The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 899 The Great Jurchen People

Several days later.

Shanhaiguan.

The soldiers stationed on the city gate were terrified when they saw a large number of government troops approaching from the road behind them.

They quickly reported it, only to find that their superiors didn't seem to be in a hurry.

Upon receiving the news, Sun Gui, the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan, rushed out of the city gate to greet him.

It turned out that he had received a secret order from the Ministry of War several days earlier, saying that the Duke of Rongguo would soon lead a large army to conquer Liaodong, and he was ordered to cooperate.

He also specifically instructed that this matter should not be publicized, so apart from him and a few deputy generals and brigadier generals, no one else knew about it.

When the Jurchen invaded, General Huo Zhao, who was in charge of protecting the country, was killed in battle.

Such a situation is enough to make every soldier of the Great Wei feel ashamed.

Given the current situation, it is respectable that a prominent figure like Jia Lian would personally lead the expedition.

Furthermore, Sun Gui also wanted to see for himself what this influential figure in the capital looked like.

Therefore, upon learning the news, Sun Gui immediately led several deputy generals to personally greet and pay their respects.

However, they did not see Jia Lian; instead, it was Xie Jun, the commander of the artillery battalion, who came forward to make the handover.

"I hope you generals will understand that the Duke of Rongguo has recently caught a cold and is unable to meet with you."

"Generals, if you have any instructions, please feel free to inform me, and I will relay them."

"This……"

Sun Gui and the others looked at each other, thinking that even if the military situation was urgent, surely they wouldn't even have time to see them?

They were all officials, and they simply ignored the typical excuse of catching a cold.

Although they were somewhat dissatisfied, firstly, Jia Lian's status was higher than theirs, and secondly, they had seen that Jia Lian's army was disciplined and disciplined, and that they had not stopped marching toward Shanhaiguan during the time they were negotiating.

So he didn't say much, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then ordered the gate to be opened and people allowed to pass.

Jie Jun apologized again and jogged to Jia Lian's carriage.

"General Jia, the city gate has been opened, you can leave now."

"Ah."

A deep, steady voice came from inside the carriage.

If anyone who had seen Jia Lian before were here, they would most likely recognize that this was not Jia Lian's voice.

"Let's go, let's not linger here."

After we clear the border, we'll find a suitable place to camp and rest.

Inside the carriage, Jia Yu finished giving his instructions and then said no more.

He secretly thought to himself that if everything was going smoothly for Jia Lian, they should have already sailed into Liaodong Bay.

When they heard Jia Lian's overall plan in Tianjin, all the high-ranking generals, including him, were shocked by Jia Lian's strategy of "openly repairing the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang pass"!
And he, Jia Lian's cousin... well, he might not be considered a cousin anymore now.

In short, Jia Yu became an important part of Jia Lian's plan.

He is the obvious plank road!
Jia Lian ordered him to lead the main force of the army towards Liaocheng in his name, and to cooperate with the Liaocheng garrison to try to contain the main force of the Jurchens.

Jia Lian himself led a separate force, traveling by sea through Liaodong Bay, straight into the heart of the Jurchens!

Jia Lian also had good intentions.

In order to ensure that he could firmly implement his strategy, Jia Lian gave him a great deal of autonomy.

After Jia Lian stepped down as commander of the firearms battalion and Su Keguang took over, Jia Yu naturally became a captain, second only to Su Keguang in the firearms battalion.

The main force he led this time, though called the main force, actually only numbered over eight thousand men.

These eight thousand men included one thousand artillerymen, three thousand officers and soldiers transferred to him by Jia Lian from the Tianjin naval forces, and four thousand elite troops under the command of the Chang'an military governor.

The artillery and naval personnel go without saying.

The original number of Chang'an soldiers was 4,000, but there were originally 5,000.

Yun Guang obeyed the imperial decree, and the commander of the 5,000 troops he dispatched was only a captain.

Even so, Jia Lian was still not at ease, so he let the captain lead a thousand men to follow him, and handed over the remaining four thousand men to him to command.

Su Keguang was the same; he too was brought to Jia Lian's side.

Therefore, these eight thousand men are now under his command. And the reason these eight thousand men dare to be called the main force is naturally due to the hundreds of light and heavy artillery pieces they possess!

Jia Yu knew very well how much Jia Lian trusted him to entrust him with this important task.

He knew even better that, compared to Jia Lian's side, his main force was almost completely safe.

As long as he doesn't act recklessly like Huo Zhao, or lose his composure.

With the Jurchens' meager military strength, there was no way they would dare to challenge the might of these hundred cannons.

Therefore, he was somewhat worried about Jia Lian.

It remains to be seen whether Jia Lian will be able to successfully infiltrate the heart of the Jurchens according to his plan.

……

In Liaodong, in a Jurchen military camp no more than two hundred li from Liaocheng.

Several tribal chiefs (Bele) are meeting.

"These damned Tatars, they promised to march south with us to attack the Wei Kingdom."

Now we have successfully marched south and achieved brilliant results, yet they are still holding back!

They're all a bunch of cowardly and treacherous villains who want us to fight with the Wei people so they can reap the benefits. What wishful thinking!

Inside the large tent, a burly man with a full beard tore into roasted mutton while muttering in the Jurchen language.

The other leaders also expressed considerable dissatisfaction with this.

"Therefore, the decision of the Grand Prince was wise."

The Tatars want to wait until we are both exhausted, and then reap the benefits.

How could we, the great Jurchen people, do as they wish?
Taking advantage of the fact that the Wei people were terrified of us, we should propose peace talks. This would not only prevent us from being outmaneuvered by the Tatars, but also allow us to use up the money, food, women, and land we had gained during this campaign.

These people from Wei are truly foolish; they have such good land, yet they don't know how to use it for grazing.

If we can conquer the fertile lands of Liaodong, and use their women to produce more Jurchen warriors...

In this way, in less than twenty years, the number of my Jurchen people will surely double.

At that time, whether they are Wei people or Tatars, they will all grovel beneath the hooves of my Jurchen warriors!

The Jurchens were very confident and proud.

Indeed, historically, they had defeated the Han Chinese to the south and the Mongols to the west with a very small population, leaving them crying out in despair.

Now, even if all the tribes of Jianzhou unite, their total population is less than one-tenth of that of the Tatars, let alone compared to the Wei people to the south.

Even so, they were able to defeat the Wei people, who were known as the Celestial Empire, so badly that it made them feel great.

This is enough to prove that the Jurchens were a great people. Their warriors were unmatched.

At this moment, someone suddenly spoke up and asked the alliance leader at the head of the table, "Your Excellency, General Murhaji has been in the capital of Wei for so many days now. I wonder how the peace talks and alliance negotiations are going?"

Upon hearing this question, the noise inside the tent subsided somewhat.

Sitting at the head of the table, the old man Jue Luo Chang'an, who was eating mutton with a smile, wiped his hands and said, "The other day, Murhaji sent me a message saying that the emperor of Wei Kingdom obviously also wants to negotiate peace with us."

However, considering themselves a superior nation, they were unwilling to lose face by being defeated and losing territory, so the peace negotiations were delayed.

However, Murhazi said he would find a way to get the Wei people to agree to our alliance request.

Furthermore, Murhaji said that if possible, we should find another opportunity in Liaodong to teach the Wei people a lesson and thoroughly hurt them.

That should make them more willing to agree.

One of the leaders laughed and said, "This is easy! I will lead a group of men to find the estates of several dozen Han people, kill all their people, and they will obediently follow orders."

Jue Luo Chang'an frowned and said, "He Shuo Mu, all you know is how to kill people."

Putting aside the fact that Liaodong is a vast and sparsely populated area, it's simply impossible to find many Wei people for you to kill in a short period of time.

Now that the Wei people have almost completely taken over half of Liaodong, those Wei people will become our horse herders in the future.

If you kill them all, who will feed our cattle, sheep, and warhorses in the future?
Stop thinking about fighting and killing all the time.

Although Heshuo Mu disliked Jue Luo Chang'an's superior-like attitude of lecturing subordinates.

But since the Wanyan tribe was one of the largest tribes of the Jurchen people, with nearly 10,000 men and thousands of warhorses, it was not someone he dared to offend.

So he could only obediently shut up.

　I really can't understand how "ploughing the court and sweeping the caves" became a term used in the censorship process.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)