Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 116, Sweeping Huizhou

Wu Yuan put his hands behind his back and shook his head.

"With this person here, the general might have unified the country three years earlier. In my lifetime, I might still have a chance to follow the general to the throne. I am so happy, why should I be upset?"

Fang Yong smiled and said:

"Yuan Hao's opinion is truly supreme. We should march forward without further delay!"

The army set out with great fanfare.

Fang Yong brought 150,000 Huaiyin troops, 20,000 Zhuxin troops, and more than 300,000 civilians, a total of 500,000. He claimed to have an army of one million, marched along the official road without any disguise, and headed straight for Chaozhou and Hefei.

When Wu Sheng was at his peak, he had more troops than Fang Yong. However, his army was in disarray, and his men were independent, running around like headless flies. That’s why Wang Ziteng easily cut them apart, making it difficult for the head and tail to take care of each other, and they were eventually defeated.

But now, Fang Yong's army was marching, with a solemn and orderly formation, a hundred times stronger than Wu Sheng.

Although those "people's armies" were actually vulnerable, from the outside they still looked like a mighty army, no less powerful than the elite.

Moreover, Fang Yong was marching openly along the main road and was not afraid of sneak attacks at all. The Huaiyin army was in front and could fight at any time. Even if the plan was discovered, there would not be much damage.

When officials in Chaozhou and Hefei heard that Fang Yong's million-strong army was attacking, they quickly sent their men to check out the situation.

Several spies watched from a distance.
Seeing an army of five hundred thousand men marching was truly like:
The heavenly army passed through the border, stacked up in the sky; the camp was square, and the ground was covered with soldiers. The horns were humming and the voices were boiling. The food carts were turning thousands of miles, and the flags were all over the sky. The drums advanced and the gongs retreated, and they marched in formation; the bows and crossbows were lined up for two months, and the swords and spears were like cold stars; the East Sea opened up the way, and the iron-wrapped silver mountain broke through the door! What a dignified army, a journey to comfort the people and punish the criminals.

Several spies were so frightened by this scene that they pissed and peeed their butts and fell off their horses. Their faces were as pale as bones and their legs were shaking like diabolos.

He didn't dare to look closely at the moment, and hurried back to Chaozhou and Hefei, reporting what he had seen and heard tremblingly.

He only said that the mountains and plains were full of Huaiyin bandits, stretching up and down, reaching the sky. The thousand-mile horse checked the number of bandits and attacked day and night, and it was difficult to see the end. One million is still a fictitious number, in fact, it is more than two or three million!
The chief officials of Chaozhou and Hefei were horrified when they heard the news.

We sent people to investigate again, and the situation was still the same.

Officials from both places thought: With such a huge disparity in strength between the two sides, if they resist stubbornly, they will surely die.

He then summoned his officials and the prominent families in the city to discuss the matter.

After hearing this, all his officials agreed and did not dare to confront the Marquis of Huaiyin.

The big families in the city either said they would surrender to Huai or move away, but no one dared to resist.

The chief officers of the two places had different intentions. The chief officer of Chaozhou was from a local prominent family and wanted to surrender the city. However, there was an official navy in Chaohu Lake in Chaozhou, with a strength of 2,600 people. It was unknown what the generals meant and whether they were willing to surrender.

On the other hand, the chief officer of Hefei also came from a prominent family, but it was a Hunan family. He intended to flee to Hunan with his property, but he lacked guards to escort him. In today's chaotic times, bandits were rampant everywhere, so he really didn't dare to leave easily.

The two men then sent someone on horseback to Anqing to ask the Huizhou governor for advice on how to deal with the enemy, also to test their boss's attitude.

The prefect of Hefei and the governor of Huizhou were from the same hometown and had a good personal relationship. It was a good opportunity for him to ask for advice in a subtle way on how to return home.

Not long after, the man returned at full speed and told them a shocking news.

Unexpectedly, a few days ago, an imperial envoy from Anqing came with an imperial edict, saying that there was a rebellion by rebels in Changsha, and ordered the governor of Huizhou to take on the post of imperial envoy and transfer 1000 troops from Anqing and 1000 troops from Chizhou to Changsha along the river to support the suppression of the rebellion.

Now, the governor of Huizhou has gone to Changsha with 300 large ships.

Hefei prefect: ...

Fang Yong's army advanced slowly, covering thirty or forty miles a day. The speed was not fast, but considering such a large number and most of the soldiers were converted from civilians, it was already very impressive to be able to achieve this speed.

The army marched along the way, passing Guhe and entering Luyang. The local officials surrendered without any resistance, and the army arrived in Hefei. Hefei prefect Gong Zhao naturally did not dare to resist, and personally led the city's people and officials to welcome the army 30 miles out of the city, prepared cattle, sheep, pigs, and wine to reward the army, and presented gold, silver, jewelry, and fish scales to show their sincerity, bowed their heads and kowtowed, and begged for surrender.

I remember that at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the King of Wu's army of 100,000 was still defeated at the gates of the city; after a long time, he was able to capture this fortified city without losing a single soldier, which was really worth celebrating.

Under such circumstances, Fang Yong would naturally replace the Hefei prefect who surrendered and set him up as a signboard so that other officials would surrender later.

Fang Yong then held a banquet and invited the officials from Hefei to attend.

During this period, he praised Hefei prefect Gong Zhao highly, and Gong Zhao also tried his best to flatter him when he saw this.

The two of them praised each other and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

They both drank a few glasses of wine during the period. Fang Yong's physical condition was fine, but Gong Zhao didn't know if he drank too much or what.

Fang Yong just said politely at the time: "Zhao Yu (Gong Zhao's courtesy name) has made great contributions in surrendering the city, and I am thinking of rewarding you. If you have any requests, just let me know, and I will do my best to meet them."

However, Gong Zhao believed it and mentioned it on the spot.

"To be honest, General, I do have an urgent matter and would like to ask for your help."

Fang Yong didn't expect the other party to have such a request, so he could only say:

"Please tell me, Zhao Yu. I will do whatever I can to help you."

Gong Zhaodao:
"Reporting to the general, my father wrote a letter the other day, saying that he was seriously ill and hoped that I would return home to see him to comfort him. Thinking of filial piety, how could I not be worried?"

"However, the journey home is long and full of dangers and obstacles. Bandits and pirates are rampant, so it is difficult to go alone. Therefore, I beg the general to send some soldiers to take me to see my father and fulfill my filial duty. I humbly hope that the general's kindness is so great that I cannot repay him. I am willing to offer my family property to pay for the army. After returning home, I will praise the general's kindness day and night, and I will be grateful and shed tears. I will never forget it!"

Fang Yong glanced at Gong Zhao gently, with a smile on his face, and said:

"Zhaoyu has made great contributions by surrendering the city, so don't mention the matter of donating money. Filial piety is the foundation of human relations, and I will do my best to help him. However, I am not familiar with military affairs, so please allow me to communicate with the generals, and I will definitely reunite Zhaoyu with his father."

After hearing this, Gong Zhao quickly bowed to express his gratitude.

After the banquet, the smile on Fang Yong's face faded.

Take measures!

Gong Zhao’s request was neither big nor small.

Escorting him from Hefei back to Changsha is a long journey, and it would take at least hundreds or even thousands of people to get him there safely, which really requires some effort.

But these few people are nothing to Fang Yong.

But what made Fang Yong most dissatisfied was that Gong Zhao actually brought up this matter in public at the banquet, and even talked about donating his family wealth, which put him in a difficult situation and forced him to agree. It was really hateful!
If he had told me this in private, I would have agreed.

Fang Yong believed that Gong Zhao, who had risen to the position of prefect in the Daxi officialdom, would understand this logic.

The other party is doing this now, obviously because he does not trust me and wants to hide back in Changsha with his wealth.

Just then, Wu Yuan came.

Wu Yuan was also at the banquet just now and witnessed the whole incident with Gong Zhao.

"General, the matter of Gong Zhao may be beneficial to you rather than harmful!"

(End of this chapter)