Chapter 615: A Lesson

"Rumble, rumble, rumble..."

While the villagers were scavenging, the cavalry galloped across the fields, chasing down the fleeing Qi soldiers.

As a cavalry saber was raised, a soldier would fall.

There was cavalry in the open fields pursuing them, and Village Soldiers ambushing them inside the village.

Before long, the entire Qi army was wiped out, with only three or five soldiers escaping to the north; this was only because Zhang Tang had ordered them not to pursue.

Once the fighting ended, Zhang Tang led his soldiers into the village.

In this battle, only a few Infantry were struck by stray bullets, but they were only minor injuries.

After all, the Qi soldiers had fired back; although they were outside the effective range of their Flintlock, they were still within the maximum range.

Bullets that had exhausted their momentum could still graze the skin.

Besides that, twelve cavalrymen were stabbed by the Qi soldiers' Bayonet during the pursuit.

"General, these are the prisoners we captured."

The Village Soldiers walked out from various parts of the village at this time.

They escorted quite a few captured soldiers to stand before Zhang Tang.

Looking at these Yanzhou commoners, Zhang Tang's frost-like expression suddenly melted, revealing a warm smile.

One must be cold-blooded when facing enemies, and friendly when facing one's own people.

This was a principle that all Wangfu Army, from generals to soldiers, had to follow.

"Many thanks, many thanks. Once I return to the county seat, I will certainly report your merits," Zhang Tang said.

He then asked who the Village Head was and said to the Village Head of Dachang Village: "The soldiers and Warhorse that fought just now trampled quite a bit of rice. Estimate your losses, and the Government Office will compensate you."

The Village Head laughed: "You treat us too much like outsiders; what does this little bit of loss amount to?"

Zhang Tang shook his head: "This is a matter of discipline for our Prince's Personal Army. If you do not accept it, we will be punished when we return."

Seeing Zhang Tang's serious expression, the Village Head had no choice but to let the villagers and the Wangfu Army estimate the losses together and report the figure to Zhang Tang.

Silently noting it down, Zhang Tang ordered the soldiers to clear the battlefield and take custody of the prisoners.

Immediately, he led the soldiers back to the county seat and then escorted the prisoners to Fanyang.

"General, the Qi army has been completely annihilated by us," Zhang Tang said. "We also captured a Dongying general."

Upon arriving at Fanyang, Zhang Tang went to the General's Mansion at the first opportunity to report the battle situation to Chang Wei.

Chang Wei nodded; he had full confidence in the outcome of this battle.

Winning was normal; losing would have been strange.

"Well done. Next, you must continue to strictly guard the Yanzhou border. Leave this Dongying general to me; I am going to escort him to Yancheng to hand him over to His Highness," Chang Wei said.

The cavalry that came to Fanyang this time, in addition to the order to wipe out this Qi army, also brought a message from Yan Wang, asking him to return for a trip, as there seemed to be important matters to discuss.

Qin Shan and Zhang Tao both responded in the affirmative.

After giving a few more instructions,

Chang Wei, under the protection of his personal guards, set off for Yancheng.

At the same time, he sent the Dongying general and the captured translator to Yancheng.

As for the captured Qi soldiers, he had Qin Shan first attempt to persuade them to surrender.

Those willing to stay were allowed to remain in Yanzhou.

As for those unwilling to surrender, they were released back to Qi.

This method had already been used on the Jinzhou battlefield and had achieved a certain effect.

This would make soldiers with weak wills more inclined to surrender to them rather than fight to the death when the battle turned against them.

Of course, this method was aimed at Great Song soldiers; Dongying soldiers were the exception.

Two days passed.

Chang Wei's party arrived at Yancheng.

When heading to the Prince's Mansion, he had his personal guards escort the Dongying general along with him.

"Your Highness, the Qi army has been defeated by us, and the captured Qi soldiers have been dealt with according to the method used in Jinzhou. This is the Dongying general we captured; the other captured Dongying soldiers have been locked in the jail, waiting to be sent to the mines and other places."

Zhao Xu nodded with satisfaction.

This procedure seemed to be very familiar to Chang Wei by now.

Like Chang Wei, he had absolute confidence in winning this small-scale battle.

At this moment, he looked at the Dongying general and the pirate translator kneeling beside him.

While Chang Wei was speaking with Zhao Xu, the Dongying general's mouth was not behaving, constantly uttering phrases like "Idiot" and "Damn it."

Chang Wei remained unaware, but Zhao Xu's expression darkened.

However, he did not fly into a rage immediately, but instead looked at the pirate beside the Dongying general and asked deliberately: "What is he saying?"

The pirate wore a fawning smile; fearing he would be implicated by the Dongying general, he hurriedly said: "He says he asks Your Highness to spare his life and let him live like a dog."

Zhao Xu sneered and said to Xu Lie: "Beat him for me until he tells the truth."

Although he understood the Dongying language, he did not want to act as a translator, so he wanted to make this pirate behave honestly.

Hearing this, Xu Lie stepped forward, raised his palm, and struck the pirate.

With a crisp "slap," five red finger marks immediately appeared on the pirate's face.

Xu Lie had great strength; the pirate let out a miserable shriek and collapsed directly to the ground.

Zhao Xu continued to ask: "What is he actually saying?"

The pirate was honest now; he stammered: "He is cursing Your Highness."

Chang Wei's eyes widened instantly.

Along the way, this Dongying general had been saying these things to him the whole time; it turned out he had been cursing him.

"This bastard, running from Dongying to the land of the Great Song to run wild, and yet he is still so rampant; today, I will make you understand why the flowers are so red!"

Seeing that Zhao Xu seemed to tacitly consent, he said to the sea bandit: "You tell him that I want to spar with him in martial arts."

The sea bandit dared not lie anymore and hurriedly translated Chang Wei's words to the Dongying general.

The Dongying general's expression was ferocious as he said a few words to the sea bandit.

The sea bandit said that the Dongying general had agreed and requested to be untied.

Xu Lie said at this moment: "General, why should you trouble yourself to deal with such a small-time trick? Just let me do it."

Shaking his head, Chang Wei said: "We just drove away the Northern Di, and now this Dongying is setting its sights on my Great Song again; do they really think we Song People are soft persimmons? I am holding back a belly full of fire, and today I am going to take it out on him."

Hearing this, Xu Lie laughed and retreated behind Zhao Xu.

After untying the Dongying general, Chang Wei came before the Dongying general and stood directly opposite him.

Staring at each other, the Dongying general let out a roar and lunged at Chang Wei.

Although he had not personally gone into battle to kill enemies in these past few years, Chang Wei's martial arts had not fallen behind.

Seeing the Dongying general lunge over, he grabbed the Dongying general's arms with both hands and then twisted them outward with force.

"Ah!" The Dongying general let out a miserable scream and raised his leg to kick Chang Wei in the crotch.

Chang Wei was well-prepared and extended his leg to kick the Dongying general's foot back.

He raised his knee and slammed it fiercely into the Dongying general's stomach.

Another miserable scream followed, and the Dongying general curled up like a shrimp.

Chang Wei let go with both hands, clenched his fist tightly, and threw a punch directly at the Dongying general's face.

With a muffled groan, the Dongying general fell to the ground, and four or five teeth fell out of the Dongying general's mouth, making a "pitter-patter" sound.