The Red Chamber: Starting from Saving Xue Baochai

Chapter 84: The Emperor's Imperial Decree to Reward Shen Huaizhong

The bandits in Fenghuangling were wiped out, and the victory was quite fruitful. The entire New Army Guard was very excited.

He has been in the army for only two months and has already made great contributions. It is hard to say what his future will be like.

As for the small number of casualties, the soldiers did not feel as heavy-hearted as they had imagined. When joining the army, the most fearful thing is not having the opportunity to achieve merit. How many people are afraid of death?
They joined the New Army voluntarily. If they were afraid of death, they wouldn't have to come in. Now that they are here, they should have thought about all possible outcomes.

Even if he unfortunately died in battle, Shen Yuan promised to provide generous relief to his family.

All the soldiers believe in their commander, and Lord Shen will never go back on his word.

After cleaning up the battlefield, the new army guards did not return home, but rested for a night on Phoenix Ridge.

The next day, under Shen Yuan's order, the entire army set out for the next battlefield.

Now that he has set out on his mission, Shen Yuan will not be satisfied with just taking down Phoenix Ridge. This time he wants to use the power of thunder to sweep away all the bandits within a hundred miles of the outskirts of Beijing. Phoenix Ridge is just the largest hill among them.

In the next few days, in order to improve efficiency, Shen Yuan divided the new army guard into four. He, Feng Ziying and Jiang Fan each led one group, and Liu Xianglian and Zhao Huan led another group together.

With Shenjing City as the center, they marched quickly in the four directions of southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest, sweeping across.

With the experience of the Battle of Phoenix Ridge, eliminating other small and medium-sized mountain strongholds will be a piece of cake.

Coupled with the hot air balloon as a powerful weapon, the gates and walls of the village that the bandits relied on were almost useless. Once the gate was broken, the crushing harvest would follow without suspense.

In just seven or eight days, all the bandits were wiped out, and there was no more banditry within a hundred miles of the capital.

Of course, this is not absolute. As the saying goes, money can move people. As long as there is enough profit to be gained, as time goes by, there will still be people who take risks and become bandits again.

After finishing the bandit suppression, Shen Yuan regrouped his troops and returned home with all the spoils.

Qianqing Palace, Imperial Study.

Emperor Yuanzhen was reviewing memorials at his desk when he suddenly saw the internal minister Dai Quan walk in. He smiled and said with a happy look on his face, "Your Majesty, Shen Huaizhong sent someone to deliver the latest victory report."

After saying this, he hurriedly handed the memorial to Long An.

Emperor Yuanzhen raised his eyes with a look of delight on his face. He put down the imperial pen in his hand, took the memorial impatiently and read it quickly.

The more the emperor read, the bigger the smile on his face.

"Very good, very good!" Emperor Yuanzhen praised repeatedly and said with a smile: "In just a few days, the bandit problem in the capital area has been completely eliminated, and more than 250,000 taels of silver have been seized, as well as a large amount of other valuables. It's a great achievement. The new army guards are brave! Huai Zhong is incredible!"

The emperor could not help but be happy. Every military campaign in the past had cost huge amounts of money and grain.

This time, the new army’s suppression of bandits was not only swift and efficient, but also brought a large amount of wealth to the court, thus gaining both fame and fortune.

Dai Quan looked at Emperor Yuanzhen's long-lost expression of joy and couldn't help but sigh in his heart that Shen Huaizhong was truly a natural born general. He was so capable at such a young age and now he had the emperor's favor. It was truly enviable.

"Your Majesty, Lord Shen should be returning to the city with his victory, right?"

Emperor Yuanzhen smiled and said, "He has led the new army to the southern suburbs barracks. After a day of rest, he will lead a group of officers back to the city tomorrow."

He paused, looked at Dai Quan and said, "You will leave the city tomorrow and pass my order to Huai Zhong, summoning him to the palace to see the emperor."

After all, it was not a war against an enemy country, and no enemy chiefs were captured, so it was impossible for the emperor to come out to greet him in person. However, allowing the internal minister Dai Quan to go out of the city to greet him on the occasion of conveying the imperial edict was enough to show the emperor's great grace and favor.

Dai Quan was stunned for a moment when he heard this. The emperor's favor towards the young man once again refreshed his understanding.

"I obey your command." The next day, early in the morning.

After a night of rest yesterday, the New Army Guards Battalion had recovered from most of the fatigue brought by days of bandit suppression. All the soldiers looked radiant and in high spirits.

Shen Yuan planned to lead Feng Ziying and others, as well as several newly promoted acting captains and deputy captains, and more than a hundred people, to enter through Yongding Gate and escort the spoils into the city.

Everything was ready. A group of more than a hundred people and more than ten vehicles left the barracks and marched solemnly towards Yongding Gate.

As soon as they arrived at the city gate, Shen Yuan and his group were all surprised.

At this time, outside Yongding Gate, both sides of the official road into the city were crowded with people, estimated to be several thousand people.

As soon as they saw Shen Yuan and others coming, all the people began to cheer and applaud. This scene really made them a little puzzled.

Just as they were stunned, several men in fancy clothes came over and said with a smile: "We have been waiting here for a long time, and we have come here specially to welcome the heroes who have fought against bandits in Shenjing City. On behalf of the people of Shenjing City, we would like to thank Lord Shen and all the soldiers of the New Army for eliminating all bandit troubles in Shenjing and ensuring the peace of millions of people."

"This is our job, we can't be called heroes." Shen Yuan said calmly: "Besides, the matter of suppressing bandits is also the holy decree of His Majesty, and the imperial power is mighty."

It's not that he was being falsely modest. Killing a group of bandits wasn't really something worthy of praise.

If one day they kill the Jian invaders and defeat the Japanese pirates, he will be praised as a hero and he will deserve it.

Perhaps because he came from the future, Shen Yuan had a deep obsession with the cowardly Qing Dynasty and the brutal Japanese invaders in modern times.

Destroy the Qing and destroy the Japanese. If he had any chance, he would definitely do these two things.

Especially the sinister and violent Japanese pirates, it would not be too much to let them destroy their country and exterminate their race.
Putting these thoughts aside for the moment, Shen Yuan looked at the people in front of him and said in a clear voice: "I wonder how you knew that we would return to the city today?"

A man in brocade clothes smiled and replied, "Master Shen doesn't know yet, right?
A few days ago, Hanmozhai's tabloid began to publish news about the new army's suppression of bandits, and it was serialized for several days. Once there was new news, it was published in a timely manner without any delay.

Until now, Lord Shen and the new army have become a daily topic of conversation among the people of Shenjing, and everyone is very excited. "

Shen Yuan suddenly understood after hearing this.

It should be that after Emperor Yuanzhen received his battle report, he asked the Fourth Prince to use Hanmo Zhai to build momentum for the new army guards.

As for the purpose, on the one hand it can further promote the strengthening of the army and the deployment of military forces, and on the other hand it can also shut up those ministers who attack the new army guards.

While Shen Yuan and his companions were talking to the common people, they saw a group of cavalrymen in brocade clothes waving whips coming from the city gate. They were like a whirlwind and arrived in the blink of an eye.

Shen Yuan looked intently and saw the person leading the group. He was wearing a wide robe and cloak on the outside and brocade clothes on the inside. He had a dignified look on his face. It was the Prime Minister Dai Quan.

When he arrived in front of Shen Yuan, Dai Quan reined in his horse and stopped. When he looked at Shen Yuan, a smile appeared on his face. He raised the bright yellow imperial edict in his hand and said loudly: "New Army Guard Commander Shen Yuan and all the officers and soldiers accept the edict!"

As soon as these words came out, there was a loud noise.
Not only Shen Yuan and other new army guards, but also the thousands of civilians who came to welcome the army, quickly knelt down and listened to the order.

Dai Quan glanced around and then, without saying much, he suddenly unfolded the imperial edict and began to read it aloud. His shrill and loud voice rang out outside the empty Yongding Gate.

"Fengtian Chengyun Emperor, the imperial edict said:

Since taking up the post of the new military champion, Shen Huaizhong has been ordered by the emperor to write a drill manual, build a new army, and eliminate the banditry in the capital. In just over a month, the new army has become a strong army, which shows that his talent is comparable to that of Sun Wukong.
He was specially promoted to the commander of the New Army Guard, and Feng Ziying and Jiang Fan were promoted to the associate commanders of the New Army Guard, and Liu Xianglian and Zhao Huan were promoted to the assistant commanders of the New Army Guard. The New Army Guard was given 50,000 taels of silver as a reward for their merits. The rest of the officers were submitted to the Ministry of War by Huaizhong for selection.

Admire this. "

(End of this chapter)