The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Just after the ninth month of the lunar calendar, the leaves on the Daqing Mountain turned yellow.

The north wind was bleak, and leaves fell layer after layer on the white road of Yinshan Mountain. This was not the later times. The Yinshan Mountain was covered with dense grasslands and forests for more than a thousand miles from east to west, with a wide variety of animals, providing food and habitat for the Mongols.

The Yinshan Mountains are high in the south and low in the north, high in the west and low in the east. Several mountain passes in the east are key points to block the northern nomadic people from moving south. Wuchuan is located at the exit of the Yinshan Baidao, which is the key passage for the nomadic people to invade the Central Plains.

It was this inconspicuous small town on the northern foothills of the Yin Mountains that gave birth to the imperial families of the Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang dynasties.

Around this small town, tents have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

In front of a large luxurious tent that looked like a moon surrounded by stars, a scarlet felt carpet led directly to the post road.

Chen Qiang led his generals and stood at the end of the felt carpet. The biting cold wind made everyone's ears and noses red, but they stood solemnly in silence.

"Here it comes!" Someone shouted, and everyone looked up.

In the distance, a group of flying red clouds were floating towards them rapidly.

Wang Yaozu took the lead, leading more than a hundred scouts.

Li Hu led Wang Daniu and his personal soldiers and followed closely behind, and more than a hundred scouts were guarding them closely.

The remaining scouts followed closely behind, each with a tense face, their eyes wide open in the cold wind, paying attention to everything around them.

There were shouts and gasps, and the cavalrymen pulled the reins one after another, and the horse teams stopped one after another.

As soon as the horse team stopped, Chen Qiang hurriedly strode forward to greet them.

The generals followed quickly.

Wang Yaozu waved his hand, and the scouts moved aside, making way for Li Hu, who was riding on a big white horse.

Chen Qiang knelt on one knee and saluted: "Marshal!"

Everyone knelt down.

Li Hu rode over and said, "Stand up and talk."

Chen Qiang and all the generals stood up in response.

Li Hu looked at the scarlet carpet and said with a smile, "The carpet you laid out is not long enough."

Li Hu was laughing, but no one dared to laugh. Chen Qiang was even more at a loss, as he did not expect the cavalry to stop at this location.

Wang Yaozu was also somewhat at a loss. He had no grudge against Chen Qiang and was not deliberately making things difficult for him. He stopped his horse subconsciously, fearing that the horse would lose control and hit Chen Qiang and others standing next to the carpet.

"Whose zodiac year is it?" Li Hu suddenly asked.

Everyone is puzzled.

Li Hu: "Take off your red shorts and mend them."

Everyone was stunned at first, then burst into laughter.

Li Hu then got off his horse and said: "Next time if you do these nonsense to me, I will kick you to death."

Chen Qiang felt relieved when he heard this, and then answered loudly: "Yes."

Li Hu walked towards the big tent with his hands behind his back, and asked Chen Qiang: "How is it going? Have you found the remnants of the Ulanqab League?"

Chen Qiang: "Not yet, but according to the herdsmen, they heard the sound of a large group of cavalry in the middle of the night. They should be heading north."

Li Hu stopped and asked: "Mobei?"

Chen Qiang: "It's possible. The Chechen Khanate, Tushetu Khanate, and Zasak Khanate of Uliasutai belong to the same Khalkha Mongols as the Khalkha Prince. They must have gone to get reinforcements."

Li Hu nodded and said, "Then let's ignore them for now. The most urgent thing is to do two things. The first is to find the hiding places of the royal courts of the Four Princes, Urad and Maoming'an tribes. This is the simplest thing. Tell all the serfs that if they provide clues, they will be rewarded with a cow and ten sheep. If the clues provided lead to the royal courts of the three tribes, they will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins and a hundred households."

Chen Qiang's eyes lit up: "The Marshal is wise!"

Li Hu rolled his eyes at him and said, "Stop flattering me. The second thing is to build a city. The northern foothills are cold, with strong winds and snow. The cowhide tents can't stop them. We must build a city to withstand the snow and wind." Chen Qiang was stunned: "How can we build a city without stones?"

Li Hu glanced at him and said: "Read more books if you have nothing to do. Who says that you must have stones to build a city?" He took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to him.

Chen Qiang unfolded it and took a look: "Wood?"

Li Hu nodded. He had just come up with this idea when he saw the trees on the Daqing Mountain. He buried the logs one by one in the ground and arranged them densely to form a wooden fence. The distance between two wooden fences was ten feet, and the earth was rammed in the middle. It was simple and practical. He would build a small city first, and then build an outer city outside in the spring of next year.

He also had an idea to rebuild the six towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty and build a tight military defense line on the northern foothills of the Yin Mountains. This could, on the one hand, prevent the Mongolian tribes in northern Mobei from moving south through the gap in the Yin Mountains, and on the other hand, it could also serve as a base for attacking northern Mobei.

At this time, a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds came over, and everyone looked over.

A scout came galloping up to Li Hu, pulled the reins, jumped off his horse, and reported loudly: "General, the remnants of Xilin Gol League have not retreated, but are waiting for reinforcements."

Li Hu raised his eyebrows. This old bastard would not give up until his head was broken and bloodied! This was good. He had a reason to keep the 5,000 Jizhou cavalry.

Li Hu: "Bring me the map."

Wang Daniu took out a map from the brown paper tube and unfolded it.

The scout understood and pointed his finger on the map.

Li Hu's eyes flashed. You old thing, you dare to play tricks on me. It's less than two hundred miles away, and you asked for it.

Thinking of this, Li Hu said to Chen Qiang: "I won't eat. You should keep the two things I just said in mind."

Chen Qiang: “Yes.”

Li Hu: "You should also be more careful. You are the only ones I can trust."

Chen Qiang said excitedly: "Yes."

Li Hu: "I'm leaving first."

Chen Qiang: "Marshal."

Li Hu: "What's wrong?"

Chen Qiang hesitated for a moment and whispered, "We need to plan for the future. We need to destroy the Mongols, but we can't destroy them all."

Li Hu looked at him, then smiled and said, "I know what's going on."

Zhuxian Town, where Li Zicheng's peasant army intercepted the Ming army that was reinforcing Kaifeng and defeated them.

Today, this scene was repeated outside the county town, which is less than fifty miles away from the sealed-off city.

With a cannon shot and a ball of fire, a large flag with the word "king" on it was blown to pieces!

The sound of drums and shouts of killing were earth-shaking.

The White Lotus rebels wielded swords and guns and swept in like a tidal wave. Surrounded on all sides, Wang Ziteng's troops were struggling to hold on. However, the rebels' artillery fire was very fierce. The gunners took turns to rest and fired continuously. Wang Ziteng's troops were blown to the point that they could not stand and gradually could not hold on.

Wang Ziteng, with a bloody face and disheveled hair, led the last cavalry to charge left and right, trying to open a gap, while shouting in his heart: Isn't the main force of the rebels in the direction of Xuzhou? Why are they here?! Also, where did the White Lotus rebels get so many artillery? We were deceived! We were all deceived!
He hated Mrs. Wang to death now. If it weren't for Mrs. Wang urging him in letters left and right, he would not have led his troops north in such a hurry, and would not have fallen into the trap of the White Lotus rebels.

"Marshal!" The voice of the guard beside him trembled, "There's a gap over there!"

Wang Ziteng looked in the direction of the voice and was overjoyed: "Rush out!"

From a distance, Shui Rong watched all this quietly. He had left that gap on purpose. He couldn't let an opponent like Wang Ziteng die like that.

Putting down the telescope, Shui Rong looked at Yang Qilong beside him and asked, "How is the situation in Kaifeng City?"

Yang Qilong: “Everything has been contacted.”

Shui Rong: "Remember, you must capture Jia Zheng alive. He cannot die or be injured." (End of this chapter)