In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 119 Head in exchange for food

As night fell, the battlefield that had been noisy all day fell silent.

The soldiers of the Lin family army gathered in small groups around piles of bonfires, laughing and talking about the day's war while roasting freshly cut horse meat.

The atmosphere was quite intense. On the contrary, although the Ming army camp was also brightly lit, it was lifeless.

Although some servants escaped before dark, more than 3 people were still killed in the day's battle. Now, even including Wang Pu's [-] new soldiers, there are less than [-] soldiers and horses left in the entire camp.

The key point is that the military attachés have lost their minds. The strength of the rebel group during the day made them all understand that there is no point in staying here. On the contrary, it is very dangerous.

The most important thing is that the fighting during the day has proved that the rebels and the slave builders cannot be the same group.

With the restraint of Jiannu, the rebels no longer dared to attack the city unscrupulously. There was no longer much threat to their Zhuangbao city, so they all planned to go back to their homes after dawn and wait for the imperial army to arrive.

Wang Pu also lost confidence and had the idea of ​​returning to Datong, but because there was too much food accumulated in the camp, he was really reluctant to just throw it away or burn it.

As for transporting it back to Datong, he thought it was not far away.

However, the rebels and the Jiannu were all watching. Transporting food at this time was like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth. Not only would the food be lost, but people, carts and horses might also be caught.

Just when Wang Pu was suffering from a headache in the big tent, Mr. Qian, who was on duty at night, came in with a report and whispered: "Commander, the rebels have sent someone over and are asking for a meeting outside the camp!"

"Oh?"

Wang Pu sat up straight in surprise, thought for a moment, his eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had thought of something, and then he quietly whispered: "Bring the person here secretly, don't let the military attachés know, Understand?"

"It's handsome!"

President Qian nodded with understanding, then turned and left the tent.

After a while, a young man wearing a blue military uniform came in.

"You must be Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, right?"

"presumptuous!"

"Bold!"

Seeing that the visitor neither saluted nor knelt down, Mr. Qian and two personal guards on the side immediately scolded him angrily.

"Get out!"

Wang Pu didn't pay attention. He waved his hand to stop the guards from approaching. Then he looked at the person and said, "Yes, it's me. Lin sent you to visit me late at night. Do you want to beg for surrender and submit to the imperial court?" "

"General Wang dares to think, but it's a pity that his ideas do not match his strength."

The person who came was none other than Huang Ben. Seeing Wang Pu's bold words, he almost laughed out loud.

However, it was just a sarcastic sentence. Seeing that his face was ugly, he did not say anything more, but said directly: "My young master asked me to come this time because he wanted to remind Mr. Wang that he would send some people to collect the corpse tomorrow. Make a deal with Mr. Wang."

"It's a joke. I'm a dignified first-class military officer of the Ming Dynasty. How can I do business with a group of mountain bandits like you? As for collecting the corpses, I have my own arrangements, so you don't need to worry about it!"

"Haha, Mr. Wang, don't be too harsh with your words. A Jurchen Tatar head costs thirty shi of grain, and a Mongolian Tatar head costs [-] shi of grain. How about this business? Mr. Wang Are you willing to do it?"

"How many slaves have you captured today?"

Wang Pu asked impatiently. He had already expected that the rebels were here to trade Tatar heads.

After all, the rebels had nothing else to do except trade the heads of slaves captured during the day, so they needed to send someone in the middle of the night.

As for surrendering to the imperial court, if you really wanted to surrender, you would have sent envoys to talk about it long ago. Why do you need to wait until today?
"The Jurchen Tatars have 120 and 450 grains, and the Mongolian Tatars have [-] and [-] grains. After excluding fractions, the total is [-] shi of grain." Huang Ben said slowly, and also told the amount of grain exchanged.

Several people in the tent suddenly took a breath of air.

Even Wang Pu stood up in shock.

Although he expected that many Jian slaves would be killed by the rebels during the day, he never imagined that the results would be so brilliant.

"Did you really kill more than 2000 Jurchen Tatars?"

"Of course it's true. If General Wang doesn't believe it, you can send someone to inspect the goods first, and then hand over the grain and deliver the goods..."

Huang Ben was not surprised at all by their reactions, and there was a trace of pride on his lips.

When he was working as a guard in the Fan family, he thought that these generals were all aloof and mighty, but now he felt that they were nothing more than that.

"Yes, but the price is too high. A Jurchen Tatar is worth ten dan at most, and a Mongolian tartar is only worth five dan. You must know that the grains I have just harvested are new wheat. According to today's market price, Sell ​​it for at least four taels of silver and one stone."

Wang Pu nodded, and then began to bargain. Although they had received a hundred thousand shi of new food this time, they did not want to be taken advantage of.

What's more, those heads are useless in the hands of the rebels. If you don't trade with him, who else can you trade with?
"My young master said that there is no negotiation on the price. If General Wang is unwilling to exchange, he will lead his army to get the food directly tomorrow." Huang Ben shook his head and threatened.

"Snapped!

"Is it true that I am afraid of you? I still have [-] troops in my camp. The camp is strong and the food and grass are abundant. Not to mention the few people you have, even if I add the slaves to attack, what should I be afraid of? have?"

Wang Pu was also so angry that he slapped the table and roared. Just because he couldn't win the field battle, it didn't mean that he couldn't hold the camp.

"Really? It's just that those military attaches may not be of the same mind as General Wang, and they are willing to stay in the camp!" "So I would like to ask General Wang to carefully consider whether they fled back to Datong in embarrassment after our army broke through the camp. , in the end, the food is not guaranteed and the head is lost, or is it more cost-effective to exchange the head and return to Datong unharmed, and then report to the court and become the No. 1 general of the Ming Dynasty?"

After Huang Ben finished speaking, he looked at him with a smile on his face and looked determined.

Wang Pu sat down slowly.

His face was extremely ugly, and it was obvious that he had been stabbed in a sore spot.

Those military attachés were secretly discussing their plans to run away, so naturally they couldn't hide it from him, but he never thought that the rebel leader could also guess it.

After some weighing, Wang Pu finally nodded and agreed to the deal. After all, those Tatar heads were far more important to him than the food.

As long as there are those Tatar heads, whether it is the death of Governor Liang Dongting or the attack of Yanghe City, it will not matter. In the end, not only will His Majesty not pursue him, but he will praise him lavishly.

Even a defeat suffered during the day can be turned into a great victory, and with such a military exploit, he, the commander-in-chief of Datong, will have an extra layer of security in the future.

Anyway, these grains came for free. They originally belonged to the fields of nearby castles, but the owners of these castles were all killed by the rebels.

In the end, the two of them discussed it and decided that Wang Pu would send someone back with Huang Ben to check the Tatar heads. After confirming that they were correct, they would send off the military attaches tomorrow. After the military attaches were gone, the two sides would discuss the details of a safe transaction.

Who would have thought that as soon as Mr. Qian, who brought Huang Ben in, and Huang Ben left the tent, more than a dozen commanders and guards from Qianhu rushed over to kill them.

"Commander Wang, did that group of rebels send someone over to negotiate?"

"Are you going to trade the heads of the slaves?"

As soon as everyone came in, they directly questioned Wang Pu.

Obviously they are not stupid. What Wang Pu can guess, how can they not guess it?
Wang Pu was filled with hatred and wanted to beat Mr. Qian to death. He promised to keep it secret and bring him here quietly. Who would have thought that everyone would know about it, but he still insisted: " Don’t talk nonsense about things that don’t happen.”

"Commander Wang, everyone is clear and don't tell secrets. If you want to leave us alone on this matter, it's impossible."

"Not bad!"

Everyone was staring at Wang Pu. Although the Tatar heads were given to them, they could not be promoted to official positions, but they could better consolidate their current official positions and show off in front of His Majesty.

Wang Pu had no choice but to honestly explain the transaction situation.

After all, these guys have already guessed it, and it is absolutely impossible to ignore them.

Everyone was shocked when they heard that the rebels had captured more than 4000 Tatar heads, including [-] Jurchen Tatar heads.

"Commander Wang, I'm not greedy for more, fifty Jurchen Tatars and a hundred Mongolian Tatars."

"me too!"

"Just give me thirty..."

"Okay, after I have taken care of it, come to Datong to pick it up!"

Although nearly half of it was divided at once, Wang Pu still gritted his teeth and nodded.

Only then did everyone leave the camp with satisfaction.

It is really ironic to say that during the day the two armies were fighting to the death, but at night they were doing business again.

However, this kind of thing was something that the military generals and rebels of the Ming Dynasty were accustomed to, and had long been accustomed to it.

Early the next morning, Wang Pu sent [-] new soldiers to collect the corpses, and the General Manager Qian sent last night also returned.

After confirming that all the heads were authentic, Wang Pu issued the order to withdraw the troops, leaving only one General Qian with [-] personal guards, holding torches, guarding the food haystacks in the camp.

Obviously, if the rebels are dishonest and dare to play tricks, they will burn all the food and fodder directly.

In this kind of win-win situation, Lin Rui naturally doesn't know how to play tricks. The reason why he wants to trade instead of forcibly attacking the camp is because he is worried that the Ming army will burn the food if it jumps over the wall.

At night, Huang Ben was asked to bring 1000 people to trade.

Each man led a horse, which was immediately loaded with Tatar heads.

Huang Ben and Mr. Qian went directly to the grain pile to deliver the goods with one hand and the other with the other. After Mr. Qian left the camp with his people, Lin Rui led the army into the camp.

"Oh my God, Rui Lang, how much food and fodder are needed?"

Namuzhong looked at the piles of haystacks and bags of grain, which almost occupied half of the camp, and she was stunned.

It was obviously the first time to see so much food and fodder.

"Hey, it's a pity that we don't have so many large trucks to load it. I'm afraid we have to throw away these fodder."

Lin Rui had a headache. All that was left in the entire camp were the food and fodder and the horse-repelling stakes on the outside. The carriages and tents had been demolished by the Ming army.

Let’s not talk about the fodder. Just 5000 shi of grain would probably take tens of thousands of carts to load it. There are only more than [-] carts in Yanghe City at most. The key is that there is still a lot left in the city that needs to be taken away. The supplies are estimated to be enough to free up half of the vehicles, so even if all these fodder are discarded, seven to eight thousand carts will still be needed to carry food.

(End of this chapter)