Chapter 709 After the War!

Although Yuan Song is a strong man, he also feels very tired facing the internal and external pressures. Fortunately, Ye Mingsheng stands behind him to support him, otherwise he may be forced to fight Xu Zhaojie hard, then the outcome of this battle will be unpredictable...
Now that the Zhennan Army was defeated, Xu Zhaojie fled back to Huainan, and the Fengwu Army won a great victory in this battle, the battle situation in Hebei and Henan was finally settled, and Yuan Song felt that his pressure had finally dissipated.

When Ye Mingsheng heard such a result, he nodded with satisfaction, although since Zhang Meng defeated Zhao Daqi under the city of Anqing, the balance of victory had tilted towards the Fengwu Army.

But Xu Zhaojie is Xu Zhaojie after all. If you relax your vigilance, he will bite your throat like a poisonous snake.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng never dared to relax these days. Although he did not kill Xu Zhaojie as he wished, he was able to force Xu Zhaojie to abandon the 20,000 elite Zhennan Army soldiers to save the emperor, which made him feel satisfied.

In addition, Zhang Meng's troops in Anqing City have just sent a message that the Fengwu Army has captured Anqing City. Next, they will clear out the remnants of the Zhennan Army in various counties and towns in Anqing. If nothing unexpected happens, Zhang Meng's troops will gradually control the entire Anqing in the next half month to a month.

After encouraging the generals, Ye Mingsheng asked:
"Have we calculated the number of casualties in this battle?"

Although Xu Zhaojie was badly defeated in this battle, for the Fengwu Army, the war is far from over. Shangguan Hongyuan, who is more powerful and more difficult than Xu Zhaojie, is still eyeing Yunbing covetously. Therefore, the Fengwu Army cannot rest now and needs to gather troops to march north to Yunbing...

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, the generals looked at each other, and then Yuan Song stood up and reported:

"At present, the exact number of casualties of our army has not been counted, but this battle probably caused about 5,000 casualties. The exact number of casualties may not be counted until tomorrow!"

Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly when he heard this. Although this battle almost wiped out more than 20,000 elite troops of the enemy's Zhennan Army, and forced Xu Zhaojie to flee in panic, the Fengwu Army still had a significant overall advantage. Under such circumstances, 5,000 casualties were really too much!
After a moment of silence, Ye Mingsheng seemed to realize something and said:
"How many casualties did the Ninth Division suffer?"

After these words came out, Ye Dong's face was undoubtedly more ashamed, but he still took the initiative to stand up and said:
"Reporting to the commander, our troops suffered more than 3,000 casualties in this battle. In addition, our commander Liu Qu was ambushed and killed by Xu Zhaojie's troops while supporting Yangliu Township!"

After realizing that most of the casualties were from the Ninth Division, Ye Mingsheng became serious and immediately gave the order:

"Tell me the details!"

"Yes!"

After a cup of tea, Ye Mingsheng understood the whole trend of the war. Seeing Ye Mingsheng's serious expression, Yuan Song stepped forward and advised:
“Marshal Xu Zhaojie is a cunning, cruel and despicable thief. No one would have thought that he would abandon these 20,000-plus Zhennan Army. Ye Dong was tricked by him because of his carelessness…”

"Moreover, the Ninth Division was established only half a year ago, and most of the soldiers are newly recruited. This is also the first time the Ninth Army has participated in a battle. As soon as they joined the battle, they were responsible for such an important task as blocking Xu Zhaojie's breakout. It is understandable that they lack some experience!"

"Although the Ninth Division lacked some experience in this battle, they were all very courageous. Even though the enemy conquered Yangliu Township, General Ye Dong led the soldiers of the Ninth Division and still used the houses in Yangliu Township to put up a tenacious resistance, holding off the enemy tightly and buying precious time for our large army to arrive!"

"From this, I believe that General Ye Dong and the Ninth Division have done more good than bad!"

Listening to Yuan Song's explanation, Ye Mingsheng also felt that he should not be too harsh on Ye Dong. He then looked at Ye Dong and said nothing more.

After thinking for a while, Ye Mingsheng said:

"This time, Xu Zhaojie did not allow the 10,000 Zhennan troops from Chengfeng County to participate in this battle. He probably wanted to preserve his strength so that he could return to Huainan to stabilize the situation. Since he has this idea, we can't let him succeed easily!"

"Send a message to Zhang Meng to send troops to block the enemy's retreat in Chengfeng County. Don't let them return to Huainan comfortably!"

"Yes!"

"How should we arrange for the prisoners of the Marshal Zhennan Army?" Yuan Song asked Ye Mingsheng:

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng asked back:
"How many of these prisoners are from Anqing?"

Yuan Song thought for a moment and replied:

“Many of these prisoners are from the old troops where Xu Zhaojie started out, so at least 60 to 70 percent of them are from Anqing…”

Ye Mingsheng thought for a moment and said, "I will ask the Military Affairs Office and the Coordination Office to follow up and set up a joint working group. You hand over these prisoners to them and let them identify the diehards who followed Xu Zhaojie among these prisoners. Don't waste these diehards!"

"Ji Yu will be building several canals and dams next. These people are very good laborers. As for the others, our army has now captured Anqing, so we can release them all and let them go home to live their lives!"

As soon as these words came out, all the generals praised:
"The Marshal is truly kind-hearted!"

"The Marshal has done such a righteous act. The captives will surely be moved to tears and thank the Marshal for his kindness!"

"Under the Marshal's rule, Anqing will surely enjoy peace and prosperity. The people of Anqing will be blessed!"

··········
··········
Although he knew that everyone was just trying to flatter him, Ye Mingsheng still felt somewhat pleased in his heart. He immediately promised the generals that after they defeated the Luoan Imperial Guards, he would reward everyone according to their merits. After hearing Ye Mingsheng's promise, the generals were even more satisfied and grateful to Ye Mingsheng. They clamored to follow Ye Mingsheng north to fight Shangguan Hongyuan.

After the meeting, Ye Mingsheng sat alone in a chair, lost in thought again. Although he had not received any battle report from Jinzhong, according to previous judgment, the situation in Jinzhong would not be very good. Fortunately, the situation of Fengwu Army was not good, and Shangguan Hongyuan's side was not doing well either...

The supply of materials to the Luoan Imperial Guards on the Yunbing battlefield has been intermittent. Now the Luoan Imperial Guards are doing their best to ensure the supply of food. It is said that in order to collect enough food for the army on the front line, the Luoan court in Sichuan and other places is no longer satisfied with collecting taxes in advance, and has begun to rob openly!

All the evidence shows that the offensive of the Luoan Imperial Guards is about to reach a bottleneck. Shangguan Hongyuan needs to take a breath now, and Ye Mingsheng also needs to take a breath.

In order to repel Xu Zhaojie this time, the Fengwu Army suffered more than 20,000 casualties, half of which were from the First Army. After several months of fighting, the First Army was very tired and in urgent need of rest. Under such circumstances, and also for the safety and stability of Hebei and Henan, Ye Mingsheng would not transfer them to Yunbing.

Then the remaining three troops are the Fourth Army, Zhang Meng’s Seventh Division, and Ye Dong’s Ninth Division!

The Fourth Army is the Qi Army formerly under Yin Biao. Its combat effectiveness is not very high, but it has a large number of more than 30,000 people. Although the commander is nominally a veteran of the Qi Army, the actual command has been transferred to Zhang Meng.

Previously, in order to attack Anqing as soon as possible, Ye Mingsheng accepted all the Qi troops, and incorporated them all into the Fengwu Army regardless of whether they were good or bad. When the situation was completely stabilized, Ye Mingsheng planned to carry out a deeper reorganization of them and eliminate some soldiers who did not meet the standards of the Fengwu Army. On the one hand, this would reduce financial pressure, and on the other hand, it would be conducive to better control of the troops...
If Zhang Meng had not stepped forward to change the situation when the situation was at a stalemate, it would not have been so easy for his side to defeat Xu Zhaojie. Adhering to the Fengwu Army's principle of victory when meritorious and punishment when faulty, Ye Mingsheng also planned to add more burdens to Zhang Meng!

Zhang Meng had just been appointed general of the Seventh Division last year. It would be a bit hasty to directly promote him to commander of an army now, so Ye Mingsheng planned to first appoint Zhang Meng as the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Army, merge the Seventh Division into the Fourth Army, and then promote Zhang Meng to commander after a few years.

As for the period of time, Zhang Meng and the Fourth Army still need to stay in Anqing. Although the Fengwu Army has already taken Anqing, Xu Zhaojie will definitely not just sit there and watch. He will definitely cause trouble again. Therefore, Anqing needs a powerful general to take charge. Zhang Meng is undoubtedly the best choice at the moment!

Therefore, the only thing Ye Mingsheng could bring back was Ye Dong's Ninth Division to Yunbing. This was also the reason why Ye Mingsheng looked serious when he knew that the Ninth Division had suffered such heavy casualties.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng was very clear about the reasons Yuan Song said, so he did not plan to use the Ninth Division to undertake such an important task at the beginning. However, Ye Dong came and volunteered to fight, and said that if Ye Mingsheng did not give this task to their Ninth Division, the morale of the Ninth Division would suffer a severe blow. For this reason, Ye Mingsheng gave this task to them!

Looking at this task now, Ye Dong’s performance can only be considered as passing, it is not considered as a failure...
·····························
·····························
June 2, 50 miles north of Yujing, Dazhang Town
With the warm hospitality of the head of Dazhang Town, Murong Yuliang and his party stayed in Xiangfu Inn, the only inn in the town.

Because it was just an inn in a town, there were only nine guest rooms in Xiangfu Inn. Even if Murong Yuliang booked the whole place, it couldn't accommodate everyone, so only Murong Yuliang's family and maids and servants moved in. Originally, according to the idea of ​​Ding Hao, the head of the Fengwu Army, who was responsible for guarding more than one hundred brothers of the Fengwu Army, they set up tents around the inn and stayed there for the night.

But Murong Yuliang watched Ding Hao and his gang escorting him all the way, sleeping in the open air and not getting any good news. In addition, the journey was very peaceful and he didn't even see a petty thief. Moreover, it was only fifty miles away from Yujing. If they set out tomorrow morning, they would most likely reach Yujing in the evening.

Therefore, Murong Yuliang sympathized with Ding Hao and others' hard work, and only asked Ding Hao to arrange a few people to be responsible for the night guard in the inn. As for the others, they could stay with the villagers in the town for one night and have a good sleep. Everyone would set off together tomorrow morning, and everyone could report back when they arrived in Yujing...
Ding Hao, who had relaxed his vigilance a little, was undoubtedly very tempted by Murong Yuliang's proposal because he had not encountered any danger along the way. However, considering Murong Yuliang's safety, he still declined the plan. However, under Murong Yuliang's repeated requests, he finally agreed. After leaving behind a few capable men, he took them to stay overnight at a fellow villager's house.

After a simple farm meal, Murong Yuliang and his wife Wang went to bed early in order to travel early the next morning. However, although they went to bed early, Murong Yuliang couldn't fall asleep. After tossing and turning for a while, Murong Yuliang simply started to think about his next policy plan in Hebei and Henan.

Walking all the way from Shanze County, Murong Yuliang also passed through several counties in Hebei and Henan. He saw that these counties in Hebei and Henan had the same problems as he thought, that is, the same problems as Shanze County. Although the Fengwu Army had done its best in the blood transfusion before, facing such a large Hebei and Henan, it was still just a drop in the bucket, and it could only be regarded as ensuring that everyone had food to eat!

His future work in Hebei and Henan will be very arduous························

Murong Yuliang also has a preliminary idea about this. He intends to follow Ye Mingsheng's strategy of using the Dadongsheng Company to raise funds. He also plans to cooperate with a company, give them some preferential policies, and then use them to raise funds. As for the selected company, Murong Yuliang already has an idea and is waiting to implement it after arriving in Yujing!

As he was thinking about it, Murong Yuliang felt a little uncomfortable in his stomach. Perhaps it was because he was from a noble family and could not get used to the ordinary farm meals in Dazhang Town. Soon his stomach started to churn, and Murong Yuliang immediately stood up to go to the toilet.

After coming out of the toilet, Murong Yuliang felt a little sleepy and prepared to go back to his room to sleep. It was at this time that Murong Yuliang discovered that the light in Chen Yiyu's room was still on. Seeing this, he was a little curious. He wondered what Chen Yiyu was doing in the room so late at night instead of sleeping!
Driven by curiosity, Murong Yuliang immediately walked towards Chen Yiyu's room··························
(End of this chapter)