Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

On the fifth day of September, just after midnight, I was in Panxiang Temple, Xuanmu Mountain, Gusu.

In the Zen room in the inner courtyard, two slender and graceful figures were sleeping side by side on the embroidered bed.

One of them was wearing a chiffon silk nightgown, and the other was wearing a cotton top.

The slender waist, the thin blanket, the rich fragrance, the graceful and soft figure, the thinness and tenderness, each has its own wonderful appearance.

The night wind blew, and the woman in the soft silk nightgown, her eyebrows slightly frowned, her eyelashes trembling, her full breasts heaving, suddenly woke up from her dream.

That night, Zhishao was restless and tried to fall asleep, but was awakened by a startling dream. She tossed and turned and could not fall asleep again.

She sat up, hugged the thin quilt, and gently rubbed the silver wire bracelet on her hand, which was given to her by Jia Cong.

For some reason, she felt unsettled today. Jia Cong's figure was in her dreams and she had a strange feeling that he was very close to her.

She quietly got out of bed, walked to the window and looked out. Through the swaying shadows of the trees in the mountains at night, she could only see a corner of the city wall at the foot of the mountain, and the houses and streets in the city that were not clearly visible under the dark sunflowers.

Zhishao got up and woke up Xing Xiuyan who was sleeping next to her. She rubbed her eyes, got out of bed barefoot and walked to the window.

He asked, "Sister Zhishao, it's windy at night, why are you standing by the window?"

She was seen stroking the silver bracelet in her hand and giggling, "Are you missing your cousin again?"

Zhishao blushed slightly, but did not hide it, and said: "Well, I miss him, we have never been apart for so long in the past two years.

I feel very strange today. I feel restless all the time. I wonder how the Third Master is doing with his work in Jinling."

Xing Xiuyan said with some envy, "Look how nice you are. If you miss someone, just say it openly. You don't have to hide it."

After hearing this, Zhi Shao was slightly stunned and said with a smile: "What are you talking about? Are you hiding something?"

Xing Xiuyan's face turned red, and she looked like she wanted to say something but hesitated.

Zhi Shao chuckled and said, "You are still a young girl, but you have finally come to your senses. You can actually hide your thoughts about someone. Tell me who you are thinking about."

Xing Xiuyan blushed and defended herself: "I was just saying it casually, I don't miss anyone at all."

After hesitating for a while, he said, "Sister Zhishao, my father received a letter from my aunt, saying that she would take us to Shenjing to settle down..."

In the past few days, Xing Zhong and his wife have been preparing to go north, so naturally they couldn't help nagging in Xing Xiuyan's ear.

Xing Xiuyan was both happy and worried. Once the confused emotions of a young girl were aroused, they lingered in her heart.

Going to Shenjing would not only allow her to have Zhishao as her companion, but would also allow her to see her cousin often, so she was naturally willing to do so.

But she knew what her parents and aunt were planning. This so-called marriage sounded absurd and vague. If it became public, how would she face Jia Cong and Zhi Shao?

……

After hearing this, Zhishao was slightly stunned and said, "Isn't your aunt the eldest lady of the mansion?"

In the past two years, Zhishao returned to the Jia family and lived with Jia Cong in the West Mansion, and later moved to the Earl's Mansion.

Ever since Jia Cong's rise to power, Jia She and his wife seldom went to the West Mansion except to pay their respects to Lady Jia. They just stayed in the East Courtyard and acted like kings.

In addition, Jia Cong deliberately avoided Zhishao because of what happened to him. So in the whole two years, Zhishao only met Jia She and his wife a few times.

Although they seldom met each other, for some reason, she hated these two people from the bottom of her heart.

But she is sincere and affectionate, and likes Xing Xiuyan's indifference and innocence, so she will not have any estrangement towards Xiuyan because of Mrs. Xing.

They even had similar personalities and talked a lot in their daily lives, so they often slept in the same bed.

He smiled and said, "That's a good thing. Master and Senior Sister are going to the Muni Temple in the Divine Capital to read the Bayeux Scriptures. They will return to the capital with me and the Third Master. It will be even more lively if you go with us then."

After hearing this, Xing Xiuyun's pretty face flushed, and she looked very beautiful. She was delighted to think that she could go to the capital and have Miaoyu and Zhishao as company, not to mention seeing Jia Cong from time to time.

Although the somewhat frivolous marriage made her feel uneasy, as long as the time came, she would make a firm decision that she would not marry even if she didn't like the man, and the embarrassment would be gone.

Although, saying that you don’t like something is a bit of a lie...

However, this was somewhat of an attempt to cover up one's own faults, and it made the little girl feel relieved. She chatted with Zhishao for a few more words, and then they went back to sleep holding hands.

……

Suzhou, Yanhua Street.

In the pitch-black night, Jia Cong rushed into Geng's mansion with a large number of people.

Jiang Xiaoliu had been to the outer courtyard of Geng's mansion several times and was already familiar with the distribution of the servants in the outer courtyard. He took a team of more than 20 people and went to various places in the outer courtyard to take control of all the servants.

Although the action was very quick, it still made some noise. The cries for help from several servants, although they were met with a few blows from the scabbards, still alarmed the inner courtyard.

Jia Cong led his men to the archway of the inner courtyard and heard the sound of the door opening and closing from the inner courtyard bell, as well as some messy footsteps.

The archway of the inner courtyard was quickly knocked open, and a large number of elite men holding swords rushed into the inner courtyard like a tide.

Jia Cong directed his men to guard the gates and passages of the inner courtyard and drive out the people in the houses.

There were many maids and old women living in the inner courtyard. They were all frightened by the murderous outsiders and screamed, running around like headless flies.

Soon, the sounds of clashing swords, shouting and fighting were heard in the inner courtyard.

The men led by Jia Cong quickly gathered towards the place where the sounds of chopping and killing came from.

Among the crowd that surrounded them, five or six men were waving weapons and resisting stubbornly, and there were several corpses lying on the ground.

Jia Cong shouted, "Encircle the enemy, withdraw from the sword range, reload the muskets, and prepare to fire!"

As soon as he finished speaking, all the people involved in the fight quickly withdrew from the circle, advancing and retreating in a planned manner, appearing to be well-trained.

Dozens of muskets around were aimed at the five or six men in the center of the battle circle, waiting for Jia Cong's order to fire a volley.

Even if these people had bodies of steel, they would be beaten into sieves in an instant.

The people who were surrounded all looked pale as death. Although they had never experienced a musket attack, they knew that no one could be spared from a round of volleys.

One of them shouted, "Put down your weapons."

The others all felt relieved and hurriedly threw away their weapons, fearing that the enemy's muskets would be fired at any moment during the night.

They had fought back just now, but they were just trapped beasts fighting to the bitter end. When they saw countless strong men pouring into the inner courtyard, they knew they could not escape even if they had wings.

……

In fact, even if they continued to resist stubbornly, Jia Cong would not shoot rashly, but would only use military formations to surround and kill them.

Just now I was just showing off and exerting pressure or intimidation.

This time he brought almost all the people who had sneaked into Gusu, but only allowed twenty of them to carry the improved Rumi gun, just in case of emergency.

He had no intention of using muskets in tonight's roundup, because the sound of a gunshot would alert the entire Gusu.

By then Luo Xiong's Suzhou Guards would hear the news and it would be extremely difficult for them to even leave the city.

……

Jia Cong glanced at the man who had just spoken. He was less than 40 years old, with regular features, a high nose bridge, a short beard, and an awe-inspiring look.

Jia Cong had already memorized the portrait of Zhou Zhengyang that Zou Min'er had just painted.

The man looked desperate, but he still asked, "Who are you?"

Jia Cong sneered: "Zhou Zhengyang, we finally meet."

Jia Cong did not answer the other party's question. Jiang Xiaoliu squeezed in front of Jia Cong and said, "Third Master, all the servants in the mansion have been controlled, and no one has escaped.

I have just asked carefully. More than a month ago, the women of the Geng family moved to the villa to cool off. Geng Dafu had given the servants in the Geng family a gag order, so they had not revealed any information.

They said that Geng Dafu would return home the next day, but it happened that he didn't return home today.

This old man is also cunning. He often returns to the mansion, and outsiders can't guess that he actually hides a man in his inner courtyard."

Jia Cong said to Wei Yongzhou beside him: "Tie up and seal up all the servants in Geng's house, and let our people withdraw from Huayan Street immediately, the sooner the better!
But there was quite a commotion just now, I guess it can’t be concealed for long…”

As they were about to leave in formation, Zhou Zhengyang and the others were escorted out of the inner courtyard. One of them suddenly said, "Zhou Zhengyang and I are not in the same party. I am from the Central Vehicle Division!"

Jia Cong looked back and saw that the person who was speaking was a man in his thirties with ordinary looks and shrewd eyes. His right foot was bandaged, as if his leg was seriously injured.

Zhou Zhengyang, who was walking in front, looked at the man with surprise, but was pushed out of the inner courtyard by the escorting soldiers.

Jia Cong looked solemn and asked, "You are Chen Kuishan, the car driver of Jinling!"

The man said, "I am Chen Kuishan. I left my name badge of the Imperial Vehicle Division in the outer courtyard of Geng's mansion, but for a long time, there was no movement. I was getting a little desperate, but luckily you finally found me here."

Jia Cong said: "Your badge is kept in the outer courtyard. Under normal circumstances, no one except the people in Geng's house can see it. Even if the servants of Geng's house see it, they will just think it is a child's graffiti.

Fortunately, my people came to Geng Mansion to investigate, and nothing escaped.”

Jia Cong sighed again, "Captain Chen sneaked into Jinling Guard and was regarded as a confidant by Zhou Zhengyang. If he could send the message earlier, we wouldn't have to spend so much effort to capture him."

Chen Kuishan quickly replied: "I was coerced by Zhou Zhengyang to flee Jinling, and he was extremely wary of the people around him.

When our group arrived at Haishanzhu in Changzhou, two people tried to escape but were killed on the spot by Zhou Zhengyang and his confidants.

I injured my leg in the fight and have been unable to move since then, so I have not been able to send messages.

Jia Cong smiled and said, "Captain Chen, you have worked hard. Come with us out of the city first. When we return to Jinling, I will definitely ask for merit for you..."

……

Jia Cong's men poured out of Geng's mansion in a stream, and Zhang Wu was already outside with his men to meet them.

All the troops were divided into several groups and evacuated from the intersections on both sides of Yanhua Street.

It seemed like only a moment had passed before the entire Yanhua Street mysteriously returned to its calm.

When Jia Cong's men left, they extinguished all the candles in the mansion and carefully closed the door of Geng's mansion.

From the outside, the entire Geng Mansion seemed to be the same as usual, with nothing unusual happening, and it was in a deep sleep during the long night.

When they come, they are as fast as lightning; when they leave, they disappear like a cloud without a trace. Only elite soldiers who have been tempered by fighting in battles can achieve such a brave and agile advance and retreat.

But even so, the brief fight in the inner courtyard of Geng Mansion just now still caused quite a stir.

On Yanhua Street, many residents were awakened from their sleep. Some even saw the strange phenomenon of crowds of people on the street, and vaguely saw many people entering and leaving Geng's mansion.

But ordinary people are generally afraid of and avoid trouble.

As long as it does not concern them, no one will deliberately get to the bottom of it to avoid trouble. At most, it will just provide some bizarre topics for conversation after dinner.

It was not until the end of midnight that the night watchman who had been knocked unconscious slowly woke up and looked around with horror on his face.

But what he saw was the street still deserted, exactly the same as when he usually did the night watch.

Could it be that the crowds of people running on the street, those sharp blades flashing with cold light, and the blow on his back were all his hallucinations?
The night watchman shook his head heavily and soon confirmed everything he had seen before he fell into a coma.

Looking at the dark Yanhua Street, he felt a fear he had never felt before. The streets he was familiar with seemed like strange beasts with huge mouths that were ready to devour him at any time.

The night watchman stumbled to his feet and ran towards the nearest county government office to report the strange phenomenon he had seen to the authorities.

It was the middle of the night, and if there were people in the government office, we could only wait until dawn.

……

September 5th, 3:30 PM.

Because Chen Kuishan was injured in the leg, Jia Cong asked a strong soldier to carry him and follow the team to withdraw from Yanhua Street.

When the group turned an intersection, Chen Kuishan saw seven or eight horse-drawn carriages parked on the side of the road, and many of the people accompanying them got on different vehicles.

Chen Kuishan took a quick look and saw a crowd of people, nearly a hundred in number, and this was just one group of people.

In the midst of the rush, Chen Kuishan saw several people wearing hoods being escorted into one of the carriages. They should be Zhou Zhengyang and others, which made Chen Kuishan breathe a sigh of relief.

When he was evacuating Geng's house just now, he saw with his own eyes another group of people withdrawing from the other end of Yanhua Street.

This means that there were hundreds of people involved in the raid on Geng's house tonight to arrest people. Such a large-scale battle made Chen Kuishan extremely shocked.

Just now in the inner courtyard of Geng's mansion, Jia Cong did not reveal his identity, and no one else said a word to him along the way.

Until now, Chen Kuishan still doesn't know the origins of these people, but since they can make such a big scene, they are definitely not a mob, but can only be the work of the imperial court.

But why was there no news of such a big official move beforehand? Suzhou Wei Luo Xiong must have known nothing about it either.

Who exactly is that young man leading the team?

Even until the carriage started, Chen Kuishan was still full of questions.

……

Half a mile away from Tielingguan Ferry, at a remote estuary, boatman Zheng Xiaohai's boat had already been waiting there.

During the past few months, Zheng Xiaohai had been living a very comfortable life. He had made two big deals in a row and earned enough to cover his food and clothing expenses for two years.

He hoped to take on a few more such businesses and save enough money to buy a new large ship. His life would surely get better and better in the future.

His wife even laughed at him for always having sweet dreams, but he never expected that when good luck came, nothing could stop him and the same good business came to his doorstep again.

Yesterday afternoon, a man in his thirties found him and said that Mr. Jia, who had taken his boat before, wanted to use his boat again.

We should still go up the river and follow the old rules, avoiding the inspections of military ships along the way. The price of the sailing will definitely satisfy him.

Zheng Xiaohai had done business with Jia Cong twice and earned nearly a hundred taels of silver from him. He knew that this Mr. Jia was very generous.

After hearing about the deal, I naturally agreed to it.

……

On the fifth day of September, at the hour of Mao, the morning light was just breaking.

Suzhou, Xichang Gate.

Changmen is located in the west of Gusu City, so the old Gusu people call it Xichangmen. Going west along the river, you can lead to Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Jinling and other places.

The first quarter of the morning is when the gates of Gusu city open.

The gate of Xichang City, as in the past, was crowded with peddlers, merchants, traveling doctors, people visiting relatives, and carriages and horses traveling far away who were trying to leave the city early.

The bustling crowd crowded in front of the dark city gate, and the soldiers guarding the city were bored as they tried to maintain order.

Among the crowd leaving the city, some were chatting, some were curled up in the carriage and taking a nap, and there were also many small vendors carrying boxes of goods and selling them among the crowd.

Among the crowd there were several large carriages of different styles, not very conspicuous, blending in with the carriages and people leaving the city.

On the shaft of one of the carts, a young boy of about fifteen or sixteen was sitting next to the driver. He was wearing coarse clothes, a felt hat, and had a dark complexion.

The pair of eyes under the felt hat often looked around, like a country boy who had not seen much of the world.

At this time, a man with a bandaged left leg and a crutch limped to the front of the car, holding a package in his hand.

He took a piece out of his bag and handed it to the boy, saying with a smile, "We have a long way to go, so I went to buy some Gusu rice cakes. They are delicious and can keep you full."

Until now, Chen Kuishan still doesn't know Jia Cong's identity. He only knows that this young man is the leader of this group.

On the way he tried to inquire about the two men who were taking care of him, but they refused to speak to him and spoke cautiously, showing a strong sense of military discipline.

Jia Cong glanced at Chen Kuishan and said with a smile, "Mr. Chen has been gone for a while. I was worried that you might have difficulty walking. The city gates will be opened soon. Please get in the car quickly."

Chen Kuishan smiled and climbed onto the carriage somewhat clumsily. The moment he got in, he glanced at the carriage behind him.

In the carriage, Zhou Zhengyang and several of his accomplices were drugged by Jia Cong and fell into a deep sleep, so there was no need to worry about them causing any trouble if they left the city gate.

……

The hour of Mao finally arrived. The western sky was still dark, but the golden light of the rising sun appeared in the east, slanting down on the crowd leaving the city, casting heavy shadows.

The city gate rumbled open, and the crowd, who had been waiting for a long time, filed out of the city and soon scattered on several roads heading west out of the city.

After one of the carts drove out of the city gate, a wild pigeon flew out from the cart and flew towards Jinling...

The few veteran soldiers guarding the city gate were somewhat familiar with the flow of people leaving the city every day, and vaguely felt that the number of people leaving the city today seemed to be more than in the past.

But this is also a normal thing. At the beginning or end of the year, the number of people leaving the city every day is even greater than today.

……

Not far from Xichang Gate, a clerk from a rice cake shop hurriedly left the shop and headed towards Daoqian Street...

At the intersection of Yanhua Street, a county constable, accompanied by several yamen runners, dozed off and cursed as they followed an old night watchman into Yanhua Street.

No wonder the captain was in a bad mood, it was still dark and he had just come out of bed, trying to slowly fall asleep.

The damn night watchman went to the county government office to report that hundreds of bandits had entered Yanhua Street last night. It sounded like nonsense... (End of this chapter)