The Last Frontier of Fire and Sword

Not only does Mansurbey have a good drinker, but he also has a wide variety of wines in his tent. Some of these wines have complicated patterns and door emblems on them, which are obviously Bey's trophies in this war.

Mansurbey toasted Chechen glass by glass, often before he finished drinking the bottle of vodka, he opened another bottle of ginseng.

Although Cheerchen is not as non-drinking as Yelishei, he does not drink much, not to mention mixing all kinds of alcohol. If it weren't for Pedro, I'm afraid Cheerchen would lie down here tonight.

Pidro who is a good wine himself is not rejected. He touched the glasses of Mansulbey again and again, white, red, and yellow, and he poured them all into his stomach.

"Hero, hero!" Mansurbey said to Pidro with a thumbs up.

"Bey is the real hero, hero!" Piedro answered Mansur Bey with his drunken eyes open.

The two laughed and bumped the glasses together again.

It was early in the morning after returning from Mansour Bay. At this banquet, Mansul Bey and Chechen negotiated a business-relying on Chechen's relationship with Bayezid Khan, Mansour Bey hopes to buy a batch of salt from Akerman .

As soon as Cheerchen returned to the resident of the mercenary group, he ordered the two female slaves sent by Mansurbey to bring the drunken Pidro back to the tent to rest, and then immediately went to Yelishei to ask what happened.

Chechen did not find Yelishei where Yelishei lived. Yelishei's Ma Bian told Chechen that his master had returned, and then went to see Dr. Sarben.

As the mercenary regiment still has many minor and serious wounded people who haven't recovered, Sarben has been busy in the ward these days, forgetting to sleep and eat, and seldom go to tents to rest.

In the battlefield hospital of the mercenary group, Cheerchen easily found Yelishei. Not only Yelishey, but Fedot, Xie Miao, and the bearded man who looked like Yelishey were all there.

"Head."

Seeing Cheerchen coming in, Yelishei and the other three hurriedly stood up.

Cheechen motioned to the three of them to sit down, and then he found some chairs to sit down.

"Tell me about this." Cheer Chen looked at the faces of the three of them.

Although Yelishei and the other three were very brave and took advantage in the fight just now, they seemed to be fighting against their opponents. But Cheerchen looked carefully under the lights now, and the three of them were actually hurt a lot. Especially Fedot, he was not good at close combat. At this time, he took off his clothes and his naked body was full of bruises.

At this moment, the three of you look at me and I look at you, without making a sound, seeming to be waiting for others to speak.

After all, although the fight was fun, after the three of them calmed down, they also understood how much trouble their impulse would cause Chechen.

"You are the chief Alvar Chechen of Yelishei, right?"

At this moment, the middle-aged bearded man who was bandaging the wound by Salben stood up. His two-meter height almost envelops Cheerchen in the shadow of his body.

"I'm Yelishey's father, you can call me old Yelishey." said the bearded man.

Chechen's guess was correct, he was Yelishei's father as expected.

It turned out that all the cause of the matter was due to Yelishei's father, Yelishei old.

As the Boye noble of Ryazan, Yelishei the Elder was conscripted into the army during the siege of Kursk.

But this time the call-up cast a shadow of failure from the very beginning.

Originally, as an important town of Tsarist Russia, in the military service roster of the Boyer nobles in Ryazan, there should be 574 Boyer nobles registered for military service-but only 104 people were actually recruited, less than one-fifth of the total. . And those 470 people who did not come have different reasons for asking for leave: 300 are serving on the western front of Tsarist Russia, 70 are in Moscow, 20 are in Nizhny Novgorod, 8 have become captives of the Nogai, and 22 have already Suddenly became disabled the night before the call-up. 20 people were working as ambassadors for the local nobles, 2 were missing, 8 were sick all the year round, and the other 20 were working on Siberia to expand territory for Tsarist Russia.

Elder Yelishei is among 104 people actually applied for. In the school field, the old Yelishei also met many of his old comrades-in-arms. These veterans whose average age is over 50 years old are still on the battlefield.

Although the old Yelishei is very old, as a traditional Boye nobleman, he has a natural sense of mission and sacredness for the czar's recruitment. After returning from the school, the old Yelishei found a set of ancestral scale armor equipment (including helmet, armor, arm armor and knee pads) from his home. However, due to the poor harvest this year and the expense of finding jobs and purchasing equipment for the other three sons, the old Yelishei had no spare capacity to arm his attendants after he had armed himself. He could only simply give each attendant a helmet made of hard paper, plus a shield made of wicker, an inferior bow and an axe.

This situation is common among the other 103 people. It can be said that the servants of some poor Boyer nobles don't even have the simplest paper helmets, and their weapons are almost pitchforks and wooden sticks, just like peasants.

Years of wars have already left the small and medium aristocratic class in Tsarist Russia equally impoverished. Anthony Gingisson, a British soldier who had been to Russia once mentioned, "When they step on their horses and prepare to set off, they usually carry a Turkish-style knife and a pair of bows and arrows in the same Turkish style, and their saddles It is wooden with gilded patterns and brocade decorations. The saddle is also covered with brightly colored fabrics. Sometimes the saddle cushions are covered with tanned and dyed leather, and the brocade is delicately stitched together with gold threads. The magnificent sight of "has long ceased to exist.

In this state, the morale of the soldiers on the expedition can be imagined. But General Boris Pushkin, the lord of Ryazan City, still set off toward Kursk with an infantry unit composed of 104 Boyer cavalry and 2,000 Boyer noble attendants.

At a distance of thirty miles away from Kursk, the army led by the lord of Ryazan encountered a siege of nearly ten thousand Tatar cavalry.

The cunning Tatars used a sneak attack to quickly solve the scout sent by Boris Pushkin. Then, before General Boris Pushkin and other noble officers were aware of the abnormality, they launched a sudden attack.

Due to the sudden incident, the wooden wall on which the Tsarist Russian army relied to defend against the Tatar cavalry had no time to unfold and turned into fire with the Tatars.

When the Russian infantry, who was on the front line and protected against the fierce arrows of the Tatar cavalry with a shield made of inferior wicker, was still resisting, Boris Pushkin, the general of Tsarist Russia, took the lead in protecting him. Ran away. Most of the Boye nobles also followed suit, throwing down their attendants and fleeing in the direction of Ryazan.

"Although General Boris Pushkin left his army and fled, there is nothing wrong for him to do so. As an old noble family that has been passed down by Ryazan for hundreds of years, Boris Pushkin's blood is noble. Besides, Qianjun Yi It’s hard to find a general. As long as the officers are still there, we can organize an army again."

Speaking of General Boris Pushkin's escape, Yelishei the elder defended him in this way.

The old Yelishei and some old Boyes who regarded glory as higher than their lives stayed. They resisted desperately, and finally became prisoners.

"It turned out to be such a thing."

After listening to the old Yelishei's account, Cheerchen understood a little bit. Yelishei wanted to spend money to redeem some of his compatriots to escape the fate of becoming slaves, but he unexpectedly saw his father among these captives.

As a child, whoever sees his father being handcuffed to sell will be furious. As a result, Yelishei, who was irrational, stepped forward and beat someone, hoping to save his father.

"Yelsey, you did the right thing. If it were me, I would do it like you." Cheerchen said to Yelishey in admiration.

After hearing Chechen's words, Yelishei turned red. He stood up and explained to Chechen: "Head, things are actually not what you think."

"Um?"

It turned out that Yelishei was furious when he saw his father becoming a captive and being sold at a price tag, but he knew that he was now among the countless Tatars, and it was impossible to grab it. , And it will also cause trouble to the mercenary group. Therefore, Yelishei's initial plan was to use money to redeem his father in accordance with the rules of the Tatars.

"But the guy named Grandet is too greedy." Yelisei said harshly.

According to the average price of male officials at the time, the price of old Yelishei was generally between 20 and 50 talers. Although the old Yelishei is a tall man, he is too old to live long even if he buys it back. So the slave trader named Grandet offered only 35 talers, which was considered a middle price.

Yelischey can still get this money, because he advanced a year's salary from Ingrid. Therefore, Yelishei went up without hesitation and threw 35 talers in front of Grandet.

Originally, the matter should be over. Unexpectedly, the yelling of "son" from the old Yelishei made the whole thing up again.

As soon as the Grandet heard that the buyer was the son of the old Yelishei, he immediately realized that the old Yelishei could be a stranger and could blackmail Yelishei severely. He immediately stated that the price of this slave has now risen, because Yelishei is his son, so this is not a mere sale, but a redemption. In other words, Yelishei is here to pay the ransom. According to Tatar rules, the ransom should be 2 to 5 times the value of the slave.

175 talers. This is purely knocking on Yelishei's tricks.

Up to this point, Yelishei remained calm. Although 175 Thaler is not a small number, it is still within his range. Yelisei took out a full purse with 200 talers in it.

But human greed is endless. When Yelishei took out 200 talers, Grandet, the slave trader, had already regarded Yelishei as a big fat sheep to be slaughtered.

For the third time, Grandet raised the ransom to a staggering 1,000 talers.

Now Yelishei couldn't bear it anymore. With a fist, he knocked Grandet to the ground and fought with a group of Tatar men of Grandet.

"Then you can do it better."

After finally understanding the causes and consequences of the matter, Cheerchen affirmed Yelishei's behavior even more. He also finally understood why Yelishei and Fedot were making trouble in the camp of Mansurbey. Those Tatars would be as indifferent as watching a play, and no one would help Grandet-it is true. It was this guy who was too ugly and greedy to eat, and even the Tatars themselves couldn't stand it.

"But head, I think that Grandet seems to be from Mansour Bay. Just now in front of everyone, that Mansour Bay looked indifferent. Will he secretly hate you? "

At this time, Fedot raised a new worry.

"That's not true." Cheerchen said.

While drinking with Mansul Bey, Chechen also inquired about the slave trader who was beaten by Yelishei who belonged to Mansul Bey. At that time, Mansurbei, who had already drunk his head, said contemptuously to Chechen: "It's just a domestic slave."

At this time, the sky is already bright. Chechen stood up. He was about to tell everyone to go back and sleep again. Suddenly, the old Yelishei stood up as if he had made up his mind. He said to Cheerchen in a loud voice: "Head Cheerchen, I am very grateful to you for saving me. After I return to Ryazan, I will send my ransom money to you~www.readwn. com~Of course, if you don’t believe me, you can sign an agreement with me under the witness of the priest, if you have an Orthodox priest here."

"Father, what are you talking about!" Yelishei "teng" also stood up and exclaimed.

And Cheerchen was also confused by the old Yelishei. Sign the agreement? This is too formal! As far as Cheor Chen knows, a formal agreement signed under the witness of the priest contains at least four aspects, from the prisoner’s guarantee to become a loyal prisoner, to obey any reasonable request made by the captor, to the prisoner’s guarantee to give up any possible damage. The right of a captor’s ransom ownership to pose a threat; from the captive swearing to curse his breach of contract to determining the specific ransom payment amount and the form of delivery. This will even state all the expenses of his captors caused by the captives, such as board and lodging expenses and so on.

But this is not the point. The point is that the old Yelishei is not his own prisoner. So Cheerchen said half-jokingly: "Yelsey's father, your son is saving you, not me. And we are saving you by fists, not money. You don't owe me anything."

The old Yelishei shook his head, and he insisted: "Head Chechen, after I redeem myself, I have one more thing, that is, I want to take my son Yelishei back."

"I'm not going! I'm having a good time here, and I won't leave." Yelishei puffed.

Hearing that Yelishei was about to take Yelishei away, Chechen remembered that when he came in just now, Yelishei was sitting with Fedot and Seimiao, and Yeli Shay's father Yelishey Sr. sat alone on the other side.

Obviously, Yelishei and his son had discussed this issue before they came, and the result was not happy.