In the afternoon of the same day, good news came from the right army.
Xu Sanzhong's troops were more than 120 miles northwest of Anshen and intercepted a Yazhou army that wanted to join the main Chinese army.
Xu Youqi ordered a thousand-man troop to ride on a fast boat and penetrate directly to the side of the army, forming a pincer attack with the frontal attacking troops. Seeing that their flanks were surrounded and there were no camp fortifications to rely on, the Yazhou Army barely held on for long before they fled. Commander Xu immediately led his troops to cover up the attack and pursued them for fifty miles, annihilating more than 3,000 enemies and capturing 2,500 prisoners before returning to Anshen City.
Because it was a mobile operation, although it failed to achieve the effect of total annihilation like Ning Wanjun, the Yazhou Army lost more than half of its troops and was scattered like a duck. It can be basically regarded as the establishment has been eliminated, and it is unlikely to threaten again. Arrive at Shenzhou Town.
On the way back to Jinxia, Gan saw a large number of flat ice ships transporting people. They were connected one after another, and the end was almost endless.
The people on the boat were sitting on the straw mats with numb faces, shivering from the cold, obviously not like ordinary passengers.
But they are prisoners. There are hundreds of people on each ship. It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of people. Unless it is a harsh punishment, how can there be so many prisoners in Shenzhou
He couldn't bear to find Qian Yan and asked what these people had committed, but the answers he got stunned him.
"If you ask them, they are all prisoners sent back from the front line." Qian Yan said, spreading his hands.
"Prisoners? From the Privy Council Army?"
"What else? No one else has invaded Shenzhou, right?" Qianyan shrugged. Others might care about Yuyi's identity, but she didn't care at all. Over the past hundred years, she has seen many people like this, some of whom are her friends and some of whom are her enemies.
But now, she is the only one alive.
"The moment you failed to dissuade the Privy Council, Jinxia City launched a counterattack against the enemy. With the temperament of the third princess, it is not easy to tolerate the other party crossing the border." She looked at the flat boat on the river. Said, "By the way, these ships were originally used to transport seafood, and transporting people was not the main business of the Fang family. But I heard that the Privy Council on the front line failed too quickly, and there were so many captives that they could no longer be resettled normally, so We can only urgently call an ice ship to transport them back to Jinxia."
The battle has begun.
Lost too quickly.
All prisoners.
Three pieces of information swayed in Qian's mind in turn, making him not know whether to be happy or sad for a moment.
Or both.
Sadly, his last attempt ended in failure, and many people must have lost their lives due to this unnecessary war. The happy part is that there are so many prisoners, which means that the number of war dead will be reduced accordingly, and the overall losses will not be so heavy.
It's just that he has been fighting for the Privy Council for half his life, and now he has to feel happy because the Privy Council army was defeated too quickly. This extremely contradictory feeling makes it difficult for Qianya to adapt to it for a while. It was under the impact of this complex emotion that he couldn't help but feel a new kind of confusion.
Is everything I see true
When did the Privy Council become so vulnerable
There was also the little girl in front of me who seemed to be underage. She was holding a square magical weapon and killed the alchemists who were chasing her one by one. One of them was a Gen magician, and his body had been wrapped in rock and soil before his death, but his fate was no different from the others. Qian asked himself, even if he was the pursuer, it would be impossible to avoid such an attack that could not be detected by the naked eye. Even if it doesn't kill him with one blow, it's impossible to counterattack.
As for what the magical weapon was, he didn't ask any questions along the way.
Because it is clear that this is not just a matter of a magic weapon.
It involves more profound magic principles behind it.
If he can't think of any kind of alchemy that can achieve such an effect, it proves that the Privy Council lacks not only a little bit of relevant knowledge, but probably an entire branch.
This conclusion makes Qian bitter and unspeakable.
After all, just half a year ago, the core members of the Privy Council believed that the Gyeonggi General Office was the most powerful and advanced force in Qi State. Compared with the government, they are more flexible in recruiting talents. Compared with the aristocratic families, their ideas are more appealing to people's hearts, and the results of the struggle against the two have also proved this. The imperial court no longer had the power to resist after the battle at Wanjinglou, and the Qi-sensing members of the aristocratic families defected one after another, becoming the backbone of the Privy Council.
At that time, everyone was very ambitious and thought about establishing a new dynasty that would surpass the Yong Dynasty. Unexpectedly, half a year later, they would become the laggard.
Everything the Privy Council did to the imperial court and the aristocratic families seemed to be happening again to the Privy Council itself.
It is impossible to say that there is no loss at all for such a huge gap.
After being speechless for a long time, Gancai spoke again, "How will Jinxia City treat these prisoners?"
"Based on the past practice of the Secretariat, it probably depends on how they choose."
“What are the general options?”
"If there are no special crimes, settling down, working, joining the army, or returning home are basically the same."
This answer stunned Qian again.
Wait, he didn’t ask the wrong question, right? What is it like to choose to go home? Could it be that as long as these people said they wanted to leave, Jinxia would let them go
With unbelievable thoughts, Qian asked this question cautiously. No matter what, this method of handling it was too abstract, and he really couldn't imagine it.
As a result, the other party's answer was without any ambiguity, "Yes, that's the literal meaning. The Secretariat will also pay severance pay, usually two or three taels of silver."
"" Qian didn't know what to say. Among the four options, only joining the army was within his understanding. After all, in addition to conscription, another major expansion method of the army is to reorganize prisoners, which is often the best place for the defeated. Others, such as hard labor, reclamation, slavery, and even execution, are common methods of disposal. He knew that Jinxia City was different, and Ning Wanjun's temperament was far from violent, but he still didn't expect to hear such an answer.
"Then why does Her Royal Highness spend energy transporting them back to Jinxia City?" Qian felt that his mind was a little lost, "This expense is not too necessary, right?"
Since they all have the option of returning home, it must be the first choice for most soldiers. Spending money and manpower to bring the captives back to Jinxia is just a different place to let them leave, and they will have to lose several days of food and money. It’s really hard to understand. If what Qian Yan said is true, then dismissing them where they are is the easiest way.
"You don't think that returning home is the best choice, do you?" Qianyan glanced at Yuyi and showed an expression like "I knew you would think so." "In fact, among the prisoners I have met in the past, there are not many I’ll choose the last one.”
"How is that possible?" Qian asked in surprise.
"When you get to Jinxia, you will naturally understand." Her words were full of sighs, "I have met as many people as stars in my life, but when it comes to the ability to read people's hearts, Xia Fan is the most terrifying one among them."