Chapter 233 Trophies

"Haha, Sir Yang, please come in!"

"Oh, thank you for your hard work. It must have been an difficult journey!"

"Dashan, Dashan, take these brothers to dinner first, and then let them have a good rest!"

Yang Zhengshan greeted them warmly.

It’s not that he did it on purpose, but Yuan Wanli and others really didn’t look well.

I guess they suffered a lot during these four days of traveling.

They did not come directly from Chongshan Pass, but went to Jiacheng first, found out Yang Zhengshan's location, and then came from Jiacheng.

The journey from Jiacheng is not very far, only about three or four hundred miles.

But this is the north, and although all the places they passed through have been visited by the garrison battalion, who knows if there are any Hu cavalry around? If they happen to encounter Hu cavalry, they will probably just be defeated with such a small number of people.

So they not only had to sleep in the open air, but also had to be careful to avoid bandits.

They couldn't eat or sleep well, and they still had to hurry on the road. One can imagine how they looked at that moment.

"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Lord Yang!" Yuan Wanli said somewhat embarrassedly.

Yang Zhengshan said with a smile: "What's so funny about this? Lord Yuan has come all the way here in fear and worry to help us verify our military achievements. I can't thank Lord Yuan enough. How can I laugh at this?"

"Master Yuan, let's go have dinner first."

As he spoke, Yang Zhengshan brought Yuan Wanli and two clerks into his tent.

"Sir Yuan, drinking is prohibited in the army, so we will drink tea instead!"

The food was served and Yang Zhengshan asked the three of them to start eating.

Yuan Wanli was really hungry, and he had already eaten several meals of dry food, his mouth was almost dry. Now seeing the table full of food, his appetite was immediately aroused.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Lord Yang. We will not be polite then!"

"You're welcome, eat more!"

Yang Zhengshan greeted.

Then, Yuan Wanli and the other two began to eat with relish.

After they finished their meal, Yang Zhengshan did not rush them to confirm their military achievements, but let them rest first.

It was not until the next morning that Yuan Wanli got rid of his fatigue and started to get down to business.

"Master Yang, are all the heads here?"

"This~" Yang Zhengshan hesitated for a moment and said, "I'd better take Lord Yuan to have a look first!"

After saying that, he led Yuan Wanli out of the camp.

When Yuan Wanli and his companions arrived at the Zarts settlement, they were completely stunned.

When they arrived yesterday, they did not see the Zarts settlement, but went directly into the garrison camp.

Although the garrison camp was near Zalz, it was separated from Zalz by a small hill.

There was no way. The smell in the Zarts settlement was too bad at this time, and the strong smell of blood was particularly pungent.

However, Yang Zhengshan did not do nothing in the past few days. They had collected all the spoils, gathered the corpses in a large pit, and piled the heads together.

Looking at the huge settlement, looking at the corpses in the pit, looking at the heads piled up like a mountain.

Yuan Wanli felt so nauseous that he almost vomited out the breakfast he had just eaten.

"This, this, this~~"

He pointed at the hill of heads and couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Yang Zhengshan said calmly: "These are the heads of the able-bodied men of the Hu tribe. Not a single one is of the elderly, the weak, women or children!"

Judging military merit by the number of heads taken, in fact, even if there are old and weak heads among them, it doesn’t matter. They are all heads of Hu people, and it can’t be considered as killing innocent people to claim merit.

If one were to be a little more shameless, it would be possible to include the heads of women and children among them.

However, Yang Zhengshan still had some bottom line. He could commit massacres, after all, it was a national hatred and family feud, but he really couldn't bring himself to take the heads of women and children to make up for the military merits.

However, in Yuan Wanli's eyes, this was like a hellish scene.

Although he had been to the battlefield many times before and even examined many heads to confirm his military achievements, this was the first time he had seen a scene where heads were piled up like a mountain.

He looked at Yang Zhengshan, who looked normal beside him, and noticed his deep eyes, and suddenly felt a chill in his throat.

Lord Yang has such a cruel heart!
Is Yang Zhengshan cruel?
how to say?

As a citizen from a peaceful country, Yang Zhengshan has his own moral concepts and attitude towards life.

But after coming to this world, he reminded himself again and again to adapt to this world and integrate into this world.

Over the years, he has changed so much that he seems like a completely different person.

That's right, he became a different person.

Yang Zhengshan at this time was no longer the Yang Zhengshan of the past.

Yang Zhengshan felt Yuan Wanli's gaze, turned his head and smiled at him, and said gently: "Next, I will trouble Sir Yuan to count the military merits! I still have some things to deal with, so I can't accompany Sir Yuan. I hope Sir Yuan can forgive me!"

However, his smile made Yuan Wanli tremble again. Yuan Wanli quickly looked away and said stutteringly: "Yang, Sir Yang, please go ahead!"

"Dashan, accompany Lord Yuan to count the military merits!" Yang Zhengshan gave an instruction to Song Dashan beside him, and then returned to the camp.

As soon as he returned to the camp, Zhou Ren came over and said, "Sir, all the supplies have been counted!"

"How many?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

"There are 1,300 adult war horses, 720 other steeds and foals, 928 cattle, and 3,280 sheep."

"There are also 768 furs of various kinds, 8,700 pieces of ironware, 860 dan of grain, and 12 dan of coarse salt."

"Three hundred and thirty-two ounces of gold, four thousand three hundred and twenty-four ounces of silver, and more than four hundred pieces of various jewelry!"

Zhou Ren's face was filled with unconcealable joy.

Get rich!
This time I really made a fortune!

Yang Zhengshan nodded calmly, this was expected.

The wealth possessed by a tribe of nearly 10,000 people is naturally not a small amount.

War horses, cattle, sheep, various furs, miscellaneous iron tools, etc.

They came suddenly in this battle, and Zaltz was almost unprepared. All of Zaltz's wealth and opportunities remained in the settlement and became their spoils.

But now there are two problems. The first is how they are going to transport so many things back, and the second is the question of who will own the spoils.

It would definitely take a lot of time to transport so many things back, and Yang Zhengshan is still keeping an eye on the Tumoge tribe. Although the Tumoge have been moved for several days, they still have not escaped Yang Zhengshan's attention.

As for the ownership of the spoils, different spoils have different owners. For example, war horses will be directly confiscated. If the number is small, Yang Zhengshan can directly put them into the garrison camp. If the number is large, they must be handed over.

For example, there is no need to explain the demand for cattle in farming. All cattle captured on the battlefield must be handed over to the imperial court.

As for gold, silver and valuables, were they seized? Yes, there were a few.

"Sir, what should we do with these things next?" Zhou Ren asked eagerly.

Yang Zhengshan thought for a moment and said, "Two war horses for each person. We will conduct mobile warfare next, so we must have enough war horses!"

"Gold and silver, well, keep 30% for an explanation, and distribute the rest to the soldiers!"

"Food, salt, etc., keep everything we can use first, and find a place to store the rest. I will report to the shogun's office and ask them to send civilians to transport them back!"

He certainly couldn't swallow all of these things, so he had to hand them over.

Of course, it is also possible to withhold a portion of it.

"Sir, shouldn't we transport some back first?" Zhou Ren was a little disappointed.

The most valuable things here are war horses and cattle and sheep. Needless to say, the war horses will definitely be reserved for the soldiers to use, but what about the cattle and sheep!
"Haha, you, even if the Lieutenant General's Office transports it back, we will have a share!" Yang Zhengshan was not worried at all that he would not have his share after handing it over.

Keep some of it first and divide it up later. Actually, this is already a lot.

If he greedily kept everything, he would not only attract attention but also make people hate him.

Zhou Ren thought about it and it made sense. He really couldn’t be greedy in this matter.

It is originally a good thing, but if you are too greedy it will become a bad thing.

War spoils can also be considered as military merits. It does not mean that there will be no benefit if they are handed over. They must be recorded in the merit book.

"I'll write a battle report, and you can arrange someone to send it back to the Lieutenant General's Office later!" Yang Zhengshan said.

"Yes!" Zhou Ren responded happily.

No matter what, he would definitely get a share, so he was still very happy.

Of course, he was not the only one who was happy. Soon all the soldiers in the garrison camp felt the same joy.

Yang Zhengshan distributed most of the gold and silver without hesitation.

The soldiers' morale suddenly boosted when they looked at the gold and silver in their hands.

Of course, Yang Zhengshan did not forget to give one to Yuan Wanli and others.

"Master Yuan, everyone who sees it gets a share!"

In the tent, Yang Zhengshan handed two ten-liang gold ingots to Yuan Wanli.

"This, this is not good!" Yuan Wanli wanted to refuse.

He was a little hesitant to take Yang Zhengshan's things.

"What's wrong with that? I don't like people pushing and shoving. Just take it if I tell you to!" Yang Zhengshan didn't give him a chance to refuse and forced it into his arms.

In terms of official rank, he is higher than Yuan Wanli; in terms of age, he is older than Yuan Wanli; in terms of connections, he is the future relative of the Marquis's Mansion, so there is no need for him to be too polite with Yuan Wanli.

"Sir Yang, this is a great military achievement!" Yuan Wanli said a little nervously.

"What are you thinking about?" Yang Zhengshan pointed at the thing in his arms and said unhappily, "This is just hard work pay, it has nothing to do with military merit. Lord Yuan, do you think we need to falsely report military merit?"

"..." Yuan Wanli thought of the pile of heads, "No need!"

Nearly four thousand heads!

This is just a bullshit report!
Even if the report is true, some people will probably suspect that it is false. If the false report is more, then...

Yuan Wanli had a headache. He had to think about how to convince his superiors and colleagues that this military achievement was real.

(End of this chapter)