Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 249: Don’t eat oil and salt, don’t eat hard or soft food

Chen Puwen originally thought that Xu Shouhui offered such generous conditions, and if Lu Jin really wanted to surrender, he would definitely agree without hesitation.

But unexpectedly, Lu Jin was so stubborn and kept finding all kinds of excuses to shirk responsibility, even bringing up the whole thing of gratitude and grudge. Yes, this kind of behavior did exist among the people, but Xu Shouhui was the emperor. If even the emperor didn't keep his word, then what was the point of everyone's fun?

Then there is the personal grudge between Peng Yingyu and Lu Jin. Peng Yingyu is Xu Song's business partner. It was Peng Yingyu who pushed Xu Shouhui to the throne of emperor. He also controls the Liantai Province, which is Xu Song's Secretariat. His subordinates are the same as Lu Jin said, with many apprentices leading troops. If Xu Shouhui really wants to deal with Lu Jin, it is estimated that he will not be able to stop him.

Tsk, this is indeed a bit troublesome, but what needs to be explained still needs to be explained.

Chen Puwen immediately retorted.

"You are worrying too much, Marshal. You are underestimating our emperor by saying that a little bit of kindness is a debt of gratitude. Yes, there are indeed such things among the people, but he is the emperor of our dynasty, and he holds the power of heaven. If the emperor does not keep his word, who will be willing to serve the country in the future?
"As for the military advisor's obstruction, that's just overthinking. The military advisor is indeed in a high position, but the emperor of Song is surnamed Xu, not Peng. How can he stop Your Majesty?"

Hearing this, Lu Jin curled his lips. "Sir, do you believe what you said? If your country's military advisor really wants to harm me, he doesn't even need to do it himself. He has so many disciples and followers. Even if I die suddenly, can your emperor kill him to atonce for my life?"

"." Chen Puwen was speechless again, because what Lu Jin said might really happen. A foreigner who came over and a powerful entrepreneurial partner, who would he protect at that time?

"Marshal, can't you reconsider it again?" Chen Puwen said, feeling exhausted.

"It's not that I can't consider it, but you have to go back and explain this matter to your Majesty and the military advisor. You can't let me make an enemy for no reason before I even get there. Wouldn't that mean I'd die unjustly?"

Chen Puwen immediately became excited after hearing this. As long as there was still hope, it would be fine. So he immediately clasped his hands and said, "Then please tell me the details, Marshal."

Lu Jin didn't waste any words and immediately told him about his experience.

"Before I went to Chaohu to join the army, the Chaohu navy was still led by Liao and Yu. They were beaten badly by Zuo Junbi of Luzhou and dared not go ashore. But at that time, where were the two good disciples of your military advisor? Li Pusheng led his troops to hide in Wuwei County, and Zhao Pusheng led his men to hide on Hanshan Mountain. They hid farther and farther. Only Yu and Liao led the navy to shrink on the small island in the lake and struggled to hold on.

"Later, I killed the government troops and was forced to lead 800 local militiamen to Chaohu. Relying on my family's military tactics, I taught them how to train and deploy troops, and used some tricks to lure Zuo Junbi's main force out of Luzhou, and surrounded them with all my troops. Fortunately, my brothers fought hard and wiped out Zuo Junbi's main force. Later, I used a trick to lure out Zhu Liangzu, the righteous army marshal of Lu'an, and wiped out his main force. Only then did I capture Luzhou, Lu'an, and Liangxian, and gave my brothers a place to stay.

"When I led the brothers from Chaohu to capture three cities in a row, your military advisor's two good disciples didn't contribute a bit.

"Later, the brothers in Chaohu obeyed me and elected me as their leader. It happened that Zhao Pusheng learned that we had conquered Luzhou and wanted to join forces with me. He also asked me to send troops to pick him up.

“Although Zhao Pusheng had never contributed before, the Chaohu Navy was built by them after all, so they are our brothers, so I agreed.

"At that time, I had three cities, but only 6,000 to 7,000 soldiers. After three battles, the soldiers were already exhausted, and they had to divide their forces to defend the cities. At that time, the city wall of Luzhou was less than two meters high, and it was a rammed earth wall. The Liang County next to it didn't even have a city wall. With such a small force, there were only 2,000 people in each city, and they couldn't even fill the city wall. If Kang Maocai attacked at this time, how could I defend it? I could only abandon the city and flee.

“I told General Zhao that I could bring you here to join forces, but could I wait a little longer, even if it’s only half a month, so that I can recruit and train a group of soldiers before I go to pick you up. Anyway, you’ve been guarding Hanshan for so long, the camp is strong, and the mountain roads are steep. Kang Maocai of Hezhou can’t do anything to you, but he refused and insisted on urging me to pick you up.

"I agreed to take them. I hurriedly recruited soldiers in just three days, then left the new recruits to guard the city and asked my old brothers to lead the troops to take them.

“As a result, when the reinforcements were halfway there, Zhao Pusheng couldn’t wait any longer and refused to wait for my men to join him and then retreat together. He insisted on leaving the village to look for him.

"As a result, I captured three cities in Luzhou, and the pressure on Kang Maocai, the envoy of Huaixi, increased dramatically. He had the responsibility to defend the territory, and now he had lost three cities. How could he explain to the Yuan court? The Yuan court wanted to punish him, and he could only find a way to make up for his mistakes. I was bluffing in Luzhou, and I had just won several battles. My military power was at its peak, and I had the city to rely on. He didn't dare to act rashly against me, so he targeted General Zhao in Hanshan.

"General Zhao has only 2,000 weak soldiers under his command. They have not won a single battle since they started the army, and their morale is already low. In addition, they heard that they could move to Luzhou City and not have to suffer in the mountains, so they became lazy and lost their guard. Originally, he was waiting for me to pick him up in the camp on the mountain, so nothing would have happened. But he couldn't wait and wanted to come down the mountain to find me. That's how Kang Mao found his weakness and ambushed him on his way to Luzhou.

"If the people I sent to help were not fast enough, I'm afraid none of his 2,000 soldiers would have survived. Even so, only 500 people were rescued in the end. General Zhao himself was shot to death by the ambushed soldiers and his head was chopped off by Kang Maocai.

"Sir, please judge for yourself. What does this have to do with me? His apprentice died at the hands of the Yuan court, and at the hands of Kang Maocai, the envoy of Huaixi. If there is any grudge, it is against the Yuan court and Kang Maocai. Moreover, it was I who destroyed Kang Maocai's 20,000 troops, and I killed Kang Maocai himself a long time ago. Even if there is a grudge, I have avenged him.

"After defeating Kang Maocai, I also found General Zhao's head. Now that his body is here, I also found him a good coffin for burial. I have done my best. It is said that swords have no eyes on the battlefield. It is inevitable that a general will die in battle. No one can say whether he can live to see the end of the battle. What's the big deal about a person dying? You can't blame a good person indiscriminately just because the person who died was the apprentice of your military advisor, right?"

Chen Puwen nodded repeatedly after listening to this. According to Lu Jin, Zhao Pusheng's death really had nothing to do with him. And why did Lu Jin want to kill Zhao Pusheng? Well, Lu Jin really had a motive to kill him.

First of all, as Lu Jin said, when attacking the three cities, Zhao Pusheng hid far away and did not put in any effort. Now that the city has been captured, Zhao Pusheng wants to reap the benefits. The Chaohu navy was built up by Zhao Pusheng, but now the Chaohu generals have unanimously elected Lu Jin as their leader. Once Zhao Pusheng comes back, Lu Jin may be deprived of power, but with the support of other Chaohu generals, Lu Jin should not be afraid of him. At worst, he can let Zhao Pusheng be his deputy general, so there is no need to fight to the death.

Furthermore, Zhao Pusheng died at the hands of the Yuan army. Lu Jin would not lie about this. After all, there were so many Chaohu generals watching, and Lu Jin could not command the Yuan army. How could he let Kang Maocai kill Zhao Pusheng? Moreover, Lu Jin's analysis was also very reasonable. Kang Maocai had the responsibility to defend the territory. Now that Lu Jin had captured three cities, he was anxious to make up for his mistake by taking a head, so it was normal for him to choose Zhao Pusheng, who was the easiest to kill.

So the current situation is that Zhao Pusheng was killed by Kang Maocai, and Kang Maocai was killed by Lu Jin, so there is no evidence to prove his guilt. There are indeed many suspicious points in this matter, and Lu Jin also has a motive, but there is no doubt that Zhao Pusheng died at the hands of the Yuan army, and there is no evidence to prove his guilt, so there is no way to investigate further.

Besides, this is not a matter of whether to investigate or not. The main issue now is that Xu Shouhui wants to subdue Lu Jin's 100,000 troops. So even if Zhao Pusheng was really killed by Lu Jin, as long as he does not admit it and gives a reasonable explanation, Xu Shouhui wants Lu Jin to surrender, and he has to admit it even if he has to hold his nose.
Chen Puwen then said, "It sounds like it has nothing to do with the Marshal. This is indeed a coincidence, but General Zhao died at the hands of Kang Maocai of the Yuan army. There are so many generals in the Marshal's army watching, so it shouldn't be wrong."

Lu Jin clapped his hands, "That's right, General Zhao and I have no grudges against each other, why would I harm him?"

Chen Puwen nodded, "Then I will go back and tell your majesty and the military advisor about this matter in detail, so as to clear up the military advisor's misunderstanding of the commander-in-chief. However, there are still some details that I would like to ask, I wonder if the commander-in-chief can tell me?"

"You said."

"Who did the Marshal send to meet General Zhao?"

"I had a commander named Zhang Wen. I asked Zhang Wen to go and pick up General Zhao. But when he came back, he told me that General Zhao had been ambushed by Kang Maocai. When he arrived, General Zhao had been shot by dozens of arrows and had already died. In the end, he only managed to rescue about 500 brothers and brought back General Zhao's headless body.

"I asked him to pick someone up, but he only brought me half of it. I executed him by military law, beat him half to death on the spot, removed him from his position as commander, and demoted him to a thousand-household battalion officer." Lu Jin explained immediately. Chen Puwen nodded. This was a reasonable punishment. After all, the mission was just to pick someone up, and to pick someone up from the camp. As a result, Zhao Pusheng couldn't wait and came down the mountain to look for him in advance. It couldn't be blamed entirely on Zhang Wen for the ambush.

"Then where is Captain Zhang now?"

"I promoted him back to the rank of brigade commander, leading 10,000 soldiers," Lu Jin said with a blink of an eye.

"Ah?" Chen Puwen showed an expression of surprise and confusion.

Lu Jin spread his hands and said, "After being punished by me, Zhang Wen knew shame and became braver. When I was fighting with Kang Maocai outside Chao County, Zhang Wen personally led a battalion to break through Kang Maocai's right formation and opened a gap in the formation, which gave the cavalry the opportunity to attack the central army.

"Killing a general and seizing a flag, breaking through an enemy's formation and being the first to climb the ladder, these are already great achievements. Zhang Wen was the first to break through the formation, and he will be counted as the first meritorious service after the battle. I have always rewarded those who have made contributions and punished those who have made mistakes, so that the generals will obey me. He has made such a great contribution, breaking through the formation and killing Kang Maocai, which can be regarded as revenge for General Zhao. I can't just withhold the reward, otherwise who will fight desperately in the future battles?"

"." Well, what Lu Jin said was really correct. Chen Puwen nodded and said, "Rewards and punishments are clear, that's how it should be."

"Do you have any other questions, sir?"

"That's all." Chen Puwen shook his head. "Marshal, please don't consider it anymore. The conditions that His Majesty the Emperor has given you are already quite high."

Lu Jin spread his hands again and said, "Sir, if you don't help me clear up the misunderstanding, how can I dare to go? If I really surrender to a powerful enemy who has created a powerful enemy out of thin air, I won't know how I will die tomorrow. Either you go back and explain this matter to your military advisor and His Majesty, or I will not accept it."

"This"

Lu Jin suddenly stood up and said, "That's it. Sir, you have come a long way and it's hard. Why don't you go back to the residence and rest today?"

After Lu Jin finished speaking, he turned and went to the backyard. Chen Puwen wanted to say something, but a guard immediately stepped forward to stop him and pointed to the door, "Sir, please follow me."

Chen Puwen looked towards the backyard, but there was nothing he could do, so he could only return to the residence with the guards.

This building used to receive envoys was originally an inn and an asset belonging to the royal palace. It was later taken over by Lu Jin. When Chen Puwen came back, he found that the door of the room opposite him was also open and a servant was cleaning inside. Chen Puwen was immediately confused and asked the servant.

"Waiter, is there anyone living here?"

The servant turned around and saw that it was Chen Puwen, and said hurriedly, "No one is living here."

Chen Puwen walked to the door of the room again, peeked inside, and asked, "That's not what I meant. I'm asking, in addition to receiving envoys like me, does this building usually open to the public to receive guests?"

The servant shook his head again. "This inn originally belonged to the palace, but the economy has been bad in recent years. The court opened the canal, and there are not many merchants going to Luzhou. There were not many customers in the first place. Later, the Marshal took over this place and stopped operating to the outside world. Usually, we received some Confucian scholars who came from other places to take exams, but there were not many people at other times.

"Oh, by the way, at the beginning of last month, there was a man like you, sir, who also brought a few guards and arranged three upper rooms."

Chen Puwen's heart tightened, and he hurriedly asked, "Do you know what that person does?"

"I don't know, but his guards all wore red scarves on their heads."

The servant shook his head and left, but Chen Puwen was shocked. A red scarf on the head? Based on his observations over the past two days, Lu Jin's Shengwu Army obviously did not dress like this. Some wore red cloth armor directly, and those who did not wear armor would wrap a red cuff around their arms, but no one had a red scarf on their head.

So, the person who stayed at the hotel last time might be a envoy from another Red Turban Army.

Sesame Li of Xuzhou did not declare himself a king or an emperor, so he probably did not come here to pacify Lu Jin. In that case, he could only be Liu Futong's man!

Chen Puwen immediately thought to himself, "Is it possible that Liu Futong also came to recruit Lu Jin, and then Lu Jin was waiting for a price to be sold?" If so, it would not be easy to get Lu Jin to submit.

Chen Puwen became a little anxious. He suddenly thought of the story of Ban Chao's night attack on the Huns' envoys. But on the one hand, he had too few men as most of his soldiers were detained in Huoshan. On the other hand, the other group of envoys had left last month. Even if he wanted to take action, he was helpless.

He went to ask the clerk if he could see Lu Jin, but the clerk just said that the commander was busy with official duties and was not available today, so he should wait until tomorrow.

Chen Puwen felt helpless, but there was nothing he could do.

It now seems that it is impossible to persuade Lu Jin to surrender this time. Lu Jin is determined not to surrender unless he talks about the matter with Peng Yingyu. There is no point for him to stay here.

Since the surrender cannot be negotiated this time, it is better to discuss the matter of sending troops together to attack the Yuan army in Jiangzhou (Jiujiang). If it can be negotiated, it will at least be a result and it will not be a wasted trip.

While Chen Puwen was thinking about how to persuade Lu Jin to send troops to Jiangzhou tomorrow, he came to the side of the inn. The pedestrians on the street were very busy, each of them had something to do, and it seemed that there were almost no idle people. No wonder the productivity here in Lu Jin was so exaggerated, as if everyone had endless things to do.

Suddenly, Chen Puwen saw several carriages passing by downstairs, loaded with rolls of red and blue cloth, but the cloth was very strange. Normal cloth was measured by piece, usually two feet wide and three feet long, and a small roll was counted as one piece. But the cloth on the carriage downstairs was a large roll, like a red painted pillar.

Chen Puwen immediately called the accompanying clerk over and asked, "What is that?"

(End of this chapter)