Xu Zengshou frowned. He didn't believe in the gods and ghosts at all, and he was even more disgusted with the Taoist temple that had been built in Vladivostok.
So he ignored the remark and asked directly: "How come they were allowed to get so close to the camp before being discovered? Where are the sentries?"
Qin Sen said: "The sentries in the southeast corner are all dead. I personally inspected the bodies. The sentinels we sent should have been hit by arrows and died. Those Jurchen sentries were not bad, a few escaped.
He hit the first wave of arrows and fought with the people who came up before he died. But they didn't have horns, they just roared a few times and we couldn't understand them."
"We were still careless. The Sentinels did not follow the rules and were a little lax. They are not as good as the Jurchens. I apologize to you, sir."
"I was also negligent. It's not your fault alone. I don't have the shame to deal with you. When we get back to the city, the two of us will apologize to His Highness." Xu Zengshou said.
There was silence in the camp for a while, and then Xu Zengshou asked again: "There are 1,500 of them in total? How many have we killed? How many have we captured?"
Deputy Qianhu Lin Mo, who led the pursuit of the Jurchens, Mongols and Jingzhi Army, said: "Xu Xiang, about 600 of them were killed along the way, and 400 corpses were seen outside the camp, and five more were captured.
More than ten people."
"In other words, more than a thousand of them were wiped out?" Xu Zengshou said.
"That's about it, but the 600 people are just an estimate. I only saw more than 400 corpses along the way. I don't know whether the remaining people were killed or injured. Their escape route was very tricky. If they hadn't
The Jurchens who are familiar with the terrain are chasing them, and the trees have fewer leaves in winter, which may make them run away more," Lin Mo said.
"Are any of the captives injured?" Xu Zengshou asked again.
Lin Mo shook his head: "Xu Xiang, all those who were injured and unable to walk were executed. Those who were brought back were only slightly injured or not injured."
Xu Zengshou did not ask in detail, but just thought about it again and said: "Put the captured Jurchens in a separate barracks for the time being, and give them some gruel every day to prevent them from starving to death."
"Yes, Xiang Xu." Lin Mo agreed.
"What are our casualties?" Xu Zengshou turned to the other deputy Qianhu Bailusi in the camp who was responsible for conducting post-war statistics.
"A total of more than 100 Jingzhi soldiers died, and more than 30 people were seriously injured. The military doctors accompanying the army stopped their bleeding, but they are not expected to survive until tomorrow morning. More than 100 people were slightly injured.
, it’s not serious; but there are still more than 20 disabled people.” Bai Lusi said.
"About sixty Jurchens died, and they even asked for some medicine from me. I don't know how many were injured. Dozens of Ainu and Mongolians also died, and a few were injured."
Xu Zengshou gave a few instructions, mainly to take care of the wounded, clean up the battlefield, and load the corpses of those who died in the battle into cars to take back. The weather is very cold now, and the corpses will not rot quickly, but they can be taken back. (The ancients said that
The corpse is taken very seriously)
But after Xu Zengshou finished his instructions, the tent fell into silence again, and no one spoke.
The army suffered such heavy losses just one day after setting out, which was unexpected by everyone. Almost three hundred troops were lost, and many vassal Jurchens, Ainu and Mongols also died. For them,
The next step needs to be considered.
After a while, Xu Zengshou said: "Let's all talk about whether we should continue to advance in the suppression or retreat here."
Then the attack meant danger. At least 400 of the Jurchens who attacked had fled back. They could ambush them along the road and delay their progress until it snowed. And even if it didn't snow when they reached their destination, those Jurchens would
Since we already knew that there was a Han army going to attack them, would we still stay where we were? I'm afraid we wouldn't gain anything when we got there.
It would be much safer to retreat at this point. They had only set out for a day, and it would be easy to retreat. And although they did not achieve Yunzhen's purpose, just bringing back the heads of the Jurchens they killed would show that they did not retreat without a fight.
I believe His Highness will not punish them. But it is a bit embarrassing.
Those who thought the campaign should continue were loudly stated their reasons, while those who thought the campaign should be retreated cautiously stated their reasons for not continuing the campaign; however, everyone in the tent looked at Qin Sen, and Xu Zengshou was no exception.
Xu Zengshou was very hesitant now and didn't know what to do. Although he was born in a general family, his father and eldest brother were both talented generals, and he was also considered to be very talented. He himself performed well several times when he went out to fight with troops, and he also performed well on weekdays.
He had a high self-esteem and thought that commanding an army of one or two thousand men was a waste of time.
But when he personally faced this difficult choice situation, he found that he still did not have the talent to lead. He had no idea what to do. If he continued to move forward, it would be in vain or even the whole army would be annihilated; but he also
Unwilling to retreat, he subconsciously looked at Qin Sen.
Qin Sen lowered his head and thought for a while, then raised his head and said, "Xu Xiang, gentlemen, I still think we should continue to march."
"Why?" Xu Zengshou asked.
"Xu Xiang, it is not easy to spend the winter in the north. If you leave the built house in the wild, you will probably freeze to death, especially children and women. So they will not escape easily. Most of them will have to confirm that we will attack their tribe.
I will take food and shelter to the nearby mountains and forests temporarily."
"As for the terrain of this area, let's take a look." Following his voice, everyone turned their attention to the map of this area on the table. Although the map was very rough and the distances were very blurry, there were several main routes.
and the difficulty of walking are marked.
"The most convenient thing to attack from this road is Tribe A and No. 2, so the people of Tribe A and No. 2 may escape, but the people of other tribes will not run away immediately. But it is not easy to go from Tribe A to Tribe A or No. 2.
It's only a day's journey, we can just make a false shot and go straight to tribe A-2 without stopping at tribe A-1 without giving them time to react."
"Besides, this road is easier to walk. Our carriages can run on the road, and the soldiers can retain more energy. We can even let some people sit on the carriages and move forward. When we get to the place, we immediately surround them and launch an attack. We have three cannons.
In hand, there is also what His Majesty named a 'grenade', which can quickly blow open the gate of the village and rush in."
"And these Jurchens from the East China Sea have never seen firearms, so they will definitely be very scared. It will not be difficult to capture them."
Everyone seemed to think that what Qin Sen said made sense, but they were a little unsure and asked, "Are you sure?"
"There is a 90% certainty that we can capture a tribe. As long as we are careful about the remaining 10%, there will be no big losses." Qin Sen said firmly.
In fact, he was not so sure and felt that there was only a 50% chance of the plan succeeding.
But he didn't want to go back. He was recommended by His Highness the King of England to His Highness Yong Wang, and His Highness also had high hopes for him. How could he return halfway? Although the coach this time was Xu Zengshou, he couldn't accept that he would come out to work.
And to no avail.
Everyone looked at Xu Zengshou again. After all, Xu Zengshou was the coach this time.
After Xu Zengshou was silent for a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, "Do as Qin Sen said! Continue to advance."
"But these corpses and wounded soldiers cannot go with us. I just heard his plan. Speed is very important. They will seriously slow down our speed."
"Fortunately, this place is only a day's journey from Fangchuan Village, and it is only half a day's journey from Fangchuan Village to Beichuan Village. Send two hundred people to escort the wounded soldiers and corpses back to Vladivostok. The Jurchens and their wounded soldiers can also go back together. If the Jurchens do not
If you are willing to bury the dead here, you can also send the body back together."
"We only have an army of 500 people now," Bai Lusi said.
"They also suffered heavy losses. How many strong men can one tribe have? Besides, we still have cannons and Jurchens and other barbarians to help. Even if there are only 500 people, it will be enough." Xu Zengshou said.
Now that Xu Zengshou had made up his mind, everyone did not feel there was any loophole in the plan and dispersed as ordered.
But when Qin Sen resigned, Xu Zengshou kept him behind. After everyone else left, he said to him: "If it weren't for you this time, I really don't know what I would have done."
Qin Sen said respectfully: "I am only like this because I have stayed in the Northeast for a long time and know them better. Mr. Xu will naturally be better than me if he stays in Yongfan for a few more years."
Xu Zengshou said: "You don't need to comfort me. I know exactly what is going on. From now on, I will be the left prime minister in Vladivostok and leave all the work of leading troops to fight to you."
"This won't work. Xu Xiang's family has a long history. I still have to learn from Xu Xiang." Qin Sen said.
Xu Zengshou looked at his expression carefully, felt relieved, and said a few more words to him, asking him to retreat.
…
…
Ten days later, Vladivostok.
Zhu Yunxu smashed a zhezi on Xu Zengshou's head, then picked up another zhezi and hit Qin Sen's head.
Not only that, he also shouted: "What did I tell you! Everything must be safe. If you encounter an unexpected ambush and suffer heavy losses, you should retreat immediately. Why continue to attack?"
"Especially you, Qin Sen, Uncle Twenty-One told me that you are very stable, and I only asked you to be Xu Zengshou's deputy commander this time, but you have completely failed to live up to my expectations."
"And you, Xu Zengshou, actually agreed to Qin Sen's plan. Didn't you think about what you would do if other unexpected situations happened?"
"And at the beginning, you were so lax and allowed them to succeed in the sneak attack? Are your brains rusty?"
"..."
Zhu Yunxu scolded the two of them, and the guards on the side felt that it was too much, but did not dare to dissuade them. It was Li Qing who came to ask for instructions and persuaded Zhu Yunxu to calm down, so he stopped scolding him.