If it were normal times, a battle with hundreds or even thousands of casualties might be considered a big deal, but no matter how big it was, it would only be a minor event. Su Jiakang would look at it twice more, but only twice.
Since the rebellion of the pseudo-Tang thief Jin, the total number of casualties among the Ming army he led has been quite large. There should have been four to five hundred people, but with so many casualties, has anyone from above ever asked about it?
No!
Does Su Jiakang himself care?
not give a damn about!
The lives of those soldiers were very cheap. If they died, they would die. Su Jiakang would not even frown for this. As for those young and strong men, Su Jiakang even ignored them.
Therefore, to be honest, the casualties of these soldiers have never been taken seriously by Su Jiakang. Even if he sometimes pays attention to the casualties of the soldiers, it is not about their life and death, but he is worried that if too many soldiers die, he will not be able to win.
Not to Li Xuan.
This was usually like this, but in this current situation, Su Jiakang didn't care about the life and death of these soldiers even more. You must know that Su Jiakang is very worried about his own fate.
The capture of Zhengtai County, even if it only took a mere night, still caused a huge shock in the city. When Su Jiakang led his army into the city this morning, many gentry families expressed that they had suffered such a catastrophe in Zhengtai County.
The meeting will send people to the capital to report the news, and even send letters to the children of the family who are officials abroad.
Su Jiakang knew with his toes that if this time was not handled properly, the accusations of impeaching him would fly into the governor's office, or even into the capital.
Even though he had recaptured Zhengtai County, and even though he had written personal letters to many division commanders in advance to make advance preparations, it was still not easy to survive this disaster.
If you want to pass the test smoothly, the best way is to annihilate the puppet Tang thief army and capture the puppet emperor Li Xuan alive. Well, you can also kill him!
In this way, he can have more room for maneuver and try to protect his life and official title. Well, he might even be promoted to an official or something.
So when he first entered the city this morning, he asked Wang Zhitan to lead the vanguard to chase him, while he himself was in the city to appease the gentry, especially if there were children in the family who were officials outside, or with the governor of the provincial capital.
The gentry who spoke loudly were his key targets.
After finally pacifying them, when Su Jiakang once again led his army to pursue the puppet Tang rebels, he refused to leave hundreds of soldiers and young men in Zhengtai County to guard against the puppet Tang rebels and clear out the puppet Tang rebels in the city.
In the name of spies, the whole city was continued to be sealed off, and people were not allowed to enter or exit.
Its purpose is to prevent those gentry from reporting to the outside world!
Not only that, he also left more than ten cronies in the city. Their task was that once a gentry family tried to send someone to report to the outside world, these dozen people would have to act as highway robbers.
All this is done to block the news!
As for the Prime Minister of Xu County and others who had run away yesterday, Su Jiakang had already announced that the Prime Minister of Xu County had abandoned the city and fled before the battle, and sent someone with his letter to rush to the capital to find the prefect Song Zhiwen.
He believed that the governor Song Zhiwen would make the same choice as him after reading his letter, because once the fall of Zhengtai County was revealed, Song Zhiwen's fate would not be much better.
Therefore, for the entire civil and military officialdom of Zhengtai County, and even for the entire civil and military officialdom of Xingquan Prefecture, the most correct choice is to cover up the matter, reduce major issues to minor issues, and reduce trivial matters to minor issues.
If the puppet Tang bandit army can be established and the puppet emperor Li Xuan is captured, then this disaster can be brought to a perfect end.
Therefore, even though Su Jiakang knew that a night attack was difficult and a force attack was even more difficult, he still had to force his soldiers to attack.
Nowadays, times are difficult for Su Jiakang!
And at such a difficult time, these warriors actually want to be lazy and not attack the puppet Tang thief army?
They actually wanted to wait until tomorrow. They really thought that the puppet Tang rebel army had no legs. It was still tomorrow. It was estimated that the puppet Tang rebel army had disappeared a few hours after boarding.
As for the huge casualties that China may suffer in the subsequent attack, maybe Wang Zhitan and the others will care, but will he, Su Jiakang, care?
Just kidding, as long as he can kill Li Xuan, he won't feel sad if all the more than a thousand people die.
Su Jiakang's determination to capture Li Xuan alive is unquestionable, and Wang Zhitan's determination to survive is equally great.
When Su Jiakang drove them out and asked them to prepare for the attack, Wang Zhitan was discussing with several generals in lowered voices.
One of them said: "We can't fight, we absolutely can't fight. If we really have to fight, regardless of whether we can win, even if we win, I'm afraid most of us here will be killed or injured!"
Another person said: "It's just that it's night now and everything is dark. Once an attack is launched, no matter whether the attack is good or not, there will be no way to retreat!"
"Master Wang, we really can't fight this. Chaos is prone to occur at night. Even if we are walking and marching, we cannot stabilize our formation. At least dozens of people have been separated by night. If we forcefully launch a night attack,
When the time comes, it will be a chaotic battle, and we will not be able to direct it at all. If we win, it will be okay, but there will be more casualties at most, but if we lose, we will be doomed!" The same thing happened to the man before.
Open your mouth and say.
Wang Zhitan also sighed and said: "I know everything you said, but what is the use of our knowing it, and that person doesn't know it!"
After he said this, someone next to him muttered: "Doesn't he know? That person named Su is not a person who doesn't understand military affairs at all. He has read many more military books than you and I have!"
"He clearly wants us to work hard to get credit for him, and he doesn't care about our life or death at all!" someone else said.
Listening to what his colleagues said, Wang Zhitan sighed. He couldn't see that Su Jiakang did it on purpose this time.
In order to encircle and suppress the puppet Tang traitor army, he and Su Jiakang have worked together for more than half a year. I can't say that he knows Su Jiakang very well, but he can still see some symptoms. This Su Jiakang knows military affairs to some extent, otherwise he has conquered several times before and after.
He would not personally lead the troops to the puppet Tang thief army every time.
But does Su Jiakang know how to lead troops to fight, and can he see the current crisis? Is it important?
It still doesn't matter, Su Jiakang doesn't care about the casualties of the soldiers at all, he only wants Li Xuan!
At this time, someone else said: "Master Wang, please say something. Now you are the backbone of our big guys. Whatever you say, we can't really let that guy named Su fight him!"
At this moment Wang Zhitan took a deep breath and said: "We must fight. Otherwise, if we don't wait until the puppet army of the Tang Dynasty is in front, I am afraid that our heads will have fallen to the ground, but how to fight can be a fuss!"
As soon as Wang Zhitan's words came out, several other people looked expectant, and one of them asked: "Master Wang, how do you write this article?"
Wang Zhi sighed: "We try to delay as much time as possible, so that our brothers can walk slower, so that we can recover some strength, and also give the puppet Tang rebel army time to escape. If the puppet Tang rebel army escapes,
, then the rest of the matter will be easier to handle. The worst thing is to continue to catch up, and no one will die after all!"
"What if the puppet Tang rebels don't leave?" Someone immediately asked with doubts on their faces.
Wang Zhi sighed: "If the puppet Tang rebel army is unwilling to leave, then it can only be a fake fight!"
A Ming army man next to him said: "How do you fake a fight?"
Wang Zhi sighed: "You don't know how to fake a fight? When you are in front of the Puppet Tang thief army, tell your brothers not to rush forward so stupidly. When you rush to the 70th or 80th battle, those Puppet Tang thief army fired the first round of firecrackers.
Turn around and run away, maybe Su Jiakang still has the guts to chop down hundreds of our brothers!"
Someone immediately picked up the conversation and said: "This method is good. Although the rebel army's fire cannons are sharp, their accuracy beyond eighty steps is too poor. If you retreat at this distance, there will be no casualties. At most, a few unlucky guys will die!"
Moreover, if we can't attack like this, we will suffer very few casualties, and Su Jiakang should have nothing to say. Even if he is dissatisfied and wants to force us to rush forward and send his trusted followers to supervise the battle, it is nothing special.
If our brothers, the commander-in-chief, dispersed and his surname was Su, how could he resist the counterattack of the puppet Tang rebel army? Maybe then it would not be us who captured the puppet emperor Li Xuan, but they would capture our Lord Su!
"
But after hearing this, Wang Zhitan hurriedly said: "Mr. Su has been captured? This is not a good thing. I advise you not to have such thoughts. As the lord of the county, Su Jiakang was ordered to suppress thieves. If he dies,
Among the rebels, I am afraid that everyone present will have to be buried with him."
During the battle, even if he, Wang Zhitan, was killed by the enemy, he would be killed. The big bosses above were too lazy to take a look. But if Su Jiakang died in the rebel army, he was still beheaded or even captured by the bandits.
Well, that was no bigger event than the fall of Zhengtai County.
Su Jiakang was the magistrate of Zhengtai County, acting as a herdsman for the emperor. If he was killed by a group of rebellious bandits, what kind of reaction would the court have? It would definitely be a thunderous wrath!
For the three-thirds of Zhengtai County, Zhengtai County is a hornet's nest, and Su Jiakang himself is actually a hornet's nest. Once it is poked, the Tang Dynasty will be finished, and Wang Zhitan and others will probably die as well.
The shock to the imperial court is certain, and accountability is certain, but once the superiors hold them accountable, none of them, the generals under Su Jiakang, will end up well, or they will have to shed their skins even if they don't die!
Wang Zhitan and the others did not want to fight at night, and they also did not want to let Su Jiakang fall into the chaos. They could only think of other ways.
Although these methods have been discussed a lot, they all have one purpose, and that is to delay!
Delay it until the puppet Tang rebels voluntarily evacuate, or until dawn!
In short, they are unwilling to fight tonight, life or death. To attack by force in this situation is not to fight, it is to die!