After the defeat, they did not dare to rest at night and almost forced themselves to escape to Jiangling. Unfortunately, the infantry did not walk fast, and some soldiers who were exhausted had to throw away some of their equipment to reduce their weight and increase their chances of escape.

Fortunately, the defeated soldiers were indeed very dispersed, and Zhao Yun didn't know how to chase them, so his soldiers had to rest. So after dawn on the 22nd, Huang Zhong just searched south with the slower infantry.

He did not catch any prisoners along the way, but only caught some wounded people. The injuries were really serious and had no value in saving and transformation, so he finished the fight and dragged the bodies to one place to burn them to avoid contagious plague. Because of Li Su's long-term military advice, the Han army was still very concerned about sanitation work such as burning corpses during the battlefield cleaning.

I picked up a lot of armor and weapons, probably thousands of them, and the Wu soldiers threw them all over the mountains and fields.

Early in the morning of the 22nd, Sun Ce in Jiangling City was the first to receive the news of his defeat, which was that several Wu army scouted cavalry officers under Ling Cao, who retreated directly to Jiangling after the defeat, brought first-hand news.

"What? Both General Cheng and Ling Cao were killed by Zhao Yun? The entire army... Are you saying that the entire army was wiped out?!" Sun Ce was shocked to hear the bad news and jumped up from Hu's bench and slapped the table to question.

The scout officer trembled and complained: "It may not be...it may not be annihilation, but it was really completely defeated and dispersed by Zhao Yun. If the lord sent cavalry to support him in time, he might be able to regain some of the defeated soldiers. Now the defeated soldiers are rushing back."

Sun Ce was shocked and angry when he slapped the table, but he also knew that it was the most important to save the living power at this time. You can ask about other details slowly. He waved:

"Take them down and have some porridge to rest. Yigong, you will take the cavalry out of the city and go out dozens of miles north of the city, search in a formation, and get back more defeated soldiers. If the defeated soldiers are running hard and the situation is not critical, you can give your horses to the defeated soldiers and cavalry back."

Han Dang received the order and went to do it immediately. Before leaving, he thought about it himself and ordered some ox carts to pull people. However, the ox carts were not allowed to be too far away from the city. After all, the ox carts were slow to move, and if the enemy could not chase them, they could not escape.

Sun Ce carefully asked the scout's battle situation in the Nanjun Government Office, and then he roughly understood the reason for his victory or defeat. He sighed with regret: "General Cheng is hesitant to use troops! And underestimate the enemy. How could he face such a dilemma battlefield terrain just because he felt that Zhao Yun was few!

Whether staying behind the camp outside Dangyang City or blocking the entrance of Jingmen Valley, it will definitely be better than moving forward to Changbanpo to take the initiative to meet the enemy. It is rare that Zhao Yun is already in a high position and is still ashamed of himself as he wants to avoid the war. Alas, it is useless to say more about it now."

Zhou Yu was not here, and Sun Ce was alone, not even a person who complained. Especially if Cheng Pu lost his losses, he would not have enough people to discuss with Sun Ce.

Sun Ce spent a whole day to clean up and save the remaining soldiers. At noon on the 22nd, Xu Sheng was the first to retreat in an organized manner. He brought about a reorganized army of about 1,500 people, and his equipment was well preserved. He even brought back some additional equipment left by the dead soldiers.

This is all due to Xu Sheng's mission to besiege Dangyang City and did not participate in the Battle of Changbanpo, so at least the two besieged camps outside the city gates were not pursued and escaped unscathed.

In the afternoon, Lu Meng also came back and brought the largest unit of the remnants of the defeated army, with about 4,000 people, the system was still intact, and the equipment was retained by 60,000%. Sun Ce personally met him, asked about the situation, and commended Lu Meng for his contribution to the recovery and preservation of the troops during his defeat.

Sun Ce knew very well that when the troops were defeated, they should strive to create even a positive example to boost morale.

Sun Ce also said that Lu Meng would do his job well. His brother-in-law Deng Dang is now ill in Xiakou and is almost out of reach. Lu Meng can take over Deng Dang's position with this hard work.

After Lu Meng came back, it took another half a day. It was not until midnight that Song Qian finally withdrew. He had only one thousand people followed him, and he lost more than half of his equipment, which was extremely embarrassed. In the second half of the night, he gradually gathered up scattered soldiers one after another.

On the morning of the 23rd, when Sun Ce counted the reorganized troops, he found that only seven or eight thousand were recovered by all the defeated soldiers.

Sun Ce sighed in grief and anger: "The 27,000 people brought to the Old General Cheng, and the 20,000 people were lost in this way! Zhao Yun's attack was like a god."

In fact, the killing and captives caused by Zhao Yun's troops must be less than 20,000. The number of captives currently being incorporated in Dangyang County is only 6,000.

The remaining 14,000 was obviously impossible to be killed. It is estimated that half of them completely fled in all directions, and were completely frightened by the beating, and had no intention of returning to Sun Ce's troops.

This situation is very common among young soldiers in the army, especially those who have not married yet. This can also be seen from the age composition of the scattered defeated soldiers gathered by Sun Ce’s army:

Those who fled back to continue to hang out with Sun Ce were all veterans in their twenties or even thirties. They had relatives, wives and children in Jiangdong and Lujiang. If they didn't go back, their wives and children would starve to death or be forced to remarry and abandon them.

Almost all young soldiers under the age of 20 can escape. Anyway, the whole family is not hungry if they are full, so they stay in Nanjun and become soldiers and farmers.

At that time, the family would not have only one child. Naturally, the parents and brothers and sisters would raise them. As long as they escaped, they could still pretend to be dead in battle. Maybe Sun Ce could reduce taxes to the families of those who died in battle.

However, this trick is now only used by the defeated soldiers of Yuan Shao and Sun Ce's troops, but Cao Cao's army is not able to do it. In history, the Wei State had thought about some relatively damaged "human resources policies" later.

For example, the wives of fleeing and dead soldiers were sent to other living soldiers as wives. When they found that the army surrendered, the enemy would have to take charge of their families. After these ruthless moves were taken, the problem of soldiers escaping and not returning was greatly alleviated. (Cao Cao has not implemented it yet)

...

After Sun Ce took stock of the final battle damage, Han Dang had already brought all the cavalry teams that had received the defeated troops back to the city. He didn't sleep all day and night, and did not dare to rest after returning to the city. Instead, he asked Sun Ce for his next plan:

"Lord, the last general thinks that since the first defeat has been completed, regret is useless. It is better to hold on for one or two days and wait for Gongjin's main force to arrive, take a break and recover his combat power and morale, and then take the area.

To be honest, this battle was originally avoidable, but our army suddenly got Jiangling and got such a huge amount of supplies. He was reluctant to leave the small part that was snatched away by Zhang Song, and he was greedy for too many things. As long as we deal with it carefully and no longer take risks and be greedy, major events can still be done."

Sun Ce nodded: "I am sorry for the soldiers of the three armies. I suddenly gained huge profits. I was blinded by Ruhong's momentum and made arrogance. If I do not match my position, there will be disaster. It is because our army first entered Nanjun. It is too smooth for us to do this battle. I will bear all the faults. All the soldiers who fled back should be rewarded and comforted to fight again."

Han Dang tempted: "I don't know how my lord plans to fight again? I'm sorry, after Gongjin's reinforcements arrived, Li Su's main infantry force had almost gone from Xiangyang to Dangyang.

Judging from the information given by Cai Mao before the war, Li Su had 20,000 infantry troops in Xiangyang, and could be used to support everywhere at any time. Even if he wanted to keep people in Xiangyang, he could not come all of them. Then Li Su and Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong had troops in Dangyang, there were probably 20,000.

Our army may not be able to capture the city that was defended by 20,000 people soon. Moreover, Cai Mao also said that Zhang Song noticed the abnormality in advance and transported all the precious weapons in Jiangling City away.

When I responded to Xu Sheng yesterday, Xu Sheng also said that he had tentatively attacked Dangyang. The costly attacking equipment and arrows of the city were extremely abundant in the city. Although the city wall was not high and the defense was broken, it still had extremely severe damage to the siege side. Our army could not use the lives of Jiangdong's children to fill this bottomless pit in vain."

Sun Ce had the humility that reflective people should have after the defeat, so he respected Han Dang very much, giving him the opportunity to finish his words. Then Sun Ce sincerely admitted his mistake:

"Don't worry, I am a good man, and I will not fight hard or chaotic. Gu has already seen it clearly. The southerners drive boats and the northerners ride horses. This failure also makes us fully recognize the advantages of Zhao Yun's iron cavalry and the gap between the northern and southern armies fighting on the open plains.

Between Yang Changban and Jiangling, there was a wide Jianghan Plain of more than a hundred miles, with fields and fields and no water. It was the most suitable battlefield for cavalry decisive battles in Jingbei. We happened to run into Zhao Yun’s longest battle technique before.

However, as long as Zhao Yun continued to move south from Dangyang, passed Maicheng, and arrived in the northeast of Jiangling, Xiaze and other Yunmengze remnants of lakes and swamps, the terrain was muddy and low-lying. The cavalry would not be able to perform.

After Gongjin arrived, as long as the Han River enters the Yangtze River in Xiakou, we will not allow the Li Sujun warships in the Han River to enter the Yangtze River directly, and we will also control the Han River and Hanjinkou and Jiangjinkou where the Han River connects the Yangtze River through Xia River, and all the Li Sujun warships in Xiangyang will not be able to reach the southern battlefield.

By then, all the warships Li Sujun on the southern battlefield would be the only one that could rely on the baqiu guard Gan Ning to hide in Dongting Lake, Xiangjiang and Changsha. In this way, water warfare is still our army's absolute advantage!

Taking advantage of this defeat, we pretended to be discouraged and dared not fight again. We waited for Li Su to be unable to hold back and rush to recover Jiangling and fight with us at the edge of Jiangling City. We rely on the harassment along the Xiaze Water Network to make a decision to turn defeat into victory."

Han Dang still felt that there was a slight unreliable detail that he didn't understand, and reminded him: "Will Li Su really be anxious to counterattack Jiangling City?"

Sun Ce grinned angrily: "Cai Mao gave us 1.8 million stones of grain in Jiangling City! It's enough for the army to eat for fifteen months! We will only eat for one more day if we station for one more day. This grain was originally owned by Li Su. Will he not rush to take it back as soon as possible to reduce the losses?"

Such a plan has been decided, and the two armies have indeed returned to the short rest and tranquility of the few days after the war.

There was no conflict on the 24th and 25th. Everyone stabilized their current territory and enriched the front line.

On the afternoon of October 24, Zhou Yu took the 65,000 Navy ship and walked the Yangtze River for 400 miles more than Sun Ce, and finally drove to Jiangling City.

Along the way, he had to pass the mouth of Dongting Lake in the south, but Gan Ning was indeed a few soldiers and weak force. With his more than 10,000 people alone, he did not dare to intercept Zhou Yu's 65,000, but instead brought all his troops into the Baqiu Port Water Village.

However, because of the existence of Baqiutai and other river defense fortresses on Baqiu Mountain, a large number of catapults and giant crossbows were deployed to suppress enemy ships on the river surface that dared to approach at any time, Zhou Yu did not dare to attack Baqiu Fortress in trouble, and asked his fleet to pass through the mouth of Dongting Lake along the north bank of the Yangtze River.

Since ancient times, fleets have suffered losses in attacking the sea defense and river defense fortresses.

After Zhou Yu arrived in Jiangling, he was extremely regretful to hear that Cheng Pu was defeated. But now that things have come, he also agreed not to hurry up and let the soldiers who came to the distance to adjust.
Chapter completed!