Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 266 Asking for help
It's not that it's impossible to go around Yanzhou to Qufu, but he's unwilling to take the risk. Speaking of which, Jia Lian has been very slow, but it's a pity that the rebels are not up to the task. After so many days, he can still be caught up outside the city of Yanzhou. Jia Lian is really convinced.

There is a problem that Jia Lian overlooked. People live comfortably in the city, so who would be willing to live in the poor mountain villages? They definitely wouldn't do that unless they were forced to the extreme.

All I can say is that things went too smoothly in the early stages, and we occupied big cities. After enjoying them, who would be willing to give them up?
Jia Lian would not rush ahead. With such a small number of troops, how could he talk about besieging the city? He should set up a stronghold and gain an invincible foothold before talking about attacking the city.

After receiving Jia Lian's instructions, General Qi naturally had to put in some effort and go back to be responsible for logistics and transportation.

Before heading south, Jia Lian prepared enough ammunition. After leaving Jining, he could only transport it by land.

Just as Jia Lian was preparing to attack the city, an express message from the capital arrived first. After seeing the cancellation of the previous decree and the new one, Jia Lian wanted to laugh but didn't, after all, the communication level of that era was just like that.

He wrote a memorial and gave it to the messenger to take back. Before Jia Lian could finish preparing, a messenger arrived from Qufu.

Jia Lian took this very seriously and met the messenger in person, not just one person, but two.

"What's the situation in Qufu? How did you get out?" Jia Lian asked directly without any nonsense.

The two messengers did not answer immediately, but saluted first, and then answered: "I am Liang Quan, an officer of the Dongping Iron Cavalry Scouting Team. I am here to ask for help under the order of the Lieutenant General. This time, there are ten groups of three people in different directions going out of the city to ask for help. Lieutenant General Mu led his cavalry to attack and open the passage. We got out smoothly, and only lost one brother. Speaking of the situation in Qufu, the Yanzhou rebels gathered tens of thousands of people and besieged the city for twenty days. No reinforcements were seen for a long time. The Lieutenant General sent people to ask for help many times, but there was no news."

The four words "Dongping Iron Cavalry" attracted Jia Lian's attention, as this was an army equivalent to the servants of the Prince of Dongping.

It can only be said that Taizu was very capable. He ordered the Prince of Dongping to station troops in Qufu, which was equivalent to supervising the Duke of Yansheng, resulting in a situation where the Duke of Yansheng could not leave Qufu without approval within 20 years. Of course, this rule is now in name only, but if the Duke of Yansheng wants to leave Qufu, he will inform the lieutenant general.

During the reign of the retired emperor, too many similar restrictive policies were abolished, and many of the suppressed issues resurfaced.

In Taizu's original words, "Our dynasty reveres Confucius, and the descendants who enjoy his legacy, how can they have the face to abuse their power and domineering things?"

(PS: Some people have commented on how Fan Zhongyan's descendants are, which is true. But you have to see, how are Fan Zhongyan's descendants treated? Comparing the two, do you think that the descendants of the Kong family are not wrongly criticized by the contemporary generation? From another perspective, the descendants' condition does not undermine the greatness of the predecessors. Of course, the rulers are also to blame here. In order to consolidate their rule, the system covered up a lot of dirt. Let's go back to the basic definition of the country in middle school. Many people have forgotten it. They didn't remember the principles that were instilled in them at the beginning, and they failed the exam at that time. When they entered the society, they were beaten and bruised all over, shouting that they were deceived and the education system was not good. The people who really deceived you are those who took money from you by selling emotional value. Remember, keep an eye on your wallet and don't spend money that you shouldn't spend.)
"What is the scale of the cavalry stationed in Qufu? Why couldn't they defeat the rebels?" Jia Lian was somewhat curious about the cavalry's current combat effectiveness. Could they be unable to defeat a group of rabble?
"There are 1,000 cavalry stationed in Qufu for a long time, and they are rotated once a year. During the stationing period, they are not allowed to leave the country without the king's order, and those who violate the order will be beheaded. Lieutenant General Mu defeated the invading enemy twice, but after the enemy withdrew from the county, he could not be pursued. A month ago, the Yanzhou rebels attacked Qufu again, this time equipped with a large number of Rumi guns and French cannons. Lieutenant General Mu led his troops to fight two battles and made some gains, but his own troops lost more than 300 people. Due to the heavy casualties, Lieutenant General Mu gave up the field battle and retreated to the city. The rebels attacked the city three times but failed."

Hearing this, Jia Lian understood, so he asked a key question: "Who is the leader of the Yanzhou rebellion?"

"The former garrison commander of Yanzhou was Jie Zhongliu. After the White Lotus Sect started the rebellion in Yanzhou, the prefect of Yanzhou put him in jail. Then hundreds of his subordinates suddenly started a rebellion and seized Yanzhou. The leader of the rebellion, the Reverend Donghai, appointed him as the General of the Eastern Expedition and did not intervene in Yanzhou."

After hearing this, Jia Lian wanted to strangle the intelligence officer Long Jinwei. He was completely unaware of such important news and only found out about it through Liang Quan, the messenger of the Dongping Iron Cavalry.

"How many soldiers are there in Qufu? Do the Dongping cavalry still have the strength to fight?" Jia Lian didn't have time to think about Long Jinwei. He turned around and told Xia Shouzhong to sort it out himself. If you reach out without permission, you will offend people. In fact, the biggest problem is the lack of funds.

"After the rebellion in Yanzhou, a large number of gentry and common people poured into Qufu. The biggest problem now is that the price of food is too high, and it is difficult to raise military funds. Lieutenant General Mu still hopes that the reinforcements will arrive as soon as possible, otherwise there is a danger that the city will fall..."

When Jia Lian heard this, he raised his hand to interrupt him: "Wait a minute, you said that the price of grain is too high, not that there is a shortage of grain?"

Liang Quan was stunned by this question. He was stunned for a moment before he reacted and said, "The government warehouses are insufficient, but the people have enough food. The prices of grain stores have increased many times. Now a dou of rice costs two taels of silver."

Jia Lian nodded: "I understand. Why doesn't General Mu take over the granaries of the entire city? Why would there be so many rules in wartime?"

Liang Quan was embarrassed and said, "This... I don't know."

Jia Lian shook his head: "Alright, you guys go down and have a rest. Come, call the officers to a meeting."

It's really nothing new. After so many years, it's still the same. The last person who made big news was the King of Fu in Luoyang, who was stewed in an iron pot... From this incident, we can see the background of the contemporary Yansheng Duke.

As for Mu, Jia Lian expressed his understanding, but he could not accept his approach. The situation was urgent, and he still thought so much? People, they still didn't read enough. After the fall of Luoyang City, it was not only Prince Fu's family that suffered.

When it comes to individuals, they can be divided into good and evil. When it comes to the concept of "people", the concept of good and evil no longer applies. What really matters is interests. Later generations can only analyze from an ideological perspective. No matter how just a rebellion is, it is inevitable that innocent people will be affected. Should we define rebellion as "evil" just because it affects innocent people?
This is like the Boxer Rebellion. Many people only saw and heard descriptions of knocking down electric poles, looting, and revenge on church members. Few people mentioned what the missionaries did at the time. The Boxers' cognition was indeed low, but their low and simple cognition level was not a reason to smear their resistance.

Similarly, Jia Lian defined the White Lotus Rebellion as an uprising in his mind, but he couldn't say it out loud.

Some people are discussing a question online. Since when has the logic of poor people = bad people become popular in some TV dramas?

What I want to say is that this logic has always existed. It just manifests itself in different forms.

Not to mention the people at the bottom of society, their suffering is boundless.

The girls in the Jia family were essentially high-level servants. No matter how much the master loved and pampered them, they were still servants. That’s why Jin Chuan jumped into the well, Qingwen cried and shouted that her mother was dead, and Yuanyang cut her hair to become a nun.

In the 5,000-year history of this country, the narrative logic that poor people are not bad people actually existed for a very short time. But we are very fortunate to live in a country where the underlying logic still takes care of the poor. After leaving this country, you will find that the logic that poverty is the original sin is the same in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad.

Of course, most people can’t get out of the house because of poverty, and they don’t want to read more books, so they just believe what others say.

After all the officers and soldiers had arrived, Jia Lian explained the specific situation and asked about the preparations for the siege.

All officers and soldiers reported that everything was ready and they could launch the siege tomorrow.

When it comes to the deployment of the siege, Vice General Yang took the lead: "Sir, all attackers should surround three sides and leave one side open. In terms of the specific steps of the siege, we need to clear the perimeter first, and then attack the city. As for our army, the biggest problem at the moment is that we don't have enough troops, and we can't surround three sides and leave one side open. I suggest that we use prisoners of war when clearing the perimeter."

Jia Lian nodded and said, "Okay. While cleaning up, use siege artillery to suppress and cover, and try to avoid casualties. There are many things that prisoners of war can do. I don't know how long this war will last, so keeping them will be useful. Also, tell the prisoners of war that after this war, those who behaved themselves will be forgiven and will be allowed to go home and be good citizens."

Because they carried a lot of baggage, Jia Lian's army had a large number of prisoners of war as auxiliary soldiers. Because of the strict military discipline, it was forbidden to abuse or beat prisoners of war at will, so the prisoners of war under Jia Lian's army were relatively well-behaved, but the food was a bit poor.

Let's put it this way. Since entering Shandong, Jia Lian's army has become a breath of fresh air in the troubled times. Jia Lian, as a leader, has endured the curses of the gentry, and has also made the officials and gentry break their defenses. If you want to impeach him, you really can't find much favorable evidence.

Some people wanted to use Jia Lian's kindness to prisoners of war as an excuse to impeach him, but they were suppressed by the high-ranking officials of the province. In principle, Jia Lian needed a large number of officers and soldiers from the province to cooperate, but in reality, they could not provide them. To put it bluntly, as the army extended inland, there was a shortage of auxiliary soldiers and civilians, and without prisoners of war to supplement, the advance of the Shenji Camp would only be slower.

The next day, Jia Lian called Liang Quan and reported in a serious tone: "Our army launched an attack on Yanzhou. Due to insufficient manpower, it was difficult to encircle and annihilate the enemy. We could only defeat them. Due to insufficient manpower, we were unable to send reinforcements to Qufu before we captured Yanzhou. Please bear witness that it is not that Jia is unwilling to help, but that he cannot do so."

Although Liang Quan was disappointed, he could do nothing about it because the other person was telling the truth.

Jia Lian, who was short of troops, could only choose one of the gates to attack. In order to prevent the defenders from rushing out, Deputy General Yang also made thorough preparations, not seeking speed, but stability. The most reliable way was of course to build a fortress. Every fifty steps, a fortress was piled up with sandbags, and fifty musketeers were placed inside. First the two sides, then the middle, and pushed forward little by little.

In this way, they spent a whole day advancing at a snail's pace, and continued to build fortifications fifty steps away from the city wall within an arrow's reach.

The so-called fortification was to dig trenches, take soil, and build breastworks. The workers were naturally prisoners of war, and the soil was filled with straw bags.

The most fortunate thing is that there are no artillery on the city wall of Yanzhou. There were French cannons in the past, but they were used by Jie Zhongliu to fight against the Dongping cavalry.

Now it was Hu Yong who was guarding the city. He wanted to continue running, but where could he run? After meeting Jie Zhongliu in the past two years, the two sides reached an agreement. Hu Yong would guard the city, while Jie Zhongliu would seize Qufu as soon as possible. Then, depending on the situation, they would continue to guard the city or retreat to the mountains. In any case, at the moment, both sides would benefit from unity and would suffer from separation.

It can only be said that Jie Zhongliu, who was originally a superior, was much more capable than the Donghai Venerable in dealing with people and leading troops in battles in a more methodical manner. Otherwise, he would not have been able to drive the elite Dongping Iron Cavalry back to Qufu City.

At the beginning, Hu Yong was also full of confidence. Even if he could hold on forever, it shouldn't be difficult to hold on for a month relying on the city walls, right?
When he was on the city wall watching the Shenji Battalion's slow progress and the fortifications they built bit by bit, he was almost angry and broke his defense. He cursed loudly. Isn't this bullying me because I don't have artillery? The Shenji Battalion was not in a hurry. Hu Yong also knew that it was useless to be anxious. He arranged for each unit to take turns to rest and wait for the officers and soldiers to attack the city. At the same time, he also arranged enough horses. If he really couldn't stop them, he could run away from other city gates. Anyway, the officers and soldiers only attacked the west gate, and the lack of troops was naturally the key.

Jia Lian had already reported the cause of the shortage of troops to the capital, and had criticized the Shandong government from top to bottom.

If I didn't ask you to attack, at least you had troops to assist in the defense, right? As a result, except for the 3,000 soldiers and generals of General Qi, there was no one to help. The province used the excuse of insufficient money and food to not send a single soldier, and also asked Jia Lian to rescue Qufu. If it weren't for Yue Qi's order, Jia Lian would not even want to pretend.

For Jia Lian, the standard now is very clear: those who surrender their weapons will not be killed, and those who resist are enemies.

As for the future, it is not my concern. All I can do is to quell the war as soon as possible and act according to my conscience.

Things need to be done, but there is no rush. The first priority is to preserve and strengthen ourselves.

When artillery appeared under the city and the huge muzzle was facing the city wall, Hu Yong could not stand steadily. He quickly ordered to prepare more sandbags and pile them on the top of the city wall for protection.

When Jia Lian looked at the siege cannon, he was calm. The cannon firing solid bullets attacked the rammed earth and brick walls in front of him. If he was unlucky, he might not be able to knock down the walls even after bombarding for a month. Although Yanzhou is not big, it has always been an important city in history. Apart from other things, the height of the city wall is higher than that of Jining. It is just that it has been in disrepair for a long time, and the outer wall looks mottled.

Because the defenders in the city did not attack, the prelude to the siege went smoothly. It took another day to level the ground, build defense facilities and artillery positions, and then it was basically completed. The next question was whether the defenders in the city would sneak out of the city tonight. Of course. The defenders running away was what Jia Lian was most happy to see. If you run, I will slowly chase you.

Liang Quan and his companions decided to risk their lives and return to Qufu, and they did it successfully. They climbed up the city wall with ropes and met Lieutenant General Mu Jun. After informing him of Jia Lian's intentions, Mu Jun said with concern: "Lord Jia has done his best. Those people in Shandong deserve to die. Tell the brothers to be prepared and break out if they can't hold on."

At this moment, there was a commotion outside the door and someone rushed in aggressively. Seeing the person coming, Mu Jun frowned.

(End of this chapter)