I'm in the Red Mansion

The Xue family, Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai were all in tears, and Xue Pan was crying even more bitterly.

Xue Pan was a man of sentimental temperament. In the book "Dream of Red Mansions", he cried bitterly because Liu Xianglian became a monk.

They also mobilized people to search for Liu Xianglian's whereabouts, but after all their efforts they still couldn't find him, so the matter was left unresolved.

And his friendship with Jia Cong is much deeper than the friendship between him and Liu Xianglian in Dream of the Red Chamber.

Therefore, it is no wonder that he burst into tears after learning that Jia Cong was in a desperate situation.

Xue Pan cried, "God doesn't bless good people. I never thought that Brother Cong would end up like this. It's really heartbreaking!"

"Why didn't God let Jia She and his ilk die for Brother Cong? Woohoo!"

Hearing this, Aunt Xue couldn't help but scold: "You evil creature who is seeking death. Brother Cong is still fine now. Why are you crying so sadly? There is no way to make people depressed."

Xue Pan burst into tears and said, "Brother Cong and I have a life-long friendship. Don't I want him to be well? But how can he survive in this desperate situation?"

"After Brother Cong dies, when I get married, I will definitely adopt a son to him, so that he won't be extinct!"

As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed. In ancient times, there were three types of unfilial behavior, and the worst of them was to have no descendants.

Xue Pan's words really lived up to their friendship.

At this time, Xue Baochai suddenly asked: "Mom, brother, what do you think, if Third Brother Cong gets food and grass, can he defend the city?"

Aunt Xue couldn't help but say: "My son, there are also 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers and horses in Jizhou City. If there is food and grass, they can be used."

"With Cong'er's ability, how could he not defend the city? But the routes for the imperial court to transport food and fodder have all been cut off by the Qing Dynasty."

"We sent grain twice, but both times the Qing Dynasty intercepted it. What can we do?"

At this time, Xue Baochai said again: "Mom, what do you think? If we raise some food and grass ourselves, take the road to Ping'an Prefecture, and turn to Jizhou City, can we save Third Brother Cong?"

The Xue family had extensive trade routes, including one through Ping'an Prefecture for smuggling.

In the book "Dream of Red Mansions", Xue Pan was once traveling on a business trip in Ping'an Prefecture. He was robbed of his belongings by bandits. He met Liu Xianglian, who helped him recover his belongings, and the two became sworn brothers.

At that time, Jia Lian met these two people when he went to Ping'an Prefecture for business.

Because of smuggling, the Xue family has their own channels.

The Qing army would intercept the grain and fodder transported by the imperial court, but would not intercept the goods of the Xue family's business.

After hearing this, Aunt Xue couldn't help but say, "My son, your idea is certainly good."

"But even if we pass through Ping'an Prefecture, what does it matter?"

"Now Jizhou City has been surrounded by the Qing army. Even if we get to the edge of the land, how can we deliver food to the city?"

"Besides, if we go, we will almost certainly risk our lives. If we encounter the Qing army, we will die."

"No one would risk his life to make this trip."

At this time, Xue Baochai suddenly said, "Mom, Third Brother Cong saved my brother's life. It was Third Brother Cong who led my Xue family to start the rouge and powder business."

"If it weren't for Third Brother Cong, our Xue family would never be where we are today. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, our Xue family can't just sit there and watch."

"Mom said that even if we transport the grain to the outside of Jizhou City, we won't be able to get into the city. So we can only do our best and leave the rest to fate."

"Mom said that no one would risk their lives to make this trip, but if you pay a lot of money, there will be people willing to go."

"Besides, my daughter is willing to make this trip in person. With my daughter around, I'm sure those guys will feel at ease."

Hearing this, Aunt Xue quickly hugged Xue Baochai and said, "My child, you must not do this. I will never allow you to put yourself in danger."

"If anything happens to you, who can I count on? Our family owes Cong a lot, but I would rather go through this myself than watch you take risks."

At this time, Xue Pan also said loudly: "Mom, sister, what are you talking about? I am the man of the family. If anyone wants to go, it should be me who goes."

"Brother Cong saved my life. Even if I die when I go, it will be my way of repaying him for saving my life."

"If I don't go, I'll be that ungrateful bastard. What's the point of living? I won't watch my sister die, so I'll go."

At this time, Xue Baochai suddenly stood up, knelt down in front of Aunt Xue, and kowtowed to her three times.

Then he said, "Mom, brother, you don't need to persuade me anymore. I am the only man in the family, shouldering the responsibility of carrying on the Xue family's bloodline. How can I take risks?"

"And my daughter's trip is not just to repay her gratitude, she also wants to fight for herself."

"My daughter is unwilling to live her life in such a muddle. If I can successfully deliver the food, I will have my reasons."

"If I were to encounter the Qing soldiers, I would kill myself. This is my fate. I shouldn't have such wishful thinking."

"This is my daughter's wish. I hope my mother and brother will fulfill it."

Aunt Xue and Xue Pan naturally understood the meaning of Xue Baochai's words.

Xue Baochai likes Jia Cong.

But due to several coincidences, she finally missed Cong Ge'er.

Now is the time of national mourning for the old empress dowager, and noble families are not allowed to get married.

But the period of national mourning for the old empress dowager soon passed.

And Xue Baochai is getting older and older, and it is time for her to find a husband.

Once I find my in-laws, I'm afraid I'll marry them right away.

They were originally from a merchant family, and Xue Baochai was seventeen years old this year, which made her an older woman in that era.

At this moment, where can I find a good in-law family that suits my needs?

Xue Baochai was unwilling to accept her fate, so she found a random husband and married him.

Therefore, she decided to take the risk and go there in person.

If she could be successfully delivered, Jia Cong, grateful for her deep affection, would probably marry her.

And if I can’t deliver it, I’m afraid I won’t be able to return alive.

After hearing this, Aunt Xue burst into tears.

Because if Xue Baochai had listened to Xue Pan earlier, she would have had many opportunities to marry Cong'er.

But I was the one who interfered time and time again, so that good things could not be accomplished.

Now Baoyatou would rather risk her life to go through this, which shows how deeply in love she is and how unwilling she is.

In this case, how could Aunt Xue not feel upset and regretful?
In other words, Xue Pan was one year older and his temper improved.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t know how to blame Aunt Xue again.

Aunt Xue and Xue Pan, mother and son, tried hard to persuade Xue Baochai, but Xue Baochai remained unmoved. She even threatened to commit suicide, so they had no choice but to agree.

In fact, the food in Xue’s shop is ready-made.

Merchants are pursuing profits, and because of the impending war, the price of grain in the capital has risen sharply, and now it is almost doubling.

As businessmen, the Xue family would naturally not miss such an opportunity.

They purchased large quantities of grain from outside and transported them to the capital.

They haven't taken any action yet. They plan to wait until food prices go up a bit before taking action.

Now there is no need to collect food everywhere.

The food they had was enough to feed more than 50,000 soldiers for a month.

As for recruiting guys, although it is a little difficult, as long as enough money is paid, there will be no shortage of people who are willing to pay more for their money than for their lives.

What's more, with the young lady following them, they felt in their hearts that the young lady must be confident and would not go to die in vain.

Therefore, the guy's problem was quickly resolved.

Next, they began to load the food into the trucks and prepared to set off.

At this time, Xue Baochai went to Ningguo Mansion again and met Lin Daiyu.

After driving out all the serving maids, Xue Baochai stated her purpose.

Xue Baochai naturally knew that Ningguo Mansion could use carrier pigeons to convey messages to Jizhou City.

The reason Xue Baochai came this time was to ask Lin Daiyu to tell Jia Cong through a carrier pigeon that the Xue family would send food.

And when they are about to reach Jizhou City, Jia Cong can lead his troops to support them.

In this case, there may be a chance to deliver food.

If she had no certainty at all, Xue Baochai would naturally not go and die in vain.

After hearing what Xue Baochai said, Lin Daiyu's expression became quite complicated.

She was grateful for Xue Baochai's courage, but she was going there at the risk of losing her life.

However, Lin Daiyu also knew in her heart that Xue Baochai's departure was definitely not just to repay her gratitude.

At the same time, it is also a difficult hurdle in love.

If she really sent the food over there, there would probably be another sister in the family.

Well, whatever, as the official position and title of a minister becomes higher and higher, he will inevitably have more sisters.

In this case, it would be better to marry Bao girl into the family. After all, we know her background well.

However, in fact, there is no shortage of food in Jizhou City.

But Lin Daiyu was not in a position to tell Xue Baochai about it.

This news must not be leaked.

Once it gets out, it will be extremely disadvantageous to my husband.

Moreover, Lin Daiyu had no way of judging whether there was really no shortage of food in Jizhou City, or whether her husband was deliberately deceiving her in order to reassure her.

Therefore, after pondering for a while, Lin Daiyu agreed.

He immediately wrote a letter and asked someone to deliver the message by carrier pigeon.

Then Lin Daiyu repeatedly reminded Xue Baochai to be careful.

If you encounter danger, it is better to give up than to take risks.

This is also why Lin Daiyu couldn't say openly that there was actually no shortage of food in Jizhou City. She could only say this much.

But Xue Baochai felt that Lin Daiyu was truly doing this for her own good.

She felt more grateful in her heart.

She couldn't help but bow and said, "Thank you, sister."

Lin Daiyu hurriedly helped her up and said, "Sister, what are you doing? We are sisters, why do we have to do this?"

After the two girls talked for a while, Xue Baochai stood up and said goodbye.

On the second day, Xue Baochai changed into a scholar's attire, disguised herself as a man, and quietly set out with the grain team.

Of course, the grain carts were camouflaged, and from the outside they looked like they were transporting cloth.

After all, at this time when food prices are rising sharply, if people find out that they are transporting a large amount of food, there will inevitably be more trouble.

But Xue Baochai is not a spoiled girl.

She came from a merchant family, although she was not like Xue Baoqin, who had traveled all over Daxia.

But Xue Baochai also went out.

However, this time the road was to Jizhou City, and this road was much more difficult than the ones she had taken in the past.

Needless to say, the journey was bumpy.

Xue Baochai never complained about being tired.

She even urged the convoy to go faster and faster.

There is a food shortage in Jizhou City. I don’t know how many days it can last.

If she arrived one day earlier, Third Brother Cong would have a better chance of survival.

That being the case, how could she dare to slack off?
Therefore, they traveled very fast along the way.

Even the guys at the bottom began to feel overwhelmed, let alone Xue Baochai, the delicate and delicate young lady.

But Xue Baochai still gritted her teeth and persisted, even if she only had one breath left, she would deliver the food as soon as possible.

Counting the days, it will only take a few days to reach Ping'an Prefecture.

Until then, they are safe.

Because of the Chamber of Commerce's cover, no one would come to intercept them. But after leaving Ping'an Prefecture, things were different. Next, they were very likely to encounter the Qing army.

Now, Xue Baochai could only hope to arrive safely outside the city of Jizhou.

On this day, Jia Cong received a letter from Lin Daiyu in Jizhou City.

When he saw that Xue Baochai had traveled thousands of miles to transport a large amount of grain carrying dozens of carts.

Jia Cong felt helpless and moved.

Unfortunately, there was no shortage of food in Jizhou City.

There was no reason for her to take the risk and deliver food.

The same is true for being moved.

She came here at the risk of her life.

Jia Cong could naturally feel her deep affection.

In the book "Dream of Red Mansions", the Xue family always wanted Xue Baochai to marry into the Jia family.

But judging from the details between the lines, Xue Baochai actually did not like Jia Baoyu.

At a night banquet, Xue Baochai drew a peony lot with the words "most beautiful among all the flowers" written on it, and below it was a poem: Even if she is heartless, she is still moving.

In fact, it also implies that Xue Baochai is not attracted to Jia Baoyu.

Even though she is not moved, she is still so charming.

And now, she was actually risking her life to deliver food and fodder in person.

Jia Cong himself would not believe that she was not deeply in love with him.

But this also moved Jia Cong.

The grain team can't move faster.

I think it will take some time to get out of Jizhou city.

Jia Cong has already started trying to find ways to notify Liu Xianglian and ask him to go and meet Xue Baochai.

In the past few days, the Qing Dynasty's siege on the city has become more intense.

Because they had been besieging the city for more than twenty days.

Gestai concluded that the food supply in Jizhou City must have been cut off.

Therefore, Geste intensified the siege.

He was forcing Jia Cong to either surrender or abandon the city and flee, carving out a bloody path.

However, Geste deliberately exposed his flaws, and the military strength in the south of the city was very weak.

In fact, Geste set up a tight net here.

As long as Jia Cong dares to break through from here, he will surely fall into numerous ambushes.

Even if Jia Cong broke through from the other three cities, his fate would not be much better.

After all, most of them are cavalry with super mobility.

Able to surround the Xia Army in a very short time.

Gestai felt that within a few days, the Xia army would collapse and break through automatically.

Little did they know that Jia Cong was so happy right now, how could he collapse?
It is true that Geste strengthened the siege force, but Geste did not intend to actually attack the city, he just increased the pressure.

However, there was no shortage of supplies for defending Jizhou City.

Under such circumstances, more Qing troops were killed in Jizhou City every day, constantly consuming the Qing army's manpower.

Although the Xia army also suffered casualties, the ratio of casualties between the two sides was extremely different.

And there are more and more medical soldiers in Jizhou City.

Even the doctors and apprentices all over the city temporarily served as medical soldiers.

In addition, because Jia Cong had anti-inflammatory and antipyretic drugs, the death rate among the seriously injured in Xia Jun was extremely low.

As for minor injuries, they can return to the battlefield after three to five days or seven to eight days of recuperation at most.

Under such circumstances, how could the morale in Jizhou City be low?
In fact, their enthusiasm was growing stronger and stronger, and they couldn't wait to have a thrilling battle with the Qing army.

And vaguely, Geste also sensed that something was wrong.

As the most powerful general of the Qing Dynasty, Geste has experienced hundreds of battles.

And he is not just brave.

According to his calculations, the food supply in Jizhou City should have been cut off.

However, the morale of the defenders in Jizhou City never declined.

This is totally wrong.

There are roughly two reasons why this happens.

One is that there has always been sufficient food and grass in Jizhou City. The previous news of food and grass shortage in Jizhou City was false news deliberately released by Jizhou City, and they were all deceived.

The second possibility is that the soldiers in Jizhou City have become dead soldiers.

They had already decided to live and die with Jizhou City. They had already run out of food and had even used the people in the city as food fodder.

If they want to capture Jizhou City, they have to kill the last of them.

And this is the situation that Geste least wants to see.

Because this would inevitably bring heavy losses to their army, possibly even the loss of 80,000 or 90,000 people.

However, Geste judged that the situation in Jizhou City was not very much like the second case, but more like the first case.

Next, Geste observed carefully for a few more days.

Finally, I vaguely realized that there had never been a shortage of food in Jizhou City.

This made Geste's face look ugly.

Because if that were the case, then in the end, he would have no choice but to storm the city of Jizhou.

A violent attack is undoubtedly the way that incurs the greatest losses.

And they are still here, having wasted too much time.

This time, the Qing Dynasty almost mobilized the entire country to launch an attack.

Only success is allowed, failure is not allowed.

Jizhou City must be captured.

Gerstadt was not going to delay any longer.

He prepared to launch a fierce attack on the city the next day.

We must capture Jizhou City within five days!

On the second day, the Qing army assembled.

Jia Cong stood on the city wall with a solemn expression.

The Qing Dynasty is going to attack the city with all its might!
Next, the two sides will launch a fierce offensive and defensive battle.

As for myself, I have to delay as much as possible.

If we want to allow the Qing army to approach the border, we must gather at least 50,000 soldiers and horses under the city walls.

Then, you can use grenades.

After using grenades, although it may not be possible to wipe out all the enemies under the city wall, at least 20,000 to 30,000 people will be wiped out.

And the next step is to take advantage of the situation and pursue!
Together with more than a thousand cavalrymen led by Liu Xianglian who remained outside, they launched a counterattack.

Yes, from the very beginning, Jia Cong never thought of just taking the beating without fighting back.

Although there was a big disparity in the number of people on both sides, even if the Qing side lost 20,000 or 30,000 people, their number was still more than twice theirs.

Fighting back seems to be a dead end.

But during these twenty days, they produced a large number of grenades.

With so many grenades, Jia Cong believed that he would soon defeat them.

……

On the second day, the Qing side indeed launched a fierce attack.

At the very beginning, the Qing Dynasty mobilized more than 20,000 soldiers to attack the city.

Among them, 10,000 archers were stationed outside the city, continuously providing suppressive firepower.

The remaining 10,000-plus soldiers carried siege ladders and placed them on the city wall. Teams of soldiers climbed up quickly.

The Daxia soldiers on the city wall continued to pour stones, rolling logs, boiling gold juice, boiling water, etc.

The archers continued to shoot.

In terms of numbers, the Xia army still has the upper hand.

The casualties on both sides were heavy.

However, because the Xia army had an absolute geographical advantage, their casualties were naturally much less than those of the Qing Dynasty.

At this time, it was not just the soldiers who participated in the battle.

The people in the city also participated.

After a brief training, they used wooden boards as shields, and two people carried them and poured boiling water directly down the siege ladder.

With the participation of the people, the defense force was greatly enhanced.

Jia Cong, on the other hand, used a bow and arrow to shoot the Qing archers below almost non-stop.

His archery skills have reached the point where there is no further improvement.

Without any aiming, each arrow can take down an enemy archer.

And this time, Jia Cong changed his previous style and did not shoot the enemy.

Instead, he chose to shoot through his enemy's lungs.

In this way, they can lose their combat effectiveness and avoid losing their lives in a short period of time.

These seriously injured archers fell to the ground, wailing in pain.

In just half an hour, Jia Cong alone shot and injured two or three hundred Qing archers.

On the Qing side, people were injured and they had to provide rescue.

Because if we turn a blind eye to the wounded, it will discourage other soldiers.

But to treat the wounded, more manpower is needed.

Moreover, these seriously injured people still need medical treatment after being rescued.

Therefore, Jia Cong's behavior of only shooting and injuring but not killing would instead involve more manpower of the Qing army.

However, these injured Qing soldiers could not be rescued. Even if a few of them were strong enough, they would not be able to go to the battlefield again.

Therefore, Jia Cong's method gave the Qing general Geste a headache.

Within an hour, the Qing side suffered more than 2,000 casualties.

The number of casualties is extremely heavy.

Geste frowned and had to call off the attack.

The Jizhou City is indeed a tough nut to crack.

Gerstad couldn't help but frown.

Now, they must break the city as soon as possible.

They can no longer adopt this kind of withdrawal and addition tactic, otherwise their casualties will become even more severe.

Geste decided to send a large army forward starting from the afternoon.

We have at most three days to capture Jizhou City, regardless of casualties. (End of this chapter)