Chapter 507 A Thousand Miles Journey (1)

In the battle of Luolongtan, the army from top to bottom abandoned their helmets and armor and returned in embarrassment.

The day Zhang Xing returned to the Dengzhou camp was the fifth day of September. He waited for another three days and counted his troops and horses. By the eighth day of September, most of the leaders, including three dragon colts, had returned:

Among them, Miao Hailang and Jia Wugen were captured, and Jia Wugen was seriously injured and did not know whether he was alive or dead. This was considered a standard loss;

The injuries that were not life-threatening, but could not be called minor injuries, included Yan Qing, who fell off his horse due to fright;

There was Gao Shitong, who fell due to lack of vitality when he was slapped by the Lord of the Sea, plus Pang Vajra, Gao Vajra, Dwarf Vajra, and Shou Vajra... The former was injured in the previous battle, and several Vajras were cultivators in the Thirteen Vajras.

Those who were weak, once they left the formation and lost their body-protecting Qi, they immediately suffered obvious injuries, both internal and external, and could only lie down now;

Among those with cultivation levels above Condensation Pill, Qian Tang was hit by rocks in the air, and Su Jingfang, who happened to fall in the same place as Wang Yuande and received a blow;

As for those who have not yet returned to the team, there is also Fan Lihua. From some sergeants who have returned, we learned that she is not bad and is just searching for the tribesmen in trouble at Luolongtan.

In addition, everyone did not say it, but they all noticed that King Xiongtian obviously suffered a big loss in the duel with Li Ziqi. He has not recovered until now. His face is sallow and he cannot speak clearly.

...It's just that when the damage reaches that level, it's useless for ordinary people to think about it, and they can't ask questions. They can only pretend not to know.

Even though Chief Zhang himself and Manager Bai, who actually cut off the Tiger's vitals, were in good spirits, everyone could detect that they looked haggard and had obviously suffered.

In the end, of the more than thirty leaders, two were lost and seven or eight were injured.

The soldiers were about the same. Counting the thousands of corpses collected by the army in the previous encounter and buried on the spot, the more than 30,000 people had been reduced by three to four thousand, and the number of minor injuries was no less than four to five thousand... But that's not all.

The overall figure is difficult to measure at the moment because Bai Yousi's troops suffered a lot of losses on the road.

Even among the captives and refugees who had arrived early, there were some seven or eight thousand people dispersed. It is not known whether they were trapped in Luolongtan or because they did not understand the situation here and deliberately did not come to the Dengzhou camp.

, fled to another place.

As for the equipment and livestock, the loss was even worse. When the real dragon finally fell, all the livestock almost went crazy and fled, and most people chose to abandon their helmets and flee in confusion.

In addition, Fenshanjun was seriously injured, but Bihaijun was not injured. From now on for an uncertain period of time, the door between Dongyi and Dengzhou will be opened in one direction...

Can passively defend.

Therefore, from a rational point of view, the battle at Luolongtan seems to have been a failure of one move, a so-called tactical defeat for both sides, and a complete strategic failure.

However, the atmosphere here in Dengzhou Camp is much better than expected.

"I almost killed that dragon! I almost killed that dragon!" Liu Heifu, who had just returned from Luolongtan today, hit his arms on the wooden board and stamped his feet as soon as he came in regardless of the mud all over him. "What a pity!

What a pity! The more I think about it, the more irritated I get!"

"It is indeed a pity." Wang Zhen, who came back two or three days earlier, also felt it was a pity, but he was not as angry as Liu Datou, who had not shown up before he left. "I have been thinking about it these past few days.

Not willing to give in, why did Lord Bihai protect Lord Fenshan? Aren’t they mortal enemies? Why did they pounce down?!"

"Indeed, if we really kill Fenshanjun and take the dragon head back, then we can deal with Xue Changxiong and Luo Shu, I'm afraid we can win without a fight and the whole of Hebei will surrender." Wang Xiongdan also felt a little emotional.

"Actually, it's good enough. I'm proud of myself for seriously injuring the tiger. Even if it doesn't intimidate Hebei, it's enough to scare people's hearts." Su Jingfang was quite optimistic. "Only show the deeds of the tiger who was seriously injured. Look at those in Hebei.

Are you worried or not?"

"If you ask me, you are overthinking this." Wang Shuyong was rather proud. "Whether those two families in Hebei are trying to divide the tiger's head, or whether they want this deed, can it be out of our hands?"

"That's right. The key is to have the means and confidence. With the experience of bringing eighty or ninety thousand people back, even if others don't believe it, it won't stop us from having the courage and ability to accept them!" Xu Shiren couldn't help but

Interrupt.

"Let's not talk about this now." Zhang Xing glanced at Xu Shiren, and then suddenly interrupted to end the chat. "Everyone is here, let's talk about a few important things... Who is not back?"

"Except for the two prisoners, the only one who has not returned is Fan Lihua." Cheng Zhili blurted out while answering the form. "But she should be fine. The sergeants who came back from more than one place told her that she was just gathering her old troops.

"

"Her lieutenant is considered a family member who has watched her grow up. This battle may be a disaster." Fan Bao intervened at this time to explain. "She couldn't bear it in her heart, so she acted like this."

Zhang Xing nodded: "It's extenuating, but I still have to come back to rest for a while... Tell her that someone has to collect, search and prepare at Luolongtan anyway. It's okay for her to do it, but she has to come back first to make sure

She and her subordinates are fine."

"Of course it should be." Fan Bao stood up, his eye sockets sunken. "I'm going to go and make sure to explain clearly."

"Yes, but we will go after the meeting." Zhang Xing's tone was still calm. "And Leader Fan, everything must be done one by one. If you can't bring someone back, the gang will ask for military law."

"This is natural." Fan Bao became nervous and promised again and again. "My subordinates are by no means unaware of the situation. I will definitely bring him back."

"That's good." Zhang Xing agreed again and again, but then glanced at Zhang Shiniang. The latter wanted to interject a word, but held it back.

Seeing this, Chief Zhang continued to speak: "The two leaders were captured because of no fault of the war. We must send envoys to get them back seriously. Whether it is money, food or soldiers, as long as there is a serious intention to exchange,

You can just care about it... In addition, we have to make it clear and ensure that Leader Jia gets proper treatment."

"It's natural. I think that when Longtan becomes peaceful in the next few days, we can send a doctor from Dengzhou over to visit." Xiong Bonan, with a sallow complexion, finally spoke.

"If you can't find it from Li Ziqi, you can go to Wang Yuande or the leader of Dongsheng Kingdom to give it a try." Qian Tang thought of something and reminded him.

Everyone continued to talk for a few more words, but there was nothing surprising, so the topic ended here.

"Then comes the rest of the troops and the placement of the prisoners." Zhang Xing said while looking at Fang Jingbo.

Fang Jingbo was well prepared and immediately stood up and handed over his hand: "Chief, don't worry, the autumn grain has been put into the warehouse. There is no shortage of money and food at the moment. The chief has already given instructions, so the preparations are complete. There is only one thing..."

"Tell me."

"Among the captives and refugees, there are people from Dengzhou. Naturally, they are resettled in their hometowns and given land to farm. But if there are those whose native place is in other places, can you first ask how many children there are in the original family? If there is no one in the hometown,

Or those who don’t have many family members can be resettled in Dengzhou... After all, once Luolongtan is opened, we must be prepared. This is also a manpower reserve, but we in Dengzhou are the most short of people."

"It makes sense, but it doesn't work." Zhang Xing thought for a while and gave the answer. "You have to let people go home to feel at ease."

"yes."

"But we can inform them in advance and tell them that they can make their own choices after returning home. They can just go back to Dengzhou for resettlement within one month, because there are few people in Dengzhou. Compared with Xuzhou and Jibei, it is a wide township."

"yes."

Zhang Xing nodded and looked around again. Seeing that no one said anything, he continued to speak: "The leader of the house just said something right. From today on, Dengzhou is no longer a rear area. The defense against Dongyi in the past is no longer the same as now."

Preparing against Dongyi is not the same thing... both at sea and on land must be careful."

"On land is Dengzhou Camp, and on the sea is Dalao Mountain." Cheng Zhili spoke quickly to ensure his right to speak. "As long as these two points are blocked, Dengzhou will be fine... Of course, this cannot control Li

Ziqi, if Li Ziqi is still alive after this experience, he will not be able to stop the navy in Dengzhou if he brings his navy here again."

"Of course there will be support then." Zhang Xing heard the other party's temptation, but did not make any more attempts to cover it up. "But is it useful to only block the Dalao Mountain in the waterway? We must be on guard over Langya, the East China Sea, and all the way to the Huaihe River.

?”

"I'll have to ask the boss over there." Cheng Zhili chuckled.

"There is nothing we can do about it. In the final analysis, we still need to build a naval army." Bai Yousi interjected. "But it is difficult, especially this time the boats in Dengzhou are detained there..."

"It's not just a matter of whether to arrest or not." Cheng Dalang reminded again. "The navy has gathered together... Assuming that we are not detained this time, the ships in the East China Sea, the ships in Dengzhou, and the ships in the Bohai Sea can still be used.

Putting it all together, wouldn't it be possible to be sunk by Li Ziqi alone when going to sea? Things at sea are troublesome! Ships are one thing, sailors are another thing, maritime operations are another thing, and top expert escorts are another thing...

…Now we still have to consider the Sea-Biding Lord. As for being able to travel by water during the previous three expeditions, isn’t there a stronger main force of soldiers and horses here at Luolongtan, forcing Li Ziqi and the others to stay at Luolongtan?”

What he said was so reasonable that even Bai Yousi shut his mouth.

"The Navy needs to take a long-term approach, and now we can only focus on coastal defense." Zhang Xing suppressed the Navy issue.

"If we ignore the navy for the time being, the key is how many troops and horses are deployed in Dengzhou and Xuzhou." Xu Shiren interjected. "The current situation is that even if the lion fights the rabbit, we should use our full strength. If we take another winter break, we should

Take action against Hebei... By then, how many troops and horses will Xuzhou, Dengzhou, Jiyin, and Qiaojun each have to keep?"

"Good question." Zhang Xing said seriously. "Next, we must concentrate the main force to the north. The original plan for Daxingtai was that each of the four places would have a general manager or line commander in charge, leaving three or four in each.

Battalions... that is, fifty or sixty battalions, leaving fifteen or sixteen to defend various places in Henan, while the rest are doing their best to move north... But now it seems that it seems a bit empty."

"Actually..." Gao Shitong, who was half lying there, hesitated for a moment and joined the meeting discussion. "The tiger has been entrenched for hundreds of years. Now that he is seriously injured, I'm afraid it is also years of calculation. More importantly,

It is unlikely that Li Ziqi planned this matter just for temporary military gain... Will he really come to attack Dengzhou?"

"Whether we attack or not, we have to be prepared." Cheng Zhili quickly took over the words, and then threw out his plan. "Chief, what I mean is, can the emergency strategy of Dengzhou be used in these four places...

…set up a garrison camp…the garrison camp does not require a leader to personally manage the army, its equipment is second-class, and there is no need to plan to leave the local area to fight.”

"Isn't this a military camp?" Liu Heifu was puzzled.

"Being more elite than the military camp requires money. In the final analysis, the military camp is mainly for the military camp, and this garrison camp is mainly for the guards." Cheng Dalang explained seriously. "If you prepare carefully, if it is just defense, the combat power will not be comparable.

The war barracks are bad."

Everyone thought for a moment and discussed, but finally looked at Zhang Xing.

"It's not impossible." Zhang Xing replied. "But the ugly words have to be told at the beginning... When the situation changes, these garrison camps should be withdrawn and reorganized.

put."

Cheng Zhili immediately nodded sincerely: "This is natural."

At this time, even the most stupid people realized that Cheng Dalang wanted to protect his garrison.

"Money and food must be calculated clearly," Zhang Xing continued to warn. "Don't lose sight of a plan once things slow down, leading to a militancy and the common people complaining... That's no different from the Wei Dynasty."

This was a warning to Cheng Zhili, but almost everyone present looked at the person sitting on a stool inside the door, Cao Ming and Cao Sanlang.

Cao Ming himself, on the other hand, seemed to have become accustomed to this kind of gaze, and he just lowered his head.
To be continued...