In the morning, the former base of Zhou army was occupied by the Chu army in the east of Chang'an City, and at this time.

Li Fang, the Crown Prince of Chu who came to inspect, was in a mess.

Burned camps, tents, blood-stained ground and trenches, burnt skeletons everywhere, strange-shaped bodies, and a large number of strips that were not known to be charcoal or broken limbs.

The air was filled with a strange smell of meat. Although it was very light, it was mixed with bloody smell, which was enough to make people feel uncomfortable in their stomachs.

Li Fang resisted the urge to vomit, ignored the blood on the ground, and tried his best to make himself look nothing, and walked slowly to the accompanying general and asked about the situation of the battle yesterday.

The battle was fierce yesterday, especially the fierce battle that took place at the camp on the west side of Ba Bridge in the east of Chang'an City.

At that time, the Chu army gathered forces and launched an attack from the north bank of the Wei River to the south. They not only fought with the Zhou army in the north of the city, but also divided the troops into the east of the city as a "sharp knife", which "disconnected" the connection between Zhouying and Chang'an on the east of the city.

The battle process can be described in just one sentence, which is actually achieved by countless officers and soldiers with their lives.

Especially the "sharp knife" that penetrated directly into the east of the city was endured by the crazy counterattack of the Zhou army.

They had to quickly break into the area between the east of Chang'an City and the Zhouying of Baqiao, and immediately build obstacle positions, and at the same time resist the attacks of the Chang'an City defenders and the Zhou army of Baqiao.

Because it is light and fast to cross the river, the "sharp knife" cannot carry heavy artillery, and it has a clear disadvantage in terms of military strength. If you rely solely on manpower, you will not be able to complete such an important task.

Therefore, in this battle, a large number of arson weapons such as sulphurs and other arson weapons were used, and a large number of "organs" and other continuous "hot" weapons were used to make up for the shortcomings of their troops with the huge lethality of "hot" weapons and resist the attack of the Zhou army.

In this way, reinforcements arrived and a large number of artillery crossed the river and put them into battle.

The use of a large number of "hot" weapons and arson weapons turned the east of Chang'an City and the Zhouying of Baqiao into scorched earth. The fire burned wildly, and the range of the fire scene was extremely large. After nightfall, the night sky was illuminated by fire.

The attack lasted for one night, and the fire was extinguished in the early morning. Except for some cavalrymen who fled, most of the Zhou soldiers had only two states, either dead or captured.

The result of the battle is the current effect: the Zhou army camp seemed to have completely passed a fire.

There is coke everywhere, and I don’t know which ones are “human charcoal” and which ones are “charcoal”.

Li Fang is in this large scorched earth. In addition to feeling the bloodyness of the battlefield, he also feels the drastic changes of the times.

My father's words sounded in his ears: After the era of hot weapons comes, the form of war will undergo drastic changes.

Cannons and muskets all rely on gunpowder to push the projectiles, causing huge damage, so they are "hot" weapons.

The "hot" weapon has freed itself from the limitations of human beings' own power, and its power is unprecedentedly huge.

A new-style fortress with scientific design, even if there are less than a thousand people guarding it, with sufficient ammunition and supply, with artillery, it can withstand the long-term siege of tens of thousands of cold weapons troops.

A weak woman with no power to tie a chicken, holding a loaded musket in her hand, has a high chance of shooting and killing a battle-hardened man.

A group of old, weak, women and children, relying on village-level fortresses with complete offensives, relying on a small number of artillery and a fire gun with a single gun, can calmly defeat the incoming bandits or robbers (using cold weapons), even if the other party is several times more than oneself.

This is the power of "hot" weapons, and there are no requirements for human physical strength, strength, and combat skills.

Traditional archers need to go through at least one year of training to have basic combat capabilities, while spearmen and swords and shields need to accumulate for several years to have the basic qualities of fighting hand-to-hand combat.

But the musket soldiers are different. Li Fang has read the "training outline" formulated by the Ministry of War. After six months of training (minimum requirements), the new recruits can become useful musket soldiers.

Such soldiers can be proficient in operating muskets, can execute various formation transformation orders, can abide by strict discipline, can line up on the battlefield, and devote themselves to bloody battles.

The six-month "quick army" has the power to kill a large number of veterans in a hundred battles by fighting in a team. This decisive battle shows that the new army is extremely powerful.

For such an army, the cost of training is much lower.

It is even more cruel to say that the musket soldiers trained in this way are extremely low-cost "consumables". The army formed with these consumables has first-class combat power.

Of course, there are two prerequisites: artillery must not be missing, and necessary cavalry teams must also be available.

Li Fang looked at the cavalry cruising in the distance and the large number of "Krupps" moving nearby, and inexplicably felt full of confidence in his body.

These "Krupp" are powerful weapons for siege, but they are heavy in weight and move slowly under field conditions, which has many restrictions.

But as long as |Krupp appears around you, people will be confident.

Now, the Zhou army, with heavy casualties, is trapped in Chang'an, intending to resist stubbornly, and it seems that it will not give up easily, so "Krupp" is about to show his power.

His gaze turned to Chang'an City far to the west.

Zhou State sent assassins to assassinate his father. Although the assassination failed, the news probably could not be spread to Chang'an. Therefore, those in the city, after the decisive defeat, would definitely hope that the assassin would succeed and the Chu army retreated.

The letter of persuading surrender that shot into the city seemed to have no response. Li Fang did not place any hope for this. His hope lies in the bravery and good fighting of the soldiers.

And the great power of "Krupp".

However, siege cannot only literally siege the city. For the defenders, they must "attack the heart" so that they can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Li Fang withdrew his gaze and asked the accompanying general: "Have all the prisoners been released?"

"Your Highness, all the prisoners have been released, including the wounded." One general replied, "Before leaving, everyone can still get a steamed cake for court food, and the steamed cakes are hot."

Li Fang asked again: "There are so many soldiers in our army, so it is not easy to cook for logistics, right? Is it too busy to give so many prisoners one steamed cake?"

"Your Highness, the logistics are so busy. The steamed cakes are all dry foods prepared in advance. Just take them out and steam them. You can get busy."

"How are the prisoners performing? For our army to release them back."

"Most of them are expressionless or in a terrifying look." Speaking of this, several generals laughed: "Their souls were all broken by the firearms, like mangy dogs with broken legs, and they were already wilted."

Li Fang looked at Chang'an City again: "These prisoners ran to the city, can they open the door?"

"I don't know, anyway, our army is not close. As for whether the city gates are opened, and whether these defeated soldiers enter the city, that is the matter of the Chang'an defenders."

Li Xin stopped asking and looked into the distance.

After the decisive battle, a large number of Zhou troops surrendered, and how to properly deal with these prisoners is a problem.

If they were placed separately, the Chu army would be diluted. After all, even if they were guarding these prisoners who had been confiscated, they would have to spend a lot of manpower.

Moreover, the daily meals of so many prisoners must be guaranteed, which will inevitably increase the logistics burden of the Chu army.

If you kill, let alone killing prisoners, you will say that this move will not be a little stimulating to the Chang'an defenders, so there is no need.

Therefore, the General Staff formulated a plan before the war, which was to surrender after the decisive victory and release all the captured Zhou soldiers, in order to "attack the heart".

If these released prisoners were not accepted in Chang'an City, it would cause the defenders in the city to feel heartbroken and their morale to plummet.

If accepted, the frightened bird enters the city, it will spread the experience of fighting outside the city, making more people aware of the "terrible things" of the Chu army.

However, the Chu army's actions of releasing prisoners could make the defeated soldiers and relatives and friends realize that they had another way to go: surrendering can save their lives, and fighting to the death will really die.

Therefore, if the Zhou State side lets the defeated soldiers enter the city, it will also lead to a sharp drop in the morale of the defenders in the city.

This is the most straightforward plot. I don’t know what choice the ruler in Chang’an City will make.
Chapter completed!