When the army set off again, because of Wu Shigong's strange behavior just now, there was also a dull atmosphere among the soldiers. Seeing this, Wu Shigong forcibly suppressed the irritability in his heart, and said to He Fei with a smile: "Why don't you have fun now?" Hurry up and use your broken gong voice again to shout a little more cheerful to the brothers. ”

As He Fei's voice sounded, the army resounded with small songs one after another. They were all young people, so everyone quickly forgot what had just happened.

Seeing that everyone else was no longer paying attention to Wu Shigong, Deng Qifan quietly approached and asked Wu Shigong, "Is there anything troubled by my lord?" ”

Wu Shigong made a gesture to Deng Qifan, and he asked the guards around him to pack up an empty carriage and sit in with Deng Qifan.

As soon as he entered the carriage, Wu Shigong handed the newspaper with Li Zicheng's name written on it to Deng Qifan. After Deng Qifan looked at it carefully, he asked Wu Shigong with some puzzlement: "My lord, in this world, in which year has there not been some rebellion of the people?" Generally, as soon as the imperial army arrives, it will disappear. Besides, these Shaanxi bandits are only active in Shaanxi and Shanxi, which are 108,000 miles away from our Henan. ”

Wu Shigong shook his head and explained to Deng Qifan: "I have only been in Guide Mansion for two or three years. I thought that this Guide Mansion was located in the Central Plains and was very safe, but I didn't expect that in just two or three years, I would fight two battles. ”

"Although those Shaanxi bandits are far away from us, I believe in a saying - people have no long-term worries, but they must have near-term worries. I also hope that my worries are in vain. But at that time, if it wasn't for the fact that I was desperately training as soon as I arrived in Guide Mansion, not to mention King Qin this time, even if the Holy Spirit rebelled last time, I might not have been able to survive safely. ”

"I have one more concern. We are already soldiers. Although our base is in Henan, as long as there is an order from the imperial court, we still have to fight. Therefore, I would like to have a good discussion with Mr. Deng on how to increase my strength and strength for one purpose. ”

Seeing that Wu Shigong was resolute, and what Wu Shigong said was reasonable, Deng Qifan no longer persuaded him, and he began to take the initiative to make suggestions: "Then how far do adults want to increase their strength?" ”

"The more the merrier, at least five thousand. It should be recruited in three months, and after a year it will be trained to the level of the current soldier. ”

Deng Qifan was taken aback by Wu Shigong's words, and he said to Wu Shigong with some doubts: "Our current income and raising 2,000 soldiers have reached the limit. Even if the Runing battalion has some military salaries, there is not much left in our hands if it is deducted as a rule. You can't raise so many soldiers! ”

Wu Shigong replied categorically: "It's a big deal to use my own money to make up for it." Also, when we go back, we will discuss with Mr. Zhang, Mr. Yuan, and Mr. Zheng, and everyone will think of more financial resources. ”

In the end, Wu Shigong and Deng Qifan roughly discussed a framework: after Wu Shigong returned to Henan, he would expand his army to about 5,000 people. In addition, Wu Shigong will build the cottage of Runing Camp and Li Harrier into a fortress similar to the fortress of Qianhusuo.

At that time, the three fortresses became the three apex corners of the triangle, supporting each other and supporting each other, which could basically guarantee the tranquility of the area within the triangle.

In addition, Wu Shigong will also organize the young and strong among his domestic slaves to train as auxiliary soldiers, and also recruit as many displaced people as possible within the scope of financial resources, so as to enhance the training of his army's reserve liliang.

Of course, in this short period of half a day, Wu Shigong and Deng Qifan can only come up with such a rough framework. Wu Shigong decided: On the ship back, he would have a good discussion with Deng Qifan and a few other officers.

After Deng Qifan left, Wu Shigong took stock of what he had gained from King Qin this time.

In addition to all expenses, as well as pensions and silver taels distributed to the soldiers, Wu Shigong also had a net income of more than 210,000 taels of silver this time. In addition, Xue Lian didn't accept the 10,000 taels of silver left by Wu Shigong when he arrived at Zuihou, and still sent it to Wu Shigong.

In addition to this, Wu Shigong also had more than 8,000 stone of grain and some captured materials, which are now stored in the Zhuangzi of Xue Mansion. Those things, calculated according to the prices in the capital, are also worth more than 20,000 taels.

Wu Shigong himself lost more than sixty horses, but what he captured, plus what Qin Liangyu assigned to him, totaled more than three hundred horses. And these are basically war horses. Wu Shigong earned more than 200 horses.

The big gain is the armor. Because when Wu Shigong was hunting outside Luanzhou, the Tartars who escaped were basically blue flags with horses that were snatched from them, so Zuihou Wu Shigong got more than 120 sets of fish scale armor and chain mail, as well as more than 500 sets of leather armor and cotton armor (some Tartars have more than one armor). These armors are basically not badly damaged and can be repaired and used later. Even more abundant was the fact that there were more than 200 waistcoats made of felt and more than 400 sets of harnesses.

In terms of weapons, Wu Shigong exchanged 23 tiger squat cannons and Franc machine guns, as well as a large amount of gunpowder. Of course, the fifty firecrackers given to Ma Xianglin must be removed. Cold weapons only left more than 300 comparatively complete waist knives and more than 30 large axes. The others were made into farm tools by Wu Shigong and sold to those powerful Zhuangzi.

Together with the military households drawn from the other thousand households, Wu Shigong's army suffered 254 casualties, 32 seriously wounded and disabled, and 56 lightly wounded. Four others died of illness on the way to King Qin.

It can be seen from this that the number of dead in the army far outnumbered the number of wounded, which not only shows the cruelty of cold weapon warfare, but also because there are no military doctors in the army except intelligence. The wounded soldiers died because they didn't have time to get medical treatment. This made Wu Shigong also a little remorseful.

However, Qin Liangyu allocated more than 800 people to Wu Shigong, and asked these people to send Wu Shigong's army to Tongzhou before they could go home. Wu Shigong didn't want to embarrass these people, he was ready to give each man two buckets of grain as a reward after he arrived in Tongzhou.

But now Wu Shigong has other ideas. After all, these people have experienced the war and accepted the influence of military discipline, so if possible, Wu Shigong wants to recruit some soldiers among these people and bring them back to Henan. Of course, these people are all from Beizhili, and there will definitely not be many people who are willing to leave their hometowns, so at that time, Wu Shigong still asked those people to sign up voluntarily.

Wu Shigong was leaning against the wall of the carriage, thinking about how to enhance his strength, suddenly, the curtain in front of the carriage opened a crack, and Qiong Niang knelt in front of the carriage, secretly looking inside. Wu Shigong smiled and beckoned to Qiong Niang, and Qiong Niang immediately climbed to Wu Shigong's side and sat down with a smile.

Wu Shigong hugged Qiongniang again, gently touched her peak, and asked, "Did it hurt you just now?" ”

"Hmm!" Qiong Niang nodded, and then Qiong Niang leaned on Wu Shigong's shoulder and said, "The slave family still thinks that the master doesn't like me anymore." ”

Wu Shigong rubbed Qiongniang's peaks again, and said with a smile: "Men's hands and feet are heavier. Are you still used to staying these days? Did these soldiers make any noise with you? ”

"It's ok. It's a little song sung by these soldiers...... Giggle! Qiong Niang's smiling face turned a little red.

"That's what they are. Excess energy, they are all a group of goods who have to kick three times when they encounter a big tree. ”

"Actually, these soldiers are fine. In the past, the slaves would have thought they were rude. Speaking of this, Qiong Niang was afraid that Wu Shigong would be unhappy, so she secretly glanced at Wu Shigong and found that Wu Shigong did not react, so she continued: "Now the slave family knows that staying by the side of the master like this, the slave family sleeps peacefully at night." ”

Wu Shigong thought of Qiongniang's previous unspeakable experience, and sighed secretly in his heart. In this troubled world, even the civilian officials are in danger, or the military attaché with military power in his hands is the most stable! Wu Shigong tightened his hand holding Qiongniang again.

At this time, a guard came to tell him that he was about to arrive in Tongzhou, and there was a person in front of him who claimed to be Zhang Chunyu's housekeeper and asked to see him. Wu Shigong asked the guards to call the housekeeper over, and it was indeed a housekeeper surnamed Deng next to Zhang Chunyu, who had also met Wu Shigong in the capital before.

After seeing Wu Shigong, Steward Deng hurriedly kowtowed to Wu Shigong and said, "Our lord knows that the adults are coming, and he is very happy in his heart. I've been arranging things for adults these days. But now there is too much chaos outside Tongzhou City, so our lord will send the little one to lead the way for the adult, and the lord has already arranged a reception wine for the adult in the city. ”

"Why is Tongzhou in chaos?" Wu Shigong asked strangely. Tongzhou can also be said to be at the foot of the Son of Heaven, and there is a large army of the imperial court stationed here, so there is no possibility of chaos.

"Now outside Tongzhou, there are shacks built by refugees, and as long as people with bright clothes pass by, the beggars can surround him. And ......" Steward Deng stopped talking and looked at Wu Shigong's face.

Wu Shigong waved his hand and said, "But it's okay to say." ”

"What's more, outside Tongzhou City are all soldiers waiting to go back by boat. What they do outside the city is always a little bit of a thoughtless thing. ”

Wu Shigong understood that this Steward Deng was also a member of the army, so in his words, he saved face for himself. Those Ming troops with loose military discipline, their soldiers must have done some robbery and robbery to the people outside the city.

After understanding, it was impossible for Wu Shigong to take care of the affairs of other armies, so he instructed Steward Deng: "Then you can lead the way." ”

Then, Wu Shigong asked Shumo to lead 200 guards to accompany him into Tongzhou City. In addition, Zhou Xun was instructed to let the rest of the soldiers camp on the spot.

At this time, He Fei, who didn't know Wu Shigong's thoughts, leaned into Wu Shigong's ear and asked, "Master, those people will be dismissed now, and we can save a dinner." ”

After Wu Shigong listened, he smiled and scolded He Fei: "Don't be angry." How much is a dinner worth? Remember, add some meat to them in the evening, and you can dismiss them when the officer returns. ”