After Peng Dachui agreed to temporarily serve in the army, Shi Dayong did not doubt him and still let him take charge of his brothers. This arrangement made Peng Dachui and the gang of thieves feel at ease.
Among the thirty-nine horse thieves, several were injured, but they were all flesh wounds. The most serious one was Peng Dachui. There were many blunderbuss left on his left arm. If they were not cleaned out in time, the wounds would become infected and suppurative. At this time
It was freezing cold, and if he didn't deal with it in time, he might not be able to save his left arm. In serious cases, he might even die from it.
There was no doctor accompanying him in the army. When Shi Dayong saw that Peng Dachui was seriously injured, he ordered people to go to the town to ask a doctor to heal him. However, Peng Dachui refused and asked his nephew Sihai to get a sharp blade and use a torch to heat it up.
Then he pointed at the wound and asked him to dig out the gun directly.
When digging out the gun, blood flowed continuously, and the sharp blade penetrated the flesh. The gun was broken into pieces and widely distributed. It was not possible to pick out just one or two. The whole process lasted for half a stick of incense. Others looked at it.
It was all uncomfortable, but Peng Dachui turned his face away like a troubled person and did not scream.
This situation made Shi Dayong think of Guan Yunchang's bone scraping to cure the poison, and he secretly praised that the horse thief was really a tough guy, and he was worthy of his earnest words to recruit him.[
After the gun was removed, Peng Dachui's face turned extremely white due to excessive blood loss, and his body was very weak and shaky.
After sprinkling the hemostatic gold wound medicine on the wound, Peng Sihai re-bandaged the wound for his uncle. Then he picked up the pottery bowl that was placed on the ground to catch the bleeding on his uncle's arm, took out the wine bag and poured some strong wine into it.
Peng Dachui took the strong wine mixed with his own blood and drank it in one gulp. He wiped his mouth and motioned to Sihai to help him mount his horse.
Shi Dayong saw that he was too weak and was afraid that it would be difficult for him to sit firmly on the horse, so he offered to find a carriage from the town for his use in the past few days.
Peng Dachui said: "It doesn't matter if a man gets hurt or bleeds a little. He's not a young man studying, so he shouldn't be so squeamish."
Seeing that he insisted on riding a horse, Shi Dayong let him go. He gave the order to gather up the horses that had been stolen by the thieves, and also packed up the weapons and materials abandoned by the soldiers in the Beijing camp and took them back.
Peng Dachui and his family are from Xiong County, Baoding Prefecture. Half of the families in the county are professional horse owners for the imperial court, and they can be said to have raised war horses for the Ming Dynasty for two hundred years. Therefore, the horse thieves are all experts when it comes to military horses. If nothing else, only what they know
As far as the military horses he rides are concerned, they are comparable to the best Mongolian war horses.
This time they went south to Henan, with a total of 183 men and horses. Except for 11 military horses who were accidentally shot to death in the battle with the Beijing camp and the wolf cavalry, four other military horses escaped with the second master Qi Laoer.
, all the remaining 168 military horses were gathered together.
In addition, the searching soldiers also found twenty-six war horses from the Beijing camp in the woods and wheat fields. Shi Dayong wanted to return these "main war horses" to the Beijing camp, but after looking into the town, he found that those horses were from the Beijing camp.
The camp soldiers were still hiding inside and did not dare to come out. He immediately changed his mind and wanted to take away the more than 20 horses from the Beijing camp together with the supplies abandoned by the Beijing camp.
What to do with the eleven dead horses was a difficult problem. Cao Bianjiao suggested burying them directly. Shi Dayong originally wanted to do the same, but when he saw the fat and strong horses, he changed his mind and planned to take the horse meat back for consumption.
Horse meat is not delicious. It produces foam when cooked and emits a foul smell. Therefore, except for plugs, few people in the Central Plains like to eat horse meat. They almost stay away from it if they smell the smell of horse meat.
But just because it doesn't taste good doesn't mean it can't be eaten. After all, horse meat is meat. Especially for the Jinzhou Army, which has only relied on grain and grass from prefectures and counties along the way since going south, these eleven dead horses can obviously provide the soldiers with sufficient nutrition.
No matter how cooperative the local government is, they will never provide too much pork and mutton. The Jinzhou Army has traveled a long distance and has lost too much physical strength. It would be good to have more meat to replenish their physical strength.
With the idea that something is better than nothing, Shi Dayong asked Cao Bianjiao to lead someone to dissect the dead horse, discard the internal organs, cut it into large pieces, and put the camel back in bags.
If there is anyone in the world who has the deepest affection for horses, it is probably the horse breeders besides the cavalry. When decomposing horse meat, both the wolf cavalry and the horse thieves felt sad.
Especially when slaughtering an army horse that has not yet expired, I am almost afraid that some people will turn their faces away and cannot bear to look into the pained eyes of the army horse.
After dismembering the horse meat, Shi Dayong was about to lead his troops back. In the town, people from the Beijing camp came - they were late because the overall situation was decided.
[
"Thank you, General, for the rescue!"
Pei Shaokuan had the courage to come and thank him because he really didn't want to deal with this "god of plague", but they came to the rescue all night long. It would be unreasonable for him, the rescued person, not to express his gratitude. He went to Shi Dayong very politely.
I bowed to you, but I was thinking that even if you didn't come, I would have been able to keep these thieves back.
"I am just doing what I have to do, Lord Pei. There is no need to thank me. However, Lord Pei's thousand troops were surrounded by a mere hundred and ten horse thieves. The abilities of Lord Pei and the soldiers in the capital really impressed me."
Shi Dayong was sarcastic and did not spare any sympathy for Pei Shaokuan.
After Pei Shaokuan heard this, he immediately felt ashamed, wishing to find a crack in the ground to crawl in. He stood there with an embarrassed look on his face, not knowing what to say. The two Qianhu who came with him also had a sarcastic look on their faces, looking left and right.
Very sorry.
In Xianghe City, Shi Dayong knew the virtues of the soldiers in the Beijing camp, and he also knew that Pei Shaokuan was also a capable person. What could he say to a person like this who was just waiting to die?
Now it is not Pei Shaokuan and the Beijing camp who regard the Liao army and Shi Dayong as the "gods of plague", but Shi Dayong sees them as the "gods of plague" and wishes to stay away from them. If they were not marching outside, I am afraid they would have been on paper long ago.
Go to the emperor's palace and drive this so-called imperial army as far away as possible. They are really a bunch of guys who fail to achieve anything but fail more than they do.
"The horse thief has been killed. I have to go east to Dengzhou, so I won't delay here any longer. After daybreak, Mr. Pei can clean up the mess by himself."
Shi Dayong deliberately used the word "endgame" very seriously. Pei Shaokuan blushed again and said cautiously: "Of course, I know what to do."
"Well, since Mr. Pei knows what to do, I won't say anything more. I'll say goodbye!" Shi Dayong didn't bother to say "see you later" and pulled his mount to get on.
Pei Shaokuan didn't want to see Shi Dayong about to leave, but he stepped forward to stop him and said with a smile on his face: "I don't know how the general plans to report this victory in suppressing bandits to the court?"
"Achievements in suppressing bandits?" Shi Dayong was stunned for a moment and looked at Pei Shaokuan inexplicably.
Pei Shaokuan was a little embarrassed by him, but thinking of this credit, he still bit the bullet and said: "The general led his troops to wipe out the horse thieves who were raging in the area. He should report his merits to the court. Although the officer did not try his best, he was able to contain the horse thieves.
so"
Pei Shaokuan really couldn't say the following words, but Shi Dayong could hear it and gave a bitter smile. He was really disappointed with Pei Shaokuan. He didn't expect that this coward would not forget to put gold on his face at this time.
Lord Pei's soldiers were not able to contain the horse thieves. It was obviously the horse thieves who had him tightly restrained. Otherwise, why would he have killed all the thieves on his side? There was still not a single soldier in his capital camp who dared to do so.
Came out of town.
"Master Pei's words make sense. Well, the success of suppressing thieves should be attributed to Master Pei." Shi Dayong said calmly, wanting to see how thick-skinned Pei Shaokuan really is.
Pei Shaokuan was not that unbearable. Hearing that all the credit should go to himself, he shook his head and said: "How can this happen? The horse thieves were obviously eliminated by the general's people, and the subordinates only led their troops to contain them. How dare they take the general's credit?"
Shi Dayong smiled, put down the reins of his horse, and said: "This credit is not given to Mr. Pei. I have conditions for this."
"With conditions?" Pei Shaokuan was not surprised, but became happy. Nothing is difficult in the world. As long as there are conditions, anything can be said.
Shi Dayong pointed at the Beijing camp horses leading the thieves and thieves: "I took those horses away, Lord Pei, wouldn't you have any objections?"
Pei Shaokuan followed his gesture and saw that there were indeed about twenty war horses in his army. He was slightly stunned and said happily: "It's easy to say, easy to say. I have no objection, absolutely no objection." Of course he had no objection.
, Anyway, as long as the Ping thief's merits are reported to the superiors, he will give all his troops and horses to the Liao army, and the superiors will replenish them for him.
Pei Shaokuan knew what was going on, so that he would not have to fight a lawsuit with the Beijing camp in the future. Shi Dayong was naturally happy to reciprocate the favor. He also smiled and said: "Then I will congratulate Commander Pei in advance for his success in suppressing the bandits!"
"You're welcome, you're welcome." Pei Shaokuan now felt that this "God of Plague" was not so hateful, and looked much more pleasing to the eye.[
While being polite, Qianzong Li Guoheng behind him saw a group of knights riding with the Liao soldiers, but his expression changed and he quietly pulled him behind.
"What to do?" Pei Shaokuan was having a happy chat with Shi Dayong when suddenly he was pulled by his subordinates and he couldn't help but feel a little unhappy.
In front of Shi Dayong, Li Guoheng couldn't speak directly, so he had to look at the knights and motioned to Pei Shaokuan to see for himself.
Damn it, what are you doing?
Pei Shaokuan glanced there angrily, wondering what Li Guoheng wanted him to see. When he saw it, he was immediately shocked: Horse thief?!
Peng Dachui and a group of horse thieves who were on horseback saw a group of guys from the Beijing camp staring at them with fuss and fuss, and couldn't help but look at each other angrily. If Shi Dayong hadn't been there, they would have said nasty words to each other on the spot.
"General Shi, what's wrong with these horse thieves?" Pei Shaokuan was suspicious: Could it be that these horse thieves colluded with the Liao army?
"These horse thieves have been persuaded by me and have been recruited by me. They will stay under my account from now on. I want to give them a chance so that they can serve the imperial court in the future and no longer do this thing of robbing families and homes."
Shi Dayong explained it calmly.
"It turns out that they have changed their minds and served the imperial court. Good thing, good thing!" Pei Shaokuan said something different, secretly scolding Shi Dayong for being unreasonable and actually recruiting a group of horse thieves into the official army. The horse thieves were forced by the situation and had no choice but to suffer.
Who would really serve the court sincerely? If there was trouble in the future, he would probably be implicated. But he didn't dare to express his worries, so he could only respond with a few words that didn't mean it. The Liao army was strong, but he just couldn't
What can you do if you agree?
Shi Dayong did not want to delay in Qiushui Town any longer, and was too lazy to talk nonsense with Pei Shaokuan, so he waved to Cao Bianjiao: "Xiao Cao, let's go!"
Pei Shaokuan hurriedly raised his hands and said: "I respectfully send you off to the general! I wish the general success in his eastern expedition!"
Shi Dayong had already mounted his horse and left without even looking back. He just piled Pei Shaokuan there and was furious.
The Jinzhou army passed in front of them one by one. When he saw those horses, Pei Shaokuan didn't feel any pain. But when he saw that the Liao army also took away their weapons and equipment, he suddenly became anxious and lost more than 20 horses.
It's easy to explain, but no one has ever won a battle but lost all their weapons.
But Shi Dayong had already run far away, and it was impossible for him to pursue him even if he wanted to. How could those superior Liao soldiers pay attention to him? If he really wanted to stop him and tell him to keep his things, he would be asking for trouble.
Just watching the Liao army go away, Pei Shaokuan felt miserable. In the end, he was really cold, so he moved his toes and went back. On the way, he was thinking about how to report today's extermination of the horse thieves to the superiors in a more beautiful way, no matter what.
He was even more jealous and reported to Eunuch Gao that the Liao army had stolen weapons and equipment from his camp in Beijing.