Sitting in command, Liang Tong knew that the news of Yingzhou's fall was most likely true. But what should be done.
The army does not carry much food and grass with them, and it needs to be transported from Yingzhou every five days. Now, the food and grass in the camp is less than three days, and once the news of the shortage of food and grass spreads throughout the army...
Thinking of this, Liang Tong didn't dare to continue thinking about what to do now.
Liang Tong summoned several of his confidants and began to discuss the matter in the camp.
The land area of Yan State is not large, with only five counties.
Moreover, the territory is vast and sparsely populated. The entire Yan State has a population of only four million and an army of only 300,000.
Now, with the fall of Yingzhou, the entire Yan Kingdom has lost one-fifth of its land and one-fourth of its population. This is definitely not as simple as breaking bones and muscles.
Moreover, if the army in his hands cannot return to the country, Yan State may even be in danger of being destroyed.
Because of this, in order to preserve his foundation, Emperor Yan was willing to marry the Wei State, even using Yingzhou as a buffer.
Now, the situation should be reversed, what should we do?
Raising grain from the rear, not to mention that the nearest Shenzhou is more than 800 miles away, so even for a short period of time, it is not possible to raise enough grain and grass.
Withdraw the troops. It is estimated that when the army retreats to Shenzhou, they will all starve to death. As for the forced attack on Shunzhou City.
Shunzhou City is a small city, and there is unlikely to be enough food in it. Even if there is, the Wei army will destroy the food and grass on the day they break the city.
As for plundering the people, it's not that I couldn't bear it, it's just that it's not worth it. Let's not mention that in order to support the army, Yan State already had heavy taxes and a small amount of civilian stock.
Even if there were, it wouldn't work. The area here is vast and sparsely populated, and the collected grain and grass might not be enough for transportation.
Looking at the map in their hands, the generals thought for a long time and only came up with three more reliable strategies.
The first is to return the army to attack Yingzhou. However, Yingzhou's defense is obvious to all. The chance of conquering it in the short term is slim.
The second is to send troops to attack Pingzhou. Now that the main force of the Wei army is concentrated in Yan State, Pingzhou and Jizhou must be empty. As long as one of them is captured, enough food can be raised in a short period of time.
But again, I don’t know if it can be captured in the short term.
The third article is to gather the food and grass in the army and hand it over to the cavalry. The generals will lead the cavalry back to Shenzhou. As for the infantry, all of them will be discarded.
Everyone discussed it for a long time, and in the end, they still felt that the third strategy was the most reliable.
Liang Tong thought for a long time and decided to adopt the third strategy. However, he must not make it easy for Wei Jun.
As a result, Liang Tong held a military meeting and ordered his troops to be divided into two groups. Liang Tong personally led the cavalry to surprise Pingzhou.
As for the infantry, they continued to attack Shunzhou. However, since the army's food and grass had not yet been delivered, in order not to affect the army's movement, the infantry left one day's food and grass, and the rest was carried by the cavalry.
Although the reason was far-fetched, the generals in the camp still did not object. At least they did not object openly.
No one present is a fool, and no fool can become a general.
Many defeated troops escaped from Yingzhou, and news of Yingzhou's fall had long spread.
After contacting Liang Tong's performance, the news of Yingzhou's fall was naturally confirmed.
However, in order not to cause panic, Liang Tong decided to march at night.
That night, Liang Tong led the army to leave Shunzhou City and retreat toward Shenzhou.
Early the next morning, the Yan army that was supposed to attack the city stopped. All the remaining generals gathered in the commander's tent to discuss matters.
The continuous siege caused the Yan army to suffer heavy losses. And this loss was mainly concentrated on the infantry.
There were almost 50,000 infantrymen who came from Yingzhou, but now there are less than 20,000.
With today's troops and horses, it is difficult to defend ourselves, let alone attack the city. Don't forget, the people in the city are all cavalry.
There should be rules for how to proceed. However, judging from the behavior of the general convening everyone for discussion, it seems that he is not very determined to attack the city.
There were different opinions in the tent. Some suggested turning the enemy into bandits, while others suggested surrendering. Basically, these were the two paths.
Infantry is no better than cavalry. It would be extremely difficult to retreat from Shunzhou to Shenzhou.
Everyone knew that at present, the only way to do this was surrender. But no one spoke.
As everyone talked, a strange calm fell into the big tent.
After a while, a general whispered: "Why don't you surrender?"
Soon, all the generals in the camp agreed with this suggestion. Even if they had some objections, they could not change the general trend.
When Hu Yanzhuo got the news, he was stunned. Historically, only those who defended the city surrendered, but never heard of the attackers surrendering.
Although it was somewhat unreasonable, Hu Yanzhuo had to believe it after Yan Jun showed his sincerity.
So he quickly reported to Xiao Jingxuan in Yingzhou.
When Xiao Jingxuan learned that 40,000 Yan army cavalry had escaped and 20,000 infantrymen had surrendered, he was stunned.
Xiao Jingxuan stood on the tower, looking into the distance and lost in thought. Ye Xiong and Gongsun Sheng beside him were congratulating Xiao Jingxuan and celebrating the victory.
Xiao Jingxuan sighed and looked at the north with a complicated expression.
"Don't be too happy. Victory. Where did the victory come from? This time, although the enemy's muscles and bones were broken, his strength was broken. He was really courageous.
Looking at the overall situation, our victory was actually a fluke and not worthy of praise. However, the enemy's courage is what scares me.
Liang Tong is indeed a character."
After finishing speaking, he looked at the generals around him and said: "I have given my command to the commander-in-chief of all the camps to gather in Yingzhou to discuss matters. In addition, I will invite the King of Jin. It is up to him whether he comes or not."
After receiving the order, the bodyguard beside him immediately went to deliver the order.
"It's time for you to make a move. Before anyone else arrives, sweep the area around to see if there are any stragglers or bandits. Clean them up and organize them into prisoner camps."
"The last general takes orders."
After everyone retreated, Xiao Jingxuan walked around on the city tower again and then returned to the city guard's mansion.
At this time, the city guard's mansion had been cleaned up. Xiao Jingxuan came to the study and began to write a few official documents, then called the personal guards and reported to the capital immediately.
In the next ten days or so, Xiao Jingxuan began to rest and recuperate. He just walked around when he had nothing to do. When he was really bored, he went to the brothels in the city to listen to ditties. His life was extremely lively.
On this day, Xiao Jingxuan was practicing martial arts in the courtyard. A personal guard came over and reported that all the camp leaders had arrived in the meeting hall.
So Xiao Jingxuan changed his armor and went to the meeting hall, following the loud announcement of the bodyguard.
"Master Jiedu has arrived."
All the generals immediately stood up and bowed their heads in salute.
Xiao Jingxuan sat on the commander's seat and looked at the generals on both sides.
"No gift, just do it."
"Thank you, Marshal."
"You all have contributed greatly to the victory of Yingzhou this time. Now, I have handed over the reward package for you. Next, it is the matter of defense.
Now, the spring plowing is not over yet, I will arrange farmland for each battalion later, and I hope you will do your best."
"I respectfully respect the Commander-in-Chief's order."
"Well, I will announce next..."
Hearing Xiao Jingxuan say this, the generals immediately stood up and leaned down to salute.
"Xinhuoying, Tang Wanyi, Lihuoying, Qu Qingshan."
"The end will be here."
"Order your troops to garrison Pingzhou and farm the fields on your own."
"The last general takes orders."
"Fenghuoying, Wang Xuan, Shanhuoying Niugai."
"The end will be here."
"Let Wang Xuan be the commander-in-chief of Shunzhou, and both battalions will be stationed in Shunzhou and farm the fields on their own."
"The last general takes orders."
"Fire Fire Camp, Liu Xiu, Whirlwind Camp, Hu Yanzhuo."
"The end will be here."
"Let Hu Yanzhuo be the commander-in-chief of Weizhou City, station two battalions in Weizhou, and farm the fields on his own."
"The last general takes orders."
"Huangfu Song in Liufeng camp, Pan Hu in Yanhuo camp."
"The end will be here."
"Order Huangfu Song as the chief general and Pan Hu as the deputy general to attack Shenzhou. After capturing it, they will garrison on the spot and farm on their own."
"The last general takes orders."
"Trapped in the camp and run like lightning."
"The end will be here."
Looking at his beloved general kneeling on the ground, Xiao Jingxuan hesitated and pondered for a while.
"Order, Lei Ben transferred the Guards Battalion to the captured camp as the commander-in-chief, and the Guards Battalion expanded to 1,300 people. This time, all the commanders, captains and guerrillas who have made meritorious services temporarily surrendered their powers and went to the Guards Camp for training. Everyone
The camp owner will not be able to stop it."
"The last general takes orders."
"Dewey, the former deputy general of the fallen camp, was promoted to chief general."
"As for the others whose names were not read, they all garrisoned in Yingzhou and farmed on their own."
"The last general takes orders."
After arranging the garrison locations of each battalion, Xiao Jingxuan looked at the map and pointed to a place thirty miles away from Yingzhou.
"Gongsun Sheng."
"The end will be here."
"After the meeting, I will allocate 10,000 prisoners of war to you, and you will build me an academy here, a large academy. As soon as possible."
"The last general takes orders."
"Ye Xiong."
"The end will be here."
"I seconded you from Fengzhou, but I can't bear to let you go."
"I listen to the commander-in-chief and follow the commander-in-chief. Don't let the battle get too exciting."
Looking at the straightforward general in front of him, Xiao Jingxuan also smiled.
"You, in this way, in a few days, your troops will be expanded to 10,000, and you will temporarily serve as my central army."
"Yes, the general will take the order."
"Um."
After explaining these things, Xiao Jingxuan began to chat with the generals again.
All the generals know that their commander-in-chief makes a distinction between public and private matters. He is very easy-going on weekdays, but in official matters he is meticulous and has strict rules.
After arranging the things at hand, Xiao Jingxuan will be even busier next.
The first is the farm tools, seeds, various chickens, cattle and other things needed for farming. These need to be transported from Pingzhou to various places.
Secondly, it is the pension. In this battle, Xiao Jingxuan’s 120,000-strong Fan Yang Army lost 40,000 people. This is not a small number. There are also so many wounded soldiers lying in the wounded barracks.
It's trouble.
There is also the handling of prisoners of war, which is also a headache. Xiao Jingxuan currently has 40,000 prisoners of war in his hands. How to deal with this group of people is enough for Xiao Jingxuan to have a headache.
These matters all required Jam Hsiao’s personal intervention. Until this moment, Jam Hsiao desperately hoped that I would have a group of civil servants around me to assist me. This chapter has been completed!