The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 925 Victory Port

After October, the entire Jianzhou was covered in ice and snow.

Just as Jia Lian had predicted, not all the Jurchens were willing to admit defeat and withdraw from Jianzhou.

Jia Lian's two armies swept through Jianzhou from the southwest to the northeast, and then from the northeast to the southeast, almost completely wiping out the entire territory.

Of course, unlike the last time when he immediately made a quick maneuver after a successful sneak attack, this time it was a true "sweeping away the enemy's stronghold".

His requirement for the three armies was to ensure that no living Jurchens could be seen in the entire Jianzhou region.

They have also suffered many reprisals and sneak attacks.

These were leaders of some Jiannu tribes who were unwilling to withdraw from Jianzhou, as well as some smaller forces.

However, the number of men they could gather ranged from dozens to hundreds, at most a little over a thousand, which was hardly a threat to Jia Lian's tens of thousands of troops.

These remaining Jurchen forces were either completely wiped out or, after suffering heavy losses, chose to retreat quietly.

In short, two months after the Black Hill Alliance, Jia Lian's army encountered no further resistance.

The strategy of thoroughly eliminating the enemy's strongholds was completely completed, and Jianzhou was successfully recovered.

Of course, the army did not encounter any difficulties.

Braving the cold wind and heavy snow, Su Keguang walked up to Jia Lian and said, "General, the weather is too cold, and many of our soldiers have suffered frostbite."

Moreover, our supplies are running low.

Jia Lian didn't say anything upon hearing this.

The consumption of food supplies was within his calculations; the only problem that troubled him was the ice, snow, and severe cold.

The cotton-padded clothes purchased from Tianjin for the soldiers were simply not enough, because the troops that came from Liaodong were not well prepared.

At this moment, Shui Rong also came over and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, this is my fault. Xiao Wang didn't expect this godforsaken place to be so cold."

Shui Rong personally led a large army to join Jia Lian after the alliance was signed.

During this Jurchen rebellion, his performance as an angel was merely adequate; he didn't make any major mistakes.

Having missed the earlier battles, he naturally wanted to be more proactive in the cleanup work.

Of course, given his status, as long as he didn't make any major mistakes, it wouldn't be a problem. What he really wanted was to see Jia Lian.

He missed, or rather escaped, the Battle of Tiewangshan because he was on patrol.

But he also knew all the necessary details.

He already admired Jia Lian's foresight and considered him an extraordinary man. Now that he knew Jia Lian's royal bloodline, he naturally admired him even more.

Therefore, after Shui Rong and Jia Lian reunited, Shui Rong showed no intention of vying for power with Jia Lian.

Otherwise, with one being a prince acting on behalf of the emperor and the other a general pacifying Liaodong, it would be hard to say who would be in charge and who would be subordinate.

Jia Lian said, "It's not Your Highness's fault, it's just that this place is excessively cold."

As he spoke, Jia Lian instructed Su Keguang to gather local materials, cut down trees, and start fires for warmth. After the army rested for a day, they would withdraw from the entire front.

The imperial court has issued an order for Zhang Leng, the general of Youzhou and Liaodong, to take over the defense of Jianzhou.

Now that the Jurchens have been wiped out, he should return to his capital.

……

The bay where the battle took place has now been transformed into a port of considerable size.

Because Jia Lian's goal was to drive all the Jurchens out of Jianzhou, he razed almost all the Jurchen settlements to the ground during his march.

All grain, livestock, and property were looted and plundered.

They even dismantled their houses to make fires and keep warm.

The goal was to completely sever the foundation of the Jurchens, so that even if they wanted to sneak back later, they would have to start rebuilding and production step by step.

As a result, large amounts of valuables are transported here every now and then.

They either built warehouses to store them temporarily, or they transported them to ships.

The nearly one hundred warships, each at least a dozen feet long, had sufficient carrying capacity.

This ordinary bay, which once blasted the Jurchen main force to pieces, shattering their morale and fighting spirit, has also been given a name.

Originally, Su Keguang and others wanted to call it "Slave Extermination Port" to commemorate their heroic act of annihilating the main force of the Jurchens.

Ultimately, Jia Lian felt that the name was too jarring and detrimental to its future development.

Therefore, the name was decided as: Victory Port.

The moment the name was decided, Jia Lian had a premonition that this place might become very prosperous in the future.

Not only is it backed by the Liaodong Plain, but Liaodong still doesn't have a decent port.

Instead, building a military port in this location would be like a sharp blade hanging high over the heads of North Korea and Japan.

On the third day after Jia Lian led his army back to Victory Port, he ordered the entire army to assemble at the huge temporary drill ground outside the port.

When the soldiers arrived at the training ground, their eyes were naturally drawn to the three "mountains" at the edge of the field.

Many soldiers were initially puzzled, but then their hearts were filled with joy.

The reason was that what was piled up like a mountain was actually boxes and stacks of valuables.

They vaguely remembered that the general had said that he would give them half of the spoils of war first, and the rest would be handed over to the court for disposal.

Could it be that today is the day the General will fulfill his promise?
Sure enough, amidst the murmurs of discussion, Jia Lian stepped onto the platform to review the troops.

After Jia Lian gently pressed down on his hand, the army of tens of thousands of men instantly fell silent.

"Soldiers, do you all see those three small hills over there?"

"That's right, those things are the spoils of war that you fought and bled for."

"Now that the army is about to return to the capital, all of you standing here will become heroes of the nation, revered by thousands."

"And I will hereby fulfill my promise and distribute these spoils of war fairly to every meritorious soldier!"

As soon as Jia Lian finished speaking, the audience erupted in thunderous cheers.

Without any organization, the empty training ground soon resounded with a unified voice: "The Great General is mighty! Long live the Great General!!"

"The Great General is mighty! Long live the Great General!!"

"..."

Almost every soldier shouted from the bottom of their heart at this moment.

Bounced checks are not a concept invented by later bosses.

As officers and soldiers, many of us have witnessed far too many generals who use people wisely but discard them ruthlessly.

Before the battle begins, it's naturally the brothers who charge forward, and if we win, we'll share the glory and wealth together.

However, after a real victory, it's already quite good if they don't forget to give their brothers a sip of soup.

Especially for someone of noble birth like Jia Lian, what can they do even if he breaks his promise?

Jia Lian's actions, seemingly merely fulfilling his promise, were in fact a practical act that deeply moved them.

So they shouted with all their might, regardless of whether the word "Long live the Emperor" being used on Jia Lian was framing their own general.

Some generals realized the inappropriateness of the situation and tried to correct them, but their voices were insignificant amidst the shouts of tens of thousands of people.

Jia Lian, however, did not seem to care much about this.

Shouting "Long live the Emperor!" is indeed extremely disrespectful, but isn't privately rewarding the troops also a crime?
As long as he handles things well and doesn't make the wrong choice in matters of principle... for example, his performance at Tiewangshan, the emperor wouldn't bother him with such a trivial matter.

You can't expect the horse to run without giving it any autonomy, can you?

Otherwise, why would they have bestowed upon him the title of General Who Pacifies Liaodong?
Does anyone really think they can just call someone a general?

However, this kind of confidence only applies to him. If it were someone like Yue Fei, who was already suspected by the emperor, this would undoubtedly be suicidal.

Of course, although he wasn't afraid, Jia Lian didn't intend for his soldiers to keep shouting.

As he raised his hand and pressed down, the entire venue gradually quieted down again.

Jia Lianfang said, "I have already had someone calculate that all the wealth over there is enough for each of the more than 17,000 soldiers who followed me from Tianjin to receive more than 200 taels of silver."

Therefore, I tentatively decide to distribute goods worth two hundred taels of silver to each of you, including those soldiers who died or were seriously wounded. The remainder will be awarded additional rewards according to rank and outstanding performance in this battle.

Upon hearing this, the entire audience cheered once again.

It should be noted that even a fourth or fifth-rank official in the current dynasty only received a little over one hundred taels of silver in salary per year.

When will these illiterate soldiers be able to receive two years' worth of salary from those high-ranking officials at once?
Two hundred taels of silver is enough for a family of five to live on for ten years.

Even when it comes to getting married, he can marry several wives at once!
Indeed, one can win riches on the battlefield.

Of course, one must also go to the battlefield with a general like the Great General.

Otherwise, I'm afraid the only way to receive a few dozen taels of silver in compensation would be if they died in battle.

"Of course, this is just the spoils of war that I distributed to everyone in accordance with the pre-war promise. After returning to the capital, the imperial court will issue formal awards to everyone."

Moreover, these were all valuables looted from the Jurchens, not actual silver.

Therefore, the final allocation will vary somewhat.

I don't want to see anyone get into arguments or conflicts because they feel they've received less.

What I hope to see is a loyal and courageous army, capable of winning battles, and a champion army that drinks, eats meat, and makes a fortune together.

Instead of a group of bandits who only knew how to kill and burn, and who eventually parted ways over the spoils.

"Of course, unless you have a grudge against the clerk in charge of distributing the money and goods, and he is deliberately targeting you, you can come to me and I will stand up for you."

Upon hearing this, all the soldiers said they would not.

If the value were ten or twenty taels, they might worry that they hadn't received enough.

However, two hundred taels of silver was far beyond their initial expectations.

So after hearing Jia Lian's words, they told themselves that unless they were being deliberately targeted, they must not complain and disappoint the general.

Seeing that the assigned officers arranged by Su Keguang were already in place on the edge of the ground, Jia Lian smiled and said, "Alright, now all the soldiers will wait here according to their unit numbers and receive their spoils in turn."

After the spoils are divided, we'll have one last celebratory drink here, and tomorrow morning, we'll head back to the capital!

After Jia Lian finished speaking, he stepped down from the command platform.

The amount of wealth plundered from Jianzhou this time was indeed considerable.

Although the Jurchens had low productivity, they knew how to plunder.

They not only robbed the Great Wei, but also the Tatars, Korea, and other Jurchen tribes.

Therefore, the common people of the Jurchens were generally poor, but their leaders were all incredibly wealthy.

Especially the four major tribes.

Unfortunately, Jia Lian managed to conquer the four major Jurchen tribes right from the start, seizing a large amount of valuable goods.

Therefore, the wealth looted from Jianzhou this time can indeed be described as filling the warehouses.

Although Jia Lian kept his promise, he didn't rigidly insist on only doing half.

In fact, what he had people count and distribute were gold, silver, jewelry, copper coins, and other items that were easy for soldiers to carry and whose value could be easily identified.

Other items, such as livestock and antiques, would naturally not be distributed.

The loot-sharing activity lasted from morning until dusk before finally coming to an end.

Jia Lian had already had the wine warmed and the meat cooked.

The wine was the last remaining stock on the ship, and the meat was horse meat.

In the Gulf War, countless Jurchen warhorses were killed or wounded by bombs.

Jia Lian certainly wouldn't waste these readily available military rations; he had almost all of them made into salted meat.

The reason horse meat hasn't become a mainstream meat is not because it tastes bad or is harmful.

Rather, it's because horses were a powerful "transportation force" in this era.

Just like cows, who would be willing to kill them to eat meat?
Not to mention, it's high-quality meat like warhorses, which are strong and muscular.

It can be said that, except in the military, under normal circumstances, one cannot eat even if one wants to.

Because it was the final celebration banquet, it was quite elaborate and casual.

Apart from the personnel who needed to take turns on duty, the other tens of thousands of soldiers sat in a fan shape in front of the command platform.

They might be in groups of ten or more, or in groups of seven or eight.

Everyone sat around the fire, tearing apart horse meat and drinking piping hot wine.

Even in this snowy weather, it didn't feel cold at all.

Prince Bei Jing had been inspecting the border for over a year, and Liaodong was actually his last stop.

Having suffered such a humiliating defeat in Liaodong, he was reluctant to return.

Therefore, he informed the court in advance that he wished to travel back to the capital by boat with Jia Lian.

Emperor Ningkang also approved it.

So, this guy had already handed over his affairs early on, and then brought his whole family to come and stay with him.

They even demanded an entire ship from him to house his "beauties".

No doubt, Shui Rong is the real playboy prince.

This guy was ordered to patrol the border, and he was accompanied by a large group of beautiful women.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that these women were collected during the border patrol.

Therefore, Jia Lian had reason to suspect that the reason this young man held Liaocheng so firmly was probably because he couldn't bear to leave the safety of these beauties behind...

Whether he was drunk or not, Shui Rong suddenly smiled at Jia Lian and said, "On such a beautiful day, with such a grand occasion of ten thousand people drinking together, how could there be no entertainment?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian assumed that the boy knew about his plans.

To everyone's surprise, the guy clapped his hands, and a group of beautiful women strolled out of a makeshift tent on the other side of the bay.

There were about seven or eight people, and each of them looked to be around an 80 out of 100 in terms of appearance.

The woman at the head of the group was an exceptionally beautiful woman, with a beauty score of ninety out of ten.

Such beauty would be extremely rare even in the prosperous Central Plains.

Not to mention, in the eyes of those 10,000-plus sows who were as beautiful as Diao Chan.

Almost the instant these beauties appeared, many soldiers stared wide-eyed.

Forget about drinking, they all stood up and peered out.

Fortunately, everyone knew these were Shui Rong's concubines, so they didn't dare to be too presumptuous. They just quietly swallowed their saliva and discreetly tucked away the iron-like flags inside their cotton trousers.

Seeing this, Jia Lian glared at Shui Rong with annoyance.

Even though you are a prince, you don't even consider the occasion.

If you really provoke these wolves, I might not be able to save you beauties!
Shui Rong, however, seemed completely unconcerned and unconcerned about his beauty being surrounded by onlookers.

He even stood up and smiled at the generals, saying, "These are all my concubines, who are rather plain-looking."

This time, the generals and soldiers fought bravely and made great contributions, and also saved the young king from dire straits.

Xiao Wang was extremely grateful.

Therefore, he ordered his concubines to prepare a dance for the heroes to enjoy.

As soon as he finished speaking, the beautiful dancers, dressed in gorgeous gowns, began to dance gracefully in the middle of the snow.

However, despite Shui Rong's generosity, the generals in the front row were cursing under their breath.

Can someone control these bastards? Don't they know they haven't tasted meat in months?
Who the hell can stand this?

Unlike the generals, the soldiers all stood on tiptoe and widened their eyes.

Even though they knew it was poison, they still wanted to see it.

These are the prince's concubines; how could they normally have the right to admire them?
Anyway, since the prince himself offered to let them see it, they might as well take a look.

(End of this chapter)