Zhao Hu's bravery was unstoppable. He took the lead and charged out. This greatly boosted the morale of the Ming Army.
The cannons and cannons retreated to load ammunition and await orders. Five hundred Ming Army sword and shield spear soldiers and one hundred Ming Army cavalry cried out as they met the rebel army head-on. They killed until the heavens fell and the earth cracked. Zhao Hu took the lead and charged into the enemy's formation with his machete, killing in all directions. Under his machete, there were almost no enemies. Everywhere he went, the rebel army lost their courage and were chopped off their horses. Occasionally, there were a few who rode their horses to fight for their lives but were chopped into two by Zhao Hu's machete and died with their eyes wide open.
The Ming Army became braver as they fought. The stamina that they had accumulated for many days exploded in an instant. Their eyes were red from killing. Zhao Hu, on the other hand, fixed his eyes on a horse soldier who was bathed in blood but was wearing a fur coat. He thought that this was definitely a trap general so he rode his horse to fight. That fur coat horse soldier saw Zhao Hu charging over and actually pulled out his machete to meet him head-on. Zhao Hu went up and fought for four to five rounds. To his surprise, he discovered that this fellow's combat power was very strong. He might even be a big fish. His interest was immediately aroused.
He roused his spirits and went up to fight with him for over twenty rounds. Surprisingly, he was unable to kill him. The fur coat horse soldier was none other than the Mighty Rabbit who had escaped for his life. He saw that his subordinates had almost all been killed by the cannons and cannons. In a panic, he only wanted to escape for his life. However, he was blocked. The more he fought, the more anxious he became. He directly used a method to fight to the death with Zhao Hu without any regard for his life. For a moment, Zhao Hu was surrounded by danger. He was shaken forcefully and actually took a step back. His body tilted upwards and revealed an opening. This was caught by the Mighty Rabbit.
With one chop, he was about to kill Zhao Hu. A long spear suddenly appeared and blocked the machete of the Mighty Rabbit. Zhao Hu looked and saw that it was Wang Hui who had rushed over to help. He reacted and took the opportunity to howl as he raised his machete and chopped diagonally. He directly chopped off the entire head of the Mighty Rabbit along with half of his body. Instantly, blood gushed out like a fountain and his intestines and organs flowed all over the ground …
Zhao Hu was careful and allowed Wang Hui to chop off this fellow's head. Perhaps he was a high-ranking official. The two of them would split the credit equally. He then rode off to fight the rest of the rebel soldiers. Not long after, the overall situation was set. The Ming Army stopped defending and came out from all four sides. They directly killed the remnants of the rebel soldiers who were caught off guard and caused them to lose their horses and flee in panic. Chen Xie directly led more than five hundred Ming Army troops and killed their way into the main camp of the rebel soldiers. They killed Bo Yong who had stayed behind in the main camp of the rebel soldiers. The rest all knelt on the ground and begged to surrender.
Countless weapons and supplies were seized. Xiao Ruxun ordered the generals beside him to take the soldiers on the city wall and go down to fight. They coordinated from the inside and the outside and attacked from both sides. The Ming Army, whose morale had been greatly boosted, faced the fleeing rebel soldiers. The result was obvious. After fighting for more than two hours, the rebel soldiers finally collapsed. They all knelt on the ground and begged to surrender …
The remnants of the battle lasted until dawn the next day before it ended. Xiao Ruxun could not fight in battle, so he personally used the birdshot and crossbow to kill the enemy. He was almost exhausted. He could only stand with the support of Yang Caiyun at his side. The three generals, Zhao Hu, Chen Xie and Wang Hui, were also injured. Among the soldiers of the Ming Army who could still stand, there were not many who were not injured, except for the more than two hundred cannon soldiers who were forced to leave the battlefield.
The three thousand Ming Army under Xiao Ruxun had also suffered heavy losses. When the battle situation report came out in the afternoon, Xiao Ruxun discovered with heartache that out of the three thousand soldiers, only about seven hundred were not injured. Another seven hundred had light injuries, two hundred were seriously injured. The rest had all died in battle.
The rebel army, on the side of the captives, suffered even more heavy losses. According to the identification, the leader of the captives, Mighty Rabbit, was beheaded by the combined efforts of Wang Hui and Zhao Hu. The rebel army's general, Bo Yun, was killed by an unknown person's birdshot through the heart. He died with his eyes open. The rebel army's deputy general, Bo Yong, was beheaded by Chen Xie. The other thirty-seven rebel army's generals, other than two who surrendered, were all killed.
The rebel army's actual strength was only slightly more than six thousand. More than four thousand people were either killed in battle or died after returning to camp. Only slightly more than a thousand successfully surrendered and saved their lives. Of the three thousand captives, more than three hundred managed to escape. The Ming Army was unable to pursue them. More than four hundred surrendered. The rest all died on the battlefield. More than eight hundred warhorses were captured.
With a wave of Xiao Ruxun's hand, all the captives who surrendered were killed! The Daming did not need these capricious bandits!
Thus, these captives who were tied up and disarmed became the living targets of the gunmen. They were shot dead by the murderous Ming Army one by one. The one thousand rebel soldiers who were not killed were scared out of their wits. They all knelt on the ground and begged for mercy. Some even lost control of their bowels and bowels. It was an ugly sight.
"Considering that all of you were previously my Daming soldiers and were coerced into joining the bandits, the rebellion was not your original intention. You also have mothers and relatives at home. I will not kill all of you. However, all of you must use your own merits to atone for your crimes! From today onwards, all of you will be incorporated into the army as the vanguard of my army. If you want to live, you must continue to fight until the rebellion is quelled! I will not report the matter of your rebellion! However, if there are any who do not obey! Kill! "
Xiao Ruxun shouted the word "kill" with a murderous aura. Wang Hui immediately shouted for the gunmen to "raise the guns." The red-eyed gunmen all raised their guns, waiting for anyone to oppose to be killed. Seeing the murderous Ming Army surrounding them at the side, how would these rebel soldiers dare to have any objections? Originally, they were coerced into joining the bandits by their respective officers and did not have any real standpoint. They would follow whoever was their general. When they really wanted to rebel, they were discouraged and thought of walking down the dark path. They did not expect that they would come back from the dead and still have a glimmer of hope for survival.
"We do not dare to disobey the general's orders!"
The one thousand rebel soldiers did not show any signs of resistance. All of them knelt down to show their obedience. Xiao Ruxun ordered Zhao Hu to personally command the vanguard of this rebel army.
At this point, the attack and defense battle of Ping Lu, which lasted for half a month, ended with the complete victory of the Ming Army Xiao Ruxun's troops.
Xiao Ruxun's three thousand men, after the battle, there were only one thousand and five hundred survivors. The rest had all died in battle. Those who were unharmed and could still fight were less than seven hundred. As for the rebel army, the military strength was about nine thousand. Among them, three thousand had been captured and three hundred had escaped. The rest were all killed. Of the six thousand rebel soldiers, other than one thousand surrendered and five hundred fled in panic, the remaining four thousand five hundred rebel soldiers were all killed. Those whose heads were intact were all cut off and piled up like a mountain. A rough count showed that there were actually six thousand heads.
The surviving Ming Army all felt extremely lucky. It must be known that the Ming Army recorded merits according to the number of heads. Usually, in border skirmishes, one or two hundred heads were a great victory. But this time, they had actually beheaded six thousand heads. Among them, nearly three thousand were genuine captives. This was a shocking great merit. Everyone was thinking about what kind of reward they would receive!
Zhao Hu, Wang Hui, and Chen Xie were unable to contain their joy. The three of them each had great merits recorded on their bodies. This time, they would definitely be promoted and rewarded. They sat together and laughed heartily. The rest of the Ming Army also had the joy of surviving a calamity. They relaxed from the high-intensity state of war. Many of them collapsed onto the ground and fell into a deep sleep.
Looking at the rising sun, Xiao Ruxun sighed softly. He said to Yang Caiyun, "Caiyun, this is the first victory your husband has fought for you. Next, your husband will fight many, many victories. I will definitely earn a title for you!"
Yang Caiyun no longer dared to look at the sea of blood battlefield. She buried her head in Xiao Ruxun's embrace. She only nodded softly and did not say anything.
After sending Yang Caiyun back home and settling her down, Xiao Ruxun still had to prepare for a series of matters after the war. The compensation for the dead soldiers, the settling of their families, the cleaning of the battlefield, the writing and transmission of military reports, etc. Most importantly, what should be done next. Should they defend and not move, or should they take the initiative to attack? These were all things that Xiao Ruxun had to do personally.
Victory was undoubtedly a joyous event, but the price of victory was painful. More than one thousand and five hundred people from the Ming Army had died in battle. One thousand and five hundred families immediately became families that had lost their pillars. They had lost the pillars of their families. Although many of the military families still had other men in their families, after sorting it out, out of one thousand and five hundred families, there were actually nearly six hundred families that no longer had any men. There were only lonely women and young children.
Looking at the scene of wailing, shouting, and burning white paper, Xiao Ruxun suddenly felt that the victory he had obtained was so pitiful. Victory was certainly a victory, but these families had forever lost their happiness. Without the support of men, could a family still be considered a family? The only thing Xiao Ruxun could do was to do her best to personally distribute more compensation to them. But these women were still wailing incessantly as they held the silver in their hands.
In such a situation, how could Xiao Ruxun treat it calmly?
He could no longer bear to look at the wailing of these women who had lost their men. Xiao Ruxun turned and left this residential area. Wang Hui, who was following beside him, seemed to see through Xiao Ruxun's sadness and spoke up to console him, "Since ancient times, how could there not be deaths in war? General, it is better not to be too sad. "
Xiao Ruxun thought back to those comrades who had died in his previous life and said mournfully, "A general's success is built on the bones of tens of thousands. My life's fame, glory, splendor, wealth, and rank were all exchanged with the lives of these soldiers. But all I can do is to give them compensation of a dozen or so taels of silver. Without the support of pillars of support, how can orphans, widows, and old parents survive? It is not easy for widows with children to remarry. If they do not remarry, can a dozen or so taels of silver allow them to persevere until their children grow up? They are all my subordinates, but I cannot do more for their wives and children … no wonder the people say that soldiers are inauspicious, a land of death and life! "
Wang Hui could only let out a deep sigh.
Outside the city, especially at the southern city gate, the battlefield was also being cleaned up in an orderly manner. Xiao Ruxun ordered all the corpses of the rebel soldiers and horses to be burned. They could not be left alive. Then, he began to arrange for the conscription of civilian laborers to repair the city walls.
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