I'm in the Red Mansion

After being scolded by Jia Cong, the three thousand soldiers all ran to training obediently.

Those who were crying wiped their tears embarrassedly and then slipped away together.

However, after this scolding, Jia Cong's image in the eyes of the three thousand soldiers became more friendly.

It turns out that the general not only really cares about us, but also doesn't act in a pretentious manner when he's with us. Instead, he calls himself "Laozi" and swears.

Let’s talk about Jia Cong. He had been busy all night and was exhausted and sleepy. He could not bear it any longer, so he returned to the general’s tent and fell into a sound sleep.

Niu Jizong came to look for Jia Cong. After arriving at the barracks, he heard that Jia Cong had spent the entire night bandaging the wounds of seriously injured soldiers and had just gone to bed.

After hearing this, Niu Jizong couldn't help but marvel at it.

This young man Jia Cong actually knows how to lead troops.

How long had he been in the military camp? The three thousand soldiers in front of him were probably all surnamed Jia.

Niu Jizong stopped the personal soldier who was about to wake up Jia Cong and said, "Don't wake up General Jia. When General Jia wakes up, ask him to go to the general's mansion to find me."

"Yes, General!"

Jia Cong slept until noon.

After waking up, I felt completely restored.

With his current physical condition, he can recover very quickly.

After he got up, the personal soldier hurriedly told him that General Niu had come in the morning and asked the general to go to the general's mansion after he woke up.

After hearing this, Jia Cong asked the cook to bring the food and then had a big meal.

After eating, he got up and went to the general's mansion.

Soon, Jia Cong was led in.

After paying his respects to Niu Jizong, Niu Jizong laughed and asked Jia Cong to sit down.

Then Niu Jizong said, "Nephew, please sit down and talk. The Qing Dynasty has suffered a great defeat this time."

"This is probably the biggest defeat they have suffered since they fought against our Great Xia."

"This time, they will definitely not give up. They will definitely gather all their forces and march forward in full force."

"Next, we must defend against this attack by the Qing Dynasty."

"As long as we hold off this wave of attacks, we can negotiate peace next."

"This time, you will be promoted to a higher position, and you will definitely not be able to escape."

"By the way, I have 10,000 cavalrymen under my command, and I plan to assign them all to you."

Give me another ten thousand cavalry?
Jia Cong was naturally extremely happy.

His command ability will soon reach perfection.

For him, it was naturally Han Xin who was the general, and the more the better.

Jia Cong couldn't help but ask: "Uncle, these 10,000 cavalrymen already have a general in command. If you give them to me, what will happen to this general?"

Niu Jizong said with a smile: "My dear nephew, do you think that everyone is like you, volunteering to give up writing and join the army, and likes fighting on the battlefield?"

"I have seventeen armies under my command. Ask which general is willing to go to the battlefield?"

"Just say this old man, if there is a choice, who is willing to go to the battlefield?"

"This cavalry general must be so happy to be relieved of his duties!"

It turned out to be the case.

Military generals naturally desire to go into battle and kill the enemy, win military merit, and thus be honored with titles for their wives and children.

But if one knows that a war is doomed to fail, I'm afraid few people would be willing to fight it.

In this case, Jia Cong felt relieved.

This time Niu Jizong called him here for this matter.

For Jia Cong, the next step is for him to show his skills and prepare to take over Jizhou in one fell swoop.

With these ten thousand cavalrymen, it is more than enough to capture Jizhou.

But there is no need to tell Niu Jizong about this.

Jia Cong found that Niu Jizong was a little timid, and he was afraid of scaring him if he said too much.

Soon, Jia Cong took over the 10,000 cavalrymen and changed the barracks.

The original cavalry camp of 3,000 people was a little small after all.

The 10,000 cavalrymen who had just become Jia Cong's soldiers did not have much aversion to this.

Even quite happy.

The reason, of course, was that Jia Cong was extremely brave and invincible, and he led his soldiers to achieve merit twice in succession.

Especially with the great achievement he just made yesterday, I wonder how many of the 3,000 soldiers under his command will be able to be promoted.

Even the worst case scenario would result in a bounty of several dozen taels of silver.

As soldiers too, who wouldn’t want to follow a brave general?
Moreover, these ten thousand cavalrymen soon learned from the original three thousand cavalrymen that the general had personally bandaged the wounds of more than fifty seriously injured soldiers overnight.

After being treated by the general, these fifty-three seriously injured soldiers suddenly felt much better.

Although only one day had passed, it seemed that everyone was out of danger.

This is so incredible and unbelievable.

There were even many soldiers who secretly went to the wounded camp to take a look.

It turned out that the injuries of these fifty-three seriously injured soldiers were really very serious.

However, each of them is in really good spirits.

I'm afraid these fifty-three seriously injured soldiers are really out of danger.

This made the 10,000 newly arrived cavalrymen marvel in amazement.

The general's medical skills are truly amazing!

When you are a soldier fighting in a war, how can you not get injured?

In the past, if you were seriously injured, it was almost certain that you would die.

But now, with the general's magical skills, they don't need to be afraid even if they are seriously injured in the future.

Because of this incident, these ten thousand soldiers developed a strong sense of belonging to Jia Cong.

On the second day, Jia Cong gathered 13,000 soldiers and began training.

As the number of people increases, the military formations adopted will be different.

Three thousand people have their own formation, and thirteen thousand people have their own formation. Naturally, they are not the same.

As Jia Cong's command ability continued to improve, his deployment of troops became more and more skillful.

Even the cooperation among his soldiers is getting better and better.

In the afternoon, Jia Cong personally taught them archery, horse riding and shooting.

There were more than 10,000 people, and it would be difficult for him to teach them all at once.

Fortunately, the original 3,000 veterans have already learned the basic postures.

He could help Jia Cong train his troops.

After seven or eight days, these more than 10,000 cavalrymen became more proficient in military formation drills.

Even personal archery, horse riding and shooting skills have been slightly improved.

……

However, the news of this great defeat reached the Qing leader, Tu Hai of the Plain Yellow Banner, on the same day.

After hearing the news, Tu Hai was extremely furious. Not only did he smash all the furnishings in the study, he even killed four or five servants in a rage.

This time, nearly five thousand of his Eight Banners Army of the Zhenghuang Banner were massacred by Daxia.

They had never suffered such a devastating defeat since they started fighting with Daxia. It was a great shame and humiliation for the Eight Banners Army!
This time, if he fails to retaliate severely, Tu Hai will become a laughing stock of the Qing Dynasty.

Even their Zhenghuang Banner would be ridiculed.

It’s tolerable, it’s unbearable!

At this moment, Tu Hai was about to assemble a large army, determined to annihilate the 150,000 Great Xia troops in one fell swoop.

He also wanted to massacre the people of ten cities to vent his anger.

However, after this disastrous defeat, the number of soldiers under his command was less than 100,000.

It was obviously beyond the capability of an army of 100,000 to massacre 150,000 Xia troops garrisoned in the city.

Therefore, next, Tu Hai decided to mobilize troops from Jizhou, Youzhou, and Zhuozhou to encircle the three cities of Daxia.

Among them, Jizhou was the gateway to the Qing Dynasty and the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and was guarded by 50,000 soldiers and horses.

As for the other two states, there were only more than 30,000 soldiers guarding the city, and their geographical location was slightly worse than that of Jizhou.

A hundred thousand troops can be mobilized from these three continents.

Add to that his nearly 100,000 troops, that makes almost 200,000.

With these 200,000 soldiers and horses, Tu Hai vowed to slaughter all the 150,000 Xia troops.

At this time, Tu Hai no longer thought about the eldest princess's plan. Attacking the city was inferior to conquering the heart.

He must wash away this great humiliation, otherwise, the stain on Tu Hai will never be washed away!
Next, Tu Hai decisively began to dispatch troops from the three states.

These three continents are all garrisoned by the Zhenghuang Banner, and Tu Hai, as a general sent by the Zhenghuang Banner, naturally has the ability to mobilize a large army.

It takes time to mobilize a large army, but the defenders of Liangcheng have already sensed the coming storm.

……

Let’s talk about Niu Jizong’s good news, which was delivered to the capital again.

This time, the 800-mile express train was widely publicized when it entered the capital.

Then, all the people in the capital city knew that the top scholar had won another battle!
And this time, nearly five thousand braid soldiers were annihilated!

This time, it can be said to be an unprecedented victory!
This made the people of the entire capital city excited.

When the good news reached the palace, Emperor Yonglong was overjoyed when he saw it.

When Prime Minister Kou, Prince Beijing, Lin Ruhai and other pro-war ministers saw this, they were even more ecstatic.

When the conservative officials saw this, they fell silent and looked very embarrassed.

They tried their best to advocate peace, tried their best to say that they were no match for the Qing Dynasty, and tried their best to cede territory in exchange for peace.

But unexpectedly, the army won another beautiful victory on the front line.

That would be fine. If we could win a few more battles and really drive the Qing Dynasty out.

Then they would really be a joke.

If the Daxia Monthly News adds fuel to the fire, these people will probably be nailed to the pillar of shame.

But now that the war faction has won a great victory, they are unable to do more.

Emperor Yonglong was overjoyed and summoned all his ministers to discuss rewards.

The peace faction believed that since the war was not over yet, it would not be too late to reward them after it was over.

The pro-war faction believes that the soldiers on the front line are fighting hard and there must be clear rewards and punishments.

If meritorious service is not rewarded, wouldn't it discourage the soldiers on the front line?

Therefore, rewards cannot be delayed and must be given as soon as possible.

After some discussion, it was finally decided to confer the title of the third-class Earl of Yongwu on Jia Cong and promote him to the rank of General Dingyuan.

General Dingyuan was a third-rank military general.

Jia Cong was originally just a sixth-rank editor in the Hanlin Academy. After he gave up writing to join the army, he became a minor general.

And now, with one leap, he was directly promoted to a third-rank military general.

Although the rank of military generals is lower than that of civil officials.

But even so, Jia Cong completed a triple jump this time.

However, Jia Cong's military achievement this time was a real victory that had not been seen in decades.

Even the conservatives could not say anything. As for Niu Jizong, Zhou Shan, and the officers and soldiers at the bottom, they were also rewarded.

After the reward was confirmed, the eunuch in charge of delivering the imperial decree soon came to Ningguo Mansion again to announce the decree.

Madam Mei, Lin Daiyu, Madam You, Madam Qin and others received the imperial edict.

The girls rushed forward to congratulate him.

Today, Jia Cong, the head of the family, holds two titles, one is inherited from the family, and the other is earned through his own merits.

The title he earned through his military merits was already greater than the title he inherited.

Mrs. Mei and Lin Daiyu, one is his mother and the other is his wife, so their status naturally rises accordingly.

Even Xue Baoqin and other girls like Qingwen were proud of it.

In the West Mansion, Jia's grandmother came in person with Lady Wang, Wang Xifeng and other daughters to express congratulations.

As Jia Cong became more and more successful, he was not only granted the title of Earl, but also became a third-rank military general.

If he can make more achievements in the future, I'm afraid he might be able to restore the glory of his ancestors.

Today, the reputation of Ningguo Mansion has long surpassed that of Rongguo Mansion.

Even Lady Jia had to bow her head.

Although she herself is not afraid, she also has to think about her descendants, right?
Therefore, nowadays, whenever there is a festival or something happens in Ningguo Mansion, Rongguo Mansion will rush to congratulate.

It's not easy to ignore Mrs. Mei and Lin Daiyu.

Besides, Lady Jia is Lin Daiyu's grandmother, so Lin Daiyu cannot be disrespectful.

After sending away the people who came to congratulate them, Mrs. Mei and Lin Daiyu did not show much joy on their faces.

They didn't care about how much merit Jia Cong had made or what title he had been awarded, they were just worried about his safety.

Lin Daiyu just happened to have made her winter clothes.

Then he wrote letters to Mrs. Mei and the sisters and sent them together.

……

As for the Qing Dynasty, they were constantly transporting food and fodder and gathering troops.

They were preparing to advance towards the three cities of Liangcheng.

The atmosphere in Liangcheng suddenly became depressing.

At this time, Niu Jizon and Jia Cong had to admit that they had underestimated the determination of the Qing Dynasty.

Although they all believed that the Qing Dynasty would certainly not accept this huge loss.

However, no one expected that the Qing Dynasty would actually plan to attack the city.

The art of war says: If your force is ten, surround it; if it is five, attack it; if it is twice your force, divide it; if you are the enemy, you can fight it; if it is fewer, you can escape; if it is not difficult, you can avoid it.

In other words, if you have ten times more troops than the enemy, you can lay siege.

But at present, the Qing army only has 50,000 more people than them.

Now you are thinking about attacking the city. Isn’t that a bit too much?

However, thinking of the powerful combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty, Niu Jizong did not dare to underestimate it.

As for Jia Cong, he was preparing for battle and was ready to take action.

The time to retake Jizhou is ripe!

At this time, winter clothes and letters from home were delivered to Ningguo Mansion.

Jia Cong put away his winter clothes and opened the letter from home.

First it was from Mrs. Mei, whose letter was full of worry and reminded him to take good care of himself.

Next, there are Lin Daiyu’s letters, in which Lin Daiyu’s letters are filled with deep longing.

There are also several poems she wrote.

When I saw this poem, it was as if Lin Daiyu was reciting it right in front of me.

Later there are letters written to him by Xue Baochai and a group of maids.

There are even letters from several younger sisters and even Shi Xiangyun.

Shi Xiangyun expressed in the letter that she wished she could follow him to march and fight, and Jia Cong couldn't help but laugh when he read it.

After reading the letters, Jia Cong took out his writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone and wrote back to his family one by one.

Then he asked someone to send the letter home.

As for the Qing Dynasty, a total of 180,000 troops have already gathered.

Next, they came in a large crowd, accompanied by soldiers, and camped twenty miles outside Liangcheng.

A distance of twenty miles would only take half a day if the troops marched at full speed.

We are talking about infantry here. If it were cavalry, it would only be faster.

Niu Jizong once again summoned generals from all directions to ask for countermeasures.

At the meeting, Jia Cong said nothing.

After the meeting, Niu Jizong kept Jia Cong.

I couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't my nephew say a word at the meeting?"

Jia Cong couldn't help but say, "Uncle, I have a bold plan. I want to do something big, but it's inconvenient to say it at the meeting."

Niu Jizong's heart skipped a beat when he heard this. He hurriedly asked, "Nephew, what are your plans? Why don't you tell me about it?"

Jia Cong couldn't help but say, "Uncle, now that the Qing Dynasty has arrived with great force, they certainly wouldn't have thought that we would actually attack their camp at night."

"In that case, why don't we do the opposite? Just launch an attack on the camp?"

"The custody was beyond their expectations, and they suffered a great loss."

"Moreover, after attacking the camp, I can lead my 13,000 cavalrymen to leave the battlefield under the cover of night and head straight for Jizhou."

"Then take the opportunity to seize Jizhou!"

Niu Jizong was shocked when he heard this.

He hurriedly said, "It's fine to attack at night, it's feasible, but it's too dangerous to seize Jizhou, absolutely not!"

"Uncle may not be good at attacking cities, but when it comes to defending cities, he is really not afraid of anyone."

"Without five times the number of troops, the Qing Dynasty will never be able to capture the city!"

"So, my dear nephew, why bother taking risks?"

"We can attack them at night and make them lose a certain amount of troops. We can take advantage of it and hold our ground."

"See how they are going to break into the city?"

Jia Cong shook his head and said, "Uncle, the Qing Dynasty is not stupid. If they can't take it down after a long time."

"They can allocate some of their forces to contain us, and then divide their forces to attack other cities, or even massacre them to vent their anger. What will my uncle do then?"

After hearing this, Niu Jizong was speechless for a long time.

There is no solution to this plan.

The Manchus occupied the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun in Daxia. There were so many places where they could attack Daxia that it was almost impossible to defend against them.

And if the Qing Dynasty really captured a few cities and carried out massacres, he would be in a difficult situation.

By then, he might not be able to leave the city.

Niu Jizong couldn't help but say: "My dear nephew, but it's really too risky for you to do this."

"Besides, even if you can take Jizhou, what can they do? Can't they still use this method?"

"They can also continue to massacre people in the city to vent their anger and force you to withdraw from Jizhou."

Hearing this, Jia Cong couldn't help but sneer and said, "Uncle, why do you think that every time the Qing Dynasty fought with Daxia, we were the ones who suffered losses? They came and went as they pleased?"

"This is because every time a war is fought, it is fought within the territory of Da Xia, and the ones who suffer are the people of Da Xia."

"If they dare to invade Daxia again after I take over Jizhou, we can launch equal revenge."

"We can also organize a large army, invade the Qing Dynasty, and kill their people."

"How many people does the Qing Dynasty have? We only need to kill them a few more times to scare them and make them dare not start a war again."

Yes, the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty was powerful, and their only flaw was their small population.

If both sides started killing civilians, the Qing Dynasty would be the first to collapse.

If a fight breaks out, Daxia will at most suffer some serious injuries.

But for the Qing Dynasty, it was a danger of national destruction and genocide.

Niu Jizong couldn't help but say, "This is a brilliant plan, but I'm afraid it will be impeached by the civil officials in the court! Those traitors, who talk about morality and justice, but are full of thieves and prostitutes, will not let you go easily."

Jia Cong sneered, "The Qing thieves slaughtered the people of Daxia, but they tolerated them in every way and repeatedly emphasized that peace is the most important thing."

"How can we say that we are not benevolent and righteous if we kill the people of the Qing Dynasty? Uncle, just rest assured that we will not let them get what they want."

Jia Cong has the Daxia Monthly News, so how could he be afraid of their moral blackmail?
After listening to this, Niu Jizong said, "My dear nephew, this is still inappropriate."

"This time, the Qing Dynasty did mobilize a large army from Jizhou City."

"Even if the city has less than 10,000 defenders, it is still a city after all."

"How can you break into the city with only over 10,000 cavalrymen?"

"And once the stalemate gets out and the Qing Dynasty reacts, they will lead their troops back and quickly surround you. It's really too dangerous."

Jia Cong smiled and said, "Uncle, don't worry. Jizhou City will never expect that the Xia army will attack the city. We will definitely be able to take it if we plan carefully."

After thinking for a while, Niu Jizong gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll bet with you on this one!"

This was mainly because Jia Cong had made great contributions before, which really made Niu Jizong take notice of him.

If it were any other general, Niu Jizong would never dare to let him go out and take risks.

Since it has been decided to let Jia Cong lead the surprise attack on Jizhou City.

Next, Niu Jizong discussed with Jia Cong how to attack the camp at night.

Now the Qing army has just arrived and has just set up camp.

In fact, although darkness is conducive to attacking a camp, it is not conducive to fighting.

Because of malnutrition during this era, most soldiers suffered from night blindness.

At night, it is difficult to see.

Therefore, night battles are actually extremely disadvantageous for both sides.

In that case, let's just focus on arson.

Then you can set up an ambush where they will come to support you, and then attack them with bows and arrows.

After one strike, they retreated quietly, not giving them a chance to take advantage.

After the two of them performed some simulations on the sand table, they finally decided on the burial route.

Next, Niu Jizong began to arrange personnel.

In addition to Jia Cong, he had fifteen generals under his command.

The last time we sent Zhou Shan out, he made great contributions. It would be a bad idea to send him out again this time.

We should always leave some opportunities for others, right?
Well, this time, let’s send the other two generals out.

This time, Niu Jizong planned to send 20,000 troops to set up an ambush.

It can be said that because of Jia Cong, Niu Jizong became more and more courageous.

Some time ago, he only dared to send 10,000 soldiers to ambush the Qing army.

And this time, he actually dared to send out 20,000 troops to ambush.

After Jia Cong returned, he assembled the entire army, gave them some instructions, and ordered them to have a good rest after returning.

After tonight, this general will lead them to do something big.

Upon hearing this, more than 10,000 soldiers under Jia Cong's command became excited.

The general is finally going to do something big!
Follow the general and you will have meat to eat! (End of this chapter)