Wang Wu to make!
"Let's talk about it when we get to the Yellow Lawn."
Wang Wu sighed helplessly.
In the final analysis, Wang Wu is still too weak.
This game is too dangerous!
Will can unite people who are unwilling to surrender, but it cannot change the overall situation.
If he wants to change the overall situation, he needs to win over more people to rush out with him.
Zhao Jinzhong was silent for a moment and asked, "Are you going to Xingshan Tiger Commander's office with Yuan Zongdi and Hao Yaoqi?"
Wang Wu nodded. If the situation in Huang Caoping went bad, he would not rule out the possibility.
Although this is jumping from one encirclement to another, it can allow the remnants of the Ming army in Wushan to take a breath and gain a certain degree of integrity.
If Li Laiheng could be persuaded to mobilize the entire army to break out, he might not be able to create a miracle and open up a new situation.
He mentioned Hu Shuai to the party and Tajikistan’s old headquarters several times, and this was his intention.
After all, Li Laiheng has not yet entered a desperate situation.
This is definitely a hope for other Ming armies everywhere.
"Well, since the decision has been made, I can't say much."
Zhao Jinzhong was a little disappointed, but he didn't have any thoughts about it. He just smiled and said, "One more day to live is just one day."
After saying that, he went to deal with the prisoners.
In this battle, the rebel general Wan He and nearly a thousand people were killed, but more than 2,000 people were captured.
It's a pity that another rebel general Tian Heng ran away.
Wang Wu and Liu Heng discussed how to deal with the prisoners and selected 500 of them to join the Ming army.
Liu Heng punished 200 people, and Wang Wu punished 300 people.
The rest of the people were released except for Tian and Wan, whose soldiers had to be executed, and were left to fend for themselves.
After Zhao Jinzhong left, Wang Wu suddenly felt lonely and powerless.
Not far away, several children aged seven or eight were helping adults pick up arrows on the ground.
A little girl had a swaddling child strapped to her back.
Both adults and children were silently doing what they were doing.
Is this what persistence means?
Wang Wu's gaze slowly raised and moved towards due south unconsciously.
"That gentleman should also be watching Kuidong from the beach, right?"
For no reason, Wang Wu's nose became sore and he wanted to cry.
Yes, thousands of miles away on the shore of Zhoushan Island, a middle-aged man dressed in Han Dynasty clothes was looking at the mainland with the support of the servant Yang Guanyu.
Sea breeze, very cold.
