It is no longer important whether the Prime Minister of the Baltic Dynasty, Aipola, and a group of Baltic Dynasty officials can hear the profound meaning of Nangong Ye's words. After all, the collapse of the Baltic Dynasty has become an established fact.
Even if Nangong Ye was Luo Liba and kept telling them the truth for three days and three nights, it would no longer help.
Nangong Ye had no intention of continuing to ridicule the Prime Minister of the Baltic Kingdom who was about the same age as himself. He casually asked Queen Qu about the situation in the city and said nothing more.
As for the remaining seven or eight cities south of Queen City of Boluo Kingdom, Nangong Ye and the others no longer need to take them seriously.
Even the Royal City, a city that embodies the faith of a country's people, has been captured. The remaining small border cities will only be captured sooner or later for the powerful Western Expedition army.
In the view of Nangong Ye and others, to capture the few remaining small cities in the Baltic Kingdom, it is not even necessary to dispatch the main force of the Western Expedition Army. It only needs to deploy a part of the elite Dalong and the vanguard troops of the Hapu Dynasty to capture them.
The whole territory of Baltic State.
If the city lords of those cities were more cooperative, they would not even need to mobilize troops, and just relying on envoys to persuade them would be enough to get them to leave the city and surrender.
Under Zamuna’s translation, Nangong Ye continued to ask Ai Pola some questions about King Polo’s whereabouts.
However, Ailola didn’t know anything about it, and the remaining noble ministers of the Baltic Kingdom didn’t know as much as the prime minister Ailola knew!
Nangong Ye, whose inquiries were fruitless, could only order the soldiers to take the officials from the Polo Kingdom into custody first, and then summon the many generals in the city who led the soldiers to clean up the battlefield to come to the palace to discuss matters.
“Let’s see the commander-in-chief.”
“Without courtesy, please take a seat.”
“Thank you, Marshal.”
“General Tang, how are the soldiers clearing the battlefield?
Have you calculated the number of battle losses between our army and Tianzhu soldiers and horses?
The casualties among our soldiers should not be serious, right?"
“Reporting to the commander-in-chief, the general has not yet calculated the specific number, but based on the general situation reported by the generals, the number of casualties of our soldiers is very considerable.
After the artillery coverage of the siege, Tianzhu's vanguard troops took the lead in breaking through the city and withstood 80% of the pressure from the enemy's counterattack. Only then did our main infantry of Dalong successfully enter the city and gradually cover up the enemy.
Due to the strength of the armor and the fact that the enemy troops defending the city were frightened by the power of the artillery, although our army suffered many light and heavy casualties, not many soldiers died directly in battle.
As for the troops and horses of Tianzhu under our command, although the casualties were slightly heavier, they were still within the allowable range of battle damage.
Before receiving the order from the commander-in-chief, the general had already dealt with Coors, the deputy general of the Tianzhu soldiers and horses, and it was obvious that he did not have much resentment towards the number of casualties suffered by the Tianzhu soldiers and horses.
It’s just that I haven’t had time to calculate the specific situation yet. Once the results are calculated, the documents will be submitted to the commander-in-chief for review immediately.”
Nangong Ye’s frown gradually relaxed, and he fiddled with the tea lid and blew a breath.
“As long as our soldiers are not seriously ill, it will be fine. As for the soldiers who died in the war in Tianzhu, the gold and silver pensions they should receive will be paid as usual.
If you want a horse to run, you must feed it.
We have repeatedly used their Tianzhu soldiers and horses to serve as our army's vanguard along the way to attack the city. Although they did not dare to resist due to the strength of our troops and horses, it does not mean that they have no complaints in their hearts.
To say something unpleasant may be because you dare to be angry and dare not say more.
In order to preserve the overall strength of my Western Expeditionary Army officers and men, I don’t want to worry so much with them.
However, we cannot ignore their feelings at all. The reason why this siege went so smoothly is that, in addition to our artillery soldiers, bed crossbow soldiers, and trebuchet soldiers, the vanguard troops formed by their Tianzhu troops ranked first.
Second-class merit.
The general situation during the siege was seen by me, Deputy Commander Wanyan, and Governor Yun through the telescope. Their casualties were indeed not small.
If they continue to mistreat their soldiers and horses in terms of war death pensions, it will inevitably make people feel chilly. It will not be so easy to use them as vanguards to charge into battle in the future.
Perhaps we will have to give in because of our power, but it will be difficult to use it smoothly.
It should be noted that as long as the method of adding sweet dates with a big stick is used well, it can be eaten anywhere.
This is not just for Tang Confucianism, you should also keep it in mind.
No matter what happens in the future, we must make good use of the Tianzhu soldiers and horses in the two countries who rely on us, and we must not take the initiative to force them to fight with us.
Even if one day we have to fight with each other, they will have to seek death on their own, not because we force them to do so.
Otherwise, it will be difficult for us to establish a foothold in the north and south of Tianzhu in the future.
You also know that the reason why we were able to establish a foothold in Tianzhu so quickly was indispensable without the help of local snakes like them.
Once they are united with Maung Li and Shen Li, or if they are united with Maung Li and Shen Li, we will be greatly hampered in our future efforts to cooperate with Zhang Shuai's army on the left to continue to advance westward.
The worst result is that we will be attacked from both sides and be caught in a dilemma between them and a country further to the west.
Therefore, it is a top priority now to stabilize the Tianzhu soldiers and horses that rely on us.
As long as we make good use of them, they will become a sharp knife in the hands of our right-wing troops that can point where to hit.
You must control the relationship between our troops and horses and Tianzhu's troops and horses within a certain degree.
The Western Expedition is a century-old plan, and we must not ruin the long-term planning of the imperial court for the sake of temporary quickness."
“We will obey orders carefully and will not dare to disobey them.”
“It’s good that you understand. As for dealing with the people in the city, you should behave according to the old rules.
However, I still have to talk about the rules that I have repeatedly stated before. I hope you will not find it tiresome.
No matter whether the family is rich or poor, they only need to rob less than half of their property. They are not allowed to kill people, see blood, or have sex with women.
Anyone who disobeys orders will be dealt with according to military law.
I hope you will not test the law with your own body."
A group of generals looked at Nangong Ye with excited expressions: "I understand, thank you very much, Commander."
"As for the soldiers and horses from the guard camp dispatching this time, just follow the rules you have agreed upon privately."
“We have the order.”
Nangong Ye looked at the excited expressions on the faces of a group of generals, took a sip of tea and calmly placed the tea cup in his hand on the table.
Wanyan Chizha and Yunchong didn't say anything. They had also climbed up step by step from small soldiers back then, and they knew very well what the soldiers below needed most.
During the war, even if you talk about the truth for a long time, it is not as good as saying "brothers, grab gold, silver and grab women" to boost the morale of the soldiers of the three armies.
However, the army not only has military orders and restraints, but also the words of Liu Mingzhi before the expedition. As the commanders of the three armies, Nangong Ye and the others naturally cannot let the soldiers under their command act too unscrupulously.
Otherwise, once hundreds of thousands of soldiers are allowed to completely let go, I am afraid that the entire territory of Tianzhu will face the disaster of houses being burned, stones being cut, and people having to change their species.
But as the commander-in-chief of the three armies, Nangong Ye and the others had to take care of the emotions of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers under their command, so they could only think of a compromise.
That is to allow the soldiers to seize half of the gold and silver treasures from the local people, but they must not act excessively.
Moreover, the act of forcibly expropriating the gold and silver treasures of the barbarian people in various places must not be done by Dalong soldiers and horses, but they must instruct the soldiers and horses of Tianzhu to serve for them.
In this way, even if the records accompanying the army in the future describe the specific circumstances during the expedition, I and others will have an excuse when they return to the court.
At first, Nangong Ye and the others were a little worried about whether the soldiers under his command could control their desires, and they worried about this for a long time.
Fortunately, the officers and soldiers of the Western Expedition were all elite soldiers who had been fighting wars among the three countries for more than ten years. The orders and prohibitions had long been engraved in their bones, and they did not do anything out of the ordinary.
This made Nangong Ye and the others feel completely relieved.
Slowly, this set of tacit and unwritten rules gradually spread among the right-wing army.
At the beginning, veterans like Nangong Ye, Wanyan Chizha, Yun Chong and others were still worried about how to explain to Liu Mingzhi after returning to Beijing. After all, this kind of matter was recorded by the army, and there was no way to hide it.
But when they learned from Cheng Kai and Ning Chao that Liu Dashao had acted in this way during his expedition to the Western Regions in the past, their worried minds immediately calmed down.
Perhaps Liu Mingzhi was loved by hundreds of thousands of soldiers back then not just because he was good at fighting and commanding the army well, and so on.