Three thousand six hundred and thirty-two people...there are actually so many?
In the felt tent, when Wu Ji handed over the death status of his side to Zhao Hongrun, Zhao Hongrun held his breath in his chest in shock and felt chest tight for a while.
You must know that this time he only brought a total of 20,000 merchant navy troops, and this battle caused the merchant navy army to lose a full 20%.
A full 20%, 3,632 living lives.
It has to be said that last year, Zhao Hongrun also led his army to face the Chu army with an outnumbered enemy, and there had never been such an astonishing number of casualties.
Of course, when he fought against Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng last year, Zhao Hongrun had 10,000 Yanling troops (now Zhaoling troops) and 25,000 dredging troops. The level of the army was obviously not that of the Shang Shui army and Yihuang army under his command. The combination of armies is comparable.
Moreover, the 160,000-strong army of Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo did not attack the Wei army in one go, but was divided into two groups of 60,000 and 100,000, allowing Zhao Hongrun to defeat them one by one.
But this time, Bitatu, the leader of the Jiejiao tribe, led an army of more than 200,000 people and launched an attack on Luocheng.
More importantly, those Chu soldiers at that time were far less willing to die than the Jiejiao slave soldiers outside the city.
But no matter what, Zhao Hongrun still felt bad in his heart.
"Your Highness."
From the side, Zongwei Chief Shen Yu, perhaps aware of Zhao Hongrun's unhappiness, whispered: "You have done what you can, everything you can do... The appearance of the Shang Shui Army is so important. Your Highness is not your fault for any casualties."
After hearing this, Wu Ji also persuaded him accordingly.
After all, if there were no catapults, repeating crossbows, and old equipment of the dredging army, I am afraid that the losses of his merchant navy would have doubled, even if the entire army was annihilated, it would not be impossible. After all, what they were facing was... It is an enemy force ten times larger than ours!
After listening to the persuasion of the Zongwei and Wu Ji, Zhao Hongrun nodded slightly.
Indeed, in order to achieve victory while minimizing his own casualties as much as possible, Zhao Hongrun silently made many arrangements, whether it was tactical arrangements or the supply of food such as sheep cakes and goat's milk wine, but herbal ointments could reduce the sacrifices.
It is no exaggeration to say that Zhao Hongrun has done everything he should do as a coach, and he has a clear conscience about this.
But even so, the death of 3,632 Shang Shui soldiers and 1,931 Yihuang warriors was still like a huge stone weighing on his heart, making him breathless.
"call……"
Taking a long breath, Zhao Hongrun looked up at Wu Ji and said in a deep voice: "When cleaning up the battlefield, burn the bodies of the soldiers who died. Although I'm sorry, our army may not be able to burn those bodies before they rot. The skeletons of the fallen soldiers were transported back to Shangshui so that their families could see them for the last time, so they could only take the ashes back."
"King Su is kind." Wu Ji lowered his head after hearing this.
In fact, in his opinion, it was a great kindness for Zhao Hongrun to bring the ashes of those sacrificed soldiers back to Shangshui. When they were in Chu State, their fathers and brothers died in the war, so how had they ever seen the remains?
Not to mention the remains, not even the ashes, the most they can do is send someone to inform them that someone in your family died in the battle.
That's it.
In fact, sometimes there is not even the most basic funeral notice, and the soldier's family has to ask someone to ask for it.
"Please ask the Sheang tribesmen in the city for help with the vessel to hold the ashes," Zhao Hongrun added to Wu Ji.
In fact, the Yi people also use clay to make pottery. However, the pottery they fired is of poor quality and is very dull. Not to mention comparable to the Ding porcelain of the Song Dynasty, even the private pottery of the Wei Dynasty.
The pottery fired in the kiln is incomparable.
But as a container to hold ashes, it is enough.
"Yes." Wu Ji nodded and clasped his fists, and then asked: "Your Highness, what about those slave soldiers in Jiejiao?"
Zhao Hongrun thought for a while and felt that since the Jiejiao people didn't even care about the living Hu slave soldiers, let alone the dead ones, so after thinking about it, he said: "Let the soldiers work harder and make them...
"
He originally wanted to bury it, but later he thought it was inappropriate. You know, the number of slave soldiers killed in this battle was as high as 80,000. Burying so many corpses on the edge of Luocheng will be buried underground in the future.
The corpse is rotting, and this land cannot purify such a large area of corpse gas.
Therefore, he said after deep thought: "Drag his body outside the city, get a few barrels of strong fire oil, and burn it. After all, the Sheang and Herang tribes still have to live in this land. Don't let too many people live in it."
The rotting corpses have polluted the water and soil here."
"yes!"
Wu Ji clasped his fists and exited the tent.
In fact, Mi Jiang and Oona were both in the tent at this time, but because they saw Zhao Hongrun's serious face, they wisely did not come to disturb them. One sat quietly in the banquet, while the other drank tea by himself, closing his eyes.
repose.
No one spoke.
Naturally, the other clan guards in the tent would not speak hastily. After all, everyone could see that His Highness was in a bad mood at the moment.
This made the atmosphere very depressing even though there were so many people in the tent, but no one spoke.
Finally, Zhao Hongrun couldn't bear it anymore. He took a long breath, stood up, and said casually: "I am going out for a walk."
Mi Jiang and Oona looked at each other, but neither of them followed. Among the sect guards, only Shen Yu, the chief of the sect guards, followed him out of consideration for the safety of His Highness.
After all, they were not fools, and they could guess that Zhao Hongrun wanted to be alone.
After walking out of the felt tent, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but walk towards the area of the west city wall. After all, the enemy and us on that side of the west city wall had suffered the most serious casualties. It was said that corpses had piled up like mountains, and even the entire city wall was stained red with blood.
At that time, Zhao Hongrun had been staying in the hall of the city gate tower when the fighting started. Therefore, he wanted to see with his own eyes the tragic situation on the other side of the west city wall.
Because he felt that those Shangshui soldiers who came from Western Chu died fighting for Wei. As the commander of the expedition to Sanchuan, he, Zhao Hongrun, had an obligation to see with his own eyes the remains of those warriors who sacrificed their lives for the country.
There is no distinction between Wei people, Chu people, Yi people and Yi people.
"King Su?"
"Eh? King Su?"
"It's King Su..."
As Zhao Hongrun gradually approached the west city wall, the Shangshui soldiers who were carrying corpses and cleaning up the battlefield stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
The Yi people and the Yi tribe warriors who helped carry the corpse also turned their heads and looked this way.
Somehow, there were thousands of people busy on the west city wall, but almost no one was talking to each other. Even when they saw Zhao Hongrun, they just muttered a few words in a low voice with slight surprise.
The atmosphere is heavy and depressing.
These people...
Shen Yu, who was following Zhao Hongrun, frowned slightly because he found that the eyes of the Shangshui soldiers and the soldiers of the Sheang tribe around him were a little strange.
Logically speaking, these Shangshui sergeants and tribal warriors should feel happy and honored that His Royal Highness, Prince Su, Zhao Hongrun, went to the West City Wall in person. However, the situation in front of them was that those people looked at Zhao Hongrun indifferently or numbly.
In fact, Shen Yu could faintly see a strange emotion in those people's eyes.
He took a few steps to catch up with Zhao Hongrun and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, don't come any closer. The mood of these soldiers... I'm afraid they are a little abnormal."
"..." Zhao Hongrun was stunned and looked around a few times.
Just as Shen Yu said, he also saw indifference and strangeness in the looks from the Shangshui soldiers and the Sheang and Sheang tribal warriors.
Zhao Hongrun guessed the reason after thinking about it carefully and sighed slightly.
This is because there were too many casualties.
You should know that although the Shang Shui Army now belongs to the Wei team, the sergeants and soldiers in the army are all Chu people.
As a Wei man, Zhao Hongrun led these Chu people, including the tribal warriors of the Yi and Yi tribes. Perhaps this was not a big deal on ordinary days, but once there were heavy casualties, the Shangshui soldiers who were immersed in grief would , including those warriors of the Sheang and Sheang tribes, most of them will not regard Zhao Hongrun as one of their own, and they will even have the idea that this man caused our compatriots to suffer huge losses.
It's no wonder, after all, the real Wei army, the Dangshan army and the Chenggao army are not here, and among the people who died in this battle, none of them were from Wei.
Once they think of this, whether they are the soldiers of the Shang Shui Army or the tribal warriors of the Sheang and Sheang tribes, they will inevitably have strange thoughts in their hearts.
"Your Highness, it's better to leave first." Shen Yu advised in a low voice from the side.
Zhao Hongrun shook his head, then bent down and pulled out a blade of grass from the ground, wiped off the dirt on it with his sleeve, then put it to his mouth and slowly played a tune.
“Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”
Note: The author likes "It's Hard to Meet and Difficult to Farewell" (Wu Jing's version) which feels very beautiful. It can also be a daughter's love story with the same song but different words, but the lyrics are not suitable to be used here.
The surrounding Shangshui soldiers and the tribesmen of the Sheang and Sheang tribes were stunned for a moment. Not knowing what was going on, they listened intently. They felt the music was soft and melodious, as if the music was telling a story about a man who separated from his lover and has been haunted by dreams ever since. A touching and rare story.
"It sounds so nice..."
About a few feet away from Zhao Hongrun, Li Hui, a soldier of the Shang Shui Army, raised his arm and wiped the blood on his face. He listened carefully to the moving music, and the gentle and lovely widowed child in his family seemed to appear in his mind. Sister-in-law.
Beside them, Yang Wu and Le Bao sat on the ground in unison, listening silently. Looking at their blank eyes, they didn't know they were missing their relative.
Listening and listening, when Zhao Hongrun blew the blow everywhere, everyone present felt an inexplicable sadness welling up in their hearts, so that some people, obviously men who should not shed tears easily, could not help but shed tears. .
More and more people came here, standing or sitting on the ground around Zhao Hongrun, quietly listening to this song that made them feel sad, but they couldn't help but want to listen.
I saw that this section of the city wall was completely silent, except for Zhao Hongrun's long and soft music.
And listening to this music, the indifferent eyes of those Shangshui soldiers and the warriors of the Sheang tribe gradually softened, as if they were all intoxicated by the music.