Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

For this rescue operation, Zhang Shikang ran to the palace several times.

In order to save Lu Xiangsheng, the Beijing Camp ran hundreds of miles and the soldiers paid the price of blood. Although the battle was eventually won, the Beijing Camp suffered heavy casualties.

I went through so much trouble to rescue you, and I haven't given up yet, but you gave up first. Even if I agree, those dead soldiers will not agree.

This was actually an olive branch that Zhang Shikang took the initiative to extend, and the words sounded so nice. If Cao Bianjiao, who claimed to be his lackey, had heard it, everything he ate would probably have become sour.

Lu Xiangsheng was also somewhat moved by those words. He could feel the sincerity in Zhang Shikang's words, but before he could say anything, Zhang Shikang said again:

"Lord Lu, there is no need to rush to reply. Just wait and see what I can do first."

Words alone are certainly not enough to provide evidence. Zhang Shikang did not expect Lu Xiangsheng to easily believe and wholeheartedly join him just because of his few words.

"I just received news that the Jiannu heavy cavalry and the Tatar infantry are heading to join Dorgon.

After the Beijing Camp has been repaired, the Japanese admiral will go to look for Gao Qiqian tomorrow, and you will go with me then."

After saying this, Zhang Shikang put away the Emperor's Sword and walked out of the tent.

Lu Xiangsheng looked at Zhang Shikang's departing back and thought deeply. His expression was sometimes painful and sometimes expectant. After a long time, he finally sighed deeply.

At the first watch of the night, the results of today's battle were finally roughly counted.

More than 3,200 soldiers of the Beijing camp were killed and 6,428 were injured, of which about 20% were seriously injured.

Zheng Chong from the Second Sons' Regiment was stabbed in the right leg, Song Liangzu was hit by an arrow in the back, and Xu Wenyuan was hit by an arrow each in the arm and left leg, but none of the injuries were serious.

After all, the Beijing camp had a roster, so it was easier to count the casualties. The situation was more troublesome for the Jiannu side. The battle line was very long, and there were corpses all along the way of pursuit, but most of them were from the Jiannu Han army such as Kong Youde and Zu Dachun.

According to the data that have been collected and verified, more than 1,900 Tartars and more than 8,600 Han soldiers were killed in this battle. Kong Youde's troops were almost wiped out because they were targeted by the Beijing camp.

This record made everyone, including Lu Xiangsheng, very satisfied. After all, it was a battle against the Tartars, and this casualty ratio was already among the top three in the Ming Dynasty's history of battles with the Jiannu.

Only Zhang Shikang was unhappy. Firstly, he still felt that the casualty ratio was too high. Secondly, in just one day, many familiar faces were gone.

Although the battle records have been compiled, the ownership of the merits is still under debate.

Counting military merits is actually a very troublesome matter. A long time ago, military merits were counted in the form of heads. Generally, when a soldier killed an enemy, he would cut off the head of the person he killed so that he could collect the reward after the battle.

But a human head is a big thing after all. If you kill one or two, it's okay, but if you kill too many, there's no place to put them, which will affect the subsequent battle.

In order not to affect the war situation, the practice of post-war cutting off was gradually formed, and the proof of military merit changed from cutting off the enemy's head to cutting off the enemy's left ear.

Of course, for the Jiannu Tartars, the best evidence is not the ears, but the rat braids on the back of their heads. After all, who knows whether the ear you cut off belongs to the Tartars or the Han army.

The bounty for Tatar heads was different from that for other Han troops. The bounty for other Han troops was eight taels of silver per head, while for Tatar heads it was fifteen taels, almost twice as much.

But there is also a big problem with post-war cession, and that is how to prove who killed whom. For example, a Tartar died with a knife wound in a vital part of his body, but also with an arrow wound in the forehead, whose body do you think was killed?

There are also long-range professions such as musketeers and archers. After a round of volleys, no one can figure out whose musket killed the enemy.

However, this did not pose a problem for Zhang Shikang. For professions such as musketeers and archers in the Beijing camp, daily combat training accounted for the majority of the assessment, while performance in battle was secondary.

The statistics of military merit are calculated as collective merit, and the rewards are also distributed collectively. However, those who use swords to chop people in close combat are counted separately.

In order to reduce conflicts, the Beijing camp was equipped with a special team responsible for counting military merits. These people generally did not participate in fighting on the battlefield unless absolutely necessary, but only served as supervisors and counted military merits.

In addition, the sergeant, as the lowest-level general, is also responsible for recording the battle records of his subordinates. There are also sentry chiefs and thousand-man chiefs on the Internet.

For example, if Zhang San killed a Tartar, he testified to it himself, his squad leader testified to it, and the members of the supervising team testified to it, then this military achievement would naturally be attributed to Zhang San.

It is easy to say that rewards and punishments should be clearly defined, but it is extremely troublesome to implement in practice. However, even though it is troublesome, we have to do it.

If an army wants to be able to fight, it is not enough to just drill. Compared to those nice words, letting soldiers get rewards is what can really boost morale.

"Zheng Laosi, I heard that you killed one and a half Tartars, how impressive!"

Xu Wenyuan still had a piece of cloth hanging on his chest, supporting his injured arm, but his words were full of ridicule. Seeing Zheng Chong's face full of despair, he said:

"I'm just an average person. I only killed two Tartars and four Han soldiers. Hahahaha!"

"I'm not very good either. I just killed three Tartars. I'm a rookie. I need to practice more. I won't dare to be lazy again in the future." Song Liangzu also teased.

Inside the military tent, the members of the Second Sons Regiment gathered together, talking about the hardships of today's battle, and as they chatted they all began to tease Zheng Chong.

Zheng Chong was as his name suggested, he was very impulsive on the battlefield. In order to keep up with others, he almost risked his life when killing the enemies.

But after the war he discovered that everyone had killed more Tatars than he did, and most of them were achieved when the Jianlu were defeated.

But at that time, Zheng Chong had already left the battlefield due to injury. He regretted it very much now. If he had not been injured, he would have definitely gained something when chasing the enemy.

"You...you guys, don't go too far!" Zheng Chong was lying on the bed, furious. He was the youngest, and he had called these people "Second Brother", "Third Brother", and "Fourth Brother" before, but now they all came to mock him.

"It's not them that I've overdone, it's you, right?"

Zhang Shikang walked in from outside the big tent as he spoke, and everyone greeted him together.

"Brother, even you are on their side?" Zheng Chong said very aggrievedly.

He had used all his strength to kill the enemy today, but he did not expect to be ridiculed by everyone. Even his respected elder brother did not comfort him.

"Humph, you don't consider the disparity in strength on the battlefield, you just fight with all your might. If they don't mock you now, will they mock you on your grave in the future?"

It takes a long time for a rookie recruit to grow into a qualified general, but most people give up halfway.

If you want to become a general, you must first be able to save your life on the battlefield. Apart from that, everything else is false.

Although Zheng Chong was stubborn, he was enlightened by Zhang Shikang and finally understood the true intentions of others. The grievance in his heart naturally disappeared immediately.

"Um...um..." Zheng Chong stammered and tried to apologize to his friends.

"Well? We are all brothers. We can't be so reckless in the future. This is a battlefield!" Xu Wenyuan said seriously.

Others also tried to dissuade him, even Wang Jingduo, who was always timid, spoke up.

Although he did not kill a single Tartar with his own hands, he cooperated with his subordinates to lure the Tartars into Zhang Shikang's small square formation of heavy muskets, killing more than sixty Tartars.

Zhang Shikang looked at the group of brothers with relief. Fortunately, all the brothers were there in this battle. If something happened to anyone, he really didn't know how to tell their parents.

"The battle report has been sent to the capital. I believe His Majesty will be very happy to see your achievements.

From now on, no one of your fathers will dare to look down on you or say that you are just a playboy who only cares about eating, drinking and having fun. "

Zhang Shikang sighed.

……