Chapter 303: Stance

The battle inside Hengshan City ended quickly.

The soldiers who entered the city began clearing out the remaining enemies and simultaneously took over the warehouses of the Xiliang Army within the city.

Zhao Xu traveled all the way to the North Gate to observe the battle outside the city with Chang Wei.

The panic-stricken Xiliang soldiers clearly had not expected that there were still soldiers of Yan Wang here, and they were caught off guard.

Facing the head-on charge of the Cavalry, a large number of Xiliang soldiers dropped their Weapon and surrendered.

As for the soldiers who resisted stubbornly, the Wangfu Army naturally showed no mercy, swinging their blades and swords toward them.

However, a small number of Xiliang Cavalry still escaped the ambush circle.

The battle lasted from the morning until noon.

At this time, Bai Shang, who was responsible for the ambush, escorted a Xiliang general into Hengshan City.

"Your Highness, this person is the Xiliang deputy commander, Ye Renrong," Bai Shang said, cupping his hands.

Two soldiers pushed the disheveled Ye Renrong before Zhao Xu and pressed him to the ground.

Zhao Xu had never heard this name before.

However, Chang Wei laughed; he had crossed swords with Ye Renrong when he fought against Xiliang.

Within the Xiliang Army, this Ye Renrong was still a general with brains.

At that time, the Great Song Imperial Guard had suffered quite a bit at his hands.

He had not expected that he would be captured so easily today.

He said to Zhao Xu, "Your Highness, this person is a fierce general under the command of Tuoba Wuji."

Ye Renrong raised his head at this moment, his gaze fierce as he stared at Zhao Xu, "You are Yan Wang?"

Zhao Xu was not afraid in the slightest; he said coldly, "That is correct, I am Yan Wang."

"Heh, you do have some ability, but it is a pity; you will ultimately be unable to take back Jinzhou. My Xiliang grand army will definitely ensure you have no way back," Ye Renrong shouted.

The corners of Zhao Xu's mouth lifted in a smile of royal disdain.

The weak are provoked by a few words, but the strong only treat them with contempt.

He said indifferently, "Is that so? Since that is the case,

I will spare your life for now. Keep him; wait until Tuoba Wuji is captured, and I will have you two kneel before me together."

"Daydreaming!" Ye Renrong shouted.

Zhao Xu could not be bothered to argue with him and waved his hand to have the soldiers take him away.

At this moment, Chang Wei looked at Yan Wang; Yan Wang's words just now were truly exceptionally domineering, making his blood boil.

He said, "Your Highness, now that Hengshan County is taken, the next target is Xin City in Xinjun. Once that is taken, we can point directly at Jincheng."

Zhao Xu nodded slightly and said, "However, having lost Hengshan County, Xiliang will surely be enraged. The subsequent warfare will likely be even more brutal."

After a pause, he continued, "Moreover, there are two more county cities on the road from Xin City to Jincheng; these two county cities must also be conquered."

In ancient warfare, one often had to conquer one city after another.

He could not jump out of this pattern either.

The reason is that every city is both a fortress and a Granary.

Taking a city and then continuing the march is equivalent to shortening the supply line.

If one does not fight and instead bypasses the city occupied by the enemy to attack a more distant city,

it becomes like checkers, meaning the middle points are disconnected.

At that time, once the enemy in the middle city cuts off the supply line or attacks from both sides, it will be very uncomfortable.

In history, there are many examples of battles where, due to bypassing enemy cities, the result was being surrounded like a dumpling.

Chang Wei recalled the distribution of cities on the Sand Table and nodded.

The war in Jinzhou could not be rushed just because he was anxious.

The two continued to discuss for a while.

They decided to first clean up the battlefield and simultaneously have the following laborers transport grain and fodder into the Granary within the city.

Finally, they would consolidate the defenses of Hengshan City.

After all, this place had now become a bridgehead for the war, just like Feihu Pass.

Borrowing this step of jumping forward, they would continue to jump to the next step.

In the evening, Chang Wei told him the data from clearing the battlefield.

"Your Highness, in this battle, 6,621 Xiliang soldiers were killed, 9,100 were wounded, and 23,206 Xiliang soldiers surrendered. The remaining Xiliang soldiers rushed out of the encirclement and fled. According to the captured Xiliang general, there were over 42,000 people in the city, mainly 'Turncoat Soldiers'," Chang Wei said.

Zhao Xu was very satisfied with this number.

Basically, this battle crippled the army commanded by Ye Renrong.

However, what he regretted was that this Ye Renrong seemed to have mainly led the "Turncoat Soldiers," a force of turncoats.

"Handle the surrendered 'Turncoat Soldiers' according to the methods used in the camps; escort the Xiliang soldiers to Yanzhou and send them to the mines to dig for ore," Zhao Xu said.

Chang Wei acknowledged the order and continued, "Your Highness, there is one more thing. There are still many commoners in Hengshan City, and there are also some local Rich Clan who acted as accomplices to the evildoers. How should they be handled?"

Zhao Xu frowned, "Do not disturb the commoners in the city; execute the wicked Rich Clan for treason and selling out the country."

To him, there was no benefit in keeping these Rich Clan.

They represented the stubborn conservative forces of Great Song, a community of interests that hindered progress; they would inevitably be his enemies in the future.

In fact, when the Yuan Family rebelled, he had already realized this problem.

His own policy of attacking the Rich Clan and dividing the fields had indeed won the hearts of the people.

But this had seriously harmed the interests of the local Rich Clan.

That was why they would follow the Yuan Family in rebellion, even at the cost of eliminating him.

However, they had failed.

Taking advantage of the Yuan Family rebellion, he swept away the Rich Clans across the entire Yanzhou, becoming the one who had the last laugh.

Afterward, it was only logical for him to promote the policies of Yan Commandery throughout Yanzhou.

After all, with the Rich Clans gone, and given that he was acting for the sake of the Great Song empire, even his imperial father, Zhao Heng, could say nothing.

Of course, on the question of whether to stand in opposition to the Rich Clans, he had weighed which side to choose.

After much thought, he still chose to stand in opposition to them.

Admittedly, by winning over the Rich Clans and protecting their interests just like the Yuan Family, he could make himself appear compatible with Great Song and have fewer enemies.

But this was no different from drinking poison to quench thirst; the nature of the Rich Clans to stop at nothing to profit themselves would not change.

Moreover, when facing the Powerful Clans, they were inherently weak and extremely prone to yielding to them.

If he had adopted a strategy of heavily relying on the Rich Clans, he feared that by now, his iron smelting and cannon-making techniques would have all been wedding clothes made for the Powerful Clans.

It was even possible that the army under his command could have directly mutinied.

But now, he had chosen the impoverished commoners who stood in opposition to the Rich Clans and Powerful Clans.

To avoid returning to the dark age of being enslaved by the Rich Clans and Powerful Clans, they would inevitably unite tightly around him.

Even if the price of this was that he might one day become the public enemy of the Powerful Clans and Rich Clans of Great Song.

Therefore, since a side had been chosen, one must be firm in one's stance.

When facing the Rich Clans, one must absolutely not be soft-hearted.

Of course, he would not strike them all down with a single blow either.

This would undoubtedly be another extreme; for those Rich Clans that the commoners considered decent and benevolent, he would also show leniency.

Having made this decision, Zhao Xu let Chang Wei leave.

He pondered his next strategy by himself.

With the capture of Hengshan County this time, Xiliang would inevitably raise its vigilance and strengthen the defenses of the cities on the road to Jincheng.

In particular, they would guard against night raids, which would weaken the advantage of the Wangfu Army in night marches.

Therefore, he had to find a way to maintain this advantage.

After thinking for a while, he suddenly had an epiphany and nodded with a smile.