Chapter 339 (1/2)
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The casualties were counted Only about one thousand three hundred Urban Army soldiers of the two thousand five hundred soldiers that participated in the battle survived This number included the ones responsible for the ballista This meant that over one thousand one hundred soldiers have died1 Nearly half their comrades had been killed in battle As a result, the atloomy
On the other hand, the casualties on the other side was also quite heavy Seven hundred Xiliang Cavalry participated in the attack but only four hundred escaped with Hu Che Er The rest remained behind Four thousand and three hundred of them became captives while the other two thousand three hundred were dead This was partly because Liu Ye had ordered for the ballista to shoot the riders, lowering its overall effectiveness Otherwise, there would be even less survivors
Besides captives, they also obtained about five thousand horses thanks to Liu Ye’s prudence The re horses were either dead or too injured to run any was deeply moved He had alanted to let Zhao Yun form the White Horses but he could only provide weapons and ar he could manufacture As a result, the formation of the White Horses had been delayed With five thousand horses, Liu Mang would be able to send soh to form the White Horses with two thousand cavalry Zhao Yun would no longer be a captain leading a few hundred men and could form his own army
“Milord What do we do with the prisoners?” Liu Ye asked There were more prisoners than soldirs but the prisoners were tied up and had no weapons They no longer had the strength to fight back However, these prisoners also needed to eat, which would cost a lot of provisions
“Send the was not cruel but he could not keep the prisoners On top of that, these soldiers owe thes and Hans The Qiangs did not have a sense of justice and were cruel to the Hans These Han soldiers also followed along Liu Mang did not want to spare these contaminated Han soldiers
“Bury!” Liu Ye never expected Liu Mang to be ruthless enough to decide the fate of thousands in an instant He no longer understood what kind of person his Lord was He could not be a cruel tyrant because of the low taxes he i to help the common people survive The industrial zones were first used for the people before the military He also punished corrupt officials strictly and deood person At Wancheng, he was like a living Yama Raja Almost all the noble faeneration Now, he also wanted to execute over four thousand prisoners
That being said, Liu Ye did not find this overly important He was a flexible person Otherwise, he would not learn mechanics and mathematics He was also not one that placed the nation first as evidenced by hi the tyrant Cao Cao Liu Ye does not think of the nation He only thought of whoever that treated hiave hi As long as Liu Mang did not turn his back on hi faithfully
“Milord We can’t kill all these people!” Liu Ye shook his head
“H these people behind would cause us harh provisions and we also do not have enoughfor theive the to return to Shouchun He did not have enough men to look after the prisoners If the prisoners were to escape, Liu Mang’s escape route would be cut off
“Milord I a that we cannot kill all of the Cavalry had already surrendered to us If we kill all of them, nobody would dare to surrender to us in the future!” Liu Ye explained
Liu Mang never cared for the superstitious belief of not killing prisoners However, Liu Ye’s words made sense If the captives were killed, nobody would dare to surrender to the Liu Mang’s Army in the future In this chaotic times, justice is seldom seen As a result, others treasured this even hteous ruler would fade aith the passage of tiather people One exah the man was a hypocrite, people flocked to him His fame as a benevolent ruler allowed him to cli were to kill the surrendered prisoners, his infaht until the end
“Milord Even if you did not care about reputation, you obtained the Xiliang Cavalry’s horses to foret, the riders would be harder to find than the horses This is especially true in the Central Plains where there are little horses Even the heroes found here would have trouble riding horses To create an elite cavalry from scratch, Milord would need about a year Does Milord have enough ti did not have any ti all over The winner in the North was about to be decided Liu Mang also needed to fight against Liu Bei, Zhang Xiu and Sun Ce If the Central Plains was not united soon, it would end up being taken by Cao Cao That hy Liu Mang needed troops The White Horses were of the highest priority Liu Mang was not able to wait for a year and that was even assuood heavy cavalry soldiers within a year
“Milord If you want the White Horses, you not only have horses but also riders in front of you!” Liu Ye said as he pointed at the prisoners They were the good riders Liu Mang needed As they ca Cavalry, they were extremely suited for the job If they did not qualify, nobody will
“What about the Qiang clans needed was a Han cavalry, not asoldiers also had the blood of his citizens on their hands Liu Mang could not let the you fro them You just cannot kill all of the looked at Liu Ye, who nodded in return Liu Mang then understood “Ziyang, I understand now!”
Liu Mang then waved his hand, “Men!”
“Milord!” A 100- and cupped his fist