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Tang Tong was surprised to see more than a hundred naked women. Most of these women were from the Ming Dynasty. They looked at Tang Tong and his companions in horror. Most of the women had no hope left in their eyes. They looked like walking corpses, which made people feel sorry for them.
In his previous life, Tang Tong liked to have sex with women and also liked to look at women without clothes. However, he had never seen a scene where hundreds of naked women were crowded together. This surprised Tang Tong and made him feel uncomfortable.
Tang Tong felt uncomfortable, not because he didn't like looking at naked women now. He would be happy to see beautiful women without clothes. Tang Tong felt uncomfortable because these women's clothes were stripped off by those Japanese pirates.
A great man once said that those who lag behind will be beaten. The economy of the Ming Dynasty was not backward, but unfortunately it was still beaten. Tang Tong sighed deeply in his heart. This sigh was not for worrying about the country and the people, but simply for the tragic fate of these women in front of him.
Tang Tong ordered everyone to leave and asked someone to prepare about a hundred sets of clothes and send them into the cabin. After these people put on their clothes, he led people into the cabin again and began to count the spoils in the cabin. Those women who were not from the Ming Dynasty were counted out and included in the spoils. Tang Tong planned to reward these women to those meritorious soldiers.
Two hours later, the post-war inventory was completed. Xu beheaded about 1,400 Japanese pirates, and allowed about 100 of them to escape. On his side, there were only a few gangsters who were cleaning the battlefield. They encountered the injured Japanese pirates who were still resisting, and these careless gangsters suffered some minor injuries.
They obtained 110,000 taels of silver, about 1,000 taels of gold, and some other supplies, the most important of which were about 200 dan of salt and 37 women who were not from the Ming Dynasty. Tang Tong rewarded each of his soldiers with 40 taels of silver on the spot, and each gangster with 20 taels of silver. Tang Tong also rewarded the 37 foreign women, 30 of whom were given to the bravest soldiers who charged, and the remaining two were given to the bravest gangsters. Although the two women were not good-looking, they made the two gangsters grin with excitement.
Tang Tong gave each of the Ming Dynasty women who were willing to go on the journey ten taels of silver as travel expenses. As for the nineteen who were unwilling to go on the journey, Tang Tong formed them into a women's team, intending to train them to be rescuers on the battlefield in the future.
Tang Tong left the hundred or so gangsters to guard the ships, and then took his own soldiers with the 1,400 heads to claim the credit. As for the spoils, Tang Tong naturally would not report them, as they were all his own.
Tang Tong's victory report was sent out by fast horses. The first two to receive the report, Han Zhifu and Tang Tong's superior Liu Zhihui, could not believe Tang Tong's report at all. When seeing the number 1,400, Han Zhifu could not help but tremble. They thought that this Captain Tang was too cruel and ruthless to chop off the heads of 1,400 civilians to claim credit.
Over the past decade or so, the Ming army's combat effectiveness was alarmingly low. Not to mention the battles with the Jiannu, even when suppressing bandits, they rarely won any battles. When facing the Japanese pirates, the Ming soldiers would scatter as soon as the pirates charged. Therefore, Tang Tongzong's army of only 300 people, in the opinion of Han Qing and Liu Zhihui, it was impossible for them to wipe out 1,400 Japanese pirates. This was definitely killing innocent people for credit, because in this era, killing ordinary people for credit was really a normal thing.
The two did not dare to upload the victory report for the time being, but waited for Tang Tong to arrive, and each sent their men to take inventory. When their men reported the results of the inventory, Han Zhifu and Liu Zhihui Tongzhi were surprised and excited, because among these Japanese pirates' heads, nearly 900 were real Japanese (because the leader of this Japanese pirate team, Bing Youwei, was Japanese, so most of the people recruited were also Japanese). Seeing this result, Han Zhifu and Liu Zhihui Tongzhi knew in their hearts that this Captain Tang did not kill innocent people to take credit, but actually won a great victory.
Killing more than 1,400 Japanese pirates with only 300 people was a feat that was hard to believe, but with the facts before them, Prefect Han and Commander Liu had to believe it. They also had contributions in wiping out so many Japanese pirates, so after being surprised, Prefect Han and Commander Liu became excited again, and without saying anything to Tang Tong, they sent someone to deliver the heads and the victory report to their superiors by express carriage.
However, the victory report was not the one written by Tang Tong, but the one rewritten by Han Zhifu and Liu Zhihui. Naturally, they were the two of them who led the troops wisely, and the contribution of Tang Tong, the captain, was only in charging into battle at the front. After the victory report reached the hands of the Zuo Du Zhihuishi, who was at a higher level, the Zuo Du Zhihuishi was also surprised, and then excitedly revised the victory report of Liu Zhihuishi. The one who led the troops wisely became him, the Zuo Du Zhihuishi, the one who charged into battle became Liu Zhihuishi, and Tang Tong became one of the brave leaders who killed the enemy.
In this era, if a superior does not take credit for the achievements of his subordinates, he will be considered an idiot. However, Tang Tong was unaware of this and was still happily waiting for promotion. On the other side, General Qin, the general of Jinling, naturally did not forget to revise the victory report after receiving it. The wise leader naturally became General Qin, while Tang Tong was once again demoted to a small leader who bravely killed the enemy. Fortunately, he still had some credit.
When this victory report was sent to the capital, it had been completely distorted. It was originally an unbelievable victory report, but because too many people came in to claim the credit, it became a victory report that made people easily believe the war. Therefore, it did not cause any sensation or attract anyone's attention. There was no trace of the musket in Tang Tong's hand at all in the victory report. It was not until much later that the people of the Ming Dynasty realized the power of the musket in Tang Tong's hand.
The court's Ministry of War still gave affirmation to this victory, and the reward results came out quickly. However, because there were too many people vying for credit and the credit was distributed too thinly, the Ministry of War did not promote anyone after commending everyone. Instead, it allocated a reward of 10,000 taels of silver. After layers of deductions, only 100 taels of silver were left in Tang Tong's hands.
Holding the 100 taels of silver, Tang Tong smiled bitterly in his heart. He wondered why the Ming Dynasty had fallen. Not to mention that Chongzhen was the emperor, even if he became the emperor, if he did not kill a group of such officials, the Ming Dynasty would not be able to reverse the fate of this country.
The land of the Ming Dynasty was basically concentrated in the hands of bureaucrats and landlords. The people who had nothing to eat were destined to rebel. Poor Chongzhen finally got some money from the poor people, but it was swallowed up by these corrupt officials. Chongzhen, without money, had no way to fight against the Jiannu. Even if Yuan Chonghuan had not died, the Ming Dynasty would not have been late.
Even if it was Tang Tong, if he had no money, how could he have made the musket? Without the musket, how could he have won the victory? So, it was not Li Zicheng or the Jiannu who defeated the Ming Dynasty, but these corrupt officials. It was just that in the end the Jiannu got a great advantage and the Han people suffered. Those corrupt officials raised their hands, surrendered to the Jiannu, and continued to live their rich and luxurious lives.
Tang Tong was also very annoyed about this incident, but he did not have the power yet, so he could only keep his anger in his heart and could not complain to others, otherwise one of the Jinyiwei might target him. Although the Ming Dynasty had freedom of speech, it was the literati who enjoyed freedom, not military generals like him, especially in the early days of the Chongzhen era. Emperor Chongzhen was very good at killing military men.
Fortunately, the spoils captured this time were not bad and did not dampen the enthusiasm of Tang Tong's soldiers. After all, according to regulations, the spoils had to be handed over. Tang Tong, who had traveled through time, was unaware of this rule. However, the two hundred soldiers under Tang Tong regarded themselves as Tang Tong's family soldiers and his confidants, so if Tang Tong did not hand over these things, they would not tell anyone, and naturally no one would know. As for the one hundred or so gangsters, they were peripheral personnel, and these guys had no idea what Tang Tong and his men had captured.
Tang Tong spent 100,000 taels of silver to buy another sea vessel, and formed a fleet with the captured ships. He recruited some boatmen and made the fish the captain of the fleet. He also drove hundreds of gangsters from the South China Sea Development Company onto the ship for training, and equipped them with 100 breech-loading muskets for training. Those gangsters who had seen the power of the muskets were naturally happy to bask in the sight of the guns every day. Even when it was not their turn for shooting training, they liked to stand aside and watch.
The soldiers under Tang Tong naturally continued to receive training and learn culture, while Tang Tong turned his attention to the factory. Just when Tang Tong thought that he had no hope of promotion at the moment, the good news of promotion came.
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