Chapter 106 Going home

This was a war without any suspense. In the end, the Ming army's musket team won a complete victory. They only paid the slight price of six people being killed and more than ten people being injured. More than three hundred Mongolian cavalry were killed and injured. More than two hundred people were killed and injured by the Dragon King cannon. Only more than ten cavalry turned around and fled.

Wang Pu asked the bearded man to leave a hundred-man team to clean the battlefield, and was responsible for stabbing the injured and undead Mongolians. Then he led the other four hundred-man teams to chase after the victory and rushed to the Mongolian camp. More than 400 people climbed over the ridge in front, and the Mongolian camp was completely presented to their noses.

Hundreds of Mongolian felt bags were scattered in the valley surrounded by mountains. Near the Mongolian felt bags were piles of cattle, sheep and horses. Groups of cattle, sheep and horses were locked in the pen. The defeated Mongolian cavalry had brought the bad news back to the camp. The old, young, women and children who were left in the camp were nervously packing their luggage, desperately driving away the animals, trying to escape from the place before the Ming army arrived.

But all this is in vain. It is simply a delusion to complete the migration in such a short time.

Wang Pu gently lifted the knife in his hand, and the bearded man beside him shouted loudly: "Attack..."

More than 400 soldiers howled like wolves, their eyes were red, and then followed Wang Pu, the bearded man rolled down the hillside and rushed to the Mongolian camp.

In order to protect the camp and the elderly, the young, women and children, more than ten Mongolian cavalry who fled back to the camp screamed and waved their scimitars and carried out the last charge in their lives. This charge was tragic, but the result was tragic. The musketeers of more than 400 Ming armies piled them all down with just one round of volleys.

The remaining old, young, women and children did not care about their cattle, sheep and animals, and fled over and fled. They had no time to escape, both the elderly and the children, all became dead under guns. Only dozens of young Mongolian women were not killed, and they struggled, screaming and being dragged into the felt bag by the soldiers of the Ming army in a beastly manner.

Wang Pu did not stop it, nor did he want to stop it. After half a month of hard marching, the soldiers had reached an extreme mental and physical strength. If they did not find a way to relieve their tense nerves, they would likely lose their minds and become real beasts. By that time, even the seven major military rules would not be restricted.

More than half an hour later, the subsequent large group of troops rushed to the Mongolian camp. What awaited them were piles of burning bonfires, buckets of hot cattle, sheep, horse milk, and fat mutton that was roasted on the fire. The hungry soldiers who had been gnawing dry food for more than half a month and had already faded out of their stomachs immediately rushed up and rushed to the ground. Some of them were exhausted and were squeezed to the ground.

Wang Pu could only smile bitterly and shook his head. It seemed that his expectations for these guys were still a little too high. At least their discipline did not fully meet Wang Pu's requirements. But after thinking about it, Wang Pu felt relieved. It was as difficult to keep a group of cold, hungry, hungry and thirsty big-headed soldiers calm in front of the fragrant, plump and tender lamb.

Under such extreme circumstances, you cannot impose too much constraints on the soldiers. Otherwise, their already tight nerves may break at any time. The best way to deal with them now is to let them eat, drink, play, howl, kill, and even make them fight frantically when necessary.

In short, we must vent all the accumulated dark emotions. Only in this way can these guys not leave psychological shadows and their human nature will not be distorted. Only after returning to Datong can they regain their rationality and become the strict disciplined subway blood warriors needed by Wang Pu.

The capital. The Ganqing Palace of the Forbidden City.

Emperor Chongzhen had just read the hot-painted chicken feather letter from Datong for 600 miles, and turned to Wang Chengen and said, "I didn't expect that Datong Town would still dare to send troops in an voluntary manner in the absence of soldiers and generals, uproot the Tumo people who threatened the border of the Ming Dynasty for nearly a hundred years, and captured a large number of cattle, sheep and animals. Not to mention the deficit of the border army's 600,000 yuan owed the salary, but also 500,000 yuan Yu Yin was handed over to the key warehouse of the inner government. Haha, it seems that Zhang Zi'an is still a bit capable."

Wang Chengen reimbursed himself and said in a charming voice: "Zhang Zi'an, a slave, still understands the land. Although he loves money, he is really brave and may still have the strength. But then again, if it weren't for Zhang Zi'an's courage, he wouldn't dare to take the initiative in the absence of soldiers and generals, right? So, I think Long Live is the most wisest, and I know people and give Zhang Zi'an a good servant to Datong. This is called far-sightedness, planning ahead, and winning a thousand miles away."

"Hahaha..." Emperor Chongzhen laughed a few times, shook his head and said, "However, no matter how brave Zhang Zi'an is, he will definitely not be able to do such a big deal. I have expected that there will be another expert behind him. Chengen, who would be the master who will give Zhang Zi'an the secret guidance?"

"This..." Wang Chengen shook his head and said, "I am stupid and can't really think of it."

"I know you can think of it, but I just don't want to say it." Emperor Chongzhen groaned and said, "Since you don't want to say it, then I will tell you that this master is either someone else, Wang Pu!"

"Long live the master, Master," Wang Chengen hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed with his head, "I really didn't expect this level."

"Okay, get up." Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "The Grandpa has a clear conspiracy. The court officials and relatives must not be involved in local border towns. But there is no such thing between Wang Pu and Zhang Zi'an. It is true that Wang Pu is a relative, and Zhang Zi'an is a border town. But he is a person in the palace and is not a real chief official. Therefore, even if they are really involved, it is not a taboo. I know that you want to protect the slaves under your command, and I don't want to offend the prince-consort because of this matter. I know that you are in a dilemma, so I don't blame you for hiding me just now. But tell me honestly, did Wang Pu give Zhang Zi'an a helping hand in this victory in Datong?"

Wang Chengen cried out in his vault and said, "Long live the truth, I really don't know."

Emperor Chongzhen nodded and sighed: "It seems you really don't know. Zhang Zi'an has hidden you!"

Logically speaking, Datong Town won the battle. The border army's wage arrears were also solved. Emperor Chongzhen should be very happy, but it is confusing that Emperor Chongzhen seemed to be unable to be happy at all, and even a little worried. Wang Chengen couldn't figure out what Emperor Chongzhen was thinking for a while, so he asked carefully: "Long live, I will send someone to Datong to investigate thoroughly."

"It's okay to send someone to investigate," said Emperor Chongzhen. "But if you want to act secretly, let Zhang Zi'an be the guard of Datong."

Wang Chengen quickly said, "Long live the holy and wise."

The northern foot of Yinshan Mountain.

The Mongolian winter camp has now become the military camp of the Ming army. Wang Pudi's army has been stationed here for two days. After two days of rest, with the nourishment of fat lamb, horse milk wine and fresh goat milk, this army, which is on the verge of collapse, has finally recovered its energy.

However, this place is not a place to stay for a long time. You should find a way to leave as soon as possible.

Although the Mongolian tribe on the northern foot of Yinshan Mountain is not small, it is very poor. Although there are many sheep and goats, the number of cattle and horses is small. Intuition tells Wang Pu. This tribe should be a Chahar native, that is, the direct descendant of Lin Dankhan, the last Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. It can be said that it was the highest-ranking tribe in the Northern Yuan Dynasty!

Unfortunately, since Huang Taiji conquered Mongolia, the Chahars have become the lowest-ranking tribe among all Mongolian tribes. Their cattle, sheep, women, and pastures have been occupied by other tribes. Huang Taiji also forced most of the Chahars to migrate eastward into the Songnen Plain and the Liaohe River Hetao, and eventually became slaves to the Korqin people and Manchus.

This small tribe did not migrate eastward and stayed in the Yinshan area and survived tenaciously. However, their living environment was obviously very harsh and they were often exploited by other tribes, so they became so poor. There were so few cattle herds, and only four or five hundred horses were.

Because there were not enough horses, Wang Pu had to have the previous idea again, which was a sled.

The sled first appeared in Switzerland and was far from spreading to the Ming Dynasty at this time. Whether it was the Ming Dynasty, the Mongols, or the Jurchens, they didn’t know what the sled was?

But Wang Pu knew what a sled was. He also knew that the sled was extremely simple to construct and was easy to make. The important thing was that this thing was very fast and labor-saving. A few dogs could drag people or goods weighing four or five hundred pounds. The dog could not be found at this time, but horses were ready-made. Four or five hundred horse-drawn sleds were enough to drag more than 2,000 people and the supplies needed, and the marching speed would never be slower than marching on horseback.

With the assistance of Lu Liuhe and several personal soldiers, Wang Pu finally set up the first sled.

The main body of this sled is a cube rack built of twelve wood. It is about one twelve feet long, about six feet wide, and about two feet high. The two long heads at the bottom look particularly thick, with the front end being a large part of the main body. The extra piece is specially roasted with fire and then bent upwards into an arc. There are many small wooden strips nailed horizontally on the top of the wooden rack to form a grid, which can be seated and tied to things.

Scarface, Big Beard and others were all watching, and they didn't know what Wang Pu was doing.

Wang Pu clapped his hands and said to the bearded man watching next to him: "Beard, bring the horse over."

"Why."

The bearded man responded and led a long-prepared horse over.

Wang Pu picked up two hemp ropes, tied the sled to the saddle, then picked up the long whip and sat forward, greeting the bearded man and others, "Bearded man, monk, all five of you come up."

The bearded man, scarfaced, Tang Sheng, Zhao Xin and monk Zhang, who were standing next to him, climbed onto the sled one after another. Wang Pu shook the long whip in his hand and shouted loudly: "Ha!"

The red horse raised its head and neighed, shook its four hooves and ran forward. Wang Pu's "first-in-chief" sled and slid lightly on the snow. Big bearded man and others were stunned when they saw the snow under their feet being backed back rapidly.

"It's weird, it's evil." The bearded man said with disbelief, "What's this? Can a horse actually pull the six of us masters?"

"Run quite fast." Scarface also scratched his head, "It's not much slower than riding a horse."

"I am worthy of being a general." Tang Sheng and Monk Zhang threw admiring eyes at Wang Pu, "I know more than us."

Wang Pu drove the horse to pull the sled and slid on the snow for a distance, then controlled the reins and turned around and circled back to the camp, then jumped off the sled and said to the bearded man and others: "You guys all listened. Take your people with you and go to the mountain to log wood immediately, seize the time to build 500 frames, and then we can get on this thing and go back to Datong."

Datong, Wang Family Courtyard.

As soon as Wang Ju and Zhen Youcai got off the carriage, Zhuzi came up from the doorman and said, "Uncle, Mr. Zhen. You are back. In the past half month, Eunuch Zhang has almost broken the threshold of our Wang family. If you don't come back, I really don't know how to tell Eunuch Zhang."

Wang Ju turned around and looked at each other and smiled at each other, with tacit expressions on both of them at the same time.

It seems that Zhang Zian, an old castrated man, is really anxious. In addition to the Wang family in Shanxi, there are only Zhao, Li, Yang, Ye, and He families in Shanxi. But more than a month ago, the five families had already jointly settled all the Wang family's land transactions in Shanxi. Now, looking at Shanxi, only the Wang family's land bank has enough money to buy this batch of animals.

But Wang Pu told me that buying this batch of animals would only cost half the price at most. Wang Ju and Zhen Youcai thought about not being able to tear off their faces with Zhang Zi'an. So they had to set up a trap. The two went to Beitongzhou, one to avoid Zhang Zi'an, and the other to buy Wang Pu's food for food.

By the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the price of grain had nearly doubled compared with the Wanli period, but even so, there was a price but no market in the five northern provinces. As a result, Wang Ju and Zhen Youcai bought almost all dozens of grain stores in Beitongzhou and only bought 50,000 shi of grain, spending a total of 100,000 taels of silver.

Look, Wang Ju and Zhen Youcai had just returned to Datong with the first batch of 5,000 stones of grain.

Wang Ju had just arrived home and his butt was not hot. When Zhang Zi'an heard the news, Haohao came to the door. Wang Ju didn't dare to be negligent and hurriedly asked Zhuzi to lead Zhang Zi'an to the living room. Wang Ju washed up and rushed to the living room, clasped his fists and said, "Oh, Eunuch Zhang is here in the humble house, the humble house is really shining."

"Master Wang." Zhang Zi'an asked Wang Ju and bowed his fists and said, "We have a polite position here."

"Oh, don't dare." Wang Ju said hurriedly, "How dare Caomin call him master in front of his father-in-law? Come and see the tea."

"Mr. Wang is the richest man in Shanxi and the eldest brother of the prince consort." Zhang Zi'an smiled, "I deserve it, I deserve it."

Wang Ju hurriedly said: "Where is our Wang family who dares to claim to be the richest man? They all rely on their father-in-law and the parents and masters of Datong Mansion to enjoy the food."

"Haha." Zhang Zian smiled awkwardly and asked casually, "Mr. Wang seems not at home?"

"I dare not hide it from my father-in-law." Wang Ju said hurriedly, "Caomin has indeed been doing a big deal recently, so he is not in Datong."

"Oh?" Zhang Zi'an asked casually, "I don't know what the business is, but I have to bother Mr. Wang to take action himself?"

Wang Ju said: "Dadfather-in-law, you also know that in recent years, natural disasters and man-made disasters have continued. Our Wang family has been operating silk, silk, tea, and porcelain for several generations. If we don't find another way out, we will be in vain. We have to sell these unprofitable industries, collect our bank and go to Beitongzhou, and buy some grain. The grass people think that the years are not good in recent years, and grain will definitely be easy to sell in the five northern provinces."

"A little food?" Zhang Zi'an felt a thump and asked anxiously, "How many stones does Mr. Wang have to ask?"

Wang Ju stretched out her right hand and shook her five fingers.

Zhang Zi'an breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Five Thousand Stones?"

Wang Ju smiled and shook her head.

Zhang Zi'an's heart was raised to his throat and asked, "Fifty thousand stones?"

Wang Ju still shook her head.

Zhang Zian was startled and asked sharply, "Five hundred thousand stones?"

Wang Ju smiled and nodded.

"oops!"

Zhang Zi'an stomped his feet hard, showing annoyance. Wang Ju went to Beitongzhou to stockpile 500,000 stones of grain. Wouldn't he spend more than one million silver at the market price? In this way, the Wang family may not have enough cash to buy all the cattle, sheep and animals. What should we do?

Wang Ju pretended to be stunned and asked, "Father-in-law, what's wrong with you?"

Zhang Zi'an was furious and didn't want to go around the circle. He said straight to the point: "Master Wang, our family will tell you clearly. A month ago, the soldiers of the army captured a large number of animals from the Tumotes. Because the number was too large, our family couldn't take it off for a while, so he wanted to trouble Mr. Wang to buy it at the market price, which could be regarded as serving the court and solving the urgent needs for our family."

Wang Ju said readily: "This is a service, but I don't know how much silver the grass people should prepare?"

Zhang Zi'an said in a voice: "Two million taels!"

"Ah?" Wang Ju was shocked and said in a lost voice, "Two...two million taels!"

When he saw Wang Ju's expression, a cloud appeared between Zhang Zi'an's eyebrows and asked in a dark voice: "Master Wang, your Wang family is the richest man in Shanxi, so you can't even afford this little money, right?"

Wang Ju cried out: "Eunuch Zhang, Caomin sold all the industries he passed down from his family not long ago, and he barely raised two million taels of silver. But this time he went to Beitongzhou to buy grain this time and used nearly one.2 million taels of silver. Caomin really can't come up with so much silver now."

Zhang Zian said anxiously: "Then how much money can you take out now?"

Wang Ju said: "Now there are only 600,000 taels in the silver warehouse."

"It's too different." Zhang Zi'an stomped his feet. "It's too different."

Wang Ju whispered: "Dadfather, there is a saying that the people of the sages don't know if they should say it?"

Zhang Zian frowned and said, "Speak just if you have something to do."

Wang Ju said: "The batch of animals from my father-in-law needs to be bought at the market price of two million taels. The number is probably more than one million? I'm going to tell you, no one is willing to eat so many animals in one go! If anyone eats so many cattle and sheep animals in one go, then he will definitely lose his life. Think about it, how long will it take to sell so many cattle and sheep animals? Before selling these animals, you need to buy grass and feed them? If the bad-hearted forage merchants take the opportunity to raise the price, or the batch of animals is not sold well, the silver for buying grass alone may exceed the price of the batch of animals itself, then Isn't it a loss?"
To be continued...