Chapter 538 The disaster of gold and silver!

Although Wangjiaji is just a market, in Bujiha's eyes, it is a very valuable target...
Although Wangjiaji had announced the closure of the market due to the tense border situation, the merchants who were originally active in the market had all gone home. Although people had returned home, the goods originally used for trading in the market were still left in the market's warehouse. The Ma family had already found out that the market's warehouse stored a large amount of grain, cloth and silk, which were all the supplies needed by their Luobi people!

In addition, as a market, although Wangjiaji has defensive fortifications, they are not very tight. The Fengwu Army only has about 300 people stationed here, and the rest are local militia. Such defensive forces are sufficient to deal with ordinary bandits and horse caravans, but they are naturally not enough to deal with the elite Luobei cavalry led by Bujiha.

In Bujiha's view, Wangjiaji, which is rich in resources but lacks defense, is a piece of fat meat delivered to the mouths of Luobi people. As long as they, the Luobi people, are willing, they can take this piece of fat meat for themselves at any time!
He had already made up his mind to raid Wangjiaji while the Fengwu Army was unaware that he had entered the country. Then, while the Fengwu Army had not yet reacted, he immediately packed up the supplies in Wangjiaji and quickly returned to the grassland. While waiting for the Fengwu Army to react and gather its forces, they had already fled across the grassland.

In this way, they not only fulfilled their promise to the Ma family and obtained the benefits promised by the Ma family, but also followed the order of the Khan and did not engage in a large-scale war with the Fengwu Army. This time they sent troops under the name of the Fengwu Army to sanction the Ma family and affect the trade between Youyan and Luobi. Therefore, the raid on Wangjiaji, the commercial center, was exactly what they wanted...

Thirdly, the rich supplies collected by the Wang family were enough to greatly enhance Bujiha's reputation among the Luobi tribe. Thinking of this, a smug smile appeared on Bujiha's rough face. According to the words of the Zhou people, this should be called killing three birds with one stone, right?

At the same time, the Wang family's concentrated guard troops were thrown into chaos when they saw the sudden appearance of tens of thousands of Luobi cavalry. Some of the militiamen who had just been recruited were even trembling with fear. Only the hundreds of Fengwu Army soldiers stationed here remained calm and closed the village gates. Every soldier appeared in his position, vigilantly observing these grassland barbarians.

Seeing that there were only a few hundred Fengwu Army soldiers in the market, who seemed to want to resist, a hint of disdain emerged in Bujiha's eyes. Then he waved his hand and the tens of thousands of Luobi cavalry behind him launched a charge amid crazy howls!

Although the Fengwu Army responsible for guarding Wangjiaji was very tenacious and brave, and organized the militia in the village as much as possible and fought back with the muskets and tiger squat cannons in their hands, the huge gap in strength still made them declare the village gate lost in about an incense stick of time.

The Fengwu Army and the militia had no choice but to abandon the supplies in the warehouse and retreat separately. As for Bujiha and the Luobi cavalry, their combat goal this time was not to annihilate the small Fengwu Army force guarding Wangjiaji, but to seize the large amount of supplies stored in the market warehouse. So when they saw the guard troops retreating, the Luobi people did not kill them all. They just wanted to rush into the warehouse as soon as possible to find the treasures they had dreamed of...

Seeing that his warriors had captured Wangjiaji in just an incense stick of time, Bujiha's eyes were filled with pride. They were warriors of the grassland and the darlings of Changshengtian. They could choose the battlefield at will, while the only thing those timid and cowardly Zhou people could do in the face of the raid was to hide in their city and tremble in fear!

"Pass the order to move the wealth in Wangjiaji as soon as possible. We will return to the grassland in an hour!" Bujiha ordered his men in a deep voice:
"Yes!"

In fact, there was no need for Bujiha to give orders. The Luobi people, who had not done anything serious in the Great Zhou for a long time, captured Wangjiaji so easily this time. Everyone's eyes were red with jealousy, and they were just waiting to divide the spoils and empty Wangjiaji.

An incense stick of time after Bujiha gave the order, Ma Hongye suddenly found Bujiha. As soon as they met, Ma Hongye, who was suppressing his anger, said:
"General Bujiha, I heard that you ordered us to return to the grassland in an hour?"

Facing Ma Hongye's questioning, Bu Jiha said coldly:

"I gave the order, do you have any questions?"

Hearing Bu Jiha's answer, Ma Hongye laughed in anger:
“General Bujiha, our Ma family gave you so much silver so that you could march straight to the city of Yijing and teach that bitch Ye Mingsheng a lesson. Now you just robbed a market and then ran away with your tail between your legs. What’s the difference between you and those bandits and horse gangs?”

Before Ma Hongye could finish his words, Bujiha suddenly whipped a horsewhip and lashed Ma Hongye's face fiercely. Ma Hongye was caught off guard and fell to the ground with a scream. Looking at Ma Hongye, whose face was covered in blood and in great pain, Bujiha grinned and cursed viciously:
"You damned two-legged sheep, who the hell do you think you are to teach me a lesson? If it weren't for your daily respect for me, I would cut off your head and use it as a chamber pot right now!"

"Hahaha!" "Hahaha!"

The Luobei people on the side heard Bujiha's humiliation of Ma Hongye and suddenly burst into laughter. Their eyes were full of mockery and ridicule when they looked at Ma Hongye.

Ma Hongye had never suffered such humiliation before, and subconsciously wanted to stand up and fight with Bujiha, but he was stopped by his followers who remained calm and told him to be patient for a while and take a step back to have a broader horizon. He should think about Ma Hongde who was still detained in the Coordination Office. If he fought with Bujiha at this time, who would be outside to lobby for Ma Hongde?

Thinking of his fourth brother, Ma Hongye regained his composure. A flash of humiliation flashed across his eyes. He covered the blood on his face and left in embarrassment amid the ridicule and laughter of the Luobi people. After dealing with Ma Hongye's affairs, something unexpected happened to Bujiha. A Luobi soldier hurriedly came to him and reported:

"General, General Grina and General Zab are fighting..."

As soon as Bujiha heard this, he was shocked and asked:
"what happened?"

Under Bujiha's murderous gaze, the Luobei soldier slowly narrated what had happened. It turned out that the warehouse in Wangjiaji was not filled with grain and silk cloth as described in the intelligence. Instead, only a small number of warehouses were left to store grain and silk cloth, while more warehouses were filled with gold and silver of greater value. Dozens or hundreds of boxes filled with silver and gold were placed in the warehouses.

Although the Ma family's intelligence was wrong, for the Robe people, exchanging food and cloth for silver and gold was undoubtedly a better thing. The dazzling light of gold and silver flashed in their eyes. There was no doubt that with the appearance of so much gold and silver, the Robe people began to become more fanatical.

Unlike the Fengwu Army, which were professional soldiers who were paid for their service, the Luobi people were nomadic people. They were organized into tribes and were both soldiers and civilians. They usually herded and hunted at home and engaged in production. When the superiors decided to go to war, they would bring their own weapons and armor to the front line. Although this organizational model did not have the burden of military pay, it also meant that after the Luobi people won the war, they could all get a share of the spoils. Therefore, when so much gold and silver were placed in front of them, the Luobi people naturally wanted to follow the traditions passed down by their ancestors. Driven by greed, they grabbed handfuls of gold and silver and put them into their pockets. At this time, disputes among the Luobi people arose. Some generals believed that they had made great efforts in this war, but they got less gold and silver, and wanted others to spit out some for them...
Naturally, the other party was unwilling to show weakness and stated that they would never give up even a tael of silver. In addition, the nomadic peoples were warlike and had already had conflicts with each other over competition for water sources and pastures. Now with the gold and silver as the fuse, the two sides became so angry that they started fighting each other. The conflict continued to escalate and turned into a large-scale fight.

After listening to the soldiers' reports, Bujiha went to suppress the rebellion without any hesitation. Now they are in the territory of Great Zhou, not on the grassland. The Fengwu Army may appear at any time. Isn't it seeking death to fight among themselves now?

Just when Bujiha was anxious to resolve internal affairs, on a hillside outside Wangjiaji, more than a dozen red cannons removed their camouflage, revealing their dark muzzles. At the same time, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the Third Division also arrived at the designated locations silently.

Seeing that all the deployments had been completed as planned, Cui Desheng came to Guo Zhiping and reported:

"Your Excellency, everything is ready! We can fire at any time!"

Guo Zhiping nodded and said:

"let's start!"

"Yes!"

As Guo Zhiping's order was issued, the command center's messenger immediately conveyed the order to open fire to the artillery position through flag signals. At this time, Bujiha, who had noticed nothing, called his two generals, Gezhina and Zab, to his side and scolded them.

As a Luobei warrior who had been in the army for many years, Bujiha had seen many internal fights caused by uneven distribution of spoils, and his solution to this was to give both sides a slap on the wrist. After all, many of these troubles were caused by some trivial things in the past that could not be explained at all...
Looking at the two tall Robin men in front of him, Bujiha said with a serious and cold expression:

"Grina and Zab, you two bastards should take less than 10% of the spoils this time. If something like this happens again, don't blame me for chopping off your heads!"

Both Gerina and Zhab seemed a little dissatisfied after listening to Bujiha's words. Just when they were about to explain, they suddenly heard a roar coming from outside. The next second, they saw explosions caused by falling shells all around. The Robe people, who were still chattering about the spoils, did not expect to be attacked at all. There were heavy casualties and wailing everywhere.

Bujiha was lucky in that his personal soldiers were loyal, and when they saw the bombardment, they immediately used their bodies to protect him. However, his two subordinates, Grina and Zhabu, were not so lucky. Grina was killed on the spot, and Zhabu lost an arm and a thigh, and was wailing in pain on the ground.

Looking at the tragic situation in front of him, Bujiha was furious. He understood that all this was a despicable conspiracy of the Fengwu Army. They had already calculated that he would attack Wangjiaji, and then used the gold and silver to make him and others relax their vigilance, and finally annihilate them on the spot when a large number of troops gathered!

Thinking of this, Bujiha roared loudly:
"Everyone who can stand, gather together. The Fengwu Army is about to charge forward..."

On the hillside outside Wangjiaji, Guo Zhiping nodded with satisfaction, observing the countless explosions taking place in Wangjiaji with a telescope. What he wanted was the effect. Ever since he got the news from the Coordination Office that Luo Bi’s army might attack Wangjiaji, he personally surveyed the terrain of Wangjiaji. Soon the plan took shape in his mind. For this purpose, he specially applied to Ye Mingsheng for 200,000 taels of silver and hundreds of gold bars.

He used the gold and silver as bait, placed them in the warehouse of Wangjiaji, and then buried explosives in a hidden place in the warehouse, waiting for the Luobi people to take the bait. However, things developed just as he imagined. The Luobi people had poor military discipline, and under the temptation of so much gold and silver, they immediately relaxed their vigilance and were completely unaware of all the changes around them.

With the end of the artillery bombardment that lasted about a cup of tea, Guo Zhiping drew out his sword and swung it vigorously. Behind him, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the Third Division immediately roared and charged towards Wangjiaji. They had only one belief, to annihilate the Luobi people in Wangjiaji and make the enemy who dared to invade pay the price in blood!
Looking in the direction of Wangjiaji, Deputy General Cui Desheng said with some regret:
"That's two hundred thousand taels of silver and more than a hundred gold bars, and they all exploded just like that!"

Listening to Cui Desheng's sigh, Guo Zhiping smiled and said to Cui Desheng:

"You are just too narrow-minded. After this battle, the Luobi people will not dare to invade again. The new policy reforms that you are promoting in Youyan will also be unimpeded from now on. This is not worth more than a mere 200,000 taels of silver. If we release these 10,000 Luobi cavalry, they will make trouble on the border every year. Even if they don't attack us, we will have to arrange a large number of troops to garrison. Which of the manpower and material resources is more important?"

"Although some of the gold and silver will certainly be lost, we can still collect some of them after they were blown away, so the loss won't be too great."

Cui Desheng nodded and said:

"Your Excellency is right. I just hope that after this battle the Robe people can learn their lesson and keep the border safe for a few more years..."

(End of this chapter)