Chapter 916 Cool Kill
The bear hunter held his throat and slowly fell down.
Opposite him, Xiahou Dun was panting heavily. One of his hands was beating weakly, but his face showed a crazy look of joy.
He struggled to stand up, stepped on the bear hunter general's chest, and then used his left hand that could still be used to cut off the bear hunter general's head.
And with the fall of the bravest general of the Taishan Army, this armored force of about 200 people finally came to an end.
They were completely annihilated by Cao Jun's front and rear attacks.
Only a few Taishan soldiers escaped, but Xiahou Dun had no intention of pursuing them.
It had taken a long time to annihilate this unexpected enemy force. Xiahou Dun must take advantage of the moment to quickly dispatch troops to support other sides of the mountain.
When Xiahou Dun was watching the formation on the top of the hill before, he saw the enemy troops arrayed in neat square formations at the foot of the mountain, and knew that the size of the enemy army was not small.
It was very wrong that no reinforcements had arrived for so long. This had to make Xiahou Dun think more.
After ordering his men to clean up the battlefield and prepare to assemble for a rest, Xiahou Dun walked to another valley on the hillside.
This is where the wounded were concentrated. When Xiahou Dun arrived, they were wailing and crying.
Like all the sick and wounded in this world, if they fight within the city, they will have enough medicine and nursing staff to help them.
Or if they were injured in a decisive battle in the field, at least there would be no shortage of medicine.
But these people were unlucky. This time, Cao's army also marched to Yaowang Mountain in a hurry. All the food, fodder and herbs had been lost long ago. Even what they eat now was brought here by Cao Cao from Guangxian County.
Also because of the urgent transportation, the first thing to be transported to the mountain was food. As for the herbs? Yes, but it is definitely not something that ordinary Cao Jun can use.
So, with no one to take care of them, and no herbal medicine to relieve the pain, these wounded people howled and cried bitterly, and even started to curse at the back.
He scolded Cao Cao, scolded Xiahou Dun, and even scolded this damn world.
These wounded people were gathered together here. In order to prevent the wind, a curtain was specially built around the outside, while Xiahou Dun stood outside with a complex expression and listened to the angry curses inside.
Originally, he wanted to go in to express his condolences. After all, there were no manpower or herbs. All Xiahou Dun could do was express his attitude.
However, he heard people scolding Cao Cao inside, and it was also the word "short" that Cao Cao was most taboo about. This made Xiahou Dun unable to enter even if he wanted to.
With a sigh, Xiahou Dun left without looking back, but for some unknown reason, he said this to Su Shang next to him when he left:
"Don't let them suffer anymore."
After that, Su Shang and others were left behind.
As Xiahou Dun's general, how could Su Shang not know Xiahou Dun's thoughts? No, this is not what the general meant, it was my own decision, Su Shang.
Thinking about it, Su Shang said to the dozens of supervising team officers around him:
"Everyone follow me."
After saying that, Su Shang was the first to enter behind the curtain, and then all the supervisors filed in.
After that, the screams inside the curtain became more intense, and splashes of blood splashed on the curtain, dyeing it bright red.
After a while, there was no more sound here. After Su Shang and others inside came out, a bloody smell that was too thick to be dissolved rushed straight out along the opened hole.
After Su Shang came out, he wiped off the blood on the ring-shou knife with a kerchief, and then told the people to dig a hole quickly and bury the wounded.
Su Shang knew very well that the reason why the general took the murder was not only because the wounded were scolding the Lord, but more importantly because the wailing of these people would affect the morale of the army.
And similarly, if Cao Jun outside knew that all the wounded were slaughtered, it might not be as simple as morale being affected.
So Su Shang must deal with the beginning and the end.
After explaining the matter, he went to chase Xiahou Dun on the other side. After all, he had done such a big thing, and he couldn't really carry it by himself.
……
Xiahou Dun's lungs were about to burst with anger. He never expected that he could create a disturbance even by cleaning up the battlefield.
Right in front of his eyes, two officers and soldiers of Cao's army drew their swords from each other in order to fight for the iron arm of Taishan's army.
It turned out that just after Xiahou Dun left, cleaning up the battlefield began to get out of control.
This time, Cao Jun was more active than ever in cleaning up the battlefield.
These surviving Cao soldiers had long slandered the armor on those Taishan soldiers. They had suffered enough from the fact that armor was not as good as human beings. They knew that if they wanted to survive in the subsequent war, they must have a pair of such armor.
But everyone thinks so, but how many pairs of armor are there? How to get enough points?
So for these armors, these Cao soldiers pushed and fought with each other. Some of them had some grudges and even pulled out their swords on the spot.
Fortunately, most of Cao Jun's troops were calm at this moment, and they quickly restrained the people on both sides.
But Xiahou Dun came at this time. He was already holding back his anger. When he saw the scene in front of him, he went crazy.
He asked the tooth soldiers to tie up the two people together, and then gave them a slap in the face.
Xiahou Dun stopped after beating them until their teeth became loose and their mouths were filled with blood.
At this time, all Cao Jun on the scene were silent, they were all frightened by Xiahou Dun's rage.
After beating these two people, Xiahou Dun turned around and said to Military Advocate Cao:
"Private killings in the army, all beheaded."
The military judge ordered the execution without even having to speak, which shows how bad Xiahou Dun's mood was at this moment.
Military Judge Cao nodded, and then led several law officials to drag away the two offending Cao soldiers.
How could Cao Jun, who was being dragged, not know his fate? Even though his mouth was full of blood, he still shouted:
"General, I blocked the knife for you!"
"General, General Cai Zhong, I just killed three Taishan soldiers, and you still praised me as a fierce tiger in the army! No, no, let the last general die in front of the battle."
"Woo woo woo..."
Yes, of the two people who were dragged away, one of them had a life-long friendship with Xiahou Dun, and the other was a meritorious warrior who could kill three armored soldiers.
That's right. Without this relationship background, who would be so domineering as to draw a knife?
But it was too late.
When he heard the cry and begging, Xiahou Dun closed his eyes.
Everyone seemed to be unable to bear it when they saw Xiahou Dun, so they tried to persuade him. After all, they were all brothers of Paoze.
But before anyone could speak, Xiahou Dun suddenly opened his eyes and said lightly:
"Those who violate our military laws shall die!"
So, nothing changed again. Following two wails from the other side, the Military Advocate came back:
"Back to the general, the two of them have already surrendered."
Xiahou Dun nodded, and then began to personally preside over the division of armor.
He selected the two hundred most outstanding people according to their military merits, and then gave these infantry armor of the Taishan Army to them.
And because these infantry armors need unified equipment to maximize their protective effect, Xiahou Dun did not distribute the scattered iron arms to other subordinates, but gave them all to the two hundred meritorious officials.
But who knew that Xiahou Dun's move completely dissatisfied the Cao troops present.
The officers and soldiers of Cao's army who failed to get the armor cursed in their hearts:
Yes, they did not kill many prisoners, but did they show any slack in the fight just now? Don't they deserve to live?
At this moment, Xiahou Dun did not realize at all that these captured infantry soldiers were completely different from those captured before. He felt that he was distributed fairly according to the size of his military merit.
But for the Cao soldiers present who survived the fighting, these armors were no reward, they were just a life!
How can anyone think that it is fair to take their own lives?
So no matter how Xiahou Dun divides these armors at this moment, others will be dissatisfied.
But before the dissatisfaction could be brewed, something happened.
When Xiahou Dun ordered an armored force equipped with infantry armor from the Taishan Army, a group of Cao Jun's soldiers, covered in blood, staggered over.
They told Xiahou Dun a bad news:
Liu Zhu and Lu Jian, who were originally stationed on the other two mountainsides, were both killed in battle, and the two positions were also lost to the Taishan Army.
This news immediately sent Xiahou Dun into a spin. He could not bear to grieve over the tragic death of his two beloved generals, and immediately ordered:
"The whole army followed me to the top of the mountain."
Once the two wings are lost, how can the main position on the mountainside be maintained?
But why are these Taishan troops so powerful?
With this confusion and despair, Xiahou Dun retreated to the top of the mountain with more than 7,000 soldiers on the position, and decided to defend there to the end.
……
Ten miles away from the hilly land of Qi State, on the south bank of Zi River, everything was quiet in Ding Sheng's tent.
At this moment, Ding Sheng looked at the letter in his hand with a gloomy expression, which was sent by Dong Fang's messenger.
Dong Fang returned to the original Linzi camp after bypassing the ambush circle from the north. When he learned that Ding Sheng had pulled his troops out to fight Cao Cao in his absence, he was extremely angry. Just imagine.
And when he saw that the two armies left behind in the Linzi camp were all his subordinates, Dong Fang was even more disdainful of Ding Sheng. After all, this thought was too obvious.
But the deal is already done. If there is a huge defeat on the battlefield because he transfers his troops back, then he, Dong Fang, will become the sinner who neglected public affairs for personal gain.
So Dong Fan could only endure it until he learned that Ding Sheng had begun to pursue Cao Cao, and finally wrote this letter.
Perhaps due to the inexperience of bystanders, Dong Fang lacked the intuitive information that Ding Sheng knew, so he naturally thought that Cao Cao was faking defeat.
There is a saying in the art of war: "Don't chase the poor enemy, and don't enter the forest."
Then Cao Cao chose to run into the hills and mountains. If he was ambushed in advance, wouldn't he be caught in a trap?
Therefore, Dong Fan suggested in his letter that he should withdraw his troops and capture Linzi in front of him first.
But it was this sincere letter that made Ding Sheng uncertain.
He was disgusted by Dong Fang.
Ding Sheng himself is a cautious person, so why can't he understand Dong Fang's methods?
It would be wrong to say that Dong Fan had no good intentions. After all, Dong Fan was thinking about the overall situation, and what he said made sense.
But you want to say that he has no selfish motives? Withdrawing the troops, Ding Sheng would have lost all his previous efforts. After all, he did not have enough prisoners to kill. If he just defeated Cao Cao, he would have a greater chance of victory.
And what is Dong Fang doing? Let him return to the army to fight against Linzi? Hot girl, isn’t that a wedding dress for Dong Fang?
Ding Sheng guessed Dong Fan's thoughts right away, but what really troubled him was whether or not he would listen.
It’s okay not to listen, he can take Dong Fan’s words as nothing.
But Ding Sheng knew very well, did Dong Fang really not know that he would not listen? You must know it.
Both he and Dong Fang knew the regulations in the military. Such orders and letters between the military must be kept in archives for historians to write the history of the war afterwards.
This is the system established by the king since the Taishan era.
The king's reason at that time was that our Han family valued history, the daily life of emperors, and the etiquette of merchants and settlers. But there are few records of wars that can determine the fate of a country.
A war is often summed up in just one sentence, but the details of how the troops were organized and how they thought and planned for this war are completely omitted, so that later generations of history readers can never imagine the situation at that time.
So who would record the war? They are all generals. They often have their own personal recorders who specialize in recording the generals' plans at that time.
However, these information will be kept secret by the generals and will only be used to train the children within the family.
The experience of any large-scale war is a rare asset. Those generals' disciples can still maintain a high success rate in peacetime because of their family knowledge.
However, this situation also intensified the divisions among the families. Military knowledge was only circulated within a few families, which was not conducive to Zhang Chong at that time.
Therefore, Zhang Chong was preparing for a rainy day. After every battle, he would call in all the decision-makers involved in the war to review the situation, ask them about their judgment of the war and the battlefield at that time, and then have a specialized writer record it.
These recorded first-hand materials will be compiled into volumes by senior staff and unified according to the logic of the complete war.
Since then, Taishan has encountered more and more wars, the scale of the wars has become larger and larger, and the history of these wars has become more and more abundant, so much so that there is a special strategy course in the Advanced Martial Arts School to study the history of wars.
Originally, the Taishan Army recorded war history for the purpose of cultivating high-level military talents, but as they went further, the generals of the Taishan Army discovered that this was already a sharp sword hanging over their heads.
When everything you say and do during the war is recorded, you will definitely have scruples.
This is not only a question of accountability after the war, but also a fear of posthumous reputation. Who wants to be the buffoon of history?
Therefore, this also led to the generals of the Taishan Army, regardless of what they thought in their hearts, as long as it was written on paper or spoken, they were all public-spirited.
But this also caused a certain flip side, that is, the military seemed to regard it as a means of shifting the blame.
Just like this moment, holding Dong Kan's letter in his hand, Ding Sheng felt the same as Ming Jing:
"This old director is afraid that if I lose, he will be hurt! He is such a coward. He deserves not to have a hot meal."
However, even though Ding Sheng was a little worried that Dong Fan was right, he was still a little confident. Cao Cao's retreat did not look like an act.
But just as he was thinking this, military reports from the front came from outside.