Red Mansion: Bastards rule the roost

Jin Junhao lay on the ground, anxious and angry, spitting and cursing, but there was nothing he could do. The defenders only had bows and arrows, which could not reach far. The artillery was heavy and old-fashioned, and the gunners were even more clumsy. How could they fight back effectively?

Suddenly, there were a series of cracking sounds. The city gate tower behind him was hit by heavy artillery repeatedly. The pillars and beams were broken, and it actually fell down crookedly.

"General, be careful!" the soldiers exclaimed.

Jin Junhao's heart tightened, but luckily he had some skills, and his potential between life and death was stimulated. He bounced up suddenly, and rolled several times on the ground. He heard the sound of collapse and collision behind his head, and several of his personal soldiers had been crushed underneath. He secretly said in his heart that it was a close call.

"Be careful in defense! The enemy is going to attack the city after the artillery bombardment. Kill them hard!" Jin Junhao shouted angrily.

"Yes!"

But he was disappointed. The artillery bombardment continued for two incense sticks until the city wall was riddled with holes and corpses were everywhere.

The weak morale of the Goryeo defenders was also blown to ashes in this round of artillery fire. They were trembling and could not even hold their swords or guns steadily, and the thought that the heavenly soldiers were invincible emerged in their minds involuntarily.

Watching the troops slowly retreating from the city, Jin Junhao was confused and had no idea what the government troops were planning.

Soon, a lone man was seen riding out of the enemy's formation and arrived at the foot of the city. He held up a letter in his hand and shouted, "I am a lieutenant general under the command of Duke Dingguo of the Heavenly Dynasty. I have come to deliver a letter to your king. Why don't you open the door!"

A clerk who was fluent in Mandarin asked in a low voice: "General, will you open the door?"

Jin Junhao did not dare to neglect it and said hurriedly: "Be careful of fraud, put the basket and hoist him up to the city."

"Yes."

Lei Zifeng was born in Jia Cong's personal guard camp. He was known for his bravery and a meticulous mind. Seeing that the Koreans were as timid as mice and did not even dare to open the small door when facing him alone, he sneered, dismounted, jumped into the hanging basket, and sat down with a swagger.

The basket slowly rose up and was pulled up to the three-meter-high city wall by seven or eight defenders shouting slogans. Because the winch on the city wall had been blown to pieces by a shell, they had to rely on manpower.

Lei Zifeng reached out his hand and pressed on the parapet, then jumped out of the hanging basket gracefully, standing proudly on the city wall. He looked around and shouted, "Where is the general? Take me to see the king of that country."

The defenders around subconsciously took a step back and looked at Jin Junhao.

Jin Junhao tried his best to maintain the dignity of the country and said loudly: "There is an old saying in your Celestial Empire that when two countries are at war, envoys should not be killed. I will let you go back and leave the letter. I will pass it on to the king."

Lei Zifeng laughed and said, "Who are you? This is a letter from my Celestial Empire army to your king. Who are you to pass it on? You also want to kill the messenger? I'll give you a hundred guts, come on, I'll let you kill me!"
Let's see if there is a chicken or a dog left in your city!" He lifted his helmet and stretched out his bare neck.

"You! How dare you be so rude!" Jin Junhao was provoked by him and almost vomited blood. How dare he kill the envoy of the Celestial Empire without permission?

Lei Zifeng sneered, "Stop talking nonsense to me, have you made the decision on behalf of your king and don't want to accept this letter?

If so, I will go back and we will fight again! Come here, you losers, how did you pull me up, how do you put me down again. " After saying that, he pointed his finger.

Several guards were frightened by his momentum and pulled up the rope again with trembling hands.

Jin Junhao's face turned pale and blue, and he raised his hand to stop him, saying with difficulty: "Wait! Please follow me into the palace to see me."

Lei Zifeng raised his nose to the sky, snorted, and said, "Lead the way!"

Seoul was not big, and a team of garrison soldiers escorted the two men on horseback into the palace in a moment.

Lei Zifeng was full of sarcasm and pointing everywhere along the way. He said that the streets were narrow and bumpy, not as good as the county town in China; he said that the houses were short and ugly, and it was no wonder that the Koreans were short and weak. Jin Junhao could only grit his teeth and turn a deaf ear to him.

When they arrived at the gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, Lei Zifeng sneered exaggeratedly and said, "Brother Jin, I didn't expect your palace to be so shabby and simple. It really opened my eyes.

I will have the opportunity to visit the Celestial Empire in the future to see what a great power looks like, so that I won’t be so stupid as to dare to challenge the imperial army.”

Jin Junhao tightly grasped the knife handle, wishing he could pull it out and cut him in half. After enduring for a long time, he finally let go and sneered, "Duke Dingguo sent troops to invade our borders. What do you want to do?"

Lei Zifeng sneered: "The Duke has no other intentions, he just thinks you guys deserve a beating, so he sent us here to teach you some rules."

"You! Arrogant!" Jin Junhao shouted angrily.

Lei Zifeng spread his hands and said, "Look, I told you the truth, but you didn't believe it. This is called sitting in a well and looking at the sky. The frog in the well cannot talk about the sea because it is bound by the void; the summer insect cannot talk about ice because it is bound by time."

After saying this, he laughed out loud, secretly proud that the two dirty words he had just learned from Wei Wuji were finally put to use. Now he is also a scholar.

Jin Junhao came from a wealthy family, so he naturally understood the meaning of these two sentences. He was so ashamed and angry that he just kept his mouth shut and said no more.

The two men passed through Gwanghwamun, the south gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, and then through Heungnyemun, and arrived at the main hall of the palace, Geunjeongjeon, where the king met with officials and discussed state affairs.

It was quite solemn and dignified to meet Lei Zifeng at this time.

Lei Zifeng looked calm and composed, he took big strides and walked forward proudly.

"Wait a minute, please unsheathe your swords," the palace guards shouted.

Lei Zifeng pressed his knife and sneered: "If you want to take my weapon, take my head first!"

The guard was stunned and looked at Jin Junhao.

Jin Junhao hesitated for a moment and said, "Go and ask the king for instructions."

The guard hurried in to ask for instructions, and came out soon, saying, "The king has issued an order to allow the envoys of the Celestial Empire to bring swords into the palace."

Lei Zifeng snorted coldly, what a shitty king, he dared to call himself a king of such a tiny place, and walked into the palace with a swagger.

Seeing that civil and military officials had gathered in the hall, and a middle-aged man was sitting on the throne in front, he knew that he was King Yi Cheng. He stood straight and said loudly: "I have been ordered to deliver a letter to the King of Goryeo."

The officials were very angry to see how rude he was. They wanted to scold him in front of Li Cheng no matter what, otherwise it would be disloyalty, so they all scolded him angrily.

Lei Zifeng glanced around and shouted, "What are you arguing about?! Am I delivering a message to you? Ask your lord to answer! In such a small country, there is no one to talk to?"

Li Cheng held back his anger and raised his hand to stop everyone. This was not the time to be polite. He said in a deep voice, "Where is the letter?"

Lei Zifeng curled his lips, took out the letter from his arms and handed it to the eunuch.

Li Cheng was furious. He took the letter with trembling hands, quickly scanned it, and shouted angrily, "How dare you! I am the emperor of the Celestial Empire, and you dare to be so rebellious and send troops to threaten me. Do you think that I, Goryeo, am easy to bully?"

The ministers were all very curious, but they didn't know what the letter said and they had no way to interrupt at this moment.

Lei Zifeng said calmly: "Old Li, our Duke said that you are not a good king. The people of Goryeo are left with no clothes to wear and no food to eat. Why are you still clinging to your position?

It is better to abdicate and let others take over, so that we can talk it out. If you persist in your wrongdoings, do you really think that my army is vegetarian?

We could have taken the city, but we withdrew our troops because we cared about the people in the city! We will use courtesy first and then force. We will give you three more days to consider.

If there is no explanation, we will fight and the whole Li family and all of you present here will die!" After saying this, he turned around and laughed and left.

Li Cheng was so angry that he felt dizzy. He was too arrogant! This was intolerable! However, he did not have the courage to order him to stay.

All the civil and military officials were startled and looked at each other. The angel's meaning was very clear. It was only aimed at the king. As long as someone else took the position, the danger would be resolved. If he remained stubborn... then both sides would perish.

At this time, except for Li Cheng's close confidants, all the ministers had their own ideas in mind. If they could sacrifice one person and save the officials and civilians of the entire city, the deal would be quite a good deal.

But Li Cheng is not as bad as Lei Zifeng said. In the ten years since he ascended the throne, he has already firmly controlled the political situation, and no one dares to touch his butt easily.

Moreover, in recent years, he has introduced good laws such as the "Equal Labor Law" and even directly communicated with the people and solicited their opinions, which to a certain extent reduced the burden on the people and gained a good reputation. Of course, compared with the "benevolent policy" of directly attacking the local tyrants, confiscating their property, and dividing the money, grain and land, his strength can naturally be ignored.

Today, the common people in the "royal areas" of Korea all hope that the royal army will completely destroy the Lee regime and take root in Goryeo for a long time.

Li Cheng's face was livid as he watched Lei Zifeng walk away. His eyes were as cold as lightning, scanning the surroundings, and he asked in a cold voice: "What good ideas do you have, my ministers?"

The ministers hurriedly said: "We swear to be loyal to Your Majesty until death."

Li Cheng nodded and said, "Then let's follow the original plan, defend the capital and fight the enemy army to the death!"

"Yes! We obey your order!"

After delivering the letter, Lei Zifeng walked out of the palace, got on his horse and rode away. Suddenly, he tilted his head and said with a smile, "Old Jin, your Goryeo is rich in beauties. I heard there is a brothel in the city called Jinmeilou, which has the same surname as you. It is said that there are many beauties in it.

Now that you are here, how can you not go and see it? Lead the way, I invite you to play with me."

Jin Junhao was stunned. He didn't expect that while two armies were fighting, he, with such an important task, would go to visit a prostitute openly.

I rejected it instinctively and said, "This is not appropriate."

Lei Zifeng said: "What's wrong with that? I have plenty of money, so is it not enough to take care of your Korean business?

It just so happens that no one followed me out today. When I go back, I can just say that I had a long chat with your king and he treated me to a drink, right?
Hey, it's late at night, I'm cold and hungry, it's a good time to go to the brothel to warm up. If you and I don't die, we may become colleagues in the future. Why don't you give me this face?"

Jin Junhao was furious in his heart. He thought to himself that he was a colleague of yours. He was about to refuse sternly, but a personal soldier suddenly came over and whispered in his ear. He could no longer say no. He forced a smile that was uglier than crying and said, "Since the envoy is interested, I will do my best to be a good host."

Lei Zifeng smiled and said, "Let's go! You and I were enemies on the battlefield, but now we can be friends."

After saying that, he took him away, laughing in his heart. As expected, there is no official who is not afraid of death. Someone has greeted him now.

This was also planned by Yan Shuangying and Wei Wuji. They deliberately let Lei Zifeng wander around the city to make it easier for him to contact people who wanted to surrender, and also to connect with the ninja spies lurking in the city.

Soon they arrived at the brothel. Because of the war, the city had already been under curfew, and there was no customer in the brothel. Lei Zifeng was already salivating, and shouted, "Where's the madam?"

The madam had already been pulled out by Jin Junhao's men and was smiling timidly.

Jin Junhao said with a fierce face: "Call your best prostitute to accompany you for drinking."

"Yes, yes, yes." The madam agreed quickly and invited the two of them into the most luxurious private room upstairs.

Lei Zifeng waved his hand and said, "I'm hungry after working all night. Let me get some wine and cut some cooked beef!"

"Yes, yes." The madam saw that he was of extraordinary status and agreed with a smile.

Jin Junhao sat down without saying a word, letting Lei Zifeng order him around.

Soon, a large table of food and four or five famous prostitutes came up and served wine and food attentively.

Fortunately, Lei Zifeng had accompanied Jia Cong to brothels several times. Although he had never actually done it, he had at least seen it. He pretended to be experienced and embraced women left and right, groped them everywhere, and said with a smile: "Brother Jin, since we are having a feast, why are you so restrained? Don't you want to give face to the beauty? Let go, I know how to make money."

Jin Junhao laughed dryly and said, "Since the general has come to our country, there is no reason for me to ask you to spend money. Naturally, I will pay the bill. The general just enjoys himself."

It’s not that he doesn’t want to visit prostitutes, but with his country in ruins and his family in ruins, he has no time to think about it.

Lei Zifeng laughed, pushed the two women away, and said, "Since Brother Jin can't let go, then have some wine, and I'll go back to my room and play later."

Jin Junhao had no choice but to accompany him for a few drinks. After three rounds of drinks, thinking that his depression would not change anything, he simply let go and ate meat and drank wine with Lei Zifeng.

"Cheers!" Lei Zifeng drank another cup and said with a smile, "Your wine is bland, not as good as the Shenxianzui created by Duke Dingguo. When you go to Shenjing, I'll treat you to a drink. I guarantee you'll never want to drink these bland wines again."

Jin Junhao said hurriedly: "I also have some Shenxianzui from the Celestial Empire hidden in my home to entertain distinguished guests. I will send someone to get it now."

Lei Zifeng smiled and said, "Okay, go quickly."

Jin Junhao hurriedly ordered his personal soldiers to bring some wine.

Lei Zifeng looked up, called the madam over, and said, "It's boring for us to drink. Is there anyone who can sing some new songs? I'm tired of your Korean songs these days."

The madam hurriedly said, "There is something new. Not long ago, a singing girl from Japan came here and she can play and sing Japanese songs. General, are you willing to give it a try?"

"Are you really from Japan?" Lei Zifeng smiled, pinching his chin.

"That's right, her name is Momonogi Kana." The madam smiled and said, "She is very good at singing Japanese songs and she is also very pretty, but..."

"Just what?"

"I'm just selling my art, not my body..."

Lei Zifeng smiled and said, "That's easy. I won't sell it if you don't pay me. Come on."

"Yes, yes." The madam cursed him shamelessly and retreated obediently.

Jin Junhao also glanced at Lei Zifeng with some contempt, but he didn't dare to show it.

Lei Zifeng pretended not to notice and just drank.

After a while, the Japanese singer came in holding a shamisen, bowed deeply, and knelt on the ground.

Jin Junhao saw that the woman was in her twenties and had a good appearance. The most eye-catching thing was her breasts. Even through the thick kimono, they still made people feel somewhat thrilling.

"Pick up a song that you are good at and sing it."

"Yes." Momonogi Kana plucked the strings of the guitar lightly with a little shyness and began to sing.

After listening for a while, Lei Zifeng couldn't help but wonder if the Japanese were crazy. They actually sold this funeral song for money?
He interrupted hurriedly, "Hey, I'm not dead yet, why are you crying?"

Jin Junhao was listening with great interest, but he couldn't help but curse inwardly, thinking that the person was a vulgar person and didn't understand the song.

"Sing for me something fun and festive, will you?" Lei Zifeng asked loudly.

Momonogi Kana felt a little aggrieved and whispered, "General, there is no such thing as a happy occasion in Japanese poetry."

"Asshole!" Lei Zifeng glared.

Jin Junhao hurriedly explained: "General, calm down. Waka poems are often about remembrance of good times and sadness over loss. There is really no joy in them."

Lei Zifeng pouted and said, "Bad luck." Then he pulled Momonogi Kana up and said with a lewd smile, "It's okay if you can't sing a song, then sleep with me."

"General, I sell my art but not my body." Momonogi Kana exclaimed.

"Did I say I wanted to buy it?" Lei Zifeng laughed, carried the person away.

Jin Junhao smiled bitterly, holding his head and shaking his head. Has the family decided to rebel? (End of this chapter)