The battle outside Handan City ended with Liu Xiujun's victory.
In this battle, Li Yu, the chief minister of the Handan court, committed suicide. General Zhang Shen, hussar general Peng Shi, and Wang Lang's eldest son Wang Xi all died in the rebellion.
Li Yujun had 130,000 troops and Handan reinforcements had 20,000 troops, totaling 150,000. In addition to those who died in battle and those who escaped, 80,000 to 90,000 of them were captured by Liu Xiujun.
The outcome of this battle basically determined the next situation in Hebei. From the original situation where Wang Lang was strong and Liu Xiu was weak, it suddenly changed to Liu Xiu being strong and Wang Lang being weak.
Leaving some soldiers to clean up the battlefield, Liu Xiu led his army, escorted a number of prisoners about the same size as Liu Xiu's army, and returned to his camp.
After returning to the camp, Liu Xiu's first order was to dismiss the captured Wang Lang army officers and soldiers.
If anyone among them is willing to join our side, our side can accept them all. If they are unwilling to join, there is no need to force them. After collecting their armor, weapons and military badges, they can be allowed to leave on their own.
Now the effect of recruiting captured soldiers to surrender is definitely not ideal. There may not be many people willing to join Liu Xiujun. If the prisoners can be detained for a period of time and then surrendered, the number of people joining Liu Xiujun will definitely double.
But the problem is that Liu Xiu cannot afford to raise so many prisoners now. How long it will take for his side to break through the city defenses of Handan and occupy Handan City, Liu Xiu is still unable to make an accurate conclusion.
But we only have so much food and fodder, and we have to feed our own soldiers and so many prisoners, so we simply can't sustain it for too long.
Therefore, for the current plan, we must dispatch the captured Wang Langjun soldiers as soon as possible to reduce our own consumption as much as possible.
There were 90,000 captured soldiers of Wang Lang's army, but only 20,000 finally agreed to join Liu Xiu's army. The rest all chose to go home, unwilling to continue fighting.
Under Liu Xiu's instruction, Liu Xiujun's officers and soldiers also had no difficulty in distributing some dry food to each of these prisoners who wanted to go home, and then dismissed them on the spot.
While Liu Xiujun was busy sending away the prisoners, Xie Gong also came to Liu Xiujun's camp.
When he saw Liu Xiu in the Chinese army's tent, he bowed in thanks and saluted, saying: "Congratulations to Marquis Wu Xin, for pacifying the two thieves Li Yu and Zhang Shen in one fell swoop. This has greatly boosted the morale of our Han army and destroyed the majesty of the rebel thieves."
Liu Xiu smiled and said: "Xie Shangshu's congratulations are a little too early. After all, Handan has not been captured yet, and Wang Lang has not yet been punished."
Xie Gong nodded, changed the subject, and said: "Why did Marquis Wu Xin fight against the traitor alone this time without informing us in advance? What is the meaning of this?"
Liu Xiu looked at Xie Gong happily, but before he could say anything, Zhu sneered and said: "Last time our army fought against Li Yu and Zhang Shen, we did inform Shangshu Xie in advance. Shangshu Xie also promised us that he would send troops.
We came for reinforcements, but what would be the result? Our officers and soldiers were eager to see what happened, and they could not wait to thank the Minister for the reinforcements!"
When Zhu mentioned this matter, Xie Gong's old face turned red unconsciously. He coughed dryly and said, "There were special circumstances last time..."
"So this time, we were worried that there would be a special situation on Xie Shangshu's side, so we did not notify Xie Shangshu in advance. Our army does not have many troops, but we can fight against Wang Lang's thieves alone." Zhu was confident.
, said proudly and decisively.
Xie Gong's face was ugly. He looked at Liu Xiu and asked with a half-smile, "Is Marquis Wu Xin blaming your subordinate for failing to arrive at the battlefield as promised last time?"
Liu Xiu smiled and said slowly: "The soldiers have just gone through life and death on the battlefield, bravely killing the enemy, and now, Xie Shangshu questions the intentions of our army as soon as he comes, don't you think it is too chilling for the soldiers?"
Xie Gong took a deep breath and said nothing more about the matter. He was silent for a moment and said: "Marquis Wu Xin, when I entered the camp, I saw many soldiers wearing the uniforms of Wang Lang's army leaving in groups. I don't know what is going on.
?”
Liu Xiu said: "They are all captured Lang Jun."
Xie Gong said in surprise: "Marquis Wu Xin wants to let them all go?"
Liu Xiu said: "Now our army does not have enough food and grass to feed the nearly 100,000 surrendered troops, so we can only send them all away." At this point, he smiled and asked: "What, Xie Shangshu?
Want to accept them?"
Xie Gong swallowed his saliva and shook his head. His military camp could not accommodate so many surrendered soldiers. Furthermore, he also did not have that much food to feed so many surrendered soldiers.
However, Liu Xiu did not keep these surrendered troops, but chose to dismiss them, which surprised Xie Gong.
In his eyes, Liu Xiu was ambitious and disloyal to the emperor. This time he captured more than 90,000 people at once, and he had to find ways to recruit them under his command to increase his strength.
But in fact, Liu Xiu did not do this. Is it really because of insufficient food and grass?
In fact, if Liu Xiu really planned to use these surrendered troops for his own use, the problem of food and grass could be solved by thinking of a way. In Liu Xiu's concept, soldiers are more valuable than more, and the so-called elite does not mean being good at fighting.
, but to be of one mind.
Only by sincerely surrendering to yourself can all the soldiers in the army be united as one, and when facing a strong enemy, they can twist into a rope and make a fist.
If you are half-hearted, it is okay to fight a battle with smooth wind and tide. Once you fight a battle with a headwind, you will lose your position and even surrender and switch sides like Wang Langjun did.
Therefore, Liu Xiu would rather his strength did not expand so quickly, but he also wanted to firmly control the morale of the army.
Liu Xiu's thoughts were much more profound than Xie Gong's, and Xie Gong couldn't understand them either.
After Xie Gong left, Liu Xiu left the central army tent and personally inspected the soldiers of Wang Lang's army who had surrendered to his side.
Of the 20,000 soldiers in Wanglang's army, the highest-ranking ones were only a few generals. However, most of the generals with names did not dare to surrender and took advantage of the chaos to escape.
Seeing Liu Xiu coming, these partial generals knelt down one after another, kowtowed forward, and said cautiously: "Kowtow to Da Sima, the guilty general!"
Liu Xiu stepped forward, helped several people up, and asked with a smile: "So many of your colleagues have chosen to go home, why don't you leave?"
Several partial generals looked at each other, and one of them, a dark-faced man, whispered: "The guilty general's family members are all dead and he has nothing to worry about. He chose Wang Lang just to make a living. Now he can switch sides."
Being under the command of Da Sima is a blessing for the guilty general!"
Liu Xiu smiled and said, "Aren't you taking refuge in my service just to make a living?"
The black-faced man trembled and said hurriedly: "Zui will have admired Da Sima for a long time. As long as Da Sima is willing to take in Gui, I will kill him without any hesitation!"
The rest of the people also hurriedly said: "We are willing to swear allegiance to Da Sima to the death, and we will do anything to save our lives!"
Liu Xiu nodded and said: "You all served as generals in Wang Lang's army, but if you switch to our army, you can only sit up as a captain first. From now on, those who have merit will be rewarded, and those who have faults will be punished. You wait."
Are you willing?"
Without even thinking about it, everyone knelt down and said in unison: "I would like to thank Da Sima for not killing me! I would like to thank Da Sima for taking me in!"
Liu Xiu waved his hands to them and said with a smile: "Everyone, please get up!"
After that, Liu Xiu asked them about the situation in Handan City. They were all subordinates of Li Yu and Zhang Shen. They had been away from Handan City for a while, and they did not know much about the current situation in Handan City.
However, they can deduce important information such as how many soldiers are left in Handan City, how much food and grass are left.
Deng Yu, who followed Liu Xiu, recorded the information they provided one by one.
After almost understanding each other, Liu Xiu calmed everyone down and then stood up and left.
Walking in the military camp, Deng Yu took what he had just recorded and looked at it carefully.
Looking at the data on grain and grass in it, Deng Yu was secretly speechless. He couldn't help but smiled bitterly at Liu Xiu beside him: "The prince has only been on the throne for more than two months, but he has actually hoarded so much grain in Handan City. I don't know if these two
For more than a month, he has plundered so much money from the people, and forced so many people to death!"
"It's almost time!" Liu Xiu said with a deep look: "After today's battle, those waiting and watching counties will not send any more reinforcements to Handan, and Handan will be completely reduced to an isolated city. Only 80,000 troops will have their morale shaken.
How long can the defenders hold on?"
Deng Yu nodded, looked up to the sky and sighed: "Hebei is too chaotic, and the people's lives are too miserable. I really hope the war in Hebei can end soon!" xdw8
Liu Xiu also felt the same way. As they were walking forward, they suddenly saw many soldiers surrounding them. Liu Xiu and Deng Yu looked at each other and walked over.
It turns out that this is the camp of the Benming Army, and the soldiers gathered here all want to join the Benming Army.
Benming soldiers are the most special group of people in the military camp. They have privileges that even generals do not have. For example, they can bring women with them and can come and go freely in the military camp. Some Benming soldiers disappear inexplicably for several days. After returning,
No one asked anything.
If we look at it now, the Benming Army is more like a mercenary army. They receive high military pay, eat the same food as generals, can enter and leave the military camp at will, can bring women with the army, and a series of privileges.
It makes ordinary soldiers and even generals in the army jealous. Naturally, there are also many people who want to join the Benming Army.
Of course, once you become a member of the Benming Army, it means you have to live a life of licking blood. When you go to the battlefield, you have to charge into battle and move forward bravely. You cannot stop fighting until the last drop of blood is shed.
The person in charge of recruiting people was none other than Ben Minglang, the man who killed Wang Xi.
His name is Guan Jun, and he serves as a captain in the Benming Army. The Benming Army is a place where military ranks are not very particular. The captain is already a high-ranking official in the Benming Army. At present, except for Jia Fu, he has the highest rank.
He sat on a stone, while slowly wiping his horse-killing sword, he looked around at the people present and said loudly: "Everyone can become Benming, as long as you can risk your life, as long as you dare to risk your life against the enemy, you will
You can think of yourself as a life-saver. However, it is not that easy to join our life-sustaining army. I want to see the number of enemies you kill first, and then test your true ability. Now, those who have killed more than ten enemies can be retained.
If you kill less than ten enemies, please go back."
"You want ten people?!"
"Kill ten enemies!"
There was a lot of discussion in the crowd, and someone said: "Can five people be allowed? Sir, the little one has killed five enemies!" "Sir, the little man has killed six enemies!"
Guan Jun looked around at everyone happily, but his tone was that no one could refuse, and he said word for word: "Our recruitment conditions will not be changed again."
All the soldiers looked helpless. People looked at each other, shook their heads and left.
On the battlefield, those who can really come into direct contact with the enemy and can really kill the enemy are the soldiers who are assigned to the front army. As people kept leaving the originally crowded crowd, in the end, only a hundred or ten were left.
Number person.
Liu Xiu, who was standing behind the crowd, pulled Deng Yu and walked towards the tent not far away. The two of them stood behind the tent and continued to watch.
Guan Jun glanced at the remaining people, nodded with a smile, and said: "The archers among you can leave. Currently, there is no shortage of archers in our army."
The remaining number 100 people were quickly reduced by more than half, and finally there were only 30 or 40 people left. Looking at the remaining people, Guan Jun asked curiously: "Why do you want to join the Benming Army?"