Chapter 290 Complete the mission of eradicating evil
"Mr. Wu An, I'm sorry. I couldn't go north in time to fight alongside you, which made you trapped in the isolated city."
On the battlefield outside Guangwu City, sporadic fighting continued, but the commanders of each team were responsible for the command, and Li Tai did not need to supervise the formation. At this time, the defenders in the city had also cleared the blocked city gates. Li Mu led his own soldiers to go out to greet them. Li Tai then rode his horse to Li Mu and his entourage, cupping his fists and saying.
After Li Mu heard this, he looked ashamed and hurriedly waved his hands and said: "Boshan, please stop laughing at me. I underestimated the enemy before and almost suffered harm from this antbeard when I rushed in. I retreated hastily. The state border has been lost. If it weren't for Uncle Shan, you led the troops to help in time, I don’t know how long it will take to break through the enemy!”
Seeing Li Mu's shameful look, Li Tai thought that his self-esteem was severely frustrated, so he stopped continuing the topic, pointed to the battlefield and said: "Our army came to fight from afar and does not have a deep understanding of the enemy's situation. I'm afraid we might miss someone in the battle." The leader of the thieves, if your troops, Duke Wu An, still have some spare time, why not join the formation to drive away the thieves?"
After Li Mu heard this, he shook his head and sighed: "There is no need for such a common trick between me and Bo Shan. You are willing to run to the rescue, I have already touched my heart. All these thieves were defeated by your army, and all kinds of harvests are yours." My subordinates do have some spare time to use, but they really don’t have the honor to share the credit.”
Private armies are prevalent nowadays, and no matter how important a war is, it is difficult to accurately allocate credit to each soldier who participates in the battle. Even if rewards are given, they are mostly targeted at the generals who supervise the troops, and rarely go down to the ranks.
If the generals want to motivate and reward their troops and boost military morale, they have to either pay for it out of their own pockets or find other ways.
There are often records in history books that some famous ministers and generals will reward others with their own salaries, so that their own families have no money left, in order to show that they are morally noble. But it is very likely that this person is just a powerful military leader with self-respect, and his ability to generate revenue and increase production is only so-so.
In addition to paying out of one's own pocket, one of the most important ways to support the tribe is to support war with war. For example, on the battlefield right now, the fleeing thief soldiers and horses and the abandoned weapons and materials everywhere are naturally the spoils of the winning side.
Hearing that Li Mu had given up the right to distribute the spoils without any fuss, Li Taidang was no longer polite and asked the garrison soldiers who were leaving the city one after another to temporarily collect all the belongings left on the battlefield and tell Li Mu After a negotiation, they sent out troops to organize a pursuit team of 3,000 people, and chased them in the direction where the rebels were defeated and fled.
While the soldiers were busy, Li arrived with an envoy to report that the camp left by the rebels had been occupied and cleared. After hearing this, Li Tai invited Li Mutong to visit the enemy camp.
Li Mu also wanted to use the enemy's remaining camp to learn more about the enemy, so he led a group of soldiers and entered the bandit camp with Li Tai.
There are many tributaries of rivers on the north bank of Qingshui. In winter, when the water flow dries up, these rivers often dry up, forming diagonal and longitudinal valleys. The rebel army's camp is set up in such a valley.
When Li Tai and Li Mu entered the enemy camp and looked around, they soon noticed a mystery.
The exposed scale of the rebel camp was quite large, but many of the remaining tents in the camp showed no traces of soldiers living in it. It can be seen that the commander of the rebel army was bluffing and exaggerating his own strength. Although he eventually fled, he also for a time They were so frightened that Li Mu, including Li Tai's reinforcements, did not dare to attack.
Soldiers never tire of deceit. A battle is always full of variables before the outcome is determined. It is the awareness that every general in charge of an army must have to do whatever it takes to increase one's own chances of winning.
"This thief general is quite cunning. He took advantage of my previous underestimation of the enemy and failed to distinguish the true and false situation to bluff. If I could see the false situation in his camp in advance, I would attack the thief camp myself, so why bother running around Boshan anymore? One trip!”
Li Mu was a little embarrassed and cut open several empty tents of the bandit camp one after another, and said bitterly, half unwillingly and half angrily. He was also a master of disguise, and had earned himself ten lives by doing so. However, he was deceived by a thief general, and he felt a double defeat in his heart.
Although he had stated that he would not participate in the distribution of the spoils of meritorious service, after walking around the bandit camp, Li Mu still couldn't help but ask: "Has the bandit general been captured?"
Li Dao, who was the first to rush here, shook his head after hearing this, crossed his hands and said: "When the bandit army was defeated, there were still nearly two thousand people who gathered around the flag. According to the account of the bandit chief captured by the old formation, this army The general's name is Liu Aqi, and he is from the Lishi Hu bandit tribe..."
After listening to Li Dao's explanation, Li Mu couldn't help but feel disappointed. He sighed with hidden meaning: "It's a pity, it's a pity. It seems that this thief is quite skillful in using troops to plan. He should be good at commanding the emperor among the thieves." The wise men of the army cannot be arrested this time. If they are allowed to escape, I am afraid they will continue to cause trouble in the coming year!"
Li Tai heard that Li Mu probably hoped to continue to pursue the enemy, but it was still not safe with his own troops in Dongxia Prefecture, so he wanted Li Tai's troops to continue to cooperate. However, he had just accepted Li Tai's favor of rescuing someone from the siege and had yet to repay him, so he was probably a little shy to speak for a while.
"How can we abandon the task of eradicating evil halfway and leave the disaster behind! Although our army is not a heroic army, but now that we are here, we must not sit back and watch the bandits invading the territory and then calmly evacuate! If Duke Wu An has a strategy to attack the bandits from a distance, I will also Please help me with this! ”
Seeing that Li Mu was embarrassed to speak, Li Tai simply expressed his stance directly.
This is not just Li Mu's business. Although these bandits did not directly invade the Sanfangcheng area this time, Li Tai was still worried. Although it was just a false alarm, he had to give them the most brutal revenge to deter these bandits from causing trouble and interfering with the Sanfangcheng's farming development plan.
Li Mu was overjoyed when he heard Li Tai's statement. He grabbed Li Tai's arm and squeezed it repeatedly, saying with a smile: "Before, Boshan led his troops to help. I already knew that you were a righteous man, and I was very grateful. After Guangwu was relieved, you were still willing to help me fight the invading enemy. It really made me...
Alas, I have experienced many people and friends in my life, but there are only a few people like Boshan who can work with me and trust my life and death! Li Xianqing is not a moral gentleman praised by the world, but he will never let down his kindness. From now on, if Boshan has something to entrust to me, I will never refuse!"
Seeing Li Mu's grateful look, Li Tai was also quite relieved, but he was also afraid that if he continued like this, Li Mu might have to chop off a chicken head and burn yellow paper to become sworn brothers with him. Our friendship is friendship, but one thing is another. If you want to squeeze into my Longxi Li family, I can't just agree!
So he quickly changed the subject and pointed at Li Dao and asked: "How many bandit chiefs were captured in this battle? What are their identities? Have they all been interrogated?"
"Before, according to the order of the Grand Commander, the priority was to break the bandit formation. After the bandit army was defeated, more than 20 bandit chiefs and leaders were captured one after another. They are still being interrogated in turn. After the confessions of the Hu people are summarized, they will be reported to the Grand Commander immediately."
Speaking of the capture of people, Li Dao couldn't help but be overjoyed. Although the real military strategy of the Taifu was not in northern Shaanxi, capturing so many bandit Hu leaders in a battle can definitely be regarded as a great achievement.
But after reporting the basic situation, Li Dao's face turned a little strange. He turned around and pointed to a tent in the camp and said: "There is a Hu chief in that military tent who surrendered himself, but the situation is a little strange. I don't know how to deal with it. I have to ask the Grand Commander to make a decision."
When Li Tai heard this, he was a little curious and immediately walked towards the tent.
Li Mu did not follow. After Li Tai promised to help him continue to hunt down the bandits, he was already full of energy and wanted to make up for his mistakes in the next pursuit. Of course, he had to have a comprehensive understanding of the bandits. Therefore, after asking Li Dao where the Hu chiefs were detained and interrogated, Li Mu rushed there to personally interrogate and understand the enemy situation. "What's going on?"
When Li Tai arrived at the tent that Li Dao mentioned, he looked inside and his face suddenly darkened. He pointed at the situation inside and said angrily: "Even if you want to humiliate these barbarian captives, how can you waste materials like this! These silks and brocades are so stained, can they still be used?"
After hearing this, the soldiers guarding outside the military tent had distorted faces. They clasped their fists in fear and said: "My lord, when we came here, the tent was like this. It's really not that we spared no materials to do this..."
"Nonsense! If it wasn't you who did it, could it be them?"
Li Tai took another look at the Hu soldiers wrapped like dumplings in the tent, and he was furious again. There were so many Hu soldiers gathered in the tent, probably hundreds of them, each of them wrapped in several layers of silk, and even more precious brocade inside, at least hundreds of pieces were wasted.
The Jihu were a bunch of poor people. Even if they won such a victory, they would not have gained much except for the captives. Li Tai was furious. He planned to severely punish the soldiers who played such a prank.
"Grand Commander, Grand Commander, they didn't lie. This is the weirdness of what I said!"
Li Dao had just finished showing Li Mu the way and hurriedly caught up. Seeing Li Tai's angry face, he quickly explained. In order to show that what he said was true, he shouted to the tent: "Listen, everyone in the tent, my Grand Commander is here. You should come out and pay your respects quickly. If you still disobey my orders, don't blame me for being merciless!"
"Wait, wait! May I ask what rank this Grand Commander has in your country? Can he make decisions on important matters?"
Li Dao's voice As soon as the words fell, a muffled voice came from the crowd in the tent: "Please forgive me, Grand Commander. I don't look down on you. It's just that my status is not bad, and the things I can tell you are confidential and important, which are not for the general public to hear. It's better to ask your commander-in-chief to come over to surrender, so that your army can know the secrets earlier!" Li Tai originally felt a little embarrassed, but when he heard the voice of the person in the tent, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded, and even suspected that he had heard it wrong, and turned to look at Li Dao next to him for confirmation. Li Dao also gave Li Tai a confused look, and then shouted to the tent again: "My Grand Commander is the commander-in-chief of our army, and your life and death can be decided by one word. If you still refuse to come out to pay homage, you will never be treated with courtesy again!" "Disperse, all of you quickly disperse, don't stop me from going out to pay homage to the noble!" After hearing Li Dao's shouting, the voice in the tent suddenly became urgent, and the Hu soldiers gathered in the tent also began to disperse to the left and right.
Upon seeing this, Li Dao hurriedly summoned the soldiers from the nearby area and pulled out the Hu soldiers who had dispersed on their own initiative. After adding a few points, there were more than 500 soldiers, and they were not old or weak. Sick and disabled, everyone looks strong and strong, much stronger than the barbarian soldiers captured in many battle formations.
What's even more puzzling is that after these barbarians withdrew from the camp, they revealed armor and equipment all over the place, and they looked relatively sophisticated, which made the situation even weirder.
However, before Li Lao had time to ask more questions, a tightly wrapped colorful rice dumpling quickly moved out of the tent and asked very earnestly: "Which strong man is the governor?"
Li Dao took a spear from the soldier next to him and provoked it for a while, and then the head and face of the rice dumpling was revealed. He also raised his arms and forcefully took off the brocade and other things wrapped around him. He looked around and looked around. Even if he walked up to Li Tai in small steps, he knelt down with a plop and said loudly: "This handsome and mighty man as powerful as a god must be the governor! Xiaomin Xihe Lishibu Luoji Upper Chief Liu Kuzhen, pay your respects to the Grand Governor! The Grand Governor is so impressive, I just wish I could not meet him earlier, otherwise there would be no need for the Grand Governor to lead the troops, and the common people would lead their subordinates to obey the Grand Governor’s orders..."
Li Tai prided himself on being a knowledgeable person, but after seeing Chief Hu's performance, he was still a little overwhelmed for a while. He really didn't expect that human nature is so different, and the gap can be so big.
Even if he is greedy for life and afraid of death, and needs to beg for mercy, the bottom line shown by Hu Chief Liu Kuzhen is something Li Tai has never seen before.
Seeing the valuable silks and satins that this guy had casually abandoned on the ground, Li Tai frowned even more. Apart from his normal aesthetics, this wretched thief chieftain was absolutely useless!
He ordered his soldiers to set up Chief Hu, looked him up and down, and then said with a sneer: "I have captured and killed many handsome Husbands, but not many are as arrogant and arrogant as you." . I would like to hear what is special about you and what secrets you can tell me that must be heard by the boss. If you are just trying to survive, you are destined to die!"
As the New Year is approaching, there are a lot of chores to do, so I will update one chapter today. . .