lcionline Chapter 119 Divide the money
Chapter 119 Divide the money
After successfully eliminating the first wave of scouts, Lu Cheng immediately led his men to search north and east. After running for more than ten miles, he found the second wave of scouts, which was also a small team of less than ten people.
This time, when Lu Cheng rushed out, all the cavalrymen behind him immediately followed and chased after the group of Jiannu.
It was another battle of chase and escape. Lu Cheng still relied on the advantage of his warhorse to quickly close the distance and shoot arrows.
However, Lu Cheng was not so lucky this time. He shot two or three arrows in a row, but failed to hit any enemy. Instead, the enemy was scared and dispersed immediately.
Perhaps it was because the novice protection period had passed, Lu Cheng no longer used his archery skills of "shoot wherever you point", and just aimed at a Jiannu and chased after him.
After the distance was shortened, Lu Cheng nimbly dodged the arrows shot by the opponent, took out a crossbow, and shot three arrows at once, two of which hit the enemy immediately.
However, the power of the crossbow arrow was too weak and did not cause much damage to the enemy.
But Lu Cheng no longer cared about that enemy and instead ran towards another enemy.
The guy who was shot by the crossbow arrow rode his horse for another dozen steps, his body shook, and he fell off his horse, foaming at the mouth and convulsing all over.
At this time, Lu Cheng had also approached the second enemy and loaded arrows into the crossbow in his hand.
Compared with bows and arrows, Lu Cheng is very adept at using crossbows.
Special forces sometimes use military bows and crossbows in combat, and Lu Cheng is quite familiar with crossbows.
In contrast, even if a gun is equipped with a silencer, it still makes a certain amount of noise. Military crossbows are more concealed, silent, and fire-free. They can adapt to various environments and have extremely high accuracy within 100 meters.
Of course, a good military crossbow is also quite expensive, usually costing tens of thousands of yuan, which is several times or even dozens of times the price of an ordinary rifle.
Although the hand crossbow in Lu Cheng's hand cannot compare with the military crossbow, when the distance is close enough, the crossbow arrows coated with poison will have extremely strong lethality.
Seeing the enemy fleeing in different places, the cavalrymen behind them immediately dispersed and chased after them. When the distance was shortened, they immediately drew their bows and arrows and started shooting at the enemy.
However, the people led by Lu Cheng were obviously not good at riding and shooting, and they suffered losses in the shootout with the enemy. Not only did they fail to hit any enemy, but one of them was shot in the arm and another was shot in the horse.
Lu Cheng could only speed up and deal with other enemies.
If people die in the initial battle, it will greatly affect morale.
Fortunately, Ding Xiu came to help, and the two of them quickly dealt with the remaining scouts.
This time, because seven or eight enemies fled in all directions, Lu Cheng and his men chased them for several miles before finally eliminating the last enemy.
Afterwards, Lu Cheng personally treated the wound of the injured cavalryman, pulled out the arrow, disinfected it with pre-distilled wine, applied ointment, and bandaged the wound: "How is it? Are you afraid?"
The man shook his head: "Sir, I'm not afraid."
"You're right not to be afraid. The enemy's arrows are not that powerful. Once they exceed a certain range, they will become very slow. If you are careful, you can dodge them. Of course, don't be afraid if you get hurt. As long as you are still alive, I will heal you. I brought enough healing medicine."
"Thank you, sir."
"Okay, clean up the battlefield and divide the money!"
"Yes! Your lord!"
He also found more than 30 taels of silver from seven or eight scouts, which was not enough for one tael per person. Lu Cheng simply divided the silver among four temporary flag officers, asking them to keep it first and share the silver after they killed the enemy next time.
There are only so many people and so little money. Everything is clear and obvious. Everyone is watching, so there is no need to worry about anyone embezzling it.
This time, Ding Xiu once again killed two Jiannu and received another ten taels of silver.
Everyone looked at Ding Xiu differently. That was twenty taels of silver, which was more than each of their annual salaries.
Of course, Ding Xiu earned his money with his own ability, and no one can say anything about it. Everyone can only envy and admire him.
After replacing the horses and cleaning up the battlefield, the group continued their search.
Two consecutive victories have completely dispelled the fear in the hearts of these soldiers, making them more eager to fight the enemy. They are all thinking that they must be the first to rush forward when they encounter the enemy next time.
However, after searching eastward for dozens of miles, no other scouts were found.
Lu Cheng did not continue to lead his men further eastward. After all, the east was close to the territory of the Later Jin Dynasty, and there was a possibility of encountering more enemies.
It was already evening when we returned from the east to the place where we first encountered the enemy.
Just as they turned around a forest, a large group of people suddenly appeared in front of them. A rough estimate showed that there were at least several thousand people.
Fortunately, those troops were coming from south to north, and they were also flying the Ming army’s flag.
Lu Cheng took out a monocular telescope and took a look at the situation. After seeing the opponent's flag clearly, he knew that the opponent was Li Ruzhen's men.
Lu Cheng immediately waved his hand and ordered: "Don't make contact with them, let's go around from the left."
The cavalry under his command immediately took a detour to the left and prepared to return to Shenyang City first.
At this moment, those people saw that Lu Cheng's side had few people and actually surrounded him. Lu Cheng immediately sent someone to report it.
In fact, both sides were wearing Ming army armor and would not attack each other at the first opportunity.
Not long after, a group of cavalry ran out from the enemy's army and came in front of Lu Cheng and others.
After seeing the troops under Lu Cheng's command and the dozen or so Jiannu heads hanging on one of the war horses, the leading general's eyes lit up, revealing a bit of greed, but then he suppressed his anger and said, "Captain Lu, you have made quite a harvest."
Lu Cheng cupped his hands and said, "General Li, they are just a few spies, they are nothing. General Li will surely defeat the Jian Nu in this attack."
The person who came was Li Ruzhen himself, and he was obviously attracted by the head that Lu Cheng had captured this time.
If it were just some armor, weapons and horses, Li Ruzhen, a general, would not be interested in them.
But the heads of those dozen or so Tartars were a great achievement.
In a direct battle between the Ming army and the Jiannu, if they could capture more than a dozen heads and repel the enemy, they could claim a great victory and ask for credit from their superiors. If the credit went to a centurion, he could be promoted directly to a thousand.
But Lu Cheng was Xiong Tingbi's confidant after all, even though he was just a small captain, Li Ruzhen did not dare to rob him openly, he just smiled and said: "Congratulations to Captain Lu for making a fortune, don't forget to return this general's horse later."
"Please rest assured, General Li, we will return the horses immediately after we return."
After saying hello, the two groups separated.
After Lu Cheng and the others walked away, Li Ruzhen still looked disdainful: "What? Isn't it just a small thousand households?"
A captain next to him immediately started to flatter him: "Your Excellency the General is right. I heard that Lu Cheng was just a small general flag before. I don't know how he got lucky to be a captain. How can he compare with us?"
On the other side, after separating from Li Ruzhen's men, Ding Xiu also came over and said, "Sir, those guys just now seemed to have bad intentions."
"Don't worry about it. They are just grasshoppers in autumn. They won't be able to jump for a few more days."
Everyone continued on their journey back, and when it was almost dark, they finally arrived back in Shenyang City.
Originally, Lu Cheng was planning to stay outside the city tonight and continue looking for scouts tomorrow, but after meeting Li Ruzhen, Lu Cheng immediately changed his mind and came back to reorganize.
Before the city gates closed, the group finally returned to Shenyang.
After entering the city, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and then became excited.
This time, a total of more than a dozen scouts were killed. Except for two horses that were injured and killed, the rest of the horses were intact. A war horse can be worth fifteen to twenty taels of silver. If it is a particularly good one, it can be worth eighty or ninety taels.
Even if the lowest price is a dozen taels of silver per horse, these war horses can be sold for more than 200 taels. Add to that the weapons, bows and arrows, and the leather armor on the scouts, and it will be no problem to sell the total for more than taels of silver.
By this calculation, everyone can get a few taels of silver. This is just a lap outside, and you can get so much silver, who wouldn't be excited?
Lu Cheng first asked Ding Xiu to report the situation to Xiong Jinglie, and immediately began to prepare to divide the spoils.
"Brothers, we have made quite a harvest this time. These horses are worth 16 taels each, and the swords are worth 2 taels each... a total of just over 300 taels, and each person can get around 7 taels of silver. Let's round it up to an even number, 7 taels each. You go back to the camp first, and I'll give you the silver later."
"Yes!"
Afterwards, Lu Cheng immediately ran to see Xiong Tingbi, and after telling him the details of the battle, he continued, "Sir, before setting out this time, in order to boost morale, I promised the soldiers that the captured spoils would be exchanged for silver and shared equally among everyone. But I don't have enough silver on hand, so I would like to borrow 200 taels of silver from you, Sir."
Xiong Tingbi waved his hand and said, "Don't talk about lending or not. You deserve a big reward for such a great achievement. How about this? Go and withdraw 300 taels of silver, give it to the soldiers first, and you can use the rest at your own discretion."
"Thank you, sir!"
Fortunately, they had raided the prefect's house before and seized a lot of money. This money might be a drop in the bucket for the entire Liaodong, but it would be no problem to give Lu Cheng two or three hundred taels as a reward.
Afterwards, Lu Cheng immediately brought the silver to the guard's camp, gathered everyone together, called the soldiers' names one by one, and personally distributed the silver to them.
Seeing the huge sum of money falling into the hands of others, those who did not follow Lu Cheng out regretted it so much.
Someone immediately asked, "Lord Lu, are you going tomorrow? Count me in."
Lu Cheng laughed: "Of course I'll go tomorrow."
Everyone was excited and immediately signed up: "Master Lu, count me in. I can also ride a horse and shoot arrows."
"Me too, I can shoot arrows very accurately on horseback."
"Stop, stop, stop! Listen to me. The three generals have already led their troops to the battle, each with several thousand men. Even if we go out again tomorrow, it will be difficult for us to have a chance to make a fortune like today."
Everyone felt a little depressed when they heard this, and regretted why they didn't follow him out today.
Those who had already received the money were naturally secretly happy and beaming with joy.
At this time, Lu Cheng continued, "Go out again tomorrow. Although you won't make a fortune, it's no problem to make a small fortune."
Everyone immediately became excited after hearing this...