The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 914 Repeating the same trick
"Your Majesty, you are so happy!"

Inside the Southern Study, several cabinet ministers, holding the memorials they had just received, began to congratulate each other upon meeting.

Upon seeing this, Emperor Ningkang, who had been feeling unwell for several days, straightened his posture.

"Your Majesty, according to the news from Liaodong, the Jurchens have withdrawn their troops from Liaodong across the board."

According to the report from the Water Prince, it is speculated that the Rongguo Duke's surprise attack strategy was effective, the Jurchen stronghold was on fire, and he was in a hurry to retreat and put out the fire.

Now, the Water Prince has dispatched troops to gradually reclaim the city gates breached by the Jurchens, and has also sent a large army to pursue the Jurchens, which is now close to their stronghold, in order to cooperate with the Duke of Rong in sweeping away the Jurchen stronghold.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Ningkang could not hide his excitement and immediately said, "Bring the memorial to me!"

As Emperor Ningkang read Prince Bei Jing's secret memorial, several high-ranking officials also could not hide their joy and admiration.

As expected of the Duke of Rong, who has made many outstanding contributions to the court, he has managed to get the Jurchens to retreat after only a little over a month away from the capital.

Indeed, it was a brilliant strategy, and he was a capable minister.

After reading the memorial, Emperor Ningkang seemed to have missed what he most wanted to see and hesitated, saying, "According to Shui Rong's secret memorial, Shui Rong should not have met with Jia Lian yet."

Shui Rong deduced that Jia Lian's plan to launch a surprise attack on the Jurchen stronghold was successful.

We'll have to wait for further news to find out the truth.

It's no wonder Emperor Ningkang was cautious.

Previously, Huo Zhao had just arrived in Liaodong and sent back several reports of victory, but in the end, he made a huge mistake.

Now that no news has come back from Jia Lian, Emperor Ningkang doesn't want to be happy for nothing because of Shui Rong's speculation.

The cabinet ministers were aware of Emperor Ningkang's concerns, and one of them said, "Your Majesty need not worry too much. Prince Shui is still very cautious in his actions and words."

Moreover, Prince Shui did not simply deduce this from the Jurchens' withdrawal from Liaocheng, but based on the specific situation in the recaptured cities and passes, he deduced that the Jurchens had indeed retreated across the board, rather than luring the enemy as before.

Emperor Ningkang glanced at the secret report again, nodded to confirm the statement, and then asked, "Regarding Jia Lian personally leading troops to launch a surprise attack on Jianzhou by sea, yet not a single report has been sent back for more than a month, what do you all think?"

This is actually what Emperor Ningkang was most worried about.

After all, Emperor Ningkang considered the plan to launch a surprise attack on the Jurchen heartland by crossing the sea to be too risky.

The sea is unpredictable and there are too many variables.

At the height of Yuan Dynasty's power, it attempted to conquer Japan by sea several times, but all attempts failed due to the perilous sea routes.

Although Jia Lian repeatedly assured that his newly built large ship would have no problem crossing the sea, it was his first time, and no one could guarantee that Jia Lian would be able to land in Jianzhou as planned.

In particular, Jia Lian had been out of contact for over a month.

Logically speaking, even when at sea, it is inconvenient to send messages.

But after Jia Lian landed, it shouldn't have been difficult for him to send a report to the court, right?
Jia Lian had told him roughly where he would land, so he knew it was in the southeasternmost corner of Liaodong.

Unless Jia Lian encounters enemy troops as soon as he lands, it would only take seven or eight days to send a fast horse to deliver the message from Liaodong.

Therefore, Emperor Ningkang couldn't help but speculate on two possibilities.

Firstly, Jia Lian felt that the planned landing site was not optimal for a surprise attack, so he changed his plans midway and wanted to risk bypassing Korea and getting behind the Jurchens.

Being so far apart makes it inconvenient to send messages.

The second concern is whether Jia Lian might encounter any mishap at sea...

The ministers, however, did not think as much as Emperor Ningkang did. They simply said, "Perhaps the military situation is urgent and there is no time to report it, or perhaps the journey is long and something happened to the messenger on the way."

Or perhaps...

Duke Rongguo was ambitious and, mindful of the events surrounding Huo Zhao, had no intention of reporting his victory before achieving significant merit.

Emperor Ningkang didn't pay attention to the first two "perhaps," but he thought about the last one and found it quite reasonable.

Huo Zhao would immediately report his victory to the court after each battle, as if afraid that the court would not know of his bravery.

Perhaps his eventual downfall is also related to these exaggerated reports of victory.

He was too eager to make a name for himself and to confirm those good news reports.

A man as intelligent as Jia Lian would naturally not make such a mistake again.

Having figured this out, Emperor Ningkang was finally relieved and asked about the Tatars' movements.

No matter how fierce the Jurchens were, their foundation was still there.

The true enemy of the imperial court was the Tatars in the north.

Knowing that although the Tatars had tens of thousands of troops stationed on the northern border, they had only ever raided southward on a small scale and had never shown any intention of launching a large-scale invasion, they did not mention it.

……

Jianzhou.

After Jia Lian and Cheng Xian met up, they secretly headed south.

But he knew that his whereabouts had been exposed.

Because in the last two days, it was obvious that Jurchen spies were following his army.

Fortunately, it seemed that the main force of the Jurchens had not arrived, so they did not launch an attack on him.

After Jia Lian ordered the cavalry to drive away and eliminate the spies who were following them, he quickened his march and finally returned safely to the bay where he had landed.

Of course, using Enron might not be entirely accurate.

Because with the troops and weapons at his disposal, even if the main force of the Jurchens caught up with him, as long as their elite cavalry numbered less than 10,000, he would not be afraid to fight.

Jia Lian simply didn't want to fight the Jurchens to the death.

Why attack the enemy's strengths when you can use tactics and take advantage of the terrain?

He made a killing spree in the Jurchen stronghold, beheading so many "innocent" Jurchens and capturing so many Jurchen women. The Jurchens must have hated him to the bone and wanted to take revenge on him as soon as possible.

At this point, he only needed to wait for the Jurchens to come to him.

The only thing that worried Jia Lian was that he had received a request for help from Jiang Ji.

Although he had arranged for Feng Ziying to meet Jiang Ji beforehand, he did not receive any response along the way.

After waiting in the bay for two days, they discovered that a large number of Jurchen cavalry were in pursuit. Jia Lian immediately ordered his generals to move all the valuables and women onto the warships in small boats.

The generals were all somewhat surprised, and Cheng Xian couldn't help but ask, "General, aren't we going to wait for Vice General Jiang and Commander Feng?"

When he first returned, Jia Lian personally inspected the fortifications and ordered people to store enough fresh water in the camp, as if he were preparing to fight a decisive battle with the Jurchens here.

Why did they suddenly give the order to flee?
Jia Lian laughed and said, "We definitely have to wait. But if we don't run away, why would the Jurchens be in such a hurry?"

The generals were taken aback, and then thought to themselves that Jia Lian was truly as cunning as a fox!

No wonder Jia Lian said there was no rush when they suggested moving the supplies to the ship for storage a couple of days ago.

Not only was he not in a hurry, he also ordered most of the warships to be withdrawn to the sea, leaving only a small number within sight.

The general must have already planned how to deal with the enemy. Fighting under such a commander is so enjoyable; they don't have to think for themselves at all. "Quickly order two thousand soldiers to load all the valuables and supplies onto the small boats. Make a big show of it, and move quickly."

All other people preparing for battle should hide themselves.

Oh, and bring down a few of the cannons that have been installed..."

Thus, under the arrangement of the generals, panic suddenly broke out in the vast bay.

Everyone who could see was hurriedly loading food and supplies onto small boats, and then loading them onto large ships one after another.

On the steep cliffs not far from each other on either side of the bay, Jurchen spies who had been keeping an eye on the situation immediately reported the situation to their leaders.

"Oh no, these damned Han soldiers are trying to escape!"

Inside the temporary camp, the Jurchen leaders who had arrived one after another became anxious.

The first group to arrive were filled with regret.

Because they had been waiting here for two days, arriving almost one after the other, just like Jia Lian's main army.

They all thought that if they could catch up with Jia Lian sooner, even just half a day earlier, they would not let Jia Lian escape into the bay.

Although the Jurchens were filled with hatred for Jia Lian and his Han army, they were not stupid.

Especially after Suk's troops suffered a great loss, they saw the dense fortifications on the slope in front of the bay and the artillery, though hidden under the branches, could not escape detection. Naturally, they would not rush up rashly.

They originally thought that all they needed to do was block the Han army's path here.

Therefore, as long as the Grand Prince gathers all the warriors from all the tribes, there is no worry about not being able to wipe out this damned Han army.

Unexpectedly, these Han soldiers were so cunning and shameless. Seeing that the situation was not good, they did not care that their comrades were still being chased by the Grand Prince, and tried to escape on their own!

The key point is that they actually have so many ships!

Although not all of Jia Lian's warships were new, they were all large ships over twenty meters long.

These large ships were almost all equipped with a number of small boats for landing or escape.

Since the intention is to appear as if they are fleeing when things are not going well, they must do it convincingly.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Jurchens, there were more than a hundred small boats coming and going on the sea outside the bay.

Although the Jurchens didn't know how the Han army managed to weather the storms at sea and transport so many troops here using just a few large ships and these small boats, it at least proved that their initial guess that the Han army came from the sea was correct.

Now that the Han army has seen that their stronghold has been exposed and that their forces are growing stronger, it is perfectly reasonable for them to want to escape by sea with all their supplies.

All the leaders were in an uproar.

Just by looking at the grain and valuables piled up on the beach waiting to be loaded onto ships, one can tell how many people these Han soldiers killed in their homeland and how great the crimes they committed.

They would rather die than watch this group of Han soldiers escape by sea right under their noses.

Not to mention, the Han army also abducted at least a thousand of their women.

These women were all their wives and daughters.

Right now, their wives and daughters are probably being held captive in the Han army camp.

How can we just let them take it away like that?
Thinking of this, some of the men whose wives and daughters had gone missing in the war had tears in their eyes and were ready to lead their troops to storm the Han army camp.

Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, the leader hurriedly asked, "I wonder how things are on the side of the Grand Prince? Have they killed all those villains who slaughtered the Wanyan tribe's stronghold?"
If only the Grand Prince could arrive with his troops in time.

Otherwise, with our current troop strength alone, I'm afraid...

These Han soldiers were very cunning; they chose a place that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Moreover, they had built so many fortifications on the slope in front of the beach that it was even more difficult for our warriors to charge.

The Han army in the bay is numerous; a direct assault would likely result in heavy casualties.

These words made some leaders a little more clear-headed.

According to Xin Muershan, he personally led three thousand tribal warriors to seek revenge against the Han army, but unexpectedly fell into the enemy's trap, and only a few hundred people escaped.

It is clear that this group of Han soldiers was no ordinary Han army; they were tough opponents who could take a bite out of the Jurchen warriors.

What's even more distressing is that when Luo Jue Ancang led them south to pursue the Han army, they had actually gathered more than 10,000 tribal warriors along the way.

However, on the way, he suddenly heard that the Mulunmu tribe had been attacked, and that the Han army attacking the Mulunmu tribe was very likely the same Han cavalry that had slaughtered the Wanyan tribe. Luo Jue Anchang could not hold back any longer and personally led his troops to rush towards the Mulunmu tribe.

This is also why Feng Ziying and Jiang Ji were unable to reunite with Jia Lian for so long.

They were indeed entangled.

Because of the Jurchens' division of their forces, they lacked sufficient troops to pursue Jia Lian, so they dared not make any rash moves in the past two days.

However, they refrained from making any rash moves to wait for more troops to arrive, not because they wanted to let Jia Lian go.

Now that I see him trying to escape, how can I possibly hold back?

"My lord, regardless of whether the Grand Prince can arrive in time, are we just going to stand by and watch these damned Han soldiers kill our parents and clansmen, take our women, and then leave so casually?"

No, I, Muto, will absolutely not agree!

Seeing the leaders acting timidly, the tribal generals who were discussing matters in the tent could no longer hold back.

They all stepped forward to express their opinions, adopting an attitude that if you are afraid of death, we will take the lead ourselves.

The attitude of their subordinates finally made the leaders put aside their hesitation.

One of the leaders stood up and said, "What are you afraid of? We now have a total of five thousand tribal warriors."

Based on my observations over the past two days, the Han Chinese army in the bay is at most this many.

No matter what, we absolutely cannot let them escape, otherwise how can we face our dead clansmen and brothers?

"Done!"

With someone taking the lead, others, even if they still have concerns, can no longer say anything.

So they decided to rush up and kill all the Han soldiers before they could escape, and to take back their property and women.

Just as the Jurchens were unifying their strategy and actively reorganizing their troops, Jia Lian, standing on the slope, also took in their movements.

He put down his Western-style telescope, a smile on his face, and said to those around him, "The fish can't resist taking the bait, everyone get into position."

"Yes!"

Generals like Su Keguang and Cheng Xian smiled broadly, expressing their admiration for Jia Lian's strategy and confidence in the upcoming battle.

How can it be insufficient?
In Tamu Village, ten cannons and less than two thousand muskets were enough to make the Jurchens run for their lives.

Today, there are twenty or thirty cannons of various sizes and three or four thousand muskets in and around this bay.

They can even bring over dozens of new warships hidden at sea at any time.

There are nearly a hundred naval guns on it, with longer range and greater power, enough to provide stable artillery support on the sea.

So, how can we lose this battle?
(End of this chapter)