Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

As for those uninjured strong captives, in order to prevent them from being recruited as soldiers of the Xixia Army after returning home to supplement the military strength of the Xixia Army, they must be strictly guarded to prevent them from escaping back to the Xixia Kingdom.

According to estimates by Lu Xihao and others, about [-]% of the prisoners of the Xixia Army were injured. After they were released to the Xixia Kingdom, the consumption of food and medicine in the prisoner camp could be greatly reduced.

As for the remaining [-]% of the captives, they don't need to be taken care of in a centralized manner. They can be assigned to various armies for custody and used as coolies for carrying supplies.

After hearing this, Ximen Qing agreed to release the sick, disabled and disabled prisoners of the Xixia Army, but regarding the use of young and strong captives, Ximen Qing asked Lu Xihao, was he not afraid that these prisoners would mess up and destroy the camp, such as secretly setting fire to food? kind?

After all, among the tens of thousands of captives, it is hard to guarantee that there will not be a few desperadoes who are loyal to the Xixia Kingdom.If you give them some freedom of movement, someone will make trouble.

When Lu Xihao heard this, his face turned red, and he admitted that he hadn't thought carefully.Afterwards, Lu Xihao frowned and made another plan.

Lu Xihao said that since these captives could not be released and it was not appropriate to take them with the army on an expedition, it is better to arrange for soldiers to tie them up and send them to the states behind, where they would be scattered and locked up in prison camps as prisoners and hard labor.

As long as these people are scattered in the interior, the captives are weak, and there is no fear that they will gather together to make trouble.

Chapter One Thousand and Nineteen

Ximenqing thought about Lu Xihao's suggestion carefully, but still thought it was inappropriate.

Since the outbreak of the war between Song and Xia, the army of the Fifth Route of Shaanxi and the Xixia Army have been fighting for so many years, and they have already formed a lot of grudges against each other.

Now that the elite of the Western Army on the Fifth Shaanxi Route has been lost, the tempers of the generals of the Western Army have not changed.

Before the Ximen Qing army marched westward, the soldiers and horses of the Shaanxi Fifth Route suffered a lot in the hands of the Xixia army.Ximen Qing would never believe that the soldiers of the Western Army would turn into faithful men and women in the face of these Xixia Army captives.

It is certainly a solution to the problem of not killing and surrendering the captives to the rear so as not to affect the frontline warfare.However, the elite of Ximenqing's headquarters is reserved for attacking the Xixia Kingdom, and they will not do such trivial things.

The matter of escorting the prisoners must be handed over to the troops of the Western Army.

Let the soldiers of the Western Army states escort these Xixia Army prisoners to the rear states. I am afraid that most of the prisoners will die in Huangquan due to "accidents" before they reach their destination.

In this way, Ximen Qing's original intention of keeping the captives was lost.

Although the staff's plan did not fully meet Ximen Qing's expectations, but Ximen Qing was inspired by Lu Xihao, and suddenly he had a plan.

Ximenqing said to Lu Xihao that since raising these Xixia army prisoners was a waste of food, he might as well consider releasing them to the Xixia Kingdom as well.However, because they are all young and strong, Li Ganshun, the leader of the Xixia Kingdom, needs to pay to redeem these people!

Seeing that Lu Xihao was thinking, Ximenqing instructed him that when the wounded prisoners of the Xixia Army were released in the early stage, the news should be spread to everyone in the Xixia Army prisoner camp, so that the wounded prisoners would bring this word back to Xixia The country went, and it spread among the people of Xixia Kingdom.

Then, an official envoy was sent to the Xixia Kingdom to tell Li Ganshun, the leader of the Xixia Kingdom, that Ximenqing and the Chu army were lenient and willing to return all the prisoners of war with payment.

When the families of these young captives raised hope that their loved ones could return safely, Ximenqing asked Lu Xihao to be greedy in the negotiation and demanded a price that Li Ganshun was unwilling to accept.

As long as the lord of the Xixia Kingdom is unwilling to pay to redeem these prisoners of war, he will immediately send spies to spread the news in Xixia, disturbing people's hearts and making the people feel resentful towards the lord.

In this way, it is expected that the people's hearts and morale of the Xixia Kingdom will be hit hard, which will be of great benefit to the Ximen Qing Army's northern expedition.

After hearing Ximenqing's plan, Lu Xihao said that it was a very clever plan, which could turn tens of thousands of Xixia army captives into my own use.

However, Lu Xihao asked again, what if Li Ganshun, the ruler of the Western Xia Kingdom, saw through Ximen Qing's plan and gritted his teeth and offered money to redeem him?

Ximen Qing said with a smile: "I am a conspiracy, I am not afraid that Li Qianshun will see it through.

Li Qianshun is willing to spend a lot of money to redeem people, and I just use this money to reward the three armies and boost morale.

And in the next battle, our army will definitely capture many more prisoners.

Our army followed suit, how much money can the small country Xixia have in its treasury?

In this way, within a few times, Li Ganshun, the leader of the Xixia Kingdom, could be driven to a dead end. "

After hearing this, Lu Xihao suddenly realized, and at the same time expressed his own opinion.

The Chu State inherited the Song system, and the local armies were all recruited, so the soldiers in the Chu Army and the Western Army were very concerned about rewards.

If it is possible to increase the rewards for soldiers by collecting ransom from prisoners of war, it is bound to make these soldiers of the Western Army fight harder.

At that time, all armies will actively participate in the battle, go and capture prisoners of war!

Ximen Qing laughed and said, "Isn't fighting a war for money and food? It's always a good thing to earn more money and food for the army.

However, when the day came when the western army actively participated in the battle and scrambled for the prisoners, they had to be careful and restrain their subordinates to prevent them from taking advantage of their merits. "

After hearing this, Lu Xihao went away after being taught, and went to handle the chores of the prisoner-of-war camp on behalf of Ximen Qing.

Lu Xihao, the staff member, was dismissed, and Ximenqing's problem with the disposal of the Xixia Army's prisoners was also solved. Ximenqing was in a good mood, and chatted with the new acquaintance Liu Qi, exchanged some methods of marching and fighting, wielding knives and sticks, and got close to each other. .

Qi Jian, Liu Kai once asked Ximen Qing for a battle, and wanted to take advantage of the victory to pursue and lead the army to attack Xi'an Prefecture.

Ximenqing understood that Liu Kai was worried about his brother Liu Xi's war in Lanzhou, so he couldn't wait to lead the army to fight again.

Ximen Qing said to Liu Kai that the soldiers had to rest overnight to recover their energy after going through a big battle today.

Therefore, there is no need to rush.Tomorrow, Liu Kai will be appointed as the striker to regain Xi'an Prefecture.

As for Ma Kuo, Ximenqing asked him to return to his side, and together with Lu Xihao, he was responsible for the next diplomatic negotiations with Xixia and Jin.

Ximenqing told Ma Kuo and Liu Kai that Ren Dejing, the magistrate of Xi'an Prefecture, rebelled against the Song Dynasty and returned to Xia in the past, and today he led the army to escape alone, regardless of the safety of his allies, which caused the Xixia Army to collapse even faster. It can be seen that he is also a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death .

After witnessing today's battle and knowing that Brother Li Cha and Li Liang's auxiliary army were both defeated, Ximen Qing decided that Ren Dejing would not stick to Xi'an Prefecture, but would abandon the city and flee north when he learned that the Chu army was advancing westward.

Therefore, Ximenqing judged that Xi'an Prefecture can be recovered smoothly and no major war will occur.

Liu Kai asked Ximen Qing with some doubts. Since it was speculated that Ren Dejing would flee from Xi'an Prefecture and return to Xixia Kingdom, why didn't he march overnight to pursue and annihilate Ren Dejing's army on the way?

Ximen Qing smiled at Liu Kai: "Brother Liu Kai, let me tell you something about the past. When I was just a fledgling in the rivers and lakes, I met a strange man. This man is Yu Baosi, a bandit from Qingzhou..."

After listening to Ximenqing's memories, Liu Qi and Ma Kuo understood that Ren Dejing was used to dragging down the friendly army. Like the "God of Dangerous Way" Yu Baosi, he stayed in the enemy's camp, and it was better to kill him directly. It's better for him.

No wonder Brother Ximenqing wanted to give Ren Dejing a one-night break, it turned out that he deliberately let him escape back to Xixia Kingdom!

……

When Ximenqing and Pingxia Chengzhong developed friendship with Liu Kai, they didn't know that Ren Dejing, the "pig teammate" he prepared for the Xixia Army, refused to accept the arrangement of fate and wanted to strive to control his own destiny.

After Ren Dejing fled Pingxia City with his brother Ren Degong and his family brother Ren Deren, they kept silent and hurried on their way with their heads bowed.

Ren Degong and Ren Deren didn't dare to ask more questions, so they had to lead the army to follow Ren Dejing's horse closely.

Because Ren Dejing acted according to the opportunity and walked swiftly, the army he brought from Xi'an Prefecture escaped from the battlefield in Pingxia City unscathed.

Moreover, there seemed to be no pursuers of the Chu army behind him.

In any case, after this scene, the more than [-] army horses in Xi'an Prefecture still admire Ren Dejing, the magistrate.

Returning from Huaide's army to Xi'an Prefecture, they had to cross Tiandu Mountain. When Ren Dejing's army hurried to the foot of Tiandu Mountain, it was already late.

After confirming that there were no pursuers behind him, Ren Dejing stopped his horse and ordered the whole army to rest on the spot.