Chapter 336 Great Victory! Great Victory! (Thanks to book friend lzsg, 44837 for the reward!)
As Sun Dahai and Lu Zhan'ao chose to retreat one after another, the resistance that the bandits in the camp had finally built up suddenly collapsed and turned into ashes. Everyone fled in a hurry, fearing that if they were a step late, they would be beheaded by Fengzhou's sword.

Standing on the hillside and observing the enemy camp's panic and fleeing in all directions, Ye Mingsheng, knowing that the overall situation has been decided, completely relaxed. Perhaps he should now consider what to do next...
"Sir, I request that my third battalion go into battle!"

Seeing the brothers' troops charging around in the enemy camp and fighting fiercely, Liang Xuezhang, who was following Ye Mingsheng, could no longer sit still and took the initiative to ask Ye Mingsheng to fight:

Hearing Liang Xuezhang's words, Ye Mingsheng looked him up and down. Seeing his deep affection and sincere attitude, Ye Mingsheng hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said:

"Go!"

After receiving Ye Mingsheng's permission, Liang Xuezhang was overjoyed. He bowed deeply to Ye Mingsheng, then mounted his horse, waved his sword towards the enemy camp and shouted:
"Brothers of the Third Battalion, charge! It's time to make achievements!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the more than 2,000 officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion became excited and rushed towards the enemy camp like tigers out of a cage.

As a warrior, the fastest way to get promoted and make money is to go to war, plunder the enemy's wealth, get rewards from above, and use the enemy's heads to exchange for merit!

And because of Liang Xuechang, Ye Mingsheng always regarded the Third Battalion as the general reserve. The last time they fought in Qilipu, Ye Mingsheng sent out Guo Zhiping, Ye Tie, Xun Ke and other troops, but kept the Third Battalion with him. Without fighting, there would be no merit and no reward, which also caused some complaints from the soldiers of the Third Battalion who were eager to make merit.

Therefore, as the commander of the Third Battalion, Liang Xuezhang was under great pressure. This time Ye Mingsheng kept the Third Battalion by his side as a reserve force. He wanted to tell Ye Mingsheng about it, but after thinking about it, he hesitated and finally gave up...

And now, seeing that more than 40,000 bandits were defeated and all the brother units were trying to gain military merits, but only his own Third Battalion was standing by and watching, doing nothing, Liang Xuezhan could not bear it any longer, so now he took the initiative to ask Ye Mingsheng to fight!

Looking at Liang Xuezhang's charging back, Ye Mingsheng's eyes were somewhat complicated. Ye Dong, who was standing beside him, guessed Ye Mingsheng's intention and said:

"Master, if we chase one away, we will have to let two go. Why don't we take this opportunity to kill Liang Xuezhang and Yang Huai together and completely wipe out Chen Dechang's eyes here?"

Ye Mingsheng pondered for a moment after hearing this, but still shook his head and rejected Ye Dong's suggestion.

Seeing this, Ye Dong continued to persuade:

"Master, I think Liang Xuezhang will be a nuisance sooner or later. Get rid of him as soon as possible, and you will sleep peacefully!"

Ye Mingsheng glanced at him and said calmly:

"You don't need to say more. It's easy to get thousands of soldiers, but it's hard to get a general!"

"Liang Xuezhang is still of some use to me. Monkey King is very capable. Can he jump out of Tathagata's palm?"

Seeing that Ye Mingsheng had made up his mind, Ye Dong did not dare to persuade him and whispered:
“Master, you are truly open-minded and have the world in your heart. I only hope that Liang Xuezhang can know what is good for him and understand your painstaking efforts…”

Seeing that Ye Dong only thought that he was eager to help Liang Xuezhang because of his love for his talent, Ye Mingsheng smiled slightly and said nothing. Although he admired Liang Xuezhang's ability, if that was all, he would not have rashly kept this scourge.

He had a hunch that with the help of Shen Jianzhong, Chen Dechang would defeat Song Wenhui, and if so, Chen Dechang would definitely deal with him next. In this case, Liang Xuechang would be very valuable to both him and Chen Dechang.

If at that time, Liang Xuechang is still stubborn and insists on going down the same path, he can use him to convey some wrong information to Chen Dechang to confuse him and induce Chen Dechang to make a wrong judgment.

With the addition of more than 2,000 people from Liang Xuezhan's Third Battalion, these bandits were even more defeated. They could neither win the battle nor escape, so in order to save their lives, many bandits chose to kneel down and surrender.

Before this battle, Ye Mingsheng had already instructed the entire army that as long as the enemy was willing to surrender, there should be no more killing. He, Ye, did not want a reputation as a bloodthirsty person, so that the enemies would fight to the death when they saw him in the future, and no one would dare to surrender.

Secondly, most of these bandits are young and strong laborers, and the post-war reconstruction work also needs their contribution. What Ye Mingsheng wants is a Posu Mansion that can support him to continue fighting, rather than a Posu Mansion that has been beaten to poverty and is in ruins.

With Ye Mingsheng's order, the Fengzhou Army did not kill the bandits who were willing to lay down their weapons and surrender honestly. Seeing that they could save their lives by surrendering, some bandits who originally planned to fight to the death softened their attitudes and began to kneel down and surrender in groups...
An hour later, the battle in the camp was completely over. Ye Mingsheng ordered Guo Zhiping's cavalry battalion and Liang Xuezhan's third battalion to pursue and kill the enemy, while the rest of the troops began to clean up the battlefield, collect prisoners, and count the spoils and losses.

Two hours later, Guo Zhiping and others who chased out returned victoriously with more than a thousand bandit heads and more than two thousand prisoners of war!

Although most of the news were good news, there was also one piece of sad bad news, that is, Commander Yang Huai was shot in the vitals by a hidden arrow during the battle and died on the spot!
In addition to Yang Huai's own death, his 2,000-plus men also fought bravely and suffered heavy casualties, especially half of the military officers of all ranks. Although these people were not under Ye Mingsheng's command, Ye Mingsheng was also grief-stricken.

Seeing Ye Mingsheng in tears at Yang Huai's memorial service, the few remaining military officers under Yang Huai, after a secret talk with Ye Dong, immediately expressed their willingness to surrender to Ye Mingsheng and join the Fengzhou army.

After Ye Mingsheng repeatedly declined, he could not refuse the generals' kindness, so he reluctantly accepted these people and dispersed them into the various camps of Fengzhou Army. After dealing with these matters, such as cleaning the battlefield, counting prisoners of war, spoils of war, and losses, the deputy general He Jingyun also summarized the data and reported to Ye Mingsheng:
"Sir, in this battle, our army killed more than 8,600 enemies, captured 15,611 people, seized 70,000 dan of grain, 50,000 taels of silver, and more than a dozen boxes of other gold and silver treasures. A rough estimate is that these things are worth at least 20,000 taels of silver. As for other weapons, there are tens of thousands of pieces of armor!"

Although he had anticipated this great victory, his Fengzhou Army would certainly gain a lot, but the harvest being so huge was beyond Ye Mingsheng's expectations. He asked He Jingyun with some surprise and confusion:
"How come these bandits carry so much money and supplies?"

"According to the captives, in order to get Sun Dahai, Li Mang, Feng Erlangzi and other bandit leaders to agree to send troops to help him deal with Ji Qiwei, Zhen Sanshan promised more than 100,000 taels of silver, more than 100,000 grains of fodder, and some other conditions."

"Zhen Sanshan delivered half of it in advance, but we suddenly attacked and Sun Dahai and his gang fled in panic, so they only took a small part with them. Most of the rest was seized by our Fengzhou Army! Sun Dahai and his gang, the bandit leaders, fought hard for a long time, but in the end, all the wine was used to make wedding dresses for us," He Jingyun explained with a smile:
As the deputy general of Fengzhou and the de facto chief of staff of the Fengzhou Army, although He Jingyun still had some resistance in his heart, he actually knew in his heart that no matter what he thought in his heart, in the eyes of others he had already boarded Ye Mingsheng's pirate ship, and would prosper and suffer together with the Fengzhou Army.

Therefore, He Jingyun was greatly encouraged and happy after winning such a great victory.

Ye Mingsheng was happy after understanding the cause of the matter, but a hint of greed emerged in his eyes. The accumulation of Zhen Sanshan over the past few decades really made him extremely rich. He had given so much money and grain to Sun Dahai, Li Mang, Feng Erlengzi and others. Wouldn't there be even more money and grain hidden in his Baihu Mountain?

If I could kill him next and take his wealth for myself, then I could really compete with Chen Dechang!

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng was even more motivated, and he wanted to rush to Baihu Mountain immediately. After adjusting his mood, Ye Mingsheng continued to give orders:
"Send all the seized money and half of the food back to Fengzhou. There have been tens of thousands of immigrants coming recently, and there is a huge food shortage!"

"These grains can just alleviate the urgent need. As for the remaining grains, we will keep some for our own use and send the rest to Qilipu. When we take over Posuo Mansion, we will need these grains to help the people!
"Also, pass down the order that all the soldiers who participated in this battle, in addition to rewarding them according to their merits, will be rewarded one tael of silver each when they return to Fengzhou. After such a great victory and seizing so much wealth, I cannot let the soldiers down!"

"Your Excellency loves his soldiers like his own sons and cares for the people. You are truly a good general of the time!" Upon hearing this, He Jingyun praised:

Ye Mingsheng just smiled and didn’t respond to He Jingyun’s flattery. Although he had been working very hard to learn the art of war, he was still hovering around the passing line, and was still far from being a good general in the world...

However, this is not particularly important for those in higher positions. Just like the company bosses in later generations, most of them are not very proficient in the company's technology. All they need to do is to know people and assign them to the right positions, and to clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments. As for the specific work, it can be left to professionals.

This can also avoid some mistakes such as laymen commanding experts, only looking at theory without starting from reality, etc.!
The combat plan of the Fengzhou Army was mainly discussed by He Jingyun, Chen Huaiwu, Xun Ke and other generals. They came up with a plan and then handed it over to Ye Mingsheng for the final decision.

"Sir, in addition to the money and food we have seized, what should we do with these 15,000 prisoners of war? These prisoners of war are much more numerous than our soldiers?" He Jingyun said with some concern:
Hearing He Jingyun talking about the issue of prisoners of war, Ye Mingsheng fell into deep thought. Although he had a plan to put these prisoners of war into production and construction, he couldn't treat so many people in a one-size-fits-all manner...

Looking at Ye Mingsheng's expression, He Jingyun suggested:

"Sir, our army is still too small. We are not short of money and food for the time being. We may have to fight in Baihu Mountain next. This kind of offensive battle will cause the greatest casualties. So, Sir, do you think we can incorporate these people into our army?"

Although Ye Mingsheng did not express any opinion on the surface regarding He Jingyun's suggestion, he rejected the suggestion immediately in his heart.

Although Ye Mingsheng's command ability is not very good, he understands one thing: the quality of soldiers is more important than their quantity!
In order to build a team with good work style, capable of fighting and winning battles, Ye Mingsheng has always paid great attention to the construction of the Fengzhou Army under his command.

In order to ensure the excellent military discipline and style of the Fengzhou Army, Ye Mingsheng eliminated those idle and idle people in society as the source of soldiers, and only recruited those honest and hardworking farmers, miners, and hunters.

In addition, in order to ensure that his soldiers would not harm the civilians, and to be able to legitimately enforce military discipline and law, Ye Mingsheng would rather live frugally and eat simple meals, and provide pensions and pay in full to the soldiers.

It is for all these reasons that Ye Mingsheng created the Fengzhou Army of today. If those sneaky and notorious bandits are now recruited into the Fengzhou Army, although the problem of insufficient troops can be solved, there is no doubt that the military discipline and military style that Ye Mingsheng has always insisted on will suffer devastating damage...
However, if we don't do as He Jingyun said, insufficient military force will indeed be a big problem. If we don't make changes now and continue to develop as it is, then even if Ye Mingsheng defeats Zhen Sanshan, he will not have enough troops to occupy the entire Posuo Prefecture and exercise effective control over it!
This is a choice where you can't have your cake and eat it too. If Ye Mingsheng insists on the military discipline and style of the Fengzhou Army, then he will lose control of the Posuo Mansion, and vice versa!

After thinking carefully for a while, Ye Mingsheng decided to compromise He Jingyun's plan and said:

"Organize some people to conduct a simple interrogation of these captured bandits. Pick out some who are physically strong, not too bad in nature, and have not committed any serious crimes. Give them a chance and let them temporarily join our Zhenwu Army to see the results!"

"In addition, you can pick out some extremely evil, vicious, and hopeless bandits and publicly execute them to establish your authority. Use their heads and blood to instill fear in them and establish the military style and discipline of our Fengzhou Army!"

"As for the remaining people, the farmlands and mines in Fengzhou also need some laborers. Let's take them there and let them use their labor to exchange for their food and atone for the sins they have committed!"

After hearing Ye Mingsheng's explanation, He Jingyun nodded seriously and said:

"I understand, sir. I know what to do now!"

(End of this chapter)