Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 315, The Sweep Begins

"A disgrace, an utter disgrace!"

The Prince of Nan'an was furious when he received the news the next day.

"How dare little Siam invade my territory? This is intolerable!"

The Prince of Nan'an was a typical old nobleman.

He had all the bad habits of aristocrats.

For example, they oppress the people, withhold soldiers' pay and rations, believe they are inherently superior, and wantonly enjoy the privileges that come with power.

At the same time, the Prince of Nan'an also had a strong sense of national pride.

The origin of this emotion is currently unknown.

However, it is known that the Prince of Nan'an held great contempt for the small neighboring countries outside of Da Xi.

In his eyes, the people of these countries were no different from uncivilized savages.

It is an utter disgrace to have our borders invaded by such people.

He himself never hesitated to bully ordinary people with his privileges, yet now he is extremely angry when faced with the infringement of outsiders.

It has to be said that humans are truly strange creatures.

"Someone, summon the fleet!"

The Prince of Nan'an gave the order in anger.

The subordinate hesitated and said, "Your Highness, what about the Prince of Wu..."

The Prince of Nan'an snorted coldly.

"Ignore him. If he's so cowardly in the face of a mere Siamese, he'll never amount to anything! I'll deal with him after I've defeated Siam!"

His subordinates thought about it and didn't try to stop him any further.

He didn't think there was anything wrong with what the Prince of Nan'an had done.

How could we possibly lose to a small country like Siam?
……

September has arrived.

The grassland was already quite cold at this time.

The north wind blows frequently, breaking the grass blades.

The poem reads: The west wind blows in its season, making sinews and horns strong; the dew-laden grass and water for grazing horses are cold.

This is the perfect time for a large-scale military campaign.

With the large-scale mobilization of troops, it was as if a dark cloud had covered the grassland.

Tuolei already knew about the sweep because of an undercover agent named Hesheli.

To this end, Tuolei made many preparations in advance.

But now that the 200,000-strong army has truly assembled, all the previous arrangements seem so ridiculous.

The war began amidst a howling autumn wind.

Dore was specially invited to witness the army's departure.

Looking at the endless, dark army, Dorei felt the difference in strength for the first time so profoundly.

His feelings at that moment were incredibly complicated.

There was both excitement at seeing Tuolei's impending demise and a sense of powerlessness at being manipulated.

With such immense power, he will likely never be able to escape his fate as a puppet in this lifetime.

But on second thought, it's not so bad.

So be it, being a puppet isn't so bad.

You don't need to exert any effort; the other party will help you manage the country, and you can just enjoy yourself. Even if someone rebels, the other party will help suppress them.

Thinking about it that way, being a puppet isn't such a bad choice.

"set off!"

Zhou Shuan stood on the high platform, dressed in silver armor and a general's robe, exuding confidence and high spirits.

At a command, the 200,000 troops below the stage began to move in the order of the pre-arranged route.

The first to act were Wu Xiejun, the troops of the grassland people.

They served as cannon fodder... uh, I misspoke, I meant vanguard.

Wu Xiejun led the vanguard, setting off first to initiate this righteous sweep.

"Quick, run! The Zhongxia people are coming!"

"Ama, Ama!"

The boy on the grassland was crying. He watched helplessly as his father was seized by a soldier wearing a red sash.

Red is the basic color of the uniforms of Fang Yong's soldiers.

While this color is not good for concealment, it is the easiest to spot. Even if only a small area is stained, it can be easily identified, and it has the lowest cost.

The soldier wearing the red ribbon is a Wu Xiejun, a conscripted grassland man. They have no uniforms, only a red ribbon tied around their neck or arm to distinguish friend from foe.

The real Huaiyin soldiers wore standard cotton-padded clothes with specially dyed red cloth sewn onto the cuffs, collar, hat brim, and shoulder corners for identification.

Of course, most of the time you don't actually need to look at the colors to identify them.

Because in that era, no army could distribute cotton-padded clothes to its soldiers in bulk, so you could identify them just by looking at their clothes.

"Tell me, where are the escaped guerrillas hiding!"

Wu Xiejun grabbed the man and asked.

The man spat and roared, "You traitor, you'll die a horrible death!"

"Be bold!"

Enraged by the insults, Wu Xiejun drew his knife and prepared to kill the herdsman.

"Bastard!"

At this moment, a genuine soldier from Huaiyin walked over.

He raised his hand and slapped Wu Xiejun across the face.

Wu Xiejun, who had just been arrogant and domineering, dared not resist at all after being beaten. He bowed his head and was extremely submissive.

"Why are you killing him? There are so few of you grassland people left, it's almost not enough for everyone, and you still dare to kill people indiscriminately? Why don't you take him to Hezhou to work!"

"Yes!"

The little boy could only watch helplessly as his father was taken away.

At this moment, Huaiyin Jun walked up to the little boy with a smile and asked in a somewhat unfamiliar grassland dialect:
"Little friend, you're a good boy. Can you tell me which direction those guerrillas who just escaped went?"

"Pah! You're a bad person! I'm not telling you! Give me back my father!"

The little boy said excitedly.

Huaiyin Jun sighed, wiped the saliva off his body, smeared it on the little boy's face, turned his head, and gave him a wink.

Wu Xiejun, who had just been beaten, immediately stepped forward with a sinister grin.

Logically speaking, children cannot keep secrets.

Of course, it cannot be denied that there are a very small number of isolated cases.

For example, in my previous life, there were indeed some young heroes.

This is truly admirable.

However, from a general perspective, most children are not mentally mature enough to withstand intense torture and interrogation.

Wu Xiejun stepped forward, grabbed the little boy by the collar, and slapped him seven or eight times across the face. The little boy's mouth was twisted from the beating, and blood mixed with saliva flowed uncontrollably. One of his poor baby teeth was knocked out.

"Tell me, where did those guerrillas who just escaped go? Tell me or I'll kill you!"

Wu Xiejun said in a fierce threat.

The little boy was terrified by the beating and could no longer hold on. He hurriedly cried and told the boy the direction the other boy had fled.

"Chase!"

The soldiers followed the route and quickly caught up with the dozen or so guerrillas who had been wounded and fled earlier.

These are a dozen or so men from the grasslands.

They were dressed in sheepskin and carried bows and arrows; several of them were wounded.

"kill!"

At the command of the Huaiyin Army, Wu Xiejun charged forward.

A dozen or so grassland men fought back desperately.

Despite the overwhelming numerical disadvantage, they killed seven or eight of Wu Xiejun's men.

Unfortunately, in the end, they were outnumbered and their chests were pierced by arrows.

The same scene unfolded in various areas of the grassland.

With the start of the full-scale mopping-up operation, those teams that used to employ guerrilla tactics had nowhere to hide and were crushed by the overwhelming force of the Huaiyin Army, suffering heavy casualties.

Tuo Lei led his main force in a fighting retreat. Because he had known about the sweep in advance, he was not surrounded by the Huaiyin army.

But with each step of the retreat, his people died one by one, and looking at the hopeless road ahead, he truly felt lost at this moment.

(End of this chapter)