If he were in his original city, Wu Yuanhao would not have to worry about these things. There were complete laws and regulations of the court, and these people would not dare to act recklessly.
But now everything is gone. They are in a state of anarchy. There is no communication in the mountains and forests like there is below. These tens of thousands of people are scattered in such a vast forest and even Wu Yuanhao has no way to find any one of them.
This inevitably led some to harbor skewed thoughts: "Wu Yuanhao has fought the war like this, so why should we still listen to him? Why don't we declare ourselves kings?" Or perhaps, "Why not just store the captured supplies?" To prevent them from pondering these questions, Empress Wu Yuan immediately urged them to descend the mountain and attack the Tang army. Only by keeping them constantly engaged in battle could her rule be most secure.
In addition, after the people around him entered the forest, Wu Yuanhao no longer allowed other generals to bring guards. Except for his own guards, no one else was allowed to carry weapons. He also knew that the Tang army had a very strong infiltration of the Vietnamese army. If someone stabbed him at this time, he would have no place to complain even if he died.
This rule of his certainly ensured his own safety, but it also widened the distance between him and the generals under him. Originally, everyone was working together with weapons, but now if you ask your subordinates to hand over their weapons, it would be like you are going to attack them.
"General, it's not that we don't want to go, but we didn't bring much food with us when we left the city. Now we've only had tree bark and other things to eat all day, and we can't even light an open fire. Many of them are so hungry that they can't even stand. If we let them go down the mountain to plunder..."
Some generals immediately stood up. What they said was all true. There were more than a thousand people under their command. Although they relied on their own abilities to find some wild fruits to fill their stomachs, these things could only fill their stomachs and could not bring them anger and energy.
"What you're talking about is very important. Aren't there two small towns on the other side of the mountain? Send someone over there and grab all the food."
After Wu Yuanhao finished speaking, no one present felt that he was wrong. The most important thing now was to ensure the safety of military rations. As for what the people in the two small towns ate, that was not a big deal.
After finally arranging all his men to leave, Wu Yuanhao finally lay down on his uncomfortable recliner, which was made for him by one of his dexterous subordinates using vines. It was quite rare to have such a recliner under such circumstances. It felt much more comfortable than the one in General Luo Cheng's mansion.
He was also thinking about what to do next. Although he had retreated to the mountains and forests according to his original plan, there were many things that he could not do according to his original plan.
For example, the attack on the Tang Dynasty's logistics transport team did cause some trouble to the Tang Dynasty army, but they paid the price of nearly ninety people. Compared with the losses on the Tang Dynasty side, their price was much greater. In addition to the more than ninety people who died in the battle, more than eighty people were injured. Now they lack medical care and medicine, and these more than eighty people are basically dead here.
According to this calculation, our casualty ratio with the Tang army may be as high as ten to one or twenty to one. This is not a normal ratio for a war at all. If our population is much larger than that of the Tang Dynasty, then we can fight a war of attrition with them at this ratio, but the problem is that we are only equivalent to one of their provinces.
The generals and soldiers below are not aware of such a crazy casualty ratio, so these people are still fantasizing about giving the Tang army a severe blow on the battlefield to let them know how wrong it was to invade Vietnam. If they knew such a casualty ratio and the current situation, some of them might run down the mountain and surrender.
"Reporting to the general, we found many civilians at the foot of the mountain. They all brought their families and wanted to come up the mountain with us. They said that the Tang army had begun searching their homes. If they waited at home, they would have nothing."
Just as Wu Yuanhao was thinking about the problem, the soldier at the door came over to report.
"Tell them to get out of here as soon as possible. We don't have time to worry about their own lives. Just take all the food they have and drive them down the mountain."
Wu Yuanhao absolutely couldn't accept this group of refugees at this time. Who knew if they were genuine Vietnamese refugees or if there were Tang soldiers among them? If there were a large number of Tang soldiers among them, then this would be troublesome. By the time they found their hiding place, the Tang army also had a very powerful mountain force. If they launched a small surprise attack, they would basically be wiped out here.
"General, I'm afraid this isn't a good idea. There are still many of our soldiers along the way. If we forcefully drive them away, it might cause resentment among many soldiers. Our morale is already very low..."
A man who looked like a staff officer nearby thought for a moment and said that the most important thing now was to stabilize the morale of the soldiers. Moreover, many of them had their hometowns nearby. If you drove their families down the mountain, these people would probably become alienated from us, and we would not be able to expect them to help us fight.
"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Tell the soldiers down there that a large number of Tang Dynasty refugees have infiltrated the mountains. We can't let them go up the mountain. If we let them go up the mountain, our position will be quickly exposed."
Wu Yuanhao was very determined about this matter. No matter who came to plead for mercy, he would never let these people go up the mountain.
The others thought about it and realized the same thing. During the battle in Luocheng, they knew there were many Tang Dynasty spies in the city, but unfortunately, they hadn't noticed this before and didn't take these spies seriously, so they let them go. They didn't expect that it would eventually lead to such serious consequences. If they had known this would happen, they would never have kept these spies...
