Ask the mountains and rivers

Chapter 389 Planning (Part Two)

General Lu and General Ge went to see Pei Qinghe together.

Those who arrived earlier included Song Dalang and General Fei. Yang Hu, Li Chi, and Lü Feng were also present, along with key figures from the Pei clan, filling the room to capacity.

General Lu and General Ge are both veteran generals who have led troops for many years. Pei Qinghe respects them greatly and personally gets up to greet them.

Pei Qinghe disliked rambling and said directly, "The reason I invited everyone here today is to discuss how to settle and deal with the prisoners of war."

Generals Lu and Ge were both invigorated. In this battle, the Pei family's allied forces achieved a great victory, and the Bohai Navy suffered a complete rout. The territory belonged to Pei Qinghe; they could not and should not contest it. However, they could get a share of the captured Bohai Navy soldiers.

This is standard practice on the battlefield. After a victory, prisoners of war, horses, weapons, and armor are always distributed.

The impatient Lü Feng was the first to speak: "I have suffered many casualties under my command. General, please send me more men."

Bah! Shameless scoundrel!

Li Chi sneered inwardly and spoke second: "This battle has been going on for months, and my troops have also suffered casualties. However, the general should take the prisoners of war first. I don't care how many I have."

Bah! Hypocritical loading!
Lü Feng rolled his eyes.

Yang Hu was much more diplomatic, cupping his hands and saying, "I will follow the general's arrangements."

Song Dalang and General Fei exchanged a glance, then bowed and said together, "We will do as the general commands."

General Lu stroked his beard: "The Puyang army arrived late and only fought three battles in total. It is truly unworthy of sharing the spoils with you, General."

"The Changshan army guarded the west gate for a few days, capturing some deserters, but they didn't do much, and we are quite ashamed of that," General Ge said modestly.

Lü Feng: "..."

Wait a minute! Why is everyone pretending? Doesn't that make him look greedy?!

Lu Erlang cast a disdainful glance his way. His elder brother had truly embarrassed himself today. Lu Feng, feeling a surge of anger at his younger brother's disdainful look, coughed and laughed, "I was just joking. As for how the spoils are distributed, it's all up to the general."

Li Chi grinned sarcastically.

Lu Feng was almost furious and glared at Li Chi.

Pei Yun, Pei Yan, and the others remained silent. In any case, no matter how the distribution was handled, their own family members would certainly not be disadvantaged.

Pei Qinghe took in the subtle changes in everyone's expressions and smiled slightly, "Since everyone is willing to listen to me, then I will tell you my plans."

"After nearly half a month of statistics, the number of prisoners of war has been calculated, totaling 36,549."

Everyone's eyes lit up, and their breathing became heavy.

An army of seven or eight thousand men is considered quite strong. Among them, the Changshan Army has the largest force, approaching ten thousand.

The Bohai Navy was indeed a behemoth. It suffered a great defeat, with many killed and many others escaping. There were still more than 30,000 prisoners.

"In this battle, Pei Yun protected the grain supplies and killed elite soldiers of the Bohai Navy, making the greatest contribution. You will take four thousand prisoners of war first."

"Yang Hu, Li Chi, and Lü Feng, the three of you have taken turns attacking the city and each has made contributions. Each of you shall carry three thousand prisoners of war."

"Several armies came to provide support. The Pingyang army brought two thousand men, and they took two thousand prisoners of war with them. The other three armies each took one thousand prisoners of war."

"So, that makes 18,000. The remaining prisoners of war will all be added to the Pei family army. Is everyone satisfied with this distribution?"

Based on battle merits and achievements, this distribution was indeed impeccable. Everyone was beaming with joy, especially Lü Feng, who, upon hearing that he could take three thousand prisoners of war, was overjoyed, his eyebrows dancing with delight: "Thank you, General!"

Pei Qinghe said solemnly to everyone, "These soldiers are extremely undisciplined, and many of them are scoundrels. We will have to put a lot of effort into rectifying them in the future. Those who really disregard military discipline will be executed."

The Pei family army was renowned for its strict discipline. Compared to the Pei family army, the soldiers of the Bohai Navy were nothing but thugs and hooligans. Those who could be disciplined were disciplined, while those who repeatedly refused to change their ways were simply wiped out. Only those who truly remained were the soldiers of the Pei family army.

Everyone solemnly bowed and accepted.

Pei Qinghe instructed Pei Yan to fetch the list of prisoners of war. For the past two weeks, Pei Qinghe had been both sorting out the pursuit and suppression of deserters and counting the number of prisoners of war.

The prisoners of war were reorganized into a troop register, with one hundred men forming a battalion and ten battalions forming a register. There were more than thirty registers, each nearly half a person's height. Fortunately, Pei Yan was strong enough to carry them over steadily.

Pei Qinghe smiled and said, "Pei Yun, you go first, draw four books at random."

Pei Yun nodded, stepped forward, and randomly drew four books from the middle. Next, Yang Hu, Li Chi, and Lü Feng each drew three books. Song Dalang and General Fei drew two books, while General Lu and General Ge each drew one.

The remaining stack all fell under Pei Qinghe's control.

Pei Qinghe then distributed the captured warhorses, weapons, and armor to everyone in the same proportion.

"The spoils are all in the military camp warehouse. When the army retreats, everyone will go and take their share."

Everyone readily agreed.

This spoils-sharing meeting... no, it was a war booty distribution meeting, and everyone was satisfied.

General Ge couldn't help but feel a little regretful. After leaving the military tent, he whispered to General Lu with a smile, "If I had known this would happen, I should have brought more soldiers with me."

With fewer soldiers brought and fewer battles fought, the spoils of war would naturally be less to be distributed.

General Lu glanced over with a smile: "Don't be too greedy. This hard battle was won by the Pei family army. Even if General Pei took all the spoils, we wouldn't have anything to say. Now that General Pei has brought out the spoils, we're just taking a share from his bowl."

"General Pei is so generous and righteous," General Ge sighed with a smile, "I am completely convinced."

……

"I feel so heartbroken to have given them so much," Pei Yan lamented, clutching her chest.

Pei Xuan and Pei Feng also looked heartbroken and pained: "The general is too generous."

Pei Qinghe smiled and said, "Why would they support General Pei if there are no real benefits?"

This is true.

After a moment of murmurs, the crowd fell silent.

After waiting a few more days, Meng Bing finally arrived with Prime Minister Pang and Commander Gao.

Pei Qinghe rode out of the city to greet him.

Travel-worn Meng Bing cupped his hands and said, "This humble general congratulates the general on avenging his great grudge!"

Prime Minister Pang, who had been crying all the way, looked dejected and was helped down from the carriage by Commander Gao. As soon as he opened his mouth, he burst into tears and could not speak for a moment.

Commander Gao also looked sallow and haggard, like dried vegetables that had been dried for many days, devoid of vitality.

“The emperor died at the hands of Zhang,” Pei Qinghe sighed, “and was subjected to several days of humiliation after his death. The empress and the crown prince have also passed away.”

"I buried the three of them together in one place."

"I will lead Prime Minister Pang and Commander Gao to pay their respects immediately."

An hour later, Prime Minister Pang and Commander Gao knelt before the tomb and wept bitterly together.

(End of this chapter)