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Zhang Qi was captured alive by Qin Mu, and the central army camp, the two small camps in the south and north, and the 1,000 reinforcements sent by Mo Qingniu to the south were all scattered. In the darkness, countless fleeing soldiers ran around in all directions, and the shouts, horse hooves, and sounds of killing could be heard for dozens of miles.
The remaining 3,000 rebels on the east and west sides were infected by the panic caused by this great rout, and Qin Mu and his men didn't have to put in any effort at all, as they soon followed suit and fled. Once this great rout was formed, even gods would find it difficult to reverse the situation.
At dawn, Qin Mu's two thousand men were still chasing after them;
Before Qin Mu launched the night attack last night, the rebels had been harassed by Su Jin for most of the night and were already exhausted. Then, they were relentlessly pursued by Qin Mu's two thousand troops. Many of them could not run anymore and simply lay on the ground, holding their heads with their hands and begging for mercy.
Looking around, the mountains and plains were full of rebels kneeling on the ground to surrender. The frightened rebels no longer had any thought of resisting. Two or three Ganzhou soldiers could drive hundreds of rebels together like herding sheep.
Qin Mu stopped his horse on a small hill. He was not observing the battlefield. He had no time for that because Sima An was spitting at his face.
"Sir, as a commander, you only need to use both kindness and severity, and clearly distinguish rewards and punishments. In battle, you should focus on strategy, as well as the ability to judge the situation and respond flexibly. Personal bravery is secondary."
"Most of the great generals in ancient times did not rely on their personal bravery. Bai Qi of the Qin Dynasty, Han Xin of the Han Dynasty, Li Jing of the Tang Dynasty, and Xu Da, the King of Zhongshan in this dynasty, were not known for their personal bravery."
"Your Excellency is the commander-in-chief of the three armies. When the rebels have been defeated, you actually put yourself in danger. This is not bravery, but stupidity. Your Excellency, do you know what the consequences will be if you make a mistake?"
"Sir, I have said so much. Have you heard it all?"
"Mr. Sima, I'm fine. Don't worry. As the saying goes, good things come to those who are lucky..."
"Good people are blessed by heaven? Don't use these nonsense to prevaricate, sir. Haven't you heard that you can defy the will of heaven, but you can't survive the consequences of your own actions? If you don't even cherish your own life, how can you expect God to favor you?" Sima An was so angry that he couldn't stop drooling. "I hope this is the last time. From now on, whenever the army goes to war, you must stay away from the battlefield and just command from the center. General Meng, General Liu and others will do the charging."
Su Jin, Zhu Yijin, Li Shi and others also echoed in unison and launched an attack on Qin Mu. Qin Mu was no match for the four hands, so he could only say repeatedly: "Okay, I promise that I will be cautious next time. I will never take unnecessary risks again. Is that okay? Zhu Yijin, go and see how many rebels we have captured this time, and count the military supplies we have seized. Go quickly."
Due to the pursuit, the battlefield stretched over 20 miles. It took most of the day just to clean up the battlefield, and it was not until the 11th hour that the battlefield was completely cleaned up.
This time, more than 1,200 enemies were annihilated, and more than 3,300 rebels including the commander Zhang Qi were captured. In addition, including what Su Jin and his men seized yesterday, a total of 226 war horses, more than 800 pack horses, and a large number of weapons and food were captured.
Qin Mu dispatched a total of 2,150 troops this time, with 121 casualties. Although Qin Mu was heartbroken about this number of casualties, he could still accept it.
After all, there will always be casualties in war, it's just a matter of how many. If you want to avoid casualties, you have to do what the Americans do, using the Tomahawk to carry out saturation bombing from hundreds of miles away.
It was time for dinner at the hour of Yin. Only some tents were burned in Zhang Qi's camp, and the walls were still there. Qin Mu directly occupied the camp. Although the smell of blood had not completely dissipated, the camp was full of laughter and joy after the victory. As the smoke from cooking rose in the evening, bursts of meat aroma wafted from the firemen's camp, and the atmosphere became even more lively.
After winning a great victory and seizing a large amount of spoils, Qin Mu naturally wanted to comfort the soldiers and ordered the cooking of cattle and sheep to reward the three armies.
The soldiers waiting for dinner were either arm in arm or in groups of three or five, chatting happily about how they had killed the enemy last night.
Especially the twenty or thirty cavalrymen who followed Qin Mu in the charge last night became rare animals. They were surrounded by soldiers in three layers inside and three layers outside, listening to their story about how Qin Mu captured the rebel leader Zhang Qizai alive last night.
The soldiers did not think as much as Sima An did. When they heard that Qin Mu was fearless and used his warhorse to ram Zhang Qi's warhorse, they cheered loudly.
Soldiers tend to identify more easily with their heroic commanders, not to mention that Qin Mu was just a weak civil servant a few months ago, and he had trained hard with them. The capture of the enemy commander alive this time made the soldiers' personal worship of Qin Mu reach a level that no one else could match, and this was exactly the effect that Qin Mu was willing to take risks to achieve.
Qin Mu and his generals had no time to enjoy the victory. Except for Su Jin who was busy reorganizing the 3,000 prisoners, all the important generals were summoned by Qin Mu to the central army tent.
Qin Mu was sitting behind a long table, carefully wiping his Juque sword with a piece of white silk. He said casually, "I called you all here. I'm sure you have guessed the reason. Tell me, what should we do next? Should we continue to attack Wanzai as planned, or should we return to Yuanzhou and try our best? Let us know what you think."
Huo Sheng spoke first, "Sir, what else is there to discuss? We should return to Yuanzhou. The rebel leader Zhang Qizai has become our prisoner. Seven thousand rebels have been annihilated or captured. The rebels in Yuanzhou must be in a state of panic. Maybe once our army arrives at the city, the rebels in the city will be scared and surrender. Zhang Qizai's 20,000 rebels came all the way east from Changsha, burning, killing and looting wherever they passed. Yuanzhou is their old nest now. I don't know how many good things they robbed are stored in it. Hehe, sir, if we take Yuanzhou before Lu Daqi comes, it will probably be equivalent to you being a salt merchant for one or two years."
Qin Mu was choked. I support you, provide you with food and clothes, but you think I am a private salt dealer. This is really unreasonable.
"Does everyone think so?" He still lowered his head and wiped the sword, over and over again, until all the blood stains in the diamond pattern on the sword were wiped clean.
Liu Meng said, "Sir, Yuanzhou has high walls and thick fortresses. There are still 10,000 rebels guarding it. Zhang Xianzhong's army is only a few days away from Yuanzhou. This will undoubtedly give the rebels in Yuanzhou great confidence. If we attack with these 2,000 troops, let alone whether we can capture it, even if we can, I am afraid there will be heavy casualties. Anyway, our reputation has been established. Instead of desperately attacking the fortified city, it is better to capture Wanzai first, and then sit back and watch the fight, letting Lu Daqi and Zhang Xianzhong fight to the death first, and then we can take advantage of any opportunity, and then we can advance and retreat calmly when the time comes."
"Meng Ke, what's your opinion?" Qin Mu asked.
"Divide the troops." Meng Ke was indeed a strong man. The words "divide the troops" were something that no one dared to think about. With only two thousand troops, attacking Yuanzhou was not enough, but he actually said he wanted to divide the troops. "Sir, just give me three hundred troops, and I will take the other three thousand prisoners with me. I guarantee that you can capture Wanzai. As for Yuanzhou, three hundred more won't be too much, and three hundred less won't be too little. You can go and try. If you can fight, then fight. If you can't, then retreat to Wanzai."
"What does Mr. Sima mean?" Qin Mu asked.
"Sir, if the three thousand captives are used properly, it should not be a problem to use them to capture Wanzai. I also agree with General Meng's opinion."
Qin Mu said to Meng Ke calmly: "I can't give you three thousand prisoners."
"Sir, don't you plan to have a long life?"
"No, I want Wanzai, and I want Yuanzhou too."
All the generals sitting in the hall looked at Qin Mu. Meng Ke's plan was greedy enough, but Yuanzhou was just going to give it a try, so it was finally acceptable. No one expected that Qin Mu was even more ruthless, as if Wanzai and Yuanzhou could be easily controlled in his hands.
“Your Excellency means… … … ..”
"Meng Ke, I can give you a maximum of 500 prisoners. It's up to you how you use them. Anyway, you must capture Wanzai for me. I will let the other prisoners escape back to Yuanzhou tonight. Liu Meng, you go and select 50 smart soldiers yourself and let them blend into the rebels. After entering Yuanzhou City, go get some laxatives. Tomorrow night, or the night after tomorrow at the latest, I want all the rebels in Yuanzhou City to have diarrhea..."
Poof! Sima An spat out a mouthful of water, because a spectacular scene of ten thousand people having diarrhea at the same time suddenly appeared in his mind. This... ... ... Are there enough toilets in Yuanzhou City
Sima An coughed a few times and said, "Your Excellency's idea may be good, but when the defeated soldiers enter the city, they are likely to be searched. I think it will be difficult for our people to bring the medicinal materials into the city."
Qin Mu replied indifferently: "If we can't bring the herbs in, we can just go into the city and look for them. These are not a problem. As long as we can get our people in, the problem will be easy to solve."
Sima An nodded slightly and said nothing on this issue. Qin Mu has always been good at listening to the opinions of his subordinates, but this does not mean that he has no opinions of his own. On the contrary, once he makes the final decision, it is difficult for others to change it. Sima An is very clear about this.
In order to cooperate with this operation, Qin Mu also lifted the ban on alcohol. In the camp at dusk, the soldiers were laughing and noisy. Except for the soldiers on guard, the atmosphere in the camp was very warm, with cups and bowls clinking. Qin Mu even came out personally to toast the soldiers, which aroused cheers.
More than 3,000 prisoners were held in a small camp in the west. They could hear the noise coming from the central camp from afar. At the same time, they found that the officers and soldiers guarding them were secretly drinking wine, and the guarding gradually relaxed.
Many prisoners felt that their chance had come, and began to whisper to each other. The fifty people selected by Liu Meng to infiltrate the prisoners were particularly active, constantly inciting the prisoners in the camp... ... ... ... (To be continued...)
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