The Bodyguard King's CEO Wife-Chapter 1383: Decisive Victory
"Old Ye, how come you’re here? By the way, did you see the rebel general?" On the way to the Central Village, Shangguan Jian, leading the cavalry, happened to encounter Ye Shikai’s squad.
"Shangguan, you came a step too late. Look who this is." Ye Shikai tugged the reins of his horse, and the leader of the rebel army embarrassingly fell off his horse.
"The rebel general Zhang Kuang, it’s him." Shangguan Jian recognized the man. Even without a portrait, the battle armor was enough to identify him. Moreover, he was captured by Ye Shikai himself, with several deputy generals tied up behind him, leaving no room for doubt.
"I foresaw he would be cowardly and flee from the rear camp, so I took my squad early to resolve the guards at the rear camp and lay in wait." Ye Shikai explained.
"Great, I was worried that old guy would escape. Old Ye, we owe it all to you this time." Shangguan Jian laughed, then immediately took Zhang Kuang with the cavalry and rushed to the Central Village.
"The rebel general has been captured, why not surrender?" Shangguan Jian personally led Zhang Kuang to a highland, looking at the intense battle below, and shouted loudly.
"General... has been captured."
"We... should surrender."
"If we don’t surrender, it’s a dead end. Surrender and you can avoid death." Seeing the rebel army’s morale waver, Shangguan Jian added more pressure. Qin Law was harsh, and rebellion meant death. These rebel warriors were probably worried about being unable to escape death after surrendering. Now that Shangguan Jian spared them death, naturally, they lost the will to resist.
Among the crowd, a rebel soldier threw his spear to the ground, followed by a second, then a third, and then everyone else dropped their weapons and surrendered.
As long as one person leads, others will follow suit and surrender.
"Take them all down." Shangguan Jian scolded, and the Qin soldiers stepped forward, tying the surrendering rebels together in groups of ten. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
"Where’s the granary?" Shangguan Jian inquired.
"In... the rear camp." At this point, the rebel army led by Zhang Kuang had completely surrendered, and he had no reason to hide anything. In fact, even if he didn’t say it, Ye Shikai already knew.
"Let’s go and take a look."
Upon arriving outside the granary, Shangguan Jian was already deeply shocked. Such a large granary was almost as big as the one in Gong County. He was curious about the situation inside.
"Open it."
"Yes."
Several Qin soldiers used stones to break the lock on the door. Just as Xue San said before, the most heavily guarded place by the rebel army was the granary, not only guarded by soldiers but also locked with a padlock, making it impossible for ordinary people to sneak in.
Once the lock was broken, Shangguan Jian was the first to step inside, followed by the others, yet the scene in front of them left everyone stunned.
The granary was piled with many sacks of grain. Although it wasn’t quite filled, it was a significant amount. Coupled with the fact that the granary was not small, there were at least over two thousand bags, by estimate.
Just in case, Shangguan Jian went forward and cut open one of the bags with his sword. The white rice grains immediately poured out.
"It really is grain." Seeing this, everyone rejoiced. Unexpectedly, so much grain was stored in the rebel camp. This would also help compensate for the consumption of Gong County and the troops.
"Carefully inspect and find the other warehouses of the rebels." Since there was so much grain stored, the others should not be lacking, maybe the rebels had a lot of gold and silver treasures as well."
"Don’t get your hopes up too much, the Xue San brothers have already checked. Except for this granary, there’s nothing else here." Ye Shikai teased.
"Really?"
"To report to the General, I wouldn’t dare lie. In fact, this rebel camp is quite poor, as Zhang Kuang led his men to plunder villages during the autumn harvest, which is how they got so much grain. As for other weapons or property, there’s basically nothing." Xue San added on the side. Xue San’s Mr. Gong contributed significantly to the Qin Army’s great victory this time. It’s believed that this will also dispel everyone’s criticism of him when we return.
"Alright, we achieved a great victory, reward the entire army." Although we didn’t find much gold and silver, this much grain at least solved everyone’s urgent need.
..................
Qin Army Camp.
"Warriors, this time we annihilated a thousand enemies, captured two thousand, and gained more than two thousand stones of fodder. This all due to the warriors’ merits." In the camp, Shangguan Jian ordered a grand celebration feast. This was a great victory, with two thousand captives, uncommon even on medium-sized battlefields. Of course, Ye Shikai didn’t get overly excited. The rebel army’s combat strength wasn’t high, and their morale was even less than that of regular troops. Once their momentum was gone, they would surrender en masse. However, the northern Wolf Clan was different; many of them were warriors willing to fight to the death. Last time, during the Wolf Clan cavalry’s surprise attack, even though Ye Shikai and Shangguan Jian commanded well, many brothers still died, showing their combat prowess.
"Old Ye, what are you thinking about?" Shangguan Jian called out from a distance, and Ye Shikai turned around and caught the wine bag he threw.
"Do you think any of us will make it off the battlefield alive?" Ye Shikai murmured. It might be hard for a modern person to understand ancient thinking. Since ancient times, wars seem never to have stopped. Ye Shikai came to this chaotic era. Even knowing the course of history doesn’t change anything. The only thing he can do is to go with the flow of history.
"No one knows. In the era of the Seven Kingdoms, the Wolf Clan repeatedly attempted to attack the Central Plains. At the time, the various states retaliated individually. After Qin destroyed the six countries, the Wolf Clan’s strength reached an unprecedented level. This battle is destined to be a bloody struggle between two strong powers." Shangguan Jian seemed to have been touched, drinking heavily, the previous look of joy disappearing instantly. He had been on the battlefield before and naturally understood what that meant.
As a commander, no one wishes for warriors to die, much less due to their own mistakes in command. This time, in eradicating the rebel army at Long Mountain, the Qin Army’s casualties were fewer than two hundred because Ye Shikai’s infiltration and internal-external cooperation during combat. But if there hadn’t been a well-detailed plan beforehand, rashly attacking the camp might have resulted in over half casualties, potentially making it hard to conquer.
"Old Ye, I really have to thank you this time. Without your plan, our chances wouldn’t have been high." After today’s battle, Shangguan Jian trusted Ye Shikai even more. A few more major battles, and he would definitely become the backbone of the Qin Army.
