The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 649: Holding a Killing Sword, Riding a Tiger to Yangzhou
Francisco whispered a few words and handed over a newspaper sent back from Yangzhou.

After Liu Zhaosun finished reading, his fingers trembled.

"May I ask, Your Majesty, which Five Tigers are they?"

Pei Dahu was stunned.

The term "Five Tigers of Kaiyuan" has not been mentioned for a long time since the death of Zhang Chao and Shen Lian.

Two of the original five tigers: Shen Lian, Wu Xiao, Lin Yu, Zhang Chao, and Pei Dahu are gone.

Pei Dahu is old and has not been fighting on the front line in the past two years.

The emperor raised his fingers:
"Wu Xiao, Lin Yu, Li Zicheng, Jiang Liuer..."

The land survey in Taicang was completed. In February, Li Zicheng escorted Xie Yang back to Nanjing. After returning to Nanjing, he stayed in Suoyiwei on standby.

Jiang Liuer ended his five-year exile and returned to the interior of the country from Crescent Lake (Lake Baikal) at the beginning of the year.

Pei Dahu was about to ask what the fifth tiger was, but he heard the emperor say:

"How long can a tiger live?"

Pei Dahu was stunned again.

"Thirty years, maybe? I've heard hunters say before that it's rare to see a tiger live longer than thirty years."

The retired emperor shook off the dust from his Taoist robe, held a whisk in his hand, stood up from the cushion, and walked on the wind.

"The tiger Jiang Liu'er is raising is about ten years old, right?"

Pei Dahu scratched his gray hair.

"I remember that Panasonic is exactly twelve years old this year."

"It's in its prime. It's the fifth tiger we're bringing to Yangzhou this time. It's a real tiger."

The emperor closed his eyes and imagined Jiang Liuer riding a tiger across the Qinhuai River.

"As the ancients said, with a fortune of 100,000 strings of cash, one can ride a crane to Yangzhou. Da Qi doesn't have a crane, nor does it have 100,000 strings of cash to reward those scoundrels. So, we can only let Jiang Liuer ride a tiger to Yangzhou to meet them."

The emperor handed the report to Pei Dahu.

"Liu Kan can no longer bear it and asks me for help."

"This child is very stubborn. He won't ask me for help unless it's absolutely necessary. He just knows to ask for help. Hundreds of years of canal transportation can't be destroyed so easily."

Pei Dahu took the newspaper with a serious expression.

He had heard some things about Yangzhou, but he didn't expect it to be so difficult.

The Tangbao was sent back in the name of Pu Gang.

In his letter, Pu Gang reported in detail that since they arrived in Yangzhou in the first month of the year, the grain transport workers, grain transport soldiers, thieves and brokers had gone on strike and closed their businesses, dumped grain and cotton into the canal during the day, set fire to ships at night, and attacked soldiers and civil officials everywhere.

There are hundreds of thousands of these evildoers.

Intelligence indicates that they are planning to assassinate Emperor Guangde.

The Songjiang Chongming Island shipping port, which was in the process of expanding its military, was burned down by criminals.

The ships that were transporting grain from Jiaozhou and Dengzhou to the south to replace the grain transport were frequently set on fire and were difficult to prevent...

Millions of canal workers depend on their food and clothing.

People who lost their livelihoods due to the abolition of the canal transport system no matter whether their opponent was the Great Qi or the Great Ming, nor did they care about the future generations. They obeyed the overall situation. No matter who blocked their way to wealth, they would retaliate and kill.

When Xuzhou rebelled, Liu Zhaosun witnessed the tough customs of the Huaiyang people.

Emperor Guangde and his entourage were subjected to an attack that was ten times more severe than the Suzhou riot.

If it weren't for the Fifth Corps led by Pu Gang and Xing Zhongyi, the second emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty might have drowned like Zhu Houzhao, or died in Jiangnan like Emperor Yang of Sui.

"Jiang Liu'er was exiled to Sakhalin for five years and returned a while ago. He has been completely transformed, and Songxia is in his prime. Songxia is the Five Tigers I mentioned."

Pei Dahu volunteered:
"I will go too. How dare these little thieves be so arrogant? They don't take my Great Qi seriously and even dare to murder Emperor Guangde."

"You are old, stay with me, don't go." "I have issued a mobilization order to all provinces, recruiting new soldiers and students from the military academy, a total of 50,000 people. Together with the Fifth Corps, we will have 70,000 people. 70,000 people should be enough to suppress Yangzhou."

Pei Dahu was worried: "Seventy thousand is enough, but they are newly trained soldiers and may not be able to be used."

Liu Zhaosun said with a stern expression: "It's certainly not very useful for killing enemies in battle, but it's more than enough to deal with those troublemakers."

After the emperor finished speaking, he looked back at Francisco the Portuguese.

"I remember when Marco Polo came to China, he witnessed the prosperity of the Celestial Empire and marveled at the grandeur of the Grand Canal. That was the era of Kublai Khan, when the Mongol cavalry marched across Eurasia, and the Khan's orders were enforced, obeyed by all. The grain and cotton supplied to the capital in the south, and the armies sent to conquer Java and Vietnam in the north could be transported by canal or sea, and no one dared to stop them. The Great Qi was destined to become a great empire. But now, there is a group of people who want to use this dilapidated and infested canal to threaten the court and me. I have given them a way out and a livelihood, but these people are attacking shipping, burning ships, killing harbor construction workers, killing my officials, and even my only son! These blood-sucking worms, parasitic on the skin of the empire, are all incredibly fat, ten or a hundred times fatter than Lü Tongzhi!"

"Do we have to depend on these parasites for our future expeditions to Annan and Japan? The great cause of the empire cannot be swayed by a tiny canal. If there is a disease, we must treat it and restore it to health."

Francisco's big blue eyes kept blinking, listening carefully to every word the emperor said.

"Let them see the fierce tigers of the north. Using the fangs of pine trees and bleeding them will be beneficial to these termites. Right, High Priest?"

The high priest, who had been silent until now and stood beside the retired emperor, shrugged his shoulders and snorted:
"Your Majesty, in the great Eastern country you rule, in this magical land, everything is possible. I would like to say that in Europe, from Britain to Prague, bloodletting has always been very popular. It is very effective in treating many difficult and complicated diseases."

Liu Zhaosun patted the Portuguese on the shoulder and told him:
"High Priest, you must prepare a thousand castration operations. Many people will need it this time."

~~~~
Jiang Liuer returned to Nanjing.

During his five years on Sakhalin Island, he encountered the most brutal enemies and experienced the most brutal war.

Now, he is going to Yangzhou, together with Lin Yu, Li Zicheng, Wu Xiao who is far away in Shaanxi, and the tiger Songxia who accompanies him day and night.

~~~

On the eve of leaving Nanjing, Lin Yu and Chiyoko said goodbye.

Chiyoko prepares his favorite dishes.

"I heard from my brother that hundreds of thousands of canal workers on the Yangzhou-Suzhou Grand Canal are rebelling. The Civil Affairs Bureau's grain and gunpowder can't move after crossing the Shandong Grand Canal. I heard that more than a dozen training officers of the Fifth Corps have died..."

Lin Yu picked up some food for his son and remained indifferent.

"Husband, last night, I dreamed of the cherry blossoms in Osaka, blood red."

In Chiyoko's hometown, people dream of cherry blossoms when leaving, which is considered a bad omen.

Lin Yu ate and drank at the same time.

"Many of your brothers have died. You Han people have a saying: 'A clay pot will break if it is not kept out of the well.' A general is bound to die on the battlefield."

Chiyoko chattered incessantly, while eight-year-old Lin Zhenyu concentrated on eating.

"Can we not go to Yangzhou? I have a bad feeling."

Lin Yu put down his bowl and chopsticks and looked at the chubby Lin Zhenyu with loving eyes.

"You have to think about Zhenyu. He's only eight years old. Do you want him to become an orphan?"

Lin Yu finally looked up at his mixed-race wife.

"I heard Yuan Chonghuan say that the Japanese compare themselves to cherry blossoms and that death is reincarnation. Aren't you Japanese?"

Chiyoko shook her head and said, "I am Japanese, but I hate Japan and everything about it. The shogunate and the daimyo never treated the people as human beings. Samurai could test their swords on peasants in the street. Samurai didn't value life either. Cherry blossoms are just legends. The Lord said that those who don't value their lives will go to hell after they die."

"Are you also going to take your life lightly like the Japanese samurai?"

Lin Yu's wife believed in the European religion.

"The Emperor is treating you like firewood and sending you to Yangzhou to die."

"Shut up! Stop talking!"

Chiyoko cried.

The island woman's inherent obedience overcame her rationality. Chiyoko stopped trying to persuade her and shed tears silently.

"I'm fighting for Lin Zhenyu. I'm different from those Japanese warriors!"

"I'm a lucky general. When I'm on the battlefield, bullets always fly around me. It's the same this time. I'll be fine."

(End of this chapter)