Tiger Guards

Chapter 399 Imperial Sacrificial Commandant
As the sun rose higher, the sunlight became increasingly scorching.

On the east bank of the Ying River, the participating troops removed their armor and drove the prisoners to clean up the battlefield.

After cleaning up the bloodstains and mud in the camp, Zhao Ji also readjusted the wagon camp he had set up.

The cavalry on the outer perimeter were split into two groups. One group withdrew to the Zheqiu City camp where they had been stationed, and continued to serve as the outer perimeter barrier for Xuchang.

Another group moved to Dongyingwai and began searching for horses on the east bank of the Ying River.

The prisoners were numb and were driven by the Guanzhong soldiers to do various kinds of physical labor.

Zhao Ji inspected the wounded soldiers' camp and said to Zhuge Jin, who was in charge there, "My requirements remain the same: the more wounded soldiers recover, the greater Ziyu's merit will be. All supplies in the camp should be prioritized for this area. Is there any difficulty now?"

Zhuge Jin hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Grand Marshal, most of the wounded soldiers this time are veterans, stubborn in nature, and have developed a fondness for drinking after being wounded. It is inconvenient for me to enforce the law and establish authority, so I request that the Grand Marshal dispatch legal officials to prevent the wounded soldiers from stealing and drinking."

“Drinkers are often reckless and should not be allowed to do so. Wounded soldiers are still soldiers, and since this is not a celebration, they should not drink.”

Zhao Ji looked at a military officer who had followed him: "Go to the militia camp and lead a squad of militia members to be in charge of prohibiting alcohol in the wounded soldiers' camp. Also deal with the fighting among the wounded soldiers and theft."

This military officer from Jinxiang, Shanyang, Yanzhou, was named Tan Wangzhi. He was assigned to Zhu Ling during the Battle of Chenliu last year and followed Zhu Ling in raising an army in battle.

Because he was not a military officer but a relatively rare legal official, Zhao Ji promoted him to serve by his side.

Tan Wangzhi bowed in agreement and then asked, "Should the wounded soldiers be punished more severely?"

When asked by Tan Wangzhi about the possibility of lenient treatment for wounded soldiers, Zhao Ji nodded and said, “The disturbance caused by wounded soldiers involves and affects not only the two sides involved, but also other innocent officials and soldiers whose rest has been disturbed. If wounded soldiers are arrogant and disorderly because of their merits and hardships, as you suggested, they should be dealt with severely.”

"Follow the order."

Tan Wangzhi responded loudly once again, and Zhao Ji then looked at a centurion of the cavalry: "Send a team from your command to Tan Wangzhi, and I will select another team to take over in three days."

"Here."

The officer agreed, though reluctantly, but he had no other choice.

With the great battle already underway and half of his men gone, he was unable to carry out missions involving a hundred-man squad, so he was naturally not happy.

Zhao Ji looked at Zhuge Jin: "Ziyu, is there anything else that needs to be resolved?"

With Tan in charge of law enforcement, there were no more miscellaneous matters in the camp.

"Ah."

Zhao Ji responded and turned to leave the sunshade. Tan Wangzhi stayed behind, cupped his hands in respect to Zhuge Jin, and Zhuge Jin quickly returned the gesture.

The returning cavalrymen were settled in, and the entire army was undergoing head inspection and merit verification.

The battle process was not complicated, and there was no room for disputes between different departments when assessing merits.

When Zhao Ji walked out of the wounded soldiers' camp, he saw that all the fallen officers and soldiers of each unit had been collected. The highest-ranking were the three centurions, followed by the five squad leaders.

The eight men were laid out in a separate row, dressed in their own spare uniforms, and each had their own individual cremation pyre.

There is no shortage of fuel in the military camp.

In preparation for attacking Ji Ling's eastern camp, Zhao Ji prepared over a thousand cartloads of bundled reed mats. These reed mats could be used to pave muddy roads, quickly build thatched huts and pavilions, and also to lay on the ground to keep out dampness when sleeping.

The amount of fuel consumed during the cremation of officials and soldiers was actually not much.

In particular, when low-ranking officials were cremated in groups, once the fire started, the firewood laid under the corpses could burn for a longer time with the help of grease.

Some wounded soldiers couldn't survive the night, so the piles of firewood for cremation were larger, and they would be cremated when the whole army was resting at night.

Most of the officers and soldiers inside and outside the main camp were already resting in their respective small camps. Zhao Ji looked at the pile of firewood containing the fallen officers and soldiers, stood there for a moment in a daze, and turned to Zhao Jian beside him: "Now that they have been properly buried, how can we let them be exposed to the sun? The army has no shortage of reed curtains, go and build them a sunshade immediately!"

Sensing Zhao Ji's anger, Zhao Jian was startled: "Yes, sir, I'll go right away!"

Zhao Ji turned to look at Guan Shang, then his gaze bypassed Guan Shang and landed on the face of a battalion commander who had come from the Tiger Guard: "Go and find out who came up with this idea."

"Here!"

The battalion commander also looked angry. He was one of the Tiger Warriors who had risen through the ranks relatively quickly, having joined the army for the first time and followed Zhao Ji to kill people.

Our fallen comrades have always been cleaned and groomed before being placed in a house, in a shed, or at the very least covered with straw mats. There's no reason to leave them directly exposed to the sun like this.

Only the heads of enemy soldiers that needed to be examined were placed on the ground for passing officials and soldiers to inspect.

Zhao Ji instinctively disliked his comrades being exposed to the scorching sun, perhaps because it would accelerate the decomposition of the bodies, or perhaps because seeing the faces of the dead would break down their psychological defenses and trigger even heavier emotions of grief.

Zhao Ji remained stationary, while Zhao Jian and others quickly carried out the task. Soon, Sun Zi, the military strategist temporarily in charge of collecting and burying the body, was summoned.

"Grand Sima."

Sun Zi composed himself and bowed, no longer daring to act like an elder in the army.
Zhao Ji pointed to the rows of fallen officers and soldiers laid out on the field: "Why are the corpses of my officers and soldiers exposed to the sun?"

"Reporting to the Grand Marshal, in this battle, the officers and soldiers of various camps were fighting in disarray and their allegiance was scattered... This is also to facilitate the officers of each camp to check the casualties of their respective units."

"Next time, we'll build a shelter and place the fallen officers and soldiers under it. They must be protected from the sun and rain."

Zhao Ji slightly suppressed his anger and ignored Sun Zi. Sun Zi bowed deeply and said, "Yes, sir."

Sun Zi's words made some sense, but only Sun Zi himself knew his true intentions.

After Zhao Ji and his party left, Sun Zi straightened up, breathing heavily, looking worried.

He felt that doing so might provoke Zhao Ji's displeasure, but Zhao Ji tolerated him in this way, which made Sun Zi even more distressed.

When Zhao Ji passed by, he saw one of the five fallen officers with a tiger-patterned armband. The man had been wounded in the neck by an arrow. Zhao Ji took off his purple cloak and covered the man with it.

Without looking again, he quickly left.

Returning to the spacious barracks where Qiao Rui once lived, his head now hangs under the flagpole in front of the barracks.

There was no wind, and the bridge's head remained motionless.

Zhao Ji entered the barracks, took off his helmet, picked up the copper kettle on the table, and poured tea... There are many kinds of tea, not just tea leaves, but also barley tea, dandelion tea, or other types of tea.

Zhao Ji promoted drinking tea simply to set an example and get everyone to drink hot water with him.

If he had a choice, he would like to drink sweet honey wine, fruit wine, and fruit juice with every meal; these things are too wasteful of productivity. For now, drinking various locally sourced teas during breaks is very environmentally friendly.

As he drank his barley tea, he could faintly taste a hint of the burnt aroma of coffee.

Pei Xiu then led the cavalry's main officers back. Both groups had already removed their armor and suddenly gathered in the spacious hall. The air became stuffy, mixed with the stench of feet and the smell of blood.

Zhao Ji took his seat and addressed the civil and military officials seated on either side: “The most important matters of the state are war and sacrifice. I intend to establish a Sacrificial Officer position in the army, temporarily called Sacrificial Commandant. In times of war, he will be responsible for the collection, cremation, and relocation of the remains of fallen officers and soldiers. In peacetime, he will be responsible for the worship of the spirits of heroes at Longshan. He will also be trained in medicine, pharmacology, and the arts of exorcism and incantation. If any of you have suitable candidates, please recommend them to me later.”

Exorcism and incantation techniques, while seemingly ritualistic, are actually psychological counseling and suggestion used to stabilize and reduce negative emotions in the military.

Pei Xiu drank his tea in silence, while the others looked at each other, sensing that this matter was quite important.

The casualties in the army now... well, how should I put it? This morning, less than 300 soldiers died in the assault, and by tonight, the number of seriously wounded soldiers who have died will not exceed 500.

Zhao Ji led his troops from Guanzhong to Luoyang. During this time, he rectified military discipline and investigated the officers and soldiers in Guanzhong who had concealed their past misdeeds. He killed more than 600 people in total.

Therefore, the casualties today, when distributed among the various armies, will not have much impact on morale.

However, if the number of military casualties is too high, then a professional team is indeed needed to provide psychological counseling in order to stabilize morale.

These people aren't being supported for nothing; they can also assist legal officials in restraining the army from another perspective.

While staying in the local area, they can also promote hygiene concepts and serve as inspectors and investigators.

People who do psychological counseling are very perceptive because they do this kind of thing a lot.

When traveling around the countryside, it is easy to discover things that ordinary officials would find difficult to discover.

Seeing that no one objected or offered any suggestions, Zhao Ji asked, "Now that the eastern camp has been breached and Ji Ling is surrounded on both sides in the western camp, tell me what he will do."

The officers, strategists, and staff exchanged glances. Wei Xing, who had returned with Pei Xiu, spoke first: "Grand Marshal, I believe that after our army broke through their eastern camp in half a day, Ji Ling has lost his courage. Given his loyalty to the Yuan family, tonight he will either flee to Xiang County downstream or launch a desperate attack on General Dang Kou's forces. We should remind General Dang Kou to be on guard."

(End of this chapter)