The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

"That's fine!" Yang Zhong nodded. "This is a serious matter, and we really need to plan it carefully!"

At this time, the battlefield had been almost cleaned up by the soldiers. The bodies of all the dead Tatars were piled up as high as a mountain and divided into several places. As the raging fire started, the strong smell of burning meat and fat was soon wafted.

As for the dead Han soldiers, they were buried in a deep pit dug nearby, sprinkled with lime powder, and buried on the spot.

Just put up a simple wooden sign next to it and you're done.

It is impossible to die on horseback in such a large-scale battle because there are not so many horse hides available.

Only a very small number of them were transported back to their hometowns. Only some senior generals who died in the war had their bodies collected and returned to their hometowns for burial.

Both realistic and cruel!

Deaths on the battlefield are the easiest to forget, and there is not even enough time to feel sad.

They were busy until the next morning, when it was completely light. Yang Zhong then took the remaining surviving soldiers back to Daming Prefecture.

Lord Huang had been worried about them all night, and his eyes were bloodshot. He only felt relieved when he saw everyone returning victorious from the battle. He almost fainted.

"Master Huang, be careful!" Zhao Renzhi helped and said with a smile.

"I was worried about you and didn't sleep all night," Lord Huang replied with a sigh.

After catching his breath, he continued, "This time, we defeated the Tatars with a small force. We must report this to His Majesty and commend the officers and soldiers. I will order my servants to prepare a feast for everyone to celebrate!"

"Sir Huang, that's not necessary. We are not the kind of people who care about these things. Just a few bites will be enough. We have an important matter right now," Yang Zhong hurriedly stopped him.

"Oh? Is there anything else important?" Lord Huang asked curiously.

"I heard from the Tatars that they met Bai Chao in Guan County and fought a battle. Bai Chao successively repelled Yan, Zhu, and the Zhahe tribe. It can be seen that his combat power is indeed good, but his army must have suffered heavy losses. Now they are probably stationed near Guantao. I am thinking about whether we should take advantage of the victory to pursue them and catch them all in one fell swoop," Yang Zhong explained.

Upon hearing this, Lord Huang was startled at first, then he pondered, "Well, Bai Chao has been entrenched in the north for the past few years, and his notoriety has spread far and wide. Many cities have been attacked by his men. If we can kill him, it will definitely be a great achievement. I don't know much about warfare, but I will do my best to support you in any way you need!"

"Master Huang's words are enough!" Yang Zhong bowed and smiled.

After finishing his breakfast, Yang Zhong began to pace back and forth in the room, thinking hard and unable to make up his mind.

Although the Tatars were badly defeated in this battle, the rebellion of Yan and Zhu resulted in the loss of 40,000 to 50,000 troops. According to reports to the court, it was due to his own poor leadership.

All I can say is that the merits and demerits just offset each other.

In addition, there are 60,000 troops in Shanxi, and another 60,000 troops are stationed in various cities that have been recovered along the line of Changyuan, Huaxian and Damingfu.

There are only 50,000 men left under his command, which is really too few.

If you win, everything will be fine. But if you lose, you can only commit suicide to apologize!

After thinking about it, Yang Zhong decided to send a letter to Lu County to test the waters before making a decision.

Liu Sanlang and Zhao Renzhi felt complicated after knowing this.

Not wanting to miss this opportunity, Liu Sanlang thought for a moment and advised, "General, since you feel you don't have enough troops and want to transfer them from Lu County, I think it would be better to temporarily transfer 10,000 elite troops from Kaifeng. Kaifeng has 80,000 troops stationed there, so it wouldn't be difficult to spare 10,000."

"I have thought of this method, but I just experienced the rebellion of Yan and Zhu. I really can't think of a reliable person to lead these 10,000 elite troops. If something goes wrong, they might become the next Yan or Zhu. It's too risky!" Yang Zhong waved his hand.

"Then let's wait for news from Lu County. There's no need to rush in the next one or two days," said Zhao Renzhi.

He actually also agreed to pursue the victory, but he could see that Yang Zhong had many concerns that could not be dispelled with a few words, so he might as well just go along with what he said and wait a few days to see how the situation would develop.

Seeing this, Liu Sanlang sighed inwardly and said no more.

Three days passed in a flash, and Yang Zhong finally received a letter from Lu County via carrier pigeon.