But before retreating, Chu general Zaifu Gen ordered his infantry to make one last advance.
When they advanced within the firing range of the Wei soldiers in the Wei camp, Zaifu ordered several thousand generals to hold a white flag high in one hand and a shield in the other, waving the flag back and forth in front of the Wei camp.
Seeing this, the Wei soldiers on the wall of the Wei camp couldn't help but stop shooting.
…
Gong Yuan, the Wei general in charge of commanding the Wei soldiers, also raised his hand to signal the nearby Wei soldiers to stop shooting. He stared intently at the enemy generals holding high white flags.
Of course, the Chu army could not surrender with white flags. What those white flags represented was simply that the Chu army admitted their defeat in this battle and asked the Wei army to allow them to collect the corpses.
This has been an unwritten rule when two armies are fighting since ancient times: when one army raises a white flag to admit defeat and demands that the bodies of those killed in battle be collected, the other army is not allowed to take the opportunity to attack.
The reason why such unwritten rules have been passed down is originally said to be due to a plague.
It is said that armies of two countries once fought in the wild. The fight was very fierce. Many soldiers died in the war. Due to the extremely long delay of the battle, the corpses of the two soldiers who died in the battle showed signs of decay.
The smelly signs caused a local plague to break out.
As a result, the number of soldiers and civilians of the two countries who died in this plague far exceeded the total number of casualties in that battle by dozens of times, almost wiping out the people within a thousand miles.
From then on, when the two armies fought, the soldiers on both sides began to tacitly fulfill an unwritten rule: the winner collected the corpses on the battlefield, and both the enemy and ourselves must burn or bury them on the spot. The corpses were not allowed to be exposed in the wilderness.
Do not discard them casually near water sources.
As Confucianism began to spread across various countries, the idea of benevolence gradually changed or improved this unwritten rule: if the defeated side raises the white flag and hopes to restrain its own soldiers who died in the battle, the winner should abide by benevolence and righteousness and acquiesce to the other side's actions.
Make demands and should not take the opportunity to attack.
This is why Wei general Gong Yuan promptly ordered to stop the attack.
However, next to Wei General Gong Yuan, Wei Jiao and Lu Mu did not seem to understand this unwritten rule. When they saw that the general ordered to stop the attack, they asked in confusion: "Why did the general order to stop the attack?... Could it be that the general ordered to stop the attack?"
General, do you really believe that the Chu army outside the camp will surrender?"
Gong Yuan shook his head and said calmly: "Those white flags do not mean that the Chu army wants to surrender." With that, he told Wei Jiao and Lu Mu the true meaning of those white flags.
Wei Jiao and Lu Mu suddenly realized this and immediately turned around to look.
Sure enough, outside the camp, the only formation of long archers that threatened their Wei camp had gradually retreated. However, the Chu infantry who were still slowly advancing forward only held their shields in front of them.
, walking towards Wei Camp step by step.
"It's not a scam, right?"
Wei Jiao couldn't help but mutter.
Gong Yuan shook his head when he heard this and said: "No matter how cunning the Chu people are, they will not cheat on this kind of thing. If they really dare to do this, they will be despised by the world. When the time comes, I, the Wei Dynasty, will be the best.
When the two countries of Lu and Chu fight again, no one will believe the Chu people... I believe that the Chu people understand what it means to lose a big thing for a small sum." After a pause, he continued: "What's more, the long archers of the Chu army have retreated.
Without the suppressive cover of those long archers, relying on these infantry alone, even if they reach the area of the gun forest, they can't do anything to this military camp, it will be fine."
Wei Jiao and Lu Mu nodded in disbelief.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun saw that the Wei soldiers on the camp wall had generally stopped attacking, and felt puzzled, so he went up to the camp wall with Meng Wei, the left minister of the Ministry of Works, to see what was going on, and therefore came to where Gong Yuan and others were.
"What's wrong, General Gongyuan? Why did you order to stop the attack?"
"His Royal Highness Prince Su." Hearing Zhao Hongrun's voice, Gong Yuan looked back and quickly saluted with his hands and fists, and then explained the scene just now to Zhao Hongrun.
"Raising a white flag to ask for the recovery of the corpses of fallen soldiers?" Zhao Hongrun looked suspiciously at the Chu soldiers coming outside the camp. He frowned and said, "In my opinion, it is probably to recover those weapons and armor, right?"
Gong Yuan shrugged when he heard this. After all, he also knew that Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo still had 30,000 former Xiong Hu soldiers who were released from their Wei camp. Therefore, it is not difficult to speculate that the reason why Chu General Zaifu Gen begged to restrain himself and died in battle The purpose of soldiers and generals' corpses.
"Can't we attack?" Zhao Hongrun asked with a frown.
Gong Yuan licked his chapped lips and said with a wry smile: "It doesn't mean that you can't attack...but doing so is unethical and may be criticized by others..."
Zhao Hongrun frowned when he heard this and remained silent.
The so-called morality can be understood as the public opinion of the world. Whether it is for a person or a country, it is a very important criterion. It is related to the opinions of the world and diplomacy with other countries. The so-called moral people have many moral principles. There is little help for those who are unjust. In fact, this is what it means.
After pondering for a moment, Zhao Hongrun breathed out and said with relief: "That's all, let them take the bodies back with their weapons and equipment... Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo probably planned to distribute the equipment of these Chu soldiers who died in the battle to the three Wanxiong Hujun, huh, I may not be able to do what he wants."
To be fair, Zhao Hongrun was unwilling to let the Chu soldiers use the excuse of collecting the corpses of dead soldiers to recover those weapons and armors. However, since this matter had risen to the moral level of the country, he did not dare to make a mistake easily.
But when he thought about these weapons and equipment, Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo would most likely distribute them to the 30,000 Xiong Hu soldiers. After all, in his estimation, the 30,000 Xiong Hu soldiers would return to Chu camp. There is a high chance that there will be conflicts with the sergeants under Xiong Tuo's command.
If the two Chu armies get along peacefully, then Zhao Hongrun can only consider himself unlucky. But if there is a conflict between the 30,000 soldiers of Xiong Hu and the soldiers of Xiong Tuo army, then those people now have weapons and armor, in case the two Chu armies If there is any friction between the army and the army, I believe the scene will be very exciting.
Now that things have come to this, Zhao Hongrun can only comfort himself in this way.
At this time, the army led by Chu General Zaifugen was still advancing. But when the army was only twenty feet away from the forest of guns, all the infantry stopped and stood still. There was a battalion of 5,000 Chu soldiers still holding shields and walking towards the Wei camp step by step.
Obviously, Zaifugen also considered the reaction of the Wei army, so he did not dare to ask the entire army to move the corpse to avoid misunderstanding among the soldiers in the Wei camp.
Under the close watch of many dredging Wei soldiers on the wall of the Wei camp, the five thousand Chu soldiers slowly came to the forest of guns with their scalps on their heads and shields in both hands. What gave them a sigh of relief was , the Wei soldiers in the Wei camp did not take the opportunity to attack them, they just pointed their crossbows at them to guard against their deception.
Seeing this, the Chu infantry did not dare to make any mistakes. They honestly carried Tongze's body on the ground and turned around to return to where the army was.
Five thousand infantrymen are all like this.
And when these five thousand Chu infantrymen made several trips back and forth to clear away the corpses and weapons in the area of the spear forest, and tried to pass through the spear forest to continue carrying the corpses at the foot of the Wei camp wall, finally a member of the dredging army appeared.
The Thousand-Man General couldn't help it anymore and snatched the machine crossbow from a nearby crossbowman and pulled the trigger.
There was just a whooshing sound, and the crossbow bolt shot from the crossbow was directly nailed into the ground in front of a Chu soldier. The whole crossbow bolt was trembling slightly on the ground.
"That's it! ... If you dare to move forward again, I will kill you immediately!" The Thousand-Man General threatened with deep anger.
Zhao Hongrun and Gong Yuan turned to look at the thousand-man general, only to see the thousand-man general cursing angrily at the worried-looking Wei soldiers beside him: "What are you afraid of? I didn't shoot them."
, What kind of military regulations did they violate?!...When these Chu dogs killed our soldiers and civilians in the Wei Dynasty, did they follow any moral principles?!"
Seeing this, Gong Yuan opened his mouth, as if he wanted to scold something, but in the end he said nothing.
Zhao Hongrun, on the other hand, was thinking expressionlessly.
He didn't think there was anything wrong with what the Thousand-Man General said, but the problem was that the Chu State could not care about their public opinion or reputation among countries, but the Wei Dynasty could not care less.
Take Zhao Hongrun as an example. It is undeniable that he has always wanted to retaliate against the Chu State, but at most it would only cause the Chu State to suffer huge losses. Could it be said that when he one day counterattacks into the Chu State?
Do you also want to follow the Chu people's way of war and indulge your soldiers to burn, kill, and loot?
How is that different from the princes and nobles of the Xiong family in Chu State?
Forget it... let's go back to our account and think about the next step. After this battle, Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo should not attack our army camp again.
After saying hello to Gong Yuan, Zhao Hongrun, who was a little tired, went back to the commander's tent. After all, he used the so-called morality to convince himself not to take the opportunity to shoot the Chu soldiers, but instead let them move the bodies and equipment away.
In fact, he couldn't accept this kind of thing, so he simply turned his sight out of sight.
The Chu army finally retreated slowly.
Because of the threat of the thousand-man general, the Chu soldiers did not dare to carry the bodies of the Chu soldiers at the foot of the camp wall.
The Chu general Zaifu Gen didn't care about the weapons and equipment of so few hundred men. Seeing that most of the bodies and weapons of the dead soldiers had been recovered, he immediately ordered the entire army to retreat.
In this battle, the Chu army lost nearly 17,000 soldiers, of which at least 15,000 were infantry. It can be imagined how huge the consumption of the Chu army's infantry was in this battle.
However, when Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, heard this casualty number, he was not satisfied.
It was not because there were too many casualties, but because the number of casualties had not yet reached the standard of 30,000 he had given to Zaifugen.
No, as soon as Zaifu Gen and other generals returned to the camp, Xiong Tuo called these generals to the commander's tent and asked the reason with a stern face.
Zai Fu Gen and Zi Che Yu were colleagues who had known each other for many years, so they did not shirk their responsibilities, but remained silent.
Seeing this, Zi Cheyu clasped his fists and said to Xiong Tuo: "Sir, this matter has nothing to do with Zaifu. It was the general who forced him to order the withdrawal of troops, because the general judged that based on the war situation at that time, it would be difficult to conquer the Wei camp even if he attacked by force.
, it just adds unnecessary casualties... Rather than wasting the lives of soldiers and generals in vain, it is better to think of other ways."
"Other way?" Xiong Tuo, the Lord of Yangcheng, was very happy when he heard this, and thought to himself that if there was another way to try, would I still ask those generals to die in vain?
But just when he was glaring at Zi Cheyu, he saw Zi Cheyu clasping his fists and whispering: "If you don't care about the casualties of the soldiers, the general has a plan here, you can try it... If If everything goes well, the Wei camp will be useless; but if everything goes wrong, tens of thousands of soldiers will be killed in an instant..."
"..." Xiong Tuo opened his mouth and was speechless for a moment looking at the seriousness on Zi Cheyu's face. (To be continued.)