The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 906 Victory in the first battle
The disparity in troop strength was enormous, and the attack was carried out amidst the chaos.

This is destined to be an unfair battle.

Moreover, this battle was far more brutal than previous wars of annexation between Jurchen tribes.

Seeing all the tribal warriors being slaughtered en masse, the other Jurchens could no longer muster the courage to resist.

Many Jurchens who were not originally part of the fighting force chose to lay down their weapons.

They thought it was just an ordinary war.

Since they couldn't hold out and they lost, laying down their weapons was their best option.

On the grasslands, it was common for large tribes to annex smaller ones.

Many people do not see anything wrong with surrendering.

However, they ultimately failed to grasp the true nature of this war.

Since these Han soldiers were able to bypass their main force and attack this place, how could they have come here to take them in?

Thus, all the Jurchens discovered with despair that whether they laid down their weapons or continued to resist, they would be cruelly shot and hacked to death by the ruthless Han army.

When they tried to take up arms again to fight back, they were no longer able to organize any effective resistance.

The battle was essentially over in just one hour.

Only rows of Han soldiers remained, sweeping through the city of Suk.

In a rather luxurious fortress in the center of Suk City, Jia Lian led his personal guards in on horseback.

He ignored the blood and corpses scattered along the road and went straight to the courtyard.

Unexpectedly, inside the earthen fortress outside, there was a courtyard in the style of a Han dynasty house.

Jia Lian knew that this was the residence of the so-called leader of the Suk tribe, and he unceremoniously occupied the place as his temporary central command tent.

At this moment, the armored soldiers had slaughtered all the men in the fortress, leaving only some women and girls, who were all brought over to be seen by Jia Lian.

Jia Lian glanced at it; although there were many, dozens of them.

However, it must be said that the taste of this Suk tribe leader is really not good.

Those big, burly men, with broad shoulders and thick waists, are also kept in the mansion?

Did the Jurchens really have no beautiful women?
That shouldn't be the case. If there weren't any beautiful women, how did Da Yu'er come about?

After looking around carefully, apart from a few girls who were fairly pretty, the other women, even if they were good-looking, were still not satisfactory.

I could spot a few women who looked like Han Chinese, and they were generally quite good-looking.

Jia Lian beckoned them forward.

At this moment, the women realized the situation and knelt down, begging for mercy: "General, spare our lives. We are all people of Wei, and we were all captured by the Jurchens. We did not willingly serve the Jurchens. We hope that the General will understand."

Jia Lian said, “You need not worry. I am the Grand General Who Pacifies Liaodong, appointed by the imperial court, and I have been ordered to lead the royal army to annihilate the bandits.”

Since you are Han women who have been abducted here, I will naturally take you back to Han territory.

From this day forward, you shall cooperate with the soldiers under my command to manage these Jurchen women.

"Once you return to Han territory, you will regain your freedom."

The commander under Feng Ziying was right. Jia Lian brought over a hundred warships on this trip, not only to test the performance of the new warships, but also to facilitate the transport of all the supplies looted from the Jurchens back to the capital.

When he read history before, he couldn't understand why it was always foreign tribes that came to plunder our Han people.

Why can't our Han people turn the tables and plunder the barbarians to nourish themselves?

Even worse, even if the royal army wins, for the sake of so-called great power etiquette and so-called border stability, it is still necessary to spend money and grain to appease those foreign tribes.
Jia Lian really wanted to rip the heads off the civil officials who came up with these strategies and use them as footballs.

If he achieves a complete victory on this mission, he will surely dig up the entire Jianzhou, leaving no stone unturned, and take all valuables, including people and livestock, back to the Central Plains.

Several Han women were relieved to hear that they would not only be spared death but could also assist the Han army in managing the Jurchen women, and they all thanked Jia Lian for his kindness.

Jia Lian didn't bother to say anything more to them and ordered the guards to take all the women away and keep them under guard.

The plan was to wait until all the food, valuables, and women in the city were looted before sending them back to the border to be loaded onto ships.

After the women left, the garrison commander reported: "General, in addition to these women, we also captured some Han Chinese scholars and servants. We don't know what to do with them."

Jia Lian frowned upon hearing this.

Jia Lian knew that some Han Chinese had surrendered to the Jurchens in exchange for wealth and status.

Although many of them were initially captured, since they chose to work for the Jurchens, there is nothing to forgive them for.

“Select one or two to act as guides, and kill the rest as soon as they are captured and are free.”

Under normal circumstances, Jia Lian might not have minded sparing these people's lives and reforming them.

But he doesn't have the time or the manpower to look after it now.

Therefore, killing him is simple and can also establish the style of the army's subsequent actions.

Before long, several commanders brought the battle report.

"Reporting to the General, in this battle our army suffered a total of 172 dead and 45 seriously wounded."

A total of 217 people were killed or injured.

As for the number of enemies killed...

Because we cannot completely distinguish between the Jurchen soldiers and ordinary poor people, we cannot make specific distinctions.

According to incomplete statistics, a total of more than 800 adult males were killed, and the remaining members totaled more than 1,000.

A total of over 1,800 people were beheaded.

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian was slightly dissatisfied but also somewhat satisfied.

Despite the meticulous planning of the surprise attack, and with all sides relying on the advantage of flintlock muskets, the casualty ratio was still only eight to one.

If they were all Jurchen soldiers, that would be fine, but Jia Lian knew that even among those eight hundred men, not all of them were necessarily the so-called Jurchen warriors.

The remaining thousand Jurchen heads were even fewer, consisting mainly of the elderly, women, and children.

In other words, the number of Jurchen soldiers who were actually beheaded in this battle was probably around five or six hundred.

Based on this calculation, the casualty ratio has reached an astonishing two to three to one.

No wonder they are the nation that later ruled over hundreds of millions of people in the Central Plains with only a few hundred thousand.

Their early combat capabilities were truly impressive.

Although dissatisfied, Jia Lian did not intend to be harsh.

After all, this is the other side's territory, and it's inevitable that some street fighting will break out when our own troops rush in.

In street fighting, no matter how careful they were or how powerful their muskets were, they were still vulnerable to ambushes and casualties by Jurchens.

So Jia Lian skipped over that and asked, "How was the harvest?"

"Reporting to the general, the battle has just ended, and the remaining numbers are still being tallied. However, it is estimated that there are five or six hundred young Jurchen women and girls still alive."

Apart from the initial group, which numbered less than a hundred, who escaped from Suk City on horseback, all the other Jurchens were executed.

As for the money, grain, and livestock in the city, they were numerous and scattered in various places.

Given our limited manpower, it will likely take at least another day to fully collect and tally the items.

Jia Lian nodded and said, "In that case, the army will rest here for a day. Tomorrow morning, regardless of whether we have completely plundered the territory, the army must set off immediately and not give the Jurchens any chance to encircle and annihilate us."

"I hereby order all units not to slacken their efforts and to speed up the progress. Tonight, I would have prepared a simple feast here to celebrate the victory with all the soldiers."

"Yes!"

The generals left happily.

For a general, what could be more joyful than winning a great victory and having everyone sit together to drink celebratory wine?

After all the tasks were arranged, Jia Lian felt a little tired and went to his private quarters to rest.

Sisters Aqi and Aqin came in to guard.

Having followed Jia Lian for so many years, they already knew the established routine of when they needed to leave and when they needed constant, close protection.

Although this place has been cleared by the soldiers, it is still the lair of the bandit leader. Who knows if there are any survivors lying in ambush here, waiting for an opportunity to assassinate Jia Lian.

Seeing Jia Lian resting with his eyes closed, Aqin gave her sister a look, then walked over and massaged Jia Lian's shoulders.

Jia Lian enjoyed the moment for a while, and seeing that she remained silent, he took her hand, pulled her over, and sat her in his lap: "Do you think I'm being too cruel?"

Jia Lian had already noticed that even Aqin hadn't said much along the way.

He could easily guess what the two women were thinking.

After all, they were technically a different race, and Jia Lian's cruel treatment of them naturally made them think a lot.

Sure enough, when Jia Lian took the initiative to speak, Aqin stopped holding back and asked with some concern, "If you lead troops to conquer the Mongols in the north in the future, will you also implement such a policy?"

Although the tribe of the Aqin sisters was largely destroyed by the Tatars.

But ultimately, they are also Mongolians.

How could they bear to see their compatriots being slaughtered like this, especially by the very people they respected most?

Fortunately, Jia Lian shook his head and said, "No."

"Why? Aren't the Tatars just like the Jurchens, a major threat to the Great Wei?"

Jia Lian embraced the beauty and laughed, "Although the Tatars and the Jurchens are both opposed to the Great Wei,..."

However, the Tatars and the Jurchens were ultimately different.

First, although the Tatars and the Great Wei had a feud, it was merely a conflict between states, and it was difficult to determine who was right and who was wrong.

The Jurchens, who were initially subordinate to our Great Wei, broke with the court and repeatedly harmed the people of Liaodong. Their actions were even more cruel than those of the Tatars.

Secondly, the northern steppes where the Tatars lived and the Jianzhou where the Jurchens lived were ultimately different.

Jianzhou was a tiny place, and the Jurchen population was less than 100,000.

The northern steppe where the Tatars were located was not only much larger than the Jianzhou, but its population was also more than ten times that of the Jianzhou Jurchens.

Under such circumstances, even if I wanted to implement a policy of "plundering and sweeping away the enemy's strongholds" against the Tatars, it would probably not be feasible.

It serves no purpose other than to exacerbate the deep-seated hatred between the two ethnic groups.

Even in the most difficult circumstances, they could choose to flee further north to Siberia or even to the western desert.

Therefore, the Mongols cannot be completely exterminated, and I will not do such a pointless thing.

Upon hearing this, Aqi and Aqin breathed a sigh of relief.

Although they didn't know what 'Siberia' was, they knew that Jia Lian wouldn't treat the Mongols the same way he treated the Jurchens, slaughtering them indiscriminately regardless of age or gender, and that was enough for them.

As for other things, they don't care about them or bother with them.

The war and conflicts of interest between the two nations cannot be explained in just a few words.

They are now Jia Lian's people, and everything they do should be based on Jia Lian's interests.

Seeing their obvious expressions, Jia Lian couldn't help but laugh and say, "You two are worrying unnecessarily."

When I met you two, wasn't it during a battle with the Tatars?
"Have you seen me carry out this extermination policy against the Tatars? And yet you dare to doubt me!"

Ah Qin said coquettishly, "Alright, I was wrong to blame you, Master. How will you punish me?"

Jia Lian remained silent.

Since he had explicitly forbidden his soldiers from engaging in adultery, he naturally wouldn't do anything with the Aqi sisters during the march, lest he be caught and damage his prestige as a great general.

So, he's been holding it in for a long time, you know.

At this time, this woman is stirring up trouble; isn't she taking advantage of the chaos?

Seeing that Jia Lian remained unmoved, Aqin glanced at him and laughed, "Just now, those women of the Jurchen leaders were brought up, why did you have them all taken away, Master?"
"I see a few that look quite nice, Your Highness. Wouldn't you like to try something new?"

Jia Lian said noncommittally, "What do you mean 'not bad'? None of them are as pretty as my Aqin."

"Master knows how to say nice things to make people happy."

Jia Lian smiled slightly, but his hand still wouldn't obey him and ran inside the beauty's soft armor to search for the essence of Miaofeng Mountain.

Ah Qin's eyes immediately became misty, and she whispered, "I know you want to uphold the Great General's dignity, but the war is over now, and there's no one else here. You don't need to hold back any longer..."

Jia Lian deliberately said, "No. Soldiers may request an audience at any time."

Aqin pouted her little mouth in dissatisfaction, looking at Jia Lian with a bitter and resentful expression.

Jia Lian grinned from ear to ear, leaned down and kissed her, saying with a smile, "Alright, wait until tonight. After I've rewarded all the soldiers, I'll reward you sisters properly as well."

Upon hearing this, Aqin's anger instantly turned to joy. Aqi, standing beside her, blushed slightly and involuntarily moved a little further away.

Having received the promise, Aqin stopped seducing Jia Lian.

She pulled Jia Lian's hand out from under the soft armor, then pulled him up and led him to the outer room where he had previously handled affairs, pushing him to sit down in his seat.

Seeing that Jia Lian was somewhat dissatisfied, she smiled and said, "Didn't you say that someone might come looking for you at any time?"

"In that case, Your Excellency must not slack off; you should be here handling official business."

After she finished speaking, she smiled and then squatted down, crawling under the desk.

She had noticed before that there was a lot of space under the table, enough to hide someone.

Seeing Jia Lian looking down at her, she said coquettishly, "Master, please focus on your official duties. Let me help you relax first."

Jia Lian nodded, saying that if that were the case, it wouldn't be entirely unacceptable.

He then ignored Ah Qin and leisurely lay down on the chair, closing his eyes and pretending to sleep.

(End of this chapter)