“Please order, Lord Qing, to send people to replace the Changxin Army and Qingyuan Army, and have them report to Great Python Slope at the earliest opportunity!”
Compared to unfamiliar troops, he still felt that transferring the Changxin Army and Qingyuan Army was more reliable.
He had led these two armies to suppress bandits for over a month, he knew their combat strength clearly, and he had already initially established authority, making them easier to command.
“In addition, send another three thousand men to Old Crow Ditch north of the city, withdraw the Iron Tiger Battalion, and blockade Cat Ear Ridge north of the city to prevent Danzhu from fleeing northwards or eastwards!”
The Iron Tiger Battalion was originally the elite force under Qing Xinyao, and after this trial by fire, their combat strength had become even stronger.
With the terrain advantage of Cat Ear Ridge, blocking Danzhu should not be a problem.
“Good!”
Qing Xinyao nodded.
…
As Zhang Liang’s orders were issued one by one, the entire Xichuan City became bustling with activity.
Troops that had been gathered in the city left the walls one after another, heading to various locations.
At the same time, the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce in the city received orders from Jin Feng, opening the grain warehouses and cloth warehouses. Under the escort of the army, carts loaded with grain and cloth rolled out of the city, stretching as far as the eye could see.
In fact, now that the siege of Xichuan City had been lifted, Jin Feng could have completely shifted this responsibility to Qing Xinyao.
But given the typical behaviour of Dakang officials, even if Qing Xinyao personally oversaw it, the grain and cloth would not leave the city without at least two days’ delay.
By then, the common people might already have starved or frozen to death in large numbers.
The tasks of pacifying the people and exchanging horses were left to the chamber of commerce personnel. Since Jin Feng’s legs and feet were injured, he stayed at Great Python Slope.
The busiest place at Great Python Slope now was not the front line, but the wounded soldiers’ camp.
There were too many injured, and straw mats were simply not enough.
Zhou Jin had no choice but to have people bring dry grass, spread it on the ground.
After lightly sprinkling some alcohol for disinfection, the wounded were directly laid upon it.
Many severely injured had their intestines exposed, yet they could only lie here.
War was just this cruel, and Jin Feng could do nothing about it.
Zhou Jin and dozens of female medics had been busy from the start of the battle until now, without even time to drink a sip of water.
Jin Feng had originally come to find Zhou Jin for some alcohol to wipe his toes, but seeing this situation, how could he bring himself to ask?
With a sigh, he turned and left.
When Zhou Jin looked up to wipe her sweat, she saw Jin Feng hopping on one foot, and quickly chased after him.
“Master, how did you get injured too?” Zhou Jin asked, her face full of worry.
“I’m fine, go back to your work.”
Jin Feng waved his hand and walked away without looking back.
But Zhou Jin chased after him, pulled Jin Feng without explanation, and removed his shoe.
Seeing that half of Jin Feng’s foot was swollen, and his big toenail was completely black and purple, she quickly asked, “Master, how did you injure your foot like this?”
“Hurry back to save people!”
Jin Feng did not even bother with his shoe, hopping away on one foot.
At this time, delaying Zhou Jin even a minute might cause someone to die from severe injuries.
He had originally thought his toe hurt quite a bit, but after coming to the wounded camp and seeing it, he felt his complaint was petty.
Compared to those soldiers whose arms had been chopped off by the enemy, having his toe stepped on was nothing!
Zhou Jin bit her lip, stared at Jin Feng’s retreating back for a moment, then turned and rushed back into the wounded camp.
After leaving the wounded camp, Jin Feng did not rest. Supported by Da Liu, he made another round of the positions at Great Python Slope to check for any vulnerabilities.
He noticed the soldiers all looking northwards, and followed their gaze.
In the distance, a group of people approached, each leading a horse, with a body in black armour draped over each horse.
“Sir, Old Three has brought back the brothers’ remains.”
Da Liu’s tone became somewhat subdued.
Jin Feng felt a bit uncomfortable in his heart, hopping on one foot to meet them.
“Sir, how should the brothers be arranged?” asked the bodyguard named Lü Sanjiang.
“Send them to Cemetery No. 3.” Jin Feng replied.
A cemetery was the ancient place for storing bodies.
This time, too many soldiers had fallen, so Meng Tianhai organised people to temporarily build a row of sheds on the edge of the main camp to store the remains of the fallen.
Shed No. 3 was specifically for storing the bodies of the escort masters.
“Yes!”
Lü Sanjiang acknowledged, leading the horse away.
Jin Feng stepped aside, placing his right hand on his chest.
This was the military salute of Dakang.
Da Liu and the others did the same.
They waited until the horse team had passed before Jin Feng lowered his hand and followed to the cemetery.
Time was short, conditions limited, the ground only covered with a thin layer of straw, and the fallen escort masters lay side by side upon it.
The escort remains brought back by Lü Sanjiang, the male soldiers still wearing their battle armour, a group prepared to remove their armour. Jin Feng stepped forward and said, “You all go rest, Da Liu and I will handle it.”
“Sir, we are not tired, you have an injury on your foot, you should go back and rest.” Lü Sanjiang quickly waved his hand.
“I will do it!” Jin Feng insisted.
Lü Sanjiang glanced at Da Liu, seeing him nod, before stepping aside.
Jin Feng insisted on personally removing the armour from the old soldiers, partly because he felt bad inside, and also because he wanted to know the causes of death for the escorts.
This way, he could improve the black armour and avoid greater casualties.
So Jin Feng removed the armour very carefully, even with Da Liu’s help, they worked until dark before finishing.
Removing the black armour from the last escort, Jin Feng sighed helplessly, “If only there were blast-proof glass.”
This time, the causes of death for the fallen male escorts mainly fell into three categories.
The first was armour pierced by sharp weapons with brute force.
The only way to solve piercing was to increase the hardness of the black armour.
But the material currently used for black armour was already the most suitable for mass production.
He had no better solution for the time being.
The second reason was the gap between the helmet and breastplate, at the neck position.
Once struck there by the enemy, it was equivalent to having the throat cut.
When Jin Feng designed the helmet and breastplate, he had considered this issue, minimising the gap as much as possible, and even lining the escort collars with a layer of iron sheet to prevent throat slashing, yet still two escorts unfortunately fell victim.
The third reason was the face guard.
The face guard needed to have an opening, and this opening could not be too small, otherwise it would affect the escort’s vision.
This was the biggest weakness of the black armour, and also the cause of the most deaths.
The best way to address this weakness was to produce blast-proof glass to seal this opening.
This would neither affect vision nor provide protection.
Unfortunately, with the current industrial base of Xihe Bay, producing large sheets of ordinary glass would still take time, let alone special glass.
After removing the armour and identifying the causes of death for the escorts, Jin Feng finally left the cemetery.
As soon as he stepped out, he found the Ninth Princess waiting outside.
In fact, she had come several times that day, but seeing Jin Feng removing armour from the escorts, she had gone back.
“Does Your Highness have business?” Jin Feng asked.
Having worked hard all day without even eating lunch, Jin Feng was quite exhausted.
“Nothing in particular, just coming to tell sir that the people from Old Crow Ditch have all been resettled.”
The Ninth Princess said, “In addition, the Changxin Army and Iron Tiger Battalion are already in position, and the Qingyuan Army can arrive in another hour.”
“This war is about to end!”
