Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 364, The Rebellion of Li Jia

Hunan.

After the turmoil in Hubei came to an end, Hunan also began the process of being brought under control.

He Ai had already established a foothold in the area. The Huaiyin Army's regime had penetrated deep into the countryside and controlled a large area of ​​Hunan. The local powerful families had little power to resist.

The Qian family of Changsha, among others, strongly advocated surrendering to the Huaiyin army. They were still discussing the specific conditions for surrender, but their determination to surrender was already very firm.

Before Hubei was pacified, these people were waiting for the right price to sell.

Now that Hubei has been pacified, it's time for them to make a decision.

The governor of Hunan, Qian Yi, had long been in cahoots with the bandit leader He Ai of Huaiyin.

In his early days in Hunan, He Ai developed his business in the mountains and forests outside the city, cultivating land and gathering refugees.

At that time, Qian Yi and He Ai had a conflict. In the end, He Ai risked a night raid on Changsha and used force to subdue Qian Yi, laying the foundation for the development of the Huaiyin Army in Hunan.

Later, the Hunan families governed the city, while the Huaiyin families managed the countryside. As they developed, the two sides gradually became allied, and their relationship changed from initial hostility to increasingly positive.

Currently, although He Ai's conditions for the Qian family are not perfect, they meet the Qian family's expectations. Considering all aspects of their interests, the Qian family has decided to pledge allegiance to the Huaiyin Army.

However, at that moment, Li Jia returned.

Li Jia was Qian Yi's nephew and Qian Song's maternal nephew.

This was originally an ordinary marriage between the Qian and Li families.

However, the Li family was wiped out by the bandit Fang, and Li Jia managed to escape and travel a long distance to seek refuge with his uncle in Changsha.

Regardless of the circumstances, this blood relationship is undeniable.

Although the Qian family wouldn't avenge Li Jia, they at least didn't treat him unfairly.

After the outbreak of the Battle of Hubei and Hunan, Li Jia reciprocated by volunteering to go to Jingzhou to inquire about the progress of the Huaiyin Army in recovering Hubei, as well as the various conditions and specific information during that period.

In short, the Qian family wanted to surrender, but they were afraid of not getting enough terms, so they sent Li Jia to sound them out and see what terms Fang Yong was offering Zhang Haicheng, so they could adjust their bottom line.

What the Qian family didn't know was that Li Jia, unwilling to let go of his hatred, plotted and orchestrated Zhang Haicheng's death as soon as he entered Jingzhou.

Now that he has returned, Li Jia directly distorts the facts, telling Qian Song about Fang Yong's betrayal of him, and then informing Qian Yi.

According to Li Jia's account, Zhang Haicheng's massacre of the aristocratic families in Jingzhou was entirely at Fang Yong's behest. However, after the success, Fang Yong sent people to devise a plan to cruelly murder Zhang Haicheng, a ruthless act of discarding the bow after the birds are gone and cooking the dog after the rabbit is dead.

Although the Huaiyin Army's official account stated that Zhang Haicheng's death was caused by his own struggle with Meng Liang over the Kuai family and had nothing to do with Fang Yong, such a coincidence was suspicious in itself. With Li Jia adding fuel to the fire, Qian Yi couldn't help but believe it to some extent.

This matter truly frightened him, fearing that he would suffer the same fate as Zhang Haicheng. It seemed he would have to make more demands on the Huaiyin Army.

Seeing that his plan had succeeded, Li Jia gradually leaked the information to other prominent families in Changsha, causing everyone to feel insecure.

This was especially true for some families who were already opposed to the Huaiyin bandits.

Some people formed an alliance against surrendering to the bandits of Huaiyin, and the leader of this alliance was named Gong Qi.

Gong Qi was originally the Assistant Magistrate of Changsha Prefecture. He had initially resisted the Huaiyin bandits during their night raid on Changsha, but they burned down his residence, destroying half of his property. Afterwards, Gong Qi frequently clashed with the Huaiyin bandits, but even the Governor Qian Yi colluded with them. What trouble could a mere Gong Qi possibly cause?
Soon, due to the collusion between Qian Yi and the Huaiyin bandits, Gong Qi was dismissed from his post, which led to an irreconcilable feud between Qian Yi and the Huaiyin army.

However, the Gong family was only a mid-level family in Changsha and could not affect the overall situation at all.

Most of those who formed the alliance were small and medium-sized families. Large families like the Qian family, although they verbally condemned the Huaiyin army's actions because of Zhang Haicheng, secretly continued to collude with the Huaiyin bandits and showed no intention of stopping their surrender efforts.

Li Jia knew that Zhang Haicheng alone was not enough to turn a large family like the Qian family against each other.

Fang Zei's power is now too great, and the Qian family members don't dare to easily resist him.

Because the fundamental reason has not changed.

That is, resistance is too difficult, while surrender is very easy.

Although Zhang Haicheng is dead, there are many other families who have successfully surrendered, such as the Guo family and the Cui family. People will not think of themselves as the next Zhang Haicheng, but rather as the next Guo Bai or Cui Shu.

Li Jia knew all too well the character of these powerful families, because he himself had once been one of them.

Li Jia didn't expect Zhang Haicheng's death to change the situation, but it could at least slow down the surrender process and stir up some resistance, such as the alliance of the anti-Fang rebels led by Gong Qi in the city.

Li Jia's real trump card was Liu Xiang, the King of Shu.

He had already decided to side with Liu Xiang when he was plotting against Zhang Haicheng, and secretly sent him a secret letter to make contact.

He wanted to lead the Shu King's army into Hunan to fight against the Fang rebels.

Those rebels he instigated in the city became his best allies.

Li Jia contacted Gong Qi privately and showed him the letters he had exchanged with Liu Xiang.

In the letter, Liu Xiang stated that he was prepared to send troops out of the capital to fight against the invasion of the Fang bandits!
After reading it, Gong Qi immediately bowed and expressed his willingness to personally welcome the Shu King's army into the city if they arrived!
Li Jia was very satisfied; things went even more smoothly than he had imagined. It seemed that Fang was indeed unpopular.

Subsequently, Li Jia, carrying Gong Qi's promise, personally went to Sichuan.

He never actually received a promise from Liu Xiang to send troops. Half of the letter was genuine, but it was just an ordinary correspondence without any promise. The other half, which promised to send troops, was forged by him. Gong Qi was not familiar with Liu Xiang and could not tell the difference at all.

Li Jia promised Gong Qi that Liu Xiang would send troops, and Gong Qi then expressed his willingness to cooperate from both inside and outside to open the city gates.

If Li Jia then tells Liu Xiang that he can open the city gates with the help of both inside and outside forces, Liu Xiang will most likely be willing to send troops.

After all, who wouldn't want to get a city for free?
This is the art of forming alliances and counter-alliances!

As Li Jia walked through the forests leading into Shu, he felt increasingly powerful, as if he could turn the world upside down and make clouds or rain at will.

Today, Liu Xiang of Shu, the Mu clan of Yunnan, and the An clan of Guizhou have joined forces and proclaimed themselves King of Shu, King of Nanzhong, and King of Qianyang, respectively.

There's not much to say about the two chieftains; they're just barbarians. Anyone can see that among the three, Liu Xiang, the King of Shu, is the leader.

Li Jia only needed to go through the mountains from Yiyang to reach the territory of the local chieftain, and then he could contact Liu Xiang and persuade him to send troops.

(End of this chapter)