Chapter 27: Warhorse
In a barracks of five thousand men, there were at most three or five military doctors. They had to prioritize injured military generals first, and medicine was limited. Big Soldiers who got injured treated minor wounds themselves, while severe wounds meant death.
For someone like the square-faced Big Soldier, who had his arm severed by a sharp blade and lost blood all night, applying medicine and bandaging was just for psychological comfort. Nine times out of ten, he couldn’t be saved.
The bloody stump was a mess of flesh and blood.
Pei Qinghe quickly cleaned the wound. The unconscious square-faced Big Soldier twitched from the pain, laboriously opened his eyes, and spat out two words: “It hurts… ah…”
He rolled his eyes and fainted again.
It was both miserable and involuntarily amusing, slightly diluting the gloom and stuffiness around them.
Pei Qinghe fetched medicine, ground it into a paste, and applied it to the square-faced Big Soldier’s stump. Then she wrapped it layer by layer with clean gauze.
Captain Sun couldn’t help glancing at the flustered Doctor Bao.
Sixth Sister Pei looked more like a doctor.
Pei Qinghe had been rebel army leader for over ten years, fighting countless battles and sustaining countless injuries. She was very familiar with those techniques for treating external wounds. Doctors were never enough, so she could barely count as half a military doctor.
Doctor Bao was sweating profusely. When he looked up and saw Pei Qinghe’s swift and deft movements, his eyes lit up: “So Sixth Sister Pei has studied medicine too. That’s great! There are a few more with minor injuries over here!”
Pei Qinghe nodded.
The injured Big Soldiers were all under Doctor Bao. Pei Qinghe mainly handled bandaging and medicine for the injured Pei Clan women. She could manage simple injuries, but severe external wounds required Doctor Bao.
At a time like this, they couldn’t worry about distinctions between men and women.
They were busy until dawn.
The two sent to deliver messages finally returned.
As expected, both came back empty-handed.
Captain Sun’s face was grim, but he didn’t say a word. He was a low-ranking military general who had risen from the bottom, with no family background or backing. The garrison military generals didn’t take him seriously at all. The Big Soldiers he sent entered the barracks, got ridiculed and mocked, and were directly chased out.
The Eastern Palace Guard who went to report to the government office got slightly better treatment. The Eastern Palace Guard’s badge had some deterrence, and he smoothly met the county magistrate.
“…That County Magistrate Song spoke nicely. He immediately agreed to send people for rescue. I waited there for two hours, and the yamen runners in the county office still hadn’t assembled.”
“I urged them to set off, but County Magistrate Song insisted on waiting for everyone to assemble before leaving. Waiting like this, the bandits would have killed people and fled without a trace long ago.”
The Eastern Palace Guard grew angrier as he spoke: “I saw through it. This County Magistrate Song is deliberately stalling. In a fit of anger, I threw out some harsh words and rode back first.”
Guard Gao snorted coldly.
A mere seventh-rank county magistrate dared not to take the Eastern Palace seriously—who gave him the courage!
“This County Magistrate Song may not be anyone’s man.” Pei Qinghe’s voice sounded in his ear: “He just doesn’t want to wade into muddy waters.”
Strictly speaking, County Magistrate Song’s actions weren’t blameworthy. Assembling personnel before coming to rescue was the prudent approach. Otherwise, failing the rescue and losing all the yamen runners would be losing the wife and the army.
Captain Gao suppressed his anger and said lowly: “We’ll wait here for the government people to come. It will also let the injured rest for a day or two.”
Pei Qinghe nodded slightly: “I want to take people out. Maybe I can find some good things.”
These bandits had unusual origins; besides weapons, they must have warhorses.
Finding these warhorses wouldn’t be hard. Capturing a few real refugees and asking would reveal the location.
After Guard Gao learned Pei Qinghe’s plan, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
With Sixth Sister Pei’s capabilities and methods, even immortals would have to shed a layer of skin.
……
Pei Qinghe borrowed horses from Captain Sun.
After this life-and-death fight, Captain Sun was completely convinced. Moreover, with Big Soldiers suffering heavy casualties, he now had only about ten men under him, but plenty of warhorses. At Pei Qinghe’s request, Captain Sun unhesitatingly lent out over a dozen horses.
“Captain Sun really trusts me.” Pei Qinghe rarely joked: “Aren’t you afraid I’ll ride off and escape?”
Captain Sun looked indifferent: “So many died tonight. If Sixth Sister leaves and doesn’t come back, I’ll just add a few strokes to the list of the war dead.”
Tonight, the Pei Clan had over twenty dead and injured, old and young totaling over two hundred and ninety. How could Sixth Sister Pei abandon them and flee far away?
With Pei Qinghe’s skills and capabilities, if she had the mind, she would have fled without a trace long ago. No need to wait until today.
Pei Qinghe selected over ten with good horsemanship, one horse each, and galloped forward.
After running ten li, they caught two exhausted refugees collapsed by the official road.
No need for threats; at the sight of the weapons, the two knelt down. They kowtowed repeatedly begging for mercy, tears streaming: “Female bandit king, we were all captured. Please, female bandit king, spare us!”
“We were hiding in a mountain hollow before. There are still many horses inside. We’ll take female bandit king there.”
These two refugees, after escaping death, had ideas on the warhorses. In these times, horses were extremely valuable. A good horse could sell for a hundred taels of silver.
Over a hundred good horses hidden in the mountain hollow—they could quietly steal a few for a windfall.
With the female bandit king appearing, their little abacus plans vanished into smoke.
The female bandit king was fierce and ruthless, covered in blood, with killing intent blazing in her eyes. They didn’t even have the courage to glance at each other, trembling and shrinking as they spilled everything they knew, just to beg for a way to survive.
Pei Qinghe threw the two refugees onto spare horses and ordered them to lead the way ahead.
An hour later, they found the mountain hollow.
Over a hundred fine horses appeared before them.
These fine horses had muzzles on and hooves wrapped, but they couldn’t hide their majestic vigor—they were all top-quality warhorses!
Pei Qinghe was overjoyed, her eyes lighting up. She stepped forward quickly, stroking one fine horse lovingly, then another and another. The accompanying Pei Clan women were equally excited and thrilled.
So many good horses!
Sell them all, and they could exchange for ten thousand taels of silver! Buy grain to feed the Pei Family Members for ten years!
“Not selling a single one!” Pei Qinghe turned, black eyes bursting with brilliant light: “We’ll ride horses to Youzhou! With these good horses and weapons, we can truly stand firm!”
With warhorses and weapons, there would be a real Pei Family Army.
In her previous life, after taking great pains, she barely formed the embryonic Pei Family Army at twenty—several dozen people, a dozen horses, dozens of blunt knives, that was all her starting capital.
In this life, someone eagerly delivered warhorses and weapons; naturally, she would gladly accept.
Mao Hongling and the others nodded in agreement.
Amid the joyful atmosphere, a trembling sob suddenly rang out: “Qinghe, I want to leave. I beg you, let me go!”
Pei Qinghe’s expression paused as she looked over.
