Red Mansion: Bastards rule the roost

Ning Gaoyi was a centurion at Baiyangkou, a suburb of Beijing. After the army set out on the Western Expedition, it was said that he wanted to gain military merit, so he deliberately went through the relationship with the chief historian of the Nannan Palace and was urgently recruited to serve in the army.

It is his turn to be on duty tonight, guarding the army's granary.

Food and grass are the lifeline of the army. King Nannan has always regarded it as a top priority. Every night, he randomly arranges one thousand households and four hundred households to take turns on duty. There is no fixed personnel, and only the elite guards brought from the capital are used, not the personal guards of the vassal kings.

Tonight, it is Ning Gaoyi and others' turn to be on duty.

No one knows that this seemingly ordinary captain of the garrison actually has a great background, and this trip is not for fighting and meritorious service, but he is carrying a shocking secret order!

Hearing the fourth watch drum, Ning Gaoyi looked back at the dark granary and saw that several of his fellow centurions were drowsy, so he said, "Brother Zhao, Brother Wang, Brother Han, it's the fourth watch, should we go into the granary and take a look around?"

Captain Zhao said with a smile: "Brother, the rules are dead. Didn't you see Captain Wei has gone to rest? Why should we brothers look for trouble?

There are hundreds of us guarding every corner of the granary, what could possibly happen? Besides, we have already inspected it several times, so I think we should just skip it."

Captain Wang also laughed and said, "That's right. The granary is heavily guarded. There are tens of thousands of people inside and outside. Even flies can't fly in. Don't worry too much, brother."

Captain Han said with a smile, "If you ask me, the few hundred of us are just a formality. If the rebels could have gotten here, we would have been defeated. Can we protect these hundreds of thousands of shi of grain with just a few of us? So, relax as soon as possible and wait until dawn to change shifts."

Ning Gaoyi shook his head and said, "It's just that the prince's military orders are as heavy as a mountain and cannot be disobeyed. What the three brothers said makes sense. So, I'll trouble the three elder brothers to guard the gate while I take people in for a look, so that we can feel more at ease."

"Go ahead, go ahead. We'll take care of it." The three of them smiled and waved their hands.

Ning Gaoyi bowed, turned around and led a team of people into the granary.

The granary in Dihua City had never stored so much grain and fodder before. The original granary was far from enough. Most of the military rations were stored under the existing sheds and piled up like small mountains. Fortunately, the weather here was dry and there was very little rain, so there was no need to worry about spoilage.

Fireworks were strictly prohibited in the granary. Ning Gaoyi and dozens of others only brought a few lanterns for some lighting, like a group of ghosts walking in a dark forest.

Ning Gaoyi's sharp eyes scanned around in the darkness, observing the terrain and roads in great detail.

Although it was his first time on duty today, after several rounds of inspections, he could guarantee that he was as familiar with the granary as anyone else. This was a skill he had been trained in since childhood.

After walking half a circle, Ning Gaoyi suddenly stopped and said, "Erhu, you lead the people to continue patrolling. I'm going to relieve myself and we'll meet at the door later."

"Brother, do you want us to send two people to follow you?" said the team leader Erhu.

Ning Gaoyi laughed and scolded, "Follow me, I'm going to pee, not to fight, just leave a lantern for me."

Erhu smiled and scratched his head, handed him the lantern, and said, "Then I'll take the people there first."

"Go ahead and watch carefully." Ning Gaoyi took the lantern, turned into a small path, inserted the lantern pole into the crack of the bricks, untied his belt, and pretended to go to the bathroom.

"Yes. Let's go!" Erhu waved his hand and led everyone away.

Ning Gaoyi listened attentively to the footsteps going away, then suddenly lifted up his leather armor and shirt, reached into his arms, and pulled out dozens of pieces of oilcloth that had been wrapped around his body.

Then he picked up a wooden ladder that was placed on the granary for easy observation, placed it sideways on it, and using both arms to grab the ladder legs he lifted it up with all his strength. The ladder broke apart with a snap, and the horizontal bars scattered all over the ground.

Ning Gaoyi quickly wrapped the oilcloth tightly around the horizontal bar to make a dozen torches. Then he took out a tinderbox, lit one and threw it upwards, accurately into the vent of the granary. Then, without stopping, he ran to the next place with a dozen torches in his hand.

But he did not continue to move forward. Instead, he went in the opposite direction of the patrol team, took advantage of the time difference, and easily put the granaries he had just inspected into the torches one by one.

Ning Gaoyi thought the time was about right and when the patrol team was about to come out, he rushed in quickly and headed straight for the food and grass shed that had been built in the innermost room.

Four or five torches were thrown onto the pile of grain bags at the same time, and in an instant, fires broke out everywhere.

"There's a fire! There's a fire! Help come!" The people outside the granary finally realized something was wrong, and they screamed and rushed in to put out the fire.

Ning Gaoyi's expression remained unchanged as he looked at the mountain of grain that was gradually burning in front of him. He calmly straightened his clothes and armor and quickly ran out.

"Just now I saw dozens of thieves disguised as our soldiers sneaking into the granary and setting fire everywhere! We can't catch up with them! Put out the fire quickly!" Ning Gaoyi shouted at the panicked centurions, then picked up the wooden barrel and rushed into the granary.

"Follow!"

The captains had no time to think and rushed in with him.

In order to prevent fire, there were many large water tanks in the granary. At this time, the soldiers took buckets and basins and scooped water to put out the fire.

However, the granary was nearly two meters high, and there was a platform several feet high underneath. If the top layer was on fire, how could water get in by pouring it humanly?

The water arrows shot by the few water dragons were just a drop in the bucket.

Ning Gaoyi saw this and shouted, "Go inside quickly and rescue the food and grass in the open air first!"

"Yes, yes, let's go!" Everyone suddenly realized that although several granaries outside were burned, the big granaries inside could not be lost, so they hurriedly followed him in.

But the mountains of grain bags inside had already turned into a mountain of fire. Fanned by the night wind, the flames jumped several feet high. People several feet away felt the heat was unbearable. Not to mention putting out the fire, they couldn't even get close to it.

Ning Gaoyi had already made up his mind to die, and he acted even more courageous and reckless. He shouted, "Follow me to put out the fire." After saying that, he picked up a bucket of water and rushed over, and dozens of soldiers followed him.

"Brother Ning, come back!"

"careful!"

“The shed is going to collapse!”

Ning Gaoyi turned a deaf ear to the enemy. After pouring out one bucket, he came back with another bucket. Suddenly, he heard a crackling sound above his head. The roof of the shed was on fire and it collapsed when the wind blew, burying Ning Gaoyi and dozens of soldiers inside with the raging flames.

"Brother Ning!"

"Go and report to the Marshal!"

When Prince Nan'an and Sun Qiu arrived, it was too late to save the situation. Not only had the entire granary been burned down, but the strong wind also scattered countless sparks, burning many military tents and houses.

Watching the granary burn to the ground, lighting up half of the night sky, Sun Qiu swallowed hard and said, "My Lord, what... should we do?"

Prince Nan'an's face twitched, but he forced himself to remain calm and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness. There are still hundreds of thousands of shi of military rations in Changji, Dabancheng, Turpan and other places, which is enough to support us."

Sun Qiu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "Everything is fine." Suddenly, he heard the sound of hurried hooves of several horses. Several messengers turned pale and dismounted from their horses.

"Report! Marshal, urgent news came from Changji, saying that the granary caught fire the day before yesterday and all the military rations were destroyed."

"Report! Report to the commander-in-chief. There is an urgent report from Dabancheng and Turpan. It is said that three days ago, the gangsters attacked the granary at night and set fire to it. The military rations... were all burned."

Huh?! The soldiers around them suddenly became agitated, all of them looked pale and terrified. Although they had never read military books, even a fool would know that there was no point in fighting a war without food.

When the King of Nan'an heard the bad news, he felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave. A terrifying guess came to his mind: someone didn't want him to win! Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that the food and grass of the four cities were destroyed at the same time! How could the enemy army have such magical power?
"Who is on duty at the granary today?!" King Nan'an said gritting his teeth.

"I am here." The thousand households of Wei and the three hundred households of Zhao, Wang, and Han came out and knelt down. "How did the water go?" King Nan'an asked.

Everyone hurriedly told Ning Gaoyi what he had said.

King Nan'an looked at the dozens of charred corpses that were snatched away and felt that their internal organs seemed to have been burned to ashes by the fire. He sighed deeply.

Death warrior!

And he is a very smart assassin!

Until the moment of his death, he was wholeheartedly planning for the person behind the scenes and did not reveal any flaws from beginning to end.

He couldn't find any words to shirk responsibility. Could it be that there was a traitor in the court who sent assassins to burn the army's food and grass?
When someone asks you, where are the dead soldiers? You answer that they died heroically while fighting the fire in front of everyone.

Isn't this nonsense?

Sun Qiu's face turned pale. This fire reduced all his ambitions to ashes. He was already thinking about how to put the blame on Prince Nannan when he returned.

It would be best if I could pick it off easily. If not, King Nannan must bear the main blame.

Throughout his military career, the King of Nan'an had never experienced such a desperate situation. An army of 200,000 was isolated in the Western Regions, and enough food and fodder to supply the army for half a year was destroyed overnight. If the enemy army counterattacked at this time, the morale of the army would surely collapse.

No! We must retreat immediately, or we will be wiped out.

As long as the two vanguard armies can successfully capture Yili, even if the food and grass are burned and they retreat without a fight, they will have an explanation in front of the emperor.

Prince Nannan made up his mind instantly and was about to order a retreat to the ancient city of Hami when he suddenly heard a few more riders coming to report.

"Report! Marshal! The Western Route Army was ambushed at the Borobulkasu Pass a few days ago and was defeated and scattered. Marquis Zhongjing was captured."

"Report! Marshal! After the southern army advanced out of Gongnaisi Town, they were ambushed by the Russians in Luyuan Gorge. They suffered heavy casualties and retreated in a hurry. Taihe Earl Li Gang had his legs broken by a rolling stone and his life or death is unknown."

"Report! Marshal, tens of thousands of bandits suddenly emerged from the direction of Toksun, and they have divided their forces to besiege Dabancheng and Turpan. The situation is critical. Marshal, please send troops to rescue the two cities."

The consecutive bad news made King Nan'an so angry that he felt a black screen in front of his eyes and the world was spinning.

"Your Highness!" The guards hurriedly supported him.

Thousands of soldiers stood there in a daze, in complete silence, with only the howling night wind and the blazing flames remaining.

King Nan'an rested for a long time, knowing that he must not fall down now, so he waved his hand and said: "Order the whole army to move out immediately and retreat to the ancient city.

Order the defenders of Dabancheng and Turpan to break out on their own, or retreat to Gucheng, or retreat to Hami, and let them decide for themselves. "

"Yes!"

"Your Highness, let's retreat too." The guard commander whispered.

Sun Qiu nodded, and after a moment of hesitation, he said, "The enemy army has obviously planned this in advance. They may not allow us to retreat calmly. We should follow the main army and act accordingly."

"Yes."

"Your Highness..." Prince Nan'an looked at Sun Qiu bitterly, wanting to say something but stopping himself. The bigger the pie he had just painted, the more miserable his situation was now.

Sun Qiu took him to one side and whispered, "Your Highness, don't worry too much. It seems that there must be spies in the army. It is very likely that some important officials in the court do not want us to achieve merit. When we return to Beijing, I will report this matter to my father in person.

Some people are really going too far, putting national security at risk for the sake of party disputes? ! "

A glimmer of hope surged in the heart of Prince Nan'an, and he hurriedly said, "Yes, yes! Your Highness is absolutely right! Someone wants to kill us and our 200,000 troops. He deserves death! Your Majesty will never let it happen!"

"There is no time to lose. Your Majesty, please order the retreat!"

"Yes, I will go right away. Someone, protect His Highness!"
-
Jia Cong quietly looked at Pang Chao who had rushed out of the city overnight, sighed, and said, "Sir, now that the Western Expedition Army has been defeated, what should we do?"

Pang Chao pondered and said, "The palace is not aware of this at the moment. It will take at least ten days or half a month for urgent war reports to arrive from the front. During this time, we can pretend to be ignorant and make plans in secret. When the imperial court makes a comeback, we can take advantage of the situation to seize the Western Regions. This will benefit both the public and private sectors."

Jia Cong nodded slowly. The Prince of Nan'an was finished, and the court could not just let it go. If they assembled an army and went to war again, the prince's lineage would have no chance of getting involved, but he could place his own confidants in their place.

"The misstep of the prince's party this time has provided us with a new idea. If we can take over the Western Regions, the benefits will be far greater than Liaodong. In this way, I will have two pieces of territories in my hands." Jia Cong said in a deep voice.

Pang Chao smiled and said, "Their plan was good, but they didn't expect to end up losing more than they gained. If we can take this land in the Western Region, it will be enough to establish a permanent foundation for us."

Jia Cong said: "It doesn't matter if it lasts forever, it's better for me to have it than for foreign enemies or the princes' party. At least I will pay the full amount of taxes to the court.

After all, this is the homeland of the Celestial Empire. We can fight among ourselves, but if we lose the place our ancestors left behind, what will our descendants say about us?"

Pang Chao said: "This is a statement that speaks with the world in mind. I admire it very much."

"Sir, you are too kind. It is just what the people of our country should do." Jia Cong sighed and said, "When you go back, tell the Queen quietly about this news to make her happy and show that we are not idle people."

Pang Chao nodded in agreement.

Then the two of them discussed the selection of people for the future expedition to the Western Regions until the third watch.

Jia Cong sent someone to see Pang Chao off and returned to Yang Si Niang's room, where he saw two men dressed neatly, sitting by the table waiting.

"I had a conversation with Mr. Pang. Sorry to have kept you waiting."

"It's okay, what's the matter?" Yang Si Niang asked, and Bai Qiuwei also looked over with concern.

Jia Cong asked the two to sit down and whispered, "The Western Regions...were defeated."

The two were shocked: "How could this be? Aren't there 200,000 troops?!"

Jia Cong smiled bitterly and waved his hands, saying: "The situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, and having more people does not mean you will definitely win. In short, the Western Expedition is over. We must also prepare early."

"What do you think we should do?" the two women asked hurriedly.

"I have just discussed this with Mr. Pang. Si Niang, please send capable people to the Western Regions as soon as possible, go deep into the people, set up liaison stations, and gather information. Remember, they must be smart and willing. There is no need to save money. There will always be brave men under a heavy reward." Jia Cong said.

"it is good."

"Wei'er, send some trusted people over there to preach, and work with Si Niang in secret. This is your specialty." Jia Cong said.

Bai Qiuwei was stunned: "Preaching?" (End of this chapter)