Chapter 21 Hypocrisy
Su Ding's greed and stupidity made Xue Rang and Wu Ma angry and helpless, while the casualties and losses of the soldiers of Ke County made Xue Rang and Wu Ma bleeding in their hearts.
While all the weapons, equipment, experience, and training discipline all had overwhelming advantages, and even the Wulian Han army was almost all new recruits and even had severe shortage of bows and crossbows, the more than 130 soldiers of the Jingke County who rushed to the city to attack the city did not return to their original formation, and lost more than one garrison team's strength in one battle.
That's not all. More than one-third of the soldiers of the retreating county were injured, including nearly twenty seriously injured people who lost their combat effectiveness. At the same time, the morale of the army was also severely damaged. All the soldiers and soldiers who were forced to use simple siege weapons to attack the city were full of resentment towards the head coach Su Ding, the soldiers were disinterested, and their fighting spirit and confidence were naturally greatly affected.
Xue Rang and Wu Ma looked ugly because of the heavy casualties of the soldiers, but Su Ding's face was even ugly than them. After red eyes, he cursed wildly about Zhu Xiang, who dared to deceive his old subordinate Zhu Xiang, Su Ding yelled with a dark face: "Go back to the camp! Go back to discuss how to find Zhang Zhi's son to take revenge!"
The order was conveyed, and the dejected soldiers of the Jingke County Army began to line up to withdraw to the camp. Wu Ma also led his direct troops to take on the important task of the palace without Su Ding's order. However, what surprised Wu Ma was that when he led the direct troops to retreat in the end, the Wu Lian South Gate, which had been closed before, suddenly opened. A Han army envoy suddenly rushed out of the city with a white flag, and shouted from afar: "Wait a minute, wait a minute, we have something to say."
He temporarily stopped his direct troops, and first prepared to prevent the Han army from suddenly leaving the city to raid. Then Wu Ma rode his horse to face the Han army envoy who was walking and asked with a gloomy face: "What else do you want to do?"
"This general, please report to General Su."
The Han army envoy replied: "We Zhang Mingting said that he will send people out of the city to clean the battlefield later. If the army can guarantee that we will not take the opportunity to attack our soldiers, he can let our soldiers send the bodies of the fallen soldiers to the near front of the gate of the army camp, so that the soldiers of the army can bury your comrades with good health, and put inscriptions on wooden inscriptions, so that the families of the fallen soldiers of the army will have the opportunity to welcome back the remains of their relatives in the future and take them back to their hometown to bury Ye Luo. I just don't know if the army can agree to our Zhang Mingting's request and ensure that we will not harm the soldiers who transport the corpses?"
Unexpectedly, Zhang Zhihui sent someone to make such a request. Wu Ma hesitated for a moment and couldn't help but say, "You Zhang Mingting are quite kind and righteous. How could you even consider such small things so thoughtful?"
"General, we Zhang Mingting said." The Han army envoy said, "No matter what, more than half a month ago, we were all the great Han subjects who were wearing the banner of the Han Dynasty. Now, even if we did not form enemies because of different ambitions and bury our former comrades-in-arms, we still couldn't bear it."
After saying sympathy, the Han army envoy said again: "General, how about it? Can your army agree to our Zhang Mingting's request? If your army refuses, there is no way. We can only bury the bodies of your soldiers collectively according to the rules to avoid plague."
After hesitating for a while, Wu Ma replied: "Okay, go back and tell Zhang Mingting, and say we agreed. I will tell you about General Su. Just don't worry about sending our companion's body, and we promise not to take advantage of the situation."
"I dare to ask General Gao's name, what is his identity?" The Han army envoy asked carefully.
"My name is Wu Ma, and I am the only general in the Nanzheng County Army."
Wu Ma replied casually, never considering what consequences this sentence would bring to him. He also added: "Also, please give me a sentence to Zhang Mingting, and I said that Wu Ma thanked him for those who died in the army."
The Han army envoy agreed and rushed back to report the matter. Wu Ma then led the county soldiers to continue to retreat. Then, after returning to the camp gate, Wu Ma reported the matter to Su Ding, who was reeling in front of the camp gate to supervise the county soldiers to return to the camp.
Surprising Wu Ma, when he heard his report, Su Ding not only did not approve a word, but instead glared at Wu Ma like a fighting rooster and roared: "Who allowed you to agree? Who gave you this power to agree to the conditions proposed by Zhang Zhi'er? Are you the chief general in this army, or am I the chief general?"
"General, shouldn't the general agree?" Wu Ma asked back strangely: "Zhang Zhirenyi took the initiative to return the bodies of our fallen soldiers, so that they could be buried in peace, and also give their families the opportunity to bring their bodies back to their hometown and return to their roots in the future. Shouldn't such a good thing be agreed?"
"Fart!" Su Ding was furious and shouted: "Zhang Zhi'er is buying people's hearts with false benevolence and righteousness. You can't even see this? His purpose is to disperse our military morale and attack our morale. You can't even see this? Go and send someone to the city to tell Zhang Zhi'er, and he said that this general was not fooled by him. He would deal with those corpses as he would. He dared to send them over, and this general killed all his people!"
Hearing this, Wu Ma's wounded forehead immediately swelled up, and the wound that had stopped bleeding also oozed out of blood again. He subconsciously clenched his fists. The county soldiers next to him were all blushed and glanced at Su Ding with gritted teeth. Xue Rang, who saw that the situation was not good, quickly came out to smooth things over and said, "General Su, calm down, General Wu is also kind-hearted, the purpose is to make our soldiers who have fallen into a good relationship and have no other meaning."
"General Wu, please calm down. General Su also suffered a bad temper because he was defeated and had a bad temper. Don't take it seriously. Okay, I am the governor of the county magistrate of Jingke and the second in command of this army. I will make the decision for General Su. After a while, Zhang Zhi's rebels sent the bodies of our fallen soldiers. We are not allowed to shoot arrows, let alone send troops to kill the enemy. Then we buried our soldiers with good health, put them on a wooden board and wrote their names, so that their families will have the opportunity to welcome their bodies back in the future. That's it."
After much persuasion, Xue Rang finally resolved the imminent conflict. However, there was still inevitable conflict between Su Ding and Wu Ma. After all the county soldiers withdrew from the camp, Su Ding went straight to the central army tent to drink and vent. Wu Maze had a very nasty face to command the soldiers participating in the war to return to the tent to rest, and arranged for medical workers to rescue the wounded, but he did not say a word to each other.
Zhang Zhi always believed that after about an hour, after cleaning the battlefield, there were about a team of Han soldiers who were in the garrison and approached the county camp with white flags. They either pushed them with wheelbarrows or carried them directly on their backs, and sent the corpses of more than 100 dead county soldiers and soldiers, and arranged them carefully on the open space outside the county camp. Of course, the leather armor, helmets and weapons of these corpses were taken away by the Han army and brought back to the city.
Seeing this scene, some county soldiers and soldiers inevitably shed tears for their comrades, and Wu Ma's eyes were wet, and he repeatedly ordered: "No arrows are allowed! No attacks are allowed! Unless Zhang Zhi's rebels take the opportunity to attack our camp, they are absolutely not allowed to shoot!"
At this time, Su Ding, who received the news, had already strode out of the Central Army's tent. He looked at the Han soldiers who were still putting down their bodies with a dark face. Su Ding even opened his mouth and shouted, "Let it go..."
One hand covered Su Ding's mouth in time. Xue Rang, who was following quickly, first covered Su Ding's stinky mouth tightly, and then said in a deep voice: "General, if you don't want our soldiers to mutiny, please calm down! Don't forget that these corpses outside the camp are all comrades of our soldiers! Comrades who live and die together!"
Looking at the county soldiers who were generally expressionless, and looking at Wu Ma with a gray face not far away, Su Ding stomped his feet, turned around and rushed back to the central army tent. Xue Rang breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly walked to Wu Ma, patted Wu Ma on the shoulder, and whispered: "Calm down, he is the commander of the entire army after all, and has the right to kill all the soldiers of the entire army. If there is a conflict with him, there is no good result."
Wu Ma didn't say anything, but silently turned his eyes to the Han soldiers who were putting down their bodies. It was not until the Han soldiers put all the bodies down and left, Wu Ma ordered helplessly: "Come here, arrange two teams to go out, move our soldiers' bodies to the mountain west for burial, take pen and ink, and put wooden boards on the tomb and write their names."
"There are not many people in our army who can read, so I will arrange two clerks to help." Xue Rang said quickly.
When Wu Ma nodded in pain, the scene that made his heart feel like a knife was even more heartbroken. In the camp, several families of Wu Lianji soldiers who had been released from the city were suddenly rushed out of the camp. They cried and shouted and rushed towards the corpses placed on the open space. The sad crying sounds were like a needle and a bayonet, which made Wu Ma, Xue Rang and many county soldiers bow their heads, and they all understood that there must be Wu Lianji's county soldiers who died in this almost stupid siege battle.
Before the matter was over, when the county soldiers of the two garrison teams went out of the camp to carry the corpses of comrades for burial, the garrison commander who led the team suddenly sent people back to the camp to report to Wu Ma and Xue Rang, saying that the Han army only sent more than 110 garrison soldiers, and nearly twenty garrison soldiers were missing.
Xue Rang and Wu Ma were very surprised and puzzled, "How is that possible? Since Zhang Zhi wants to be a good person, he will definitely do it to the end. How could all the corpses of our fallen soldiers be sent back? Could it be that they fell into the moat and were washed away by the water? It is impossible? Wu Lian's moat is very far from the city wall, so it is impossible for so many corpses to fall into it?"
The answer was quickly solved. As the evening approached, four soldiers from the Jingke County who had previously disappeared on the battlefield suddenly supported each other and returned to the camp of the Jingke County soldiers. They were immediately taken to the Central Army tent and handed them over to Su Ding to ask about their whereabouts. When Wu Ma and Xue Rang hurried to the Central Army tent to understand the situation, they also realized that they were unconscious and fainted on the battlefield because of unfortunately being hit by stones. After being discovered by the Han soldiers who had cleaned the battlefield, they not only carried them back to the city for treatment, but also Zhang Zhi also personally came forward to meet them.
"... Zhang Mingting first gave us instant noodles, and told us that although we were his enemies, they were all the Han soldiers who were forced to surrender to the Wei people. Therefore, he could not bear to kill us, so he chose a way out for us. First, stayed in Wulian City and joined the Han army, followed him to raise an army to restore our country, and liberated our Han. Second, let us return home and reunite with our family."
"... Except for the four of us, more than a dozen other brothers surrendered. Because our daughter-in-law and baby are still in our hometown, we are afraid of implicating our family, so we plucked up our courage to come home. Unexpectedly, Zhang Mingting is a great man. Not only did he really let us go, but he also sent us two packs of instant noodles to each of us, asking us to take it back to replenish our bodies..."
Before the four county soldiers and prisoners finished their statements, Su Ding was so angry that he raised the case in front of him and shouted: "Idiots! A bunch of idiots! Zhang Zhi'er is kind enough to let you go. He is putting you back to disperse our military morale and attack our morale. You can't see this? You still think he is a great man? You were sold by him and are still counting money for him. Do you understand this?"
"Get out! Get back to Naiweng and return to the team! After returning to the team, keep your mouth shut. Whoever dares to whisper a good thing about Zhang Zhier, be careful of your heads!"
Roaring angrily, Su Ding suddenly remembered a big event and shouted again: "Wait! Didn't you just say that Zhang Zhi'er sent two packs of instant noodles to each of you? Hand over them all to Naiweng, and you are not allowed to bring them back to the team to shake our morale!"
"Ah?" The four county soldiers and prisoners who had tasted instant noodles changed their faces together, and then one prisoner said with courage: "General, the instant noodles are sent to us. Can we leave them behind? We promise not to eat them in the camp. We just want to take them home and let their daughter-in-law taste them. They haven't eaten any salt for at least half a year."
"Stop talking nonsense! Hand over it, otherwise you will act in military law!"
Su Ding refused with a blue face and ordered his personal soldiers to go forward and search, insisting on snatching the eight bags of instant noodles obtained by the four county soldiers and prisoners, and then sent the four county soldiers and prisoners back to return to the team. Seeing this, Wu Ma and Xue Rang couldn't help looking at each other and said in their hearts: "Even if these four soldiers go to the battlefield again, they will never work hard for us. If they become prisoners again in the future, they will not return to the team for their daughter-in-law."
The matter was still not over that day. When it was dark, in order to relieve the family, Wu Ma took time to come to the back camp to visit his family who were temporarily living here. As a result, seeing the bloody bandage tied to Wu Ma's head, Wu Ma's mother, wife and children naturally had to scream. Then, after Wu Ma repeatedly explained that he was not seriously injured, Wu Ma's family felt a little relieved, but Wu Ma's son still stayed in his arms and refused to let go, and asked:
"Dad, when will we go home from the city? I miss home, I want to go back and eat instant noodles."
"Don't be anxious." Wu Ma patted his son's head and said kindly: "I'll endure it for a few more days. When my father leads his army to capture the city and catch the traitor leader Zhang Zhi, then we can go home. At that time, the instant noodles that my father seizes will definitely make you full."
"Dad, who is Zhang Zhi?"
"It's the county magistrate who is Wu Lian."
"County Magistrate Zhang? Dad, why did you arrest County Magistrate Zhang? He is a good person, why did you arrest him?"
"He gathered a group to rebel and disobeyed the county's orders, so his father wanted to arrest him."
"Rebel? Dad, who did County Mayor Zhang rebel?"
Wu Ma's son's problem made Wu Ma stunned, and also reminded Wu Ma of an important event - what qualifications do you have to say that Zhang Zhi rebelled? Who did Zhang Zhi rebell? Compared with Zhang Zhi, who swears to refuse to surrender to Wei, he, the general of Jing Ke Qu who was ordered to surrender to Wei, seems more like a shameless treason-in-law traitor?
"Dad, County Magistrate Zhang is a good person. He gives us instant noodles. There is a lot of salt in the instant noodles. I have grown up so old and have never eaten so much salt. Dad, don't you arrest County Magistrate Zhang, okay?"
"Dad, why don't you go and be a general for County Mayor Zhang? I heard that you can get a lot of instant noodles for County Mayor Zhang, or a better instant noodles. I want to eat that kind of more delicious instant noodles. When I grew up, I also want to be a soldier for County Mayor Zhang."
When my son was in his arms, a heart-wrenching cry suddenly came to Wu Ma's ears. At the same time, Wu Ma also vaguely heard an old man crying, "My miserable son--! You died in such a miserable life yesterday, and you died at the gate of your own home? Wu Lian is your home. You were so stupid yesterday, and you insisted on beating your own home? And you also sent your life to your door?"
The heart-wrenching cry made Wu Ma's heart thrust and made Wu Ma's heart begin to be confused. He didn't understand whether he should continue like this. He insisted on leading the county soldiers including many Wu Lian soldiers to attack Wu Lian County, where he grew up, and raised a butcher knife to his compatriots who were loyal to his homeland as an enemy general of Wei?
Originally, Xue Rang and Wu Ma both believed that with Su Ding's bearish temper, they were teased by the Han army and suffered a big defeat. They must have been furious for several days in a row, but Xue Rang and Wu Ma soon discovered that their judgment was poor.
Because just the next morning, Mo Zhu and Lu Ji, the two powerful men of Wu Lian who had gathered to attack Wu Lian County, came to the county barracks and asked to serve the county soldiers. Not only did they bring the soldiers of Wu Lian secretly took in and sheltered them, but they also patted their chests to ensure that they would use their influence to gather the remaining tribesmen of Wu Lian and Tian Nu, who were the remaining tribesmen of Wu Lian, and provide food and manpower support for the soldiers of Jiu Ke County.
The greedy and selfish Su Ding quickly met his fellow travelers Mo Zhu. Lu Ji turtled with Mung Bean. First, he promised to ask for merit for Mo Zhu and Lu Ji after breaking the city. Then he arranged a special garrison team to escort Mo Zhu and Lu Ji back to Mawei to force the three surnames of Wu Lian to send food to help the county soldiers. Then, in the afternoon of that day, two other young powerful men who believed that the county soldiers would win came to Wu Lian City and joined the army, trying to help the county soldiers take the county and take the opportunity to gain a lot of benefits.
"Hahahahahaha! What does people mean? This is what people mean!"
Su Ding was of course extremely proud of this, and at the same time, he was once again full of confidence. In addition to ordering the county soldiers to start cutting down bamboo and wood again to prepare for siege weapons, he couldn't wait to shout wildly, "Zhang Zhi, Zhu Xiangfu, wait for Naiweng! When this general takes down Wulian County, see how I peeled you and cramped them and smashed them into pieces!"
Chapter completed!