The Han Army's cleanup operation was swift. When they reached the stage of conducting a large-scale hunt for deserters, Blood Butcher directly summoned the Sea Wolf Guard, which had been lying in ambush farther west, to join the Whistling Arrow Guard in searching for the enemy troops who had fled into the mountains and forests.
The newly added two thousand five hundred men of the Sea Wolf Guard had not gained much merit to begin with, so they fought especially hard during the search. The two guard units needed only one morning to completely clear out the remaining enemy troops.
As for the Flying Bear Guard, which had been lying in ambush at the westernmost position, it truly fulfilled the words spoken before the battle. Before the enemy had even run thirty li, they had essentially all been wiped out. The Flying Bear Guard had not even managed to get a single hair, leaving all its officers and soldiers thoroughly depressed.
However, Blood Butcher had already done the ideological groundwork with them before the battle. The Flying Bear Guard's battles were still to come; they would be facing the enemy's main force directly then, so there was no need to fight over this momentary achievement. Thus, after the first battle ended in victory, Blood Butcher did not call them back. He simply had them switch to defense where they were and await his follow-up arrangements.
After this battle, Blood Butcher ordered the army to turn toward the original frontline camp of the Xin Tribe and assemble there. The Sea Wolf Guard, Huben Guard, Whistling Arrow Guard, and the Leopard Strategy Guard in the rear—four guard units in all—returned to the mountaintop camp from before. Naturally, the more than three thousand prisoners they had captured came along as well.
The Xin