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Although the White Wave army was now defeated, it was clear this was only a portion of their forces. The rest were still behind, and the coerced common people were not yet in sight. Therefore, Fei Qian directly ordered Ma Yue to pursue and harry the fleeing White Wave soldiers, simultaneously driving them forward and capturing them.
The troops who had arrived belatedly behind Hu Cai were, overall, slightly better than the average rabble or commoners, but only marginally so. They had eaten a single, barely passable bowl of gruel in the morning when they set out. After one bout of urination during the day, there was nothing else. Then they had hurried along all day, only to arrive at Pingyang and find not only that they had failed to take the city but had been soundly defeated…
When the hope of getting a decent meal in Pingyang was completely shattered, many of the White Wave soldiers, exhausted and starving after a day's march, simply had no strength left to resist. Under the impact of Ma Yue's cavalry charge, they quickly fragmented into several groups. Those who were truly unable to run any further knelt on the ground and surrendered. Those with a little strength left fled in panic, scattering in all directions.
Ma Yue, with his fresh troops newly joined to the battle, followed Fei Qian's earlier instructions. After scattering the White Wave assembly, he split his cavalry into two groups. Like herding sheep, they drove the scattered White Wave soldiers together, then took turns continuously attacking the rear of the fleeing army, cutting off pieces, giving the White Wave no opportunity to stop, regroup, or rest. They could only desperately flee forward.
The entire battle gradually entered its cleanup phase. Hu Cai, with some personal guards, relying on having horses, escaped first before the other soldiers could react. His speed was such that Ma Yue, chasing from behind, never managed to catch him…
However, the other White Wave soldiers were not so fortunate. Most, running until their strength gave out, lost their chance to escape. Their weapons were confiscated, they were made to squat in groups, then bound in lines by Huang Cheng's infantry and gathered together to be escorted back to Pingyang.
The sky gradually darkened. Ma Yue pursued for a while longer but saw no trace of Hu Cai. Also concerned about poor visibility and the risk of injury to horses at high speed, he reluctantly called off the chase, rejoined Huang Cheng, and together they returned to Pingyang County town.
×××××××××××××××××××
Night, inside the main tent in Pingyang County town.
Fei Qian was with Huang Cheng, Ma Yue, and Jia Qu, tallying and verifying the results of the battle.
The casualties on Fei Qian's side occurred mainly during the city defense phase, especially when the White Wave army launched the surprise arrow attack, where losses were particularly severe. In total, two hundred sixty-four men died on the spot, thirty-five were seriously wounded, and twenty-eight suffered minor injuries.
Those with minor injuries would likely survive without much issue. But for the seriously wounded, in this era of scarce medicine, it would depend on their individual luck.
As for the White Wave side, the numbers were harder to tally. After all, under the modao formation, hardly any whole human corpses were seen…
However, the number of prisoners was quite considerable: one thousand nine hundred and seventy men in total, now all held outside Pingyang City.
"This battle was truly exhilarating!" Ma Yue lifted a wine cup from the table, first toasting Fei Qian. "I never imagined the Lord was also deeply versed in cavalry tactics. The phrase 'herding sheep' perfectly captures the essence of pursuing a routed army!"
Hearing this, Huang Cheng, without moving his head, shot a sideways glance at Ma Yue.
Jia Qu also glanced over, though he didn't look at Ma Yue but at Fei Qian.
Seeing Jia Qu look over, Fei Qian smiled slightly, indicating it was fine.
No wonder Ma Yue was excited. This was his first time personally leading troops in battle since the Ma family's defeat in Shang Commandery. Moreover, he had just been adopted as Ma Yan's heir and was keen to prove himself. Having such a satisfyingly decisive battle, while not fully proving his capability, at least allowed him to show Ma Yan and others within the Ma family that Ma Yan had not chosen wrongly.
Fei Qian also raised his cup in response to Ma Yue, saying, "Zidu has merely tested the waters with a small blade today. In the future, his brilliance will surely shine." After all, Ma Yue was still relatively young, or rather, more straightforward, not well-versed in worldly affairs. So Fei Qian simply replied, moving past the topic.
"May I ask, Commander, how should the prisoners outside the city be handled?" Jia Qu asked with a cupped-hand salute. Battles were the concern of generals like Huang Cheng and Ma Yue. Now that the battle was over, naturally, these follow-up matters fell to Jia Qu, so he needed to inquire about Fei Qian's stance.
"What are your thoughts, Liangdao?"
After the incident with the Zhang family in An Yi, Jia Qu had clearly become much more decisive. Seeing Fei Qian remain silent, he thought Fei Qian might be hesitant to speak, as such matters were usually proposed by subordinates for the lord's approval. Therefore, without hesitation, he said directly, "Simply bury them alive."
Fei Qian couldn't help but be taken aback.
Fei Qian suddenly felt this was rather off-script. According to typical Romance of the Three Kingdoms scenarios, shouldn't the usual line be something like "Killing prisoners is inauspicious"? How could it be such a straightforward "Simply bury them alive"?
Noticing Fei Qian's silence, Jia Qu thought he needed to provide more detailed reasoning and continued calmly, "Harmony is what allows all things to transform; order is what allows all things to be distinguished. Exceeding propriety leads to chaos; exceeding standards leads to violence. They do not engage in farming or sericulture, losing their harmony; they show no regard for their native land, losing their order; they recklessly take up arms, showing contempt for the king's law. Such violent, rebellious men deserve death for their crimes."
Fei Qian suddenly understood why Huangfu Song, after burying alive so many commoners who followed the Yellow Turbans, never received a single criticism of cruelty. So that was it!
Fei Qian's prolonged hesitation made Jia Qu somewhat puzzled.
Fei Qian sighed inwardly, then said, "Today is late. For now, feed them a thin gruel…"
A flicker passed through Jia Qu's eyes. He bowed respectfully and said, "As you command."
*****
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