You have truly caused me great suffering!

Chapter 54 Round up the whole number
This brief but fierce battle ended quickly.

The next day, the group left the village, having spent the night in fear.

The horrific sight of those who were driven away and slaughtered was right before my eyes.

They thought that if the village was destroyed, they would suffer the same fate, only to live one more night.

I never expected we'd win!
Han Shizhong stood on the stockade wall, hands on his hips, laughing heartily: "Finally, I've vented some of my anger!"

Behind him, Chen Shao stepped forward and said, "Han Wu, don't talk nonsense. You and I are both generals of the Great Song Dynasty. Today, the emperor is wise and the court is full of righteous people. Where do you get your anger? Oh, I know, it must be the rampant Xia bandits that have angered you, isn't it?"

Han Shizhong chuckled awkwardly and said, "Commander is right. I was talking about the Xia traitor, the Xia traitor!"

This battle caused quite a stir.

But Chen Shao still felt it wasn't big enough.

He knew that Tong Guan had returned and arrived in Yan'an Prefecture.

So he ordered the head of the dead Xia traitor to be cut off.

Then, they found some strong men from the village, each with three or five heads hanging on their horseback, and escorted more than 500 prisoners to Yan'an Prefecture to report their achievements.

Being able to fight is important, but being able to write reports is equally important.

As the commander of the victorious army, he was furious that the old Western Army had suffered a defeat and everyone was taking their anger out on Tong Guan.

Now I can say that I've finally gotten revenge for him.

We must maximize the impact of this matter.

Looking at the ravaged battlefield, Chen Shao pointed to the place where the Xia traitors were massacring prisoners and said, "Dig up those corpses too, borrow their heads to make it a round number. Let's say we killed two thousand enemies and captured five hundred."

Han Shizhong gasped and leaned closer to whisper, "Commander, this is inappropriate, this is inappropriate. If it gets found out, we'll lose our heads."

Di Qing of the Northern Song Dynasty ultimately met his downfall, largely because he was accused of exaggerating his military achievements.

Chen Shao chuckled, steeled his resolve, and held up three fingers: "Three thousand! I'll say three thousand!"

What a joke! This is to help Tong Guan out of a predicament. Who will investigate?
The Shengjie Army won a battle, and you're not happy about it, are you?
Tong Xuanshuai will cover for me.

If you disagree and think I'm exaggerating, go ahead and talk to Tong Xuanshuai.

"Go to Yan'an Prefecture first and inform Commander Xuan about this matter, so that he can make preparations!"

Since this was the first time he had falsely reported his military achievements, Chen Shao decided to be on the safe side and informed the old eunuch in advance so that they could communicate.

If he really disagrees, he can stop him halfway.

Although Han Shizhong was worried, he had no choice but to comply and selected several skilled riders to go to Yan'an Prefecture to deliver the message.

Several riders swept past the layers of guards in the camp like the wind, reaching the watchtower.

Several knights surrounded a thin, middle-aged eunuch wearing only a round-necked, narrow-sleeved shirt; it was Tong Guan.

The thin, tall middle-aged man had an ordinary appearance and dressed plainly, without any armor. He dismounted slowly and looked exceptionally ordinary, except for his narrow eyes, which gave him a reserved, indifferent, and unassuming air.

He dismounted and looked up at the building. The old military strategist, Zhong Shidao, was up there, bowing to him with his hands clasped.

Just as Tong Guan was about to go up, someone suddenly ran up and whispered something in his ear.

Tong Guan's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Is this true?"

"It should be true."

Tong Guan nodded slightly and waved his hand, instructing, "Have them revise the battle report. Say that 8,000 enemy soldiers were killed and 2,000 were captured, to make it a round number. Of the 1,500 captured soldiers, they have already been incorporated into the local forces and surrendered to the Communists. The remaining 500 die-hard Xia traitors will be transported to Yan'an Prefecture and beheaded in the street as a sacrifice to Liu Fa and the soldiers of the Xihe Army."

The subordinate nodded in agreement. Tong Guan raised an eyebrow and said calmly, "Five hundred prisoners shouldn't be a problem, right?" "No problem, the five hundred are already on their way!"

Tong Guan nodded and said, "We don't need to go too fast. It's fine to go slowly along the way. When the beheading takes place, we should summon the generals of the five routes in Shaanxi to Yan'an Prefecture to witness the ceremony."

"My subordinate understands!"

Tong Guan was overjoyed; this subordinate was truly remarkable.

The battles that your Western Army can't win, the Victorious Army wins with a single move.

Zhong Shidao looked at Tong Guan below, somewhat hesitant. Why had that stern-faced, lifeless eunuch suddenly become so lively?
Inside Xingqing Village, Chen Shaozheng was directing a group of laborers to reclaim wasteland.

He already considered Yokoyama as his own territory, although the territory he actually controlled was less than one percent of the entire Yokoyama.

They won a battle here and had food, so more and more people came to seek refuge here.

Han Shizhong has acquired more than 500 warhorses and is busy training new recruits in riding and archery.

The mountain behind the fortress is covered with dense vegetation, including many birch trees. The wood is fine-grained and easy to straighten, making it suitable for crafting bows and arrows.

Chen Shao sat on a wooden stake, with Cui Lin standing beside him.

“Go to Fuzhou and find my cousin. Tell him I asked him to buy some seeds: wheat, beans, hemp, anything that can be planted.”

"Commander, there are more and more people, and the village can hardly hold them all." A middle-aged man walked over from a distance. He was the village chief that Chen Shao had recently promoted to help him manage Xingqing Village.

This man was named Yang Cheng. He was a Han Chinese from the Western Xia region near Tiandu Mountain. He fled to Hengshan to escape the war.

While in Western Xia, he witnessed the corruption of Western Xia officials, the suffering of the people, and the infighting among tribes. He believed that the destruction of Western Xia was not far off and originally intended to abandon Western Xia and return to Song.

Unexpectedly, the Song army was too incompetent and was chased all the way to Hengshan.

In reality, all the empires and powers are just like that. The people of each country only see that their own country is in a mess, completely unaware that their other neighbors are in the same boat.

Zhao Liangsi suffered this loss, giving up his high-ranking position as one of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers of the Liao Dynasty and coming to join the Song Dynasty.

Yang Cheng served as a "leader of farmers" during the Western Xia period, similar to the "lizheng" of the Song Dynasty, which is equivalent to the village chief of later generations.

His family fled with him, and he still has more than a dozen relatives left, so he is determined to defend the fortress.

He was determined to work with Commander Chen.

Chen Shao also relied on him a lot, after all, he knew nothing about what crops grew on this land.

Today, Yang Cheng settled the newly arrived inhabitants and found that all three fortified villages were already full, so he came to find Chen Shao.

After listening, Chen Shao thought for a while and said, "Repair, keep repairing!"

“The construction of fortresses and stockades requires reporting and approval from the Pacification Commissioner.”

Chen Shao laughed and said, "Let's start repairing it first. Otherwise, after reporting it and relaying the orders back and forth, we don't know how much time we'll waste. I'll go talk to Commander Xuan and ask for a few more supply trains while I'm at it."

The supply troops had a construction function and were more specialized than civilian laborers.

Chen Shao would never drive the people who came to him to seek refuge into the territory of the Song Dynasty.

No matter the time, people are the most valuable resource, especially in times of chaos.

Why was Cao Cao so fierce in battle, and why did the people run away at the mere mention of his name? It was because every time Cao Cao conquered a territory, he would abduct all the people there and drive them to his own rear.

Chen Shao was determined to emulate Prime Minister Cao.

Because Prime Minister Cao had always been Chen Shao's idol.

(End of this chapter)