Yang Kai Shan and Feng Chou Nian were filled with regret, as the difficult road conditions meant that their four flags could only travel over 60 miles in two days. Even if they quickened their pace, it was still just a token effort. Looking at his panting and dissatisfied soldiers under his command, Yang Kai Shan and Feng Chou Nian really felt a bit sorry for them, planning to comfort them well when they returned...

  Xu Hui led his five hundred auxiliary soldiers to clean up the battlefield, collecting scattered weapons and armor on the carts they brought with them, while also dispatching people to count the prisoners and spoils of war.

  Han Feng led a team to supervise the laborers squatting on the ground, while more than a dozen sharp-eyed soldiers under Su Wenchang's leadership carefully identified whether there were any fugitives mixed in among them. From time to time, some suspicious people who were sneaking around were dragged out by them...

  General Chen Qingqi and his men were each stroking and patting their beloved horses, their faces radiant with joy.

  "This time, the casualties of each flag have been counted. Our flag has a total of 17 people injured, with no deaths, and all are lightly wounded. After applying medicine and bandaging, they will not affect the march...". Guo Tao reported to Liu Ce that the losses of each flag were as follows: "Most of the injuries were caused by counterattacks during cavalry charges, and two riders had their shoulders and legs cut by swords. They have now been treated with golden wound medicine and bandages to prevent infection..."

  Liu Ce nodded, very satisfied: "Those wrist-jointed injured officers also need to use the wine of trauma to wipe down, so they can recover faster. In such cold weather, don't leave any hidden illness, go find Xu Hui for medicine..."

  "Thank you, General." Chen Qing bowed and took his leave, feeling a warmth in his heart.

  "Guo Tao, how are the casualties in your unit?" Liu Ce asked Guo Tao beside him.

  "Reporting to the General, eight people were injured, no one died in battle, and the wounded soldiers have been treated with medicine and bandaged." Guo Tao was very satisfied with his own flag department's performance today.

  "Zi Jun, have you finished calculating?" Liu Ce looked at Chu Zi Jun with a worried expression.

  "Reporting to General, four people in our unit were injured, none killed, and have now..."

  After listening to the casualty reports from various troops, Liu Ce let out a sigh of relief and thought to himself: "My elite vanguard has only 28 men injured in this battle, all of whom are lightly wounded and will not affect our march. We have won a great victory against 8,000 strong enemy soldiers, what an achievement! Is there anyone else who can achieve such a feat in the entire river region? It was worth it!"

  Just as Liu Ce was still basking in the joy of victory, Xu Hui brought the fruits of this war victory.

  "Report to the General: We have discovered 3,760 corpses of bandits, captured over 1,400 prisoners, and obtained 470 sets of leather armor, 87 sets of iron armor, and 1,133 horses, among which 980 can be used as mounts. The total number of weapons is 3,400 pieces, but only about half are usable, with the rest needing to be repaired by Master Feng. Additionally, we have found 840 sets of infantry bows, over 85,000 arrows, and an estimated 100,000 pounds of various iron tools and blades. We also discovered 28,000 pounds of iron bars and blocks cast from refined iron, as well as 82,000 stones of grain, over 30,000 bundles of fodder for livestock, over 1,000 bags of charcoal, some wound medicine, and over 400 usable mules and donkeys, hand-pushed carts..."

  Listening to Xu Hui's report on the captured materials, Liu Ce knew that this trip had made a big profit again. The iron material problem that had been troubling him was temporarily solved, and the strength of Jingwei Camp would be further enhanced.

  Xu Hui reported the numbers and then sighed, "Unfortunately, I was too early or too late, and still missed a step. I didn't deliver the armor in time. I hope General will forgive me."

  Liu Ce smiled and said, "Never mind, let's just consider this expedition a long-distance drill. Besides, human strength can't be compared to horse power. It was my oversight, but from now on, I'll make sure everyone in the Jingwei Camp rides horses to improve our marching efficiency and avoid delaying military operations."

  Xu Hui nodded and then said: "General, what about those civilians?"

  "Hmm?" Liu Ce looked at the civilians huddled beside the baggage carts and fell into deep thought...

  "Chen Qing, you little scamp, you've achieved a great feat this time!" Yang Kai-shan said with a jealous expression to Chen Qing, who was feeding his black horse, his tone carrying a hint of sourness. He had learned from Sun Biao and others that in this battle, Chen Qing's over 300 cavalrymen had killed thousands of bandits, causing them to fall off their horses.

  Chen Qing saw that the black beans in his hand had been eaten by his beloved horse, and couldn't help but smile at Yang Kai Shan: "It's not like General's teachings are wrong, how to train cavalry for battle methods tell me, plus the help of riding armor, riding spears, ring-headed knives, and horseshoes, saddles, we have such a big victory, our general is really a god..."

  Yang Kai Shan nodded in deep agreement: "The General is indeed a divine being, from the moment I met him until now, I have seen too many miracles..."

  General Chen patted the horse's neck and said, "The general also said that from now on, every day's training will add a riding technique training. All the soldiers of the Imperial Guard must learn to march on horseback, increase mobility efficiency, and strive to become a 'dragon cavalry' that can quickly reach any battlefield."

  ……

  On the other side, Xue Peng and Qin Mo watched as the Jingwei camp soldiers cleaned up the battlefield, and couldn't help but sigh: "I, Xue Peng, am convinced. I've been through many battles myself, but I've never seen such a way of fighting before. How did they manage to do it?"

  Qin Mo smiled but didn't speak, his gaze towards Liu Ce in the distance became even more determined...

  "Are you sure these people are not ordinary citizens, but bandits mixed among them?" Liu Ce asked when he arrived at the location of the luggage and saw hundreds of people tied up in a bundle by Su Wenchuan and several others.

  Su Wen-chang said: "I have let those common people identify, and there will be no mistake. Besides, more than a dozen who tried to escape have been executed on the spot."

  "Alright, after you go back, you can be the captain of the candidate team. I will arrange the personnel for you, let's start with a hundred people first." Liu Ce was very satisfied with Su Wenchang's performance.

  Su Wenchuan suppressed his excited emotions and cupped one hand in the other, saying: "Thank you, General, for your cultivation!"

  Liu Ce shook his head and said, "No need for more courtesy, I promised you a few days ago, and I should fulfill my promise. You must remember not to slack off!"

  Su Wen Cang's eyes sparkled: "Yes sir! I guarantee I won't disappoint General!"

  "Hmm..." Liu Ce nodded, "Take these bandits to the prisoner's circle, we'll deal with them later."

  Su Wenchuan led the disguised bandits out and then looked at the civilians, starting to worry about how to deal with these people.

  Just as Liu Ce was about to turn around and head somewhere else, a young man suddenly blocked his way, knelt down with a thud, and started kowtowing.

  "What are you doing?" Liu Ce didn't stop him, "Say whatever you want."

  The young man knelt on the ground, lifted his head, and with disheveled hair and a dirty face said: "Please, brave warrior, take me in! I am willing to be your servant and follow you left and right! Just let me avenge my parents..."

  Liu Ce didn't directly answer him, but instead exchanged a glance with Wu Zhenying beside him, then said: "Old Wu, take him to Xu Hui's place to apply some wound medicine, and have someone prepare food. These past few days we've been eating dry rations, if we don't get something hot it's really unbearable."

  After finishing speaking, Liu Ce ignored the kneeling youth and took a step to leave. The youth suddenly hugged his leg and said, "I beg of you, sir, to take me in!"

  "Be bold, but don't be rude." Wu Zhenying hastily pulled him away from Liu Ce's leg.

  "Take me in, sir! I want revenge for my parents!" The young man yelled with a broken heart.

  Liu Ce stopped in his tracks, turned around and said coldly, "Why should I avenge you? What do you think the Jingwei Camp is? Ah? Are we your tool for revenge?" Then, without waiting for the young man to speak, he said to Wu Zhenying, "Old Wu, tell Xu Hui to cook more food, use the heavy materials, it's estimated that they can't finish moving them anyway, so just do the portions of those civilians together!"

  ……

  Waves of smoke rose in the air above the battlefield, and more than a hundred large pots were being watched by hundreds of auxiliary soldiers and civilians, who were constantly observing the bubbling rice porridge inside the pots, occasionally adding firewood to the fire.

  "Alas, unfortunately I, Nie Bao, still didn't get the chance to gain military merit this time. It's really heartbreaking. Otherwise, after this battle, I would have at least become a company commander. Alas..." In front of a large pot, Wu Chang Nie Bao, under Feng Chouyan's command, was constantly sighing and lamenting, but his expression seemed carefree and nonchalant, which was quite astonishing.

  "I said, Brother Nie, I don't see what's wrong with you, why are you sighing?" Huang Hengyun asked as he passed by and heard Nie Pan muttering to himself.

  Nie Bang's face turned red with embarrassment as he said, "Huang Jia Chang, you don't know the situation. This time we missed our chance, and who knows when we'll have another opportunity to make a new achievement? Alas... Just now, General Qi and I were talking, and because of my poor performance this time, having only killed a few dozen fleeing bandits, I'm afraid the position of Jia Chang is out of reach. He just said he would speak with the general about making me a Shi Chang instead... Ugh, it's really not satisfying..."

  Huang Hengyun kicked him directly with one foot, damn it, no wonder Laozi saw you with a sighing expression as if still smiling, and the feeling of being promoted.

  "Hey, kid! Don't run away! Come back here! I'll beat you to death!" Huang Hengyun shouted loudly as he chased after Nie Yan in the crowd. At the same time, he felt a sense of crisis and knew he had to try harder, otherwise it would be too humiliating if the new recruit surpassed him.

  "What a big man you are, still arguing with a child, it's really embarrassing for us old soldiers." Not far away, Zuo Zhuang looked at the big and small ones running around in circles with disdain, shaking his head.

  ……

  After a hot meal, Liu Ce, Guo Tao, Chen Qing and Qin Mo Xue Peng felt much more at ease. Especially Xue Peng, who hadn't had a hot meal in several dozen days. At this time, he held his stomach and leaned against a large stone, looking at the battlefield where his soldiers were devouring dried meat and drinking hot soup, feeling a twinge of guilt in his heart.

  Qin Mo said to Xue Peng, "General Xue, what are your plans next?"

  Xue Peng was taken aback and said slowly, "Of course, I plan to go to Cai State City first, then take a detour to Sheng State to report the news about Miss back to Master."

  Qin Mo said: "But now that the southern part of the river source is already sealed off, how can General Xue go to Cai State?"

  "This...” Xue Peng worried about this, now he and his soldiers had been rushing around for several months, and had become a lone army with nowhere to go. The roads in the south were also impassable, and on such a cold day, lacking clothes and food, without a place to settle down, what was to be done?

  Liu Ce saw Xue Peng's face was difficult, so he spoke out: "If General Xue doesn't mind, why not follow me to Jingwei Camp and rest at Meihe Town for the time being? We can make plans after the battle of Wuliang Town is over." This time, the victory in eliminating the bandits was great, and Xue Peng's army also made a lot of efforts. Liu Ce's view of him had gradually improved, and he couldn't bear to see him wandering around again, so he decided to invite him to enter Meihe Town together.

  Xue Peng listened, and looked at Qin Mo again. He saw Qin Mo smiling and nodding his head. Immediately, he bowed to Liu Ce and thanked him: "In that case, Xue will not be polite, thank you, sir!"

  Liu Ze replied, "General Xue is too polite. Today I see that the general's martial prowess surpasses others. When we return to Meihe Town, I still hope you won't decline my request for guidance."

  ……

  "Doesn't it hurt?" In the heavy-duty department, Xu Hui's auxiliary soldiers were applying medicine and bandaging the young man's wounds, but when the medicine was applied to the wound, he endured it without making a sound.

  "I'll take revenge!" The young man muttered to himself, his eyes full of hatred.

  The deputy commander sighed: "Little brother, to be honest with you, we are ordinary people who have been harmed by the bandits just like you. If it weren't for meeting the general, I'm afraid we wouldn't be alive today. Who doesn't have a grudge? Look at my elite guards, which one of them isn't filled with hatred towards the bandits?"

  The young man's eyes lit up and he exclaimed loudly: "I want to join the Imperial Guard!"

  What you are reading now is only half a chapter of "Yi Jie Feng Huo Lu" Chapter 60: Liu Family Army. To read the full version, please search on Baidu for () and then search again for "Yi Jie Feng Huo Lu".