The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 324 We are just like Cao Cao.

Qi Chongwen came from the north to seize prisoners.

Sui Yi exclaimed upon seeing this: "Damn it, how can this be? I'm the one fighting the tough battles, and you're the one taking prisoners? This is intolerable!"

Sui Yi roared, "Brothers, we're fighting a tough battle. Let's capture as many prisoners as possible and not let other units get the spoils."

Upon hearing this, the soldiers in Yan'an exclaimed, "That's right! We withstood such immense pressure just now, and now the capture of prisoners is someone else's achievement? That's impossible!"

"Come on!"

"Stop right there, you thief! Let me capture you alive!"

A group of people charged out, yelling and screaming.

An old auxiliary soldier ran out after him, shouting, "General Sui, there's no need to fight for credit like this, there's no need to fight for it... Our military merits aren't calculated like this."

As Sui Yi charged forward, he asked, "How are our military merits calculated?"

The old auxiliary soldier exclaimed, "Young Master Yue himself said that there are two ways to calculate military merit. The main thing is whether the strategic objective has been achieved. As long as the strategic objective has been achieved, it is a great achievement."

Upon hearing this, Sui Yi understood: "So, in other words, I've already gotten the credit?"

The veteran soldier said, "Yes! It's a great achievement for you to guard the grain convoy. If you go and try to seize prisoners and lose the grain carts as a result, you'll be in trouble."

Sui Yi: "Holy shit!"

He quickly shouted, "Come back, come back, come back, all of you come back and guard the grain for me!"

Yan'an soldiers: "..."

The general changes his orders every morning and evening; what should we do?
More than half an hour later, the battlefield quieted down.

Qi Chongwen, beaming with pride, led more than 20,000 prisoners toward Chuzhou City.

He felt incredibly powerful in this battle, having captured over 20,000 prisoners with only 2,000 men. Although most of these prisoners were old, weak, sick, or disabled, it didn't matter. Young Master Yue had said that the Northern Song army also needed the old, weak, sick, and disabled to do work, and there was a job specifically prepared for them.

The job is called "packing bullets".

The gunpowder was weighed beforehand and wrapped in paper along with the lead bullets. This way, during battle, the soldiers didn't need to weigh the gunpowder; they could simply grab the paper-wrapped bullets and stuff them into the gun barrel.

By the way, with the continuous development of the papermaking industry, the Northern Song army also had a strange job: pasting paper boxes and labels.

It requires patience to paste the paper scraps onto boxes, bottles, and jars...

Anyway, everyone can use it.

Sui Yi looked at him smugly and wasn't envious. He just lay down on the horse and crossed his legs, saying, "I also made a great contribution this time, hahaha."

Qi Chongwen: "You can actually lie down and cross your legs on horseback? Won't you fall off?"

Sui Yi: "Tch, if they can fall down like this, what kind of battle can we fight?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a scout galloped up on horseback: "Report! Another large group of bandits has turned back and attacked. There are at least four or five thousand of them, all able-bodied young men. They are probably the elite of the bandit army."

Sui Yi: "Damn it, again?"

As he spoke, he suddenly leaped off the horse...

Qi Chongwen: "..."

Sui Yi scrambled to his feet, saying, "Prepare for battle." Qi Chongwen also quickly ordered his men to prepare for war.

However, their battle this time was in vain. The four or five thousand "elite bandits" showed no intention of fighting. They stopped a short distance away, about an arrow's length away, and instead sent one man running towards them with empty hands, shouting, "Don't shoot arrows! Don't use sorcery... I've come to surrender..."

Sui Yi: "?"

Qi Chongwen: "?"

The man ran up to the two men, his face streaked with tears: "After I escaped, I couldn't find my mother. Did you capture her? I need to find my mother."

Sui Yi: "..."

Qi Chongwen was stunned for several seconds, then spread his hands: "The prisoners are all over there, go find them yourself."

The man then charged towards the more than 20,000 prisoners captured by Qi Chongwen, crying loudly. A short while later, he actually found his mother. The two embraced and wept bitterly. The man then returned to Sui Yi and said, "Don't kill my mother, I'll do anything."

Sui Yi: "..."

Qi Chongwen: "There are actually such filial sons in the rebel army."

Sui Yi: "You're making the rebels sound like they're not even human. They're all born of mothers and parents, and everyone has their own worries." He sighed again: "Lord Pang Di is also a very filial son. If it weren't for his parents, he would have surrendered long ago."

Qi Chongwen: "Xu Shu from the Three Kingdoms period seems to have been the same. When Cao Cao captured his mother, he kidnapped Xu Shu."

At this point, Qi Chongwen's expression changed slightly: "Damn it, what we're doing now is no different from that traitor Cao. Using parents to blackmail their children, how despicable!"

Sui Yi chuckled slyly, "You're the one who arrested their parents, wives, and children, not me. I didn't do such a heinous thing."

Qi Chongwen: "..."

While the two men were awkwardly chatting, the four or five thousand able-bodied men gradually raised their hands to surrender, then ran into the group of prisoners to find their parents, wives, and children, and the families wept bitterly...

They had no idea how the Northern Song army would deal with them, these thieves. Faced with the unknown future, they were filled with fear. Many of the young men had come to find their wives, children, and elderly parents with the "certainty of certain death." Now that they had found their wives and children, their families were beginning to worry about their fate.

Qi Chongwen felt extremely guilty for doing something "bad" and was too ashamed to face the elders of Jiangdong. He didn't dare to come over and talk to them.

Sui Yi watched the fun without offering any help.

Thus, the army, escorting more than 20,000 prisoners, slowly arrived at the dilapidated city of Chuzhou.

With the arrival of a large amount of grain and laborers, Gong Erniangzi in Chuzhou City breathed a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to wave her hand to order the laborers to get to work and clean up the ruins of Chuzhou City, she suddenly saw that the group was escorting a large group of prisoners dressed in tattered clothes.

After Sui Yi and Qi Chongwen came up and gave a report, Gong Erniangzi finally understood that they had captured 20,000 prisoners of Li Cheng.

"You two have done a great job!"

Gong Erniangzi said happily, "Chuzhou City has been burned to ruins, and less than one-tenth of the city's residents are still alive. I was having a headache about what to do when you sent more than 20,000 prisoners. You have truly saved my life. I will immediately order these 20,000 people to rebuild the city."

Yue Wenxuan also peeked out from the side: "Why don't we just settle these 20,000 people in Chuzhou? Most of Chuzhou's population was killed by the Jin army. The few people left can't support the operation of a large city. Let's leave 20,000 prisoners here, arrange jobs for them, and revitalize Chuzhou."

Gong Erniangzi: "Not a single civil official came along. This matter... here we are..."

Qi Chongwen and Ma Sheng stepped forward almost simultaneously: "Please leave this matter to me..."

The two noticed someone was arguing over who would do the work, so they both rolled their eyes at each other and then added a single word to the end of their sentence: "they!"

Adding the word "men" instantly made the atmosphere much more harmonious.

(End of this chapter)