Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 262: Saint's Temple
Objectively speaking, without the instigation of the White Lotus Sect, a professional rebel, it would be difficult for a rebellion to take shape without a leader. Individual resistance without organization is often difficult to achieve. At most, they would become bandits.

Yue Qi expressed his opinion naturally: "The key is to wipe out the White Lotus Sect, the rebel leader, across the country."

"The White Lotus Sect must be cracked down on, but this is not the fundamental solution." Jia Lian did not intend to hide his different opinions.

Yue Qi did not dwell on this question, but raised his hand and pointed to the east of Jining and asked: "What's the situation here?"

Jia Lian glanced at it and said, "I don't know. Before this, the governor of Shandong and the three officials received a letter asking for help and urged them several times."

Yue Qi sighed, "If the temple of the saint is destroyed, scholars all over the world will criticize it fiercely, and I am afraid that your majesty's wisdom will be damaged."

Jia Lian twisted his lips and said, "What belongs to the saint belongs to the saint, and what belongs to the Miao people belongs to the Miao people. If the saint's teachings could be followed, Jining, which is so close, would not have been taken advantage of by the religious bandits. It can be seen that the current person in charge is unpopular."

What does this mean? There are always some unfilial descendants who ruin the reputation of their ancestors. Because the court respected Confucius, they were treated favorably, but this became a means for some descendants to bully the people in their hometowns. Of course, we cannot condemn them all with one blow. There must be reasons for the favors that descendants can distinguish.

Judging from the course of history, this family is still very flexible, at least at certain historical nodes.

In comparison, I wonder if the descendants of Yan Hui and Wen Tianxiang would feel ashamed. Probably not, right?

Yue Qi was silent for a while and said, "Before we set out, His Majesty has ordered that the grain transport be resumed as soon as possible."

Jia Lian said calmly, "This is natural, but we can't take it for granted in war. We need to analyze and deal with each situation in detail. In the current situation we are facing, the local soldiers are almost non-existent in terms of numbers and combat effectiveness. We can't bypass the counties along the way and head straight to Jining, right? Do we still need a retreat? It doesn't matter if we are steady and slow, but who will be responsible if we lose?"

Yue Qi couldn't continue. He couldn't say, "How can I compare with you? Even if you lose the battle, it's no big deal. But I can't do that. If I delay the advance, the censor's impeachment will bury me. Jining is too sensitive. It's related to the ancestral temple of the saint."

"Forget it. I will submit a memorial to analyze the current situation. I will explain clearly why my main force should not move south quickly before the armaments of the surrounding prefectures are completed. What we want is to annihilate them completely, not to crush them and end up with a mess."

Jia Lian's words finally reassured Yue Qi, who even explained a little embarrassedly: "How about I sign my name?"

Jia Lian shook his head: "That's totally unnecessary. Of course, the fewer people involved in this kind of thing, the better. Haven't I received enough criticism?"

Yue Qi wanted to advise, "How can they be the same if they are different?" But he stopped himself, after all, people have selfish desires.

In front of Yue Qi, Jia Lian wrote a memorial to the emperor, explaining the current situation of the war. Because it took time for the surrounding officers and soldiers to encircle the enemy and for the Beijing camp to repair, it was not advisable to march south immediately to prevent the thieves from escaping and the surrounding officers and soldiers from blocking them. The Beijing camp, with its limited number of people, could not complete the encirclement and could only delay.

The memorial was written like this. Jia Lian had two real purposes. One was sea transportation, which must be done. The food and clothing of millions of canal workers depended on it. Bullshit! They were all excuses, all for profit. The day the canal was cut off, the chances of success in sea transportation would be greater. As long as the canal was successfully transported by sea this year, it would be difficult to stop it in the future. The second was for military purposes. As for the so-called ancestral temples of saints, the saints of today and the saints of the pre-Qin period were not the same thing.

The original saint refers to a person whose moral character has reached a certain level. The current saint is a god-like existence. In short, whether you say it is the need of the rulers or that the later generations have made it a myth because of the struggle for discourse power, in short, it is the same for Jia Lian, and it has nothing to do with me.

Those who keep talking about saints all the time, aren't they just looking for endorsers for what they say?

You can't say that Confucianism itself is not progressive. It's a big mistake to think so. Let's put it this way. If there hadn't been the oppression of modern external forces, Confucianism would have been the best tool to achieve long-term rule in a unified China. For the imperial power, the things that Confucianism advocated were for others to follow, and they just had to set an example.

If you can't escape the rules, then what's the point of making rules? If everyone is the same, what's the point of having rules?
You see, this is the true thought of the privileged J-class represented by the imperial power. How many of those who hate privilege really hate privilege? What they really hate is "I am not privileged."

Zhang Ru was a very flexible person. When he found that he could not persuade Jia Lian and Yue Qi, he immediately changed his mind and actively joined the future counter-insurgency operations, hoping to share some of the merits and gain more bargaining chips for the future.

Taking the initiative to come out to find the two, seeing them analyzing the situation on the map, Zhang Ru did not speak, but coughed, notified them, and then stood quietly aside to listen to their analysis. Zhang Ru could not fight, but he knew not to interfere with the command of the battle.

"The key is to block the surrounding prefectures. This requires sending out all the cavalry to ensure full mobility. As for the main attack direction, the Beijing camp has no less than 5,000 new-style muskets. These musketeers are concentrated and used, assisted by artillery, to slowly press forward. Force the religious bandits to fight our army head-on. If the religious bandits defend the city, it will be a great success. I am afraid that they will run around."

Yue Qi and Jia Lian agree on this issue. Another problem is that there are many water networks in this area, so it is not difficult to defeat them, but it is difficult to annihilate them completely.

"The best way is to win the hearts and minds of the people. We should have Jinan print more leaflets as soon as possible and send people to distribute them. We must make sure that everyone who participated in the religious banditry knows that only the principal offender will be arrested, and the followers will not be punished." Yue Qi was already very familiar with the method used in Yunyang, and he used it very smoothly, so why not continue to use it? It depends on the effect.

Zhang Ru expressed his concern: "Two generals, the court is calling for war and killing now. If you do this, you may be criticized."

This time, Jia Lian didn't even need to say anything. Yue Qi answered directly, "I am fair-minded, so why should I fear criticism?"

When Zhang Ru was a little embarrassed, Jia Lian added: "If it is beneficial to the country, life and death are not important. Why should we avoid it because of misfortune or fortune?"

Zhang Ru exclaimed, "What a good poem! The rumor that the young master is not good at poetry is not true." Jia Lian sneered, "What's so difficult about writing a poem if you just want to match it with other poems? The coming wild geese are matched with the departing swallows, and the setting sun is matched with the vast sky. The poems written in this way cannot be inspired by the feelings, and can be regarded as moaning without illness. It is bound to lead to poetry becoming a tool for a few people to entertain themselves, and they pay more and more attention to form rather than expressing their feelings directly. Therefore, in my opinion, poetry is the most useless thing."

Zhang Ru's face turned grim after hearing this. He was also a scholar, so he subconsciously asked back: "Then what kind of knowledge do you think is useful, young master?" Jia Lian knew that he was not convinced, so of course he had to leave him speechless.

"When I was in the Yuheng Division of the Ministry of Works, I was in charge of the work, so I called together craftsmen to develop a new type of firearm with a longer range, higher shooting accuracy, and safer and easier operation. When Minister Pan was repairing the river, he was able to combine the specific situation to control the water and flush the sand to ensure that the riverbed would not continue to rise. When General Yue was in Xuanda, he studied how to defeat the grassland cavalry. When I was in Yunyang, I studied how to appease the people and avoid future civil unrest. What knowledge is useful? This topic is very broad. I will give examples to illustrate that as long as the knowledge is beneficial to the stability of the country and the solution of the people's food and clothing, it is useful and should be learned. Those high-brow and self-entertaining knowledge are not meaningless, but I just don't like them."

Zhang Ru was silent for a while. After a while, he looked at the map in front of him and analyzed it. Jia Lian kept reporting some data, such as how much food was needed every day, how many troops were marched every day, and how to use the equipment advantages tactically to avoid casualties as much as possible. Zhang Ru felt a headache after listening to them. It was not that he did not understand, but he felt that they were not getting to the point.

"You two, I have something to say that I can't help but say." Zhang Ru hesitated and struggled for a while, but finally decided to say it. If he said it and it was not accepted, it would be someone else's fault.

Jia Lian stopped to look at him, and Zhang Ru immediately said, "If the ancestral temple of the saint is damaged, it will be difficult to report to the world."

Jia Lian looked at him with a half-smile, which made Zhang Ru feel guilty. He avoided his gaze and said calmly, "The saint is a role model for the world. Even if it is a religious bandit, I believe they will not disturb the saint's sleep. Besides, the thousand troops left by the former Prince of Dongping are not worth the extravagance of defeating the religious bandits. With the support of the local people and no shortage of money and food, it should not be difficult to hold on, right?"

Zhang Ru certainly understood what Jia Lian said. He actually wanted to take credit for saving the ancestral temple from disaster. So he took the initiative to bring up this matter, but Jia Lian was unmoved. Yue Qi, who was obviously the main general but followed Jia Lian, made him even more helpless.

"I'm also thinking about your future." Zhang Ru could only put on an expression that said, "I'm doing this for your own good."

Jia Lian immediately pulled down his face and said, "Don't worry about me. I know my limits." Not wanting to deal with this pushy guy anymore, Jia Lian left. Yue Qi, who stayed behind, also looked unhappy and said more directly, "With garrisons and a strong city, and with the support of the people and sufficient money and food, a bunch of rabble would have to be crazy to attack Qufu."

The key point is to emphasize the people's will. If Zhang Ru still doesn't understand, then don't blame Yue Qi for being rude.

How could Zhang Ru not understand? If this Yansheng Duke had the support of the people, would there be a religious rebellion in Jining? Even if it did happen, the popular Yansheng Duke would stand up and raise his arms, and the religious bandits would naturally disintegrate. Would it be necessary to fight so hard?

After all, the truth hurts, right?
After some flirting, they parted on bad terms. Zhang Ru still didn't dare to leave and insisted on following them southwards, so that he would have a chance to gain some military merit. At this time, Sun Huazhen was in Xuzhou, and he felt relieved when he saw the local garrison.

Because of the headquarters of the Jiangbei Governor, the Fubiao in Xuzhou was well built. Three thousand elite soldiers, plus some miscellaneous soldiers, could not fight a tough battle, but it was not difficult to hold the defense line. The Caobiao was as bad as ever, and Sun Huazhen was so angry that he greeted the direct female relatives of Li Sanjiang's family again, which seemed very uncultured.

The officials in Jiangbei dared not speak out against the uncivilized behavior of Lord Sun, and even transferred 3,000 elite troops from the Fu Biao. Sun Huazhen knew very well that if he wanted to prevent the religious bandits from escaping the encirclement of the huge Weishan Lake, he had to guard the surrounding areas.

At this time, Sun Huazhen was actually quite fortunate that after the fall of Jining, the religious bandits chose to go north instead of south.

The reason why they did not go south was because Sun Huazhen was doing well in Liangjiang, and the White Lotus Sect had no soil to stir up trouble.

To put it simply, Sun Huazhen's actions to crack down on corruption and gentry objectively served to help the people vent their emotions.

In addition, the spillover benefits in this process alleviated the reputation to a certain extent, especially the people on both sides of the canal, who benefited greatly. Apart from other things, the arrest of officials frightened the gentry, resulting in a significant reduction in the degree of exploitation of the people.

During the autumn tax collection in previous years, which village did not have bullies and thugs running rampant in the village, and the people had to sell their children in order to pay the taxes?
Because of Sun Huazhen's administration, the dry firewood on the ground was rained on and was no longer in a state of being ignited at a touch. Not only that, the news brought back by the influx of a large number of refugees from Jining also frightened the local officials and gentry.

Some of the news was very shocking. The religious bandits fought each other for the wives, concubines and daughters of a certain official. Officials from all over the country hanged themselves, jumped into wells, or burned themselves to death. These news frightened the officials and gentry in Xuzhou. They dared not collect taxes for the time being. Not only did they not dare to do so, but they also had to give benefits to the people, win over the people, recruit able-bodied men, and shout slogans such as "protecting the hometown".

After all the preparations, at the beginning of the fall of Jining, some of the [rebels] went south and were defeated by the governor's standard-bearers. This is also the reason why the [rebels] chose to go north, because they only pick on the weak.

While Sun Huazhen was actively deploying his defense, Jia Lian discussed with Yue Qi and decided that Jia Lian would lead the vanguard southward to press the enemy head-on. The main force of the central army was divided into two parts. One part would go through Liaocheng to Heze, trying to contact Sun Huazhen and block the [rebels] from advancing westward. The other part would be led by Yue Qi himself to Tai'an and Mengyin to block the [rebels] from entering the mountainous area.

The biggest problem now is that they cannot contact Sun Huazhen. Because the Dragon Guards have been suppressed for a long time, they can still transmit intelligence in normal years, but this time they did not play much of a role. Jia Lian did not dare to say that the Dragon Guards were no longer effective, but the Dragon Guards in Shandong were definitely very useless.

When marching and fighting, without sufficient intelligence and facing the fog of war, all you can do is play it safe.

Fortunately, the White Lotus Religion Army on the other side had just started the uprising and was currently lacking in military construction. For Jia Lian's troops equipped with new weapons, the threat was not that great. Jia Lian even deliberately pretended to be alone in the deep, tempting the Religion Army to come and fight.

Jia Lian, who never underestimated the enemy, was naturally more cautious when he was unaware of the enemy's situation. He gave up transporting supplies by boat and chose a land march, which was more exhausting. He advanced fifty miles a day, pushing forward bit by bit, stopping early every day and tightening the camp gate.

After the reckless advance, the opportunity for the religious army seemed to have emerged.

(End of this chapter)