Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 61: Bao Yu's delaying tactic (Seeking follow-up reading)
Seeing the Chaohu navy retreat from the shore, the three people on the city wall couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Subutai immediately took the yamen runners back to his home outside the city to count the losses.

Qin Li was worried that he had not yet taken down the city defenses. If Lu Jin attacked now, he would have lost the merit of surrendering the city.

Yao Zhaoxian was glad that he had just arrived from outside the city and his family were all in the city, so he did not end up like Su Butai.

However, he was still quite apprehensive about the fact that Subutai asked Qin Li to recruit soldiers to defend the city. Yao Zhaoxian was not without a solution. He immediately called his attendant, wrote a handwritten letter for help, and asked the attendant to immediately go to Kang Maocai in Heyang for help.

Even if Qin Li recruited soldiers into the city, as long as he could call for reinforcements from Kang Maocai, Qin Li would not be the only one in power.

He didn't think that Qin Li would join the rebels. He just thought that Qin Li wanted to follow the example of Zhu Liangzu and Kang Maocai, recruit soldiers to suppress the rebels, gain military merit, and thus be rewarded with a high official position by the court.

But how could Yao Zhaoxian be willing to let him take all the military merits? He had passed the imperial examination with great difficulty, and you, Qin Li, a country landlord, also wanted to be an official casually? Then wouldn't my imperial examination be in vain?

Watching his long-time attendant leave with the letter, Yao Zhaoxian looked at Qin Li hatefully. He felt that this chief clerk was competing with him for power.

But he himself could not have imagined that there was a rebel spy around Kang Maocai.

In Heyang City, Bao Yu was helping Kang Maocai write a memorial to the court.

Luzhou, Lu'an, and Liangxian were conquered by the rebels. This fact could not be concealed at all. Even if Kang Maocai himself did not say it, others would report it to the court. It would be better for him to make it clear himself.

Moreover, he has now beheaded 'Zhao Pusheng, the chief villain of Chaohu', and it is time to report the victory to the court!
Bao Yu wrote a letter blaming Zuo Junbi for the loss of Luzhou, and Zhu Liangzu was blamed for his betrayal and open collusion with the enemy, handing Lu'an over.

Only I, Kang Maocai, the envoy of Huaixi, was a loyal minister of the imperial court. I braved the arrows and stones, and my head was almost shot through, and several teeth were shot out. I still led the army fearlessly to fight Zhao Pusheng, and finally cut off his head and beheaded more than 2,000 rebels, eliminating a great threat to the imperial court. This is a great victory!!!
However, his defense area is too large, and the defense of the river is the most important, so he does not have many land forces. He hopes that the court will allow him to expand the army and transfer some food and fodder from Jiangnan. I will wipe out the bandits in Luzhou as soon as possible and not add any burden to the court.

After the draft was written, I gave it to Kang Maocai for review.

Kang Maocai has already asked a doctor to sew up the wound on his face.

In fact, surgery in ancient Chinese medicine has never been cut off, because some injuries cannot be cured by decoctions alone, so the trauma department has always existed. In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a successful case of an open abdominal injury with the intestines exposed, which was stuffed back by the doctor and sutured with thread made from mulberry root bark.

However, Ma Fei San was indeed lost. If Lu Jin knew about this, he would probably help them develop an inhalation anesthetic such as ether to promote the development of traditional Chinese medicine surgery.

Even if you are not doing surgery, ether is indispensable because ether solvents have a wide range of industrial uses, such as in the dissolution and granulation of celluloid, photographic film, and bullet propellant.

But since ether is obtained by dry distillation of concentrated sulfuric acid and alcohol, he certainly wouldn't try it now.

In wartime, not to mention alcohol, even wine was a controlled item with restricted production. If there was grain that could feed a few more people, who would use the grain to make wine?

Even Zhu Yuanzhang briefly issued a ban on alcohol in history, so how could Lu Jin not know this?

Kang Maocai sewed up the wounds on his face, but the wounds in his mouth were difficult to sew up. He also had several teeth shot out and his tongue was scratched. Fortunately, the oral cavity has the function of sterilization and self-healing.

But he had severe mouth pain these days and could only drink cold porridge for meals. He also couldn't sleep well because of the pain.

Insomnia and difficulty eating caused him to lose weight visibly.

After reading the draft memorial sent by Bao Yu, Kang Maocai nodded with satisfaction, then frowned again and wrote on a piece of paper to ask Bao Yu for advice.

After submitting this memorial and giving Zhao Pusheng's head, the court should not blame him in the short term. But how can he wipe out Lu Jin within a time limit?

Bao Yu said immediately after reading it.

"Your Excellency, do not worry. I heard that Lu Jin has not yet married and is still young. He will surely become complacent after winning so many battles. We only need to wait for him to reveal his flaws and then we can inflict heavy damage on him!"

Kang Maocai nodded again and wrote on the paper that he wanted Bao Yu to help him keep an eye on Lu Jin's every move and report to him immediately if there was any opportunity or strategy. Bao Yu quickly agreed.

Just as he was about to leave, a guard came to report that the servant of the magistrate of Chao County wanted to see Kang Maocai and seek help.

Kang Maocai immediately asked the guards to bring the person in. After reading the letter, he handed it to Bao Yu and wrote something else and asked.

"Now that Lu Jin has captured three cities, if he is allowed to occupy Chao County, it will be difficult to explain to the court."

After reading the letter for help, Bao Yu raised his eyebrows and quickly gave advice to Kang Maocai.

"Your duty is to defend the river. The loss of Luzhou has nothing to do with you. Now that Lu Jin is aggressive and his army is at its peak, you have to divide your troops to guard various places. You must not continue to divide your troops to guard Chao County at this time.

"Then Chao County can just let them recruit soldiers to defend the city. Your Excellency must not send reinforcements. Not only can you not split the troops, you must also transfer the 2,000 troops from Taiping Prefecture on the other side of the river to concentrate the forces and form a fist."

Bao Yu made a fist gesture and whispered in Kang Maocai's ear.

"It doesn't matter if Chao County is lost. Luzhou is too far from Heyang. If you lead your army on a long expedition, Lu Jin will wait for us to tire out. There will be no good results. He can also send his navy to intercept our food supply.

“But if he occupies Chao County, which is only 40 miles away from me and can be reached in one day, I can then continuously attract his troops to Chao County.

"He is young and successful. If he takes over Chao County, he will be even more arrogant. He will be vulnerable by then. We don't need to go on a long expedition. We can just set up ambushes around him like we did this time to inflict heavy damage on him.

"By then, you will not only be able to gain the merit of killing the bandits, but you may also be able to conquer Chao County. In this case, wouldn't it be better to divide the troops and send reinforcements?"

Kang Maocai's eyes lit up when he heard this. He heard that Lu Jin was reinforcing the city wall with work-for-relief. If he went on an expedition two or three hundred miles away, he would definitely not end up well. However, Chao County was close to him. If Lu Jin pushed the front line over, he would have the final say on how to fight.

So Kang Maocai nodded immediately, waved to the messenger, and asked Bao Yu to send him away.

Bao Yu said immediately.

"Your Excellency has been entrusted with a great responsibility by the imperial court. The defense of the river is your top priority. Now the Chaohu thieves are close to the Yangtze River. My Excellency feels that he does not have enough troops to defend the river. How can he have extra troops to help you defend the city? Let your county magistrate recruit soldiers himself."

The next day, Yao Zhaoxian was helpless when he received the reply letter refusing to send troops. How could he, a Shanxi native and an outsider county magistrate, fight against the local chief clerk? Without Qin Li, he could not even collect grain taxes. Without grain, how could he recruit soldiers?

Even if he could really recruit soldiers, it is still unclear whether these soldiers would listen to him.

Just when Yao Zhaoxian was worried, Qin Li had already returned home and immediately asked his two brothers to distribute all their stored food and go to the countryside to recruit soldiers, aiming to recruit at least two thousand.

"Can you recruit so many people?"

Qin Zhao immediately patted his chest and said.

"Brother, don't worry. Apart from anything else, Brother Jin, who once came to our house to learn martial arts from me, is organizing the villagers to build a stronghold for self-defense. He alone has three to four hundred people. I just need to recruit him and contact a few friends, and I can easily gather a thousand soldiers."

Qin Li nodded after hearing this and said, "Go ahead. Don't make this public for now. Wait until we take down the city defenses and listen to my orders. Whether our family can survive and bring honor to our family depends on this one move."

Qin Zhao and Qin Rong immediately clasped their fists and said, "Brother, don't worry, we two will save you a lot."

Watching the two brothers leave, Qin Li nodded with satisfaction.

The whole country is in chaos, and the chief clerk of the imperial court actually wants to surrender the city to the rebels?
Is this outrageous? Of course not.

Because not only Qin Li, the chief clerk of Chao County, but also Li Xu, the magistrate of Dingyuan County next to him, thought so.

Li Xu was not only the magistrate of Dingyuan County, he also had two brothers, one named Li Shanchang and the other named Li Cunyi.
(End of this chapter)