Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 203 Military Intelligence Interrogation

After the two military commanders took a moment to vent their emotions, they still had to continue working down to earth.

Wang Xiongyi and Pang Rugui also rushed over. The four of them held a small meeting while standing, and then they all took action quickly regardless of their fatigue.

Among them, Pang Rugui was to go to the southern front army camp to supervise the transportation of armor and food, and bring some civilians over.

Wang Xiongyi was in charge of all affairs of the camp and maintained order.

Zhang Baiyu was going to reorganize the troops and form a team that could maneuver quickly from the armored cavalry battalion that had experienced a great battle today and suffered heavy casualties.

Liu Huai's job was the most difficult. He had to compare the confessions of the prisoners at night to find out the specific situation in Yishui County and even Wuxing Army.

This is related to where the front army will go next.

The difficulty of this matter is easy to understand.

If the Wuxing Army had 20,000 regular troops similar to today's armored cavalry, then the entire Zhongyi Army would have to assemble and fight for Yishui County at all costs, blocking the passage between Yishui and Shuhe River, so as to achieve the goal of fighting the Jin Army in the hilly area and restricting the Jin Army's armored cavalry.

Because if the combat capability and manpower of the Jin army were strong enough, then the Dongping army under Kai Zhao who was besieging Ju County would certainly not be able to be relied upon. The Jin army might send a detachment to take the Shuhe River passage to rescue Wanyan Zijin, the governor of Juzhou, while attacking the loyal army from the flank.

Attacking the city under the nose of the Jin army and then defending it on the spot would inevitably be a difficult and bloody battle, and would inevitably cause recurrence in the situation in Yizhou that had just been pacified.

But by that time, everyone had no choice but to fight to the death.

This is the worst case scenario, but Liu Huai feels that the Jin Dynasty has been established for so many years, and the combat effectiveness of the Jin army should not be able to be maintained for so long.

And if the Wuxing Army did not have so many people, the 600 armored cavalry wiped out today would be the top combat force, then the Zhongyi Army could calmly arrange in the front army camp, block the Yishui channel, and send a detachment to support Kai Zhao's siege of Ju County.

This is a matter of future direction and even the development of the entire Shandong situation, so we must be cautious.

In addition, when the main force of the Wuxing Army will arrive in Yishui County is also a big question.

In addition, what are the personalities of the various marching commanders of the Wuxing Army? What is the combat effectiveness of each thousand-man squadron? How long have they been marching? Is their morale high? What is their attitude towards the imperial court's orders? What is their approach to this battle? Is it urgent or slow? Do they want to fight quickly or play it safe? Are there any friendly forces nearby to support them? If so, who are they and where are they?

Etc., etc.

Some information is known to everyone from Xingjun Meng'an to the little soldier Lazi, such as the military strength and combat effectiveness of the Wuxing Army. They can easily compare who is telling the truth and who is lying.

But some information is only known to a few specific people.

Liu Huai needs to accurately find the correct information from many half-true and half-false news.

This is an extremely tedious task.

"Take this piece of paper and ask that person again about Wen Dun Hun Yu."

"If the same person answers the same question twice but gives different answers, cut off one of his fingers, then ask him ten other questions, then take out the question and ask him again."

"Tell this guy that his deputy has confessed everything. If he doesn't tell me, I'll chop off all his fingers."

"Let these two people find faults in each other's confessions and point fingers at each other face to face. Whoever finds more mistakes will live, and the other person will be beheaded before his eyes."

"That's not how it works. Hu Shijiu, tell Shen Balang not to be afraid of killing anyone. Since they're resisting interrogation, it means they're still enemies. Are you going to be lenient with them?"

"Playing tricks? Drag him out and chop his head off in three pieces, in front of those people." "Confessed everything? I don't believe it. Someone give him twenty lashes, then ask him these fifty questions again in a random order. If his answer doesn't match the last one, chop off a finger for each one!"

"Is there any nonsense? Which ones are nonsense?"

"You're bullshitting! You're Puliyan, the captain of fifty. Don't you know how many people came with you? Do you have no eyes or ears? Since you have no eyes or ears, I'm going to take them off for you right now!"

"You have to think clearly. If you don't speak, others will. If others speak, they can survive, but if you don't speak, you will die."

"Death is the way to go, right?"

"Send him to the west!"

This brutal interrogation lasted nearly three hours, and it was not until the hour of Chou (1 a.m.) that the information was almost matched.

Among the more than 300 Jin soldiers captured on the battlefield, nearly 100 had died, and these 100 dead were almost carried out of the prisoner-of-war camp in the form of parts.

Even though the soldiers in the front army were elite who had seen big scenes, fighting on the battlefield and torturing prisoners were two different things after all. Except for a few people, the faces of the other soldiers were not looking good.

Shen Longzi was one of those few. His eyes were emitting an inexplicable light at this moment. He was covered in blood, but he didn't even bother to wipe it off. He came up to Liu Huai and, under the light of the torch, bowed and said, "Commander-in-Chief, is the matter done?"

Liu Huai shook the pile of documents in his hands and said tiredly, "It's almost done. You take the others to clean up, and then go to rest."

Seeing that Shen Longzi was still trying to say he wasn't tired, Liu Huai waved his hand and said, "We have things to do tomorrow, so let's not dwell on this now... Go and call Commander Zhang and Commander Wang."

After a while, except for Pang Rugui who had already returned to the front army camp under the cover of night, the three military commanders met again and started a military meeting.

Seeing that the other two looked exhausted, Liu Huai said, "Let me make it short. The situation is better than we thought.

The total number of Wuxing Army was not 20,000, but 10,000, with only one marching 10,000 troops.

Among them were ten marching Meng'an, each with a full thousand men. But except for the First Meng'an, each thousand-man squadron had only four or five Moukes who were armored cavalry, the rest being less powerful infantry. The First Meng'an had ten Moukes who were armored cavalry, six of whom, led by Marching Meng'an Tu Shanzhang, were vanguards. They were destroyed by our army today... oh no, yesterday. The other four followed the main army forward.

Zhang Baiyu quickly inquired, "So, a full-strength Wuxing Army unit of 10,000 soldiers would have approximately 5,000 armored cavalry and 5,000 infantry? Are these the same armored cavalry we encountered today?"

Liu Huai shook his head: "According to the rules of the Jin Dynasty, the First Meng'an is formed by selecting the best from the entire Wuxing Army. Aside from the remaining four Mouke, the rest of the Jin Army's armored cavalry is inferior in combat power."

Zhang Baiyu relaxed a little: "It's okay, it's okay."

Wang Xiongyi asked, "When will the entire Wuxing Army arrive? Where will they come from?"

Liu Huai looked at the former Yizhou military commander, who had an extremely keen sense of the battlefield. "That's what I meant. The Wuxing Army will advance eastward along the Wenshui River, then reach Yiyuan Town, move south along the Yishui River, and then reunite with the vanguard in Yishui County before the entire army moves south."

Wang Xiongyi frowned immediately, drew his sword and began to draw on the ground. After a moment, he said doubtfully, "Something's not right, Commander-in-Chief. Something's not right."

Wang Xiongyi raised his head and said, "The Wuxing Army's marching route is to start from Dongping Prefecture and cross the northern part of Tai'an Prefecture. This route is not impossible. But why don't they go through Yanzhou, pass through Sishui County, and directly attack from Fei County in the westernmost part of Yizhou along the Jun River?

You must know that this road is much easier to walk!"

Liu Huai also frowned in response.

(End of this chapter)