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Chapter 17: The Inner Palace Guard Commander!?

Hearing the news of the great victory of the Later Zhou army.

The soldiers who had previously fled the battlefield with Fan and He gradually returned, and this continued until the next morning.

Fan Ainen and He Hui also shamelessly returned with dozens of riders.

Chai Rong ordered that this group of people be disarmed and imprisoned, but he was not in a hurry to deal with them.

Perhaps Chai Rong was also a little hesitant and didn't know how to deal with this group of people.

After all, many of these people were middle and senior generals of the imperial guards. If they were all killed at once, it might cause instability in the military morale.

Afterwards, Chai Rong ordered the army to rest in Gaoping for a day.

At the same time, he selected thousands of surrendered soldiers from the Northern Han Dynasty to form a compliant command, and let Tang Jingsi, the former Sima of Wusheng, lead them to garrison on the Huai River.

The remaining 2,000 surrendered soldiers were given travel expenses and food and clothing and sent back to Northern Han.

But at this moment, Li Yi no longer had the mind to pay attention to these things.

Because Guo Zhao was dead... He died in his sleep and never woke up again.

Perhaps in his dream he returned to Tokyo, with rewards and honors, happily hugging and celebrating with his family.

"I hope you'll be born into a good family in your next life..."

Li Yi went to see Guo Zhao off for the last time. Before his body was completely buried in the soil, he silently said a wish in his heart.

Perhaps stimulated by Guo Zhao's death, Li Yi suddenly missed Guo's family far away in Tokyo, as well as his uncle's family in Xiajin.

His relatives in this life are both his concern and the belief that supports him to move forward courageously.

Just like the military merit he earned in this battle at the cost of his life, if he had no family to share this joy with him.

How sad that would be...

Due to the impact of Guo Zhao's incident, Li Yi felt heavy-hearted throughout the afternoon.

It was not until the army set out the next day that he recovered.

……

On March 25, the Later Zhou army arrived in Luzhou, and Chai Rong ordered them to rest there for a few days.

After nearly half a month of traveling and a big battle, everyone can finally take a good rest.

The main force of the imperial guards was stationed outside Luzhou City, and a small number of the imperial guards followed the emperor into the city.

The Inner Palace Guard to which Li Yi belonged was one of them.

Speaking of which, the Inner Palace Guards made great contributions in the Battle of Gaoping, but also suffered heavy losses, with nearly half of their personnel lost.

Even the commander-in-chief Wang Kuangye was killed in the battle, and the remaining troops were temporarily led by the inner palace guard Du Yuhou.

Generally speaking, the chief commander of an army is the commander-in-chief, followed by the deputy commander-in-chief, and then the commander-in-chief.

Both the Deputy Commander-in-Chief and the Chief of the Imperial Guards are considered deputy positions, but the former has a slightly higher status than the latter.

But usually a unit only appoints one deputy, either the deputy commander-in-chief or the chief military officer.

The two rarely exist at the same time.

There are even a few troops that only have one commander-in-chief, and the other two deputy positions are vacant.

After all, we have to reserve positions for the people below to be promoted, and everyone has to have hope after working hard.

That night.

Emperor Chai Rong summoned the Palace Commander-in-Chief Zhang Yongde to his tent in the temporary palace for a long talk all night.

It is not known what the two talked about, but early the next morning, Chai Rong ordered the imperial guards to gather at the camp outside the city.

Afterwards, he ordered his men to tie up Fan Ainen, He Hui and more than 70 of their subordinates.

Chai Rong publicly rebuked Fan and He, saying, "You are both veterans of several dynasties, yet you flee in the face of danger in the middle of a battle. How can you be worthy of the late emperor's trust and cultivation?"

"I don't think you can defeat me, but you clearly treat me as a rare commodity and plan to sell me to Liu Chong!"

"Someone... drag them all away and behead them in public!"

After dealing with Fan He and others.

Chai Rong also ordered the execution of all the more than 2,000 infantrymen in the right-wing army who surrendered to the Northern Han emperor and shouted "Long live the Han emperor".

For a while, people were killed one after another.

"These cowards are doing a good job. It just makes room for us who have made contributions."

On the way back to the camp, Ma Renyu applauded for this. This guy had been thinking about the reward since the end of the war.

Li Yi did not comment on Ma Renyu's words.

In his opinion, there was nothing wrong with Chai Rong beheading Fan He and others. After all, military law was strict, and a general who deserted from the battlefield deserved to be put to death.

But not all of the more than 2,000 infantrymen who knelt down and surrendered deserved to die.

Under the circumstances at the time, the commander and the cavalry had fled, and expecting the already scattered infantry to resist the Northern Han cavalry led by Zhang Yuanhui was obviously unrealistic... Even a complete infantry phalanx might not be able to withstand the cavalry charge.

So these infantrymen must either break up or surrender. We can't force them to die.

The main responsibility lies with generals such as Fan He.

What's more, Chai Rong was able to give those surrendered Northern Han soldiers a way to live, but was so cruel to his own people.

Of course, Chai Rong's behavior was most likely to establish his authority.

Li Yi suddenly remembered that historical records from later generations had recorded that Chai Rong wanted to kill Fan He and others to rectify military discipline, but he was hesitant.

Finally, he asked Zhang Yongde for his opinion and received his strong support, and then he started the killing spree.

No wonder Chai Rong summoned Zhang Yongde to his tent for a long talk last night.

As for why he went to his brother-in-law Zhang Yongde instead of asking his cousin Li Chongjin, it was probably not because he did not trust the latter.

It is very likely that Chai Rong was worried that if he killed too many generals from the Imperial Guard, it would cause dissatisfaction among his subordinates, leading to the risk of mutiny.

Li Chongjin had just been parachuted into the Imperial Guard Department. He was only the nominal commander and might not be able to control his subordinates.

But Zhang Yongde was different. He was the boss of the Palace Army and had risen step by step from the Palace Army.

He has a strong control over the Palace Army.

In addition, in the previous battle, all the guards in front of the palace fought desperately and demonstrated strong combat effectiveness.

Compared with the Imperial Guards who fled in the face of the enemy, Chai Rong definitely trusted the Palace Army more.

In this case, it is understandable that Chai Rong would discuss this matter with Zhang Yongde and hope to get his support.

"Brother Yi, what kind of reward do you think I can get?"

As soon as he returned to the tent and sat down, Ma Renyu started chattering in Li Yi's ear again.

Sometimes he said that he could at least be appointed as a commander, but sometimes he complained that the position of commander was a bit low.

His words and deeds showed his envy of Li Yi who was promised by the emperor as the commander-in-chief.

Li Yi could only helplessly reply: "You will definitely be appointed as a commander-in-chief!"

Historically, Ma Renyu was awarded the title of Commander-in-Chief of Archery and Crane Control for his merits, which was equivalent to the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Military.

Li Yi's words were not nonsense.

I just don't know if the influence of this time traveler will cause Ma Renyu's original reward to deviate.

Ma Renyu was not very confident after hearing this and sighed, "It would be great if it were just as you said..."

At this moment, a few voices suddenly came from outside the tent: "Li Yaya! Is Li Yaya here?"

Huh?
Li Yi felt that the voice was very familiar.

He quickly stood up, opened the curtain and walked out, only to see several people on horseback coming from a distance.

The first one was a big, thick-shouldered, dark-faced man, and Li Yi was very familiar with this man...

It turned out to be Zhao Kuangyin!

"What is he here for?"

Li Yi was confused. Ever since the incident with the Zhao family, he had never dealt with Zhao Kuangyin again.

The other party suddenly came to find me...

Are you looking for trouble?

Before Li Yi could figure it out, Zhao Kuangyin had already arrived. He dismounted from his horse, clasped his fists, and said in congratulations:

"Having killed Zhang Yuanhui, the most formidable general of the Northern Han Dynasty, amidst a vast army, I'm afraid Li Yaya's fame will soon spread throughout the world!"

Hearing this, Li Yi became even more puzzled.

Could it be that Zhao Da came all the way here just to praise himself?

Ah, this... is too ridiculous?

Li Yi was about to speak when he heard Zhao Kuangyin continue, "Your Majesty just summoned the generals to discuss matters. Several generals praised your achievements, and His Majesty also praised your bravery and determination."

"I think the main credit for the battle a few days ago must go to Li Yaya!"

Li Yi quickly said modestly, "Thanks to Your Majesty's personal command, the soldiers all fought with all their might. I was just lucky enough to kill Zhang Yuanhui, so how dare I claim the credit..."

"Li Yaya, don't be so modest. You fully deserve this achievement!"

Zhao Kuangyin smiled brightly, "I was also in the tent during the meeting. I heard Your Majesty talking about rewards and honors. It seems that you are going to be promoted to the commander-in-chief of the inner palace."

"what!"

"Inner Palace Commander-in-Chief!?"

Li Yi was immediately shocked. This news was really beyond his expectations.

Totally exceeded expectations!
(End of this chapter)