Red Mansion Taoist

Chapter 200 Defeat
"Why is there another 800-mile express? What happened?" The people in the capital were lucky enough to see another 800-mile express coming to Beijing less than a month apart.

"The last time the eight hundred miles were rushed, the Yunnan chieftains rebelled. Could it be that the suppression of the rebellion was successful this time?" said someone who knew the inside story.

"If the counterinsurgency is successful, it should be called a great victory. It can't be in such a hurry!" Some people retorted, thinking of the scene when the Tatars were defeated.

After eight hundred miles of haste and a cup of tea, the letter was in Emperor Jingwen's hands.

"Niu Jizong was defeated?" When he saw the contents of the letter, Emperor Jingwen couldn't believe his eyes.

No matter how incompetent Niu Jizong is, he is still a prince with a heritage of military art. Not to mention the army in Yunnan, Niu Jizong and his Yiwei Jingying camp are extremely powerful.

According to Emperor Jingwen's judgment, Niu Jizong could mobilize at least 60,000 soldiers in Yunnan. With the addition of one guard from the Beijing camp, it can be said that there is no possibility of failure in the battle with the Yunnan chieftains.

But in fact Niu Jizong was indeed defeated, and he lost so quickly.

Judging from the expedited return time of 800 miles, Niu Jizong only stayed in Yunnan for four or five days at most before fleeing in defeat.

"Call the cabinet to discuss matters, and ask Jiahou to come with him!" Emperor Jingwen suppressed his anger and ordered in a deep voice.

In fact, King Beijing had two choices before. One was to go to Yunnan. Over the years, he secretly established power in Yunnan and won over the chieftains, almost making Yunnan a place under his control.

The two cabinet bachelors and Jia Qiang from the cabinet came to the East Palace. The two cabinet bachelors were quite young. As soon as they arrived, eunuchs gave them stools. Jia Qiang also received the same treatment.

He handed the letter to the eunuch at the side, who quickly copied it and sent it to the Daming Palace.

Emperor Jingwen has been very honest recently and will take the initiative to report every major event to the Supreme Emperor.

In fact, he sent many warriors, who have already taken root in the Yunnan army.

The second is the vassal territory in the north. After his heavy investment, the vassal territory has been well constructed.

"You have to learn how to use people before it's time for you to take action!" Emperor Jingwen waved his hand and said.

Everything seemed normal, but it was unclear what he was thinking inside.

Emperor Jingwen and the two cabinet bachelors couldn't help but fell into deep thought after hearing Jia Qiang's words.

So he chose Yunnan and quickly reached Yunnan via waterway.

"King Shui Rong of Beijing was in Yunnan. He colluded with the chieftains and controlled the army of Yunnan!" Emperor Jingwen said in a deep voice.

Academician Tian read the letter, passed it to Academician Deng, and finally handed it into the hands of Jia Qiang.

"Take a look!" Emperor Jingwen handed the letter to Academician Tian and said.

"When will the chieftain's army be able to march silently in Yunnan?" Academician Tian shook his head and said.

Academicians Tian and Deng looked at each other, and they both saw Emperor Jingwen's favor for Jia Qiang.

Doesn't this mean that he has misemployed people? He also thought that it was the Four Kings and Eight Gongs who forced him, so he put this shame on the Four Kings and Eight Gongs.

"Your Majesty, we still don't know the details of Yunnan. How many troops are colluding with the chieftains? We need to order people to find out more!" Academician Deng said aloud.

"I was impatient. The government office that was inspected by all nine provinces was built. You have never even seen the military attache of Yunnan!" Emperor Jingwen shook his head and said.

He was also very good to Jia Yuanchun and gave him considerable respect.

Emperor Jingwen reached out and took the information sent from the Daming Palace. The more he looked at it, the more annoyed he became, and finally he slammed the information on the table.

Daqian has an army dedicated to defending against chieftains. With the speed of transmission of messages from Daqian's army, it would be impossible for an army of chieftains to march silently in Yunnan.

The 5,000 soldiers in the first guard of the Beijing camp were all killed or injured. Niu Jizong only managed to escape with the desperate cover of his own soldiers.

"Is King Beijing planning to rebel?" Academician Tian stood up in shock and asked.

However, after the transformation of the northern army by Jia Qiang, all the arrangements of King Beijing in the northern army came to nothing. Without the support of the troops near the vassal territory, King Beijing could only sit back and wait for death even if he returned to the vassal territory.

"What's the situation with the army in Yunnan?" Emperor Jingwen turned to look at Jia Qiang and asked.

It's just that most of them are at the Qianhu level. It's not easy to replace the top leaders of the Yunnan Army in a short period of time, mainly because there are too few vacancies.

"Master, Daming Palace has sent some information!" Xia Shouzhong came to Emperor Jingwen's side and said softly.

"If necessary, I am willing to go to Yunnan immediately!" Jia Qiang bowed and said.

He did not blame Jia Qiang. Jia Qiang took over the nine-province metropolitan inspection for too short a time.

But King Beijing did not go to the north, but went to the south.

The three of them thanked each other before taking their seats. They all knew that 800 lijia had entered the palace in a hurry, and they understood that this was a matter of discussing 800 lijia hurriedly.

"I have just taken over the inspection of the nine provinces, and I don't know much about the Yunnan army at the moment!" Jia Qiang bowed and replied.

Originally, the vassal territory of King Beijing was in the north. Everyone in Daqian thought that King Beijing would go to the northern vassal after escaping from the capital.

However, after saying this, Emperor Jingwen couldn't help but blush slightly. He thought that Niu Jizong was the one he sent to Yunnan.

Jia Qiang looked at the letter in her hand, which said that as soon as Niu Jizong entered Yunnan and just started to gather the army, the chieftain's army raided the military camp.

There are some things he can't say, but the situation in Yunnan may be very bad.

As early as four years ago, when Jia Qiang emptied the underground treasure house of Prince Shuijing's Mansion, Prince Beijing increased his control over Yunnan and put a large number of manpower in Yunnan for today's retreat.

According to his plan, the transformation of the southern army was measured in years. In just two or three months, he could not do much.

The chieftain army did indeed attack Niu Jizong's camp silently, and it was still in the early stages of gathering the army. It can be seen that the chieftain army not only had someone to help it pass the checkpoint guarded by the Daqian army, but also provided intelligence support.

This is the second time he has asked for help, and he has enough confidence. As long as he goes to Yunnan, he will definitely be able to solve Yunnan's troubles.

"No wonder Niu Jizong was defeated!" Jia Qiang said lightly.

Niu Jizong is a descendant of Niu Qing in Zhenguo, and is one of the four princes and eight princes.

And King Beijing is one of the four kings. Due to the relationship between the four kings and the eight princes, Niu Jizong was defeated so quickly. Is there any deliberate reason for this by both parties?

Otherwise, how could Niu Jizong be defeated and flee within a few days if he was considered a noble and had led an army for a long time.

The combat power of one guard in the Beijing camp alone can outnumber the enemy several times.

To completely annihilate one guard of the Jingying camp, the chieftain would have to lose at least more than ten thousand people. With the morale of the chieftain's army, more than ten thousand people might die, which would be enough to collapse the chieftain's army. At this time, Emperor Jingwen had the idea of ​​​​letting Jia Qiang lead the army to put down the rebellion, but the problem was that he had rejected Jia Qiang twice before.

If he took the initiative to send Jia Qiang to lead the army when he heard that King Beijing was causing trouble, wouldn't it make the two cabinet bachelors think that Jia Qiang was the only one he could use?

No matter who leads the army to counter the rebellion, they will need supplies of food, grass, and equipment, so Emperor Jingwen then discussed the supply matter with the two cabinet bachelors.

Corresponding officials were called in from time to time to provide the most detailed data.

From daytime until nightfall, the East Palace is brightly lit.

Two days later, it was decided that Lang Li'an's father, Lord Lang, would lead the army to counter the rebellion, and he left Beijing for the south that day.

Things in Yunnan did not have much impact on the capital. At most, people often talked about the rebellion in Yunnan when chatting.

But Jia Qiang knew that the situation was not optimistic.

Through the Supreme Emperor's intelligence system, intelligence from Yunnan was continuously sent to the capital.

King Beijing issued a letter against Emperor Jingwen and presented a series of evidence to prove that Emperor Jingwen was plotting to usurp the throne with his brother.

In fact, with the Supreme Emperor here, King Beijing's so-called letter to Emperor Jingwen is empty talk, but what King Beijing needs is just an excuse. He doesn't need everyone to believe it, as long as he can give his subordinates an explanation. .

King Beijing's arrangements in Yunnan gave the Yunnan army that had taken refuge in him a powerful fighting force.

When Marquis Lang led the army to attack Dali City, which had taken refuge with King Beijing, he encountered strong resistance.

Daqian's army attacked for ten days, but failed to break through Dali City. Instead, it suffered heavy losses.

Who would have thought that Dali City not only has strong soldiers and horses, but also has heavy weapons such as crossbows and artillery. It also has martial arts masters participating in the defense to fight against the powerful generals of the Dagan Army.

Although Jia Qiang did not participate in this war, she knew the impact of the war on the country from another perspective.

Marquis Lang mobilized 100,000 troops from several camps, and on his way to Yunnan, he mobilized garrisons from various places, increasing the number to 150,000 troops.

From the moment it was mobilized, this 150,000-strong army incurred an unimaginable amount of consumption.

Jia Qiang saw orders issued one after another in the cabinet, all of which were orders to adjust grain and grass, as well as salaries prepared in advance.

Daqian's army needs to be given double pay during wartime, and this cannot be delayed at all.

There have been mutinies in the past because of late payment of pay, so no one dared to be careless about pay during wartime.

This was still the early days. After the Battle of Dali started, the soldiers who died every day needed to be compensated, which was another huge expense.

There was no spare money in the Daqian treasury, so Emperor Jingwen could only spend money from his own internal treasury.

In the East Palace, Emperor Jingwen looked at the account book in his hand and sighed helplessly.

"Master, it's late at night, you'd better go to sleep first!" Xia Shouzhong reminded softly.

He also knew that Emperor Jingwen not only worked hard for days on Yunnan, but also used his own internal treasury.

"Tell me, how could Marquis Jia defeat 100,000 Tatars with 500 soldiers, while Marquis Lang, with 150,000 troops, couldn't even capture the city of Dali!" Emperor Jingwen said. He waved his hand and said.

The money was spent and the troops were mobilized, but no results were seen.

Dagan cannot afford to delay it. The Tatar invasion four years ago has not yet healed the trauma of Dagan. Dagan’s treasury is almost empty.

"How about letting Jiahou suppress the rebellion!" Xia Shouzhong suggested.

"As long as Marquis Lang is not defeated, he cannot be allowed to retreat!" Emperor Jingwen shook his head in distress and said.

Langhou represents a group of generals who were awarded titles for their military exploits after the founding of the Daqian Kingdom. They were a group that was swinging between the Supreme Emperor and Emperor Jingwen, and they held considerable military power in their hands.

If Emperor Jingwen transferred Marquis Lang back at this time and asked Jia Qiang to replace him, it would be tantamount to saying that Marquis Lang was incompetent, which would make this group of generals alienate from him and push these group of generals to the side of the Supreme Emperor.

"We don't have much money in our internal treasury!" Xia Shouzhong reminded again.

Emperor Jingwen's inner treasury received millions of taels of extra income every year due to the support of the major salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River.

But the internal treasury has more income and expenses are also greater.

Since Emperor Jingwen was given some power by the Supreme Emperor, his rewards have also increased. In addition, he has also established his own army, built an intelligence network, and won over some families and royal relatives.

In fact, the money in the inner treasury has been arranged for a long time. The Yunnan incident happened suddenly, and the money taken away from the inner treasury was the result of cutting down other things.

"After tomorrow morning, let Jiahou come to see me!" Emperor Jingwen ordered in a deep voice.

Xia Shouzhong didn't quite understand what Emperor Jingwen was thinking this time. Was he planning to ask Jia Qiang to send troops, or was he going to ask Jia Qiang to find a way to make money?
The next day, the theme of the morning court was still Yunnan affairs, and the core was still money.

Jia Qiang stood aside and quietly watched the quarrel in the court. These ministers took the matter of money very seriously. If they dared to miss the money of their own yamen, they would keep making trouble in front of Emperor Jingwen. .

However, the nine-province provincial government offices do not need to worry about money. This government office has just been built. The only thing that needs money now is the salary of the officials in the government office. The money transferred from the national treasury when the government was built is enough to support it for more than half a year.

However, he always felt that Emperor Jingwen would look at him from time to time today, making him think that he was wearing the wrong official robe today.

Finally arriving at the next court, Jia Qiang was about to go to the cabinet, but was stopped by Xia Shouzhong.

He followed Xia Shouzhong to the East Palace and met Emperor Jingwen who was waiting for him.

"I have seen your Majesty!" Jia Qiang said with a great salute.

"Come on, I'm calling you here for the money!" Emperor Jingwen waved his hand to let him stand up and said.

Jia Qiang was startled, is it so direct?

"I still have some wealth. I'm willing to give you as much money as your Majesty wants!" Jia Qiang thought about her apparent wealth and replied.

I believe Emperor Jingwen was very aware of his net worth. He earned millions of taels of silver every year, even though he was at the top level in the entire capital.

"What kind of wealth do I want from you? The emperor has seized the money of his ministers. Do you want me to become a foolish emperor in the history books!" Emperor Jingwen laughed in anger and pointed at Jia Qiang.

Even though Emperor Jingwen knew that the major families were rich, especially the princes, who were using their power to engage in the most profitable businesses, if he, the emperor, was asked to ask for money from his ministers, he would probably be ruined as soon as he started. It will attract countless criticisms.

Not to mention that he is an emperor who has not yet secured his throne. Even the Supreme Emperor would not dare to do such a thing. Unless he has convicted a minister and robbed his family property without any charges, then It will cause a backlash across the entire official system.

(End of this chapter)