Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 376: Angry and murderous!
On the official road to Datong, the Yebushou soldiers who were sent out kept sending back messages, and the staff were responsible for the connection.

"Sir, there is no enemy ahead for now. We discovered a large amount of baggage including pickled meat and iron pots abandoned by the enemy along the way, and later we found animals that had died from exhaustion. At present, our vanguard is fifty miles away from Datong." The person in charge of the report was Qi Xun, the head of the staff. Jia Lian was lying on a large rock on the side of the road, spreading out a map and examining the overall situation.

Hearing Qi Xun stop, he turned around and said, "Go on! Say whatever you think, and trust your own judgment."

Qi Xun was just a scholar, and he was not good at the imperial examinations. He still hadn't passed the imperial examinations at the age of 40. He got a civilian job in the Shenjiying, which allowed him to make full use of his abilities. After being selected into the staff group, his excellent intelligence analysis ability made him stand out and become the leader of the staff.

"From my humble analysis, the enemy may have abandoned a large amount of baggage because of fierce internal strife, and even ignored the exhausted livestock that could be used as rations, and quickly withdrew from Datong!"

Jia Lian nodded without saying anything. After a while, he pointed at the map and asked, "What's the news from the north?"

"I left in the early morning and there is no news back yet."

Hearing this, Jia Lian stood up and looked towards Datong City: "Order the entire army to speed up the march! Order the troops not to retreat at night and strengthen reconnaissance in the northwest direction."

"Sir, a distance of four hundred miles will take four days even at the fastest speed. Each unit is too tired. If a fight breaks out, it will be disastrous." Commander Yang reminded from the side.

Jia Lian said nothing, but raised his hand and pointed to the northwest of the map: "Stay overnight in Huai'an!"

After looking at the map, General Yang, an old subordinate, suddenly realized: "I understand!"

When Jia Lian's headquarters entered Huai'an County, it was still early. Jia Lian, with a dozen followers, rode around the city on horseback, looking at the ruins and scattered civilians, with smoke-stained faces and numb eyes looking at the officers and soldiers. There was still a hint of meat in the air, but Jia Lian, with a hard heart, pretended not to feel anything.

"Although the county town is not big, it should have a population of at least 5,000 or 6,000, right?" Jia Lian asked casually, but Qi Xun's answer was very certain: "There is no official statistics, but as a county town connecting the trade routes in the west and north, the population should be no less than 10,000, or even no less than 15,000. The Vanguard Battalion asked several rescued civilians. Five days before the battle, the families of the masters in the city were sent away first. Three days before the battle, all the officials fled. The ruffians in the city took advantage of the chaos to rob people everywhere. The rich fled to the west, and the poor fled to the south. This is because they have run away and know that they can't rely on the east."

Jia Lian said nothing, but silently made another note in his mind. He would write a report to the emperor in the evening to show him the character of the county officials between Xuan and Da.

Because of the fire before the escape, the county was burned down, and Jia Lian could only sleep in a tent at night. Although the county wall was not high and there was no moat, if he really wanted to defend it, it would take at least three days, right? Think about it carefully, Zhangjiakou has abandoned the city, where is the morale of the county army? The intelligence now shows that the prefect, the lieutenant general, etc. all ran away almost at the same time that Zhangjiakou sent a notice to the capital.

When a wealthy family fled, they would definitely leave some people behind to guard their house, and no one was spared. A large amount of wealth was not taken away in time, and it was first taken advantage of by the enemy and then by the Xishan camp.

It was certain that he could not catch up, so Jia Lian was not in a hurry at all and went to bed early.

After inspecting the city, Jia Lian went out of the city for another inspection, which frightened General Yang and led 500 cavalrymen to follow for protection. After walking ten miles along the road to the northwest, the road leading to the grassland was in a mess. Abandoned baggage could be seen along the way, indicating that the grassland tribes that had fought fiercely with them before had retreated to the direction of Xinghe County.

"Send a team of cavalry to Xinghe County to take a look!" Jia Lian left a word and led the team back. Commander Yang quickly arranged for the men to do so.

The next morning, Jia Lian, who had been suffering from irritation recently, had a blister on the corner of his mouth, and it hurt to frown when he spoke. Zhuzi found some chrysanthemum tea and brewed it for Jia Lian to relieve his irritation.

Qi Xun was the first person to get up in the headquarters. He came in and looked at Jia Lian who was drinking chrysanthemum tea. He reported in a low voice: "The scouts from Xinghe County are back. They saw nine people hiding in the cellar. They said Xinghe County was attacked and there were spies in the city. There are 6,000 to 7,000 people in the city, and they were either killed or captured."

"Are there any new orders from the capital?" Jia Lian felt bitter in his heart, and the corners of his mouth hurt more and more. He deeply realized how cruel the few words recorded in history books were.

Qi Xun said nothing, but stood there calmly. Jia Lian stood up, patted his butt, and said with a grin: "Let's go!"

After leaving the city, Jia Lian, on horseback, looked northwest and saw the invisible battlements of the Great Wall on the mountains in sight, and the endless grassland behind. So the question is, how did Li Ni cross the Great Wall?
I hope I can get an answer when I get to Datong!
Before they reached Tianzhen, the news from the front was that the city was empty. Intelligence showed that there was still no fighting.

Jia Lian became even angrier. Both Huai'an and Tianzhen had garrisons. Could it be that the officials ran away before they even saw the beacon fire?

By the time he reached Yanggao on the 25th, Jia Lian had already become numb.

On the 26th, Jia Lian, with a face as gloomy as ice, saw Baideng Mountain in the southwest direction. He immediately reined in his horse and stopped for a long time, staring ahead.

That gangster named Liu Bang was surrounded here, right?
"Are you looking at Mount Baideng, Commander?" Qi Xun stepped forward and asked in a low voice.

"Well, it's not far from Yunzhou and Datong, right? If I remember correctly, Datong was called Pingcheng before." Jia Lian had completed his reconciliation with himself and was no longer so angry. Even if he was angry, it was not towards himself.

Feeling the murderous intent in Jia Lian's eyes, Qi Xun shrank his neck slightly: "The governor is well-educated!"

"Stop flattering me and report the situation!" Jia Lian angrily retorted to him, but Qi Xun said in a relaxed tone: "According to the feedback from Ye Bushou and the Vanguard Battalion, the bandits withdrew calmly after leaving Tianzhen, and they took everything they could."

Jia Lian glared at him: "The information must be presented clearly and concisely. Did I teach you in vain?"

Qi Xun was not afraid of this, and continued calmly: "Based on this, it can be judged that the Datong defenders have no signs of leaving the city, and there is not even any reconnaissance, at least nothing has been found so far."

Damn! Jia Lian is really a little bit broken!
When defending the northern grasslands, the Great Zhou basically inherited the Great Wall defense system of the former Ming Dynasty, focusing on stationing heavy troops in the second-line counties. Datong and Yunzhou were important towns that supported each other.

The current war situation fully demonstrates that the Great Wall is useless. Looking at the map is like a zipper with only half of its side.

Jia Lian silently looked at the problem from the perspective of Emperor Chenghui. He should be the one who was most vulnerable. The budget for the Xuanda line was approved at an annual allocation of 3 million taels, and 4 million taels after the change to silver dollars.

So, with the golden token in hand, can I kill more people?

On the 27th, the last day of the march, clear news finally came from the front that scouts from Datong Military Town had been discovered.

"Order, set up camp outside the city, and have officials above the seventh rank come out of the city to meet me tomorrow." As Jia Lian gave the order, the army came to an abrupt stop, and at this time they were twenty miles away from Datong.

Although it was still early, Jia Lian asked the city officials not to come immediately, but to set up camp first, and ordered the whole army to straighten out their appearance. Jia Lian took the lead in taking a bath, washing his hair, and changing into clean clothes.

After such a long expedition, to put it bluntly, we all stink. Although it was only afternoon, the whole army began to get busy, taking turns to bathe and change clothes. It is said that the fish in a nearby creek all turned upside down in the downstream.

The effect of being busy was quite good. The next morning, Jia Lian got up and inspected the military camp. The troops were in good order and looked very energetic.

The prefect, general and other officials at all levels in the Datong direction got up in the early morning. It was not because they did not want to sleep, but many of them simply could not sleep.

So, when they walked for twenty miles and appeared outside the camp, they looked listless.

Jia Lian thought that there were always some officials who dared not come or claimed to be ill, but after looking at the list, he found that all of them had come.

Hundreds of officials also brought many of their own subordinates, no less than a thousand people. Looking at the soldiers on both sides of the road, carrying rifles with bayonets, it felt like a Hongmen Banquet.

No one dared to leave and could only move forward. Some turned back to give instructions to their followers, while most people went to the camp gate with pale faces, dismounted with difficulty and waited.

Commander Yang, looking majestic in military uniform, came out, greeted the officials with his hands clasped, exchanged brief greetings, glanced at the followers, and said lightly: "Gentlemen, please follow me inside. The accompanying personnel will wait in the designated area outside the camp." Many officials changed their expressions, and the followers behind them also showed vigilant expressions and stepped forward one after another.

Commander Yang raised his right hand, and the soldiers on both sides raised their guns and aimed. When the scene was solemn for a while, Commander Yang continued: "Anyone who disobeys orders will be killed on the spot!"

Some officials quickly quickened their pace and walked into the camp gate, while their followers went to the designated area one after another. There was still a small group of people who were still hesitating, but Commander Yang did not give them a chance and ruthlessly cut down their arms.

Bang, bang, bang! The sound of gunfire rang out. Within seven steps, not only a rifled gun, but even a smoothbore gun would not miss the target.

When the gunshots rang out, the officials who had walked into the camp stopped and looked back, watching the hundreds of people fall down in an instant. The smell of blood came with the wind, and several officials cried out and sat directly on the ground.

"Finish up the kill!" At the command, soldiers holding bayonets stepped forward and finished off the officers and soldiers who were still alive to leave them with a chance of survival.

Commander Sun, dressed in military uniform, looked at these civil and military officials with mixed feelings, and pointed to the central army tent: "Dear colleagues, please come in!"

More than a hundred officials, civil and military, high and low in rank and age, could not walk smoothly. Some had weak legs and could not walk, some stumbled, and some crawled with difficulty.

Really, so ugly!
The soldiers outside the camp were clearing the bodies skillfully, but the officials inside were struggling to get to the central military tent.

Jia Lian, who had changed into a temporary second-rank official uniform, stood outside the central army tent. Looking at the officials who were struggling to move five steps away under the gaze of the soldiers lined up on both sides, he said loudly: "I am Jia Lian! I am ordered to go to war. I will kill first and report later. Here is the token! Those people outside died under the military order. As long as you don't violate the military order, your lives will be safe for the time being."

After killing a wave of people and then showing the gold medal, the emotions of the officials below quickly stabilized.

The officials were divided into civil and military sides, standing in front and back according to the level of their official rank, and took turns to pay their respects to Jia Lian, the temporary second-rank official.

Jia Lian calmly waited for the officials to greet him, then spoke: "You are all guilty officials. I hope you will behave yourself and not cause trouble for me!"

"Sir Jia, I am also from Qingyun Academy! We have met and had drinks together." A civil servant stepped forward with his hands clasped, and expressed his identity in an urgent tone. Jia Lian took a look and saw that he was the prefect Wen of Zhangjiakou.

"Go back and stand still! Don't come out to disrupt the order until your name is called, and don't force me to kill anyone!" Jia Lian's tone could not be described as harsh, nor gentle. It could only be described as mechanical, and calm but inhuman!

All the officials, both civil and military, felt very uncomfortable after hearing this, but seeing that there were soldiers with bayonets pointed all around them, no one dared to say anything.

After everyone went back and stood in position trembling with fear, Jia Lian took three steps back and looked at these officials who had the responsibility to guard the territory but failed to do so.

He originally wanted to kill as many people as possible, but after killing more than a hundred people outside the camp, Jia Lian's murderous intent faded a lot.

Soon Qi Xun came back from outside and reported in a low voice: "Those killed outside include the general of Zhangjiakou, the county magistrates and lieutenant generals of Huai'an, Tiancheng and Yanggao!"

Well, these people also knew that they deserved to die. Except for Prefect Wen, all the others were seeking death.

"Everyone, please come in when your official name is called. Please answer the questions truthfully. If you are untrue, you will be dragged out and shot." Jia Lian only said this once, hoping that they would try to be clever by taking chances.

Turning back to the central military tent, Jia Lian sat down on a chair with a majestic look. Qi Xun began to call out the names of the soldiers, first the civil officials and then the military officials, and summoned them to different tents one by one to be interrogated by the staff officers.

The first person to be called into Jia Lian's tent was Wen Zhifu from Zhangjiakou. After entering, he clasped his hands towards Jia Lian, and received a slight bow in return. He did not argue with him, but simply stood in front of a table at the side and waited for interrogation.

Although he didn't say anything, Jia Lian silently praised Wen Zhifu in his heart, saying that he was a smart man. If he was lucky, he wouldn't die here.

Qi Xun came over quietly: "General Sun led his troops to take over the defense of Datong and Yunzhou."

Jia Lian didn't say anything, Qi Xun quietly retreated, everything was carried out in an orderly manner according to the plan, and what remained was to interrogate the suspects first, summarize the results, report them to the capital, and wait for disposal.

Sun Tongzhi divided his troops into two groups, and the process of taking over the city defense went very smoothly. Officials from both places were present, and no one dared to act rashly. The restlessness of a few low-level officials was decisively suppressed, and there was no disturbance.

After a busy day, the staff officers finally compiled the inquiry report. Jia Lian spent an entire night reading it and then ordered without saying a word that a copy be attached to the battle report and sent to the capital the next morning.

Two days later, in the capital, under the setting sun, three clouds of dust and three fast horses were seen, with the leader shouting, "Victory news from the Left Army! Victory news from the Left Army!"

A hoarse voice accompanied by the sound of horse hooves rushed into the city gate. Passersby dodged in a hurry, and those inside the city gate who could not dodge in time quickly stood against the wall.

(End of this chapter)