Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 270: Ten Thousand Words

Jia Lian didn't know what the Kong family had done, but Xia Shouzhong must have known. Even if Xia Shouzhong didn't know, General Qi, the drowned rat, must have known. Now that the drowned rat had a straw in front of it, it had to grab it tightly.

Once a person does something wrong, he or she must cover it up, and even Duke Yansheng is no exception.

Jia Lian can't do anything to his family, but it's okay to disgust you a little, right?
If it weren't for the fact that ordinary people were the main group of victims of the war, Jia Lian would have wanted to stay in Jining forever.

After all, it was because the White Lotus Sect was not up to the task and failed to capture Qufu for such a long time.

The greedy Xia Shouzhong could not resist the temptation and left with Mu Jun. Before leaving, he even came to say goodbye to Jia Lian.

"The young master is really kind-hearted!" Jia Lian was sure to understand the meaning behind Mu Jun's words.

Jia Lian lived up to his expectations and really understood what he said. He replied indifferently: "I am a nobleman too!"

Mu Jun's face darkened slightly after hearing this. It certainly didn't feel good to be slapped in the face.

But he could not do anything to Jia Lian. To put it bluntly, if Jia Lian had not come to Qufu, he would not have been qualified to see Jia Lian on a daily basis. The only one who could be on equal footing with Jia Lian was the prince of Dongping, Mu Shiren, Mu Jun, who was just a member of the Mu family.

Mu Jun meant that Jia Lian was not afraid of being scolded by the world for not giving face to Duke Yansheng. You are a scholar after all.

Jia Lian's answer was, I am a noble, I will inherit the title and cultivate with the country. No matter how the dynasty changes, the family of Yansheng Duke will continue as long as they are flexible enough. The Great Zhou is going to be gone, and Jia Lian is gone too, so we are not the same kind of people. Since we are not the same kind of people, there is no need to curry favor. But you, Mu Jun, did not do your job well. You are representing the Prince of Dongping in Qufu to watch over the Kong family. Do you think no one knows what you have done? The most embarrassing thing is the implied meaning, who are you and who am I? What qualifications do you have to talk to me on an equal footing?

If Mu Jun was an ordinary person, these words would not have been very lethal, but he was an outstanding representative of the Dongping County Prince's family, neither good nor bad. Jia Lian's J-level contempt directly drained his blood tank.

The saying that when you hit someone, you must hit them in the face, and when you scold someone, you must expose their weaknesses is just right at this moment.

Jia Lian's viciousness stems from the fact that when Mu Jun asked for help, he dragged Yansheng Duke into the picture, using this card to exert pressure. They are all members of the noble group, and Jia Lian did not slap him in the face in public, which shows that he is kind.

Well, how do we compare this? Prince Wang blasted L while playing games.

A person who was born in Rome despises a person who is still trying to get to Rome. This comparison may not be accurate, but you can understand it. Jia Lian certainly knows why Mu Jun wants to involve Duke Yansheng. Isn't it because there is a conflict between the Prince of Dongping and Jia Lian? Although the conflict is not big, Jia Lian's reaction is very intense every time. He is worried that Jia Lian will not help him, so he involves Duke Yansheng.

But Jia Lian doesn't care about that. You are using the Duke of Yansheng to pressure me, which is disgusting to me. If you dare to disgust me, don't blame me for slapping you in the face.

Mu Jun walked away with a dark face, feeling annoyed that he shouldn't have asked for trouble.

Xia Shouzhong, who was standing by, sarcastically said to him, "General Mu, the young master has won the enemy without fighting, and he is in a good mood. You are lucky." Mu Jun stiffened for a moment after hearing this, and thought of Governor Nie who was frightened to death at home.

Xia Shouzhong's sarcasm produced a very good effect, and Mu Jun then was very humble and cooperative.

Similar words like: How dare you show off your skills in front of the young master? He didn't continue to use his knife to attack people.

Xia Shouzhong is actually one of the people who knows Jia Lian best, because his perspective is the best perspective for observation. In the capital, can Jia Lian, a young boy, really rely on his family background to rush around? If he does, he will die countless times. That is the capital, and if you hit a pile of people with a brick, there is a 50% chance that you can kill an old fox.

A fool can't live long in the capital, let alone be a successful official and be favored.

Looking at the development path chosen by Jia Lian, he eventually returned to the old path of leading troops to fight. It seemed like he was going in circles, but in fact, after going through this circle, his personal safety was guaranteed. He would not be suspected by the emperor because of leading troops.

Jia Lian, who was mainly composed of infantry, was mainly responsible for blocking the route back to the west, so he was not in a hurry, and pursued slowly and trained his troops at the same time. Jia Lian secretly reported the matter of expanding the Shenji Camp, without making a decision first and then reporting it. Jia Lian's reason for expanding the camp was simple, the local army was not useful and needed to be reorganized before it could be put into battle.

Yue Qi's defense line was densely arranged. Hu Yong, who escaped from Yanzhou, was ambushed by the main force of the Beijing Camp in Tai'an. In a great victory, more than 10,000 people were beheaded. Only a few dozen people led by Hu Yong escaped into the mountains. Jie Zhongliu's troops were hit head-on by the main force of the Beijing Camp in Mengyin. When they wanted to turn around, they were squeezed by the Shenji Camp. In desperation, they could only disperse and break out.

It can be said that the Beijing Camp's action to suppress the White Lotus Sect in the south had basically completed the major battle in early October, and the rest was to slowly suppress the scattered rebels. The follow-up actions would definitely not be fast, and Jia Lian had no intention of continuing to fight for credit. After joining Yue Qi outside Mengyin City, Jia Lian's troops were divided into three groups, one to guard Mengyin, one to guard Yanzhou, and one to escort the results of the battle back to Jining.

Another incident happened during this period. Zhang Ru, the governor of the Grand Canal, wrote a letter, hoping that Jia Lian could gather a batch of muskets for him and explain the reason. The Jinan arsenal was empty, and the Grand Canal arsenal in Huai'an was also empty. No one could tell where the things went. The petty officials below died or escaped. In short, there was no way to check. Zhang Ru needed weapons and equipment to restore the combat effectiveness of the Grand Canal. Other things were easy to deal with, but muskets were a problem. The only departments that could legally manufacture this thing were the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The two yamen rejected Zhang Ru's request on the grounds of insufficient production capacity and empty inventory.

Helpless, Zhang Ru thought of Jia Lian, who had defeated many rebels. He must have a lot of captured muskets. Although they were second-hand, the price was definitely not high, and they should be cheaper if sold privately. It was perfect to use them to arm the Caobiao.

Jia Lian agreed to this matter casually, but first contacted Xia Shouzhong who was still dominating in Qufu, and after talking about this matter, he said that all the seized weapons would be handed over to General Qi for safekeeping, and asked him if he was interested in taking over this matter. Xia Shouzhong certainly would not refuse the benefits that were delivered to his doorstep. Anyway, he had made enough money in Qufu, so he immediately turned around and returned to Jining.

After meeting General Qi, he explained his purpose. General Qi had been relatively law-abiding recently, and immediately handed over the more than 3,000 bird guns he had seized to Xia Shouzhong. Through Xia Shouzhong, General Qi divided his family fortune into five parts, one for Xia Shouzhong, and three for the inner treasury. As for Jia Lian, General Qi did not forget that all the deeds to the fertile land under his name were sent to Jia Lian. Jia Lian would definitely not accept this benefit. However, when making a secret report, he made it clear to the emperor that the main goal was to promote an honest young man.

In order to avoid suspicion of competing for credit, Jia Lian left Deputy General Yang stationed in Mengyin, and retreated to Yanzhou himself, waiting for the court's subsequent instructions. Anyway, as long as Yue Qi was the commander-in-chief, he would definitely not compete for credit.

But soon a military order came down, Jia Lian simply handed over the defense of Mengyin and Yanzhou and retreated directly to Jining. The story is like this, the three princes of the east, west and north plus six dukes submitted a joint memorial, which roughly means that they have enjoyed the country's preferential treatment for many years, and now the country is in trouble, and serving the country is the duty of the nobles. Emperor Chenghui kept this memorial in the palace, but then this group of people sent another memorial to the emperor, and this time there was one more loyal prince who signed it.

After learning the inside story from Xia Shouzhong, Jia Lian was completely dumbfounded. These people are path-dependent, right? They played this trick last time when they were clearing the debts, forcing Emperor Chenghui to stop, and they did it again this time.

Jia Lian thought that Emperor Chenghui wanted to eat these people alive. Fortunately, the Jia family did not get involved this time. It was probably because of Jia Lian that these people were afraid that Jia Lian would turn against them and did not involve the Jia family.

In this regard, Jia Lian could only pat his chest and say to himself, Fortunately, fortunately, fortunately.

Facing the pressure from the nobles, Emperor Chenghui chose to compromise. Under the pretext of insufficient troops, he asked the Prince of Dongping to transfer 5,000 cavalry to reinforce Shandong. From a military perspective, the transfer of Dongping cavalry from Shanhaiguan to Shandong did alleviate the problem of insufficient troops, but from the emperor's perspective, this was an act of forcing the emperor to abdicate.

From Yue Qi's point of view, the Beijing camp had fought most of the battles that needed to be fought, and the only thing left was to encircle and suppress the remnants. The Prince of Dongping arrived with 5,000 troops, and he wanted not only to share the credit, but also to take over the command.

Yue Qi had no choice but to hand over the command, but he had to stick to one principle and expect his Beijing Camp to work hard to wipe out the remnants. That was absolutely impossible. The Beijing Camp began to play soy sauce, leaving the Dongping Iron Cavalry to do the work.

When Jia Lian returned to Jining, he met Xia Shouzhong who was waiting there.

Looking at the supervisor's haggard face, Jia Lian decided that he could do nothing to help no matter what. The game was too advanced and he couldn't play it.

However, Xia Shouzhong did not come to ask Jia Lian for help, but talked about the recent war situation. What was going on? Because the religious situation in the east was strong, Yue Qi placed his main force in the east. The East Sea Venerable in the west led several thousand people and crossed Weishan Lake without any obstruction. They rushed all the way west. Although they were constantly harassed by some small-scale landlord armed forces along the way, the more than 2,000 people led by the East Sea Venerable still went into the Shangluo Mountains.

This incident led to Sun Huazhen being impeached by many people, who believed that he failed to stop the rebellion from fleeing westward and betrayed the trust of the court. The reality was that the military preparations in various places were in disrepair, and it was difficult for the troops in Sun Huazhen's hands to hold the long line of defense. Among the impeachment crowd, the loudest voices were from Henan officials, followed by officials from Hubei and Shaanxi.

Faced with the impeachment, Sun Huazhen could only submit a memorial to explain the situation and express his acceptance of any punishment from the court. After this memorial was submitted, more impeachment memorials flooded the emperor's desk, with officials from Liangjiang as the main force. Almost at the same time, nobles forced the emperor to abdicate.

Xia Shouzhong wanted to return to Beijing to protect the saint, but the emperor did not allow it. Not only did he not go back, but he also told him to start from Jining and go south along the canal to investigate Xuzhou, Suqian, Huai'an, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, and other five important canal cities.

Jia Lian had no choice but to promise to send 500 people to protect him as he went south. Xia Shouzhong hoped that Jia Lian would also submit a memorial to speak for Sun Huazhen. He also told Jia Lian that he had sent people to Xi'an and Wuhan, and that Zhang Tingen and Li Qing's memorials would also be submitted.

This move hit Jia Lian's weak spot. Given Zhang Tingen's character, he would definitely submit a memorial to defend Sun Huazhen.

Li Qing doesn't care, but Zhang Tingen is different. Jia Lian must keep pace with him.

Jia Lian had no choice but to ask for confirmation: "This is your majesty's intention, or it was the supervisor who did it."

Xia Shouzhong answered earnestly: "The saint doesn't know, it's all our work."

Jia Lian was silent for a while before answering, "I know what to do." Xia Shouzhong silently bowed and said goodbye, with a look of shame on his face as he left.

In the following three days, Jia Lian locked himself in his room and wrote a ten-thousand-word memorial. The title of the memorial was as follows: Record of the Battle of Jining.

From the economic and military perspectives, this article analyzes the process of him leading his troops to fight southward, what he saw and heard, and analyzes the causes of what he saw and heard.

The characteristic of this memorial is that it is accompanied by several maps, which explain every aspect of the entire operation in great detail.

The article also mentioned Sun Huazhen, but not much, just a few words when analyzing the situation, and of course emphasized that the problem Sun faced was insufficient troops, especially insufficient highly mobile cavalry. More importantly, it expressed a specific analysis of the instability of the people's hearts in the Central Plains.

This memorial went through normal channels, so it first reached the Ministry of War and then was transferred to the Cabinet.

Li Chi, who was temporarily in charge of the Ministry of War, did not dare to neglect after receiving the memorial. After reading it carefully, he fell into a long silence.

He didn't want to send the memorial to his superiors, but he also knew that countless eyes were watching it.

If he dared to suppress the memorial, he would end up in a terrible situation. Helpless, Li Chi had to turn to Liang Daoyuan. Liang Daoyuan, who had known about this matter in advance, also read it very carefully and wrote a "read" on it, leaving the hot potato to the Prime Minister Kong Zhao.

Kong Zhao felt his scalp tingling when he read the memorial. Although Jia Lian did not clearly impeach anyone in the memorial, if one had to elaborate, six provinces, namely Zhili, Liangjiang, Henan, and Hubei, had all been impeached.

To sum up, the cause of the chaos in Jining was the corruption of local officials, collusion with the gentry to exploit the people, and exploitation, which was the soil for the breeding of rebellion. How could the rich places along the river be so bad, let alone other places? This is the cause.

When the troops arrived in Jinan, the governor showed military incompetence, while the three officials were obsessed with shirking responsibility and power struggles, and they rushed to reorganize the army and prepare for war. From a military perspective, the lax military preparations were the reason for the rapid expansion of the religious bandits. It was also the reason why the encirclement network was insufficient after the religious rebels divided their troops, which led to the success of the bandit leader's escape to the west.

Finally, Jia Lian directed his spearhead at Liangjiang and Caoyun. The former's tax arrears caused the national treasury to lack money to quell the rebellion in the Western Regions. As one of the beneficiaries of the court's opening of the sea, the former disregarded national interests for personal gain. Judging from the area of ​​tax arrears, it is very common. Although not all gentry in Liangjiang are like this, most of them owe taxes. Such a crazy place should not be the area with the largest number of candidates for the court, and it should be reduced as appropriate. After talking about Liangjiang, let's talk about Caoyun. Although Caoyun has made some efforts to solve the military expenses of quelling the rebellion in the Western Regions, Caoyun colluded with various prefectures along the river, set up more banknotes, and put the bulk of the fees collected into private pockets. This move is undoubtedly the inducement that makes the livelihood of the people along the river unsustainable. It is recommended to conduct a strict investigation, kill a group, imprison a group, and exile a group, so as to give an explanation to the people of the world.

(End of this chapter)