Chapter Eighty-Five: Thoughts in the Night

"Woo ----" Zhang Xuan grabbed the reins, looked at a few miles away, a stream of smoke and dust gradually fell, under the illumination of the setting sun, there was a feeling of vastness, he sighed lightly, waved his hand and said, "No need to chase." ”

Zhang Xuan already knew that they couldn't catch up.

This is the biggest advantage of the cavalry, if you want to fight, you will fight, if you want to go, you will go, the initiative is in hand, Zhang Xuan has no way to take them.

Zilharang gave up the whole brigade of men and horses, including all the baggage, and some of the soldiers, who were bent on leaving, and most of the rest were cavalry, if not cavalry, but also with livestock. Even if Zhang Xuan had 100,000 horses, he couldn't catch up.

I could only close the endgame, appease the soldiers, and see that it was not early, so I just set up camp on the spot.

After a period of busyness, it's time to hold the lights.

In the dimly lit tent, several oil lamps were lit, and there were many candles near the oil lamps. The illumination of Zhang Xuan's tent was bright.

But after seeing the high-intensity light of later generations, such light can almost only be described as faint. Even though Zhang Xuan has been in this era for several years, he still doesn't adapt much. Almost every night, he misses the electric lights of later generations.

I just don't know if I can see him again in my lifetime.

Scrolls of account books with undried ink were flipped under Zhang Xuan's hands, Zhang Xuan smiled slightly, and said, "It's okay, it's not a loss." It's just that Zhang Xuan himself felt that there was a bitter smile in his tone.

I can't help but smile bitterly.

Relatively speaking, the casualties on both sides were a little more than the casualties of the Xia army, but the elite of the Qing army also died a lot. died in the hands of the Xia army, not to mention anything else, there were several leaders of the Eight Banners, and as for the generals of the Han army, there were also a few official positions such as garrisoning.

There are several generals, large and small.

Not to mention, the soldiers of the Eight Banners lost as much as two or three thousand, for the Xia army, such casualties are nothing, even among the same elites, such as Deng and the personal guards of the headquarters, among the Jinhua army, the number of casualties may not be as many as the soldiers of the Eight Banners.

But for Zhang Xuan, it is relatively easy to replenish these troops, as long as some soldiers are transferred from other armies to supplement them, and then beaten a few times with the old and the new, he will almost recover, but the soldiers of the Eight Banners are different.

The Eight Banners are only a few hundred thousand people. Thousands of people have died, and if you want to replenish it, you have to wait for the next generation of Eight Banners to grow up, and there are many of them, and the Eight Banners are not as good as the current generation. Born in the Eight Banners during the reign of Huang Taiji, his ability and hard-working ruthlessness are far inferior to those of the previous generation.

Just to say, if the two sides are so exchanged, Zhang Xuan will definitely dare to exchange the Eight Banners for insufficient hematopoietic ability.

Therefore, Zhang Xuan was willing to exchange the casualties of more than 2,000 soldiers of the Eight Banners for 10,000 Xia soldiers. And this is not just a problem on the battlefield, Zhang Xuan doesn't believe it, when the number of Eight Banners is not enough to deter the world, will the northern Han people be willing to be dogs?

But that's all for later.

The situation in front of Zhang Xuan is quite passive.

The Qing army retreated, but the main force did not lose much. If he continued to pursue, the offensive and defensive momentum was reversed. If the Qing army sticks to the fortified city, what should be done if there is another incident in Nanjing?

But leaving Zilharang alone is another trouble.

In this battle, Zhang Xuan used 200,000 horses, and it was all the mobile men and horses in Zhang Xuan's hands.

Therefore, Zhang Xuan understands very well that this battle cannot last, and Zhang Xuan cannot always put heavy troops here, and it can even be said that after this battle, Zhang Xuan has the idea of transferring soldiers and horses from Xiangyang Town.

Regarding the main force of the Eight Banners in Jiangnan, Zhang Xuan felt that he was just 10,000 careful, not much.

Soldiers are brave, and every time the soldiers under Zhang Xuan's command have more points, Zhang Xuan's heart will be stable.

But now that the situation is present, I am afraid that as soon as the army leaves, Zilharang will go south. This battle was sticky and slimy, not happy at all, but it was what Zierharang wanted, Zhang Xuan reflected Zhuge Liang's feeling for a while, what it was like to meet a Sima Yi who dared to wear women's clothes.

Zhang Xuan took a closer look at the roster. After these people who died in the battle, there were many people who were known to Zhang Xuan, but Zhang Xuan had no waves in his heart, and then he circled some of the generals who performed well in this battle one by one, and asked Zheng Lian to record them, and after the end of the war, arrange time to summon them one by one.

After these chores were done, it was already the second half of the night. Zheng Lian persuaded Zhang Xuan to sleep for a while, but Zhang Xuan didn't feel sleepy, but he couldn't resist the people around him, blew out the lights, and lay on the bed supported on a stretcher, and the moonlight was like frost, and came in through the gap in the tent. Paint a little snow on the ground.

Just like Zhang Xuan's mind at the moment.

Dilemma. And if it's all wrong?

"What should I do?" The moonlight in Zhang Xuan's eyes was shining, in the dark night, it was like two gems, the cooler the night, the more awake he was, and the more sober he was, the more troublesome he felt about the situation in front of him.

Zhang Xuan didn't know that dozens of miles away, Zierharang was also sleepless at the moment.

It's just that Zilharang is different from Zhang Xuan.

At this moment, he has already woken up, it seems that people are old like this, as long as they wake up, they want to fall asleep again, but they can't. Just like Zilharang.

Seeing this, Fulton immediately dressed, and with a few guards, he followed half a step behind Zilharang and began to patrol the camp.

Suddenly, Zilharang seemed to hear something and waved his hand, so that everyone listened.

At this time, it can already be said to be morning. It's just that the night hasn't faded yet, and even in spring, the cold wind is not forgiving at all. Let Fulton can't help but tighten his clothes, and the bonfires in the distance correspond to the stars in the sky one by one, spreading into the boundless, unseemly darkness.

Although there are a lot of sounds in the night, the total tune is still silent.

When Zilharang signaled everyone to mute, a low cry faintly came, and in the dark night, there was a little more terrifying atmosphere, this kind of cries that suppressed the voice, to many people, it seemed like a ghost crying.

Fulton followed the sound of a camp, and said as he spoke, "Amma, do you want to take him here and punish him for the crime of disturbing the morale of the army?" ”

What Fulton said is true, in ancient military law, there are many impersonal places, such as crying in the barracks, this crime can be big or small, small can be reprimanded, big beheaded.

Zilharang said: "My son, managing the army is like controlling the water, pay attention to following the trend, a person crying at night, it is easy to cut it, but the person who cries is a person, how many people do not cry?" For the sake of the general, there can be no kindness of a woman, but there can be no love for soldiers. ”

"Count me as the banner master, I'm sorry for them."

The last sentence was low and almost inaudible, but it was still heard by Fulton.

Fulton listened to Zilharang's words, and then looked at the camp carefully, isn't it the camp of the two blue flags? He was suddenly startled in his heart, and lowered his head, wanting to see what kind of face Zilharang was, but he didn't dare to look at it. In Fulton's heart, the soldiers of the Eight Banners have always been cast in steel, how could they be such a little daughter.

But Zilharang is a person who fights old battles, and naturally knows that although the Eight Banners are brave, they cannot be deified. The soldiers of the Eight Banners, not without examples of being defeated. It's just that since entering the customs, the fight has been a little too smooth.

And many of the soldiers of the Eight Banners are connected by blood, and so many people died in the battle yesterday, maybe someone's uncle didn't even come back from the corpse capital, and he was on the battlefield, so there was a tendency to mourn the soldiers. But in the middle of the night, when I think about it, I may not be full of sadness and turn into tears.

In fact, Zilharang doesn't care about a person crying at night.

He was worried about the situation of the two blue flags, speaking of which, during this period of time, the main forces of the Qing army were somewhat overused, from last year to this year's battle along the canal, this year's Chinese New Year's Eve raid, thousands of miles into Henan, and repeated battles in Fancheng.

If yes, etc.

The military spirit is already a little tired. In addition, after suffering such a big loss, it is natural that morale has declined. It's just that the morale of the army is tired, but it is something that Zilharang has to worry about.

After all, in Zilharang's heart, this battle is not over yet.