Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 101: The Protector General Defeats Hu Mi and is Conferred the Title of Marquis

The winter nights in the northern frontier are particularly quiet and cold.

Inside the big tent, the heat from the bonfire dispelled the winter chill. Zhang Yu and his confidants sat around the fire and discussed what would happen after the war.

"Captain, although our army won today, the continuous fierce fighting resulted in heavy casualties among the soldiers," said Li Song.

"How many were killed in action? How are the soldiers and officers who were seriously injured?"

Zhang Yu handed the lacquer cup filled with warm water to Li Song and asked.

Li Songwei stood up and took the lacquer cup, saying: "After checking the casualties of each camp, there are 164 dead in the battle, 96 seriously injured, and 375 slightly injured."

As soon as the casualty report came out, everyone fell silent, leaving only the howling of the north wind and the sound of Zhang Yu drinking water.

Seeing that no one was talking, Li Song sighed and said, "Based on the number of casualties, almost everyone is injured."

The total number of soldiers and officers who were injured, whether lightly or seriously, reached a staggering 635, while the entire school had less than 800 soldiers. This means that the casualties accounted for more than 80% of the total number of soldiers in the school.

Zhang Yu had expected such a high number of casualties. After all, in this battle, even Zhang Yu himself was shot in the arm, and even his beloved horse died in the battle, not to mention other people!

It is easy to deal with minor injuries, as most of them can be saved, but for the seriously injured soldiers, given the medical environment at the end of the Han Dynasty, I wonder how many of them can be saved?
Zhang Yu held the cup in his palm, feeling mixed emotions.

Although he led everyone to victory, such a high loss made Zhang Yu feel a little gloomy. Although he went out to the border to make merit this time, he used the slogan of rectifying Yanbei and driving out the Hu to protect the border, but in his heart, he actually wanted to gain military merit for himself.

Now the soldiers died because of following him. Listening to the groans of the wounded in the tent, Zhang Yu felt melancholy. It is true that a general's success is achieved at the cost of thousands of lives!
If he embarks on the path of striving for hegemony in the future, I wonder how many people will die for him?

Perhaps when he embarks on the journey to dominate, he will no longer care about the fight between life and death, and these casualties will be just a string of numbers to him?
Zhang Yu calmed down and said, "There is no need for us to say more about treating the injured soldiers. But I have an idea. What do you think?"

"Throughout history, many soldiers have died in battles, and the imperial court has often used money and silk to provide relief. Those with high military positions have received generous rewards, while ordinary soldiers and officials have received very little."

"I have been thinking deeply about it and want to divide the military merit into four levels: A, B, C, and D. If a soldier dies with D merit, the pension money and food will be increased by 10%; if a soldier dies with C merit, the pension money and food will be increased by 20%, and the amount will be accumulated in order."

"As for the compensation for the dead in battle, the court now provides very little. I think that for soldiers and officials who die in battle, their wives should be given 36 dan of rice, and 3-6 dou of rice per year for the rest of their lives as compensation. For officers who die in battle, there will be separate compensation."

Li Song nodded and said, "I have no other opinion on what the lieutenant said. However, the pension money and food are too much. I wonder where the monthly allowance will come from in the future?"

"I have invested privately, and I will only share the rewards with the soldiers. If the court does not provide relief for the annual rice grains, my Zhang family will come forward to provide relief."

Zhang Yu looked around at the officers present and said, "My brothers have been with me through thick and thin. If I neglect them, my conscience will be uneasy. I swear now that I will share the joys and sorrows with you brothers as long as I am alive."

With the atmosphere set to this point and Zhang Yu’s statement, everyone was moved.

Hao Zhao was the first to bow and said, "I am willing to share the joys and sorrows with the captain!"

"I am willing to share the joys and sorrows with the Captain!"

"Let me use water instead of wine, and toast to you all!"

"Cheers to the Captain!"

After talking about the heavy topic of casualties, they came to count the spoils and prisoners. Needless to say, the furs, bows and arrows, and spears, as well as the rations and horses carried by the Hu cavalry all became the spoils of the Yunzhong Yicong.

The Yunzhong Yicong cavalry carried more than 800 horses across the border. After two battles, although more than 200 horses were lost, 700 to 800 horses were captured, which greatly enriched the horse resources in the army and allowed Zhang Yu to not worry about horses in the short term.

As for beheading and capturing the Hu people, the Han cavalry killed more than 600 Hu people and captured more than 100 people, with a total of more than 700 people. More than 700 cavalry went out of the border and captured the same number of heads. In official terms, the number of beheadings and captures of the Hu people was excessive.

Because of his excessive military achievements and the capture of Kebineng alive, this battle outside the border was difficult but a truly brilliant victory!
So far, although Zhang Yu has taken a huge risk in leading his troops out of the border, judging from his gains, they will be extremely rich.

Leaving aside the political influence, judging from his military achievements, according to the military merit system of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Yu would not only be promoted to a higher position, but would also be granted the title of marquis.

While the atmosphere was getting lively, Zhang Yu reviewed the gains and losses of today's battle with everyone else.

There are too few geniuses in the world. In order to help his generals grow, Zhang Yu naturally has to review the battles, let the generals understand the gains and losses, and learn the lessons between the enemy and us.

"Looking at the confrontation between the two armies today, I wonder what mistakes Ke Bineng made? And what are the shortcomings of our army?" Zhang Yu asked.

"Hesitation!"

Zhang Liao pondered for a moment and said, "When Kebi Neng first met our army, he hesitated and did not dare to launch an attack. Instead, he sent scouts to investigate, which gave our army time to align their ranks. If I were Kebi Neng, I would lead my cavalry to charge and attack the enemy when they were unprepared." After a pause, Zhang Liao reflected on himself and said, "As for me, I thought that if I led the armored cavalry to break through the front formation, I could directly attack Kebi Neng. But Kebi Neng was cunning and set up a spear formation behind the front formation. Although I broke through the spear formation with my cavalry, the armored cavalry was trapped in a heavy siege. I should be more careful next time."

Hao Zhao scratched his head and said awkwardly: "When I was ordered to go around, I wasted a lot of time on the way because I didn't find out the road conditions in time. If I could arrive earlier, maybe the battle would be easier."

"What else?" Zhang Yu encouraged.

Shi Yi thought for a moment and said, "Our school was formed hastily. Although our soldiers are brave, their riding and archery skills are not as good as those of the Hu people. If we want to reduce casualties in the future, we need to practice not only martial arts, but also tactics."

"Marquis Juluo led his cavalry to pursue our army, but he did not take the terrain of Aobao into consideration, so he was ambushed by our army." Zhang Feng thought for a long time and said, "When we are pursuing them, we can send fast horses to the left and right to find out the whereabouts of the ambush troops."

"very good!"

Seeing everyone speaking enthusiastically, Zhang Yu said, "I have a different opinion on this battle. If our army can lure Zhu Luohou deeper into the enemy territory, so that the Hu cavalry reinforcements cannot arrive quickly, can we avoid two fierce battles in one day?"

"If Kebi can come to chase us, our troops are well-organized. We can use the cover of darkness to sneak south or launch a surprise attack at night. We shouldn't have to fight hard!"

"The captain is wise." Hao Zhao praised.

"What the captain said makes sense, but no matter what, the excessive beheading is all the result of the captain's strategic planning." Li Song said with a smile.

"You have also sacrificed your lives and bravely charged into battle." Zhang Yu waved his hand and said with a smile, "The changes in today's battle can be left for you to study in the future. Robertson will find someone to restore the course of events and post the battle formations of both sides."

"promise!"

Recording the battle briefly in words is not very useful, and may even cause ambiguity due to unclear records. Therefore, Zhang Yu planned to follow the same method that Wang Hong taught him to use troops. In addition to recording the battle in words, he also posted a battle formation diagram to make it clearer.

"Captain, although our army won today, we suffered heavy casualties. I wonder if we can return to the border tomorrow?" Li Song asked.

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and asked, "Ke Bineng has been captured, and his brother Zhu Luohou has fled with his troops. The people of the Hu tribe will be in turmoil. I want to lead the elite cavalry to stay at the border and wait and see. The rest of the seriously injured can go back to the border to treat them first."

Because he captured many Hu cavalry, Zhang Yu had a deep understanding of the tribe to which Kebi Neng belonged. Although Kebi Neng's tribe had about 2,000 tribes, half of them were obtained by Kebi Neng by annexing other tribes, and were not the tribesmen originally inherited by Kebi Neng.

Now that Kebi has been captured, the Hu tribe is likely to have conflicts and internal divisions. Zhang Yu might be able to take advantage of the situation to plunder and get more spoils. If the division cannot be achieved and there is no profit, Zhang Yu will not stay at the border for long.

Of course, Zhang Yu led his troops to guard the rear, also to prevent the Xianbei from pursuing southward. After all, the marching speed of the injured soldiers could not be compared with that of normal soldiers. If there was no rear guard to cover them, they would easily be caught up by the pursuers.

"In this case, Captain, you should be more careful!" Li Song said.

After a pause, Li Song asked, "Then how can Kebi arrange it?"

Hearing this, Zhang Yu thought for a while and said, "Ke Bi Neng will be detained temporarily. I will deal with him personally after I return to the frontier!"

"promise!"

On December 16th, the weather cleared up.

At Zhang Yu's order, Li Song and Zhang Liao returned south to Pingcheng with the wounded soldiers and the rich war merits they had captured. Zhang Yu and Shi Yi stayed behind with 200 available cavalrymen to wait and see what would happen to Kebineng's troops.

Just as Zhang Yu guessed, Kebi Neng's troops lost too many able-bodied men, and Kebi Neng was captured, so his brother Juluo Hou had no prestige to secure his position in the Hu tribe.

After only one day, the tribe that Kebi Neng had painstakingly managed for many years fell apart. Kebi Neng's distant relatives and elders did not recognize that Juluo Hou had the ability to remain the leader, so they fled with more than 700 tribes of their own and more than 300 tribes, totaling more than a thousand tribes.

With the first person splitting up, the small tribe Hongji, which had previously been incorporated into Kebi Neng's tribe, saw Kebi Neng being captured and the tribe falling apart, so it led more than 200 tribes to leave. Zhu Luohou led his cavalry to pursue Hongji's tribe, but was repelled by Hongji's tribe.

The three consecutive defeats of Juluo Hou had a bad impact. Qi Lugen, a close confidant of Kebi Neng, saw that Juluo Hou was incompetent and did not know whether Kebi Neng was dead or alive. Under the instigation of Hongji's tribe, he took away more than 300 tribes.

In just two days, Kebineng's troops were torn apart, leaving only Zhuluo Hou and more than 300 tribes of his own, and their strength plummeted.

Moreover, due to the internal strife within Kebi Neng's army, dozens of Han people who had been captured by Kebi Neng escaped and met Zhang Yu's army to the south, which indicated the changes in the Hu army.

Sensing an opportunity for war, Zhang Yu led his troops to raid the weakest Hongji tribe on the night of the 18th, beheading more than 30 people, capturing more than 100 Han and Hu people, and hundreds of horses, cattle and sheep.

Fearing that they would be targeted by a large tribe, Zhang Yu led two hundred cavalrymen and more than two hundred Han and Hu people and withdrew southward in the early morning of the 18th.

After two days of rapid march, Zhang Yu caught up with Li Song, who had withdrawn earlier, thirty miles south of Qiangyin.

The two armies joined forces and returned to Pingcheng!
(End of this chapter)