As soon as he returned to the camp, Wu Shigong immediately patrolled and began to comfort the sick and wounded one by one. But before he walked half a circle, Wu Shigong couldn't stand it anymore. The sights were full of miserable images and the ears were full of wailing, which made Wu Shigong feel heartbroken.
Wu Shigong was afraid that he couldn't bear it and collapsed, so he had to go back to his big tent first. But when he walked to the big tent, he saw Huang Ding crying. Wu Shigong didn't know how to comfort him because he knew the feelings between Huang Ding and Huang Qiqi.
After waiting for a long time, Wu Shigong could only pat Huang Ding on the shoulder and express his feelings.
Huang Ding felt someone tapping his shoulder. He immediately raised his head and saw Wu Shigong standing in front of him, so he cried: "Sir! My godfather dreams of returning to Liaodong. You must take us to fight."
But as soon as he entered the tent, Wu Shigong could no longer control his emotions. He fell down on a chair, feeling so sad that he covered his face and burst into tears.
Each and every lively comrade-in-arms has now turned into a cold corpse, which is simply unacceptable to Wu Shigong. Now he is no longer a commander who regards soldiers as numbers for the sake of victory, but a brother to those comrades-in-arms.
partner.
Seeing Wu Shigong crying loudly, Zhang Zhiheng immediately signaled his soldiers to tighten the curtain at the entrance of the tent. Then he came to Wu Shigong's side and comforted him softly: "My lord, my condolences! But you also need to be cautious. Let the sons and daughters see you."
The cry of your lord may hurt the morale of the army!"
Wu Shigong wiped his face full of tears and replied: "I'm not weak! I'm just very, very sad."
…
"Sir! The Tatars have abandoned their camp and evacuated overnight. Should we send troops to harass them?" Zug, acting as the commander of Pegasus Town, was sitting on a recliner. His whole body was now covered with bandages.
After resting for a night, Wu Shigong's mood had recovered a lot. He thought for a while, shook his head and said: "Let them go! Send a message to the officers and soldiers in the capital and Tongzhou, saying that the Tatars have been defeated by our Runing army. Now
They have already fled. Let them clean up."
The current Runing Army only has the combat effectiveness of the cavalry association that returned from the capital. However, as they drove back, more than 800 horses were killed. In order to reduce the weight, many heavy items such as armor and artillery were discarded.
So Wu Shigong no longer wanted to lose this army.
"Then what should we do now?" He Fei asked.
"Let's rest on the spot first!" Wu Shigong replied, "The people around here can't requisition them, and there aren't that many coffins. We can only bury all our sacrificed sons and daughters, and then find a way to raise the graves and transport them back to Runing.
Then cremate all our dead horses. Then we can retreat to Texas to rest!"
In the Battle of Xueling, although the Runing army won, the entire army was crippled and was no longer able to pursue the Qing army. So Wu Shigong planned to return to Runing to heal his wounds as soon as the Qing army retreated outside the pass. And now
At this time, they had to rely on the nearest big city, Dezhou, and camp there to rest and recuperate.
"Master! You trusted me this time, but...!" He Fei said. The Runing Army suffered such heavy casualties this time, and as a battlefield commander, He Fei always felt a little uncomfortable.
Wu Shigong raised his hand and interrupted He Fei: "Yesterday you commanded well. So there is no need to blame yourself too much. Some of such heavy casualties are God's will, and some are really just gaps. The Tatars are like a whetstone.
, it has exposed all our gaps and shortcomings. Usually our Runing army thinks that I am the best in the world, but after this battle, you should have discovered that we have many shortcomings!"
"The problem of reconnaissance; the problem of rain fighting; the problem of equipment. Without firearms, we don't know how to fight; and the problem of command. Even I myself have neglected it, but luckily I have this kid Huang Ding to take over. In one sentence:
We still have to study. We still need to train a lot. When we get back later, we will summarize the battle immediately. The changes that need to be made, the corrections that need to be made up, these are all lessons gained with blood!"
"But sir! Even so, our Runing Army still won. These barbarians are no big deal. Our Runing Army is indeed invincible!" As a Westerner, Gonzalez always spoke so directly.
There was silence in the big tent. The officers didn't know how I would react. After a while, when Wu Shigong's face didn't change, someone laughed for the first time, and then the big tent was filled with laughter. Wu Shigong
He also felt quite proud. He smiled and nodded: "It's a victory! It's a victory!"
After laughing for a while, Wu Shigong asked He Fei again: "How is the loss of current personnel and equipment?"
This topic suddenly made the big tent become dull again. He Fei put away his smile and said solemnly: "The number of victims has exceeded 8,000, and there are still 1,300 people with multiple injuries. Even if they are cured, they are basically disabled.
We lost more than 3,000 horses, and more than 1,000 of them will be scrapped after the war. Among the weapons, not to mention the conventional scrapping, the rest of the losses are not big, because we control the battlefield after the war, and we can pick up anything that falls.
When we came back, we lost more than a dozen artillery pieces. However, the Tatar cannons were too late to take away, so this time they all fell into our hands."
Wu Shigong scratched his scalp several times and felt a severe headache. He didn't feel it during the war, but now he had to worry about post-war pensions and reconstruction.
According to the pension standard of the Runing Army, each family must be given fifty acres of land to each family for the dead and disabled soldiers. Calculated according to the market price, it would be more than five million taels of silver. Of course, Wu Shigong could allocate it to the families of these people to farm the village.
land, but this will also greatly reduce the annual food income of the Runing Army.
In addition, the families of these martyrs have to support each year, purchase war horses, and replenish other equipment. Everything such as this will not be less than two million taels of silver. But now the annual military expenditure of the Runing Army is only more than 600,000.
Two, you can see what an astronomical figure this is. If it is not done well, the finances of the Runing Army will collapse all of a sudden.
What about the captures on the battlefield? Only the twelve backward general cannons.
However, Wu Shigong now could not reveal to his subordinates that the Runing Army was about to encounter a financial crisis. He smiled and waved his hand and said: "All that is left are some seeds! With them, we can pull up
An army of 100,000 people. So let the little monk work harder and save one more person!"
…
After the officers left, Zhang Zhiheng asked Wu Shigong: "Sir! How should we write a successful report for our trip to the capital?"
Wu Shigong then remembered this matter. He thought about it for a while and said: "Let it be written truthfully! According to the truth, our contribution is not small. It is best to find a way to exchange the contribution for the court's pension! Also,
Let’s send the good news back to Runing first, so that our family can feel at ease.”
In this battle, the total number of casualties of the Qing army reached 14,000, of which more than 7,000 were killed. Although this number is slightly smaller than that of the Runing army, considering the gap between cavalry and infantry, it should be said that
The two armies were tied.
Although the Eight Banners of the Qing Army suffered only nearly 2,000 casualties, the casualties suffered by the Mongolian Eight Banners, the Han Army Banners and the Mongolian tribes and herdsmen were much greater. And because of the limited population of the Eight Banners, such casualties had already made the Manchus quite heartbroken. On the contrary, North Korea
There were not many casualties among the gunmen, because they were not on the front line in this battle.
Relatively speaking, because the Qing army basically had war horses, their physical exertion was less. In addition, they were in the pass, and they might be in danger if they were alone, so Dorgon gathered the remaining troops quite smoothly. Also
Allowing them to retreat proactively.
But as soon as they retreated, they discovered a Ming army coming from the north, which was the reinforcements of Liu Zeqing and Jiang Cheng. But by this time, Dorgon's Qing army had become frightened, and they no longer dared to fight with them.
The Ming army was entangled. So Dorgon and the others stepped up their retreat, hoping to reunite with Du Du's Qing army as soon as possible, and then speed up their return to Liaodong.
The Runing Army rested in place for five days, and was pleasantly surprised to see Liu and Jiang's coalition forces. As soon as they met, Liu Zeqing exclaimed: "Brother Chang Jing, I didn't expect you to defeat the Tatars. It's really gratifying and congratulatory.
!”
At this time, Wu Shigong was already a little unfazed. He said politely: "It's just a fluke! Thank you Brother Hezhou and Jiang Shoubei for being righteous! There's nothing to say. Brother, I don't have anything else right now. I just have a lot of Tatar heads. Just look at it.
Get it yourself!”
Hearing that Wu Shigong wanted to give him the credit, Liu Zeqing immediately laughed so hard that he couldn't even open his eyes. However, Jiang Cheng didn't react at all, looking very worried.
Wu Shigong was very surprised and asked Jiang Cheng why, only to learn that Jiang Cheng's help had cut off his escape route.
Different from Liu Zeqing, Liu Zeqing is a prince and does not need to look at other people's faces at all. He has a strong army of 20,000, and the court has to accommodate him on many matters, so he will not be prosecuted for leaving the camp without orders.
Liu Zeqing, not to mention now has the Tatar heads sent by Wu Shigong.
Although Jiang Cheng will not be punished by the court, it is uncertain whether he will be settled by the Queen of Autumn. As long as the court puts a dent in Jiang Cheng's salary and lets him take on some dangerous tasks, it may not be long before his
The army will disperse. And now Jiang Cheng only has more than 700 soldiers, so he is worried about his future.
As soon as he understood this problem, Wu Shigong immediately patted his chest on Jiang Cheng. Wu Shigong promised that as long as Jiang Cheng surrendered to him, he would immediately appoint him as the commander of the association, and fully replenish his troops and equipment. In the future, the Runing Army would supply Jiang Cheng's troops.
Of course, Jiang Cheng will also accept the command of Wu Shigong and be integrated into the system of the Runing Army. However, Jiang Cheng will not disclose his relationship with the Runing Army in public.
After hearing this promise, Jiang Cheng, who was already desperate, immediately agreed happily. The result was a happy one for everyone.
On February 16, the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the entire Runing Army, together with the coalition forces of Li Lu, Liu Zeqing and Jiang Cheng, withdrew to Dezhou, where Shandong Governor Yan Jizu and Shandong Commander-in-Chief Qiu Lei were located.