Chapter 191: A prisoner who is better than a strong man
Ying Tianhu wanted to run away, but those Ming soldiers did not want to resist. As soon as Ying Tianhu said his words, the low-level officers around him took the first step and ran away. Only his soldiers still followed.
By Ying Tianhu's side.
As for those ordinary soldiers, obviously no one can care about them at this time!
Whether it is in Ying Tianhu's heart or in the hearts of other Ming army officers, those ordinary soldiers are irrelevant. This is not because Ying Tianhu and others ignore life and deliberately ignore these ordinary soldiers, but the core of an army.
These are not ordinary soldiers, but low-level officers and personal soldiers of officers at all levels.
These ordinary soldiers have no role at all at the critical moment, that is, they just scrape together the numbers and build momentum during the war. At this moment, the role of these ordinary soldiers is only as cannon fodder and obstruction.
The Puppet Tang bandit army pursued them, giving Ying Tianhu and others enough time to escape.
Just like those bandits who seem to have a large number of people, but among the ten thousand people, the real core backbone is only a few hundred people, and the others are just ordinary people who have been brought here.
Most of the people in the Ming army were serf guards with no fighting ability at all, and only a few backbone soldiers could actually fight.
As long as Ying Tianhu and the others can escape with their soldiers, it doesn't matter whether the nearly a hundred ordinary soldiers die in battle or are captured.
Ying Tianhu and the others wanted to escape, but Butcher Chen on the opposite side quickly discovered it. He immediately led his men to try to break through the obstruction of the ordinary soldiers. Butcher Chen wanted to keep Ying Tianhu and the others.
But there were too many Ming soldiers standing in front of them. These Ming soldiers had lost their command and were running around like headless flies. Although Butcher Chen was able to fight his way through these chaotic soldiers.
, but by the time they fought their way out from the chaotic soldiers, Ying Tianhu and the others had already run far away.
Seeing Ying Tianhu and others running away, Butcher Chen showed unwillingness, but he still did not insist on chasing after him impulsively. Instead, he held a butcher's knife with blood stains on it in one hand and said: "Catch all these people."
stand up!"
A short gangster on the side said: "General, why are you arresting me? It's easier to kill them all with one knife!"
Unexpectedly, Butcher Chen said with a straight face: "Kill them all, capture them all and make them work as coolies, otherwise you will have to carry so much baggage!"
Capturing prisoners to serve as coolies to carry baggage was also a common method used by the Tang Dynasty kings during their expeditions.
Most of the prisoners captured by the Ming army were young civilians or ordinary Ming army serf guards. These people themselves did not have much fighting ability, and the key point was that they did not have much resistance.
They were used to being bullied by the officers of the Ming Army before. As long as their weapons were confiscated and a few people were sent to watch over them, these people would become as docile as sheep. They didn't even need to threaten them with swords, they would just yell and curse them.
You can make them obediently do whatever they are told.
According to the experience of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty over the past year or so, using prisoners to transport baggage is a worry-free and labor-saving task, and it is more convenient than directly capturing strong men to serve as civilian husbands.
After Fang Dongquan followed up, he looked at Ying Tianhu and others who were running away, fearing that Ying Tianhu and the others would go to the back to move reinforcements. You must know that there is a main force of more than 400 Ming troops five or six miles behind.
, it would probably only take half an hour to run here lightly.
Fang Dongquan did not want to encounter the main force of the Ming army just after a battle, so he walked up to Butcher Chen and said: "General Chen, don't bother to catch those who have escaped. Let's fight quickly.
Take these and go back immediately!"
Although Butcher Chen looked at the Ming soldiers who were still fleeing and felt unwilling to do so, he still nodded: "Yes!"
Soon, these Huangzhushan bandits were on their way back with about thirty Ming army prisoners and many captured weapons.
Just when Chen Tufu and others set off to return, Li Xuan at the front also felt relieved. The key to this battle was the word "quick".
Before, he was afraid that Fang Dongquan and Butcher Chen would waste time by procrastinating, but now it seems that Fang Dongquan and Butcher Chen still know how to take the overall situation into consideration.
In order to prevent the main force of the Ming army behind from becoming angry, a night attack was carried out, and also because without the nearby surveillance of the Ming army's forwards, they would have a greater chance of getting rid of the Ming army's pursuit.
Li Xuan immediately followed the original plan and asked the entire army to continue on their way.
Although it was already evening and it was not long before dark, Li Xuan still wanted to take advantage of this time to go farther. If the distance between him and the main force of the Ming army could be more than ten miles, then it would be clear what would happen later.
It would be impossible for the army to catch up with them again.
Even if the Ming army is still unable to get rid of them, causing the Ming army to keep following behind, the danger is not great anymore. There is no need to worry about seeing a large number of Ming troops outside the camp early the next morning when camping at night.
On the premise of ensuring his own safety, Li Xuan is even willing to let the Ming army chase him, because to a certain extent, it also restrains the Ming army. As long as these Ming troops come to chase him, they will not be able to come.
One or two hundred people, but more than five hundred or even more. Otherwise, if the Ming army comes, they may lose their troops and generals.
However, once the main force of the Ming army came to pursue them, they would not be able to send troops into the mountains to find Huangzhu Mountain.
In this way, the safety of Huangzhushan can be initially guaranteed!
But Li Xuan guessed that the people on the Ming army would not continue to chase him in circles in the mountains. It had been proved many times in the past that the Ming army could not defeat the bandits in Huangzhu Mountain.
Yes, as long as the generals of the Ming army were not crazy, they would not have made the same mistakes as the previous few times.
Li Xuan's guess was not wrong. That night when Diao Leixun saw Ying Tianhu running back with more than twenty people like a lost dog, although his face was gloomy and scary, he did not immediately lead the army to pursue him in the night regardless of the consequences.
Instead, he ordered them to go down and collect the remaining soldiers of the forward as much as possible. At the same time, he reported to Su Jiakang in the rear that the forward was ambushed.
As for Ying Tianhu's subsequent outcome, this is no longer what Diao Leixun cares about. Anyway, after this Ying Tianhu suffered such a defeat, the end will not be any better.
Diao Leixun was more concerned about what he should do next, whether to give up the pursuit or to pursue him in the mountains until the end of time.
If Diao Leixun could decide by himself, he would have taken people out of the mountain long ago. Whoever wants to drill into this mountain, he is not willing to do it anyway.
It's a pity that the decision-making power on this matter is not in his hands, but in the hands of Su Jiakang.