Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 354, Lonely Blood Hatred

Zhang Haicheng kindly arranged for Meng Liang to stay, and even had his wife accompany him...

For Zhang Haicheng, if he were to side with Fang Yong, he would definitely reunite with his original wife; his current wife is merely a tool.

What others see as humiliation is nothing more than a gentle breeze to him. He had suffered countless humiliations when he was poor, but now that he has risen to this position step by step, why would he care about such things?

Making the most of everything is nothing more than this.

After Meng Liang went down, Li Jia, who had been hiding behind him, immediately ran out and said to Zhang Haicheng:
"General, beware of a scheme to use one tiger to devour another!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Haicheng pondered for a moment and said:

"It's alright. Hua Xiu and the others have already surrendered. The stubborn resistance in Hubei is nothing more than a minor ailment, nothing serious. When we take action, we'll fly the banner of the Huaiyin Army and let the news spread throughout the land. We won't be afraid of them turning against us later."

Li Jia said respectfully:

"Brilliant! Brilliant! This puts the Huaiyin Army in a difficult position. If they turn against us, they will surely lose the trust of the world!"

Hearing Li Jia's flattery, Zhang Haicheng stroked his beard, a smug look on his face.

After Zhang Haicheng left, Li Jia finally revealed a sinister smile.

He was born into a prominent family in Zhili, where generations had been known for their farming and scholarship. He was kind to others and lived a peaceful life. However, the treacherous Fang clan brought disaster to the country and wiped out his entire Li family on some slanderous charges.

Li Jia escaped to the Meng residence at the critical moment, thus avoiding being hunted down.

Although Fang Yong occupied the capital at that time, he had not yet stabilized the various forces. Therefore, the Meng family took in Li Jia out of consideration for their long-standing friendship.

After the turmoil subsided, Li Jia fled the capital and sought refuge with his uncle Qian Song in Changsha.

The Qian family was a powerful local force in Changsha. Qian Song's uncle was Qian Yi, the governor of Hunan, who held a high position and wielded great power.

Li Jia originally wanted to use this relationship to take revenge, but unfortunately, he was a down-on-his-luck nephew who was not valued by the Qian family at all. The Qian family itself was colluding with the Huaiyin Army and had no intention of helping him take revenge.

I drifted through life in a daze for a while.

Li Jia got his chance after Fang Yong decided to reclaim the Hubei and Hunan regions, starting with Hubei.

The two lakes are connected, and after Hubei comes Hunan. After Fang Yong recovered Hubei, he was not far from Hunan.

The Qian family wanted to send someone to find out about this situation in advance in order to prepare for the subsequent negotiations.

They certainly wouldn't dare to resist, since He Ai had already occupied most of Hunan; resistance would be like throwing an egg against a rock.

But the inability to resist does not mean they should surrender obediently.

Even if they surrender, they will do everything in their power to secure benefits for their families.

Knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to victory in every battle. They plan to send several clansmen to various forces in Hubei to gather relevant intelligence.

This was not a good job, so few members of the Qian family chose to go. When Li Jia learned of this, he immediately volunteered and was eventually recommended by the Qian family to work under Zhang Haicheng.

The Qian family sent Li Jia here to gather information about his potential allegiance to Fang Yong.

However, Li Jia's own goals were different from those of the Qian family.

Li Jia carries a blood feud. Although he appears to be muddle-headed and carefree, seemingly indulging in pleasure and not caring about hatred, how can he let go of the hatred that wiped out his clan?

Li Jia's true purpose was to incite conflict between the two regions, preventing the Fang rebels from achieving unification and ultimately leading to continued conflict that would undermine their rule.

However, after arriving at Zhang Haicheng's place, Li Jia discovered after a period of investigation that Zhang Haicheng was all bark and no bite and knew nothing about military affairs.

Although he commanded tens of thousands of troops and controlled strategically important locations, he was merely a sycophant who rose through the ranks by flattery and opportunism, lacking both courage and ability to confront the Fang traitors.

Li Jia then abandoned his idea of ​​assisting Zhang Haicheng and instead thought of other ways to take revenge.

At this moment, Meng Liang arrived as an envoy to announce the imperial edict. Upon seeing Meng Liang, Li Jia instantly conceived a clever plan to instigate conflict.

He first secretly manipulated Zhang Haicheng, spreading the story of Fang Yong's betrayal and betrayal, which prompted Zhang Haicheng to propose the condition of retaining military power, thus foreshadowing Zhang Haicheng's death.

On the other hand, he met with Meng Liang privately.

Li Jia knew that the moment Meng Liang saw him, it was a life-or-death situation between them. Meng Liang would definitely try every means to get rid of him in order to cover up his actions back then.

Li Jia didn't know exactly what Meng Liang would do; he couldn't predict the future. However, he knew that as long as he and Zhang Haicheng were bound together, Meng Liang would have to find a way to eliminate them both, making the so-called peace talks impossible.

When the Qian family sees Zhang Haicheng dead, they will certainly not dare to choose to rely on Fang Yong again.

Then he can find a way to persuade the Qian family to cooperate with Liu Xiang, the King of Shu, which will thwart Fang's plan to recover the two lakes.

Although Meng Liang was the benefactor who helped him escape from the capital, Li Jia felt no remorse for scheming against his benefactor at this moment.

Thus, several forces became entangled, creating a turbulent and unpredictable situation, with each person having different interests.

Zhang Haicheng might be the most unfortunate one.

He could have lived if he had surrendered honestly, but he was led to his death because of Li Jia's instigation.

However, it's not a pity that someone like him died.

The trend toward unification is rolling forward.

After Ma Laohei occupied Xiangyang, he used Xiangyang as a springboard to gradually spread his influence to the surrounding areas.

Ma Laohei walked very steadily. He had followed Fang Yong in battles across the country over the years and was already a seasoned commander.

In terms of military strategy, he may not have been as brilliant as Zhai Xun, but his command was absolutely competent and he would not make any mistakes.

Besides Ma Laohei, Zhang Yuan recruited a group of naval troops in Huizhou and Suzhou. The fighting in Hubei was not intense, and the resistance forces were small and medium-sized. Therefore, Zhang Yuan requested Fang Yong to send some medium-sized ships to take the new recruits along the river into Hubei for training.

Fang Yong agreed to the matter.

Zhang Yuan was busy building the navy and had no time to command this new recruit.

Fang Yong thought of handing this matter over to his second brother, as a way to give his second brother some credit.

However, Ganba still refused the offer.

He only wanted to stay in Suzhou to retire and didn't want to exert himself in commanding troops and fighting anymore.

As for his contributions, as Fang Yong's second brother, he was the one who helped Fang Yong in the beginning. How could he be missing out on his contributions?

Gan Ba ​​saw things very clearly.

For him, having no merit is better than having merit.

Gan Ba ​​refused the offer.

Ultimately, the command of this naval force fell to Zhang Yuan's subordinates.

A general who had followed Zhang Yuan in battle long ago and participated in the raid on Yancheng was named Fang Zhi.

In Jingzhou, General Zhang Haicheng soon announced his surrender to the imperial court (to Fang Yong). Fang Yong retained his position as General of Jingzhou as agreed and did not disband his army.

Zhang Haicheng's army was renamed the Ding'e Army and placed under the command of Ma Laohei to quell the rebellion in Hubei.

The so-called rebellion in Hubei was a resistance launched by a few scattered aristocratic families who were unwilling to accept Fang Yong's rule, and who colluded with other forces.

This resistance has little impact on the enemy; it is only due to geographical factors and the enemy's manipulation of the people that the suppression cannot be completed quickly.

(End of this chapter)