After the city of Puyang was broken, Liu Yixuan was ordered by General Zongze to clean the battlefield and bury the bodies in the city, while also having to count the seized materials and count the number of casualties. He was so busy that he was very busy. As a military clerk, Liu Yixuan completely became Zongze's secretary and learned mathematical statistics knowledge every day. In this era without excel, every set of data had to be carefully calculated with a pen.

After two days of busy work, Liu Yixuan successfully completed the work at hand, drafted the final data into a document, and submitted it to Zong Ze for review.

"Elder General, in this battle of Puyang, 13,079 Jin soldiers were killed and injured, and 401 were captured. Our army lost 4,263 people, and more than 2,000 wounded soldiers. The number of money, grain, horses and other materials was also seized. Please take a look at the old general!" Liu Yixuan came to Zongze's room and handed over the sorted accounts to Zongze for a look.

Zong Ze took the list and held the oil lamp on the desk in his hand. He looked at the words on the list carefully. After all, he was nearly 70 years old and his eyes were no longer as bright as before. He browsed the accounts and saw that the Song army suffered more than 6,000 casualties in this battle, and felt depressed and sighed helplessly.

Zong Ze asked: "Have the bodies of these fallen soldiers been buried?"

"Please rest assured that the bodies of the enemy and our army have been buried in Qingnigang west of the city."

"Qingnigang? Where is that?" Zong Ze asked.

"It is said to be a hill, where there are pine and cypresses, and it is evergreen all year round, and it is also considered a Feng Shui treasure land." Liu Yixuan replied.

"Oh, that's good. It's a blessing for these soldiers to sacrifice their lives for the country and being buried by their comrades. If the air is still hot today, the corpse should be buried away from the water source to prevent a plague."

"Yes, I've told them all this, please don't worry, the veteran general."

Zong Ze finished checking the accounts and said to Liu Yixuan: "Nephew Liu, you have worked hard these days, so go back early. I will report these casualties to the court, so I won't keep you."

"Okay, I will leave after my son. The old general doesn't have to work too much. Be careful of your health!" After that, he bowed to Zong Zeshen and closed the door and left.

Liu Yixuan came to the yard and stretched his body hard, and suddenly felt much more relaxed. He followed the corridor in the yard and returned to his room. Liu Yixuan lay on a wide bed, quietly recalling what had happened in the past few days. He has indeed experienced a lot in the past ten days. Since he issued a military order to cross the Yellow River at night, he has lived a worried life every day, and his spirit has been in a highly nervous state. Fortunately, Puyang has been taken down now, and he can finally breathe.

"Oh, I finally finished the work at hand. These days have been so exhausted! I used to be so eager to one day ride on the battlefield and be a great hero admired by thousands of people. But in the days of coming to the Northern Song Dynasty, I truly understood that no matter what era it was, war will always be the biggest tragedy in the world. No matter you are a warrior who is the bravest army or a commander who commands thousands of troops, you cannot escape the nameless fear brought to you by death, and the pressure of living that witnessed death brings to you.

In this world, only those who have lost their conscience and inhumanity will desire war, but from the perspective of the entire history of human war, none of these people who are eager to seek pleasure from the blood of the same kind have ended up with a good end…”

Liu Yixuan is a person who loves random thoughts. After experiencing the baptism of war personally, he began to have a clearer understanding of the war. No matter whether his understanding is profound or not, he fell asleep after all.

After three consecutive days, Zong Ze recruited the generals of the army to discuss matters at the government office. It turned out that the Song army, who had gone to Cizhou to inquire about the news, came to report that Han Ji, the garrison of Cizhou, had ordered martial law throughout the city. Han Ji was originally a Song minister, and a sect general under the garrison of Yanshan garrison. After Guo Yaoshi surrendered, Han Ji also followed Guo Yaoshi to join the Jin people.

In April, the Jin soldiers crossed Henan and went south. Guo Yaoshi made many extraordinary achievements. In order to encourage these surrendered generals, the lord Wanyan Sheng appointed Guo Yaoshi as the commander of the army and horses of Hebei, and asked him to station in Handan and temporarily manage the army and horses of Hebei. Guo Yaoshi appointed Han Ji as the garrison of Cizhou and ordered him to station in Cizhou. However, the Song army took advantage of the tight war in the north of Jin and sent troops to recover the lost city and land, which made these surrendered generals of Song who surrendered to the Jin people shocked and scared.

Seeing that all the generals in the army had arrived, Zong Ze spoke, "I'll call you here today to discuss the attack on Cizhou. According to the spy, Han Ji, the garrison of Cizhou, has blocked four gates and is stepping up preparations in the city. In addition, the children of Prince Wanyan also fled to Cizhou. It seems that this attack on Cizhou will be a fierce battle. I wonder if you all have any good strategies to defeat the enemy?"

When the generals saw the old generals asking this question, they didn't have any good plans. Besides, what other good plans are needed for this siege? Didn't they all siege for a few days first, and then let the soldiers eat and drink, carry the ladder, and climb straight up the city wall? This has been the case in ancient times.

When the governor of Runan Jie, Ma Menglong, saw that the generals were silent, he spoke, "I don't know what the so-called 'good strategy' of the old general is? The military strategy says: 10 will surround it, 5 will attack it, and twice as many will fight it. Now our army's troops are more than twice as many as those of the Cizhou troops. Naturally, we must first surround the city and wait for an opportunity to lure the enemy out of the city. If the enemy cannot stand firm, then make a plan!"

After hearing what Ma Menglong said, the generals nodded and said yes, thinking that it was reasonable. In fact, there was no good way to deal with this kind of siege battle. Moreover, the commander Zong Ze only had 50,000 troops this time. When fighting this kind of attack, every time a city was defeated, some of the troops would be lost. If the personnel were not replenished in time, they would not go too far.

Zong Ze naturally thought of what Ma Menglong said, but he was not willing to let the Song army attack the city in this simple and crude way. Just like this attack on Puyang, it was precisely because Liu Yixuan sneaked into the city in advance and set fire to the city to reduce the pressure on the attacking city. If he blindly attacked, the Puyang city would lose most of his troops. The "good strategy" mentioned by Zong Ze was also such a strategy.

Zong Ze smiled and said, "I have thought that General Ma's words, but Cizhou City is high and deep, and is not comparable to ordinary cities. If our army forcibly attacks the city, even if it breaks Cizhou, it will suffer heavy losses. I want to ask you, are there any other good strategies to avoid such frontal attacks?"

"This..." The generals looked at each other, and there was no other way. Zong Ze turned to look at Liu Yixuan, thinking that young people might be smart and might have good plans.

"Young Master Liu, do you have a good plan to defeat the enemy?" Zong Ze asked.

Seeing that Zong Ze valued him so much, Liu Yixuan came to ask if he had any good plans. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to lose such a good opportunity to show his face in vain. However, Liu Yixuan was Liu Yixuan after all, and even if he had no good plans, he would have to say a few words.

"This is a good strategy. Wansheng hasn't figured it out yet. However, as far as Wansheng knows, the defending general of Cizhou was originally from Song, and most of the soldiers guarding the city were rebels who surrendered in the past. It is better to send people to persuade the surrender after we besiege the city. If we can't persuade the surrender, then use tricks to lure the enemy out of the city. If we can't lure the enemy, we will work together to attack the city. If we can't attack the city... Then I have no choice. In short, everything can happen on the battlefield. It's better to act according to the opportunity and take a look at the time!"

After Liu Yixuan said this, Ma Menglong sneered at him, thinking in his heart: "It seems that this young talent that the veteran General Zongze values ​​is just like that. He thought that he was just a sour scholar who was full of empty guns."

After hearing this, Zong Ze was a little disappointed. Seeing that the generals had no good plans, he had to decide to take one step at a time.

While everyone was discussing, they suddenly saw the guards outside the door coming to report. "Report to the old general that an imperial envoy came outside the city, saying that he had come with an imperial edict and was waiting outside the city!"

When Zong Ze heard the imperial envoy arrive, he stood up and replied to the commander: "Come to the imperial envoy quickly and ask the imperial envoy to enter the city, and he said that the general and the generals of all sizes are waiting in the government office!"

The messenger was ordered to go out. When many generals heard the imperial edict, they must have been the emperor who heard that Puyang had broken up and sent an imperial envoy to reward the three armies. Everyone was talking and excited.

"Generals, please change your official uniforms quickly and follow me to the court to receive the order!"

Soon, the sentry led several eunuchs in purple palace uniforms into the gate. The eunuchs led quickly to the hall and stood on a high place to proclaim:

"Zong Ze and his soldiers under the tent listened to the order! The imperial edict said:

I heard that the expedition was a victory in the battle, and within ten days I crossed the Yellow River at night, took Puyang wisely, promoted the power of our great Song army, and comforted the people of the Song Dynasty. This is the example of the "Three Divisions"! I observed the hard work of the soldiers on the front line, and felt the heroes of the fallen soldiers. I specially ordered the Ministry of War to allocate money and grain to reward them. I also gave ten jars of imperial wine, a thousand pounds of cattle and mutton to reward the troops on the expedition! I admire this!"

Zong Ze and the soldiers of the three armies bowed down and bowed, shouted long live, and received the order to thank him. Zong Ze took the order from the young eunuch and hurriedly said, "If you are a good man, come and send the order to pass the order, come to the living room to have tea!"

The little eunuch laughed and said, "The old general is not busy. The imperial wine and cattle and sheep have been sent outside the door. Please send someone to check and accept it. Also, I wonder which one is Liu Yixuan, the young master of the Liu Prime Minister?"

When Liu Yixuan heard that the eunuch was about to see him, he hurried over and said, "I am Liu Yixuan, I don't know what my father-in-law has to give!"

The young father-in-law glanced at him, took out an imperial edict from his sleeve, and said, "Liu Yixuan received the edict!"

The generals straightened up and saw that the young father-in-law was about to announce the order again, they quickly knelt down and listened to the order. After hearing the young father-in-law's words, Liu Yixuan was stunned at first, thinking that he had heard it wrong. How could the Emperor Qinzong give him an imperial edict? Seeing the person beside him kneeling down and obeying the order, he was sure that he had heard it wrong, and quickly knelt down and accepted the order.
Chapter completed!