latelenovela Chapter 111: You’re not an outsider.
Chapter 111: You’re not an outsider.
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The bowstring sounded, and two heavy arrows hit Qin Tianzhu in the face.
Ye Kun wouldn't be so stupid as to challenge him in a one-on-one fight!
thump!
The man who was as strong as an iron tower finally fell down.
Ye Kun's heavy armored soldiers and archers continued to attack and advance forward.
Qin Tianzhu's subordinates had lost all their fighting spirit and jumped off the cliff by the roadside to end their lives.
The area below Xiping Mountain turned into a hell.
Ye Kun ordered:
"Block both ends of the trade route and clean up the battlefield. Leave behind all usable armor and clothes, and be careful of gold and silver hidden on the bodies of the dead. The brothers who clean up the battlefield must all take off their clothes for inspection. If anyone hides the spoils, they will be killed without mercy! All the spoils must be handed over to the public, and then each person will be rewarded with two taels of silver!"
Most of these rebel soldiers were carrying gold, silver and jewelry.
Ye Kun must have given instructions in advance and issued strict military orders to prevent officers and soldiers from hiding the goods.
The trade route was blocked at both ends. After the cleanup, all the officers and soldiers took off their clothes for inspection, and they had no way to hide anything.
As for the body that fell into the river, we can only deal with it tomorrow.
After arranging the cleanup of the battlefield, Ye Kun came to check on his wounded soldiers and instructed the military doctors to disinfect the wounds with alcohol and bandage them with clean gauze.
It was already dark, but Ye Kun was still busy.
Miss Yuejuan came over and whispered, "Kunlang, don't be too tired, take a rest."
"Ms. Yuejuan, I was just looking for you."
Ye Kun supported Yue Juan and sat down on the side of the road:
"In this chaotic world, staying alive is the most important thing. I plan to temporarily bury my parents-in-law in Xiping Mountain. When peace comes in the future, I will bury them again with great fanfare. What do you think?"
Miss Yuejuan nodded: "That's what I meant..."
Ye Kun immediately ordered that the bodies of County Magistrate Liu and his wife, as well as the bodies of his fallen brothers, be sent to the middle of the mountain to be buried.
The tomb of County Magistrate Liu and his wife is at the highest point.
The graves of other fallen brothers stand guard below.
County Magistrate Liu did not lose out as he still received this treatment even after his death.
Ye Kun presented Qin Tianzhu's head, offered wine and knelt down in worship:
"My parents-in-law and brothers, rest in peace. You sacrificed your lives for the country, and the people of the whole county will remember you."
Yue Juan also kowtowed to pay tribute to her parents, and then took Ye Kun's hand: "Kun Lang, thank you... for avenging my parents."
Ye Kun comforted Miss Yuejuan: "Yuejuan, it's my fault. I didn't protect your parents well."
"It's not your fault. They wanted to leave on their own initiative and implicated so many soldiers. If my parents had listened to you, they would not have died." Yuejuan was quite reasonable.
Ye Kun sighed and hugged Yuejuan.
County Magistrate Liu's escape did cause great losses to Ye Kun's troops.
Those cavalrymen are the elite among the elite.
More than a thousand laborers conscripted from the county town arrived one after another to help clean up the battlefield and remove the corpses.
Ye Kun ordered Tan Bamao to lead his troops to search westward to collect the bodies of his fallen brothers and retrieve their equipment.
In a blink of an eye, it was already the second half of the night.
Ye Kun took Yuejuan and his two stupid brothers-in-law to the camp on the top of the mountain to rest.
Yuejuan was also tired, so she leaned in Ye Kun's arms and fell asleep.
After dawn, Ye Kun continued to stay in Xiping Mountain to strengthen the defense and clean up the battlefield.
The bodies of the soldiers who fell off the cliff and into the river were also salvaged one by one, their armor stripped off, and sent into the river downstream to float away with the current.
Ye Kun couldn’t handle so many corpses, so he could only cause harm downstream.
However, there were some small surprises when cleaning up the battlefield this time. We actually found more than 20,000 taels of silver, some gold, and many small pieces of jade and jewelry.
Most of the armor and weapons of the brothers who died in the battle were also recovered.
There were also more than a hundred dead horses, all of which were skinned and pickled.
There was an endless stream of horse-drawn carriages carrying spoils to the county town.
In the evening, Ye Kun returned to the county town with Miss Yuejuan, County Magistrate Wang, County Magistrate Huang and others.
Magistrate Huang and Deputy Magistrate Wang were both exhausted and lifeless.
After returning to the county, Ye Kun directly confiscated all the property of County Magistrate Huang and County Magistrate Wang, and said calmly:
"Magistrate Huang, Magistrate Wang, the entire county is under martial law. All food and money are under unified control. It's not safe to carry your money with you, so give it to me for safekeeping!"
County Magistrate Huang was greatly surprised and shouted:
"Master Ye, when I came to the city, I gave you half of my property. The rest is my retirement money..."
"Shut up!"
Ye Kun glared: "It was you who wanted to escape, causing the death and injury of more than a hundred of my brothers, as well as war horses and carriages. My brothers died to protect you, shouldn't you give me some money?"
County Magistrate Huang was speechless.
County Magistrate Wang was cunning and immediately expressed his opinion:
"Master Ye, I will follow you from now on, no matter what happens. All my money and personal belongings will be handed over to you, Master Ye, and I will arrange everything for you!"
Ye Kun laughed and patted County Magistrate Wang on the shoulder:
"Old Wang, with what you said, I will ensure that you are safe. If you really want to follow me, I will definitely make you one of the three highest officials!"
County Magistrate Wang clasped his fists and said, "I will follow Lord Ye wholeheartedly, and I will never have second thoughts!"
Ye Kun nodded and whispered in his ear:
"Take your people and money and go home first, then come back to help me arrange things. From now on, you are still Lord Wang, and we will manage Pingye County together."
Originally, Ye Kun wanted to eat County Magistrate Wang as well.
Seeing that he is so sensible, let it go.
This guy is cunning and capable, and can reduce Ye Kun's burden.
County Magistrate Wang was overjoyed and went home happily with his people and money.
Hou Qi's wife, Song, asked pitifully, "Master Ye, should we... give our money to you?"
"Sister-in-law Qi, keep those few dozen copper coins you have. Go back first and take good care of Brother Qi."
Ye Kun winked.
Hou Qi's property was estimated to be several thousand taels of silver. However, Ye Kun let him go for Miss Yue Juan's sake.
Of course, it was also for the sake of the Song family.
After all, he is not an outsider!
Song nodded hurriedly and took Hou Qi home.
Ye Kun confiscated County Magistrate Huang's money, recruited his subordinates, gave him a small house, and asked him to stay there honestly.
Then, the families of the deceased were summoned and each of them was given twenty taels of silver for funeral expenses;
The injured brothers will also receive twenty taels each!
This pension standard is already very high, and the families of the victims are very grateful.
Ye Kun rewarded Wang Da Kui and Wang Bao with two hundred taels of silver and twenty taels of gold.
Wang Da Kui felt ashamed. He lay on the bed and cried, "Brother, I am useless. I lost the battle. I am sorry..."
"Victory and defeat are common in war."
Ye Kun consoled him, "Brother, with your limited military strength, together with Hou Qi and County Magistrate Huang's men, you were able to fight your way back to Xiping Mountain despite facing tens of thousands of chaotic soldiers. This is already quite remarkable."
Ye Kun was still satisfied with Wang Bao and Wang Da Kui's performance this time.
In terms of the casualty ratio, it is almost one to ten, which is already very impressive.
Wang Bao was also injured and grinned:
"Lord Ye is right. We brothers killed at least 2,000 enemies. That rhino leather armor is really good. I was slashed more than ten times and stabbed seven or eight times, but the leather armor was not broken. It was that bastard Qin Tianzhu who shot me with an arrow with a strong bow and pierced the leather armor, so I was injured."
Ye Kun patted Wang Bao on the shoulder:
"Just rest and recover, it will be fine in a few days. I will use alcohol to disinfect you, so it won't get infected. In the future, I will make more powerful weapons and take you to conquer the world."
Wang Bao and Wang Da Kui nodded together: "We'll wait!"
There is a carnival in the county town at this moment.
When everyone learned about the great victory at Xiping Mountain, in which tens of thousands of rebel troops were killed, including the rebel commander-in-chief, their confidence in Ye Kun increased even more.
Ye Kun did some comforting work and told everyone that the main forces of the rebel army in Changsha County and Dongba County had been eliminated by him, and there would be a period of peace in the future.
Because the rebels lacked organizational capabilities, they were destined to be unable to form a large-scale gathering.
If the rebel army organizes 100,000 people to attack Pingye County, they will be in chaos in three days without fighting.
The main forces of the rebel army on the east and west sides were eliminated. Shangguan Jifu was guarding the south, and Tianmen County was blocking the north. There was no major threat to Ye Kun's territory.
Because he had too much money, Ye Kun had to move to the former mansion of County Magistrate Liu with Miss Yuejuan.
Wen Axiu and Liu Hongyu spent a day counting Ye Kun's current property, which included 7,000 taels of gold, nearly 100,000 taels of silver, and mountains of copper coins and silk.
There are also many jewels whose price cannot be estimated.
Ye Kun couldn't help but sigh that it was not that the Dading Kingdom was short of money, but that all the money was in the hands of corrupt officials and local gentry!
Miss Yuejuan lost both her parents, so she is naturally sad.
Jiang Yourong and Dai Xi both came to express their condolences, accompany them attentively and give them comfort.
Based on the information received from the exploratory cavalry, Ye Kun knew that there were no large-scale rebel troops in the territory, so he opened the city gates to allow the people to move out of the city, collect food and fodder, and manage nearby crops.
There were small groups of rebel troops nearby, so Ye Kun concentrated his forces to wipe them out or recruit them.
Ye Qingyang of Yejiawu in Cigu County was besieged by thousands of Huang Tiandao rebels. He held out for twenty days and fought to the death without surrendering.
Ye Kun led the light cavalry and launched a sneak attack on the rear of Huang Tiandao's rebel army in the middle of the night. Together with Ye Qingyang, they defeated the rebel army in one fell swoop!
Ye Qingyang finally escaped the disaster, and personally left the fort, thanked Ye Kun, and gave him one thousand taels of silver.
However, this guy always has a cold face and seems unable to smile.
Ye Kun did not ask for money either, and waved his hand:
"Fortress Lord Ye, you should keep this silver and give it to the poor people who have no food to eat. In this war, who knows how many people have become homeless."
Ye Qingyang nodded: "Many villagers nearby have gone to the mountains with their families."
"Please ask everyone to come back. I will go to the county town to have a look."
Ye Kun shook his head and led his troops to the county seat of Cigu County.
The county town was in a mess, having been set on fire by the rebel army, and ashes were everywhere.
There were only some vagrants and beggars, looking for money and food in the ruins, and they all looked pale and thin.
Ye Kun recruited dozens of people and brought them all back to Pingye County.
Along the way, another two or three thousand refugees came together and asked Ye Kun to take them in.
Ye Kun could not bear to refuse, so he took them all back to Pingye County and built two large camps outside the west gate of the county for the refugees to live in.
By the end of October, Ye Kun had nearly three thousand troops under his command.
The construction of Xiping Mountain has been ongoing.
Due to the lack of materials and no time to make them, Ye Kun simply sent half of his troops and 3,000 laborers to demolish the buildings in Cigu County and bring back as many usable bricks, tiles and wood as possible.
Part of it was used to build a refugee camp in Pingye County, and part of it was sent to Xiping Mountain.
In early November, Wen Qi, the chief clerk of Tianmen County, came again.
Ye Kun went out of the city to greet them and gave them a warm welcome.
Vinci was very happy and announced first:
"Ye Kun has made great contributions in suppressing bandits. He killed Qin Tianzhu, the leader of the Dongba County bandits, and shocked Tianmen County. He controlled the important roads in Xichuan and protected the safety of Tianmen County. The county governor submitted a memorial to the court, recommending Ye Kun as the county magistrate of Pingye County and Cigu County, and concurrently the county lieutenant of Tianmen County. His official rank is 1,000 stones!"
Ye Kun clasped his fists in thanks.
Ye Kun was not interested in the magistrate of Cigu County.
Because most of Cigu County is plains, there is no strategic location to defend, and it is not a place where military force can be used.
But having more territory is always good, so just leave it there for now.
Wen Qi pulled Ye Kun aside and conspired with him alone, saying with a smile:
"Congratulations, Lord Ye. Prince Shangguan thinks highly of you. The man you sent, Qin Erwu, was also kept by the prince and given an important position as a county lieutenant."
Ye Kun smiled and said, "My Lord, do you have any other requests for me?"
"My only request is to keep you away from Shangguan Jifu."
Wen Qi lowered his voice and said, "The county magistrate is seriously ill and I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to survive the winter. The prince asks you to stop Shangguan Jifu here and don't let him go back. If Shangguan Jifu rushes in, kill him without mercy, no crime for merit!"