I have lived forever since the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 433 Battle Report
A moonlit night in Chang'an, at the Weixin Hou Mansion.

The shadowy branches swayed gently, and the mottled moonlight reflected in the pavilion in the courtyard.

"Bo Yu, secret letter." Li Xu hurried over and whispered.

These days, the atmosphere is not peaceful.

Everyone is paying attention to the war in the north and looking forward to the final result.

A stable situation represents a pool of stagnant water, but when the whole situation becomes turbulent and chaotic, it often gives people opportunities.

Of course, Chen Luo's faction now has the support of the emperor, and after several years of operation, it has occupied a dominant position in the court.

Their support for luring the Huns in Yanmen County this time was not to create opportunities, but because they really wanted to do something.

Chen Luo narrowed his eyes and asked, "From the imperial court? Or from the Mo family?"

"From the Mo family." Li Xu responded.

Chen Luo took it and took out a roll of light red letter "paper".

The peel is easy to swallow, and it only takes a few chews to blur the writing on it, completely destroying the information in an instant.

However, the appearance of this thing was purely accidental in this era. Only the "bored" Mohists could discover that after cooking hawthorn, they found that red glue-like objects could be formed. After debugging, drying, and thinning, Not only does it taste delicious, but you can also write on it with a brush dipped in ink. When the ink dries, roll it up and stuff it into a bamboo tube, and then you can use it as a tool to deliver secret messages.

Li Xu took out a bamboo tube and handed it to Chen Luo.

If you don't want the message to fall into the hands of the enemy, then having the sender destroy the letter is naturally the best option.

"I see." Chen Luo suddenly realized, then continued, "But the city gate is already closed at this time, right? How did the messenger get here?"

This kind of operation cannot be considered very compliant, but at least it does not violate the curfew system.

Fruit bark is prepared from hawthorn as raw material.

However, the delivery of the battle report must be more detailed. It is different from the war report. The messenger spends some time on the road.

This letter was not written on letter paper, but on gotan skin. It was obviously delivered through a messenger.

As for how to destroy the letter immediately, swallowing it is undoubtedly the best way.

Compared with ordinary paper, fruit bark is more confidential.

Hawthorn is a crop that is quite common in Guanzhong and Qilu.

Chen Luo nodded, "Okay, give me the letter."

After all, in the process of transmitting messages, accidents are inevitable.

Calculating the time, the battle of Mayi should have concluded three to five days ago.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you use a carrier pigeon this time?"

Li Xu rubbed his chin and said with a smile: "Yanmen County doesn't even have Guan City. The Mohist caravans usually don't move in that area, and there is no special station to train homing pigeons."

What's more, there is indeed an urgent military situation this time, so the messenger chose this approach.

Li Xu said softly: "The city gate reported my name and had me pulled up in a hanging basket."

On the contrary, it is paper, which is difficult to swallow. If the enemy kills the messenger and cuts open the stomach immediately, a lot of useful information can still be obtained.

Chen Luo naturally thought for a while, "Don't do this next time. It's understandable for the imperial messenger to do this. The Mo family is just sending the news to us earlier. It's not appropriate to take advantage of these loopholes."

It is to your advantage to send the letter earlier, and you can gain a lot of benefits through the information gap.

However, asking Mohist disciples to break the rules for this reason violates procedural justice.

For his own benefit, Chen Luo was unwilling to harm the Mohist family's persistence.

Li Xu was stunned for a moment, then solemnly agreed, "No, I won't let them do this in the future."

At the same time, Chen Luo slowly unfolded the roll of fruit peel in his hand and carefully read the battle report on it. …

The breeze and floating clouds covered half of the moonlight.

Chen Luo's face gradually sank.

"Bo Yu, did the battle in Bian County fail?" Li Xu asked hurriedly when he saw him put down the letter in his hand.

The letter was sealed in the bamboo tube until it was officially delivered.

One is to preserve the letters and avoid damage.

Secondly, it was to ensure that the letter was not leaked along the way.

Therefore, Li Xu did not know what was written on it before Chen Luo opened it.

Chen Luo shook his head, hesitated for a moment, and nodded again.

The contents recorded in the battle report roughly describe the entire process of the Mayi War.

Before going on the expedition, Chen Luo had actually made corresponding arrangements in private.

For example, he told Guan Fu not to leave the place where the army ambush without any guards to make the Huns suspicious, and to try to arrange and protect the insiders who knew the ambush to avoid being caught and leaking secrets.

But there is no telling how much the other party has heard.

Chen Luo's current status is just a civilian official, while Guan Fu is a veteran who participated in quelling the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, and their status in the military field is quite different.

Of course, Chen Luo has the blessing of "Han Xin values", so his words will not be completely ignored.

But judging from the final result, the situation is not ideal.

He sighed: "Well, it's really hard to say. Judging from the results alone, this ambush was not without effect - more than 30,000 people were beheaded, 8,000 were captured, and the enemy retreated outside the pass. But if we really look into it, our losses There are also quite a few.

We lost more than 2,000 cattle and sheep for setting up ambush, nearly 7,000 infantry were killed, and 13,000 cavalry were killed. Six thousand of them were ambushed during the pursuit. Damn, this is nothing.

All in all, this was barely a victory, but not a great victory.

I'm afraid I have to think carefully about what His Majesty's attitude will be when I go to court in the morning the day after tomorrow. "

After saying this, Chen Luo rubbed his brows slightly annoyed.

Judging from the battle loss ratio, the battle loss ratio between the Han and the Huns was one to two.

But if you think about it carefully, this was an ambush battle. The Han army trapped and killed more than 10,000 Huns in the ambush valley. Unexpectedly, against the Huns who were not fully prepared, they actually suffered close to one-to-one battle losses. It was really a bit It makes no sense.

Of course, compared to the siege of Mayi in history, the harvest was much more fruitful.

Thinking of something, Chen Luo turned his head and said softly: "By the way, Senior Nie Yi is gone."

"Oh." Li Xu responded, looking at the night sky with only a few stars, and fell into silence.

When he entered the Mo family, Nie Yi was his guide, but later he returned to the Central Plains with the caravan and did not stay at the border, so the two rarely met.

The last time we met was maybe seven years ago, or six years ago?

Even the appearance of the other party was slightly blurred.

I just remember that Mr. Nie loved to laugh. He seemed to be spending every penny when doing transactions, but in fact he never did anything short-changed.

"Such a good person..." Li Xu murmured, "But if it were me, I would make the same choice."

Chen Luo patted his shoulder.

Some people are dead but still alive.

(End of this chapter)