I'm in the Red Mansion

The Qing troops withdrew.

Although at this time, they still had more than 80,000 soldiers, if they pushed forward with all their strength, they might be able to recapture Jizhou City.

But the two big fires had already scared them out of their wits.

At this time, the morale of the Qing army had dropped to freezing point.

What's more, how could there be no reinforcements coming from Daxia?
Therefore, the imperial envoy decisively gathered his troops and chose to retreat.

In Jizhou city, more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians couldn't help but cheer loudly when they saw this scene.

Thirty miles away, Niu Jizong had already gathered his troops and was ready to provide support.

Although the battle on the front line had ended at this time, the Qing army had already withdrawn.

However, due to the time difference, Niu Jizong did not know this.

In his judgment, there were only more than 10,000 defenders in Jizhou City. How could they withstand such a fierce attack from the Qing Dynasty?

If he didn't go to support them, Jizhou City would probably not be able to hold on.

When Niu Jizong was halfway through his march, the scout brought back the latest news.

After hearing this, Niu Jizong was overjoyed.

He never expected that the young man Jia Cong was so fierce.

He actually set another big fire, burning another 40,000 to 50,000 Qing soldiers.

Forcing the Qing Dynasty to withdraw its troops.

At this point, the city of Jizhou can be said to have been defended.

Soon, Niu Jizong led his troops to the outskirts of Jizhou City.

Jia Cong was already on the city wall. Upon seeing this, he hurriedly opened the city gate and went out to greet them in person.

Niu Jizong walked into the city with a big laugh.

After praising Jia Cong a lot, Niu Jizong left the 50,000 troops in Jizhou city.

Originally, the Qing Dynasty also had 50,000 troops garrisoned in Jizhou City.

The most appropriate number of soldiers to stay behind in Jizhou City is about 50,000 to 60,000.

And now, there are the 50,000 soldiers and horses left by Niu Jizong.

All together, Jia Cong had more than 60,000 soldiers and horses.

With so many soldiers guarding the city, even if the Qing army sent tens of thousands of troops to attack the city, it could still be held.

Jia Cong hosted a banquet for Niu Jizong, who got drunk.

After waking up the next day, Niu Jizong returned to Liangcheng with his personal soldiers.

……

After defending Liangcheng, Jia Cong became very busy.

The first thing was to accommodate the 50,000 soldiers sent by Niu Jizong, and to provide follow-up training on how to make them return home as soon as possible and fully integrate into the team.

However, the most important thing is to clean up the battlefield.

This battlefield is not easy to clean up at the moment.

It would be fine if the Qing troops were burned under the city wall.

The tens of thousands of Qing soldiers who drowned in the moat had to be salvaged, burned and buried as soon as possible.

Otherwise, the water in the moat would definitely be polluted.

Even now, Jia Cong was considering that after all the bodies inside had been salvaged.

It also needs to be disinfected with quicklime before it can be put into use.

The second thing is to build a suspension bridge.

In order to deal with the Qing Dynasty's siege, Jizhou City took the initiative to destroy the suspension bridge.

Now that the Qing army has withdrawn, they still have three pontoon bridges built by the Qing army for siege.

But this floating bridge is not solid and not easy to pass traffic through, so we still have to build a suspension bridge again.

Jia Cong was preparing to build a detachable suspension bridge.

If we take over Jizhou City, the Qing army may not give up.

It may not be long before the Qing army will gather a large force to attack the city again.

By then, the suspension bridge will inevitably be destroyed again.

Therefore, it would be better to make the suspension bridge detachable when building it now. If the Qing army attacks the city again next time, it can be directly dismantled.

Jia Cong still hired laborers to do these jobs.

The wages offered were also extremely high, fifty cents a day.

The army is still continuing to train.

On this day, Jia Cong received another letter from home.

In Lin Daiyu's letters, Jia Cong saw that Lin Ruhai's two concubines had already given birth.

They gave birth to a son and a daughter respectively.

At this point, Lin Daiyu finally had a sister, and she no longer had to sigh like Sima Niu.

Lin Ruhai also had a daughter, and Jia Cong could imagine Lin Ruhai's joy.

Jia Cong hurriedly wrote a reply and sent back several gifts for the children.

Of course, Jia Cong also sent back some local specialties from Jizhou City.

At this time, Niu Jizon's second report was delivered to the capital again.

This time, the report was another good news and another great victory.

When the Manchus were using rafts to cross the moat, General Jia set fire to the river, killing 40,000 to 50,000 Qing troops.

This time's performance was like a miracle.

Looking through history books, there are not many brave generals who can achieve such a record.

And all of them are famous generals and all of them are fierce generals.

As soon as this news came out, the public was in an uproar again.

But the court was still watching.

They are waiting for the second news.

It was certainly a great victory to annihilate more than 50,000 Qing troops in one go.

However, the Qing Dynasty still had an army of more than 100,000.

Jizhou City may not be able to be defended.

If Jizhou City cannot be defended, the quality of this great victory will be greatly reduced.

Fortunately, within a few days, they received the latest report.

Under the city wall, General Jia actually set another fire, burning nearly 50,000 Qing troops to death again.

Two fires killed 100,000 Qing soldiers!
Afterwards, Niu Jizon led 50,000 soldiers into Jizhou City in time.

At this point, the number of defenders in Jizhou City has reached 60,000!

The 60,000 defenders could not make Jizhou City impregnable, but at least it would not be easy for the Qing Dynasty to take it.

And then, as long as the imperial court sends reinforcements again, Jizhou City will be firmly defended.

Next, it is time to reward people based on their merits.

Last time, Jia Cong was conferred the title of the third-class Earl of Bravery and Martial Arts.

And this time, the contribution of conquering Jizhou, one of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, was truly great.

Although this achievement is not the achievement of destroying a country, it is the achievement of recovering the homeland, and its achievement is not much inferior to the achievement of destroying a country.

Therefore, the pro-war faction, led by Kou Xiang and others, advocated the conferring of titles of nobility.

Because of Jia Cong's successive victories, the power of the pro-war faction is growing stronger.

The power of the peace faction is shrinking day by day.

However, the struggle between the two factions did not stop.

The peace faction strongly opposed Jia Cong's ennoblement.

The reason given by the peace faction was also very reasonable, that is, Jia Cong was still young.

He is only eighteen years old now, and he has been made a marquis now. What about the future?

What if he recaptures the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun next time? Make him a duke?

What about destroying the Qing Dynasty? Become a king?
What if another country is destroyed?

How should the reward be given?

By then, I’m afraid there won’t be enough rewards left.

I have to say that this reason given by the conservatives is very vicious.

It's a good thing that Jia Cong has outstanding abilities, but being too good at fighting may not be a good thing either.

He has made too many contributions, and there will surely be a day when he will no longer be rewarded for his achievements. By that time, it will probably not be long before he rebels.

This proposal of the conservatives was actually an attempt to flatter Emperor Yonglong and make him suspicious of Jia Cong.

Once suspicion arises, it is difficult to dispel.

The pro-war faction was cursing the pro-peace faction in their hearts as shameless.

Unexpectedly, they still underestimated Emperor Yonglong's vision and courage.

Emperor Yonglong was so arbitrary that he directly conferred the title of first-class champion marquis on Jia Cong!

Champion!
In terms of Jia Cong's achievements, he is actually still a little short of that.

But there's nothing wrong with giving it anyway.

At this time, even the pro-war faction was impressed by Emperor Yonglong's breadth of mind and courage.

This reward actually also represents Emperor Yonglong's determination to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

This title of Champion Marquis was not given to Jia Cong alone.

Rather, it was an act of Emperor Yonglong spending a huge sum of money to buy horse bones.

As long as the soldiers can fight bravely and recover their homeland, I will reward them generously.

Although the peace faction understood Emperor Yonglong's intentions, they were unwilling to compromise.

They tried hard to dissuade him from doing so, as they were once again thinking that the rewards were too excessive and that there would be no more rewards to be given in the future.

Emperor Yonglong laughed and said, "It doesn't matter. General Jia has two titles. If he makes more contributions in the future, he can be promoted to another title!"

Emperor Yonglong's words left the conservatives speechless.

Well, it is true.

Jia Cong also has a family-inherited title of third-class general.

If you make a contribution next time, you can definitely upgrade your title.

He still has a lot of room for improvement.

Soon, another imperial decree was issued.

The Ningguo Mansion also gradually got used to the process of receiving imperial edicts.

After all, they had received imperial edicts several times.

This time, when Lady Mei, Lin Daiyu, Xue Baoqin and other women heard that Jia Cong was conferred the title of Marquis Guanjun, they could not help but be surprised.

Champion!
This is the champion!

This title was created for the great general Huo Qubing of the Western Han Dynasty and represents the glory of a military general!

This made Mrs. Mei, Lin Daiyu and other women feel proud.

And after Rongguo Mansion learned about this.

Grandmother Jia also had to bring people to congratulate.

At this moment, Grandmother Jia couldn't help but feel sour and regretful.

If I had known this would happen, I should not have removed him from the family tree and clan.

If he had not been driven away at the beginning, the glory of the Marquis of Guanjun would now belong to his Rongguo Mansion.

After that, old relatives and friends of the Jia family came one after another to express their congratulations.

At Ningguo Mansion, banquets had to be held for several days in a row to entertain the guests.

Even many wealthy and noble families who had no normal dealings with him sent gifts.

Moreover, many wealthy families came to propose marriage, willing to marry their concubines to Jia Cong as his equal wife. There were even some legitimate daughters among them.

Well, the daughters of these families are probably very favored, and these young ladies really like Jia Cong and want to marry this champion marquis who is both civil and military.

Although most of them are concubines' daughters, not legitimate daughters.

However, any concubine's daughter in any of these wealthy families in the capital would usually be married off as the principal wife.

At least, although Xue Baoqin of the Xue family is the legitimate daughter, her status and position cannot be compared with those concubines' daughters of wealthy families.

Now, given the Xue family's status as a merchant family, even if Xue Baochai is the legitimate daughter, she is really not qualified to marry Jia Cong as a concubine.

Unless she is willing to be a concubine.

Even to become a concubine, one has to go through fierce competition, and she may not be able to outcompete others.

Therefore, when Xue Baochai learned the news that Jia Cong was conferred the title of Marquis Guanjun, her eyes became dim and she sighed for a long time.

She is already quite old, and she is still dragging her feet because of the national mourning over the death of the old empress dowager.

After the national mourning is over, she will also get married.

Thinking of this, her face became even gloomier.

However, the news of the great victory on the front line and Daxia's recapture of Jizhou City had already been published in Daxia Monthly.

This news gradually spread throughout Daxia along with the Daxia Monthly Report.

Today, the channels for Daxia Monthly News have spread throughout Daxia along with the post stations.

And Xue Baoqin made an adjustment.

Newspapers are no longer all printed in the capital and then distributed throughout Daxia.

In this case, the printing volume is too large and it will take too long in the capital.

Secondly, the transportation cost is too high and the transportation speed is too slow.

This greatly reduces the timeliness of the newspaper, although timeliness is not a very important thing in this era.

But Xue Baoqin still made reforms.

That is, the printing points of Daxia Monthly were increased.

Xue Baoqin divided the entire Daxia into ten regions.

A separate printing division was established for each region.

Each department is responsible for printing duties in their respective regions.

In this way, transportation costs are greatly reduced.

And the speed is also greatly improved.

As for the speed at which they transmitted the information, Xue Baoqin was also reminded by Jia Huan that he raised carrier pigeons.

On flat roads, we use fast horses to deliver sample magazines.

In areas where the roads are rugged and difficult to travel, sample magazines are delivered by carrier pigeons.

This greatly increases the speed of sample publication delivery.

Therefore, this issue of the Daxia Monthly News was also rolled out across Daxia at an extremely fast speed.

When the people of Daxia heard the news, they all cheered, smiled, and ran around to tell each other.

Influenced by Confucianism, the people in the Central Plains all have a desire for great unification in their hearts.

Just like the patriotic poet Lu You of the Southern Song Dynasty, when he was dying, he was still thinking about the reunification of the motherland.

I know everything is empty when I die, but I don’t see Kyushu in my sorrow.

Wang Shibei set the Central Plains Day, and the family sacrifice never forgot to tell Nai Weng.

Isn't it the same for the people in the Central Plains?
The fall of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun has become a pain in the hearts of the people in the Central Plains.

Now that General Jia has recovered Jizhou, one of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, how can they not be ecstatic?

As for General Jia, the top scholar who won six first prizes in a row, he has been winning battles one after another since he gave up writing and took up arms.

Among the people, it is even regarded as a myth.

What General Jia is the reincarnation of Zhuge, Zifang is reborn.

The champion and the marquis are brave in all armies. They know astronomy and geography, and they can calculate eight hundred years ahead and eight hundred years to the future.

The Champion Guild can call the wind and rain, turn beans into soldiers, swallow clouds and spit out fog, communicate with the sky, and send down fire from the sky.

As the fire from heaven hit, the Qing soldiers were instantly burned to ashes and disappeared into thin air.

Storytellers from all over the country even compiled a book, starting with the auspicious signs from heaven when Jia Cong was born.

Then, until he won six prizes in a row and gave up writing to join the army, they compiled the details of every battle into an ups-and-downs and gripping story.

Moreover, these stories are extremely popular and have won the love of the general public.

There are countless versions circulating throughout the country of Daxia.

……

At this time, in Rongguo Mansion, Jia Huan was thinking over and over again, his face gloomy and uncertain.

In the end, he gritted his teeth, stomped his feet, and strode towards Jia Zheng's study in Mengpo Zhai.

Jia Huan asked for a meeting and was invited in soon.

"My son greets the master."

Seeing Jia Huan, Jia Zheng's face turned unhappy. He couldn't help asking, "You evil creature, why are you coming to my place when you can't just study hard?"

Jia Huan could not help but kneel down and said, "Master, my son is not cut out for studying. There is no point in continuing to study."

"My son wants to join the army and go to Jizhou to follow his third brother Cong to seek a bright future. I hope my father will support me."

Hearing this, Jia Zheng couldn't help but look at Jia Huan a few more times.

Their family is originally a noble family, so logically speaking, the right way to develop is to join the military.

Unfortunately, none of the sons are ambitious. Since Jia She's generation, there has not been a single ambitious son.

Now that this little guy Jia Huan can muster up the courage to develop in the army, Jia Zheng looks at him with a higher opinion of him.

Jia Zheng couldn't help but ask, "Brother Huan, the army is not like home, the rules are strict, and now is the time of war. Once the war starts, your life will be in danger at any time."

"You are at home, and you have enough food and drink. If you go to the battlefield and something happens to you, what will your aunt do?"

Jia Huan was silent for a moment, then knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "I still want to join the army and have a better future. I beg you to grant my wish, Master!"

Jia Zheng sighed and said, "Well, you have ambition, which is a good thing. I can't stop you from going forward. Just go ahead."

"But you need to be more careful when you go to the army. You must listen to your Third Brother Cong's instructions in everything. You can't act irritable like you do at home."

Hearing Jia Zheng's agreement, Jia Huan could not help but say happily, "Thank you very much, Master, for your help. I'll make a note of it."

Jia Zheng waved his hand and said, "All right, go ahead and say goodbye to your aunt."

Jia Huan kowtowed a few more times, then turned and left.

After he went to Aunt Zhao's yard and told her.

Aunt Zhao could not help but sit on the ground, burst into tears, and refused to agree no matter what.

Jia Huan tried to persuade him for a long time, but it was of no use.

Jia Huan suddenly said, "Mother, I may be able to earn you an imperial title when I go back. Don't you want an imperial title?"

Hearing this, Aunt Zhao stopped crying immediately and couldn't help saying, "Stop talking about your mother's shame. Do you think you are Cong's son?"

"If you go, your life will be in danger, how can you earn an imperial decree for me?"

Jia Huan said with a smile: "Mother doesn't believe me, but does she not believe Third Brother Cong? When we were little, weren't Third Brother Cong and I the best friends?"

"At that time, he was abused by his master and grandmother. How many guests did I invite him to? At that time, Mrs. Mei was ill, and I sent all my belongings to her."

"Third Brother Cong is a man who values ​​friendship. If I go, won't he help me? With Third Brother Cong's support, are you still afraid that I can't earn you an imperial decree?"

Aunt Zhao sobbed and said, "That's true, but I can't bear to let you go."

Jia Huan said again: "Mother, if I stay at home, it will be comfortable. But the property of the second house belongs to Brother Bao, how can I have half of it?"

"Mother, don't you plan for my future? Although I have a relationship with Third Brother Cong, if I don't do my best, how can Third Brother Cong support me?"

Hearing this, Aunt Zhao burst into tears again, but finally agreed.

Jia Huan went to say goodbye to Tanchun again.

Tanchun looked at Jia Huan and couldn't help but admire him: "Brother Huan, you have really grown up and become sensible."

"Your future will naturally be affected when you leave, but don't act like you're at home when you're away from home."

"When you are outside, you must obey Brother Cong's arrangements in everything. You must also be able to stand up for yourself and think more about everything."

"You must work hard and don't be lazy. As long as you work hard, Brother Cong will definitely not treat you unfairly."

Jia Huan couldn't help but say, "Third sister, your tone sounds like that of father."

Tanchun also laughed at these words. She raised her hand to hit him, but when she was about to hit him, she was reluctant to do so and her eyes could not help but turn red.

Jia Huan said, "Third sister, go ask Sister Lin and the others if they have anything for me to take back with me."

Hearing this, Tanchun nodded.

Then he went to find Lin Daiyu, Xue Baoqin and others and asked them if they had anything to bring over.

Lin Daiyu, Xue Baoqin and other girls were surprised to hear that Jia Huan was going to join the army, but they could not help but admire him.

They packed some things and asked Jia Huan to take them over.

Three days later, Jia Huan bid farewell to his grandmother, Jia Zheng, Lady Wang, Aunt Zhao and others.

Taking Zhao Da and three carts of carrier pigeons, he headed straight for Jizhou City.

Jia Huan's decision to join the army made Grandmother Jia couldn't help but admire him.

At first, Jia Huan looked like a burnt paper, not presentable enough.

I didn't expect that he would become so successful when he grew up.

Mrs. Wang gritted her teeth and felt so angry that her teeth itched.

This little bastard actually managed to climb up the social ladder and ran off to join that little bastard Jia Cong.

If he really makes contributions, he will surely rise up in the future.

Maybe in the future he will surpass Baoyu.

This little bastard shouldn't have been allowed to join the army.

However, ever since the fact that she had lent hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to the Wang family was revealed, her status in the Jia family has declined significantly.

However, Jia Huan wanted to join the army and asked Jia Zheng for help right away, so she had no objection.

I can only be angry in secret.

After Jia Huan left, Mei Shiming from the Mei family also knelt down in front of Mei Shouli and begged to join the army.

Mei Shouli was furious and threatened to break Mei Shiming's legs and sever their father-son relationship.

But none of these could shake Mei Shiming's determination.

In desperation, Mei Shouli had to compromise.

Next, Mei Shouli took Mei Shiming to visit Ningguo Mansion.

Even though Mei Shouli is Madam Mei's biological brother, he rarely visits her since Madam Mei moved into Ningguo Mansion.

Mrs. Mei would go to the Mei family to visit Mei Shouli when she had nothing to do.

Mei Shouli possesses the arrogant and conceited character of a scholar.

He was unwilling to come to Ningguo Mansion because he was afraid that people would say that he was greedy for the wealth of Ningguo Mansion and that people would stab him in the back.

But this time, for the sake of his son, he had to take the initiative to visit.

Mrs. Mei was very happy to see the father and son come to her house.

Mrs. May entertained them very well.

After Mei Shouli expressed his intention, Mrs. Mei also started to persuade Mei Shiming.

Her brother only had this one son, and Mrs. Mei was unwilling to let him take the risk of joining the army.

But Mei Shiming had made up his mind, so Mrs. Mei had no choice but to agree.

In fact, the reason Mei Shouli and his son came this time was just to inform Mrs. Mei.

They didn't need Mrs. Mei to write a letter of recommendation or anything like that. Mei Shiming and Jia Cong were cousins ​​and knew each other very well, so there was naturally no need for that.

Mei Shiming's dream since childhood was to go into battle and kill the enemy, so this opportunity just fulfilled his wish.

After leaving Ningguo Mansion, I went home and packed up.

The next day, Mei Shiming took two servants and headed for Jizhou City impatiently. (End of this chapter)