Chapter 632 [First Update]

Liu Tan recalled the situation of the elite regiment in the tent, and felt that everyone in the elite regiment seemed to have a shadow.

At this time, not only he, but also the other generals in the tent were recalling this incident.

Of course, this did not stop them from imagining that the spirits of the elite group were still persisting in completing the mission.

At this time, some people were so moved by the plot they imagined that their eyes were red.

Regardless of whether the members of the elite group are alive or not, Zuo Guduhou and many people have just verified that they are definitely alive.

Liu Tan could only cough lightly and said, "Let them come back."

Everyone knew who Liu Tan was talking about. The guards standing at the door immediately retreated with a look of nervousness on their faces. They all thought that the elite group just now were really not human. Now they had to expose them. What if the other party turned violent?

No, no, no, they are comrades-in-arms, colleagues who fight alongside them, they will definitely not harm them.

The guards kept beating their drums. Before the captain left, they mustered up the courage to say to them, "Your Highness, please let the others pass on ahead."

The captain turned around and looked at them puzzledly and asked, "Did Your Highness really say that?"

If he hadn't known that this guard had just been guarding outside their prince's tent, he would have suspected that this person was lying at this moment.

The guard's eyes occasionally glanced behind them. After noticing the shadows of several people, he breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, saying, "Really."

The captain could only follow him back with a puzzled look on his face.

When he returned, the messenger who had just arrived with the scent of blood and fire had just wiped his tears. He turned his head subconsciously when he heard footsteps. After seeing who was coming, he was immediately terrified: "You...you...you...why are you here?"

When the captain saw the other party's appearance, his heart skipped a beat and his face suddenly changed.

The change in his expression was so obvious that it made everyone else present feel a little uneasy.

Liu Tan repeated in his mind: prosperity, democracy, civilization...

Then, when everyone was panicking, he spoke up, "There might be a misunderstanding here. You... yes, you. First, tell me why you think the elite regiment was completely wiped out?"

The captain's eyes widened when he heard this. "What do you mean the whole army was wiped out? Whose army was wiped out?"

The messenger seemed reluctant, but he closed his eyes and said with a solemn expression, "Brothers, we know you're reluctant to leave, but... it's time to go. We've already taken Shanggu City, so you can go without worry."

The captain gasped again: "What? Shanggu City has been taken?"

Liu Tan felt like he had figured out something, so he knocked on the table and said, "Alright, stop talking nonsense. Just say what I told you to say. How did you know they were completely wiped out?"

The messenger lowered his head and said, "We waited in the tunnel for a long time without hearing the signal. By that time, the elite regiment should have entered the Shi County Magistrate's Mansion. We sent people a short distance over there and found that the mansion was in chaos, with shouts of fighting and killing everywhere, but we didn't see a single comrade..."

In this situation, there is only one possibility, that is, their comrades have either been captured or died.

However, before they came out, each of them was given a poison pill because they were worried that they would be tortured inhumanely after being captured by the Huns. This was done to make them feel better.

Liu Tan's mouth twitched: "This is a misunderstanding, you can explain it yourself."

The captain was also very embarrassed, but thankfully, after explaining the situation, he said, "After we captured Zuoguduhou alive, we were worried that the explosion would attract the Xiongnu garrison outside, so we had no choice but to evacuate. This isn't... I was just about to go back and give you a signal. Oh, that's not right. You've already captured Shanggu County. So, you actually took action before the deadline."

The messenger was also confused after hearing his explanation: "So... you captured Zuo Gudu Hou alive and only then... came back first?"

The captain glanced at the others secretly and found that no one thought there was anything wrong with this matter.

Originally, if explosives were set off under the circumstances at that time, it would definitely attract the Hun soldiers outside quickly. Even if the county magistrate's office was in chaos at that time, without the order of Zuogudu Hou, the soldiers outside might not react so quickly.

If the elite regiment had chosen to send a signal at that time, they would most likely have faced the fate of killing Zuogudu Hou.

The value of a living Zuogu Duhou is different from that of a dead Zuogu Duhou. The one captured alive can be sent to Chang'an for Your Majesty to offer sacrifices to the Taimiao!

Liu Tan breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he didn't have any stupid people under his command. This was a reason that everyone could accept.

The messenger was completely stunned. He had never expected this to be the case. He said awkwardly, "Well... the scouts we sent out didn't see any trace of you and thought you had already... so we didn't even wait for the signal and just went straight into action."

Not only that, the news of the annihilation of the elite regiment also stimulated everyone's potential. At that time, they were not only thinking about occupying Shanggu County, but also about revenge for their comrades.

Later, after they broke into the county magistrate's mansion, they discovered that Zuoguduhou was missing and some important figures inside had died. Although the bodies of the elite regiment were still not found, everyone unanimously believed that the elite regiment was killed in order to give them an opportunity to kill Zuoguduhou, which led to the annihilation of the entire army.

That's why their actions were so smooth.

After this series of explanations, not to mention Liu Tan, even the other generals were stunned by the outrageous actions of their subordinates.

Liu Tanxin leaned on the desk tiredly, trying to calm himself down.

The ups and downs of this night were so great that even he could hardly bear it.

He waved his hand and said, "Alright, all of you go down and rest first. Send someone to notify the people in the city, clean up the battlefield, and then prepare to return to Jicheng."

It was certainly a pleasure to capture Shanggu County, as it meant that communication and transportation with the State of Yan could be restored.

But before that, he had to quickly write a memorial, a letter, or a report of victory to Liu Che, and by the way, send someone to send Zuo Gudu Hou to Chang'an to make his father happy.

After all, he was a general of the Xiongnu. Zuoguduhou was under the Xiongnu Zuoxian King, which means he was under the crown prince. He was definitely a high-ranking official in the Xiongnu, and his status was basically the same as Li Xi.

The Huns sent him out directly this time, and it seems that they are determined to conquer the State of Yan.

Unfortunately... this man was captured in his sleep just after conquering Shanggu County, without even having clothes on.

Liu Tan must have written the memorial according to the formal format, but this was probably his first time writing a memorial and it was extremely painful.

Although he had headaches before, at that time his headache was how to write the entire memorial more ornately, so as not to let people see that he was somewhat out of tune with this world - some things are best learned at a certain age, and literary literacy needs to be cultivated from an early age.

Liu Tan has a high level of education, but his literary accomplishment is still biased towards later generations even after so many years. In addition, he has no time to hone his literary accomplishment after traveling through time. Therefore, whenever he has to write a memorial himself, even if he tries his best, even if he imitates Huo Guang's, the final result will be dry.

But now, he is more relaxed, knowing that even if he writes dryly, Liu Che will not be unhappy, so he just piles up the data.

But this time... he didn't even know how to stack the data.

How can I tell his father about such a funny process?

After careful consideration, Liu Tan decided to be shameless for once and focus on describing how they decided on the tunnel tactic, just to give other generals some inspiration.

Tell them that black powder has more than just the simplest and most brutal use.

Then you need to write a victory report, which is very simple. Just report the casualties.

Their casualties this time were not particularly large, but there were some. Even the elite regiment suffered a certain degree of damage, which made Liu Tan's heart ache when he read the battle report.

I feel sorry not only for the elite regiment, but also for the other soldiers.

These soldiers were carefully selected by Wei Buzhi's subordinates. Although they are not as good as the elite regiment, they are only two or three levels lower. They still have advantages over other Han soldiers.

There are fewer people in the north, so the quality of soldiers is more important than quantity. Otherwise, if all of them are sent to fight, who will be left to farm?

Because of this, Liu Tan would feel sad whenever there was any casualty.

However, the casualty data in his victory report seemed incredible to others.

Everyone already knew why Li Xi's side had fewer casualties - those who had previously suspected Liu Tan of lying about his military achievements were dragged over by Liu Ju to observe the power of black gunpowder.

After these people came back, they all looked dazed and distracted, and some of them even haven't shown up yet - they were so scared.

On the one hand, the power of black gunpowder is too great. In the eyes of many people, it is not something that mortals should master. Considering the King of the North who created black gunpowder, many people are worried that the King of the North will hold a grudge against them?

As God knows, they really weren't targeting the King of the North. The main reason was that the number of casualties was too low, so they couldn't help but suspect that several of them were censors. Censors... weren't doing this kind of thing?

But in fact, Liu Tan had no intention of holding a grudge. If he could really make everyone submit to him in the court, he must be a great hero. Such a person usually uses his iron-blooded tactics to make everyone afraid to speak their true feelings. This situation is bound to be accompanied by a dark era of blood and gore.

Even Liu Che could not make everyone have no doubts, it was just that fewer doubts were raised. How could Liu Tan have such ability?

If he could really do that, he could probably choose a piece of land to bury himself - although it is hard to say whether Liu Che would leave him an intact body.

Liu Tan's new tactics did cause discussion in the court. Many generals began to put aside their fear of black gunpowder and started to think about whether they could use the same tactics in future sieges.

However, what excited them the most was not this incident, but the fact that the Xiongnu Zuoguduhou was about to be sent to the capital.