Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 114: Estrangement from Chi Heng

This time, in addition to Zhai Xun himself, he also brought an additional 22,000 soldiers for Fang Yong.

These soldiers were gathered by Zhai Xun when he suppressed the banditry in Nanjing.

But it was after Fang Yong left Jinling.

Cracks soon appeared in the alliance between Chishan bandit Tang Yan and Hengshan bandit Zhu San.

The purpose of their alliance was to resist Fang Yong. Now that Fang Yong is gone, the alliance naturally cannot continue.

When such signs appeared, Zhai Xun immediately and blatantly sent people to contact Zhu San, promising him an official position and persuading him to surrender to the Huaiyin Army.

However, the effect was not ideal.

Zhu San now lives the life of a local emperor, and the conditions given to him by Zhai Xun are not high. He naturally does not want to live under someone else's roof and be restricted by others.

But Zhu San was afraid of the power of the Huaiyin Army, and wanted to leave a way out for himself in the future, so he just shirked and delayed, and did not express his position directly.

Under such circumstances, news gradually spread that Zhu San was colluding with the Huaiyin bandits.

Chishan bandit Tang Yan was surprised and happy when he heard the news.

Because Tang Yan's men did not have a stable foundation, the mountain stronghold had long been difficult to maintain. He had always wanted to attack Hengshan and seize Zhu San's foundation, but he was worried about the alliance between the two sides and it was difficult to do so.

Now that he had heard that Zhu San was in collusion with the Huaiyin bandits, Tang Yan had an excuse. He immediately summoned his men to discuss and prepare to send troops to attack Zhu San.

Tang Yan had a man under his command named Wei Xing, who was favored by Tang Yan because of his bravery in battle and his ability to be meticulous despite being rough.

Wei Xing and Tang Yan said:
"Your Majesty, although there are rumors that Zhu Bapi is colluding with the Huaiyin bandits, we have no evidence. If we break our alliance with him, it would be unjust. In addition, there is a large army of Huaiyin bandits stationed in Nanjing. If we fight with Zhu Bapi, he might take advantage of us and invade."

Tang Yan thought it made sense and said with a frown:
"Damn it, if we don't attack Zhuba Pi, the money and food in the mountains will be exhausted, and the brothers will be hungry. What should we do?"

Wei Xing said:
"Don't worry, my king. I have a good idea."

Tang Yanxi said:

"What the hell are you up to? Tell me now!"

Wei Xing said:
"Your Majesty, I heard that the Huaiyin bandits have food and grass transported to Nanjing. You can invite Zhu Bapi to rob the food and grass together. If he is willing to come, we can rob the food and grass, and the brothers can eat meat and drink wine. It will be a happy thing. If Zhu San does not come, it means that he has surrendered to the Huaiyin bandits, and Your Majesty can justifiably send troops to attack!"

After hearing this, Tang Yan clapped her hands and cheered.

So he sent a letter to Zhu San.

After receiving the letter, Zhu San hesitated for a long time, but finally agreed and agreed to rob food and grass with Tang Yan.

Although the Huaiyin bandits were strong, they couldn't take care of them now. But Tang Yan was a complete lunatic. Zhu San knew that Tang Yan's money and food were running out and he was at the end of his rope. If he refused, he could not guarantee that he would not bite him madly.

A few days later, the Huaiyin army's food and fodder were transported along the river.

There were hundreds of large ships in the river, fully loaded with food, fodder and military equipment.

The two bandits led their men to ambush at Baoshan by the river. When they saw the grain ship approaching from afar, they rushed down the mountain to intercept it. They had already placed a Vajra Lock in the river to intercept the ship.

However, when the two thieves got closer, they realized that the ship that the Huaiyin thieves used to transport grain was actually a large ship of more than 50 meters, which was blocking the river like a giant whale cutting through the sea. Several thick diamond locks were like hair in front of them and were broken directly with a slight bump.

Before the two bandits could react, the bulkheads on the boat were pushed open, revealing the cannons, which opened fire instantly, causing heavy casualties among the two bandits' men.

Suddenly, a large number of government troops appeared on both sides, shouting and killing, shaking the sky.

Soldiers in full armor rushed over and killed the enemy army. The broken swords and spears of the two thieves' soldiers could not even pierce the enemy's armor.

The rebel army quickly fled. Tang Yan's subordinates made a living by looting, and they had been looting for years. They were also good at running, so most of them successfully escaped the encirclement.

Zhu San's subordinates lived in the mountains and lived a life of luxury for many years. They were not good at running. Except for Zhu San himself who successfully escaped under the cover of a large number of bandits, most of his subordinates were captured.

Then these people met Zhai Xun.

Zhai Xun asked them why they attacked the Huaiyin army's food supplies.

In order to save their lives, these people shifted the blame to others, saying that it was all due to coercion by the Chishan bandits.

Zhai Xun then sent someone to contact Zhu San and released these people. Zhu San was very grateful to Zhai Xun for this.

Afterwards, Zhai Xun sent people to Zhu Sanshan Stronghold again to discuss the matter of the imperial edict, and this time he was warmly received by the entire Zhu Sanshan Stronghold.

Although Zhu San still did not fully agree to join the Huaiyin Army, the relationship between the two sides became very close.

After that, Zhai Xun often wrote letters to Zhu San to ask about his well-being.

Zhu San also wrote back.

After hearing about this, Tang Yan sent someone to question Zhu San whether he had defected to the Huaiyin bandits.

Zhu San naturally denied it.

Tang Yan was suspicious, but had no evidence.

One day, Zhai Xun wrote to Zhu San as usual, asking about family matters.

But this time he deliberately missed some strokes when writing the letter and then sent it out.

A small leader under Tang Yan's command "happened" to be out looting that day, and happened to meet the messenger, and robbed the letter back.

After Tang Yan received the letter, he ordered his literate men to read it.

The subordinate looked at it carefully, but couldn't read it, so he said, "My lord, this word is only half written. I don't know what it means."

Tang Yan's face turned dark, and she ordered others to read it, and they came to the same conclusion.

Some people tried their best to decipher the words in the letter, but in the end they could only come up with some trivial information and could not make out any information.

Tang Yan was furious and determined that Zhu San was secretly communicating with the Huaiyin thieves and the handwriting in the letter was a code.

The next day, Tang Yan sent someone to invite Zhu San to attend a meeting at Lishui Pavilion to discuss the alliance plan.

In fact, Tang Yan wanted to kill Zhu San. On the day of the meeting, Tang Yan led almost all the people in the village out and followed secretly behind.

On the other side, Zhu San was also very wary of Tang Yan, and brought out most of the people in the village to attend the meeting.

When they arrived at Lishui Pavilion, both sides stopped their horses and men, and Tang Yan only brought Wei Xing into the pavilion.

Upon seeing this, Zhu San felt relieved and only brought one trusted confidant into the pavilion.

When they arrived at the pavilion, Tang Yan didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point. She put the letter out and asked Zhu San what it was for.
Zhu San looked at the letter and said, "I don't know."

Tang Yan pointed at the stamp on the letter and said, "This person is the leader of the Huaiyin bandits. You often contact him. Everyone knows it. How could you not know this code?"

Zhu San said: "When I contacted him, I just talked about family matters, and never used any code words!"

Tang Yan was furious, "The evidence is irrefutable, how dare you bully me again!"

After saying this, he drew his sword and stabbed Zhu San in the chest.

The sword thrust out, but only half of the tip of the sword penetrated.

It turned out that Zhu San was wearing a soft armor inside, which blocked the sword.

His close associates drew their swords and wanted to fight with Tang Yan.

Wei Xing drew his sword and cut off the confidant's arm from under the armpit.

Blood was gushing out, and Zhu San hurriedly crawled to escape.

However, he didn't get far as Wei Xing threw a knife at him, which pierced his thigh.

Tang Yan caught up with him and cut off Zhu San's head with a knife.

Seeing this situation, the troops of both sides immediately started a fierce battle in Lishui.

At this time, Zhai Xun had already ordered 1,500 troops to attack Chishan, and he personally led 1,500 troops to attack Hengshan.

(End of this chapter)