Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 368 Enemies gather together
The Great Zhou cavalry had no intention of pursuing, but only slowly pressed forward, keeping a sufficient distance and ready to retreat at any time. They said they attacked, but they didn't.

Akagi quickly judged that this was a reinforcement force composed mainly of infantry, with a small number of cavalry as auxiliary.

The defense is very tight, but the mobility is insufficient. If there is a weakness, it is naturally that they camp outside the city. Once the food supply is cut off, they will have to fight outside the camp.

The purpose of coming out today was to gather intelligence, and Akagi was not in a hurry to leave. He continued to send out the cavalry to scout everywhere.

After struggling for a long time until after noon, the cavalrymen came back one after another, bringing back news that there was no enemy. Then Chilimu ordered their troops to return, while leaving behind a thousand cavalrymen to monitor the reinforcements from the Great Zhou.

Before leaving, he instructed the captain of the thousand troops to retreat immediately and not engage in battle if the Zhou cavalry attacked.

In fact, Chilimu was overthinking it. The wave of Zhou cavalry in front of him belonged to the Xishan Camp. They were not as good as the Shenji Camp. They were traditional cavalry and their weapons were all cold weapons.

Jia Lian's positioning for this cavalry was to guard the flanks once the battle started, and he did not have much hope for them.

At present, the production capacity of percussion cap carbines is limited, and only the Shenjiying and Jiajia's family generals are equipped. In comparison, the production of breastplates is higher, and it is only limited to the R&D department.

It’s not that Jia Lian doesn’t want to expand production, but his financial resources do not allow it and his peers may not be able to accept the situation.

Simply put, if you don't fight a war, not only your opponents, but even your own people won't believe you. Just like the early days of the breech-loading rifle, it was not widely welcomed by various countries.

After chasing for five miles, the Da Zhou cavalry stopped chasing, and the surveillance cavalry left by Chilimu did not run away either. They confronted each other with a distance of three miles between them.

An hour after dark, when Wen Naxing was getting a little impatient, Akarimu came back.

After giving a detailed report on the day's reconnaissance, Wen Naxing asked uncertainly, "Does the Zhou army really have so few cavalrymen that they dare not engage in battle?"

This is crucial. Not to mention the heyday of the Great Zhou Dynasty, even now, the combat effectiveness of the Dongping Iron Cavalry is far superior to the poorly equipped elite cavalry of the grassland.

"That's true. I left behind a thousand cavalrymen, and the enemy simply drove them away without actively pursuing us. I guess they were worried that they couldn't catch up with us on horseback, and they were even more worried about being ambushed!"

"Okay, I got it. Let's send someone to report to Emperor Li in Datong and see what he says." Wen Naxing felt much more relaxed. If the opponent only set up camp and guard outside the city, they would not pose much threat due to the lack of cavalry.

Wen Naxing waited for a whole day, and at dusk he received news that a reinforcement of 20,000 cavalry had arrived, and Emperor Li, who called himself "Son of Heaven", had also arrived.

Li Ni, who fled to the grassland, actually lived a very ordinary life. The attitude of the various tribes on the grassland towards him was rather ambiguous. The princes of the four major tribes did not tie him up and send him back, but just kept him.

There were also fierce disagreements among the princes of the four major tribes. The princes of the Chahar and Lindan tribes were quite enterprising and had good relations in the past. They advocated using the banner of Li Ni to restore the former glory of the grassland. They would not fight to the Central Plains to become emperors, but at least they would not be subjects of the Zhou Dynasty and jump out of the tribute system. The older Khorchin and Bahama tribes advocated waiting and seeing what the Great Zhou meant. If the Great Zhou was willing to take the initiative to offer enough benefits, it would not be unacceptable to offer Li Ni. In short, they should be flexible.

Young people are always passionate. Especially after the envoy of the Great Zhou arrived at the grassland, read out the decree in the manner of the Heavenly Khan and demanded the unconditional handover of Li Ni, the younger generation of grassland nobles were excited.

As a result, two conservative princes were killed in a coup launched by young people. For example, Wen Naxing was one of them who had a good relationship with Li Ni and took the lead in the rebellion.

Things became simple afterwards. All the tribes privately recognized Li Ni as the common leader of the grassland, and with the help of Li Ni's trade channels, they went to Liaodong to engage in large-scale trade, accumulating strength and waiting for the opportunity to go south to restore the regime of Dai Emperor.

In fact, both sides were using each other. The four major tribes on the grassland were already not very convinced by the Zhou emperor. If it weren't for the snowstorm, Li Ni would have planned to continue to keep a low profile.

When the grassland tribes moved south, the biggest threat they faced was the Dongping cavalry in Liaodong, which could strike at the core of the grassland at any time.

After Li Ni's envoy went to Liaodong, the two sides reached a tacit understanding and dared to go south with confidence.

As for why Datong was attacked first instead of Xuanhua, the reason was very simple. Xuanhua was closer to the capital and it would take less time to get reinforcements.

Many things are beautiful in ideals, but the reality is quite disappointing.

This was the case with Li Ni. He led the grassland tribes southward. There were no problems at the beginning, and everything went smoothly after he captured Zhangjiakou. However, there were too many grassland tribes and the organization was poor.

After a tentative attack on Datong City ended abruptly, everything was not so good, or rather, it was out of control.

Attacking a city is not as fun as looting. The people who had come south with the purpose of looting to make up for their losses began to let go and loot everywhere. Especially when the Datong defenders stayed indoors, the people from the four major tribes also joined in. If they didn't go to loot, there would be nothing left to loot. If everyone went out to loot, who would be willing to stay?

Li Ni tried his best to restrain himself and barely besieged the Datong defenders. At the same time, he managed to stabilize a force of about 50,000 by having various troops take turns to go out for looting, ready to attack the Datong defenders at any time.

Even for the Khorchin tribe that stayed in Zhangjiakou, Wen Naxing was unable to control all his subordinates, and they took turns to go out and rob. It was not until the Yebushou of the Great Zhou killed hundreds of people that they withdrew.

Speaking of which, if Jia Lian had been more decisive and attacked immediately after joining up with the West Mountain camp, it would be hard to say who would win or lose.

Unfortunately, Jia Lian was in the fog of the battlefield. Without satellites or drones, how could he know the specific situation of the enemy? There were 100,000 cavalrymen, and the troops in his hands were surrounded and could not escape!
The cautious Jia Lian adopted a conservative policy, but Li Ni on the opposite side had the same idea. It was not that he did not want to be conservative, but that he could not be conservative.

Based on realistic judgment, these rough guys from the grassland have only one goal, which is to go home after grabbing enough. They haven't left yet because they didn't rush to buy. Don't think the white disaster is a joke.

A disaster will result in the loss of at least 30% of livestock, which means that in the next year, 30% of people will not be able to guarantee the most basic living needs.

What is the most basic guarantee of life? The homeless people in the lighthouse who receive food are called the most basic guarantee of life. The most basic guarantee of life in the grassland is even lower and more miserable than what can be described.

In this case, they only robbed the small areas around Zhangjiakou and Datong, which could only make up for the production losses caused by this expedition. They mobilized a large army to go south, risking a break with the Great Zhou, but the survival of the tribe did not change at all. It was really a waste of money.

It has to be said that the retired emperor is largely responsible for the current situation. During his reign, the grassland tribes have become gradually stronger and are no longer as submissive as before.

Why can etiquette only exist for a long time in the Central Plains dynasty? Even after the change of dynasties, it was picked up again, because there is no better auxiliary tool for governance than this.

The grassland tribes respect the strong, and there has not been much change in the long history of thousands of years. Therefore, once a natural disaster occurs and the Central Plains is not strong enough, large-scale robbery in the south is inevitable.

The Central Plains court has always had a laissez-faire attitude towards the northern grasslands. As long as you are willing to submit, you can do whatever you want.

The reason is that the vast grassland is not suitable for farming, especially now that it is the tail end of the Little Ice Age. Compared with the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, the precipitation in the northern grassland was much higher.

Here comes the word global warming. The earth has always been hot and cold, but this "hot" period is a hundred years.

If you must ask about the consequences of global warming, you know about the great floods in ancient times. To put it more simply, the sea level during the Tang Dynasty was about one meter higher than it is now.

After joining Wen Naxing, Li Ni immediately asked to know the real situation. He really couldn't afford to delay. Datong failed to complete the sneak attack in the first time. Under the premise that the grassland tribes were unwilling to attack the city in a short period of time, the timeline could only be extended. To achieve this, the reinforcements from the capital must be defeated. Only by defeating this reinforcement will there be enough time to slowly choose.

When Li Ni learned that the reinforcements from the capital were not stationed in the city, he was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Hahaha, it really looks like Li Wei forced them out."

Wen Naxing didn't understand, so he asked why. Li Ni, who was in a good mood, patiently explained, "The general who led the troops took the initiative to camp outside the city. It had nothing to do with whether there was enough room in the city. He was just afraid of being accused of being afraid of the enemy and not fighting. When the war is over, even if the pseudo-emperor Li doesn't want to punish this general, he will be impeached by the imperial censors and forced to step down. This is decided by the ruling officials who are in charge of the civil and military affairs."

Wen Naxing scratched his head, feeling a little itchy, as if he had learned some incredible knowledge. Oh, I heard about this from my elders before, but it seemed that the elder was killed by me. That's all right!
The Central Plains Dynasty's control over the grassland is of no use. The grassland now has a large gang engaged in robbery and business under the banner of a "common leader" who does not have much real power.

Li Ni was not in a hurry. Since he had the opportunity, he sent people to confirm the situation at the front again and again. After resting in Zhangjiakou for a day, he sent troops to Xuanhua Prefecture.

Jia Lian finally saw what it was like to see cavalry everywhere in the mountains, as powerful as a tsunami.

The wind and dust were not strong in this season, but Jia Lian, standing on the hillside, saw the dust covering the sky and blocking his sight. As the dust gradually approached, he could clearly see countless cavalrymen rushing up from three directions. Jia Lian, holding a telescope, was not worried at all, but showed a relaxed expression. He smiled to General Sun beside him and said, "Master Sun, look, they are finally here. If they don't come again, I will take the initiative to attack."

At this moment, ten miles away from the main camp, Li Ni learned the latest intelligence that the reinforcements from the Beijing camp were flying under the banners of [Military Commander Jia], [Sun], [Yang] and others.

According to the information Li Ni had, the camp on the opposite side should be a combination of the Qian Jianrui Battalion from the Xishan Camp and the Shenji Battalion.

It’s hard to say about others, but the Shenji Camp left a deep impression on Li Ni. The Jianrui Camp was such an elite unit, but when they were fighting in the city, they encountered the Shenji Camp and were beaten like dogs.

As for [Jia, the military commander], who else could it be except Jia Lian? No one with the last name Jia has this ability!
It is true that enemies always meet each other. Finally, I have the chance to settle the score for my hasty escape to the north on New Year's Eve.

........................

In the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chenghui looked at the messenger kneeling in front of him, and his mood suddenly became heavy.

The preliminary results of the losses in Tongzhou granaries have been calculated, and half of them were burned down. Under normal circumstances, the grain reserves in these granaries should be one million shi.

The reason why only half of the granary was burned was all due to the huge role played by the fire-fighting system of the Wucheng Bingmasi.

Wucheng Bingmasi had a professional fire brigade with about two thousand people. Thanks to their timely arrival and strenuous rescue efforts, half of the granary was saved.

Long Jinwei secretly reported that before Jia Lian went to war, he had instructed the fire brigade of the Five Cities Army to focus on the Tongzhou granary, probably to prepare for this in advance.

Who are we guarding against? Are we guarding against Li Ni's spies, or are we guarding against some officials who are courting death?

Emperor Chenghui didn't know the truth. The truth was that Jia Lian sent someone to tell them that the war might last for a long time, and that they must ensure the food supply. The Tongzhou granary was the top priority, and they must ensure that no fire would occur. Jia Lian's original intention was to be on the safe side! Unexpectedly, it played a big role.

The thing is, even if the granary is burned down, whether there is grain inside is two completely different situations.

Ning Ke and Lin Ruhai did not even use the soldiers from the nearby Tongzhou camp, and directly dispatched two thousand soldiers from the Imperial Stables to seal off the scene. After the Dragon Guard entered the scene, he investigated the fire scene and found that there was something wrong with the ashes.

Can the ashes from burning rice from the south be the same as the ashes from burning straw in sacks?

It is true that granaries containing rice and wheat were burned, but the scene was completely different. Long Jinwei had professional surveyors who immediately made a judgment that among the burned granaries, only one had half of the granary, and the others were all empty. It is said that at least half of these granaries should be full. As for the warehouse management department, it was burned clean, killing a chief, an experienced person, three guards, and sixteen clerks. The account books were also burned clean.

The damage assessment result was obtained by checking the account books of the Ministry of Households, and this number was the last summarized and reported number.

Is it necessary to ask whether the Ministry of Revenue is responsible for warehouse management and whether any relevant officials are involved? It's just that there is no actual evidence!

At this critical moment, Emperor Chenghui had no time to hesitate and immediately ordered the Dragon Guards to attack and capture all the officials of the Ministry of Revenue on this line, including a deputy minister, a doctor, two deputy ministers, and more than ten minor officials at all levels. Emperor Chenghui did not say that they were the masterminds behind the incident, but only arrested these officials for dereliction of duty.

The remaining question is, how difficult will it be to conduct a subsequent investigation and convict? The more difficult problem is how to transport supplies to the troops on each line.

The granary issue was still being dealt with. After Yue Qi's request for an audience was approved, he immediately made a request: "Your Majesty, under the current situation, Liaodong must be defended. In order to avoid provoking the King of Dongping, please transfer the main force of the Tongzhou camp to Luanzhou to prepare for any eventuality."

(End of this chapter)