In the camp outside the county town.

In the commander's tent, the commander-in-chief Yuan Feng's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. He looked gloomily at the dozen or so colleagues sitting around him without saying a word. The atmosphere was extremely depressing.

Since the general went on the expedition, he has been victorious in every attack and has wiped out several groups of rebels. He has also pushed Zhao Yuanjin's troops to the point of despair. Seeing victory in sight, he does not know what despicable tricks this group of rebels have used.

, unexpectedly killed the general and many generals and lieutenants in a sneak attack, turning the tide of the battle and causing the morale of the imperial army to almost collapse.

Such a situation is so bad and the cause is unclear. Even the battle report does not know how to write it. I am afraid that the high-ranking adults in the court will not believe their words at all. They will only think that they are fighting poorly and committing adultery.

Caused by slippery play.

"Everyone..."

Counselor Zhu Yuntai's hoarse voice sounded: "Now that our army has undergone a sudden change, we must quickly discuss a charter. We must not mess up the position and give those rebels an opportunity."

A group of generals were silent. Yuan Feng took a breath and said dullly: "Now that the morale of the army has been lost, continuing to fight will only increase casualties. What else can we do?"

He is not a person who is greedy for life and is afraid of death, but the general died in the battle in an unknown way, and even his body could not be recovered. If he continues to fight hard, what if those traitors use the same method again?

What did the imperial army do to deal with it?

Now there are ominous signs of panic and rumors running rampant in the army. If this kind of weird defeat happens again, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses may be dispersed on the spot. Even if they, the generals, are lucky enough to survive, they will inevitably be killed afterwards.

The imperial court dismissed him and questioned him.

A guard general hesitated and said: "Perhaps we can lodge a complaint with the Ministry of War and ask for additional reinforcements..."

Zhu Yuntai shook his head with a wry smile. Now that the imperial court is in turmoil and all parts of the country are in emergency, how many troops are there to dispatch for support? What's more, the situation here cannot be solved by sending tens of thousands more reinforcements.

The top priority is to find out the hidden means possessed by Zhao Yuanjin's troops and figure out how to deal with them, so that the rebels can be eliminated as soon as possible.

Out of the careful mind of a counselor, he had a frightening premonition that if this matter was not dealt with as soon as possible, Zhao Yuanjin and his group of rebels would be like tigers that escaped from their cages, getting out of control, and would definitely become the confidants of the imperial court in the future.

Serious trouble.

The remaining generals deliberated for a long time, but failed to reach a conclusion. Once Meng Luo died, there was no second general in the army with enough prestige, qualifications and means to control the situation, so no one could convince anyone.

In the end, Zhu Yuntai could only propose that the army retreat to nearby counties and cities to wait for orders, and then report the battle situation to the court and wait for orders from the Ministry of War and the cabinet ministers.

…

In the city gate tower.

"Sir is back?!"

Zhao Yuanjin, who had been waiting here for a long time, was overjoyed to see Qin Feng's figure appear. No matter how weird the origin of this mysterious young man was, it was an undoubted fact that the magical means he possessed helped him get out of trouble.

Sun Xiangqing, Su Mu, Song Wu and other close confidants all around came forward to greet him. Their expressions were not only extremely respectful, but also vaguely awe-inspiring.

With just a few moves, he can easily kill the generals of the imperial court, scare off tens of thousands of imperial troops, and turn the lord's great cause into danger. This kind of incredible ability is not available to everyone.

"What's the situation outside? Where is the imperial army now?" Qin Feng asked.

"The imperial army has abandoned the camp outside the city and temporarily retreated to the neighboring Yangcheng County. It is said that they plan to petition the imperial court for additional reinforcements and invite imperial troops from surrounding counties to come over to assist." Zhao Yuanjin said with a relaxed expression.

.

Qin Feng smiled, and the Jiedushi Master naturally realized that no matter what the imperial court's reaction was, it would not pose much threat to him in a short period of time. Therefore, he could calmly reorganize his troops and regain his strength. If he was lucky,

You can also look for opportunities to continue exploring surrounding counties.

"It seems that your Excellency has already made up his mind, so I don't need to worry too much." Qin Feng said.

"Having said that, there are still many areas where Zhao needs help from Mr. Zhao."

Zhao Yuanjin quickly handed over his hands and said: "Although the imperial troops have temporarily retreated, they may come back at any time once we receive follow-up reinforcements. We must speed up the repair of the city defense, recruit troops, buy horses, and stock up on weapons and food in order to carry out another big event. I hope you will not hesitate to help me."

"I also have this intention." Qin Feng nodded.

The two immediately started discussing. Now that the siege of the county has been lifted, Zhao Yuanjin's troops can leave the city freely. However, it is still difficult to raise ordnance supplies and expand troops. After all, the surrounding counties are no longer his territory.

Already.

A group of strong people can be recruited from the county town to supplement the army, and some people can also be recruited from the surrounding villages and towns adjacent to the county town. However, the total number will only be a few thousand people, and it will take time to train.

If you want to expand your army quickly, you can only seize more territory to meet such conditions.

"I plan to take back Qinghe County and Yuanxiang County, which are adjacent to the county seat first,"

Zhao Yuanjin said: "These two counties are not too big, but they still have a large population. And according to the information collected by spies, there are only a few hundred imperial soldiers stationed in both counties, so it will not take too much effort to capture them. Of course, this requires

Only with your help can we ensure that nothing goes wrong."

Qin Feng naturally had no objection. The imperial army suffered a sudden defeat and could not breathe for a while. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity to recuperate, the right way was to find ways to seize territory and expand strength.

There is indeed not much oil and water in two ordinary counties, but the legs of mosquitoes are still meat no matter how small they are. Most of the warlords and princes have accumulated their wealth bit by bit in this way.

Apart from anything else, after taking a county town, it is not a problem to recruit more than a thousand young people to strengthen the new army. Anyway, with Qin Feng as his backing, Zhao Yuanjin is not short of food and salary now, and it is not a problem to raise tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

"...By the way, how many wounded soldiers are there in the city?" Qin Feng suddenly asked.

Zhao Yuanjin replied: "There are more than 3,000 people. Of course, due to the lack of medical officers and medicines in the city, these soldiers basically cannot survive."

Qin Feng frowned and said nothing. This is actually a normal phenomenon. Due to the limitations of ancient times, the number of medical officers accompanying the army was very rare. They usually only served people with status. Ordinary soldiers rarely received timely treatment. Seriously wounded people

They will be given up on the spot. Those with minor injuries can only rely on their own physical strength to resist. If you are lucky, you may be able to simply apply some medicine.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty in my own time and space, the three elite battalions (Fifth Army, Shenji and Shenshu Battalions) that guarded the important areas of the capital had only one medical officer among an average of 17,300 people, and there were even fewer medical officers in the local garrison.

Already.

And this is the treatment that only the regular imperial army can receive. In the last years of the dynasty, when the world was in turmoil, those rebel refugees who had no stable territory and insufficient resources of all kinds, who in power would spend too much thought on medical logistics?

It would be good if the soldiers under his command could be fed and clothed.

The most important thing is that there were no anti-inflammatory drugs such as antibiotics in ancient times. The wound infection rate of injured soldiers was extremely high. Once infected, it meant a death sentence and there was no way to save them.

So under normal circumstances, it would be good if only 10% or 20% of the thousands of wounded soldiers under Zhao Yuanjin could survive on their own. If the city is finally defeated, they may even be ordered to be executed by the imperial army to avoid becoming a burden.

"In this case, I can provide you with enough healing medicine to help these wounded soldiers recover as soon as possible." Qin Feng said.

"If sir, there is a way to save them, Zhao would be very grateful." Zhao Yuanjin said overjoyed.

The only way for new recruits to grow up quickly is through actual combat. As long as they can fight on this bloody battlefield and survive in the end, they will naturally become valuable elites. If these wounded soldiers can successfully recover and return to the army, they will become rare in the future.

Elite soldiers and strong soldiers.

And as long as Qin Feng can continue to provide him with such life-saving drugs in the future, it means that the mortality rate of wounded soldiers under his command will be greatly reduced. Given the ebb and flow of one thing, the advantage over other feudal town rebels is self-evident.

After this issue was discussed, the next step was the issue of ordnance, food and grass. Since it was difficult to raise a sufficient amount of food and meat inside and outside the county at the same time, it was necessary to purchase large quantities from Qin Feng.

Of course, it is no better than when the city was besieged a few days ago, and in line with the principle of helping allies, Qin Feng's price is much cheaper. Two taels of silver are exchanged for one stone of grain, which is converted into gold and traded. In total, he can still make several times the profit.

.

Finally, Song Wu tentatively asked about the magic weapon Qin Feng used to kill Meng Luo, but he declined politely. Firearms were too dangerous, and he did not dare to let others get their hands on them. It was safest to have them in his own hands.
Chapter completed!