Han officials

Chapter 46 Smart Man

Faced with the Han army's policy of surrender or death, the defeated soldiers under the city knelt down without thinking much.

Even though their numbers seemed to be no less than Wei Zhe's, the disorganized group of defeated soldiers no longer had the will to fight.

What's kneeling on the ground is not just the knees, but also the confidence.

As arrogant and conceited as they were before the war, they were now as fearful of the Han army.

This is how the barbarians fear power but not virtue.

An hour later, the Han army camp.

"You said this thing is Naiman?"

Looking at the bloody mass of flesh in his hand, Wei Zhe was speechless.

Seeing this, Taishi Ci couldn't help but laugh and said, "Who made this guy unlucky? If his clothes hadn't matched, our people really wouldn't have recognized him."

It can be said that the Naiman were extremely unlucky. After all, Seligao, the leader of the Huali tribe who was the first to be defeated, and Azimu, the leader of the Fuzu tribe who was the last to be defeated, both survived.

Instead, he, a centrist, died in the chaos and his body was trampled to pieces.

Of course, in addition to the leader Naiman, many people from the Xietoumei tribe who were caught in the middle were also trampled to death.

At the same time, Zhong Hu, who was in charge of cleaning the battlefield, also came in to report the battle results.

"Over 3,000 heads were beheaded in this battle, and even more were trampled to death, but so many were huddled together that it's impossible to count them."

"However, our army has captured more than 10,000 prisoners. Based on this, we should have killed 6,000 enemies in this battle."

Hearing this, Wei Zhe nodded slightly. This was pretty much what he expected.

Compared to this, he is more concerned about his own losses.

Seeing Wei Zhe mention this, Zhong Hu couldn't help but sigh and said, "The Han cavalry suffered over 400 casualties, and over 3,000 of the Wubei righteous followers were also killed in the battle."

At this point he added, "The Dongqian tribe is now half-crippled, and Uliger has also lost too much blood. The doctors are still treating him, and it's hard to say whether he can survive."

Hearing this, Wei Zhe couldn't help but shook his head.

"Tell the doctor to treat you well. Please use whatever herbs you need!"

Although Wei Zhe's attitude towards the Xianbei people has always been consistent, he still values Uliger very much.

After all, this guy with strong limbs and simple mind is indeed a good knife.

Especially when charging into battle, he is like a living wild boar.

But then again, Wei Zhe won the battle in the end, and all the losses were not in vain.

So after instructing them to provide good treatment, Wei Zhe discussed the arrangements for the captives with Xi Zhicai and Taishi Ci.

After all, there were more than 10,000 prisoners, which was almost the same number as the army under Wei Zhe.

If these people had not been discouraged, it would have been difficult to manage so many prisoners.

……

"Since it's a hidden danger, why not just kill them all?"

Taishi Ci was straightforward and gave a suggestion directly.

However, both Wei Zhe and Xi Zhicai couldn't help but shook their heads.

It’s okay to kill, but it’s best to do it before the other party surrenders.

It’s not that the two of them believed in nonsense like killing the surrendered soldiers was unlucky, but that it was the stupidest thing to do.

Because such an action would cause great damage to the political reputation of the leader.

If this matter were to get out, Wei Zhe would have no chance of surrendering on the battlefield in the future, because no general would dare to surrender to someone who had the habit of killing surrendered soldiers.

Thinking of this, Xi Zhicai immediately suggested, "Why not order these people to attack the city tomorrow?"

Hearing this, Wei Zhe pondered for a moment and nodded slightly.

"That's it. Tomorrow we will attack the city and order the three militias to supervise the battle and capture the prisoners to attack the city."

"If you can't take Bunai City within one day, I will kill one out of ten until the city is conquered!"

In this way, we can not only consume some of the prisoners, but also screen out the elite among them.

As for capturing Bunai City, it was just a matter of convenience.

Of course, it wouldn't be his fault if Azimu and Seligao died in the siege.

……

At the same time, Zamusu, who had just suffered a major defeat, was terrified like a frightened bird.

Seeing this, the general of the Bunai tribe couldn't help but whispered: "Sir, why don't you... surrender?"

There is no way, this battle cannot be fought.

The enemy's main force and prisoners were estimated to be more than 20,000 people, and it seemed that Bunai City could not be defended.

Unless Bunai City is a brick city built with earth like the Han people, even if it is chopped with a knife or an axe, a big hole will probably be dug out of it.

"...No, what if the Han Chinese kill the captives? Wouldn't that mean I'm just asking for death?" Zamusu, still in shock, shook his head subconsciously, "Wait, wait a little longer. Let's see how the Han Chinese deal with the captives tomorrow."

Zamusu didn't really want to die rather than surrender.

After all, even if he wants to surrender the city, he has to sell it for a good price, right? At least he has to keep his position as the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

So Zamusu spent a difficult night in anxiety.

However, the next morning, when he looked at the huge army attacking the city outside, his face suddenly turned pale.

Because the Han people did not even try to surrender and started attacking the city directly.

Although the siege equipment consisted of only some simple wooden ladders and battering rams, it was enough for Bunai City.

Especially this time Wei Zhe attacked from all four sides at the same time, and did not play the strategy of surrounding three and leaving one behind at all.

In this case, this small wooden city could not withstand such devastation.

So before the city was captured, Zamusu hurriedly ordered people to wave white flags on the city walls to signal surrender in accordance with Han customs.

However, Wei Zhe, who was stationed on the hillside outside the city watching the battle, seemed to have not seen anything. After all, if the Bunai tribe surrendered, how could he still reward and punish them?

"Keep attacking!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the many leaders of the three tribes of evil and white-collared people who came to report were immediately overjoyed.

They immediately rode their horses to the foot of the city and urged the northern captives to speed up the siege.

Finally, after more than 3,000 casualties and the death of two tribal leaders, the captives finally climbed to the top of Bunai City.

Zamusu died in the chaos, and the Bunai tribe suffered heavy casualties.

Looking at the open gate of Bunai City on the hillside, Wei Zhe nodded with satisfaction.

"Enter the city!"

……

Ten days later, they were unable to get outside the city.

Wei Zhe was dressed in military uniform and sat high on his horse, with twenty-eight burly evil men kneeling in front of the horse.

The twenty-eight men knelt on the ground with pious expressions, then drew out their daggers and cut their cheeks without hesitation, and blood instantly flowed down their cheeks.

But these twenty-eight people calmly took the bowls to catch them, one, two...

After all twenty-eight people were bleeding, the bowl was already full of blood.

Then an old witch took the bowl of blood and poured it on a white horsewhip.

Only after the whip was completely stained blood did the old man respectfully present it to Wei Zhe on the horse.

This is the most solemn loyalty ceremony of the Xianbei people.

What this means is that from now on these twenty-eight people will be Wei Zhe's cattle and horses, and their life and death will be controlled by him.

Although Wei Zhe didn't believe in this, he was still quite happy to accept this ritual.

So he immediately took the whip and whipped each of the twenty-eight men on the back to show his acceptance of their loyalty.

Seeing this, the twenty-eight people knelt down and bowed deeply to Wei Zhe with joy on their faces.

The leaders of the surrounding Xianbei tribes also looked envious when they saw this.

I don’t envy Wei Zhe, but I envy these twenty-eight people.

……

It is said that after the capture of Bunai City that day, Wei Zhe ordered Taishi Ci and Zhong Hu to each lead a group to clean up the surrounding area.

The result was not surprising. When Huali City, Xietoumei City and Fuzu City saw the army, they opened their city gates and surrendered.

After all, the main forces of each city have surrendered. What else can these elderly, weak, women and children do?

From then on, the seven tribes of Xianbei were completely destroyed by Wei Zhe.

But there is a good saying:

War is the continuation of politics!

Wei Zhe deeply agrees with this.

War is a means to an end, not the end itself.

If the follow-up is not handled properly, the effectiveness of the war will be greatly reduced.

Therefore, after taking the four northern cities, Wei Zhe began to fulfill his promise and reward people according to their merits.

Rewards were given to the twenty-eight people who made the greatest contributions in the Battle of Bunai City.

Even if they establish their own army and own a city!
After all, seven cities of Huibei are still too few, twenty-eight cities are about the right number.

Of course, there is no wooden city now, so they have to build it themselves.

However, Wei Zhe still rewarded the twenty-eight people with the populations of the seven tribes of the Xianbei people.

On average, each unit has about 500 young and strong cavalrymen, which is considered good.

There is no need for such a strong tribe south of Daling alone, five hundred people are enough.

Even if each tribe sent out 200 people, Wei Zhe could still summon more than 5,000 servant cavalry.

The former Mo tribe leader Qifu Xiang and the Cantai tribe leader Shi Jinde were naturally unhappy.

However, they did not dare to say a word, because among the twenty-eight people there were warriors from two groups.

Having lost internal support, they are now just old men with some experience.

So when Wei Zhe wanted to send Qifu Xiang and Shijinde as representatives of the Xianbei leaders to go to Luoyang to offer gifts, the two did not dare to say a word of objection, and even thought that this result was not bad.

After all, that is Luoyang, the capital of the Han Dynasty. Who would be willing to go back to Haidong if they can live in Luoyang!

As for Wei Zhe, it wasn't that he left no one behind, but he looked down on ordinary evil cavalry.

After a series of screening, five hundred evil followers were finally selected.

After all, if there are too many people, he really can't afford to support them.

Besides, if he really had that much food and supplies, wouldn’t it be better for him to directly supply them to the Han cavalry?

The only exception is Uliger!

This guy who luckily survived wanted to continue fighting and didn't want to stay in the Dongxuan tribe to retire.

So under Xi Zhicai's guidance, this rough man was smart for once and actually took the initiative to ask Wei Zhe for a Chinese name - Wu Zhong.

It was precisely because of this that He Fang became another leader of Wei Zhe's personal guards, responsible for leading the five hundred evil followers.

After taking care of everything, Wei Zhe set out on the journey back to his division.

After all, if he didn't leave now, he would really be unable to leave. He didn't want to encounter heavy snow and block the mountain halfway.

However, on the way back, looking at the battle report drafted by Wei Zhe, Xi Zhicai shook his head helplessly and said, "Mingshang, the memorial does not say that..."

(End of this chapter)