Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 317 Cleaning

On the battlefield.

The noisy drums, trumpets and sounds of fighting have become a thing of the past, replaced by the sound of rain falling. If it were not for the occasional groans of soldiers and the movements of auxiliary troops cleaning the battlefield, who would have known that a decisive battle that was enough to change the ownership of East Asia had just taken place here.

Song Jianping, wearing a straw raincoat, directed his team of auxiliary soldiers to clean up the corpses. These auxiliary soldiers, like scavengers on the battlefield, silently began to clean up the battlefield.

As the saying goes, after a major disaster, there will be a major epidemic. There are too many corpses, which can easily lead to an epidemic. Although the weather is still cold at this time, they need to be cleaned up as soon as possible.

The auxiliary troops shuttled across the battlefield, looking for soldiers who might still be alive, but most of them were Qing troops, with only a few Zhou troops.

Broken weapons, scattered armor, shattered shields, and unrecognizable bodies. After being soaked in rain for so long, the battlefield was still covered with red blood.

Song Jianping looked at the scene in front of him and said with some emotion: "What does it mean to have a river of blood? Today I finally understand it thoroughly."

A younger brother beside him, named Sun Bao, was only sixteen years old and was also from Changshu. When Sun Bao heard what Song Jianping said, his eyes lit up and he quickly said, "The captain is really talented in writing. He speaks very well, as if he were talking to a scholar."

Hearing this, Song Jianping said unhappily, "Stop flattering me."

Sun Bao came closer with a smile on his face and asked Song Jianping, "Captain, I heard from everyone that you have seen the king?"

Song Jianping sneered and said with a little pride: "Haha, what do you mean by seen? I used to be with the king day and night, inseparable. Do you know Lin Shiqi?"

Seeing Sun Bao's confused face, Song Jianping raised his chin slightly and continued, "Lin Shiqi used to be as high-ranking as me, but now he is the most important general under the king. And Huang Cheng, he had to salute me when he saw me before, but now he commands all the cavalry under the king. And that Meng Bian, and..."

Song Jianping talked more and more, and seeing Sun Bao's bewildered look, he said in a somewhat disappointed tone: "Forget it, what's the point of talking to a little kid like you? It's like talking to a cow."

Sun Bao asked innocently and puzzledly, "Captain General is very powerful, but since you know the king, why haven't you become a general?"

...Song Jianping said after a long while: "I don't like fame and fortune, so I politely declined the king's invitation!"

………………

The auxiliary soldiers had vomited enough. There were too many corpses. They could barely lift and place the dead Zhou soldiers with care, but they had a completely different attitude towards the corpses of the Qing soldiers. Even though some of the Qing soldiers still had a faint breath, the auxiliary soldiers ignored them.

A group of auxiliary soldiers were digging a large pit to bury the bodies, but it was difficult to dig a pit in the rain. If they dug a little deeper, it would become a swimming pool. In desperation, a large number of bodies were piled up next to the pit.

In the process of cleaning the battlefield, the auxiliary soldiers will collect all the supplies on the battlefield, including weapons, armor, arrows, etc., regardless of whether they are good or bad. The auxiliary soldiers also need to sort these supplies, repair those that can be repaired, and send them back for remaking if they cannot be repaired.

Zhou Jun Camp,

After the great victory, although the soldiers were physically exhausted, they were all in high spirits. The rain soaked their armor but could not extinguish the fire in the soldiers' hearts. The soldiers' faces were filled with joy and pride of victory.

The Zhou army was fighting in the rain, and it was inevitable that they would get sick due to being caught in the rain. Meng Jun and the other generals had already anticipated this, but what Meng Jun did not expect was that the number of people who caught colds was far beyond his expectations.

Because of yesterday's fighting in the rain, a rough estimate shows that more than 20,000 people have been infected with colds. What is more troublesome is that there are also a large number of wounded soldiers, more than 16,000 seriously injured. With so many wounded and sick people, even if the heavy rain stops, the Zhou army, although victorious at this time, its combat effectiveness has been reduced to the lowest.

The camp was bustling with activity, as the medical officers' battle had just begun. The medical officers were undoubtedly the busiest in the camp at this moment. They shuttled between beds, treating the wounded and sick. The army's baggage carried herbs, but the demand was so great that they could only be transported from the army's logistics base.

On the one hand, there were the wounded and sick, and on the other hand, there were a large number of prisoners. The Qing army was defeated, and many people fled the battlefield and scattered in the countryside, while even more surrendered. According to extremely rough statistics, there were about 25,000 to 26,000 surrendered soldiers, and the number of Qing army casualties has not yet been counted.

Many of these captives were also infected with colds, but the Zhou army now did not even have enough herbal medicine for its own use, let alone for use on these captives. Their life and death depended on their luck.

While Meng Jun and other generals were struggling to deal with post-war affairs, Zheng Chenggong, far away in Ezhou City, was experiencing a completely different scene.

As early as when Bolo led 3,000 soldiers of the Bordered White Banner back to Ezhou, Zheng Chenggong, after landing his army, continued to march non-stop, with Zheng Chenggong and Chen Bin as the vanguard, leading more than 5,000 troops to Ezhou.

On the way, Chen Bin looked at the mighty infantry and said to his deputy Qin Da with some emotion: "I am used to wandering on the sea, and I have seen many storms, life and death, but as a man, who doesn't want to make achievements? Although I am a pirate, I am still willing to fight for my country."

Upon hearing this, Qin Da said, "Who says that a pirate cannot be a hero? Even if you are not a hero, the times can make heroes. The general will surely be able to achieve great achievements on the battlefield and go down in history."

Chen Bin laughed heartily, feeling energized.

Just when Chen Bin was eager to try, it suddenly started to rain heavily. Chen Bin had no choice but to stop advancing and set up camp on the spot.

What Chen Bin didn't know was that not far away, Bolo was leading the Bordered White Banner to attack. The distance from Ezhou City to the battlefield was enough for the cavalry to reach in more than two hours.

It was raining heavily, and the Eight Banners scouts found out that Zheng's army was setting up camp. Bo Luo looked at the increasingly heavy rain, pondered for a moment, frowned slightly, and said with a firm face: "It has just rained heavily, and the ground is not muddy. The pirates are setting up camp. They must not expect our army to attack. I intend to surprise the pirates and defeat their vanguard!"

As the saying goes, a large number of ants can kill an elephant, but in reality, in most cases, even if there are many ants, they cannot really kill an elephant, unless the ants are organized, trained and armed.

At this time, for Bolo, although the Zheng family's infantry was ten times larger in number than his own, Bolo was not afraid. It had only been a short time since Zheng Chenggong had gathered his troops, and the Zheng family was good at navy, and these pirates were naturally not good at land warfare.

What's more, his troops were only the vanguard, and in the heavy rain, the vanguard had actually been disconnected from the main force of the Zheng family in the rear. If they did not cut off their connection, they would suffer from the chaos. Bolo had only 3,000 soldiers of the Bordered White Banner. Even though they were elite, they were greatly outnumbered. There was no chance of winning in a head-on battle. The only way was to take risky measures and win by surprise!