“Good, this settles the overall situation.” Seeing the battle unfold like this, Ye Tao rested his hand on the command tower railing, and said easily. “Now everyone is tangled together, it's not good to drop bombs… Immediately order the airship squadron to return and replenish ammunition.”

The adjutant in the command tower recorded the order, and two signal flags and lanterns began to work busily. A junior adjutant, taking advantage of Ye Tao's good mood, asked for guidance: “Sir, although we have so few troops, it's obvious that we're fighting better.”

Another adjutant said with a smile, “General Dai asked me to tally how many battalions were directly and indirectly engaging the enemy at each moment. Although the heavy ordnance battalion, longbow battalion, scout battalion, and archer cavalry battalion aren't engaging the enemy much, and there's also the airship squadron… all of these units are actually contributing simultaneously. On the other hand, no matter how many people the enemy has, only those at the front of the formation are engaging. Purely in terms of the number of troops functioning at the same time, I think our side should have a great advantage when the statistics are compiled. Besides, it's not just about people. A heavy ordnance battalion needs dozens of people to operate a ballista, but the effect they produce is probably incomparable to hundreds or thousands of people.”

Ye Tao smiled encouragingly and said, “Keep it up. Sooner or later, the army will be controlled and managed by you young people. The more thoroughly you study the army, the more at ease we old guys will be.”

However, after Ye Tao said that, everyone felt like rolling their eyes. As time passed, Ye Tao's current age, although still frighteningly young and successful, was no longer the youngest in Yunzhou's vibrant system. The adjutants and officers present were also quite young, the youngest being only seventeen years old. Ye Tao was indeed older, but not old enough to casually say things like a seasoned veteran in his forties or fifties cultivating successors.

A rumbling, thunderous sound came over… After much effort, the heavy ordnance battalion finally avenged the initial failure to ignite. They threw many kerosene bombs all over the battlefield, many of which were deliberately unlit or landed in awkward positions and didn't explode. After such a long battle, they were all plastered on the ground, mixed with blood and mud, and the air was already full of the smell of burning, with few people noticing the dense smell of oil in the air. A kerosene bomb accidentally exploded, quickly igniting the entire ground and instantly engulfing a group of people. Although some melee infantry were inadvertently swallowed by the fire, the Yunzhou armies, who had been playing with fire for a long time, had undergone training in dealing with fire that the Xiling army couldn't even imagine. The officers immediately ordered the troops to regroup and withdraw together. Fortunately, because the Yunzhou army had always maintained a fairly complete line to ensure its advantage, this retreat was possible. And at this moment, the heavy ordnance battalion, seeing the opportunity, disregarded its fatigue and fired a series of kerosene bombs even faster than before, some lit and some unlit. In the air, the airship squadron also excitedly dropped kerosene bombs, as if testing how big they could make the fire.

“Ah… it's over…” Seeing this unexpected situation on the battlefield, although the fire wouldn't spread too far because the battlefield was too large, the damage caused by the chaos and trampling of the army was too great. Especially since the battlefield was now crowded with Xiling soldiers. Jiang Xujing shook his head as if resigned, and said, “Sound the retreat, the whole army retreat… Right here, erect a truce flag and my command flag.” After saying that, Jiang Xujing slowly sheathed the longsword in his hand, held his horse, and stood there firmly.

“General…” The guards and adjutants beside him were stunned. It didn't matter that the whole army sounded the retreat; it was appropriate in this situation. Although the loss in rhythm and morale was significant, it wasn't irrecoverable. But Jiang Xujing's current intention seemed to be that after the army retreated, he would discuss a truce with the enemy in the middle of the battlefield, which was clearly a preparation to admit defeat and surrender. In everyone's impression, Jiang Xujing had never been such a pessimist.

“No need to say anything. Tell the boys to be careful and keep an eye on those Guardians.” Jiang Xujing shook his head again.

The Yunzhou armies immediately saw the truce flag. Immediately, from the command tower to the generals and officers on all sides, orders were issued to retreat a distance and reorganize the formation. No one seemed to suspect that Jiang Xujing's move was a temporary measure, preparing to continue fighting after the fire subsided. This trust and respect for the enemy made Jiang Xujing feel a little better.

After three hours of fierce fighting, with corpses littering the ground, would it end like this? However, the two armies basically returned to their positions before the start of the battle in the morning, leaving a distance of more than a thousand paces in the middle, and looked at each other from a distance again. Jiang Xujing didn't even bring many guards, only a dozen people accompanied him, standing under the extremely conspicuous flag in the middle of the battlefield.

After resting for about a quarter of an hour, Ye Tao rode out from the Yunzhou army. Beside him were all the important commanders in this battle: Dai Shihuan, Dai Shijin, Tan Weiran, Chi Lei, Cheng Chi, and even Shi Liu, the commander of the Central Army Battalion who impressed everyone today, along with one or two guards each, a dozen people accompanying Ye Tao to the middle of the battlefield.

The two commanders, one old and one young, looked at each other. After a while, Ye Tao spoke first: “General Jiang, what do you think is the best way to resolve this matter now?” Ye Tao wasn't aggressive, but spoke of this tragic battle as if he were handling an ordinary official document.

“I surrender.” Jiang Xujing said frankly, “I lost this battle, and I lost convincingly.”

Ye Tao was about to say something, but Jiang Xujing's continued speech stifled him. Jiang Xujing asked, “Lord Ye, can you promise to guarantee the safety of our surrendered soldiers?”

“Our side has never had a tradition of killing prisoners. Please rest assured, General,” thinking that Jiang Xujing's concerns were actually reasonable, this time Yunzhou attacked the Zhenbei Military District, and they had never been very active in capturing prisoners, killing fiercely, Ye Tao smiled, “Under the circumstances of greater supply pressure, our side does not prioritize capturing prisoners, but rather injuring or defeating them. That is the case. But all the soldiers who surrender to our side have received treatment commensurate with their positions. Please rest assured, General.”

Jiang Xujing smiled and said, “Then, Lord Ye, now you say, how do you think this matter should be carried out? You and I, in this regard, don't seem to be very experienced people, right?”

That was indeed the case. Ye Tao thought for a moment and said, “Please announce this matter to your side, and please rest in place. Our side will send soldiers on both flanks to observe. After everything is settled, please come to my camp.”

Jiang Xujing nodded and said, “Very well.” Then, without saying much, he turned his horse and ran back towards his own formation. About an hour after Ye Tao returned to the camp, Jiang Xujing arrived.

In this hour, Dai Shijin and Dai Shihuan, the most experienced, had given the too-young officers a popular lesson on the surrender process. And before this, everyone had unanimously thought of the problem of food supply, and had already sent out flying eagles before the internal meeting, informing Yu Fuzhong and Suo Zheng, who were waiting for news in Qingtian and controlling logistics supply, that this battle was won, and Jiang Xujing had surrendered with his troops. But at the same time, he urged Suo Zheng to quickly transport a batch of food up, and quickly adjust the proportion of rear supply transportation, which could greatly reduce the consumption of kerosene bombs, arrows, and other consumable items.

In one hour, the Yunzhou side also quickly drafted various related clauses. In this regard, they really weren't prepared at all. Who would have thought that Jiang Xujing would surrender at this time? Jiang Xujing had the courage to gather an army of 300,000 to carry out a decisive battle, but he surrendered when the losses were just over half. Although there were still doubts, for the time being, it was necessary to confirm that Jiang Xujing had no other intentions. And when Jiang Xujing came to the central army camp of the Yunzhou army, bringing only two personal guards and all the officers and generals, they placed the troop deployment talismans one by one on the long table that had just been cleaned up. Although everyone's faces were unhappy, they didn't say anything. Jiang Xujing's control over the army was really quite extraordinary. Ni Sigui's troops have now been concentrated, sandwiched in the middle by Jiang Xujing's elite troops on the left and right. Probably thinking that there was no point and no way out, this unit is now very quiet.

“General Jiang, do you have any other conditions now?” Facing each other, Dai Shihuan said, “You might as well say it now, and our side will consider it.”

“A defeated general, relying on a bit of combat power to negotiate further, is a bit too ignorant. If there is one, it can be considered as one, many of our officers and generals come from all over Xiling and are assigned to my unit, they want to go back.” Jiang Xujing shrugged and said.

“Yes, as long as there is initial control over your existing army, officers, generals, officers, and soldiers who want to return to Xiling can leave. Our side will send troops to monitor and guarantee supplies until they enter Taizhou.” Dai Shihuan nodded and agreed.

Jiang Xujing nodded and said, “That's it then, now I'm at your disposal.”

Dai Shihuan said with a smile, “General Jiang, we can be considered to have been fighting each other for many years, and we know each other fairly well. I'll just say our disposal opinion.”

Yunzhou's disposal opinion was very simple: hand over weapons, and then reorganize and repatriate step by step, which was a matter of course and nothing to say. It seemed reasonable to ask Jiang Xujing to cooperate in surrendering all the strongholds and towns in the Zhenbei Military District that were not yet under the control of the Yunzhou army. What made Jiang Xujing a little worried was that Dai Shihuan proposed to deal with the Guardians separately, and to conduct a period of isolation and review after they were dispersed and reorganized throughout the army, which made Jiang Xujing have a headache. But Dai Shihuan also made it clear that they would not kill people casually, but if anyone didn't listen to anything, at least isolation and detention would be unavoidable. These Guardian soldiers were too fanatical, even now that tens of thousands of people were fighting until only a few were left, they still had bright eyes, and under the surveillance of Jiang Xujing's main army, they were praying to the heavens, and said what the gods would do, and even said that Ye Tao would be struck to death by thunder in the blink of an eye.

But everyone thought that the thunder was now manufactured by Ye's Workshop, and obviously Ye Tao's friendship with the gods was more solid than the Taoist sect's bunch of grandsons.