The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 612 Sneak Attack
The sunshine in mid-March was warm. After a few spring rains, the weeds in the fields were growing wildly. Even many unknown small wild flowers appeared on the roadside, dotted like stars, and were particularly beautiful.

Two children were walking barefoot on the road, a boy and a girl. The little girl was a little older, about seven or eight years old, and was holding a bamboo basket. The little boy was only five or six years old, with a water bag hanging around his neck. Because the rope was too long, the water bag almost hung to his knees, and it swayed from side to side when he walked. The little boy was playful and stepped into the puddles on the road, splashing mud and water everywhere, and then laughed happily.

The little girl frowned and scolded: "Little brother, stop playing, Daddy and brothers are waiting for lunch."

It turned out that the brother and sister were villagers from the nearby Shihaozhai, and they were delivering lunch to the adults working in the fields.

"Okay!" The little boy was sensible. He stopped playing when his sister told him to. He took a few quick steps, held his sister's hand and ran away quickly, still splashing mud and water everywhere.

"Little brother, wait for me... cluck!" The brother and sister ran forward with laughter, and soon arrived at the ridge of their home. They shouted loudly to the adults working in the fields: "Daddy, big brother, second brother - dinner is ready!"

The farmers who were working in the fields looked up one after another. Someone joked, "Old Zhao, your daughter is so ugly that she will hardly get married in the future. Why don't you marry my son Erniu? Our families live close to each other, so it will be convenient for her to go back to her parents' home!"

"Get lost, you old Zhou. Your stubborn son is so stubborn that he can't even fart even after three beatings. And you still want to marry our girl? Dream on!"

"Hahaha, although Erniu is not good at talking, he is honest and honest men love their wives." A group of farmers laughed and started to make fun of him.

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of hooves like thunder. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a dozen horses galloping from the official road in the east. The riders on the horses were wearing animal skins and looked murderous. The sabers in their hands flashed a cold light in the sun. They had shaved heads and braided hair.

——Jiannu! ! !
The farmers working in the fields all looked pale and trembled with fear. They dropped their farm tools and ran away. However, the two siblings were obviously frightened and still stood stupidly on the ridge.

"Girl, little brother, run for your lives, the Jiannu are coming!" Old Zhao and his two sons in the field shouted in horror and gestured.

The brother and sister came to their senses and ran to the ridge of the field, but it was too late. A Jurchen cavalryman caught up with them like an arrow and used the horse's speed to drag past them with the saber in his hand. The brother and sister were cut into two pieces in an instant. The basket in the girl's hand and a piece of her tender arm rolled into the field, and several sorghum steamed buns in the basket were also broken into pieces, staining the field red with blood!
"Niuniu (little brother)!" Old Zhao and his two older sons were so frightened that they screamed heartbreakingly.

"Evil villain, I'm going to fight you!" Old Zhao's eyes were bloodshot. He picked up the carrying pole and rushed forward with a roar. However, he had just taken two steps forward when he was pierced through the chest by a sharp arrow. He fell to the ground with a thud. His blood instantly dyed the wheat seedlings that had just emerged under him red.

"Dad!" The two sons cried out in grief and rushed forward to help their father up. The latter endured the severe pain and uttered two words "Go", then his head tilted and he died.

"Dad! Dad!" The two sons cried loudly and turned to run for their lives. Unfortunately, two legs could not outrun four legs. They were soon caught up by the Jurchen cavalry and brutally hacked to death on the ground.

The originally peaceful and beautiful countryside instantly turned into a bloody purgatory. People working in the fields fled crying for their parents. Those who ran fast managed to survive, but those who ran slowly became victims of the sword in an instant.

…………

After several months of construction, the granary city on Juehua Island has taken shape. The city wall is about 500 meters long from north to south, 300 meters wide, and 10 meters high. Only two city gates are left. One gate on the north leads directly to the dock, facilitating the transportation of materials in and out. Another gate on the south leads to the South Island. There are no gates on the east and west sides to reduce the pressure on defense.

The granary in the city is designed to store 100,000 shi of grain. There are also important material warehouses such as gunpowder depots and weapons depots. After the city is completely built, Jia Huan plans to send 3,000 troops to guard it. In addition, Jia Huan will also build a 5,000-man navy, led by Lieutenant General Zhang Guizhang and Qin Hongyu, and stationed on the southern island of Juehua Island.

Zhang Guizhang had fought side by side with Jia Huan in Jinling, so he could be considered a half-direct descendant. Qin Hongyu was originally a female pirate with great martial arts skills, but now she has been conquered by Tiehu. Although they haven't been officially married yet, she is his future sister-in-law, so there is no doubt that her loyalty will be there. Jia Huan felt relieved to let these two lead the navy.

After Jia Huan, Wu Sangui, Zhang Guizhang, Tie Niu, Tie Hu and Qin Hongyu inspected the progress of the project on the island, they stopped for lunch at a restaurant.

That’s right, nowadays there are not only restaurants on Juehua Island, but even an entire street market, with inns, grocery stores, rice shops, etc., which can meet the basic needs of the military and civilians on the island.

In fact, there were not only garrisons on the island, but also thousands of residents. There were fields on the island for farming. Of course, most of the residents' job was to help build the city, and their wages were one or two taels of silver per month.

Infrastructure construction is the most expensive, but it is also the most effective in boosting the economy. In order to build granaries and naval bases on Juehua Island, the imperial court allocated a total of 200,000 taels. Once this money was spent, the economic effect it brought was quite obvious.

First, building a city requires a lot of building materials, secondly, a lot of manpower, and thirdly, workers need to eat, drink, defecate and urinate. So within just a few months, Juehua Island prospered at a speed visible to the naked eye, with a large number of ships docking at the pier every day, bringing in a large amount of materials and food.

Thousands of laborers work day and night, and after getting their wages they need to spend money. All kinds of vendors also come to the market, and a bustling street market is spontaneously formed. This is what is called demand determines the market.

With Jia Huan's clever guidance and planning, the originally chaotic street market became neat and prosperous. In addition, as there was no need to pay taxes, more and more vendors came here to do business. Recently, even merchant ships from Liaodong, Korea, Japan and other places docked here.

Of course, a mixed market would definitely bring many security problems, such as the infiltration of spies from hostile forces, so a special inspection office was set up to be responsible for the security management of the island. Qin Hongyu, a former female pirate, was undoubtedly the most suitable for this kind of work, so she was appointed as the inspector of the Juehua Island Inspection Office. Let's get back to the point. Just as Jia Huan and others sat down and ate a few mouthfuls of food, the general Zu Tianshou sent someone to deliver an urgent report saying that the Jiannu were attacking. At that moment, everyone didn't even eat, and hurriedly took a boat to leave the island and rushed back to Ningyuan City.

When Jia Huan walked into the main gate of the general's mansion with a grim face, Zu Tianshou led the generals to greet him. He also looked grim and said in a deep voice: "Lord Jia, the Jiannu cavalry suddenly attacked and killed dozens of people working in the fields. Now the people dare not go out to the fields easily."

Jia Huan looked around at all the generals present and asked coldly, "Have the beacon towers along the way sounded the alarm? Have you pursued them? If so, have you gained anything?"

This series of questions made all the generals lower their heads in shame, and the scene fell into complete silence.

Zu Tianshou coughed awkwardly and said, "The Jiannu attacked with a small number of cavalrymen, hiding from the surveillance of the beacon towers along the way. Moreover, they came and went like the wind, and fled after one attack. Although I sent people to pursue them, I failed to catch up."

Jia Huan said calmly: "That is to say, the beacon tower did not give an early warning?"

Zu Tianshou nodded, Jia Huan said nothing, turned around and walked out, the generals looked at each other in surprise. Zu Tianshou frowned, led the generals to chase after him, and asked carefully: "Where are you going, Lord Jia?"

Jia Huan sneered, "Let's go to the scene. If you are men, go together and see how the people of our Great Jin are being slaughtered like pigs and sheep by the Jiannu."

Zu Tianshou looked embarrassed, and the generals were also blushing with embarrassment. They silently followed Jia Huan out of the city and went to the scene of the incident.

Shihao Village is located three miles southeast of Ningyuan City. It was the worst-hit village. When Jia Huan and others arrived, the village was filled with weeping. More than 20 mutilated corpses were placed outside the village entrance. The relatives of the deceased threw themselves on the corpses and cried bitterly, while other villagers gathered around in grief and anger.

As soon as Jia Huan and his companions appeared, they were immediately surrounded by angry villagers. Some even yelled, "Get out of here, you bunch of useless people who eat the emperor's food. What's the point of coming here now?"

"Go away, you are not welcome here, stop pretending."

"You have to pay for my father's life! You have to pay for my father's life, woo woo!"

The generals were scolded so much that their faces burned, and they lowered their heads in shame. Jia Huan separated the guards who were protecting him, stepped forward and said in a deep voice: "My fellow villagers, I am Jia Huan, the military governor of Ningqian!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the originally noisy scene slowly quieted down. Jia Huan is now the top leader in Ningyuan, with a great reputation and a good reputation. Now that he has come to the scene in person, the anger of the villagers has subsided a little.

"Master Jia!" A peasant woman rushed to Jia Huan and cried heartbreakingly, "My whole family was killed by the Jiannu. How can I live like this?"

Jia Huan recognized at a glance that this peasant woman was the family he met on the way when he left the country several months ago. At that time, he gave them two thick coats and a pair of cotton boots. Now, the man and his four children were lying on the frozen ground, turned into bloody corpses. The two young siblings were cut in half by a knife. It was really horrible to see.

Jia Huan's eyes couldn't help but turn red and filled with tears. A raging anger burned in his chest. He bowed deeply to the corpses, then pulled out a dagger and cut a long bloody mark on his arm in public. In an instant, blood was dripping.

"Sir!" All the generals changed color and lost their voices, and the villagers were even more solemn.

Jia Huan said in a deep voice: "My fellow villagers, I am deeply saddened by this incident and feel the same way as you. Don't worry, I will give you a satisfactory explanation. Here, I, Jia Huan, swear with my blood that I will make the Jiannu pay tenfold. The blood of the people of the Great Jin will not be shed in vain!

We must not only make the Jiannu pay with blood, but also recover our homeland of Jinzhou, fight back to Liaodong, retake our lost homes, and avenge the hundreds of thousands of compatriots who died. Victory! "

The dissatisfaction of the villagers present was instantly dissipated, and everyone clenched their fists in grief and anger, especially the Liao soldiers and Liao generals present, whose blood boiled. The cavalry captain Man Gui gritted his teeth and waved his fists and roared: "Take back our homeland, pay the blood debt with blood, and win forever!"

"Take back our homeland, pay the blood debt with blood, and win!"

"Take back our homeland, pay the blood debt with blood, and win!"

Instantly, angry roars resounded through the sky, and the rage for revenge was burning.

(End of this chapter)