Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 869 Wealth and Prosperity Ahead
When Wang Shouren returned to his temporary camp, he found that the rear guard had already arrived to join him. He rode his tall horse and looked at the bustling camp with a somewhat dazed expression... He felt as if he had learned some incredible secret on this trip, yet he also felt that he was still kept in the dark.

He was unable to recover from the immense shock.

My heart is filled with disappointment.

He had been fighting alongside Wang Yue, a renowned general whom he had admired since childhood, and had even gained Wang Yue's favor. He had led troops into battle and achieved great military exploits. At a young age, he could already be considered to have "achieved fame and success." He was sure to make a name for himself when he returned.

But now, having witnessed a brutal battle, he foresaw that with the application of new firearms, the entire battlefield situation, and the future battles between the Ming Dynasty and foreign vassals, would present a one-sided crushing situation. He and his idol, the renowned general known as Wang Weining, would soon be swept into the dustbin of history and gradually become disconnected from the ever-changing Ming army.

"Brother Wang, how's the situation? Whose forces are on the other side?"

When Zhu Hui saw Wang Shouren return, he hurriedly went up to him and asked.

Wang Shouren dismounted, his expression relatively calm, and replied, "I am Zhang Yanling."

"Zhang Yanling? The Zhang family's young imperial brother-in-law?"

Zhu Hui clicked his tongue in amazement, then shrugged and said, "It really was him. Did you see him in person?"

Wang Shouren said, "This is just one of his many troops. The one leading the troops in front of us is Qin Yun, the commander of the Northern Garrison of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Although he did not reveal the total number of troops, I estimate that it is no more than four thousand, and it is very likely... far less than that."

Zhu Hui said, "With such a strong force, three or four hundred men can stand alone. Why do we need to recruit so many soldiers? I know this Tan Yun. He is the nephew of Tan Chang, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial. He is a hereditary centurion. In the past two years, he has risen rapidly in rank by relying on his relationship with the Zhang family, who are related to the imperial family. He has become a very popular figure in the court."

Zhu Hui still carried a hint of pride as he spoke.

I may not be as good as you, Wang Shouren, in other aspects, but when it comes to understanding the affairs of the court and human relationships, I am far superior to you.

I'm finally better than you in one aspect.

Did he say how he would play next?

Zhu Hui said excitedly, "We must participate in it ourselves, we can't just be spectators."

Wang Shouren looked around and saw that the soldiers who had previously been shirking their duties and neglecting their duties were now staring at him with predatory eyes, like a pack of hungry wolves.

All sorts of reasons, like returning to Datong or the comfort of a warm home with wife and children, seemed to have vanished by this point.

Wang Shouren said, "He didn't say, but it seems that we will likely continue to circle around the Tartars and wait for an opportunity to join up with other teams."

"Then we have to keep up with them."

Zhu Hui said confidently, "In this way, we can follow behind them and earn more military merits. With their help, eliminating the Tartars doesn't seem difficult at all. We just need to wait to make a fortune."

The troops under Qin Yun's command did not thoroughly clean up the battlefield, simply cutting off ears and searching bodies, neglecting many blind spots on the battlefield. Previously, Zhu Hui's troops had captured three or four hundred pairs of ears from those who had escaped the net, in addition to a lot of gold and silver. The officers and soldiers who had gotten their hands on the goods were all overjoyed.

Wang Shouren, however, was the one who wanted to escape. He frowned and said, "But we don't know the specific situation of our allies, and they refuse to reveal the truth... How can two groups with such different styles possibly get along? Why make trouble for ourselves?"

Zhu Hui said with dissatisfaction, "It doesn't make sense. They're not happy with the help they're getting. We've come all this way from Yansui and the Hetao region. If we hadn't tied down a large number of Tartars in the west, would they be able to fight so comfortably here?"

Wang Shouren thought to himself, "You saw the battlefield today, didn't you? What's the point of simply adding more troops? Faced with a hail of bullets, wouldn't they just obediently fall down?" However, he didn't expose him, but simply said, "Go and talk to Qin Yun about these things."

"no need."

Zhu Hui then revealed his shameless side, saying without any sense of shame, "Hey, do we need to ask him for permission to fight? We are not under the jurisdiction of Datong Town, so we can fight however we want. Even if they don't want to take us with them, we can follow behind them. If we encounter the Tartars, we can form a pincer movement on both sides. The Tartars will probably have to consider their own strength and might just retreat obediently."

Wang Shouren frowned upon hearing this.

I thought to myself, what kind of bullshit theory is this?
Do you really think we have two armies with tens of thousands of soldiers each?
They were clearly two isolated armies, exhausted and outnumbered. Although their allies on the other side seemed quite formidable, did they have enough ammunition? How much combat supplies could three or four hundred men possibly bring out?

After continuous attrition, we have less than two thousand men left. We could certainly win against seven or eight thousand men with ample ammunition, but what if the enemy deploys tens of thousands?
Wang Shouren said, "Being in the heart of the grasslands, surrounded by enemies, even with strong combat power, dividing our forces for battle is still a major taboo. Moreover, our tactics are quite different from theirs, so there's really no need for us to follow them. It would make us seem... too cumbersome, which is not suitable from a strategic point of view."

"Brother Wang, from what you're saying, are you going to back out?"

Zhu Hui was very surprised.

Before, we were the ones calling out to you, "You want to come home."

How come now it seems like you, Wang Shouren, don't want to fight anymore?
This transformation...

That's hard to accept for most people.

Wang Shouren said, "Assessing the situation is also an important part of formulating battlefield strategy. Now that they are going north to join other forces, we... can stay here."

"No!"

Zhu Hui said firmly, "That's absolutely not feasible."

"Why not?"

Wang Shouren frowned and asked.

He thought to himself, "Isn't this exactly what you wanted?"

Zhu Hui said, "While you were negotiating, our brothers came over and discussed it together. They all agreed that we absolutely cannot give up now. Besides, it would be unsafe for us to return alone, so it's better to..."

Seeing that there are military achievements ahead, and even the possibility of actually conquering the grasslands, who would want to stand idly by and be an outsider?

What does it mean to work hard?

Sorry, we only recognize military merits that are easily obtained!

Leaders who can't treat their men to good food and drink are unqualified and should be despised!
As for what we said or did before, sorry, we have bad memories, so just ignore it.

Wang Shouren appeared very calm at this moment and said, "Since you intend to continue dealing with the Tartars, then we will follow behind from a distance and observe silently."

"Remember not to clash with the Tartars first, so that we can support each other if a real battle breaks out... And don't you think that if we follow too closely, we will not only fail to help, but will also make the Tartars more vigilant and keep their distance, repeating what happened north of Yinshan?"

The words were phrased quite tactfully.

To put it bluntly, I, Wang Shouren, feel that my troops don't have extraordinary abilities, and if they try to help our allies, they'll probably only make things worse. So I don't want them to go into battle and embarrass themselves.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Hui was overjoyed upon hearing this and said happily, "What Brother Wang said is exactly what we brothers wanted to say... Our friendly forces are fighting in the distance, and we will go in when needed. It's a good opportunity for us to observe and summarize our experiences and lessons learned."

"If we have the chance... to encounter their central army, I'll shamelessly ask Zhang Xiaoguojiu to equip us with a few dozen elite firearms. Our strength will definitely be much weaker than our allies... after all, we've been through many battles."

Wang Shouren frowned and said, "Ah... how could the Imperial Uncle Zhang possibly hand over such powerful firearms so easily?"

"It's very simple. They are human too, and they will fight and suffer injuries and casualties."

Zhu Hui seemed to take it for granted, "Besides, with this kind of weather, logistics are basically cut off. Shouldn't we bring more firearms for self-defense? Didn't you see that each of their soldiers is carrying two guns? With us, who have crawled out of piles of corpses and are good at fighting, it's not easy to get a few hundred guns from the little brother-in-law. Getting a few dozen shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Wang Shouren thought to himself, "You're really shameless. Your dream actually sounds quite plausible."
Zhu Hui said, "Then let Brother Wang make the decision. The brothers all say you are amazing, able to find this place accurately even from thousands of miles away..."

"We've really struck gold this time. If we manage to pacify the grasslands, when we get back... it won't just be about living a life of luxury, it'll be about bringing honor to our ancestors and living a life of wealth and honor for the rest of our lives!"

(End of this chapter)