Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 73: Huaizhou is pacified

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Emperor Longqing was lying on the bed with a pale face.

Fortunately, after the imperial physician took the patient's pulse, it was found that it was just a blood attack on the patient's heart and there was no serious problem.

Only then did the ministers feel relieved.

At this time, Emperor Longqing woke up slowly. Although vomiting blood had damaged his body, it also relieved a lot of his anger.

Emperor Longqing weakly ordered Dai Quan to bring the imperial edict. Faced with the survival of the country, the usually strong Emperor Longqing was forced to make changes and prepare to issue an edict of repentance.

Emperor Longqing picked up the brush and was about to write when suddenly, a notification came from outside.

"Great joy, great joy! Eight hundred miles of urgent work, Huaizhou has been pacified!"

Emperor Longqing stood there in a daze, the pen in his hand fell to the ground, splashing a pool of ink.

But at this time Emperor Longqing no longer cared about those things.

He got up from the bed, pushed away everyone who was trying to stop him, and ran out barefoot.

"Where is the report? Give it to me now!"

Emperor Longqing took the report and stood outside to read it. After a while, Emperor Longqing's hearty laughter was heard outside.

"As expected of my beloved generals, I will reward Mao Cheng and Wang Ziteng handsomely!"

All the ministers followed and listened to what Emperor Longqing said. Except for Guo Bai, everyone looked in disbelief.

what happened?

Has Huaizhou really been pacified?
Emperor Longqing passed the report to everyone, and everyone finally understood the whole story.

Huaizhou was not pacified, or rather, it was not as pacified as everyone imagined.

But in the current situation, I have to say that this is indeed good news.

In early August, Wang Ziteng set up an ambush on the bank of the Fanliang Lake and Taiping River to resist the repeated sneak attacks from the water by the Huaiyin bandits.

On the fourth day, the Huaiyin bandit general Zhang Yuan was ambushed and the two armies fought fiercely.

The Huaiyin bandits successively sent troops to support Zhang Yuan. Wang Ziteng coordinated in the middle and sent troops to defeat them one by one.

However, as both sides continued to increase their troops, the ambush gradually evolved into a major war.

Wang Ziteng mobilized 180,000 government troops, while the bandit army led 450,000 troops.

The two sides fought in the suburbs of Tai'an Town.

At first, the government troops had a slight advantage with their superior equipment and well-trained troops. But as time went on, the disadvantages of having fewer people began to emerge, and they were eventually outnumbered and defeated by the enemy troops.

Fortunately, Wang Ziteng's command was well-managed, and the failure did not turn into a rout. Wang Ziteng led the army to retreat in an orderly manner, preparing to retreat to Yangzhou.

The bandits pursued the enemy while they were victorious. Wang Ziteng ordered Mao Cheng to lead 3,000 soldiers to cover their retreat.

At the critical moment, Mao Cheng was extremely brave and led his troops in and out of the enemy's formation seven times, causing chaos among the enemy troops.

In the chaos, Mao Cheng saw the flag of the bandit army, so he bravely pursued him, defeated several bandit generals along the way, and finally arrived in front of the bandit leader. The bandit leader fled in fear, and because of the large number of bandits, Mao Cheng could not catch up, but he took the opportunity to seize the flag of the bandit army.

Afterwards, the bandit leader was horrified that the imperial court had such a powerful general, so he dared not send troops again. Instead, he sent envoys to ask for peace, expressing his willingness to submit to Daxi, cede Huaizhou and other places for self-government, and request to be granted the title of Marquis of Huaiyin.

If it were normal times, Emperor Longqing would never agree to let Fang Yong cede territory and govern himself. But now the country is in danger, and the court urgently needs to pull its troops out of the quagmire of Huaizhou.

At this time, Fang Yong was willing to take the initiative to express his submission, which was the best thing for Emperor Longqing.

At worst, we can agree to Fang’s demands first, and then take action against him after the situation in Shanxi has been stabilized.

After reading the report, Guo Bai was overjoyed and said:
"Congratulations, Your Majesty. This great victory can calm the hearts of the people. Huaizhou has been pacified. Your Majesty can order Wang Ziteng and Mao Cheng to lead troops back to help. This will help resolve the dilemma of the Zhili Jin bandits."

Emperor Longqing nodded with satisfaction upon hearing this.

That's what he thought. However, Yu Lian looked at the report with a questioning look on his face. He said cautiously:

"Your Majesty, to advance and retreat seven times in the midst of the chaos of the army, is such a feat not something that an ordinary person can do? I think this matter needs to be handled with caution. It is better to investigate it in detail first, and then reward the meritorious service. It is not too late."

"Furthermore, although Huaizhou was a victory, it is like distant help, which cannot solve the urgent problem. The Jin bandits are coming fiercely, and Your Majesty still needs to appease the various forces in the court before we can overcome this difficulty together. In addition, although the bandits in Huaiyin have surrendered, their power still exists and is still a serious threat, so we must guard against them!"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Longqing's face turned gloomy.

What Yu Lian meant was that although Huaizhou had won the battle, he still needed to issue a self-criticism edict to appease the noble group.

How could Emperor Longqing accept this?

When he didn't win the battle, he would issue an edict of remorse, and now that he has won the battle, he is issuing an edict of remorse again.

Is he, the emperor, so guilty?
At this time, Guo Bai stepped forward and confronted Yu Lian:

"What the Grand Master said is really absurd. There have been people in ancient times who went in and out seven times during a chaotic battle. For example, Wen Ciqian, the Marquis of Guannei, is a precedent. The Grand Master suspects our great hero without any reason. Isn't this an unjust act?"

"Your Majesty is wise and brave, and has led us to a great victory, but the Grand Tutor has repeatedly urged Your Majesty to issue an edict of repentance. Isn't this an act of disloyalty?"

"What is the purpose of the Grand Tutor's disloyal and unrighteous behavior? Did he accept bribes and do so?"

Yu Lian's beard trembled with anger as he listened to Guo Bai's words.

What a good Guo Zisheng! He actually dared to turn the tables and accuse others of accepting bribes?

Everyone in the court, whether civil or military, knows that you, Guo Zisheng, love money the most and accept bribes the most. Yet now you are accusing me of accepting bribes?
If it weren't for the political turmoil at the time and the wide range of connections behind Guo Bai, Yu Lian really wanted to tell all of Guo Bai's bad deeds in front of Emperor Longqing right then and there.

It was only out of consideration for the stability of the court that Yu Lian endured it.

Even if he replaced Guo Bai, it would not change anything. The next Minister of War might not be much better than Guo Bai. And if he really did that, there was a high probability that it would cause a counterattack from the civil service group as a whole, which Yu Lian absolutely could not accept.

Now the issue of the noble group has not been resolved yet. If the civil service group becomes chaotic again, Da Xi can really declare the country’s demise.

All we can do now is to take it step by step, starting from one end and slowly sorting out the whole mess.

Yu Lian let out a long breath, barely suppressing the anger in his heart, and said:
"Guo Zisheng, at this critical moment, I will not argue with you. Tell me, what should we do with the rebellion of the Jin thieves? Wang Ziteng is far away in Huaizhou, how can he save the danger of the Jin thieves? If you do not issue an edict of guilt to calm the forces in the court, and let the Jin thieves approach the capital, how will Your Majesty respond?"

Yu Lian asked three questions in a row, and Emperor Longqing couldn't help but frown after hearing them.

Although Yu Lian's words were unpleasant to the ear, the three issues he raised really hit the nail on the head.

The most fundamental problem is that the noble group is collectively unwilling to cooperate, and Emperor Longqing cannot find a suitable person to lead the troops to resist the Jin bandits.

If civilian officials were allowed to lead the troops, regardless of their abilities, their prestige would be difficult to convince the people, and they would suffer a great defeat, and the situation would become even worse.

However, at this time Guo Bai smiled faintly.

"How difficult is this? Your Majesty, I recommend a man who can temporarily resist the Jin bandits. If you can call back Wang Ziteng, the Jin bandits can be defeated!"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Longqing hurriedly asked, "Who is it?"

Guo Bai said: "Chen Zhengdu!"

Chen Zhengdu was a descendant of the Duke of Qi. Although he was also from a noble family, he was a bastard from a remote area and was not taken seriously.

When Emperor Longqing was still in his palace, Chen Zhengdu defected to him and served as the captain of the guard of the Prince's Palace. Later, Emperor Longqing unexpectedly became the emperor, and Chen Zhengdu also rose in status and was promoted to the commander-in-chief of the imperial guards.

Later, Chen Zhengdu was promoted all the way until Chen Ruiwen, the grandson of Duke Qi, died for his country. Emperor Longqing took the opportunity to attribute Chen Ruiwen's achievements to Chen Zhengdu and directly appointed him as the General of the Southern Expedition.

The purpose is to let Chen Zhengdu lead the troops and replace Duke Shanguo.

But I didn't expect that after Chen Zhengdu went to Huaizhou, he would become involved in corruption with Duke Shan...

Although it was later discovered that Chen Zhengdu was sidelined by Duke Shanguo, Emperor Longqing was also greatly disappointed with Chen Zhengdu and left him at home.

(End of this chapter)