Guan Shan's move successfully prevented Chen Tianhua from pursuing all military actions of Li Chun, but he probably did not expect the serious consequences.

In fact, Guan Shan didn't know something, and Chen Tianhua had ordered not to pursue him. It was hard for him to imagine or do such a cruel thing.

When he reaches the underworld, he will probably have to go to the eighteenth level of hell to redeem himself for sins that he cannot atone for.

Chen Tianhua's more than 100,000 troops, including baggage, logistics, engineers, etc., all participated in the rescue and disaster relief, except for the necessary security forces.

But the only thing they can do is to operate on the periphery of the city. As for the center of the city, it is impossible to save and no one can get in.

All the city gates have been opened. Whether the residents in the city or the defeated troops can escape depends only on your luck.

Chen Tianhua's Southern Army built refugee reception camps outside the city in the east, west, north and south, equipped with an entire medical camp, including a large amount of medicines and materials, and of course a large number of tents, bedding, food supplies, etc.

Cui Mingyi, Ning Zexu, who returned to Dezhou, and Zheng Kun from Xuzhou Prefecture, and other local governments also tried their best to collect medicinal materials for treating burns from all over the place and transported them to Kaifeng City in an endless stream.

The troops tracking Li Chun had the best luck. When they returned panting, the fire had been basically put out, and they were the only two regiments left unscathed.

Ten days later, Chen Tianhua, Luo Longyun and other generals set foot on the burned-to-white Kaifeng City for the first time. They were all solemn and silent, feeling extremely sad.

Apart from ruins and broken walls, there is almost nothing left in the city.

The charred walls, the occasional green smoke rising from the wreckage, and the bursts of dust blown by the gusts of wind, scattered and fell on the body. In a moment, the person's whole body was covered with a layer of black foam.

Chen Tianhua looked very ugly and ordered the Military Investigation Division to investigate the arsonists.

From the mouths of some of the more senior officers who were captured, we learned that all of the arson was arranged by Guan Shan in advance.

Guan Shan himself was also reduced to ashes in the fire, which made Chen Tianhua unable to vent his anger and felt extremely depressed.

When I stepped on the still warm ground with my combat boots, I saw that everything was devastated. In just a few years, the state capital could not hope to return to its former glory.

This fire burned countless wealth, not to mention countless lives.

The entire population register in the city was reduced to ashes, making it impossible to carry out statistical work. According to the accounts of some surviving Yamen civil officials.

At that time, in addition to nearly 30,000 troops, there were nearly 100,000 permanent residents in the inner city of Fucheng. Although the Southern Army was approaching and many people fled, most of them still kept a sense of luck and stayed in the city.

Most of them became victims of the fire.

Chen Tianhua just made a rough estimate, and couldn't help but tremble in his heart. This fire burned nearly 100,000 lives, and now there are less than 50,000 people in the refugee camp outside the city.

"Son of a bitch!" Chen Tianhua's face was so gloomy that it was about to ooze water, and he cursed in frustration.

After several years of siege and plundering the city, only this one was the most brutal.

All rulers should consider the survival and livelihood of the people under their rule and choose the path that is most beneficial to the people.

Over the years, the city was conquered with little effort and casualties were not large. The local economy did not suffer any serious blow and recovered very quickly after the war.

But the situation in Kaifeng Fucheng in front of them was completely opposite. Li Chun, Guan Shan and other bureaucrats first looted all the supplies they could, and then burned them all down.

Chen Tianhua only made a rough estimate in his mind: Fucheng will become a huge burden in the next few years.

Thinking of this, Chen Tianhua hated Li Chun and Guan Shan to the core.

Now, he already knows that Guan Shan is Guan Yu's father and Guan Heng's brother.

Based on all the intelligence, we also learned that this action was completely a crazy revenge by Guan Shan.

I finally understood why Guan Shan was so crazy. He did not escape in the end, even though he had the chance to escape, but chose to die with the city.

Chen Tianhua had never hated someone so much, but he was extremely angry towards Guan Shan, which completely violated his bottom line.

In battlefield battles, death is commonplace. Whether it is a brother or a child, since the son has embarked on this road, he must be mentally prepared at all times.

To bury so many innocent people out of his own selfish anger can no longer be described as crazy.

In Chen Tianhua's mind, he has found a word to describe Guan Shan's crazy behavior.

"Zexu, how long will it take for you to recover?" Chen Tianhua asked in a low voice.

Ning Zexu, who was beside him, was slightly startled, but then he reacted and felt ecstatic in his heart.

By asking this question, Chen Tianhua was announcing that the future governor of Kaifeng Prefecture would be Ning Zexu.

After a little calculation in his mind, Ning Zexu said: "The city has suffered heavy losses. It will take as little as three years and as many as five years to be able to achieve some improvement!"

After hearing this, Chen Tianhua turned around suddenly and stared at Ning Zexu for a long time.

Under Chen Tianhua's bright gaze, the uneasy Ning Zexu just wanted to explain something more, but Chen Tianhua had already spoken, saying:

"I will give you three years at most. After three years, Kaifeng City will no longer become a burden to the new regime. During this period, if you need people, property and other aspects, as long as you put forward a plan, I will try my best to satisfy you."

Ning Ze breathed a sigh of relief and bowed slightly, "I will live up to the commander-in-chief's trust and strive to complete it ahead of schedule."

"Well, that's it!" He left in silence.

An hour later, Chen Tianhua appeared at Guan Shan's original official residence, which was the origin of the fire and had already been burned to a white ground.

Chen Tianhua's face turned livid, he pointed at this area and gritted his teeth and said:

"When ordering the reconstruction plan, a monument should be erected here to engrave all the heinous crimes committed by the old Guanshan thief, so that future generations will despise him." After saying this, he turned around and left.

Luo Longyun, Feilai, Yue Zefei and other generals, all covered in charred black, with patches of black and white on their faces, came to Chen Tianhua's tent in a low mood.

These days, these generals have been on the front line to direct disaster relief and search and rescue work, and they are very tired.

"How's it going?" Chen Tianhua was afraid of asking this question, but asked anyway.

"It's basically completed. The cleanup work of corpses and other things in the city has been completed. There should be no survivors. Now all the troops have withdrawn outside the city." Luo Longyun replied.

"How many survivors were found in total?"

"There are less than 2,000 people! These more than 1,000 people only survived because they had wells at home or hid in large tanks filled with water."

Chen Tianhua exhaled, "That's it. The army will rest and recuperate on the spot. We will recently assist the newly established local government established by Ning Zexu to actively resettle the victims!"

"clear!"

The Battle of Kaifeng ended. Although Chen Tianhua's Southern Army suffered heavy losses and the gains were disproportionate to the effort, the strategic objectives were fully achieved.
Chapter completed!