Chapter 177 Everyone Has Their Own Concerns

With Bai Rao dead, the Black Mountain soldiers who still had family in the Taihang Mountains were relieved. With their commander dead, their families in the Black Mountains wouldn't be implicated. So, they dropped their weapons and surrendered.

Of course, some die-hard Black Mountain generals and soldiers wanted to escape, but they avoided Zhao Yun only to run into Taishi Ci, who was following closely behind.

Taishi Ci and Zhao Yun joined forces to pursue and shoot the fleeing Black Mountain bandits. Before long, the Black Mountain bandits completely collapsed and knelt down to surrender.

Zhao Yun had people count the numbers and discovered that five to six thousand Black Mountain bandits had been killed or captured. He said to Taishi Ci in surprise, "Ziyi, you actually killed so many of them!"

Taishi Ci shook his head and said, "When I encountered them, there were only seven to eight thousand people. I only eliminated a little over a thousand."

Zhao Yun was even more surprised, "Didn't they say this force had twenty to thirty thousand men?"

"Could it be that the other ten thousand or so were killed by Qu Yi?"

The two of them pondered. Yuan Xi had only brought a few hundred cavalry, so it was impossible for him to rout the Black Mountain army. It could only have been Qu Yi from Beixin City who did it.

At most, Qu Yi could mobilize a little over two thousand soldiers. Could that really rout Bai Rao's twenty thousand strong army?

Two thousand Vanguard shock troops would be more like it!

You must know, Bai Rao was a general who had been famous among the Black Mountain bandits for many years. He was definitely not a weakling who would collapse at the first touch.

The two of them were full of suspicion. Only after escorting the Black Mountain prisoners back to Beixin City did they learn the whole story of the Black Mountain army's collapse from Qu Yi.

The two of them and Qu Yi stared at each other, wide-eyed. Could things really be like this?

In the future, when encountering the Black Mountain army, as long as the young lord raised his arms and shouted, what need would there be to fight?

When Qu Yi saw Yuan Xi, he raised the question in his heart. Yuan Xi explained, "The enemy will be prepared next time."

"After all, we are just spreading rumors. The Black Mountain army has been studying the Way of Peace for many years, and there are still many alchemists left behind by the Yellow Turbans to assist them."

"Moreover, this method is harmful to both sides. The enemy may not be unable to use this method against us."

"If you want to gain the support of the soldiers, you must use multiple methods. Simply relying on prophecies of the Way of Peace to scare people is not a long-term solution."

Guo Jia listened from the side and praised, "It is rare for the young lord to be so clear-headed. This is also what I wanted to say."

"After this battle, I will think carefully about how to modify the prophecies of the Way of Peace to minimize the backlash."

Everyone nodded in agreement. The set of things believed in by the Taiping Sect needed the support of the teachings of the Taiping Jing. For Beixin City, without a clear righteous cause as an excuse, it would be difficult to completely control.

In any case, Yuan Xi defeated this Black Mountain army with an unexpectedly small price. This meant that they saved a lot of time to make the next plan.

Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang's two routes should still be confronting the Black Mountain army. Even if a war breaks out, a victory or defeat cannot be determined in a short time.

Guo Jia said, "Now we have two choices. One is to go directly back to Yijing, and the other is to go to the middle route to support the eldest son."

Yuan Xi lowered his head and thought for a while, "I want to rush back to Yijing."

Guo Jia showed a look of approval when he heard this, "This is to fight a quick battle to force a quick decision."

"The advantage of this method is that if we rush back to Yijing and defeat Gongsun Zan in a short period of time, the Black Mountain army will naturally retreat."

"But if we can't take it down for a long time, and Gongzi Yuan Tan can't resist the Black Mountain army in the middle, the Jizhou soldiers in Yijing will instead fall into an encirclement on both sides."

"The key is, does the young lord have the confidence to break through Yijing in just a few days?"

Yuan Xi thought of what he had said to Yuan Shao when he left, and nodded, "I think I am still very confident."

Guo Jia smiled when he heard this, "Since the young lord said so, then I have nothing more to say."

"Good!" Yuan Xi said, "Since that's the case, let's rest for one night and rush back early tomorrow morning!"

Guo Jia's face turned bitter. Even though he was sitting in a carriage, his butt had been bounced raw these past few days. And now they had to go back to Yijing?

He was a military advisor, but he was also doing the job of a supervisor. Couldn't they find a few more strategists?

Not mentioning Guo Jia's grumbling, Yuan Xi saw that everyone looked tired, knowing that these days of traveling day and night had reached their limit, and immediately let the generals go back to rest.

After Zhao Yun came out, he saw Tian Yu, who was idle and looked like he had lost the will to live, and pulled him aside, "Do you feel like you didn't do anything this time?"

Tian Yu nodded, depressed, "This is the first time I've encountered such a bizarre thing. I shouted a few times, and the enemy army collapsed."

Zhao Yun smiled and said, "Don't mention you, I'm the same."

"Over time, you will find that the young lord is a very different person from the sons of aristocratic families."

"I'm short of a cavalry captain here. Would you like to come over and help me?"

Tian Yu was still hesitating when Zhao Yun pulled him away and followed him to count the cavalry.

Qu Yi saw that Sun Li wanted to go home and pulled him, "What's so good about a wife? Come drink with me!"

Sun Li said with a bitter face, "Brother, don't trick me. We're still at war now. I'll be subject to military law if I drink without permission."

"Brother, your injuries need to be suppressed with alcohol, which is specially allowed by the young lord. How dare I do that? Even if the young lord doesn't punish me, I'll be beaten to death by my mother."

Qu Yi laughed loudly, "You already have children, and you're still afraid of your mother. You're an overgrown child!"

Sun Li's face turned red, and he muttered, "Don't think that I'm afraid of you because you saved my mother. In front of my mother, you still don't dare to fart."

Qu Yi's face turned unnatural when he heard this, but Sun Li was completely unaware, thinking that Qu Yi had been caught by his weakness, and said triumphantly, "Although I'm young, I'm already a father!"

"But Brother Qu, you haven't gotten married yet, so I don't know where you get the confidence to teach me a lesson."

Looking at Sun Li's triumphant appearance, Qu Yi kicked him hard on the butt, sending Sun Li flying.

"Go, go, go, what does a little brat know? I have enemies all over the world every day. What if my wife and children are caught by the enemy after I get married?"

"It's better to be free and easy now!"

A playful look appeared on Sun Li's face, "Even if you don't marry a wife, you can still have concubines."

"Brother Qu is already an official, so he can take concubines. There are more than a dozen concubines in this mansion. As long as you open your mouth, the young lord—"

Before he could finish speaking, Sun Li's ear was grabbed. He cried out in pain, "Who is so bold! I . . ."

He turned his head in pain, and as soon as he saw it, he was immediately frightened. His mother, Madam Ma, used force on her hand and looked at him angrily.

Amidst Sun Li's repeated pleas for mercy, Madam Ma said to Qu Yi with an unnatural expression, "Children speak without thinking. General, please don't blame him."

Qu Yi's face was also a little stiff, "Madam is too polite, I'll go first."

He strode away, turned around and left. Madam Ma looked at Qu Yi's disappearing back and sighed faintly.

Qu Yi was also a person with a thief's heart but no thief's courage. Madam Ma had wanted to ask Yuan Xi for help several times, but gave up at the last moment.

Forget it, it's good this way. Sun Li already has descendants, so I can be considered worthy of the Sun family.

Sun Li secretly looked at his mother. He didn't understand Madam Ma's thoughts at all. If he had understood Qu Yi and Madam Ma's thoughts a little bit, he might have passed out.

Qu Yi felt depressed and wanted to find Taishi Ci to practice a few moves, but he heard from the servant that Taishi Ci had already gone back to rest.

He then realized that he was different from others. The other generals were going to go out with Yuan Xi to fight tomorrow, but he was staying behind to guard Beixin City.

He remembered that Wu Zhao had mentioned a few days ago to let him help revise and improve the method of training soldiers. Now he already had ideas and could dictate them to Wu Zhao and Cao Xian.

He slapped his head again. The young lord would definitely meet with the two women Wu Zhao today. What was he going to do to get involved!

Qu Yi felt that he had become a superfluous person. He couldn't stay idle, so he went out of the mansion all the way to the edge of Beixin City.

He climbed the city wall, and the soldiers saluted him one after another. Qu Yi nodded slightly and turned his gaze to the city below.

Below were densely packed soldiers and civilians, who were cleaning the battlefield.

The first step in cleaning the battlefield was to check whether there were any living people. If there were any of our own soldiers who had fainted, even if their lives were not long, they would try their best to rescue and treat them.

After all, soldiers go to the battlefield to fight, and anyone may encounter this kind of thing. If they see death and do not save them, the morale of the army will be scattered.

Then comes the collection of supplies. Grain and supplies must be transported back. Weapons, armor, clothing, and grain bags from the dead are also collected.

Qu Yi looked up, and the dead soldiers were stripped naked and thrown on board carts, piled high. From a distance, they looked like freshly steamed white buns.

Finally, it's time to deal with the corpses.

Yuan Xi had issued a decree that in battles within his territory, if conditions permitted, the corpses should be disposed of as soon as possible to avoid exposing them in the wilderness or sinking them into the river, so as not to pollute the water source and cause epidemics.

There are also several ways to deal with them. If the soldiers of our side have family members to claim them, let them take them back for burial. If not, dig a large pit away from the water source and fill them in together, which is considered to be buried in the ground for peace.

For enemy soldiers, they are often piled with firewood and burned.

The method of cremation has existed since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The Mozi records: "West of Qin, there is the country of Yiqu. When their relatives die, they gather firewood and burn it, and the smoke rises, which is called ascending to heaven."

This method is more convenient than burial, and it is also a deterrent to the enemy. After all, in the minds of people at this time, burial can bring peace to the dead.

Qu Yi saw one fire after another lit, and the corpses burned and deformed in the crackling firewood, their curled limbs pointing to the sky. The unpleasant burnt smell was carried into his nostrils by the blowing wind.

But he was completely unaware, looking towards the western horizon. On the distant side, across Bing Province, was his hometown of Liang Province.

His ancestors were actually very famous.

The Book of Han · Biography of Wang Jia and the Yuanhe Clan Compilation record that the Qu surname was changed from the Ju surname. Ju Tan, the Shangshu Ling of Emperor Ai of the Western Han Dynasty, was implicated in the "conspiracy of Liu Yun, the King of Dongping, to erect a stone in Hulu Mountain" and was demoted to a commoner. Fearing further persecution, he led his son Ju Bi to "seek refuge in Huangzhong, live in Xiping, and change the Ju to Qu."

Xiping was a remote area, far away from the capital, bordering the Qiang Hu. Its location was exactly the opposite of the Pingyuan County east of Chang'an. It was a good place to avoid disaster. From then on, Ju Bi changed his name to Qu Bi, the first ancestor of the Xiping Qu clan.

So it seems that many Bing and Liang generals who were despised by the gentry were actually descendants of great gentry. Otherwise, they would not have passed down books and characters to their children, be proficient in bows and horses, and gather tribes to train warriors. This is something that ordinary gentry cannot do.

Who hasn't had rich ancestors?