Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 257 Absurd
Despite being a time traveler, Jia Lian remains a materialist.

The biggest feeling Jia Lian could not get rid of after coming to this world was the word "absurdity".

Yesterday, the governor secretly told Jia Lian that the reason why the city gates were not closed and martial law was because Governor Nie accepted money and let a batch of goods into the city at the last minute. This is too absurd from Jia Lian's perspective. What if there are religious bandits mixed in the delivery team? What about another perspective? I don't know how long martial law will last. It's reasonable to prepare enough goods to make money, right?
The reason behind these absurdities is actually very simple. Governor Nie knows that he has no hope of promotion and he is getting old, so he wants to use his remaining energy to provide for his family and his own retirement.

If the top leader thinks this way, what will the people below do?

What Jia Lian didn't expect was that even more absurd things were waiting for him ahead.

The Shenji Battalion set up their battle formations in the open field after leaving the main road. They set up barricades and used sandbags to build artillery positions. The musketeers formed two lines and the cavalry deployed on both wings. Jia Lian did not need to worry about how to prepare for the battle. There were people who knew the business. In fact, all these related operations were written into the summary by the General Staff as part of the Shenji Battalion's combat manual in the future.

Behind the line formation, the auxiliary soldiers were still desperately digging the soil, using sandbags and vehicles to build a line of defense. Once there were too many invading enemies, they could only form a formation to protect themselves. Jia Lian was actually not very confident, looking at the smoke and dust, the noise was too loud.

The first thing that came into the telescope's sight was a group of people on horseback. There were no flags, and these people were running at full speed.

No matter how you look at it, this doesn't look like a retreat, it's an escape.

Wait a minute, why is there a woman in a skirt in front of the general who is surrounded by people? The barricade on the road blocked the fleeing horse team. Cursing and trying to bypass, the people of the Thunder Camp pressed forward and were ordered to stop and disarm all the nearly 100 horsemen. Oh, they dared to resist and force their way through the checkpoint?
The soldiers of the Thunder Camp were not at all polite and had some physical exchanges very straightforwardly. Several people who stood out were knocked down by swords and arrows. Everyone immediately became obedient. The leader seemed to want to settle the matter peacefully, but the soldiers of the Thunder Camp did not give him a good look. Instead, they pulled him off his horse and beat him up. Soon the leader was also brought to Jia Lian.

However, Jia Lian had no time to deal with the generals who were brought in. A large number of people appeared in the telescope, all over the mountains and plains, with their weapons and armors discarded, in a mess. These words flashed through Jia Lian's mind.

Jia Lian also noticed that the vanguard of the Thunder Battalion did not appear in the telescope.

Jia Lian put away the telescope and looked back at the kidnapped general, seeing the bruises on his face and his disheveled military uniform.

"Sir, he said he was General Qi and his entourage were his personal guards."

Jia Lian hummed and still ignored General Qi. He wanted to speak, but his mouth was stuffed with a walnut and he was tied up, so he could only whimper. He wanted to stand up but was held down by two soldiers.

"Raise the flag and tell Captain Yang that those who are retreating should go around, and those who attack our formation should be shot directly." After Jia Lian gave the order expressionlessly, the messenger went down and said to General Qi without turning his head, "We are facing a powerful enemy, and I need to know the situation on the front line. I hope that what you say next is the truth. If you tell a lie, I guarantee that your family will be destroyed and your three clans will be implicated."

After finishing speaking, Jia Lian added: "By the way, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Jia Lian. In the official circles of the capital, I have a nickname of disaster star. My current identity is the former military commander of the Beijing camp."

The walnut in General Qi's mouth was taken out. He struggled to get up, but was held down. Jia Lian turned around and glanced down at him condescendingly.

"Lord Jia, is this how you treat your friendly forces?" General Qi lacked confidence, and his skill of turning the tables was still maxed out.

"Friendly troops? I see they are so-called friendly troops, and they are attacking our formation. Let him stand up and take a closer look."

The cavalrymen who went forward repeatedly shouted to the fleeing soldiers to detour, but these people had no intention of stopping and continued to pour in from all over the mountains and plains. General Qi looked at this scene and lowered his head.

Bang, bang, bang, a burst of gunfire, smoke rising, and the people in the front were swept down as if by a wild wind.

Struggling and screaming, the person in front subconsciously stopped, but was pushed forward by the people behind.

The soldiers of the Shenji Camp did not hesitate at all, and fired another wave of volleys after one.

The fleeing soldiers finally realized that the enemy was really coming. They were originally running for their lives, so the fleeing soldiers in the front row instinctively ran to the sides, leading the people behind them to run to the sides as well. The people above also calmed down when they saw the large number of bodies lying on the ground.

"They come up and kill their own people first. What kind of a fight is this?" Jia Lian couldn't help but complain. Seeing that his own camp was safe, he was in the mood to face General Qi. Pointing at the defeated soldiers, he asked, "Tell me the details."

"This morning, hundreds of defeated soldiers escaped back and brought news. In the early morning, the religious bandits' reinforcements attacked our army outside the city. The religious bandits inside the city also broke out of the city. Under the pincer attack from both inside and outside, Lieutenant General Nie Cheng died in the chaos. I... was worried that the main force would be surrounded, so I led my troops to retreat. But... I left in a hurry." General Qi spoke intermittently, giving a general idea of ​​the situation.

Jia Lian couldn't help but sneer after hearing this: "You call this a retreat? That's right, you haven't forgotten to bring your female relatives with you. Tell me, who is this female relative? Why do you have to take her with you when you retreat?"

"That was my general, no, it was my new concubine. I couldn't bear to let her go, so I took her and ran away." After General Qi finished his explanation, Jia Lian looked up at the sky, took a deep breath, and tried to control his emotions. But he really couldn't control himself.

"Let him go." Jia Lian gave the order, and General Qi was released. When he relaxed a little, a fist as big as a sandbag appeared in front of him. Suddenly, his vision went dark, and General Qi, whose eyes were attacked, retreated repeatedly.

Jia Lian rushed forward and continued to punch and kick, but General Qi was tactful and held his head to take the beating. Jia Lian hit him more than a hundred times in a row, panting with exhaustion. Looking at General Qi lying on the ground holding his head, Jia Lian said, "Everyone saw it, we were fighting each other."

After doing all this, Jia Lian felt much better. He really couldn't help it and couldn't calm down without beating him up.

After the defeated soldiers dispersed, Jia Lian saw that the vanguard troops, the 200 cavalrymen of the Thunder Camp, had returned.

The captain came to Jia Lian, cursing all the way, and took a look at General Qi, who was breathing heavily on the ground, and then reported: "Sir, I was ordered to go forward, but encountered a defeated army. My troops were scattered and it took a long time to gather them together. Fortunately, no one was lost, otherwise I would be too ashamed to come back."

"Let's not talk about this. Where are the enemy troops?" Jia Lian asked directly. The captain said, "We are 20 miles behind our defeated soldiers. The enemy troops were probably caught off guard by the speed of our soldiers' disintegration. They wanted to catch up but failed. Although they are marching fast, their formation is basically intact. I have no choice but to retreat. I have observed that the enemy's vanguard is no less than 5,000 people, well-equipped, and equipped with both muskets and cannons."

Jia Lian was silent for a while, then walked over and kicked General Qi: "Stand up and answer."

Jia Lian knew the strength of his punches and kicks, and knew that the fellow must be pretending to be dead. Sure enough, he immediately got up. Although tears fell from his eyes due to the pain, he still smiled and said, "Master Jia, please give me your orders."

There was no way. General Qi knew very well that it was legal and reasonable for Jia Lian to kill him with a gun. Who allowed the defeated soldiers to attack the main camp?

"Go, gather the defeated soldiers and enforce military discipline. This is your last chance, don't make mistakes." Jia Lian didn't intend to be too harsh. If the locals didn't cooperate at all, even if the war was won, it would cause a lot of trouble. Beating him up would only let this guy know that Jia Lian was cruel and ruthless. Another thing is that if the defeated soldiers were spared, the consequences would be too serious. If General Qi escaped, it would be easier. There was another thing that Jia Lian specifically explained, and ordered the Thunder Camp to send a part of the troops to restrain the defeated soldiers. If they violated military discipline, they would be executed on the spot.

As the old saying goes, "A bandit's hair is like a comb, and a soldier's hair is like a rake." What does it mean? Everyone knows about combs, but not many people know about rakes, which are finer and denser combs. Ancient people had long hair, and unlike modern people, they don't have the conditions to wash their hair frequently, so it is natural for lice and dirt to breed. Rakes are used to clean hair.

After about an hour, the first thing that appeared within the naked eye's sight was the Thunder Camp's scouts. These people were covered in blood, and it was obvious that they had been in battle. The most intense moments in ancient wars were often outpost battles.

In order to obtain information and at the same time block the opponent from obtaining information, the fight between the scouts of both sides was extremely brutal.

The Thunder Camp scouts were all in teams of ten. When they encountered a large number of enemies, they would immediately retreat, call their companions, and then fight back. This was a routine operation. Now that they were being chased, they must have encountered a large group of cavalry.

Sure enough, no less than five hundred cavalrymen were chasing the Thunder Camp cavalry of less than a hundred people.

The musketeers in front opened fire to support them. After being hit by two rounds of volleys and leaving dozens of bodies behind, the bandit cavalry decisively turned around and retreated. The Thunder Battalion, which was waiting for the enemy to tire out, decisively attacked and chased down the bandit cavalry.

In the distance, smoke and dust covered the sky. A large group of bandits were approaching. Judging from the smoke and dust, they were five miles away.

The Thunder Battalion that had attacked gradually withdrew, bringing the latest news that the bandits had about 30,000 soldiers, even if only 30% were combat soldiers, there would still be 10,000. Considering that they were close to the canal, the proportion of combat soldiers among the bandits was better, so it should be half.

There is also a very uncomfortable information in the new news. Many of the bandits were former officers and soldiers, such as the Caoding, Yanding, and garrisons in various places. The fact that a large number of officers and soldiers joined the bandits can only mean that the White Lotus Sect had made long-term preparations, and because the local officials exploited them too much, these officers and soldiers lost their energy and rebelled.

I have to say that this news is too absurd. This is along the canal. Normally, both sides of the canal are rich. It is understandable that ordinary people have a hard life. The officers and soldiers may not be unable to survive, but they are definitely overly oppressed.

For Jia Lian, the timing was a bit awkward. It was already past 3:30 in the afternoon, and it would be dark in two hours at most. In other words, it would be difficult to stay overnight in the fortified city.

This was a real battlefield, not during the previous march. Staying outside the city overnight was a very risky thing. The reason was simple: the enemy situation was unclear. The root cause of the unknown enemy situation was the poor performance of the local garrison, which made it difficult for Jia Lian to obtain more detailed information.

Deputy General Yang was very clear about the current situation, so he came to ask Jia Lian for instructions.

"Sir, it's getting late. The enemy army is strong. Should we retreat to the village behind?"

Jia Lian asked back, "How do you plan to retreat?"

"I have discovered that the enemy has few cavalrymen and that they have arranged their troops in a hurry, so we can take the initiative to attack and repel the enemy. Then we can take advantage of the situation and retreat in an orderly manner. This way, we can avoid the unpredictable risks of camping in the wild at night."

After Deputy General Yang's clear analysis, Jia Lian nodded: "Then do as you say and execute it."

It's not that Jia Lian underestimated the bandit army, but he was confident in the Shenji Camp, which had been equipped with new firearms. The bandit army on the opposite side was also equipped with firearms and had a large number of former officers and soldiers, but how could a smoothbore gun compare to a rifled gun? Even with artillery, it would take time to set up a position. Although there were many bandit troops in front of them, they were not well prepared for the appearance of the Shenji Camp, which was waiting in full battle array in front.

If anyone is to blame, it should be General Qi's running too smoothly, which led the leader of the White Lotus Army to make a wrong judgment.

In addition, there were some disagreements within the White Lotus Religion Army that revolted some time ago. After physical communication, the two sides reached a consensus. The East Sea Venerable, one of the Four Venerables, as the victor, is now in the center of the army.

He was very surprised to learn that there were soldiers lined up in front of him.

“Don’t they look like local soldiers?” When Reverend Donghai led his followers forward and wanted to see the situation with their own eyes, they heard the rumbling sound of drums in the distance.

I went to a nearby high ground and saw my troops hastily forming up in the fields on both sides of the official road. The officers and soldiers looked like four square formations, and the cavalry on both wings rode slowly and accompanied them. They were not walking fast, but very determined.

"It's bad. Our artillery is all behind us."

The artillery of the religious army was naturally captured from officers and soldiers.

Jia Lian wanted to walk in front of the square formation, but no one agreed. They all stopped him. He had no choice but to follow the field artillery team. As for the siege artillery team, it had not been deployed at all and was still on the boat in the canal.

The Shenjiying had two field artillery teams, each with 200 men, equipped with 24 bronze field cannons that fired three-pound projectiles. Looking at the shape, Jia Lian first thought of Napoleon's six-pound bronze cannon. Surprisingly, there were simple sights, and some of the artillerymen could use trigonometric functions for calculations. This was also the legacy of Taizu.

In this regard, Jia Lian could only say that the Great Zhou Taizu left behind a lot of trump cards, which fell into the hands of later emperors and were all abolished.

How do you view this? Take Zheng He's voyages to the West as an example. Didn't the officials of the court know that voyages to the West were actually very profitable? Of course they knew. They opposed voyages to the West because Zhu Di invested all the money he made in the war in Mobei, and others only got some of the pepper that was already overflowing.

When Zhu Di was alive, no one dared to jump. Now that Zhu Di is gone, no matter whether they should stop or not, they have to stop first.

The voyages to the West were stopped, and the officials and gentry shared the benefits of maritime trade, and then opposed opening the sea. Opening the sea still required paying taxes, and smuggling was more attractive.

Annan also gave up, why did they give up? You, Zhu Di, expanded the territory and left your name in history. What did we get?

The bandit army in the telescope was not prepared for the decisive attack of the Shenji Camp, and chaos occurred when they hastily arranged their battle formation.

Their cavalry moved forward to harass, but the Thunder Battalion attacked as expected and blocked the enemy cavalry.

By the time the front team arrived 200 meters in front of the enemy's formation, the enemy's front army had barely formed a formation.

(End of this chapter)