Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 118: Longtan Port Massacre

August 17, the twelfth year of Jiazhao.

This day was the day Jia Cong set off for Jinling.

Daiyu, Yingchun, Tanchun, Xiangyun and other sisters were all sent to the corner gate.

Yingchun and Tanchun both have feelings of reluctance to leave each other.

There was reluctance in Daiyu's eyes.

These days, Brother Cong San often comes to accompany her and always chooses things that she likes to do.

She always thought of ways to make herself laugh. Whenever she saw herself smiling and the smug look on her third brother's face, her heart would melt.

He did this because he knew he was going on a long journey, and Daiyu was also happy.

But in the past few years, she has also realized that her third brother's heart is not in the mansion, and he is always distant from her intentionally or unintentionally. Perhaps it is because he was treated too harshly in the mansion when he was a child.

If it weren't for the sisters at home treating him so well, I'm afraid he would rather stay outside alone and never come back.

Thinking of this, Daiyu always felt a dull pain in her heart. This was one of the reasons why he studied so hard.

You are so young now, but you have already been sent on a long journey by imperial mission. I am afraid that you will be further and further away from the mansion in the future.

Am I going to stay alone in this house forever?
In the past two years, her third brother has been studying away from home, and Baoyu has remained as attentive and attentive to her as before, which has made her a little annoyed.

Now that she is getting older, her grandmother loves her more than a treasure. She knows what the old lady is thinking, and Fengjie often makes fun of her and Baoyu. She is angry but can do nothing about it.

Now that her heart has been committed, how can she continue to be dirty? She only hopes that her third brother will come back soon so that she can feel at peace.

Yingchun looked at Jia Cong's high-spirited and energetic appearance, and felt relieved and happy in her heart. Her brother Cong was becoming more and more outstanding, and none of the men in the Jia family could match him.

But with his abilities, he would not stay in the backyard like Baoyu. He would always have ambitions to go out and explore, and I'm afraid that he will spend less and less time at home in the future.

Yingchun felt more reluctant and melancholy.

Over the past few years, the sister and brother have developed a close relationship, and Jia Cong has become the most important person in her heart.

Among the sisters, Yingchun is the eldest except for Yuanchun who entered the palace. She is now of marriageable age. She can hear some hints of marriage discussion in the elders' voices, which makes Yingchun a little flustered and scared.

When that day really came, it would be difficult for her to see her brother Cong after she left the Jia Mansion.

Tanchun thought about the days when she and her third brother were copying calligraphy. Whenever she encountered a stagnation in her writing, she would always ask her third brother to hold her hand for support. The closeness between the brothers and sisters and the mutual understanding of their hearts were so heartwarming.

She only hoped that her third brother would come back soon. She looked at Jia Cong's handsome face in front of the carriage. At the moment of parting, she felt sad and her guard was loosened.

A feeling of lingering love that I had never felt before suddenly came over me, and I was suddenly afraid that I was really crazy.

Only Xiangyun was cheerful and romantic, without any melancholy. She only asked Jia Cong to bring her some fun things from Jinling when he returned for the New Year.

……

Baoyu only stayed in Rongqing Hall to talk with Lady Jia and Mrs. Wang.

This time Jia Cong was going to Jinling on an imperial mission. Such corrupt economic and official affairs were unbearable in Baoyu's eyes. If he also followed the example of his sisters to see him off, wouldn't it be a tarnish to his own innocence?

But no matter how hard Lin Daiyu tried to send him off, what did it have to do with her? When Lin Daiyu came back, he would talk to her about his insights and feelings, otherwise Lin Daiyu would have been led astray by Jia Cong.

Similarly, Jia Cong was very glad that Baoyu did not show up at this moment. If Baoyu saw his ugly career and economic situation, he would be very upset. It was really against the style of painting and too disgusting. Jia Cong and Wu Er Qingwen took a carriage, and another carriage was used to carry the luggage of several people. The driver was Zhao Ma's son Guo Zhigui.

Seeing that Jia Cong was going on a long journey to Jinling but had no capable servant by his side, Jia Zheng sent Guo Zhigui to him.

Jia Lian brought six or seven servants to see him off, and there were also three large carts.

The reason for such a grand ceremony was that Lady Jia and Mrs. Wang both had gifts to bring to their elderly relatives in Jinling, and Jia Lian brought people to carry these things.

The Jia family rented a merchant ship to follow behind the official ship, mainly for loading these items.

Jinling is the birthplace of the four great families of Jia, Wang, Shi and Xue. Many relatives of these four families remained in Jinling, and their influence in the local area of ​​Jinling is also very important.

The clansmen in the two places have been in close contact for many years, echoing each other from the north and the south. When Jia Cong was ordered to return to Jinling, Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang took the opportunity to bring some gifts to their old relatives in the old place, which was also a reasonable gesture.

Jia Cong was in a disguised way the gift-delivering envoy of the Jia family. Although he felt a little uncomfortable, he could do nothing about it.

The carriage and horses traveled for more than half an hour and arrived at the dock on the east side of Liuyang River. A tall official ship painted black and red was already parked at the dock. There was a two-story ship on the ship, and the Flying Dragon Tooth Flag of the Great Zhou Dynasty was hung on the mast.

There was another much smaller merchant ship parked behind the official ship, and Jia Lian was already assigning servants to move the goods onto the merchant ship.

A fast horse came galloping over from the pier and stopped under a locust tree. The rider dismounted gracefully.

Jia Cong's eyes lit up and he walked over quickly.

He said in surprise: "Why are you here!" The person who came was Qu Hongxiu.

Qu Hongxiu looked a little serious and said, "You came here to practice swordplay yesterday morning, and I originally agreed not to see you off.

But yesterday in the store I heard a female customer from the south say that something big happened in Jinling a few days ago. It sounded quite risky, so I hurried over to tell you so that you can have some idea in mind.

The man of that Hakka woman often traded Western goods in Nanjing, so he often went in and out of Nanjing's ports.

About ten days ago, two fleets from Japan entered Jinling Longtan Port.

It was said that the chief supervisor of the Maritime Customs Office accepted bribes from one of the fleets and then detained the other fleet on the grounds that the inspection was inconsistent.

Both of them were Japanese merchant ships, and the goods sold on board were all Japanese specialties, and the types were almost identical. By detaining one ship, the goods on the other ship could be quickly dumped at a high profit.

This is also the original intention of the briber, to seize the initiative, and this is true both in ancient and modern times.

But in this case, the other detained Japanese merchant ship would lose the initiative, and the cargo of 100,000 kan on the ship would become unsalable, and the ship would then lose all its money.

As a result, the two fleets actually fought on the spot for profit. The detained fleet was composed of Japanese ronin with high martial arts skills, and they snatched the seized weapons.

Not only did they kill most of the people in the other fleet, but they also killed more than 20 officers and soldiers from the Maritime Customs, one of whom was a captain of the Maritime Customs.

This became a huge event.

Jinling Commander Du Hengxin received the news and dispatched several times more soldiers from the garrison to encircle and suppress the rebels, but they were easily broken through by these ronin.
These wanderers fled to the urban area of ​​Jinling and massacred more than ten families to avoid being sieged, causing great upheaval.
The officers and soldiers of the garrison were helpless, and finally they escaped from the city of Jinling and their whereabouts were unknown.

The female guest's husband happened to be at the dock at the time. When he saw the Japanese people killing each other, he hurriedly found a place to hide and luckily managed to survive.

According to what he said about the situation at the dock at that time, those Japanese ronin were very skilled in swordsmanship, and the Japanese swords in their hands could cut through iron like mud. They were all fierce and good at fighting, and were not afraid of death.

It didn’t take long before the dock was covered with blood and heads were rolling. The scene was extremely bloody and horrific.”

(End of this chapter)