Water Margin people

Chapter 1553 Yelu Dashi's Backhand

"Your Majesty, there are too many prisoners. I'm afraid we won't be able to count them in a short time!"

Zhu Wu kept counting the lists sent by the soldiers, and finally his head was overwhelmed. The battlefield stretched for dozens of miles, and the enemy was divided into dozens of groups of different sizes. Each battalion would guard a portion of the surrendered soldiers.

"Take your time to count! No rush!"

Sun Lei waved his hand and said that the war was over and the rest of the things could be done slowly.

After returning to the military camp, Sun Lei lay down directly on the couch, intending to stretch his muscles, but ended up finishing before he even had time to warm up.

Hu Sanniang helped massage Sun Lei's shoulders.

"My husband, are you not enjoying yourself?"

Seeing Sun Lei sighing, Hu Sanniang guessed what he was thinking. She knew that Sun Lei had never slacked off in his martial arts training, and this time the fight ended with just a few moves, which was a pity for someone who had practiced martial arts for many years.

"You see it too?"

Sun Lei closed his eyes and enjoyed it. When there were no outsiders around, Sun Lei didn't like people around him calling him "Your Majesty the Emperor", as it would make him feel alienated. A more intimate nickname was better.

"It's okay. I didn't have much hope for Yelu Dashi. He is a talented general, but he is not a qualified military commander."

Sun Lei said that if Yelu Dashi had not been born into a Khitan family and had not learned archery and horse riding since childhood, he might have just been a weak scholar.

"But you didn't get to go to the battlefield. Isn't that a pity?"

Sun Lei looked at Hu Sanniang and said that his defeat of Yelu Dashi declared the defeat of Western Liao, and the female soldiers' battalion went up there just to help control the situation and rescue the wounded, and finally became responsible for logistics.

"We are already on the battlefield, how can it be a pity! This is the first female soldier in the history of the Central Plains to set foot in the Western Regions!"

Hu Sanniang said proudly that the first female army in history was formed by Fu Hao, the queen of King Wu Ding of Shang Dynasty. She led the troops to fight in the east and the west, helping her husband to expand the territory of the Shang Dynasty several times. She also led the female soldiers to follow her husband to conquer the Western Regions, making the territory of Qi surpass that of all previous dynasties.

"You are quite open-minded. I think Pang Qiuxia and Qiongying don't seem to be happy about it."

Sun Lei took Hu Sanniang's hand and smiled.

"They want to make great achievements, but these have a price. Female soldiers are different from male soldiers. If there are casualties, the feeling is completely different. Even if you get injured, it's not good to leave a scar!"

Hu Sanniang, however, is more open-minded. She was not like this before, but since she had a child, she felt that she had changed and was no longer so impulsive.

"Your analysis makes sense. Scars are a man's glory, but it's different for women!"

Sun Lei nodded and smiled, saying that this was not discrimination against female soldiers, but a practical result: men cared more about strength, while women cared more about appearance.

Outside the tents, groups of prisoners were escorted to the labor camp.

“How many people are needed!”

Xin Qiji felt a little overwhelmed as he looked at the endless number of prisoners. Only then did he realize that the battlefield was not that simple and fighting was only a small part of the war.

"After a night of killing, my knife is almost curled. Although we killed a lot of people, the number of prisoners is at least hundreds of thousands!"

Deng Fei said with a smile.

"Hundreds of thousands!"

Xin Qiji was shocked by this number. Just eating would be enough to wear down hundreds of thousands of prisoners.

"Too much trouble? Now you know why Bai Qi wanted to trap his soldiers!"

Zhu Wu said with a smile.

"We are going to kill them too?"

Xin Qiji was startled. Even though he was a bold and reckless person, he was frightened by these words and took a step back. Bai Qi killed 400,000 surrendered soldiers and earned the title of "human butcher". Over the past thousand years, countless people have pointed at him and called him a butcher.

"Killing them is such a waste! The roads in the Western Region are in such bad shape, these people are just perfect for filling the roads!"

Zhu Wu smiled and said that the roads in the Central Plains were built by local people themselves, and the people actively participated in it for a better life. However, it was not so easy to recruit people for the road leading directly to the Western Regions. It was too far away, and if it was really built, the laborers would have to stay there for several years, which was more difficult than building the Great Wall.

"Fill the road!" Xin Qiji reacted immediately. This meant that they had to use the lives of these captives to repair the road. The mountain roads in the Western Regions were rugged, the deserts and Gobi were harsh, and the climate was extremely dangerous. Building roads here would result in the deaths of many people.

"Mr. Li, Military Advisor Zhu! Where is His Majesty?"

Zhang Qing walked over with a very ugly look on his face.

"Is General Zhang back? How is the situation in Hami City?"

Zhu Wu looked at Zhang Qing and asked with a smile, "Zhang Qing and Shi Xiu took people to Hami City to cut off the enemy's food and retreat."

"Hey, this...I can't get into Hami City for a while!"

Zhang Qing sighed and seemed to not know where to start.

"General Zhang, let's go see His Majesty together!"

Li Zhu spoke up, he could see that the situation seemed a little unusual.

Several people walked into the central military tent, and Sun Lei was telling jokes to Hu Sanniang.

"What happened? Is there something wrong in Hami City?"

Sun Lei let go of Hu Sanniang's hand and then asked, there should be only a few defenders in Hami City, and Zhang Qing and Shi Xiu will definitely have no problem taking such a city.

"Your Majesty, Hami City is full of sick and dead people. The streets are full of corpses. The living are like zombies. The whole city of Hami has become a ghost town!"

"After Shi Xiu and I discovered the problem with Wen, we didn't dare to get close. Brother Shi Xiu said it might be the plague in Xingxing Gorge. We discussed it and he led the troops to guard outside Hami City and monitor it. I came back to report."

Zhang Qing reported to Sun Lei.

"what?"

Sun Lei's face turned cold. He thought the plague was over. The battle in Xingxing Gorge had been going on for some time, and the corpses in Xingxing Gorge had long since turned into mummies under the scorching sun.

"Your Majesty, this situation doesn't seem right. It has been so long, how could the plague still be there, and still in the city! We didn't find any enemies with the plague among the captives!"

Zhu Wu quickly said that there must be something wrong when things are abnormal, and this situation must be taken seriously.

"Let's go out and see Yelu Dashi!"

Sun Lei stood up and led his men out of the tent.

At this time, Yelu Dashi was still tied to the flagpole. The sun was shining brightly, but Yelu Dashi still held his head high and did not lower it, as if he was not a loser.

"You don't seem to have given up yet?"

Sun Lei looked at Yelu Dashi and spoke.

"I have been defeated by you and tied to the flagpole. What else are you dissatisfied with? Continue to humiliate me?"

Yelu Dashi looked at Sun Lei with a smile, his smile was so eerie in the sunlight.

"You don't think that the methods used by Hami City can work on me, do you?"

Sun Lei looked at Yelu Dashi and spoke.

"what do you know?"

Yelu Dashi sneered.

"The plague tactic? It's not surprising. You barbarians have been using this tactic since the time of the Xiongnu. You throw dead cattle and sheep into the water, polluting the water source and spreading the plague."

"But you are much more cruel than your ancestors. They only threw sick and dead cattle and sheep into the water, but you threw all the sick and dead people in. Can you be considered as a disciple who surpasses his ancestors?"

Sun Lei looked at Yelu Dashi and spoke.

(End of this chapter)