sjar Chapter 121 Encountering enemy troops
Chapter 121 Encountering enemy troops
After crossing Tieling and heading north, they encountered a group of Tatar cavalrymen of about 20 people before they went far. Their horses were loaded with large and small bags of items, and it was obvious that they had just looted some village.
Lu Cheng waved his hand, and dozens of cavalrymen rushed out without hesitation.
When the group of Tartar cavalry saw that there were only thirty or forty people on Lu Cheng's side, they were not afraid and rushed over with roars.
As the distance between the two sides shortened, Lu Cheng, who was in the front, drew his bow and shot an arrow at the opponent.
This time, perhaps he was lucky, or perhaps the enemy was too numerous and densely packed, Lu Cheng shot a Tartar directly with one arrow, knocking him off his horse. As for whether the one he hit was the one Lu Cheng aimed at, it didn't matter.
After shooting the first arrow, Lu Cheng almost did not pause at all. He did not even draw the arrow from the quiver. An arrow appeared in his hand out of thin air. He used the bow as a bow again and shot at the enemy.
At this moment, both sides were hedging, and no one paid attention to the details here.
The second feather arrow hit a warhorse on the opposite side, the third feather arrow missed, and the fourth feather arrow hit another enemy.
At this time, the opponent's arrows had also been shot over.
Lu Cheng had also put away his bow, drawn his sword, and blocked the flying arrows.
At the same time, the forty cavalrymen on both sides of Lu Cheng also fired the first round of arrows, and people on both sides were hit.
At this time, Lu Cheng and Ding Xiu had already rushed into the enemy's formation. Lu Cheng first chopped an enemy away with a slash to the left, and then slashed to the right, beheading another enemy directly.
Ding Xiu followed closely behind and knocked an enemy off his horse.
When Lu Cheng's cavalry came into contact with the enemy, the enemy had already lost seven or eight cavalrymen, and the 2 to 1 ratio turned into 3 to 1.
After Lu Cheng and Ding Xiu broke through the enemy's formation, they immediately turned their horses around and charged back.
Soon, all the Houjin cavalry were killed. Three of the cavalrymen brought by Lu Cheng were killed and six were injured.
Lu Cheng immediately treated the wounds of the injured cavalrymen, disinfected them, applied ointment, and bandaged them.
There was one who was seriously injured. He was slashed by a knife and had a cut several inches long, which looked very scary. Fortunately, the hemostatic medicine prepared by Lu Cheng was very effective and he quickly treated the soldier's injury.
There were casualties in the first battle today. Lu Cheng naturally knew that he had to say a few words to stabilize the morale of the troops.
But Lu Cheng did not say any nonsense. Instead, he asked people to collect all the valuables from the Tartars. They found that there were more than a thousand taels of silver, dozens of taels of gold, and some antique calligraphy and paintings.
It was obvious that this group of Tartars had made a fortune, most likely by robbing a wealthy family.
Lu Cheng simply spread out the silver in front of everyone and asked people to bring over the bodies of the three soldiers who died in the battle.
"Everyone has behaved very bravely today. Now the silver is here and we have made a fortune. But unfortunately, three of our brothers have also died. Before distributing the silver to everyone, we must first pay the pensions to these three brothers.
Everyone came from Beijing, so their families must be in Beijing. Does anyone know the family situation of these three brothers?"
"I know. His name is Zheng Sanbao. He lives in Liutiao Village in the south of Beijing. He and I are from the same hometown. He has a younger brother and an old mother..."
"This is called..."
After confirming the family situation of the three fallen soldiers, Lu Cheng directly took out three hundred taels of silver and put it aside: "These three hundred taels of silver are the pensions for these three brothers. After returning, I will send someone back to the capital to deliver these pensions to their respective families. If Lu can return to Kyoto in the future, I will definitely go to their homes in person to express my condolences!"
Seeing that the dead still received a pension of one hundred taels, everyone felt that death was not so scary after all.
Although these people are soldiers from the capital, their families are not wealthy, otherwise they would not come out to serve as soldiers and risk their lives.
Although the Ming Dynasty provided pensions for soldiers who died in battle, how many of them were actually implemented?
Then, Lu Cheng raised his hand and waved at the six injured soldiers: "These six brothers have performed very well, and they are all injured. I will give them five taels of silver each. Is there any objection?"
"no!"
Those who were injured immediately became excited and came forward to receive the silver.
After each of them received the silver, Lu Cheng patted each of them on the shoulder and said comfortingly: "Don't worry, you were injured and bled for me, Lu Cheng. I will pay for all the expenses of your treatment."
Then, Lu Cheng began to call out names: "Li Youfu, Wang Tiezhu, Zhang Dasheng... You guys successfully shot the enemy. Although you didn't kill him, you did injure him. Each of you will be rewarded with two taels of silver."
Several people immediately stepped forward excitedly to receive the silver. Lu Cheng noticed that one of the soldiers didn't even have a purse, so he patted him on the shoulder and said, "Go back and prepare a purse, preferably a big one. Don't let the silver in your arms get lost again."
"Yes, my lord."
Then, Lu Cheng began to call out names: "In the battle just now, Ding Xiu killed five enemies. Wang Tiezhu, Bao Dahu, and Zhang Quansheng each killed one enemy. Five taels of silver for each head. Come forward to claim your reward!"
"Thank you, sir!"
Then, Lu Cheng spoke again: "This battle was quite intense. Although some brothers failed to successfully injure the enemy, they also participated in the battle. Therefore, I decided that each brother who came today would receive another two taels of silver."
Those who had not received any silver just now immediately became excited and came forward to receive their rewards.
After distributing the silver to everyone, Lu Cheng pointed at Ding Xiu and said, "See? Ding Xiu is not even 18 years old this year, and he has already received dozens of taels of silver in two days. He can buy a yard and marry a beautiful wife when he goes back. You must practice hard when you go back, learn archery and swordsmanship well, and you can kill more enemies."
At this juncture, shouting slogans or talking about great principles are not as practical as distributing money.
After everything was distributed, there were still more than 700 taels of silver, dozens of taels of gold, and various properties.
Lu Cheng pointed to the treasures on the ground and said, "See? There is still so much silver here, waiting to be distributed to everyone. As long as everyone continues to participate in the battle, I will continue to give everyone silver."
After saying this, Lu Cheng ordered his men to gather the horses at the scene, then selected a few uninjured soldiers, and returned to Shenyang City with a few wounded soldiers and the bodies of three dead soldiers.
The remaining twenty-five cavalrymen plus Ding Xiu and Lu Cheng made a total of twenty-seven people, and there were ten extra spare war horses.
After the repairs, Lu Cheng continued to lead his men northward. After walking for more than ten miles, when they were about to turn a hillside, Lu Cheng suddenly realized something was wrong. He immediately asked Ding Xiu to take his men to hide in the woods nearby, and he ran to the hillside alone to investigate.
Soon, Lu Cheng discovered a Later Jin army of over a thousand people in front of him, including about four hundred cavalry and six or seven hundred infantry, who were heading towards the south.
After seeing the situation clearly, Lu Cheng called Ding Xiu over and said, "Ding Xiu, take two people with you and go back the same way to inform General He Shixian behind us to prepare for the attack. It would be great if we can choose a favorable terrain for an ambush."
"Sir, why don't you send someone else? I want to stay by your side and continue to kill the Tartars."
In just two days, Ding Xiu had earned dozens of taels of silver. The money was so easy to make that of course he was reluctant to leave.
"Why kill them? There are more than 1000 of them. Even if we charge in, we will just die. Go and notify General He immediately and see how he plans to deal with them. After you get his reply, come back and tell me."
"Yes, I'll go right away."
After Ding Xiu left, Lu Cheng did not choose to attack. He had just observed that this team should be sent by the Later Jin to carry out a sweep. If they could be severely damaged or annihilated, it would definitely have a great deterrent effect.
Afterwards, Lu Cheng kept a distance from the Later Jin army, always observing their movements, and sent people to inform He Shixian every once in a while.