The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 921 Summation
On the way back, Zhang Leng was somewhat silent.

Only after dismounting and entering the tent did he suddenly blurt out, "Are the cannons you've got really that powerful?"

Even Zhang Leng, after witnessing the mass grave with his own eyes, was deeply shocked and found it difficult to calm down for a long time.

Especially since the main character in this mass grave was a Jurchen known for his ferocity.

He no longer doubted Jia Lian's military achievements, but at the same time, he developed a strong interest in the powerful weapon that helped Jia Lian achieve such exaggerated results—the shipborne artillery.

Previously, outside Liaocheng, I had witnessed the scene of numerous cannons being arrayed and firing simultaneously under Jia Yu's protection.

However, because the Jurchens were very cautious, they never launched a large-scale attack before finding a way to counter the Han army's firearms and cannons.

This resulted in Jia Yu's firearms not achieving significant results on the Liaodong battlefield.

He naturally felt that those bulky creatures had limited lethality.

But now, he really wants to seriously study these firearms!
We have to do this.

Goodness, throughout history, apart from those major battles that have been recorded in history books, who has ever had a good person annihilate nearly 10,000 enemies in a single battle?

Although he was the General Commander of Youliao, he had the largest number of troops in Liaodong, apart from the border troops defending against the Tatars on the northwestern border.

But he only had about ten thousand soldiers under his command.

If he were to face Jia Lian, wouldn't his entire army be wiped out in a single round?
Faced with his uncle's persistent questioning, Jia Lian truthfully replied, "Whether a cannon is powerful or not depends on how it is used."

If it weren't for the Jurchens' eagerness for revenge, and my nephew's opportunistic use of their ignorance of my vast fleet and numerous cannons, I could have trapped them on the beach and in the shallows while they were besieging me.

I'm afraid that even if I possessed such a deadly weapon, I might not be able to rebuild a slave like this.

"Does my uncle know how long it took for me to fight the Jurchens in this bay?"

Zhang Leng thought for a moment. Jia Lian only had a few thousand soldiers. To annihilate nearly ten thousand enemies, it would take at least several hours of bloody fighting, right?

But seeing that Jia Lian's expression clearly showed a desire to show off, he said, "Two hours?"

Jia Lian shook his head and held up one finger: "From the time the Jurchens officially launched their attack on us until our fleet arrived and, together with the garrison in the bay, annihilated the Jurchens on the beach and at sea, it took less than an hour in total."

Furthermore, the total number of casualties in my entire army was no more than five hundred.

"Only five hundred casualties in less than an hour? How is that possible...?"

Zhang Leng's subconscious questioning.

Even if the nearly ten thousand fully armed Jurchens were lined up neatly and stood still while being killed, it would take a long time to kill them all.

Not to mention that their own casualties were only five hundred...

What does this mean? A casualty ratio of twenty to one?

Nothing is impossible.

Do you know what it was like when thousands of Jurchens gathered on the beach and dozens of exploding shells were fired?

How desperate must have been for thousands of Jurchens riding in small sampans no more than a few feet long, facing the bombardment of nearly a hundred huge warships that were tens of feet long?

My uncle just asked me if the firearms we improved are really that powerful.

I told my uncle.

At least at sea, in the bays near the coast, if the enemy does not have corresponding weapons or means of countermeasure, then they will be annihilated.

They couldn't even fight back.

In future wars, firearms will be the absolute king.

Zhang Leng listened, his lips trembling, unsure of what to say.

He even realized that Jia Lian's last words were a reminder to him.

He was encouraged to abandon his outdated ideas about military operations and to focus on researching how to use these firearms.

Surprisingly, he actually listened to what she said.

seeing is believing.

He hadn't really paid much attention to firearms before, but now that he had witnessed the power of firearms in Jia Lian's hands, he would be truly foolish to ignore it.

Clearly, as the eldest son of the Earl of Linzi and having fully inherited his mantle, he was not a conservative.

"Could I take a look at the... um, the naval cannons on those ships? I've heard from Jia Yu that the cannons on your ships are bigger and more powerful than the ones he carries."

Now that you're describing it in such an incredible way, I have to see for myself what it looks like.

Zhang Leng had naturally seen them long ago: the giant warships arrayed on the sea. Their dark mass temporarily overshadowed the sea's imposing presence, making them impossible to ignore.

Jia Lian smiled and said, "There's no rush. My uncle and cousin have come from afar, why don't you sit down and have some tea first..."

"What kind of tea do you want? If you're too busy, just send someone to follow me."

Or just give me a small boat, and I'll go check it out myself.

Clearly, Zhang Leng was also an impatient person; as he spoke, he turned around and went to find a sampan.

Left with no other choice, Jia Lian could only follow Zhang Leng onto the ship and become a military equipment commentator.

……

Zhang Leng and his son clearly cared a lot about Jia Lian's winning strategy, so they studied the structure of the warships and cannons very seriously.

They even test-fired two shots with Jia Lian's permission.

After inspecting two or three warships of each class, I was quite exhausted, both in terms of interest and physical strength, and finally gave up the idea of ​​going to the next one to observe.

However, before returning to the Zhenyuan, Zhang Han, the eldest cousin, pointed to some large ships towards the rear and asked:
"General, those twenty or thirty ships over there look a bit different. Are they also your 'new warships'?"

Jia Lian shook his head and said, "Those are all old-fashioned warships of the navy, with hardly any cannons."

"Old-fashioned warships? But these ships seem to have a draft no shallower than the ones we saw before..."

Zhang Han voiced the question that had been on his mind.

He thought those warships looked "ordinary" on the surface, but his keen observation revealed that they were drafting deeper, indicating that they carried "big cargo."

However, Jia Lian deliberately didn't take them on those ships, so he thought Jia Lian was holding back.

Perhaps those ships possess some even more formidable killing moves.

Zhang Leng didn't think as much as his son; he had also noticed the ships.

However, as the commander-in-chief of the army, he probably guessed that it was a supply ship.

But since his son had asked, he followed up, "That's true, Lian, just now I heard faint sounds of women crying coming from that boat over there. Don't tell me..."

Zhang Leng glanced sideways at Jia Lian.

He had been unhappy ever since he saw the sisters Aqi and Aqin with Jia Lian.

This guy brings a woman with him on a military campaign?

If it weren't for the fact that this kid had just won a battle and killed so many Jurchens, he would have already used his status as the eldest uncle to teach him a lesson.

If he were to confirm that this kid was messing around with women in the army...

Even if this kid has a noble status now, he can't help but tell the old man about this and make the family sever ties with this kid again!
To avoid this kid bringing shame to the Zhang family.

As for Jia Lian, having done nothing wrong, he naturally had no fear of facing Zhang Leng's gaze.

He was too lazy to explain in person, so he just gave Su Keguang a look.

Su Keguang immediately stepped forward and said with a smile, "General Zhang, you misunderstand. There are indeed many women on those ships, but they have nothing to do with our General..."

Oh no, it's related...

The usually quick-witted Su Keguang was actually speaking haltingly and stammeringly, making Jia Lian suspect that the old man was doing it on purpose.

Fortunately, Su Keguang seemed to get to the point quickly: "Those women were all captured by us from the Jurchens' lair."

They were all young women and girls under the age of thirty.

"Our general's initial plan was called 'Plowing the Court and Sweeping the Cave,' which meant to wreak havoc in the Jurchen's lair. This would not only destroy the Jurchen's foundation but also prevent them from taking care of both ends, thus forcing them to withdraw their troops from Liaodong."

However, the general said that since the Jurchens always like to abduct women from our Han lands, we might as well give them a taste of their own medicine.

Anyway, it would be a pity to kill these young Jurchen women, so it would be better to bring them back to Han territory and continue the bloodline of our Han people.

However, due to the urgent military situation, although we captured the strongholds of the four major Jurchen tribes, we only brought back a little over two thousand women.

Hundreds of them were Han Chinese women.

These women are now being housed or held captive on five or six ships over there. The general has long since issued a strict order prohibiting the rape of women in the army, with violators to be executed.

Therefore, those women were all under special care, and absolutely no acts of sexual misconduct ever occurred.

Zhang Leng glanced at the expressions of Jia Lian and his generals, then nodded and said, "That's good."

The reason Zhang Leng believed Su Keguang's words so easily was not only because he observed Su Keguang's words, but more importantly, because he had carefully inspected the Zhenyuan ship when he visited it before.

The Zhenyuan was built so huge and luxuriously, and it even had Jia Lian's quarters on it, clearly indicating that it was a flagship.

If Jia Lian really did have affairs with women in the army, there would be traces on the Zhenyuan.

He was certain that since his sudden visit and the fact that he had been with Jia Lian the whole time, Jia Lian would not have had the opportunity to have the body disposed of.

Of course, if Jia Lian had clever subordinates who knew how to clean up the mess beforehand without him having to remind them, he would tolerate it.

Since this kid is so cunning and has arranged everything so perfectly that no one can detect it, then... it doesn't seem like a big deal to play along.

He had heard the whole story about Jia Lian's plan to wipe out the entire court from Jia Yu, and like most other people, he was amazed by Jia Lian's radical plan.

Previously, he only thought Jia Lian was clever, but now that the plan was clearly showing results, he nodded inwardly while also muttering to himself:

"They were just Jurchen women. Killing them is no big deal. What's the big deal?"
With over two thousand women, how much military rations must be wasted every day?
In my opinion, it would be better to kill them all and throw them into the sea to feed the fish.

Zhang Leng spoke very seriously, and there was no sign that he was joking.

Seeing that the generals on Jia Lian's side were looking at his father as if he were a god, Zhang Han couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

Knowing that his father was capable of such a thing, he quickly changed the subject: "Commander Su just said that only five or six ships were for accommodating those women. What about the other ships? They seem to be carrying quite a lot of cargo as well."

Su Keguang said, "The other ships... apart from some less important supplies, are now mainly carrying wealth and livestock plundered from Jianzhou."

Of course, there were also countless swords, armor, and other items taken from the Jurchens.

In the previous Gulf War alone, we seized tens of thousands of these items, enough to fill two ships.

The General said, "Although these things are of little use to us, His Majesty will surely be very pleased if we take them back as a gift."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Leng and his son secretly exclaimed, "Holy crap!"

That cunning little rascal (Lian's cousin).

No matter how eloquently you describe your military achievements, nothing can compare to the power of presenting these two ships of spoils to the emperor.

The Jurchens' repeated incursions into Liaodong had long been a chronic problem.

If we can quell the Jurchen threat in one fell swoop and send back tens of thousands of weapons and armor seized from the Jurchens to Emperor Ningkang, one can easily imagine how overjoyed he will be.

Good heavens, I feel like this kid taught me a lesson.

No wonder it's rumored that Emperor Ningkang favored this brat the most; it turns out that when it comes to catering to the emperor's wishes, they are indeed far inferior to this kid.

I can't say anything, nor can I express my opinion; in short, I'm truly convinced.

This young man is already a Duke, and his official position is not low. I wonder how Emperor Ningkang will reward him after he returns to the capital.

The group returned to the Zhenyuan and sat down to discuss the important matter of advancing.

Zhang Leng and Jia Yu shared the same idea as Jia Lian.

Although the Jurchens have withdrawn their troops, it's not like you can just fight whenever you want and stop fighting whenever you want, right?

As early as when they confirmed that the main force of the Jurchens had retreated to Jianzhou, the two of them had already sent a fast message back to Liaocheng, suggesting that Shui Rong send reinforcements to Jianzhou.

Upon learning of Jia Lian's resounding victory, they immediately relayed the news to Shui Rong before their departure.

If Shui Rong knew he had a chance to wipe out Jianzhou in one fell swoop, he would have been willing to sell everything he owned to raise more troops.

With the combined forces of them and Jia Lian, they could muster an army of forty to fifty thousand to deal with the already weakened Jurchens, which shouldn't be a problem.

Just as Jia Lian and Zhang Leng were discussing the specific marching route, a messenger suddenly reported that they had captured a Jurchen spy.

However, the scout said that they were ordered by their leader to come and see Jia Lian.

Jia Lian and his generals were somewhat surprised and immediately ordered him to be brought up.

They were two rather thin and quick-witted Jurchens.

Without any unnecessary words, after briefly inquiring about their identity and background, I asked them what their purpose was.

The Manchu who spoke Chinese said very respectfully, “This is a letter from our Grand Prince, which he has ordered me to forward to the General. Our Grand Prince has invited the General to meet at noon three days from now at Black Hill, eighty li north of here, to discuss important military matters between the two sides.”

As soon as Jia Lian received the letter from his attendant, Jiang Ji, who was standing nearby, mocked him:
"If you can't win and want to surrender, just say so. How dare you talk about discussing important military matters?"
"That's ridiculous. We're mortal enemies; what military secrets could we possibly discuss?"

Faced with Jiang Ji's mockery, the Jurchen man replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, "This general is far too conceited."

Although you were fortunate enough to win a battle last time, our Grand Prince still has 20,000 elite cavalry under his command.

Now that your Wei army is approaching my Jianzhou, as long as our Grand Prince gives the order, we can immediately gather tens of thousands of armored cavalry.

When the two armies clash inland, you'll lose the deterrent effect of your warships and cannons. The outcome will be uncertain!

"Hehehe, 20,000, I'm afraid your Prince has included his mother at home too."

Haha, sorry, I forgot.

"Your chief prince's lair was breached long ago. Even if your chief prince's mother was very long-lived, she was probably killed by one of our soldiers before."

"You... rude scoundrel!"

"Hahaha……"

At this moment, Jia Lian had finished reading the letter, gestured for silence, and then said to the Jurchens: "Your Jianzhou Jurchen tribe submitted to the Emperor Taizu, but only twenty or thirty years later, you openly rebelled."

Over the years, they have repeatedly invaded my Liaodong region, and the crimes they have committed are too numerous to count.

I was originally going to descend with heavenly troops to represent the Celestial Empire and punish you.

Therefore, I truly do not know what military matters I need to discuss with your Grand Prince.

The Jurchens said, "The Grand General is a great general of the superior country. Does he not even understand the principle that war is dangerous and perilous?"
As the old saying goes, it is better to resolve conflicts than to let them fester.

Although the general was a skilled strategist, he did indeed pose a significant threat to our Jianzhou Jurchen people.

But if I may be so bold, the reason our army suffered a defeat last time was entirely because we did not know that the general still had so many warships and cannons.

Otherwise, our Grand Prince would never have chosen this bay as the battlefield.

Now that our Grand Prince has withdrawn his troops to defend, if the General wants to continue fighting against our army, he must abandon those warships and cannons.

At that time, on land, it will still be the domain of my armored cavalry.

However, our Grand Prince also said that the General and his army are indeed very powerful and deserve the respect of our Jurchen people.

To prevent the two sides from continuing their endless fighting and allowing the Tatars and even the Koreans to reap the benefits.

Our Grand Prince is willing to set aside past grievances and arrange a meeting with the General to discuss the peace negotiations between the two armies.

"After saying all that, you still want to surrender," Jiang Ji and the others continued, laughing.

However, the Jurchens' request for peace talks was within everyone's expectations.

After all, the Jurchen population was simply too large to fight a war of attrition against the Wei.

This explains why, even though they had clearly benefited in Liaodong, they were still willing to send people to Beijing for peace talks.

Their initial goal was simply to plunder resources and occupy more good locations in order to seek development.

Now that their main force has suffered heavy losses and their base has been thoroughly ravaged by Jia Lian's armies, they are simply unable to mount any strong and effective resistance.

At this point, negotiating peace and seeking survival was their top priority.

Although they saw through the Jurchens' intentions, none of the generals dared to express their opinions at this moment. They all looked at Jia Lian, wanting to see how he would make a decision.

Jia Lian pondered for a moment, then placed the letter on the table beside him and tapped it lightly with his fingers.

After a long pause, he said, "Go back and tell your chief prince that talks are possible, but not peace talks."

I have only one request: that you, the Jianzhou Jurchen people, surrender unconditionally.

If you agree, I will be willing to give you a way out.

If not, then keep fighting.

We'll see who's truly capable in our hands.

……

(End of this chapter)