Li Rusong's side was soon finished.
Only a few hundred managed to escape. The rest were all taken by Li Rusong. The Liaodong Army had not fought a battle to their heart's content since they set off. This time, Li Rusong fought to his heart's content. He killed all the Northern Barbarians as he fought. He didn't even feel anything, he only felt that it was a good fight.
After killing them all, according to the statistics, Li Rusong killed more than 2,100 Northern Barbarians in this battle. Nearly 30,000 Northern Barbarians were wiped out. Thousands of dans of food in the camp were seized by the Ming Army. At the same time, they also seized more than 3,000 military horses and more than 7,000 dead and injured horses.
Xiao Ruxun immediately ordered to cook the dead horses and kill the injured horses for their meat. They couldn't be wasted. Then, he took all the food in the Northern Barbarians' barracks for his own use. The big flatbed carts and other things were also urgently needed by the Ming Army. They were prepared to provide nutrients for the army that was about to split into two groups.
During this time, Xiao Ruxun held the last military meeting before splitting the army and told them all his worries.
"This time, the destination of Commander Chai and Commander Dong's troops is Sha Hukou. This is a very important pass. The Daming has used this as the exit for several northern expeditions. Therefore, this is also the Daming Fortress that the Northern Barbarians are familiar with. Now that Datong has fallen into the enemy's hands and the defense line has been opened, several Northern Barbarians have moved south. It's hard to say that there won't be other tribes that will fish in troubled waters.
Therefore, Commander Chai and Commander Dong are facing a large number of Northern Barbarians. Maybe there will be tribes with special fighting power. I'm afraid there will be quite a number of them. You have to pay special attention. I repeat, do not split the army to fight. Never! "
Chai Guozhu and Dong Yiyuan cupped their fists and replied, "I will obey!"
"Hmm, then it's Commander Li's and my team's next. Our team is the main force, but our mission is equally important. We're not only going to Datong City, we're going to Yanghe City as well. This place should be the focus of the Northern Barbarians' attack, so we can't slack off. If we encounter the main force of the Northern Barbarians, we have to be cautious.
More importantly, along the way, we must take good care of the rations because we may encounter many refugees. When we encounter refugees, the army can give them a certain amount of rations and then let them head south. But if we encounter anyone who maliciously tries to rob the army of the rations, kill them on the spot, no matter who they are! "
Xiao Ruxun's last sentence was filled with murderous intent.
All the generals were awestruck.
"Yes, sir!"
In the afternoon, the army once again had a full meal of horse meat rice and horse meat soup. They were full and warm. After a short rest, the army set off. The 70,000 Ming Army soldiers split into two groups. Chai Guozhu and Dong Yiyuan led 30,000 soldiers out of Mayi, while Xiao Ruxun and Li Rusong led 40,000 soldiers out of Shanyin.
Datong's counterattack officially began. According to Xiao Ruxun's request, the army had to communicate with each other every day. Every time they arrived at a strategic location, they had to send a message to the other party, reporting the location, date, food reserves, battle situation, as well as the surrounding terrain.
A considerable number of messengers and sentries were sent to ensure smooth communication between both sides. If there were more than three days without any communication, it meant that something had happened.
No matter which side was in trouble, the problem was serious.
Now, it all depended on how many Northern Barbarians there were in Datong.
Were Mei Guozhen and Ma Gui safe?
Xiao Ruxun did not know and did not dare to speculate.
But he knew very well that whether it was Mei Guozhen or Ma Gui, after this battle, they would not have a good ending. The biggest bitter fruit had been swallowed by Wang Shiyang, but the remaining small bitter fruit had to be swallowed by someone. Otherwise, who would bear the burden of such a huge loss and the anger of the people?
Xiao Ruxun lamented the fate of these two old friends.
On the first day of the third month of the 26th year of Wanli, Xiao Ruxun led his troops to Shanyin. Shanyin County was in ruins. The entire county was like a ghost town. There was not a single person to be seen. But this was normal. After all, it was the main route that the Northern Barbarians used to attack Yanmen Pass. It was understandable that it had been wiped out by the Northern Barbarians.
The dilapidated city, the destroyed houses, and the rotting corpses on the ground were all signs of the terrible fate that the people of Shanyin County had encountered. However, Xiao Ruxun was powerless to do anything about it.
When the Northern Barbarians came, they did not leave anything behind when they left. There was not a single living person to be seen.
When he received the military report from Nurhachi, Xiao Ruxun knew that there were no living people here. But when he saw it for himself, he still could not control the grief and desolation in his heart.
"Our soldiers are incompetent, but we have caused the innocent people to suffer! If we cannot protect the people from the enemy, what is the purpose of our swords? This is our fault! "
Xiao Ruxun looked at the ruins of Shanyin County and shed tears. She set up an altar at the gate of the county and offered the heads of the Northern Invaders that she had beheaded outside Yanmen Pass as offerings. She also cut off a strand of her own hair.
"Ruxun still needs this head to avenge everyone, to wipe away the humiliation of our country. I hereby cut off my hair and swear that I will definitely kill every last one of the Northern Krupp to avenge everyone. I hope that everyone can rest in peace in the afterlife."
Xiao Ruxun placed his hair under the altar to express his guilt and sincerity. Then, the main generals followed Xiao Ruxun and cut off a strand of their hair to express their guilt and sincerity.
"The Northern Barbarians are immoral and have harmed our people. In this northern expedition, we will make the Northern Barbarians pay with their blood!"
"Blood for blood!"
The soldiers shouted in unison.
The Ming Army continued north towards Ying Prefecture.
Ying Prefecture was located to the north of Yanmen Pass and to the south of Datong Town. Logically speaking, it was not an important border defense hub. Most of the time, it was a border defense material transfer station. It should have been a nameless place, but because of a war in the 12th year of Zhengde, it entered people's eyes. That year, a war involving more than 100,000 people took place here.
However, the battle itself wasn't the reason why the people of Ying Prefecture would talk about it. In the history of China, there weren't many battles that involved more than a hundred thousand people. However, it wasn't enough to make Ying Prefecture famous. What really made Ying Prefecture famous was the result of the battle that involved a hundred thousand people.
The Ming Army killed 16 Mongolians, and the Ming Army lost 52 men.
The "number" he mentioned did not mean that he had only killed sixteen Mongolians. The definition of a decapitated head was very strict. Those who were shot to death by arrows, shot to death by muskets, or exploded by cannons would not be counted as a decapitated head. Only the heads that were cut off during a battle between two armies could be counted as a decapitated head.
Therefore, other than a few annihilation battles where the ratio between the number of enemies killed and the number of heads beheaded was very close, the ratio between the number of enemies killed and the number of heads beheaded was maintained at a ratio of ten to one. It might even be lower. That was why after some calculations, the number of Mongolian deaths recorded here was around 160 to 200.
But this was also very funny!
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