Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 263: Scheme against each other
The Jining government office was in a mess, with people coming and going and packing up their things.

Standing on the steps in front of the lobby, Venerable Donghai had a look of reluctance on his face. He felt that he had not had enough of living in this place.

At the beginning, the Four Directions Venerables had agreed that he would start an uprising in the east, but he never expected that the Northern Venerable failed and brought his people to him.

Later, I learned that the subordinates of Beidi Venerable had caused a commotion in the capital, and the officers and soldiers were provoked and launched a large-scale search. He could not stay and ran to Jining, saying nice things and joining forces to start a rebellion. This thing had just been done and was developing well, and Beidi Venerable had a perverse idea and wanted to seize his foundation. What else could be discussed? They just took action.

Donghai Zunzi especially missed the month before. The soldiers at that time were really weak in fighting. Many times, they surrendered without fighting. The team grew rapidly like a snowball, and it was really a spring breeze.

Who would have thought that after a great victory in Feicheng, he was chasing the soldiers from Pingyin, but he ran into a group of soldiers from the capital. Before he could figure out what was going on, his troops were defeated. To this day, he still doesn't understand how he was defeated. Just a series of bangs, bangs, and then a series of bangs, and the troops of tens of thousands of people were defeated.

Fortunately, the officers and soldiers were cautious and did not pursue them fiercely, so they were able to retreat to Jining smoothly. After gathering the defeated soldiers, they saw that there were still more than 40,000 people. The East Sea Venerable became active again, wondering if he could think of another way to move people and live, but trees and die.

A group of low-ranking officers from the former government army are now the only military talents that the East Sea Venerable can use. I didn't know it before, but now I know that fighting a war is not such a simple matter. Learn war in war. Officers and soldiers are fierce. You can't fight head-on. If you can't win, just run away. It's better to lose face than to lose your life.

Seven or eight former soldiers and officers followed Reverend Donghai into the backyard. At this moment, Reverend Donghai did not put on any airs.

"Everyone knows the situation. The soldiers are coming aggressively. Let's talk about whether to fight or think of other ways. Anyway, we need to come up with a plan today. Don't let it be like the last few times where we couldn't come to a conclusion."

A group of officers looked at each other. They were all low-ranking officers before, but now they had the title of generals, but they still didn't have enough power. They really didn't want to leave Jining, this prosperous city, but they would die if they didn't leave.

"We have to leave, but we can't just leave like that. There are soldiers chasing us from behind. If the road ahead is blocked, then we're really finished. According to the latest news from spies, the soldiers obviously look down on us after their victory and directly divided their forces. This group of soldiers and officers now has no more than a hundred cavalry. The total number of people is no more than 10,000, most of whom are auxiliary soldiers doing miscellaneous tasks. Right now, the number of soldiers who can fight under our command is nearly 20,000. This group of soldiers is arrogant and is advancing alone, so we must seize this opportunity to fight them. As long as we win this time, other soldiers and officers will not dare to act presumptuously after receiving the news, and will most likely shrink their defense. We can then withdraw calmly." The leading officer spoke, and the others nodded, indicating that it was feasible.

Donghai Zunzi disagreed with the officer's words. He had a deep memory of the vanguard, which was mainly composed of Caoding, being dispersed at the first sight, directly disrupting the rear army and causing the entire army to be defeated. But this did not prevent him from accepting the suggestion, and he was thinking of other ideas in his mind.

"Well, that's a good idea. How about this? When it comes to leading troops in battle, I am an amateur. You will command this battle, and everyone, including me, will obey your orders."

After drinking the chicken blood, the officer's face flushed with excitement. He had never had the opportunity to command such a large-scale battle before. If the White Lotus Sect had not given him the opportunity, he would still be a junior officer at the bottom. Not only could he command tens of thousands of people, but he also had several women from the officials and gentry in his backyard.

"Thank you for your trust, Your Excellency. We will fight this battle well and show our strength to the government troops."

The East Sea Venerable did not neglect the others either. He took care of everything. He appeased the people and gave them all the benefits they deserved. He arranged everything, including money and women. Good wine and good meat were not a problem.

After sending away all the officers, Reverend Donghai immediately called all his confidants to hold a small meeting.

"If the officers and soldiers dare to split up, there must be a ceremonial guard. The purpose is to catch us all in one fell swoop. Everyone knows the situation. If we don't run now, we probably won't have a chance. Those guys who surrendered are different. You are our own people. Everyone must cooperate well in front of others and make preparations in private. When they lead the troops to set off, we will leave the city overnight and run eastward. We will be safe when we enter the mountainous area."

Jia Lian got up one morning and packed his luggage as usual. It took him two hours to finish the work and he continued to move towards Jining. Jia Lian was quite depressed. He didn't expect that after so many days, he was almost in Jining, but the [rebel] army hadn't made any movement. Could it be that they had already fled? But the news brought back by the scouts said that they hadn't fled.

Thinking of this, Jia Lian couldn't help but complain about Xia Shouzhong in his heart. He was a good braggart, but when things really got into trouble, the Dragon Guard was just a waste.

This battle was fought like a blind man, all because of Long Jinwei. Jia Lian actually blamed himself more, why did he think of trusting Long Jinwei? In the capital, Long Jinwei was a local boss, and he could grasp all matters in time. In other places, how could Long Jinwei have the enthusiasm to work when his superiors were not around? In the end, it was because the salary was too low, and Xia Shouzhong had to sell quotas to make money.

It would be strange if we could rely on such an intelligence agency.

At this point, Jia Lian had nothing to complain about. He could only ask the scouts to advance further and be more careful. With the equipment of the Shenji Camp, as long as they were not attacked by surprise, they could still win even against well-trained officers and soldiers.

In any case, Jia Lian still put caution first. The scouts advanced thirty miles and the vanguard advanced five miles, so that they could gather together in time if something happened. What he was most worried about was the large number of auxiliary soldiers. Once a fight broke out, he was afraid that they would run around. Fortunately, Jia Lian had experience in Yunyang and had also conducted some training for the auxiliary soldiers. He didn't ask them to go into battle, but just asked them not to get into trouble when the fight broke out.

The reason why they didn't have a canal behind them was simple. They were fighting away from home. It was easy to carry all the baggage on the boat, but they could be burned to ashes by a fire. You know, there is Dongping Lake nearby, and Liangshan Lake in the middle of the lake. Just by the name, you can think of heroes everywhere and simple folk customs.

Since ancient times, there have been many heroes who rob and loot. What is the most famous person in Shandong? It is the bandit!
In this place, there are heroes occupying every hilltop.

I have obtained quite a bit of information recently, especially about the local areas. Although Jining is rich because of the canal, the rich and powerful have nothing to do with the people at the bottom. Countless people work hard every day, but in the end they have to pay the taxes and protection fees, and the remaining money is barely enough to make ends meet.

Let me put it this way, the J-level situation has solidified, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened, and it is not unfair at all to be applied to the canal area.

The powerful never treat the lower class people as human beings. Otherwise, why do people say that they are worse than cattle and horses? Cattle and horses are taken care of by people, but people are worse than animals. On the way south, the residents of the villages and towns along the river either died of thieves or ran away. The ones I occasionally met were the old and weak, the kind that could not run and had to stay and wait to die.

Jia Lian had not had a deep understanding of the term "extreme poverty" before, but he knew it after his trip to Yunyang. This trip to the south deepened his impression. The extreme poverty in Yunyang was similar to the extreme poverty along the canal.

Jia Lian was in a very bad mood during this trip south. However, he had no one to share his inner thoughts with. The scouts in front came back with a very frustrating news. A large number of the rebels left the city and headed east. Did they run away? Jia Lian couldn't catch up with them even if he wanted to. His men were all infantrymen. There was no point in chasing them with more than a hundred scouts.

At this moment, it was only forty miles away from Jining. The official road in front of him was full of potholes, but they were not dug by humans, but the result of years of disrepair. Therefore, Jia Lian naturally thought that the death of the prefect of Jining was not unjust. When he went south to Jinling, he was always on the boat and did not have a deep understanding of the difficulties of the road. Now he has experienced it.

"Map!" Jia Lian called out, and the staff immediately came forward and spread out the map on the car. Jia Lian laughed when he looked at the map. Going east? Thinking about it, Jia Lian still didn't laugh out loud. As he said before, the ancestral temple of the saints has nothing to do with me.

"Sir!" A rider came flying over, and a scout came back.

"Another group of rebels left the city. This time there were not many people, only a few thousand, and they were heading east again."

Looking at the map, Jia Lian couldn't help but smile this time.

"Notify the scouts to conduct a thorough investigation and make sure the information is correct." With the order, the scouts set off again.

Jia Lian didn't know what had happened in Jining City. The only thing he was sure of was that the rebels in the city had fled, giving up on building the city and running away. He just didn't know whether they left anyone behind to defend it. It wouldn't be like before, where the rebels would flee as soon as the soldiers arrived, right?
Well, Jia Lian still underestimated the battle outside Pingyin City. It was an open field battle, although it was an encounter battle, but the enemy was defeated in less than an hour. If it were the leader of the [Rebellion], who would not be frightened and tremble in their legs when faced with such a thing?

Only the ignorant are fearless. The more you know, the more you know to be in awe. Only those who have been beaten know fear.

What Jia Lian didn't know was that the Donghai Master was almost mad with anger. He planned to let others stop the soldiers so that he could escape. He was quite happy when he learned that Hu Yong led more than 30,000 people out of the city to fight. When he learned that Hu Yong turned around and headed east, he realized that something was wrong. When he found out that this guy led the main force to escape east, he was so angry that he couldn't speak.

What are you waiting for? Hurry up and run away with your people. His target is also the east. After being fooled by Hu Yong, the East Sea Venerable decided to go south after walking east for a while. Now he has fewer people, so he can hide in Weishan Lake. Hu Yong brought more people with him, which made him an eye-catching target.

Hu Yong, who fled first, was also feeling very proud at the moment. He said to his old brothers around him, "I saw through what that bastard was up to. In that case, don't blame me for being unkind and unjust. We will go east. The people in Yanzhou don't understand the situation. When the time comes, everyone will follow my lead and take down a few leaders and gather the troops. In the battle of Pingyin, most of the baggage has been lost, and Yanzhou has probably been plundered as well. It's a good opportunity for you and me, brothers."

"Brother Hu, what if the soldiers chase us? Should we fight?" one of his brothers asked. Hu Yong said fiercely, "Fight? Fight for nothing. Didn't you see how cautious the soldiers' leaders were? It took us half a month to get from Pingyin to Jining. We wish we had crawled here. Keep running eastward, into the mountains. Instead of thinking about how to fight them head-on, why not rob a few more women from the officials' and gentry's homes, drink more good wine, eat more meat, and live happily day by day."

Only after making sure that all the rebels had fled did Jia Lian give the order to enter the city.

Because they left in a hurry, Reverend Donghai did not order the fire. He wanted to paralyze Hu Yong at first, but it turned out to be a joke and he could not take care of it.

Even so, after the escape of the East Sea Reverend, the city was still in chaos. Some local ruffians fell into a state of lawlessness for a short time, and the people in the city experienced another looting... (some words may not pass the review, so use your imagination).

Fortunately, the officers and soldiers under Jia Lian had experience in this period, and the first thing they did when entering the city was to deal with public security issues.

Soldiers were sent out in teams of ten. Gunshots were heard one after another and the bodies of victims were constantly found lying on the streets.

"Sir, do you want to chase them?" Deputy General Yang came to ask again. He had been very depressed recently. He had not fought a serious war since the Battle of Pingyin. It is said that the [rebels] here should not be as vulnerable as the mob in Yunyang.

Jia Lian looked at Deputy General Yang calmly and said, "Why chase them? Let the scouts follow them from a distance and make sure they don't get ambushed."

Deputy General Yang looked around and when he saw no one else, he whispered, "Sir, there is a sage's temple on the edge of Yanzhou, and it is extremely rich."

Jia Lian smiled disdainfully: "No matter how great the merit is, can it be greater than saving the emperor? Don't think too much, think of a way to sum up the experience. On the way south, the court's officers and soldiers were a mess. The [rebels] had the courage to fight, but they were vulnerable. From the perspective of military construction, do you see the problem? If the garrisons in various places are like this, how many troops will there be in the Beijing camp? Can they handle it? It's really as the captured rebel said, if the northwest and southeast are in chaos again, how can the court have so many troops to suppress the bandits, and how can it have so much money and food? The rebels fled eastward, and General Yue's troops had a chance to make merit."

"Sir, what should we do with these?" Lieutenant General Yang pursed his lips and glanced at the looters who were shot dead on the roadside.

"Recruit civilians with food, clear the bodies in the city, and transport them to the mass grave outside the city for burial. I estimate that the food reserves in the city should be gone, so as usual, use military rations for relief. In addition, send someone to Xuzhou in time to report the news, and immediately transport the grain that is blocking the canal."

When saying this, Jia Lian was still very annoyed. He should have known not to walk so fast.

[I gave you half a month to prepare, but you didn't even defend Jining and just ran away? If the canal transportation is restored, how can we promote the sea transportation?]

There is no need to mention the depression in Jia Lian's heart, but he soon came up with an idea. Well, send people to set up checkpoints. I can also block the canal and prevent the grain from passing through Jining.

If you don’t listen, I will send people to rob you.

Just when Jia Lian was thinking about how to prolong the time, the scout came back with a message.

(End of this chapter)