The 2,000 Ming troops soon went to Datong. The Zhu Houzhao brothers can see that these 5,000 people can't leave the less than 2,000 Tartars, not to mention that there are only 3,000 people chasing now, and it is very comforting to be able to make the Tartars go all the way and return north directly, without attacking the military fort along the way.

The lunch was finally served, and sure enough, as expected, whether it was the land and water camp or the guards, this meal was completely vegetarian, and there was not much to eat, only the appetite of the people in the cat's ear fort was undiminished.

After eating, everyone was still cleaning the battlefield and cutting off the heads of dead Tartars, which not only represented military merit, but also silver. The imperial court has been suffering for a long time, and in order to improve morale, a reward of 30 taels for an adult male Tartar head was specially offered, even if it went through the circulation link, there were 5 taels in the hands of the soldiers. Therefore, the men in the cat-eared fort were all very happy, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that 100 of them would be counted as theirs.

The two brothers sat down in the Zhongjun tent, and Zhu Houzhao asked with some excitement, "Where to go next, do you want to go some distance north and find a few small groups of Tartars to practice again?" Zhu Houwei, whose face was still a little pale, said angrily, "You are addicted, and it will not be long before our identities will be exposed, once the Tartars know, maybe they will go south with a large army, and it will not take much to come 5,000 people to calm us." Besides, we are all infantry here, and the Tartars have suffered losses and have to run, can you still catch up? ”

Zhu Houzhao was a little disappointed, "Then what should I do, the old man Zhang has done everything in Huairen Shuozhou, so he can't go back to Beijing, right?" It was hard to come out once. ”

"Go back, I'm a little homesick. Now there are only about 800 people in total, and there is not much to do, and if you want to come in the future, you will come directly to tens of thousands, and then you will have to have a good time with the Tartars. The more Zhu Houwei spoke, the more excited he became.

Zhu Houzhao was also excited when he heard this, "It's okay, let's expand the army immediately after we go back, directly organize 100,000 people, and after training, kill the grassland and capture the little prince alive." ”

Zhu Houwei covered his forehead and said helplessly, "You can be calm, do you know how much 100,000 people cost?" ”

Zhu Houzhao said with some uncertainty: "Now the Zhu Mansion is not short of money, and this time we have made more than 200,000 silver tickets." ”

Zhu Houwei looked at Zhu Houzhao calmly and said, "Let's calculate the accounts, 100,000 people, 3 taels of silver per person per month, and the officers are higher, even if it is 300,000 taels, it is 3.6 million taels a year, and there are several sets of clothes a year, counting him 1 person and 5 taels a year, that is 500,000 taels." Our food is no less than that of small landlords, one person is more than 1 tael a month, counting him 1 tael, it will cost 1.2 million taels a year. The cost of a musket is 25 taels, and 100,000 people are 2.5 million taels. The basic life of the current barrel is 400 to 500 rounds, although it can be repaired if it is broken, but it will be rebuilt after 3 times, that is to say, it will be replaced with 3 barrels in 2 months, and a barrel will cost 5 taels, and it will be 30 taels per person per year, how much is this? 36 million taels. Of course, it is possible to reduce the number of live-fire training sessions per day, and it is also possible to reduce the number of musketeers. There are many other expenses, so I won't count them here, Your Royal Highness the Prince, how do you feel now. The calm eyes slowly turned into a playful one.

Zhu Houzhao's face was a little embarrassed, he didn't expect this firearm to cost so much, so he said, "Take your time, expand slowly, don't worry." ”

The wounded soldiers in the camp have been settled, as for the people of Mao'er Fort, Zhu Houzhao asked Zheng Baihu to take them back to Mao'er Fort in a partial van first, and only half of the soldiers of the land and water battalion were left here to take care of the wounded soldiers and monitor the prisoners, and then all of them went to Mao'er Fort the next day.

In the afternoon, Zhu Houzhao's brothers comforted the injured, and then went to the mountains to hunt to relieve their depressed mood. Unfortunately, there was too much movement on the battlefield in the morning, and the small animals on the mountain ran far away, resulting in nothing for the 50 or so people who hunted in the afternoon.

The next day, all personnel were placed in the Cat's Ear Fort. Zhu Houzhao's brothers found Zheng Baihu and chatted together in the big tent. Zhu Houzhao said to Zheng Baihu with a smile, "In yesterday's battle, Zheng Baihu had a good record, and he killed 5 Tartars with a big knife, which is amazing." Zheng Baihu hurriedly gave a gift and said modestly, "The prince has won the award, my martial arts are all family heirlooms, but they are even worse than my father, and I can have such a record yesterday, because of the control of the soldiers under the prince, Weichen can achieve a little merit." Zhu Houwei interjected, "Don't be modest, no matter what, if you can kill 5, your martial arts are good." Zhu Houzhao continued, "The sergeant of Mao'er Fort also suffered a little loss in yesterday's battle, no matter how the imperial court commends him, our land and water battalion will give 50 taels, so that the life of the family will be better." ”

When Zheng Baihu heard this, he immediately knelt down excitedly and said, "Weichen thanked them on their behalf." As he spoke, he kowtowed three times, and the Zhu Houzhao brothers didn't have time to stop it. Zhu Houwei said at this time, "Okay, get up quickly." I called you here today to say that we are about to return to Beijing, and some of the wounded cannot travel long distances, so we will stay in Maoerbao and be taken care of by you, and wait until they are better, so that they can return to Beijing by themselves, and second, I want to recruit people in Maoerbao to see if anyone is willing to follow us back to Beijing and teach equestrian and reconnaissance skills. ”

Zheng Baihu thought for a while and said, "It's definitely no problem to place the wounded, Weichen will do his best, but this is recruiting people, there are only less than 200 people in Mao'er Fort now, there are really not many people to leave, I don't know how many people the two highnesses want to recruit?" ”

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile, "Just a few people, the number of people in the land and water camp is not much, and the teaching and training needed are not much." ”

Zheng Baihu nodded, and then said, "Then Weichen will go and arrange it." ”

Three days later, the Zhu Houzhao brothers led the team to set off and return to the capital. There are a total of 4 people in Maoerbao Castle who followed this time, two middle-aged people, and two grades less than 18. These 4 people have no parents and no wives and children, so it can be said that they have no worries. One of them is Zheng Baihu's cousin, about 40 years old, this person's name is Zheng Yichu, not tall, about 1.7 meters or less, dark complexion, thin body, eyes are ancient, he killed 7 Tartars in the battle three days ago, and he is the person who kills the most enemies in close combat. Strong in martial arts, but taciturn, once married a daughter-in-law, but unfortunately died of illness very early, had no children, and did not marry again. Although his appearance is ordinary, he is strong in equestrianism and martial arts, and has good reconnaissance skills, and is well-known in several military forts around, and most of the sergeants in Mao'er Fort were brought out by him.

In addition to giving 50 taels of silver to the families of the dead in Maoerbao, Zhu Houzhao also gave 100 taels to Maoerbao as the cost of caring for these 20 people, and also left half of the grain and grass, which was enough for the 200 people in Maoerbao to spend the winter. The body of the Tartar was hit and cremated, and the head was shelled with lime and loaded on 5 trailers ready to be transported back to the capital. Of course, 100 were left for the Cat Ear Castle for them to exchange for some silver.

Under the eyes of everyone in Mao'er Fort, Zhu Houzhao and his entourage escorted the captives and slowly set off towards the capital.

Zhu Houzhao and the two sat in the carriage and were watching the experience written by the officer. On the first day after the battle, let them rest well, and on the second day all the officers had to summarize the shortcomings in the battle, write them down, and give them to the two brothers to see. Among them, many people wrote things that made the Zhu Houzhao brothers shine and benefited. Just as the team was about to reach Takayama Castle, about 5,000 men and horses came from afar.

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