Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 563 Prisoners of War and the Finishing Touch, Hou Bing's Intention

The thirteenth year of the Great Xia Dynasty, the fourth day of the first month
The sounds of swords clashing in Evergreen Valley continued until the very first light of dawn.

As dawn broke and the chill returned to the earth, the fighting inside and outside the valley completely ceased. Apart from some small-scale battles on the outskirts, there was almost no movement to be seen.

The ravine on the north side of the valley entrance was already filled with water, and a large number of soldiers' corpses lay still on the water's surface. Iron arrows were stuck in the bodies, and although the wounds were frozen by the cold, the blood flowing out still stained the ravine red due to the sheer number of them.

It's not quite right to say it's the surface of the water or the flow of water, because as the cold air invaded the earth, the water in the ditches had frozen, which created the effect of the corpse sitting still on the water.

Click...

A long sword suddenly plunged into the ice on the south bank. Since it had just been frozen by the daytime cold air, the ice was only a few centimeters thick and could not withstand the sword's destruction.

"Build bridges, break the ice, collect the remains, the POW camp goes first, the whole army quickly assembles at Qingyugou, everyone get moving, hurry up!"

An order came from above, and the Xia soldiers below immediately sprang into action. Some carried stones to build bridges, some broke ice along the riverbank, and some pulled the corpses from under the ice and set them aside. They were all busy at work.

However, the most conspicuous area was the central part of the valley entrance army formation, where tens of thousands of Caiqiu prisoners of war, who had lost their soldiers and armor, were divided into dozens of small square formations and watched over piece by piece by the Xia army.

Most of them bore wounds and their faces were filled with confusion. Led by Xia soldiers, they moved forward slowly with numb expressions, looking utterly lost and dejected.

"My lord, the prisoners of war have been counted. There are 55827 prisoners. Only three are at the Xianyang level, and the rest are all at the Yuhan level. There are 262 prisoners with a strength of 50 or above, and 1561 prisoners with a strength between 30 and 50."

On one side of the prisoner-of-war camp, Hou Bing's expression slightly changed upon hearing Lu Yin's report.

After the great battle ended, the first step was naturally to take stock of the spoils, but this was not his responsibility. He had just been sent by Commander-in-Chief Yuwen Tao to manage the prisoner-of-war camp, and keeping an eye on the more than 50,000 Caiqiu prisoners of war in front of him was his biggest responsibility going forward.

"55827 people. Although they've lost their weapons and armor, they're all at the Cold Resistance level. If they really riot, they'd be formidable even unarmed..."

Hou Bing looked at the separated prisoners of war, pondered for a moment, and then ordered: "Continue cutting them apart. Divide the prisoner-of-war camp into 500 shares. Send two squads to watch over each share and escort them to the Qingyugou camp in batches. Pick out all those with a strength of 30 or above, pierce their collarbones, and select three elite scout battalions to watch over them. Once the bridge is built, prioritize escorting them across."

More than 50,000 prisoners of war, even if divided into 500 shares, each share would be more than 100. In the Great Xia army system, a squad of 20 men, 20 fully armed soldiers, would have a bit of a challenge in dealing with 100 unarmed prisoners of war, but they should be able to manage it.

As for those with a strength of 30 or above, they must wear collarbones. After all, even without weapons, their physical strength is astonishing, and wearing collarbones makes them less of a threat.

"My lord, the battle report from the main camp has just come out. Last night, our army killed a total of 32867 people. Including the prisoners of war here, the total number is less than 90,000. Lord Yuwen Yong is leading troops to clear out the scattered soldiers in the surrounding area, which is estimated to be around 10,000. According to this calculation, Cai Qiu has at least 50,000 people who escaped. Why don't we ask the commander-in-chief for permission to lead the brothers to pursue the enemy while we are ahead?"

Hou Bing raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, clearly somewhat tempted by Lu Yin's words.

The Hou family's position in the Great Xia Dynasty was actually somewhat awkward.

As the Great Xia Dynasty developed rapidly and grew stronger, more and more factions and cliques emerged within it. Eleven years ago, when the Great Xia Dynasty brought Longyou under its rule, there were six relatively strong factions in Xia City: Hongmuling, Jinggu, Wuyuan, Longshan, Fengchao, and Longbei.

The Longbei faction, represented by Hou Jing, was the lowest-ranking of the six major factions at the time.

There are many reasons for this. First, the Zhaoyang camp caused considerable trouble during the process of the Great Xia unifying Longyou, and the Hou family, as the foundation of Zhaoyang, naturally had grievances against the old Xia people. Second, when the Xia army broke through Longshan, Zhaoyang leader Hou Hu fled with several Hou family members, which made Hou Jing and his group who remained in Great Xia somewhat awkward. Although Xia Hong did not say anything, Si Cheng Xia Chuan clearly still held back against them.

Another crucial reason is that the Hou family has yet to enter the core circle led by the Xia family.

Let's not even talk about the Hongmu Ridge faction. They have followed Xia Hong since their humble beginnings, and a large number of their members are distributed in the military and political departments of the Great Xia. It is no exaggeration to say that they are the foundation of the Great Xia. Not to mention now, it is almost foreseeable that no matter how much the Great Xia changes in the future, it will be difficult for any faction to stand up to them.
The Jinggu faction has Yuwen Tao, a top expert, as its leader, who commands the most important military department among the eight tribes of the Great Xia. Moreover, the faction is full of talented people and has a strong influence in the army. Hong Guang, Hong Tian, ​​Zhu Yuan, Meng Yi, Yuwen Yong and others are all generals who command their own armies. The younger generation is also beginning to show their talents. Meng Ao, Hong Yu, Zhu Kang and others were even selected by the Minister of War last year to go to Chencang to infiltrate. It can be foreseen that another great achievement awaits them.

Xiao Kangcheng, the big boss of the Wuyuan faction, is the father-in-law of Xia Chuan, the chief minister. His two daughters, Xiao Ning and Xiao Yu, were betrothed by Lord Xia Hong himself, making them true in-laws of the lord. The Wuyuan faction also has many talented people under its command, such as Xiao Heng, Xiao Yan, and Xiang Liang, who have emerged in recent years.
Although Li Tiancheng, the leading figure of the Longshan faction, passed away two years ago, they still have a wife named Li Xuanling above them. Lord Xia Hong only has one wife. The Li family is the only maternal relative in the entire Great Xia, so their status is even more important.

Looking at their Longbei faction, due to Hou Hu's existence, they were already somewhat suspected by Si Cheng Xia Chuan. Hou Jing, the leader of the faction, was getting old and had no hope of breaking through to the Xianyang level. He had voluntarily resigned from his position as deputy director of the Hunting Department two years ago. Now, the person with the highest status in the entire faction was actually Hou Bing.

Hou Bing's current position is the Commander of the Flying Peng Army. This position is not considered low in the entire Great Xia Dynasty, but it is indeed a bit inadequate for a leading figure in a faction.

Just look at the positions held by the leaders of the other factions.

Yuwen Tao was the Director of the Ministry of War;
Xiao Kangcheng was originally the mountain ranger of the Ba Shang Hunting Division and concurrently served as the garrison commander of Heyin. Last year, he broke through to the Xianyang level. Xu Ning, the deputy director of the garrison, just happened to be willing to relinquish his duties in Ba Shang, so he was promoted to the garrison commander of Ba Shang, a proper regional official.

Not to mention the Longshan faction, even excluding Lady Li Xuanling, there are six close attendants of the prince who can freely enter and leave the Xia Palace: Meng Ying, Jiang Ping, Yue Qian, Cheng Guang, Sun Yan, and Song Kang. In addition, there are Zhou Yuan, Xu Shicheng, Zhang Jiuling, Yuan Shan, Yuan Ning, Lu Yushan, Wang Tao, and Liu Chang, who are all in charge of troops in the outside world.

How much influence can a mere commander of the Flying Peng Army have in the Longbei clique?
Actually, if the Longbei faction could truly be integrated, it would be worth considering, because there's still Hou Quan, the commander of the Longwu Army, and Hou Tong, the commander of the Beizhao Army. However, the former currently commands one of the two strongest armies in the Great Xia Dynasty, and people are trying to avoid suspicion with him, so how could they dare to flirt with him? As for Hou Tong...

Thinking of Hou Tong, Hou Bing couldn't help but feel anger rising in his eyes. The Bei Zhao Army was derived from the Bei Zhao Squad, which was a hunting squad established by his father, Hou Jing, after he led his men to surrender to the Great Xia. His father, Hou Jing, was the first captain.

The establishment of the Northern Zhao Army was something my father, Hou Jing, fought hard for. After the establishment of the army, my father was unable to go to the army because he had the position of deputy director of the hunting department. So, Hou Tong was made the commander of the Northern Zhao Army.

Given this relationship, Hou Tong should logically be a member of the Longbei faction and should be on his side.

But the reality was quite the opposite. In the first few years of Hou Tong's military service, he was very close to Hou Jing and his father. However, as Hou Jing lost more and more power, especially after he stepped down as deputy director of the hunting department last year, Hou Tong basically stopped associating with them and began to get closer to Luo Yuan.

The Hongmuling faction is divided into two camps: Tupo and Luoge. Luo Yuan is the leader of the Luoge camp, and Hou Tong's behavior clearly indicates that he intends to switch sides and join Luo Yuan's camp.

As fellow members of the Hou clan, Hou Bing naturally disapproved of Hou Tong's behavior. However, with the Longbei faction losing power, he was powerless to do anything about it. Moreover, Hou Tong had served as commander-in-chief longer than him, and in terms of seniority, he was even inferior to Hou Tong, so he had no reason to blame him.

The decline of the Longbei faction had already made Hou Bing extremely anxious. With the continuous expansion of Daxia in the past three years, the four towns of Ba Shang, Jiangxia, Chui Shan, and Mu Yin have been successively incorporated, and several more mountain strongholds have been added within Xia City. The voice of the Longbei faction in Daxia has become increasingly weak.

Sticking together for warmth is the underlying logic of the Ice Abyss humans forming camps. This logic also applies to Xia City. With a population of tens of millions, it is impossible for the lord to attend to every aspect. The stronger the group, the more people they can win over, and the more resources they can obtain. Naturally, they will have more say in front of the lord on a daily basis.

Now that the Great Xia has unified the southern foothills, the five towns of Longgu, Jinshan, Beishuo, Wuchuan, and Yangqu will soon be integrated into it. The power structure at the top of the Great Xia will inevitably undergo another round of reshuffling. If no solution is found, the Longbei faction will probably be squeezed into a corner and ignored by everyone.

Lu Yin was a former member of Zhaoyang and a key figure in the Longbei faction. His suggestion to ask Commander Yuwen Tao for permission to fight clearly showed that he had seen the decline of the Longbei faction and hoped to make changes.

"Lord Xia Hong is in the army. If we don't make a move now, we won't have another chance later. In last night's battle, the lord clearly let Cai Qiuhu and the others go on purpose. Now he has ordered us to garrison troops at Qingyugou. It is obvious that he does not intend to continue fighting north. I guess that Great Xia will soon start peace talks with Cai Qiuhu. If you don't seize this opportunity now, you won't have such a good chance later."

Hearing Lu Yin's repeated persuasion, Hou Bing's expression remained steadfast, but looking at the surrounding army, a hint of difficulty appeared in his eyes, and he whispered:
“Our army suffered heavy losses in last night’s battle, with an estimated 90,000 men remaining. Yuwen Yong cleared out the scattered troops in the surrounding area and took 20,000 with him. The remaining 50,000 troops are about to be stationed at Qingyugou to guard against Cai Qiu’s army coming from Qinghua City. Lord Yuwen only gave me 20,000 men to take care of these 50,000 prisoners of war. If I go to request permission to fight, will he be able to allocate any more men to me?”

Although the Xia army won a great victory in the Battle of Gukou last night, it also suffered nearly 10,000 casualties. Many soldiers from Caiqiu were scattered during the battle and are now scattered along both sides of Gukou. Yuwen Yong is leading his army to wipe them out one by one, and it is reasonable for him to take away 20,000 of them. In addition, according to intelligence reports, the reinforcements from Qinghua City of Caiqiu did not dare to continue south after the defeat at Gukou last night. Instead, they were stationed in the Guangning Mountain area north of Qingyugou, gathering the remnants of the defeated army while keeping an eye on the Xia army's movements. This is why Yuwen Tao ordered them to quickly go to Qingyugou to station.

The idea that Great Xia wants to negotiate with Cai Qiu is not just Lu Yin's speculation; almost all the military commanders in the Xia army think so.

If Cai Qiu wanted to continue fighting, the 70,000 troops in Qinghua City shouldn't have stopped at Guangning Mountain. Instead, they should have marched south directly to Qingyugou, or even forced their way into the Xia army's face. The Great Xia had fought a bloody battle all night, and it would have been most reasonable for them to attack at this critical juncture. But they didn't do that.

The reason was actually revealed by Lord Xia Hong during last night's battle.

Cai Qiu is facing not only the Great Xia, but also Chen Cang, which is attacking Lin Chu County. Judging from the halted advance of the Qinghua City army, something has likely happened in Lin Chu County. Cai Qiu knows he cannot fight on two fronts, which is why his army has not advanced.

All these factors combined make it impossible to conclude that Cai Qiu wanted to negotiate peace with Da Xia.

Peace talks mean a truce, and once the war ends, there will be no more opportunities to gain military merit.

On the surface, Hou Bing asked Commander-in-Chief Yuwen Tao if he would send troops to him. In reality, he wanted to say that since the plan was to negotiate peace, the commander-in-chief would definitely not send a large army to start a war again. It was not a good time for him to take the initiative to ask for battle.

Lu Yin naturally understood the deeper meaning in his words. He didn't answer, but lowered his head to think for a moment, and then asked softly:

"Sir, your military achievements are enough to warrant a noble title, aren't they?"

"Of course, since I left Jinyang with the commander on the 26th, from the bloodless victory over the five camps of Yinhe Valley, Xiyuan, Bingfeng, Hanzhao and Qinggu, to the great defeat of the Wuchuan Jinshan allied forces in the Battle of the Pass, and the second defeat of the allied forces in the Battle of Jinyang, I participated in the entire battle in the first half of last night on the south side of the Bone-Eating Road and the battle in the second half of last night at the north side of the valley. I just checked with the supervisor sent by the Logistics Department and found that I have accumulated 720 military merits in this battle. Adding the 230 points I accumulated before, I have a total of 950 points, which is only one step away from the eighth rank of nobility."

It's a bit sad to say, but although Hou Bing broke through to the Xianyang level last year, his military merits were always just a little short, so he was never able to be ennobled.

There are only about forty Xianyang-level beings in the Great Xia Dynasty. Xianyang-level beings who have not been granted titles are quite rare. Hou Bing has been ridiculed a lot for this.

With this major battle over, he could finally hold his head high in triumph.

"Is a ninth-rank noble title enough for you, sir? Since you're only one step away from an eighth-rank noble title, why not take the initiative to advance further? What you just said is correct. If you go to request to fight at this time, the commander-in-chief will most likely not agree. In that case, let's draw our own manpower and use the pretext of clearing the area around the prisoner-of-war camp to search for the remnants of the army in the Qingyugou area. In this way, 50 military merits will be a piece of cake. If we're lucky enough to find a large number of Caiqiu remnants, you might be able to be promoted to the seventh-rank Qingming Viscount in one fell swoop!"

Upon hearing this, Hou Bing's pupils immediately turned fiery.

If he can be promoted to the seventh rank of nobility in one fell swoop, the Longbei faction will truly stand tall.

"What's your idea? Tell me!"

(End of this chapter)