Chapter 145: A crushing victory, the military and civilians regained their loyalty
Li Dingguo immediately wiped out all the core figures of Lijiabao. The remaining servants, guards and farmhands were no match for these ferocious soldiers from the three battalions.
These servants, guards and evil slaves are usually good at bullying men and women, burning, killing and looting, but in a real war, they are a group of scattered sand and are no match for the regular army of the same level.
This was a truly one-sided massacre. All the people in Lijiabao, including the thousands of farmhands, had been trapped inside the fort with no way to escape.
Because the mastermind behind this round of fighting was too powerful, in order to delay the time for the enemy to retaliate as much as possible, Li Dingguo decisively issued a kill order.
Amidst the cries of wailing and pleas for mercy, in less than half an hour, this battle, which was very easy for all the soldiers except the three battalions of the Renaissance Army, was over.
"Brother Dingguo."
As soon as the battle ended, Hongmei immediately ordered the soldiers to clean up the battlefield and do the aftermath work, and then came to find Li Dingguo.
She looked at Li Dingguo with some concern and said, "Xiao Douya has already told me about the close cooperative relationship between Lijiabao, the Tartars, and the big Jin merchant Fan family."
"To be honest, there is no need for us to worry about anything."
Now that things have happened, whether intentionally or unintentionally, their own Fuxing Army has become the mortal enemy of the Later Jin Tartars, those big Shanxi merchants, Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen, and the Donglin Party, the vested interests behind the Shanxi merchants.
It is impossible to stay out of it, we can only face the challenge head-on.
She comforted Li Dingguo and said, "After destroying Liujiabao and Lijiabao, we have indeed made several powerful enemies."
"With the enemy being slow to realize our plan and our Renaissance Army not being well-known, we are nothing more than small ants that can be crushed to death by these big forces."
"We did a good job of blocking the news these two times. It is impossible for the other party to know that we are the murderer for the time being. It will definitely take a lot of time to investigate before we can confirm it."
"With this buffer of time, we have already left the country and settled down, successfully passed the current period of weakness, and completed the formation of a regularized revival army."
"If we wait a year or two for these enemies to take action against us, we don't know who will destroy whom!"
"As long as our new army has one or several Qi Refining Realm masters and a commander who can lead the military killing formation, we don't need to worry about these enemies' attacks one after another!"
"By then, unless a main force of the Later Jin Tartars comes to retaliate, the enemy's continuous tactics of adding fuel to the fire will only serve as food for the continued growth of our Renaissance Army."
"It is simply impossible for our unknown new force to attract the main force of the Later Jin Tartars to attack within two or three years!"
"These enemies, including Huang Taiji, would never have imagined how great the potential of our new army would be!"
"It will be at least three to five years before they really start to take it seriously!"
"Let alone three to five years, even if we are only given one or two years to develop, we will not be easily controlled by any enemy!"
Hongmei is telling the truth.
Even if the current Renaissance Army is targeted by these powerful enemies in the near future, the other side will not think that this new force will be their real threat.
Even if they launched revenge actions again and again after a year or two, it would only be a tactic of adding fuel to the fire. It would be impossible for them to spend a huge price to ask Huang Taiji to send a large army to attack.
This is not because the big Shanxi merchants, the Fan family, and potential enemies such as Huang Taiji and Duke Chengguo of the Ming Dynasty lack foresight, but because the Fuxing Army is not well-known now and is not qualified to be highly valued by the other side.
The buffer period of the next few years will be an opportunity for Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army.
For a long time, these enemies would never have imagined how terrifying the potential of this rapidly growing new army would be!
"Hongmei, don't worry about anything. I won't act on impulse, nor will I worry about things that may happen without reason."
Li Dingguo said softly, "It's just that through this incident, I have completely determined what I want in my heart."
"As for the biggest shortcoming of our military right now, it will soon no longer be a big problem."
"I found a thousand-year-old nine-bend spiritual ginseng in the main residence of the Li family. It was as thick as an adult's arm."
He told Hongmei about the surprise he had obtained this time, "This thousand-year-old Nine-bend Spiritual Ginseng is enough for three people."
"However, once this thousand-year-old spiritual ginseng is cut, it must be used immediately, otherwise most of its medicinal properties will be lost very quickly."
"In order to minimize the waste of the medicinal effects of this thousand-year-old Nine-bend Spiritual Ginseng, this top-grade natural treasure that is enough for three people should be taken by the two of us, along with the bean sprouts, at the same time."
"From now until you come out of retreat, you and Xiao Douya should spare as much time as possible to practice your main cultivation method, and strive to break through to the peak of the Body Refining Realm before the end of this year."
"Then the three of us will share this thousand-year-old Nine-bend Spiritual Ginseng. With our qualifications and talents, there is a high probability that we will be able to successfully break through the bottleneck of the peak of the Body Refining Realm and enter the early stage of the Qi Refining Realm in one fell swoop!"
"Before we break through to the Qi Refining Stage through seclusion, I will set up a Five Elements Spirit Gathering Formation to increase the chances of success for the three of us."
Although Li Dingguo could take this Millennium Nine-bend Spiritual Ginseng now and break through to the Qi Refining Realm in one go, the medicinal properties of the part of the Millennium Spiritual Ginseng that is left for two people to use would be lost quickly after being cut.
In order not to waste the effect of the thousand-year-old Nine-bend Ginseng, it is best to let myself, Xiao Douya, and Hongmei, who are currently the most qualified and the highest level of cultivation in the Renaissance Army, take it together to maximize the benefits. The Renaissance Army, a new force that is now heading outside the pass, is expanding too fast and is still expanding rapidly. It is impossible for a master of Qi Refining Realm to manage it alone.
If Hongmei and Xiaodouya can successfully break through with him, he will undoubtedly have two powerful helpers and will no longer have to worry about the problem of the vanguard army expanding rapidly but not having enough Qi Refining Realm masters to take charge.
Hongmei is now showing increasingly powerful management abilities. Once she and Xiao Douya become masters of the Qi Refining Realm, they will definitely be of greater help to herself.
Once three Qi Refining Realm masters appear in this new army, it will undoubtedly quickly stabilize the morale of the soldiers and the people.
"Okay, Brother Dingguo."
After Li Dingguo finished speaking, Hongmei was also very happy.
But she was not an ordinary genius after all, and she calmed down in an instant and said to Li Dingguo, "I will urge Xiao Douya to practice as hard as possible during this period before the New Year."
"My and Xiao Douya's current cultivation progress has been growing rapidly. In a month at most, we will both be able to reach the peak of the Body Refining Realm."
"We will not let you down then. We will work with you, Brother Dingguo, to use the medicinal effects of the thousand-year-old Nine-bend Spiritual Ginseng to break through to the early stage of Qi Refining in one fell swoop and become a master who can truly rule a region."
"At that time, our new army had the confidence to gain a foothold in the grasslands outside the Great Wall."
The battle had just ended, and there were still a lot of things to do for the warriors and soldiers here. The two of them then left separately and continued to work.
Although today's war took a shorter time from start to finish than yesterday, the gains were much greater.
Hongmei made a rough estimate and found that the various kinds of wealth, materials, cultivation resources, books, daily necessities, etc. harvested this time were at least twice as much as what she got from Liujiabao yesterday.
These spoils are extremely important to the current soldiers of the Restoration Army.
Just talking about military equipment and supplies, together with yesterday's battle against Liujiabao, it is enough for all the current warriors and soldiers to complete the replacement of weapons and equipment.
The spoils of these two consecutive battles, all the spiritual weapons of all levels added up, are enough to allow the more than one hundred talented warriors in the army to replace all their weapons and equipment with spiritual weapon suits.
These tangible gains were worth it even though they caused some unknown enemies.
Li Dingguo and Hongmei were both very clear: they had to get the Fuxing Army through its current period of weakness as quickly as possible, and no matter what method they used, it had to be done as soon as possible.
Otherwise, when the army leaves the pass in a few days, it will be difficult for them to have enough confidence to gain a foothold on the Dongtao Plain outside the pass.
If this new army can't even gain a foothold on the prairie, there's no point in talking about the future.
……
"Wow! So much spoils of war! The soldiers gained more this time than yesterday!"
"That's right! There are hundreds of big carts, all filled to the brim!"
"The warrior cavalry brigade that just passed by has more than double the number of soldiers and horses compared to when they set out this morning!"
"I also saw the commander-in-chief and his men riding on an extremely majestic horse!"
"I saw it too. They brought three ponies that looked even more majestic!"
"The soldiers brought back so much food and supplies this time. We won't have to worry about having no food for a long time."
"Yes! My three little kids can have enough to eat these days, and they have become stronger!"...
At dusk, the soldiers of the three battalions that went into battle returned with countless trophies, which once again caused an uproar!
Over the past few days, tens of thousands of refugees have gathered along the way and joined this large army.
What these people were most worried about was that the team did not have enough food reserves and they would soon run out of food.
Now seeing the huge amount of spoils of war being brought back by the soldiers who had gone to war, the people breathed a sigh of relief and talked about it excitedly.
For these refugees, they don't ask for too much. Being able to have enough food and drink every day is already a great happiness.
They had been fleeing for so long, and this was the first time they saw such a harmonious team. Not only was they well-organized, but there was also no chaos or bullying of the weak.
Those who dared to jump out and cause trouble were killed on the spot by the warriors and soldiers of this new army, and buried in a pit dug on the side of the road.
In this era, these people at the bottom of society are very grateful.
This can be seen from the simple words that come out of their mouths today.
(End of this chapter)
