Chapter 64: Results and Captures

Outside Fushan City.

The eastern army under Zhang Shouwang's command has arrived at the city and has set up camp ten miles south of the city.

In the army's main tent, Zhang Shouwang and several lieutenant generals sat with solemn expressions. Zhou Lan and other guerrilla generals also looked very unhappy.

Since the army moved to Fushan City, their food supply routes have been repeatedly harassed by the Hu cavalry.

By now, several baggage trains had suffered heavy casualties, and all the food and fodder they were transporting had been taken away or burned.

"General, we can't wait any longer. If we wait any longer, the soldiers will have to go into battle on empty stomachs!" Liu Nanbo, the Guangning vanguard lieutenant general of Chongshan Town North Road, said, unable to suppress his impatience.

There was no way out. The two baggage trains under his command were almost wiped out, and all the food and fodder they transported was lost. Without food replenishment, all his soldiers would starve in ten days at most.

Moreover, insufficient food and fodder will affect morale. How can we fight a war if we can't even get enough food?

"Yes, General, we must first ensure the safety of the grain route. If the safety of the grain route cannot be guaranteed, we will have no way out here!" said Wang Bin, Lieutenant General of Songzhou Guard.

Without food replenishment, it is difficult for them to continue fighting, and it will take more than a day or two to capture Fushan City.

Although Fushan City is small, it is a fortified city. Even if they try their best, it will probably take a month to capture it.

Zhou Lan, who was standing behind Zhang Shouwang, had a look of worry in her eyes. She naturally knew that Yang Zhengshan was transporting grain. She was worried about Yang Zhengshan, and even more worried about the grain that Yang Zhengshan was transporting.

If Yang Zhengshan also lost his food supplies, then their Zhenbiao Zuoying might be in a more difficult situation than the other camps.

Because their town's left camp was composed of cavalry, the food and fodder they consumed was two or three times that of other camps.

Zhang Shouwang naturally understood the importance of the food route, but he did not expect that the Donghai Hu tribe would be so cunning. Not only did they not choose to fight head-on, but they also kept harassing their rear.

The area outside the Great Wall is vast and sparsely populated, and there are many hills. It is easy for a small-scale army to hide its whereabouts.

It is not an easy task to find all these Hu cavalry who are harassing everywhere.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shouwang suddenly remembered the previous incident of the Hu cavalry entering the pass.

They also carried out small-scale looting and did not engage in direct battle with them.

Such tactics were obviously the work of one person.

They seemed to be always being led by each other.

Zhang Shouwang's eyes flashed with worry, but he still ordered: "Zhou Lan, Tang Feihu!"

"The general is here!"

"You two lead the left and right battalions of the town flag to protect the grain route and eliminate the harassing Hu cavalry!" Zhang Shouwang ordered.

"I will obey your orders!"

Zhou Lan and Tang Feihu looked at each other and bowed to accept the order.

……

Songyuan River.

The battle lasted for two quarters of an hour before it ended. The more than 200 attacking Hu cavalry were all wiped out, and not a single one escaped.

Yang Zhengshan rode on Hongyun and killed all the Hu cavalry who wanted to escape around the battlefield. One man and one horse, he killed dozens of enemies. Even Yang Zhengshan was exhausted.

He was breathing heavily, and Hongyun was also breathing heavily.

Seeing that there was no longer a standing enemy on the battlefield, Yang Zhengshan jumped off Hong Yun's back.

He took out the water bag and drank a few mouthfuls of the spiritual spring water, then held the spiritual spring water and fed Hongyun a few mouthfuls.

In this way, the fatigue in his body dissipated a little. He walked slowly back to the battlefield. The soldiers were already cleaning up the battlefield. Regardless of whether the person was dead or not, they would give him a final blow to prevent someone from pretending to be dead and dragging them down with him.

"Dad! Are you okay?"

Yang Mingzhi walked over with his hands on his chest, and looked Yang Zhengshan up and down with some concern. Seeing that there was nothing wrong with Yang Zhengshan, he felt relieved.

"I'm fine. How are you? Where are you injured?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

Yang Mingzhi took his hand away, revealing a bloody wound on his chest, and said, "Fortunately, the wound is relatively shallow. It will be fine after a few days of rest. I just feel a little weak!"

Yang Zhengshan stepped forward to check his wound, nodded slightly, and said: "You go and rest first, and leave the rest to Mingwu."

Afterwards, Yang Zhengshan and the others cleaned up the battlefield.

They suffered heavy casualties in this battle, but the majority of the casualties were concentrated among the laborers. More than a hundred laborers were killed, more than eighty were seriously injured, and more than three hundred were slightly injured.

In contrast, only one soldier from Linguan Fort was killed in battle and two were seriously injured, while only three soldiers from Zhao Desheng's two teams were killed in battle.

The reason why there is such a big difference in casualties is because of whether or not to wear cotton armor.

After a wave of arrows rained down, if a civilian was hit by an arrow, even if he did not die, he would be seriously injured. However, as for the soldiers wearing cotton armor, unless they were hit in the neck, they would only be slightly injured at most.

The casualties among the civilians mainly came from the initial rain of arrows from the Hu cavalry, while the casualties among the soldiers mainly came from the subsequent melee.

This is what armor is for.

After counting the casualties, Yang Zhengshan hurriedly took out a few bowls of spiritual spring water and mixed it with the freshly boiled river water, letting all the wounded drink a few sips.

Spiritual spring water cannot change fate, but it is the best medicine currently available. As long as the injury is not too serious, the injury will be alleviated after drinking the diluted spiritual spring water.

"Sir, everything has been cleaned up!" Yang Mingwu walked up to Yang Zhengshan and said.

"Tell me about it!"

Yang Zhengshan squatted by the river, took off his cotton armor and washed the blood off his body.

"In this battle, we beheaded 283 people, seized 196 war horses, 142 horse carcasses, 142 sets of worn leather armor, 248 longbows, 283 long swords, and about 58 taels of silver!" Yang Mingwu said one by one.

"Fifty-eight taels of silver? So poor?" Yang Zhengshan was a little disappointed.

"Well, they don't have much money on them!" Yang Mingwu said helplessly.

Yang Zhengshan thought about it and understood what was going on.

Those Hu cavalrymen who were killed in the mountain behind Yangjia Village were all those who had entered the pass to plunder, so they naturally carried a lot of silver and money on them.

These Hu cavalrymen in front of them were out to fight, so naturally they would not carry any silver or money with them.

There is not much silver and money, but there are plenty of war horses!

One hundred and ninety-six war horses. If we take them back and sell them, we can get at least three to five thousand taels of silver.

However, it seemed that he could not deal with these war horses by himself. Although they were their spoils of war, they belonged to the Zhenbiao Zuoying Camp. How to deal with the spoils of war required Zhou Lan's approval.

Yang Zhengshan looked up at the sky. It was already afternoon and it should be less than an hour before dusk.

"We will move ten miles north first, and then rest."

The place is filled with the smell of blood and there are a lot of corpses. It is not suitable to stay here overnight. It is better to find a clean place to spend the night.

After everyone packed up, they hurriedly headed north.

Fortunately, they captured a large number of war horses, so even though there were hundreds of seriously injured soldiers, they were still able to move forward. Otherwise, they would have to abandon some of the seriously injured soldiers.

(End of this chapter)