On the third day after the war, Pengcheng seemed to have returned to calm and order was restored.
At first glance, it seems like nothing happened.
But compared to before, there are still some differences.
The pedestrians hurriedly walking back and forth on the street are no longer civilians in plain clothes, but soldiers wandering around with guns drawn.
He felt cold all over his body, as if he had returned from warm spring to cold winter.
The Prime Minister's Office at this time.
Everyone in the hall was already seated. Wang Zheng, who was sitting on the throne, looked at Xu Fang as usual and asked: "What are the casualties of our army?"
"General." Xu Fang cupped his hands and responded: "About 900 soldiers were killed in the destruction of the city, and 300 were lost in street battles and pursuits, totaling more than 1,000 people. There were also more than 400 people seriously injured, and some were slightly injured.
Up to a thousand people.”
Looking at the floating system screen, Wang Zheng took a deep breath and nodded: "Pengcheng man, you are really brave!"
That's all. Taking advantage of the power of victory, there were such a number of casualties in street fighting and pursuit, which was indeed beyond Wang Zheng's expectation.
"Does the doctor have enough medicine for sores?" He thought for a while and asked in a more serious tone.
Only a person like Xu Fang, who knew his own family background and was smart, could immediately understand that what Wang Zheng was asking about was not actually a cure for the sore, but whether the seriously injured person needed his "God-given power."
"What I brought with me plus those captured and collected from Xuexian, Xiaoxian, Pengcheng and other cities..." Xu Fang pondered for a moment and said, "It should be more than enough."
Wang Zheng nodded, that’s no need.
That's fine, after all, there are many people with mixed opinions, and he doesn't want to "show miracles" frequently unless necessary and attract too many people's attention.
"Those who died in battle will be buried generously, those with young families will be provided with pensions, and the injured will be treated generously." Wang Zhengdao said: "By the way, there are also the martyrs who were killed by Cao Bao because we and others were flying arrows to pass the message. We also need to search for them.
Come out and you will be rewarded heavily."
In the future, there will be more and more siege battles, and the difficult passes are one after another. Wang Zheng has made up his mind that he cannot threaten the city by massacre like the foreigners, so he must pay more attention to the internal response, so he starts from Pengcheng.
Let’s start showing kindness.
Wang Zheng looked at Wu Sheng again and said, "Is there anything unusual happening in the surrounding counties and counties these days?"
Speaking of which, Xu Fang is not the only one who has made progress over the past year or so.
Wu Sheng also changed a lot. After breaking the city, before Wang Zheng gave any orders, he had already taken the initiative to order the second-order light cavalry to disperse more than a hundred cavalry to patrol day and night, taking control of a hundred miles radius.
This made Wang Zheng quite happy.
"General." Wu Sheng said: "There was no movement. Maybe we broke through the city too quickly and there were no fish that slipped through the net. They had no time to react."
Wang Zheng nodded and was about to speak when he saw Mi Heng in the hall saying, "That's not necessarily true."
Wu Sheng rolled his eyes strangely, looked over, and saw Zui Pao, who had arrived from Xiao County yesterday, and said with a smile: "Perhaps he saw that our army was at its peak and was frightened by its power, so he pretended to be deaf and mute, hiding his ears and stealing the bells.
, it’s also unknown.”
Hey, how rare is it that such nice words come from your mouth?
Wang Zheng glanced at him in surprise. It happened that several major military matters were almost settled, so he said warmly: "Sir, you have been working hard all the way."
"Thank you for your concern, General." Mi Heng responded with a quick salute: "The army is on the march, and my lord has taken the lead in the expedition and personally visited the front line. If it's hard work, it's the hard work of our soldiers."
Under the system lock, only when facing Wang Zheng did Mi Heng's words become less sharp.
Mi Heng smiled brightly again and said, "Speaking of which, Heng is about to congratulate your lord!"
"Oh?" At this time, a group of maids served tea. Wang Zheng took a sip and said with a smile: "Is it because you congratulate me on winning Pengcheng?"
"No." Mi Heng stood up. At this time, the sun was strong and the room was full of light. He was as elegant and refined as a orchid or jade tree.
He looked around at the crowd and spoke eloquently: "I am very happy to have won Pengcheng, but what is even more worthy of celebration is that today General Heng is the only one to have such a powerful army under his command!"
"Thousands of miles along the way, wherever the troops are heading, they will win, and wherever the flag points, they will win. This is the most worthy of celebration!"
"Sir, you really have some wonderful words." Wang Zheng smiled and joked: "That day when you and I first met, you claimed that you were not sycophant. It was really too humble."
Hearing this, Ni Henglao blushed, coughed and said: "Don't be arrogant when you win, be calm in your behavior, and don't forget the merits of the soldiers. It can be seen that the lord is not as young as the weak crown, and he has the demeanor of a general and the equipment of a hero!"
"But..." At this point, Mi Heng changed the topic and reminded: "Now that Pengcheng is under the control of the general, we need to stabilize it quickly!"
"Great kindness." Wang Zheng praised him: "These words are very suitable for me!"
Looking at Zhang Zhao who had sat down next to Mi Heng and said nothing, Wang Zheng said in a deep voice, "I'm just going to ask these two gentlemen to teach me what good strategy I can use to secure the city as soon as possible."
Mi Heng also glanced at Zhang Zhao beside him and said pointedly: "If you want to secure the city, you need to know the city."
"What you said is absolutely true." Wang Zheng secretly praised him. It's not like he has no emotional intelligence at all.
"Mr. Zhang." His eyes fell on Zhang Zhao, and Wang Zheng asked with a smile: "I wonder if the taxes, money, food, and population in the city have been collected?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes fell on Zhang Zhao.
Under such circumstances, Zhang Zhao finally could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb, so he could only sigh secretly, cupped his hands and said, "General."
"Based on the county government's account books and documents, there are currently 21,617 households in Pengcheng, with a population of about 80,000 to 100,000, of which more than 30,000 are young and strong, and the rest are old and weak women."
After a pause, he added, "Of the total population, there are about two thousand households, which were newly moved here last year."
When the number of newly relocated households was announced, everyone was aware of it and understood the reason. However, when Zhang Zhao mentioned the number of households with great accuracy, they were all a little surprised when he mentioned that there was a difference of nearly 1/5 in the total population.
Travelers like Wang Zheng and people like Mi Heng who come from prominent families know it well.
This topic has not yet been discussed. Seeing Xu Fang opening his mouth to ask, Wang Zheng took the initiative to change the topic: "Are there any innocent people killed or injured in this siege?"
Hearing this question, Zhang Zhao also had a confused expression on his face. He glanced at Wang Zheng and solemnly said: "General, you have a good command of the army!"
"Although I didn't conduct a detailed investigation, after the general entered the city, he ordered that no one be spared, and even sent people to patrol many alleys. As far as I know, there are more than a dozen families of civilians who were killed or injured, but it was all the work of gangsters in the city!"
That's good.
Wang Zheng nodded with satisfaction. He is probably the only person in this world who values the principle of winning the hearts of the people and does not take it as a pragmatic statement.
The greatest wealth was not damaged, so he thought of another fortune: "How about food, grass, weapons, equipment and other things?"
"General." Zhang Zhao pondered for a while, as if he was thinking about it, but immediately did not answer, but said something like an explanation:
"Pengcheng is naturally a fertile and fertile land, but it just suffered a massacre in Yanzhou last year, and the people's morale has been weakened. Many fertile fields are uncultivated, and now the warehouses are not enough."
Seeing Wang Zheng nod, he said solemnly: "The stock of several official warehouses now, if supplied to the army, is enough for two years, but..."
Having said this, Zhang Zhao looked at Wang Zheng with a look of hesitation on speaking.
Hey, why didn't you think about your hometown folks when you dedicated the city, and now you're acting like a good person?
Wang Zheng immediately guessed what the other party meant.
This is because he is afraid that if he uses all the stock in Pengcheng for military purposes, the people will fall into a food shortage.