Chapter 384 Cleaning up the mess
The fire in the valley was not completely extinguished until the third day.

Yang Zhengshan led his personal guard battalion into the valley.

The ground was covered with ashes and was gray and black everywhere, as if the entire earth had turned black and gray, with a touch of green dotted on the hills on both sides.

After crossing the valley, Yang Zhengshan arrived at the camp of the imperial guards.

“Haha, Zhengshan, you’re here!”

When Liang Chu saw Yang Zhengshan, he was so happy.

Yang Zhengshan clasped his fists and saluted, saying, "I pay my respects to you, Lord Marquis!"

"Hey, why do you and I need all these formalities? Come on, let's talk inside the tent!" Liang Chu didn't waste any words and directly dragged Yang Zhengshan into his tent.

The two families are in-laws, so their relationship is naturally extraordinary.

The two of them had just sat down in the tent and the tea had not yet arrived when Zhou Lan arrived.

"General Yang!"

"General Zhou!"

Yang Zhengshan looked at Zhou Lan with a friendly smile on his face.

Zhou Lan looked at Yang Zhengshan with great joy.

"Okay, stop standing and sit down!" Liang Chu asked the two to sit down.

The three of them sat down and started chatting.

Although they usually exchanged letters, many things could not be explained in the letters.

The three of them chatted about a wide range of topics, from family affairs to state affairs, from young children to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

"My Lord, what is the situation in the court now? Will there be any problems if the imperial guards leave the capital?"

After chatting for half an hour, Yang Zhengshan changed the topic to the imperial guards leaving the capital.

This is not a trivial matter, it involves a struggle for imperial power.

The Emperor's personal army and the Kyoto Imperial Guards have always been the two most important military powers in the hands of Emperor Chengping.

With these two military powers, the imperial city and Kyoto can be protected from worries.

But now six battalions of the imperial guards have left Beijing, and no one knows what the situation of the remaining six battalions is!
If the Imperial Guards became ineffective in Kyoto, that would be a big problem.

When this matter was mentioned, Liang Chu's expression became solemn.

"The decision to dispatch the Imperial Guards was made jointly by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the other ministers, and Duke Ning also agreed to this!"

"But~~"

Liang Chu hesitated for a moment before adding, "But this matter was made possible by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is already able to influence the cabinet?" Yang Zhengshan asked with a frown.

Liang Chu shook his head slightly, "I don't know, but the situation in the court has changed a lot recently."

"Your Majesty has been bedridden for months!"

Yang Zhengshan suddenly realized.

The old emperor has been bedridden for months. It seems that there is no hope of recovery and he may die at any time.

At this time, the ministers in the court would naturally lean towards the prince.

No matter how bad the crown prince is, he is still the legitimate heir to the throne.

Each generation of emperor has his own ministers.

If the ministers want to keep their official hats, they naturally have to show their abilities in advance. Otherwise, they will have no chance to show their abilities once the prince ascends the throne.

At this time, the prince does not need to do anything himself, as many ministers will take the initiative to serve him.

If the prince wants the imperial guards to leave the capital, then they must naturally leave the capital. I'm afraid even the cabinet will have to give in to the prince.

"If that's the case, then the prince is the only one who can do whatever he wants in the court?" Yang Zhengshan said.

"That's not the case. The prince hasn't even ascended the throne yet, how can he cover the sky with one hand?" Liang Chu said lightly.

Yang Zhengshan nodded. As long as Emperor Chengping was still alive, the crown prince would be just a crown prince. It was impossible for him to cover the sky with one hand. In fact, even if the crown prince ascended the throne, he would not be able to cover the sky with one hand.

A prosperous court is one where the emperor and the literati rule the world together. If the emperor is strong, then the court will naturally be ruled by imperial power. If the emperor is mediocre, then the court will become the world of civil and military ministers.

After chatting about the situation in the court for a while, the three of them turned the topic to the main topic.

In the battle of the valley, the 70,000-strong Wuliang army was almost wiped out. From then on, the hidden dangers of Wuliang in Liaoxi and Chongshanzhen West Road were completely eliminated, and the war would most likely end here.

This time, the Wuliang Hu tribe suffered a serious blow. Eighty thousand Hu cavalry is not a small number. Even though the Wuliang Hu tribe is powerful, they cannot withstand such a loss.

In the short term, the Wulianghu tribe will definitely not attack Dayong again.

As for Darong, the situation in the court is somewhat complicated, and he will definitely not launch a counterattack against the Wulianghu tribe.

Therefore, the war caused by Prince Qing will most likely end here.

After meeting with Liang Chu, Yang Zhengshan asked his soldiers to clean up the ashes in the valley.

Of course, he asked the soldiers to clean up the ashes not for hygiene reasons, but because there were many valuable things hidden in the ashes.

For example, if the armor is burned, leather armor and cloth armor will definitely be useless, but iron armor and weapons can be melted and remade.

For example, the gold and silver plundered by the Hu cavalry. The Wuliang army plundered the entire Liaoxi Province, and the gold and silver they obtained amounted to millions of taels.

A big fire can melt gold and silver, but it will not turn them into ashes.

With so much gold and silver, Yang Zhengshan naturally wanted to collect it all.

A few days later, the soldiers of Chongshan Town searched the ashes in the valley, and Yang Zhengshan gave one third of the gold and silver he found to the imperial guards.

These gold and silver originally belonged to the people of western Liaoning, but now they are the spoils of Chongshan Town and the Imperial Army.

Since it is a trophy, we must follow the rules.

One third was given to the imperial guards, one third was given to the soldiers under his command, and the remaining one third was handed over as spoils of war.

There are rules for this kind of thing in border towns. Although the shares will sometimes be adjusted depending on the specific circumstances, the rule is that the spoils must first be given to the soldiers who charge in the front.

The eighth day of September.

The imperial guards handed over more than 18,000 prisoners to Chongshan Town.

The war is over, and as the imperial guards, it is not appropriate for them to stay in Chongshan Town for too long.

So after handing over the prisoners, Liang Chu ordered his troops to return to the capital.

After receiving the prisoners, Yang Zhengshan became busy.

With so many prisoners to deal with, it is certainly not an option to kill them all, and even heavy punishment is not an option.

Because most of these captives were military households from the west road of Chongshan Town, if they were severely punished, it would inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the military households.

In order to appease the people's hearts and stabilize the situation in the west of Chongshan Town as soon as possible, Yang Zhengshan only dealt with a few military officers with official positions. As for ordinary soldiers, after reorganization, they were still soldiers of the west reinforcement camp of Chongshan Town.

Just when Yang Zhengshan was busy reorganizing the western reinforcement camp, the victory report about the battle of Nameless Valley was also delivered to Kyoto.

It was a great victory to annihilate the 70,000-strong Wuliang army in one fell swoop.

Its significance is no less than the capture of Fushan City.

The Wulianghu tribe has always been a powerful enemy of Dayong in the north. For decades, the fighting between Dayong and the Wulianghu tribe has never stopped.

Several small-scale battles break out between Beiyuan Town and the Wulianghu tribe almost every year. Sometimes there are battles with more than 10,000 participants, but battles with a scale of more than 100,000 are rare.

The annihilation of 70,000 Wuliang Hu cavalry in one battle was unprecedented.

The good news naturally caused a stir when it reached Kyoto.

The Wuliang army was destroyed, and all the civil and military officials in the court breathed a sigh of relief.

During this period, they were still very nervous facing the aggressive Wuliang army, fearing that the situation would get worse.

Now that the situation has turned around, everyone can relax.

However, the subsequent rewards became a new point of contention in the court.

(End of this chapter)