On the north bank of the Hutuo River, the Exorcising the Dragon Army did not yet know that the Hejian Army, which had roamed Hebei independently for five years, opposed them for three, and was theoretically the Exorcising the Dragon Gang's principal enemy, had collapsed of its own accord-and collapsed in a way that ended its history.
But knowing would merely have meant knowing.
They were exhausted now. Most units had fought through the night and had only been forced to rest briefly yesterday evening or this morning. Meanwhile, the routed Youzhou Army lay right before them. The fugitives never stopped, so neither could the Exorcising the Dragon Army.
Not only could they not stop, they had to maintain their line, keeping their units connected across dozens of li; maintain elite assault troops, main battle formations, and multiple waves of advancing units to meet any possible military counterattack; snatch opportunities to drink and eat; collect both sides' wounded along the way and guard prisoners; and reassure the many local civilians who had failed to escape or had scattered into ditches and woods.
Where would they find time to worry about events across the river?
In truth, the Exorcising the Dragon Army handled those latter tasks very poorly... It was too chaotic, and they were too tired. Simply following orders and continuing north was good enough under these circumstances. How could they properly settle civilians and prisoners?
Leaving a few dozen lightly wounded men to organize shelter locally or journeys home already counted as doing their utmost.
Moreover, on entering fortified settlements, casually taking supplies for food and protection was unavoidable, and impossible to punish... First, the Youzhou Army's discipline was dubious, and it had mostly requisitioned supplies locally, so when the Exorcising the Dragon Army arrived, nobody could clearly distinguish