"Ying Zheng, my subordinates have brought back thousands of prisoners." Yan Weixi returned to the camp with a proud look on his face and came to Qiao Yuansheng in Ying Zheng.
After hearing this, Qiao Yuansheng raised his hand and pointed at Qin Youliang of the 2,000-man team who was standing nearby, and said with a smile: "Then you didn't capture as many prisoners as the second team. The second team captured almost two thousand prisoners who were born in Sichuan."
"You captured so many prisoners?" Yan Weixi looked at Qin Youliang in surprise, then slapped his thigh and said regretfully, "I had known that our 3,000-man team had gone upstream. If I had stopped the enemy upstream, I would have captured him now. It’s our 3,000-man team that has taken so many prisoners.”
Qin Youliang on the side smiled and said: "Regret? It's a pity that there is no regret medicine in the world. Who made you choose to go downstream."
"I let you get a bargain this time, wait for next time." Yan Weixi said unconvinced, and then added, "I often hear that the three most powerful soldiers in the Ming Dynasty are the Guan Ning Army, the Zhejiang Army and the Baigan Army. Now the Zhejiang soldiers are basically gone, only the Guan Ning army and the white pole soldiers are left. You have fought against the white pole soldiers, what do you think of the white pole soldiers? Can they pose a threat to us? "
After hearing this, Qiao Yuansheng and deputy battalion chief Bai Kong also looked at Qin Youliang.
The 2,000-man team that went upstream to block the Ming army crossing the river was also the first team to officially fight between the tiger-character flag and the white-pole soldiers.
Qin Youliang put his chin in his hand and thought for a while, then said: "I did encounter the white pole soldiers, but the white pole soldiers are not as powerful as the rumors said. It can only be said that they are less afraid of death than the average Ming army. That's about it. .”
After speaking, he looked at the people in front of him.
"Is this the end?" Qiao Yuansheng blinked.
Qin Youliang spread his hands and said, "It's over!"
"That's too little. It's like saying nothing. Let's talk about it in detail." Bai Kong interjected from the side.
"Yes, let's talk about it in detail. After all, the white-pole soldiers are the soldiers and horses of Shizhu's Ma family. In the future, when the tiger-character flag goes to Sichuan and Guizhou, sooner or later they will face off against the Ma family." Yan Weixi also said.
Correct
Several people knew that taking Henan was only the first step, and they would definitely march into Sichuan and Guizhou in the future.
"Here, drink some water to moisten your throat first." Qiao Yuansheng picked up the big tea vat on the table, held it up and handed it to Qin Youliang.
Qin Youliang took the teapot, took a sip of water, and said: "The white pole soldiers gave me the feeling that they were stronger than the Ming army's main camp soldiers and guard soldiers we encountered. Not only did they have better armor and stomach weapons, they also There is also the bloody courage that other Ming armies lack. Unfortunately, the white-armed soldiers mostly use long spears. They are obviously invincible when facing fire guns. It is difficult to get within ten steps of the fire guns. This is also the case for white-armed soldiers. The shortcomings are that if the white-armed soldiers had brought cannons to this battle today, I am afraid that this battle would still have to be fought."
"Is the other party really that powerful? You're not exaggerating, are you!" Yan Weixi said with a frown.
Having fought against the Ming army so many times, he has never encountered any Ming army that he could look down upon.
"I really believe what he said." Qiao Yuansheng walked back to the table, sat down, and continued, "Not every Ming army has the ability to fight bloody battles with slaves and thieves in the Hun River, and in the end, they can forcefully break out of the siege with some of their troops. .”
Bai Kong on the side said: "Actually, the reason why most of the Ming army is so stretched is not that the soldiers are not good, but that the officers are not good. As long as the soldiers are given full pay, fed, armor, and more training, It can also become a strong army, and our Tiger-Character Banner is the best example."
Qin Youliang and Yan Weixi nodded in agreement.
Among the soldiers of the Tiger-Character Banner, there are also soldiers who came from the Ming Army. In the past, these people were always in trouble, but now they have become the elite soldiers and generals of the Tiger-Character Banner.
"Tell us about this battle downstream of you! What you are blocking is the troops of Xiangyang Guard. Have you captured the commander of Xiangyang Guard? I heard that this person is also here." Qiao Yuansheng asked Yan Weixi.
Hearing this, Yan Wei smiled happily and said: "Forget it, the commander of the Xiangyang Guards did not cross the river at all, and he also let the commanding officer and two thousand households who led the Xiangyang Guards cross the river run away. The biggest one was caught. The official is a deputy qianhu."
"What's going on?" Qiao Yuansheng frowned and asked, "Are the Xiangyang guards and horses more difficult to deal with than the white pole soldiers upstream? You can't even catch anyone."
Faced with the question, Yan Weixi quickly explained: "You really can't blame me. Who would have thought that the Xiangyang guards could not help but beat them up, so they fired two volleys of muskets. The opponent was immediately defeated without even fighting back. Several officials sat on it directly The boat fled to the other side."
He was also upset in his heart.
Not even a decent official of the Xiangyang Guard was caught. The only deputy Qianhu who was caught was only from the fifth rank, and none of the officials above the fifth rank were caught.
"More than a thousand soldiers and horses of the Xiangyang Guard have been captured. It seems that the Xiangyang Guard is almost half useless. It is estimated that they will no longer think about crossing the river for a while." Bai Kong said to Qiao Yuansheng.
Without cavalry, it would be difficult to annihilate the enemy. Thousands of prisoners could be captured, mostly because the river prevented the defeated soldiers from escaping back to the other side of the river.
Qiao Yuansheng said: "I just feel that it is a pity that the 2000-man team and the 3000-man team did not capture a few decent generals. Ma Xianglin and Xiangyang Guard Commander Zheng Qinyu were able to capture both."
"You can't blame the two of them." Bai Kong glanced at Qin Youliang and Yan Weixi and said, "Neither Ma Xianglin nor Zheng Qinyu crossed the river. Even if they wanted to catch these two people, they would have no chance."
Qin Youliang and Yan Weixi looked aggrieved.
Of course they also wanted to arrest Ma Xianglin and Zheng Qinyu.
One is the Shizhu Xuanwei Envoy, and the other is the Xiangyang Guard Commander. They are both high-ranking local officials, especially Ma Xianglin, who is a chieftain.
Catching one of them will add extra credit.
Qiao Yuansheng said: "Forget it, if you don't catch it, then you didn't catch it. The Ming army just suffered such a big defeat. It will take time to regroup the troops. The Ming army probably won't be able to cross the river in a short time. We can be more stable." It’s been a long time.”
Only the prisoners captured two to three thousand people, plus the Ming army's dead, injured and escaped soldiers, the Ming army lost four to five thousand soldiers and horses in this battle, among which the majority were Sichuan noble soldiers and horses.
The guest armies from Sichuan, Guizhou and Huguang wanted to come to Henan again, and also wanted to think about whether they could withstand more losses of troops and horses.
"There are too many prisoners who cannot stay with us. Should we send them to Luoyang and hand them over to the governor?" Bai Kong asked.
The governor he was talking about was not the governor of Henan, but Li Shuheng, the first governor of the Tiger Banner appointed by Liu Heng.
As soon as Li Shuheng and Hong Chengchou arrived in Henan, they stayed in Luoyang City to handle Henan affairs.
"Okay, take advantage of the fact that the Ming army will not cross the river for the time being and escort the prisoners back." Qiao Yuansheng nodded and agreed to the other party's proposal.
There was only one combat barracks stationed at Dangzikou, his Second War Barracks, with only 4,000 troops. Normally, they had to prevent soldiers from Huguang from entering Henan, so there were not many troops to use on prisoners.
