Early in the morning of the second day, in the Huwei Hall of Baishi Pass, all officers above the rank of colonel among the defenders of Baishi Pass, as well as Qian Su and Lu Wenbin, the two officials of the Qiyun Protectorate who were brought by Yan Liqiang to inspect Baishi Pass, were gathered here. They were listening excitedly to Tie Yunshan talking about the situation of yesterday's battle. The officers who participated in yesterday's battle, such as Wang Naiwu and Xiao Yuman, all had happy expressions on their faces and were in high spirits, while the officers who did not participate in yesterday's battle looked at the participating officers with envy, and some of them were regretful and annoyed, and they almost beat their chests and stamped their feet, blaming themselves for missing yesterday's battle.
The news of yesterday's battle had already spread throughout Baishi Pass. Yesterday, the commander of Qi Yun, Yan Liqiang, led his troops to first lift the siege of Fengbian Village, then annihilate the Tuli tribe, and then repel the reinforcements of the Baki tribe. Three battles and three wins shocked the world. For the defenders of Baishi Pass in the Han Empire, this was a proud moment in decades. Before, everyone who was guarding Baishi Pass had been humiliated by the seven Shatu tribes and were afraid to do anything. Unexpectedly, when Yan Liqiang came yesterday, he swept away the decadent atmosphere at once. At this moment, all the soldiers inside and outside Baishi Pass were in high spirits and morale was high. Every soldier was like a chicken with blood injected.
In particular, the process of Yan Liqiang leading the troops to cover the rear yesterday, forcing back four to five thousand reinforcements of the Bakii tribe with one arrow, and single-handedly killing Balsa, the first warrior of the Bakii tribe, has now spread throughout Baishi Pass and has become a legend among ordinary soldiers.
Tie Yunshan's rough voice was echoing in the room at this moment, and it sounded like nature's sound to everyone's ears.
"Yesterday's battle went like this..."
"After yesterday's battle, we killed nearly 10,000 Tuli tribe members and seized a large amount of Tuli trophies. We counted them last night and found a total of 14,566 rhinoceros horses, 41,588 yaks, 3,684 sheep, 2,818 swords, bows, crossbows and armor. In addition, we found 47 boxes of gold, silver and jewelry from the Tuli tribe, which is equivalent to more than 300,000 taels of silver. There are also more than 100,000 sheep. Because we couldn't drive them all away, we left them on the Gulang grassland and didn't bring them back..."
Listening to Tie Yunshan's words, many officers were secretly shocked by the wealth of the Tuli tribe. Not to mention the cattle and sheep, they did not expect that there were so many gold, silver and jewelry. However, more people were secretly regretful. They were calculating in their hearts the value of bringing those 100,000 sheep. You know, in the northwest at this moment, everyone is crazy about wool. If the 100,000 sheep of the Tuli tribe could be brought into the interior, the wealth would be enormous.
Qian Su listened with a look of pain on his face. Before, Qian Su was in charge of a manufacturing bureau and didn't feel short of money. Now that Yan Liqiang entrusted him with an important task and the entire Qiyun Governor's Office's purse was in his hands, Qian Su suddenly felt that he was spending money like water everywhere, and no matter how much money he had, it was not enough. When he heard that more than 100,000 sheep were placed in front of Yan Liqiang and others yesterday, but Yan Liqiang and others had no way to bring them back, the expression on Qian Su's face suddenly became interesting, and he was breathing cold air through his teeth. As Tie Yunshan was talking, he was muttering the number here, "More than 100,000, more than 100,000..."
While Tie Yunshan was saying these numbers, he glanced at Yan Liqiang who was sitting in the main seat. He saw that Yan Liqiang was listening attentively without a trace of complacency on his face, and he was still as calm as water. This made even a veteran like Tie Yunshan feel a little nervous.
"How many of our soldiers were killed or wounded yesterday?" Yan Liqiang asked calmly.
"In yesterday's battle, 487 defenders of Baishi Pass were injured and 267 were killed. More than 40 guards around you were also injured and 6 were killed..." Tie Yunshan replied, with a hint of heaviness in his words.
There will be casualties in war, which is inevitable. No matter how great a victory Yan Liqiang led his troops to yesterday, the deaths and injuries of the soldiers participating in the battle are inevitable. It’s just that compared with the results achieved by Yan Liqiang and his men, the number of casualties is relatively small. In the eyes of some generals, this is already a perfect victory, and those casualties are just necessary costs.
Yan Liqiang was not as relaxed as the captains in Baishi Pass in the room. Instead, he felt a little heavy. As professional soldiers, the captains in Baishi Pass might have gotten used to and seen the price to be paid for victory. But for Yan Liqiang, yesterday was the first time he led his troops into battle in the true sense. He had a head-on confrontation with the seven tribes of Shatu on the front battlefield. Although he won a great victory yesterday, Yan Liqiang still felt that he had an unshirkable responsibility for every soldier who died in battle with him.
Among the nearly 300 lives, 6 were his guards and students of his archery club. They had been following him since they took their first step into the archery club two years ago. Every face was familiar to Yan Liqiang, and he could call out their names—Cao Kun, Luo Zhenwei, Qian Minggui, Yang Zizhong, Tang Xingke, and Zhang Wei. They were six vigorous young people. When they raided the Tuli tribe yesterday, Cao Kun, Luo Zhenwei, and Qian Minggui were shot in the vitals by the archers of the Tuli tribe during the battle, while Tang Xingke and Zhang Wei were stabbed off their horses by several Shatu people hiding in the bushes while they were chasing the fleeing Tuli tribe members...
After returning last night, Yan Liqiang personally cleaned the bodies of the six people, sutured their wounds, and changed them into clean clothes. Thinking of the faces of the six people at this moment, Yan Liqiang still felt grief in his heart.
After Tie Yunshan finished answering, the room fell silent. Half a minute later, Yan Liqiang came back to his senses and found that the room had become quiet. Everyone was looking at him, waiting for him to speak.
The dead are gone, but the living are still here. The best way to commemorate the dead is to make their sacrifice valuable and allow the living to live better and with more dignity in the future!
Yan Liqiang said this to himself in his heart, clenched his fists tightly on his knees, took a deep breath, and spoke again, asking Tie Yunshan, "According to the previous military system, how should the soldiers who died in the battle yesterday be compensated?"
"According to the military system of the Han Empire, a soldier who died in battle would be given a pension of ten taels of silver, and the military governor's office would also send a letter to the local authorities to exempt his family from corvée labor for the next five years..."
"that is all?"
Tie Yunshan was silent for a moment, looked at Yan Liqiang, and continued, "If the military superiors are not corrupt, this is still good. The families of soldiers who died in battle can receive ten taels of silver. In some places, the pension silver that soldiers who died in battle can receive is less than ten taels. Some receive three or five taels, and some even get nothing. The pension silver is withheld by the superiors. If there is no one at home, the local corvée exemption will sometimes shrink, from five years to three or two years. Local officials and local tyrants and evil gentry sometimes even intercept the benefits and leave the quota for corvée exemption to their own family members..."
Yan Liqiang listened and his face darkened. "Is there such a thing in Qiyun County?"
(End of this chapter)