Yuan Gaisuwen's corpse was hung on the walls of Shenyang City.
The Skyfire Army within the city erupted in cheers!
The eighteen riders of Yan Yun, snatching the head of a general from amidst the enemy ranks!
Such a battlefield outcome.
It was like a shot of adrenaline injected directly into the veins of the Skyfire Army!
It was simply magnificent!
Outside the city, the Goguryeo encampment, after a period of chaos, began to see deserters!
As dawn broke.
Fang Er stood on the city wall, gazing at the Goguryeo encampment through a telescope.
Not a single soul was visible!
Goguryeo had retreated!
"General! Goguryeo has retreated, we held the city!"
"Yes! General, I never expected it! We, over two thousand men, could actually go head-to-head with two hundred thousand troops!"
Heh heh, this is a feat that can be bragged about until death!
Ma Chao, Liu Meng, and the others couldn't stop expressing their excitement.
Indeed.
Two thousand against two hundred thousand!
Although it was a night raid and a bit of trickery involved!
It was still a solid achievement for the Yan Yun riders!
Moreover, yesterday, the Skyfire Army had stubbornly held against the enemy's charge, retreating into Shenyang almost unscathed.
Just based on this!
No one would dare to underestimate the combat strength of the Skyfire Army!
You have won, you can be happy, and you have the right to be happy!
But you do not have the right to be arrogant!
If it weren't for the successful night raid by the Yan Yun riders last night, did you truly think you could have defended Shenyang City with the remaining ammunition?
Also! Return to your respective camps, gather your squad leaders, corporals, and fire chiefs, and hold a meeting!
Convene behind closed doors, summarize the experience and lessons learned from this engagement!
Fang Er deliberately put on a stern face and reprimanded them.
When it's time to rein them in, you must rein them in.
You cannot let them think that with firearms, they are invincible!
Zhu Zi, Liu Meng, Ma Chao, and the others went down to get busy.
There was too much to be done in the vast city of Shenyang.
The corpses within the city needed to be buried.
The houses destroyed by artillery shells also needed to be cleared.
The provisions and wealth left behind by the retreating Goguryeo garrison needed to be inventoried.
The city walls required repairs.
Similarly, the supplies abandoned by the Goguryeo army outside the city should not be wasted.
With limited ammunition, the priority was to steadily defend Shenyang City and await reinforcements from the imperial court.
The former Shenyang Armory was designated by Fang Er as the main camp for the Skyfire Army.
Lü Shuang! You take men back to Chang'an to report victory! Fang Er found paper and brush, wrote a report, and a letter to Zhao Gang, then continued,
Furthermore, the estates should have accumulated a significant amount of ammunition during this period; bring it all back!
This is for Zhao Gang, so he can produce the items; take it back with you.
Lü Shuang took the report and letter handed over by Fang Er and carefully tucked them into his embrace.
Rest assured, master, I will handle it properly!
After cupping his fists towards Fang Er, he exited.
Young master, some of the former residents of Shenyang want to enter the city.
As soon as Lü Shuang left, Zhu Zi entered.
Let's go and see.
Fang Er followed Zhu Zi out of the Armory.
They arrived at the city wall of Shenyang's North Gate.
A crowd of civilians had already gathered outside the city.
These people, after fleeing the city, had not gone very far.
They had likely just hidden in the woods outside Shenyang.
Upon discovering that the fighting had stopped, they had bravely returned.
A ruined home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold!
These civilians were all able-bodied men.
Clearly, they had merely returned to gather information.
If they confirmed it was safe, they would dare to bring their families back.
Fang Er was conflicted.
Whether to allow them into the city.
If there were any Goguryeo spies among these people.
Or relatives of those Goguryeo soldiers who had died from the Skyfire Army's guns and cannons.
Any of them could bring instability to Shenyang City.
Make arrangements, these people can enter the city, but their identities must be verified.
Ten households form a Jia, vouching for each other. Once inside the city, if anyone causes trouble, the entire Jia will be held accountable!
Fang Er instructed Zhu Zi.
One cannot blame Fang Er for being severe.
This place had, after all, been occupied by Goguryeo for over a hundred years.
Expecting these civilians to have much goodwill towards the Great Tang was impossible!
Therefore, in special times, special methods must be employed!
Implementing military control and Jia system was the only method he could think of at the moment!
Fortunately, from the inception of the Skyfire Army, Fang Er had mandated learning literacy and writing.
For tasks that were labor-intensive but not difficult, such as registering personal information, it was not a significant problem.
Shenyang City's North Gate was slowly opened.
Zhu Zi had transferred the entire first battalion.
Dozens of tables were set up outside the city for information registration.
Every civilian who passed the review and was permitted entry received a wooden plaque with some of their personal information inscribed on it.
Such as height, build, gender, and so on.
After entering the city, due to the collective punishment system, the civilians were quite orderly.
However, some people were dismayed when they saw their homes reduced to ruins by artillery shells.
In just two or three days.
Their homes were gone.
Only craters remained.
Fang Er toured the city and found that such families were not uncommon.
This situation could not be ignored.
Since Shenyang was to be brought back within the territory of the Great Tang.
The hearts of the people had to be considered.
A sign was erected in front of the Armory.
All civilians whose homes were destroyed could come forward to register their losses.
Of course, someone would still need to vouch for them.
Concurrently, artisans were recruited from among these civilians to repair the damaged houses in the city.
As for those completely reduced to rubble, they could only be rebuilt.
This process was slow, but the attitude displayed by Fang Er satisfied the populace.
In such situations in the past, who would have cared about the lives of the common people!
If you have ideas, go and pursue them; if not, just die, it was that simple and brutal!