The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

The banks on both sides of Chaoyangmen Wharf were crowded with people, all looking at the wharf, looking at a group of Western barbarians who could be seen at a glance as "not of our race".

One of them was William.

At this time, William was hugging an old man.

William: "God bless you. I heard that my uncle fell into the hands of the rebels. I thought we would never see each other again."

The old man was William's uncle and the leader of the mission, old William.

Old William smiled and said, "You greedy boy, are you so eager to inherit my legacy?"

William also laughed: "I don't have the money to pay for your drinking and gambling debts."

After some jokes, Old William looked at William and said, "You've gotten fatter and whiter."

William: "Compared to Nanyang, this is heaven on earth."

Old William nodded: "It seems that your choice is correct." Then he looked up and looked at the towering city walls, and exclaimed: "I guess only Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, can compare with it."

William: "Constantinople was destroyed in the war long ago, but this magnificent city still stands here. Although dynasties have changed in this huge empire, it still stands at the top of the world, overlooking the world."

Old William glanced at the official from the Ministry of Rites beside him.

William understood: "He can't understand."

Old William: "In my opinion, this huge empire is about to fall. You didn't see it, hundreds of thousands of well-equipped rebels, with muskets and artillery, they even took down the city called Xuzhou."

William shook his head: "Uncle, your news is out of date. Ten days ago, the imperial army recaptured Xuzhou City, and it only took two days."

Old William's eyes widened: "Two, two days."

William: "Two days ago, I heard that a spy from the imperial court bribed a rebel leader and opened the city gate in the middle of the night."

After hearing this, old William breathed a sigh of relief.

William: "Uncle, you will understand later. This rebellion is nothing to this empire. Their real elite are still stationed in the north, guarding against the Tatars in the north. As for the well-equipped rebels in your eyes, they are nothing more than...what's the saying, right, a chicken and a dog!"

At this point, he suddenly remembered, "The army that swept across the prairie is only one of the empire's. Well, the mobile forces are elite like this, and they still have hundreds of thousands of them."

Hundreds of thousands!!!
Old William was shocked!

All the members of the delegation were shocked, and then a riot broke out.

The official from the Ministry of Rites finally couldn't help it, and walked over and said to William, "This is not the place to talk. If you have anything to say, let's talk when we get to Huitong Hall." Then he pointed to the river.

The river is full of boats, causing congestion.

William hurriedly said to Old William: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Please invite your uncle to Huitong Hall. I will welcome you back!"

study room

Emperor Yongchang sat in front of the imperial desk in the center.

The Crown Prince and the Third Prince stood on both sides.

The Second Prince, who had recovered, and ten imperial guards knelt on the ground in two rows.

Emperor Yongchang spoke: "Second brother."

The Second Prince: "Son, son, I am here."

Emperor Yongchang took out an amulet bag from his robe sleeve and said, "This is the amulet bag from the Qin'an Hall. The amulets inside were offered in front of the shrine of Emperor Zhenwu. Carrying this will keep you safe." He placed it on the imperial desk, then closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

The second prince knew that it was time for him to leave. "Your son bows to thank the emperor." He kowtowed three times, then stood up, slowly walked to the imperial desk, picked up the amulet bag with both hands, lowered his head and walked out of the study.

The ten imperial guards followed closely behind.

The prince coughed and spoke, "I and the third brother will go and see the second brother off."

Emperor Yongchang still closed his eyes: "Go."

Then there were the footsteps of two people walking out.

Then there was silence.

Emperor Yongchang then opened his eyes, stood up, slowly walked to the south window, and looked out.

The study fell into silence again.

After a long while, Emperor Yongchang spoke: "Dai Quan."

Dai Quan: "The old slave is here."

Emperor Yongchang: "From ancient times to now, who is the most difficult person?" Dai Quan: "Of course it's the emperor"

Emperor Yongchang shook his head and said, "The hardest part is my father."

Dai Quan lowered his head, afraid to reveal any expression.

Emperor Yongchang sensed it from the corner of his eye and changed the subject: "How is Old Five?"

Dai Quan raised his head: "The situation is better."

Emperor Yongchang: "Tell the people in the Imperial Hospital that if they cure Lao Wu, I will reward them handsomely."

Dai Quan: “Yes.”

At this time, the eunuch on duty came in and reported to Emperor Yongchang: "Your Majesty, the Marquis of Zhongyong has returned to the capital."

With a snort, Emperor Yongchang said: "He still remembers to come back! Let him get back to the palace immediately!"

Shui Rong had already left Yangzhou, which had been completely looted. Before leaving, he ordered the city walls of Yangzhou to be blown up, the moat to be dug, and the villages and farmlands outside the city to be flooded, leaving the court with a mess.

When he left, Shui Rong's army had tens of thousands more "soldiers and horses". All the living people in Yangzhou city were driven out to help the army carry money, food and equipment.

After easily capturing several towns, Shui Rong's troops became even larger and advanced towards Yizheng in a mighty force.

The army camped beside the Yiyang Canal. Outside the army were people with dishevelled hair and ragged clothes. Many of them were holding children in their arms, their eyes full of worry and despair.

Yizheng City is ahead of them. When they reach Yizheng, they will be driven by the White Lotus rebels to attack the city. The first few towns were built with their lives.

They had to do a lot of work every day, but only had two bowls of thin porridge a day. Everyone hated the White Lotus rebels deeply.

A White Lotus sect member with a white scarf on his head came over, beating a gong and saying, "Dinner is ready, dinner is ready!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone who could move got up and ran towards the porridge stall in the distance.

There were still many people lying on the ground, some dead, some still hanging on.

The White Lotus sect member was used to it and didn't care. He walked to the other side while beating the gong.

The meal was also being served in the central army tent.

On the table were some home-cooked dishes, a bowl of rice and a bowl of clear soup with vegetable leaves floating in it.

Shui Rong walked out from the back tent, sat down, picked up the bowl, took the chopsticks handed to him by the maid and started eating.

Just then, Yang Qilong walked in with a letter.

Shui Rong raised his head: "What's the matter?"

Yang Qilong hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, please eat first."

Shui Rong put down the bowl and chopsticks: "Bring it here."

Yang Qilong had no choice but to hand over the letter.

Shui Rong took out the letter and read it, then stood up suddenly and shouted, "Bai Hongzhi, that bastard! I'm going to skin him alive!"

Yang Qilong smiled bitterly. He did not expect Bai Hongzhi to be so bold. Not only did he lurk in their army, but he also destroyed Fengyang City.

The maid had already escaped.

Shui Rong gritted his teeth and asked, "Where did this letter come from?"

Yang Qilong: "It is said that someone under Bai Hongzhi's command could not stand what he did, so he reported it to the prince."

Shui Rong's eyes flickered: "You don't like it? We are not government troops! Government troops? Could they be spies from the imperial court? No, they can't be from the imperial court."

Yang Qilong nodded: "It should not be someone from the government army. I thought about it carefully. Bai Hongzhi did not go to Xuzhou, and we have not heard of any rebel army activities south of Fengyang. I suspect Bai Hongzhi went to Henan."

Shui Rong was so smart: "No, we can't let this bastard get away with it! Tell Wang Ziteng about this immediately."

Yang Qilong hesitated again: "I think we should forget it. Bai Hongzhi has grown stronger and can help share the pressure for us."

Shui Rong thought about it, then snorted and sat down.

Yang Qilong was about to say something when the sound of horse hooves was heard. A spy ran in and knelt down before Shui Rong. “Your Highness, a large number of fortifications have been built outside Yizheng City, and there are also a large number of government troops defending it. Judging from the flags, they should be troops from the Jiangnan camp.”

Shui Rong and Yang Qilong looked at each other and realized that the court had already noticed their intentions.

Shui Rong: "We won't attack Yizheng, nor will we go to Liuhe. No, leave some refugees behind to continue to advance towards Yizheng, while the main force of the army attacks Tianchang, and from there we will invade Anhui." (End of this chapter)