Mu Yunfeng hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, his voice tinged with emotion. "Your Majesty, I, Mu Yunfeng, greet you. Thank you for coming to our rescue. If it weren't for your divine troops descending from the sky, I, along with the soldiers, would have perished here."

Chu Fan dismounted and hurriedly helped Mu Yunfeng to his feet, his tone calm and gentle, "Lord Mu, please stand up. You don't need to be so grateful. Any soldier in Wei would risk their lives to save their compatriots. This is the spirit of Wei and our pride. We were able to successfully rescue you this time thanks to the heroic fighting of the Wei soldiers."

Chu Fan's words deeply moved the soldiers who had come to rescue Mu Yunfeng, and many of them had tears in their eyes. His Majesty was not only fearless in personally going to the battlefield, but also so approachable in attributing the credit to the soldiers. Such a Majesty was truly admirable.

General Li Yuan, who had come with Chu Fan this time, asked, "Your Majesty, the Gan Kingdom's army has been defeated by us, and we have received General Mu Yunfeng. Should we return to Luocheng or continue to pursue the remaining forces of the Gan Kingdom?"

Chu Fan did not make a decision immediately but asked, "How far is this place from the city of Gan Country?"

Li Yuan had already prepared an answer to such a question. As a general who had always followed Mu Yunfeng in guarding Luocheng, he was naturally well aware of the terrain and distance of the border between Wei and Gan.

Li Yuan immediately replied, "Your Majesty, this place is about eighty miles away from the nearest city of Kefu in Gan State. It's not a long journey. If Your Majesty decides to pursue, the army will be able to reach Kefu City in a few hours."

Chu Fan glanced at the sky. It was already late. Furthermore, the cavalry had already galloped for dozens of miles to reach Mu Yunfeng's location quickly, and they were exhausted. If they stormed Kofu City now, even if they captured Kofu, they would still have to pay a heavy price.

Chu Fan ordered: "Let the soldiers camp here, cook, and rest for the night. Let the air force take turns to take off and keep watch to prevent other troops from the Gan Kingdom from attacking."

Li Yuan's orders were immediately followed by arrangements. The soldiers quickly set up camp and started a fire to cook. Although they didn't complain, the fatigue on their faces was hard to conceal. They were very happy to be able to rest now.

After the tent was set up, Chu Zhenglin came to Chu Fan and whispered, "Your Majesty, what will be done with the captured soldiers from the Gan Kingdom this time? Will they be sent back to their country to undergo labor reform, or will they be released on the spot?"

Chu Fan actually had a plan a long time ago. As the saying goes, to get rich, one must first build roads. These soldiers from the Gan Kingdom did not need to be escorted back to their country. He could let them level the road surface on the spot and cut wood on the spot to make sleepers. Then he could let the railway construction team of the Wei Kingdom directly supervise them to build the road to the city of Kov.

Chu Fan said, "Have General Li Yuan confiscate all the weapons from these prisoners, then have him count their number and physical condition. Treat the wounded soldiers first, and have the rest level the ground. Then have the Ministry of Works build the railway. Then we won't have to worry about entering the heart of the country and running out of supplies."

Chu Zhenglin said, "Your Majesty, why don't you let these soldiers take up arms and help us attack the city of Kefu? Wouldn't that save many of our Wei soldiers from dying?"

Chu Fan shook his head and said, "These people just fought against our Wei State. Now we are asking them to take up arms and fight against their compatriots. They will inevitably have resistance to our Wei State. Do you think they will fight to the death?

If we allow them to take up arms, and then turn against us at a critical moment, it would be disadvantageous to us. You know, such examples are not uncommon in history. If we were to fight against other armies of the Gan Kingdom, and these people turned against us, we would not only face tens of thousands more enemies, but they would also likely deal us a fatal blow at the most critical moment, and we would potentially lose even more people.”

Chu Zhenglin nodded immediately after hearing Chu Fan's words. He now understood what Chu Fan meant. After all, they were not from the same country. If these prisoners were allowed to continue to hold weapons, no one could predict what unexpected events might happen.

Of course, these captives cannot be released easily. If these soldiers are released, some of them may join the army of Gan State and take up arms again to fight against Wei State, which is undoubtedly like letting a tiger return to the mountain.

Moreover, if these soldiers reveal the number and position of their own troops to other troops of the Qian Kingdom, then their subsequent actions will not be so smooth, and they may even encounter ambushes and sieges by the enemy.

Some might say that killing all these captives would solve the problem once and for all; but this is obviously impossible. These soldiers were also children of ordinary people. Regardless of their reasons for joining the army, if they were killed after surrendering, it would not only chill the hearts of the people, but also make the State of Wei bear the notoriety of killing innocent people. Who would be willing to surrender in the future?

In addition, in ancient times, population was actually a resource. The reason why soldiers were often killed in pits was because of food and governance issues. On the one hand, managing prisoners required a large number of soldiers to prevent them from rioting. On the other hand, keeping these prisoners required a large amount of food to feed them. During wartime, food was already in short supply, so the only option was to kill all these people in pits.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!