Chapter 706: The Admiration of the Broken Soldiers
In Donghe Fucheng, the offensive and defensive sides are engaged in psychological warfare and public opinion warfare.
In other parts of Donghe Prefecture, the fighting between the two armies did not stop.
The Yong army was attacking the imperial court and was defeated. At the same time, it also had to guard against the invasion of the Xiaowu Guards and Xiaoqi Guards cavalry.
However, the intensity and scale of the battle at this time was no longer as grand as at dawn, and both the offensive and defensive sides only had slight contact.
On the other side, the Yong army who stayed on the west bank of the Han River had used boats to cross the river and built a pontoon bridge on the bridge.
With this in hand, the Yong army left behind on the west bank of the Han River, especially the mobile cavalry, all entered the territory of Donghe Prefecture through the pontoon bridge.
"The imperial cavalry has caused great trouble to our army. Immediately send an order to Wu Jianqing and ask him to go northeast. There are the imperial guards over there!"
"Send an order to Chen Yuhe and ask him to lead his people to the southeast and defeat the vicious Cavalry Guard!"
The two people who were pointed out were the first two guards to cross the river. They were gathering on the east bank at the moment.
"yes!"
What makes Zhao Yanxun unhappy right now is the two cavalry guards from the imperial court.
They have extremely high mobility and pose a great threat to the Yong Army infantry, and their repeated attacks are annoying.
While the Yong army's cavalry was crossing the river, other troops staying in Xi'an began to deliver food to the front line.
Fighting all morning took a huge toll on our physical strength and we had to replenish it in time.
Time soon came to noon. Zhao Yanxun learned about the situation in Donghe Fucheng and sent someone to reward Gao Zhengan for his actions.
At this moment, Zhao Yanxun was in the imperial army camp, listening to reports from the various guards under his command.
Overall, the results were fruitful.
All five imperial guards of the imperial court were defeated, with the loss of at least four men.
At this point, according to the current war thinking, these five guard posts are equivalent to being defeated.
The infantry guard can only retreat into the city, while the remaining two cavalry guards can only play little tricks of harassment. If they can prevent the army from collapsing on their own, it will already test the skills of the generals who lead the troops.
Besides, at the Yong Army station, the various guard posts that participated in the battle also suffered considerable damage. Two to three hundred people were killed in each guard post, and nearly a thousand people suffered varying degrees of injuries.
As for the guards at the Guards Department, the losses were much smaller.
Of course, compared with the casualties of the imperial army, these casualties of the Yong army were nothing at all.
"So, the total number of captured guardsmen and civilians now exceeds 100,000?" Zhao Yanxun asked in a deep voice.
"Exactly!" Hu Dabiao replied.
One hundred thousand prisoners means one hundred thousand mouths, which is very difficult to deal with.
After thinking for a while, Zhao Yanxun asked: "Feed them for three days first, and then send someone to explain to them that our army is to uphold justice for heaven, to help the court eliminate traitors, and to kill the stupid king on behalf of the people of the world!"
"yes!"
But after answering, Hu Dabiao raised his head and asked: "Your Majesty... what about three days later?"
"Release the people, give them food rations for another three days, group them according to their hometowns and territories, and let them return to their place of origin!"
After transporting food for three days, they had to provide food for another three days, and also asked these people to return to their hometowns. This operation was really difficult for Hu Dabiao to understand.
"Yes!" Hu Dabiao responded immediately.
Although he didn't know the deeper meaning, past experiences told Hu Dabiao that all Zhao Yanxun's decisions were right.
In fact, Zhao Yanxun's intention is easy to understand.
Now that we occupy the imperial camp, we have already mixed up a lot of food. It is roughly calculated that it can feed these 100,000 people, and it will last for seven or eight days without any problem.
Therefore, Zhao Yanxun simply used the "picked up" grain, which was considered "an act of benevolence."
By allowing these people to receive favors and then repatriating them to their place of origin, Zhao Yanxun gained a group of propagandists.
Even if only half of the 100,000 people think of him well, it will directly and indirectly affect many people around him.
Of course, during these three days, Zhao Yanxun will also choose an opportunity to appear and teach these people a lesson.
At this moment, a guard came to report: "Your Majesty, the Xiaowu Guard has withdrawn from the city seventy miles away!"
Zhao Yanxun immediately gave instructions: "Send an order to Wu Jianqing so that he can stop the pursuit, but to prevent Xiaowuwei from invading!"
The pursuit for seventy miles eastward was considered to be a lone force going deep, so Zhao Yanxun gave this order just to be on the safe side.
"yes!"
After walking out of the camp, Zhao Yanxun led his group of guards and rode towards Donghe Mansion.
Although this city poses little threat, if we skip it and head eastward, we may be attacked from behind.
Therefore, in Zhao Yanxun's opinion, the city still needs to be eradicated first, but he has not decided yet on the process.
Zhao Yanxun couldn't decide whether to build siege equipment directly or wait for Yuanyang to send the "explosives".
The former will cause serious casualties among the men, while the latter will require waiting for seven or eight days.
Since he couldn't make a decision, Zhao Yanxun decided to go and take a look first, and then think of other options.
…………
Time flies and the next day comes in a blink of an eye.
Sixty miles east of Donghe Prefecture, there is Yangxi County.
The soldiers and civilians who retreated from Donghe Prefecture have entered the territory of Yangxi County as fast as they could. These people were running away day and night.
At the gate of the county town, a carriage was driving out, accompanied by several warriors and two middle-aged men in luxurious clothes.
But not long after these people walked out of the city gate, they were targeted by the defeated soldiers.
"Stop, stop..."
"Stop it quickly..."
Dozens of broken soldiers rushed over and surrounded the carriage with weapons, which made Zhang Yuanying immediately nervous.
"What are you doing with your arrogance? Do you know whose carriage this is?"
This group of people was specially sent to see Qiu Youxian back to Beijing.
More than ten days have passed since crossing the river to persuade Zhao Yanxun to surrender, and the imperial team has long returned to the capital.
Qiu You fainted first. After the doctor looked at him, he warned him not to take violent actions, otherwise his life would be in danger.
Therefore, the team escorting Qiu Youxian traveled very slowly to meet the imperial court's defeat now.
"Brothers have taken a liking to this horse. I don't care whose carriage it is... hand it over if you are wise enough!"
Zhang Yuanying and his party had guards, and a fight would definitely kill people. This made the defeated soldiers worried, so they used words to force them to hand over things.
They wanted the horse not for anything else, but because they thought they were too hungry to stand it.
"I see that you are dressed as officers and soldiers of the imperial court. Why do you do such gangster things?"
As soon as they heard Zhang Yuanying's words, everyone was immediately furious, holding knives and fighting for their lives.
As the two sides were at war with each other, an old voice sounded from inside the carriage: "Did the imperial court lose?"
Naturally, Qiu Youxian was inside the carriage. He pulled up the curtains and saw the situation outside, and expressed his judgment at this time.
He hoped it was not what he said, but it was a pity that the defeated soldiers did not give him face.
"That's right, we lost, so don't use the imperial court to pressure our grandpas. The imperial court can't control us now!"
Qiu Youxian coughed violently. Zhang Yuanying hurriedly stepped forward to take care of him, but saw Qiu Youxian coughing up blood again.
"I knew it, I knew...the imperial court is in danger!"
After coughing again, Qiu Youxian said: "I only hope that the imperial court will listen to Meng Zhengqing's and my opinions and transfer the southwest army to Jishui for defense!"
"Sir, the court will adopt your opinions, so don't worry!"
It had been seven or eight days since Meng Zhengqing returned to the capital, but he had not reported the situation to Qiu Youxian.
"Give the horse... to them, but you can't save your life for me, Qiu You, cough cough cough... I'll take your lives too!"
At this time, someone from the surrounding defeated soldiers asked: "Are you Qiu Youxian, Lord Qiu?"
